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Album Premiere: Thecodontion – Supercontinent
June 24, 2020 Dutch Pearce
Streaming black/death metal, I Voidhanger Records, Italy, premiere, Repose Records, Supercontinents, Thecodontion.
After forming in 2016, the Rome-based duo Thecodontion went on to release a demo and an EP of their unrefined and low end attack. Only Bassist G.D. and vocalist G.E.F. make up Thecodontion so in order to convey their primordial black/death metal the band employs session drummers and guest musicians. After developing and killing it with an aberrant sound of blast beats, bass rumble and blood-chilling, noisy solos that perfectly embodied the idea of stalking, prehistoric reptiles, the duo saw fit to evolve.
Supercontinent comes as the result of that conscious evolution. A story of the formation of the earth in 11 parts, Supercontinent is a focused yet imaginative, mind-blowing journey through the geological record.
Supercontinent
Supercontinent by Thecodontion
What message do you have for our readers who will be hearing Thecodotionn's all-bass death metal destruction for the first time with Supercontinent?
G.D.: Supercontinent is very different sounding compared to Thecodontia and Jurassic. The songs are way more complex this time. We hope you enjoy its more chaotic moments and the calmer, more melodic ones equally. We are very proud of it and we think it is really unique.
G.E.F.: Listeners who aren't familiar with us already are going to hear a rather peculiar album. Musically, it is based on opposites between darker-sounding rhythm sections and melodic, often dreamy lead parts. There is some vocal experimentation as well, we tried to maintain a 'narrative' approach in that sense too.
What themes specifically are explored on Supercontinent? How are these themes brought to life by your bass-heavy sound?
G.D.: As the title suggests, the record is a concept album about supercontinents, starting from the earliest one "Vaalbara," to the latest "Pangaea," which contained most of modern-day landmasses (and it is amazingly depicted on the cover artwork by Chaos Echoes' Stefan Thanneur). In a time span of a billions of years, cratons slowly drifted apart and collided with each other, and sea levels altered, forming different supercontinents over the course of time. Interludes are instead about the superoceans which surrounded them, chronologically as well ("Gyrosia" to "Panthalassa"). The booming sound of the distorted bass fits the prehistoric theme of the record and we tried to convey the collisions and drifting of the continents with a more atmospheric riffing this time. With lead sections and solos we also tried to depict a soundscape similar to slow moving pieces of molten lava, if you will. The four interludes are calmer pieces of music, we didn't want to explore a different sub-theme with the same sound as the main one, so probably the absence of heavy distortion fits the water-themed imagery better.
G.E.F.: The album is about the formation and dissolution of ancient prehistoric supercontinents. It was a great challenge conceptually since an immense time span is covered, we might say there is a sort of 'changing of the times' sub-theme as well. The central aspect of the bass is perfect to explore primordial ages sonically, and the clash of 'light' and 'darkness,' melody and 'filth' conveys an image of a very distant, dark, yet unreachable and dreamlike antiquity. We live and thrive on opposites, so Supercontinent does too.
How has the band evolved musically on this release?
G.D.: The demo and the EP were a lot more straightforward and faster, probably closer to what you would call 'war metal' (minus the imagery) or black/grind. Track lengths are sometimes 3x those of our early material and there is a lot more atmosphere, slower-paced moments and many more riffs. Solos used to be super fast blistering notes, while on Supercontinent there are several wailing, melodic leads that pop up amidst the chaotic riffing. The four non-metal superoceans-themed instrumentals are also a new musical element for us, being closer to progressive rock and fusion.
G.E.F.: We felt that the black/grind/war metal style of our first two releases was sort of limiting for us, so we wanted to develop more complex ideas, there is a sort of sense of progression in our music this way as well. There are some elements of our early style nevertheless, like [the riffing structures of] "Vaalbara" and "Kenorland." Thecodontion is an ever-evolving creature anyway and we are going to explore some new musical directions soon in our upcoming material.
How would you describe the recording experience at Snakes Studios? What made you go there in the first place?
G.E.F.: We recorded the album at Snake Studios following the advice of Marco Salluzzo (Necromorbus Studio) since we've already had a deal with him for mixing and mastering the record. It was very fun, we worked on the same wavelength in a relaxed and familiar environment. We feel this is very important in order to accomplish something, the personal aspect is paramount.
What are your plans moving forward to promote Supercontinent?
G.E.F.: We have three split releases coming up, the first one is with UK noise/black metal one man band Vessel of Iniquity and our tracks were recorded during the Supercontinent sessions. We already have some ideas for our second full length album, but we have no hurry right now. We hope to promote Supercontinent with live gigs too after the Covid emergency.
Supercontinent drops this Friday on CD from I, Voidhanger Records and on vinyl from Repose Records.
Video Premiere: Damien Done – "Pray For Me"
Hardcore lifer Damien Moyal (ex Morning Again, Shai Hulud, Culture, As Friends Rust) gets his sad on in the new Damien Done video, "Pray For Me."
Track Premiere: Digital Negative – 'The Floor'
Hear Richard "The Grindfather" Johnson become "The Electrouncle" on new electronic project Digital Negative.
Blast Worship: Abyssal Worm
For a change of (still fast) pace, Blast Worship investigates the thoroughly not sketchy, crust-fueled blast beats of Germans Abyssal Worm.
I always like to refer to Type O Negative as "Flock of Assholes." But we have somewhat better haircuts.
- Peter Steele, Type O Negative (Issue #69)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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News Release 3-Nov-2021
Bilingualism comes naturally to our brains, new study shows
Processing multiple languages taps same mechanisms as listening to only one
The brain uses a shared mechanism for combining words from a single language and for combining words from two different languages, a team of neuroscientists has discovered. Its findings indicate that language switching is natural for those who are bilingual because the brain has a mechanism that does not detect that the language has switched, allowing for a seamless transition in comprehending more than one language at once.
"Our brains are capable of engaging in multiple languages," explains Sarah Phillips, a New York University doctoral candidate and the lead author of the paper, which appears in the journal eNeuro. "Languages may differ in what sounds they use and how they organize words to form sentences. However, all languages involve the process of combining words to express complex thoughts."
"Bilinguals show a fascinating version of this process--their brains readily combine words from different languages together, much like when combining words from the same language," adds Liina Pylkkänen, a professor in NYU's Department of Linguistics and Department of Psychology and the senior author of the paper.
An estimated 60 million in the U.S. use two or more languages, according to the U.S. Census. However, despite the widespread nature of bi- and multilingualism, domestically and globally, the neurological mechanisms used to understand and produce more than one language are not well understood.
This terrain is an intriguing one; bilinguals often mix their two languages together as they converse with one another, raising questions about how the brain functions in such exchanges.
To better understand these processes, Phillips and Pylkkänen, who is also part of the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute, explored whether bilinguals interpret these mixed-language expressions using the same mechanisms as when comprehending single-language expressions or, alternatively, if understanding mixed-language expressions engages the brain in a unique way.
To test this, the scientists measured the neural activity of Korean/English bilinguals.
Here, the study's subjects viewed a series of word combinations and pictures on a computer screen. They then had to indicate whether or not the picture matched the preceding words. The words either formed a two-word sentence or were simply a pair of verbs that did not combine with each other into a meaningful phrase (e.g., "icicles melt" vs. "jump melt"). In some instances, the two words came from a single language (English or Korean) while in others both languages were used, with the latter mimicking mixed-language conversations.
In order to measure the study subjects' brain activity during these experiments, the researchers deployed magnetoencephalography (MEG), a technique that maps neural activity by recording magnetic fields generated by the electrical currents produced by our brains.
The recordings showed that Korean/English bilinguals, in interpreting mixed-language expressions, used the same neural mechanism as they did while interpreting single-language expressions.
Specifically, the brain's left anterior temporal lobe, a brain region well-studied for its role in combining the meanings of multiple words, was insensitive to whether the words it received were from the same language or from different languages. This region, then, proceeded to combine words into more complex meanings so long as the meanings of the two words combined together into a more complex meaning.
These findings suggest that language switching is natural for bilinguals because the brain has a combinatory mechanism that does not "see" that the language has switched.
"Earlier studies have examined how our brains can interpret an infinite number of expressions within a single language," observes Phillips. "This research shows that bilingual brains can, with striking ease, interpret complex expressions containing words from different languages."
Phillips discusses research on bilingual speakers in this NYU-produced video (credit: New York University, courtesy of Kate Lord).
Method of Research
Subject of Research
Composition within and between languages in the bilingual mind: MEG evidence from Korean/English bilinguals
Article Publication Date
3-Nov-2021
James Devitt
james.devitt@nyu.edu
Office: United States
/Social sciences/Communications/Linguistics/Multilingualism
/Life sciences/Neuroscience/Neurolinguistics/Language comprehension
/Life sciences/Neuroscience/Neurolinguistics/Language processing
/Social sciences/Communications/Linguistics/Multilingualism/Bilingualism


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This Is How to Find Out If You're Sleep Deprived
Sleep deprivation is a thing, people. But we probably don't need to tell you that. How many times in the day do you tell your colleagues/partners/parents/pet cat how tired you are? We bet it's more than you even realize. According to a report from Research firm Rand Europe, sleep deprivation costs the UK economy ВЈ40 billion ($50 billion) a year, which is proof alone that we're not getting enough shut-eye. The Sleep Council (yes, that actually exists) also found that 70% of people in the UK get seven hours or less a night. Even worse, 27% of people have a bad night's sleep on a regular basis. With the recommended amount of sleep per night being eight hours or more, there's clearly a lack of sleep epidemic going on.
It is, of course, important to point out that everyone is different. My dad, for example, goes to bed at midnight and wakes up at 5 a.m. every day. He's in his 60s and is still fitter than many men who are younger than him. So considering that we're all individuals with a range of different sleep needs (and that's before we've even spoken about insomnia), how can you tell if you're sleep deprived? The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute suggests that there are many symptoms of sleep deficiency, and many people have problems with "learning, focusing, and reacting." You might also find that you can't hold a conversation with someone or stay awake in a public place. While this is one way to work out if you're getting enough sleep, there's an incredible trick we've learned that is so simple we can't believe we haven't heard of it before.
@desiraecherie / Instagram
In a clip from The Truth About… Sleep, Michael Mosley shows us how to do the Sleep Latency Test, which reveals whether or not you're sleep-deprived. All you need is a watch, a metal spoon, and a tray. To start, lie in bed (in a comfortable position) and note the time. Hold the spoon over the tray and try falling asleep. Once you've fallen asleep, your hand will drop the spoon and hit the tray, which should wake you up. When that's happened, note the time and how long it took you to fall asleep. If it took you 15 minutes to get to sleep, you're okay; if it was 10 or under, you're a little sleep-deprived; but if it took you less than five minutes to get to sleep, then you may have "severe sleep deprivation," says Mosley.
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Our Assistant Editor Shares the 5 Beauty Products She Lives and Breathes By
Copyright 2022 \ This Is How to Find Out If You're Sleep Deprived...


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Q: Is there a word for "one who salvages"? I am looking specifically in the context of used, discarded or lost material (perhaps ships, trucks, weaponry and the like).
I have considered forager, scavenger and pirate; however the first seems to me to attach more of a connotation of food, the second adds the sense of animals to food, and the last intimates more of theft and violence.
Perhaps this sentence may give some insight.

The salvage ship plied its trade through uncharted backwaters, searching for the abandoned detritus of yesterday's business.

How would you call who worked on that ship?

A: I'd think the specific word meaning this would be salvor, although it isn't so common as to be approved by the spell-checker as I type this.  It also appears to mean one who applies ointment.

A: A traditional word for those who salvage on the sea is "wrecker". It's evocative of a time when salvaging wasn't considered a very nice thing to do. Example PDF.

On land:
The used equipment business I've been involved in requires that we go to auctions and buy equipment at the cheapest possible prices. One of the groups of people you meet at these auctions are called "scrappers". They purchase metal items (and plastic and perhaps others) at auctions for their scrap value. Some of them own their own scrap yards but we might buy something that we know we can scrap.
Anyway, scrappers sometimes are on the wrong side of the law in that if you leave a thing around long enough, which has enough scrap value, and the thing is in a region which is sufficiently unobserved, then eventually a scrapper will come along, take it up, and sell it to a scrap yard. I've spent time at night watching for these folks and have surprised them a few times. In this sense, "scrapper" means "scrap metal thieves".
A typical object for scrappers is manhole covers. "A scrapper might get about $20 covers and grates, but it can cost the city more than $200 to replace a single manhole cover. A few years ago, scrappers got only $35 a ton compared to the current $425 price for a ton." –mjperry.blogspot.com

A: Here's some possibilites to chew on:
marauders
sweepers
forayers
rovers
poachers
scroungers
borrowers
tinkerers
magpies
Jawas

A: A salvor.
According to Wordreference:

Salvor (noun): a person who salvages or helps to salvage a ship, cargo, etc.

A: You could call that person a salvager or a salvage operator.

A: Salvager is a perfectly cromulent word, according to none other than the Gray Lady herself.
Off topic, but that sentence is fully Bulwer-Lytton compliant.  Two clichés, a pleonasm, and whatever "yesterday's business" is — in fewer than 20 words.

A: The word in maritime law is salvor

A: scrounger and vulture are possibilities.  The latter would have negative and poetic connotations.

A: One who salvages is a salvager.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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By Levi Clancy for Student Reader on Friday 29th April, 2011
updated 16th September, 2017
Ottoman-era icons
Saint Anthony Abbot
Saint George the Great
Saint Laurence of Rome
Saint Thomas Becket
Saint Thomas Aquinas is acknowledged as the greatest Catholic theologian, and his Summa Theologica remains a cornerstone of Catholic interpretation.
Lived 1225/6 - 1274
Rank and group: Doctor, Dominicans
Feast day: 28 January
Patron saint: Academics, philosophers,
theologians, booksellers, colleges, universities
Attributes: Ox, chalice, star
Status: Roman Martyrology
His poetry also is renowned, with his hymns for the feast of Corpus Christi still the favorites in liturgical and extra-liturgical functions. Born to an aristocratic family, Thomas rejected wealth to pursue an austere life as a Dominican brother. Thought dumb in his youth, at the monastery he was discovered to have a great mind. He went on to live a learned life as a professor, outputting prolific writings along the way. Yet he claimed that his writings were so much straw relative to what could be learned in prayer.
1225/6 Thomas Aquinas was born at Roccasecca, near Aquino, Naples.
Taught by Benedictines at Montecassino.
Thomas left his aristocratic family to lead a decidedly non-aristocratic life as a brother of the recently founded Dominicans. He was very large and very silent, and was known as the dumb ox.
Received his doctorate in theology at the University of Paris.
1252 - 1260 Thomas taught theology in Paris.
1261 - 1264 Thomas taught theology in Orvieto.
1265 - 1267 Thomas taught theology in Rome.
1268 Thomas taught theology in Viterbo.
1272 - 1274 Thomas taught theology in Naples.
Thomas died at Fossanova, near Rome, en route to the council of Lyons.
1880 Declared patron saint of Catholic universities and centers of study.


Calling all ORS Experts – help me out here!
You are here: Home / ColaLife Trial / Calling all ORS Experts – help me out here!
First, can I ask you to study the above photo of the instructions on a packet of 'WHO approved' ORS which makes 1 litre of solution. First, you'll note that you should discard any unused ORS solution after 24 hours. Next you'll note that the recommendation that a child below 2 years should be given between 50 to 100ml a day (so you'd throw 900-950ml away). Then you'll see that children between 2 and 10 years should be given 100 to 200ml a day (so you'd throw 800-900ml away).
Now I think these recommended dosages are misleading. I think the recommendation is that you give the solution ad-lib, but even then you are not going to get 1 litre of ORS solution into a small baby in 24 hours.
So why are the majority of ORS sachets of a size that makes up 1 litre? Surely it would be better to make the sachets a quarter of this size? Why make up a whole litre and allow flies to land on it etc etc and then throw most of it away? Why not make up smaller amounts? Little and often?
I think the idea is that with communicable diseases like diarrhoea, you might have an entire family needing the sachet. Also it might be worth it asking around as to whether the 24 hours is a recommendation by the WHO itself or the manufacturers. i.e is it obligatory or merely a good thing to do.
Those quantities seem very small. I wonder if that is what is to be given after each loose motion? I'll see what's in the BNF.


New Directions Education are currently looking to appoint a Design and Technology (D&T) teacher, preferably Product Design specialist, in one of the main Conwy Secondary schools with an immediate start date.The Successful candidate will be working with the Design and Technology department mainly in a product design role but working along side all other branches of Design and Technology.All aspects of Design and Technology will be covered so we encourage all D&T teachers to apply. Newly Qualified Teachers are encouraged to apply for this role too.
It's registration day in the Swansea office on Thursday 25th April, and we're recruiting for final year students. P… t.co/KdOo7Yhr8x Time ago 23 Hours via Hootsuite Inc.


Surprise. A new Australian study has revealed confirmed that women are most sexually attracted to men who are of the strongest looking variety.
The data comes via Griffith University in Queensland where researchers surveyed 150 women to determine what influenced their attraction to men. After a comprehensive analysis it was determined that physical strength was the most sought after masculine trait. It doesn't end there though.
The research even goes as far as concluding that male attractiveness boils down to three specific aspects: how physically strong he looks, how tall he is and how lean he is.
Whilst it may sound overtly superficial, there is some "science" behind it. One experiment involved showing full-length photos of men to female subjects who then had to assess their levels of physical strength against their perceived attractiveness. It was discovered that whilst some women preferred more feminine facial structures, almost all of them still desired those who looked physically stronger compared to weaker looking men.
In other words, the images which showed stronger men were also the ones that were crowned the most attractive.
On the quest to attracting the perfect mate, men must also keep in mind height and their levels of leanness, as these two factors accounted for 80 percent of a male's overall appeal.
According to the researchers, this result reflects the "ancestral cues of a man's fighting ability", which highlights ancient mating rituals where women chose the strongest hunters that were able to provide for them.
Well then, maybe it's time you stopped blaming society's expectations and just focused your energy on getting big?
Here's some help from James McAvoy, Josh Brolin and Zac Efron. Or just be a nice guy and the women will (apparently) love you just as much.


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Marantz unveils new full-size Network AV Receiver SR5011
Mahwah, NJ (June 30, 2016) – Marantz®, a world leader in advanced audio technologies, continues to unveil its 2016 home theater line-up. Following the recently announced slim-design NR1607, Marantz is introducing a new full-size Network Receiver, the SR5011. The full-size cabinet contains 7 x 100 Watts and selected high grade components, paired with advanced wireless connectivity and total ease-of-use to create a solid addition to any home theater. And – most importantly - both Music lovers and home theater enthusiasts alike will appreciate the true, renowned Marantz sound. It is expected to be available in July for $899.
Packed with the latest audio and video technologies, the Marantz SR5011 lifts every home theater to a new level. Featuring Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, users can enjoy breathtaking 3D surround sound with today's advanced movie soundtracks, featuring sound even coming from overhead. The SR5011 is made out of carefully selected, high-grade audio components and Marantz-own HDAMs (Hyper Dynamic Amplifier Module), delivering the renowned Marantz Hi-Fi and home theater sound. The amplifier section delivers 7 x 180 Watts of output, enough to fill large rooms. It comes with advanced Audyssey MultEQ XT, to tailor perfectly with any individual listening room.
Ready for the next in technological innovation, the SR5011 features an advanced video section that's fully compatible with the latest HDMI 2.0a and HDCP 2.2 specifications on all 8 HDMI inputs. With 4K Ultra HD 60Hz video, 4:4:4 Pure Color sub-sampling, High Dynamic Range (HDR) and 21:9 video, 3D, and BT.2020 pass-through support on every input, the SR5011 is ready for the next generation of Blu-ray disc players, set-top boxes and other 4K Ultra HD sources. It can further upscale analog and digital source material up to Full HD 1080p or even 4K Ultra HD for the ultimate viewing experience. And thanks to the dual HDMI output, a TV and a projector can be connected in parallel.
Full wireless connectivity is provided by both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth®, with dual antennas that help ensure robust signal transmission and reception. Once connected, music can easily be streamed through AirPlay®, network attached storage devices (NAS), Internet Radio, Pandora®, SiriusXM™, and Spotify Connect® (where available; subscription required). High resolution audio formats and playback are fully supported for incredible fidelity. To round up the flexibility, a 7.2 channel pre-out section and the RS232 connection and IP control makes the SR5011 very appealing for custom installation purposes.
No need to study a manual to set-up the SR5011; users can just follow the on-screen instructions with the . Once set up, daily operation is simple and convenient with the new Marantz 2016 AVR Remote app available on iOS, Android™ and Kindle Fire™. And for those looking for energy savings, the SR5011 includes a smart ECO mode that can automatically save significant electrical power without influencing the overall performance.
7ch discrete power amplifier, 100W per channel (8ohm, 20Hz – 20kHz, THD: 0.08%)
Enough power to fill bigger rooms with renowned Marantz sound
Analogue to HDMI conversion and SD/HD to 4K Upscaling for legacy video sources
Advanced Multi-Room options; 7.2ch Pre-out; RS232 Control
Audyssey MultEQ XT, Dynamic Volume and Dynamic EQ
Delivering incredibly precise equalization for your individual room
Marantz SR5011 Front
Marantz SR5011 Rear
D+M Group is a global company dedicated to enhancing life through inspired sound solutions delivered anytime, anywhere. With a strong belief that "Performance is everything," D+M is focused on innovation to meet the needs of customers in an increasingly digital world. Serving the consumer markets, D+M Group brands include Boston Acoustics®, Denon®, and Marantz®. D+M Group has approximately 900 employees worldwide, with products and services marketed in more than 45 countries. All product and brand names with a trademark symbol are trademarks or registered trademarks of D+M Holdings, Inc


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Home/Games/Now.gg Roblox Login
Now.gg Roblox Login
Extant News Send an email August 23, 2022
You can log in to Roblox for free with now.gg. You can also rate and follow games and streamers, view past broadcasts, and more. The game runs without ads and is cross-platform compatible. To browse the catalog of games, you can sort them by date added, category, and highest views. This helps you to find a game that you're interested in. Then, you can play it online.
Roblox is a free-to-play game
It's a massively multiplayer online game that lets you create and play games, and it's designed for kids ages eight and up. The game is free to play, and users can purchase virtual currency called Robux to customize their characters and places. There are a variety of ways to earn Robux, and players can also earn money by playing the game. There are also a variety of games based on the Roblox platform, including Roblox Monopoly and Roblox toys.
The Roblox parent guide explains the game's rules. Children under 13 must enter their birthday before they can create a Roblox account. Although child accounts can interact with other players, they can only do so in a safe environment. Roblox filters chat functionality and messages to protect kids from inappropriate content. While the game is free to play, it's best to avoid games that might encourage your child to engage in sexual activity or other harmful activities.
For children aged eight and up, there are a number of games to choose from. One of the most popular is Adopt Me!, which combines Peppa Pig with Granny. The game's gameplay involves rescuing a young pig and trying to protect him or her. If you're into role-playing, Roblox has many other games to keep you busy. One of the most popular is Adopt Me, where players can adopt new pets.
Roblox is a free-to-download game that can be played on both PCs and mobile devices. The game doesn't demand too much system resources and should run smoothly on most PCs. However, there are some features available only if you purchase Robux, which is an in-game currency. You can use Robux to upgrade your avatar, purchase new weapons, or access unique objects.
It's cross-platform compatible
Now.gg Roblox login is cross-platform compatible, and is available for free. The mobile cloud version of the popular game is available for Android and iOS users. The game is a sandbox where users can create their own online worlds and experience. Over one million users use the Roblox platform to create unique experiences. The site is designed for all users, including children, teenagers, and adults.
One of the main benefits of cross-platform compatibility is the ability to play with your friends on different platforms. This feature has helped many games become successful, including Roblox. Users can now play with friends from different platforms, and cross-platform compatibility lets them see their game history and progress across devices. The Roblox game can be played on a PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and other platforms.
Mobile devices are not well-suited for Roblox, and the game takes a lot of battery life. This means that players must be careful when using Roblox on their mobile devices. They risk overheating their gadgets and posing a health threat. Moreover, typing is time-consuming and challenging, and many Roblox games require a keyboard for them to play. Despite these cons, the Now.gg Roblox login is cross-platform compatible and is ideal for those looking for an alternative to mobile gaming.
Roblox is an online gaming system that lets anyone create and play their own games. In-game currency is called Robux. Players can buy in-game items and services with Robux currency, which is earned through the creation of purchasable content. It's a platform to show off your creative side while earning money. You can even make money using your imagination. If you have a lot of time on your hands, you can create and sell stuff on the Roblox platform.
It's free to create an account
To play games on Roblox, you must first create an account. You can do this by using your email or Facebook account. Once you are signed up, you can access the games tab. You can also browse by categories or by searching using keywords. Once you have created an account, you can start playing Roblox games. You can also join groups and chat with other players. However, it is important to remember that you need to have a network connection to play the games.
The app is very easy to use. Once you have created an account, you can customize your character, set a custom avatar, and play games. You can also create your own games and share them with others. The games on Roblox are free to download. You can also create your own avatars and save them for others to enjoy. The app is compatible with mobile and desktop computers. Roblox is a great place to meet new friends.
The platform is free to use and allows you to build your own games. The currency used for buying items and services on the site is called Robux. Those who create and share games can earn money through them. Creating Robux-based content is a rewarding way to exercise your creativity and earn money. It's easy to become addicted to the Roblox platform. The fun factor makes it an excellent option for children.
Users who download the app report that it has improved their battery life and storage space. This mobile version of the site also has improved game graphics. This mobile platform is compatible with the Chrome browser and requires a stable Wi-Fi network. There are also a number of other benefits to Roblox. Once you've signed up, you can start playing Roblox games and chatting with other users. The games available on Roblox are compatible with most mobile devices.
It drains battery charge on mobile devices
If you're looking for a way to extend the battery life of your mobile device, you should avoid using Now.gg Roblox login. This game is notorious for consuming large amounts of battery power on mobile devices. It can also cause your phone to heat up excessively, which can be a health hazard. You might also find it difficult to type on your phone for long periods of time. Luckily, now there are ways to deal with this problem.
Roblox login is an online game that requires a lot of battery power because it requires your device to use its processor and render 3D models. While the game has an option to limit battery drain, it uses all parts of the device without breaks. It uses all of your hardware, including your WiFi/4G networking and CPU, so it can easily drain your battery life if you're not paying close attention.
This game drains battery life on mobile devices because it doesn't support keyboard input. Moreover, mobile devices have low-resolution displays that aren't able to handle full-resolution games. High-resolution games may cause lag and battery drain, which can negatively affect your gameplay. Furthermore, a mobile device's battery life isn't very long, so the battery will run out quickly if you use Now.gg Roblox login on a mobile device.
Roblox is a popular online sandbox game that attracts over 1 million users. It lets you create a personal online identity. You can use it to build unique and amazing online experiences. You can create your own character with it, or play as another player. You can even get a custom avatar and play in a virtual world. Roblox is free to download to mobile devices.
Creating a clan on Roblox
There are a few steps to creating a clan on Roblox. First, you should choose an icon to represent your clan. Once you've chosen an icon, you'll need to copy the ID from the ROBLOX Decal webpage. This ID will appear above your clan members' icons. You can also create a banner for your clan and wear it while playing Roblox. Once you've done this, you can join the clan.
Next, you can invite other players to your clan. To do this, go to the clan menu. From here, input the name of a friend or a stranger. This person must be on the same server as you. If he accepts, your friend will join the clan. You can invite others to your clan by inviting them to your friends. Make sure your friends are on the same server so you can invite them.
You can invite other players to your clan by clicking the "Invite" button. This will open the Invite Gui Frame. This will let the person accept or decline your invitation. Your clan's members' names will be stored in a global datastore. You can also mix up numbers, symbols, and other elements to give your clan a unique and catchy name. Remember to keep in mind the game's character limits when creating your clan name.
You can also create a clan in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. In this game, players can create clans that share the same species. This way, they can fight the stronger animals together. For example, a cheetah would find it difficult to kill an African lion by himself. Creating a clan will allow you to work together and kill a stronger animal at once. You can then use the animals you kill as food.
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text:
Who are the Poor in India?
By Beyond Headlines
The fact is nobody quite knows. There are various estimates on the exact number of poor in India, and the counts have been mired in controversy.
This week the Planning Commission said 29.8% of India's 1.21 billion people live below the poverty line, a sharp drop from 37.2% in 2004-2005. (This means means around 360 million people currently live in poverty.) But one estimate suggests this figure could be as high as 77%.
The problem, believe many, is that the new count is based on fixing the poverty line for a person living on 28.65 rupees (56 cents/35p) a day in cities and 22.42 rupees (44 cents/33p) a day in villages.
This was lower than last year's recommendation by the Planning Commission to set the poverty line at 32 rupees (65c/40p) a day which stirred up a major debate across the country.
Last year activists dared the head of the country's planning body to live on half a dollar a day to test his claim that it represented an adequate sum to survive in a country with high inflation and leaky and shambolic social benefits. They concluded that the claim appeared to be grossly unfair and scandalous.
In India, poverty counts are based on a large sample survey of household expenditures. In other words, they are based on the purchasing power needed to buy food with some margin for non-food consumption needs.
The fresh decline in poverty – rural poverty has declined faster than urban poverty during the latest period under review – has been attributed to the government's increased spending on rural welfare programmes. If this is true, it is good news.
But whatever the figure is, the number of poor in India remains staggeringly high. And, what is more worrisome, demographics and the social character of the poor do not appear to be changing.
Labourers (farm workers in villages, casual workers in cities), tribespeople, Dalits (formerly called low caste untouchables) and Muslims remain the poorest Indians.
Almost 60% of the poor continue to reside in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Significantly, 85% of India's tribespeople and Dalits live in these states.
Most agree that India has reduced poverty – from 55% in 1973-74 to 29.8% in 2009-2010, if the recent figures are correct.
But it is not happening fast enough, considering India's reasonably high rate of economic growth. "High growth, though essential," says the India Development Report, "is not sufficient for poverty reduction on a sustainable basis."
If the demographics and social character of the poorest in India is not changing rapidly, what is wrong?
Economists like Arvind Virmani believe that bad governance, misplaced priorities, unchecked corruption and a huge failure in improving the quality of public health and literacy are to blame. All of this is correct. More importantly, does all this happen because the Indian state is inherently anti-poor?
(This article was first published in BBC)
Related Items:BPL, India, Planning Commission, Poor
Chase Success Till it Chase You
En Route Peace via Interfaith Dialogue
मजदूरी मांगने पर एक दलित को गेहूँ निकालने वाले थ्रेसर में पीस दिया!
Most Famous and Influential Young Alumni of University of Delhi
दुनिया के सबसे बड़े मंदिर में मुसलमानों का योगदान और कंबोडिया की आपत्ति
'घर में न सेहरी के लिए कुछ है, न इफ़्तार के लिए… पता नहीं ईद कैसी होगी'
BSEB Class 10th or Matric Result 2013 Declared: Check Here
American Scientist Proves Brahmins are Foreigners
UP Board Class 12th (Intermediate) Result 2013 Declared: Check Here
माफिया राज के सरगना मुलायम सिंह यादव –रिहाई मंच
फासीवाद को स्वर देते श्री श्री रविशंकर
PM Wife Jashodaben Has 24X7 Security, But Govt. Has NO Record of Expenses
उर्दू अख़बारों का ये सच जानकर आप हैरान हो जाएंगे!
Subramanian Swamy – The Mossad Stooge & The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi & it's Global Strategic Impact
Baseless Apprehension of Political Parties on CIC-Verdict
मोदी ने दिया 'पान वाले' को गच्छा


When the first trailer for Star Trek Beyond landed a few months back it had many fans of the classic franchise scratching their heads. For a series that often uses science fiction to ask deeper questions about humanity, there seemed to be an awful lot of things exploding. Simon Pegg even came out to relieve concerns and tell us that the trailer was not representative of the final film. Now Pegg is back and the co-star and co-writer of Star Trek Beyond is finally giving us some information about what the film actually is all about, which as it turns out, is questioning the core assumptions of the entire franchise.
Speaking with Empire, Simon Pegg talked a little bit about the setup for Star Trek Beyond. As we had already heard, the film picks up two years into the Starship Enterprise's five-year mission, and we find the crew more than a little worse for wear. They stop off at a Federation outpost which Pegg describes as a "diplomatic hub" to get a little rest from their ongoing work. It's at this point that Idris Elba's character, Krall, makes his appearance by attacking the outpost.
You see, Krall doesn't think much of the Federation or its ideals, but that's where Star Trek Beyond really finds itself according to Simon Pegg. He says this random attack by an alien will cause the crew of the Enterprise to question their entire purpose.
We're gathering a great community within the galaxy, but to what end? What does it all mean?
While this brief setup does look to have more than its share of things exploding, and there's nothing wrong with that, what always made Star Trek great is something else entirely. The TV series and films would cause the viewer to look at themselves and ask questions about humanity in the modern day by looking at these people within a fictionalized future. Fans of classic Star Trek will likely be somewhat relieved to hear there are some more cerebral aspects of Star Trek Beyond to go along with the action.
The newest Star Trek film is directed by Justin Lin of Fast & Furious fame, and continues the story of the rebooted universe begun by J.J. Abrams. We'll get to see where a new director, and writer are able to take the final frontier when Star Trek Beyond is released July 22.
Did you know that Star Trek is about to celebrate a MONUMENTAL anniversary? And that the producers have huge plans for a fan event that happens very, very soon. If you love Trek, you are going to want to know all about this. Read on!
Attendees at CinemaCon in Las Vegas were stunned when Paramount concluded its footage presentation without showing anything new from Justin Lin's Star Trek Beyond, It turns out Paramount was saving its Star Trek footage for a different event.
What else do we know about Star Trek Beyond at this point?
- Idris Elba is playing the main villain. Read about him here.
- Simon Pegg reached out to fans when he hit a snag while writing the screenplay. Here's what they helped him figure out.
- There's a revolutionary new way that Star Trek Beyond will be screened in select theaters. This one you HAVE to read about.
- And finally, will William Shatner actually appear in Star Trek Beyond? Here's what the legendary actor said.


text:
NGT Calls Unused Relief Funds for Industrial Accident Victims 'Travesty'
Environment, Rights
Major Study Unveils Vast Diversity of Africa's Genetic Variation
Featured image: Industrial accident for representational purpose. Photo: Needpix/JensonWaldo/Public Domain.
New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has expressed concern over environment relief funds set up for victims of accidents suffered while working with hazardous substances being unused. As of March 2020, the fund amounted to Rs 881 crore.
A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel has directed the Union environment ministry to take necessary action.
According to the Public Liability Insurance (PLI) Act 1991, a relief fund is to be created by the owners of factories where workers handle hazardous substances. If a worker is injured or dies in the course or as a result of handling these substances, the company is to use the money to fund suitable compensation and restitution.
Various establishments around the country deposited their shares of the fund with the United Insurance Company, which in turn amounted to Rs 881 crore in March 2020.
The bench lamented that 29 years have gone by since the enactment of the PLI Act – a "laudable welfare legislation" – and called the underuse of these funds a "travesty of justice".
Industrial chemical accidents injure or kill workers, so "state pollution control boards and … committees may ensure that industries required to take policies under the PLI Act are not granted consent [under relevant environmental law] until such policy is obtained," a report in The Hindu quoted the bench as saying.
The bench also issued directions to the National Legal Service Authority and the State Legal Services to take necessary action to support the "victims of injustice to access justice".
The NGT directions come in the wake of a plea moved by Gyan Prakash, a former Central government employee, who raised concerns about the fund and its use.


text:
John Sackett
Father Henry Sackett (c 1738-1774)
Mother Martha Higgs
John Sackett, son of Henry Sackett and Martha Higgs, was baptized in Hornchurch, EssexG, on 3 May 1764.1 He died in HornchurchG on 27 July 18282,3 and was buried at St Andrew's Church, HornchurchG.2,3 He married first at St Mary le Bone Church, Marylebone, MiddlesexG, on 23 September 1791, Charlotte Tucker, daughter of Jeremiah Tucker and Elizabeth ___.4 Charlotte was born in 1764.5 She died aged about 33 in Romford, EssexG,6 and was buried at St Andrew's Church, HornchurchG, on 9 March 1797.6 He married second at St Mary le Bone ChurchG on 18 February 1800, Sarah Fallover.7 She was born in about 17702 and died aged 39 in HornchurchG on 17 July 1809.2,8 She was buried at St Andrew's Church, HornchurchG, on 23 July 1809.8
John Sackett was employed as a bailiff to the sheriff of Essex when, on 1 July 1801, he was called to give evidence for the prosecution at London's Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, in the case of a thirteen-year-old boy charged with stealing a watch.9
Extract from The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London's Central Criminal Court, 1674 to 1913
JOSEPH JAY, Theft > grand larceny, 1st July 1801.
Reference Number: t18010701-59
Offence: Theft > grand larceny
Verdict: Guilty
Punishment: No Punishment > sentence respited
590. JOSEPH JAY was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 21st of June, a watch, value 20s. a watch-chain, value 20s. and a watch-key, value 1d. the property of Thomas Hinton.
THOMAS HINTON sworn. – I am a greengrocer, in Little Moorfields; the prisoner is a lad that I employ to run of errands: On Monday morning, the 23d of June, the boy came as usual, about six o'clock, but did not come to market; I came home about seven o'clock and could not hear of him; about seven o'clock in the evening of the same day, an officer came to me from Barking, in Essex, and asked if we knew any thing about a watch; I then missed the watch, it hung in the back-room, where we sat, it had a chain and a key belonging to it.
Q.Are you sure your house is in the city of London? – A. Yes; I was ordered to attend at the Justice's the next morning, Tuesday, and there I saw the prisoner and the watch; Pearson the constable has the watch.
JOHN SACKETT sworn. – I am bailiff to the sheriff of Essex; I was going down the road between Ilford and Rumford, and saw the prisoner upon his knees, looking at a watch; I asked him what he had there, he said, a watch that he had found in the bridge, near Ilford; I then asked him what he would have for it, his answer was, what will you give me for it; I asked him then to let me look at the watch; when I had got it in my possession, I said, my lad, I am afraid you came dishonestly by this; he said, no, indeed, he found it upon the bridge, beyond Ilford; I then sent for a constable, and gave charge of him; I took the watch before the Magistrate, at Barking, and then delivered it to the constable.
THOMAS PEARSON sworn. – I am constable of Ilford; I received this watch from Sackett. (Produces it.)
Sackett. This is the same watch.
Hinton. This is my watch, there is my wife's name on the front of it.
The prisoner did not say any thing in his defence.
Prosecutor. The boy had been with me five weeks; I had trusted him to serve in the shop, he has taken a great deal of money for me, and I always found him honest.
GUILTY, aged 13. – Judgment respited.
London Jury, before Mr. Recorder.
He was listed in Holden's Triennial Directory of 1805–07 as a sheriff's officer of Ilford, EssexG.10
Children of John Sackett and Charlotte Tucker
James Sackett+ b. c 1792, d. Jul 1866
John Sackett b. 1794, d. Dec 1794
John Sackett b. 1795, d. Feb 1797
Children of John Sackett and Sarah Fallover
Sarah Sackett b. 1802
Martha Sackett+ b. 1804
John Sackett b. c Nov 1805, d. 12 Sep 1806
Ralph Willis Sackett b. 1807
John Sackett b. 1809
Baptism, Hornchurch, Essex (IGI), "3 May 1764 John Sacket s. Henry Sacket & Martha."
Church Records, Monumental Inscriptions, St Andrew's, Hornchurch, Essex, "Sacred To The Memory of/Sarah Sackett the wife of/John Sackett of this parish/who departed this life the 17th day of/July 1809 aged 39? Years/also of John Sackett son of the above/who died Sep. 12th 1806 aged 10 months/also of the above John Sackett/who died July 27th 1828 aged 68 years."
Burials Register, St Andrew's, Hornchurch, Essex, "Sackett, John, 68, d. 27 Jul 1828."
Marriages Register, St Mary le Bone, Middlesex, "23 September 1791 John Sackett, bachelor, & Charlotte Tucker, spinster. Licence. Witnesses: Charles Rogers, Sarah Humphary."
Email from Ted Sackett to Chris Sackett.
Burials Register, St Andrew's, Hornchurch, Essex, "Sacket, Charlotte, from Romford, 9 Mar 1797."
Marriages Register, St Mary le Bone, Middlesex, "18 February 1800 John Sackett, widower, & Sarah Fallover, spinster. Licence. Witnesses: Ann Waghorn, James Clark."
Burials Register, St Andrew's, Hornchurch, Essex, "Sackett, Sarah, 39?, d. 17 Jul 1809, bur. 23 Jul 1809."
Website The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London's Central Criminal Court, 1674 to 1913 (http://www.oldbaileyonline.org).
Website Holden's Triennial Directory Directory (Ancestry.co.uk) (http://www.ancestry.co.uk), 1805, 1806, 1807, "Sackett John, sheriff's officer, Ilford, Essex."
Sackett line Great-grandson of Richard Sackett of South Weald, Essex
Alison Sackett, Joanne Smandych, Denise Molyneux and Betty-Jeanne Grant.
Generation.Tree N.6
Last Edited 29 Aug 2021


Shopping! – love it or hate it, you have to do it. Whether it's a trip to the shopping centre, a food shop at the local supermarket or even online shopping, it is something that we all have to do at some time or another. On the whole, it is something we don't really think about, just an everyday part of life and something we take for granted. However, for many adults and children on the Autism Spectrum, shopping can be an extremely difficult experience. Young people and adults have described it as overwhelming, frightening, and stressful, causing high levels of anxiety. Parents we have worked with have described shopping with their child as an absolute nightmare and reflect that what is often perceived as their child being 'naughty', is actually their very distressed child letting them know that they are not coping with their surroundings.
The National Autistic Society conducted a survey as part of their Too Much Information campaign* which showed that 64% of people on the autism spectrum avoided the shops. Additionally and shamefully, it also showed that 28% of autistic people have been asked to leave a public place for reasons associated with their autism. This is just so wrong. There needs to be a changing of perception, practice and raising of awareness for these statistics to change for the better. What is clear is that with a few simple steps, the shopping experience can become far more positive and inclusive for all. This is why we have written our course – Autism Awareness for Retail. It is not possible to completely understand how shopping may feel – we all feel things differently, however, gaining even a small insight into another's experience can give us the opportunity to raise our own awareness, be less judgemental, less patronising and react in a far more understanding and appropriate way.
Just stop and think for a minute – focus on the sounds, smells, sights and feelings around you – what is happening? The TV jabbering away to itself, a clock ticking loudly, a light flickering, dinner smells? Probably a whole host of sensory experiences. Imagine what it could be like if you were at the shops – as an adult or a child – not able to filter any of this sensory feedback, perhaps not understanding what you were feeling yourself. The smells are over powering…someone is standing too close to you…really bright lights that hurt…a baby crying…music playing in a shop…tannoy announcements – the list is endless. Would you want to put yourself in that position again? How would you react?
Many people develop their own strategies which help them manage their own anxieties, such as covering their ears to reduce noise levels. However, some reactions can be more challenging such as a child screaming loudly to block out the noise of the buzzing lights above. Both are a way of reducing sensory feedback and communicating distress when every-day experiences have become too much. Our training for retail staff includes raising awareness around ASD and Sensory Processing Difficulties and gives practical knowledge to build confidence and skills in how to support customers or their children who may be experiencing sensory overload.
In 2018, more than 10,000 shops and businesses signed up to Autism Hour, where stores took practical, simple steps towards a more autism friendly environment. This included playing less music, dimming the lights and raising awareness amongst employees. In fact some supermarkets such as Morrison's have already introduced this on a weekly basis and other stores such as Sainsbury's and Asda are also taking practical steps to help reduce anxiety and sensory overload. It is a great start and hopefully these steps will become part of an every-day shopping experience that will lead to greater understanding and inclusivity for all.
Purple Parenting is running an Autism Awareness for Retail course on Thursday 11th February 2019 9.30-12.30pm at Bluewater. Contact us at info@purpleparenting.co.uk for more details, or click here to book your space.


Wireless Support: We can help you setup your wireless network setup, add all your devices and make sure it is secure. Perhaps you want to upgrade your network or have questions about adding new devices. Structured Cabling: Have a wired network and need router and switch help? We can fix broken ports or add more ports to a wired network. We will also test a wired network for faults and possible vulnerabilities. Router and Switch support: Not sure if your network is setup the right way? Got questions about your router or switch? We can help clear the air. Security systems: Looking at putting in a security system? We can work with you to find the best solution. We can also setup port forwarding on your network so you can view your cameras from any internet connection. Printer and Imaging support: Printers are critical for businesses. Keeping them going means keeping your business going. We will setup, test and assist you in using your printer scanner or office document system. PC and Laptop care: When your PC or laptop stops working your business comes to a stop. We can repair or replace every major component of a PC and we offer a loaner program if the repairs take more two days. Is your PC or laptop running slow? Think you might have a virus or perhaps you just need an expert to look at something, we offer remote desktop sessions. You can see exactly what we do the entire time. Data backup & restore: Nothing is more important in your PC or laptop than your data. We offer data backups on a remote storage system so if something happens to your office or device, your important data is safe. Maybe your system had a hard crash and won't even turn on; we can restore your device. Program installation and troubleshooting: Do you have a new program but need help getting it on all your systems? We will make sure that it gets done the right way, the first time. Perhaps you have a program that isn't running the way it should. We can either offer help from a remote desktop session or make a visit to your office. Application and Security Training: We can offer compliance training for your critical applications. We also offer information security training for employees. Ask about our employee on boarding packages. Email: We can configure email servers, set up accounts and set up email clients like Outlook. We can also troubleshoot email problems.
Check out the forums and get free advice from the experts. Register now to gain access to all of our features, it's FREE and only takes one minute. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to create topics, post replies to existing threads, give reputation to your fellow members, get your own private messenger, post status updates, Please click here if you are not redirected within a few seconds.


Step 2. Cut a piece of White Soft Finish Cardstock at 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ and run it through an embossing folder. Shown: Large dots) Die cut this with the second largest Stitched Rectangles die to create a card front.
Step 3. Die cut three Dashing Square dies from the Unconventional Christmas paper. Use the third smallest square (roughly 2-3/8″) and fourth smallest (roughly 2-7/8″) to cut the lighter patterned paper and again the fourth smallest to cut the darker pattern paper.
Step 4. Cut three squares of blue-green solid paper – one at 2-1/2″ and two at 3″. Layer the patterned paper onto the blue-green solid paper.
Step 5. With black permanent ink, stamp the bear from the Winter Bear Clear Stamps and cut with the coordinating die. Color the image with Copic markers W00, W02, W05, YG63 and Y26.
Step 6. Using black permanent ink, stamp Happy Holidays from the Classic Christmas Clear Stamps onto the darker color patterned paper square.
Step 7. Adhere the three squares to the card front, using 6mm double sided adhesive for the back two squares and pop tape for the front. Adhere the bear to the front square with pop tape.
Step 8. Adhere the card front to the card base and add a few randomly placed half-pearls.
I love this card – it is sophisticated and whimsical at the same time!


Karen S. Hollweg is a consultant to several national science and environmental education projects and 2008-2009 President of the North American Association for Environmental Education. Much of her 40-year career, which began as a classroom teacher in public middle schools and senior high schools, has been dedicated to bringing together the resources and expertise of schools, community-based organizations, scientists and higher education institutions to support teachers, students, and citizens of all ages in pursuing inquiry-based learning and addressing real-world issues. She was a district curriculum and instruction specialist and a Principal Investigator for seven different NSF-funded Elementary, Secondary and Informal Education (ESIE) projects, and has led nationwide teacher enhancement, curriculum development, and community-based projects. At the National Academies' National Research Council she was responsible for the dissemination and implementation of the National Science Education Standards and directed professional development initiatives on inquiry and on the use of formative assessment for state science supervisors, school district leaders, and classroom teachers. As Fellow with the Institute for Learning at the University of Pittsburgh, she designed and led professional development for urban school district leaders. Karen has authored and edited books on team-based professional development, understanding urban ecosystems, program evaluation, and the influence of the national standards. She has served on many NSF panels and several national advisory boards, as well as state and local organizations, and has extensive experience recruiting and training volunteers for local projects. In 2007, she was awarded an Indo-American Environmental Leadership Fulbright to study environmental education for sustainability. Karen is currently a member of the Environmental Literacy Expert Group for OECD-PISA 2015 and leads a Climate Change Education Professional Learning Community for the EPA-funded EEcapacity Project with Cornell University.


text:
namespace remoting {

class ActionExecutor;

constexpr char kActionDataChannelPrefix[] = "actions";

class ActionMessageHandler : public protocol::NamedMessagePipeHandler {
 public:
  ActionMessageHandler(
      const std::string& name,
      const std::vector<protocol::ActionRequest::Action>& actions,
      std::unique_ptr<protocol::MessagePipe> pipe,
      std::unique_ptr<ActionExecutor> action_executor);
  ~ActionMessageHandler() override;

  // protocol::NamedMessagePipeHandler implementation.
  void OnIncomingMessage(std::unique_ptr<CompoundBuffer> message) override;

 private:
  std::unique_ptr<ActionExecutor> action_executor_;

  // Populated via the negotiated capabilities between host and client.
  base::flat_set<protocol::ActionRequest::Action> supported_actions_;

  DISALLOW_COPY_AND_ASSIGN(ActionMessageHandler);
};

}  // namespace remoting

#endif  // REMOTING_HOST_ACTION_MESSAGE_HANDLER_H_

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Your Senators and your Representative in Congress will listen when you speak; they care about representing their constituents, and they want to do the right thing. How you present your message is important if you want your voice to make a difference. These lessons, along with details on how to communicate with your elected officials in Washington, were part of a presentation called "Effective Advocacy" given by Stephanie Vance, formerly on Congressman Blumenauer's staff and now head of AdVanced Consulting, at the Rail~Volution conference in Washington in October 2002.
To communicate effectively, said Vance, you have to know what you want to say. Know your facts, and know why you're relevant. Explain why your position is important to the state and to your district. Know your representative's record and what committees this person is on.
So the first step is to get your facts together. VARP's newsletter, On Track, is a good source of current information, and it goes to all of Virginia and West Virginia's Senators and Representatives in Washington. The VARP website has useful information too, particularly the "A Future for Rail Passenger Service in the Virginias." The National Association of Railroad Passengers website is another useful source, with legislative action alerts and links to other sites.
Once you know what you want to say, write a letter, email, or fax letter. Keep it brief; stick to one point. Communicating with your elected representatives is important, but even more worthwhile is to meet with them or their staff members periodically. Vance explained that the offices in Washington are continually being visited by lobbyists, a lot of whom are paid to be there. You are guaranteed a hearing if you are a volunteer individual who has taken the time to communicate. Many people think of campaign contributions as the driving force in Washington, but "grassroots power trumps money every time," said Vance.
When you make an appointment, you should expect to get about 5 minutes of someone's time. Is this worth it? Definitely yes, said Vance. The staff members and your representative may know less about an issue than you do, and if you provide them with useful information that makes them more knowledgeable, you will have made an important difference.
Vance recommended scheduling visits both in Washington when Congress is in session and in your representative's district office when Congress is in recess. In both cases, said Vance, you should leave two important things: written information and a specific request, however small. Provide the information (nor more than a few sheets of paper) in a manila folder, because the staff member will file it for reference. Thick documents will be neither read nor saved. Ask for something simple, such as a statement about rail passenger service in the Congressional Record or a one-minute speech on the floor. It's true, said Vance, that few people will hear the speech or read the statement in the Congressional Record. But you and VARP can make sure that people read the speech or the statement by making copies and distributing them and quoting them.
Get in touch with your Representative and Senator regularly, schedule visits periodically, and provide succinct, accurate information, and you will be an effective advocate.
For faster communication, you can reach them by phone or email (some have a direct email address; others have a comment form on their website).
For contact information for your Representative, visit the House of Representatives website at www.house.gov.
Thanks to Stephanie Vance of AdVanced Consulting for a splendid presentation at Rail~Volution.


text:
2011 March 30 • Wednesday
Here's a comic with an ingenious design.
It's hard to tell from this picture, but the cover is cut like the jacket. The title, the red tie and the collar are not on the front cover but on the title page underneath. The white banner with the Ivan Brunetti illustration is a removable belt that's holding the cover closed.
That's what the whole title page looks like.
There are eight stories from eight creators inside. My two favorites were Sam Sharpe's "Change Your Name" (though it doesn't have any bloody violence and I'm not sure what chapter of true crime history it's supposed to tell) and Jeff Zwirek's "The Chicago Typewriter: The Story of the Thompson Submachine Gun in Chicago", which comes with informative endnotes.
2011 March 28 • Monday
The 158th Soundtrack of the Week is Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs by Shunsuke Kikuchi.
It's a Japanese exploitation movie from the '70s about a female cop with special red handcuffs that she can lock on your wrists just by throwing them at you. I remember it as being wall-to-wall sex and violence but also boring.
The music is good, though, mostly an assault of wah-wah and fuzz guitars, latin percussion and blaring horns. There's an occasional keyboard or organ blast. The fuzz guitar sounds are especially ill.
2011 March 25 • Friday
Here's a book I'll probably never read. I bought it mostly for the title.
I don't read private-detective fiction unless it's by Dashiell Hammett. Other authors give you private detectives with names like Burns Bannion—"Expert in bloody and deadly Karate".
There are other Burns Bannion novels: Kill Me in Yokohama, Kill Me in Yoshiwara and Kill Me in Shimbashi.
I know he's supposed to be doing karate but he looks like he's dancing on Mel's Rock Pile.
The first line is, "The damned thing was swollen, and it hurt like hell".
The Cain's Hundred novel is about a former Syndicate man—one of the hundred on Cain's list— dealing drugs to students at a college in a wealthy suburb.
It begins with a horribly racist character, a 200-pound "Negro woman" named White Goddess. She and her partner, Sacred Man, start selling "reefer" to a college kid named Ferrell Crosby as he sits in Tommy's roadhouse listening to the distant sounds of cheering at the college football game.
He looked at the reefers and thought why the hell not? So he paid Sacred Man $5 for them, a drop out of his $50 a week allowance, and drove off in his sports car.
He lived with his father in a big house on Poplar Street in Whitman, but he wasn't about to smoke one there, since he had an intense conviction his father would kill him if he knew. He smoked one that night on campus, behind the science building, alone, with the din of fraternity and sorority celebrations in the distance taking the place of the crowd noise of the afternoon.
The noise stopped. He felt fine. He had a great capacity for taste. Time slowed. He had a Chinese dinner and rolled the many foods in his mouth, tasting each one separately. He went to a movie and watched the leading-man's brain tick away as he made love to the heroine. He saw life for what it was. It thrilled him.
He smoked the other two the next day, which was Sunday, then cut a class the next day to go back to Tommy's for more. Fortunately, Sacred Man and White Goddess were waiting for him. He managed to get another dozen reefers from them and, as he smoked them the rest of the week, things got clearer and clearer.
His father had like a snail in his head, a dirty little snail. That was it. The snail had been talking for years and had convinced his father that he, Ferrie, had to be put in a bottle of beer and corked. Because he, Ferrie, was dregs.
That was wrong, Ferrie thought; he wasn't dregs. Something had to get the snail out of his father's head.
He went back to see Sacred Man after his dozen reefers were gone. They sold him heroin and showed him how to pop it. It didn't cost much, considering what his father gave him. He popped it in his bedroom and liked it fine.
It wasn't a snail at all, he thought a few days later. Or maybe his father's whole head was a snail, because he couldn't see where the snail ended and the brain began.
That was very bad.
About two weeks later he went up to his room and got down his hunting rifle. Fairfax County, where he lived, had grouse in its woods. Every guy and his dad had a hunting rifle.
"Hey dad, you want to come up here for a minute?" he called downstairs.
Ferrell Crosby, Sr., grunted, put down his paper and came upstairs.
When he reached the landing, Ferrell, Jr., stepped out of his room and shot him between the eyes. He went over backward and rolled back down the stairs.
Then Ferrell, Jr., went back inside his room. He sat down at his desk and thought for a few minutes. He'd removed the snail from his father's brain and maybe even the whole brain. But he'd also killed his father.
Man, he thought. What'll I do next?
He didn't think about it very much. He put another shell in the rifle, set the stock on the floor and reached way down for the trigger. He pushed the trigger and blew his own head off.
That's near the level of pulp masterpiece.
The book never hits that kind of high mark again, though there are moments. The sentence "Then he went upstairs and did his vomiting" comes to mind.
One gratifying thing about the Cain's Hundred book is that the constantly scowling Cain is allowed to get things wrong and not be an unerring superman all the time.
There aren't any beatniks, though when Cain visits the college he hears "a student arguing loudly for his personal interpretation of a line by Ezra Pound".
The 157th Soundtrack of the Week is the music for the television series Cain's Hundred, by Jerry Goldsmith (credited as Jarrald Goldsmith) and Morton Stevens.
Cain's Hundred is a pretty obscure show from the early '60s. It ran for only one season and was about a former mob lawyer turned syndicate-smashing federal investigator.
Goldsmith's music anticipates some of John Barry's work, particularly from the Bond movies. (I imagine this is just a coincidence.) The theme is an intense and moody 12/8 piece and most of the music here is characterized by tension, suspense and dread.
Most of the music on the CD is by Goldsmith, but Morton Stevens took over scoring the series after a while. A selection of his work, which extends and respects what came before, concludes the CD.
Film Score Monthly gets better and better, presenting something like this little known early work from a great composer. The music for Cain's Hundred is, like Bernard Herrmann's television and radio work, an inspiring example of how to create exciting music with a small ensemble (though Goldsmith's 28 musicians and Stevens's 18 made up larger groups than Herrmann's).
You can see quite a bit of it on YouTube.
I enjoyed this book. The first line is, "Nineteen hundred and thirty-eight".
It might not seem like much of an opening line, but the title of the first chapter is "The Professor of Hatred", and it comes after a quote from Ecclesiastes, a brief description of various Israeli military groups, a translator's preface comparing Avner's book with the media reports of the time and, finally, Avner's response to the translator's note.
1938 is the year that Avner (or Davidson as he is then called) runs away from his boarding school in Belgium—where, as the only Jewish student, he has been singled out for harsh treatment by the headmaster—to go fight in the Spanish Civil War. He's fifteen years old and eventually finds himself returned to school by the police, after which his mother sends him to an agricultural school in Palestine.
Much as I like the painting on the cover, it's wrong for this book. It shows a pulp-fiction sort of bestial thug, whereas Avner's voice is educated and nuanced. His writing is accomplished and ironical and contains many memorable lines. After his career as a terrorist he hopes to get into screenwriting, letting his admiration for Jean Vigo and Georges Franju interfere with creating suitably mindless and commercial scenarios.
The scenes of assassination and bank robbery are especially exciting and not merely hardboiled, as they might come across on the back cover. Whether Avner recalls tending sheep, digging holes for palm trees or committing acts of violence and terror, his writing is thorough, disciplined and literary.
The book has a startlingly abrupt ending. I actually thought that my copy was missing the last few pages so I ordered another one. But it had the same ending, so I guess that's it.
This tightly plotted and compelling novel, probably for readers we would call "young adult" today, was surprisingly good. It wouldn't take much to make a good movie out of this now, more than fifty years later, even though stories about teenagers can age pretty fast.
Mike Revere is the most popular boy in school and he had to work really hard to get there. His supremacy depends on his being the best drag racer—every morning he races a challenger to the school parking lot, and every morning he wins.
The principal of the school is aware of this but has the experience to know that it's just a fad. There's a new fad like this every year, and every year it fades out and gets replaced by something else. Drag racing's popularity has a month or so to go, he figures. But then… Well, I'll quote the blurb on the inside.
But then Dave "Outlaw" Galt moved to town. Outlaw had utter contempt for authority. The gang was dazzled by his $4,000 Chevy F. I.
Mike saw he had to fight for his title. His answer to Outlaw's bid for power was a new kind of hot rod club.
HE CALLED IT CRASH CLUB!
Crash Club is about crashing, not racing. The one with the most accidents wins. (I wonder if J. G. Ballard knew about Crash Club.) You get decorated with medals and ribbons, just like in the military. Every time you smash into another car, you get to put a small car decal on your hot rod, just as if you were a pilot shooting down enemy aces.
This all gets out of hand, of course. Really out of hand. The violent conclusion was a bit of a shock and the build up to it was extremely suspenseful. In the end it turns out to be a morality play, but with a few sharp turns to take the reader through.
Felsen, who also wrote books called Hot Rod and Street Rod, captures perfectly the world of adolescence as I remember it: the cruel and absurd social hierarchies, the sense of alienation, the disappointment that parents, children, teachers and students feel.
Crash Club is dedicated:
To my teenage son
and his teenage friends.
Black leather boots,
blue denims,
turned-up jacket collars,
The first line is, "Mr. Enos Lamont, principal of Raccoon Forks High School, leaned back in his old wooden swivel chair, propped his heels on top of his old wooden desk, clasped his hands behind his head, and, with his eyes closed, thought over the brief letter of warning that had arrived in the morning mail".
The Japan Society in New York City has started a disaster relief fund. You can donate online here. I can't think of anything else to say.
Now back to our regular programming.
The 156th Soundtrack of the Week is Howard Shore's Crash.
This is the 1996 Crash, David Cronenberg's adaptation of J. G. Ballard's novel, not the Crash that won Academy Awards.
With the exception of The Dead Zone, Howard Shore has scored every Cronenberg movie since 1979's The Brood. Shore even turned Cronenberg's movie of The Fly into an opera.
Crash isn't my favorite Cronenberg movie, though it's the last one I enjoyed watching. It is one of my favorite soundtracks, though, and one of my favorite albums for rainy days and glum moods.
The first thing in its favor is the ensemble: six electric guitars (called electronic guitars in the liner notes), three harps, three woodwinds and two percussionists. The music was electronically manipulated after the recording, giving Shore unusual freedom.
The first track, "Crash", sets the tone and establishes the musical theme of the movie. Electric guitars create swirling atmospheres out of which individual guitarists lash out with assertive phrases. It's slightly reminiscent of some of Fred Frith's guitar quartet music, or the interplay between Marc Ribot and Robert Quine on Ikue Mori's Painted Desert.
"CineTerra" is similar but sparser and less threatening. It includes subtle and effective use of odd-sounding percussion.
"Mechanism of Occupant Ejection" returns to the "Crash" theme with the addition of some otherwordly wails from the percussion, or electronic manipulation or both.
"Mirror Image" begins with flute and harp and is almost pastoral. The sheen of reverb and a slightly metallic gloss to the sound subvert this idea, and eventually the electric guitars return and take us back to the unnatural world of the film.
"Where's the Car?" is the first track that sounds like some, but not all, of the guitarists are using distortion. There was an overdriven quality to some of the guitar lines on "Crash" but the opening guitar notes of this cue snarl loudly. Some inventive electronic manipulation takes the music into outer space for the last minute.
"Sexual Logic" is similar to "CineTerra" but sparser. Eventually a haunting melody is played by the flute.
"Road Research Laboratory" features the guitars and percussion. It sounds like there's been some manipulation of these instruments, but it's hard to tell how much.
"Mansfield Crash" is a return to the "Crash" theme, but with an atmopshere of greater dread established by the ominous sounds that support the guitar parts. Bits of this reminded me of Bill Frisell around the time of the Power Tools band.
The first half of "Chromium Bower" doesn't feature any recognizable instrument. It could be guitar or harp or percussion or almost any combination of instruments that have been electronically transformed into unearthly sounds. Halfway through a flute comes in with a quiet and minimalist part. It ends with electronic noise that sounds like things breaking.
"A Benevolent Psychopathology" introduces a string orchestra, swelling in a manner similar to the electric guitars. As you might expect, it sounds more like Howard Shore's other soundtrack work than anything else on the album. It's great underscore with an Akira Ifukube quality to it at times.
"Two Semi-Metallic Human Beings" begins with a clarinet that soon gets absorbed by the musical atmopshere. The string orchestra seeps in here and there, again echoing the electric guitars from the theme. The percussion is a key player here, playing dark, chime-like tones.
"Triton" starts out with what sounds like somebody playing the inside of a piano, but perhaps it's a manipulated harp. The electric guitars are back with their familiar swirling, mesmerizing lines.
"Accident… Accident…" sounds like a blend of the guitars and the string orchestra both with and without electronic distortion. It has a druggy and queasy sort of sound.
"A Crushed Convertible" has some quiet background noise and some echoing, minimalist guitar playing upfront.
"Prophecy Is Dirty and Ragged" is the longest piece on the record, and begins as a reprise of "Accident… Accident…". Two minutes in, the string orchestra, without a discernible electronic presence, plays some urgent suspense music. This gradually becomes more lyrical, then tapers off into something similar to "A Benevolent Psychology".
I love this record. I'm curious to see the movie again and find out how I react to it fifteen years after its release.
Leigh Brackett worked with Howard Hawks, co-writing the screenplays for The Big Sleep and Rio Bravo. She provided Robert Altman with a screenplay for The Long Goodbye and George Lucas with one for The Empire Strikes Back. (Apparently what's in the Lucas movie doesn't have much to do with what Brackett wrote.)
She wrote several novels and short stories, mostly mystery or science-fiction. (She wrote the novelization of Rio Bravo as well.)
I had read The Long Tomorrow, an absorbing story of Earth in the distant future and how the humans who survived nuclear armageddon live simply and regard technological advancement as taboo.
The other novel of hers I had read was The Tiger Among Us, about sadistic teenagers who get their kicks from random violence and mayhem. It's a great thriller that was made into a lousy movie, 13 West Street, starring Alan Ladd.
An Eye for an Eye is another thriller, and a potentially very nasty one, about a violent maniac who kidnaps a lawyer's wife. The lawyer had rescued this psycho's abused wife from him, arranging for a divorce and a restraining order, and now the psycho decides that he'll take the lawyer's wife. If the lawyer wants her back, well, just stop that divorce from coming through and persuade the terrified woman to return to her crazy, drunk, abusive husband. If the lawyer fails to do this, the madman will kill all three of them and anybody else who gets in his way.
Brackett's economical and effective writing make for a gripping read. With just a couple of sentences she can create the sense of a real environment, complex and unpredictable, and she does the same thing for the characters.
While the book doesn't end tragically, it doesn't end happily, either. Some characters reveal unpleasant sides of themselves under pressure, causing the destruction of relationships they had taken for granted. Brackett is especially clever with her development of the character of the abused wife seeking a divorce.
Hitchcock might have been able to make a decent movie out of this. The lawyer is even supposed by the police to have murdered his wife at some point, which is the kind of thing that happens in Hitchcock films.
I suppose it's an old-fashioned novel by today's standards, but it's a real page-turner and I enjoyed it. The first line is, "Grace Vitelli stuck her head in through the door and said, 'I'm going home now, Mr. Forbes'".
John Wyndham returns to his great theme—the attempt by one species to dominate and destroy another—via a different route.
While his most famous books, such as The Day of the Triffids, The Kraken Wakes and The Midwich Cuckoos, tell stories of an invading species from outer space that comes close to wiping out the human species on Earth, The Chrysalids presents primitive humans who are religious fanatics and want to destroy more highly evolved humans.
The action takes place in the future, long after nuclear armageddon has come close to obliterating all life on the planet. In a part of Labrador, humans attempt to regain what they have lost but know nothing of history. The only two books they have are religious texts, of which one is the Bible.
They don't realize that the occasional mutation of crops, livestock and human babies are caused by lingering radiation but believe it to be the Devil's work. All such "deviations" must be destroyed. "Watch thou for the mutant!" is one of their commandments.
When certain children are born with the ability to communicate telepathically with each other, they keep this a secret among themselves, knowing that the exposure of their "deviation" would be fatal to them. Since they're physically "normal" in every way, the task shouldn't be impossible, though it would be difficult.
But with the birth of a baby girl whose telepathic gift is astonishingly powerful, exponentially greater than that anybody else's, secrecy cannot be maintained.
It's similar in some ways to Leigh Brackett's The Long Tomorrow and the first few chapters, in which the sinister and harsh organization of the characters' world is gradually revealed, reminded me of Shirley Jackson's famous short story "The Lottery".
It took me a while to get around to this book, partly because of the cover. It turns out that this cover illustration has absolutely nothing to do with the book. Nothing whatsoever.
The title is also something of a mystery. I can't remember "chrysalids" or "chrysalis" appearing in the text at any point.
As always, the quality of Wyndham's writing is extremely high. His prose is smooth and solidly constructed. There isn't a single moment where the pace flags or the reader stumbles over a clunky sentence. He was one of those writers of both genius and economy—my favorite kind.
The first line is: "When I was quite small I would sometimes dream of a city — which was strange because it began before I even knew what a city was".
The 155th Soundtrack of the Week is Henry Mancini's Experiment in Terror, one of many collaborations between Mancini and director Blake Edwards.
1962's Experiment in Terror was ahead of its time, anticipating both the sleazy and spectacular thrillers that would come out of Hollywood in the 1970s and '80s but also the giallo films of Mario Bava and other Italian directors.
The plot concerns a psycho killer who terrorizes a bank teller so that she'll leave her bank one day with $100,000 in her purse. (Would this have been possible?) If she doesn't cooperate he'll kill her and her younger sister, but not before making them wish they were dead.
Lee Remick is the teller and Glenn Ford is the FBI agent who answers her call when she phones the San Francisco branch of the agency. Lucky for her, the entire San Francisco branch seems to have absolutely nothing to do and immediately puts all of its resources and personnel on her case. Glenn Ford is the acme of stolid 1950s-ish American competence. If George Reeves's Superman ran afoul of him, Superman would be in trouble.
The movie is genuinely suspenseful and occasionally quite frightening. Ross Martin's performance as the asthmatic psycho killer—another villain with an "otherness"-enhancing affliction—is made exponentially creepier by Philip Lathrop's superb black-and-white photography and Henry Mancini's sickeningly dreadful main theme.
This is apparently an album recording and not the original motion picture soundtrack. The original soundtrack makes extremely effective use of the Hammond organ—a single low note, a sound of pure menace, is the true "theme" for the maniac villain. And Mancini fans will appreciate that during the climax of the movie, which takes place at a baseball game, Mancini's theme for Mr. Lucky is played on the ballpark organ.
There's very little dramatic underscore in the movie. Realism was the apparent goal of the filmmakers, and so there's an abundance of location shooting and a reliance on source music. The record starts with "Flutter's Ball", an easy listening tune that's heard on a car radio. Well, not just any car radio, but the radio in Lee Remick's Ford Fairlane convertible.
This is followed by "Tooty Twist", which I think is blaring from the radio or jukebox at the local teen hang-out spot. (Stefanie Powers plays Lee Remick's teenage sister.) It's similar to some of the music Mancini wrote for Touch of Evil.
"Kelly's Tune" is a breezy west coast jazz tune written for Lee Remick's character. It has classic Mancini horn arrangements and features the doublebass. "Golden Gate Twist" is, um, well, I don't remember where this was in the movie. It's cool, though. I like the twist and there's a good guitar solo.
"The Good Old Days" is music that accompanies a silent film comedy. The bad guy is always sending Lee Remick off to someplace or other, and on this occasion she has to go to a cinema.
Then there's the "Experiment in Terror (Twist)" which I think is heard at the swimming pool where Stefanie Powers and her boyfriend go. It's really great but it's at this point that the sequencing of the album seems to be backwards. Did they get the A and B sides mixed up? This tune would be a great ending for the B side but "Flutter's Ball" is a terrible first tune for the A side.
The next tune, though, number seven of twelve, would make the perfect first cut for the A side. It's "Experiment in Terror", the actual main title. You hear this during the opening credits while Lee Remick is driving her convertible over the Golden Gate Bridge, back to her home in Twin Peaks.
Fantastic use of the autoharp, incredible guitar sound, brilliant orchestration throughout. Is it a cymbalom playing the melody? I wish I knew. The liner notes don't offer much information other than that Jimmy Rowles plays piano on the next track, "Nancy".
"Nancy" is a very modern-sounding, creepy tune. I don't think anybody would guess that Jimmy Rowles is playing the eerie and unsettling piano part. Here, too, Experiment in Terror seems to be ahead of its time. What you hear would be common enough in a few years, but in 1961 or 1962?
"Down by the Wharf" is hurdy-gurdyish music for a scene set at Fisherman's Wharf.
"Teen-Age Hostage" is the most active piece on the record, with frantically driving strings and hammering snare drum creating the adrenaline surge Stefanie Powers's character experiences when she thinks her older sister is in trouble. This gives way to the horrifying low note on the organ and a recapitulation of the main theme. You can tell just by listening that she's fallen into the clutches of Ross Martin's monster.
"White on White" is a sentimental solo piano piece (Jimmy Rowles again?) and "Final Out at Candelstick Park" brings us to the climax and the brilliant main theme again, this time blending into a more traditional dramatic orchestration.
The first line is, "This really began, I suppose, when I first met Colin Jones". Before that there's a quote from Hamlet: "'Tis now the very witching time of night, / When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out".
The story is about Joe Loomis, a doctor whose old friend Colin Jones comes to him with an undiagnosable, incurable disease that turns out to be the result of a Satanic black mass. Loomis is soon involved in the same mess and receives the same deadly curse. As he starts to waste away and each moment of his life becomes more and more painful, he struggles to survive. His only chance seems to be to try to kill the Satanists who have damned him. One of them, however, is the woman he loves.
C. S. Cody writes in a brisk and engaging manner and has constructed the narrative very solidly, though there are one or two points that don't withstand close scrutiny. The story is presented as the manuscript of Dr. Loomis himself, and the main character's first-person narrative manages to alternate sly humor with descriptions of dreadful nightmares (done quite well) and agonizing experiences.
The author slips in some amusing foreshadowing without Loomis's knowledge, such as how our hero, just before his immersion in the world of devil worship, inhales sulphur fumes from a match when he lights a cigarette. There are some similar touches here and there.
The story has a bit in common with Stephen King's Thinner, though the King novel centered on punishment and The Witching Night is about evil, pure and simple.
It's a page-turner and carries appreciative blurbs from Nelson Algren and The New York Times on the back cover. As is often the case in this kind of book, the hero seems to have a smoother ride than I would have expected. One thing just leads to another. His danger and suffering are made quite clear, though, and his story is a compelling one.
The first line is, "Years later, she would dream of Alpenstadt, and wake, oppressed by fear", which reminded me of the opening of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. Both books are extremely well written and offer a subversive updating of a fairytale: Cinderella, more or less.
Lucille Fletcher is best known for Sorry, Wrong Number, which was a Suspense radio play before it became a movie with Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster.
(Suspense had brilliant theme music by Bernard Herrmann, who also scored some of the early episodes. He and Fletcher were married until Herrmann left Fletcher for her cousin.)
Fletcher's also wrote "The Hitchhiker", a radio play that found a new audience as an episode of The Twilight Zone.
Like the publishers of …And Presumed Dead, I will remain more or less silent about the plot of this extraordinary novel. It was very suspenseful, I think I can say, though it would have been more so if the first line didn't reveal that the heroine is destined to survive her ordeal.
But it was excellent and I plan to seek out more of Fletcher's books. She's one of those writers who send me running to the dictionary every few pages (which I enjoy). I didn't know what caparisoned, wattles, espaliered, majolica or rachitic meant, for instance. I still don't. I looked them up but I don't remember their definitions.


Zig Zag Railway Co-op Ltd - ZZR Christmas Extravaganza!
As you are aware, our christmas party is coming up this Saturday, 8 December. Please bring a small salad to share and we will provide meat and soft drinks. Whilst the members general information meeting will commence at 11am, we are planning a few other activities. Please register your interest in attending via the registration link so we can plan accordingly.
Commencing at 9am at Clarence Station, we will be having an information session that will introduce our online systems Confluence, Jira, Moodle and Slack and their importance within our organisation. Run by Tom and Wayne, this will cover our SMS and the necessary paperwork and procedures to run a successful work day. This session will be aimed at Site Supervisors, Managers, and those members looking to get more 'hands on'. Everyone is welcome and it would be great to see as many there as possible.
Following the lunchtime festivities, we intend to break into two groups: 1) those wanting to participate in some work; and 2) those needing to update their inductions and training (General Safety Inductions, Rail Safety Worker, and the like, held in Clarence Station). Work on the day may include: transport of sleepers to the Clarence Washaway site, minor earthworks at Clarence Washaway, and minor tasks at Bottom Points Workshop.
Given the work party will be out on track, all participants must have completed the online general induction and be enrolled (preferably completed) the ZZR Rail Safety Worker course. Please speak to Jon Rickard (rickardjon@hotmail.com) or Wayne Eagle (operations@zigzagrailway.com.au) if you have not completed these and would like to complete them prior to the day.
Please contact Ben Lawrence if you have any queries, accounts@zigzagrailway.com.au or 0414 549 499.


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A DIVORCED mother of three has successfully sued an "exclusive" dating agency after it failed to deliver the man of her dreams.
A BRITISH woman has successfully sued a dating agency for failing to deliver her a boyfriend.
Tereza Burki, 47, was awarded a £13,000 ($A23,000) payout after an "exclusive" dating agency failed to find the "man of my dreams, the father of my child", The Sun reports.
The mother of three forked out £12,600 ($A22,000) for Seventy Thirty Ltd's services.
She told the High Court the agency had told her it only dealt in "crème de la crème" matches and could introduce her to "bachelors you dream of meeting".
Judge Richard Parkes QC yesterday ordered the agency to repay Ms Burki's fee — saying she had been "deceived" by Seventy Thirty's then-managing director.
The mum-of-three also wanted her new boyfriend to have "multiple residences" and be willing to provide her with another child.
As well as giving her money back, the judge awarded her £500 ($A876) for the "disappointment and sadness" she suffered — bringing her total payout to £13,100 ($A22,955).
But the mum was ordered to pay Seventy Thirty £5,000 ($A8761) in libel damages after writing a damning Google review of the agency where she branded it a "scam".
This story was reproduced from The Sunwith permission.