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Tag: Dave Carley
Reflections on a Book Launch
"How'd the book launch go?" somebody asked me the other day.
There aren't enough superlatives in the English language to answer that question.
"Amazing," I tried.
Sephora Hosein introducing me at the launch.
I could also have said, "Magic." Or: "One of the best days of my life."
All completely true. Certainly the beginning of an answer.
Here's a longer answer.
It's been kind of a strange year. I broke my ankle in January. At the time I thought, well this is kind of bad luck. Is that what kind of year this is going to be? This is the year my novel A Time and a Place is supposed to come out. Is this a bad sign?
Of course, any rational person knows that breaking your ankle in January and having a book come out in October have absolutely nothing to do with one another. Thinking that an event in January (never mind that it happened on Friday the 13th) might set the tone for an entire year is clearly ludicrous. I like to think of myself as a scientific rationalist. I don't usually indulge in such thinking.
But sometimes I do.
Anyway, it turned out that breaking my ankle wasn't all that bad. Courtesy of the Canadian Healthcare System, I received first class medical care. Afterward I was able to work from home. I got lots of sleep for a change. I watched a few movies I wouldn't otherwise have been able to watch. I got to spend more quality time with my wife and family. As the year progressed, other good things happened. My ankle healed nicely. I got seconded into a nifty new position at work. My book edged ever closer to publication, and I began planning the book launch.
I was determined to get the launch exactly right. Not just for me and the book, but for anybody who might show up. I didn't want to waste anybody's time. Truth be told, the launch became a source of some anxiety. I don't throw a lot of parties. A handful in my life. For my fiftieth birthday, for example, I'd always thought I'd throw a big party, but when the time came, I settled for a quiet dinner with my family and a couple of close friends.
I wanted to go bigger for the book launch. I figured it might be the only one I ever have. It was to mark the culmination of several years of writing a novel that for the longest time I wasn't sure I'd ever finish. Twelve years of hard writing preceded by many years of false starts and dead ends. I wanted to mark the end of that long journey appropriately somehow.
I read blogs and articles and talked to fellow writers about how to hold a proper book launch. I discovered that such a launch is supposed to be more than just a celebration of finishing a book. It is, as the name suggests, supposed to launch the book, propel it forward into the great wide world. From a marketing perspective, the idea is to make as big a splash as possible to give the book the absolute best chance to succeed. You want as many people to come as you can manage. It may sound a bit crass, but the fact is you also want to sell as many copies as you can.
Some big decisions had to be made. Where to hold the launch? Four immediate possibilities came to mind: home, a bookstore, a pub, or a library.
I didn't want to have it at home because my house isn't big enough. It's also too far away from downtown Toronto. And it wouldn't have lent the event any cachet. I wanted the launch in Toronto where it could generate the biggest possible turn-out. As for bookstores, the most appropriate would have been the science-fiction and fantasy bookstore, Bakka-Phoenix books, but I didn't feel comfortable approaching them because I didn't have a relationship with them. As for pubs, I could think of a couple that might have worked, but I wanted a location with more significance.
I approached my friend Annette Mocek, a librarian at the Merril Collection of Science Fiction in the Toronto Pubic Library on College Street. She passed my request onto Lorna Toolis, Head Librarian at the Merril, who discussed it with the Friends of the Merril Collection, and I was thrilled when they agreed to host the launch Thursday evening Oct 26th. A Time and a Place is a science fiction/fantasy adventure; other than Bakka/Phoenix Books, there really was no more appropriate venue in Toronto.
Lorna, who has hosted many book launches, suggested I approach Bakka-Phoenix Books about selling copies of A Time and a Place at the launch. I felt awkward about this because, as mentioned above, I didn't have a relationship with them. I live in Whitby, well outside of Toronto, and Bakka-Phoenix Books is located too far from where I work in downtown Toronto to make it easy to drop by. Bookstores are often approached by new authors seeking help, whether it's to sell their books on consignment or hold a book launch or what have you, and they are understandably skeptical when approached by authors who, as far as they know, have never frequented their store.
I had in fact visited Bakka-Phoenix when it had been located on Queen, and I'd also met the manager, Chris Szego, at a conference, but it was unlikely that she'd remember me. Still, I steeled myself and undertook the long walk up to their current location on Harbord, just off Spadina, about fifty minutes away from where I work. I was just back on my feet after recovering from the broken ankle—it was a good test of the freshly healed foot. I still had a bit of a limp, and the bad foot wasn't quite pointing in the right direction yet, but it got me there.
Chris Szego, Manager of Bakka-Phoenix Books
Chris was there when I limped in. I began by asking for some recommendations. Chris suggested two books, both of which I bought (Company Town and Ancillary Justice). I did this because I wanted to give her business before asking something of her, but also, I was not going to visit a science fiction bookstore without purchasing some science fiction. I mean, seriously.
Afterward, still feeling awkward about the subject, I brought up the business of the book launch. To my delight, Chris immediately agreed to help out, possibly because the Merril Collection was already behind me. We resolved to connect again when we got a little closer to the date.
I had one small concern about hosting the launch at the Merril Collection. Because it's located within the Toronto Public Library system, and is a collection of valuable SF materials, we could not have food or drink in the venue. This bothered me because I felt badly about inviting a bunch of people to come celebrate with me only to offer little in return other than a bit of speechifying and a brief reading. My friends Ann Jansen and Dave Carley suggested I invite everyone out for drinks afterward, but my wife and daughters would be along, for whom there would be school and work the next day, so that wouldn't work.
Dave suggested a pre-party. I immediately latched onto the idea. Ann researched some possibilities, and we settled on the Free Times Café, just down the street from the Merril Collection on College. The owner of the Free Times Café, Judy Perly, booked the Bistro part of her restaurant for me, and I pre-ordered a few platters of food for everyone, without any idea how many people might show up. I told Judy between ten and seventy.
In the Bistro of the Free Times Cafe before the launch
There was still work to be done. By this time, I had been introduced virtually to Sephora Hosein, who had taken over as Head of the Merril Collection upon the retirement of Lorna Toolis. Sephora assured me that we were still good to go.
One month out, I sent out invitations to everyone I could think of who could conceivably be interested. Rather than one mass mailing, I sent personal invitations to everyone, using a template for the details, but personalizing each invitation. This took many hours but was absolutely worth the effort.
For one thing, making the invitations personal felt right and good. I tracked it all on an Excel spreadsheet so I'd know who I'd invited and who responded. I invited about two hundred and twenty people, almost all of whom I knew personally. Well over one hundred people responded. About eighty said they planned to come, twenty declined, and another ten or fifteen said maybe.
Just for fun, I also invited the Mayor of Whitby, where I live, and the Mayor of Summerside, Prince Edward Island, where much of the novel A Time and a Place is set, and where I hail from originally. The Office of the Mayor of Whitby wrote back declining the invitation, but proposed an invitation of their own, that I come to meet the Mayor, Don Mitchell, so he could purchase of a copy of my book. Delighted, I agreed to meet him the afternoon of the launch.
The Mayor of Summerside wrote back personally and offered to purchase a copy of the book, so I sent him one. I didn't charge him for shipping, so I lost money on that purchase, but what the heck, it's my hometown Mayor.
I also promoted the event on Facebook and Twitter, as did the Merril Collection and my publisher. As well, I placed posters, created by the Friends of the Merril Collection, on every floor of the CBC Broadcast Centre, where I work.
Neither the owner of Five Rivers Publishing, Lorina Stephens, or the Senior Editor of Five Rivers, Robert Runte, could make it to the launch, so I asked each of them if they'd mind making a short video of themselves saying a few words. They both agreed and sent me a couple of minutes each, which I edited together in a single video for the event.
Fast forward to the day of the launch. Everything was booked. I had a short speech prepared that I'd gone over several times, along with a short reading. Together, they would take less than fifteen minutes to deliver. I didn't want to bore anyone. It was shaping up to be a good day, though of course there was still the possibility of disaster. It was entirely conceivable to me that no one would show up.
In fact, starting that morning, I started receiving emails from people expressing their regrets for various reasons. For one thing, it turned out I'd booked the launch on parent/teacher interview night in Toronto.
I'd taken the day off work so I could concentrate on the launch. My wife, (Lynda) and I hung out in the morning. It felt like an ordinary day. I wasn't that nervous; I think all my elaborate preparations had a lot to do with that. I packed the car with boxes of my book. Seventy-eight copies; I figured that ought to do it.
At twenty to two, Lynda and I headed off to see the Mayor of Whitby, Don Mitchell. Mayor Mitchell and his Executive Assistant, Andrea Kennedy, were both funny and charming. We chatted with them about science fiction and publishing and had a great visit. The Mayor paid me for a copy of the book and I signed it for him. Or, began to sign it for him…
I had just written, "To Mayor Mitchell, fellow science fiction" when he jokingly asked Lynda what it's like living with a temperamental artist like me.
With Whitby Mayor Don Mitchell
Distracted, I put a comma after "science fiction."
It had been my intention to write, "To Mayor Mitchell, fellow science fiction fan," but placing a comma after science fiction messed it up.
Darn it, I thought. I've screwed this up.
While Lynda answered his question, I quickly worked out a possible solution.
I added "and fantasy fan" making it "To Mayor Mitchell, fellow science fiction, and fantasy, fan." Which was far from perfect, but seemed less of a disaster. It was better than, "To Mayor Mitchell, fellow science fiction, fan."
Despite my blunder, the meeting was a great prologue to the launch.
After meeting Mayor Mitchell, we collected our daughters and headed into Toronto. Annette met us at the Merril Collection and helped us carry the books upstairs. I gave her my laptop so she could hook it up to the projector.
Here I encountered the first (and only) heart-stopping glitch of the evening: I couldn't log into the laptop. Kept getting either the password or the username wrong. All the while thinking: well, I guess we could skip the video. Except, I really didn't want to—Lorina and Robert had gone to a lot of trouble to film themselves for me, and I was certain the videos would add a lot of value to the evening.
Finally, after about twenty tries, I got it working.
Messing with the laptop made us about ten minutes late to the Free Times Café. Several guests were already sitting in the bistro section that had been reserved for us, but they didn't all know one another and were sitting separately, so I set about introducing them to one another. Soon, the entire bistro except for one booth was packed with people attending the launch.
I wanted to say hi to everyone, so I worked my way around the room, grabbing a chair at one point to carry with me, and spoke to as many people as possible. There were plenty of CBC'ers who hadn't seen one another in a while, and who were happy talking to one another, so I didn't have to worry so much about them. But there were others who didn't know anyone, and I wanted them to feel comfortable and welcome. Time flew by. At six-thirty it was time to head back to the library for the actual launch.
Rushing to the library, we passed a homeless woman in rough shape who asked me for spare change. As I gave her some, I was struck by the difference in fortune between the two of us. I was enjoying what was shaping up to be one of the greatest nights of my life. She was living a nightmare. I didn't know what to make of this disparity between us. I still don't.
Shortly before, in the Free Times Café, I had asked a friend who I hadn't seen in years how she was doing.
"It's been an adventure," she told me.
"Lots of traveling?" I asked.
"A stroke," she told me. "And then I had a bad fall."
She was chipper about it all, obviously not wanting to put a damper on the evening. She had endured all that and yet had come out to see me on this night. I really didn't know what to say.
Rushing back to the Merril Collection, thinking about the homeless woman and my friend, I wondered about enjoying good fortune while other people suffered. Of course, I experience extreme good fortune pretty much all the time relative to many people in this world simply by virtue of the circumstances of my existence. But the contrast seemed especially stark on this night, and I have thought about it a lot since. It bothers me. A subject for another entire essay.
It was almost seven by the time I made it back to the Merril Collection. The place was already packed. Before I even got through the door, I was waylaid by friends who wanted me to sign their copy of the book. Other copies of my book had been neatly stacked on a table to sell. I signed a few on the edge of the table. Chris from Bakka-Phoenix Books was there doing the selling. Oliver Brackenbury from the Friends of the Merril Collection was there too. I thanked both of them for their help.
An impromptu line formed for me to sign books. This surprised me—I had thought that I would have time to mingle before getting up to play the video and talk.
I was just about to make myself comfortable signing books when Annette whispered in my ear that we had best begin the proceedings. I made my way to the front. Sephora began her introduction. Standing off to the side, I saw that the place was packed. Friends had driven from as far away as Omemee, Peterborough, and Niagara-on-the-Lake to be there. There were also quite a few faces I didn't recognize. I was a little gobsmacked, and a lot grateful.
Annette played the video from my laptop. First, Lorina Stephens, Publisher of Five Rivers Publishing, said a few kind words about me and my book. Then, Senior Editor Dr. Robert Runte told a couple of amusing stories about acquiring my book and editing it. Both went over well.
Then it was my turn.
I have a love/hate relationship with public speaking. Many times in my life I have been forced into situations where I have to deliver speeches or act as Master of Ceremonies. I can do it. Sometimes I even enjoy it, but it does not come naturally to me. As a teenager, I once hosted a variety show at my high school during which I could not even lift my eyes to meet the audience until the show was just about over. I was determined to get better at it, though. Eventually, I figured out that the key to success is preparation. I began thinking about my speeches days or weeks ahead, and rehearsing them mentally over and over until I had them completely memorized.
I got reasonably good at it, until the day I completely botched a speech at work because I'd grown too cocky. I hadn't bothered to prepare. Figured I could wing it. Seconds into my speech, in front of dozens of people, I realized that I had no idea what to say. It just got worse from there. On the plus side, I never failed to prepare for a speech again.
So I was ready for this speech. I hadn't completely memorized it, but I knew it well enough. The crowd was incredibly supportive, laughing at all the right places, and even a few places that surprised me.
Afterward, Sephora ushered me over to a table that had been set up for me to sign books. She even gave me a special pen that she said other authors seemed to like. It was indeed a fine pen. A line formed, and I spent the rest of the evening signing books, taking long enough with each person to chat a little bit and attempt to personalize each signature. Even if I knew perfectly well who someone was, I asked them how to spell their name, just to be sure.
Signing away
I had thought I would have time to mingle afterwards, but it wasn't to be. I signed books right up until the end. There were a lot of people who came that I didn't get to talk to. I felt a little bad about that, but I think everyone understood.
"You were pretty busy," a friend reassured me later.
We sold fifty-eight copies of A Time and a Place that night. Chris told me later that it made A Time and a Place the top selling Trade Paperback at Bakka-Phoenix books for the month of October. My deepest thanks to everyone who purchased copies.
Finally, only a handful of us were left: Sephora, Annette, Chris, and my family. We took a few final pictures and said our goodbyes. Outside the library, mundane reality reasserted itself by playfully hiding our car. In the dark, my family and I didn't recognize the narrow alley way down which we'd parked, and we walked well past it before finally clueing in and turning back.
Still, it had been a brilliant night. Not a prelude to becoming a rich and famous author (neither the goal nor the expectation), but confirmation that I had friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances kindly disposed toward me, willing to give up an evening of their busy lives to help me celebrate.
I would do the same for them.
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The Cold Equations
The Cold Equations is a short story by Tom Godwin, first published in Astounding Magazine in August 1954. You might want to read it before we go any further. I wouldn't want to spoil anything for you.
The spoilers begin here.
The story's about a teen-aged girl named Marilyn Lee Cross who stows away on an emergency space shuttle with disastrous results. I chose it as one of the two radio dramas we included in our science fiction radio pilot Faster Than Light.
I chose The Cold Equations because it was dark and sombre. I'm partial to humour, but I wanted something with a little gravitas, something that I thought people would take seriously. I wasn't the first to adapt The Cold Equations for radio. It had been adapted twice before, for an episode of the radio program X Minus One in 1955, and for the radio program Exploring Tomorrow in 1958.
August 1954 edition of Astounding Magazine, which included Tom Godwin's The Cold Equations. Cover art by Frank Kelly Freas
In the story, Marilyn just wants to visit her brother on a nearby planet. The emergency shuttle is delivering critical medical supplies to sick miners on that planet.
Unbeknownst to Marilyn, the shuttle is designed with a strict set of parameters: it has just enough fuel to carry its sole pilot and his critical cargo to the planet. With Marilyn on board, the shuttle will run out of fuel, the mission will fail, and the miners will die.
Critics of the story point out that the writer, Tom Godwin, unnecessarily stacked the deck against the girl. Why was it necessary to design the shuttle with such a slim margin of error? Godwin might argue that fuel would be a precious resource in space; you wouldn't want to use any more than was absolutely necessary. Of course, the real reason is that Godwin needed to create a very specific set of circumstances for the story to work. But consider the recent plane crash in Colombia that tragically killed most of the Brazilian Chapecoense Real football team. The plane ran out of fuel because the company that owned the plane skimped on fuel to save money, with horrific consequences. Godwin's plot may not be so unrealistic after all.
Realistic or not, in the universe of the story the girl must be jettisoned from the shuttle into deep space for the mission to succeed. Not exactly a Hollywood ending. My story editor, Dave Carley, felt that Marilyn learns the consequences of her ill-fated decision to stow away too quickly. She spends the rest of the story waiting to die, while the pilot reflects on the cold, harsh reality of the universe. There is no hope and therefore no real tension.
I didn't necessarily agree, at least initially. I'd originally come across the story in an English class in high school in one of our text books. I began reading it during class, during the teacher's lecture, and quickly forgot about the lecture. I found the story utterly gripping. This was long before cold-blooded authors like George R. R. Martin began killing off our favourite novel and television characters with impunity. I didn't believe that the girl was going to die. I kept waiting for her to be saved, and was utterly gobsmacked when she was finally jettisoned from the space shuttle. Reading the story as a teen-ager, I had never encountered such a brutal ending before. It left quite an impact.
But Dave felt strongly that we needed more tension, more suspense, so for my version of the story I concocted a storyline where there was some slim hope that another ship (the Stardust) would catch up with the emergency shuttle and rescue Marilyn. I made other changes as well. In the original story, Marilyn was older, in her late teens. I reduced her age to thirteen to make it more believable that she would do something so ill-considered as to sneak onto an emergency shuttle without understanding the consequences. This also injected a little more pathos into the story. Because it was radio, I needed her to speak at the beginning of the story to help illuminate to the listener what was going on. (You can't just have a character say, "I'm sneaking into the shuttle now," and so on. Well, you can, but that would be narration, and I didn't want a narrator.) So I had Marilyn sneak into the shuttle while talking to her cat, Chloe (which happened to be the name of one of my cats at the time.)
Story Editor Dave Carley (far right) on the job in Studio 212 with Gordon Pinsent and Linda Grearson during the taping of the Radio Play Test Drive (photo by John McCarthy).
Writing the adaptation, I felt like I was writing yet another draft of Tom Godwin's story. This may be horribly presumptuous, and my apologies to Tom Godwin, but I felt like it was an opportunity to correct some of the story's flaws. For one thing, the original story was quite wordy. I cut an awful lot out of it. Now, I have a lot more respect for Tom Godwin than some, such as editor Algis Budrys, who reportedly once said that The Cold Equations was "the best short story that Godwin ever wrote and he didn't write it" — referring to the fact that editor John W. Campbell sent the story back to Godwin three times before Godwin finally got it right—that is, before Godwin stopped coming up with ingenious means of saving the girl. Oh, and allegations that he borrowed the idea from a story published in EC Comics' Weird Science #13 .
Anyway, Campbell recognized the true power of the story: the idea that the universe is impartial. It doesn't care whether you live or die. Reading it back in high school, I glimpsed, perhaps for the first time in my life, a sense of the implacability of the universe. You play by its rules or you die. The stowaway is done in by cold, hard facts. For others to live, she had to die.
Several drafts into my version of the story, I was happy with everything except the ending. Something was missing. It didn't feel complete, somehow. Endings don't always come easy for me. I work hard at them because I consider them extremely important. Getting the ending wrong can ruin an entire story. Getting it right can elevate all that came before.
Producer Barbara Worthy
I discussed it with my wife. Something she said (unfortunately, I don't remember what, exactly) made me realize that the pilot didn't need to talk or think after ejecting Marilyn from the shuttle. He needed to acknowledge what he'd just been through. He needed to cry. It was an epiphany for me. It allowed me to cut a bunch of extraneous boring dialogue and get on with the emotion of the scene.
Later, one of my colleagues suggested that if you allow a character to cry, you are depriving the audience of the chance to cry themselves, because you're doing it for them. I felt differently. Making the pilot cry felt like what would actually happen. I know that truth doesn't necessarily equate to good fiction—the truth is deeper than that—but sometimes it does. So my pilot cried, and it felt right and true to me.
Matthew MacFadzean
Once the script was complete, we held auditions for the cast. An embarrassing amount of actors showed up for the casting call (we auditioned for both radio plays included in Faster Than Light at the same time, The Cold Equations and Captain's Away). Ultimately we cast Matthew MacFadzean (not to be confused with British actor Matthew Macfadyen) in the role of the shuttle pilot, and Vivian Endicott-Douglas as the young stowaway Marilyn. Shawn Smyth played the stowaway's brother Gerry Cross. Andrew Gillies played Commander Delhart of the Stardust. Sergio Dizio played the Clerk and Jennifer Dean one of the surveyors. Julia Tait was our casting director (replacing regular CBC Radio Drama Casting Director Linda Grearson, who, I believe, was subbing for Deputy Head James Roy at the time).
Barbara Worthy directed The Cold Equations while I sat behind the Neve Capricorn console recording the show. Matt Willcott did all the live sound effects. I was extremely happy with the work of our actors. I have to single out Vivian, though, who was extra-ordinary. She nailed every single take of every single scene. We could have used any of her lines in any take.
We did have trouble with one lengthy scene during which the pilot must stoically accept Marilyn's fate. Couldn't quite nail the pilot's tone and neither Barbara nor I could figure out what direction to give Matthew to make it work. We did four takes and were running out of time—we only had the actors for so long. We were forced to move on and record other scenes. Just before production wrapped for the day we came back to that problematic scene and did two more takes. Matthew finally nailed the tone, sounding troubled yet together.
Vivien Endicott-Douglas
It didn't take me long to edit The Cold Equations, probably a couple of hours. I used most of the scenes we recorded in their entirety, which was unusual. Usually we scavenged lines from other takes of the same scene. I mixed the twenty-five minute long play in a single day in Sound Effects Three, my favourite mixing studio.
I didn't have the budget for much original music, but I was able to use an original piece of music for the opening called Snowfire Reprize, by Rod Crocker. I used a couple of Manheim Steamroller pieces from Fresh Air 1 for a couple of tiny music bridges. At the end, I had Mozart's Lacrimosa swell up underneath the pilot's tears. At first I thought it might be too much, a little too heavy, but after listening to the completed mix in the studio I was convinced that the pathos of the piece supported it.
The Cold Equations may not be the most accomplished or sonically interesting radio play I've ever worked on.
But I'm pretty darned happy with it.
The Cold Equations was originally broadcast as a part of Faster Than Light on Sept 22nd, 2002 on Sunday Showcase (in mono) and again Sept 23rd on Monday Night Playhouse (in stereo).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Home»Reviews»RED NOTICE
RED NOTICE A True Story of High Finance, Murder and One Man's Fight for Justice
by Bill Browder | Read by Adam Grupper
Contemporary Culture • 14.25 hrs. • Unabridged • © 2015
Adam Grupper delivers a spirited and expressive narration of Browder's fascinating memoir, which focuses on his work as a hedge-fund investor in Eastern Europe and Russia. The author begins by describing his family's history as Jewish Communists from Russia. A rebel at heart, Browder became a capitalist. The heart of the story, which some have called a thriller, concerns the murder of Browder's Russian tax attorney by the authorities and Browder's crusade for justice amid the "corruptocracy" that is the new Russia. Grupper is able to give credible accents to a wide range of characters--English, Americans, Poles, and Russians--and still keep his narrative voice consistent, disciplined, and suitably expressive. His reading of transliterated Russian is not up to the same level but won't distract most listeners. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2015]
Library Ed. • Recorded Books • 2015
CD ISBN 9781490649658 $123.75 • Twelve CDs
MP3-CD ISBN 9781490654942 $49.75 • Two MP3-CDs
DD ISBN 9781490649665 $109.00


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Události
 změna toku Žluté řeky
 Richard I. Lví srdce propuštěn ze zajetí Jindřicha VI.

Narození
 16. července – Svatá Klára, italská řeholnice, zakladatelka řádu chudých paní od sv. Damiana v Assisi, nazývaných podle ní klarisky († 1253)
 26. prosince – Fridrich II. Štaufský, císař Svaté říše římské († 13. prosince 1250)
 ? – Nachmanides, katalánský rabín, filosof, lékař, kabalista a komentátor Tanachu († 1270)
 ? – Lý Huệ Tông, vietnamský císař († 1226)
 ? – Humbert z Romans, pátý generál dominikánského řádu († 14. července 1277)

Úmrtí
Česko
 ? – Vítek I. z Prčice, zakladatel rodu Vítkovců (* ?)

Svět
 20. února – Tankred I., sicilský a neapolský král (* 1138)
 5. května – Kazimír II. Spravedlivý, polský kníže-senior, kníže sandoměřský, mazovský, kališský a hnězdenský z rodu Piastovců (* 1138)
 28. června – Siao-cung, čínský císař říše Sung (* 27. listopadu 1127)
 31. prosince – Leopold V. Babenberský, vévoda rakouský a štýrský († 1157)
 prosinec – Raimond V. z Toulouse, hrabě z Toulouse († 1134)
 ? – Guy de Lusignan, francouzský rytíř, jako manžel Sibyly jeruzalémský spolukrál (* 1150)
 ? – Leopold V. Babenberský, vévoda rakouský a štýrský (* 1157)

Hlavy států
 České knížectví – Jindřich Břetislav
 Svatá říše římská – Jindřich VI. Štaufský
 Papež – Celestýn III.
 Anglické království – Richard I. Lví srdce
 Francouzské království – Filip II. August
 Polské knížectví – Kazimír II. Spravedlivý – Lešek I. Bílý
 Uherské království – Béla III.
 Sicilské království – Tankred I. – Vilém III. – Konstancie Aragonská s Jindřichem I.
 Kastilské království – Alfonso VIII. Kastilský
 Rakouské vévodství – Leopold V. Babenberský/Fridrich I. Babenberský
 Skotské království – Vilém Lev
 Byzantská říše – Izák II. Angelos

Externí odkazy

12. století

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


It was a warm summer day of June 17th on father's day that Vibha volunteers of Boston organized our annual Kite flying festival at NARA park. We are a group of 15 volunteers, many busy professionals with children and family commitments. What unites us is the cause we represent and uphold that we give underprivileged kids a bright ray of hope and their future dreams some wind power to soar.
We started planning for the event 3 months in advance, gathering ideas and lessons learned from two kite flying events we have had in the past.
We are very proud of the fact that even though we are a very small group of volunteers our event brought in more than a thousand participants in the kite flying festival. Families came in hordes with not just kids and parent but grandparents , uncles and aunts as well. It was a treat to watch cheerful kids their eyes stuck on the end of their strings at the colorful kites. Hundreds of colorful kites soared against the blue open skies with warm summer breeze swirling around.
Participants could order kites online and pick up at the venue or buy kites at the venue. Like every year we budgeted for more kites and we are amazed that even with lots of buffer our kites are sold out every year.
We had lots of food options including paans, samosas, pizzas,Gobhi manchurian,biryani, mango Lassi and so on.I want to specially mention the kid volunteers who had amazing ideas for lemonade stand , father child hand print art and bubbles. All these booths were entirely run by children and they were sold out by the end of the event.
We also had an impromptu flash mob played on peppy india music andit was fun to watch kids adults and elderly sway to the beats . Might I say the kites had their little dance too.
This year we had record number of sponsors for the event including Shailesh Shah at Boston Crown Realty, LLC, Satish Bhogadi at Trade Real Estate, Shova Sharma at New York Life Insurance, Dr. Jitin Sahani at Sahani Cosmetic Dentistry, and our vendors and raffle sponsors Styllery, Azuri Collections - Modern Indian Women's Wear, Raji Mahaadevan, Ridhi's Couture,I FELT Design Studio, Junk Trunk, SoVital Fitness Studios, Paan Treat, Amukta Collection, Biryani Pot Nashua, Ariana Restaurant - Cuisine From Afghanistan, Athleta,BollyX - The Bollywood Workout, GuruKool Enrichment Center, Mayil Handmade Scarves, Neeta's Heritage Threading Salon/Spa, Temptations - Cakes & More, Noune Tahamassian Morse, Tim Richard, Gopika Narula, Chandrala Malkood, Trader Joe's-Acton,MA, Rangoli Grill, Cake Ever After - By Shuchi.
The Foundations TV and Lokvani.
TheMaharaja and Virsa De Punjab.
Flash mob run by Bollywood dance Academy/Nikita's Bollywood Dance Academy!
NARAPark and Nagog park, Acton, MA!
As the day started to dim out, we reluctantly had to close the event. Our hearts stillhigh with the spirit of the day, our hard work had paid off big time. Next year we are committed to make this an even bigger event. We want more volunteers whoshare our passion to make lives of innocent children better in this world.
Reach out to us at www.vibha.org or like Vibha Boston Facebook page. Join us in our future events . Lets fly kites together and make a difference!!


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Help Make Our Capitol Hill Briefing on Carbon Taxes a Big Success
November 13, 2008 By Charles Komanoff
CTC's Special Request for Your Support
On January 20, 2009, less than ten weeks from today, the United States will have a new president and a new Congress. After eight years of obstruction by the Bush administration, and years of delay before that, the United States is finally poised to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
On December 9, six weeks before Inauguration Day, the Carbon Tax Center is holding a briefing on Capitol Hill to articulate to the incoming Administration and Congress why a tax on carbon emissions must be the centerpiece of a new U.S. climate policy. Headlining the briefing is NASA climatologist James Hansen, a powerful advocate of a carbon tax. Dr. Hansen will be followed by two eminent economists, Prof. Gilbert Metcalf of Tufts and Dr. Robert Shapiro, currently at Sonecon and formerly U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs. James Hoggan, chair of the David Suzuki Foundation and a highly regarded Canadian pollster, will speak on public opinion regarding British Columbia's carbon tax and the impact of the Liberal Party's carbon tax proposal on last month's Canadian national election.
The briefing is being hosted by Rep. John Larson of Connecticut, a member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee and author of a carbon tax bill introduced last year. Mr. Larson is Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus, making him the fifth-ranking Democrat in the House, and has been mentioned as a possible successor to Rahm Emanuel, Chair of the Caucus and soon to be chief of staff to President Obama. The briefing will run from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and will take place in a Ways & Means Committee hearing room, B-318, in the Rayburn House Office Building. The Climate Crisis Coalition has joined us as conference organizer, and Friends of the Earth and the Environmental & Energy Study Institute are serving as co-sponsors.
We are particularly pleased that James Hansen has agreed to be our keynote speaker. For over 20 years, Dr. Hansen has distilled mounting evidence that rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide will soon lead to disastrous climate change into urgent calls for action by the United States and other major emitters. Dr. Hansen courageously rebuffed efforts by the Bush administration to muzzle him and has continued to combine world-class research and public education on the imminence of potentially devastating climate change with exhortation for action. At the top of Dr. Hansen's agenda, and a focal point of his presentation at our briefing, is the need for carbon pricing delivered through steep but equitable revenue-neutral carbon taxes.
Following Dr. Hansen's keynote address, economists Metcalf and Shapiro will detail the mechanics of carbon taxing, and Mr. Hoggan will share his research findings on public opinion concerning Canada's experience with carbon taxes.
We invite you to join us at the December 9 briefing. To ensure its success, including vital follow-on work, we ask for your generous financial help. Political dynamics in Washington have changed dramatically and CTC intends to be fully engaged to ensure that carbon taxing gets a full hearing. Your support will enable us to take full advantage of this long-awaited opportunity to effectively advocate for a U.S. carbon tax. Please click our Donate Now button or click here for instructions on making a contribution.
Filed Under: Newsletter
Just another way for the government to tax us.
I am completly against a crabon tax aimed at reducing non-existant global warming. Our polar ice caps had record growth last month!
Q says
Why not use the tax revenues to pay for carbon sequestration? Making it revenue neutral is continuing the fantasy that we can have our cake and eat it too! Reducing emissions does not prevent global warming, it only slows down the rate at which warming happens in the future, at best. To actually reverse global warming we have to reduce atmospheric concentration of carbon, and to do that we have to start actively removing carbon from the atmosphere, which will cost real money. What better way to raise those funds than a carbon tax?
David Collins says
I wish I could join the CTC in Washington on December 9, but what with the stock market collapse and related matters, that is out of the question.
Ref. #3: Properly implemented revenue neutrality (I far prefer paying Carbon Tax funds collected to be returned to citizens on a count-the-noses basis) is needed to eliminate the inherent regressiveness of the tax. The poor (like me these days) spend proportionately far more of our income on energy. I fully agree with you on the need for removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. However, I would prioritize reduction of greenhouse gases in the near future. And although I suspect massive R&D will be required to develop atmospheric carbon sequestration & storage (anybody have a snazzy name for it?), at least the Carbon Tax would provide at least one revenue stream for whoever could show she is doing it!
Thanks for your comments. Any carbon tax would have to be progressive so some kind of refund or abatement to the poor is clearly required. However, that does not mean the tax has to be revenue neutral, and whatever revenues are collected from it can be applied to funding the R&D required in the short term, and foot the bill in the long term to pay for carbon removal.
Zerfinla says
When people say they read all the data, what do they mean ALL the data? I keep hearing about All this data out there proving that humans are to blame, but then I find this web page. http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/greenhouse_data.html I don't want to bash making this world a pretty place, plant more trees sounds good,but taxing us on something that we are just guessing on… thats not good enough. We're not helping the Earth, we're just giving in to a Fad that the government is exploiting. A private company that passes a few bucks to some law makers so that they can stay in business. Don't fall into this trap, look for more data and stop going on just sound bites and news flashes, there's always more to a story then what they say. ALWAYS. An while you're looking things up, look for a good place to plant some seeds. Like I just did. 🙂
Sorry, the link some how isn't working if you just click it. try to copy and past it. http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/greenhouse_data.html
Holly Berkowitz says
Finally, our nation can take critical steps now to undo some of the outrageous damage caused by the Bush-Cheney White House….and we need those steps as soon as possible.A carbon tax should be much more effective and fair than a "cap and trade" system that simply moves the pollutants around. The carbon tax will inspire innovation and funnel resources where they need to go….into cost-efficient and energy-efficient and clean sources of energy, especially wind and solar and other innovations…. jump-starting our economy and putting cash and political power into our nation's democracy instead of into the hands of oil-rich dictators.Dr. Jerald Schnoor has developed some fabulous findings on the effectiveness of green carbon sequestration, green spaces filling so many wastelands in our nation….including gardens to nurture our inner cities.More later 🙂 Thanks for your efforts.
Jeff Snyder says
Read the IPCC chart. Explain the spikes.
I was relieved to see that Chris – # 2 – was against a crabon tax. This way, the CARBON tax won't be affected. It is still hard to believe that there are any questions as to the root of this environmental crisis. We have a long way to go and there are many hurdles to jump and our educational systems need desperately to be on board. Cheers to you movers and shakers! Keep doing what you're doing – every tiny piece of this puzzle is essential and the inspiration we provide will have exponential impact!
» Recent and Upcoming Appearances by Jim Hansen and Mark Bowen says:
[…] December 9, 2008, 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Ways & Means Committee hearing room, B-318 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. More details here. […]
Carbon Tax Center » At Last, It Begins: Real, Substantive Debate on 2009 Climate Legislation says:
[…] Significantly, these discussions aren't all taking place behind closed doors, but in full public view, for example at a public Hill briefing December 9 with carbon tax supporters like NASA scientist James Hansen, economists Gilbert Metcalf and Robert Shapiro, Canadian public affairs expert James Hoggan, and Rep. John B. Larson (D-Conn., 1st district), who has just been elected chair of the House Democratic Caucus, and who introduced an early piece of carbon tax legislation into the House. The public can attend, along with Congressional members and staff — details here. […]


Enjoy this unity 2 pack. Oneness is about realising the interconnectedness of all Beings and all that is…. Divine Union is the integration of all parts of your self. As within, so without. As above, so below….
Sometimes we feel isolated and as though we are separate from others. That is just an illusion. This is a reminder of the unity that truly exists right down to the smallest particle of matter. See a rainbow encircle the earth and acknowledge the Oneness that exists in all of life.
This is a soothing combination that brings the focus back into the centre and calms a busy mind. Acknowledge the unity of all Beings as you apply to your crown, brow, heart and feet. See a rainbow encircle the earth. You are never alone. Relax. This was received a couple of years before it was created on 10/10/10 at 10am.
Ingredients: Love, jojoba oil (Simmondsia chinesis), lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), pink lotus (Nelumbo nucifora), sandalwood (Santalum spicata), gem and flower essences, colour rays, sacred symbols, mantras and sound.
Divine Union. When we think of this phrase, it immediately denotes a relationship with another. How about the integration and acceptance all of aspects of you? How about the sacred relationship that you will have your whole life long – the one with yourself?
Imagine the possibilities that open up when we fully accept and realise that "I am the one I've been waiting for". The knowledge that all we are seeking is within. This may sound like a cliche but it makes it no less true. Once we can accept all parts of ourselves unequivocably back into our hearts with compassion and tenderness, especially all of those vulnerable parts, we can truly know ourselves. When we start to really know ourselves, then we can connect and relate to others in a more authentic way. Often we may wish to have that 'divinely selected optimal partner' – but is this really possible if we are not yet embodying the qualities we are seeking? Choose to accept the fullness of who you are. Perfect, whole and complete.
Divine Union Alchemical oil, number 33 in the Self-love range is the culmination of all of the previous aspects and parts of the self. This is the final Alchemical oil in what has been a 9 year creative, birthing process.
Ingredients:- Love, camellia oil (Carmellia ofeifera), sandalwood (Santalum spicata), rose otto (Rosa damascena miller), white lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) gem and flower essences, colour rays, sacred symbols, mantras and sound.


#145 Senna the movie and Ayrton Senna the man. We review the feature-length documentary about one of the greatest F1 drivers. Featuring clips from the film and an exclusive interview with John Watson, a man who knew and raced against Ayrton Senna.


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https://appserver-c16eae57-nginx-b63eb102a61a4f9d8eaa5f493f81adbb:11526/articles/reach-factsheet/
Home Articles Reach Every Mother and Child Act
Reach Every Mother and Child Act
Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths Worldwide
Since 1990, the world has reduced mortality rates for children under 5 by more than one half. This is one of the greatest success stories in international development.
The U.S. has led an international effort to provide developing countries the tools to care for their children – often with simple, proven and inexpensive interventions that address leading causes of death, such as diarrhea and pneumonia.
Building on those gains, in 2014 the U.S. declared ending preventable child and maternal deaths around the world a national priority.
"I am proud to be a co-sponsor of H.R. 4022, the Reach Every Mother and Child Act.…It is an all-encompassing, lifesaving piece of legislation that will improve the lives of millions."
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.)
"This is an issue that goes beyond political parties. It goes beyond partisanship. It's what we should be doing as Americans. It's something that's just the right thing to do."
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska)
"The Reach Act will build on the significant progress already made…to make real the goal of ending preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths by 2035."
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.)
Despite this Progress…
The Reach Act would ensure more moms and kids have access to low-cost, high impact care, like Kangaroo Care.
15,000 children die each day from preventable and treatable causes such as pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria. A number of these children are excluded- growing up in the hardest to reach areas.
About half of the 15,000 children who die each day are newborns. 7,000 newborns die every day. And malnutrition is an underlying cause for 45 percent of deaths among children under the age of 5.
The Reach Every Mother and Child Act Would Save More Lives
Bipartisan legislation called the Reach Every Mother and Child Act (S. 1730, H.R. 4022) would put the world on a path to end preventable deaths of moms and kids. The bill was introduced by Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Chris Coons (D-DE), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and in the House by Representatives David Reichert (R-WA), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Dan Donovan (R-NY).
The Reach Act would:
Require a coordinated U.S. government strategy for how our country would contribute to ending preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths
Establish rigorous reporting requirements to improve transparency, accountability, efficiency, and oversight of maternal and child health programs
Ensure that the United States Agency for International Development scales up the most effective programs
Encourage the use of innovative ways to pay for these programs, including public-private partnerships
Urge Your Members of Congress to Cosponsor the Reach Act
You can help save the lives of moms and kids around the world by:
Asking your members of Congress to cosponsor the Reach Act
Following us on social media for updates on our work and new opportunities to take action for kids
Learn more about the Reach Act and the progress we've made for moms and kids!
This entry was posted in Federal, International, Issue Resource. Bookmark the permalink.


Pacific West Chiropractic and/or Dr. Katie Sill has been involved as medical staff for several sporting events. Earning the Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician and holding a Master of Science in Exercise and Sport Science has enabled Dr. Sill to be more involved with athletes of all levels and ages.
Dr. Sill is currently the unit medical officer for Tualatin Valley Young Marines. When her husband founded Tualatin Valley Young Marines, Dr. Sill was eager to volunteer her time and support for these amazing youth.
Young Marines is a National Program for Youth ages 8- 18 (completion of high school).
The Youth Oregon Junior Olympic Cross Country Championship is a USA Track & Field event in which youth compete.
The Pacific Crest Weekend Sports Festival, held every June in Sunriver, OR, includes the Long course Triathlon/Endurance Duathlon, competitive multisport races consisting of a series of 2 or 3 stages, starting with a 1.2-mile open-water swim (for the triathletes), followed by a 58-mile bike course normally; however, due to harsh conditions this section was shorted to 28 miles, then athletes finished with a 13.1-mile run.
Additional races, including Olympic distance triathlon and duathlon, marathon, half-marathon, 5K & 10K run/walks and 3 kids' events, were included throughout the weekend.
The largest amateur volleyball tournament in the world, held annually at Seaside, Oregon.
Held at Flying-M Ranch in Yamhill, OR, this amateur event consists of up to 6 miles and 25 challenging obstacles.
The Oregon Turkeython is an up to 10K event held every year around Thanksgiving, striving to earn money for Dornbechers Childrens Hospital and The American Heart Association. It is put on by the Uberthons, an organization whose goals are to promote fitness, nutrition and fight obesity.
Dr. Sill aided in the training room and at sporting events for Park Rose High School and David Douglas High School.


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Quality Solutions LLC specializes in deck building services in Monroe, North Carolina. We'll visit your home to survey your yard and get a feel for how you want your deck to look. Our crew will put your ideas on paper so we can bring your vision to life. You'll be enjoying backyard parties and family gatherings at your new outdoor living space soon enough.
Call 704-579-9911 now to get a free estimate on your deck building project.
Would you like to upgrade your home?
No matter what kind of remodeling project you want us to tackle, you can count on us to deliver exceptional results.


Google Inc. is blaming this morning's Google Apps service outage on a system error that caused a major traffic jam.
The company reported that the outage, which started a little before 11 a.m. EDT, caused about 14% of Google users to face slow service or interruptions. The problem affected all Google products, including Google Search, Google News, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Reader.
The outage appeared to start clearing up a little after noon EDT.
"We've been working hard to make our services ultrafast and 'always on', so it's especially embarrassing when a glitch like this one happens," wrote Urs Hoelzle, Google senior vice president of Operations in a blog post. "We're very sorry that it happened, and you can be sure that we'll be working even harder to make sure that a similar problem won't happen again."
Hoelzle explained that the system error directed some of their web traffic through Asia, creating the hangups and interruptions.
"Imagine if you were trying to fly from New York to San Francisco, but your plane was routed through an airport in Asia," he wrote. "And a bunch of other planes were sent that way too, so your flight was backed up and your journey took much longer than expected. That's basically what happened to some of our users today."
Twitter and the blogosphere erupted with chatter about the outage this morning. Comments about the failure were flying on Twitter, with " googlefail" quickly becoming one of the most searched terms on Twitter.
"Outages like this are highly publicized today, users are vocal and the news spreads like wildfire," said Dan Olds, an analyst with the Gabriel Consulting Group Inc.
"It will have an impact on Google, as it makes their services look less than reliable. While the problem was very short-lived, just a few hours in most cases, the hue and cry from users and the tech media echo chamber make it sound like it was much worse. With at least some users, this will confirm in their mind that they can't rely on Google Apps as their one and only set of tools."
Caroline Dangson, an analyst for IDC, said today's outage made her glad she's not dependent on Google Apps for her work.
"When we look at businesses dependent on Google Analytics or Gmail, they can't afford to have Google crash on them," she added. "It's bad for business. The enterprise will start to consider using something that's always on - more reliable. It's a problem when you have this kind of hiccup system-wide and you're not seen as dependable."
That February outage came just a week after Google acknowledged that some users had experienced problems getting results from Google News searches over a span of more than 14 hours. Some users reported that they weren't getting any results when searching for keywords, such as Microsoft and even Google, in Google News.
Other users reported that entire news sections, such as Science/Technology, were coming up empty of stories.


We asked our staff to pick their favourite 15 projects to celebrate our 15th anniversary this year. Here's Stu Hart's – Miller Insurance.
"For me it was one of the most beautiful jobs we have ever done using optically clear media and white ink.
Only using white ink to create wonderful fluid swirls, using no other colours, on a substrate that is very clean and optically clear made the whole thing look very elegant. It looks absolutely amazing.
The pattern was repeated throughout multiple levels of the building making the overall effect stunning.
See more about Miller Insurance offices.
Stu Hart has been Director at LTD since our beginnings, 15 years ago.


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Gimme Gimme Gimme... More Of ABBA: Revisiting ABBA's Top 5 Hits and Their History
On the heels of the comeback announcement of the Swedish supergroup ABBA, we revisit some of the band's iconic songs, and trace their journey of becoming one of the most iconic bands in the history of pop music.
Formed in Stockholm by four musicians - Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad – in 1972, who in a space of 10 years had become so iconic, that despite their 40-year-long hiatus, their music continued to rule the airwaves, the cassette and the CD market and now even the streaming platforms.
Updated: 04 Sep 2021 5:27 pm
What's common between Uruguayan footballer Edinson Cavani, Oscar-winning actor Meryl Streep and Indian music composer RD Burman? It's the Swedish supergroup ABBA.
Their first brush with fame was in 1974, with the song 'Waterloo', which was heavily inspired by the then emerging glam-rock scene in Britain. The song won the 1974 Eurovision Song contest and then went on to become the number one single in nine European countries and peaked at the number six spot at the US billboard music charts, which also resulted in the band's first ever tour in the country.
Their song 'Mamma Mia', from their third studio album by the same name, took their fame even further. The song which is now synonymous with Hollywood, thanks to the two musicals starring Meryl Streep, was the Swedish group's first number one single in the UK and other countries as well. The song also served as an inspiration for Indian music composer RD Burman, who used a few portions from this song, to create 'Humko Sathi Mil Gaya' in the 1977 film 'Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahi' starring the late Rishi Kapoor.
But perhaps it was not until 1976, that the band went on from being on the fringes of the international pop scene, to becoming global pop icons with their album, Greatest Hits. The first song from that album, 'Fernando', stayed at the number one spot in Australia for 14 weeks. A feat which stayed for 40 years, untill it was broken by Ed Sheeran's single 'Shape Of You' in 2017. The song also features in the popular American sitcom 'The 70's Show'.
Their fourth album, 'Arrival' had two songs that made their music even more popular. 'Dancing Queen' the first single from the album became the first number one hit for the band on the US billboard charts and 11 other European countries including UK, France and Germany.
'Money Money Money' the third song in the album, was another popular song which topped the charts in many countries including UK, France and Italy.
The band's another compilation album, 'Greatest Hits Vol. 2' released in 1979 and apart from being a compilation of their previously released singles, also featured a brand-new single by the band – 'Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man Of Midnight)'- which was big hit across the Europe. Fanss of the popular football club, Manchester United have sing about their star striker Edinson Cavani, in the tune of the same song.
Ever since their final performance in 1982, after which the four musicians went their separate ways, many continued to listen to their music, and eondered if the four would ever reunite. It has taken almost 40 years for the wish to come true and on Sept 2, the band announced they will be making a comeback with their new studio album 'Voyage' which will also feature their two previously announced singles - 'I Still Have Faith in You' and 'Don't Shut Me Down'. And in case anyone had doubts about whether the band's comeback will have a same impact that they did in the 70s and early 80s, the video of 'I Still Have Faith In You' crossed over a million hits in just over three hours!
Art & Entertainment Music


US ITASE comprises four major research disciplines, namely: meteorology, remote sensing, ice coring, and surface glaciology and geophysics. Pertinent aspects of these disciplines that relate to US ITASE are described below.
The US National Science Foundation supports automatic weather station (AWS) units in remote areas in Antarctica (Figure 2). The basic AWS units measure air temperature, wind speed, and wind direction at a nominal height of 3 meters above the surface. Air pressure is measured at the height of the electronics enclosure. Some units measure relative humidity at 3 meters above the surface and the air temperature difference between 3 meters and 0.5 meters above the surface (distances at the time of installation). These data are collected by the ARGOS Data Collection System on board the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration series of polar-orbiting satellites. These data have been used to develop synoptic reconstructions, applied to the understanding of atmosphere-snow transfer functions and the interpretation of ice cores, and have served a wide variety of other specific science goals.
Glaciological accumulation determinations have been able to depict the time-averaged spatial distribution of Antarctic accumulation, although the temporal averaging is not well constrained. Accumulation time series of annual variations are limited in number and spatial coverage. Atmospheric methods for estimating accumulation (actually precipitation minus evaporation/sublimation, and omitting drift snow transport effects) have recently been developed, particularly for Greenland (e.g., Calanca and Ohmura, 1994; Robasky and Bromwich, 1994; Chen et al., 1997), and show good agreement with time-averaged accumulation depictions. Similar efforts are underway for Antarctica and show substantial promise in depicting broadscale accumulation patterns (Yamazaki, 1992; Bromwich et al., 1995; Budd et al., 1995). ITASE offers a unique opportunity to compare atmospheric and glaciological accumulation estimates for the same time periods and for well-sampled, very large areas.
Atmospheric numerical analyses are a comprehensive assimilation of all available meteorological observations (from surface weather stations, radiosonde balloons, satellites, etc.) in a consistent fashion. Recent evaluations have shown that the analyses produced by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) provide a good broadscale description of the atmospheric circulation in and around Antarctica (Bromwich et al., 1995; Turner et al., 1996; Cullather et al., 1997). From these analyses the accumulation rate over Antarctica can be determined indirectly. It has been found that on average about 40% of the water vapor falling as snow on Antarctica enters the continent through West Antarctica (Bromwich et al., 1995), in line with earlier estimates (Lettau, 1969). This sector is subject to the largest interannual variability in Antarctica, particularly in conjunction with the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. As shown by Figure 3 (from Cullather et al., 1996), the derived accumu-lation rate over part of West Antarctica (180-120oW, 75-90oS) facing the South Pacific Ocean varied in phase with the Southern Oscillation Index (a tropical Pacific pressure index related to ENSO) from 1982-1990 and then became anticorrelated after 1990 in association with the prolonged series of El Nino events of the early 1990s (Trenberth and Hoar, 1996). Further, ENSO events observed in the South Pacific Ocean (White and Peterson, 1996) appear to affect both the sea ice cover in this sector (Gloersen, 1995) and pressure and temperature on the continent (Smith and Stearns, 1993).
Uncertainties exist concerning the quality of the pre-1982 ECMWF analyses. These diagnosed accumulation variations are associated with zonal migrations of the Amundsen Sea low for distances of up to 2000 km (Figure 4). The accumulation variations experienced by other parts of West Antarctica depend on their spatial relationship to the Amundsen Sea low, thus illustrating the complexity in space and time of the ENSO signal in West Antarctic precipitation. Much more diagnosis is needed to understand the dynamics and teleconnections associated with the poleward propagation of the ENSO signal from the tropical to the high latitude parts of the Pacific Ocean (Chen et al., 1996), as well as its impact on the climate of West Antarctica. Particularly important is the study of interannual variations of cyclone behavior in relation to the large-scale atmospheric circulation.
As already noted, almost half of the moisture precipitating on Antarctica moves poleward across the coast of West Antarctica between the Ross Ice Shelf and the Antarctic Peninsula. This poleward advection of moist, warm air has a profound impact on the surface temperature regime over West Antarctica, as well as the boundary layer dynamics near the Siple Coast (Bromwich and Liu, 1996). Figure 5 shows the results for May 1995 from an AWS array deployed upslope from the Siple Coast to study the dynamics of the katabatic winds. Only one month is considered in order to maximize the data coverage and because a similar pattern is present in the long-term average (Radok, 1973; Hogan, in review). The potential temperature accounts for the effect of elevation on air temperature readings. The potential temperature pattern in Figure 5 shows that warm air is present near the ice divide upslope from Siple Coast and that its effects steadily decrease downslope toward the Ross Ice Shelf. This warm air signature is the inland expression of the large poleward flux of warm, moist air across the coast and is thought to arise because of the combined radiative effects of clouds and moist air (Liu and Bromwich, 1994; Bromwich and Liu, 1996) on the surface energy balance. In the long-term average this feature follows the ridgeline into East Antarctica (Hogan, in review). Because of the strong ENSO variability in this area described above, there is likely to be strong interannual variability in the location and intensity of this warm air advection pattern.
Remote sensing is expected to be an integral part of ITASE, contributing to route and site selection for the ground-based sampling, and extending parameters measured during this sampling. The remote sensing contributions planned for the ITASE effort are: detailed image maps of the ice surface along ground-based sampling routes; mean annual and mean seasonal ice surface temperature values for the entire continent at 1.25 km resolution; and accumulation rate estimates over the continent at 25 km resolution. Additional remote sensing data and techniques will also be used to make site-specific contributions to the ITASE effort. In turn, the ITASE ground-based sampling experiments contribute to the development of improved analyses of remote sensing algorithms by providing ground truth and validation information on, for example: accumulation rate, grain size and temperature, and other parameters which can be used to improve the analysis algorithms.
Several reasonable digital elevation maps (DEMs) exist of the Antarctic continent, at least for regions north of 81.5oS. These are derived mostly from ERS-1 and other satellite radar altimeters, with additional survey data near most of the mountain ranges. In the best of the current DEMs, the spatial resolution (grid cell spacing) is 5 km. If a need is identified for better elevation mapping along the ground-based sampling routes, it may be possible to use photoclinometry (e.g., Bindschadler and Vornberger, 1994) to improve the existing DEMs along the traverse routes.
The Advanced Very-High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) is the logical sensor for a significant portion of the mapping required for ITASE. Its resolution (1.1 km pixel size at nadir) is appropriate for the vast interior of the ice sheet. In this area there are few crevasses or other features of importance at small (500 m) spatial scales, and where the dominant surface features are subtle, 2-5 km undulations are well-resolved with AVHRR�s high sensitivity for brightness changes. One-kilometer AVHRR data for portions of West and East Antarctica are available from three sources: National Snow and Ice Data Center (NOAA, University of Colorado), Antarctic Meteorological Research Center (AMRC, University of Wisconsin), and Antarctic and Arctic Research Center (Scripps Institution of Oceanography). East Antarctica is covered by the 4 km Global Area Coverage (GAC) data archived by NOAA. Despite coverage limitations, Landsat and SPOT imagery can also contribute significantly in areas near mountains and crevasse fields where smaller pixel size would be important. The upcoming mapping of the entire continent at 25 m pixel size by the Radarsat Antarctic Mapping Project (RAMP) would provide the definitive map set for Antarctica if it becomes available prior to ITASE ground-sampling projects; this seems feasible, but acquisition of the RAMP image data has not yet begun.
Along with the ice surface feature mapping, AVHRR may also be useful for grain size mapping and determining the extent of blue ice areas (Warren et al., 1993). Reflectivity of snow in the near infrared (0.9-1.6 �m) is a strong function of grain size (Wiscombe and Warren, 1980; Grenfell et al., 1994) as well as of illumination, and a band ratio of AVHRR channel 1 (~0.8 �m) and channel 2 (~1.1 �m) gives a strong signal related to grain size while reducing the illumination variation effects (Hall and Martinec, 1985). Grain size is an important component of the accumulation mapping from passive microwave emission, as discussed below.
As part of the NASA Mission to Planet Earth Pathfinder project, investigators at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) are currently using AVHRR data to calculate ice surface temperature data that will yield a 5 km grid cell size for Antarctica on a twice-daily basis for the period 1982-present, with the last four years at 1.25 km resolution over most areas. The algorithm for this work is derived from Key and Haeflinger (1992). Accuracy of the temperature measurement from the satellite data is expected to be �1oK. Data from the Pathfinder-funded research should be available by the end of 1997.
As part of ITASE, statistical analysis of this data set would be undertaken to determine the mean annual temperature, mean seasonally-averaged temperature, and some measure of the interannual variability over the entire Antarctic. This data base could then be compared with the existing 10m temperature data sets as well as the 10m temperatures gathered on ITASE ground-based sampling projects.
Knowledge of the optical properties of Antarctic snow can be applied to determine the vertical distribution of radiative heating in the snow during the Antarctic summer (Brandt and Warren, 1993) and should provide a link between spectral albedo and wavelength-integrated albedo and satellite radiances in visible and near-IR channels (Grenfell et al., 1994).
Passive microwave emissivity has been shown to be a function of grain size, which in turn depends on accumulation rate (e.g., Zwally, 1977). Recently, two papers have been published on the subject of extracting snow/water equivalent accumulation from these data (Davis, 1995; Zwally and Giovinetto, 1995). With grain size and mean annual temperature available in the near future from AVHRR-derived algorithms, it should be possible to derive accurate estimates of the accumulation rate of 25 km resolution from the SSM/I data record available from 1987-present.
Mean annual and mean seasonally-averaged temperature from passive microwave brightness can be compared with δD and δ180 isotopic variations in surface snow to better constrain the relationship of these isotopic climate indicators with average annual temperature (Shuman et al., 1996).
As part of the verification of the above algorithms, the remote sensing portion of the ITASE effort will include some field measurements of parameters pertinent to the above data sets, for example: elevation mapping, various snow properties, 10 m temperature, and shallow-core gamma-ray logging for accumulation rate determination.
High resolution ice core records are now recognized as the most direct means for procuring records that document the soluble, insoluble, and gaseous components of the atmosphere at resolutions as fine as seasonal and, potentially, on time scales as long as a million years. Such records provide us with the resolution needed to interpret past environments and the perspective we need for predictive modeling. While ice core records are potentially available from a wide variety of geographic locations, those developed from polar glaciers generally have the best preserved records. The components transported by the atmosphere and captured in glacial ice document both the responses to environmental change and many of the forcing factors that control and/or modify this change.
Previous Antarctic deep drilling efforts (e.g., Vostok, Byrd, Dome C, Taylor Dome; Figure 6) have provided excellent steppingstones to our understanding of climate change. In addition, heightened international awareness of climate change issues plus the quality of the new Summit, Greenland, GISP2/GRIP ice core records have stimulated a new series of proposed and underway deep ice coring efforts at Dome C (France and Italy), Vostok (Russia, France and the US), Filchner-Ronne (England and Germany), Law Dome (Australia), Dome Fuji (Japan), and West Antarctica (US) (Figure 6). Coupled with all of these proposed deep drilling efforts are a series of shallow to intermediate ice cores (Figure 6). Linking these ice cores and developing an understanding of the spatial gradients in ice core properties are essential to the interpretation of these ice core records.
Properties that will be examined using US ITASE ice core sampling are divided into two groups. Primary properties (Table 1) include those to be determined at most of the ice core sites via surface (S) or time-series (TS) sampling, and secondary (Table 2) implies more exploratory sampling. Properties valuable for dating control are distinguished by an asterisk (*).
Despite the importance of ice core research, our current understanding of the spatial distribution of ice core properties over Antarctica is limited to a general knowledge of the surface distribution of δ180 and a sparse surface sampling of selected major ions presented below.
The δ180 of ice has classically provided the basic stratigraphy and paleo-climatology (temperature, moisture source) of ice cores. Morgan (1982) provides a survey of the sites from which mean annual surface values of δ180 have been recovered revealing the relative sparsity of samples from all but a few selected regions (Figure 7). Stable isotope measurements from a limited number of Antarctic ice cores covering the last ~2 kyr (Figure 8) reveal, however, the regional complexity available from these records.
The sources of the chemical species deposited in polar snow and ice have been summarized in numerous papers (Herron, 1982; Lyons and Mayewski, 1984; Mayewski et al., 1992; Whitlow et al., 1992; Legrand and Mayewski, 1996). Based upon our present knowledge of the chemistry of the atmosphere, polar precipitation is expected to be composed of various soluble and insoluble impurities which are either introduced directly into the atmosphere as primary aerosols, such as seasalt (mainly sodium and chloride; some magnesium, calcium, sulfate and potassium) and continental dust (magnesium, calcium, carbonate, sulfate and aluminosilicates), or are produced within the atmosphere along various oxidation pathways involving numerous trace gases primarily derived from the sulfur, nitrogen, halogen and carbon cycles (e.g., Crutzen and Bruhl, 1989). Secondary aerosols and gases (H+, ammonium, chloride, nitrate, sulfate, fluoride, CH3SO3--, HCOO- and other organic compounds (Legrand et al., 1993)) are derived from a variety of biogenic and anthropogenic emissions or from volcanic activity. Some chemical species have multiple sources. For example, sulfate present in snow can be linked to primary marine seasalt (as Na2SO4) or continental dust (as CaSO4). It can also arise due to the presence of H2SO4 produced by atmospheric oxidation of SO2 introduced directly into the atmosphere during volcanic eruptions, through anthropogenic activity, or via atmospheric oxidation of various other S compounds emitted from the biosphere.
The chemical composition of an individual air mass provides a fingerprint that documents the history of the source area over which the transporting air mass passed. Therefore, atmospheric circulation systems can be labeled by the identification of the source areas that contribute to their chemistry. In the simplest case, marine versus continental air masses can be differentiated based on the identification of seasalts (e.g., NaCl) versus continental dusts (e.g., CaSO4), respectively, in the chemistry of these air masses. More complex atmospheric circulation patterns can be differentiated by the addition of other tracers such as specific chemical species indicators that record, for example, continental biogenic inputs (e.g., ammonium) as noted by Mayewski et al. (1983) in the Ladakh Himalayas.
Glaciochemical analyses provide a powerful tool for understanding the history of environmental change (e.g., marine storminess, volcanic activity, anthropogenic pollutants). Further, by examining glaciochemical time-series as indicators of atmospheric circulation patterns, records of highly dynamic response and forcing of climate change can be developed (Mayewski et al., 1997).
Mineralogy and certain radiogenic isotopes (of Sr, Nd and Pb) constitute additional tracers of continental dust sources. Given their multiplicity and the fact that the several source area characteristics that determine them are completely independent, these tracers have the potential of being fairly source-specific. This has been shown in East Antarctica, where the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM) dust at Dome C has been shown to have come from Patagonia in South America, and has been related to transport by the Antarctic Circumpolar Vortex (Grousset et al., 1992), and in Greenland, where the LGM dust at GISP2 appears to have originated in eastern Asia (Chinese loess plateau, Gobi Desert; Biscaye et al., in review).
Essential to the foregoing is an understanding of the spatial distribution of the soluble and insoluble constituents in Antarctic snow and ice. However, the data available on which to base such an understanding are severely limited. Measurements of soluble ionic constituents in snow and ice rank second to stable isotopes in number of sites sampled over Antarctica, yet few data are available for overlapping time periods (Figure 9). Interpretations requiring spatial understanding of ice core properties are, therefore, severely hindered.
Further, because spatial gradients in ice core chemistry reflect both spatial gradients in local atmospheric chemistry and spatially varying atmosphere-snow transfer functions, atmospheric measurements should be conducted at selected surface sampling sites. Variations in the chemical composition of the atmosphere and snow arise from differences in temperature, wind, and snow deposition processes (Bales and Wolff, 1995; Waddington et al., 1996; Wolff and Bales, 1996). For example, the large differences between concentrations of photochemically produced H2O2 in the Byrd and Siple Station ice cores cannot be explained simply by considering the different latitudes and temperatures of the two sites (Neftel et al., 1995; Fuhrer et al., 1996). The possibility of making both surface snow and atmospheric measurements over the latitudinal, temperature and accumulation gradients of West Antarctica offers an excellent opportunity to deconvolve through both forward and inverse methods (Waddington, 1996) the various factors noted above, thus adding greater understanding to ice core chemistry.
The mass balance of an ice sheet is important because of its control on global sea level and because ice thickness change distorts the ice core record. �Observed� sea-level rise (tide-gauge records corrected for isostatic effects) exceeds �explained� sea-level rise (all non-Antarctic terms) by roughly 2x, or 1 mm/yr. Models and some marine-based Antarctic measurements argue that the Antarctic closes the budget and is causing sea-level rise; Antarctic land-based measurements suggest that Antarctica actually is contributing to sea-level fall, compounding the problem.
The most difficult term in mass balance determination is net surface accumulation rate. Typically, accumulation rates vary both spatially and temporally. Long (>100 years), well-dated cores are needed to properly assess this variation. Thus far, results indicate that variations on the 10 km scale are tied to surface slope. Depth-density determinations are useful for separating satellite-derived surface elevation changes into ice-sheet-mass-balance and firn-density-change terms. Results also improve the interpretation of trapped-gas records during those critical times when rapid climate changes were producing rapid changes in the pore-close-off depth and thus the diffusive column height.
Ice-sheet boundary and internal layer geometries are necessary inputs for regional ice sheet models that provide context for century/millennial-scale ice coring and temperature studies. High-resolution internal layer studies can give direct verification of the spatial variation of the century-scale and finer accumulation rates that is necessary for valid interpretations of widely spaced shallow ice cores. Digital elevation models for the ice-sheet surface and bed as well as internal layers are available, nominally at three resolutions (whole ice sheet, top one third and top one tenth). The folding in the firn and ice revealed by radar can distinguish between unsuitable (Figure 10) and suitable (Figure 11) sites for ice coring.
Temperature histories determined by stable isotope temperature proxies should be calibrated at each site by borehole temperature measurements (Cuffey et al., 1995; Clow et al., 1996) because stable isotopes can also reflect other changing climate parameters in addition to temperature. Continuous temperature logs of boreholes several hundreds of meters deep can provide thermal calibration over the past several hundred years.


text:
A Red Herring in Virginia
Ken Blackwell
Posted: Jan 08, 2016 10:04 AM
Voters are fickle and often don't pay much attention to races besides the top ones, like president and governor. That must be why Virginians narrowly elected Mark Herring state attorney general two years ago.
A majority of people apparently didn't think it mattered a lot who held the office. Were they wrong!
A couple weeks ago Herring decided he would no longer recognize concealed carry permits from 25 other states. Roughly 6.3 million people currently allowed to carry weapons—and thus protect themselves and others—will be disqualified. Half of the states in the union will see Virginia as an inconsistent partner and some law-abiding gun owners denied the right of self-defense might not visit the state, costing it tourism dollars.
Moreover, the decision, which takes effect on February 1, is likely to trigger retaliation against Virginia residents from a number of jurisdictions, including bordering states Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Already some 420,000 Virginians have lost the right to use their permits in a half dozen other states, including nearby Pennsylvania and winter vacation host Florida, which require reciprocity.
In the midst of a rising terrorist threat Herring is weakening the first line of defense against the next home-grown killers who may emerge in our midst. Defeating the Islamic State abroad is essential, but is not enough to safeguard the home front. And few states are as vulnerable as Virginia, a prime target given its border with the nation's capital, high-profile federal facilities, and numerous government workers. We should want more rather than fewer responsible armed citizens.
Herring said that the 25 states "lacked adequate disqualifiers to deny a permit to someone who would be barred from obtaining a permit in Virginia." Of course, it would be nice if every state adhered to the same standards, but that's unrealistic. Even Virginia wants to add its own tweaks. That shouldn't prevent cooperation among the states. Small differences in requirements should not become an excuse to deny so many people the added protection that comes from carrying a firearm.
Observed Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action: "The Attorney General knows that permit holders are among the safest groups of citizens in the commonwealth and the rest of the country." The likelihood that a permit-holder from another state is going to misuse his weapon in Virginia is essentially nil
Herring is asking the wrong question. The standard should not be whether someone who Virginia legislators would have kept off their list might be able to get a permit somewhere else and use it in the commonwealth. Rather, the measure should be whether there a serious risk that someone with an out-of-state permit will misuse a weapon in Virginia. The attorney general offered no evidence for the second because none exists. In none of these 25 states has there been a spate of shootings by people misusing concealed weapons. It's a non-problem.
Of course, nothing in the Second Amendment commands states to recognize each other's concealed handgun laws. Herring has the legislative and constitutional authority to exercise bad judgment. Federalism requires respect for state authority to make these kinds of laws. (But the Second Amendment prohibits states from turning regulation into prohibition. Defenders of gun rights must remain eternally vigilant.)
So it is Virginians who must overturn Herring's foolish policy. Not by stripping state officials of their armed bodyguards, as some people have proposed. Rather, the legislature should overrule Herring. In fact, the NRA is working on a bill to accept valid permits in every other state—"total recognition." The attorney general would be instructed to enter into an agreement with any state requiring such an exchange before recognizing Virginia concealed carry permits.
Of course, Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who already has blocked a number of pro-gun rights bills, likely would veto such legislation. Then gun owners would have to work on Democratic state senators to get the two-thirds necessary for a veto override. And before the next election they should organize to ensure the next governor and attorney general respect Second Amendment rights. This is the democratic process at work.
In the end we all might owe Virginia's attorney general a thank you. State voters are likely to punish his attack on gun rights. And he will have reminded them—and the rest of us—why every government office matters.
Ken Blackwell is a senior fellow and policy board member of the American Civil Rights Union, and a member of the NRA Board of Directors.
Mark Herring
'Have you gone insane?' Richard Grenell says 'we must not do what the other side did to us for 4 years'


Weschler Instruments has completed the acquisition of the Power Series Plus line from Yokogawa's Meters & Instruments Division. These AC switchboard meters feature one, two or three digital displays and easily replace less capable analog meters. Up to three analog outputs allow the Power Series Plus to also function as transducers for remote monitoring. An RS-485 communication option permits networking and computer control. The PSP line complements Weschler's extensive family of Digital Bargraph Meters, which can also be used to measure AC power systems.
Weschler will continue to manufacture the PSP line in the USA. The products are available through existing Yokogawa distributors. Customers may also contact Weschler Instruments directly at 800-903-9870 or info@weschler.com .


text:
============
Installation
============

.. _`install`:

Requirements
------------

* python>=3.4
* django>=1.10
* jsonfield>=1.0.1
* xlsxwriter>=0.9.6
* jinja2>=2.9.6
* django-lbutils>=1.0.3
* django-lbattachment>=1.0.2
* django-stronghold

The following packages are optional:

* django-compressor>=2.1.1
* django-bower>=5.2.0
* django-crispy-forms>=1.6
* django-lb-adminlte>=0.9.4
* django-el-pagination>=3.0.1
* django-impersonate

Installing django-lb-workflow
------------------------------

Install latest stable version into your python path using pip or easy_install::

    pip install --upgrade django-lb-workflow

If you want to install ``django-lb-workflow`` with all option requires::

    pip install --upgrade django-lb-workflow[options]

If you want to install development version (unstable), you can do so doing::

    pip install git+git://github.com/vicalloy/django-lb-workflow.git#egg=django-lb-workflow

Or, if you'd like to install the development version as a git repository (so
you can ``git pull`` updates, use the ``-e`` flag with ``pip install``, like
so::

    pip install -e git+git://github.com/vicalloy/django-lb-workflow.git#egg=django-lb-workflow

Add ``lbworkflow`` to your ``INSTALLED_APPS`` in settings.py::

    INSTALLED_APPS = (
        ...
        'lbworkflow',
    )

Add ``lbworkflow.urls`` to you ``url``::

    urlpatterns = [
        ...
        url(r'^wf/', include('lbworkflow.urls')),  # url for lbworkflow
        url(r'^attachment/', include('lbattachment.urls')),  # url for lbattachment
    ]

**Others**: You should also config other required APPS, ex: ``django-el-pagination``.

Sample code of using django-lb-workflow
----------------------------------------

You can find sample code of using django-lb-workflow in ``testproject/`` and ``lbworkflow/tests/``.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Virtual Artist Talk: Sydney A. Foster
We invite you to join artist Sydney Foster for an artist talk on Zoom. Sydney will explore her residency at the Wiregrass Museum of Art. She will share details about her time spent working in Dothan and the impact the experience has had on her craft and the future of her career. A 15-minute Q&A will follow the 30-minute talk. The talk is free but registration is required.
Sydney A. Foster was born in Montgomery, Alabama and lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia. At 21, Foster was hand selected as staff photographer for the Alabama Governor's Office. Foster is also a United States veteran serving in the Air National Guard. Her work revolves around vibrancy, southern black culture, feminism, and the rawness of all people, places and things. Sydney's work is heavily influenced by social equality, African American women, and being a voice of reason to those who too are afraid to speak up and out.
Sydney's exhibition 'Sydney A. Foster: Reflections and Realities' is on view now through March 26, 2022.
This exhibition is generously supported by grants from the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, and the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.


Trauma, Addiction, and Recovery All of the main characters, along with the minor characters, in Water by the Spoonful experience trauma and/or addiction: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, the death of loved ones, substance abuse, abandonment by birth parents, and divorce are all modes of trauma afflicting these characters. The play does not leave them alone to suffer in pain, though. Each of the characters experiences a cycle of trauma, redemption, and recovery.
It is also critical to note that in the final scene, each character takes a step toward recovery and healing with the loving support of another character. Although the Ortiz family is at the core of the play's action, the play also has a lot to say about the surrogate families people create for themselves. The online chat room created by Odessa offers a tightly-knit, family-style support group for people in recovery. The "conversations" between Haikumom, Orangutan, and Chutes&Ladders are loving, warm, and painfully honest at times.
They are present with each other through incredibly difficult experiences. Conversely, separation from family causes characters pain. Two characters, Elliot and Orangutan, are raised by parents other than their birth parents. Chutes&Ladders is estranged from his son, presumably because of Chutes&Ladders' previous substance abuse. Odessa still deals with the pain of losing her daughter and not being forgiven by Elliot. Orangutan is desperate to gain a stronger sense of self through meeting her birth family in Japan.
Yaz is separating from her husband's family through divorce. The play suggests that separation and isolation prolong trauma and pain, and being in relationship and community, no matter how risky and frightening it may be, is necessary for redemption and recovery. Mothering/Caretaking There is also a theme of mothering and/or caretaking throughout the play. Mami Ginny takes care of Elliot as a child, and Elliot in turn takes care of her when she is elderly and dying.
Odessa was unable to care for her birth children, but she takes care of the people who visit her recovery chat room. Orangutan feels abandoned by her birth family. Ultimately, Orangutan and Chutes&Ladders take care of each other, and even the self-absorbed Fountainhead takes care of Odessa at the conclusion of the play. Taking care of others is closely related to the theme of community and relationships that the play offers up as the only way to move through pain and trauma toward recovery.


*Only available in select lodging choices (studios, 1-8 bedroom condos).
The photos shown are of a select number of units only. Our rooms are privately owned and may differ in décor and furnishings.
Due to our mild mountain climate, none of our rooms have air conditioning.
These rooms are located on the outskirts of the resort with wooded views. This room is almost double the size of our standard bedroom with a much larger bathroom.
This townhouse is spacious and perfect for the small family. One bedroom townhomes can accommodate up to 4 people, with a private bedroom and an unenclosed sleeping loft. The private bedroom has a bathroom and the option of a king or queen bed.
an unenclosed loft with a sleeping area overlooking the common area.
a full kitchen and dining area.
Not all three bedroom townhouses include a loft. Please specify when making your reservation.