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Die von 1895 bis 1903 gebauten acht Kreuzer der Diadem-Klasse waren die letzten "Kreuzer 1. Klasse" der Royal Navy, die als Geschützte Kreuzer gebaut wurden. Nach ihnen wurden die "Kreuzer 1. Klasse" als Panzerkreuzer gebaut.

Die HMS Niobe wurde 1910 eines der ersten Schiffe der neugegründeten kanadischen Marine. Bei Kriegsbeginn galten die Kreuzer als veraltet und zu schwach bewaffnet. Sie dienten als Schulschiffe und nur drei wurden beim 9. Kreuzergeschwader wieder in den aktiven Dienst genommen.

Der einzige Kriegsverlust der Klasse ereignete sich am 20. Juli 1917, als ein deutsches U-Boot die inzwischen als Minenleger dienende HMS Ariadne versenkte. Bis 1922 wurden alle Schiffe bis auf zwei Schulschiffe als total veraltet zum Abbruch verkauft. HMS Spartiate folgte 1932, HMS Andromeda erst 1956.

Baugeschichte
Seit der Blake-Klasse von 1889 hatte die Royal Navy ihre "Kreuzer 1. Klasse" als Geschützte Kreuzer beschafft. Die neuen Schiffe hatten vier große Schornsteine und wie ihre Vorgänger der Edgar- und Powerful-Klasse einen hohen Freibord. Den Kreuzern der von Sir William White entworfenen Diadem-Klasse fehlte allerdings die übliche Bewaffnung mit einem schweren Bug- und Heckgeschütz.

An Stelle dieser 234-mm-Einzeltürme hatte man je zwei 152-mm-Kanonen nebeneinander aufgestellt. Dies wurde bei den Panzerkreuzern der Monmouth-Klasse wiederholt und später als Mangel erkannt. Die übrigen zwölf 152-mm-Geschütze waren alle in Kasematten aufgestellt. An den Enden der Aufbauten wurden je zwei Kasematten übereinander eingebaut, wobei die unteren nahe der Wasserlinie waren, was auch für die Seitenkasematten der restlichen vier Geschütze galt. Diese tiefe Aufstellung der Mittelartillerie bot guten Schutz für die Geschütze und erlaubte eine zahlreichere Aufstellung. Sie wurde auch bei allen Panzerkreuzern beibehalten, der Einsatz war jedoch bei Seegang erheblich behindert. Alle Geschütze in den Kasematten hatten einen separaten Munitionsaufzug, auch in den "Doppeldecker"-Kasematten. Die Bug- und Heckgeschütze wurden allerdings über nur einen Aufzug mit Munition versorgt. Neben den sechzehn 152-mm-Kanonen erhielten die Kreuzer vierzehn 12-pdr-(76-mm)-Schnellfeuergeschütze zur Torpedobootsabwehr, drei 3-pdr-(47-mm)-Hotchkisskanonen und zwei britische 18-Zoll-(450-mm)-Unterwasser-Torpedorohre.

Die Diadem-Klasse sollte wie die vorangehende Powerful-Klasse vorrangig dem Handelsschutz dienen. Sie erhielten daher auch alle eine Ummantelung des Stahlrumpfes mit Holz und Kupfer zur Verbesserung eines Einsatzes in den Tropen. Sie waren eine kostengünstigere Variante der Powerfuls. Durch die verminderte Maschinenleistung und Geschwindigkeit, die geringere Panzerung und den Verzicht auf die schweren Geschütze reduzierte man die Kosten pro Schiff um etwa 15 %. Dazu war der Unterhalt mit der kleineren Besatzung günstiger. Mit acht Schiffen war die Diadem-Klasse relativ bedeutend, ihr Nutzen allerdings umstritten. Insbesondere der Verzicht auf stärkere Bewaffnung der sehr großen Schiffe und die nur durchschnittliche Geschwindigkeit wurden kritisiert. Auch der geringe Schutz der Geschütze mit den besten Schussfeldern wurde bemängelt.

Überraschenderweise war die Ausstattung mit den damals neuen Belleville-Kesseln relativ problemlos, auch wenn die Verwendung eines französischen Kesseltyps ständig diskutiert wurde. Die Wartung und der Kohlenverbrauch der Röhrenkessel wurden als zu teuer angesehen. Eine Fahrt der Diadem im Dezember 1898 in 69 Stunden von Gibraltar zur Nore mit durchschnittlich 19,27 kn galt der Regierung als Beweis der Zuverlässigkeit des Kesseltyps. Allerdings musste Diadem bereits 1902 neue Kessel erhalten.

Die Vibrationen im Antrieb der ersten Schiffe führten zu einer Änderung der Maschinenräume bei den jeweils zweiten Schiffen der Bauwerften, die alle auch eine um 1500 PSi höhere Maschinenleistung erhielten. Alle Schiffe übertrafen bei ihren Tests die geforderten Geschwindigkeitsleistungen, wobei die Europa mit 20,4 kn die geringste und Ariadne mit 21,5 kn die beste Leistung erzielte. Anfangs hatten die Europa und später die Niobe relativ häufig Antriebsprobleme.

Einsatzgeschichte
Die Kreuzer der Diadem-Klasse dienten meist in den Heimatgewässern, aber es gab auch Stationierungen auf der China Station, bei der Mittelmeerflotte und in der Karibik.

Am 20. Oktober 1899 lief HMS Niobe als Teil der angeforderten Verstärkungen nach Südafrika aus, wo sie am 25. November eintraf. Am 4. Dezember 1899 unterstützte sie in St. Helena Bay die Rettung der Truppen vom am St Columbine Point aufgelaufenen Dampfer Ismore. Bis zum 23. August 1900 blieb die Niobe am Kap stationiert.

Die HMS Argonaut kam 1900 in Chatham für die China Station bis Juli 1904 in Dienst. Ihr folgten noch auf dieser Station HMS Amphitrite von April 1903 bis 1905 und HMS Diadem von 1905 bis 1907.

Als Kreuzer der Channel Squadron begleiteten Diadem und Niobe ab März 1901 die Yacht Ophir mit dem Thronfolger von Portsmouth bis Gibraltar auf der Ausreise nach Australien und wieder ab São Vicente (Kap Verde) auf der Rückreise nach Kanada und in die Heimat. In Gibraltar übernahm die im Mittelmeer stationierte HMS Andromeda zusammen mit der HMS Diana die Betreuung, um sie in Colombo (?) an HMS St.George und HMS Juno abzugeben. Bei der Mittelmeerflotte tat später auch noch die Diadem Dienst.

Die HMS Ariadne ging 1902 als Flaggschiff auf die North America and West Indies Station, wo sie bis Mitte 1905 blieb.

Zu den wenigen Auslandsstationierungen kamen noch Reisen einzelner Schiffen mit Austauschbesatzungen zu den Auslandsstationen, wie etwa die der HMS Europa 1900 bis Australien oder der HMS Spartiate noch 1912 nach China. Ab 1906 waren die Kreuzer zu diesen Aufgaben und bei Manövern der Reserve aktiv. Dazu wurden sie zunehmend als stationäre Ausbildungsschiffe eingesetzt.

Die bis 1956 vorhandene Andromeda wurde Schiffsjungenschulschiff in Devonport, am 23. September 1913 in Powerful II und im November 1919 in Impregnable II umbenannt. Sie wurde dann Teil der Torpedoschule, am 20. Januar 1931 in HMS Defiance nochmals umbenannt und erst 1956 abgebrochen. Auch der erst 1932 erfolgte Abbruch der Spartiate ist auf den Einsatz im Trainingszentrum Plymouth, ab 1915 unter dem Namen Fisgard, zurückzuführen.

Kreuzer der kanadischen Marine

Die Entscheidung, in den größeren Commonwealth-Staaten eigene Marinen aufzubauen, führte 1910 zum Verkauf der Niobe und der HMS Rainbow an die neugegründete Royal Canadian Navy. Sie gilt als deren erstes Schiff. Sie stellte am 6. September 1910 in Devonport in Dienst und erreichte Halifax am 21. Oktober. Rainbow stellte zwar schon am 4. August 1910 in Portsmouth in Dienst, wurde aber erst mit dem Eintreffen in Esquimalt am 7. November ein kanadisches Schiff.

In der Nacht vom 30. auf den 31. 1911 lief die Niobe vor Sable Island, Nova Scotia, auf Grund. Mit Unterstützung der HMS Cornwall, die dabei auch kurz auflief, und der Flut kam die Niobe zwar frei, aber die Reparaturen dauerten 18 Monaten und die Höchstgeschwindigkeit des Kreuzers war dauerhaft herabgesetzt. Sie tat weiter Dienst als Ausbildungsschiff.

Kriegseinsatz
Nur drei Schiffe der Diadem-Klasse kamen bei Kriegsausbruch wieder in den aktiven Dienst; die großen Schiffe waren zu personalaufwendig und zu wenig kampfkräftig, um sinnvoll eingesetzt zu werden. Die Europa, Argonaut und Amphitrite kamen zum 9. Kreuzergeschwader, das als Cruiser Force I den östlichen Nordatlantik etwa ab der Nordwestecke Spaniens bei Cap Finisterre bis zu den Azoren und Madeira überwachen sollte. Basis des Geschwaders sollte Gibraltar werden. Am 4. August 1914 lief der als Geschwaderchef wieder aktivierte Konteradmiral John de Robeck mit HMS Vindictive als Geschwaderflaggschiff und HMS Highflyer aus Plymouth aus. Bereits auf dem Anmarsch brachten die Kreuzer etliche deutsche Schiffe auf, die sie zum Teil zurückbegleiteten. Argonaut und HMS Challenger folgten als nächste Kreuzer, dann noch Europa und Amphitrite. Noch im August wurde die HMS Minerva vom 11. Kreuzergeschwader nach Gibraltar abgegeben.

Im November übernahm de Robeck die Führung eines neu gebildeten Geschwaders vor der westafrikanischen Küste mit der aus dem Mittelmeer kommenden HMS Warrior als Flaggschiff, der HMS Black Prince, der HMS Donegal und der Highflyer, die sich am 12. November vor Sierra Leone versammelten. Die alten Kreuzer blieben im Norden zurück. Das als zusätzliche Sicherung gegen das Geschwader Spee aufgestellte Sierra-Leone-Geschwader wurde jedoch bald wieder aufgelöst und die Panzerkreuzer in die Heimat entlassen. Die Europa wurde jetzt bis zum Februar 1915 de Robecks Flaggschiff auf der Finisterre Station. Admiral de Robeck wurde dem Oberkommandierenden der Mittelmeerflotte als Stellvertreter zugeteilt und sollte den Vorstoß durch die Dardanellen vorbereiten. Sein ehemaliges Flaggschiff Europa geleitete Transporter in den Einsatzraum. Sie blieb dann bis zum Ende des Krieges mit der Türkei in Mudros als Arbeitsschiff für die Stäbe. Argonaut und Amphitrite kehrten bis zum Sommer in die Heimat zurück, da keine deutsche Kreuzer oder Hilfskreuzer im Atlantik aktiv waren.

Die jetzt kanadische HMCS Niobe schloss sich nach dem Kriegsbeginn der 4. Kreuzerdivision der Royal Navy's auf der North America and West Indies Station an. Sie versuchte, deutsche Schiffe vor der US-amerikanischen Küste aufzubringen. Nach einem Jahr Einsatzzeit wurde das ziemlich verbrauchte Schiff am 6. September 1915 in Halifax außer Dienst gestellt. Es diente in der Folgezeit als stationäres Ausbildungsschiff. Bei der großen Halifax-Explosion 1917 wurde sie schwer beschädigt und auf ihr starben etliche Besatzungsangehörige. Das beschädigte Schiff wurde bis 1920 weiter genutzt, ehe es endgültig außer Dienst gestellt und zum Abbruch verkauft wurde, der 1922 in Philadelphia erfolgte.

1917 baute man Amphitrite und Ariadne in Minenlegern um, da man die Minensperren am Kanal vor allem gegen U-Boote verstärken wollte. Die Bewaffnung wurde auf vier 152-mm-Geschütze und ein 76-mm-(12-pdr)-Luftabwehrgeschütz reduziert. Dazu war Platz für 354 Minen.

Die Ariadne wurde der einzige Kriegsverlust der Klasse, als sie am 26. Juli 1917 vor Beachy Head sank, nachdem sie vom deutschen U-Boot UC 65 unter Otto Steinbrinck torpediert worden war. Beim Untergang starben 38 Mann der Besatzung.

Die Amphitrite kollidierte am 8. September 1918 mit dem Zerstörer HMS Nessus der Admiralty-M-Klasse, der sofort sank.

Die Kreuzer der Diadem-Klasse

Quellen
 David K. Brown: Warrior to Dreadnought. Warship Development 1860–1905. Caxton Editions, London 2003, ISBN 1-84067-529-2.
 Roger Chesneau (Hrsg.): Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships, 1860–1905. Conway Maritime Press, London 1979, ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
 James J. Colledge, Ben Warlow: Ships of the Royal Navy. The complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th century to the present. New revised edition. Chatham, London 2006, ISBN 1-86176-281-X.
 Fred T. Jane: The British Battle-Fleet. Its Inception and Growth throughout the Centuries. Reprinted Edition. Conway Maritime Press, London 1997, ISBN 0-85177-723-6.

Weblinks

 Diadem-Klasse im Weltkrieg (englisch)
 Bilder und Lebensläufe der Diadem-Klasse (englisch)
 Reisen der Ariadne von Mai 1904 bis Mai 1905

Fußnoten

Militärschiffsklasse (Vereinigtes Königreich)
Kreuzerklasse

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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ChangesNowBowie is an album composed of material recorded in live sessions in 1996 by English musician David Bowie. Initially released for streaming on 17 April 2020, the album also had a limited release for Record Store Day, 29 August 2020, as both an LP and CD. The album contains a set of recordings initially recorded for a BBC broadcast for Bowie's 50th birthday.

Background

The recordings which became ChangesNowBowie were initially recorded in 1996, in preparation for a BBC broadcast. At the time, Bowie was preparing for his 50th birthday concert, which would be celebrated on 9 January 1997, at Madison Square Garden, New York, and it is from these rehearsals that the recordings were made. The show took place a day after Bowie's fiftieth birthday, featuring a number of guests such as the Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, and Lou Reed.

The songs were initially broadcast, between segments of interviews not present on the release, on BBC Radio 1 on 8 January 1997, Bowie's birthday. ChangesNowBowie marks the first official release of these recordings.

Recording

The recordings took place at Looking Glass Studios, New York, in 1996, and are mostly acoustic recordings of Bowie songs, with the exceptions of "White Light/White Heat" by The Velvet Underground and "Shopping For Girls" by Bowie's band, Tin Machine. Accompanying Bowie were Gail Ann Dorsey, Mark Plati, and Reeves Gabrels, all of whom spent a significant amount of time working with Bowie across his career. Both Plati and Gabrels, along with Bowie, acted as producers of the tracks.

Track listing

Vinyl release

CD release

Personnel
 David Bowie – vocals, producer
 Gail Ann Dorsey – bass, vocals
 Reeves Gabrels – guitar, producer
 Mark Plati – recorded, mixed, producer, keyboards
 Ray Staff – mastered

References

External links

 ChangesNowBowie at Discogs

David Bowie live albums
2020 albums


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Contact Kelsey Now
Everyone feels down at times. A depressed mood that is severe and does not lift after a couple of weeks might be depression. Depression is characterized by changes in sleep and eating habits, sadness, guilt, hopelessness, and loss of interest in activities which used to be pleasurable. If your life has been significantly impacted by a pervasive or recurring depressive mood, you may be struggling with major depressive disorder.
Per the CDC report, 11 million people experience depression annually. About two thirds of these people suffer from a depressive episode with severe impairment to their daily functioning. The nature of a depressive episode may cause those suffering to lose hope and not get the help they need. There are many reasons to be hopeful for a full recovery. The first step is finding a counselor that understands what you're going through and knows how to help.
Adjunct Therapies
In addition to counseling, there are various adjunct therapies that can help depression:
Yoga has been shown to reduce symptoms of mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety. The positive mind-body practice combines stretching and strength-based exercises with relaxation and meditative techniques. This article from Time Magazine cites a study published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine; after just three months of yoga symptoms of depression were reduced by at least 50% for all participants.
Medication is an effective way to treat depression. It's possible that you will feel better after four to six weeks of beginning an antidepressant such as an SSRI, or selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor. Sometimes the process involves trying more than one until you find the right fit. Antidepressants have initial side effects which last about two weeks and then abate. Side effects that remain will have to be weighed against the benefits of taking the medication.
Taking an antidepressant could be a helpful addition to your treatment. It should be noted, however, that medication alone is not always the best option. Current research shows the most effective long-term treatment for depression is therapy, or a combination of medication and therapy.
Treating Depression from the Inside Out
Recent studies have concluded that the microbiome does in fact influence our mood. Scientists have found a correlation between the build up of certain gut bacteria and the presence of a depressed mood.
There is much more research to be conducted to validate these findings and turn correlation into causation, but this once controversial idea continues to be well accepted in the mental health and scientific communities. Taking probiotics or seeing a nutritionist can be a helpful addition to your treatment plan. If you are interested in finding out more check out the following books:
Follow Your Gut: The Enormous Impact of Tiny Microbes By Rob Knight
10% Human: How Your Body's Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness By Alanna Collen
Dirt is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child's Developing Immune System By Jack Gilbert

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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kari edwards (December 2, 1954 – December 2, 2006) was a poet, artist and gender activist. Her name is written all lowercase. She won the New Langton Arts Bay Area Award in literature (2002) and posthumously won a Lambda Literary Award.

She authored have been blue for charity (BlazeVox: 2006); obedience (Factory School: 2005); iduna (O Books:
2003); a day in the life of p (subpress collective: 2002);  a diary of lies, Belladonna #27 (Belladonna Books: 2002); obLiqUE paRt(itON): colLABorationS (xPress(ed): 2002); and post/(pink) (Scarlet Press: 2000).

edwards's work has appeared in numerous publications, such as anthologies Blood and Tears: Poems for Matthew Shepard, Painted leaf Press (2000), and Electric Spandex: anthology of writing the queer text (Pyriform Press: 2002). Her works have also been exhibited throughout the U.S.

A posthumous book of edwards' poetry, succubus in my pocket, published in 2015 by EOAGH won a 2016 Lambda Literary Award in the category of Transgender Poetry.

Death
She died of a pulmonary embolism, aged 52, on December 2, 2006.

Books/E-books
A Day in the Life of P, A is for Arts (2002)
Iduna, O Books (2003)
have been blue for charity, Blaze Vox Books (2006)
Bharat_jiva, Dusie Press (2006)
Obedience, Factory School (2008)
succubus in my pocket, EOAGH (2015)
dôNrm'-lä-püsl, Punctum Books (2017)

References

External links
kari edwards on the Poets' Corner
Interview at Rain Taxi
Interview at Chicago Postmodern Poetry
kari's blog
back in amerika...and getting ready to leave again, DELIRIOUSHEM
Editorial for EOAGH Issue 3: Queering Language
Review of iduna

1954 births
2006 deaths
Feminist artists
English-language poets
Place of birth missing
American LGBT poets
American women poets
20th-century American poets
20th-century American women writers
Transgender poets
Lambda Literary Award winners
American women artists
Naropa University alumni
20th-century LGBT people
American transgender writers


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The Visitor, by Farah Rose Smith
On July 17, 2019 July 17, 2019 By The BibliothecarIn Short Story ReviewLeave a comment
"On Rook's bed sat the hateful tome he'd taken to in the preceding weeks. To say he'd become enamored with the old book was an understatement. He'd been utterly consumed by it, though she understood not a word and only took to her own imaginings in the study of the archaic illustrations. She wished herself a woman of wealth, and wondered if she may have had a chance at deciphering the material with the proper training, but this was a fantasy far from her grasp."
Imagine with me, if you will for a moment, that Goethe, having just come from an afterlife afternoon tea with H.P. Lovecraft, conspired with Clive Barker to put forth a modern re-visioning of the legend of Robert Johnson. The eventual offering of such a collaboration might be something like Farah Rose Smith's "The Visitor," from her debut collection OF ONE PURE WILL, but ultimately it would lack her unique grace and her singular skill that lend this story its stopping power. I'm not going to mince words or make you wait for it; when I finished reading this story I sat back and actually said out loud, "Holy shit, she can write!" If you read this review no further, you'll have read far enough.
For the rest of you I would like to, of course, elaborate. The first thing you will notice, if you make the correct choice and buy the hardbound edition of this book, is that it is stunningly beautiful. Released last month by Egaeus Press, publisher of morbid and fantastical works, the cover captures your imagination almost instantly with a decaying (growing?) visage of the woman (or is it a man?) and glorious calligraphic script. That script is carried over to the inside and adorns the title page and chapter titles. There is an air of classical beauty about the whole book, such that when you page through it and glance at this line or that, you feel you are holding something of both aesthetic and intellectual value.
Numerous Lovecraft tales take as their starting place a professor or other curious sort looking for knowledge to which they have no right, many times in tomes over which they should claim no ownership, and periodically in locales that could charitably be described as inhospitable. While you'll find no shoggoths or deep ones here, what you will quickly discover is that Smith also takes as her starting place the trope of forbidden knowledge acquired at a cost that can only be fully discovered over time. Such a classic theme is paired with a decadent writing style, and then brilliantly modernized by its subject matter. Rook, with whom we open our story, is a rock musician of little reknown, seeking fame, fortune, and the adulation of thousands of screaming fans.
In a hypnagogic state, she has traveled (whether astrally or within her dream is hard to say) to some hellish plane to seek audience with some outside power, reminiscent of "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath." In that tale, Lovecraft described the Plateau of Leng as "a grey barren plain whereon at great distances shone little feeble fires. As they descended there appeared at intervals lone huts of granite and bleak stone villages whose tiny windows glowed with pallid light." There is a similar decaying bleakness in Smith's vision where "Vegetation was a mere memory, save for the shriveled vines atop starved monuments, powdered pollen searching the air in desperation for soil to nest in, haunted husks of trees, wisps of life screaming out into the eternal dusk. Low-lying fires flapped silently. Sands cascaded down stone slopes, hissing quietly into the oblivion of the deep. The terrible valley called out to them, its frozen darkness wailing generously at the rippling edges of their hearing. This was the afterworld in peril, wasted, rotting, reaching for the vitality of the waking world." I highlighted that passage early on because I found it so beautiful in its desperation, but honestly, the whole story and indeed the entire book are so saturated with such dark allure that highlighters ought be be purchased in bulk.
The story goes on from there to tell, truth be told, a pretty familiar tale of desperate measures taken by a struggling artist to gain a boon from another plane and the dire consequences subsequently incurred. Were it not for her extremely confident and gifted hand holding the quill it could have quietly evanesced. But Farah Rose Smith won't permit that, and commands your continued attention as she spins and weaves her seemingly recognizable plot. Though she here describes something else later in the story, the description is an apt one for her own writing and the reason you want to keep reading, "It had theatre, poise—an erotic tension so powerful that one would feel as if a serrated wheel ran back and forth over the genitals, ever-satisfied with a cosmic teasing." What proceeds, because you will proceed, makes you question what is real and what is dreamt, what is teased and what is known.
"The Visitor" swims through deep thematic waters of identity (gender among others) and desire, passes through swift-flowing channels of avarice and self-centeredness, to arrive at the last upon an isle populated by the betrayed and lonely. There are no easy answers. There are no shortcuts. There are no cheap tricks to allow you to skip hard work or avoid the necessity of skill. The title of this story raises a question the deeper into it that you go: to whom does it refer? Naturally we turn to the Beast from the "afterworld in peril," but is that a feint? I wonder if what we're truly meant to ask here is if Rook is the Visitor, and if she, then us? When I go down that rabbit hole, I wonder if this is not a story more about self-doubt than greed, more about a certain stage fright than Faustian deals. If that is the case, and Farah Rose Smith is asking those questions of herself, then she need question no longer, for she had descended definitively onto the literary stage amidst fire, smoke, and Stygian melody.
A further word, though, needs to be said before we depart and that is that this story is unlike most of the stories contained within this lustrous book. While this story follows generally accepted structure patterns, only one or two others do as well. The rest read like dreams, some beautiful, some confusing, some terrifying; they are more like free verse poetry than plotted narrative. Unlocking them will require effort on the part of the reader, which is strongly hinted at in the erudite introduction provided by Fiona Maeve Geist. Honestly, after I read the introduction, I wondered if I were smart enough to read this book, but I've never backed down from a literary challenge and have usually been rewarded. So, too, will the careful, studied, and attentive reader, but those looking for fast thrills or page-turners should probably look elsewhere. Herein lies literature like a crumbling gothic cathedral where shards of broken stained glass both illuminate flesh and slice it. There are countless stories to be told in such places, but perhaps you will have to sleep, perchance to dream, in order to perceive them.
I was delighted to receive this book from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review, so my thanks to Farah Rose Smith. I was equally delighted and educated by several interviews that helped me to better understand where she is coming from. That felt more beneficial and necessary in her case than it usually does, and so I commend them to you:
Kendall Reviews interviewed her here, and
Ginger Nuts of Horror did so here.
This review was composed while listening to the greatest hits of KIϟϟ.
Misplaced Veneration: "Rook worshiped the sound. "If only I could remember such sounds in my waking hours." Her flesh sloughed off of her bones, rolling through the sand in circles. Fragile sprouts shivered out of hiding as the flesh nourished the ground, collapsing back into nothingness as it squirmed its way back up her legs."
The Case of Yuri Zaystev, by S.L. Edwards
On July 5, 2019 July 17, 2019 By The BibliothecarIn Short Story ReviewLeave a comment
"Days were measured in piling snow, lives in black-rotting cells and time in final breaths. The white-washed landscape was the endless world. To walk there, in that terrible and featureless place, was to take one more step toward heaven or hell…The only refuge from the cold, constant and unchanging place was even worse than the vast frozen desert. Death was written into the architecture of the outpost of humanity before the endless night-world, a prison where men were sent to rot and disappear in fog and ice."
Whether it was the blasted heath of "The Dunwich Horror" or the dim shores of "The White Ship," the sanity-stretching bricks of Rue d'Auseil or the colossal piles of bones beneath Exham Priory, one of Lovecraft's many gifts was to set you with unsettling firmness within his mad geographies. With the indelibility of spilling ink, the importance of a sense of place seeps from his pages staining his settings in your mind as much as any of his quivering professors and eldritch monstrosities. Indeed, one of Lovecraft's favorite stories was Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows," a story based upon the notion that the geography itself is set against you. Of Blackwood's story Lovecraft wrote, "I am dogmatic enough to call "The Willows" the finest weird story I have ever read…" It was a sentiment he repeated in several letters. (As an aside, if you've not yet read "The Willows" you really ought to do so. Lovecraft was right; it's that good.) Taking inspiration from "The Willows," our current author, S.L. Edwards, has penned a tale of frosty nightmare and frigid death. "The Case of Yuri Zaystev" can be found in WHISKEY AND OTHER UNUSUAL GHOSTS, the second weird fiction collection released by Gehenna Books in 2019. It will be available for purchase on July 15. I'm grateful to Mr. Edwards for supplying me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Yuri Zaystev is a soldier in Stalin's army with a very singular task. He drives a truck out into the arctic tundra and dumps the bodies of those who have died in the Gulag, some friend, some foe. Burying them is not in the equation for Comrade Zaystev; not only is the frozen ground impossible to dig out, but the brutal, biting arctic winds make burial an unnecessary chore. "The tundra winds would claim human refuse, sweep it back into its cold folds and take the bodies far away from human eyes and memories." And later, "If they were not eaten by polar bears the winds would be kind to them and strip them of their useless skin until their bones were as white and gleaming as snow." He's made this run a hundred times if he's made it once—now, just think about that given the nature of his task and the real-life horror of this story peeks through—but today, for no other reason than garden variety ennui, he seeks companionship with an old, faithful friend: vodka. Stopping the truck at the appointed place, he gets out and walks to the back where he swings open the canvas covered truck bed and glimpses, to his absolute horror, nothing. To a normal person a truck bed full of frozen, emaciated corpses would provide the fright, but for Yuri, it is the opposite, their absence, that scares. What happens next I will leave to your reading, but I did find it enjoyable, and like "The Willows," satisfyingly ambiguous.
I found this story to be surprisingly emotionally affecting. I don't know whether it was reading about the horrific nature of Stalin's death camps at a time when my own country is running concentration camps along its Southern border, or the howling bleakness of the arctic that Edwards presents, but I was moved by the reading. Did it live up to "The Willows" as a piece of weird fiction? Well, no, but that's hardly a knock on the story – "The Willows" really is one of the finest examples of the genre, and that's a tall glass of whisky to live up to. One of the things that made "The Willows" work so well was the long, slow-burn build up of undeniable tension. It's a fairly lengthy story while Yuri's tale is pretty brief by comparison. The terror and the weird "otherness" of the stories are very different and so it is difficult to say with any certainty how a lengthening of "The Case of Yuri Zaystev" would affect it. However (and there's little to suggest that Edwards couldn't do this well), I think it would improve an already gratifying story. As it is, there isn't much time for a build up of tension. Rather, there is a presumption of tension already present. That allows the author to jump right into the more terrifying aspects of his tale with a certain, more immediate, ferocity, but the cost is a lot of that which made "The Willows" so successful.
Edwards' writing is at times evocative and controlled, leading the reader to the edge of the icy crevasse so gently that they never look down to see it coming. And, as I mentioned, it has the capacity to be emotionally arresting. See:
Actual photo of a Gulag victim, from the mugshot files of the People's Commissariat for State Security (NKVD), Stalin's Secret Police.
"He could not recognize the face or any other distinguishable thing about the body. There was nothing about the shape of the nose, the sculpting of the chin or any sort of scars or hair that would have caused Yuri to recognize the man. He was part of an endless, unremarkable crowd, only remarkable because he stood out against the decrepit wreckage of what is left in the human frame after its humanity has been forcefully removed."
Horror works because of empathy; sociopaths who lack it cannot grasp why what they do inspires terror. In passages like these Edwards captures a fleeting empathy amid the wild winds of the tundra. That empathy is present in all of the stories I read in this collection, and is one of the reasons I think he will ultimately be a successful author in the genre. However, at other times, that control I mentioned slips. Even within the beauty of the above quotation, my eye was tripped up when he used the word "remarkable" immediately after saying it was "unremarkable." Another word might have been more effectively deployed here. I don't say this to be super nit-picky either, as I found that to be the case several times across multiple stories. Now diction and syntax are incredibly personal, and likely some of those hangups were just my own as a reader. What I don't think is just me, though, is that it seems like he often uses too many words when fewer will not just do, but be better. I realize that's hard to swallow following the thought that the story might be improved by being longer, but it's a matter of the right words, not just extra words.
Here's the other main reason I think S. L. Edwards will be one to watch in the weird fiction community: the ideas are there, in spades. Across each story that I read, I experienced a genuine, creeped-out "oh crap!" moment. The talent is here folks and I think he's going to be around for a while. This story in particular, and the collection in general deserve your attention, especially if you're interested in not just horror and weird fiction, but in knowing early on who are the up and comers. Like all writers, his craft will grow, his skill will sharpen, and when they do, he will make all those ideas running around inside his head bleed. You're going to want to be there for that.
The Unheard Lament of Yuri Zaystev: "He was not a bad man! No worse than the men he worked with! But he had been a hero! He had been a hero of Stalingrad! Stalin personally had thanked him! This alone should have been a ticket for his salvation, something to save him from whatever cruel tricks the snows and winds were playing on him now! He screamed out his life, that it was not his fault men were killed! He was not the one who decided to leave their corpses unhallowed in the Tundra…"


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Green Apple for Uponor Super Team
Posted: Wednesday 24th January 2007
Uponor�s SUPER (Systems for Uponor PolyEthylene Recycling) scheme team, created as part of the pipe manufacturer�s Business Improvement process, are proud recipients of a National Green Apple award from the Green Organisation.
The award was delivered in recognition of the benefits the team�s SUPER scheme has brought to Uponor, its customers and the environment. The scheme has entailed making the recovery and recycling of customer polyethylene (PE) waste cost-effective, along with giving customers access to waste stream data to form part of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and waste minimisation strategies at local and regional levels.
So far, more than 260 tonnes of PE has been recovered during the 18 months that the scheme has been operating. The recovered material is turned into pelletised PE that can be used in a variety of non-pressure products, at Uponor�s Newton Aycliffe, Cork and Banbridge facilities.
Uponor personnel working on this innovative scheme included Gary Wain, Gordon Harrison, Peter Jellis, Tony Minett, Mick Rathbone and Mark Richardson.
Gary Wain received the award on behalf of his team along with project engineer Jessica Richardson from National Grid at a recent event held at the Tower of London, from leading environmental personality Dr David Bellamy, along with the Green Organisation�s Roger Wolens.
Another Accolade
Every year Uponor runs its own Business Improvement Awards (BIA) scheme, in which internal groups of Uponor employees look at particular issues, define processes to tackle them and measure the impact of any subsequent improvements. Benefits are also identified and measured for the company, customers, suppliers and the environment. At this year�s BIA open day event, the SUPER scheme team was one of the top three voted on by visitors and the official BIA judges alike.
For further information on Uponor visit http://www.wateractive.co.uk/directory/uponor_limited


Superbrands revealed today that luxury Caribbean hotel brand Sandals Resorts has been awarded Consumer Superbrands status for 2019.
Sandals Resorts is one of just nine household name travel companies to be named as a 2019 Consumer Superbrand including Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Premier Inn, Holiday Inn, Travelodge, Centre Parcs, Radisson Hotels and Crowne Plaza.
Stephen Cheliotis, CEO of The Centre for Brand Analysis (TCBA) and Chairman of Superbrands comments: "UK consumers have a rich, abundant choice of brands for almost everything they might wish to purchase. The commercial success of a given brand is therefore highly correlated to consumer sentiment, perception and desirability.


Venture capital investors almost always require the same type of clauses when they desire to invest in a startup. These clauses are included within the shareholders agreement to formalize between the founders, the venture capital investor and, often, other pre-existing partners such as business angels. However, some of the clauses are also included in the bylaws of the company.
(1) First clause to be highlighted is the establishment of reinforced majorities for the adoption of certain matters at the general meeting (majority reserved matters). This clause allows the venture capital to veto the subjects included as majority reserved matters.
(2) Second commonly regulated clause, is the commitment of one or more entrepreneurs/founders of the company to remain in the company a minimum period. With this kind of clause the investor can identify certain key employees of the company to ensure the business will continue as it was before its entry. This clause can prevent the founders both to transfer its shares in the company and to cease its employment or services relationship with the company. This clause use to exclude other partners not considered key employees, such as business angels and friends and fools.
(3) A third common clause to be highlighted herein is the liquidation preference. This clause established the right of the investor to receive certain amount of money before the rest of the partners, usually limited to the recovery of the amount invested by the venture capital. Therefore, in case of liquidation event, such as: dividends, transfer of assets, transfer of shares, winding up, etc. this investor will be reimbursed with preference over the rest of the partners.
(4) The fourth clause to be highlighted here is the drag along clause. By virtue of the drag along clause, the investor can force the rest of the partners to transfer its shares, stock or interests of the company together with him, in favour of a third party, provided that certain requirements are met and under the same terms and conditions.
Although these four clauses highlighted are the most defining of venture capital investments, there are others that are also important and common, such as the right of the investor to: (5) receive period information regarding the status of the company, (6) appoint a member of the board of directors, (7) non-competition and exclusivity of the founders/entrepreneurs, (8) anti-dilution, (9) no distribution of dividends, and regulation of the limitation on the (10) transfer of shares, stock or interests of the company, (11) administrative body operations, (12) tag along clause, (13) good and bad leaver, (14) implementation of incentive plans via stock options or phantom shares, (15) syndication of votes, referred to partners with less than determined percentage (commonly 5%), etc.


The 21st century has brought about a large number of technological advancements, primarily to the hearing aid industry. Despite these improvements, 71.5% of the hearing impaired people in America still refrain from using hearing devices. For those who are currently functioning without the use of hearing aids, it is important to explore your options. This article highlights the hearing aids that are placed externally and are ideal for those with a broad range of hearing difficulties.
For minimal to medium hearing impairments, devices such as the half shell are ideal. This particular hearing aid has features such as the directional microphone and is placed on the lower part of the outer ear where volume control becomes easy to adapt. Hearing instruments that are placed within the ear, known as the full shell, have similar features but also have a longer battery life. Full shells are ideal for those with severe hearing impairment, although they tend to be more prominent and may register extraneous environmental sounds.
Another alternative are the hearing instruments that are placed at the back of the ear. These contain an ear cast that lie inside the ear canal while a supplemental one rests behind the ear. The external ear mold helps transmit amplified sound to the inner ear cast and is suited for varying intensities of hearing impairment, irrespective of age. Although this particular model is the biggest of its kind, it is the most effect hearing instrument and its recent counterparts have a sleek and less prominent design.
For those with a negligible or medium hearing impairment, the open fit device offers optimal results. This tiny device worn at the back of the ear transfers sound through a tiny wire to a speaker placed inside the ear passage. This particular model utilizes small batteries although this indicates shorter battery durability. This device makes manual adaptability tricky due to its small size, but due to its tactful position it is almost imperceptible and leaves the ear canal free from impediment.
In today's world, 25 million Americans are currently enduring hearing impairment and are functioning without any form of hearing device. You no longer have to be one of them, since you are now equipped with information to help make the perfect choice best-suited for your unique hearing needs. If you are searching for an upgraded hearing device, ask your hearing aid specialist for further information to help you gain a detailed understanding of your hearing aid options and help bring back the music in your life.


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Book by Billy Ogletree published on augmentative alternative communication
As a professor of communication sciences and disorders at WCU, Billy Ogletree has special insight into and experience with speech and language.
Essential WCU
We successfully wrapped up one of the most difficult semesters in our university's history and began a new one with many known and unknown challenges ahead. Our employees and students have worked harder than ever amid the challenging circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic to achieve their goals and to make a positive difference in the world.
Communications and marketing team honored by higher ed organization
WCU has been recognized by a national higher educational organization for its work in communication and marketing.
Inaugural, prestigious national first book award goes to Francis-Fallon
On the heels of a historic election cycle, Ben Francis-Fallon is being honored for his research and resulting book into the history of the most rapidly growing electoral group in America.
Three mental health conditions contribute to violent offenses, WCU study finds
WCU researchers find a disproportionate number of inmates with violent offenses suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder and alcohol use disorder.
WCU ranked by US News and World Report for online undergraduate, graduate programs
WCU has been ranked among the top providers of online programs by U.S. News and World Report in numerous categories for 2021.
New book suggests lowering the voting age nationally to 16
Could voter engagement and democracy be better served with a younger voting age?
Roya Scales named a UNC System literacy fellow
Roya Scales is one of eight appointees to a University of North Carolina System literacy fellowship, an effort intended to develop a common framework for literacy instruction in teacher preparation.
As a forensic anthropologist, Western Carolina University assistant professor Nicholas Passalacqua has always believed he was doing important work through his teaching and his research.
Read His Story


Compact SUVs are popular these days, and the 2018 Audi Q3 and 2019 Lexus UX that you can see and try at your Spinelli Lexus dealership are engaging in a friendly duel.
Here we are in the segment of compact luxury SUVs. They are the favourite vehicles for the trendy city dwellers of the West Island and Downtown Montreal, Dorval and Laval. For this test, we have compared the 2018 Audi Q3 and the brand-new and beautiful 2019 Lexus UX, sold at your Lexus Spinelli dealership. This crossover, built on a new chassis, gives it a very low centre of gravity, and so it behaves like a hatchback.
Available in 2 versions, the UX 200 FWD and the UX 250 H AWD, the latter, a self-charging hybrid includes the 4-wheel drive. Both offer F Sport option packages. The Lexus UX 200 SUV has a 169-horsepower 2.0-litre 4-cylinder engine. The Lexus + 2.0 security system with rear-view camera, Direct Shift continuously variable transmission, Lexus Enform Audio compatible with Apple CarPlay, and heated and ventilated front seats, among others, come as standard.
Thanks to Lexus's new global architecture (GA-C) platform, high structural stiffness, low centre of gravity and very tight turning radius, you will have a dynamic ultra-precise and lively driving experience, as well as optimum stability.
Unsurprisingly, the 2019 UX's interior is remarkably appealing, as is its exterior by the way, and it is replaced by high-end technology and unparalleled comfort. It possesses an impressive array of safety features and driver-assistance systems which are also part of the equipment.
The 2018 Q3, on the other hand, is offered in 3 variants, the Komfort, the Progressiv and the Technik, much more sober in style than the UX, which is more sporty and more incisive. Its engine, a 200 hp 4-cylinder turbo, joins the Tiptronic 6-speed transmission, and to get the 4-wheel drive quattro, you will have to turn to the Progressiv version, because the basic version does not offer it. Safety features and driving aids are plentifully available, many of them being optional.
Finally, if style matters to you, the one of the 2019 Lexus UX is unquestionably much more striking and dynamic. Come and try it out at Spinelli Lexus in the West Island, near downtown Montreal, Dorval, and easily accessible from Autoroute 13 in Laval. Find out about our special offers and Lexus financing service. See you soon!


One of Spa Director, Lina Lotto's favourite recipes.
This yummy Thai vegan dish is easy to make and not easily forgotten. I clearly remember the first time I tasted Kluay Buat Chii I was impressed by the depth of flavour and its simplicity. Of course there are many more banana varieties in Thailand that are tastier and texturally more interesting than the bland Cavendish variety singularly sold in the UK, but it does work with British bought bananas too.
I have used this recipe many times as a dessert when friends pop in for an impromptu meal as there is always a can of coconut milk in the store cupboard and usually a banana or two. In fact there are only four ingredients – banana, coconut milk, sugar and salt. The art is in balancing the sugar and salt.
The concept of dessert does not exist in Thailand. Sweet foods are generally eaten as a snack, so you are most likely to see Kluay Buat Chii sold in the late afternoon or evening by street vendors, packaged up in a plastic bag and cunningly sealed with an elastic band that is released with a gentle pull.
If you make this as a dessert at home, try sprinkling a few toasted sesame seeds on top. They work beautifully.
Slice the bananas in half then slice the halves lengthways. Add them to the coconut milk and gently bring to the boil. Cook until the bananas are soft but not so soft that they fall apart. Take off the boil, add the sugar and salt, stir and serve with toasted sesame seeds if you wish. For a creamier texture add some coconut cream after the sugar and salt and stir in. Served hot, warm or cool this is always wonderfully delicious.


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Home » News » Amazon provides public tours of UK distribution centre
Amazon provides public tours of UK distribution centre
06 March 2015 - 09:30 by Graham Miller
Anyone who is interested in the inner workings of Amazon, one of the world's biggest websites for shopping online, can now get a peek behind the scenes.
This is thanks to the fact that the retailer is now offering guided tours of its Rugely fulfilment centre, close to Birmingham. And although it was only friends and family of staff who were taken on the initial tours, the Daily Mail reports that this invitation will soon be extended to everyone.
Amazon has made a portion of its site available for people who want to sign up for a tour online and anyone who heads to visit the facility will, no doubt, be impressed by the way that the company and its systems are capable of handling the tens of thousands of items that customers in the UK order each day.
The fulfilment centre in Staffordshire covers a whopping 700,000 square feet. Amazon has been on a recruitment drive recently, as well as endeavouring to increase the number of permanent staff on its books, rather than relying on controversial zero hour contracts to fill positions at its warehouses across the world.
Company spokesperson, John Tagawa, said that the efficiency of the fulfilment centre and the professionalism of the staff working there was a source of pride for Amazon, which is partly why it is flinging open the doors to tour groups.
This is not the first time that Amazon has made tours of its facilities available, with centres in other countries, such as America and Germany, already enjoying this level of exposure. But it is the first centre in the UK to be opened up to the public, so it will be interesting to see how much interest it can garner from Brits.
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How the variation gallery image will work?
1: Go to variable product edit page.
2. Go to variations and click on any variation.
3: There is a setting "Add variation galley images" from here you add can add multiple images.


What began as an Christmas potluck dinner and became a dinner out with family at a local restaurant has become an annual tradition at the Scottish Rite, a catered dinner for Knights of St. Andrew members, their wives and families, where we reflect on the year and recognize those who have made a special difference.
This year's KSA Membership dinner was held on Friday, January 8, 2016. The evening began in the Lodge room as Don Kavalec, David Meinzer, and Wade Ridout conducted a Knighting ceremony on Alan Boulter, 32° and Brandon Van Sky, 32°, our two newest members. The KSA officers conducted the ceremony in costume as part of a new tradition to knight our new members.
Afterward, members adjourned downstairs for dinner. Eddie's Catering provided an excellent buffet dinner of baked caprese chicken, freshly steamed vegetables, roasted herb potatoes, and salad. After dinner, Venerable Master Don Kavalec, 32° KCCH recognized Bob Pelletier, 32°, Kyle Beckner, 32°, David Thompson, Sr., 32°, and Rob Corsaro, 32°, who made major contribution to the KSA by hosting numerous gigs throughout the year, which are a significant source of KSA revenue. The KSA receives $50 for each rental our members greet at, and the money is returned to the Valley in donations, including 3 defibrillators, lights in the theater, a laptop computer, quartz countertop in the front office, and much more. To date, over $36,000 has been donated back to the Valley by the KSA!
Don then recognized Greg Swinarski, 32° KCCH who spends countless hours behind the scenes setting up events in the Lodge room, theater, or dining rooms, and without his work, the Scottish Rite would simply not operate well. Don also called up Curt Edic and thanked him for his years of service, mentorship, and friendship. With Curt's retirement, the Scottish Rite loses a valuable and knowledgeable man, who has led the Scottish Rite for nearly 20 years as Assistant General Secretary and General Secretary. Since Curt's membership in the KSA was due to his position of General Secretary, the members unanimously voted to make Curt a life member of the Knights of St. Andrew.
Afterward, Don spoke about the Dennis P. Samuelson Service Award. This was created in 2011 to honor our Past Venerable Master Denny Samuelson (2005), who loved the Knights of St. Andrew. Sadly, we lost Denny to cancer in 2013, but we honor his memory and his love for the organization with this award in his name. The prestigious Dennis P. Samuelson Award goes each year to a Black Hat Scottish Rite Mason of less than 5 years membership who exemplifies Denny's spirit of service and leadership. This year's recipient was Rob Corsaro, who joined in May, 2014. Rob has demonstrated his leadership as a KSA officer, overseeing the gig list, as a member of the Lodge of Perfection, and through service on the Friends of Scottish Rite Dinner. Recently, Curt Edic recognized Rob and wife Marnie as two new members who have become involved in the organization. Rob commands the admiration and respect of the membership, and the award was very much well-deserved.
Last, Don Kavalec distributed copies of the KSA Annual Report, which highlights the events and accomplishments of the past year. With that, the evening came to a conclusion. Some guests stayed on to visit in the lounge as others left. Next year's Venerable Master is David Meinzer, 32°. Please join him and the 2016 officers on January 18 at the Scottish Rite installation.


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Posted inBaseball, Sports
Minor League Baseball Players Navigate an Uncertain Path After Canceled Season
Major League Baseball is back, but many minor leaguers in the Nationals organization likely won't be playing organized baseball this year.
by Kelyn Soong July 2nd, 2020 September 1st, 2020
Lucas Knowles Credit: Rick Nelson Photo
In a fewdays, Lucas Knowles will return to his home in Belfair, Washington, a tiny town an hour and a half from Seattle, with a population under 5,000. There, he'll live with his parents, and have a job waiting for him.
For the past couple of months, the 22-year-old minor league baseball player in the Washington Nationals organization has been staying in Pensacola, Florida, living near his brother and preparing for the possibility of playing organized baseball. This week, Minor League Baseball officially canceled its season. Vacation, Knowles jokes, is now over.
"I think I'll either wait tables or go back to waking up at 3 a.m. every morning to go mow greens on a golf course," he says. "So, if those aren't two beautiful options, I don't know what else to do."
While Major League Baseball is set to resume with a 60-game season beginning on July 23, the minor league season has been canceled outright due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some minor league players, like Knowles, are heading back to their hometowns in search of jobs outside the sport, and other players are no longer on rosters at all. In late May, hundreds of minor leaguers across many MLB organizations were cut, including several dozen in the Nationals organization. Even before the pandemic, MLB proposed cutting the minor league from 160 to 140 affiliated teams for next year, a proposal that, if accepted, could lead to radical restructuring of the minor league system.
A career in the minors often means a life of financial precarity and uncertainty, and that has only been exacerbated by the global health crisis that does not appear to be slowing in the United States.
"The mood is kinda like, 'Man, this sucks,'" says Knowles, a left-handed pitcher who is currently with the Auburn Doubledays, the Class A Short Season affiliate of the Nationals in Auburn, New York. "We have a very finite amount of time to prove how good we are and to make it or we don't, and for a lot of people, this is a year that could be a make or break year. I just came into professional baseball last year, so I think I have a lot of games moving forward, but for a lot of people, this was their last chance and it's gone."
Ryan Williamson was looking forward to competing in the minors this season as a way to show how far he's come since his injuries. The Nationals drafted Williamson in the 15th round of the 2016 MLB Draft out of North Carolina State knowing he would need Tommy John surgery to replace a torn ligament in his left elbow. This is the best he's felt physically in years, he says. In August 2017, while coming back from the Tommy John surgery, Williamson suffered a fracture in the same arm that required surgery.
Last season, the 25-year-old left-handed pitcher played for the Hagerstown Suns, the Class A affiliate of the Nationals based in Hagerstown, Maryland, finishing 4-1 with a 3.84 ERA. On May 29, Williamson was one of 40 players cut from the organization.
"To be honest with you, I was shocked," he says. "But the thing I said to myself, when I had gotten released, 'cause I was blindsided by it, I said to myself, there's a lot of other things going on during these unprecedented times … Other people in the world have it way worse. There's a lot of other things going on right now that are just really unfortunate … People are struggling to eat three meals a day."
Williamson emphasizes he "has nothing but respect" toward the Nationals, and says he is thankful for the organization "for taking the chance on me in 2016." Last month, he signed to play for the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, a team based in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey, that is not affiliated with the MLB. The team has yet to be approved to host baseball games at its ballpark this year.
On Monday, the Nationals revealed a list of 60 players eligible to participate in MLB games in the 2020 season—a feeder system unique to the shortened season—ahead of the modified "spring training" that began this week. Several minor leaguers saw their names on the list, including pitcher Jackson Rutledge, the team's first round selection from the 2019 MLB Draft.
Rutledge, 21, knows he's in a fortunate position. He's watched close friends get cut from teams.
"[It] just makes me want to work harder to prove that I belong on that list," he says. "I'm excited to get back into competitive situations and back into the mindset of spending every day getting ready to compete."
After the league suspended spring training in March, Rutledge returned to St. Louis and kept—or attempted to maintain—a structured routine. When the gyms were closed, he would go to a local high school field hockey field to throw with his dad. "I did smoke him in the shin one time," Rutledge says. "He still makes fun of me for that." Rutledge also had to get creative with his workouts. At his parents' home, he would use buckets of concrete as weights.
When the local pitching gym, Premier Pitching and Performance, reopened, Rutledge got up around 7:30 in the morning to make it out to the gym by 9 a.m.
"I think the hardest thing was just trying to stay ready all the time," he says. "Because you never really know when things were going to start. We didn't know if we needed to be ready the next day or if it was gonna be in four months when everything started. [So] this entire time you had to train and compete with the mindset that you have to be ready to go next week, even if that doesn't end up happening."
As the 17th overall draft pick last year, Rutledge, who finished the 2019 season with a 2.30 ERA over 27.1 innings with the Hagerstown Suns, had the luxury of receiving a signing bonus of approximately $3.45 million. He's cognizant that, for that reason, he hasn't had to worry about picking up another job during the offseason. Some of his friends, Rutledge says, "would work for construction jobs or work in a warehouse or work for Postmates … just to be able to pay for their training during the month or to be able to pay for whatever food they need."
The Nationals are providing their minor league players a stipend of $400 a week until September, which is when the season would have concluded. Last month, the team reversed course on a decision to lower the stipend to $300 a week after considerable public backlash. (A weekly pay of $400 is the lowest amount that any minor league player would be paid under a new payment plan the MLB said it would roll out in 2021.)
The $400 weekly stipend is more than what Mason Doolittle, a catching prospect in the organization, had expected to earn this season. His financial advisor had figured he would be making $256 a week. In addition to the stipend, Doolittle also teaches lessons at Line Drive Indoor Baseball in Jupiter, Florida, where he lives.
"So I'm kind of rich right now, actually," Doolittle says with a laugh. "I'm kidding, but between the $400 a week and lessons, I'll be all right. Also, it's nice my girlfriend has a job so every once in a while, she'll be like, 'here, here's a dinner,' so that's nice, too."
Being in Jupiter allows him to be in close proximity to his trainer and other minor league players. His Hagerstown teammates, Doolittle says, have been able to keep in touch via Zoom calls. He's heard from someone within the Nationals organization at least once a week.
One of the most challenging parts has been not letting himself feel disappointed that the season has been canceled. Seeing some of his best friends lose their jobs has impacted the way he approaches the game. Doolittle, 21, calls the massive cuts "heartbreaking."
"I remember the first time I saw a guy get cut in pro ball, it was probably the most eye-opening part because you get drafted … and you got your jersey with your name on it," he says. "And you kind of go, 'all right, here I am. I'm just starting out.' And then you see a guy packing up his stuff right next to you. And you're like, 'oh, shit, that guy's done.'"
And while he won't be playing this summer, Doolittle is excited to see MLB's return. In three or four years, he says, minor league players currently on rosters may look back at this year as one that fueled them to improve even more. He predicts minor league baseball going forward is going to be the "most talented and the most competitive it's ever been."
"Everyone's always hungry in the minor leagues, but with all the cuts, I think everyone's realizing that anything can happen all the time," Doolittle says, "so we gotta be grateful for where we're at now."
Read more Sports stories
The Washington Football Team Awaits a New Name, But the Mediocrity Remains
Elian Soto, Juan Soto's Teenage Brother, Is Expected to Sign With the Nationals


text:
Q: Identify whether remote machine connection disconnected or not ( RDP or RDCMan) I have a set of remote machines where I need to connect always. Since there is no autoconnect available for RDCMan/RDP on disconnection, we are planning to check whether a remote machine got disconnected or not. So that we can connect the same.
Is there a way to get log file? or how I can determine whether a remote machine got disconnected or not, by script.
How I can automate the process?

A:
netstat -an | select-string ":3389" | select-string "ESTABLISHED"

using this command i can get the list of RDC host connected, and by comparing a list of server with the output, I can query the disconnected server name.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This rice bowl with prawns and broccoli is a healthy and filling dish with a zingy dressing. Wholegrain rice, green leafy broccoli, and low-fat prawns make this meal so nutritious as well as delicious. A rice bowl is a great idea for a quick and easy dinner, and leftovers are perfect for your lunchbox the next day. If you don't like too much spice, you can reduce or omit the fresh red chilli from this rice bowl recipe, but we love the fiery kick it adds. Try making this low fat and protein packed rice bowl for a speedy but healthy midweek meal. To make a veggie alternative, you could used cubes of firm tofu instead of prawns, and to make this dish vegan friendly, also swap the honey for agave.
Heat the oil and cook the prawns until pink and cooked through. Steam the broccoli and beans until tender. Meanwhile, cook the rice pouch in the microwave, this usually takes around 2 minutes, but check the package instructions.
Mix together all the dressing ingredients and whisk with a fork. Toss the broccoli, beans and rice in the dressing and sesame seeds, top with the prawns, then scatter over the chopped chilli.


text:
ComicsX-Men
By: katjen
A retelling of Rogue's story AU . NOTE 6/13/11: So I didn't realize that the chapters were soooo incredibly messed up on here - I've replaced all of them! They should be more readable now. Kudos to all of you who waded through the mess to read my story!
Rated: Fiction T - English - Romance/Drama - Anna Marie/Rogue, Remy L./Gambit - Chapters: 21 - Words: 64,578 - Reviews: 419 - Favs: 416 - Follows: 59 - Updated: 10/16/2004 - Published: 5/24/2003 - Status: Complete - id: 1357519
1. Cody2. Lifer3. Deborah4. Fahrenheit5. Remy6. Brotherhood7. Destiny8. Pasiphae9. La Belle10. Gambit11. Grey12. Family13. Bedroom14. Recruit15. Friend16. Prisoner17. MCA18. Jessie19. Mystique20. Rogue21. Soundtrack
cody.
The bench feels dirty beneath his palms. Gritty, like sandpaper. When he curls his fingers over the edge and grips, splinters burrow into his skin.
He registers that this hurts, that this means poking and prodding with tweezers later, but the fact that he has no idea where he is or how he got here is, at the moment, a more immediate concern.
He blinks as his eyes begin to adjust to the dark and breathes slowly, in and out, in and out, willing his heart to stop pounding so hard as he looks down at his legs swinging through the blackness.
If he had rolled off while he was sleeping he could have broke something. Because he isn't on a bench at all. He is on a ledge that is just big enough for one nine-year old boy to fit comfortably with a stack of comic books and a flashlight.
And he had rolled off once.
Broke something.
An arm.
He hadn't been able to play little league all summer...
He knows where he is.
The shed behind the house. His old hiding place.
He can just make out Momma's old bicycle hanging on the wall by little blocks of wood and he decides that that's how he must've gotten up here, by using the blocks as foot and hand holds. That's how he used to do it before Daddy stuck the ten-speed up there, trying to keep him from camping out on the ledge.
He carefully climbs down, grasping the blocks one at a time, trying to convince himself the ground really isn't as far away as he thinks, and jumps over a box of daddy's tools, their sharp edges gleaming dully like teeth in the dark.
He can tell it's late.
Way past dinner.
Momma and Daddy are probably worried sick. He's gonna get a scolding for sure, and his hands hurt.
He picks at the splinters as he nudges the door open with his shoulder and steps out into the backyard.
An owl hoots from the trees as he makes his way to the house. The grass is high and it swipes against his bare legs tickling and scratching and he walks faster feeling itchy, dirty from sleeping in the shed.
He stops at the bottom of the back-porch steps. The lights are off inside the house.
His stomach twists because that's weird. Because even if Daddy had gone looking for him Momma would have been sitting in the kitchen waiting to skin his hide when he finally came home.
He climbs up the steps and he opens the back door too afraid now to call out "Momma?" because the house is too still and he knows she's not going to answer.
He tiptoes through the empty kitchen and into the hallway. He picks up the phone there and very carefully dials Granny Jane's number so it will be right and almost cries out in relief when she picks it up on the second ring.
"Granny?" he whispers, "D'ya know where Momma and Daddy are? Ah just got home an' no one's he-"
"Who is this?" Her voice seems very loud in the quiet of the hallway and he flinches.
"It's me, Granny, it's Cody," He tries to be loud too, tries to be brave. "D'ya kno-"
"Now listen heah, if this is yo' idea of a joke it's not funny!" Granny Jane's voice is shaking with anger and he's never heard it like that before. She hangs up on him and he stares at the receiver shocked feeling sick, shaky like fever and running too long. He's about to dial again when he hears it - the click, click, clicking of claws on linoleum.
The house has never felt so big and scary and unfamiliar, but Duke is here and that makes him feel a little better. He hangs up the phone as the Great Dane's head pokes out of the kitchen and he says, "Hey Duke, where is ever'body? C'mere boy…"
Duke stares at him a moment before slowly slinking out into the hallway, head low, tail not waving all crazy like it usually does, but straight back, taut enough to rest a plate on. His ears are down flat on his head.
"Duke?"
Duke's lips skim back over his teeth, a low growl crawling up from his belly.
"Boy?" he whispers and his dog lurches at him, the growl bursting into a snarling bark.
The impact of Duke's body barreling into his sends him flying against the stairs where he cracks his head against the railing and a black wave splashes across his vision. He blindly flings his hands up in front of his face trying to protect himself as the room spins, the teeth snap and scrape.
He claps his bloody hands around Duke's muzzle desperately trying to hold his snarling mouth shut and a stinging suddenly shoots straight up his arms and explodes in his brain, a flash of light behind his eyes, a surging in his skull.
His back arches, his neck stiffens, his fingers claw, frozen in front of his face. 5 seconds go by, maybe 10, maybe 100 before he collapses in a boneless heap and slides down the stairs, down to where Duke is lying, down to where Duke is not moving or breathing at all.
He scrambles whimpering up the steps to Momma and Daddy's bedroom. He crawls deep under their covers, rolls himself into a tight ball. He doesn't know what else to do, where else to go. Granny Jane hung up on him. She's mad at him. Duke is dead and he's all alone in his big scary house. He wants Momma. He wants Daddy. He wants this to stopstopstopstopstop...
He closes his eyes tight, he starts counting to one hundred his heart thumping so hard it echoes in his ears and he gives each beat a whispered number before falling asleep at ninety-six.
He wakes up an hour later and it's still dark, the house is still too quiet. All there is is his shallow breathing and the tick tock tick of the clock on the bedside table. He listens to it and stares at the ceiling, the covers he had hid under now twisted around his legs pinning him down leaving him open to the air, exposed. A sob rises in his chest and he sits up, starting as he catches his reflection in the dresser mirror.
A girl stares back at him.
A girl stares back at him and he knows her.
He remembers suddenly that that's where he was before he woke up in the shed. With her. At the tree by the river taking turns swinging on the rope. He remembers watching her white Sunday dress swirl around her tanned legs like melting whipped cream in a cup of hot chocolate. He remembers thinking she was sweet as that easy despite the act she put on. He remembers telling her so and expecting to get his butt kicked.
He remembers kissing her to make sure the beating would be worth it.
And then there's the darkness of the shed he doesn't remember going into.
He untangles himself from the sheets, crawls to the edge of the bed and the girl crawls towards him too. He reaches out, his fingers sliding along the cool glass and hers do too. He touches his own face and she touches hers. He opens his mouth, says her name, and she does it too. He steps away from the mirror, and she echoes him. She looks confused, she looks scared. She looks down at her ragged dress, dirty and torn and he feels it swish against his legs like streamers. He stares at his bare feet, clenches his fists in the skirt. His long hair brushes against his cheek, and it's not blonde. It's shoulder length, matted and brown.
She looks at the room, at the rumpled bed, the ceiling fan turning a lazy circle, the dresser with bottles of flowery smelling lotions and perfumes, the brush with gold strands tangled in the bristles.
She doesn't...
She doesn't know...
How did she get here?
She leaves the bedroom, wanders down the hallway and into the next room hoping to recognize something, hoping it will be a place she should be.
Toy planes hang from the ceiling by strings. There's a bookshelf with trophies and ribbons in blue and red and white. There are clothes on the floor, a bookbag, a baseball mitt, comic books and markers.
This isn't her room.
This is a boy's room.
She's not supposed to be here at all.
A car door slams outside.
She runs out into the hall and stops, her eyes catching on the portraits hanging on the wall.
Momma, Daddy, Baby.
She watches the boy get bigger and bigger in the photographs until she recognizes him.
That boy from school who's always looking at her, always asking her questions, always following her around. She saw him today. They met up after church and went to the river. He-
The door downstairs opens. She hears a gasp and goes to the top of the steps. She looks down and there's a woman there touching a dog that's lying so still it must be dead.
"Hey!"
There's a man there too and he's staring at her. "Hey!" he says again. "Yoah that girl, that girl mah boy ran off with… whatcha doin' here… what happened to ya… Ya bleedin', girl…" He comes up the stairs, his hands out and reaching for her and suddenly she remembers. She remembers Cody reaching for her. Cody pressing his lips against hers and the bad thing happening.
The man looks like him. Even in the darkness she can see his sandy hair flopping over his forehead like Cody's does, his wide blue eyes... His fingers brush against the tattered sleeve of her best dress. Cody did this too right before he kissed her, right before she-
"Don't touch me!" she screams and jerks herself away from Cody's daddy because she thinks she killed the dog, she thinks she killed Cody and she thinks she knows how she did it.


Posted by Spider-Pig on Mon Feb 11 09:12:59 2019, in response to Re: OTChat Poll, posted by Kevin from Midwood on Mon Feb 11 01:49:46 2019.
That's true, but it's about the individual perception. When I saw his poll, that's exactly why I found answering uncomfortable. YMMV.


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Year and cumulative GPAs are calculated on a weighted basis using the number of units assigned to the course.
For students enrolled in a dual degree program, the cumulative GPA calculated on the transcript will include all courses taken under both degrees. However, for the purposes of Commerce rankings and awards, only those courses registered under the Bachelor of Commerce will be included in the GPA.


text:
Stefaan Verhulst
Stefaan G. Verhulst is the Senior Advisor at the Markle Foundation and the Chief Research and Development Officer of NYU Wagner's Governance Laboratory. Verhulst was Markle's Chief of Research for 11 years before joining the Wagner School. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Global Communications Studies, Annenberg School for Communications, University of Pennsylvania; an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Culture and Communications at New York University; and Senior Research Fellow for the Center for Media and Communications Studies, Central European University in Budapest. Previously, he was the Co-Founder and Co-Director, with Professor Monroe Price, of the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCMLP) at Oxford University, as well as Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Socio Legal Studies. In that capacity, he was appointed the Socio-Legal Research Fellow at Wolfson College at Oxford.
Verhulst was the UNESCO Chairholder in Communications Law and Policy for the UK, a former lecturer on Communications Law and Policy issues in Belgium, and Founder and Co-Director of the International Media and Info-Comms Policy and Law Studies (IMPS) at the School of Law, University of Glasgow. Verhulst has served as consultant to various international and national organizations, including the Council of Europe, European Commission, UNESCO, World Bank, UNDP, USAID, and DFID.
Verhulst is the author and co-author of several books and numerous articles and chapters. He is the Founder and Editor of the International Journal of Communications Law and Policy, and the Communications Law in Transition Newsletter.


text:
California moves toward ban on gas lawn mowers and leaf blowers
California will outlaw the sale of new gas-powered lawn mowers, leaf blowers and chain saws as early as 2024 under a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
By Phil WillonStaff Writer
Oct. 9, 2021 6:32 PM PT
SACRAMENTO —
California will outlaw the sale of new gas-powered lawn mowers, leaf blowers and chain saws as early as 2024 under a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday.
The law requires all newly sold small-motor equipment primarily used for landscaping to be zero-emission — essentially to be battery-operated or plug-in — by that target date or as soon as the California Air Resources Board determined it is feasible. New portable gas-powered generators also must be zero-emission by 2028, which also could be delayed at the discretion of the state agency.
Machinery with so-called small off-road engines also includes chain saws, weed trimmers and golf carts, all of which create as much smog-causing pollution in California as light-duty passenger cars, and reducing those emissions is pivotal to improving air quality and combating climate change, proponents of the law said.
"It's amazing how people react when they learn how much this equipment pollutes, and how much smog-forming and climate-changing emissions that small off-road engine equipment creates," said Assemblyman Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), author of the legislation. "This is a pretty modest approach to trying to limit the massive amounts of pollution that this equipment emits, not to mention the health impact on the workers who are using it constantly."
Berman said the state has set aside $30 million to help professional landscapers and gardeners make the transition from gas-powered equipment to zero-emission equipment, but an industry representative said that's woefully inadequate for the estimated 50,000 small businesses that will be affected by the law.
Andrew Bray, vice president of government relations for the National Assn. of Landscape Professionals, said the zero-emission commercial-grade equipment landscapers use is also prohibitively expensive and less efficient than the existing gas-powered lawn mowers, leaf blowers and other small machinery. For example, a gas-powered commercial riding lawn mower costs $7,000 to $11,000, but its zero-emission equivalent costs more than twice that amount, he said.
Another major expense will be batteries. Bray said a three-person landscaping crew will need to carry 30 to 40 fully charged batteries to power its equipment during a full day's work.
"These companies are going to have to completely retrofit their entire workshops to be able to handle this massive change in voltage so they're going to be charged every day," Bray said.
Berman said the move to zero-emission landscaping equipment already is underway, especially among the vast majority of property owners who can mow their lawns and trim hedges on a single battery charge. Cities and universities have also started to make the transition, he said. Berman also emphasized that gas-powered equipment purchased before the deadlines can still be used, by both property owners and professional landscapers.
The legislation was opposed by Republican lawmakers, as well as some Democrats, who expressed concern about residents in rural areas — especially when it comes to the state requirement that portable generators be zero-emission.
In recent years, California has had widespread blackouts in the peak of the wildfire season when high winds sweep through the state, mostly because utilities are trying to prevent a downed power line from starting a blaze. Because of that, Sen. Brian Dahle (R-Bieber) said banning gas-powered generators makes no sense.
"This Legislature hates fuel, which is very sustainable. It's easy to access. And when the power is off, you can still use it. You can still run a generator to keep your freezer going, to keep your medical devices going. But when your battery's dead and there's no power on, you have nothing," Dahle said.
Berman said those concerns are being taken into account, and the law specifically requires the California Air Resources Board to adjust the restrictions on generators based on their "expected availability" of that equipment on the commercial and retail market.
The new law applies to any engine that produces less than 25 gross horsepower, including lawn mowers, weed trimmers, chain saws, golf carts, specialty vehicles, generators and pumps. It does not apply to on-road motor vehicles, off-road motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, boats, snowmobiles or model airplanes, cars or boats.
The California Air Resources Board has been drafting regulations mandating that small engines covered in the new law be zero-emission, and the board could enact those requirements before year's end.
The agency began working on the regulations after Newsom issued an executive order in September 2020 that required the state to "transition to 100 percent zero-emission off-road vehicles and equipment by 2035 where feasible."
In that same order, Newsom required all new cars sold to be zero-emission vehicles by 2035 and threw his support behind a ban on the controversial use of hydraulic fracturing by oil companies.
CaliforniaPoliticsClimate & EnvironmentCalifornia Politics
Phil Willon
Phil Willon is an assistant editor based in the Sacramento bureau of the Los Angeles Times and guides coverage of California politics and assists with state capital coverage.


text:
Zoup! Fresh Soup Co.
Zoup! Eatery Sets Opening Date for Boardman, Ohio, Location
Zoup! Eatery announced the opening of its newest location in Boardman, Ohio, on Monday, June 21.
Zoup! Opens in Omaha's Aksarben Village
Zoup! Eatery is now open for business in Omaha's Aksarben Village. The fast casual restaurant known for its wide variety of soups and broths opened at 1917 South 67th St.
Zoup! Opens Doors in Michigan's Bloomfield Township
Zoup! Eatery is now open for business in Michigan's Bloomfield Township.
Zoup! Eatery Picks PepsiCo as Beverage Partner
Zoup! Eatery announced its more than 80 locations across North America are now serving PepsiCo beverages including soft drinks, water and tea.
Zoup! Eatery is now open for business in Michigan's Bloomfield Township. The fast casual restaurant known for its wide variety of soups and broths opened its Woodward Avenue location on Monday,...
Zoup! Delivering 'Rescue Care Packages' in January
January is National Soup Month, and to celebrate, Zoup! Eatery, is delivering 100 Zoup! Rescue Care Packages across the United States and Ontario, Canada.Each Rescue Care Package contains a bowl of...
Zoup! Eatery Opens in Ballston
Zoup! Eatery is now open for business in Ballston. The fast-casual restaurant, known for its award-winning soups and made-to-order sandwiches and salads, opened its first Arlington, Virginia,...
Zoup! Eatery announced its more than 80 locations across North America are now serving PepsiCo beverages including soft drinks, water and tea. This partnership marks the first time that bubly, one of...
Zoup! Opens 4th Pittsburgh-Area Location
Zoup! Eatery is officially open for business in the Robinson Town Centre shopping complex! The fast casual restaurant known for its award-winning soups and made-to-order salads and sandwiches opened...
Zoup! Rolls Out Trio of Holiday Offerings
Zoup! Eatery, the fast casual restaurant known throughout the year for its menu of award-winning soups, salads, sandwiches and more, is serving an extra helping of holiday cheer this season by...
Zoup! Now Open in Frederick
Zoup! is officially open for business in Frederick. The fast casual restaurant known for its award-winning soups and made-to-order salads and sandwiches opened its first Maryland location on October...
Zoup! Opening First Maryland Location in October
Zoup!, the fast casual restaurant known for its award-winning soups and made-to-order salads and sandwiches, is set to open its first Frederick location—and first in the state of Maryland—on...
Zoup! Headed to Robinson Town Centre in Pittsburgh
Zoup! has stirred up a loyal following in Pittsburgh, serving award-winning soups and made-to-order salads and sandwiches from its Fox Chapel, Southpointe & Washington locations. Now, more area...
Zoup! Preps for First Malvern Location
Zoup!, the fast casual restaurant known for its award-winning soups and made-to-order salads and sandwiches, is set to open its first Malvern, Pennsylvania, location on Monday, September 24. The new...
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Hi, Im Marzia and this is me in one of my favorite diva pose in Naples!
Today I want to share a little bit of my personal story, I could write a successful book and it can be used for a soap opera!
I was born in Naples and,luckily enough, I grew up in a beautiful Valley Called Valtellina!
Both my biological parents are from Sant'Antimo, Naples!
They met 47 years ago, followed in love and here Im!
Unfortunately he was married with just 2 children at that time. My mom got married with this person that I can call DAD, a real human being that treat me like her daughter! His mom, my Nonna was amazing!
Unfortunately when I was 9 years old my biological dad decided to appear in my life until I wad 20 when he decided to dump me!
I could tell you a lot of things about this situation, lots of secrets, lots of lies, REJECTION, lots of hiding ….maybe one day! The only thing that I m thankful every day is that I don't have to live close to that person that tried to put me down so many time with his REJECTIONS! Who doesn't love you doesn't deserve you I guess!
I m so lucky to live in this amazing Country where I have an amazing family, good friends, successful business and an amazing husband that did support me and helped me to build up my confidence that I did not have at all! I was broken inside when we met.
Recently I had to contact that man, and more than before, I m glad Im not living there, under his power and his money! Im free and I had the courage to tell him few things but the best was " I know you tried hard to destroy me and put me down but Im want you let you know that I m fune, I have 2 kids and a wonderful family and Im a wonderful person that people love….your loss"!


While 2013 looks cool compared with the last six years, it's still unusually warm.
"The Arctic caught a break, if you will, in 2013, but one year doesn't change the long-term trend toward a warmer Arctic," said report card editor Martin Jeffries, a University of Alaska geophysicist who is the science adviser to the U.S. Arctic Research Commission.
"The Arctic has shifted to a new normal," Jeffries said at the American Geophysical Union scientific conference in San Francisco, where the 136-page report card was released.
Central Alaska's summer was one of the warmest on record, coming months after its coldest April since 1924, NOAA said. Fairbanks experienced a record 36 days of more than 80 degrees. And snow cover in May and June was near record low levels in North America and broke a record for the least snow in Eurasia.
The 2013 figure "is simply natural variability," said National Snow and Ice Data Center director Mark Serreze, who wasn't part of the NOAA report but praised it. "There is nothing about the year 2013 that provides any evidence that the Arctic is starting a path toward recovery."
He added: "Looking back 20 years from now, the world will be warmer and we'll have much less sea ice than today. We'll see that 2013 was just a temporary respite."
Average Arctic temperatures have increased 3.6 degrees since the 1960s, rising twice as fast as the rest of the world. The growing season has lengthened by nearly a month since 1982.
Fish species are moving north, permafrost is melting, and shrubs are greening in ways that weren't seen before.
While some fish and muskox are doing better, other animals associated with Arctic, like polar bears and walruses, are not. The report cited severe declines in the size of reindeer herds.
"Many of the herds at the overall level are at all-time lows," said study co-author Michael Svoboda of the Canadian Wildlife Service.
Jeffries and University of Virginia environmental scientist Howard Epstein, another study co-author, warned that changes in the Arctic reverberate around the globe.
White ice reflects solar energy, but because it is melting away, the oceans and the land are warming up more, Jeffries said.
He also cited a relatively new and evolving theory that is still dividing meteorologists. It says the loss of sea ice makes the jet stream meander and kink more, triggering more extreme weather in the Northern Hemisphere.
"The Arctic is not like Vegas," Epstein said. "What happens in the Arctic doesn't stay in the Arctic."