Journals are improvisatory writing and contain errors of fact & omission. Please keep that in mind as you read.
It's an ordinary day, an extraordinary trip about to begin. Documents are in order. I am sure to include McNally's Dracula Was a Woman and Penrose's The Bloody Countess, which I must review before the castle tour.
When I look up close, it's the same -- bad tree cuts, pressure-treated lumber, abandoned candy wrappers, the non-stop roar of some too-near motorway. But then there are the magpies, the aggressive weed (we have it, too, but here it is filled with white blossoms below the leaves -- bulging blossoms, not faint ones), the glorious tulips, tiny lanes, and the thatch roofs all thick and carefully contoured.
The walk to the Sutton Arms -- also thatched -- is about a mile. There is very solid food, including cauliflower-broccoli soup and fresh bread, venison, toffee-soaked toffee cake, coffee, and a pint each of Guinness and Adams bitters.
I meet a tall local gentleman at the bar while I am trying to figure out pub ordering protocol (which is, I find, to order everything, including food, at the bar and put it on a tab). He hears my accent and asks why I am here. I tell him about castles and Erzsébet and documentaries, and he repeats the tale to his table. In a few minutes I am called upon to verify his story. Bar bets exist everywhere.
The meal is finished, the bitters are drunk, and I stroll slowly back to Pynchon Hall.
I am housed in the highest room in Pynchon Hall, a genuine Tudor mansion that is otherwise appointed with an unsettling mix of old and new furniture (all of it odd), new but flimsy bath fixtures, stylistically mismatched lamps, a variety of televisions, no clocks, and only instant coffee. Among the discongruities, only the coffee is iniquitous.
The next morning (or rather, later that morning) we pile into the van and drive to the airport. Check-in is easier than I might have anticipated, considering the dozen travel cases full of camera equipment, dangerous-looking explosive-shaped black batteries, a smoke generator, and three torches (yes, the wood-and-animal-fat kind).
After a quick hour (with me continuing to review the Báthory facts in the McNally and Penrose books), we descend into Vienna over farm terrain as tidy as I recall the city to be.
The driver is waiting for us after we pass through customs. We load into his Fiat rental van and head toward the Slovak border at Berg/Bratislava. Tidiness surrounds us.
The passkontroll stop is uneventful, but then we encounter a bureaucratic crisis. Our equipment, they appear to say (though it is unclear as the driver speaks no English whatsoever), needs to be heavily bonded. Mobile phones appear from the pockets of the camera crew. Calls are made: Embassies (alas, it is a Bank Holiday in the U.K.), the studios, ambassadors -- anyone who might help out. Each member of the crew disappears in turn into back offices and returns. Our translator is contacted in Cachtice, and helps create, after a fashion, a conversation involving a pantomime of exchanged phones. Finally, a staffer doing double duty at the U.K. embassy discovers we are using the wrong from of carnet, a European Union pre-membership manifest that was to have been duplicated and stamped by the Chamber of Commerce in both countries. Mobile phone batteries are draining as we begin a third hour of calling and waiting, surrounded by heavy trucks and even heavier border guards. The bond is to be two million Slovak crowns -- about £40,000 ... and is to be posted to studio credit card. The director (who stays in the van after the border guards ignore her authority, refusing to accept a woman as spokesperson for the television crew) refuses the request, believing the money and the valuable card number will vanish forever into the underworld.
At last a fax comes alive in the office. The embassy staffer has come through and the manifest authorizations are peeling off the roll. We are stamped many times, and ordered to go immediately to a business office in Bratislava, which gives approvals to return back across the border with our equipment.
Three hours late, we drive onto the expressway in Bratislava, heading toward Cachtice.
The town appears quickly, just an hour out of Bratislava on the new motorways that have been built since our trek there in 1992. Like Prague, the Slovak towns are blossoming with flowers everywhere, as well as new paint and renewed energy and enthusiasm for projects and life itself.
We stop briefly at the town hall for an introduction to the mayor, Anna Ištoková (who plans to join us the next day during the castle filming), then go to the local restaurant -- the same one, serving the same soup that we had nearly ten years ago, but this time it is followed by filets of pork with gravy, rice, and cabbage salad. We haven't ordered; everything is ready for us, unbidden.
Following the hefty lunch is Turkish coffee (a traditional Slovak drink, and a heritage of Süleyman's invasions four centuries earlier).
Naturally, I pluck several pastries from the case before leaving. Mark heads for the bank, the rest of us to our accommodations on Cachtice's main street (past the graveyard). The mistress and her two small children greet us, all of them plump and friendly.
The accommodations are typically eastern European -- spare and collective. The Brits, however, are horrified at the idea of sharing two beds (even at £15 a night for all four of us, including breakfast), so everything -- mattresses, cushions, and pillows -- are split up into various uncomfortable segments. We then carry equipment and bags inside, and settle in ... briefly.
We want to scout out the castle for general view shots, so we locate the road (no longer inconspicuous as it leads out of a tile and brick town green and square) to the castle. The fact that there is a castle is resoundingly unnoted.
First we walk along the town square and film commentary; it's going badly as it's impossible to keep the sound of vehicles out of my microphone, and I'm having trouble picking up the story after every stop. Just as the story is sorting out, the owner of one of the houses we're filming near comes out to chase us away. We're without a translator, and by the time the translator gets there, it appears my guess is right -- too many years of informers have made townsfolk suspicious of people with cameras. We leave.
We return to the van, turn toward the castle, and drive along a narrow road past a dwindling neighborhood into farm country. The paved road falls of to dirt, and fields of rye open up to the southeast. The dirt road shrinks further to a rutted path.
The first view of Cséjthe Castle is an unmitigated thrill. The fortress, bathed in bright sun, is etched almost two-dimensionally against a pale, nearly cloudless sky.
We are ready to shoot in minutes, and the director acknowledges it as the most beautiful and mysterious castle she has seen in the weeks of creating their television series, and shortly she is talking about the possibility of doing an entire show at Cséjthe Castle.
I give a quick tour around the main areas, and shots are set up overlooking the town and fields below. The others arrive during the session, and the afternoon lengthens, as do the shadows and the sense of deep history. I call my wife from the castle, a moment of wonder that we share across geography and time.
We work until nearly dusk, and return to our flat. The mistress brings out coffees (Turkish again), and glasses of local slivovica, a plum brandy. Leading us in the tradition, she lifts her glass in a toast (nazdarove), and downs the strong, clear alcohol in one gulp. We try, and all stagger; it takes me two tries -- but the second glass is easier.
It is soon time for dinner. We are scooped us into two vehicles, and off we go to neighboring town of Nové Mesto, to a lovely restaurant of dark wood, beautiful glass lamps, and tiled floors.
Beer (pivo) arrives in profusion; we scan the menus for clues to the offerings, and find German equivalents of the opaque Slovak. I order a mayonnaise-based cabbage salad (zelery šalat), fried farmer's cheese, small white potatoes, green salad, and beans. I'm so hungry that I don't notice what others are ordering, but when the food arrives, the sharing ensues -- lots of meat, salmon, other salads, and varieties of vegetables. It is marvelous.
More beer follows, with plenty of conversation. Our translator is emigrating to Toronto, the cameraman is saving for more equipment -- he's a freelancer and everything he's bought for the shoot is his own -- the researcher is still in somewhat of a state of awe over the castle, and the director is thinking ahead. And there's more beer ... and coffee, and a luscious dessert: palacinky with apricot marmalade.
We talk until the restaurant closes around us, returning to our flat for even more conversation. It doesn't last; I fall asleep in seconds, with hardly time to dream before it is morning of the full shooting day. And it is raining.
Each of us has a short shower; I take an extra few minutes' nap, so I shower after everyone else -- and the water is ice cold by then. Things are looking unpleasant, especially as a heaping breakfast of coffee and scrambled eggs is served. I stick with the coffee; nausea trumps politeness this time.
The rain ends before we pack the van, the clouds break up, and morning sun brightens the landscape -- so much the better, as the first segment is filmed with me walking across a field of glistening rye.
I now see what is being planned; I'm afraid this will be a true 'slow-talker' program of the type I abhor. Perhaps, if things go very well, it will be cut into something more dramatic. We will see, but I am not optimistic.
More scenes are filmed of me walking -- up the pavement; up the dirt road; up the rutted path; through the gate. The sun has come out fully, and even at eight in the morning, it is getting hot; Will has stripped off his shirt. I'm wearing long-sleeved black for effect. It will be an equally long day.
We arrive at the castle, but with all the starting and stopping for preliminary takes, I am beginning to lose the sense of excitement and wonder I felt upon first seeing the hrad. I work to clear the presence of the film crew out of my mind, turning myself inward and thinking of it as merely a long stroll uphill with friends to show around. I fool myself adequately, and the constant re-takes become less intrusive. I decide not to recreate my description or retrieve my thought each time (not that I could), instead telling the story in a slightly different way. Their job is editing, so I'll let them do the work of creating coherency out of what are to be a many hours of raw tape.
I tell tales of power, of cruelty, of love and marriage and war, of the Renaissance, and of three religions and three cultures and three languages. The story of Erzsébet's childhood and privilege come to light, of her witness of persecution, of her servants and lovers and relatives, and most of all, of her madness.
We walk to the windows, into tunnels, through passages, over parapets. Eventually we film a long scene inside the death tower itself. I work to become breathless; Will circles faster and faster with his camera inside the high, narrow tower. Over and over I tell the stories of women frozen in the snow, thrown from the ramparts, pierced by iron maidens, burned by glowing coins, and torn apart by Erzsébet herself.
Throughout, I try to keep personal and involved, neither theatrical nor melodramatic. (It does not help that the director continues to ask off-camera questions about 'how you feel'). At one point the researcher comments, "Americans are natural historians -- they are the best storytellers."
We move from inside the tower to the middle of it, looking up to where ravens call to each other as the mother stays with the fledglings in the nest. It is also a holiday in Slovakia -- and across most of Europe -- and families are making their way to the castle for picnics. We exchange a dobrý den with everyone, and the occasional prosím as we try to set up shots to make it appear that we are alone. I describe Erzsébet's trial, imprisonment, and death as birds tend above and children play below.
We break at last for lunch, and mayor Ištoková is there with the city officials, including the cellarmaster for the winery. All are at last gathered for lunch.
I have been taking photographs all day, and video as well. Occasionally someone picks up my camera to put me in the scene, and I try to catch them doing their work in a context that explains the process and reveals the physical proportion between crew and castle.
There are more toasts of sparkling water and a local cola that is strengthened by the sulphur in the water (the legendary hot springs of Pieštany, where from Erzsébet's time to this day people travel for the cure, are only 20 km south), and we enjoy baguettes of local ham, cheese, and pickles. I suggest to the mayor that perhaps she might welcome the premiere production of my opera Erzsébet at Castle Cachtice, perhaps with the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, perhaps with local extras. Perhaps? I have a certain hesitation, as the town might not be interested in the full re-awakening of this story. She dismisses my hesitation and welcomes the idea -- the westernization of Slovakia has brought with it an interest in tourism that dispels ghosts with the image of crowds visiting the ancient town.
If the opera is premiered, then, it will be at Castle Cachtice.
Eventually the mayor and her associates leave, but not before arranging a tour of the cellars below Erzsébet's erstwhile mansion in the village to be followed, of course, by a formal reception at the town hall.
Behind us the blazing sun is now being veiled in thin clouds, then thicker ones, and soon a storm is passing to the north, complete with thunder and jagged lightning. Will captures it. Almost enough material has been recorded as we move toward late afternoon, but still we must visit the forbidding forest that begins below the ramparts, the forest of primeval creatures and wood-gods that formed Erzsébet's early pagan education, before she balanced Lutheran and Muslim in a triptych of curious and conflicting worship.
We take the path downward into the darkness, and Will creates the precipitous sensation of the high fortress walls as well as the point of view of a young maiden falling to her doom among the wolves that frequented the farmland outside Castle Cséjthe's gates.
The castle filming is complete. All the stories have been told over and over, including an introduction to the creation of my opera Erzsébet. I have time to wander alone as equipment is packed.
Castle Cséjthe is different this time, I think. It isn't the brightness, nor the palely pure color, nor even the fact that I had been there before. It is, instead, the perfection of normalcy, the opposite of the insane, the depraved, the cruel, and the evil. It is cleansed of blood as Erzsébet's chambermaids could never do. There is no longer the whiteness of bone, but the whiteness of a true, unstained purity.
I think of the girls playing and giggling and flirting in the tower; they are both charming and disconcerting. They are Slovak. They are of the age that Erzsébet sought girls to torture and send to anonymous deaths. It is as if they have come to Castle Cachtice to exorcise, by their careless and innocent joyfulness, the spirit of the aging, insane countess.
It is time to go back into town for the final evening -- however, the day is anything but over. In the new town square, an old man is reading a V-E Day speech to the villagers. A band awaits to play music among the most awful ever heard ... drum, bugle, accordion, and saxophone appear to have no relationship to each other. Perhaps it is caused by the near-empty bottle of wine sitting next to their instrument cases. I am sorry not to be carrying my recording equipment.
We would like to take some shots inside the Cachtice town museum, the one that was closed when we visited nine years ago.
The Múzeum is far more than I expect. The classic 19th century portrait of Erzsébet is there, but also 19th century engravings and -- something I am seeking! -- the 17th century copy of the original painting that shows her without the romantic viewpoint of artists 250 years after her death. Her eyes are bigger, unfocused, and stare apart. Her ears are large and her skin sallow. The painting reveals an artificial quality, even though she is but a 25-year-old countess. There are her marriage certificate, engravings of her husband Ferenc and son Pál, and her last will and testament, signed, and dated 1614, and written during the last days of her two-year imprisonment in Castle Cséjthe. And novels, both serious and trashy, are heaped in the display cases. There is von Elsberg's classic German biography, and the pulp series Stories from Cséjthe, as well as a publication of the Latin documents of her 1611 trial. Fragments of the castle's hearth are there, along with a few remaining metal shackles and instruments of torture.
On the walls are photographs of the castle from 150 years ago, an engraving of an imaginary and unproportioned re-construction of the original (with the tall, peaked roofs), and an astounding charcoal drawing of how the town of Cachtice would like to rebuild the castle -- smaller and tighter, but with the death tower intact -- someday, should it be possible. In one case are spurs for the Hungarian soldiers; on the walls all around are family crests that have become so familiar in retelling the frightening stories. Behind glass is the intimidating herald of three dragons teeth surrounded by the coiled, winged serpent that represented the Ecsed branch of the Báthory family.
Missing are the original portrait from 1585 (which was spirited away, says the curator, probably to Nagyecsed, in the mid-1990s), any records of Erzsébet's victims, and the iron maiden that she kept in the townhouse. Most likely all were lost when the castle was burned by the French in the early 1800s, leaving the fortress in its present ruined state.
The camera records slow scans of the engravings, paintings, and documents.
Something about the museum -- where Slovaks celebrate their own torturer and enslaver -- is sobering.
We walk out, past the now-empty town square. Cachtice's historian Vladimír Ammer is awaiting us at Erzsébet's town mansion, or at least at the winery that now stands on the site. Ammer is almost an apologist, whether it is for Erzsébet or for the village that allowed her to live among them. George translates. No, there was no torture in the mansion basement (though documents reveal there was); no, she was not evil, only sick; no, she was never feared or hated, only pitied. The old man can be forgiven, for he clearly lived through a modern sort of oppression during the Communist era, and knows how to please his interlocutors.
The cellars actually show no evidence of Erzsébet. Though remnants of the old walls are visible at the property's edge, the cellars themselves have been rebuilt from what appears to be 19th century brick. Tunnels -- the ones which held the decaying remains of so many young girls -- are long gone, or at least sealed. The cellars are silent, and we all (the crew, the mayor, the council, and I) gather instead to drink wine together from the black casks of Cachtice.
The researcher gives a lovely speech of appreciation toward the people of Cachtice for our welcome, and we conclude with several toasts drawn directly from the casks.
Working with the television crew is pleasant and efficient, and I've enjoyed it; I think the feeling is reciprocal. I've tried not to make assumptions about what should be happening, and they haven't been reluctant to let me follow a story through to its conclusion. If anything is tiring, it is not the dozens of climbs up and down the castle grounds, but rather the number of times I am asked how I 'feel' about a place or an event. They believe Americans want to hear feelings before facts (the director is especially convinced of this). My feelings are personal enough that they would seem irrelevant if not entirely bewildering, so I invent occasional quasi-philosophical appropriatenesses and look convincingly (I hope) directly at the interviewer.
It has already been nearly a 12-hour day, but there is more. We jump into the van with the driver and the cellarmaster, destined for Višnové, 5 km distant and the town that is visible from the walls of Castle Cachtice. We pass a husband and wife -- she with a cart of plants, he with a scythe -- and Will stops to film them. They nod and continue on their way with a lovely, relaxed gait. Višnové provides a stunning view of the castle in late afternoon sun. The crew heads down a garden wall to the river, and is joined by a man who may or may not be objecting to their presence. He mostly seems to be telling stories, unaware that the pair speaks no Slovak. The three of us watch from the bridge.
At the town hall, a reception is given in our honor. The table has lovely local bread spread with pâté and fresh scallions and (oddly) a plate of stale potato chips. We all enjoy the food.
There are gifts for us -- Ammer's history of Cachtice, a historical CD-ROM (technology has indeed arrived), some trinkets, two bottles of local wine, and slivovica. We have come to Cachtice unprepared for the welcome we would receive (we are, after all, only a film crew). All I can do (having been given a hint that presentations would be taking place) is slip off before the reception to the flat to retrieve copies of my CD to present to mayor Ištoková, historian Ammer, the cellarmaster, and the council. I ask our translator -- who has marvelously provided near simultaneous translation for the past several hours -- to explain that the CD was the first version of a composition eventually premiered in Prague. They are delighted not only to have a mutual presentation, but also to know that there was already a bit of cultural bond between us that did not depend on the Blood Countess.
Interestingly, it is again time for dinner. The same restaurant is chosen in Nové Mesto, and more pivo in great glasses arrives, followed by a dinner of salad, chicken with asparagus, and another apricot palacinky. Conversation is long, and turns to art, politics, and history. The evening fades (the restaurant closing once more around us), and we return to our flat at #33. It's not long before morning comes again.
The mistress has prepared coffee and packaged some sandwiches.
Now devoid of souvenirs, I use my dictionary to ask the mistress to give each of her children some of my American and English coins to play with. At first she objects, but finally I make it clear these are trinkets for the children ("Ano, ano! K díte, k dáte," I implore, holding my hand at my knees to reinforce the idea of their height, until she understands my pitiful attempt at Slovak), and she is delighted.
The shower is cold again -- even though I was second in line this time. Others pass. We pack up and bid farewell to the mistress and the children.
It is too fast a trip to Bratislava. The border guards take our carnet and wave us through. The Austrians barely give us a glance as we enter the country of the tidy lawns.
After waiting around the airport in Vienna attempting to be interested in the shops (even Mozart chocolates seem dull), we fly back to Stansted, and part company at Pynchon Hall. The cameraman has turned over the tapes and is headed for his flat, the researcher to the studios, and the director to a film festival.
A huge storm system sweeps through southern England, including Bishop's Stortford, downing trees and cutting off power. It is lovely, a fine farewell indeed.


text:
Extensive Television Viewing and the Development of Attention and Learning Difficulties During Adolescence
Jeffrey G. Johnson, PhD; Patricia Cohen, PhD; Stephanie Kasen, PhD; et al Judith S. Brook, EdD
Author Affiliations: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute (Drs Johnson, Cohen, and Kasen) and Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine (Dr Brook), New York.
Objective To investigate the association of television viewing with educational and intellectual outcomes during adolescence and early adulthood.
Design Prospective epidemiological study.
Setting Families participating in the Children in the Community Study, a prospective longitudinal investigation, were interviewed at mean offspring ages 14, 16, and 22 years.
Participants A community-based sample of 678 families from upstate New York.
Main Exposures Television viewing, attention difficulties, learning difficulties, and educational achievement during adolescence and early adulthood.
Main Outcome Measures The Disorganizing Poverty Interview and age-appropriate versions of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children.
Results Frequent television viewing during adolescence was associated with elevated risk for subsequent attention and learning difficulties after family characteristics and prior cognitive difficulties were controlled. Youths who watched 1 or more hours of television per day at mean age 14 years were at elevated risk for poor homework completion, negative attitudes toward school, poor grades, and long-term academic failure. Youths who watched 3 or more hours of television per day were the most likely to experience these outcomes. In addition, youths who watched 3 or more hours of television per day were at elevated risk for subsequent attention problems and were the least likely to receive postsecondary education. There was little evidence of bidirectionality in the association of television viewing with attention and learning difficulties.
Conclusion Frequent television viewing during adolescence may be associated with risk for development of attention problems, learning difficulties, and adverse long-term educational outcomes.
Children and adolescents in most industrialized societies spend an average of 2 or more hours per day watching television.1-4 Many youths who watch 3 or more hours of television per day spend as much time watching television in an average year as they do receiving classroom instruction.1-4 Most children and adolescents spend more time watching television than reading, and television viewing time is inversely associated with reading time and reading comprehension.1,5-7 These findings are a cause of concern because research has suggested that extensive viewing of entertainment and general audience programming during childhood may be associated with poor academic achievement and deficits in attention and cognitive functioning.3,6-14 Although viewing educational television may be associated with positive outcomes,2 most children spend more than 90% of their television viewing time watching entertainment and general audience programming.1-4,15
Frequent viewing of entertainment and general audience television programming during childhood and adolescence has been hypothesized to contribute to persistent reductions in educational and intellectual functioning14 because it displaces reading and homework, requires relatively little intellectual effort, and promotes attention problems and disinterest in school.2,6,7,11,16,17 Research findings supporting this hypothesis have indicated that overall television viewing time during childhood and adolescence may be associated with elevated risk for the development of attention problems, educational difficulties, poor reading comprehension, and other cognitive deficits.6-9,11,13,14 Entertainment and general audience television viewing may be differentially associated with decreases in reading and educational activities, and informative programs designed for children may be associated with improvements in letter and word recognition.2 However, because educational television viewing time declines with age during childhood,2 the beneficial effects of educational television may become decreasingly evident from childhood through adolescence.
A second hypothesis is that youths with a history of poor academic or intellectual skills tend to engage in more frequent television viewing than do their peers.7,12,18 This hypothesis has been supported by findings suggesting that youths with learning difficulties, attention problems, and other intellectual deficits may be more likely than other youths to engage in frequent television viewing.12,18 Such findings, considered together with the larger body of evidence supporting the first hypothesis cited earlier, have suggested that there may be a bidirectional association between television viewing time and attention or learning problems.
A third hypothesis is that the association between television viewing and attention or learning difficulties may be attributable to "third variables" such as low socioeconomic status (SES) or childhood neglect that may contribute to both extensive television viewing and attention or learning difficulties.4,12 For example, low SES may contribute to television viewing time for reasons including a restricted range of nonclassroom educational activities, poor nutrition, and environmental adversities associated with low SES.12 Inadequate parental supervision may contribute to frequent television viewing, and neglected children may have attention and learning difficulties attributable to insufficient parental support. Findings supporting the third-variable hypothesis have indicated that frequent television viewing was associated with poor educational outcomes before but not after SES and other covariates were controlled.12 In addition, the association of television viewing with attention and learning problems has been found to vary as a function of variables including age, SES, and television programming content.2 Accordingly, differences in the findings of studies supporting the 3 major hypotheses are likely to have been owing in part to differences in sample characteristics, control variables, measures, and follow-up intervals.
To investigate all 3 hypotheses, it is necessary to conduct a series of assessments of television viewing and educational outcomes during childhood or adolescence and to assess potential risk factors that might underlie this association. It is important to investigate these associations during adolescence, a critical period for cognitive development and educational advancement. We describe findings of the Children in the Community Study,19 a community-based longitudinal investigation that meets these methodological criteria. The primary objective of our present study was to investigate the association of frequent television viewing during adolescence with risk for persistent attention and learning difficulties6,7,11,16,17 and with poor long-term educational outcomes.14
Participants and procedure
The participants were a community-based sample of 678 mothers and their offspring (50.0% female) who completed a series of comprehensive psychosocial interviews conducted during the adolescence and adulthood of the offspring. The interviews were conducted in 1983 (mean [SD] offspring age, 13.7 [2.8] years), 1985 to 1986 (mean [SD] offspring age, 16.3 [2.8] years), 1991 to 1993 (mean [SD] offspring age, 22.1 [2.7] years), and 2001 to 2004 (mean [SD] offspring age, 33.2 [2.9] years). The families were randomly sampled on the basis of residence in 2 upstate New York counties in 1975, when maternal interviews were conducted regarding 1 randomly sampled child between the ages of 1 and 10 years from each family. The participating families were demographically representative of families in the sampled region. Seven hundred seventy-eight families participated in the baseline interviews that were conducted at mean offspring age 14 years. The 678 participants in the present study did not differ significantly at the baseline assessment from the 100 other participants at their baseline assessment with regard to baseline demographic, behavioral, or parental characteristics. The study procedures have been approved by the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Institutional Review Board and the New York State Psychiatric Institute Institutional Review Board. A National Institutes of Health Certificate of Confidentiality has been obtained for these data. Written informed consent or assent was obtained from all of the participants after the interview procedures were fully explained. Additional information regarding the study methods is available from previous articles19-21 and on the study Web site (http://nyspi.org/childcom).
Assessment of attention and learning difficulties
Attention and learning difficulties were assessed at mean ages 14 and 16 years using the parent and child versions of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children22 and at mean age 22 years using a modified and age-appropriate version of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children administered to the offspring. Attention and learning difficulties were considered present if reported by either informant. Research23 has supported the reliability and validity of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children as administered in our study. Frequent attention difficulties were identified as being present if the youth had 1 or more symptoms of attention-deficit disorder. Negative attitudes about school were identified if it was reported that the youth "hated" school. Frequent failure to complete homework was identified if the youth was reported to "hardly ever" do his or her homework. Frequent boredom at school was considered present if it was reported that the youth was "often" or "very often" bored at school. Youths were identified as having poor school grades if their average grades were reported to be D (poor) or F (failing). Overall academic failure was identified as present if the average grade through secondary school was D (poor) or F (failing), if the youth fell 1 or more years behind school peers, or if his or her secondary education was not completed.
These attention and learning difficulties were investigated as outcomes because they are among the hypothesized sequelae of frequent television viewing.2,6-9,11,13,14,16,17 Verbal intelligence was assessed at mean ages 14 and 16 years with a picture vocabulary test.24 Verbal IQ scores were averaged and dichotomized (<100 vs ≥100). We investigated whether television viewing time was associated with attention and learning difficulties among youths with above- and below-average verbal IQ scores. At mean age 33 years, respondents provided information regarding their secondary and postsecondary education. This was included as an outcome variable to investigate whether television viewing time at mean age 14 years was associated with years of postsecondary education by mean age 33 years.
Assessment of television viewing
Television viewing time was assessed at mean ages 14, 16, and 22 years with items from the Disorganizing Poverty Interview.20 These items assessed whether the youths watched 1 or fewer hours, 1 to 2 hours, 2 to 3 hours, 3 to 4 hours, or 4 or more hours of television on a typical day. These data were used to compute an index of television viewing with 3 categories: (1) less than 1 hour per day of television viewing; (2) 1 to 3 hours per day of television viewing; and (3) 3 or more hours per day of television viewing.
Assessment of parental characteristics and childhood neglect
Parental education and income were assessed at each maternal interview. An index of family income, adjusted for family size, was computed as a percentage of the US poverty levels at each assessment. Parental SES was computed as the standardized sum of standardized measures of years of maternal and paternal education, maternal and paternal occupational status, and family income. Childhood neglect was assessed based on 2 types of data.21 Information regarding cases that had been referred to state agencies, investigated by Child Protective Services, and officially confirmed was obtained from a central registry. In addition, maternal interview data were used to assess cognitive, emotional, physical, and supervision neglect.21 Childhood neglect was identified as having been present if the neglect scale scores were 2 or more SDs above the sample mean for each type of neglect.
Logistic regression analyses were conducted to investigate whether the youths' television viewing was associated with adverse educational and intellectual outcomes when the covariates (age, sex, parental SES, childhood neglect, and baseline attention and learning difficulties) were controlled statistically. Low SES and childhood neglect were controlled because they may contribute to both extensive television viewing and attention or learning difficulties. Age and sex were controlled because they are associated with certain types of attention or learning difficulties and television viewing. Baseline attention and learning difficulties were controlled because they are associated with current television viewing time and subsequent attention or learning difficulties.
Attention problems, low homework completion, and negative attitudes about school were investigated as potential mediators of the association between television viewing at mean age 14 years and academic failure by mean age 22 years. Mediation hypotheses were tested in a series of logistic regression analyses in accordance with established statistical procedures.25,26 Three fundamental conditions are required for a hypothesized mediating variable to mediate the association between hypothesized predictor and outcome variables.25 First, the hypothesized predictor, assessed at baseline, must be significantly associated with the outcome variable. Second, the hypothesized predictor must be significantly associated with the hypothesized mediator(s). Third, the hypothesized mediator(s) must be significantly associated with the outcome after the predictor variable is controlled statistically.
Descriptive statistics for the study variables are shown in Table 1. Based on these frequency distributions, above-median television viewing time was identified as present if the youth was reported to spend 3 or more hours per day watching television.
Descriptive Statistics of 678 Families
Television viewing during adolescence and subsequent attention or learning difficulties
Television viewing time at mean age 14 years was associated with elevated risk for subsequent frequent attention difficulties, frequent failure to complete homework assignments, frequent boredom at school, failure to complete high school, poor grades, negative attitudes about school (ie, hates school), overall academic failure in secondary school, and failure to obtain postsecondary (eg, college, university, training school) education. These associations remained significant after the covariates were controlled (Table 2). Television viewing time at mean age 14 years was associated with academic failure through secondary school among youths with above-median (odds ratio [OR], 2.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.33-4.39) and below-median (OR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.13-2.47) verbal intelligence scores and among the offspring of parents with more than 12 years (OR, 2.42; 95% CI, 1.32-4.41) and 12 or fewer years (OR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.13-2.47) of education.
Television Viewing at Mean Age 14 Years and Attention or Learning Difficulties Reported at Follow-up Interviews for 678 Families
Youths who watched 3 or more hours of television per day at mean age 14 years were twice as likely as those who watched less than 1 hour of television per day to fail to obtain a postsecondary education by mean age 33 years (OR, 3.06; 95% CI, 1.62-5.78) (Figure 1). The association of television viewing time at mean age 14 years with failure to obtain a postsecondary education was statistically significant in the subsamples of individuals with (OR, 1.51; 95% CI, 1.09-2.10) and without (OR, 2.07; 95% CI, 1.14-3.74) 1 or more attention or learning difficulties at mean age 14 years.
Association of television viewing time at mean age 14 years and postsecondary education through mean age 33 years.
The association of television viewing time at mean age 14 years with subsequent academic failure was mediated by attention difficulties, frequent failure to complete homework, and negative attitudes about school at mean age 16 years (Figure 2). All of the 3 established statistical criteria for mediation were met25,26: (1) baseline television viewing time predicted subsequent academic failure; (2) baseline television viewing time predicted attention problems, low homework completion, and negative attitudes about school; and (3) attention problems, low homework completion, and negative attitudes about school predicted subsequent academic failure after baseline television viewing time was controlled statistically. Attention difficulties at mean age 16 years accounted for 22.9% of the variance, frequent failure to complete homework at mean age 16 years accounted for 9.3% of the variance, and negative attitudes about school at mean age 16 years accounted for 19.5% of the variance in the association of television viewing time at mean age 14 years with subsequent academic failure.
Attention difficulties, infrequent homework completion, and negative attitudes about school as mediators of the association between television viewing at mean age 14 years and secondary school academic failure assessed at mean age 22 years. Youths were identified as having experienced academic failure if they received grades of D (poor) or F (failing) in school, fell 1 or more years behind their peers in school, or failed to complete their secondary education. OR indicates odds ratio; CI, confidence interval. *P<.05. †P<.005; ORs are adjusted ORs controlling statistically for the frequency of television viewing at mean age 14 years.
Change in television viewing time and risk for attention and learning difficulties
The association of television viewing time at mean age 14 years with subsequent academic failure was significantly mediated by television viewing time at mean age 16 years. Television viewing time at mean age 14 years predicted television viewing time at mean age 16 years and subsequent academic failure. Television viewing time at mean age 16 years predicted subsequent academic failure after television viewing time at mean age 14 years was controlled statistically. Among the youths who viewed less than 2 hours of television per day at mean age 14 years, a reduction of 1 or more hours per day in television viewing by mean age 16 years was associated with decreased risk for academic failure through secondary school (OR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.28-0.89). Increased television viewing time was associated with elevated risk for academic failure. In comparison with the youths who watched less than 2 hours of television per day at mean ages 14 and 16 years, those who increased their daily viewing time by 1 or more hours and spent 2 or more hours per day watching television at mean age 16 years were at elevated risk for academic failure (OR, 2.01; 95% CI, 1.05-3.86).
Association of attention and learning difficulties with subsequent television viewing
Youths who received poor grades in school (adjusted OR, 2.22; 95% CI, 1.12-4.41) and youths who reported that they hated school (adjusted OR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.01-2.42) at mean age 14 years were more likely than youths without these difficulties to spend 3 or more hours per day watching television at mean age 16 years. However, no attention or learning problems that were assessed at mean age 14 years predicted aggregate mean television viewing time across the follow-up assessments at mean ages 16 and 22 years when age, sex, parental SES, childhood neglect, and television viewing time at mean age 14 years were controlled.
The findings of the present study are consistent with the hypothesis that frequent television viewing during childhood and adolescence may be associated with elevated risk for the development of attention problems, reduced levels of reading and homework completion, disinterest in school, poor grades, academic failure, and failure to obtain a postsecondary education.6-9,11,13,14,16 In addition, they support the inference that attention difficulties, frequent failure to complete homework, and negative attitudes toward school may each play an important mediating role in the association between extensive television viewing during adolescence and ultimate educational failure. These findings add to a growing body of evidence indicating that frequent entertainment and general audience television viewing during adolescence may be associated with risk for the development of a wide range of cognitive and behavioral deficits that are associated with risk for poor long-term educational achievement.6-9,11,13,14
The findings provide little evidence of bidirectionality in the association of adolescent television viewing with attention and learning difficulties. Only 2 of 14 multivariate analyses that were conducted to investigate associations of baseline attention and learning difficulties with television viewing provided evidence suggesting that attention or learning difficulties may be associated with risk for the incidence of frequent television viewing. The results suggest that although youths with attention or learning problems may spend more time watching television than do youths without these difficulties, this tendency may be unlikely to explain the preponderance of the association between television viewing and attention and learning difficulties during adolescence.
It is important to note that although there is evidence indicating that educational programming may have positive effects on cognitive development during childhood,2 our findings suggest that the benefits of educational programming during childhood may tend to be outweighed by frequent viewing of entertainment and general audience programs during adolescence.2 Research has indicated that most children spend less than 10% of their viewing time watching educational television15 and that educational television viewing tends to decline with age.2 These findings, as well as evidence suggesting that frequent television viewing may be associated with risk for a range of adverse consequences,6-9,11,13,14 suggest that extensive viewing of entertainment and general audience television during childhood and adolescence may account for much of the observed association between overall television viewing time and educational outcomes.2
The limitations of the present study require acknowledgment. Because television viewing content was not assessed, it was not possible to investigate in a precise manner the associations of specific types of television programs with educational outcomes. It will be of interest for future community-based longitudinal studies to investigate the associations of specific types of television programming with educational and intellectual outcomes during adolescence and early adulthood. The age range at the baseline interview was sufficiently wide that 138 individuals were older than 16.3 years at the baseline interview. However, supplemental analyses conducted with the subset of 519 individuals who were aged 16 years or younger at the baseline assessment yielded results and effect sizes that did not differ in a substantive manner from the findings described earlier. It is also important to note that although baseline attention and learning difficulties were controlled statistically in the present study, it is possible that the results were partially attributable to the long-term effects of prior television viewing.
The present findings may have important clinical and public health implications. They suggest that by encouraging youths to spend less than 3 hours per day watching television, parents, teachers, and health care professionals may be able to help reduce the likelihood that at-risk adolescents will develop persistent attention and learning difficulties. The findings are consistent with the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics that children should spend an average of no more than 1 to 2 hours per day watching television.9 It will be of interest for future studies to investigate whether promoting opportunities for developmentally appropriate weekend, summer, and after-school extracurricular activities (eg, arts, crafts, athletics, community and family activities, music, and outdoor activities) may help to reduce risk for the development of attention and learning difficulties during the adolescent years.
Correspondence: Jeffrey G. Johnson, PhD, Box 60, New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Dr, New York, NY 10032 (jjohnso@pi.cpmc.columbia.edu).
Accepted for Publication: December 14, 2006.
Author Contributions: Drs Johnson, Cohen, Kasen, and Brook had full access to all of the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Study concept and design: Johnson, Kasen, and Brook. Acquisition of data: Johnson and Cohen. Analysis and interpretation of data: Johnson. Drafting of the manuscript: Johnson. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Johnson, Cohen, Kasen, and Brook. Statistical analysis: Johnson and Cohen. Obtained funding: Cohen and Brook. Administrative, technical, and material support: Cohen and Brook.
Financial Disclosure: None reported.
Funding/Support: This study was supported by grants MH-36971, MH-38916, MH-49191, and MH-60911 from the National Institute of Mental Health (Dr Cohen) and grant DA-03188 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Dr Brook).
Larson RWVerma S How children and adolescents spend time across the world: work, play, and developmental opportunities. Psychol Bull 1999;125701- 736PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Wright JCHuston ACMurphy KC et al. The relations of early television viewing to school readiness and vocabulary of children from low-income families: the Early Window Project. Child Dev 2001;721347- 1366PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Özmert EToyran MYurdakök K Behavioral correlates of television viewing in primary school children evaluated by the child behavior checklist. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2002;156910- 914PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Bianchi SMRobinson J What did you do today? children's use of time, family composition, and the acquisition of social capital. J Marriage Fam 1997;59332- 344Google ScholarCrossref
Long BHHenderson EH Children's use of time: some personal and social correlates. Elementary Sch J 1973;73193- 199Google ScholarCrossref
Koolstra Cvan der Voort T Longitudinal effects of television on children's leisure-time reading: a test of three explanatory models. Hum Commun Res 1996;234- 35Google ScholarCrossref
Koolstra Cvan der Voort Tvan der Kamp LJ Television's impact on children's reading comprehension and decoding skills: a 3-year panel study. Read Res Q 1997;32128- 152Google ScholarCrossref
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Huston ACWright JCMarquis JGreen SB How young children spend their time: television and other activities. Dev Psychol 1999;35912- 925PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Singer JLTannenbaum PH, ed.ed The power and limits of television: a cognitive-affective analysis. The Entertainment Function of Television. Hillsdale, NJ Lawrence Erlbaum Associates1980;312- 360Google Scholar
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Costello EJEdelbrock CSDuncan MKKalas R Testing of the NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC) in a Clinical Population: Final Report to the Center for Epidemiological Studies, NIMH. Pittsburgh, Pa University of Pittsburgh1984;
Cohen PO'Connor PLewis SAMalachowski B A comparison of the agreement between DISC and K-SADS-P interviews of an epidemiological sample of children. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1987;26662- 667PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
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Adolescent Medicine Media and Youth Pediatrics
Johnson JG, Cohen P, Kasen S, Brook JS. Extensive Television Viewing and the Development of Attention and Learning Difficulties During Adolescence. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161(5):480–486. doi:10.1001/archpedi.161.5.480

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I, too have had the golden/white light experience. At age 60 in 2007, I received a major organ transplant and after awaking, alone, in the recovery room and realizing I had survived, I said a short prayer for strength for my recovery. Instantly I was face to face with my long deceased 20 year old brother and an ancient wise man (God?) in heavy white robes. We conversed briefly, I felt intense warmth and security and my life was changed forever. I was numbed and tears were on my cheeks as a nurse came in, saw my face and said " he was here, wasn't he?" all I could do was nod, yes. There is much more for another time or place.
I just wanted to say, I have always believed in this stuff, but to be honest, I wish it would all go away. My kids are horrified, don't sleep at night, are missing school and it's become increasingly scary at times in my home. Please tell me your all still in business because we need your help!!
Hi, I was checking out teams in central mn and came across your website. Your team seems to be a good group. Since early childhood I have had many paranormal experiences and I always wanted to talk to someone about who wouldn't think I was crazy. I am also curious if you ever do any investigations around St Cloud, and could I participate or "shadow" at one?
Content copyright . centralmnghosthunters. All rights reserved.


James Gunn, the man who more than anyone else helped propel Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy from C-list heroes to beloved big-screen favorites, is officially coming back to write and direct the third film in the franchise. Gunn made the announcement on his Facebook page on Monday, just a few weeks before before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 premieres in theaters.
Gunn confirmed that there will indeed be a third Guardians movie back in March, but it wasn't until his Facebook post that he'd officially signed on to helm Vol. 3. As he explained in the post, there was reason to be hesitant. "There is a history in Hollywood of haphazard endings to trilogies, and I didn't want to become a part of that dishonorable tradition of pretending the third one doesn't exist," he wrote, saying that he only agreed to come back to sign on because he was truly passionate about finishing the job.
"So, yes, I'm returning to write and direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," he states.
"In the end, my love for Rocket, Groot, Gamora, Star-Lord, Yondu, Mantis, Drax, and Nebula — and some of the other forthcoming heroes — goes deeper than you guys can possibly imagine, and I feel they have more adventures to go on and things to learn about themselves and the wonderful and sometimes terrifying universe we all inhabit.
Vol. 3 doesn't have a release date yet, though it will come out sometime after Infinity War, which premieres on May 4, 2018. An Infinity War sequel (originally billed as Part II) will debut the following May 3. Gunn wrote that Infinity War and Vol. 3 will be major turning points for the MCU.


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    <!--

        Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
        contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
        this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
        The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
        (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
        the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at

           http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

        Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
        distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
        WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
        See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
        limitations under the License.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


US size for reference only.Pls check the size info in Size Chart.(PLEASE MEASURE the Length of Bare Foot and Compare with the Size Info).
PLEASE ONLY BUY FROM IFANS THEN YOU CAN GET OUR BRAND GIFT AND BEST SERVICE, IF YOU BUY FROM CHEAP AND FAKE SELLER WE CANNOT RESPONSIBLE FOR IT.


text:
At work with: Lydia Garnett, Accent
Print x Digital
We start the new week with Lydia Garnett (right), who with Lucy Nurnberg creates the biannual magazine Accent. Celebrating people who live their lives on their own terms, Accent has published two print editions since launching as an online quarterly in 2012. We catch up with Lydia as issue three comes together and plans for a new supper club event are announced.
Tell us about your typical Monday at work.
Monday is the one day of the week that we have the whole day working together, so it's totally dedicated to Accent. Depending on where we are in the cycle of issue production, we're either taking meetings, out on shoots, or reading and editing new stories. If the sun's shining, and we've cracked off enough of the day's jobs, we treat ourselves to a game of basketball and a pint with our friends.
Describe the state of your desk and tell us a little about your office.
We don't have an office at the moment — but the kitchen table proves very useful! There's always a cup of coffee on the go and some tunes in the background.
What magazine matters to you most this morning?
Accent! Leading up to the new issue launch, it's the only thing on our mind right now, although we have a backlog of New Yorkers that need reading…
Can you tell us when we might be seeing the next issue of Accent?
The new issue of Accent is landing on June 20 and we'll be celebrating with a big party at the Gallery of Everything in Mayfair, London. More details will be announced soon sign up to our mailing list to be the first to hear about it.
Accent began as an online journal before moving to print. How have events helped that progression?
Back when we were an online quarterly, we made a name for ourselves by hosting diverse events — from intimate gigs to pop-up exhibitions, film screenings and workshops. It helped us create an amazing network and following around the magazine, and have a presence beyond the digital realm. Having established a readership, we were able to take the leap to print. Now we want to think of as many ways as possible to bring the pages to life, starting with our first supper club.
What can you tell us about the supper club?
>We're launching a series of eccentric dinner parties that will bring the magazine to life. It's a supper club with a twist — you sit through three delicious courses of food while being entertained by some of the stars from our issues, and some of Accent's biggest inspirations. Expect to see everything from opera recitals to tabletop vogue ballroom dancing and wild performance art.
Our first event is on Sunday May 14 at Servant Jazz Quarters in London, with an Indian feast from The Little Cooking Pot, Tanqueray Mojitos and some very special guests to be announced. Tickets are available at the Accent shop: shop.accent-magazine.com
Pick a spread from the last issue of Accent and tell us what it says about the magazine.
This is the last spread from our feature with cover star Andrew Logan, the radiant artist and founder of the legendary dress-up pageant Alternative Miss World. We asked Andrew's friends and fans (among them Grayson Perry, Zandra Rhodes and Brian Eno) to tell us what was so special about him. The magazine exists to tell the stories of amazing people in a way that is honest and fully reflective of their individual personalities. We wanted the Andrew Logan profile to be as full of light and character as the man himself.
What's going to be the highlight of this week for you?
The cover shoot for the next issue is taking place this week, with a great team and a very special cover star, and we can't wait to see the results.
What will you be doing after this chat?
We're off to organise a feature with a fabulous psychic medium, stay tuned!
accent-magazine.com
Out now: Cabinet #66
Out now: Hypebeast #28
Out now: NXS #5
At work with: Tom Johnson, Gold Flake Paint


text:
Q: AngularJS : How to make custom Http service more robust for error handling? Hello i have this simple custom AngularJS service for HTTP requests:
angular.module('MaxRelax')
    .factory('httpSrv', function httpSrv($http, $q) {

        return {
            getData: getData
        };

        function getData(method, url) {
            var def = $q.defer();
            $http({method:method, url:url})
                .success(function (data, status, headers, config) {
                    console.log("Success");
                    console.log(status);
                    def.resolve(data);
                })
                .error(function (data, status, headers, config) {
                    console.log("Error");
                    getErrorMessage(status);
                    def.reject("Failed to get");

                });

            return def.promise;
        }

        // I WANT HANDLE ERROR STATES HERE AND RETURN FOMRATTED MESSAGE WITH ERROR
        // DESCRIPTION IN CASE OF THE ERROR STATE (service unavailable, 404, etc..)
        function getErrorMessage(status) {
            console.log(status);
        }
    });

Which is called from the controllers by this way:
httpSrv.getData("GET",APP_CONST.MP3_ACTUAL_VERSION_URL).then(function(data) {
                    console.log(data);
                });

I would like to make this service more robust in the way of the error handling. For example:
httpSrv.getData("GET",APP_CONST.MP3_ACTUAL_VERSION_URL).
.success(function(data) {
            // EVERYTHING IS OK
        });
.error(function(data) {
            // CALL  METHOD getErrorMessage OF THE httpSrv SERVICE to get formatted error message
        });

How i should to update my service to do it in the right way please?
Thanks for any advice.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


When WFN: World Fishing Network, North America's only 24/7 fishing channel, asked Canadians to name the best place to wet a line, loyal anglers from more than 160 different communities nationwide stepped up to tell WFN why their town is Canada's best place to fish. After more than a month of nominations and public voting, 10 of these towns have earned a spot as a finalist in the search for WFN's Ultimate Fishing Town.
The 10 finalists for WFN's Ultimate Fishing Town are: Port Alberni British Columbia; Chilliwack, British Columbia; Dauphin, Manitoba; Nestor Falls, Ontario; Thunder Bay, Ontario; Port Rowan, Ontario; Seeley's Bay, Ontario; Miramichi, New Brunswick; O'Leary, Prince Edward Island; and Nipawin, Saskatchewan.
The final phase of voting begins today at www.wfn.tv/fishingtown and runs through September 28th. The winning community, which will be announced in October, will receive a $25,000 donation to be used towards fishing-related cause(s) and have a 30-minute feature show about fishing in their town air on WFN. There will also be over $7,500 in additional prizes awarded.
"Proud and passionate anglers from more than 160 different towns and cities across Canada tried to stake their claim as WFN's Ultimate Fishing Town, and after a nationwide vote, 10 are left standing," said Mark Rubinstein, President and CEO of World Fishing Network. "We hope every angler across Canada who has ever cast a line will now cast a vote for the place they consider WFN's Ultimate Fishing Town."
The 10 cities and towns advanced to the final round after more than 220,000 votes were cast for the 160 nominated towns and cities. The top two vote-getters in each of the three geographic regions (Ontario, West and Atlantic) advanced to the final round. The other four finalists were selected by WFN based on originality, persuasiveness, energy, the nature of the community organization or cause and the number of on-line votes received. Only votes accumulated during the final round of voting will be used to determine WFN's Ultimate Fishing Town.
The finalists are encouraged to mobilize their supporters to vote. To help, WFN has created easy to use applications at www.wfn.tv/fishingtown that allow users to customize posters and web banners. The site also offers icons for use on various social communication tools such as MSN, Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook, BBM and more. The voting guidelines limit voting from one email address every 12 hours. WFN is closely monitoring votes and removing votes deemed fraudulent.


text:
Legends Cars Champion Rudman Awarded BARC President's Cup
Miles Rudman, the reigning Legends Cars National Championship with MRF Tyres Champion, is once again celebrating this week after being presented with the prestigious 'President's Cup' at the annual British Automobile Racing Club (BARC) Awards.
Sutton Coldfield racer Rudman, who put together a sensational campaign in Legends Cars last year to claim his second overall championship with an incredible 17 race victories, was awarded the President's Cup as the BARC's most successful driver below international level.
The accolade is another richly deserved one for Rudman who, since winning his maiden Legends Cars crown in 2019 during the championship's landmark 25th anniversary season, has become firmly established as one of the most decorated drivers in the all-action category's history.
This year's BARC Awards Evening, which took place at Old Thorns Hotel in Liphook on Saturday, 26th February, marked the first since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was a huge success with more than 250 guests in attendance. Inimitable compere Alan Hyde hosted the evening.
"I'm absolutely shocked, I can't believe that I've won it [the President's Cup] and what a fabulous trophy to receive – it's such an honour", said an overjoyed Rudman, "It's fair to say I had a good season to be honest, it's been fantastic – no complaints. I was on top form all the time, I was hungry to get the championship back and take it home.
"Legends Cars always brings entertainment with it, it's so close and you never know who's going to win. It's all about picking the right time [in the races] and making sure you're in the right place, it's dead competitive and a great formula to race.
"We'll be going for a third [championship] this year, I'm just going to keep it the same as last year but there will be more people trying to challenge. Legends is always competitive and there are loads of fast guys out there that will bring it to me. I'm looking forward to it, I can't wait to defend it."
Championship owner Phil Cooper, who was memorably awarded the Gerry Marshall Trophy at the 2019 BARC Awards to honour his long-standing commitment to motorsport and the philosophy he has for racing, is delighted to see Rudman presented with this year's President's Cup.
"Miles thoroughly deserves this fantastic recognition from the BARC and I'm absolutely elated to see his outstanding season rewarded with such a prestigious trophy", Cooper said, "Winning 17 races over the course of a season in a category as competitive as the Legends Cars National Championship is no mean feat, an incredible performance.
"As our reigning champion, we're obviously delighted Miles is going to be back to defend the title this season. He faces a lot of fantastically talented competition, with huge strength in depth in the championship, but you certainly wouldn't bet against him winning a third crown. It's set to be yet another outstanding season, a packed grid and the very best race action."
By Media|2022-03-01T10:27:06+00:00March 1st, 2022|News|Comments Off on Legends Cars Champion Rudman Awarded BARC President's Cup


This is a peculiar book. It's got a really stunning idea at its heart, which is a corollary of quantum entanglement communications: the idea that, denied anything but perfect virtual telepresence on an alien world, humans could well turn into despotic psychopaths, lording it over their own colonial subjects.
However, for reasons best known to himself, Palmer has chosen to cloak it in the trappings of a comic space opera – the kind of story usually described as a Zany Caper and lovingly wrapped in a cover by Josh Kirby (mayherestinpeace). The story opens with a ragtag bunch of misfits pursuing a career in piracy and kidnapping – IN SPACE! Complete with a kidnapping victim who isn't what we think… but then that was the pirates' plan all along, and it turns out they're not just pirates but revolutionaries, and the story unfolds from there.
The end product reads as though Terry Pratchett, at the point when he first sat down to write The Dark Side of the Sun, had instead been hit by a stray particle of inspiration intended originally for the creative imagination of Alastair Reynolds. The first comparison I thought of was Rob Grant; or taken a little further, darker, more intense, it might have been Deathstalker. It's almost certainly significant that all these examples are very British writers.
Palmer's very good at pacing his revelations out, and we get a good idea of the backstory through the self-absorbed maunderings of Lena, the kidnapping victim, who is less an unreliable narrator than a flagrantly incompetent liar with intermittent flashes of self-awareness.
On the other hand, it's hard to care. The characters aren't exactly two-dimensional, but I'm up to page 346 (I write these reviews as I go along) and the only one I couldn't summarize in a twitter-length is Lena. This is quite likely deliberate, of course – it's absolutely standard for the comic-space-opera form that the characters don't matter any more than the set, and what's important is the mad hijinks and narrow scrapes.
The science is mostly based around string theory, though "rubber band theory" would probably be a more accurate name. This isn't a criticism; I appreciate a good line in technobabble, so long as nobody cares if I skim-read it and get back to the interesting bits. The military strategy, on the other hand, is devastatingly incompetent. Sacrificing millions of soldiers to win a battle, without any narrative explanation of why a sneakier tactic wouldn't work? That's one thing. Doing so when you've already established that your civilization has more than enough skills and resources to build throwaway robots by the million? Oh, dear.
What we never see, throughout the whole book, is any of the Enemy. The Cheo (and yes, that is derived from "CEO") we see at a distance in Lena's diary-excerpt flashbacks, but only her descriptions – nobody else so much as gets a line or a name. Having finished it now, I get the impression Palmer was aiming to do a character-focused piece all about Lena, but didn't know how to write anything SFnal except Red Dwarf episodes. That's an unfair and sweeping generalization, I freely admit, but it's abundantly clear from the tenor of his writing, and especially from his afterword, that he's new-come to SF writing. I'm not sure how far his reading stretches; he namechecks Verne, Asimov, Orwell, Heinlein, Bradbury, Sturgeon, and "a host of others for creating the genre that is now the playground for a whole new generation of writers", and more interestingly he names a couple of planets after Pohl and Kornbluth.
See, that's someone who's just discovered SF imagery and really wants to share it with everyone, but doesn't realize that there are thousands of people in his own country alone who read hundreds of SF books a year and might well read nothing else. It's so sweet!


text:
"What will survive of us is love": A Tragedy in Three Acts
Posted on May 17, 2012 by Erinys
I'm going to blame Navi and Matty for this post.
To start, I'm not really romantic in the slightest. I hate chick lit and chick flicks with a passion I normally reserve for brussel sprouts and bad drivers. I got my worst ever mark in English Literature for an essay on Romeo and Juliet because I couldn't imagine anything crazier than killing yourself for love. Killing your parents for denying it made far more sense to my teenage brain (yes, I might have had a few issues back then). It was a B and I was grumpy for weeks and then to add insult to injury I had to read the part of Juliet as we acted out the play in class. Which brings me to Pyramus and Thisbe, the lovers who inspired Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and their Azerothian equivalents Pyramond and Theleste.
As much as I'd love to re-write lore (and to be honest, my version was better :p), I'm not Blizzard so to make amends for my essay back then (and all the stony looks I directed at my teacher), here is my take on the achievement <A Tragedy in Three Acts> via Ovid, Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams.
Yes, I have tricks in my pocket, I have things up my sleeve. But I am the opposite of a stage magician. He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion.
Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie.
Archaeology is all about piecing together a story via the bits and pieces we dig up and this achievement is no different. All we know about these "star-crossed lovers" is what they left behind and should we get the context wrong, then we're left with nothing more than "illusion that has the appearance of truth". I think there are two possible solutions to this puzzle but as with every mystery, figuring out the order of the clues is important. So what do we know?
We have the two introductory pieces, the ones which set the stage and pave the way for what comes after. A piece belonging to each of the protagonists. For Theleste that's a malachite and silver hair pin.
Engraved beneath the setting for the precious stone are the words 'To Theleste, on her twenty-fourth birth year.'
There is no clue who gave her this, it could have been Pyramond or it could have been her parents or a whole host of other characters lost in the mists of time.
For Pyramond, it's a cloak clasp.
This clasp is fashioned of lacquered wood carved to resemble stag antlers. On the reverse is engraved the name 'Pyramond' in Darnassian.
From that we can deduce that either Pyramond's family name had something to do with a stag, perhaps he was another doomed relative of poor Fandral. Alternatively perhaps the clasp was a gift from his parents when he started training to become a Druid. These items have to come first because they're the only two without emotion invested in them. Every story needs a beginning and these are clearly ours.
So the scene is set, the characters introduced but where do we go from here. There are a couple of possible steps depending on how we read the story. A relationship has to be established between them, which leads towards the delicate music box.
This box is of sandalwood with a tiny clockwork elf and nightsaber within. Although the winding mechanism is no longer functional, you can imagine the two would dance together while music played. Engraved on the bottom: 'To my dearest Theleste.'
Now as I've already mentioned, I'm no expert in romance but I do have a music box or two. One contains a slightly dejected looking Ballerina and the other contains two lovers waltzing together for all eternity. One you give a child or a friend, the other you give the object of your affections. So what's in Theleste's music box? An Elf dancing with a nightsaber… now that sounds more humorous than anything else. Is that really something you give the love of your life? Unless they're a nightsaber I'm erring towards no. Then there is the inscription, "dearest". That's not the most expressive or emotionally driven language. It is however perhaps something that someone else would write on your behalf. Could Theleste be a suitable girl chosen by Pyramond's parents, one he feels no real affection for and is just going through the motions.
On the other hand, we know that nightsabers are close to revered in Night Elf society. They function as both pets and mounts so perhaps Theleste had a nightsaber she was fond of and that's why Pyramond chose this particular model. Of course, he might just have been as lousy a gift buyer as my father who has almost been divorced many many times on Christmas day for his "interesting" choice of presents for my mother. In the original story as told by Ovid, it's a lioness who is the cataclysm for our lover's deaths so perhaps the nightsaber is a play on that.
But a lioness fresh from the kill, her jaws foaming, smeared with the blood of cattle, came to slake her thirst at the nearby spring.
It could have been his mistake in having the name engraved that led to their discovery and inevitable doom. So it's here things start to get interesting.
Once the relationship is established, we move on to the first point of conflict.
While this elven scroll case is graced with much ornamentation, it is the message inside, written in Darnassian, that is of the most interest: 'Pyramond, under no circumstances are you to spend time with that tavern wench. Your mother and I forbid it. She is far beneath your station.'
Now the obvious conclusion is that Theleste is the "tavern wench" but does the hairpin point at someone far below his station? The flavour text indicates a "precious" stone and this clearly expensive scroll case is made of silver too so would the hair pin belong to a girl who waits tables in a tavern? Possibly because we don't know who gave her the pin, it could have easily been one of the tavern's richer customers, possibly even Pyramond's dad. In my experience when people say "Your mother/father and I forbid it", it's usually one parent speaking for both and trying to give their words extra authority by adding in the silent partner. This leads us to two possible conclusions. Either way Theleste is a victim in all of this but she could be either the tavern wench his parents were so dismissive of or she's the woman he's supposed to marry. She's Paris to Pyramond's Juliet.
Remarkably, you managed to find an entire menagerie of these elven glass animals in their original storage container. While some of the animals have understandably suffered cracks and chips, it is clear that the head of the stag has been deliberately severed. The initial 'T' is carved on the bottom of the chest.
Here we deviate slightly from the traditional story of thwarted love as shown by Ovid and Shakespeare. It's clear that this item is a reference to The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. So if the stag represents Pyramond just like the unicorn represents Laura in the play what does that tell us? Well if Theleste is the tavern wench, then I imagine that perhaps Pyramond, who had finally given in to his parents demands went to see her one last time. To tell her that it was over, had to be over and just like Laura and Jim, just like the Elf and the Nightsaber, they danced to the music box. Somehow in the process, the stag got knocked over and lost his head.
It strikes against the shelf of Laura's glass collection, and there is a tinkle of shattering glass. Laura cries out as if wounded.
Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie
However accidental damage doesn't really fit in with "deliberately severed" so who broke it and why? Did Theleste wait until he was gone, running home to his parents and to the life he was meant to have from birth before carefully separating the head from the body? Did Pyramond in a fit of frustration as he realised that he wasn't quite the man he wanted to be break it himself? Either are possible. In the original play, once the unicorn loses it's horn, Laura becomes normal, nothing special, "Now it's just like the other horses" so how could that translate into this story? Well since it's Jim who breaks the unicorn which stands for Laura, perhaps it's Theleste who ruins the stag because she can't quite bring herself to hurt the man it represents. According to Ovid, Pyramus was meant to be very attractive so perhaps destroying the head was her way of ruining the face that had brought her nothing but misery. The fantasy of their happy life together was over, reality had once again managed to intrude.
Finally we come to the end piece, a cracked crystal vase. I found the choice of words here interesting. At first I thought it was cracked from it's years in the ground waiting for us to come along and dig it up but none of the other items indicate wear and tear. Their buried years haven't effected them, the hair pin isn't tarnished, the cloak clasp isn't chipped. Which suggests the crack happened before the vial got lost in the dirt and the dust.
A note in rich vellum is tied to the bottle. 'Dearest P, now that I know we can never be together, it is my wish to drink this draught of spider venom. If this note finds you, my hope is that you might do the same. May Elune watch over our souls.'
Perhaps it cracked as it fell from Theleste's lifeless fingers but in that case why write "If this note finds you"? If you're killing yourself for love surely you'd do it somewhere that the objection of your affections would find you. Both Romeo and Pyramus didn't need to write down their instructions because their loves found them, bloody and dying. So how else could it have been broken? Maybe Pyramond's father (who is clearly the villain of the piece) found the vial before his son and dropped it in his disdain. Perhaps Pyramond himself, proving Friar Laurence correct,
So soon forsaken? Young men's love then lies
Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.
decided that he could after all live without Theleste cracked it as he disposed of it.
Separating illusion from truth and truth from illusion is impossible, unless Blizzard decide to write their own short story concerning the "real" fate of these lovers, all we're left with are fragments of illusion filled in by our own experiences. The romantics amongst us, I'm sure will have these two entwined in death as in life, echoing Larkin's words.
Time has transfigures them into
Untruth. The stone fidelity
They hardly meant has come to be
Their final blazon, and to prove
Our almost-instinct almost true:
To the cynics this story probably has a very different ending. Pyramond never seeing that last letter from his love or perhaps choosing life over death. There are after all plenty of other fish in the sea. Another possible scenario and one I have have to admit appeals to me would see a vengeful and abandoned Theleste seeking revenge. Without bodies we can't even be sure that either of them died of anything, let alone spider venom. A note and poison doesn't prove anything so perhaps she sent the poison hoping to play on his guilt for abandoning her. Thinking that perhaps that last vestige of love he had for her would push him into drinking the venom.
In the end we'll never know the truth but I like to think that doesn't matter. At the risk of sounding like a certain British high street bank, it's the journey not the destination which is important. Pyramond and Theleste regardless of what happened to them have proved food for thought, have been discussed and have inspired people. I spent last night re-reading Ovid, Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams because of them and that's pretty good going for two characters who are barely a footnote in a game like WoW. I wish people who are so dismissive of computer games would see them properly rather than just "through a glass, darkly".
Filed under: Archeology, Random Musing | Tagged: A Tragedy in Three Acts, Archaeology, Ovid, Pyramond, Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, Theleste, Warcraft, WoW |
« Professor Teasel and the Highborne Soul Mirror Just when I thought I couldn't be surprised any more… »
Navimie, on May 18, 2012 at 10:55 am said:
What a great in depth look at Pyramond and Theleste! And I love being blamed for the creation of awesome posts!
tomeoftheancient, on May 18, 2012 at 3:51 pm said:
When I sometimes feel that I might, just might, be spending too much time in Azeroth I come here and read. I go away feeling fine knowing that I hang around with such an erudite crowd. Loved it!
mataokashaman, on May 18, 2012 at 4:27 pm said:
I was hoping for further investigations of this tale. My own version I wrote for Bear was full of holes. Now I am wondering if the broken stag could represent Malfurion…I have a half-baked theory. Still think Tyrande made the only choice she could but not the one she wanted. I zany type all my thoughts here on my lite phone keypad, so please be patient. Excellent post.
See? Zany type? What the blazes…?
You shouldn't have said anything, I thought it was some new thing I'd never heard about and I was all impressed that you knew how to zany type!
LOL! Okay – it is a new thing! Zany typing is all the rage!
harpysnest, on May 19, 2012 at 11:10 am said:
If that were me typing on my phone, it would be more than one word which came across cryptic.
I was thinking about the triangle of Malfurion, Illidan and Tyrande when I wrote the archaeology post. Did she choose the wrong brother? In some regards they're very like Thor and Loki (I'd totally go for Loki but then I'm drawn to power hungry guys with huge chips on their shoulders … although my husband is more of a Thor in a kilt), don't know if you saw the comparison of a picture of Loki, horns and all looking broody and one of Illidan doing much the same. (http://belf4life.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/miscellany-loki-illidan.html) in case you didn't.
Also in the Stormrage novel, a bit of the text gave the impression that Malfurion wanted her because his brother did. Not necessarily the healthiest start for a relationship but then I don't like Malfurion one little bit so… totally biased.
Not having read any of that, those were my thoughts too, simply based on gut instinct! That, and then confirmed by their dialogue exchange in Well of Eternity. Malfurion tells her to hush?! Gods, man! Druid! Whatever! Help a sister out and get her some more damn arrows! She seems so diminished now: what is the lesson here? Choose safety and grow cankles, or have the brief moment of glory with the bad boy? Ah….c'est l'amour!
Navimie, on May 19, 2012 at 1:59 am said:
I never thought your version was full of holes. The thing is open to interpretation remember!
This is why I chose to study English Lit at University. I love the fact that as long as you can back up your answer there is no real wrong conclusion. Sure some might get you some strange looks in class but it's the argument that matters not the answer. We all bring different things to the table, based on our experiences, ideas and whether we read it at three in the morning drunk. Regardless of what Blizzard think, or you and I… all possible versions are valid.


Enchanted Garden is a sparkling, contemplative showcase solo for late beginners by Jennifer Eklund. This piece is a gentle way to introduce the key of G-flat major, can easily be taught by rote, and provides an opportunity to work on rubato with students in the early stages of lessons.
Student Saver! A middle school student of mine picked this from 3 choices for the spring recital. She practices some on her own, but not a lot. A week after receiving this piece, she came to her next lesson with parts of this memorized, she had worked on it so much! She is in love with this piece! Thank you, Jennifer!
Beautiful piece! Sounds way harder than it really is. Can't wait to have this perform at the next recital!
Wow, that's pretty! I can't wait to try it out!
A great beginner piece for all ages, but I love it especially for older beginners. What a great opportunity to introduce rubato, key signatures, movement around the keyboard and more in a sophisticated sounding piece that will appeal to all ages.
A delicate & positively delightful piece for beginners! It sounds difficult but is very simple. This will be perfect for any recital stage.


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Learning a second language is a long and difficult process, and it never really ends. Even native speakers are consistently acquiring new vocabulary. Most people tend to be either too modest or too confident with their second language ability.
Finally, tell the interviewer what you are currently doing, or what you are planning to do, to further improve your language ability. For example, if you are attending a language school, or if you have a private tutor, let the interviewer know.
Do not mistake fluency for speed. It is much better to speak slowly and be understood than to try and speak quickly and risk miscommunication. Successful communicators have the ability to get their point across without difficulty on the listener's part. This is what is meant by fluency.
Don't try to "impress" with convoluted vocabulary. Stick to vocabulary that you know and are comfortable using. Never use words that you are not 100% sure of the meaning, and never use casual language or slang.
Make a conscious effort to speak a little slower than usual. Nerves usually make people ramble, or speak more quickly than they normally would.
Leave pauses if you need to in order to gather your thoughts and prepare your next sentence. Don't feel you have to fill the gaps with unnecessary "waffle".
Inform the interviewer if you need thinking time. Tell them, "That is a good question, let me think for a moment". Interviewers do not expect instant answers, especially for more challenging questions.
This is what people are generally most nervous about. There is a fear of not being able to understand the questions, or misunderstanding what the interviewer was trying to say.
Don't be afraid of asking the interviewer to speak more slowly if that is what you need.
It is not always necessary to understand 100% of what was said in order to be able to effectively answer. Usually, by picking out the key words you should be able to easily understand what is being said.
Don't get stuck on words that you don't know if they are not relevant or important to the question. This prevents you from hearing the rest of the sentence.
If there is a key word that you don't know, ask the interviewer for clarification. Don't try to guess the meaning, as you will risk miscommunication.
Above all, if you don't understand the question, be honest and ask the interviewer to repeat the question. This will be appreciated much more than a hesitant and ultimately incorrect answer.
If you are nervous about taking an interview in a second language, speak to your consultant. They may be able to arrange an interview prep meeting, and practice some questions with you.
Copyright 2019 PINNACLE Consulting Group K.K.


May 19, 2019, 1–2 p.m.
Whether sacred cats or loyal dogs, animal doubles or everyday pets, animals are everywhere at the Walters. Consider your own relationship to animals as we look at the range of roles that animals have held over time.