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Chris Brown Dismiss Rihanna & Beyonce Fans, Put Some Respect On My Name
By Urban Islandz Staff Published: February 15, 2018 1:07 pm
Urban Islandz Staff Author
Chris Brown wants fans of Rihanna and Beyonce to put some respect on his name.
The R&B singer sparked a heated debate among fans earlier this week when he says he would love to go on tour with Rihanna, Beyonce and Bruno Mars. While some fans and even myself think it would be dope to have a tour with these four artists, others think Chris Brown is not a big enough artist to want to tour with the other three acts.
"Chris your not big enough to want a tour with RiRi and Beyonce, your not even big enough like Bruno Mars so please sit your azz down and be humble, in my Kendrick Lamar voice," one fan wrote while another added on Twitter, "I'm actually very tired of people who think Chris Brown is a better entertainer than Beyoncé. It's embarrassing that you even think he is on her level. I've said this time without number, Beyoncé is the best entertainer of our era."
Chris Brown posted a video of one of his loyal fans defending his honor and I got to admit, the fan has a point. "What the f*** is wrong with people trying to tarnish this dude's legacy like this dude is not elite, this is the same dude that controls a whole generation of R&B," the fan said in his video rant. "So we going to sit here and act like Chris Brown is not the closest thing to Michael Jackson, like he don't do everything. Are you f***ing kidding me, the dude has been elite since he was 15 years old. This is the same man that bodies every feature and turn a whack song into a hit. What is a song without a Chris Brown feature."
Breezy also shared his personal reaction to the chatters by reminding fans that his last album, Heartbreak on a Full Moon, is certified platinum. "SAY WHAT U WANT… really wouldn't matter at this point. GREATNESS DEFENDS AND SPEAKS FOR ITSELF," he tweeted.
SAY WHAT U WANT… really wouldn't matter at this point. ???. GREATNESS DEFENDS AND SPEAKS FOR ITSELF pic.twitter.com/nCJfHwComY
— Chris Brown (@chrisbrown) February 13, 2018
Beyonce, Chris Brown, Rihanna
More Beyonce News
Jay-Z Talks Verzuz Opponents, Says Beyoncé Is An 'Evolution' Of Michael Jackson
Beyoncé Gifted Nicki Minaj & Papa Bear Matching Ivy Park Gears For Her 39th Birthday
Beyonce & Jay-Z Goes Full PDA While Wearing $13K Gucci X Balenciaga Jacket
Chris Brown is Elite. To those who are talking crap are purely ignorant. Chris Brown is a talent above and beyond. A true artist and icon!
He the best. Better than RiRi, Bruno and Bet. He is multi talented.


The Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2010 has been published. Its principal purpose is to make it illegal to hunt deer with two or more dogs. The Bill provides in a new section 23A that a person, including the holder of a licence or permission granted under the Wildlife Act, who hunts deer with two or more dogs shall be guilty of an offence. It shall not be an offence for a person to hunt deer with two or more dogs, pursuant to a permission granted under section 42 of this Act, where it is a term of such permission that dogs may be used to hunt deer.
While the Bill is intended to outlaw hunting the carted stag with hounds (such as practised by the Ward Union Hunt), it may well have unintended consequences for other licensed deer hunters.
It is a requirement of the standard Coillte forestry licence that hunters must have access to a trained dog for purposes of tracking and recovering shot deer. Access to a trained dog is recommended best practice for all deer hunters under the Deer Alliance Hunter Competence Assessment Programme (HCAP). It is unclear whether the Bill will have implications for hunters in this context.
It is understood that participating deer organisations are reviewing the implications of the Bill, if any.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on April 28, 2010 by Liam Nolan.
HCAP-Certified Donegal Stalker Gerd Höna has produced a 54-minute DVD entitled "After the Shot", showing the preparation of simple but delicious venison dishes from wild shot deer, which will inspire all stalkers into getting the very best from their hunting. The DVD, directed by Gerd and his HCAP-Certified wife and stalking partner Veronika, is available from Gerd and Veronika Höna, Schoolmaster's House, Ranafast, Co. Donegal, tel. 00353 (0) 74 954 8275, email info@donberg.ie, cost (to cover post & packaging) €5.00.
The Deer Alliance has no other interest in the DVD and takes no responsibility for its contents but is happy to recommend it as a source of information and guidance on carcass handling and preparation and presentation of venison dishes.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on April 6, 2010 by Liam Nolan.


If you've created assignments in a Word document, chances are you'll want to review the work completed, or perhaps not completed, so you can decide on the next steps towards getting the job done.
For this reason, whenever someone completes an assignment and flags it as being 'done', the assignment does not disappear from the document. It remains active and stays in the document, until the person who created the assignment changes its status to 'closed'.
- It cleans up the document, and removes the content control container that surrounds the part of the document where the assignment was created. You'd definitely want to do this before distributing your document.
- Guests can only work on five concurrent active assignments at a time. So if a guest has completed and marked their five allowed assignments as 'done', you'd need to close those assignments first, before you can create any new assignments for that guest.
- It also impacts collaboration insights, in that Qorus reports on turnaround times based on when assignments are closed, as well as on how many assignments were completed on time, late or not at all.
From here, you can give your assignment a new name, change the due date, or turn on urgent notifications. Or, if you've created an assignment for the wrong person, or for someone who ends up going on vacation before completing it, you can change the assignment recipients and re-assign them to one or more coworkers.
Whenever you edit an assignment, its status will automatically change from whatever it currently is to: 'Assigned'. If you're editing an assignment that is currently 'Overdue', you'll be prompted to change the due date as due dates cannot be in the past.
Or, if you have a long list of assignments to manage, and would like to close just a subset of these, you can search assignments as well as filter them based on their status and/or recipients.


Keith Bogans sticks out like a sore thumb playing for the Blazers at Summer League in Las Vegas.
At age 35, while on the court alongside 19- and 20-year olds, saying that it was nice of him to wear his age as his jersey number — 60 — was an easy joke to make.
But after a rough end to his time in Boston which resulted in him being out of the league since January of 2014, Bogans is looking to make an impression by proving he's a good teammate once again.
Check out the interview below with Bogans from Jessica Camerato of Basketball Insiders. He sets the record straight on some inaccurate things that were floated out there, and is very honest in discussing what he went through while being stuck on his couch during an NBA season for the first time in 11 years.


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Whither, Oh Father(hood), shall I flee from thy presence? (A Few FAQs).
Be patient with the Bible quotes– I'm contrasting "faith" which the Bible of course talks about, with "faith-based" which word just ain't in there, although now it was inserted by US President George W. Bush, an Executive Order marking the beginning of his reign Administration since 2001, and has remained a central feature of federal family and fatherhood policy (even in the "Change" Administration which has followed. Did that change? Not much!), despite complete lack of definition even in the corporate world. What is a "faith-based" corporation? IRS has a few designations, like "religious-exempt" but does corporate law apart from that? I've spent a lot of time on various secretary of state sites over the years (2009ff anyhow) — and I've yet to see a searchable field called "faith based." …. Even Taggs.HHS.gov doesn't have a sortable field: "faith-based, Yes/No" or even a Grantee Type or Class…
Psalm 139 speaks in wonder and awe about how no one can flee the presence of God, and how wonderful that is. For those who have faith (even "as a grain of mustard seed") it is indeed comforting to contemplate that, "even if I should make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there."
This is to be a good and comforting quality and leads into a determination to praise:
1<> O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.2Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
3Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
4For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
5Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
7Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
11If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
12Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
13For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
14I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
David was a fugitive from the king and spent a period of time living in caves, and on the run, from his jealous predecessor, Saul. Generations later, Paul (a.k.e. Saul of Tarsus; no king, but a Pharisee) also fell afoul of religious authorities of his time (after having betrayed his colleagues by converting from persecution followers of Jesus Christ and throwing them in jail, to preaching Christ and being whipped, stoned, thrown in jail (escaped a few times) and in general living like someone with no home. He wrote in "Romans 8" also movingly about the pervasive love of God in Christ Jesus. Apparently this was written from prison, or at least house-arrest in Rome.
35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In all these things, in other words, there is "the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Paul, as it goes, known as "apostle to the Gentiles" learned the hard way about profiling people by their religious affiliations, and after having caused major suffering, himself, later suffered.
While he did have a lot to say about "faith" strangely, he said nothing at all about "faith-based," nor did he (as do the Mormons, or the Unification church) apparently believe that the unmarried were per se inferior, or single mothers, "anathema." Galatians 5, you can see the word "faith" figures prominently, but in context, it's referring to a specific thing, apparently: faith came, faith was revealed, it justified, faith in Christ Jesus [in context, including the resurrection from the dead] enables people to become "children of God"
23But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. 26For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
In one sense, it could be said the entire Bible is to elicit faith in a specific gospel and prophecies.
The concept of something being kinda-sorta "faith-based" and as such, deserving of special consideration, is nowhere to be found. Please see also segment in green, above, especially the third "there is neither" phrase. Thank you. The equalizer in this context is "in Christ Jesus."
I should not have to mention this, except that nowadays, it's the "faith-based" and gender-based (fatherhood) program material that there's nowhere to flee from, the moment anyone enters the Federal room — which we are all pretty much operating in, in this country. You work a legitimate job, (or business) you have a social security number, you pay towards the central pool, you are participating in producing some of these grant programs.
If perchance you end up on the wrong side of the law, it's likely you may end up (and much MORE likely if you are male, and of a certain skin color) in some of the places operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Or contracted out to private corporations. You may end up in jail. However, if you are living in a household without a father, and with an independent-minded single mother who fights for custody — or in ignorance of the powers that be, applies for child support, or federal assistance for things like FOOD — you are also possible fodder for the Foster Care System (if it's not possible to find a father to reconnect you with).
I have been working hard to understand this and come to the conclusion that the whole system appears to revolve around the letter "F." "F" in school is not a passing grade, but "F" in this context is fine, wonderful, friendly, family-oriented, and federally-favorable.
And it seems there is nowhere to flee from its reach either. I'm saying this on behalf of a number of cases (in different states) where mothers are fighting either to reconnect with children in foster care, or to prevent from losing custody to a criminal whose outreach program included a faith-based fatherhood representative and related funding.
"F," must be it is Fun, Fair, and Family-Friendly; and should be Federally Funded. After all, not one, but TWO, presidents who, amazingly, also were fathers* executively ordered it so.
Of course not before a womanizing married President from the State of Arkansas told to re-tool themselves to accommodate men. In 1995 (see sideline).
(*there not having been any female presidents to date)
We are in a different era now, that of believing that both God and any "faith-based" organizations, plus of course men (as opposed to women) need a little extra help in gaining favor with the grant-based federal government policy-making machine. Accordingly, it just warn't right that groups who are justified by faith shouldn't get a leg-up and hand-out from the king's table Department of Justice (and Health and Human Services, etc.) and give praise where praise is due – to the king the DOJ.
This is what we get for the sins of our forefathers, including a country in permanent emergency status leftover from World War I (formerly "the Great War" until there was a World War II), and having believed that somehow, it was better to put our faith in the Fed (and Federal Income Tax, etc.) and, in general man…. Apparently someone was jealous of this God, and decided to issue and Executive Order (ca. 2001) such that it wasn't his Spirit, but their faith-based programs and responsible fatherhood setups that no one can get away from.
This came across my inbox, and I felt it worth mentioning, again — who really needs all this? And what is the social cost? We already know that the USA can't track its own HHS grants, so no one really knows the financial costs. (background color = my addition; the logo is the link)
About the Department of Justice FBNP Center
The Department of Justice (DOJ) Center for Faith-based and Community Initiatives was established on January 29, 2001 by Executive Order 13199. The objective was to coordinate agency efforts for the elimination of regulatory, contracting, and other programmatic obstacles so as to enable faith-based and community organizations to access resources they need to provide vital social and community services.
{{APPRENTLY INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO COVERING UP WIFE ABUSE, ADULTERY, DRUG USE, AND SEX WITH MINORS….}}
On February 5, 2009, President Obama amended Executive Order 13199 establishing the President's Advisory Council for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and changed the name of the White House initiative to the Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
The DOJ Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships (CFBNP) coordinates between the White House Office of Faith Based & Neighborhood Partnerships (WHOFBNP) and the Department of Justice's efforts to outreach and partner with faith-based and other non-profit organizations around the country. The CFBNP leads the U.S. Department of Justice's efforts to develop new partnerships and provide relevant information to faith-based and community organizations and expand their participation in DOJ initiatives.
1) Develop and coordinate Department outreach efforts to disseminate information and education more effectively to faith-based and other neighborhood organizations with respect to grant opportunities and programming changes.
2) Ensure that information and expertise is exchanged with faith-based and community organizations through non-financial partnership that seek to strengthen these groups by using best practices and leveraging community relationships.
3) Provide training and technical assistance to the Center constituents.
4) Work in collaborative fashion to coordinate within DOJ grant-making offices, including the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP),the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), and the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW).
Priorities:
Faith and community leaders from across the country are working with the Center for Faith-based & Neighborhood Partnerships at the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House Office for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships on a wide variety of issues. The DOJ Center's focus is on three priority areas:
Promoting Responsible Fatherhood: The DOJ CFBNP works to advance the goals of the President's National Fatherhood & Mentoring initiative within DOJ and among criminal Justice stakeholders.
Preventing Youth & Gang Violence: The DOJ CFBNP plays an important leadership role engaging faith and community-based groups in the coordination of the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention. The Forum is working with cities throughout the country to develop and implement comprehensive youth violence prevention plans.
Effective Prisoner Reentry: The DOJ CFBNP is an active part of the Federal Interagency Reentry Council, supporting the Administration's efforts to make communities safer, reduce recidivism, and assist those returning from prison or jail in becoming productive citizens.
The priorities of the DOJ CFBNP are carried out in a way that upholds and honors our Constitution – ensuring that both existing programs and new proposals are fully consistent with American laws and values. Our nation's Bill of Rights and important laws respecting both religious liberty and the non-establishment of religion protect not only our democracy, but also the plurality and vibrancy of America's religious and civic life.
{{MORE MEDIA SPIN, GIVE US A BREAK!!! FAITH-BASED AND FATHERHOOD PROGRAMS HAVE REPEATEDLY BEEN AUDITED FOR FRAUD AND LACK OF OVERSIGHT, AND OFTEN BEEN FOUND WANTING. BUT THEY JUST KEEP A-COMING1}}
Eugene Schneeberg is the Director of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Policy Guidelines & Regulations:
Executive Order 13199 Establishing the White House Office (January 29, 2001)
Amendments to Executive Order 13199 (December 12, 2002)
Amendments to Executive Order 13199 (February 5, 2009)
Center for Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships
810 7th Street, N.W.
(202) 305-7462 Telephone
partnerships@ojp.usdoj.gov
And on the lefthand side, a gorgeous, elegant sidebar:
Prisoner Reentry
Promoting Responsible Fatherhood
White House Office of FBNP
If you search the word "faith-based" above, on the site, you'll find 16 uses.
Look for it in the Bible, and you won't find it, particularly in this use — as describing a community (or "neighborhood") organization which qualifies to receive grants, meaning is a corporation registered with someone legitimizing tracking through the Social Security Adminstration's EIN#, etc., etc.
You do find, however, phrases like, "Ye shall know them by their fruits." It also is clearer than clear about not having "respect of persons" (meaning social status) which should tell anyone immediately that what most so-called Christian faith-based organizations, in practice, are now and historically have been doing (including religious wars, selling indulgences, building magnificent edifices, and trying in general to centralize wealth and control under world domination, etc., while figuring out who to excommunicate and who to build alliances with for worldly power and riches, is the exact opposite):
<< James 2 >>
1My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. 2For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; 3And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: 4Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? 5Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? 6But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? 7Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?
8If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: 9But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
Then it even goes on to scold them for hypocrisy, preaching faith, while saying, let your faith comfort you, knowing when someone is simply hungry, cold, or destitute:
14What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
I shouldn't have all these purple rectangles up above, but just wish to point out that just as "faith-based" has little to nothing to do with at least "faith" in this book, even so the "fatherhood" propaganda from the federal government has anything to do with real, and good,"fatherhood," which pretty much by definition wouldn't need all these bells and whistles, props, and threats. Something ain't right with all this media campaign.
So don't be deceived by the labeling. The labeling is there for a distraction (and a calling-card). In practice, if you follow these grants and grantees, it does seem to have a certain common application, which has nothing to do with siring anything — except more corporations, programs and eager practitioners ready to practice on as many as can be recruited into the program. …
CHARACTER AND RIGHTS DEFINED BY CHROMOSOME CONTENT?
As such this will breed entitlement by chromosome, and reduces the motivation to respect the law, in general.
Click on the Responsible Fatherhood page and find a referral to "fatherhood.gov" which, as I have related herein, is being run (last I heard) by a former, or current, public employee from New York state whose organization has more corporate names than anyone can keep track of, but apparently registered as a NYS charity ONLY in time to get a nice, fat $7 million grant from public funds (assuming it's continued for the full years available) to continue running this media campaign:
Do a "search" and count the word usage of "father" ("fatherlessness" "father-absent" etc.) below. I came up with 26 — in this short period. Plus "Dad" 4 more times.
First sentence claims that the real problem families in America are facing is "fatherlessness" – not criminal behavior or extortion within government, "losing" trillions of $$ or over-taxing people by a few hundred billion — or in any way, shape, or form, corruption in leadership. Although there's plenty of evidence that leadership is quite corrupt. However, forget that, abandon rational thought, and focus on the "F" word. Tune into the resonance "Faith-based, Fathers, Families" . . . . "Faith-based, Fathers, Families"
If you're really faithful, you'll want that father in the home no matter what. If you really care about families (or children), like us, you will sponsor groups to go get Dads out of prison and reconnect them with children, even children they've never shown a prior interest in. So what? there's a Y chromosome involved!!
Notice, they start with a generalized statistic we are also supposed to believe (take it on faith) based on probability and social science studies sponsored by this government. How reassuringly authoritative to have an ANSWER to life's social problems (crime, drug use, delinquency, and teenagers having too much sex without enough contraception. Oh, forget the contraception (I just remembered the "faith-based" factor), go for abstinence instead. Follow the example set for centuries by, say, priests…. and evangelical pastors. Like, say, megachurch pastor Eddie Long from New Birth Baptist Missionary Church, or New Life megachurch leader (until he was "outed") Ted Haggard, who has had a change of heart about same-sex marriage (after being caught with a male prostitute and admitting to using crystal meth, viewing pornography, etc., while head of this church). It doesn't say he's had a change of heart about fatherhood. In 2009 (the disgrace was in 2006) another young man started to talk:
Disgraced pastor Haggard facing new sex allegations
(Colorado Springs, 2009; CNN; Eric Marrapodi and Jim Spelman)
"Haggard is the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, a group that says it represents millions of people in 45,000 church congregations nationwide. He and other evangelical leaders participated in weekly conference calls with senior White House aides during the Bush administration.
In November 2006, allegations surfaced that Haggard had a three-year relationship with Mike Jones, a male escort, involving drugs and sex for money. After those allegations became public, New Life fired Haggard and he resigned as president of the national organization.
Repeat after me, three times without stopping, or until it's engrained in your unconscious: the real reason, the undergirding cause young people engage in crime, sex, drugs, and rock'n roll crime (with married pastors with children) is because they are fatherless.
This emergency can't wait for Congressional approval or to be run by the public (51% of who appear to be female). Strong, charismatic Presidents need to issue Executive Orders. Faith-based organizations, including nonprofits quickly formed by and operating from the same address as megachurches if necessary, must have NO obstacles to obtaining more grants to to stem this flood of evil.
In the last three weeks, Boyd said, the young man told him that he was considering going public with his story because Haggard was portraying himself as a victim in an upcoming HBO documentary called "The Trial of Ted Haggard," which is scheduled to air Thursday.
In a settlement with New Life, the church and Haggard agreed that he would retain his six-figure salary for a year, leave the Colorado Springs area, receive counseling, and not speak publicly about what had happened for one year, according to a church staff member with knowledge of the settlement who was not authorized to speak on the record.
That basically implicates those who have contributed to this tax-exempt creation in the coverup! whose donations provided that six-figure salary? $xxx,xxx — that's six figures!
Jones said Monday that he has spoken with the former church volunteer whom Boyd said had a relationship with Haggard.
"My anger is so much at the church," Jones {{the male prostitute}} said. "They tried to keep this quiet when all along I've taken a beating feeling like I was the only one, when clearly there were others."
From the DOJ link:
Fatherlessness is a growing problem in America, one that undergirds many of the challenges that families are facing. When dads aren't around, young people are more likely to drop out of school, use drugs, be involved in the criminal justice system, and become young parents themselves.
Case in point surely demonstrate this; they must be, however the exception.
President Obama has said that being a father to Malia and Sasha is the most important job he has. At the same time, growing up without a dad himself, the President understands firsthand the holes that fathers leave in their families when they are absent.
Yes, a family with a woman and mother acting responsibly and supporting the household, is a family with a HOLE in it. It's not a real family. No father =/= real family, right? President Obama is a prime example of how fatherlessness leads to a life of crime, when it's not leading to the POTUS?
The President is joining with fathers across the nation to send a strong message about personal responsibility and "stepping up to the plate," while supporting fathers who want to be there for their kids, even dads facing challenges in their lives. That's what the President's Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative is all about.
The President's Fatherhood Initiatives help promote strategies that encourage support for fathers and families. In 1960, less than 8 million children were living in families where the father was absent. Today the number of children living in father-absent homes stands at 24 million. Through research, discussions and planning, the federal government is determined to replicate initiatives that prove especially useful for non-custodial parents struggling to enter the workforce, earn a living wage and reconnect with family members, specifically offspring.
The Fatherhood Initiative and member agencies are working to change fatherlessness by supporting family and father friendly policies, highlighting the importance of fathers in the lives of their children, developing coalitions around this issue in an effort to provide resources to men to help them be better dads.
[[Post split in about half February 4, 2014…. It was 15,000 words!]]
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Government– Same Turkey Outside, but Who Changed the Stuffing? »
The child molester above who is collecting our tax payments from the government through federal grant under the guised of a "non-profit" reminds me of a "psychopath"s "tell". Have you ever studied the behaviors of personality disordered people? They don't change. They cannot grow a conscience and inevitably they "tell" if you watch and listen. To me the above is what we call a "TELL". Non-profits paying this guy sickens me as does most of what you have uncovered and I myself have learned from research.
The public needs to be made aware the "dirty little secret" which it is funding with their tax dollars.
I saw on a different website there have been a few criminal charges for fraud or misuse of funds through non-profits but a TASK FORCE should be set up to expose those who are using non-profits as their personal "spending money".
I believe the real story is much more sinister than we think. It's NOT just an abuse of the FUNDS. I know enough about organized crime to see EXACTLY what they are doing and the public needs to look at it that way.
Remember ACORN? That sure quieted down didn't it? I don't recall any criminal charges but I do know it was a major abuse of federal funds. In the wake of the Penn State and Sandusky scandal along with the BOYSCOUTS and the Catholic Church, nobody should be surprised to find it's just the tip of the iceburg. The child trafficking problem is HUGE and gets very little media coverage and "kiddie porn" is another biggie which is not reported on until a "scandal" won't fit under the rug any longer.
In my particular custody case, the fathers attorney was involved in Boys and Girls Club of America. He's a
"fathers rights" attorney and I would never let that man around children. I will also never promote that organization as anything but questionable as it comes up like the Second Mile. It takes some really sick individuals to cut a loving mother from a childs life and deny to themselves the damage they do to that child by railroading the childs nurturing parent who they love and believes calls the sun every morning to wake the day. In my case I am the only parent the child knew. I am the only parent who cared to be in the childs life and the child knew that as we were not living in hiding but the father was living as if he had no children and there were no laws. He has another adult daughter he acknowledged but NEVER supported. They call what they did "Fathers Rights". This is also ignoring that a team of psychiatrists told me to protect this child from the father. Police officers from the local police department said the same and so did a crisis center who the father was involved with. Well abusing mothers must be their rights as I am far from unfit and had a history of over a decade long of raising the child well to prove it. The tactics they used should only be used when a child is in iminent danger. The damage they have done is immeasurable. Everyone made money except the mother and the father has turned partially to his old ways and has an order of protection injunction against harrassment by a business owner (man) who he threatened and harrassed and a judge agreed! Do you think family court knew I would be good for at least the amount of my assets protecting the child? I did lose them along with my business of 20+ years. FATHERS RIGHT? He proudly wears his "JESUS IS LOVE" T-Shirt and on his facebook where you list your favorite books, he names the Bible in typical psychotic form 5 different ways!! (I guess he doesn't read anything else AMEN)
Your research explains to me and the many others, what happened with the father. This man never made more than $40k per year. He came out of prison making $180k per year! He had no new skills or education. He just had a "pastor" boss who gives people second chances! WTH? He gave this man the means to destroy us. He had 7 new felonies and got an advancement in his employment in a down economy. Since the employer had a tax prep. company next door to his (boiler room operation) business and "fellowship" on the other side of his business in the strip center, I feel fairly sure he has found the "faith based prison reentry funds" which gain them federal insurance for the ex con plus matching of his pay and much much more. Also there's faith based grants all over this! Probably calls himself a "mentor" and gets paid. Big problem? The father is enterring unsuspecting peoples homes who aren't so forgiving and do believe he may rob them blind. These people like myself don't believe 9 times felons are to be trusted. This wasn't a one time thing. This was a way of life for this man. It's my understanding under HIS REAL NAME you can't get any licenses in our county with 9 felonies. Do I want the IRS to shine a light on the practices of this company? YES I DO. The tax service that was next door has an "F" with the BBB and the company who is paying X $180k has lost it's accredidation with the BBB in 2 states. Somehow the house of cards must come down. It might even solve the budget problem in the US.
If this problem appeared to be a few hundred thousands, I wouldn't think it was such an immediate issue. It's at the VERY LEAST in the BILLIONS! COME ON AMERICA. USE YOUR VOICE!
stillhere

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Red Hummingbird is a cool spot by any standards, but what really sells this place is its roof terrace. When the weather is kind, there is no better place for sipping a drink and enjoying the fizz of city living. The main bar area (reached from a street level entrance and up a flight of stairs) has considerable charm, with its banquettes and mirrors. And the drinks are seriously good, with cocktails that make much use of fresh fruits and juices, as well as a decent selection of wines and beers. The place is popular with good reason and can get pretty crammed on weekends. Get there early to snag some space.


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Space X capsule designed to carry people into space 'burns up on launchpad'
SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket are positioned inside the company's hangar at Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida (Space X/AP)
A Space X capsule designed to carry human crews into space appears to have met a fiery end in a test in Cape Canaveral.
Witnesses reported huge plumes of smoke rising from the test site after the test in Florida at the weekend.
Leaked video appears to show the capsule 'exploding', but NASA and Space X said the area was clear and no one was harmed.
Read More on Yahoo News
Brits among the 138 dead after eight explosions in Sri Lanka
Two teenagers arrested in connection with murder of journalist Lyra McKee in Northern Ireland
A company spokesperson said, 'Earlier today, SpaceX conducted a series of engine tests on a Crew Dragon test vehicle on our test stand at Landing Zone 1 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
'The initial tests completed successfully but the final test resulted in an anomaly on the test stand.'
NASA plans to use the Dragon capsule to carry astronauts to the International Space Station, and has already carried out uncrewed tests of the vehicle.
NASA's Jim Bridenstine said, ' NASA has been notified about the results of the @SpaceX Static Fire Test and the anomaly that occurred during the final test.
'We will work closely to ensure we safely move forward with our Commercial Crew Program.'
Inside NASA's Restored Apollo 11 Mission Control Room


Supergirl Sings in "Crisis on Earth-X Part 1"
The CW's Girl of Steel visited some old friends in tonight's episode, and she brought her singing voice along with her.
Spoilers for the first hour of "Crisis on Earth-X" below!
Tonight's episode saw many of the Arrowverse's heroes gathering together in honor of the wedding of Barry Allen/The Flash (Grant Gustin) and Iris West (Candice Patton). When Iris walked down the aisle, she was accompanied not by Mendelssohn's "Wedding March", but by Kara Danvers/Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) singing "Running Home to You".
As Arrowverse fans will remember, this song first debuted in "Duet", last year's Supergirl and The Flash musical crossover episode. While most of the episode saw Barry and Kara trapped in a sort of musical dream world, "Running Home to You" debuted once Barry was back to reality. In the episode's closing scene, Barry began to sing the song, as he officially asked Iris to marry him.
This isn't the only callback to the Arrowverse's past that Kara brings into the episode. Kara and company provided fans with an adorable nod to last year's "Invasion!" crossover, as well as the latest Lobo Easter egg to enter the Arrowverse. Still, the song serves as a nice reflection of Barry and Iris' journey... even if their wedding doesn't go exactly as they'd hoped.
"Crisis on Earth-X" is a four-hour event that will air on November 27th and 28th beginning at 8 p.m. and running for two hours each day; Supergirl (8 p.m. Monday), The Flash (8 p.m. Tuesday) and Legends of Tomorrow (9 p.m. Tuesday) will remain in their normal time slots but Arrow will move from Thursday to a 9 p.m. Monday placement for the week.


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Porthos bezeichnet:

 Automobiles Porthos, einen ehemaligen französischen Automobilhersteller
 Porthos (Schiff), Schiff
 Isaac de Portau als eine fiktive Person in dem Roman Die drei Musketiere
 einen fiktiven Beagle in Star Trek: Enterprise
 Porthos Range, Gebirge im Mac-Robertson-Land, Antarktika

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The growing popularity of smart speakers like Amazon Echo and Google Home will lead to an explosion in voice-based shopping, according to a new market research report from OC&C Strategy Consultants out this week. The firm is bullishly predicting that voice shopping will grow to a whopping $40 billion-plus in 2022, up from $2 billion today across the U.S. and the U.K.
This sizable increase will be driven by Amazon's smart speaker sales, in particular, the report said.
This forecast far exceeds earlier estimates of voice shopping revenues in the years ahead. While not an exact comparison, RBC Capital Markets recently predicted Amazon would generate $10 to $11 billion in sales from Alexa devices – including device sales themselves and voice shopping – by the year 2020.
But this new report believes the rapid adoption of smart speakers means we'll also see a massive increase in voice shopping.
Today, 13 percent of U.S. homes have a smart speaker, and 36 percent of those homes regularly use the device to make purchases, the report says. In the U.K., 10 percent of households have a smart speaker and 16 percent use it to regularly make purchases.
But even more people have used the smart speaker to make at least one purchase, even if they're not regular voice shoppers. 62 percent of smart speaker owners in the U.S. made a purchase, and 44 percent did in the U.K.
The report also found that those who own a smart speaker tend be younger, wealthier, and more likely to live in "family" households with children – all factors that could contribute in their own way to driving more voice shopping purchases. That is, younger people are generally quicker to embrace new technology; wealthy people will opt for convenience even if prices are higher at times; and heads of households are often too busy to get their shopping done locally, and will ask Alexa or Google Home for help instead.
However, the products currently being shopped by voice are lower value items, bought as a one-time purchase. Grocery (20%), entertainment (19%), electronics (17%), and clothing (8%) are the top categories of purchases. Meanwhile, only 39 percent of the consumers say they trust the personalized product suggestions from the smart speakers, and most people are just buying something they already know.
The fact that people don't use voice speakers for product discovery – they way they do on web and mobile – could be an issue in the future if companies, particularly Amazon, can't figure out how to improve their recommendations and push more people to make regular household purchases via voice. That could also impact this high $40 billion estimate, which feels a bit optimistic for now.


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Reaching Out to Gay and Lesbian Consumers – Event Marketer
Reaching Out to Gay and Lesbian Consumers
Posted on January 28, 2010 by Jessica Heasley
Gay and lesbian consumers flock to brands that become a part of the community
Gay and lesbian consumers make up just 10 percent of the market but they wield the largest disposable incomes of any niche group—$660 billion to be exact. How to harness this ginormous spending power? Good news event marketers. According to a survey conducted by San Francisco-based agency Community Marketing companies that sponsor LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender) events overwhelmingly have a better chance of winning the race for brand loyalty. Of the 22 000 surveyed 88 percent of gay men and 91 percent of lesbians said that a brand's support of LGBT events favorably influences their buying decisions.
For Volvo Coors and Absolut spending marketing dollars to get face time with the gay community is a decades-old strategy. But for brands just starting to build equity making the connection requires much more than just hoisting up your sign at a local pride event.
Wondering where to begin? Leading brands and experts weigh in on the best ways to appeal to the LGBT community while building brand loyalty through events and sponsorships:
Demographic Differences
Starting a live conversation between your brand and the gay community is in most ways no different than a general market strategy. Age income gender and geography should still drive decisions about how and where to engage.
Volvo for the past three years has been a sponsor of R Family Vacations cruises a 2 100-guest sponsorship opportunity that offers a platform for reaching affluent gay and lesbian consumers but in a variety of targeted ways. Volvo-branded beach balls coolers and Xboxes went to kids and teens while brochures video spots and raffles during evening events targeted the different types of families on board. Volvo's message? Whatever family means to you we have a car to meet your needs. "You have the LGBT family with three children and you have that couple that's bringing their dog along for the ride or you have that single individual going out to a club " says Sylvia Lopez-Navarro diversity marketing manager at Volvo. "So [the sponsorship] is geared towards the entire audience that makes up R Family."
Coors zeros in on the same R Family cruise platform but targets the geographically diverse adult demo by sponsoring a comedy night. "It hits several things at once " says Douglas Sanborn manager-corporate relations at Coors who manages the company's LGBT partnerships. "A broad spectrum of adults from all over the country from places where I might not be able to go otherwise and they're coming to a destination where they're going to see that we're a partner. We don't just talk the talk we walk the walk."
Psychographic Commonalities
While there is no one gay market there are historical commonalities in the gay community that make social gatherings in bars at festivals and through fundraising efforts uniquely relevant and effective as experiential platforms. "Thirty years ago it was a marginalized community so they took it upon themselves to find commonalities and to get together " says Joe Keenan founder of New Avenue Marketing which focuses on the LGBT market. "It's a community that's based on organization and that's something that marketers are starting to figure out."
Absolut was one of the first brands to recognize and engage the LGBT community in the 1980s and remains credible today because of its consistent presence at social events.
"Our approach has always been to engage in a manner that is important to the men and women who comprise this community " says Sarah Bessette a spokesperson for Absolut. "In their social spaces and through events that matter—whether it is the GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) media awards Gay Disney or Thank GLAAD it's Friday—we identify opportunities to touch this audience in an authentic manner that speaks to their sensibilities."
The Community Marketing study also revealed that 89 percent of gay men and 91 percent of lesbians base brand loyalty on how a company treats its LGBT employees. Although marketers can't always affect policy changes they can create partnerships that use their budgets to highlight their commitment to charities close to the community's heart. Coors is a sponsor of GLAAD and a contributor to the Family Pride Coalition which is affiliated with R Family. "It's a very unique opportunity to get the message out that we are a good corporate citizen " Sanborn says. Volvo sends its diversity marketing manager to R Family cruises to tout its track record both as an employer and as a supporter of the Human Rights Campaign.
Messaging Nuances
Are creative tactics that get that perfectly timed and executed "we get you" message to the gay audience not your core strength? Ask for help. Coors gets creative and strategic guidance from a lesbian-owned agency. Volvo retains an agency that specializes in the LGBT market and bounces ideas off a diversity council made up of internal and external marketing and advertising professionals. Shaping the message doesn't mean reinventing the wheel. Sometimes making the connection simply means adding a relevant tactical layer on top of an existing general market strategy.
When Nike wanted to tap into the West Hollywood gay market it didn't dramatically change the structure or format of its general market program. It instead amped up the camp by adding an ambassador troupe made up of drag queens (New Avenue handled). Sending out brand ambassadors and staff that are credible in the eyes of the market is Marketing 101-type stuff but it's especially important to the gay community. "Gay men and lesbians are not immune to mainstream advertising but they're also happy to engage in marketing activities that speak directly to them and acknowledge them as individuals who are truly that—individuals " says Bessette.
Want more? Click here for the six places you need to be to make the LGBT connection.
Photo Credit: unsplash.com/@tbilletpro
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Posted by Jessica Heasley
Jessica worked for more than 15 years in marketing and events before joining Event Marketer in 2007. She earned her master's degree from t	he Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and her bachelor's from the University of Washington (go Huskies!). Her last gig before coming to Red 7 was at Psychology Today magazine. Her proudest professional accomplishments include fixing a branded 1972 VW bus accelerator pump on the side of a highway in South Carolina with a paper clip and some string the night before a 30-city college tour; convincing Dr. Laura that she wasn't writing a piece about lusty event marketers having lurid affairs on the road (which she kind of was); and, while at an independent film dot-com called AtomFilms, using about fifty bucks worth of chocolate chip cookies and a couple gallons of milk to lure film festival attendees away from Steven Spielberg's (now defunct) big budget "Pop! Multimedia" booth to her company's tiny living room event space. Although she is a native of Seattle, she never once owned an umbrella or rain boots until she moved to Brooklyn, where she currently resides with her husband and daughter. She was born in Everett, WA, home of the pulp mill. →
View all articles by Jessica Heasley →
Colombia Rolls out the Welcome Mat
Limited Too Returns to Retail with a Back-to-School Pop-Up
How the H2O+ Beauty Oasis Changed the Landscape for Stagecoach Activations
Bravo Samples Desserts in Three Cities


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← Edition 14: Author Interview: Wolf Creek prequel authors: Aaron Sterns and Brett McBean
Edition 14: Eleanor Atkins is Dead and Her House is Boarded Up by Kaaron Warren →
Edition 14: Tread Upon the Brittle Shell by Rhoads Brazos
Posted by Gerry Huntman
Charlie sought out adventure and the glory of discovering a new cave. What she didn't account for was what she would find. Portents suggest the site shouldn't be disturbed, and Charlie knows it might be sacred, but will the lure of fame and adventure be too much to ignore? SY
The vehicle pressed through a cloud that thickened into terracotta, and for a moment the desert track disappeared. In the passenger's seat, Charlie squeezed her knees with both hands, but Yileen didn't seem too concerned. He turned his dark, weathered face to her, grinned, and refocused on the track with a languidness that jabbed at her gut.
"Have you ever—" Charlie stole a glance at the speedometer. "Gotten stranded out here?"
Yileen snorted. "Many times. Once a month?"
The Australian outback wasn't as flat as the Nullarbor—as if anything could be—but seemed somehow even less forgiving. Charlie picked up her canteen and felt its weight.
Yileen laughed, ending with a dry cough. "Don't be concerned. I drive this road so many times. See—boulder coming up on the right."
There it was, melting out of the veil.
"Patch of corkwood over the ridge."
A twisted grove rose up on both sides. In the haze, the stunted trees looked like black bolts of lightning, arcing up out of the ground.
"We'll make a meal of their seeds—pray that help arrives."
This time she caught Yileen's jest. That faint curl to his lip sealed it—wry Aboriginal humor. The truck dipped into a sandy trough, spun its tires a bit on the rise and was once again on flat ground. Grit hissed against her window. Pebbles and light debris pecked at the glass.
"Being true, I wouldn't normally suffer this," Yileen said, motioning to the road. "But he's dead set on having you back."
It made Charlie smile inside. Yes, Mum. He's a doctor.
Charlie had discovered the cave—per Dr. Fosberg's cryptic directions—but she doubted many would have recognized it. It was less than obvious. Curiously so.
"Sounds like they're really stuck," she said.
"Been for a while. You're gonna crawl in those tunnels some more?"
"It's what I do best."
"But you are a very tiny girl."
Though that was a glancing insult, she'd let it slide—Yileen meant well. "When caving, you'd be surprised how many blokes wish they were too."
Yileen chuckled. "Right! I wouldn't do so well down there." He patted his stomach and then squinted down the track. "Told ya we were close. We live another day."
The camp was ahead—a half-dozen large tents, khaki canvas splotched calico with the desert. Their sides whipped and cracked with the gusts. The helicopter that had served as transport for her previous trips was tarped down behind them—a small fleet of trucks too. That angular structure at the site must be the winch for the lift. Good, they'd listened.
"Tent on the end is yours," Yileen said, coasting slower.
"Good, but can you let me off at the drop?"
Yileen grunted and down-shifted. After another minute, he eased the vehicle to a stop alongside the pit. He put his hand on her shoulder. It surprised Charlie; Yileen had always kept his distance.
"Be very careful." His wide features were turned down, his brow sagging.
"I always am," Charlie said. She pulled her goggles in place before stepping into the desert's fury.
From within the cage, Charlie watched the pit's receding mouth, her way lit by yellow bulbs graced with rusty halos of silt. Thick cables hung alongside her, trailing down into the earth. The air took on a chalky coolness that put her at ease.
It must have been a half-kilometer ride, or close to it, when the cage finally clanked onto a platform at the upper end of a well-lit cavern. A chapel-sized channel dipped away to a yawning cathedral with boulders for pews. Cabling twisted away to junction boxes powering floodlights and computer equipment stacked on folding tables.
"Miss Wenham?" A reedy voice.
Charlie hadn't seen him sitting there, a narrow man with the stature of a bent stick of cane. He rustled up from a paper-littered table and offered a handshake.
"I'm Dr. Fosberg."
"Oh, of course. It's nice to finally meet you."
Was it? Somehow she'd pictured somebody a little more imposing—a little more Nordic. He had the blond hair and the fair skin, but it didn't look like his pillaging went beyond the cappuccino bar.
"Likewise," he said. "Thank you so much for coming. May I call you Charlotte?"
"Charlie, please." She looked about, letting her interest in the environment mask her disappointment. Indulging in flights of fancy—always a mistake. "The drop was astounding, but—too bad. You'd have the Mecca of base jumping if it were wider. Where are your helpers?"
Fosberg slumped back into his chair. "Exploring. Mapping. For what that's worth. I'm not expecting anyone for another…" he checked his watch, "six hours, or thereabouts. And the following team won't arrive until late tomorrow."
"Twenty-five." Fosberg patted her wrist. "Twenty-six."
Charlie smiled weakly and somehow avoided wrenching her hand away. As Fosberg spread out a rolled map, she silently scolded herself. He was just trying to be welcoming. His attention was more on his equipment than her. She knew the difference. How many times during Cocklebiddy tours had she been sized-up by guys with a schoolgirl fetish? Their eager agitation was palpable. With the way she was judging Fosberg…maybe they had been right; she did have something in common with them.
"I'm glad to be back," she said.
"Show me what you've found."
He motioned to the map. It was a detailed outline of the caves. The system reached downward in one massive limb that zigzagged and narrowed, before fracturing into long, twisting fingers.
Charlie scrutinized the layout while Fosberg pointed to key features and traced out the paths of his expedition teams. The two of them chatted a long while, the discussion varying from fully-explored sections to treacherous spots that may have more to offer.
"So, are you ready to look around?" Fosberg asked. "Satisfied with payment?"
"Yes—yes, it's good, and appreciated, but I'm curious."
"What are you really looking for?"
Fosberg rolled up the map and tucked it away. "What do you think?"
Charlie flipped through a stack of sketches. Each was a gridded outline of a cavern—numbered, indexed, and clipped with color photos. She studied them closely.
"Well," she said, "you're a geophysicist."
"Partly. My focus is seismology, geomorphology, in addition to historical studies."
"Strata. Something to do with tectonics. The island's position and all that."
"Eh." Fosberg brushed the question away.
"Come on now. I'm for the game of it all, but how'd you know there was a cave here?"
"I've found a few before this one, down south," Charlie said. "Just new entrances to established systems. Nothing earth-shattering. Nothing like this."
"Personal pride. Commendable."
"I suppose. This is definitely a new find, but, Dr. Fosberg—"
"Call me Kristof, please."
"Kristof—this system was hidden. Not undiscovered, laying away from eyes. It was buried. Someone had sealed it."
After two days of searching the desert, she'd found the entrance more or less where Fosberg claimed it to be—an equal distance north of Uluru and Kata Tjuta. Yileen had traveled out with her in the 'copter, made sure she set foot on the coordinates, and not on any mulgas or adders. While Yileen yabbered on about how this wasn't really a desert, and with the two monuments just peeking over the horizon, she'd found it.
"The capstone, you mean?" Fosberg asked. "It didn't surprise me."
"Well, I've never seen such a thing."
"You were very bold to dig under it. I appreciate your daring, your insight. The data you sent allowing—" Fosberg motioned at the equipment around him. "This. That's why I've asked you back. I need someone with bold ideas." He leaned over the table. "This cave goes down deep, like nothing you've ever seen."
"Sounds like Jules Verne."
Fosberg grinned wide. "A bit, perhaps."
"If I find it, you'll put my name on the final drop?"
"As I said, yes."
"And you get?"
"Recognition, much like yourself, but of a different sort. I'm proving a theory. Let's be a team of two. I can explain on the way down."
Charlie appraised him carefully. So, he wanted to get his hands dirty? That was to be respected. And he was eager to explore. She could relate to that. "You know the ropes? I don't dawdle."
"I've had training. I'm not a speleologist, but I can follow your lead."
"You're absolutely sure there's another drop?"
"My research guarantees it. I know you weren't convinced before, about the location, but…here we are. It was waiting for us."
"And what do your studies say about the depth?"
Fosberg stared at empty space. "A tremendous distance."
"Fine. Let me gear up and I'll take you to it."
Once they were both properly outfitted, progress was quick. The forward cavers had left ample lines. Charlie was a bit chagrined to see every pitch bolted where trad gear could easily have been placed, but it did keep matters simple.
The two of them made short work of the boulder field, descended through several shallow drops, and crossed a sluggish river via an overhead traverse.
Fosberg was capable—a bit hesitant—but he knew the basics.
"This is the epicenter of my studies," Fosberg said, somewhat winded. "Though that isn't the proper term for it."
Charlie set a spring-loaded cam in place of a bolt she wasn't willing to trust. Fosberg must have hired amateurs, maybe some club. Somebody rube enough to drill next to a severe horizontal fault. "Earthquakes?" she asked.
"Yes. They center here, but they don't originate here. It's very strange. They start along the coasts, north and south, and then converge. Two subtle waves of such precision."
Charlie made a quick abseil down and Fosberg followed. She took a second to survey the newest cavern. A domed ceiling sloped down to a cataract running through the far wall.
"There's a spike," Fosbrug continued, "clearly noticeable as the waves overlap, right here. It's plain on the seismometer. The north wave continues along with the south, and each ends where the other began. The whole continent ripples."
"Never heard of that. Here, hold this." She tossed him a line.
"The newer instruments show it discretely. But, if you examine the old data—" Fosberg scratched at his chin. "Even with less stations, poorer resolution—it's there too."
Charlie backed down a long, steep grade. Fosberg met her at the bottom.
"Nine year intervals," he said. "At first I thought it was some sort of global rhythm. Perhaps the sub-plates oscillated in hierarchical tessellations. But at that speed? Ridiculous, I know. It was just a theory."
The conversation faded as they worked down a dry streambed, retracing team five's route. Fosberg grumbled about that fact but kept following.
"Could it be tidal?" Charlie asked.
It had been an hour since the last conversation.
"The waves," Charlie said. "They start at the coasts."
"No, no. I don't see how."
Charlie sat on a loose boulder and Fosberg joined her. His breath rasped. He might have studied the equipment and technique, but he'd skimped on the cardio. She offered him her canteen, which he eagerly took.
"You didn't tell the others about the…what did you call it, the capstone?"
Fosberg wiped at his mouth. "This is a dead end. I told you. Team five turned around here."
"Yes, but you didn't tell them."
"The capstone? No. I saw no reason to."
Charlie loosened her pack and let it slip to the floor. Fosberg gave a questioning glance.
"You know what I think?" Charlie asked. "I think you're not being entirely honest, with them or me."
"That's a bit rude of you."
"Maybe. It's just an honest observation. What does a cave have to do with earthquakes? Not much, I say. And measuring away from Uluru and Kata Tjuta? You can't get any more Aboriginal and off-limits."
Fosberg squinted down hard.
"And who would have sealed this place if not the Aborigines?" Charlie said.
"The Pitjantjatjara tribe?"
"Or their cousins."
"I'm quite free to operate without a permit. This location is outside of the park."
"Only because nobody knows about it. Anymore."
"So you don't wish to help?"
"I brought you here, didn't I?" Charlie said. "Behind you."
Fosberg turned.
"Those photos were a great idea," Charlie said. "If you would have informed your teams, they would have seen it."
Fosberg pressed his hands against the wall. "I don't—"
"Look at the wall's structure—just like the capstone. See how the leftward surface ripples? But it doesn't touch this section. Unusually smooth. Well, except for the chiseling."
Fosberg's hands trembled on the stone.
"Here!" He fell to his knees and rubbed at the wall. "A crack running, turning…" He traced his fingers up and around.
Charlie folded her arms and watched him work. It wasn't easy; she wanted to tear at that wall alongside him.
"This is it! Help me."
"I want the whole story."
"I've told you."
"How did you know this was here?"
Fosberg pounded on the wall. He tried to force his fingers in the crack. He spun back to Charlie and glared.
"All right. It's going to seem…you're not going to believe me."
"The Earth is hollow."
Charlie pressed her lips tight.
"Not the way its proponents believe. They truly are insane. Portals at the north and south poles? Ha! Besides, I looked. There's nothing there. But—"
Fosberg took a step closer to Charlie. She didn't budge.
"There is too much evidence," he said. "Too many legends of the Underworld across too many cultures. The Mayans call it Xibalba. The Buddhists call it Agharti. The old Hebrew, Sheol. Hel, in the Anglo-Saxon."
"Hell?" Charlie laughed nervously. This guy's theories weren't as funny as they should be when you were alone with him.
"I think the Christian interpretation is…a bit extreme. In the Old Norse, it was hellir. Something concealed, like a cave."
"How'd you select this spot?"
"I crossed Aboriginal myths with Norse myths. The Nyaviah Vahs, the Place of Exile, was renamed the Never-Never. Boyd used the term in 1882, but didn't originate it. It's the typical Aussie grab and slang. No offense."
Charlie shrugged.
Fosberg continued, his words flowing quicker and quicker. "It corresponds to the Icelandic Nifl, or what my ancestors called in Niflheim. I found multiple references of two stones separated by a dozen seven-fold thousand cubits. There was a point, northward equally far from both. It formed a triangle—the Apex of Providence. They—" He stopped abruptly and sighed. "You don't believe me."
"Doesn't sound much like seismology."
"I became interested in the subject when my colleagues found the Beijing Anomaly. It dampens tremors, you see. A sea the size of the Arctic Ocean, but underground. That area is open. Hollow. And there's another one here. Our presence proves it."
"Back to that."
"I'm going to go see it. I want, need, you to go with me. I need your expertise."
Charlie pressed her palm to the false wall. Flakes slipped away that had been loosened by other hands. Hands that had struggled to blend this stone into its surroundings. Hands that wanted to keep her out. There was something special here. A hidden place.
She opened her pack and removed her equipment.
They whittled away at the stone's mortar. From all sides, they chipped and scraped until they found the widest gap.
Charlie worked at a deep gouge in the mortar with her knife. She blew away loose silt. "Kristof, I'm through."
Fosberg dropped his tools and huddled close, his cheek against hers. "Do you see anything?"
"No, but feel."
He wiggled the blade about and pulled it back free. "Ten centimeters?"
"Just a shell compared to the capstone."
"We need a new approach."
"Go back to camp?" Charlie asked. "We can bring in tools and some more hands."
"That would take hours. I'm betting we can get it loose. Can you set an anchor in the ceiling?"
She eyed the distance. "Boost me up."
After some delicate balancing, she wedged in two tricams, locked a carabiner on each, and, following Fosberg's instructions, looped a line through. Together, they rolled a hundred-kilo stone before the wall, tied the line in place, and hoisted the stone off the ground.
"A pendulum," Fosberg said. "You see?"
The two of them pushed the stone high and released it. It arced downward and pounded into the seal's base.
Fosberg examined the point of impact. "A few more times."
Ten minutes later, her arms were numb. Fosberg couldn't have been doing any better, but he was too excited to stop. The stone slammed home again. The top of the seal buckled outward as the bottom shoved in.
"Yes!" Fosberg leapt about.
Weariness was forgotten. Another dozen drops and the seal pivoted top to bottom and crashed to the floor. Fosberg grabbed his camera and began snapping photos.
Charlie rubbed her forearms and inhaled the passage's draft, moist and fetid. The flash from Fosberg's camera strobed away. It slowed. It stopped. He let the camera rest against his chest.
The passage sloped away into darkness. Charlie moved closer and the light from her headlamp joined Fosberg's own. "Well?" she asked. "Are you set to—"
She'd had unnerving encounters before, but always when alone, far forward of any group. Once, in post-war Abkhazia, she'd been lowering herself down a chokingly-tight chimney, deep in the back of the Krubera system. She was days away from the cave entrance. Nobody else had been that way; she just knew it. She was just gathering herself to wedge down lower, when something from below tugged at her leg.
Her normal response was to back out and call it a day. Act casual and blame overexertion for her loose imaginings. It wasn't worth mulling over.
Until this moment. Now every dubious encounter was racing back.
It sat a short jog ahead, a figure at the edge of the light, slumped forward in the center of the passage, its face turned toward them.
"Hello?" Fosberg actually talked to it.
Charlie grabbed Fosberg's elbow. He was trembling. He called out again. "Hello?"
The worst part was knowing that he saw it too. How was she supposed to justify this?
Fosberg slipped into the passage. Though he was a physical disappointment and a mediocre caver, he did have determination.
Charlie held herself tight and followed. Her footsteps were hollow, like the earth. So absurd. She clenched her teeth.
The man sat cross-legged. Time had reduced his body to little more than stiff leather with a shock of white hair. His only clothing was a twisted cord, bound about his waist. He clutched a long spear.
A flash. Fosberg's camera again.
"Look at that boomerang," he said. "Blue with white stars. He's a patriot." He chuckled and flashed away from other angles.
"Don't touch him," Charlie said.
"Oh, I won't. I—" Fosberg stared down the passage.
Charlie followed his gaze.
There was nothing there.
"I never doubted," Fosberg whispered. He grabbed Charlie's hand. "Ready?"
She squeezed back, not even considering avoiding his touch. Seeing the emptiness looming before her, there was nothing she wanted more than to know she wasn't alone. They walked to the edge together.
The radio crackled. "Anything?"
Charlie set her feet comfortably against the rock face and leaned back on the line. She grasped the radio about her neck. "No. I'm about to take another reading."
"Affirma—" Fosberg cut out. His voice whistled and snapped through the static. "—holding up?"
"I'm fine. Drop another line."
The radio was quiet. She tried again before switching channels.
"Dennis?" she called.
After a brief pause the radio answered, "Yeah, Buttercup?"
"Tell the doctor I'm out of line."
"Your wish is my command."
Team four had joined them in the two days since they'd found the pit. The pit. Nothing else even compared to this. Years ago, she'd visited the Cave of Swallows. It had been imposing, the jungle suddenly falling away into a shaft so deep and wide that it could be stuffed with ocean liners. Or Son Doong, wide enough to hold its own jungles. But they were just grot-holes compared to this. Empty a thimble of water into the ocean.
The ceiling sloped toward the far side, supposedly. The instruments lost track of it. Fosberg had Yileen bringing in a new shipment of surveying equipment. Some sort of military scopes used for locking howitzers on Chechens, Fosberg had joked. Twenty kilometer range. Charlie didn't really consider that surveying.
She tied the line down, pulled her own rangefinder from her pack, and scanned the far wall. Nothing, of course. She did a slow arc to the right and back to the left. It had a 2000 meter distance, but she might as well have been scanning the moon. A quick check upwards read a little over 1800 meters.
She did a brisk bit of math. "Dennis, let Kristof know I'm at 2525."
The radio clicked twice and answered. "Like the song?"
"Nothing. He wants you back up. They'll have the lift set up by the time—" Silence. "—sometime tomorrow?"
"I'm not setting records in an elevator."
The radio faded out and back in. "—see the bottom?"
"Give me a second."
She tucked the radio away and pulled loose a flare. Fosberg should have supplied magnesium, something that burned in water—but, too late now. She pulled the cap and struck the tip on the wall. Sparks hissed forth, rapidly building to a jet of red in a haze of pink-lit smoke, making the forward wall look like a slab of meat. The stench of sulfur covered the ever-increasing swampiness from below.
Charlie wiped the sweat from her face.
"I see you," Dennis said over the radio. "—a speck."
She held the flare straight to the side and released. It tumbled downward and bounced off the wall, spotlighting the surface in a ball of light. As the wall receded, the flare tumbled through empty space. It faded to a spark. It was gone.
"Seven second drop," Charlie called.
"Seven?" Dennis said. "Uh…hold on." After an interminable wait. "That jibes. Doc says—" The radio faded. "Two hundred—"
One more time. She couldn't turn back now.
"Send another bundle. I really need it."
The supply line next to her rustled upward.
The radio chirped and Dennis came through again. "In motion."
Charlie fastened multiple anchors at strategic points. Two for her own line and another two for the supply. She ran doubled webbing between each with a twist and clip. Standard technique. If one anchor failed, her line would still be secured by the second.
After a half-hour wait, the supply line returned, two massive coils of rope knotted at its end. Her hands shook as she made the attachments and lowered the ropes down. She stilled herself and breathed slowly. Mustn't lose focus now.
Once she was latched into position, she tried Fosberg again.
"I'm going now." She waited for the response. There was none. She might as well tell him while he couldn't argue. "The surface concaves. It's a free pitch from here on. It'll take a long while to climb back, so…be patient."
She checked her harness and the descender one last time. There was a rattle from the radio. She turned it off and kicked away from the surface.
Absolute nothing.
To all sides a blackness pressed in with a physicality. She couldn't even tell if her headlamp was on. There was nothing to illuminate.
Trying to lower steadily wasn't easy. With the air so humid and slick, the rope wanted to slip. She leaned back and increased the angle to compensate for the lack of friction. The halfway point of the line drifted past.
She could hear it now. With each measured descent, it drew closer. Lapping. There was a soft rhythm to it, like waves along the beach. She'd get a little closer and touch it. She'd dip her toes into the River Lethe and forget life's problems.
Suspended in a cloud, floating down like a lost angel, her headlamp traced out a glowing cone. She tried another reading, but it was difficult to get a bead on the ceiling. The rangefinder was nearing its maximum and the mist scattered the beam. She'd just have to mark the end of the rope and calculate it later.
She tried to pace her descent, but the rope slipped. Liquid wrung over her gloves and down her arm. She was sliding faster and faster, her pulse accelerating with her speed. Did she stop-knot the end? She couldn't have forgotten such a thing.
God! To fall off—to spill into the earth.
The air thickened. Charlie kicked her leg out and around, looping the lower line against herself, and leaned back hard.
She slammed to a stop and warmth flowed up and over her.
She lay very still, gasping in shock as much as in confusion. Her hands stung. The whole world tilted so that it felt as if she were standing, and then lying, and then tipping with her toes in the air. Somehow, she managed to prop herself up on her elbows. A viscous liquid ran down her face.
Take slow breaths.
She brushed her cheek and studied her fingers. It wasn't blood. Thank you.
She was in a pool, a handwidth deep and crystal clear. Her impact hadn't even raised any sediment. The waters were tepid and feather-light. She turned her head left and right. There was no end. A glassy sea extended in all directions. Her stomach lurched.
There was no floor below the waters, just a blackness that went on without end.
Charlie flipped to her hands and knees and stared downward. Water dripped from her soaked clothes. Of course there was a bottom, but it was as black as onyx. The abyss at the bottom of the world. She pressed downward and it yielded like wet clay. When she pulled her hands back, her prints stayed, but only for a moment. They smoothed to a perfect flatness.
She stood, untangled the line from her leg, and pulled it loose from her harness.
"Hello, Dennis?" she called out over the radio. "I'm—"
Here, victorious, afraid?
Something wasn't right. She turned to a different channel. That familiar crackle of activity was gone. Shorted out by the waters, no doubt. Just great.
Her lips were salty.
"The Sea of Charlotte." She smiled. This could never be taken away.
After drying her camera lens, she took a few pictures. She tried to take a step but her feet wouldn't move. They were ankle deep in the clay.
The muck sucked noisily at her shoes. With a cry, she wrenched one foot free, and then the other. Her footprints shrank and flattened even as she began to sink again.
Enough of this. They must be going crazy up there. She needed to get out of the mist and try a flare—hopefully they were still good. Dennis would pick that up and relay her state back to Fosberg and the others. It would be a tedious climb with the line so slippery, but she could do it. She turned to the rope.
It was gone.
She spun left and right.
She hadn't moved from where she'd landed. The rope had been right at her feet. There had been at least ten meters of slack. The supply line had been here too, just off to the side. She shuffled about, aiming her light in all directions.
Finally, she saw it, overhead. On her toes, she could just touch it with fingertips, but knifed into the seafloor from the effort. She reset her stance. Now the line was out of reach.
"Are you joking?" She stretched higher, but without luck. "What are you doing!"
She yanked her feet free again and tore her pack from her back. After dropping it into the waters, she stepped on it, trying not to think how she was going to do this without equipment. She leapt up and seized the line with both hands.
It might as well have been soaked in oil. It had been directly in the waters; its every fiber dripped with the stuff. She slipped back to the bottom, only that final knot giving her purchase. Now she was even higher above the waters. They were still pulling the rope from above, but she couldn't hold on—not like this.
"Stop!" she screamed up into the mists, the darkness. "I can't—"
She tumbled back into the sea.
It had been hours. Charlie turned off her lamp to conserve battery. Her supplies were gone, buried in the clay. Though she made nervous attempts to dig down, she couldn't find the point from where she'd jumped. Who knew how far her equipment had sunk by this time?
She sat in the waters with her legs stretched flat before her to slow the sinking. Every ten minutes she moved.
Shift to another spot. Listen to the waves slosh. Wait.
She tilted her head back and stared into emptiness.
She awoke with a start. Dozing should have been impossible, but with the exhaustion of the climb and the stress, she'd done it. She tried to sit up, but couldn't budge. Curiosity turned to horror. She'd sunk down to her waist.
Echoless screams. She clawed at the surface, raking away clay in handfuls. She was just starting to make real progress when a touch brushed her face.
The tension at her brow told her that her eyes were wide open, but in this void that meant nothing.
Again, a slow motion, tracing down to her lips.
She reached up to her headlamp. As she debated whether she really wanted to see what lived down here, it touched her neck. She lashed out with both hands and wrung it tight. Her body seized, like she'd caught herself from falling. She flicked on her lamp.
It was the rope, hanging down from the mists. She pulled hard, kicking against the bottom until she had tugged herself free. Her body shook. The end of the rope was at the sea's surface. What kind of game were they playing?
She fed the line back through her harness and tied it off. The last fifty meters had been slick, but—she gave a test pull—she could do it. A little less than 200 meters straight up. She'd climb as high as she could and then wrap the line around herself to rest. Once she—
The seabed shook. Charlie looked down. The place where she'd freed herself wasn't sealing; it was a twisting gouge in the clay's surface. From its deepest edge, an iridescent film bubbled up and over the waters.
She threw herself at the line and yanked herself upward.
The sea rippled in long waves and the mist thinned. Charlie clawed higher. It wasn't easy; she had to clench tight. She wound the line around her leg to increase the friction. Her forearms ached, but she didn't falter. One hand above the other, pull, wrap the leg, and reverse the hands.
As the line swayed, she saw the waves, much taller than before, spaced farther apart. She kept her ascent steady and quick. The line was drier now and she was able to pull hard, yet the sea's surface wasn't that far below her feet. The crests of the waves surged to the height of houses before crashing back over each other in a roar of spray, each pass taller than the last.
Her foot was briefly submerged. She redoubled her efforts.
She raced upward at a reckless speed, but it didn't seem to matter. Each following wave caught her higher. Now it passed by at her knees. She was slipping.
The next wave submerged her. She spit and choked as it receded. Quickly wrapping the line about her wrists, she tried to climb again. It was no good. Another wave hit her.
"Got you! Up, up!"
It was a blur of motion. Hands pulled at her and she was lying on cold metal. A clank and shift, and she was rising above the waves. She coughed and sputtered. Fosberg knelt beside her.
"I'm so sorry," he said.
"No, I—" Charlie wheezed and forced herself to her knees. "I almost didn't make it."
"You didn't."
A deep reverberation swelled from below. It wasn't the tides; it was something much bigger.
"Nobody's walking away from this," Fosberg said. "The others ran off, as if that would help. But I couldn't leave you."
"They…ran? What—"
"I evacuated the climb. We were going to get you with the lift, see? But when they saw. When I realized—"
Fosberg sobbed and shook his head.
"Kristof, I don't understand."
They were almost high enough to lose sight of the waves. The crests of each just caught the little light that reached so far.
A deep rumble wrapped about them, its intensity swelling. Charlie pressed her hands over her ears. Fosberg fell to the platform and pulled at her arm. She could just make out his words.
It swept across the sea from the north. A glittering surface that sliced the waves into nothing. Charlie gripped the grated floor as the lift careened back and forth, tipping ominously. From the south, an identical surface approached.
"No." She clutched tight and wept.
They connected with a crack like thunder. Charlie could feel the impact within her, shaking her bones. She had never felt so small.
A blink. The lids receded from a sea of tears.
Kristof spoke softly at her ear. "The Eye of Providence."
The quakes were everywhere now. No one knew how many people had been lost along the world's coasts. Hundred of millions was the estimate—such optimism. The entire Ring of Fire had erupted. Pacifica was only a memory.
"I don't trust this architecture," Fosberg said. "Loose building codes."
Many of the older structures in the city had already collapsed.
"The radio says the Yellowstone Caldera erupted," Fosberg continued. "It was much bigger than they thought." He leaned back in his chair and looked out from the balcony at the jagged peaks of the Andes. "So much for those fellows. Sad, I would love to study the data. Another?"
"Sure," Charlie said.
They had stocked up on food and alcohol after arriving in La Rinconada, right before things really started to get bad. At five kilometers above sea level, the view would be great. There wasn't much to do now other than sit back and enjoy the altitude—while there was one.
Fosberg choked on a stale cigar. He stubbed it out. "Didn't miss much with that habit."
"You're celebrating," Charlie said.
"I am not. I just wanted…to know." Fosberg gasped and scratched furiously with his pencil at a pad of paper. "Níðhöggr chewing at the roots of Yggdrasill, coiled about the Tree of Knowledge. Thus ends Eden. Ragnarök. Of course!"
"I guess." She thought she might understand his point, but didn't feel like saying it.
The ground shook again.
Charlie had thought about warning her family, getting them out too, but Fosberg made a good argument against it. They were better where they were. It would end quicker, less drawn out. By coming here, the two of them were volunteering for much worse, but they were too curious not to.
"Maybe we deserve it," Charlie said.
"Perhaps." Fosberg took a slow swallow from his beer. "I wish I would have learned to dance."
"I can show you some steps, if we have time."
"Thank you. I'd like that."
"Wish I could have gotten Yileen to come with us."
When they finally reached the surface, Yileen had been sitting cross-legged at the edge of the pit. Charlie gave him the boomerang. She didn't know why she had picked it up, but she was glad she did. Yileen studied it in his lap, but didn't say anything.
"I don't think he wanted to go," Fosberg said. He turned quickly and dashed back into the hotel room.
Charlie popped the cap from her own beer and held the bottle against her forehead.
Southeastern Algeria had been shaken into gravel. Fosberg claimed that was the tail end of it.
Jörmungandr was known by many other names: Uroboros, Borlung, Yurlunggur. A serpent of immense size from the Old Norse, the Aboriginal, the Hindu, the Egyptian, and so many other cultures.
The Rainbow Serpent. Once, long ago, everyone had known it was there, though they now told themselves it was only a story. But every tale, no matter how fantastic, holds a little truth.
"Snakes don't have eyelids."
"Snakes?" Fosberg sat down again beside her. "More of a legless lizard, I'd say. And here she is!"
It was a moonrise, rising up past scores of horizons, half a world away. A single eye with a shimmering rainbow body trailing behind. Oceans and fire flowed in its wake, into the upper atmosphere, and so much farther. The shattered remains of a continent showered ever upward.
"We'll heal. Give it ten thousand millennia or so. Life will try again."
Charlie drank deeply. Maybe she should go chisel a warning on a cave wall.
Rhoads currently lives in Colorado Springs with his wife and son. His every attempt at not being macabre is inevitably followed by a painful spill off the Wagon of Good Vibes. His work is a wry amusement for himself and a creative escape that he hopes to share with others.
About Gerry Huntman
specfic writer, publisher, IT Specialist
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Posted on April 30, 2014, in Edition and tagged edition 14, fantasy, fantasy fairytale, fiction, Rhoads Brazos. Bookmark the permalink.	1 Comment.
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Car manufacturers often make special or limited production vehicles. However, very few take it to the level and extreme Porsche has. First they released the model 997.2 GT3, then the critically acclaimed and even more extreme GT3 RS. But now they've really done it. Porsche has taken the GT3 model line to the very limits of what seems possible with a flat six-cylinder engine, producing what could be, the very essence of a street and track car.
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The GT3 RS 4.0 is available in Carrera White and will go on sale in the U.S. beginning in late 2011 at a base MSRP of $185,000 (plus destination).
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