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Interviews/Private Blog
Archives!
Targets Photos
Sacrifice Photo Shoot
Versailles. "I'm lying down like I'm sleeping but my eyes are slightly open, as if to say I'm hardly there, just barely able to look back on all I'm singing about and keep going. I love performing these songs live, but I think their greater impact will be in a more intimate place, where a listener who is hurting can be alone with the emotions I am expressing. My hope is that people out there will hear these, connect with them and understand where I have been. If I can in any way help them to ease their pain and feel better about their own lives, I think I've achieved my goal of helping people heal through the power of music."
Versailles- Solo Artist, brings what some have described as an "intoxicating, dark synth, sexual-based gloomy yet erotic adventure into an orchestra led by Versailles' brilliant ringleader, Ms. Dianna St. Hilaire, which leaves the listener eager for more." Versailles is one of the best upcoming artists of the evolution of the future of music. Often referred to as the "Gothic Tori Amos," Dianna has delved into writing songs that blend Depeche Mode, Goldfrapp, Lykki Li, Foster The People, and Madonna.
Versailles has attracted international interest via radio, film and live performances. Versailles has toured nationally, playing with artists including Ego Likeness, Voltaire, New Model Army, Chant, and Bella Morte. Versailles was most recently in the indie film "Black Room Doom," written by notorious psycho Svengali producer Kim Fowley, who has co-written/produced songs for Kiss, Joan Jett, Alice Cooper, Helen Reddy, and the first all-female rock band, The Runaways. Versailles is also featured on the score for upcoming UK production of Rob Hurtt's " Weir Inn Estate." In 2011 Versailles also charted on Billboard for the song "Fade"off the Broken Dolls CD.
The songs are dark and ominous, yet fun and inviting–Synthpop sounds with distinct melody lines and aggressive orchestrations. Songs encompass a wide variety of subject matter, including love, vampires, war, the human soul, strength, and struggle. Now bringing light into the ashes, and determined through music to guide the lonely and heartbroken out of the abyss.
Versailles was on the ballot for the 55th Grammy Awards for her album "Pages" that you can find on iTunes. The album pages combines songs from many years of Versailles progression as an artist. The latest song "Cold" being the 8th track on the album is currently in production for a new music video. The album can be downloaded on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/pages/id556167047
For 2013 Versailles released an album with Kim Fowley, yes that's right, Kim Fowley. This album is called Targets.
"The "Targets" album by Versailles, covers such topics as Older Women Chasing Younger Men, Spiritual Searches, Outer & Inner Body Remakes, Female Excitement, Human Happiness, The Love Of Dancing, Teen Queen Heartbreak, Drama Queen Mystery, Ugly Guy Revelations, Medical Madness, Video Game Adventures and Dating Heartbreak.
Elements of Pop Music/Bubble Gum/Euro Rock & Pop/Piano School/ Far East Moods/ Tragic Dance Floor/Culture Break Down/Bad Girl Confessions/Ugly Guy Pain/Hospital Breakdowns/Cyber Space Cops and Robbers Chasing & First Love Farewells. ..is what the Mood/Music sounds like."-Kim Fowley
Versailles aka Dianna St. Hilaire was born in Modesto, CA. She lived throughout the United States in places like Alaska, New York, New Mexico, Mexico, Virginia, Connecticut & The Virgin Islands. She has traveled extensively throughout the United States and abroad. She began as Versailles Suicide back in 2001 releasing an album in 2002 called "Fallen Angel" under that name. After 2003 she dropped the Suicide and became known as Versailles. As of now Versailles has released 4 Studio Albums and 4 EP's. Also a single called "Kiss" in 2003.
Versailles has played various shows on the Sunset Strip including The Rainbow, The Roxy & The Viper Room. She has shared the stage with artists like Voltaire, New Model Army, Modwheelmood, Ego Likeness, Bella Morte, Kim Fowley, Bella Lune, Native Fauna, Programmed For Pleasure, TV, Demonika & The Darklings, Peeling Grey and Hellblinki.
Versailles has been on 4 Cleopatra compilation CD's including "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" Tribute to the Smiths, Gothic Divas, "A Gothic Acoustic Tribute to NIN", & A Tribute To She Wants Revenge.
Versailles Discography
2002-Fallen Angel EP- Under the Name Versailles Suicide. (Produced by Mike White)
Evileye
1. Cemetery Man
2. Little Dead Kitten
3. Fallen Angel
4. Shadow Behind Me
Versailles Suicide EP cover
Fallen Angel was Versailles First CD released under the name Versailles Suicide. Recorded in a friends basement on a small 8 track mixer on the first ever home digital recording methods, using Fruitty Loops and Cool Edit Pro back in 2001. Features a ribbon mic on the song Little Dead Kitten and car parts hung from chains and hit with metal poles for drums on the song Cemetery Man. This album was Versailles' first attempt and writing her own music. Fallen Angel gained much popularity in the 2000's in the local Albuquerque club scene. The song Little Dead Kitten was later released on a Compilation CD. Although the CD was never released as an actual Production CD it is available for purchase at Versailles shows as a CD-R that is hand printed and handmade by Versailles herself.
2002-Burque Love 4-Compilation CD (Produced by Mike White)
Track 16-Little Dead Kitten
2003-Live Your Life (Produced By Mike White)
1.Cemetery man
2. Fire Ring
3. Whispering WIllow Tree
5. Crystal's Last Glance
6. Live Your Life
10. These Eyes
Cover of Live Your Life
Versailles released her first full length album in 2003 under the name Live Your Life. This album reached the far corners of Versailles creativity and ability. Live Your Life was not only Versailles first album but her first attempt at production as well. In early 2003 she moved from New Mexico to Los Angeles to attend the Musicians Institute. While there she completely isolated herself to work on her full length album. Using some songs she already had produced from Mike White she followed her training and his examples to do the best job possible at doing a home recording. She released the full length album under Evileye Records and printed 1000 copies for world wide distribution. The album delves into the depths of her psyche to pull out her deepest darkest memories, longing, sadness and desire. The album was created with the need to help others deal with their pain and overcome the sad memories we all have of loss. A realization that their is something grater than the self. Hope is possible.
2003-Kiss Single (Produced by Dianna St. Hilaire)
1. Kiss
2. Segmented
3. Unhappiness
Kiss CD By Versailles
Kiss is Versailles first single. Artwork done by Versailles. Produced, Mixed and Mastered by Versailles. This album was a spur of the moment creation based out of a curiosity of the creation of electronic music. Kiss is the main track with 2 b-sides Segmented & Unhappiness.
2005-Believe EP (Produced by Shut Up And Play Studios)
2. Lamentations
3. You're My Disaster
4. Believe (Electric Dead Tree Mix)
Versailles Believe CD
In 2005 is when it all fell together. This was Versailles first EP with a full band behind her. With Rod Arias on Drums and Andy Bettis on Guitar. The Believe EP was recorded in Los Angeles at "Shut Up And Play" studios by George Kerhulas & Randy Hill. Additional strings and bass lines were played by George and Randy. The food was great and the company was fantastic. The piano parts were played on a small spinet piano. The CD ends with a remix of Believe. All sound effects were done on Dianna's Prophet 600.
2005-A Gothic Acoustic Tribute to NIN (Produced by Shut Up and Play Studios)
Track 1-Something I Can Never Have
Versailles was approached in 2006 to do a cover of NIN. She of course picked her favorite song "Something I Can Never Have". This led up to a 3 song run with her also doing covers of The Smiths and She Want's Revenge.
2006-Gothic Divas (Produced by Gregory Butler)
Track 1-"What Difference Does It Make"
2006- A Tribute to She Wants Revenge (Produced by Gregory Butler)
Track 6- She Loves Me She Loves Me Not
2007-A Tribute to The Smiths (Produced by Gregory Butler)
Track 10-What Difference Does It Make
2008-Broken Dolls (Produced by Shut Up and Play Studios)
1. Legion
2. Wendy's Razorblades
3. Fade
4. Once
5. Broken Dolls
7. 10%
9. Run Away
10. Massacre
12. Jane Says
13. Speak To Me
14. You're My Disaster
Versailles Broken Dolls CD
The year 2008 was amazing. With her full band Versailles set out on yet another journey to expand on the once created Believe album. She had been writing intensely for the last 2 years. She narrowed it down from 25 songs to just 14 for the new album. This album really got down to her core self and her ongoing struggle with abuse and neglect. She wrote an album that told a story. A story of a little girl that could only look up and see darkness. Perhaps the darkest of them all is Wendy's Razorblades. Written about a room mate who struggled with suicide. "Often many people decide that pain and suffering is worthless and pointless. But as with everything in life it does serve a purpose in that moment, to teach us to love eachother and come together in our darkest times. A world without darkness would mean that the light would simply not be special." Versailles hopes to cure others in their darkest times with these lyrics and these melodies. They sooth the soul by simply relating to the person listening who can then move on and heal.
The album was recorded over a 6 month time period at Shut Up & Play Studios. Photo credit on the album is Morningstar Sargenti. Mixed and Mastered by George Kerhulas, Randy Hill & Edward Shemansky. Additional instruments were played by Randy Hill, Edward Shemansky and George Kerhulas. Additional Vocals were by Lucy Levinson. Dianna St. Hilaire is main piano & vocal. The album includes a wurlitzer & leslie. Versailles was very happy to get a chance to sing out of one of the same mics that John Lennon himself sung out of. "Studio Bonus".
2009-Unscene Magazine Compilation
Track 5- Wendy's Razorblades
2010- Darkest Hours Compilation CD-Songs To Die For
Track 5- Massacre (Live)
Track 11= Wendy's Razorblades (Live)
2010-Wendy's Razorblades EP (Produced By Dianna St. Hilaire)
1. Wendy's Razorblades (Original)
2. With You
3. Masquerade
4. Tear It Apart
Versailles Wendy's Razorblades CD
After such a successful album Versailles created the EP Wendy's Razorblades. This had 3 new songs and a new version of Wendy's Razorblades not on the Broken Dolls Album. This was mixed, mastered & recorded at Evileye Records. It combines traditional classical piano music with modern electronica.
2011- Sacrifice EP (Produced by Dianna St. Hilaire & Eric Greedy)
2. Game
3. One With Me
4. Take My Life
Versailles Sacrifice CD
After Versailles tour in 2009 with Bella Morte & Ego Likeness she got influenced to do a new album. This was EP called Sacrifice. It was Versailles first EBM album. The songs subject matter is a bit more fun and upbeat. It speaks of strength and struggle, vampires, lust, love, desire, and sacrifice. Versailles struggle with darkness was ending. This album has many other players including, Versailles Drummer at the time Diesel on conga, Stephanie Rose on Bass, Trinity & Shaun Richards on guitar. All songs were written and produced by Versailles. Co-produced, Mixed and Mastered by Eric Greedy. This was Versailles first album to get Distribution with BFM Digital. Now it is on Orchard.
2012-Pages CD (Produced by Dianna St. Hilaire, Eric Greedy, & Shut Up and Play Studios)
5. Massacre
7. Don't Walk Away
8. Cold
Versailles- Pages Cd
The Pages CD came out in 2012 and was a compilation of B-sides, Broken Dolls & Sacrifice. This album included the newest Versailles song "Cold". The video was shot in early 2013 in Puerto Rico by Francis Gonzalez. It was edited by Dianna St. Hilaire @ Evileye Records. This was Versailles first album ever to be placed in the Grammy Ballot for the 2012 Grammy Awards. Versailles worked closely at this time with Al Gomez of Big Noise.
2012-Gothy Horror Picture Show-Compilation CD(Produced by Dianna St. Hilaire)
Track 7-Eddie's Teddy
2013-Targets CD(Produced by Kim Fowley)
1. Toxic Cougar
2. Deep Inside
3. Design Yourself
4. I'm Excited
5. Happy Tear Drops
6. Disappointed
7.Queen Of The Sinister Freaks
8. Don't Date Ugly Guys
9. Silver Needles, Golden Tears
10. Targets
11. The Long Goodbye
Versailles Targets CD
Targets is Versailles Latest CD released in 2013. It was produced by Kim Fowley and mixed and mastered at Studio 5109 by Mike Wolf. The album features many artists including The Fabulous Miss Wendy, Claire Noizee, & Severa Miles. The album includes songs co-written by Versailles & Kim Fowley for the movie "Black Room Doom" including "I'm Excited & Don't Date Ugly Guys". This album was written over a period of 2 years in and out of the studio. Starting with a cheap Casio Keyboard with broken keys in Kim's house to a full blow production. It has influences of the The Runaways, Tori Amos, David Bowie and Kate Bush. Most songs were done in 1 take on vocals and piano. The song Toxic Cougar has Kim singing background vocals.
You can check out Dianna St. Hilaire's newest project Oparu at the following link http://oparumusic.com
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Two Downtown shootings send four to hospital New Year's Day
Two seprate sincidents sent four to area hospitals early Wednesday
Two Downtown shootings send four to hospital New Year's Day Two seprate sincidents sent four to area hospitals early Wednesday Check out this story on cincinnati.com: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2020/01/01/two-downtown-shootings-send-four-hospital-new-years-day/2792316001/
Jennie Key, Cincinnati Enquirer Published 7:45 p.m. ET Jan. 1, 2020
Several people were reportedly shot in the area of Sycamore Street and Central Parkway early Wednesday morning. (Photo: Fox19)
Cincinnati police were busy investigating two early-morning shootings on Sycamore Street, Downtown Wednesday.
Preliminary investigations do not indicate that the incidents were connected.
Police say at about 2:30 a.m., a male was shot while in his vehicle by an unknown suspect in the 1100 block of Sycamore Street.
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Cincinnati Police Lt. Steve Saunders said the victim drove himself to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he received treatment for non-life-threatening injuries. There was no information about the victim, and the release sent by Saunders, who is the department's public information officer, said the investigation is ongoing.
About 30 minutes later, at 3 a.m., police said three people were shot after a physical altercation ensued among a group of females.
Saunders said two males and one female were taken to UCMC.
One of the males has possibly life threatening injuries and the additional male and female sustained non-life threatening injuries.
A person of interest was taken into custody and charged with unrelated felonies.
This investigation also remains ongoing.
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Read or Share this story: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2020/01/01/two-downtown-shootings-send-four-hospital-new-years-day/2792316001/
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Please allow me to take a moment and express my sincerest gratitude for the work of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, for recognizing extraordinary achievements in science and humanity. Few awards come with the prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize, and for good reason.
Given the closed procedure for nominations, limiting nominees to be submitted by specific groups or persons, seeking a nomination for a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize is a very challenging task, but in the case of Naoto Matsumura, I feel that this is well worth the trouble.
In March of 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the shore of Japan, and was soon followed by a Tsunami. This caused the destruction of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, and immense loss of life for residents of the region, over 1,600 from the immediate disaster conditions, and hundreds of thousands more thereafter have been estimated, many from radiation and mental health effects. This did not account for the loss of life for wildlife and domestic animals of the same region.
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Bit of English
NZ Finance Minister Bill English is awesome. I love every last bit of this.
"With respect to so-called urban sprawl, I think that's a nonsense. If you're against urban sprawl and that means lower to middle income Kiwis can't buy a house and you can't build an apartment in the middle of Auckland for less than NZ$600,000, then that's too high a price to pay. And if it means driving up house prices in a way that wrecks the economy then that's too high a price to pay," he said.
"Funnily enough the people who are most worried about urban sprawl live in the middle of the city. They don't get to see it. How much time to they really spend out the end of the Western motorway or Botany? None actually. They think you should be able to walk to the countryside. Well...welcome to Gore. If you're really mad, that's where you should go. But they don't. They stay in Auckland Central," he said to laughter from the audience.
"What's actually happened is that the local authorities were keen for a denser city, but the inhabitants weren't, so they've jettisoned a fair bit of the densification aspect," he said.
"So if Auckland wants to grow now, it has to grow out because you don't want it to grow up. Now that's a fair choice, but please don't stop it from growing out as well, otherwise we'll get another few years of 15% house price growth and you get a real mess when it crashes," he said, adding the special housing areas agreed under the Housing Accord with the Auckland Council "do spread the city because the planning rules don't let you do anything else."
"We're indifferent as a government as to whether you grow up or out. But you said don't grow up, so we expect to help you grow out."
English said people making planning decisions in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch needed to understand they were making decisions about New Zealand's largest asset class, where the decisions they make affect the whole economy, not just your neighbourhood.
"Of course there's tension there, but we are pretty determined to turn ourselves into an affordable housing market," he said.
"There's no obvious reason why little old New Zealand should be one of the most expensive housing markets in the developed world. It really puts pressure on our households. It's one of the reasons why we have interest free student loans, working for families, subsidised early childhood care and savings are low," he said.
High mortgage costs were a reason why the Government provided payments supplementing incomes costing billions, "and a lot of that is driven by planning decisions in this city."
When land use regulations are all messed up, everything else gets screwed up too.
Oz economist Leith van Onselen's right:
@EricCrampton @bernardchickey You are very lucky to have someone of the calibre of English. Runs rings around Australia's clowns.
— Leith van Onselen (@leithvo) February 27, 2014
But while he pines for sound people on the Australian right, I wish that the New Zealand left could match the Australians. Here's Australian Council of Trade Unions economist Matt Cowgill on housing in Australia:
There's a trade-off at play here, one that can't be wished away or ignored. With a growing population, you can't restrict rising density in established suburbs, prevent sprawl on the urban fringes, and prevent housing from being unaffordable. Pick two out of the three. The urge to preserve historic neighbourhoods, the desire the conserve all the green bits around our cities, and the wish to maintain affordable housing are all noble impulses with which I sympathise. But, again, we can't have them all.
Which is pretty much the same thing that Bill English said. Sound economics, left or right, is on the same page on this stuff. Stupid land use regs hurt poor people while benefiting middle and upper class homeowners.
Here in NZ, we're stuck with the Council of Trade Unions' Helen Kelly.
Bill English, in the speech linked above, talked about selling off some of the Housing New Zealand stock of housing so that they could better match social housing to locational needs. It makes no sense to have a Housing NZ house in an expensive part of town when selling it off could fund social housing for three families instead. Here's English:
"In housing and other areas we will continue recycling taxpayer assets to free up money for reinvestment in areas where there is genuine demand," he said.
Later in the questions and answer session with the audience, he expanded on the plans.
"We actually don't need to own all those houses to help those people who need help,"he said, referring to the Government's partnership with the likes of the Salvation Army, the New Zealand Housing Foundation and IHC's Idea Services.
English said the Goverment wanted to assess a family's need for housing in an area close to jobs and schools, which was difficult to do with its existing stock of 60,000 to 70,000 houses. "You've got to stick them in a house that's empty," he said.
"That will mean growing the non-Housing Corp social sector and redeveloping the Housing Corp assets."
English said there were big tracts of Auckland such as Mt Roskill and Tamaki where "there's endless potential for supplying medium housing to the Auckland housing market if we redevelop those areas."
"But our top priority is to meet the needs of the people in the houses first, and then redevelop what we don't need in order to supply the market better, and there could be a lot of that happen."
Here's how Helen Kelly responded.
Govt planning 2 sell off up to 1/3 of State Housing stock 2 private sector. Adding 2 the housing crisis. They wld sell their grandmothers.
— Helen Kelly (@helenkellyCTU) February 27, 2014
Pure partisan idiocy. Why oh Why is the NZ left so freaking dumb?
Labels: Bill English, housing, New Zealand
Daniel Fri Feb 28, 12:37:00 pm GMT+13
What English is saying rings true, but I still think we should nuke the suburbs.
RobS Fri Feb 28, 03:37:00 pm GMT+13
All comes down to trust doesn't it? Bill English says - sell X (sensible reason), then use the money to buy Y (consequence of the sensible reason). Helen Kelly hears - sell X (sensible reason), pocket the profits.
If someone was certain that the purchase of Y would follow and they still complained, that would be insane.
David Farrar Fri Feb 28, 07:40:00 pm GMT+13
Good post. I quoted the Australian union economist on radio today. It is depressing how stupid most unions in NZ are compared to their Australian counterparts.
paul scott Fri Feb 28, 08:36:00 pm GMT+13
jesus Christ Eric, we worked like dogs to defeat old yellow tooth Geoff Palmers RMA and we lost. We lost completely and absolutely. We fought the bloody Nat Government and that wimp Simon Upton and we lost,. Here is to your memory forever Owen McShane .
Akld Commercial lawyer Tue Mar 04, 09:42:00 am GMT+13
I have only recently discovered your blog, thanks to DPF, and like the way in which you have dissected and debunked a few my myths using logic and some sensible economic analysis (in a way that I can understand). So much so that I have suggested to a Canterbury student in my household that they might see whether there is scope for adding an Economics paper or two as a tack-on to their degree.
Bill is at least half right with his skewering of some Auckland nimbyism. However, the devil in in the detail of the draft UP and now the PUP and some of the proposals are the work of naive and blinkered planning undertaken from the comfort of a desk. And whilst the work of the Council/Govt jv on Tamaki transformation is much needed and logical - other bits much less so. In part this seems to be because the planners fail to grasp that landowners, particularly developers, will act rationally and want to extract maximum dollar as early in the timeline as possible. When you sit and listen to a planner say that they have modeled development to occur at an even pace over 25 years, you know you are in trouble. Especially, when they are unaware that a number of developers have land-banked the areas under zoning change already.
Infrastructure is also an issue in those older parts of town and the North Shore where there is often only one or two roads in and out and the utilities follow those routes. The shape of the Auckland isthmus is also a complicating factor. Much of that infrastructure is already at capacity and will need upgrading - a cost that won't be borne by developers. Transport planning has been poor - and independent voices such as those on the Auckland Transport blog show that there is still a lot of detail to be resolved here. Schools too that don't have the land footprint or the buildings to cope with 10%+ uplift in the roll in short periods.
All up, much of what is proposed in the PUP is bold and necessary even if some of the underlying projections may not be realised (or realised at a slower pace) but it is the existing residents and ratepayers who will have to live with the changes and the cost and they cannot and should not be simply overridden.
Living in an area where the rising tide of house prices have made some of my neighbours very wealthy on paper but facing a huge rating impost, the overall thrust of smarter land use makes a lot of sense - but it is not an overnight revelation. It took my some of my elderly relatives the thick end of a decade and several attempts at down-sizing to embrace apartment living. And having embraced it, they have begun to enjoy what the city can offer in ways that they never imagined. Others in my neighbourhood are vehemently anti-growth and have the financial muscle to fend off all-comers.
All up, I think that much of headline changes in the PUP are likely to be beneficial to cope with the growth that is occurring. The hard part is getting the underlying detail right.
So all power to Bill for leaping into the fray - but there is much hard work to come and not all of it can be left to either the Council planners or the developers. Similarly, there is little room for polarising views such as those of Helen Kelly.
Eric Crampton Tue Mar 04, 03:37:00 pm GMT+13
Thanks for the long and thoughtful comment. Either Seamus or I would be more than happy to talk with your Canterbury student about options.
I understand the problem of land-banking; what I don't get is how it could be a problem under a more relaxed zoning situation. Since the land-bankers know that not much more land will be zoned for development, they can afford to hold back and let it out onto the market in small drips, keeping prices up. Now imagine if all the land bankers knew that, effective a month from now, the amount of land zoned for intensive development would increase by some sizeable percentage, with a commitment to ongoing release of substantial amounts of new land for intense development. The value of the regulatory rents on which the land-bankers are sitting would start collapsing, and they'd have to scramble to get anything onto the market in advance of new developments' coming in in places they don't control. I agree that land-banking is a problem; I have a hard time seeing it as other than a consequence of constrained zoning permission systems.
I also agree that infrastructure constraints are very real. While some of this can be handled via MUDs for local infrastructure, that doesn't hit onto trunk infrastructure. On transport, I wish that Gerry Brownlee hadn't stuck a knife into proposals for congestion charging. I like the flexibility that dedicated busways can provide - it's a lot faster to turn part of a road into a busway than to lay down rail track in response to population changes. And it's more easily changed down the line if things change.
I'll disagree with you, though, on the deference that we should be paying to existing residents. Existing residents have created a situation where they've been able to appropriate much of the agglomerative gains of urban growth through land price appreciation caused by restrictions on development. I do not believe that policy should prioritise either the maintenance of their rents or of the particular character of particular neighbourhoods over the overall welfare of the city; it should only be part of the broader consideration. I really really like Matt Cowgill's piece on this.
Eric Crampton Thu Mar 13, 09:25:00 am GMT+13
I expect much of that "As soon as they rezone it, everything gets real dense real fast and locals get mad" effect is due to the shortage of areas zoned for such development. Imagine that the whole city had a presumed right to build. So long as you could show that the existing trunk could handle what you were doing and paid a fee toward future trunk expansion, you could go ahead and put an apartment building or townhouses wherever you damn well pleased. I expect that much of that burden that now gets concentrated in a few spots by the combination of popularity and zoning restrictions would be dispersed more broadly: increased density all over town, but less intensely in particular pockets except where those ones had become particularly fashionable.
I'm only putting the system to suggest that some of the current opposition to relaxing zoning regs "near me" is due to the current lack zoned land. Were it opened up much more broadly, the effects of that change on any particular location would be much smaller.
Alcohol Healthwatch Is Making Stuff Up, Again
Careful out there
One line in the sand
Trolling townies
Fact-based journalism
More on living wages and minimum wages
Burn the math
McCullum's 300 and WASP
HRC-backed? [Updated: Crampton's been trolled]
Uber opposition
These are the people in my neighbourhood
Migration beats activism
Outlaw prostitutes
DotCom bets: they just got more complicated.
Trans-Tasman sad
All joy no fun? You're failing.
Lockean Parking
Ron Weasley sucks


text:
Q: Generated column based on data from another table Let's say I have two tables, Faculty and FacultyEmail who have a 1:1 relationship, with the following attributes:
+-------------+     +--------------+
|   Faculty   |     | FacultyEmail |
+-------------+     +--------------+
|  FacultyID  |     |  FacultyID   |
|  FirstName  |     |  Email       |
|  LastName   |     +--------------+
+-------------+

I need to auto generate the Email column based on the FirstName and LastName fields in Faculty such as: firstname.lastname@gmail.com
My question is whether this is possible? And if so, how would I go about writing up the DDL for this?
This is the DDL I have so far:
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `Faculty`
(
    `FacultyID` INT NOT NULL,
    `FirstName` VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL,
    `LastName` VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL,
    PRIMARY KEY (`FacultyID`)
);

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `FacultyEmail`
(
    `FacultyID` INT NOT NULL,
    `Email` VARCHAR(90) GENERATED ALWAYS AS (...), -- What goes here?
    PRIMARY KEY (`FacultyID`)
    FOREIGN KEY (`FacultyID`)
        REFERENCES `Faculty` (`FacultyID`)
        ON DELETE CASCADE
        ON UPDATE CASCADE
);

A:
Let's say I have two tables, Faculty and FacultyEmail who have a 1:1 relationship, with the following attributes:

If it's truly a 1:1 relationship, a second table is an unnecessary complication. With a single table a generated column can be used.
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `Faculty`
(
    FacultyID int not null primary key auto_increment,
    FirstName varchar(255) not null,
    LastName varchar(255) not null,
    Email varchar(255) as
      (lower(concat(firstname,'.',lastname,'@wossamotta.edu'))) stored not null,
    unique(Email)
);

However, a generated column cannot be updated. Your Faculty may not appreciate being unable to pick their email address. Consider using default instead.
    Email varchar(255) not null
      default(lower(concat(firstname,'.',lastname,'@wossamotta.edu'))),

Unfortunately since it's a data specification to make the faculty have that specific email and table

If you must have a FacultyEmail "table" for compatibility, consider a view.
create view FacultyEmail
  as select FacultyID, Email from Faculty

Try it.

If you really want two tables, you can write an after insert trigger.
create trigger default_faculty_email
  after insert
  on Faculty for each row
  insert into FacultyEmail (facultyid, email)
    values(
      NEW.facultyid,
      lower(CONCAT(NEW.firstname,'.',NEW.lastname,'@wossamotta.edu'))
    );

However, after that there's nothing preventing a FacultyEmail from being deleted leaving a Faculty with no FacultyEmail. So wee need another trigger to prevent that.
create trigger ProtectFacultyEmail
  before delete
  on FacultyEmail for each row
  signal sqlstate '45000'
    set message text = 'FacultyEmail cannot be directly deleted. Delete the Faculty row instead.';

This prevents directly deleting from FacultyEmail, but allows the on delete cascade.
As you can see, a second table raises a lot of complications.
Try it.

Notes

*

*I don't believe there is a need for an on update cascade, there's nothing in FacultyEmail to update. If the FacultyID can change that's a poor primary key. Consider an independent ID column separate from any mutable ID.

*varchar(45) does not save any space, it only sets a maximum size. Maximum size is a business rule and should not be hard-coded into the schema.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The property listing with MLS# 537440 at 670 Midway Drive #B, Ocala, FL 34472 is no longer eligible for IDX display. It may be under contract or no longer available on the market. Use the links below to search for homes for sale in the area.


This Kentucky straight Bourbon whiskey is a hand made sour mash from the Heaven Hill distillery. It drinks quite dry and offers light notes of mint and smoke. Not suggested for the newcomer, but this four year old whiskey will intrigue whiskey lovers.


text:
You are here: Home - Mortgages - Buy To Let - News -
Have you overpaid stamp duty? How you can reclaim the tax
Millions of pounds in overpaid stamp duty has been refunded to thousands of homeowners. Given all the changes to the property tax, there's a chance you may be owed money. Here's how to check and get the tax back.
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is a fixed tax paid by property buyers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Most people use a solicitor or legal conveyancer to act for them, but it's the buyer's responsibility to pay any SDLT. In Scotland, it's called the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT).
The stamp duty rates are currently set at the following thresholds: no tax on house purchases up to the value of £125,000, 2% tax for purchases between £125,001 and £250,000, 5% between £250,001 and £925,000, 10% between that and £1.5m, and 12% for everything above.
That seems straightforward but stamp duty has undergone a number of changes since it was first introduced in 2003. SDLT experts, Cornerstone Tax, says stamp duty has been subject to more alterations than any other comparable tax.
The most recent took effect in April 2016 where a 3% surcharge was applied to the purchase of second homes, and in December 2014, the government announced the rates would be reformed from a slab system to an incremental system.
Given all the changes, Cornerstone says the legislation governing it is full of exceptions, exemptions and reliefs covering the vast variety of property types and property buyers.
As such, it is perhaps no surprise to note that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has refunded £127m of stamp duty to second-homeowners since the surcharge was introduced: 6,800 additional property refunds totalling £80m were paid in 2016/17 with a further £47m repaid in Q2 2017. In total, HMRC had to give refunds on 10,700 transactions at an average cost of £11,869 each.
Under the replacement main residence rule, people who buy a second property without selling the first must pay higher stamp duty upfront. If they sell the former home within three years, they are eligible for a refund.
Cornerstone predicts more than £3bn has been overpaid in stamp duty in 2015/16. David Hannah, principle consultant and founder of Cornerstone, explains: "The law around SDLT is incredibly complex and many advisors who help consumers evaluate how much they should pay are trained only to differentiate between residential and commercial property.
"They simply aren't familiar with the intricacies of the law's evaluation criteria, which has led to many consumers being mis-advised unintentionally. There are a number of other reasons why people have overpaid; it's not always a misinterpretation of the 3% surcharge."
In one case handled by Cornerstone, a sole flat buyer named his girlfriend as a guarantor and borrower on the mortgage. He was incorrectly told that as his girlfriend already owned a separate property, he was liable for the 3% surcharge. This meant he was billed £14,000 for stamp duty. The correct bill was £5,000, a £9,000 difference.
Hannah says: "It's a common misconception that being on the joint title or mortgage of a property means you have an 'interest' in it but this isn't the case. This is also a good example of how confusion on SDLT hinders parents trying to help children onto the property ladder, a common route to market among first-time buyers. The difference between paying £14,000 or £5,000 in SDLT could well be the deciding factor on whether someone was able to go ahead with the up-front costs of a property purchase or not."
How to check and reclaim overpaid stamp duty
HMRC states buyers have 12 months from the filing date to amend any returns, including if a change means you've paid too much tax.
After 12 months, mistakes can't usually be corrected but the deadline for claiming back overpaid tax is four years from the effective date of the transaction. This means it's possible to claim back overpaid SDLT from as far back as August 2013, according to Cornerstone.
The first thing to do is to find out how much SDLT you paid – you can contact your solicitor to find out the amount if you don't know it already. You need to claim the refund by writing to the Stamp Duty Land Tax Office, quoting the UTRN. You'll need to include a copy of the original SDLT return with your claim along with the following:
An explanation of why you think you overpaid
State which parts of the SDLT are wrong
Give revised figures and confirm the amount of refund due
Confirm who should be repaid (you'll need to give permission for the money to be paid to someone else).
Cornerstone provides a SDLT refund service, giving customers free advice. However, it works on a no-win, no-fee basis, charging a fee of 25% of the sum refunded so if you've the time, inclination and patience, it could prove more financially rewarding to handle the process via HMRC yourself.
Tax checklist for selling your buy-to-let portfolio
What the General Election could mean for your personal finances
Tagged: buy-to-let stamp duty second homes second property Stamp duty Stamp Duty Land Tax Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) Stamp Duty surcharge
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The Nacht is growing stronger, and it's a race against time for Tom Elm and friends to find the final piece of the Spark before the entire Valley—and possibly the world—are plunged into eternal darkness. In this installment, the Queen of the Sky is brought down in the Pawa Mountains and our intrepid band of heroes is separated. What secrets can be found deep inside the mountains' caverns? Will the great mountain cat, Roque Ja, be ally or enemy? And will one of their very own betray them to evil?
Tom Sniegoski is the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of more than two dozen novels, including The Fallen, a teen fantasy quartet. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife and their French bulldog puppy. Visit him online at www.sniegoski.com.
Bone: Quest for the Spark #3 5 out of 5 based on 0 ratings. 1 reviews.
This is book 3 in the Bone: Quest for the Spark series and despite having read the previous two, this book was absolutely delicious! Sniegoski writes with such flavor and detail and paired with Jeff Smith's amazingly colorful illustrations appearing from the cover to the last page this book just screams read me. Bone is about a boy, Tom, who sets out to save his village and family from the dark evil terrorizing them all and posing a horrific threat. But when his air balloon crashes and he and his friends are separated, the adventures of reuniting is many.Will Tom and his menagerie of vastly different friends overcome the hurdles they're faced with and retrieve the last piece of the Spark needed to defeat the Darkness?


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Getting more and more children to speak Welsh is one of our key aims. But as well as getting them to speak it in the classroom, we also...
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text:
Archive | October 29, 2016
Hate To Love by SG Lovell Blog Tour & Rafflecopter giveaway 10/29/16
Book Title: Hate to Love (Pole Dance. #3)
Author: SG Lovell
After finishing her law-degree summa cum laude, Molly Rogers has earned a night on the town with her pole-dancing girlfriends. Their destination: New York's most refined strip club, Jewel's. Their intention: To support one friend through her stripping debut and celebrate another friend's engagement. What could possibly go wrong?
The last person Michael Daniels expects to see in his regular strip club on a Friday night is sophisticated Molly Rogers. He knows she's too good for him. He knows he should stay away from her. But when Molly is mistaken for an exotic dancer, there is nothing stopping Michael from setting the record straight…and claiming the blond beauty as his own.
Click Through to Read Chapters 1 – 3 (first time Chapter 3 has been shared)
S.G. Lovell is the independent author of the contemporary romance Pole Dance series and the dark science fiction Hybrid series.
Prior to becoming an author, SG worked in the IT security field. She decided to pursue a full-time writing career when she left her job to move overseas with her husband in 2012.
SG currently lives in Queensland, Australia with her family and their two selectively deaf dogs. When not writing, you'll find her singing nursery rhymes, chasing after the dogs, or dreaming of the next vacation that she desperately needs.
This entry was posted on October 29, 2016, in Already released, Amazon, amazon &BN Itunes, Blog Tour, book, Contest, Google Play, I Books, Promo Stop, Rafflecopter.	Leave a comment
BURIED SECRETS by J.C. Valentine Cover Reveal & Pre Order & Rafflecopter giveaway 10/29/16
Buried Secrets
by J.C. Valentine
Genres: Adult, New Adult, Mystery, Thriller, YA, Suspense
SPECIAL 99c #PREORDER PRICE!
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2eSJkHQ
Synopsis: How do you live with yourself when you don't even know who you are?
On a chill October night, a girl goes missing setting the small town of Oakridge on edge. James has spent the last five years running from a past that still haunts him to this day. Now he finds himself thrust back into a life he thought he left behind. Finding out his new home may be haunted and reconnecting with an old friend while being thrust into a murder mystery, James finds himself trying to figure out which end is up while questioning his own sanity.
**AUTHOR'S NOTE** Buried Secrets is a New Adult, mystery thriller with very little romance but heavy on the suspense.
EXCERPT – PROLOGUE
Fall crept in like a burglar while the town slept. It brought with it a chill that felt refreshing after one of the hottest summers on Oakridge record. A slight, sticky fog hung in the air and evidence of Halloween was on nearly every doorstep in the form of carved jack-o-lanterns. Skeletons hung on doors, and festive orange lights draped roofs. Leaves coated the ground, wet and matted to the sidewalks and streets.
James breathed in the cool air that stung his nose just a bit. He loved when school let out at the end of the day. He never could wait to get out of the confines of the small, overcrowded classrooms. Even now he couldn't fully escape it. Classmates of his walked and ran the same mile stretch he was, laughing and talking about anything and everything. Right now, he knew the junior high girl and her friend from his science class walking a few feet behind him were debating the hotness of Tommy Henderson, the varsity basketball player for Oakridge High. Everyone knew him, and everyone loved him. He was going to take the team to the championships. Probably would graduate and take some college to their championship, too. Something the whole town could be proud of.
They met a few years ago when James was playing in the woods. AJ found him digging for worms—he'd been on a mission, wanting to teach himself how to fish, to live off the land like the people from ancient times—and he'd offered to help. AJ had run off, leaving James to sit and wonder where he had come from—he hadn't heard him approach in the first place. He returned cupping a handful of water in his palms. He'd dumped the liquid in the hole James had dug, and moments later, worms began squirming to the surface.
They became fast friends. James kept their friendship a secret. He wasn't sure why exactly, except that AJ was his only friend, and he wanted to keep him all for himself. If he told someone, they might want to meet him, then the magic might go away. So they spent all that summer collecting worms and pretending to be hunters in the deep woods behind Oakridge Park. When summer break was over and school was back in session, James was disappointed to find that AJ wasn't in any of his classes. In fact, he wasn't in any classes in the school. No one heard of him.
He finally broke and told his mom and dad about him one evening over dinner, because he was worried about AJ and needed to share him with someone, so he could feel close to him again. Like if he kept him a secret, and didn't see him, then he wouldn't be real anymore. It was an odd way to look at it, he knew, but he hadn't ever had a friend quite like AJ. He was fun and daring and super inventive, and he liked James, flaws and all.
So when he told his parents about AJ, they were happy for him. His mom said he probably just missed him in the halls. The schools weren't huge, but they were big enough to lose someone in. His dad said that AJ probably just went to a different school. Maybe in the next town over, since no one knew him here. That settled it for a bit, and the next time James saw AJ, which was at the park just after sunset one evening when James was on his way home from skipping rocks in the small stream in the woods, he asked him about it. AJ had told him that both theories were wrong. He lived a few miles west through the woods and his mom homeschooled him. He said his dad did some sort of factory work in the next town, which was just enough to pay the bills and put food on the table, according to him. It was only then that James realized AJ didn't wear the best of clothes, and he wasn't as kempt as James was. But that didn't make any difference to him. In fact, he felt closer to AJ than ever before. Finally, he had found someone who would never judge him. Someone who could truly understand him.
So when Mercy Worthington fell into step with him, James's heart beat a rapid tempo and his stomach turned to knots.
"Hi," she said in a very delicate, but cheerful voice.
James stared at the ground and muttered a hello, but he couldn't get up the nerve to really look at her.
"I'm Mercy. You're James, right? James Clearwater. I think my dad works with yours at old man Jenson's. He does the proofs, doesn't he?"
James nodded. His dad worked at Jenson Design Studio where he developed photographs in one of the two darkrooms. His dad had big dreams of one day owning his own studio and becoming a famous photographer. Mercy's dad was a set designer. James knew everything there was to know about Mercy and her family, and not just because the whole town knew who her family was, but because he paid attention and took notes. James was in love with Mercy Worthington, and had been since the third grade when she'd taken a job behind the lunch counter for a day and handed him a carton of 2% with that big, white smile of hers trained squarely on him. She was a senior at the high school, which made her five years older than James, who was thirteen now and in the seventh grade.
Today, like every day, she was radiant. Her dull blond hair waved gently behind her as the breeze caught it and when he found the nerve to look up at her, he found her green eyes smiling on him.
He was going to marry her one day.
"I thought so," she said, grinning. She took in their surroundings. "Do you take this route every day?" He nodded. "I've never seen you, and I walk this way every day. How come I've never seen you?"
He shrugged. "I dunno." He felt awkward and short on words. He stuffed his hands in his pockets.
"You don't talk much, do you?"
He glanced at her and caught her teasing smile. He smiled back, feeling a little of the tension leave his shoulders. Why was she being so nice to him? A part of him felt like this must be a trick, but when he looked around, he only saw other kids from school walking silently or in small groups or pairs, chatting quietly. Could she really be interested in him? The only kids besides AJ that talked to him were the ones who poked fun of his clothes or his haircut, his slight lisp or the way he tripped over his own feet. She probably just felt sorry for him. He had heard of that before, girls who felt sorry for the underdog and took pity on them. Normally, he would get mad at being a charity case, but right now he couldn't care less. Someone other than his family knew he existed. Mercy Worthington knew he existed. Suddenly, he didn't feel like a shadow slinking around in the world unnoticed anymore.
"So how long have you lived in Oakridge, James?" Mercy asked, as they crossed the street.
"My whole life," he replied.
She nodded. "Do you have any friends? I never see you with anyone."
He shrugged. "Some." He didn't want to look like too much of a loser.
"What about a girlfriend, do you have one of those?"
He felt himself blush. "No."
"I know what your dad does for a living. So what does your mom do?"
"She likes to garden, but no one pays her for it," he said. His dad was old-fashioned and believed that the wife should be home with the kids while the husband went out and provided for the family.
"That's cool," she said. "My mom is a painter. Sometimes she sells her art to the museum or to some person with lots of money. She's pretty successful. I was thinking of painting when I get out of college. What about you? Do you know what you want to do after college?"
Honestly, James wasn't sure he even wanted to go to college. His dad never pushed the notion, insisting that he wouldn't amount to much more than a gas-station attendant anyway. He wanted to be an astronaut when he was little, like most boys that age did, then he switched to a fireman after a class field trip to the fire station in fifth grade. Now, he just wasn't sure what he wanted.
"I'm not sure," he said honestly. "Maybe I'll just travel across the world for a while and live off the land until I figure it out." That had been a dream of his and AJ's, to hitch rides all over the country with nothing but a backpack and a few dollars in their wallet.
Her face lit up with excitement. "That is so cool that you said that. I always dreamed of seeing the world, but my dad said that education comes first. I will have all the time in the world to do what I want after I get my ducks in a row."
James wasn't sure he believed that, but he kept his mouth shut.
Heavy footsteps approached from behind and moments later a big, strong arm wrapped around Mercy's shoulder. Tommy Henderson had arrived.
"Hey, babe." Tightening his grip on her neck, he pulled her in for a sloppy kiss.
"Hey," she said when she came up for air. "Tommy, this is James. His dad works with my dad. He's going to travel across the world one day." She said this with a grin that made James' stomach flutter a little.
Tommy sized James up, and James knew he was trying to figure out where he knew him from. James knew him from the many times he "accidentally" knocked his books from his hands, and "inadvertently" tore up his homework. James was afraid if he recognized him, he might have to endure another embarrassing moment involving colorful adjectives and descriptive threats, and he just didn't want to be made a fool of in front of a girl like Mercy Worthington.
He hung his head, allowing a few scraggly scraps of hair to shield his eyes.
"Travel the world, huh? Like a hobo or something?" He laughed, his deep, belly rolling chortle that made all the girls weak in the knees. James thought it made him look and sound stupid. "What are you hanging out with this joker for? He's like two feet tall. I could smash him with my pinkie."
James felt his finger press down on the crown of his head in demonstration.
"Hey," Tommy said, putting himself between James and Mercy. "You trying to steal my girlfriend?"
"Stop picking on him, Tommy," Mercy snapped.
Tommy sneered at James, then his features smoothed, and he turned on a smile for Mercy. "Whatever you say, babe. Just making sure the boy understands there's no competition. You're my girl, aren't you, babe?"
Mercy rolled her eyes. "Of course, Tommy."
They had come to a fork in the road where James' house was to the left and Mercy's to the right. "I'll see you around, James," Mercy told him, smiling apologetically.
"Yeah, see ya," Tommy said, then ruffled James' hair like he was some little kid.
James watched after them as they turned and walked off. After a few feet, Tommy turned to face James. "And, James." James raised a questioning brow. "Stay away from my girl."
Mercy punched Tommy in the side playfully, and he laughed, tugging her closer as they resumed walking. James felt his body begin to shake. He was angry. At that moment, he wanted to beat Tommy Henderson until his arms were too weak to continue. For the first time in his miserable existence, James thought he felt angry enough to kill.
As the sun set, the day turned bitter cold, and the rain had moved in. It was sheeting down now, and Mercy's shoes were soaking wet as her feet beat through every puddle. She was running, the rain pouring down her face in rivers, filling her eyes and blinding her to her path. Someone was chasing her.
She'd decided to walk home after an evening at her boyfriend, Tommy's, house, and almost as soon as she rounded the first street corner, she felt someone following her. The shadowy figure kept pace for a couple of blocks, then steadily picked up pace, until Mercy broke out running…and so did they.
She was crossing the park playground now, and she could just make out the hill ahead. Her house was just over that hill, and if she could make it, she could get help. As her feet slipped, trying to find purchase on the soft, mud covered ground, Mercy could feel her muscles begin to cramp and burn with exhaustion. Against her will, she was slowing. When her feet hit the loose bark covering the playground, Mercy did slip. She caught herself with her hands and scrambled to her feet, pushing herself harder until she finally reached the bottom of the hill. There she used her hands, her fingers digging into the grass, and pulled herself up until she could look over and beyond to her house. The lights inside were a warm beacon, and she felt a sudden urgency come over her.
As she came to her feet, Mercy heard a muffled thud, and glanced over her shoulder. It was a mistake that she wouldn't live to regret.
The shadow stood before her, and to her surprise, she recognized the dark figure.
"What do you want from me!"
A visual sweep revealed something big and heavy looking in their hand, and with quick precision, the shadow raised its arm high in the air and brought it down hard. A slow trickle of blood broke through her hairline and ran down her forehead, then her face and dripped off her chin. A second blow caused it to grow thicker and run faster and Mercy fell to her knees, then finally her face, where her eyes focused and glazed over and her breaths faded away to nothing. And still the shadow hit her, until all the fury, all the anger subsided.
Her last vision was that of the warm yellow glow coming from the living room window where her mother and father, sister and brother sat watching the evening news and waiting for her to come walking in the door any moment.
Stooping down, the figure wrapped its cold, wet fingers around Mercy's ankles and pulled, slipping frequently under the girl's slight weight as it dragged her lifeless body into the copse of oak trees beyond the playground. Come morning, when the sun broke through the clouds, children would run and play, never knowing the horrors of what happened just a short distance away.
WANT A SIGNED PAPERBACK COPY OF BURIED SECRETS, INCLUDING A SIGNED BOOKMARK AND AUTHOR PEN? CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW FOR MORE DETAILS!
ABOUT J.C. VALENTINE
J.C. Valentine is the USA Today and International bestselling author of the Night Calls and Wayward Fighters Series and the Forbidden Series. Her vivid imagination and love of words and romance had her penning her own romance stories from an early age, which, despite being poorly edited and written longhand, she forced friends and family members to read. No, she isn't sorry.
J.C. earned her own happily ever after when she married her high school sweetheart. Living in the Northwest, they have three amazing children and far too many pets and spend much of their free time together enjoying movies or the outdoors. Among the many hats she wears, J.C. is an entrepreneur. Having graduated with honors, she holds a Bachelor's in English and when she isn't writing, you can find her editing for fellow authors.
Sign up for J.C.'s newsletter and never miss a thing! http://bit.ly/1KxXWWB
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This entry was posted on October 29, 2016, in Amazon, book, coming soon, Contest, Cover Reveal, Promo Stop, Rafflecopter.	Leave a comment
A NEW BEGINNING by LORHAINNE ECKHART SALE BLITZ & Rafflecopter giveaway 10/29/16
The Friessens: A New Beginning
by Lorhainne Eckhart
Series: The Friessens: A New Beginning, #1 – #4
—"Author Lorhainne Eckhart is adept at showing deeply felt emotions through actions, instead of just telling us." ~ Reviewed by Natasha Jackson, Readers Favorite
—"A wonderful love story not only about an unconditional love between a man and woman, but an unconditional heart -filled love for a special child." ~ S. George
—"I absolutely love this author. I have read the complete outsider series and search for the continuing saga because I am addicted." ~ Katzbut
The Friessens: A New Beginning includes, The Deadline, The Price to Love, A Different Kind of Love and A Vow of Love, a big family romance series that has become a worldwide bestseller.
THE DEADLINE:
Andy Friessen has packed up everything and moved his family two states away, to Montana, to protect his wife, Laura, his newborn babies, and his stepson, Gabriel, from the threats of his mother. What Andy doesn't know is that they'll soon face a new threat, one he never saw coming.
THE PRICE TO LOVE
'A 2015 READERS' FAVORITE AWARD WINNER'
She could give him everything except the one thing he wanted—a child.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF LOVE
Brad and Emily are return in this heartfelt story where they face an entirely new set of challenges with their preteen autistic boy when his mother, Crystal, returns. She wants a relationship with the boy she abandoned—something Brad and Emily never expected. She says she's changed, but can the Friessens believe her?
A VOW OF LOVE
Thirteen days before Christmas, a letter arrives in the mail—a letter that was never meant for Candy Friessen. When she opens it, she discovers a lie that rocks her world, and she begins to question everything she and Neil have created together, including his love for her and their family.
How do you describe the feeling you get the first time you drive down a long, winding road to a place that is all yours? To Andy Friessen, this wasn't just a house or a piece of land: he had staked a claim in another state, in another part of the country, uprooting his family and selling everything, all for a brand new beginning.Andy took in the miles of vast hillside and the cleanest pastures he'd ever seen. The green grass swayed in the wind and, for the first time, he sensed the sun, the moon, the stars and the changing of the seasons more deeply than he ever had before. This was a part of the country he had never traveled, but it felt like coming home. He glanced over at his wife, Laura, asleep in the passenger seat, her head resting against the door, her breath whispering softly in and out. He always knew when she was overtired, as she snored in her soft, delicate way. This time, she stirred a bit before settling into a deep sleep, as if her body had finally run out of steam.
She was on edge and had been for some time, but that wasn't unusual for a mother of newborns. For Andy and Laura, there was twice as much stress with their six-week-old twins, Chelsea and Jeremy, who were sound asleep in the backseat of the truck. Their five-year-old big brother, Gabriel, Laura's son from a pregnancy at fifteen, sat beside them.
Laura was so young but had lived through more heartache, rejection and struggle than most people would in a lifetime. As a teenager, she had been tossed out onto the street by her judgmental parents, who thought she was a bad influence on her younger brothers. Laura had only mentioned it once to Andy, and only when he pushed. He wanted to know what had happened, to know everything about her family, but he saw the deep hurt like a tread mark on her soul. No matter what he did, he wondered if that was something she'd never be able to make peace with. Andy wouldn't, not in this lifetime. In fact, George and Sue Parnell were the first people Andy had ever hated without even meeting them.
They had come so far, Laura and him. At first, the only reason he had married her was to save her son when the state took him away. Laura and Gabriel had been living in her car, and Andy had married her because he felt responsible for the entire mess. After all, it had been his mother who fired Laura from her position as a maid in the Friessen house. Andy had treated her horribly at first, but so much had changed since then. He loved her—his child bride, as everyone teased him. She had recently turned twenty-one, legal in every state, and Andy would soon be thirty-three.
Andy pressed the brakes to slow his pickup as the ruts deepened on the driveway. The horse trailer rattled, and he glanced in the side mirror and rolled down his window just as his three-year-old buckskin mare, Ladystar, nickered. Apparently, she'd had enough of this two-day trip, leaving North Lakewood behind and moving two states away to a seventy-two-acre spread Andy had purchased outside of Columbia Falls, Montana.
"Where are we?" Laura said. She didn't open her eyes as she yawned. Her short bob was a tangled mess, but it was cute. Andy had been irritated when she cut off all her hair, saying it was easier to look after. Maybe so, but he liked her long hair. "Andy?" she said. The leather seat rustled as she sat up.
Andy had to clear his throat. "We should be close. …"
He stepped on the brakes when a sprawling one-story ranch house came into view. It had a light wood finish and a post-and-beam front deck, but something about the place didn't look right. The railing appeared broken, with pieces of wood scattered here and there. Everything looked unkempt. Piles of debris littered the yard, including a rusted-out pickup with missing wheels parked in waist-high grass that was now weighted down by the melting snow. Maybe he had the wrong place? He eased on the gas pedal and started up the slight incline that circled the house. It was similar to the photos he had seen, but the house in the photos had been newer than this. A couple of the shutters were hanging sideways, and the fence surrounding the house was falling down, as was the corral, but it was the junk, the debris, the plastic, garbage and scattered metal parts, that pissed him off.
"What the hell is this?"
He'd bought the place unseen. The Montana realtor had sent photos of the exterior and interior, and maybe Andy should have asked when they had been taken, but he'd been in a hurry to get Laura and the kids as far away from his family as he could. He parked in front of the house and spotted the red and white realty sign leaning against the front step.
"Andy, this doesn't look like the pictures the realtor sent," Laura said. "Are you sure this is the right place?"
One of the babies started fussing, and Ladystar nickered from the trailer.
"Andy, are we here?" Gabriel called out from the backseat, rubbing his eyes.
"Yeah, just stay there, bud," Andy said as he opened his door. Laura was reaching over to unbuckle Jeremy from his car seat, his tiny hands flailing. "He hungry?"
Laura appeared so tired as she nodded. "I think so. Wet, too." She patted his bottom and rested him on the seat. "Andy, can you reach the diaper bag on the floor in the back?" She had already unfastened his sleeper as Andy lifted the blue bag, shut the back door and set the bag on his seat.
"Just stay in here until I check things out," he said.
Laura glanced up with a weary smile. "Okay."
He shut the door and stepped around the truck, taking in the mess. Ladystar nickered again. "Okay, girl," he murmured, unlatching the horse trailer and leading his horse out before tying her to the side and bringing out a flake of hay for her. "Better find you some water, too," he said, pulling out his bucket. Around the side of the house, he found a barn with a missing door, another gated pasture, and a round ring. As he stepped closer, he noticed the round pen appeared intact, with no missing posts and all the rails up. It was probably a safe bet for tonight, at least for Ladystar, until he got a better look around.
He found a water tap at the back of the house and turned it on, but rusty water poured out. "Crap!" he muttered, waiting for it to run clear before he filled the bucket. When he took it back to the trailer where Ladystar was tied and eating, Laura opened the door of the truck and called out, "Andy, Gabriel has to go to the bathroom, and so do I. Can we go inside?"
Andy took in what was supposed to have been a ten-year-old sprawling rancher, with a wraparound deck where they could spend evenings and mornings looking out over their spread. Instead, it resembled the kind of house his cousin Jed would have picked up for a good price to gut and renovate—not something Andy was interested in doing.
"All right," Andy said. He opened the back door and lifted Gabriel, who was already unbuckled and waiting. "Stay here, Gabriel. Hey, Laura, Chelsea is still sleeping." Andy lifted his very quiet daughter from the car.
Laura slid down, carrying Jeremy, who was fussing again. She had on just a beige sweater. "Ooh, it's cold," she said. She reached in the truck for her tan jacket and pulled it out, holding it out to Andy so he could help her as she juggled the baby.
Laura started up the steps, and Gabriel and Andy followed. At the sound of a vehicle coming down the road, they both turned to see a newer pickup truck flying over the ruts and then pulling in just behind the horse trailer. A woman with a round face, bright smile, and dark hair tied back in a ponytail stepped out, wearing a sheepskin coat and blue jeans.
Laura shrieked behind Andy. He turned just as the screen door Laura had pulled fell over and crashed to the front deck. Chelsea, who had been sleeping, whimpered and then started howling along with her brother.
Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ iBooks ~ Kobo
Google ~ AllRomance ~ Smashwords
—"My heart ached for Neil and Candy is this book." Reviewer Amanda
—"Lorhainne Eckhart has a way at really tugging on the heartstrings and this story is no exception." Love's Reading
—"Eckhart is one of the best storytellers that I have read in a long time." Nook Reviewer
—"Wow…Wow!! A must read." Susie
—"Grabbed me from the start and held me the whole way through." Kindle Reviewer
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lorhainne Eckhart recently received the 2016 Readers' Favorite Award for Suspense and Romance for her two titles Vanished & The Bloodline. With over fifty titles under her belt, her big family romance series are loved by fans worldwide. Books that celebrate love, family, commitment, hope, and making a relationship work. With flawed strong characters, characters you can relate to. Lorhainne writes the kind of books she wants to read.
She is an award winning author and frequently a Top 100 bestselling author in multiple genres, such as romance, western, military and mystery/suspense. She has written multiple series, including The Outsider, Walk the Right Road, The Wilde Brothers, Saved, The Friessens, and her two newest additions, Married in Montana, and her high-stakes suspense and sizzling, red-hot romance series, Kate and Walker, Deadly, Dangerous and Desired.
You can chat with Lorhainne on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AuthorLorhainneEckhart), Twitter @LEckhart, and her blog at http://www.lorhainneeckhart.com/blog/ .
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This entry was posted on October 29, 2016, in All Romance Ebooks, Already released, Amazon, amazon &BN Itunes, book, Contest, I Books, Promo Stop, Rafflecopter, sale blitz.	1 Comment


As an artist who describes herself as a contemporary naturalist, Diana seeks to find the "tao" or spiritual essence of the natural world in each of her sculptures.
"I am an artist.. It's self-evident that what that word implies is looking for something all the time without ever finding it in full. It is the opposite of saying, "I know all about it. I've already found it." As far as I'm concerned, the word means, "I am looking. I am hunting for it, I am deeply involved."


text:
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SCAN's 30th Anniversary
As a former SCAN Board member and the current Child Protective Services Program Manager for the City of Alexandria's Department of Community and Human Services, Doug Brown demonstrates that supporting families and children can be simultaneously an occupation and a passion.
SCAN's former Executive Director, Diane Charles, played a significant role in recruiting Doug to SCAN's Board in 2000 and keeping him involved for a second term. As an advocate for children, Doug was an outspoken opponent during a Virginia Committee Meeting regarding foster parents' use of "reasonable" corporal punishment as a method of discipline. Recognizing many foster youths' history of physical abuse, Doug delivered a sincere testimony against the use of physical punishment, wanting to stop the cycle of violence children experience. His testimony contributed to the bill's eventual failure and fueled Doug's role, promoting advocacy, on the SCAN Board.
Since transitioning from SCAN's Board, Doug remains comforted by SCAN's continued geographic and programmatic expansion, believing that SCAN's unique ability to reach families where they are at remains a community need. Through his many years of service, Doug has witnessed SCAN's role in preventing, reducing and healing communities adversely impacted by child abuse through the Parent Education Program's parenting classes, the Public Education Program's prevention initiatives, and CASA's voice in the community. In supporting the organization's mission, Doug speaks highly of SCAN's ability to recruit and retain dedicated volunteers, noting that as decades have passed it is comforting to see both new and familiar faces at annual events such as Toast to Hope, who remain committed to serving Northern Virginia families and children.
As an individual whose professional and volunteer experiences often include difficult situations and subjects, Doug is a strong proponent of self-care. Doug notes that one of the benefits of volunteering with an organization like SCAN is that the organization cares about the health of every individual connected to the organization, encouraging self-care among Board Members, volunteers and staff. Stating that "you cannot take care of others without first taking care of yourself," Doug has found joy in biking throughout the DMV, attending church and taking a couple weeks every year to hike parts of the Appalachian Trail.
As an unwavering advocate for families and children, Doug believes that there is always an opportunity to learn from individuals within our community; and with community engagement and response we can work together to reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect.


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So don't waste time crafting long sentences with big words. Instead, aim for a 6th- to 9th-grade reading level. Yes, I know: that's not how many academics write.††† Do as we say, not as we do.
1st Writing Tip: You can check readability and grade level for free.
Microsoft Word can automatically check the readability of your writing [here's how]. If you don't use Word, that's OK. You can copy-paste your paper into a free, online Flesch-Kincaid readability test like the one pictured below.
2nd Writing Tip: Your friends can help.
Ask a peer to read your paper and summarize each part. If they misunderstand your paper, then you probably need to revise.
And offer to read your peer's paper. Remember, writing well is hard work. We're in this together.
3rd Writing Tip: Listening to your paper to find opportunities to improve it.
What this means: It should be difficult for me to disagree with you.
So support your claims. And don't make your claims so strong that you cannot support them. Also, tell your reader about the strongest objection(s) to your thesis. After that, salvage your thesis from the objection(s).
4th Writing Tip: Not all criticism is equal.
When criticizing someone's argument, you don't want to resort to name calling or other fallacious responses. You want to criticize the argument and its conclusion.
The diagram below is a hierarchy of the kinds of disagreement that you might provide in your paper.†††† Your paper should include only the top 3 kinds of disagreement. Ideally, it would contain only the top 2 kinds.
5th Writing Tip: You can change your mind.
When your thesis can't be salvaged from objection(s), don't worry. Simply change your thesis from "[X] is probably true" to "[X] is probably false". Seriously. It's that easy.
What this means: It should be difficult to (a) find irrelevant text in your paper and/or (b) rewrite your paper using fewer words.
So write as concisely as you can (without sacrificing 1 and 2, of course). Get rid of everything that is unnecessary.
6th Writing Tip: You probably need to cut a lot.
I find that almost half of the words in the average first draft can be cut. So if you reach your word limit after writing only one draft, you still have a lot of work to do.
7th Writing Tip: You might need to start over.
Sometimes, the easiest way to make a paper more concise (and/or more clear and/or more cogent) is to rewrite it …from scratch. So plan to start writing soon enough that you can rewrite the entire paper before the deadline.
What this means: Creativity can help. But it might hurt. So be creative at your own risk. Remember, you can get an A without being creative.
8th Writing Tip: Prioritize clarity, cogency, and concision.
You might want to ignore the urge to be creative until your paper is optimally clear, cogent, and concise. Trying to be creative prior to that point might actually prevent your paper from achieving optimal clarity, cogency, and concision.
9th Writing Tip: Not all creativity is good.
Creativity can undermine your efforts to make a paper clear, cogent, and concise. Really. It's not like any instance of creativity will help. The only kind of creativity that helps your writing is the kind that improves clarity, cogency, and concision. And that's a difficult form of creativity to achieve. So if you are struggling to write creatively, remember: there is no shame in writing a paper that is clear, cogent, concise, and yet not creative.
† Thanks to Steve Jovanović for getting me to write this down. And thanks to Jack Justus for introducing me to the alliteratively satisfying "clarity, cogency, conciseness, and creativity." Finally, thanks to u/neotropic9 on Reddit for pointing out that 'concision' is more precise than 'conciseness'.
†† Thanks to philosopher Lewis Powell for helping me frame the criterion this way here and here. Lewis would like to pass credit on to Mark Schroeder.
†††† Thanks to Mikio Akagi for pointing me to this diagram.
Thanks, Nick! I love the many valuable things that you do, and promise to follow up on my long neglected blog this weekend.
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