On July 21, 2018, Raina wrote, Has anyone ever had the problem where your current project isn't working, but for some reason you just can't let it go and move on to a new project, leaving you in a weird writing limbo? I had a story in the works, but recently there was a book published with the exact same plot (and I don't mean with the same general story structure; the specific premise and character goals are exactly the same, and it's a pretty unique concept, not a widely-used trope), forcing me to do a complete overhaul of my story. I've spent the past month trying, but everything I come up with either doesn't work, or is something that is fine objectively but I just don't want to write. I know that the most logical option would be to accept the unfortunate coincidence and move on since this idea clearly isn't working (at least for now) and I have a bunch of other story ideas which I'm more excited about, but some lingering stubbornness in me refuses to let go. I think it's because I've been working on this for so long, that I've gotten too attached to the idea and am clinging to it out of sheer stubbornness. Any suggestions/encouragement? In this instance my problem isn't not having something to write, but rather giving up on writing it.
Has this ever happened to anybody here?
Melissa Mead wrote back, Maybe save it in a "later" folder? You're not quitting. You're just letting it sit.
I agree with Melissa Mead that may be a good way to go.
I've mentioned here before that it took me four-and-a-half years to write Stolen Magic, a miserable four-and-a-half years at that. I got lost. My plot was too complicated and yet didn't really boil down to much. I wrote hundreds of pages and tossed them. I gave myself a month's vacation to gain perspective, which didn't work, either. But, like Raina, I was too stubborn to walk away and start something else. In the end, though, without realizing it, I did do something new, because the story I wound up with has very little connection with the one I meant to write.
I've talked about this before, too: In economics, there's something called sunk costs. My story was a sunk cost, because I'd sunk so much time into it, and if I abandoned it, that time would be lost. I didn't know the terminology then, but I knew I didn't want to give up the time.
And in economics there's also opportunity costs. While I was thrashing about with Stolen Magic, I was wasting the time I might have spent more productively in writing other stories.
I'm bringing this up, because it helps us see what's going on, and economics makes the question less emotional. Our heart may be aching over the possibility of a break-up with our beloved WIP, but we lift our heads and see all the other stories that would like to woo us.
We can ask ourselves what, other than sunk costs, makes the separation so hard. Is it the theme? Our MC? A secondary character? The tone? A particular plot twist? Does this story concern a problem we can't stop thinking about? I'm more likely to come up with answers if I ask these questions in writing, in my notes.
Once we've figured out what we're so drawn to in our WIP, we can consider how to use that thing or things in a new story. We can make a list! With luck, soon we're off and running, with something partly old, partly new.
In Raina's case, the published book and the WIP are very close, but–just saying–suppose she'd never read and never even heard of the other one? She would have had the satisfaction of finishing her story, and maybe, while she was writing, it would have diverged so much from the other that the resemblance became very faint.
Ideas, as you may know, aren't copy protected. Only their expression is. Probably no one today would dare write a book about a boy in wizard school, but if Rip Van Winkle woke up and wrote such a book, he wouldn't be sued, and his would probably be very little like Harry Potter.
Bud Not Buddy, an orphan story by Christopher Paul Curtis, which won the Newbery award in 2000, came out in the same year as my orphan story, Dave at Night. When I met Christopher Paul Curtis, he said that if our books hadn't been published at roughly the same time, one of us would have been suing the other. I didn't think so. I certainly wouldn't have felt that he had stolen anything from me. I don't think either of us lost readers as a consequence. A result, though, was that the two books were often reviewed together, not set against each other, but in tandem.
I don't read much fantasy these days, and I stay away from fairy tale retellings, because I don's want to be influenced. If something comes into my head that already flowed out of someone else's typing fingers, so be it. I'm innocent. I didn't get it from that other author.
Raina asks for encouragement. All I have to offer is that the writing life isn't easy, but we are constantly surprised and delighted by the buried treasure our deep brains offer up to us. One project may not work out, but it's just one of many, with many more to come. Onward!
∙ Write a story about a young ant in ant wizard school.
∙ Pick one of the lost boys in Peter Pan or one of the dwarfs in "Snow White" and give him his own story, weaving in threads from the classic.
∙ Eliza Dolittle of My Fair Lady, who sells flowers in London, is almost but not quite a beggar. Write a scene from her back story that enables her to keep her dignity and self-respect.
On June 26, 2018, Raina wrote, Does anyone else have the problem where a simple, relatively lighthearted story gets so bogged down by serious/heavy themes that it becomes a different story altogether, and not necessarily one you want to tell? My WIP started out as a relatively simple adventure about Snow White being resurrected with dark magic, but then it got complicated and went into some pretty deep issues about power, human nature, and society. And even though those are interesting themes that would be great to explore in a book, it's not what I want to do right now. Is there any way to dial back the "seriousness" of a work without losing the general story?
Poppie answered, I've been wondering about that myself lately. One idea which I've been using in my WIP fairy story is to make sure there is plenty of humor. My MC Lio and his friends are being trained to rescue fairies from dangerous situations where they could end up killed. But Lio is a coward, which can add a lot of comedy to the situation and still have a message to send. I also have a character who isn't totally comic relief but still has a lot of smart answers for every situation.
You could also NOT kill off beloved characters that play a big part in the story (although you can absolutely kill villains, and unimportant characters can die). In my WIP, fairies can (and do) get injured, but no one dies. You can have consequences, but not have them get dark, such as having a character struggle with survivor's guilt the whole novel.
Raina wrote back, I agree, humor is a great way to lighten things up. For some reason humor comes harder for me when I'm writing YA (as opposed to when I'm writing MG), but I think this book might need it so I'll definitely give that a try.
I'm with Poppie that not killing off characters allows the mood to stay light. Death is such a buzzkill!
And what Raina says about YA versus MG humor is interesting. Young adulthood is a daunting time. The complexities that pre-adolescents may not see jump out at teens, and ways to cope aren't as developed as they (usually) become in adulthood. So the humor is different for the two groups. Here's a joke I completely adore that I think is perfect MG humor, though it works for all ages: A snail, attacked by two tortoises, is unable to describe the incident to the police. "It happened so fast!" it says.
No sarcasm, no irony. We pity the poor, benighted snail even while laughing at its predicament.
By contrast, the saying, "Life is short and then you die," is packed with irony and, I think, goes to the YA sweet-sour spot. I just googled "ironic jokes," and some of the ones I found work to my ear, like this one: "I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you." Some are just nasty and unpleasant–I'd stay away from those.
There's a marvelous, very old (1939) romcom called Ninotchka, directed by the legendary Ernst Lubitsch. The female lead, played by Greta Garbo, is a super-serious Soviet emissary of some sort. The male lead, played by Melvyn Douglas, tries to get her to laugh and fails utterly until he takes a pratfall. When he goes down, she laughs her head off. In my opinion, his spill is MG humor, and his humiliation at falling is YA.
Of course, these are gross generalizations. Some younger kids appreciate sarcasm and irony, and some teens continue to prefer slapstick and lighthearted humor.
∙ Hamlet's father comes back as a ghost, asking his son to avenge his murder. Dad is dead, but at last he's confiding in his son. Mom conspired to kill him, but see how pretty she is when she smiles at Claudius. Hard not to be happy for her.
∙ Romeo and Juliet are both dead at the end, but some other people never find true love. Aren't they really the ones to be pitied?
Let's darken a different fairy tale than "Snow White" so we don't mess with Raina's plot. Cinderella marries her prince and on her wedding night finds out he's a vampire. She should have noticed his eager expression when one of the stepsisters cut off her heel to squeeze into the glass slipper (I don't think this is in the Disney version). After she's a vampire, too, Cinderella decides to get revenge on her stepfamily. She showers them with jewels and invites them to live at the castle. But sweet Cinderella still lives inside the vampire, and her two natures are constantly at war. Meanwhile the stepfamily members are as awful as ever. Everyone in the castle is vampiric. Cinderella goes back and forth between feeling she should protect them and maybe just scare them a little and remembering how beastly they were to her. I think this can be both funny and compelling.
Now let's examine dark humor. Something has to really be at stake. If we're talking about the premise of a novel or a story, what's at stake has to be important: a relationship, a life, a way of life. Whatever.
∙ Our MC is on a spaceship with mechanical difficulties. The likelihood of survival is slim. She can still have funny thoughts: death just when she's figured out how to brush her teeth without getting toothpaste all over her forehead.
∙ She's on planet earth. The love of her life breaks up with her. She still cares about him and decides to set him up with the perfect person for him. She even thinks, What can go wrong?
∙ I'm on my train home, as I often am when I write the blog. I imagine the conductor falling asleep and somehow (I don't know what conducting a train involves) making the train go faster and faster. People are flying about the train car. I'm wedging myself under the seats because I'm small enough to do that. I hope no one's been killed. I wonder if I'll survive–and also wonder if we're going faster than the bullet train in some parts of the world. Are we breaking any records? I hope we are! I hope the famous black box is getting it. We may die, but we're making a contribution to humanity, and isn't that what everybody wants, for their life to have meaning?
You may not be rolling in the aisles, but you see the humor. It's all in the perspective of the character. Doesn't have to be the MC, can be a secondary character or more than one.
∙ Try "Cinderella with Vampires." Cinderella doesn't have to be the only character with a sense of humor. The prince can have one, too. So can some of the castle vampires and a stepsister.
∙ Try any of my tragicomic ideas above, including, if you dare, a re-envisioning of a Shakespearian tragedy to make it funnier but still sad.
∙ Write a scene between siblings. One is ten and the other sixteen. Somebody in the family is gravely ill. Show how the middle grade child and the young adult approach a serious situation. Make both of them seek relief in humor. Show how they do it.
∙ The most troubling fairy tale I know is "Hansel and Gretel," since child abandonment sets off the story. Try your hand at a darkly humorous retelling for the YA crowd.
On June 23, 2018, Samantha wrote, People always say "Make your characters feel pain!" In general I agree with this. Your character has to suffer throughout your story or it will be flat out boring…but how do you make his/her suffering unique? I've also heard that you should write about what you know, do you agree with this? And if you think that is good advice, do you have suggestions of how to stretch my knowledge and experiences to 1) sound unique/less boring and 2) not completely copy my life?
Lots of you flowed in to help.
Song4myKing: About pain. I think readers will care more about a character whose suffering seems in some way like their own, than about a character whose trouble is so far out there that they can't really imagine it. If a character loses her best friend, it could strike a closer chord than if she is the only one in her town to survive a bombing. Not that you can't use the bombing. But if you want the reader to care about the character's loss and not just about her new plot challenges, you'll have to narrow her grief down to one lost person at a time. Then make THAT person, and THAT pain become as real as possible.
Probably the key to making the character's suffering unique is to make sure the people and things involved are 3D and unique. I talked about loss of a loved one as an example; that may be a common theme, but it becomes unique if the one gone and the one left are both well-rounded and their relationship was unique to them. Things like fears are the same way–if the character isn't flat, and the fears have a believable basis, the suffering it causes will be just as interesting.
But whatever you do, don't make the suffering random. Don't kill the dog just to make the readers cry. They won't. They'll just be mad at you unless you have a very good reason. Think what in your story could naturally cause pain, then milk it for all it's worth.
About writing what you know. I try not to write about things in the real world that I know nothing about. I probably will never write a story that has a public school as a major setting, because the school I went to was a very small church school. But I might sometime write about a homeschooler even though I was never homeschooled. I can more easily imagine what it would be like, because several of my siblings homeschooled for a year or two, and so did a number of my friends.
But notice I said "real world." In the real world, someone will call your bluff if you really didn't know what you were talking about. But in a made-up world, you are the creator, and you have the opportunity to get to know your world better than anyone else knows it.
And don't forget that you CAN stretch your knowledge and experiences, even turning them into something a little different. I can't really wrap my mind around the idea of losing my parents, but I did write a story that included that. I remembered the pain of losing my grandfather, and I put that pain into the story.
Christie V Powell: Well, suffering is tied to both fear and pain, so what does your character fear? What hurts them? That'll be different for different people. Put me on a crowded dance floor with music so loud it hurts your ears–to some, that's fun, but to me it would be suffering. I was watching a movie recently where a baby was rushed to the hospital. Everyone else enjoyed it, but I have experiences that made watching it painful. So experience will color the suffering too.
Real people are more complex than characters. Even if you were writing a memoir, your character self would not be a carbon copy. In some ways, all of your characters are based off of you and things you've experienced. My character Keita Sage is an introvert like me, but I also identify with antagonist Donovan's desire take control and simplify government. Some of my real-life experiences got twisted into fiction: I once euthanized a baby chick that was born with fatal problems. It was a shocking, traumatizing experience. I twisted it into my first book, when Keita charges into battle and accidentally kills someone. In the final chapter, she discusses her complicated feelings about a gray character who did terrible things, yet she still cares for him as a person. It came straight from my feelings about one of my good friends from high school being arrested. You're a unique human being. You've had different experiences than everyone else. That will come through.
In high fantasy, the whole world might be at stake. However, I just read and loved "The Losers Club" by Andrew Clements, and the only thing at stake is the main character's summer vacation and maybe his friendship with a girl. It's based on a realistic 6th grade bookworm. His character wasn't really unique–he reminded me a lot of myself.
Maggie R.: So then, do you think that I can still get the reader to feel sad if it's like ten people who die? Is it too many people do you think? Maybe I could give instances where they are each given a personality. What do you think?
Herolass: It depends on who the people are who die and how they die. If ten unnamed soldiers die in a battle I will not be too sad, but if those soldiers are all friends who died to save someone (e.g. the MC or another important character), I will be very sad.
Also, I tend to find that tragedy/death feels sadder when the reader/story has some "quiet time" for it to really sink in, instead of a big action scene where the reader's (and characters') adrenaline is probably rushing. If you look at Blake Snyder's Save the Cat beat sheet, the ALL IS LOST moment is usually a big dramatic (and action-packed if you're in one of the more action-oriented genres) scene where something major happens, while the DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL moment is more internal conflict, where there's not necessarily a lot going on outside but the MC is struggling inside.
Song4myKing; They might not all need to be named, and have personality shown, but if a few of them are in some poignant way, we'll get it. We'll understand that they were all people, not just pawns.
Wow! You guys are fabulous! I agree with everything!
As I'm thinking about this, I'm guessing that we can even make readers care about aggregates of lives lost–though I've never attempted it. I think the burnt socks at the side of the road is super effective, but we can also be cerebral about death statistics. One of the reasons, I think, that people continue to care about the Holocaust is the sheer enormity of Jewish deaths: six million. Statistics have power. We can compare the death toll to other death tolls. I haven't done this, so I'm making up statistics: Jewish deaths in the Holocaust compared to deaths in our Civil War, compared to deaths from cholera, compared to deaths from malnutrition. (I don't know how any of these would come out.) We might look at innovations by population and speculate how many advances all of humanity was deprived of by the losses. In real life, I have thought along these lines. Naturally, in our fiction, we would stack the deck–make comparisons that point up the magnitude of the tragedy. And then, to bring it all home, we can show the effects of realizing the seriousness of the event on our beloved MC.
Suppose our MC's tribe loses a battle with the gnomes of Mount Pothinay, and only three out of a thousand soldiers survive. Our MC reacts with shock and deep depression. She thinks of the impact on the tribe going forward. She listens in on the survivors' descriptions of the debacle. They supply the detail that everyone above talked about. We may not know any of these characters well–either the dead or the living–but their stories will affect our MC and through her, our readers.
Underlying all this, of course, is emotion. We have to connect the deaths of the few or the many with a feeling response. If we set it up right, we can do it. Writers have super powers!
On to writing what we know or what we didn't (past tense) know. As I've said here, my WIP is a historical novel about the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. I knew little when I started. Many learned tomes later, I'm, if not an expert, at least a knowledgeable amateur, and, finally, I'm starting to feel comfortable moving around in this long-ago world, which may be more different from our own than any of the fantasy universes I've created, not withstanding dragons, fairies, and elves. For example, cities had their own fueros, charters of rights granted by the monarch. But the king (and occasionally the queen) could–and did–change his mind any old time. If a subject didn't like something, he could appeal to the king, and the king might act in his favor. But when another objection came along, he might reverse himself. A subject could depend on nothing! For most of the medieval period, the Jews had their own courts, but if a Jew was unhappy about a judgment, he could move on to the Christian courts and hope for a better outcome. I've never thought about introducing such chaos–but I might in a future fantasy, because, in addition to writing what we know, we can write what we've learned.
My book, The Wish, is set in the eighth grade. When I wrote it, junior high (no middle schools then) was decades in the past, and, due to a special program in New York City at the time, I skipped eighth grade. So I spent a day with an eighth grade class and talked to the kids. When I wrote The Two Princesses of Bamarre, I needed the help of my shy friends to get Addie right, since I'm an extrovert–but being an extrovert didn't stop me from writing her.
We may have to step outside ourselves to write what we don't know, but plenty of resources are available. For this historical novel, in addition to reading academic books, I've googled countless things. I had a long phone conversation about boats with an expert at the South Street Seaport in New York City. I've reached out to scholars specializing in the Middle Ages on the Iberian Peninsula. No one has been unwilling to help.
One of the charms of writing what we don't know is that we build bridges to what we do. In the case of the expulsion of the Jews, not all the discoveries have been happy. Prejudice then and prejudice now, if not exactly the same, resemble each other.
I encourage writers to write what we don't know. We get bigger.
And I don't want you readers of this blog to limit your ambitions. Whatever you want to do in your writing, I say, go for it!
In the case of writing about the late fifteenth century, I can't get it entirely right, and not merely because records are spotty. For one thing, I don't have twenty years for this one book, the time it would take to truly know the period. For another, the way events unfolded then has convinced me that people at the time were in some respects fundamentally different from twenty-first century humanity: the sense of self was less individuated; the stories folks tell themselves about their lives has changed; and the relation of self to society has shifted. I'm hoping to write characters who aren't exactly like us, just dressed up in gowns or doublets and hose. But if I manage to represent them as they would recognize themselves, they may not be comprehensible to modern readers. I'm looking for a middle ground. We can't entirely get away from what we know.
This extends to all kinds of writing. My shy Addie is unlikely to reflect everyone's experiences of being shy. Whether we write what we know or what we learn, our words won't precisely match what our readers know. This is all to the good. How dull it would be otherwise!
∙ Take the defeat against the gnomes of Mount Pothinay when only three out of a thousand survive. 997 people have been killed. Resist the urge to make any of them individuals. Write a scene, and make the reader sad.
∙ Research a historical defeat. Make yourself care, and then, using your research, write a scene and make the reader care. For this, Wikipedia and Google are your friends, but you can also interview people you know who may be veterans or may have been in any kind of physical fight.
∙ Take a tall tale or a myth about an out-size individual. Make that person believable. Adapt the story. Write it all or a scene.
On June 4, 2018, Writeforfun wrote, I'm desperate! How do you come up with new book ideas?
I accidentally killed my computer four weeks ago and lost all of my files…and hadn't backed them up for the past two years (yes, I know, you're supposed to back your computer up way more often than that, but I'm a chronic procrastinator, so I never got around to it). I lost everything I've written for the past two years, which includes two novels I had halfway finished and the two previous novels that I was working on revising. I can't stand the thought of starting over on that stuff, at least not for a good long while, but I'm dying to start writing again.
I'm trying to think of a fresh new idea to move onto, but coming up with an idea that I can really get into is proving impossible. I have dozens and dozens of story ideas that I've come up with over time, but only a few have piqued my interest in just the right ways to get me obsessed enough with them to write them (that's pretty much the only way I can write something – if it intrigues me in just the right way that I can't stop thinking about it and I crave a chances to sit down and write more of it!).
Right now I have one idea that has really sparked my interest, but, alas, it is a fanfiction, spawned off a backstory that an author never wrote; I love it, but I can't stand writing fanfiction and I can't figure out a way to convert it into something original – I'm afraid it wouldn't work in any other world.
Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone has any ideas for how to come up with…ideas?
HeroLass wrote back, One of the ways I come up with ideas is to go for a walk, nature inspires me and when I walk I let my mind wander.
And Melissa Mead wrote, Can you tease out the core of what you love about the fanfiction, change everything else, and write that?
There is actually a book called What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter (high school and up, I think), which is a great resource for idea generation. So that's one source we can all turn to.
I am backed up in multiple ways, and, except for my little memory chip, all of them are managed by my techie husband. If not for him, I'm sure I would be or would have been in Writeforfun's boat more than once. I'm very sorry this happened to you!
I'm with HeroLass on the usefulness of activities that let our minds wander. Walks, showers, repetitive and mindless activities can be potent sources of ideas. In my experience these work best if they're preceded by intense though unsuccessful brain cudgeling. After that kind of effort–which may include free-writing, list-making, talking obsessively about the problem with anyone who will listen–the subconscious is primed and, when allowed to roam free, will produce results. This works for major ideas for entire projects and for smaller ones when we get stuck in our WIP.
When I'm on an idea hunt, I often think about the problem just before I go to sleep, and–sometimes–I wake up with the answer. This is another form of the relaxation technique above. It presupposes, as I believe, that our brains really do have answers. The difficulty is finding opening the lock. Sleep is often the key.
It can be useful to keep a pad by the bed and write down our dreams, which otherwise are likely to slip away. Dreams are surreal and unexpected. We can mull them over, write notes about them and lists about where we might take them.
I agree with Melissa Mead about changing the fanfic enough to make it entirely your own. Lists may come in handy here. We can list the elements of the world that seem unique, that we can't do without–and then list ways we can do without them. We can list the elements of our idea that we love and then list ways to use them in a new, non-derivative story.
One of my chief worries in the year that preceded the publication of Ella Enchanted was that everyone would notice how derivative the book was, how I had stuffed it with all the elements of what I loved about many of the books I'd read. No one ever made that accusation. We may not be copying someone else even when we think we are.
We can list our obsessions. What do we care about? What has been an interest through our entire life? For each item on our list, we can start a new list of ways to use that interest in a story. For example, suppose we're fascinated by trees. What can we do with that? Dryads? The secret lives of roots?
I'm finally writing about the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, a subject I've been curious about for years. I keep finding books (unread until now) about the subject on my bookshelves. My subconscious was preparing me. I bet yours is, too.
As most of you know, fairy tales are a major source of inspiration for me, but not all of them open to me quickly. There are several on the back burner that I hope to get to eventually: "Rumpelstiltskin," "East of the Sun, West of the Moon," "Aladdin," to name a few. When I think of something that may, finally, allow me to move into actual writing, I type it into my ideas page for that story.
And I keep a running list of ideas that I may be able to work with in the future. I'll probably never get to many of them, because new ones continue to come along, but when I'm preparing to start a new project I always go back to my list. I'd encourage everyone to keep such a list, and, if we're in danger of losing it in a computer disaster, print it out periodically or keep it longhand in a notebook.
∙ Pick a book you've loved that was published in the last few years, definitely still copy protected, and use it as the basis for a list of ideas you can spin off to make your own original story. Pick one and start writing.
∙ The following is one of my dreams, which I put in a poem. I offer it to you to change any way you like if it seems to have story possibilities: I knew that if I ate the shrimp I would turn transparent. I didn't serve myself any, but they were on my plate anyway. That's all I remembered when I woke up. Do I eat the shrimp? Who wants me to be transparent? Is being transparent the same as being invisible?
∙ The genies in Aladdin interest me. How do they grant wishes? Where does their power come from? What's their relationship with the evil magician? Write a list of genie story possibilities. If one grabs you, write the story.


text:
Chinatown's new beat cop has big shoes to fill
By William Love Correspondent |
PUBLISHED: October 23, 2007 at 3:41 a.m. | UPDATED: August 17, 2016 at 4:29 a.m.
OAKLAND — One recent Friday morning, Officer Vy Quoc Le walked into the Hong Kee Market on Eighth and Franklin.
Past long, dusty shelves with yellow boxes of cornstarch and half-pound bags of dried chrysanthemum, the stocky cop made his way to a back counter where the elderly store owner, Hong Lee, was guarding a treasure trove of liquor and lotto tickets. As Lee sold to some of his regular customers, he struck up a conversation with Le about the crime that has plagued Chinatown businesses.
Le, a nine-year veteran with the Oakland Police Department, recently began his new patrol as the walking officer in Chinatown. He is one of eight walking officers who work with business owners to respond to minor crimes such as vagrancy and theft in concentrated commercial districts like Chinatown, Temescal and Fruitvale. Riding a Cannondale bike, Le's main focus is the area between Broadway and Fallon Street and Fourth and 12th streets.
Le replaces Stanley Mock, an officer of Chinese descent who had gained respect in the community before he was killed this summer in an off-duty motorcycle accident.
Having street knowledge is something Le shares with his predecessor. When he arrived in the United States from a Vietnamese refugee camp in the Philippines at 15, he lived in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco and hung out with members of the San Francisco Chinatown street gang, the Jackson Boys.
"It was rough." said Le, who attended Galileo High School. "I had no clue what was going on." One of his role models was a cousin who has a record and is still in a Chinese gang.
Le got a wake-up call when one of his friends was killed in a shooting outside of a pool hall in San Francisco's Chinatown.
"I didn't want to end up having a record, going to jail, things like that, and no career," he said. It's that realization, Le said, that drove him to focus on getting through City College and working as a bellhop at the Hilton Hotel in San Francisco.
"It's easier to be bad than to be good," Le said, reflecting on his early years. "To be a bad person doesn't take skill. If you want to become a better person, get some education, it takes time and a lot of effort."
Le, 36, is Chinese from Vietnam and the second youngest among his seven siblings. His father was a Vietnamese soldier trained by the United States during the Vietnam War. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, the communist government kicked his family out of their home, forcing them to flee into the impoverished countryside. An uncle sponsored the entire family and brought them to San Francisco.
Le is bilingual, he speaks Cantonese and English, and can read and write in Vietnamese.
"I'm really enjoying working in the Asian community," Le said. "A lot of times when they call and an officer shows up, there's a language barrier and it just doesn't go anywhere when you have that kind of problem."
Inside Le's patrol car, a funeral program with a color photo of Mock remains tucked inside his visor.
"I feel very proud because he had done a lot for the Chinese community," Le said. "I'm pretty sure a lot of merchants out here miss him. I'll just do the best I can to fulfill that duty."
William Love Correspondent

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


New Delhi,A Nov 8 : The Union Cabinet on Thursday signed an agreement with Italy for training and education in the fields of labour and employment.
In a statement issued by it, the government said that the agreement will "enhance the technical capabilities of developing and organising international training programmes and the evolution of V.V.
Giri National Labour Institute (VVGNLI) as a leading training institution in the Asia-Pacific region."


A popular street food (chaat) that has its origins in North India, Dahi Papdi Chaat is tasty and quick snack to make.
1. Add a pinch of salt and sugar to the yogurt.
3. Arrange the papdis on a plate.
4. Add some potatoes on top.
5. Top up with mung beans.
6. Drizzle the coriander mint chutney and tamarind dates chutney on top.
7. Sprinkle chaat masala powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder and little salt.
8. Drizzle the yogurt on top followed by any remaining chutneys.
9. Garnish with coriander leaves and sev.
Feel free to comment or share your thoughts on this Dahi Papdi Chaat Recipe from Awesome Cuisine.


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#AutoExpo2016: Tata Motors showcases its compact sedan KITE 5, SUV HEXA, compact SUV NEXON and new hatchback at The Motor Show
New Delhi, 03 February 2016: Tata Motors has showcased its future range of passenger vehicles at the Auto Expo 2016. The line-up includes the new sporty compact sedan (project code named KITE 5), the production ready, lifestyle SUV- HEXA in automatic and manual variants, compact SUV NEXON, and the personalized editions of the new passenger vehicles from Tata Motors.
The new hatchback ZICA has been showcased publicly for the first time. While it carries the 'ZICA' label for the duration of the event, as a socially responsible company, Tata Motors has decided to re-brand the car after the outbreak of the Zika virus.
The production ready SUV HEXA, which was first showcased as a concept at the Geneva Motor Show in 2015, is a lifestyle SUV with a bold design and sharp cosmetic features.
The NEXON on the other hand is an elegant and sporty compact SUV which comes with dynamic, new generation best-in-class diesel and petrol engines.
The KITE 5 has been showcased for the first time globally. The sub-four metre compact sedan embodies the company's new IMPACT design philosophy, and promises best-in-class driving pleasure and the advanced ConnectNext system within the segment.
Tata Motors has partnered with Jayem Automotives for developing performance & special vehicles. The partnership will bring alive the next level of personalization with performance enhancement kits as well as design modifications. At the Auto Expo, the first product from this partnership, a sporty & performance hatchback, is on display. It has stylized body kit and comes equipped with the 1.2T Revotron engine, enhanced to 110 PS power and 170 Nm torque, delivering 0 to 100 km/h within 12 seconds.
Related Items:Auto Expo, Automobile, India, Manufacturing, Motor Show, Uncategorized


MiX Telematics, a leading global provider of fleet and mobile asset management solutions, recently celebrated and awarded the top ten South African academic achievers of 2017, at their offices in Midrand. The MiX Telematics Enterprise BEE Trust subsidises the education of these top achievers, from the Employee Education Fund. The Trustees, MiX Telematics employees and very proud parents of the pupils, attended the event.
These primary and high school students achieved outstanding results. The highest average achieved from one of the pupils was an impressive 90%, with four pupils achieving 80% to 89% and five pupils achieving an average of 75% to 79% respectively.
The Employee Education Fund was founded in 2013 and provides educational assistance to qualifying MiX employees who cannot afford quality education for their children. The fund makes provision for tuition fees, stationery, transport, school uniforms and, in certain instances, boarding fees. Unlike most bursaries or educational assistance programs, this fund not only focuses on high school students, but is specifically aimed at assisting students from as early as possible in their school careers.
"Core to our company culture is significant investment in our staff and their children. Through the Trust, we are able to not only offer tuition funding but also provide careful educational support, in order to enable these students to be the best that they can be," says Bathandwa Kwababa chairperson of the Trust.
"Our end goal is to see the MiX Employee Education Fund being utilised by as many staff members as possible. In fact, the Trust has indicated that despite the Fund's accomplishments, support from across the company is always required. The fund has created conditions under which only the best performing learners can emerge – which has only attracted more applicants, keen to prove that they have what it takes," concludes Kwababa.


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By getting involved in Bee for Battens, you have the chance to really help those affected by Batten Disease and other rare diseases.
We are always looking to expand our network of supporters and volunteers. We would love if you, your family, your friends and your workplace get involved!
Volunteers play an important role in Bee for Battens, and we welcome your support with open arms. Fundraising activities and events bring people together and help to raise awareness for Batten Disease.
Clubs, Schools, Colleges and Groups: Whether you are part of a club or a society, a student or just a group of work mates, your support is very welcome. We cherish the opportunity to work with you, and we will assist in every way we can to support your fundraising activity.
Support from the Business Community: Wherever your business is located, our non-profit registered charity is here to engage with you and your employees to form long-lasting relationships. Bee for Battens relies totally on donations from the business community and the general public. Your help and support can take many different forms, and we are always open to new ideas and initiatives.
Calling All Runners, Riders, Walker, Climbers & Adventurers: If you are someone who likes to enjoy a run, a cycle, a swim, or even a leisurely stroll, please consider taking part in an event for Bee for Battens. Many people proudly wear our famous logo while taking part in marathons, cycles and sponsored walks in Ireland and across the globe. Please, please: Remember send us a picture or video of you taking part. We would love to publish it on our website gallery and on social media.
Email us at Buzz@beeforbattens.org.
Call or TEXT us on: 083 00 44444. We will get back to you very soon.
Contact us via Facebook, Twitter & YouTube!
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Our annual membership is aimed at people whose daily lives are directly affected by Batten Disease.
By joining, you are entitled to have your say in the running and shaping of Bee for Battens.
Family and friends are very welcome to join us and play their part in fighting this devastating disease.
We also invite anyone else who has an interest in or is currently involved with Batten Disease patients (carers, medical professionals, teachers, other).


All students take assessments in Language Arts and Math each year. 8th grade students also take assessments in Science. The assessments are broken into two parts, and assess students abilities to perform and demonstrate their knowledge in the respective subject areas. Results of these assessments are reported on Ohio's Local Report Card each year.
Additional Info: See Ohio's Statewide Testing and Achievement Assessments for more information.
The OTELA is the assessment used by the state of Ohio to test the English proficiency of Ohio Limited English Proficient (LEP) students in Grades K-12. This assessment is given to comply with both State and Federal laws. Feel free to call the school office with any questions.
Dates of testing: Middle of the year. Check the Year-At-A-Glance page for exact dates.
Where: Here at the school.
Additional Info: See ODE - Ohio Test of English Language Acquisition (OTELA) at The Ohio Department of Education for more information.
Get plenty of sleep the week of testing.
Eat a good, healthy breakfast.
Be at school every day the week of testing; avoid scheduling appointments.
You can't be admitted late to the test.
Use the restroom before homeroom.
Bring two #2 sharpened pencils (no mechanical pencils).
You may chew gum during the test.
You may bring a bottle of water.
You may bring hard candy.
Bring something to read when finished; you will not be able to write, draw, or sleep.
Answer every question; never leave a blank.
Budget your time; if you don't know an answer, go on and come back.
Concentrate on the test, not the clock.
Effort: don't give up; do your best.
Go back and recheck your answers (more than once), but don't rush.
Read the entire question before attempting to answer.
If question asks for facts, don't give your opinion.
Address all parts of the question.
Proofread your work and correct any errors.
You can write in your Test booklet, but only what you write on the answer sheet counts.
8th grade math reference sheet is in front of instruction page.
You may not look at another day's test.
You may use your own calculator (if on the list).
If you don't think you're comfortable with the new RED calculator, you may use the black calculators.
Teachers are not allowed to refresh your memory.
Teachers are not allowed to show you how to use the calculator.


With AirAsia having dropped fuel surcharges, passengers on its Singapore-Kuala Lumpur run need only pay S$32 (US$21) for airport fees and taxes for a one-way ticket. Booking must be done before November 30 for travel during January 6 to April 30, 2009.
Now flying to Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Hangzhou and Melbourne, AirAsia is looking to add a non-stop trip to London soon.
Tiger Airways is offering travel between February 1 and October 24, 2009 at nice prices too. Book before November 25 and pay less than S$130 (US$85) for flights to destinations like Bangalore (US$85), Shenzhen (US$79), Macau (US$59), Phuket (US$49) and Hanoi (US$46).
Until December 31, Thai Airways International is offering a special pass entitling passengers to Economy Class flights to three Thai cities for US$199. Children between 2 to 11 years of age will receive 50 percent off the air fare.
For more information visit, www.airasia.com, www.tigerairways.com and www.thaiairways.com.


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Dorotheus of Gaza
Anonymous painting of St. Dorotheus of Gaza, from Mount Saint Dionysius, Mount Athos, 1547
Monk and Abbot
Roman Catholic Church; Eastern Orthodox Church
18 June (Orthodox); 5 June (Roman Catholic)
Dorotheus of Gaza (Greek: Δωρόθεος τῆς Γάζης Dorotheos tes Gazes; 505 – 565 or 620,[1]) or Abba Dorotheus, was a Christian monk and abbot.[1] He joined the monastery Abba Serid (or Abba Sveridus) near Gaza through the influence of elders Barsanuphius and John. Around 540 he founded his own monastery nearby and became abbot there. It was to the monks of this monastery that he addressed his instructions/teaching (ἀσκητικά, "ascetics") of which a considerable number have survived and have been compiled into Directions on Spiritual Training, originally composed in Greek and translated in medieval Syriac, Arabic, Georgian, and Church Slavonic.[2][3] It is typical that at the heading of his teachings he announces that he offers his teaching "following the death of Abba John the Prophet and the complete silence of Abba Barsanuphius". It seems that as long his holy spiritual fathers lived he thought that he should live in obedience, keep silent and not give his own teaching. Only after the demise of one and the decision of the other not to speak did he decide to record his ascetic experiences, in order to edify the monks at the new monastery. He presents his teaching looking to one sole aim, the edification of those to whom it is addressed. He is not interested in elegance of expression or style. Thus, his words are uncontrived, clear and simple. A careful study of the teachings of Abba Dorotheus shows a strict logical structure in an intelligible and analytic manner. The matters are not approached in a theoretical way, but on the basis of everyday reality and on his monastic experience. He primarily links his teaching with the Holy Scripture and often introduces the subjects by starting from a biblical quote or passage, mainly from the Old Testament. Furthermore, he uses biblical citations from both the Old and New Testament throughout the development of his thought. In his practical teaching, Abba Dorotheus does not ignore the theology of the Church. In his thought, theology and the practical-ascetic life coexist. He certainly is not interested in giving some doctrinal teaching. Nevertheless, his practical teaching is saturated by the faith of the Church.[4] Abba Dorotheus (St. Dorotheus the Hermit of Kemet) is recognized as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church and Oriental Orthodox Church[5] with his Feast Day on June 5 in the Roman Catholic Church,[6] June 18 (June 5 old style) in Churches of Eastern Orthodox tradition and August 13 in the Eastern Orthodox Church.[7]
1 Some instructions of Abba Dorotheus
2 Dorotheus and Dositheus
Some instructions of Abba Dorotheus[edit]
God's providence.
Do not wish for everything to be done according to your determination, but wish that it is how it should be, and in this way, you will attain peace with everyone. And believe that everything that happens to us, even the most insignificant, occurs through God's Providence. Then you will be able to endure everything that comes upon you without any agitation.
Yearning toward goodness.
11. Everyone that desires salvation must not only avoid evil, but is obliged to do good, just as it says in the Psalm: "Depart from evil and do good" (Psalm 34:14). For example, if somebody was angry, he must not only not get angry, but also become meek; if somebody was proud, he must not only refrain from being proud but also become humble. Thus, every passion has an opposing virtue: pride — humility, stinginess — charity, lust — chastity, faintheartedness — patience, anger — meekness, hatred — love.
Struggles with deficiencies.
21. Who resembles a person who satisfies his passions? He is like a person who, after being struck down with his enemy's arrows, then takes them with his hands and pierces his own heart with them. He who opposes passions is like a person that is showered with his enemy's arrows, but remains untouched because he is dressed in steel. One who has eradicated his passions, is like a person that although under a torrent of arrows, either shatters them or returns them into the hearts of his enemies — just as the Psalm states: "Their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken" (Psalm 37:15).
Guarding the conscience.
23. When God created man, He planted something divine into him — a certain conception — a spark that has both light and warmth. The conception that enlightens the mind and indicates what is right and what is wrong is called conscience. Conscience is a natural law. Living in times before any written law, patriarchs and saints pleased God by following the voice of their conscience.
Temperance, meekness.
24. Not only should we observe moderation with food, but we must also abstain from every other sin so that just as we fast with our stomach, we should fast with our tongue. Likewise, we should fast with our eyes i.e. not look at agitating things, not allow your eyes freedom to roam, not to look shamelessly and without fear. Similarly, arms and legs should be restrained from doing any evil acts.
27. It is impossible for anyone to get angry with his neighbor without initially raising himself above him, belittling him and then regarding himself higher than the neighbor.
Sorrows and God's Providence.
24. When we suffer something unpleasant from our best friend, we know that he did not do it intentionally and that he loves us. We must think likewise of God, Who created us, for our sake incarnated, and died for our sake having endured enormous suffering. We must remind ourselves that He does everything from His goodness and from His love for us. We may think that while our friend loves us, in not having sufficient good sense in order to do everything correctly, he therefore involuntarily hurt us. This cannot be said of God because He is the highest wisdom. He knows what is good for us and accordingly, directs everything for our benefit, even in the smallest things. It can also be said that although our friend loves us and is sufficiently sensible, he is powerless to help us. But this certainly cannot be said of God, because to Him everything is possible and nothing is difficult for Him. Consequently, we know that God loves us and shows clemency toward us, that He is eternally wise and omnipotent. Everything that He does, He does for our benefit, and we should accept it with gratitude as from a Benefactor, even though it may appear to be grievous.
Attaining spiritual peace.
29. Let us examine as to why a person sometimes gets annoyed when he hears an insult, and other times he endures it without getting agitated. What is the reason for this contrast? And is there one reason or are there several? There are several reasons, although they are all born from a main one. Sometimes it happens that after praying or completing a benevolent exercise, the person finds himself in a kind spiritual disposition and therefore, is amenable to his brother and doesn't get annoyed over his words. It also happens that a person is partial to another, and as a consequence, endures without any annoyance, everything that the individual inflicts upon him. It also happens that a person may despise the individual who wants to insult him, and therefore ignores him.
Humility, vile thoughts. Humility.
31. Know that if a person is oppressed by some thought and he does not confess it (to his spiritual father), he will give the thought more power to oppose and torment him. If the person confesses the oppressive thought, if he opposes and struggles with it, instilling into himself the desire for the opposite to the thought, then the passion will weaken and will eventually cease to plague him. Thus with time, in committing himself and receiving assistance from God, that person will conquer the passion itself.
Love towards your neighbor.
44. I heard of one person that when he came to one of his friends and found the room in disarray and even dirty, he would say to himself: "Blessed is this person, because having deferred his concerns for earthly cares, he has concentrated his mind that much toward Heaven, that he doesn't even have time to tidy up his room." But when he came to another friend's place and found his room tidy and neat, he would say to himself; "The soul of this person is as clean as his room, and the condition of the room speaks of his soul." And he never judged another that he was negligent or proud, but through his kind disposition, saw good in everyone and received benefits from everyone. May the good Lord grant us the same kind disposition, so that we too may receive benefits from everyone and so that we never notice the failings of others.[1]
Dorotheus and Dositheus[edit]
Dositheus was a disciple of Dorotheus and himself considered a Saint. The story is that as a young man Dositheus, an army page,[8] lead a wild and dissolute life.[9] He became curious, however, after hearing numerous stories about the city of Jerusalem and made a journey there about 520-525AD. It was at Golgotha that an unknown woman who turned out to be Virgin Mary struck up a conversation with him about eternal torments in hell,[10] [11] which led to his converting from paganism to Christianity. He became a monk at Gaza under the supervision of Dorotheus, who had a long and steady struggle to teach Dositheus discipline.[12] Dorotheus was criticized by many of the monastery for his lax disciple.
Dositheus was noted, however, for his humility, self-denial and gentle and supportive ways with the sick.[13] and he worked in the infirmary.[14] It was probably here that he contracted tuberculosis or a similar condition.[15]
He died about 530AD, five years after becoming a monk[9] As he lay dying Dositheus begged Dorotheus to "pray for an early release from his sufferings". Dorotheus answered, "Have a little patience. God's mercy is near." Soon after he said to him, "Depart in peace and appear in joy before the blessed Trinity, and pray for us".[14] After his death, Dorotheus declared that Dositheus had surpassed the rest (of his disciples) in virtue without the practice of any extraordinary austerity. Dositheus was Canonized, he is the patron saint of respiratory diseases and his Feast day is February 23.
List of Catholic saints
^ a b c "Abba Dorotheus". Orthodox Photos.
^ Kazhdan, Alexander P., ed. (1991). "Dorotheos of Gaza". The Oxford dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press. p. 654. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
^ Abba Dorotheus. Ascetic Writings. Introduction, text, translation, comments and tables (in Greek). Editor Holy Monastery of St. John the Forerunner, Careas - Athens 1983.
^ See Constantine B. Scouteris, Abba Dorotheos. Practical Teaching on the Christian Life (Translation, Introduction and Glossary), Athens 2000 (pp. 374), pp. 30-39 (ISBN 960-91014-1-0).
^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Gaza" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^ Dorotheus the Archimandrite, Abbot (PC), Saint of the day, Saint Patrick Catholic Church, Washington, D.C.
^ "Преподобный Авва Дорофей", Russian Orthodox Church Calendar, "Pravoslavie.RU" (in Russian) - August 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
^ St. Dositheus at Catholiconline.org.
^ a b Saint Dositheus of Gaza (C) (Monk) Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.
^ The story of ven. Dorotheus and Dositheus in Russian
^ Saint Dositheus of Gaza at SQPN.com.
^ a b Saint Dositheus of Gaza (C) (Monk). Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
^ St. Dositheus at Catholic online.org.
Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article: Δωρόθεος τῆς Γάζης
Sr. Pascale-Dominique Nau, Psychological Maturity and Spiritual Maturity: A Reading of Dorotheus of Gaza (Rome: Lulu.com, 2012)
Chapter 13 of The monks of Gaza – A history of monastic spirituality by Luc Brésard, of the abbey of Citeaux
Dorothée de Gaza, Instructions, présentation et traduction par Sr. Pascale-Dominique Nau (Rome, 2014)
Dorothei episcopi Tyri qui sub Constantino magno vixit, De vita ac morte Prophetarum et Apostolorum, Synopsis Parisiis 1560
Abba Dorotheus on the Russian Orthodox Church web-site, in English
Venerable Abba Dorotheus of Palestine on the Orthodox Church in America web-site, in English
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dorotheus_of_Gaza&oldid=1065205425"
505 births
6th-century Byzantine monks
People from Gaza City


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Top 10 Blackjack Sites
Home > Reviews > Kerching
Kerching Blackjack Review
Kerching at a Glance
The name "Kerching" rekindles the atmosphere of bricks-and-mortar casinos – and indeed, you can enjoy something of a similar atmosphere on this site.
Top highlights: Games from a huge range of software providers; website design effectively optimised for mobile usage
VIP or loyalty programme: Yes
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About Kerching
It's probably no coincidence that Kerching was established in 2007, the year that the first iPhone was released. This online casino shows many hallmarks of having been born on the cusp of the smartphone age – most notably, a stripped-down design that is easy to navigate on mobile screens.
This mobile-first philosophy, right down to the inclusion of popular mobile wallet services among the depositing and withdrawal options, helps to justify Kerching's place in the crowded online casino market.
By clicking the red 'All Promotions' button near the top of the website's interface, you can quickly discover the decent range of promotional opportunities at Kerching. Here are examples of the promos we saw after clicking that button:
A welcome bonus offering funds and spins on a first deposit
Bonus spins for making deposits at particular times
A loyalty scheme that players can be invited to join
Range of Casino Games
Kerching has, over the years, slowly but surely bulked out its range of casino games, of which there are now 315 in total. While many of those are still slots games, they include classics such as:
It's tempting to think that Kerching might have been intentionally cautious with its range of casino games as a way of sparing mobile users from having to scroll too much. In any case, all of these games work so well on small screens that the absence of a Kerching mobile app seems no big deal.
The games include an impressive variety of branded titles, too – such as:
If there's one word that you could use to describe what Kerching offers, it would surely be 'focused'. Other gambling opportunities often tagged onto casino sites – think the likes of sports betting – are nowhere to be seen on the Kerching site, which encourages users to stick with the casino offering.
Aside from the treasure trove of standard slots games here, you can dip into the occasional game of blackjack or roulette and even try your hand with a live dealer. You won't even find poker or bingo in this digital casino, although this could yet change, given the site's recent rate of growth.
Software and Graphics
While the range of games offered at Kerching might not look massive at first, it's a very different case with the software providers behind the scenes. Software companies that have contributed games to Kerching include Big Time Gaming, IGT, NetEnt and Microgaming.
The site's own operator, Nektan, is – as veteran players on online casinos will know – itself a formidable developer of casino games, many of which unsurprisingly feature here.
You can easily browse all of the options within the site's slick interface – although with the tabbed categories limited to 'Player Favourites', 'New Games', 'Jackpots', 'Recommended', 'My Favourites' and 'All Games', you might find it tricky to quickly peruse games of a specific genre.
Extra Value
Much of the 'added value' of Kerching comes, ironically, more from what it doesn't offer than what it does. With a clean interface that puts the focus very much on slots games, this casino is a simple choice for people who fancy some online slots playing without needing to download an app.
Loyalty or VIP programme
Kerching's loyalty scheme can be hard to spot at first; it does seem to be rather tucked down into the Promotions section. However, with Kerching's VIP Club – as it is called – largely an invite-only affair, advertising it widely would arguably be rather missing the point anyway.
As you climb through the ranks of Silver, Gold, VIP Premier and VIP Elite, you can pick up an array of bonuses on occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries – and even weekly.
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Compared to many other casino sites, Kerching is fairly generous with the payment methods – including both traditional methods and e-wallet options – that it allows players to use.
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Payout Policy
Again, you have a wide range of options for taking money out of your account at Kerching; however, minimum and maximum limits apply, and you are also not permitted to withdraw more frequently than once every 24 hours.
Withdrawal Method
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Kerching has a relatively informative Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section. Here, the site isn't afraid to be transparent on matters like how your personal data is protected and how the games are kept fair, plus some easy-to-overlook implications of particular payment and withdrawal methods.
Even if the FAQs don't quite answer your particular question, Kerching still provides everything you need to ask that question over the phone, email or even the site's built-in live chat amenity.
Who Can Play?
Kerching keeps a fairly tight rein over which countries can join in the fun. However, territories where residents are permitted to join include:
Kerching is powered by the Gibraltar-registered company, Nektan (Gibraltar) Limited. The first two of the following bodies license Nektan, while the third regulates it:
The UK Gambling Commission
The Gibraltar Government
The Gibraltar Gambling Commission
While Kerching might initially seem rather modest and unassuming by the standard of various other casino sites, players who tend to game on their smartphones could be rewarded if they are willing to dig under the surface – especially if they are particularly enthusiastic about slots games.
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Website: www.kerching.co.uk/lobby/kerching/
Email: help@kerching.com
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– Gratia (influence): interpreted as personal and social integrity, cooperation and concern for others and commitment to community, both local and global.
At 275 students we are small, forty boarders constitute our 'nuclear' family, the experiential dimension of our curriculum, which includes an extensive trip program, confers a 'hands on' feel to our academics and our location, in the heart of the Eternal City and at the crossroads of Europe, provides a rich cultural context in which to learn and grow.
The faculty at St. Stephen's are scholars, artists, writers and scientists who are passionate about their subjects and illuminate the minds and lives of the students they teach, each day and every year.
Italian, French, Spanish, Greek, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese and Latin.


text:
The Police Chief Search and the State of the City
I Messenger December 11, 2020
By Mayor Eric Johnson
City of Dallas Mayor
On Tuesday [December 8th], I had the incredible privilege of delivering the annual State of the City address from the Hall of State in Fair Park.
The speech, the first public State of the City address in recent history, touched on COVID-19 response efforts, plans for the city's economic recovery, setting goals for lowering the property tax rate, proposals to help provide greater equity, and the need to prioritize public safety and homelessness. That meant talking about the city's strengths, where City Hall has fallen short, and the direction that Dallas needs in the years to come.
And more broadly, it was also a speech about building a city government that is as strong as the people of Dallas. That means mastering the basics, pushing for accountability, helping underserved communities, and ensuring the focus of elected officials is squarely on fighting for your interests.
You can read coverage of the State of the City from The Dallas Morning News, WFAA, Fox 4, WBAP, and KRLD. But because these stories only reflect snippets of the State of the City address, I highly recommend reading the full text of the speech or watching the video, which you can do here.
Now, to the news of the day…
Police chief search
The city manager has named seven finalists for the police chief position, listed here alphabetically by last name:
Malik Aziz, a Dallas police major who formerly held the rank of deputy chief.
RaShall Brackney, the police chief in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Eddie Garcia, the police chief in San Jose, California.
Albert Martinez, a former Dallas deputy police chief who now serves as director of security for the Catholic Diocese of Dallas.
Avery Moore, a Dallas assistant police chief.
Reuben Ramirez, a Dallas deputy police chief.
Jeff Spivey, the police chief in Irving.
The city manager earlier this week announced that he had created six panels that will interview the finalists, as is his prerogative. Take a look at the list of organizations the city manager has selected to speak on behalf of the Dallas community in this memo (starting on the third page). Some parts of Dallas aren't represented very well or at all, which is troubling.
As you know, I have advocated for a process that directly engages the public. Other cities have public forums for finalists, so why not Dallas? The next police chief will need to be an effective community advocate and partner. It's imperative that the city manager get this decision right on behalf of the people of Dallas.
The city manager also released some survey results on the police chief search. These survey results also underrepresented people of color, which makes it even more important to have as many opportunities for community involvement as possible before the city manager makes his final decision.
But here are some of the key findings released on the survey, which received more than 4,500 responses.
The top five qualifications that respondents wanted to see in the police chief were:
1) Track record of reducing crime and promoting community safety (69.73 percent)
2) Practices transparency and openness (58.10 percent)
3) A track record of building community trust (54.33 percent)
4) Experience recruiting and retaining quality personnel (54.22 percent)
5) Understands the history of policing in the US, including racism and bias (44.83 percent)
The top five priorities listed by respondents as their highest priority were:
1) Reduce violent crime (77.28 percent)
2) Holding officers/staff accountable (68.61 percent)
3) Building trust in our community (60.93 percent)
4) Strengthening police/community partnerships (60.39 percent)
5) Community policing and problem-solving (52.07 percent)
The people were clear on this survey: They want crime reduction, crime reduction, and more crime reduction. And trustworthiness, accountability, and community policing bona fides to boot.
But more information ought to be provided for analysis, such as the responses broken down along demographic lines. And the public and City Councilmembers should be able to read the raw responses to the survey's open-ended question. The city manager has so far provided only an analysis of those responses based on broad themes.
You can contact your City Councilmembers and tell them what you want out of this process and the next police chief.
Key City Council votes
The City Council on Wednesday had its final meeting of 2020. That meant ugly holiday sweaters, lengthy discussion, and numerous important votes.
Among the key items: the renewal of a contract to provide Dallas police with ammunition, almost exclusively for training purposes (two City Councilmembers voted against it); the purchase of two hotels for sheltering people experiencing homelessness after they have tested positive for COVID-19; a step forward on the implementation of the Comprehensive Environmental and Climate Action Plan; several items to improve the city's water infrastructure; and an interlocal cooperation agreement with Dallas ISD to procure cell network services to help close the city's digital divide for students during the pandemic.
All in a day's work. The City Council still has a few committee meetings left, but otherwise, they'll be back in January.
Stay engaged and stay safe. And have a great day.
Mayor Eric Johnson
The Black Card: Big Mama Said Every Time You Do a Good Deed You Shine the Light a Little Farther Into the Dark.…
Our Voices: Black Voters Should See Themselves in Congressional Staff
Faithfull Utterances: You. Got. This.
Quit Playin': CP TIME no…QP TIME!
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Effortless movement; what a concept! We see kids climb, run, kibitz and contort in a million different ways; their bodies are transparent and even when they hurt themselves it's no time before they're up and running. As adults it's hard to remember a time when we had that kind of movement available to us; add to that a chronic back problem and it's almost painful to watch kids turn themselves into human pretzels.
So what happened? Actually that's the wrong question. A better question would be: what do I have to do to be able to move without discomfort and pain? Developing core strength is one component of the mix. For the majority core work is challenging but doable; for others, core strength is a completely foreign concept and they don't have any idea how to access their core let alone begin to use it. So how do we develop our core? If you're having trouble finding your core try this simple Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement® lesson to begin your exploration and in the process it will give your back the support it needs to help it on the road to recovery.
Sit towards the front of your chair with your buttocks firmly planted on the seat, your legs free to move and your feet solidly on the floor.
Squeeze your buttocks together and release. You are using your gluteus muscles to perform this movement.
Squeeze your left glute only and release.
Squeeze your right glute only and release.
Were you able to locate and squeeze both glutes together? Did the tightening of one glute lag behind the other or were the two sides synchronized? Were you able to squeeze each glut independently and with equal ease?
Lift one side of your pelvis enough to slip your hand under your sitz bone.
Push into the muscle around the sitz bone with your fingers and use the muscle fiber in that area to push back against your fingers.
You'll probably feel your abs engage and but there will also be some tightening and contracting of your glute muscle.
Move your fingers over a little and repeat the pushing with your fingers and the contracting of the muscle.
Continue doing this until you've worked with the whole area. Now bring your hand back to you lap and tighten the glut you've just worked with to see if there's more response than at the beginning.
Now go to the other glute and repeat the sequence.
If you found this little exercise easy then you are already using your core muscles. If you found the previous sequence difficult the next set of movements should help you improve your ability to coordinate, balance and synchronize the glutes in preparation for further core work.


Where hhnbear is a true american hero.
Happy Holidayz! We're ready to celebrate Halloween the way it should be: With Medical Dramz, Celebrities with a tenuous connection to reality, and an old lady that solves mysteries. Brad and Jon discuss Murder, She Wrote 5×12 "Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble" wherein Roddy McDowall, Brad Dourif, and Bill Maher stop by Cabot Cove to deal with witch Shenanigans.
Where these Cabot Cove extras are the real monsters.
Where no one is awkwardly singing down the altar.


Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is asking the FBI to investigate the threat of Russian tampering with U.S. elections, including potentially falsifying election results.
Calling the prospect of a hostile government seeking to undermine our elections a grave threat, Reid insists the public deserves a full accounting before the election.
Republican donor and fundraiser Meg Whitman is hitting the campaign trail for Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The Hewlett-Packard executive will meet with business leaders in Denver on Tuesday to talk about Clinton's plans for jobs and the economy.
The former eBay CEO ran unsuccessfully for California governor in 2010, spending $144 million of her own money while losing to Democrat Jerry Brown.
Whitman was the national finance co-chair of Republican New Jersey candidate Gov. Chris Christie's presidential campaign before he dropped out and endorsed Trump.
Kaepernick drew national attention when he sat through "The Star-Spangled Banner" before an NFL exhibition game Friday. The quarterback says he plans to sit through the anthem until he sees significant progress in race relations in the United States.
Hillary Clinton is telling supporters that she doesn't know "which Donald Trump" will show up at the presidential debates.
Clinton called this year "the most unpredictable electoral season." Her remarks were audible to reporters held in a nearby room.
The Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Indiana is declining to say whether he's comfortable with Donald Trump serving as commander in chief and possessing the nation's nuclear launch codes.
Congressman Todd Young avoided directly answering the question several times in an interview with The Associated Press. Finally the former Marine declared that Trump "has not disqualified himself from getting a top-secret security clearance," while Democrat Hillary Clinton has.
Young is supporting Trump in a state the Republicans are all but certain to win. He is opposing Democrat Evan Bayh, a former senator.
Democratic Senate candidates are working hard to tie their GOP opponents to Trump, but Bayh is not using that strategy, given Trump's support in the state and the presence of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as Trump's running mate.
Donald Trump is praising the decision of Hillary Clinton's top aide to separate from husband Anthony Weiner. And he's blasting Clinton in the process by suggesting Weiner could have endangered national security.
Abedin announced Monday she is leaving the former New York congressman after the New York Post published photos it said showed Weiner "sexting" again.
Trump, in a statement, criticized Clinton's "bad judgment" in allowing Weiner "close proximity to highly classified information." He offered no evidence that Weiner had access to classified material.
Donald Trump will call rival Hillary Clinton crooked, corrupt and un-presidential. But at least he won't say she smells.
Trump sent out a modified version of the message to his followers, tweeting: "Her rallies are held in (blank) & she still has room" instead.
Trump also says he thinks high crime in inner cities will drive minority voters to his candidacy.
Hillary Clinton is rolling out a comprehensive plan to address millions of Americans coping with mental illness. She's pointing to the need to fully integrate mental health services into the nation's health care system.
Clinton's campaign is releasing a multi-pronged approach to mental health on Monday. Her agenda would focus on early diagnosis and intervention and create a national initiative for suicide prevention.
It would also try to integrate the nation's mental and physical health care systems to focus on the health of each individual in a seamless way. It would also aim to increase access to community-based treatment opportunities.
Clinton would also convene a White House conference on mental health within her first year in office if she's elected.
Donald Trump says he'll deliver a detailed speech on his proposal to crack down on illegal immigration on Wednesday in Arizona — but it's anyone's guess what he might say.
The announcement came late Sunday in a tweet by the GOP presidential nominee after days of wavering — and at least one canceled speech — on a question central to his campaign: Whether he would, as he said in November, use a "deportation force" to eject the estimated 11 million people in the U.S. illegally. On Sunday, led by vice presidential running mate Mike Pence, Trump's surrogates fanned out across the televised talk shows to reiterate other parts of his proposal but none could answer that question. And they wouldn't say whether it was worrisome that such a consequential proposal remained unclear so close to the Nov. 8 election.
In one case, the chairman of the Republican National Committee refused to speak for the GOP nominee at all.
"I just don't speak for Donald Trump," Reince Priebus said Sunday.


The darkness of the night laughs.
This is a world dropped into darkness, a forgotten future.
"Kotae wa dare ga motteru ka"
You won't notice if you keep your eyes down.
And so, she withers into a slumber of thorns.
She will embrace the days past at the windowsill at which morning never comes.
Laugh in the darkness of the night.
This is the madness of a world dropped into darkness.
Surely passion that has accustomed itself to despair will become a sin.
"Kotae wa higan de matteru ka"
The dream that should bring enlightenment is a thing that swallows down the poisons of the current world.
"Is the answer waiting in nirvana?"
Nothing will change if you just shiver.
Eventually, you must stand and disappear. Be caught in a storm.
Eternal life is a foolish wish.
If you are an existence who is confused by the twilight, you will be burned by the sun and vanish away.
Arrive on the road to the underworld.
That there is an unforgivable, insolent miasma.
The road to the underworld continues on.
If it is your heart's deepest desire, then surely reality will also become a lie.
Laugh in the darkness of the night. This is the madness of a world dropped into darkness.
The darkness of the night laughs. Surely passion that has accustomed itself to despair will become a sin.


Patrick Ewing will reportedly be considered to coach his alma mater.
Georgetown officials are considering the former Knicks star as a candidate to replace John Thompson III, who was fired Thursday after 13 seasons as head coach, according to The Vertical.
Ewing, the Hornets' current associate head coach, played for the Hoyas from 1981-85, winning an NCAA title in 1984. He was selected No. 1 overall by the Knicks in the 1985 NBA draft.
The Hall of Famer has never been hired as a head coach, but in 2013, the former center did serve as interim head coach on the Bobcats' staff as an assistant while Steve Clifford had heart surgery.
Right now Ewing appears to be undecided on if he wants to be considered for the Georgetown job, sources told The Vertical. Ewing, a supporter of the now-fired coach, was reportedly emotional over Thompson's dismissal. Ewing's son, Patrick Ewing Jr., is currently on the Hoyas' staff as director of basketball operations.
The 54-year-old has been aiming for a head coaching job in the NBA, having served as an assistant or associate coach for 15 seasons with the Wizards, Rockets, Magic and now Bobcats.
Georgetown has made the NCAA tournament just once in the past four seasons.


text:
Advancing Our Knowledge and Understanding of Cancer >
Advancing Our Knowledge and Understanding of Cancer
After Centuries Without Viable Cancer Treatments, Scientists Are More Hopeful Than Ever Before as They Learn More About Different Types of the Disease. We're Taking A Look At the Advancements that Have Occurred Over the Last Decade.
The oldest known description of cancer dates to around 3000 BC, where an Egyptian papyrus states, "There is no treatment."
Today, after centuries of research, scientists and others in the medical field are confident in their growing understanding of the many forms and causes of cancer—which we now know is actually more than 200 unique diseases.
In the past decade, researchers have made great strides in identifying genetic mutations that trigger cancer, as well as the genetic markers that identify patients at a greater risk of developing cancer. These findings are changing the way doctors and scientists approach cancer.
Since its peak in 1991, the cancer death rate has dropped 25 percent. This decline translates into 2.1 million lives that were not ended because of cancer. Researchers attribute these gains not just to decreases in smoking and improvements in detection, but also to advances in treatment.
For example, one specific form of cancer that has seen a recent breakthrough in treatment is metastatic melanoma — the most serious and aggressive form of skin cancer. A patient diagnosed with this form of cancer a decade ago had limited therapeutic options: chemotherapy, radiation and early immunotherapies. These treatments were not ideal because they came with significant side effects, and even with treatment, many died within a year of diagnosis.
Scientists and researchers in the industry believe we are at a time of remarkable change in cancer care. With increased screening, early detection and therapeutic advances, patients' lives are being transformed.
In the past few years, research advances have shed new light on the underlying biology of the disease, and the role the immune system plays in advanced-stage melanoma. Advances in immunotherapy and the understanding of "checkpoint" proteins have offered tremendous promise to patients.
In addition to advances in immunotherapies, the findings of the past decade have shown advances in targeted therapies as well. Fifteen years ago, researchers discovered that the BRAF gene mutation was linked to the overproduction and spread of melanoma cancer cells. This led researchers to pursue and develop new drugs targeting the abnormal BRAF proteins.
Though the past decade has been promising for patients diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, the next decade looks even brighter. Today, there are more than 100 melanoma drugs in clinical development across disease stages in the United States.
Furthermore, medical advances in the past decade have made major headway in batting cervical cancer. While the incidence of invasive cervical cancer and related mortality has decreased significantly since the Pap test was introduced in the 1950s, developing effective medicines for cervical cancer has still been a challenge due to the lack of understanding of its cause.
Just one decade ago, women had limited options to protect them against cervical cancer.
Today, women have powerful new tools to help prevent cervical cancer. All of these tools were built on the research linking almost all cervical cancers to prior human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, as well as a growing understanding of the disease. In the past decade, new vaccines have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to protect against up to nine strains of HPV. All of these medical advances mean we now have protection against 90 percent of cervical cancers.
These two forms of cancer are not the only cancers to see significant medical breakthroughs during the past decade of innovation. The continual learning of the underlying biological mechanisms that initiate and control cancer cell growth has created new avenues for treatment advances. Scientists and researchers in the industry believe we are at a time of remarkable change in cancer care. With increased screening, early detection and therapeutic advances, patients' lives are being transformed.
To learn more about the innovations in cancer in the past decade, click here.


text:
U.K. LEGAL REFORM MAY INCREASE SUITS
Posted On: Oct. 26, 1997 12:00 AM CST
Carolyn Aldred
LONDON-Revamping the British legal aid system to extend the use of U.S.-style contingency fee arrangements to most civil damage claims in England and Wales will give far more people access to the courts, the U.K. government says.
Lord Irvine of Lairg, the government's Lord Chancellor, took the British legal profession by surprise by announcing in a speech last week plans to limit the types of legal claims eligible for assistance from the Legal Aid Board, specifically those seeking monetary damages.
In its place, the use of "conditional fee arrangements" would be allowed in all civil proceedings other than family cases, beginning in April 1998, the Lord Chancellor said in a speech to lawyers in Cardiff, Wales, earlier this month.
Conditional fee arrangements-in which a lawyer agrees to represent a client for a preset percentage of any award but gets nothing if the suit fails-were introduced in England and Wales a few years ago and were limited to personal injury cases.
AIRMIC, the Assn. of Insurance & Risk Managers, welcomes the plan, claiming it will stop spurious claims and make it easier for a wider group of people to gain access to justice.
However, the association warned in a statement it is important that the system operate efficiently "so that administrative costs are minimized and the benefits of saving optimized."
"We are pleased that the individual's basic right to litigation will be protected," said AIRMIC's executive director, Ina Barker. AIRMIC is "pleased that our members will face fewer costly cases funded by legal aid that should never be brought."
The reforms will make lawyers "face up to the fact that they must act as professionals (and) take cases truly on their merits as opposed to just taking the case because it is legally aided," she said.
AIRMIC said conditional fee arrangements with insurance protection will enable genuine cases to proceed and will also in the long term reduce the total number of claims and cases being brought and reduce the administrative costs borne by defendants.
However, "it is imperative that the insurance industry be able to respond to the need to provide an insurance product at a reasonable premium," said Ms. Barker. As future claims are more likely to succeed, "companies must therefore ensure they have sound risk management practices in place to reduce the potential for claims to an absolute minimum."
According to the Lord Chancellor, extending the application of conditional fee arrangements would increase the ability of many middle- and upper-income people to litigate. Legal aid is only available to people with very low incomes, and the expense of litigation precludes many others from taking advantage of the legal process, he said.
But, the "no win, no fee" arrangement has risk. In the United Kingdom, unsuccessful plaintiffs in most cases must also pay the defendants' legal costs.
Although policies exist to cover this risk, including the Law Society's own insurance plan, managed by Abbey Legal Protection Ltd., lawyers say the poor who are covered by legal aid are likely unable to afford the premiums.
To answer this, the government is considering setting up a provision "to meet insurance premiums (for) those who wish to enter into conditional fee arrangements," the Lord Chancellor announced in his speech.
The latest proposals come in the midst of legal system changes in England and Wales to streamline the litigation process. The proposals are known as the Woolf Reforms, named for Lord Justice Woolf, Britain's most senior civil judge, who led the reform committee (BI, March 3).
David Mackintosh, a partner with law firm Davies Arnold Cooper in London, said the Lord Chancellor is being too hasty in abandoning a legal aid system that is "the envy of most other jurisdictions worldwide."
The government should wait to see the impact of the Woolf recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the British legal process before revamping legal aid, he said. In addition, Mr. Mackintosh questioned whether the government has explored the availability of insurance to replace the loss of legal aid. He said the decision to cut legal aid has been made for financial reasons rather than increasing access to justice.
According to the Lord Chancellor's own figures, Legal Aid expenditures rocketed to 1.48 billion pounds ($2.42 billion) in the 12 months ended March 31, 1997, from 682 million pounds ($1.12 billion at a current exchange rate) during the same period ended March 31, 1991.
"Widening conditional fee arrangements will open the door to litigation of a type not widespread at the moment," with lawyers taking the cheapest cases and demanding larger fees, Mr. Mackintosh said.
James Innes, chairman of Abbey Legal Protection, warned that unless "strict controls are put in place, (lawyers) could become greedy, speculating wildly and marking up fees unreasonably."
Although he said the insurance industry will be able to expand its capacity for covering winning defendants' legal costs under the extension of conditional fees, consultation must begin soon if the Lord Chancellor's April 1998 deadline is to be met.
It is vital for the system to be properly thought out and managed, Mr. Innes warned. "Our experience in running the Law Society's Accident Line Protect conditional fees scheme for personal injury cases shows that it works because of the rules we and the Law Society have imposed, such as allowing (lawyers) to mark up their fees by a maximum of 25% of the damages awarded to the plaintiff."
Mr. Innes also thinks insurers should be able to deny coverage for clients whose lawyers they do not think "have the relevant expertise" and that the government "should offer some tangible inducement to the insurance industry to make the new scheme work, perhaps by making premiums tax-deductible."
Mr. Innes is optimistic that the insurance industry will be able to fill the gap left by the reduced Legal Aid scheme, pointing out that Abbey last week launched a policy to cover costs incurred by the defendant should a plaintiff lose a medical negligence case, widely regarded as one of the most complex areas of litigation.
Underwritten by Lloyd's of London syndicates, the policy offers a minimum of 100,000 pounds($163,500) protection to cover opponents' costs and legal disbursements (such as experts and medical reports) with premiums likely between 4,000 pounds ($6,500) and 7,500 pounds ($12,300). Due to the relatively high cost, plaintiffs may pay initial premiums for investigation, further premiums should proceedings continue and a final set to cover any subsequent trial, said Mr. Innes.


Lean Enterprise Thinking training with Professor Peter Hines of the Cardiff Lean Enterprise Research Centre, UK.
Andrew joined Synergy Global in 2016 as Associate Consultant specialising in Process Improvement (PI). He began his career as a State Manager in Colby Handling Systems. In becoming an Integrated Systems Manager in Colby Demag, Andrew developed his expertise in Group Restructuring, Consulting & Training by running various internal projects.
In 1995, he left Colby & created Intelog Business Performance Group, a leading proponent of Lean Thinking & enterprise-wide change.
Andrew has over 45year experience in Strategic Business Optimisation & performance improvement leadership.
He has proven experience in delivering operational performance improvement in manufacturing & supply chains – as a practical, hands on leader of innovation & change.
When he met Heather-Jane Gray from Synergy Global he was already beginning to focus on Healthcare & Supply Chain (Value Streams) in the Food & Beverage industries. They had much in common, so he was headhunted with Bernie Kelly to support Synergy Global 's growing PI Team.
Leader in many transformational projects in a wide range of industries such as Food & Beverage, Fresh Food, RAAF, Health, Transport & Distribution, Medical.
In 2010, Andrew was given a Supply Chain Professional Award by the Supply Chain & Logistics Association of Australia (SCLA) for his exceptional performance.


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