text:
Aquinnah
The new reality — empty schools.
Mark Alan Lovewell
Island Schools Close for Two Weeks
Bill Eville
The list of Island closures and cancellations due to the threat of the coronavirus mounted Friday, including the announcement that all Vineyard schools would close for a two-week hiatus effective Monday.
"After consultation with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Department of Public Health, our local Boards of Health, our district physician and our school administration, I have decided that it would be in the best interest of the Island to cancel school and all extra-curricular activities for the next two weeks," Superintendent Dr. Matthew D'Andrew said in a news release issued late in the day.
The announcement came on the heels of an order issued by Gov. Charlie Baker prohibiting gatherings in the state of over 250 people.
There were still no confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Martha's Vineyard as of Friday afternoon, although statewide confirmed cases tripled from 6 to 18 since Thursday, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. In addition, the state reports 105 presumptive cases of covid-19. None of these are in Barnstable, Dukes, Plymouth or Nantucket counties.
Island schools have been reviewing their response to the coronavirus pandemic on a daily basis. In the news release, Mr. D'Andrea said the administrative team would be working over the weekend to plan possible online instruction and will be looking into plans for providing food for families.
"We will keep families posted on our education plan going forward," the release said, adding that for the moment there is no schoolwork requirement.
Dr. Pete Steedman, head of the Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School, said the decision to close that school was difficult.
"We have been in close conversation with our board of health agent," Mr. Steedman said. "It is not a decision I take lightly. It will put a lot of pressure on our families. But I had to put the safety of our students and our staff first."
Students at the charter school will not have mandatory lessons at home, he added, because there is no way to guaranteed differentiated education for all constituents online.
"We sent packets home with them today and there are optional enrichment activities online," he said.
The Vineyard seemed to wake up to the risks of the virus this week, with the pace of closures and cancellations speeding up as the week came to a close. West Tisbury and Chilmark town halls are open only by appointment, Island libraries have canceled all activities and the West Tisbury Library has closed its doors. The Martha's Vineyard Museum announced it will close through April 17, the YMCA will close until March 30 and Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, Polly Hill Arboretum and the Martha's Vineyard Playhouse are closed until further notice. The Tisbury town meeting is postponed, services at the First Congregational Church of West Tisbury, Federated Church of Edgartown and the Martha's Vineyard Hebrew Center are all canceled and the Harbor View Hotel said it had stopped accepting guests through April 2. The Gazette is maintaining a list of closures and updating the Calendar with event cancellations as they occur.
Steamship Authority communications director Sean Driscoll said the ferries will continue to run their normal operating schedules.
"I've heard some panicked calls about us not running, but we have no plans to shut down and have not been given any edict to stop or alter service," he said.
Mr. Driscoll also said the SSA has not seen an increase in passengers traveling from Woods Hole to the Vineyard.
"I have not seen any dramatic spike. It's a normal Friday, not the Fourth of July."
Steve Bernier, owner of Cronig's Markets, said he is consolidating his two stores, closing the up-Island store as of this evening in order to focus all its workforce at the Vineyard Haven store.
"We almost went out of control today," Mr. Bernier said. "I don't have enough of a crew. I decided we needed to get everyone under one roof."
Mr. Bernier said he didn't know how long he would be operating out of just one store.
"I have never been to war like this." he said. "It could be two to three days, two weeks, I have no idea."
Dana Mylott, OAK BLUFFS
i have a question and by no means want to sound weird. i believe we need to support anything that helps keep our community safe but what happens when families still need to work and can not stay home with their kids? what happens when people are out of school but still hanging out and being around each others at bars, restaurants or even just shopping? if other things stay open there is still a chance to catch it that way and bring it home and god forbid at the end of the two week shut down someone has it and gets into our schools. i only hope for the best case scenario and will support whatever keeps people safe but im not 100 percent sure this is the best answer while everything else is still in motion. should we be checking people coming onto the island at every level? perhaps we should have people stay in their cars when the come on the boat. maybe the steamship should be using misters to spray down the boats after people disembark the boat? there is so many things to consider when it comes to putting thing into motion to make it all work. what happens if we order a package and the virus can stay on a surface for 6 days and no one knows it until they have received their things and continued on with their lives. again i support my community and will support the idea they have to help keep everyone safe
Lorraine, Edgartown
Dana, good points. That is the difficulty of quarantine and social separation in a society such as ours. Where does it start and where does it end? It will not be kept off the island, count on that. We need a community with herd immunity to all known diseases and we do not even have that on the island with many refusing vaccinations. The old expression, it is like herding cats, is true in this situation.
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text:
<?php

namespace Qumonto\UserSys\Http\Controllers;

use Event;
use App\User;
use App\Http\Requests\Request;
use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;

use Qumonto\UserSys\AuthenticationTrait;
use Qumonto\UserSys\Events\UserRegistered;
use Qumonto\UserSys\Http\Requests\UserLoginRequest;
use Qumonto\UserSys\Http\Requests\UserRegisterRequest;

class AuthController extends Controller
{
	use AuthenticationTrait;

	/**
	 * Create a new AuthController instance.
	 *
	 * @return void
	 **/
	public function __construct()
	{
		$this->middleware('guest', ['except' => 'getLogout']);
	}

	/**
	 * Show login form.
	 *
	 * @return Illuminate\Http\Response
	 **/
	public function getLogin()
	{
		if(is_null(config('usersys.login_view'))){
			return view('usersys::login');
		}
		else{
			return view(config('usersys.login_view'));
		}
	}

	/**
	 * Handle login request.
	 *
	 * @param Illuminate\Http\Request $request
	 * @return Illuminate\Http\Response
	 **/
	public function postLogin(UserLoginRequest $request)
	{
		$credentials = $this->getCredentials($request);

		if (\Auth::attempt($credentials, $request->has('remember'))) {
            // clear the login attempts if throttle is set to true.

            // if email_verification is active
			if (config('usersys.email_verification')) {
	            // check if the account is activated
	            if (!\Auth::user()->verification_token) {
	            	return redirect()->intended(config('usersys.redirect_after_login'));
	            }
	            else {

	            	\Auth::logout();	// email not verified

	            	return redirect(config('usersys.redirect_after_fail'))
	            			->withInput($request->only($this->getUsernameColumnAndField(),'remember'))
	            			->withErrors([
	            				$this->getUsernameColumnAndField() => $this->getFailedLoginMessage('forActivation'),
	            			]);
	            }
			}
        }
        else{

	        // increment the throttle count.

	        return redirect(config('usersys.redirect_after_fail'))
			        ->withInput($request->only($this->getUsernameColumnAndField(), 'remember'))
			        ->withErrors([
			            $this->getUsernameColumnAndField() => $this->getFailedLoginMessage('forCredentials'),
			        ]);
        }

	    return redirect()->intended(config('usersys.redirect_after_login'));
	}

	/**
	 * Log the user out.
	 *
	 * @return Illuminate\Http\Response
	 **/
	public function getLogout()
	{
		\Auth::logout();

		        session()->flash(config('usersys.session_identifier'), 'You have been logged out!');

        return redirect(config('usersys.redirect_after_logout'));
	}

	/**
	 * Show the registration form
	 *
	 * @return Illuminate\Http\Response
	 **/
	public function getRegister()
	{
		if(is_null(config('usersys.register_view'))){
			return view('usersys::register');
		}
		else{
			return view(config('usersys.register_view'));
		}
	}

	/**
	 * Handle the registration request.
	 *
	 * @param Illuminate\Http\Request $request
	 * @return Illuminate\Http\Response
	 **/
	public function postRegister(UserRegisterRequest $request)
	{
		$user = $this->createNewUser($request->all());

		if(config('usersys.log_user_after_registration')){
			\Auth::login($user);
			return redirect(config('usersys.redirect_after_login'));
		}
		else{
			return redirect(config('usersys.redirect_after_logout'));
		}
	}

	public function getVerify($verification_token)
    {
    	if( ! $this->tokenExists($verification_token))
        {
            throw new Exception("Invalid Confirmation Code", 1);
        }

        $user = User::where('verification_token', '=', $verification_token)->first();

        if(!$user) {
        	throw new Exception("Invalid Confirmation Code", 1);

        }

        $user->verification_token = null;
        $user->save();

        session()->flash(config('usersys.session_identifier'),config('usersys.email_verification_success'));

        return redirect(config('usersys.redirect_after_verification'));
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Matadero Madrid is a living, changing space catering to creative processes, participatory artistic training and dialogue between the arts, focusing on the visual and performing arts, design, music, dance, architecture, urbanism, landscapism, fashion, literature, thought and cinema. The organization uses its activities to promote an integrated and multidisciplinary approach to all forms of creation, with emphasis on research, production, training and dissemination. Matadero Madrid is a unique laboratory to experiment with and construct new formulas cutting across disciplines.


text:
The biggest myth about Israeli politics
By Dahlia Scheindlin April 24, 2019 | Edit
It's tempting to believe that non-politicians are the antidote to bad politicians, but it's also wrong.
Members of the Blue White political party (left to right: Gabi Ashkenazi, Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid, and Moshe Ya'alon at a press conference at the Blue and White party headquarters, Tel Aviv, April 10, 2019. (Flash90)
In 2011, the Israeli pop singer Roni Superstar released a song called "Adoni" — literally "my lord," or colloquially, "sir." For sarcastic overtones, "His highness" will also do. Here is my free translation:
"His Highness will tell me what he knows/ His Highness will make sense of what I ought to think… His Highness wishes to be Prime Minister… His Highness thinks he is so smart…"
The otherwise banal song kept surfacing in my mind during the last election cycle. Something about it seemed apposite.
Just before the party lists closed, there was frenzied speculation over which generals would go where. Would former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon merge with Benny Gantz, and would ex-Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi join them? Each man wanted to enter politics on the condition that he would serve at the top: either he would have a shot at running the country, or vault into the role of a top minister. Winning the election was practically an afterthought.
Why did the generals think starting at the top was a reasonable expectation? Probably based on two main presumptions.
One is the myth that generals enjoy mystical credibility among Israelis, a belief that comes very close to entitlement. The other is that outsider politicians are all the rage, and not only in Israel. Voters are sick and tired of the old politicians; therefore, a candidate who is not tainted by "the system" automatically scores points. Both approaches are based mainly on empty clichés.
The idea that a dues ex machina will arise to create a nation out of scattered opposition tribes needs to be retired. Even Moses had political training – he was raised in the court of kings.
It's logical that non-politicians are the antidote to bad politicians, but it's also wrong. A decade ago, Barak Obama was the star "outsider;" now the fresh faces among American Democratic candidates are Bernie Sanders, Beto O'Rourke, Elizabeth Warren, Kemala Harris, and Pete Buttigieg. All have political experience. They are emerging leaders, but they are already politicians.
Isn't Donald Trump the triumph of the outsider, a great roar of defiance against politicians? Absolutely. He is also the last person the Israeli opposition, or anyone else, should emulate. Emmanuel Macron looks like another great outsider victory, but he had already served in key government positions for years, including as a minister, before his victorious run for President.
What is the precedent for outsiders parachuting down to win or lead in Israel? None, actually.
Based on longevity in office, Netanyahu will soon be the most successful prime minister in Israeli history. But he reached the top only after substantial experience in politics and diplomacy, which uses similar skills.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lights Hanukkah candles alongside his wife Sara and their children during his first term as prime minister, December 5, 1996. (GPO)
Netanyahu cut his teeth explaining Israel in the United Nations in the mid-1980s after serving as number two at the U.S. embassy while the First Lebanon War raged. He served in Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's government in the early 1990s, then won his party's primary in 1993, , before becoming prime minister three years later. Perhaps he was still too new: his first term was no great success, and he suffered a ringing defeat in 1999.
Before Ehud Olmert won the 2006 elections, most Israelis considered him an askan — a wheeler and dealer, rather than a national leader. But Olmert had clocked about three decades of political experience before that as a Likud activist, a parliamentarian, minister, and mayor of Jerusalem.
So much for outsider magic. What about the winning card — being a general? Everyone knows Israelis worship security, and that it takes a general to beat the right, right? Except that there couldn't be more evidence to the contrary.
The last two decades are littered with vaunted military leaders who failed to get elected. Each ignited flashes of hope that burned out with all the fanfare of a birthday sparkler. Itzik Mordechai, Amnon Lipkin Shahak, Amram Mitznah, Shaul Mofaz. None reached the top; most didn't come close.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon speaks with Benjamin Netanyahu during a Knesset session. (Flash90)
The generals who did succeed in politics were, quite simply, fantastic politicians. Take Ariel Sharon, whom Israelis still romanticize due the popular and inaccurate image of him as a warrior turned peacemaker. His career in the army ended in 1973, nearly three decades before he became prime minister. During that time, he served as a legislator in seven different Knesset terms and held no less than seven different ministerial portfolios. Clearly his military background help build his political image; but Sharon the politician he was seasoned as a sailor and cunning to boot.
The center and much of the left, of course, pines for a different symbolic general-leader: Yitzhak Rabin. How did he get there? Like Netanyahu, Rabin's first public role was representing Israel in the U.S. as ambassador to Washington for five years starting in 1968. Upon his return he was appointed as a government minister for an admittedly short time before becoming prime minister in 1974. But Rabin didn't actually win an election – he was approved by the Knesset after Golda Meir's government resigned. He then served in every Knesset term and in several more ministerial roles before being elected prime minister in 1992.
One leader seemed to have that special sauce of top security credentials and the fresh face of a political outsider is Ehud Barak. Even he had a smattering of political experience: he retired from IDF in 1995 and held two ministerial positions under Yitzhak Rabin, then Shimon Peres, including foreign minister. He won the Labor primary in 1997 and became prime minister just four years after the end of his military career.
Barak's leadership was an unmitigated disaster by pretty much any measure. His term was among the shortest in Israel and did incalculable damage to the cause of peace that left-wingers hold dear. His domestic political skills and coalition leadership were catastrophic.
Still, in 2019, Benny Gantz was so committed to the outsider theory, that he started his own party. But after convincing over one million voters to support him, former MK Nitzan Horowitz pointed out on Twitter that lately he has very little to say. Perhaps that's because the party is hardly real — it has no actual ideology, infrastructure or base of voters.
Former Defense Minsiter Ehud Barak (center), April 3, 2019. As prime minister, Barak was an unmitigated disaster. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Even Yair Lapid has spent the last six years building and leading his party, Yesh Atid. This might be to Lapid's credit, except that he probably only did it because he too entered politics as an outsider, and failed to win the top job so far.
Let's just say it: it's fine to appreciate the generals who serve their country at war, if that's your thing. But in opposition politics, they are not a magic wand; they are a dead weight. They keep the national agenda focused on security, where the right always wins. They stake their claim based on their military prowess, which ensures that Palestinian-Arab citizens will never be real partners on the path for different leadership.
Generals are clueless on politics, huge on bluster, and they look funny in suits. Without their uniforms, they recall the Wizard of Oz without a curtain. If the fate of other politicians who parachuted into the left during the 2000s is any indication, these dilettantes probably won't stick around. When special sauce turns out to be snake oil, opposition voters need to stop casting about for miracle cures.
Instead the Israeli opposition voter must learn to love the ones they're with, so to speak. For years left-wingers have bemoaned that the opposition lacks a charismatic leader. Is that true? Shortly before the elections, as Labor's poll numbers sank, campaign ads began to showcase the candidates on the list, rather than the ill-fitting leader. It was too late for 2019, but perhaps it was a head start for the next election cycles.
The left should start looking at the legislators who have stuck it out for a few cycles or earned high seats on their party lists as the future prime minister. In Labor, this includes Stav Shafir, Itzik Shmuly (Shelly Yechimovich and Amir Peretz had their chance already). Voters should learn their lesson and stop the rush to elect puffed-up outsiders. And why stop there? Given the promises of annexation and the eventual need for equal citizenship, Hadash MKs Ayman Odeh and Aida Touma-Sliman could be equally viable candidates too one day. And if they stick around in politics, by the time civic equality happens, they'll have many years of experience.
Israeli generals
Benny Gantz
Yair Lapid
yitzhak rabin
Israeli left
Israeli opposition
Dahlia Scheindlin is a leading international public opinion analyst and strategic consultant specializing in progressive causes, political and social campaigns in over a dozen countries, including new/transitional democracies and peace/conflict research in Israel, with expertise in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. She works for a wide range of local and international organizations dealing with Israeli-Palestinian conflict issues, human rights, peacemaking, democracy, religious identity, and internal social issues. Dahlia holds a PhD in political science from TAU, and she is the co-host of The Tel Aviv Review podcast.
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By Ben Lorber October 28, 2019
Protests against gun violence trigger a political awakening for Palestinians in Israel
A wave of demonstrations against gun violence and police negligence has inspired a renewed sense of solidarity among Palestinian citizens of Israel, according to veteran activist Fida Tabony. After years of division, 'we're acting like a people,' she says. Fida Tabony remembers leaving her office in Nazareth around 2 p.m. one day, about two months ago, as…
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Was Election Software Rigged? Sidney Powell Lays Out the Trump Team's Findings.
Watch: Biden Mocked for Repeating Debunked Amtrak Story Once Again: 'This Is Disturbing Stuff'
Attorney Sidney Powell on "Sunday Morning Futures" said Trump's legal team is gathering evidence of "election fraud" that allegedly took place in election-related software, like Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic. As it currently stands, Dominion is being utilized in 2,000 jurisdictions in 30 states. Texas decided not to use Dominion on three separate occasions because of fraud concerns.
According to Powell, the Trump campaign has enough evidence to launch a serious criminal investigation.
"We're fixing to overturn the election results in multiple states and President Trump won by not just hundreds of thousands of votes but my millions of votes that were shifted by this software that was designed expressly for that purpose," Powell explained. "We have sworn witness testimony about why the software was designed. It was designed to rig elections."
According to Powell, the witness that the Trump team has is someone who has seen elections rigged in other countries. Those same tactics and software were allegedly deployed to the United States.
"They did this on purpose. It was calculated. They've done it before," she said. "We have evidence of 2016 in California. We have so much evidence I feel like it's coming in through a fire hose."
Host Maria Bartiromo pushed back, saying the election must be certified in a few weeks. She wanted to know if there was enough time for Powell and the team to produce evidence of the alleged wrongdoing.
"First of all, I never say anything I can't prove. Secondly, the evidence is coming in so fast I can't even process it all. Millions of Americans have written by now, I would say, definitely hundreds of thousands have stepped forward with their different experiences of voter fraud but this is massive election fraud and I'm very concerned it not only involved Dominion and its Smartmatic software but that the software was essentially used by other election machines also."
Powell stated whistleblowers came forward over alleged paybacks. She said in states where the new election technology was purchased and implemented, there's evidence of officials' family members being paid large lump sums of money.
There are other concerns about how the software can be utilized. The attorney stated software and election officials have the ability to do things like delete ballots, force the machine not to read voters' signatures or the down ballot. Powell said there's also the ability for the machine to be programed to only count votes for Biden.
"It's like drag and drop whatever you want wherever you want, upload votes," she explained.
This is an excerpt from TownHall. For the full version, click here.


text:
Battle of La Cole Creek
March 30, 1813, La Cole Creek, Upper Canada
Maj. Gen. James Wilkinson
4,000 13 128 13
Maj. Hancock
450+ 11 46 4
Conclusion: British Victory
On the south side of La Cole Creek, there was a stone mill, 50 feet by 30 feet, with walls that were 18 inches thick. A blockhouse and a sturdy barn stood on the north side, somewhat back from the stream.
A British detachment of 180 men, under Maj. Hancock, occupied the mill, and Gen. James Wilkinson determined that he must assail the place. At the expense of great labor, a 12-lb. and two 6-lb. cannon were brought up through the miry roads to within 250 yards of the building. They might as well have been pea shooters for the impression they made on the brick walls and the heavy timbers which shuttered the windows. The carraige broke on an 18-lb. cannon, which was on its way forward, and it never entered the bombardment.
A small Canadian garrison held the blockhouse, but Wilkinson did not make any attempts against it. After an hour, 2 companies arrived from Isle aux Noix to aid the British, and Hancock ordered them to charge the American cannon. After several unsuccessful assaults, they finally withdrew into the blockhouse.
At the end of 2 1/2 hours, the mill was practically undamaged and the American ammunition was gone. The American officers agreed that they lacked the strength to storm the place. Meanwhile, the British gunfire kept coming in from a sloop and 2 gunboats which Capt. Daniel Pring had been able to sail close in.
Toward 6:00 P.M., Wilkinson gave the order to withdraw back into the United States. Probably less than 500 British had kept the American force from advancing. Wilkinson knew that his exploit did not help his already shakey record, and he hoped that a favorable interpretation would be put on his motives.


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This session will be your first advisement session to help you prepare for your first semester of classes. You will not need to meet with another advisor once this session is completed.
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The purpose of the Required Orientation, Advisement, and Registration session is to help you learn about resources available to help maximize your potential and successfully manage your college experience! During the session an advisor will show students how to interpret their test scores, how to create a first semester schedule, and how to use the student center to enroll in classes.
*Please bring your completed test scores and/or your high school transcripts, MEID and password (if you don't know your MEID, or you need to reset your password, please visit https://my.maricopa.edu/help/student-passwords-meids), student ID number, a valid photo ID, and a pen or pencil to take notes. If you are more than 10 minutes late, or if the workshop is full, you will need to attend another session. Seating is limited to the first 25 students, so please show up early.
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Online signup available on EMCC ROAR website.
Sign in at Kom B Welcome Center beginning 30 minutes prior to start time.
Please email us (emcroar@estrellamountain.edu) if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you!!


text:
USACBI Statement on the ASA Lawsuit
Posted on February 7, 2019 Categories: Academic Boycott, Academic Defense, USACBI Statements Comments are off for this post
The US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) announces a major victory for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and for Palestine solidarity activism in the United States, with the dismissal of an anti-boycott lawsuit filed by Zionist plaintiffs. On February 4, 2019, a federal judge threw out the Louis D. Brandeis Center's 2016 frivolous lawsuit against the American Studies Association (ASA). The Brandeis Center based their lawsuit on trumped-up allegations that the ASA's 2013 resolution to endorse the boycott of Israeli academic institutions violated the ASA's by-laws and that ASA officers breached their fiduciary duties in their support for the resolution. The ASA resolution was passed by an overwhelming majority of the ASA's members (who voted 2 to 1), through a long and public process of discussion and debate, and with scrupulous attention to following ASA's processes and its members' mandate. Among the first to be passed by a major, national academic association in the United States, this resolution represented an important turning point in the politics of Palestine and BDS in the academy, posing a threat to the powerful status quo, which had for so long made support for Palestinian rights a taboo.
This legal victory represents a defeat for what one of the defendants, USACBI member Steven Salaita, calls the "Zionist punishment industry," and more generally to right-wing lawfare in the Trump era. The plaintiffs, Simon Bronner, Michael Rockland, Charles Kupfer, and Michael Barton–all senior white male academics–were represented by the Brandeis Center, headed by Kenneth Marcus, the Trump Administration's head of Civil Rights in the Department of Education, and an avowed and long-standing opponent of BDS and Palestine activism in the university.
The Brandeis Center's lawfare initiative was clearly racist, and designed to deter the successful work of USACBI. The Center named the American Studies Association, John Stephens, Lisa Duggan, J. Kēhaulani Kauanui, Chandan Reddy, Neferti Tadiar, Sunaina Maira, Curtis Marez, Jasbir Puar, and Steven Salaita as defendants — all in relation to the association's passage of the academic boycott resolution which was spearheaded by USACBI organizers. The plaintiffs targeted USACBI in their amended lawsuit, and in both versions of the case targeted defendants who either serve as Organizing Collective and Advisory Board members of USACBI or who have endorsed the campaign–claiming that they had "conspired" to "take over" the ASA. Although white scholars (a number of them Jewish) also belong to USACBI and were active in the process to pass the ASA resolution, nearly all of those sued` were scholars of color and/or queer academics, highlighting the racist and homophobic dimensions of this legal assault.
In the Court's dismissal of this case, Judge Rudolph Contreras makes clear its spurious claims: "the parties and the Court have danced around the key issue…for multiple rounds of briefing and opinions. The waltz has now reached its crescendo, and Plaintiffs have been found wanting." Deputy Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights Maria LaHood underlines the stakes and outcome of this and related acts of failed lawfare: "These desperate lawsuits brought to silence advocates of Palestinian rights are not only losers—they're helping to grow the movement by making even clearer who's on the wrong side of history, who is the aggressor, who is unreasonable, and who wants to silence debate. Freedom, justice and equality have always been on the right side of history."
The "key issue," in our view, is not merely the legal questions on which the plaintiffs failed, but that the plaintiffs and the Brandeis Center were seeking to intimidate boycott activists and advocates and to create a chilling effect for the growing academic boycott movement, through this McCarthyite repression. Yet, as Maira says, "Our strategy in USACBI was to not let this lawfare divert us from our organizing and our constitutionally protected right to freedom of political expression. We wanted other activists in the movement to know that we were not and will not be silenced by such legal harassment and USACBI did not stop its organizing; on the contrary, we were determined to continue with our work, locally and nationally." USACBI's work is based on the principle that boycott is indeed a right, but more than that, it is an imperative: to refuse complicity with Israeli academic institutions that are part of the scaffolding of occupation and colonization in Palestine.
Today we celebrate yet another victory for the broader BDS movement, including the academic and cultural boycott of Israel, and yet another defeat for the attempt to stifle global activism for Palestine. But USACBI does not see the courts as the ultimate arbiter of justice for our movement and the struggle in Palestine. While this ruling is clearly a win for us in this legal battle, we do not depend upon the courts to know our work to be just. The ultimate victory is freedom for the Palestinian people, who called for BDS organizing in the international community in solidarity with their struggle. We will keep our sight on the Palestinian struggle for freedom and self-determination, and we will continue to challenge Israel's oppression, which is supported by the US state, in order to advance movements for democracy and justice there and here.


text:
Fable III
Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, PC Reviews, Xbox360.	Tagged: fable 3, fable iii, lionhead studios, microsoft, rpg, xbox, xbox 360.	3 Comments
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Oh, Peter Molyneux, you're such a tease. You always make these simple ideas seem so grand and innovative yet when we play them they don't seem so. Why does Mr. Molyneux do this? No one may ever know, but it's probably best for him to keep him striving to make his games better, but Fable III isn't an amazing game at all, it's just a good game.
Let's start with the story. Fable II had an awesome and memorable story, but Fable III tends to fall on a mediocre and typical one. You have to gather allies throughout the land of Albion to rise against your evil brother, but really there's a stronger force at hand (I won't say for spoilers). The whole story is generic and the characters aren't too memorable (except Reaver!), and following a nameless hero is getting old. Other than that it's decent and has a couple of twists, but it just treads on without doing much new to the series.
Secondly is the combat, that Lionhead keeps changing with every game, is very simple yet there's a uniqueness to it. Each attack is mapped to one button firearm, melee, and magic. It's a mixed bag as to which you should use since magic is the deepest of the three. You can equip a different magic gauntlet to each hand and mix attacks, and there are 15 combinations in total. Holding down B will allow you to charge it for an area attack, but they made this weird control scheme where you have to press the analog stick toward the enemy to make anything go that way. This is annoying when using your gun because while you reload your walking toward your enemy so you have to stop pressing forward while you reload. There is some pretty gruesome fatality kills, but otherwise, combat is a bit awkward and simple. On another note, the enemies just swarm on you and don't really do much else and can lead to cheap deaths (mainly the Balverines), and there isn't a huge variety of them. Hobbes, humans, Balverines, wolves (early on only), Hollow Men, and pretty much every enemy from Fable II and not many new additions.
As you kill things or do things in the game you can turn good or evil, and each weapon has three different criteria to make it a true heroic or evil weapon. This will also make it more powerful, but leveling up 50 legendary weapons? Fable III is full of unnecessary mundane things that only the hardest of hardcore will ever complete. The whole good and evil are used well here during the second half of the game when you become ruler. You decide the fate of people, cities, and other things to add money to your treasury (why you do this will spoil the story). It does make you feel powerful and is probably the best part of the story.
The game features something very unique and that's your central hub. You can press the start button anytime and you will go to a hub with your map and everything else you need such as changing weapons, clothing, makeup, Xbox LIVE Marketplace, Xbox LIVE co-op, the achievement wall, your treasury etc. It's very intuitive and unique (and there's no loading!) In the map you can fast travel to any city, and all gnomes, keys, and quests are marked so you can keep track of them. You can also buy real estate from the map instead or wandering around everywhere and doing it on foot.
Secondly, Fable is all about exploring and there is more exploring than there are main quests. There are a ton of side quests such as finding 50 gnomes, keys, and 30 Aurorian flowers. These are for opening silver chests, and just getting achievements, but you will need the strategy guide or some online guide because boy it is frustrating to find these things. You can find dive spots, dig spots, and books as well but it seems endless and doesn't really pay off achievement wise (except the books).
Another (almost) useless thing that has stuck around is relationships and expressions. Peter insists that these things are unique and innovative, but they really don't do anything except make it feel like something from The Sims. Expressions can be used to raise the like level or hate level. Go high enough and you can propose to someone. You can also have sex with people and catch STDs, but this only feels like it's for laughs more than anything useful. Another feature Molyneux pushed was the hand holding idea. This is not as great as he claims and is useless (and in disguise) of an AI pathfinding replacer. You only really use it to guide people around during certain quests, so don't get too excited about this.
Lastly, the game features a new way to acquire levels, expressions, jobs and other items through The Road to Rule. As you complete sections of the game you can purchase chests using Guild Seals that you get from defeating enemies or completing quests. This is an interesting way of upgrading, but you wouldn't miss it if it were gone. Secondly, the same goes for those stupid jobs that you can do to make money. After you try each one you'll be done because it's mundane, and you don't earn as much gold after you buy up a lot of property.
Overall, Fable III tries too hard instead of starting anew. The game looks the same as Fable II, and in turn, looks outdated with muddy textures, some low-resolution models, and the only thing that looks good are far off vistas. The game also has a lot of British humor and may not suit everyone, but the voice acting is pretty good. With only a few side quests being memorable, a generic story, and some useless overhyped features Fable III are disappointing, but not as much as you'd think. If you liked Fable II you'll love this, but haters will still hate.
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3 comments on "Fable III"
jako12345 on 04/06/2013 at 12:55 AM said:
I enjoyed this game more than most but I'm a little biased- it was my first choice-based RPG (I'm pretty young) as well as Gamefly game and I love The Sims franchise so I loved interacting with all the people in Albion as well. The game does include too many pointless elements, but I guess I didn't realize that when I rented it because I was just awed by the whole thing. It was also probably the first game to make me care about its story (although when looking back, the story was pretty cliche) and now story is the most important thing to me in games.
binarymessiah on 04/06/2013 at 2:05 AM said:
If you played the first 2 games you will realize how disappointing this one was. There was almost nothing changed from Fable II, but Fable II was a better game and had a much better story. Honestly, the series needs a reboot, but now that Peter Molyneux left Lionhead Studios I don't know if we will see a Fable again.
jako12345 on 04/07/2013 at 6:02 PM said:
I got Fable 1 afterwards, but didn't enjoy it that much however my friend who never played Fable 3 enjoyed it a lot so I understand your point.
Death of the Game Manual


text:
title:  Teacher Comments
date:   08/12/2017
---

### The Lesson in Brief

**Key Text**: Romans 9

**The Student Will**:

- **Know**: Grasp the reality that God has not forsaken Israel and that He wants to save all—both Jews and Gentiles.
- **Feel**: Develop a convincing sense that while God desires to save all, He alone chooses who carries out particular missions in His kingdom.
- **Do**: Seek to clarify the difference between whom God saves and whom He appoints as His saving agents.

### Learning Outline:

1. Know: How God Redeems the Lost
+ Why was it that Israel so obviously had misunderstood its divine destiny?
+ Why has God never made an unconditional covenant to save any people or religious group?

2. Feel: Sense God's Patience With the Failures of Israel.
+ The Jewish rejection and crucifixion of Christ could have brought rejection by God, so why has God not fully rejected Israel?
+ Have you ever really blown an important job opportunity yet gotten a second chance? Please share your reaction to this special blessing.

3. Do: Yield to God's Will.
+ Why might someone be jealous of another's ministry?
+ How does the fact that God determines who receives what when it comes to "spiritual gifts" speak to God's service appointments?

**Summary**: It is important to seek to understand God's will to save both Jew and Gentile and to clarify how He chooses whomever He will to reach the lost.

#### Learning Cycle

##### STEP 1—Motivate

**Spotlight on Scripture**: Romans 9

**Key Concept for Spiritual Growth**: It is critically important to understand that God does not predetermine anyone's eternal salvation. But He does determine who will do His bidding when it comes to mission assignments and spiritual gifting. In such a life of Christian witness and service, there is a great blessing in being a part of God's redemptive purposes.

**Just for Teachers**: God does not predetermine anyone's personal salvation. But He has been quite sovereign when it comes to Israel's destiny as God's chosen mission witnesses to the lost human race. So, this week's key question is: How does God relate to the failures of His Old Testament people in the context of His desire for the salvation of both Jews and Gentiles?

**Opening Discussion**: Recall the first time that you ever read Romans 9. What questions immediately came to your mind regarding God's seemingly irresistible predestination, especially as it related to questions addressing personal salvation from sin and eternal death?

**Questions for Discussion**:

1. What is it in God's nature that assures us that He is not a Being who irresistibly predetermines everyone's eternal destiny?
2. Why does Paul seem so burdened regarding the salvation of the Jews?
3. Consider Paul's obvious preoccupation with what has been called "the Jewish question" in Romans 9. What contributed to Paul's anxious puzzlement over the fact that the Jews were resisting the gospel, while a great number of Gentiles gladly flocked into the churches and freely embraced it?

##### STEP 2—Explore

**Just for Teachers**: While we seek to justify God's desire to save all sinful humans, the key question that Romans 9 addresses is: How does God intend ultimately to redeem the Israelite (Jewish) people, in spite of their past failures? In other words, as part of our search, we need to follow carefully Paul's argument that seeks to justify God's redemptive providences in saving all, both Jew and Gentile.

**Bible Commentary**

**I. Paul's Burden and Purpose for Both Jews and Gentiles** (Review Romans 9:1–13 with your class.)

In these verses, Paul seeks to demonstrate that God's plan to use Israel has not totally failed, as it is still producing a "remnant" of the seed of Abraham. So, while God has been selective, His will to save the lost is slowly but surely being effected. For instance, Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, was chosen, and he (by faith in God's promises and power) begot a son named Isaac; then Isaac by faith begot Jacob, the direct progenitor of the tribes of Israel. Therefore, though God has been suffering setbacks, He is steadily, persistently, and providentially raising up a faithful "seed," or redeemed children. And these miracle children are becoming His progenitors of Israel and agents of salvation in a world racked by sin and hopelessness.

**Consider This**: Even though God has been selective in choosing His special servants, what evidence do we have that God has, or has not, been arbitrary in whom He saves?

**II. God's Elected Messengers to the World** (Review Romans 9:14–24 with your class.)

Paul now continues his argument by citing Exodus 33:19 and 9:16 in order to make the point that God will have "mercy on whomever" He chooses. And He will show His "compassion" and His "power . . . in all the earth" (Rom. 9:15, 17, NKJV). Paul also sets forth God's sovereign "power" in the illustration of the divine Potter, whose prerogative it is to shape the clay as He chooses (Rom. 9:19–24). So, clearly God is the One who is in charge when it comes to deciding who will do His missionary will on the earth.

**Discussion Question**: God is in charge of choosing His missionary agencies. Does this fact negate His ability to impart to humans the right to choose to accept or reject their eternal salvation? Why, or why not?

**III. God Is in Charge of His Mission to Save the World.** (Review Romans 9:25–33 with your class.)

Spend a few moments going over the Old Testament passages cited by Paul that prophesy about God's mission to the Gentiles (such as Hos. 2:23; 1:10; Isa. 10:22, 23; 1:9, and 13:19).

**Consider This**: What evidence is given in these verses that points to God's passion to save both Jews and Gentiles?

**IV. A Universal Offer of Salvation** (Review 1 Timothy 2:3, 4; 4:10; John 3:16; Titus 2:11; and 2 Peter 3:9 with your class.)

The texts for review clearly witness to a universal offer of salvation. But how do they, in turn, relate to Paul's thesis of God's sovereign choice of Israel to do His missionary bidding?

In answer to this question, let's ponder these five texts, which seem to clearly speak of a free-grace, freewill version of salvation:

1. "God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved" (1 Tim. 2:3, 4, NKJV); compared with
2. "God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe" (1 Tim. 4:10, NKJV);
3. " 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life' " (John 3:16, NKJV);
4. "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men" (Titus 2:11, NKJV); and
5. "The Lord . . . is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9, NKJV).

**Consider This**: Recall the question that commenced this section: What are we to make of these verses? By way of answering, ponder the following rationale: If Paul means in Romans 9 that God has irresistibly predetermined the salvation of all men, regardless of their freely given, grace-and faith-based response to the gospel, then we have caught the Scriptures in a gross contradiction. What is to be made of this supposed conundrum? It then would seem "logical" to conclude that the great controversy theme is effectually shorn of its interpretive power to explain the origin of sin and suffering. The terrible result of this conclusion would be that God is left as the sole cause of evil and the Bestower of an arbitrary salvation from the wages of sin. How does a correct understanding of Bible truth in Romans 9 overturn this false assumption?

##### STEP 3—Apply

**Just for Teachers**: Invite your class to ponder the last question posed regarding the dynamics of the great controversy theme in the previous step, and then tackle the following questions:

**Application Questions**:

1. There is a theme that is often referred to in philosophy and theology as "theodicy." Namely, it is the question of how we can go about vindicating or properly "judging" God in the face of the problem of seemingly unmitigated human suffering and sorrow. How have you struggled to make sense of the problem of evil?
2. How does our explanation of Romans 9 make contextual sense in the unfolding argument of Paul in Romans? Or have we improperly imported a "freewill, free-grace" theme that is alien to Paul's overall thought? Discuss.
3. Is it fair to Paul to place him in the larger narrative of the biblical canon when it comes to the numerous freewill, free-grace passages cited above?
4. How does the great controversy provide a satisfactory explanation of the problem of evil and the inconceivable amount of human suffering and loss manifested in the history of this world?

##### STEP 4—Create

**Just for Teachers**: As your class wrestles with Romans 9 and Paul's struggle with the Judaizers, seek to lead them into a sympathetic identity with Paul and his missionary burdens for both Jews and Gentiles.

**Activities**:

1. Ask the class to reread reflectively Paul's anguished, even "hand-wringing," confession of concern for the salvation of the Jews in Romans 9:1–4. Then ponder the second activity listed.
2. After reflecting on your experience of Christian witness and service, ask yourselves (first individually, then as a class) if you have ever reached the point where you were willing to die either "with" (as Moses) or "for" (as Paul) the Christians and the non-Christians in your life.
3. As Paul ponders the differing ways that "Israel" (particularly first-century "Jews") and the "Gentiles" have related to the gospel in Romans 9:30–33, he then compares the two contrasting experiences of those who pursue "the law of righteousness" (Rom. 9:31). He identifies these two experiences as (a) "the righteousness of faith" (Rom. 9:30, NKJV) and (b) "works of the law" (Rom. 9:32). What would be some key characteristics that could help the followers of Christ to discern the distinctions between experiences that have been based on "faith" as opposed to those based on "works of the law"?


Aalst-Erembodegem, November 7, 2018 - Ontex Group NV (Euronext Brussels: ONTEX; 'Ontex,' 'the Group' or 'the Company') today announced its results for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2018.
Hygiene markets remained broadly stable compared to a year ago. In the third quarter, babycare category value decreased at a similar rate to the first half, however with a modest improvement in market pricing while volumes were lower. The proportion of retailer brands in our markets were at similar levels versus last year, highlighting their inherent attractiveness to retail customers as well as consumers.
On a year-on-year basis, most commodity raw material indices were higher, in some cases materially, in Q3 2018. Based on current information this is expected to continue in Q4 2018.
The majority of currencies we do business in were lower versus the euro during Q3 2018, continuing the trend seen in the first half of the year.
Based on our year-to-date revenue performance, we remain on track to record low single-digit LFL growth for the full year 2018 in broadly flat hygiene markets. Actions to enhance price/mix and cost saving initiatives will continue and further value-creating actions will be considered as required, in light of sustained input cost pressures and FX volatility. We expect Q4 2018 Adjusted EBITDA margin to be broadly similar to that in 9M 2018.
Babycare category revenue saw a slight decrease of 0.5% in Q3 2018. Baby pants revenue accelerated further in Q3, up double digits supported by growth in all main markets. Baby diapers had competitive growth in several of our markets outside Brazil.
Revenue in the Femcare category in Q3 2018 was 0.8% lower, with growth of organic cotton tampon sales remaining high.
In Q3 2018, Adult Inco category revenue was up 3.3%, with sales in retail channels 8% higher and stable in institutional channels. Sales of Adult Pants and Light Inco products continued to drive our revenue in this category.
Against a high prior year comparable, Q3 2018 Mature Markets Retail Division revenue was 3.9% lower. Following strong, volume-led revenue growth in 2017 and a continuous and material rise in Group input costs, we increased our efforts to improve the contribution from price and mix in 2018. Year-on-year pricing was positive in Q3, reflecting the broad-based price increases designed to partly offset significant Group-wide input cost growth, particularly in raw materials and energy. As expected, sales volumes were negatively affected by these price increases, in an environment where the international branded diaper competitor has maintained an aggressive pricing policy and promotional activity. Product mix was positively impacted by ongoing volume gains in Baby Pants and Adult Incontinence, as new production capacity to support our customers continued to ramp up. We also continued rolling out our new channel core diapers to leading retailer customers, helping them to attract consumers to their stores.
The Growth Markets Division delivered a solid revenue performance in Q3 2018, increasing 8.9%. Higher volumes and positive price/mix underpinned the revenue growth, which continued to be broad-based across most categories and geographies. In spite of ongoing rising Group input costs and weaker currency, the competitive environment remains challenging with all Babycare suppliers maintaining a high level of pricing and promotional activity to gain share. Our focus to develop local production capabilities and leverage the Company's deep experience in retailer brands supported market outperformance in the Division.
Q3 2018 Healthcare Division revenue was essentially unchanged versus last year, down 0.1%. The sales mix benefited from the growth of Adult Pants and Light Inco products in most markets, which offset a slight decrease in volumes across other products. In light of sustained input cost inflation we will continue to implement efficiency measures and actively manage our customer and product portfolio.
Revenue in our Middle East and North Africa Division grew 16.2% in Q3 2018, demonstrating that our actions are delivering results. Despite heightened competition in Babycare, Division sales rose due to both higher volumes and positive price/mix. In Turkey, we benefited from our recently launched Canbebe baby diaper innovation supported by increased in-store activation and digital engagement with consumers, and further growth in Adult Inco, together with pricing actions in light of local currency weakness. We also had good growth in other markets including export sales.
Americas Retail Division had 1.9% revenue growth in Q3 2018, on top of a solid comparable revenue performance last year. Outside Brazil, revenue was up 14.2%, as our portfolio of local Babycare and Adult Inco brands in Mexico continued to perform well, and sales in the US accelerated due to strong Babycare and Femcare sales. In Brazil, we relaunched an enhanced Pom Pom diaper, with positive initial consumer feedback, following the relaunch of our Cremer diaper brand a few months earlier. Our team also successfully finalized the consolidation of production onto one site in Brazil, previously announced in May 2018, which includes new proprietary technology that will support our future growth plans. In addition to these operational milestones, we delivered further sequential revenue growth in Q3 2018 of 5% excluding FX versus Q2 2018, and positive adjusted EBITDA. The progress to date confirms that our comprehensive turnaround plan in Brazil is slowly but surely taking effect.
Q3 2018 revenue was driven by an increase outside of Europe, despite significant FX headwinds. The majority of Group reported revenue was from outside of Western Europe, in markets which are forecast to continue growing in the mid- to long-term.
The above press release and related financial information of Ontex Group NV for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 was authorized for issue in accordance with a resolution of the Board of Directors on November 6, 2018.
The following alternative performance measures (non-GAAP) have been included in this trading update since management believes that they are widely used by certain investors, securities analysts and other interested parties as supplemental measures of performance and liquidity. The alternative performance measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies and have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our operating results, our performance or our liquidity under IFRS.
Like-for-like revenue is defined as revenue at constant currency excluding change in perimeter of consolidation or M&A.
EBITDA is defined as earnings before net finance cost, income taxes, depreciation and amortisation. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA plus non-recurring income and expenses. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margins are EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue.
Net financial debt is calculated by adding short-term and long-term debt and deducting cash and cash equivalents. LTM adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA plus non-recurring income and expenses for the last twelve months (LTM).


Protein is an essential building block of our body, a source of nutrients made up from amino acids produced by our body and supplemented from external sources, which you need to take in daily to ensure your body's self-sustenance. It contributes to maintaining muscles during workout, a diet and your everyday life. You need more protein if you exercise regularly, want to increase your muscle mass or as you age. A quick, convenient and highly effective way to take in proteins is taking protein supplements; all you need is protein powder, a shaker and some water or milk. Protein powder is easy to digest and, as opposed to consuming large quantities of meat, it doesn't cause acidification. Protein powder can be derived from milk, as well as from animal or plant sources or their combination. Their absorption can be fast (30–40 minutes), moderate (1–2 hours) or slow (more than 2 hours). Lactose, also known as 'milk sugar', is a complex carbohydrate, accounting for about 2–8 percent of the dry matter content of milk. We mainly need lactose during infancy, and therefore it is not uncommon that in adulthood your body does not produce any lactase enzyme, required to break down lactose, which causes lactose intolerance. Today nearly 75% of the world's population suffers from lactose intolerance. During the production process, lactose is separated from whey through a multi-step ultrafiltration and cross-flow filtration micro procedure. Thus, an extremely pure, easy-to-digest and easily soluble whey protein isolate (WPI) is produced, which is a further purified version of whey protein concentrate (WPC), which thus contains even less carbohydrate and fat.


Curly Prom Hairstyles for Medium Length Hair: Celebrity Edition!
Home > Curly Prom Hairstyles for Medium Length Hair: Celebrity Edition!
Ah, the elusive prom hairstyles for medium length hair. It's a little tougher to find formal hairstyle for hair that's shoulder length or shorter but that doesn't mean there aren't tons of gorgeous options out there!
For inspiration, look to the fabulous celebrities who have broken from the long hair mold. In the hands of the best stylists out there, any one of the formal hairstyles for medium hair as seen on the red carpet. As you'll see, with this length hair it's much better to opt for glamorous curls instead of an abbreviated version of the updo.
Reese Witherspoon is an inspiration in so many ways and hair is definitely one of them. When she's not rocking perfect bangs with long hair, she is sassy and fabulous in medium length hair. Here she looks stunning and stylish and a Betty Draper inspired vintage look. Artfully placed ringlets create a golden frame for the face. Complete the look with complementary prom makeup and jewelry.
Next up is a more modern curly prom hairstyle for medium hair on Kirsten Dunst. If you're doing this yourself, concentrate curls at the ends of hair to get all over volume and texture. Finish with a few ringlets on either side of the face that spiral up to the brow but no further. If you want to add a touch of sparkle to the mix, wear a crystal prom hair clip.
For an ultra romantic look that also works for thick hair, try Selena Gomez's ringlet curls. Coils at the last few inches of hair all around bring gorgeous texture, volume, and bounce to this long bob hairstyle. If you're doing this medium prom hairstyle at home, you can get a similar look with most of the curls around the face and a few at the sides and back. Use a 1/2″-1″ curling wand for just the right size curls and heat protection spray that also boost curls for a hairstyle that lasts all night.


LGBTQ people face similar barriers to advancement in the nonprofit sector as in the rest of the workforce. But LGBTQ people of color face added challenges because of the combination of racial bias and the nation's patchwork of laws against discrimination on the basis of sexuality and gender identity.
LGBTQ people of color face the dual effects of their race and sexuality on their career advancement. However, race was the most significant dimension impacting the opportunity to advance into leadership roles.
There were many instances of bias reported by LGBTQ respondents, and due to the patchwork of state laws, many LGBTQ people don't have legal protections against discrimination in nonprofit organizations.
The LGBTQ subsample of survey respondents reflected a diverse range of gender identifications.
The respondents who self-identified as LGBTQ were diverse in their sexual orientation.
reported working for an identity-based organization, whereas one-third of white respondents reported working for an identity-based organization.
Kunreuther, Frances and Sean Thomas-Breitfeld (2017). Working at the Intersections: LGBTQ Nonprofit Staff and the Racial Leadership Gap.


text:
Ivan Gazidis is both correct and utterly tone deaf
He makes good points that don't matter, and also he presents them poorly.
By pdb Oct 27, 2017, 11:25am EDT
Share All sharing options for: Ivan Gazidis is both correct and utterly tone deaf
Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
Those of you who know me (or at least know my writing) know that I am, in other sports, a big believer in using statistical analysis to produce better sports. There are a bazillion ways (STATISTICAL TERM) in which you can analyze most sports and attempt to find an edge - baseball was at the forefront of this movement, with Bill James and the sabermetricians creating some truly amazing work that has advanced everyone's knowledge of the game in myriad ways, but most US sports have embraced statistical analysis to some degree.
Soccer's not nearly there yet, largely because most teams have privatized their data so people in the wider world can't get to meaningful data in order to advance analysis of the game, but it's starting to head that direction in fits and starts. I think that's a good thing overall, even if I don't pay a lot of serious attention to the usage of stats just yet.
In baseball, as in most sports (I follow baseball a lot closer, so it's the one I'm most familiar with), this led to a huge divide in the early days of statistical analysis, between the people who didn't believe stats were interesting/useful and those who did. Most of that divide was a dumb playground fight that went like this:
Eyeball guy: (and yes, they were almost uniformly guys, shockingly enough): I'VE BEEN WATCHING GAMES FOR 30 YEARS AND THAT'S ALL I NEED TO KNOW
Stats guy: Well, I dove into some numbers, and it turns out that you should use your best reliever in the most dangerous situation and not wait to throw him in at the very end of the game
Eyeball guy: SHUT UP NERD GO BACK TO YOUR MOM'S BASEMENT
Stat guy: No, it's really easy to see, here, take a look at....
Eyeball guy: HAVE YOU EVER WATCHED A GAME BASEBALL IS NOT PLAYED ON A SPREADSHEET
and it would go on, just that productively, until someone mentioned hot pockets and blogging, and then it would circle back to the beginning and start all over again. It was super useful and a great way to advance the debate, as you can see.
But what the statistical revolution in sports did do, that nobody can deny from either side of the debate, was make it easier to think about sports in a different way, a deeper way than had ever been done before. For instance, in baseball, a lot of assumptions about pitching were challenged and proven to be incorrect - pitcher wins don't actually matter all that much, batters' strikeouts aren't the worst thing on the planet, etc - and out of that, new methods of thinking about game strategy and roster construction were developed.
These new things are not universally accepted yet, but the thought process is in place and slowly, people, even skeptics, are being drawn in and actually thinking about things differently. And that's good.
I bring all this up because in the midst of Arsenal's super-fun Thursday AGM, chief executive Ivan Gazidis defended - or attempted to defend - Arsenal's performance both on and off the pitch to a room full of angry, frustrated shareholders and supporters. The problem is, he didn't do it well in any way, shape, or form.
Gazidis' point seemed to be that Arsenal are doing well relative to their spending and to their position in the business side of the game. And that's a reasonable point! He's not wrong in that. The problem is, nobody wants to hear that point because it completely, utterly doesn't matter. The league table doesn't adjust for business acumen.
To illustrate his point that Arsenal are a success, Gazidis attempted to use a statistic - or, put more correctly, a "statistic" - that measures how many points a team earned in relation to the pounds spent on transfers. There are a couple problems with his - and here I'm forced to use scare quotes again because I'm laughing too hard to think straight - "methodology":
What does "pounds spent" mean? Is that gross spend or net spend? Is it just for the summer window or does it also include last January?
What is a good baseline for this? How many pts/£ is actually good, what's average, and what's bad?
Most importantly, and I can't stress this enough: NO ONE USES THIS METRIC FOR ANYTHING BECAUSE IT'S MEANINGLESS AND IT TELLS YOU NOTHING.
Gazidis, like a lot of heavily statistics- and math-oriented analysts, failed to grasp one essential truth: fans want to hear why Arsenal aren't winning. Then they want to hear a plan to get Arsenal back in the Champions League at least, and on a path for challenging for the league title again. They want to hear that Arsenal are serious competitors for top talent, and that the club takes seriously the challenge of getting better and getting back to the Champions League.
In short, they want to hear something they can take some hope from as Arsenal wander their way through another season with a well-defined ceiling, a season in which their neighbors seem poised to steal North London's thunder for another year. They want to know there's hope, in other words, not that some weird invented metric that nobody uses says Arsenal are doing great.
Gabriel Martinelli to sign Arsenal contract extension Fantastic news for the Gunners!


text:
Age of Empyre
By: Michael J. Sullivan
Series: Legends of the First Empire, Book 6
Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds, Robin Sullivan, Michael J. Sullivan
Winter blankets the land, and more than just hope has died. Prevented from invading the Fhrey homeland by the tower of Avempartha, the western army seeks a way across the Nidwalden River before the fane obtains the secret of dragons. As time runs out for both humanity and the mystic Suri, the only chance for the living rests with the dead. Having made their fateful choice, can a handful of misfits do the impossible, or are they forever lost to an inescapable grave? Do gods truly exist? Is it possible to know the future? And what lies beyond the veil of death?
Age of Crying
By Suspect on 02-06-20
Age of Legend
Book Four of The Legends of the First Empire
With Age of Myth, Age of Swords, and the New York Times best-selling Age of War, fantasy master Michael J. Sullivan riveted fans with a tale of unlikely heroes locked in a desperate battle to save humankind. After years of warfare, humanity has gained the upper hand and has pushed the Fhrey to the edge of their homeland, but no farther. Now comes the pivotal moment. Persephone's plan to use the stalemate to seek peace is destroyed by an unexpected betrayal that threatens to hand victory to her enemy and leaves a loved one in peril.
Half a book
By Nancy Wallace on 07-14-19
The Legends of the First Empire, Book 3
The alliance of humans and renegade Fhrey is fragile - and about to be tested as never before. Persephone keeps the human clans from turning on one another through her iron will and a compassionate heart. The arrogant Fhrey are barely held in check by their leader, Nyphron, who seeks to advance his own nefarious agenda through a loveless marriage that will result in the betrayal of the person Persephone loves most: Raithe, the God Killer.
Age of Swords
Raithe, the God Killer, may have started the rebellion by killing a Fhrey, but longstanding enmities dividing the Rhune make it all but impossible to unite against the common foe. And even if the clans can join forces, how will they defeat an enemy whose magical prowess renders them indistinguishable from gods? The answer lies across the sea in a faraway land populated by a reclusive and dour race who feel nothing but disdain for both Fhrey and mankind.
Bad sequel after a strong start.
Age of Myth
Book One of The Legends of the First Empire
Since time immemorial, humans have worshipped the gods they call Fhrey, truly a race apart: invincible in battle, masters of magic, and seemingly immortal. But when a god falls to a human blade, the balance of power between humans and those they thought were gods changes forever. Now only a few stand between humankind and annihilation: Raithe, reluctant to embrace his destiny as the God Killer. Suri, a young seer burdened by signs of impending doom. And Persephone, who must overcome personal tragedy to lead her people.
Almost an Epic Fantasy
By Joel on 06-20-17
The Death of Dulgath
The Riyria Chronicles, Book 3
Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds, Michael J. Sullivan
Three times they tried to kill her. Then they hired a professional. She hired Riyria. When the last member of the oldest noble family in Avryn is targeted for assassination, Riyria is hired to foil the plot. Three years have passed since the war-weary mercenary Hadrian and the cynical ex-assassin Royce joined forces to start life as thieves for hire. Things have gone well enough until they receive the odd assignment to prevent a murder.
One of the Best Fantasy Series!!!
By Cheri on 01-10-16
The Rose and the Thorn
For more than a year, Royce Melborn has tried to forget Gwen DeLancy, the woman who saved him and his partner, Hadrian Blackwater, from certain death. Unable to get her out of his mind, the two thieves return to Medford but receive a very different reception - Gwen refuses to see them. The victim of abuse by a powerful noble, she suspects that Royce will ignore any danger in his desire for revenge. By turning the thieves away, Gwen hopes to once more protect them. What she doesn't realize is what the two are capable of - but she's about to find out.
How To Succeed in the Middle Ages
By Terri on 10-20-13
The Crown Tower
Michael J. Sullivan garnered critical raves and a massive readership for his Riyria Revelations series. The first book in his highly anticipated Riyria Chronicles series of prequels, The Crown Tower brings together warrior Hadrian Blackwater with thieving assassin Royce Melborn. The two form a less-than-friendly pairing, but the quest before them has a rare prize indeed, and if they can breach the supposedly impregnable walls of the Crown Tower, their names will be legend.
Fell in love with these characters all over again
By Cayce on 03-14-14
The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter
Narrated by: Michael J. Sullivan, Tim Gerard Reynolds
When Gabriel Winter's daughter mysteriously disappears and is presumed dead, the wealthy whiskey baron seeks revenge. Having lived in Colnora during the infamous Year of Fear, he hires the one man he knows can deliver a bloody retribution - the notorious Duster.
By Mar! A brilliant addition to my favorite Chronicle
By Gina on 12-30-17
Riyria Revelations, Volume 2
Best-selling author Michael J. Sullivan's mesmerizing Riyria Revelations series has found a welcome home with fans of magic, clashing swords, and daring heroes. This second volume finds Royce and Hadrian on a quest to enlist the southern Nationalists to aid the ever-weakening kingdom of Melengar. Royce suspects an ancient wizard is manipulating them all, but to find the truth he'll have to decipher Hadrian's past—a past Hadrian wants to keep secret.
The story expands.
By Scott S. on 09-24-13
Heir of Novron
On the holiday of Wintertide, the New Empire plans to burn the Witch of Melengar and force the Empress into a marriage of their own design. But they didn't account for Royce and Hadrian finally locating the Heir of Novron—or the pair's desire to wreak havoc on the New Empire's carefully crafted scheme.
AN EXCELLENT TRILOGY
Theft of Swords
Acclaimed author Michael J. Sullivan created instant best sellers with his spellbinding Riyria Revelations series. This first volume introduces Royce Melborn and Hadrian Blackwater, two enterprising thieves who end up running for their lives when they're framed for the death of the king. Trapped in a conspiracy bigger than they can imagine, their only hope is unraveling an ancient mystery - before it's too late.
Good Clean Fun!
By Roy Scorup on 04-23-13
Nolyn
The Rise and Fall, Book 1
Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds, Michael J. Sullivan, Robin Sullivan
After more than 500 years of exile, the heir to the empyre is wary about his sudden reassignment to active duty on the Goblin War's front lines. His mission to rescue an outpost leads to a dead-end canyon deep inside enemy territory, and his suspicion turns to dread when he discovers the stronghold doesn't exist.
What are you doing Michael?
By Hotel Hero on 08-09-21
Pile of Bones
When a storm reveals a mysterious cave behind a waterfall, the young mystic's apprentice and her wolf investigate. Inside, she discovers a secret place containing a pile of human bones and the young girl makes what could be a fatal mistake. In this Legends of the First Empire prequel, we witness the events that helped shape the woman who would one day become Suri the Mystic, the first Rhune Artist, and a hero to a generation
Good preview, unsatisfying story
By Samuel Hudnet on 01-11-20
Farilane
Length: Not Yet Known
Being an unwanted twin in the Imperial line of succession, Farilane became a scholar, adventurer, and in a time when reading was once more forbidden - a book hunter. Her singular obsession is finding the mythical Book of Brin, a tome not just lost but intentionally buried. Respected and beloved by the Teshlor Knights, not even their legendary skills can protect her for what she finds is more dangerous than what she sought.
The Viscount and the Witch
Eleven years before they were framed for the murder of a king, before even assuming the title of Riyria, Royce Melborn and Hadrian Blackwater were practically strangers. Unlikely associates, this cynical thief and idealist swordsman, were just learning how to work together as a team. In this standalone first installment of The Riyria Chronicles, Royce is determined to teach his naive partner a lesson about good deeds. Join Royce and Hadrian in this short story about one of their earliest adventures.
only if you dont own cronicles book 2
By Atle on 10-06-15
The Cycle of Arawn
The Complete Trilogy
By: Edward W. Robertson
The White Tree (book one): In Mallon the dark magic of the nether has been banned for centuries. Its users have been driven out or killed. Its secrets lost. But the holy book of the nethermancers has just been found by a boy named Dante. As he works to unlock the book's power, he's attacked in the street. The nethermancers aren't gone—and they want their book back. Caught between death cultists and the law, Dante fights for his life, aided by his growing skills and a brash bodyguard named Blays.
In Response to the Criticism from Other Reviewers
By Jonah on 06-11-17
The Red Sea
The Cycle of Galand, Book 1
When Dante Galand was just a boy, his father, Larsin, sailed away to make his fortune. And never returned. Since then, Dante has become a great sorcerer. A ruler. A destroyer of kings. And he's just learned that his father is living on a forbidden island at the edge of the known world. Where he's dying of a mysterious plague. In the company of his friend, the swordsman Blays, Dante travels to the island. There, his magic can do nothing for his father.
tiresome and long-winded...not for me
By LINCOLN on 10-19-18
A door opens. An army of dragons advance. And the fate of the living rests with the dead.
After obtaining the secret to creating dragons, the leader of the Fhrey has turned the tide of war once more - but gaining the advantage has come at a terrible price. While Imaly plots to overthrow the fane for transgressions against his people, a mystic and a keeper are the only hope for the Rhunes. Time is short, and the future of both races hangs in the balance. In this exciting conclusion to the Legends of the First Empire series, the Great War finally comes to a climactic end, and with it dawns a new era in the Age of Empyre.
From the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Michael J. Sullivan comes the concluding installment of his six-book epic fantasy. This series chronicles a pivotal point in Elan's history when humans and those they once saw as gods warred until a new world order was born. Set 3,000 years before the Riyria tales, Legends is a stand-alone fantasy series that is independent of the Riyria novels. But for those who do listen to both series, Legends will unmask lies and reveal the truth about Elan's history and the men and women who shaped what the world became.
©2020 Michael J. Sullivan (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
Red Rising
The Four-Part Key
What listeners say about Age of Empyre
This entire series is a failure
Simply awful series. I was so excited after the first book too. Book 2 was tedious with characters discovering something basic like how to make shoes. Then someone says, what are those? I call them shh
ooos.. Shooos. Shoes! The author did that over and over. The third book was ok but book 4 & 5 were simply awful. The story progresses at a snail's pace and both books end on a cliff hanger. Michael makes the reader slog through 2 entire books and offers no reward. Atrocious story telling.
But I am invested and now here is the final book. It's terrible. I haven't finished it and I'm going to expand this review when I do (I finally finished it and amended my review at the end). Right now I'm listening to it at a sped up pace just to get it over with.
The writing is so simplistic. There is one part where it's basically: I love you person, other person: I love you too. How can you love me? I just do love you. I'm glad you love me, love is great. And everyone has a love interest. There's like 5 or 6 different pairs of people falling in love. It's half the dang book. Just shoot me instead!
I am a huge fan of the Riyria series but this one sucks. The entire series could be condensed into 2 books, maybe three. It's not a complicated story when you take out the nonsensical, needless.. I don't know what to call it. Just wasted words that make listening to this a chore.
Terrible. I'll have more when I finally finish this thing but I'm not that excited about the prospect.
Such a shame.
Some spoilers below
Well, I finally finished it. What an awful book. It was like an "After School Special" movie where everything had a moral at the end. "The secret is you have to believe in yourself" type of nonsense. I can't properly explain how terrible this book is.
There's a saying in writing "show, don't tell". This book does the opposite; it doesn't show anything, it just tells you. Like Brin is so pure all the sudden. Over and over they say how important she is, she's the only thing that matters. Ok, why? And the Book of Brin which was mentioned probably 200 times in the series doesn't matter at all? And Minna coming back from the dead just to have a feel good moment? Awful! The wolf dying was the defining characteristic of a main character and the author just reverses it for the feels? Garbage.
I could go on and on, there's so many things I dislike about this book. I won't though because it was exhausting enough just listening to it. There's no energy left for me to complain, only to walk away saddened and disappointed.
Michael J. Sullivan has lost credibility as an author to me. This surface deep drivel he has produced has left me with zero interest in discovering what else he has in store for his readers. What an absolute mess.
Disappointing conclusion
This is the most disappointed I have been finishing a series since I read Stephen King's The Dark Tower.
the first three books of this series are fantastic, but book 4 details and goes into a deep and long stretch of absolute stupidity that ruins the entire series. The events of Age of Legends plague all the books moving forward. The ending is full of loose ends and pointless actions.
*****SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON****
Age of Legends is the begining of the end for this series, and Persephone is the downfall. At this point, the runes are safe. They have beaten the fhrey out of their lands, and have an invincible dragon safeguarding them. the have been in camp for years now,in a stalemate. The elves have no hope of defeating the dragon that Suri has created. They could build a civilization on that hill and be safeguarded forever. There is no reason to seek peace with the fhrey. they could have stayed there, separate from the fhrey and lived in peace. But....
All of a sudden, Persephone gets the bright idea to send their MOST VALUABLE ASSET FOR THEIR DEFENSE, ALONE, TO THE FHREY. THIS IS INCOMPREHENSIBLY, IRREDEEMABLY, ATROCIOUSLY STUPID. There is absolutely no need whatsoever to do this. The one person that can create dragons, the WMD of their age, should be guarded ferociously, as it is the key to winning and keeping peace. Nope, sent her alone, to the people waging a war of genocide against their entire race. This comparable to sending the only person with full knowledge of atomic secrets to the Germans in the early forties, alone, to negotiate a cease fire. It is such a ridiculously pointless, stupid, thoughtless act that I couldn't believe that Sullivan, or his editors, or anyone else that read the drafts didn't make him rewrite this. Then the stupidity continues.
Suri, having gone on this fools errand for some unbelievable reason, lets the people waging genocidal war on her people put a collar on her that negates her powers. Willingly. This is also COMPLETELY INCOMPREHENSIBLY STUPID. She knows she can't trust them, that they want what she knows, that they will kill her entire race. You may think 'well, Suri has always been a bit naive' and you would be correct in the first novels, but this 8 or so years that have passed between the first novel and this one. Suri is in her twenties at this point, speaks two languages, mastered the art, and lived in society for a decade now. She has spent the entirety of that period struggling and learning exactly how horrible people can act. She's not naive, this is just uncharacteristically stupid for her character.
Of course the fhrey spend the next year or so torturing her to learn how to make dragons. I kept thinking, "well Suri knows that giving them the secret to making dragons would be absolute horrific to her people. It would be better for her to die than to betray her entire race like that. I'm sure she'll keep it under wraps." NOPE. She gives the secrets up after, having been tortured for years, they change tactics and try to minipulate her into being sympathetic to their cause. It doesn't work until one of the fhrey is nice to her and has the faces of mice on her shoes. That's right. Suri decides to spill the beans, betray her entire race, because her new fhrey friend has hello kitty shoes. Again, this is so stupid I can't get over it.
Suri and Persephone are the biggest traitors in the history of their world. Not only does Suri realize how powerful and dangerous this is, she actually coaches them on how to make them until they get it right. I just..... can't. It's soooooooooooooo STUPID.
These acts just plague the series from then on. the last two books should have been one book, but I guess Sullivan decided to do a cash grab by splitting them up into two books figuring the readers are invested now so they may complain but they'll still buy it.
The ending is so disappointing. The two civilizations end up being split and separated anyways. the events of the last two books have no dicernable effect on either of their civilizations that wasn't accomplished in Age of War. The last book is slow and boring and filled with people sitting in a pit complaining for the first half. Two main characters remain in the pit to wallow in self pity, and that's how their story ends. I'm serious. That's their end.
The actions of the other characters are made pointless at the end, especially Brin's ending. Spend so long making that book important just to have it taken away at the end. And then there's Nefron...
I don't understand why all of these people are working so hard to put a crown on Nefron. Why? He's a murderous, genocidal, treacherous, conniving, immoral, petty man using the runes as a means to an end. They for some reason still line up to lick his boots. But why? At first it was because they needed his advice and protection from the rest of the fhrey. After Age of War though, this is no longer an issue. At all. They have a DRAGON now. They could have told Nefron to take himself and his murderous little band to get to the other side of the midwalden river, and stay there. What need did they have of him after that? Runes are figuring out how to use the art, they reproduce far quicker than the elves, are winning the war absolutely at this point, they have a WMD, they have a whole continent to themselves. Why are they still pursuing anything at all with the fhrey? Yes the dragon has a range, but the fhrey don't know that. They are all working so incredibly hard to put themselves into shackles.
I'm not sure if I will read another book in this series. After reading every single novel and short story of the Rhyiria Revelations &Chronicles, I don't think I can handle more insanely stupid plot devices that plague both series. It's a real shame, because the world building, characters, mythology are really good. I wouldn't be this upset about the ending if I didn't like the first three books so much. Once the banter between Wraith and Malcomb is gone, Persephone becomes subservient, Suri's horrible life of misery and horrible treatment continues, Tesch's story just flat out ends (seriously, nothing happens with him that is at all relevant to the plot after Age of Legends), the really dumb plot devices being used, there just wasn't anything to look forward to. This book was 20hrs of Timothy Gerard Reynolds (as wonderful and talented of a narrator as always) letting you down by telling you a disappointing story.
Soggy Waffles
Terrible ending...
Sooo many loose ends with this ending.
Robin said a certain someone didn't come back because it would have caused issues for Nefron. That just tells me they couldn't come up with a good way to fix the mess Michael creates by writing that character as he did.
So many other terrible loose ends. Both of the deaths at the end were to.... casual. Awful. I will be returning this book and sadly, I will not complete my hardcover collection.
miro val
Total let down
Tim is always the Best. I found the story to be just a total let down.
A struggle to finish. It is essentially an insult to the original Ryira series.
Navneet Sidhu
Very disappointing
I am compelled to write my first review here because of what a let down the last two books were. After the previous book where the characters meandered around in the underworld, I was excited for great deeds from the characters I loved. Instead, one by one, all of them faded off the pages. Suri had far more potential, hadn't she? Mondulay ( probably incorrect spelling) who was showing some character growth before this, devolved very quickly. Nefron deserved to be held accountable for his cruelty and deviousness, and Persephone deserved some happiness. The ending was too little, too late for me. So many loose ends. This book underscores how even good authors lose sight of their storylines.
Alex solis
Sigh..
I was so invested with the characters in book 1,2 and 3! Then all of of sudden the story takes a sudden sharp turn into despair!
Don't get me wrong the narration is amazing like always! There are cool scenes here and there but by the time everything gets wrapped up your just shocked by the loss of the potential in the characters!!
Books 1 through 3 your like .. yes! I know these characters are going to do great things! But when it's all said and done they only end up playing a small part and then that's it... sad.
So unfortunately I was disappointed with the the last three books in the series, left a empty hole in me.
Michael did a great job with some of the lessons he shared through his stories. That being said measured against his original work this was far below expectations as a series. I just started reading the originals again and this book sounds nothing like Michael. Bring back the old Michael for the next series! This story was just all over the place. I really wanted to like it, and in part I did but overall I realized I really don't.
DeeDoo
Nearly ruined the series, last minute redemption
Minor spoilers, no exact details below
I have one star for the story for me liking most of the beginning. Another star for it not entirely demolishing the story and characters I've loved.
I'm pretty upset with how the series ended, he could have done better, but there were no major loose ends.
I. Have. Loved. This. Series. One of my favorites. This book came *this close* to ruining it, though.
My favorite character was Mawyndulë—I'm a sucker for the "misguided character is villain" type. But the author didn't do enough with him! After the death of some people close to him, I was really looking forward to Insane Mawyndulë... ( does that make me insane?) I'm pretty sure he snapped some, but nothing interesting! The thing I hate most about this book is he kinda just.. was left there. Not hanging, but not done either.
Also, a Frey (probably spelling it wrong sorry) who had murdered died, and you see them in the entrance to Pyre, unable to head in. But it mentions that there were wars—why were they alone? Shouldn't there be thousands? I think maybe that rule was made after the war, but NOT ONE FREY MURDERED? What??
I feel like Neffron did not get the punishment me deserved. I know it doesn't fit with the plot, but I'm still upset. He was a cruel, manipulative, DISGUSTING character, and in my opinion the true villain—way too much was his fault because of his want for power.
My second favorite character (1st after Mawyndulë was dumped in the gutter) also seemed... incomplete. I feel like they had a good reason to go back to Elan but never did. (Talking about the grumpy character, not giving names because no spoilers)
Ugh, I hated Tesh. No reason, just boring.
I love Malcolm! He was wonderful, I also love "Villain tries really hard to be good" types. In my opinion, seems a tad more realistic. I like the way he tied in to rieria a lot, and how the in world story got mangled over 2000 years!
Persephone was... anticlimactic. Favorite character in the first book, then slow decline until I didn't even care. Her ending was boring.
BRIN. Oh, how annoying she is. Seemed like a bit of a Mary Sue. Never liked her and strongly dislike how she was the "secret main character." I feel like the books (besides this one) wouldn't be too much different if it was Roan who made reading.
Suri's chapters were mildly uninteresting in this book, I liked them, but not the best. I liked her.
Michael is TERRIBLE at writing deaths. One of my least favorite parts. A character I like dies— I want to be sad! Not bored! He does a good job with gore, though. Descriptive enough to give a good mental image but not making it too violent. I, being a very picky book reader, appreciate the gore aspect.
This book made me angry on numerous occasions, but I liked it. A lot, actually! At 3/4 done I wanted to give it one star but it got better. I will be reading other books by him. This isn't one of my favorite series anymore, but I can greatly appreciate it. Thanks for reading my ramble, and despite how much "bored bored bored" I wrote about, the action scenes were good.
Awesome Conclusion to a great series
I loved every minute. Defiantly would recommend this story and all of Michaels other books.
Different, interesting and great fun
Really enjoyed the series, lots of twists and turns and plenty of humour. I warmed to most of the characters and enjoyed their roles and development. Heartily recommended
Excellent series of books and the narrator is Amazing. These are worthy of being made into films!
P Hollands
Just Masterful!
There are no words. Even Bryn would probably struggle to describe how good this is!
poor ending.
I found this a bit boring. Really struggled to finish it, which is a shame as I loved the start of the series/riyria chronicles.
LittleMissBookAddict
So long friends
Superb...I have loved this series and so enjoyed the company of the wealth of characters within it. I feel sad right now but happy that I got to travel along with them all. Now to look forward to the next book from the master!
Katja Öztürk
One of the best series I have ever read maybe even the best so exciting and good
stonkingly good
the way the author has Weved this book together is a masterpiece. it has many entertaining theams as well the main plot that keeps you guessing all through the book series
Mrs Blue.
it was perfect...
the only fault I had with is book was it had to come to an end... absolutely loved the whole trilogy...
surreywench
Great end to a great series!
Really enjoyed the conclusion to legends of the first empire! So many moments where I had to pause it just because I couldn't take the tension. I am left with some questions but I think they'll be answered in other inter connected series. Enjoyed the narrator too so would definitely recommend
Will B.
a fantastic end to this series can't wait till the next series to start on
Another great book
Loved every bit of the whole series, Amazing twists and great cliffhangers would make you keel reading.
Captivated!
I say Captivated, as, i was, from book one to now has been the most rewarding fantasy binge audiobook session in ages.
I am a new recruit to the Michael J Sullivan fan club, so i am thrilled to learn that i have more characters to meet, and that, in the timeline, im in a good spot as far as realms and places go.
The story pulls on feelings, and i believe pays due notice, in more than one instance, to the recurring and ongoing truth of loss, regret, and decisions made that still we question.
Sincere thanks for the story, and the intro outro chats, lending insight to who and how your process, team, and family support and enable such full tellings.
im impressed with the Narrator's narration. being so good as to allow each character unique speech patterns, inflections and favoured expressions.
If any wonder if this series can deliver escapism and reflection, Yes. and, tbh. i, like, the Authors wife, have made friends of fictional characters and will carry parts of who they are, with me.
it was my pleasure to meet you all .
fantastic! micheal j. sullivan just brilliant
Tim Gerard Reynolds
has outdone himself again
Tim i hope this isn't the last we hear
of these characters
thankyou was well worth the wait!
enjoyable, new ideas on death
didn't thinknI would like touring death... but enjoyed the matrix like change of perspective.
Alnaps
I am so sad....
...that the story is at an end. I held off buying it for fear I would say goodbye to all my favourite characters too soon but I'm glad I ripped the Band-Aid off. Michael J Sullivan is my favourite author for many reasons but the most is because of his strong female characters. I have been listening to fantasy audiobooks for years and there are not many authors who can write stories that make the most of what women have to offer . There is no exaggeration to his characters capabilities , they stay true to who they are then Michael goes one step further to transform them into epic characters.
This series is definitely going to be one I will revisit over and over again. I never get tired going back to the beginning and watching the characters grow. I cannot wait to listen to the Ryria books for the gazillionth time and make all the connections. It is going to be frustrating now that I know what actually happened and hear the distorted version of Mawyndule's hate. And of course I CANNOT wait to listen to The Death of Dulgath...thank you Michael for that eye opener ;)
I kinda get why the previous two novels ended
I don't like it, but I kinda get it. Obviously most of you have been hanging out for the story to wrap up, and I absolutely applaud the work that all involved have done to make it happen, but they "stretched The Hobbit" a little on the end of the story.
A phenomenal series.
The only shortcoming I can find is that this is the last book in the series. The story and narration are so compelling I'll have withdrawal symptoms waiting for the next series to release.