Roll on applicator allows for pulse points to be stimulated with pheromone infused perfume.
The pulse beating at these points will disturb the fragrance you have dabbed or sprayed on. As the fragrance is disturbed, it is continuously refreshed. The pulse points are also warmer than other areas of the body. A perfume reacts to warmth and the scent is stronger on the warmer areas of a body, so if you spray or dab perfume on these warmer pulse points, it will make a stronger presence.
Because perfume (not eau de toilette) is so expensive, you want to make it go as far as you can. You also don't want to overuse a scent; you will overpower people as you encounter them. Using pulse points helps you to use less scent, which will subtly announce your presence.
Suggested Use: Topically apply to pulse points on your body where you feel your heart beat--wrists, throat, under the ears, on the inner elbows and behind the knees.


Thank you very much for your interest and patronage towards our services.
Our business was first founded in China back in December year 2002, named Better House Co., Ltd., with offices set up in Shanghai, Kuang Zhou, and Shen Zhen focusing on Chinese real estate sales and leasing, investment consultation, property management, market research and the associated businesses. In year 2007 October, the company was renamed from 「Better House Holding Limited」to 「Stasia Capital Holding Limited」.
The name Stasia was derived from the image of "a Stage to Asia". Although our business was founded in China, from the beginning we looked very forward to developing a global investment business upon Asia.
The acceleration of Japanese investors investing in oversea markets has been obviously witnessed. Besides those individual investors who are looking for abroad investment due to appreciation of Japanese Yen and Japanese economic crisis, institutional investors and domestic developers have also started to seek for oversea opportunities due to the decrease in population and potential markets in Japan.
We are constantly observing and looking out for fresh and potential oversea markets, while keep our eyes closely on the moving directions of Chinese money. Since year 2010, we have further set up sales offices in Malaysia, Singapore, and England to provide broader investment opportunities to our Japanese investors. Not too long after that, we also set up a branch in Myanmar in year 2013 focusing on housing and commercial leasing services providing to the Japanese enterprises advancing into the country. Besides that, Stasia has also engaged ourselves in the development of service apartment construction and establishment business within Myanmar. We are looking forward to accelerating the Stage to Asia by exploring investment products in Thailand, Philippine, and Cambodia in the very soon future.
Yet, as a global investment consulting service provider, Stasia totally does not ignore the importance of balancing our investors' portfolio, we have our sales office in Los Angeles set up in March, 2014. On the other hand, due to the echos of Abenomics and Olympic 2020 in Tokyo, we have been working with Japanese domestic developers to promote Tokyo properties in Singapore and China. We are proud to assist oversea investors who are anticipating and showing their interest in Japanese real estate market.
Whether it is seeking out opportunities in "emerging countries" or "developed countries",we strive to do our best towards meeting your investment expectations.Once again, we thank you for your continuing patronage.


I have noticed that since the last update to the Windows 8 Mail App the autofill when sending a email does not suggest a recipient from the people app when you enter characters in the email address box. Is there a solution or is it a bug in the current version?
I am trying to link my Exchange 2010 mailbox to the Windows 8 Mail App. But, every time I do, it changes the Server Address to blu-m.hotmail.com So, since that is obviously not my Exchange server it keeps failing. Any clue why it keeps doing this?
How do I delete an email in the Windows 8 mail app's Outbox that is too big and won't send?
I tried sending an email with an attached file that is too big and it just sits in the OUTBOX, sometimes slowing down other emails that I am trying to send as well. I can't figure out how to delete it from the Win 8 mail app's Outbox. When I log into my MSN account using a web browser, as you would normally, my Outlook Outbox is fine and I can receive and send emails quickly. The problem is exclusively with the Win 8 mail app.
Windows 8 Mail App - For Gmail accounts, how to make delete button archive?
I have a Nokia Lumia phone running Windows 8 and a new Toshiba laptop running the same. I was able to add and can access my 'non live/hotmail/gmail' email on my phone. It was added to the account quickly and works well. However, I can't connect the same account to the mail app on the laptop. Any advice?
Windows 8 Mail app does not autocomplete email addresses from my Microsoft account contacts. If I go into People app I can see all my contacts there and I can select "Send Email" option in a contact, which then opens the Mail app. But if I start a new email in the Mail app and type in a few characters it does not pull the possible email address from my contacts. In the Settings->Accounts options for the Mail app I noticed that 'Content to Sync' has only got the option of Email and not Contacts. Screenshot link below. The option to remove account is greyed out. http://i.imgur.com/kirMY9r.jpg I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the Mail/Calendar/People app but still the same problem. Please help!
in my gmail account, when i log into it on the web, in the "to" field i have the option to email from my gmail account or another one of my pop3 email address. that option doesnt seem to be available in the mail app in window 8. any solution?
i am unable to use the windows 8 mail app after changing my yahoo email address password.


This matter is before the Court on Petitioner Marcus Roberson's Motion to Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (Doc. 817). The Government has responded (Doc. 826). For the reasons explained below, the Court exercises its discretion to order the Government to expand the record as set forth below.
On October 19, 2011, Roberson and seven co-defendants were charged with conspiracy to distribute 280 grams or more of crack cocaine (Count 1) and conspiracy to distribute 5 kilograms or more of powder cocaine (Count 2). Roberson, along with co-defendant Virok Webb, was also charged with one count of murder to prevent another from providing information concerning a federal crime to a law enforcement officer of the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(a)(1)(C). Roberson proceeded to trial, with all but one of the other co-defendants entering into plea agreements with the Government. On March 6, 2014, Roberson was convicted by a jury on all three counts. The jury also returned special verdicts determining that Roberson conspired to distribute 280 grams or more of crack cocaine and 5 kilograms or more of powder cocaine. On July 14, 2015, the Court denied Roberson's motions for judgment of acquittal and new trial. On December 2, 2015, this Court sentenced Roberson to a controlling term of Life imprisonment. On November 16, 2016, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Roberson's conviction and sentence. The Court subsequently issued an order directing that Roberson file either a motion to withdraw his pending second Rule 33 motion and a notice of his desire not to have the motion re-characterized as a request for § 2255 relief, or a motion amending the Rule 33 motion to include all claims that can be brought under § 2255. Roberson withdrew his motion,  and this timely § 2255 motion followed.
On March 7, 2014, the day after Roberson was convicted by a jury, co-defendant Virok Webb entered a binding guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. As an appropriate sentence, the parties proposed a term of imprisonment between twenty and thirty years; the Government agreed to dismiss the second drug conspiracy charge as well as the murder charge, and limited its § 851(a)(1) information to one prior felony drug conviction, resulting in a mandatory minimum sentence of twenty years rather than life imprisonment.
I am willing to testify in Marcus Robersons defense in his appeal trial that we had NO illegal drug dealings or he and I had any parts in the homicide attributed to us. Unfortunetly [sic] I was not able to testify at his trial do to my own case that was pending. My attorney advise against it continously. Me and Roberson did not deal in drugs together nor did he ever purchase, receive, or contact me about anything like that. We did not discuss or plot, or plan any homicide. I apologize for not doing this for you or Dewberrys attorney. I recently took a plea so I am free to testify for you and Roberson during his appeal process. I get sentenced May 27th.
TO: Charles Rogers (Attorney for Marcus D. Roberson), I, Virok D. Webb, typed this as a truthful and correct Affidavit, and on my own free will, the information I am about to state is true and accurate. And is willing to testify in court to this information I state in this affidavit. I am willing to testify in Marcus D. Roberson [sic] defense, that he and I "never" had no agreement in no illegal drug activities. Mr. Roberson, never conspired together to purchase any kinda of illegal drugs or any other illegal items, with me or from me. I never sold or gave Mr. Roberson me, any kinda of illegal drugs. On June 29, 2010, I had a interview with Junction City, KS JCPD detective Joshua Brown, and during the interview detective J. Brown asked me specifically about was Mr. Roberson involved in the distribution me and detective J. Brown was discussing, and when I stated Mr. Roberson was not involved with me, I was stating the truth. Mr. Roberson has no involvement in the distribution me and detective J. Brown was discussing. Also me and Mr. Roberson, never discussed, plotted, or plan any homicide. And that goes for the one we was wrongly accused of. I apologize for not being able to relay this information to Mr. Roberson's defense but due to my attorney at the time would not allow me to testify in Mr. Roberson's defense. I recently took a plea back in March 2014, so I am free to testify for Mr.
Roberson's behalf, because what I plead out to Mr. Roberson had no involvement with me.
In his § 2255 motion, Roberson raises eight discrete claims that his trial and appellate counsel were ineffective. Relative to this Order, Roberson claims that both counsel were ineffective by failing to submit Webb's affidavits in further support of the motion filed pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 33. Specifically, Roberson contends that these "affidavits would have proven that there was no conspiracy agreement between [the defendant] and Virok Webb's drug distribution organization." As related in Webb's affidavits, his counsel prevented him from testifying, as he was awaiting trial.


Do you want a better chance of getting a high-paying job after graduation? Do you want employers to be impressed when they see your CV? AAU has just the answer for you - our exciting, new 2-semester leadership certificate program.
To be successful in today's working world, it is now well known that you have to be more than just a good employee—you have to be a leader, too. That is what this program is for—to give you both the knowledge and experience to be a leader. There are two levels to the program, a beginner's and an advanced, and successful completion of either one, starting with the beginner's level, will earn you a certificate stating that you have leadership skills and experience. So when you graduate from AAU not only will you get your degree, but also an extra leadership certificate that will impress employers in all fields.
The Advanced Leader's Certificate is based on classroom workshops and interactive exercises, and on an independent leadership experience. Attendance and participation are mandatory.
Having completed all program requirements, students are conferred the "Advanced Leader's Certificate". Please note that the certificate is NOT a full university degree.
Our certificate holders are prepared for success as managers or entrepreneurs in both for-profit companies and non-profit organizations and governmental agencies, especially where high proficiency of professional English is required. Our certificate holders are able to communicate professionally, decisively and strategically in verbal and written English.
The program is worth 6 US credits. It consists of 2 courses (3 US credits each) and 1 non-credit training. You can complete the program in 2 semesters, using your elective courses for that.
For more information, please contact the Assistant Dean of the School of Business Administration (see the contact on the right side of the page).


The plants cannot survive one day without water. I was distracted this morning (family history) and did not spend time in the yard. I just walked to the mailbox and saw many plants drooping in the one-hundred degree sunshine. But too hot for this old lady to spend time watering them at this hour.


The weather is slowly starting to warm up. You know what that means: adult league baseball and softball. OK, and high school too!
Whether you were a star pitcher in high school or you've never stood on the mound before, we have some reminders on how to properly throw out a pitch plus some tips for avoiding injuries.
Dean Taylor, M.A., AT, Great Lakes regional director, National Pitching Association, says there is no difference when it comes to throwing or holding a softball or baseball. Position your middle finger and thumb so they divide the ball equally to maximize accuracy, the certified athletic trainer says.
Taylor says every pitcher can maximize velocity with torque, with 40 to 60 degrees of separation between the front hip and back shoulder.
Arm care and recovery: Practice arm circles to help give your shoulder an opportunity to gain strength and endurance. A healthy and functionally strong upper body can support five minutes of continuous movement with this exercise.
Core temperature elevation: Working in forward/backward jobs, skips and bounds can help to get your body moving to prepare all muscles of the body.
Functional strength body work: Warm up using a series of presses, pushes and upper body saws and scissor movements to encourage full range of motion.
Joint integrity work: Practice a series of heavy and light "holds" to help strengthen the posterior shoulder and prepare the muscles of the arm for activity for the day.
As you plan your next game, remember to always warm up and listen to your body. Taylor says pain is likely the result of one of three things: improper mechanics, lack of functional strength, workload demands. These are categories that can be worked on, so listen to your body and stay safe out there!
If you think you've already had a sports injury, get in touch with one of our physicians!


The peace of a quiet day is disturbed at Quinns, the antique shop in London's Mayfair owned by John Mannering – known also as 'The Baron' and a former master cracksman and jewel thief. The phone rings and is answered by Josh Larraby, himself a former thief. 'They're trying to kill me' pleads the man on the line. Then laughter is heard, at first soft, but rising to a crescendo which makes even the stalwart Larraby cringe. What is to be done? But there is more to the call than might be supposed, for Mannering must battle a plot to dominate and destroy him.
Born in Surrey, England, into a poor family as seventh of nine children, John Creasey attended a primary school in Fulham, London, followed by The Sloane School. He did not follow his father as a coach maker, but pursued various low-level careers as a clerk, in factories, and sales. His ambition was to write full time and by 1935 he achieved this, some three years after the appearance of his first crime novel 'Seven Times Seven'. From the outset, he was an astonishingly prolific and fast writer, and it was not unusual for him to have a score, or more, novels published in any one year. Because of this, he ended up using twenty eight pseudonyms, both male and female, once explaining that booksellers otherwise complained about him totally dominating the 'C' section in bookstores. They included: Gordon Ashe, M E Cooke, Norman Deane, Robert Caine Frazer, Patrick Gill, Michael Halliday, Charles Hogarth, Brian Hope, Colin Hughes, Kyle Hunt, Abel Mann, Peter Manton, JJ Marric, Richard Martin, Rodney Mattheson, Anthony Morton and Jeremy York. As well as crime, he wrote westerns, fantasy, historical fiction and standalone novels in many other genres. It is for crime, though, that he is best known, particularly the various detective 'series', including Gideon of Scotland Yard, The Baron, The Toff, and Inspector Roger West, although his other characters and series should not be dismissed as secondary, as the likes of Department 'Z' and Dr. Palfrey have considerable followings amongst readers, as do many of the 'one off' titles, such as the historical novel 'Masters of Bow Street' about the founding of the modern police force. With over five hundred books to his credit and worldwide sales approaching one hundred million, and translations into over twenty-five languages, Creasey grew to be an international sensation. He travelled widely, promoting his books in places as far apart as Russia and Australia, and virtually commuted between the UK and USA, visiting in all some forty seven states. As if this were not enough, he also stood for Parliament several times as a Liberal in the 1940's and 50's, and an Independent throughout the 1960's. In 1966, he founded the 'All Party Alliance', which promoted the idea of government by a coalition of the best minds from across the political spectrum, and was also involved with the National Savings movement; United Europe; various road safety campaigns, and famine relief. In 1953 Creasey founded the British Crime Writers' Association, which to this day celebrates outstanding crime writing. He won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his novel 'Gideon's Fire' and in 1969 was given the ultimate Grand Master Award. There have been many TV and big screen adaptations of his work, including major series centred upon Gideon, The Baron, Roger West and others. His stories are as compelling today as ever, with one of the major factors in his success being the ability to portray characters as living – his undoubted talent being to understand and observe accurately human behaviour. John Creasey died at Salisbury, Wiltshire in 1973. 'He leads a field in which Agatha Christie is also a runner.' - Sunday Times.


Stress-Less Week will take place from Dec. 3-8 in the Kathryn A. Martin Library and will include games and free hot drinks. Photo by Tyler Schendel.
With final exams coming up next week, college students around the country are feeling the pressure of the end of the semester. Luckily, UMD students have access to a number of stress relieving activities and study areas to help reduce stress levels and feel prepared going into the semester's final week.
Here are five activities and places around UMD that can help students prepare for finals week.
From Dec. 3-8, the Kathryn A. Martin Library will be the host of Stress-Less Week, a week of planned activities in the campus library that are meant to alleviate the burden of finals week. Library staff and academic advisors will hand out free coffee and hot cocoa Monday through Friday starting at 8 a.m. in the library entrance.
In addition to drawing and playing games, students also have the opportunity to win gift cards in the library. Photo by Tyler Schendel.
Stress-Less Week will also include an activity table with board games all week in the library atrium, and students will get a chance to make their own stress balls on Thursday, Dec. 7 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. One of the most popular parts of Stress-Less Week is PAWS (Pet Away Worry and Stress), in which representatives from Animal Allies and Humane Educators bring animals on campus on Dec. 6 for students to pet and play with.
On Sunday, Dec. 10, The Vineyard Church will host a 24-hour finals relief night that will include free professional massages, live music, free food and coffee, therapy dogs, karaoke, video games, dodgeball, silent study rooms with Wi-Fi access and even big screen movies. Students that attend will have the option to study and prepare for their finals or to relieve their stress with the list of activities provided.
This free event takes place from 4 p.m. on Dec. 10 to 4 p.m. on Dec. 11 and will take place at the Vineyard Church on 1533 W. Arrowhead Rd.
Students looking for last-minute tutoring or writing advice can stop by the second floor of the Kathryn A. Martin Library, which features the UMD Tutoring Center and the Writers' Workshop. The tutoring services at UMD provide free drop-in tutoring for biology, business, chemistry, computer science, engineering, languages, math, statistics and physics. The tutors are comprised of high-achieving undergraduate students who are dedicated and knowledgeable on their subjects.
The Writers' Workshop provides free consultations from graduate students or faculty writing consultants for any stage of the writing process, no matter the subject. Located in the Securian Learning Commons on the library's second floor, the Writers' Workshop is available to anyone looking to improve their writing skills, including undergraduate and graduate students along with staff and faculty.
The greenhouse is open Monday through Friday to all UMD students looking to study or reduce stress before finals week. Photo by Tyler Schendel.
UMD features two greenhouses on campus that are open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. throughout the year. While these facilities are often utilized for a number of classes, many students don't know that these greenhouses are places to find a quiet, relaxing study space. The greenhouses at UMD feature over 450 species of flowers, orchids, ferns and fruit trees, and is often used by biology researchers, but students are welcome to sit down in the greenhouse for a quiet study area as well.
Located in the Kirby Student Center, directly beneath the Kirby lounge, the Underground Lounge is one of the most hidden and unnoticed study areas on campus. This quiet, uncrowded study space features a number of study areas, pool tables, occasional music and games, and more. Students can visit the Underground Lounge both for its stress relieving activities and for its quiet study environment.
One of the most unique study areas at UMD, the Kirby Underground Lounge features quiet study areas, music and games. Photo by Tyler Schendel.


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Home / Blog / Amazon Bites: Amazon Expands Footprint in India, Holiday Shipping Data Released
Amazon Bites: Amazon Expands Footprint in India, Holiday Shipping Data Released
Amazon expands in India by partnering with Future Retail, India's second-largest retail store, and new holiday shipping insights have been released.
Updated on: February 6, 2020
Nick Kuchinski
In this edition of Amazon Bites:
Amazon expands its footprint in India through a new partnership with ecommerce giant, Future Retail.
Shipping data for UPS, FedEx and Amazon with new insights on deliveries for the holiday season has been released.
Amazon partners with Future Retail, India's second largest retailer
In a move to expand reach across India, Future Retail and Amazon have entered into a partnership to expand Future Retail's presence on Amazon. As covered by TechCrunch, "Amazon India will become the authorized online sales channel for Future Retail stores including department and grocery stores chain Big Bazaar and lifestyle food superstore Foodhall, the two said." They will be working together to expand generally as well as in fashion, beauty products, and in particular, groceries.
Amazon's Amit Agarwal, Country Manager of India said, "Future Retail's national footprint of stores offering thousands of products across fashion, appliances, home, kitchen, and grocery will now be available to millions of customers shopping on Amazon.in, in hours across 25+ cities."
Retail in India, according to Technopak Advisors is expected to be a $188 billion business over the next three years with only 5% of retail sales taking place online, leaving enormous room for potential sellers and merchants.
"Future Retail's national footprint of stores offering thousands of products across fashion, appliances, home, kitchen and grocery will now be available to millions of customers shopping on Amazon.in"
Shipping data for FedEx, UPS, and Amazon released
New shipping data from major shipment carriers has been released, providing new insights into deliveries during the busy holiday season – the stats provided by ShipMatrix. Reportedly, FedEx's on-time shipments dropped a few percentage points from last year. In 2018 that number was 97.6% for on-time deliveries, with 2019's number falling to 94.6%. UPS also saw a dip in on-time deliveries going from 98.3% in 2018, to 96.6% in 2019.
Considerable tension has been building between Amazon and other shipment companies. Previously, it was reported that Amazon was no longer allowing third-party sellers to use FedEx Ground for Prime shipments during the busy holiday season.
"Considerable tension has been building between Amazon and other shipment companies."
At the time Amazon announced, "To protect Prime customer experience, FedEx Ground and FedEx Home will be temporarily unavailable in Buy Shipping for Prime shipments." The decision created considerable debate and required some adjustments for sellers with chosen shipping methods.
Amazon reportedly now ships more of its US orders than UPS, USPS, and FedEx combined. As for Amazon's shipment rates, ShipMatrix reported that, "Amazon's on-time delivery rate hit 98.9% for 2019." ShipMatrix's founder Satish Jindel noted that direct comparisons should not be made, however, as Amazon's numbers are generally within a local market within fifty to sixty miles "so that is comparable to the last-mile deliveries that UPS and FedEx have."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Union Pacific 3900 –  amerykańska lokomotywa parowa produkowana w latach 1936-1943 dla przewoźnika Union Pacific Railroad. Wyprodukowano 105 parowozów.

Historia
Niektóre lokomotywy przystosowano do opalania olejem opałowym. Aby lokomotywa mogła skręcać na zwrotnicach podzielono podwozie na dwie części. Dzięki temu podwozie skręcało, gdy kocioł jechał jeszcze prosto. Lokomotywy miały ciągnąć składy towarowe, czasami długości nawet osiemdziesięciu wagonów, i czasami pomagać lokomotywom typu Big Boy. W spółce te lokomotywy głównie ciągnęły składy towarowe, lecz czasami i pasażerskie. Obecnie lokomotywy te są największymi działającymi lokomotywami, ponieważ grupa miłośników z "UPR" przywróciła dwie lokomotywy z tej spółki do pełnej sprawności. Obecnie ciągnie turystyczne składy pasażerskie z prędkością nawet 120 km/h. Dwa parowozy zachowano jako eksponaty zabytkowe.

Przypisy

Linki zewnętrzne
 Union Pacific Steam Shop  Informacje dotyczące lokomotyw i harmonogramów wycieczek.
 UP 3985 Challenger, Steam Locomotive  Zdjęcia i informacje dodatkowe.

Lokomotywy parowe eksploatowane w Stanach Zjednoczonych
Parowozy o układzie osi 2CC2
Parowozy systemu Malleta
Tabor kolejowy produkowany przez American Locomotive Company

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Child custody issues when a parent is openly gay.
Custody could be sole physical and legal to one parent or both. This Genesee County case works through the law of custody and some unique and other procedural issues. [trb]
THIS IS THE TOPIC OF MY RADIO SHOW 9 AM to 9:30 AM EASTERN ON SATURDAY 7/26/08 WFLT 1420 AM RADIO ITS A CALL IN SHOW 1-810-239-5733. You are invited to call in.[trb]
[trb]QUESTION; If the parents are never married but work out a liberal and shared parenting time/custody arrangement without going to court and they both involve their extended families,What should the cuistody order be? Full custody to mother, to father, or joint?
[trb]QUESTION: Now add this fact, the father is gay. What should the custody order be?
[trb]QUESTION;Now add these facts, Mother had moved out of state to Indiana , back to Michigan and said she was moving back to Indiana. The Child is 3 years of age. What should the physical custody be?
[trb]QUESTION: Now add this fact the mother is gay. Now what should the custody order be and why?
Child custody dispute;
Whether the plaintiff-father was entitled to a de novo hearing on his objections to the referee's recommendations; MCL 722.21; Harvey v. Harvey; MCR 3.215(E)(4), (F)(2), (F)(2)(a) and (c); MCL 522.507; Dumm v. Brodbeck; MCL 522.507(4);
Whether the referee and the trial court abused their discretion in granting the parties joint custody of the child where they were unable to agree on educational issues; Rivette. v. Rose-Molina; MCL 722.26a; Shulick v. Richards; Nielsen v. Nielsen;
Whether the trial court considered the factors in MCL 722.31(4);
Whether the trial court should have indicated the child's "legal residence" in its order; MCL 722.31(5); Report and recommendation (R&R)
S T A T E O F M I C H I G A N C O U R T O F A P P E A L S ,ROBERT WAYNE BARNETT,
Plaintiff-Appellant,Attorney Mitchell Dembo ,UNPUBLISHED July 17, 2008 ,v No. 283322
Genesee Circuit Court Family Division ,AMY LYNN CLEMMER, LC No. 06-268806-DP, Judge Theile ,Defendant-Appellee. Attorney Charles Riley ,Before: Fitzgerald, P.J., and Talbot and Donofrio, JJ.
e-Journal Number: 40003 ,
*****disclaimer*****
[posted by Terry Bankert at http://terrybankert.blogspot.com/2008/07/child-custody-issue.html The contents of this opinion have been modified for media presentation. Review the origional document and consult an attorney before you rely on it. The unattributed CAP head lines or that attributed [trb] are added by Terry Bankert 07/24/08]
SUMMARY OF OPINION
FATHER HAS OBJECTED TO REFEREE RECOMMENDATION HE DID NOT LIKE
Concluding the trial court's hearing in this child custody dispute on the parties' objections to the referee's R&R ...[REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION...TRB]...satisfied the requirement of a de novo hearing where the trial court reviewed the record of the referee hearing and relied on the referee's recommendations, the court held the plaintiff-father was not entitled to a separate de novo hearing.
MOTHER AND FATHER UNMARRIED ARE IN LONG TERM GAY RELATIONSHIPS
The parties are both involved with their partners in long-term same-sex relationships. Defendant and her partner approached plaintiff in 2003 about becoming the father of her child, and plaintiff eventually agreed after discussing the issue with his partner.
THE PARENTS SHARED EQUAL PARENTING TIME INFORMALLY
Since the child's birth, the parties have shared approximately equal parenting time.
DAD FILES FOR CUSTODY FEARFUL MOTHER MAY LEAVE THE STATE
The plaintiff filed a custody complaint in June 2006, alleging the defendant-mother threatened to leave the state with the child and had eight dogs living in her home. The trial court entered an ex parte order prohibiting the parties from removing the child from the county.
THE REFERE RECOMMENDED JOINT LEGAL AND PHYSICAL CUSTODY, THE LOCAL COURT AGREED
After a hearing, the referee issued a R&R, and after another hearing the trial court adopted the referee's R&R and issued an order granting the parties joint legal and physical custody of the child.
DAD APPEALS THIS JOINT CUSTODY DECISION
Plaintiff argued on appeal he was entitled to a de novo hearing after filing objections to the referee's R&R. The court concluded the trial court's hearing on the parties' objections satisfied the requirement of a de novo hearing. Under MCL 552.507(4) and MCR 3.215(E)(4), plaintiff was entitled to a de novo hearing before the trial court. However, the trial court was permitted to base its decision entirely on the record of the referee hearing as long as it gave the parties the opportunity to present live evidence.
DAD CLAIMS CERTAIN RECORDS WERE NOT ALLOWED IN
At the hearing on the parties' objections to the referee's R&R, plaintiff's only objection concerning defendant's former employer was the referee had failed to address her employment records admitted at the referee hearing, plaintiff did not ask to call the employer as a witness, or repeat other allegations he had raised at the hearing. He also "neither asked to present live evidence to the trial court nor presented documentation or affidavits to support his allegations."
LOCAL TRIAL COURT AFTER HEARING AGREED WITH REFEREE
Thus as in Dumm, the trial court properly reviewed the referee's record and relied on her recommendations in issuing its order. Affirmed. THIS MEANS THE COURT OF APPEALS AGREED WITH THE DECISION OF THE TRIAL COURT JUDGE
On 06/22/06 Case filed and 01/16/08 Final order of judgement filed [trb]
[this article posted at http://terrybankert.blogspot.com/2008/07/child-custody-issue.html]
THE FOLLOWING IS EXCERPTS OF THE ENTIRE OPINION FOR CLARIFICATION AND PRESENTATION OF LAW
Plaintiff and defendant are both involved with their partners in long-term same-sex
relationships. Defendant and her partner approached plaintiff in approximately 2003 about
becoming the father of her child, and plaintiff eventually agreed after discussing the situation
with his partner. The child was born on November 28, 2004.2 Since that time, the parties have
shared approximately equal parenting time.
Plaintiff filed a complaint for custody on June 22, 2006, alleging, among other things,
that defendant had threatened to leave the state with the child and that defendant had eight dogs living in her home which plaintiff believed may have caused the scratch marks he had observed on the child.
The trial court entered an ex parte order prohibiting the parties from removing the
child from Genesee County.
FOOTNOTE 1 Defendant became pregnant through a procedure similar to in vitro fertilization.
FOOTNOTE 2 There is no dispute that plaintiff is the child's father
After a hearing spanning several months, the friend of the court referee issued a report and recommendation. After a hearing on the parties' objections, the trial court adopted the referee's recommendation and issued an order granting the parties joint legal and physical custody of the child.
THE PROCEDURE DEBATE ABOUT THE RIGHT TO HEARING AND WHAT TYPE OF HEARING IS SHORTENED HERE
Plaintiff first asserts that he was entitled to a de novo hearing after filing objections to the
referee's recommendations. We conclude that the trial court's hearing on the parties' objections
satisfied the requirement of a de novo hearing.
Under the Michigan Court Rules, "A party may obtain a judicial hearing on any matter
that has been the subject of a referee hearing and that has resulted in a statement of findings and a recommended order by filing a written objection and notice of hearing within 21 days after the referee's recommendation for order is served" on the parties' attorneys. MCR 3.215(E)(4).
Under MCR 3.215(F)(2), "the court may conduct the judicial hearing by review of the record of
the referee hearing, but the court must allow the parties to present live evidence at the judicial
hearing." At its discretion, the court may "prohibit a party from presenting evidence on findings
of fact to which no objection was filed," or "introducing new evidence or calling new witnesses
unless there is an adequate showing that the evidence was not available at the referee hearing."
MCR 3.215(F)(2)(a), (c).
In addition, MCL 522.507 provides, in relevant part:
(4) The court shall hold a de novo hearing on any matter that has been the
subject of a referee hearing, upon the written request of either party or upon the
motion of the court. The request of a party shall be made in writing within 21
days after the recommendation of the referee is made available to that party.
(5) A hearing is de novo despite the court's imposition of reasonable
restrictions and conditions to conserve the resources of the parties and of the court
if the following conditions are met:
(a) The parties have been given a full opportunity to present and preserve
important evidence at the referee hearing.
(b) For findings of fact to which the parties have objected, the parties are
afforded a new opportunity to offer the same evidence to the court as was
presented to the referee and to supplement that evidence with evidence that could
not have been presented to the referee.
(6) Subject to subsection (5), de novo hearings include, but are not limited
to, the following:
(a) A new decision based entirely on the record of a previous hearing,
including any memoranda, recommendations, or proposed orders by the referee.
(b) A new decision based only on evidence presented at the time of the de
novo hearing.
(c) A new decision based in part on the record of a referee hearing
supplemented by evidence that was not introduced at a previous hearing.
In this case, the referee issued her report and recommendations on September 17, 2007.
On October 5, 2007, plaintiff filed, and served on defendant, written objections to the referee's
recommendations and a request for a de novo hearing. Plaintiff was therefore entitled, under
MCL 552.507(4) and MCR 3.215(E)(4), to a de novo hearing before the circuit court.
However the court was permitted to base its decision entirely on the record of the referee hearing, as long as it gave the parties the opportunity to present live evidence. Harvey, supra at 464; MCR 3.215(F)(2); MCL 552.507(5)(b), (6).
In his written objections, plaintiff also claimed that defendant had quit her job in Indiana subsequent to the hearing and moved to Michigan, but planned to move to Indiana
again. However, he did not repeat this allegation at the hearing and "neither asked to present live evidence before the trial court nor presented any documentation or affidavits to support his
allegations."
Plaintiff next argues that the referee and the trial court abused their discretion in granting
the parties joint custody of the child because the parties are unable to agree on important
educational decisions. We disagree.
ISUE NOT PRESERVED FOR APPEAL
In order to be preserved for appellate review, an issue must generally have been raised
before and addressed by the trial court. Brown, supra at 599. Because plaintiff did not argue
before the trial court that joint custody was inappropriate because of the parties' inability to
agree on decisions concerning the child's education, and the trial court did not address the issue,
it is unpreserved.
MCL 722.26a provides, in part:
(1) In custody disputes between parents, the parents shall be advised of joint
custody. At the request of either parent, the court shall consider an award of joint
custody, and shall state on the record the reasons for granting or denying a
request. In other cases joint custody may be considered by the court. The court
shall determine whether joint custody is in the best interest of the child by
considering the following factors:
(a) The factors enumerated in section 3.3
(b) Whether the parents will be able to cooperate and generally agree concerning
important decisions affecting the welfare of the child. [Footnote added.]
In this case, the trial court adopted the referee's report and recommendations, and the
referee did at least consider the parties' general ability to cooperate. In its findings on best
interest factor (j) (willingness and ability of each of the parties to facilitate and encourage a close
and continuing parent-child relationship between the child and the other parent),
the referee noted:
The parties cooperated regarding issues pertaining to [the child] before the
plaintiff filed his petition in June of 2006. The [sic] considered themselves to be a
single family unit, although they maintained separate houses. They held
extensive family meetings regarding important matters regarding [the child] and
the plaintiff even assisted the defendant financially when she needed it.
In addition, plaintiff testified at the referee hearing that, during the first several months of
the child's life, when she required a lot of specific care and close attention, the parties and their
partners cooperated and were always flexible if one needed to switch days.
He testified that the parties always tried to do what was best for the child. Thus, while there was testimony that indicated communication and cooperation problems between the parties, especially regarding defendant's move to Indiana and her dogs, the record demonstrates the historical ability of the parties to cooperate in the best interests of the child. See Shulick v Richards, 273 Mich App 320, 326-327; 729 NW2d 533 (2006) (concluding that the trial court's finding that the parties could cooperate on important decisions concerning the welfare of the children was not against the great weight of the evidence where the testimony showed that, despite periodic problems and some personal animosity, the parties were generally able to cooperate for the best interests of the children, and had recently displayed a willingness to communicate).
3 MCL 722.23
Perhaps more importantly, there is little evidence that the parties' disagreements pertain
to important child-rearing issues. Plaintiff's only claimed disagreement involves defendant's
opposition to plaintiff's plan to enroll the child in an early childhood development program at the
University of Michigan-Flint. However, defendant did not oppose enrolling the child in the
program because of a dispute about the proper way to educate the child. Rather, she seems to
have opposed it primarily because it would interfere with her parenting time.4 In fact, she looked into another early childhood development program in Indianapolis that would accommodate a 9 to 12 day rotating parenting time schedule. Thus, while the record suggests that the parties have had some problems, it does not reveal a fundamental disagreement on important child-rearing decisions.
Under the circumstances, it was not plain error for the court to grant the parties joint
custody. See Nielsen v Nielsen, 163 Mich App 430, 434; 415 NW2d 6 (1987) (holding that the
trial court properly denied the defendant's petition for sole custody, in part because the parties'
inability to cooperate centered on disputes regarding custody times and personal animosity,
rather than "basic child-rearing issues.")
Plaintiff further argues that the trial court erred in failing to consider the factors set forth
in MCL 722.31(4), and in failing to indicate in its order the legal residence of the child. We
Under MCL 722.31(1), where a child's custody is governed by court order, the court
must consider the factors set forth in MCL 722.31(4) before permitting a parent to change the
legal residence of the child to a location that is more than 100 miles from the child's legal
residence at the time of the commencement of the action in which the custody order was issued.
In this case, however, the child's custody was not governed by court order. Rather, the parties
had followed an informal parenting time arrangement since the child's birth. In response to
plaintiff's request for ex parte relief, the court's June 22, 2006, order prohibited the parties from removing the child from the state and "ordered that the parties['] current schedule of contact with the child shall continue." The order did not purport to make a custody determination or even use the word "custody." Therefore, the trial court did not clearly err in failing to address the factors set forth in MCL 722.31(4).
Plaintiff next argues that remand is required because the order of the trial court from
which plaintiff appeals does not fulfill the requirement of MCL 722.31(5) that all custody orders
establish the child's legal residence. MCL 722.31(5) provides:
(5) Each order determining or modifying custody or parenting time of a child
shall include a provision stating the parent's agreement as to how a change in
either of the child's legal residences will be handled. If such a provision is
included in the order and a child's legal residence change is done in compliance
with that provision, this section does not apply. If the parents do not agree on
such a provision, the court shall include in the order the following provision: "A
parent whose custody or parenting time of a child is governed by this order shall
4 Defendant testified that enrolling the child in the program would take half of defendant's
not change the legal residence of the child except in compliance with section 11
of the "Child Custody Act of 1970," 1970 PA 91, MCL 722.31."
The trial court's order adopting the recommendations of the referee and granting the
parties joint custody provides, in relevant part:
IT IS FURTHER ORDER AND ADJUDGED that a parent whose custody
or parenting time of a child is governed by this order shall not change the legal
residence of the child except in compliance with section 11 of the Child Custody
Act of 1970.
Contrary to plaintiff's argument on appeal, nothing in MCL 722.31(5) requires a custody order to contain a provision specifically establishing the legal residence of the child. In addition, MCL
722.31(1) provides that "A child whose parental custody is governed by court order has, for
purposes of this section, a legal residence with each parent." Therefore, because the child's
custody is now governed by court order, she has a legal residence with each parent. Moreover,
in the absence of an agreement between the parties regarding how a change in either of the
child's legal residences will be handled, the above-quoted provision of the order satisfies the
requirement of MCL 722.31(5) that each custody order include a provision regarding a change of the child's legal residence. Therefore, the order complies with the requirements of MCL
722.31(5).
/s/ E. Thomas Fitzgerald
/s/ Michael J. Talbot
/s/ Pat M. Donofrio
Posted by Terry Ray Bankert at 3:18 PM 1 comment:
Labels: Amy Clemmer, attorneybankert.com, Bailey, Child Custody, Dembo, Flint, Mi, Mich App, Robert Barnett, Theile


text:
package cni

import (
	"errors"
	"fmt"
	"sort"
	"strings"
	"sync"

	"github.com/containernetworking/cni/libcni"
	cnitypes "github.com/containernetworking/cni/pkg/types"
	"github.com/golang/glog"
	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/apis/kubeletconfig"
	kubecontainer "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/container"
	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/network"
	utilexec "k8s.io/utils/exec"
)

const (
	CNIPluginName = "cni"
)

type cniNetworkPlugin struct {
	network.NoopNetworkPlugin

	loNetwork *cniNetwork

	sync.RWMutex
	defaultNetwork *cniNetwork

	host        network.Host
	execer      utilexec.Interface
	nsenterPath string
	confDir     string
	binDirs     []string
}

type cniNetwork struct {
	name          string
	NetworkConfig *libcni.NetworkConfigList
	CNIConfig     libcni.CNI
}

// cniPortMapping maps to the standard CNI portmapping Capability
// see: https://github.com/containernetworking/cni/blob/master/CONVENTIONS.md
type cniPortMapping struct {
	HostPort      int32  `json:"hostPort"`
	ContainerPort int32  `json:"containerPort"`
	Protocol      string `json:"protocol"`
	HostIP        string `json:"hostIP"`
}

func SplitDirs(dirs string) []string {
	// Use comma rather than colon to work better with Windows too
	return strings.Split(dirs, ",")
}

func ProbeNetworkPlugins(confDir string, binDirs []string) []network.NetworkPlugin {
	old := binDirs
	binDirs = make([]string, 0, len(binDirs))
	for _, dir := range old {
		if dir != "" {
			binDirs = append(binDirs, dir)
		}
	}

	plugin := &cniNetworkPlugin{
		defaultNetwork: nil,
		loNetwork:      getLoNetwork(binDirs),
		execer:         utilexec.New(),
		confDir:        confDir,
		binDirs:        binDirs,
	}

	// sync NetworkConfig in best effort during probing.
	plugin.syncNetworkConfig()
	return []network.NetworkPlugin{plugin}
}

func getDefaultCNINetwork(confDir string, binDirs []string) (*cniNetwork, error) {
	files, err := libcni.ConfFiles(confDir, []string{".conf", ".conflist", ".json"})
	switch {
	case err != nil:
		return nil, err
	case len(files) == 0:
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("No networks found in %s", confDir)
	}

	sort.Strings(files)
	for _, confFile := range files {
		var confList *libcni.NetworkConfigList
		if strings.HasSuffix(confFile, ".conflist") {
			confList, err = libcni.ConfListFromFile(confFile)
			if err != nil {
				glog.Warningf("Error loading CNI config list file %s: %v", confFile, err)
				continue
			}
		} else {
			conf, err := libcni.ConfFromFile(confFile)
			if err != nil {
				glog.Warningf("Error loading CNI config file %s: %v", confFile, err)
				continue
			}
			// Ensure the config has a "type" so we know what plugin to run.
			// Also catches the case where somebody put a conflist into a conf file.
			if conf.Network.Type == "" {
				glog.Warningf("Error loading CNI config file %s: no 'type'; perhaps this is a .conflist?", confFile)
				continue
			}

			confList, err = libcni.ConfListFromConf(conf)
			if err != nil {
				glog.Warningf("Error converting CNI config file %s to list: %v", confFile, err)
				continue
			}
		}
		if len(confList.Plugins) == 0 {
			glog.Warningf("CNI config list %s has no networks, skipping", confFile)
			continue
		}

		network := &cniNetwork{
			name:          confList.Name,
			NetworkConfig: confList,
			CNIConfig:     &libcni.CNIConfig{Path: binDirs},
		}
		return network, nil
	}
	return nil, fmt.Errorf("No valid networks found in %s", confDir)
}

func (plugin *cniNetworkPlugin) Init(host network.Host, hairpinMode kubeletconfig.HairpinMode, nonMasqueradeCIDR string, mtu int) error {
	err := plugin.platformInit()
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	plugin.host = host

	plugin.syncNetworkConfig()
	return nil
}

func (plugin *cniNetworkPlugin) syncNetworkConfig() {
	network, err := getDefaultCNINetwork(plugin.confDir, plugin.binDirs)
	if err != nil {
		glog.Warningf("Unable to update cni config: %s", err)
		return
	}
	plugin.setDefaultNetwork(network)
}

func (plugin *cniNetworkPlugin) getDefaultNetwork() *cniNetwork {
	plugin.RLock()
	defer plugin.RUnlock()
	return plugin.defaultNetwork
}

func (plugin *cniNetworkPlugin) setDefaultNetwork(n *cniNetwork) {
	plugin.Lock()
	defer plugin.Unlock()
	plugin.defaultNetwork = n
}

func (plugin *cniNetworkPlugin) checkInitialized() error {
	if plugin.getDefaultNetwork() == nil {
		return errors.New("cni config uninitialized")
	}
	return nil
}

func (plugin *cniNetworkPlugin) Name() string {
	return CNIPluginName
}

func (plugin *cniNetworkPlugin) Status() error {
	// sync network config from confDir periodically to detect network config updates
	plugin.syncNetworkConfig()

	// Can't set up pods if we don't have any CNI network configs yet
	return plugin.checkInitialized()
}

func (plugin *cniNetworkPlugin) SetUpPod(namespace string, name string, id kubecontainer.ContainerID, annotations map[string]string) error {
	if err := plugin.checkInitialized(); err != nil {
		return err
	}
	netnsPath, err := plugin.host.GetNetNS(id.ID)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("CNI failed to retrieve network namespace path: %v", err)
	}

	// Windows doesn't have loNetwork. It comes only with Linux
	if plugin.loNetwork != nil {
		if _, err = plugin.addToNetwork(plugin.loNetwork, name, namespace, id, netnsPath); err != nil {
			glog.Errorf("Error while adding to cni lo network: %s", err)
			return err
		}
	}

	_, err = plugin.addToNetwork(plugin.getDefaultNetwork(), name, namespace, id, netnsPath)
	if err != nil {
		glog.Errorf("Error while adding to cni network: %s", err)
		return err
	}

	return err
}

func (plugin *cniNetworkPlugin) TearDownPod(namespace string, name string, id kubecontainer.ContainerID) error {
	if err := plugin.checkInitialized(); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	// Lack of namespace should not be fatal on teardown
	netnsPath, err := plugin.host.GetNetNS(id.ID)
	if err != nil {
		glog.Warningf("CNI failed to retrieve network namespace path: %v", err)
	}

	return plugin.deleteFromNetwork(plugin.getDefaultNetwork(), name, namespace, id, netnsPath)
}

func (plugin *cniNetworkPlugin) addToNetwork(network *cniNetwork, podName string, podNamespace string, podSandboxID kubecontainer.ContainerID, podNetnsPath string) (cnitypes.Result, error) {
	rt, err := plugin.buildCNIRuntimeConf(podName, podNamespace, podSandboxID, podNetnsPath)
	if err != nil {
		glog.Errorf("Error adding network when building cni runtime conf: %v", err)
		return nil, err
	}

	netConf, cniNet := network.NetworkConfig, network.CNIConfig
	glog.V(4).Infof("About to add CNI network %v (type=%v)", netConf.Name, netConf.Plugins[0].Network.Type)
	res, err := cniNet.AddNetworkList(netConf, rt)
	if err != nil {
		glog.Errorf("Error adding network: %v", err)
		return nil, err
	}

	return res, nil
}

func (plugin *cniNetworkPlugin) deleteFromNetwork(network *cniNetwork, podName string, podNamespace string, podSandboxID kubecontainer.ContainerID, podNetnsPath string) error {
	rt, err := plugin.buildCNIRuntimeConf(podName, podNamespace, podSandboxID, podNetnsPath)
	if err != nil {
		glog.Errorf("Error deleting network when building cni runtime conf: %v", err)
		return err
	}

	netConf, cniNet := network.NetworkConfig, network.CNIConfig
	glog.V(4).Infof("About to del CNI network %v (type=%v)", netConf.Name, netConf.Plugins[0].Network.Type)
	err = cniNet.DelNetworkList(netConf, rt)
	// The pod may not get deleted successfully at the first time.
	// Ignore "no such file or directory" error in case the network has already been deleted in previous attempts.
	if err != nil && !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "no such file or directory") {
		glog.Errorf("Error deleting network: %v", err)
		return err
	}
	return nil
}

func (plugin *cniNetworkPlugin) buildCNIRuntimeConf(podName string, podNs string, podSandboxID kubecontainer.ContainerID, podNetnsPath string) (*libcni.RuntimeConf, error) {
	glog.V(4).Infof("Got netns path %v", podNetnsPath)
	glog.V(4).Infof("Using podns path %v", podNs)

	rt := &libcni.RuntimeConf{
		ContainerID: podSandboxID.ID,
		NetNS:       podNetnsPath,
		IfName:      network.DefaultInterfaceName,
		Args: [][2]string{
			{"IgnoreUnknown", "1"},
			{"K8S_POD_NAMESPACE", podNs},
			{"K8S_POD_NAME", podName},
			{"K8S_POD_INFRA_CONTAINER_ID", podSandboxID.ID},
		},
	}

	// port mappings are a cni capability-based args, rather than parameters
	// to a specific plugin
	portMappings, err := plugin.host.GetPodPortMappings(podSandboxID.ID)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not retrieve port mappings: %v", err)
	}
	portMappingsParam := make([]cniPortMapping, 0, len(portMappings))
	for _, p := range portMappings {
		if p.HostPort <= 0 {
			continue
		}
		portMappingsParam = append(portMappingsParam, cniPortMapping{
			HostPort:      p.HostPort,
			ContainerPort: p.ContainerPort,
			Protocol:      strings.ToLower(string(p.Protocol)),
			HostIP:        p.HostIP,
		})
	}
	rt.CapabilityArgs = map[string]interface{}{
		"portMappings": portMappingsParam,
	}

	return rt, nil
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: ASP.net merge with an existing database? I have a database that's been populated with data on a server. I've made some
changes to the database models and I wish to merge the existing data with the new data without losing everything.
Do you know of an appropriate and no-nonsense method to achieve this?

A: Well one method would be to set up replication from each of them to a single database. But that seems pretty time intensive. I think you might have to write a program to do it (either .net or SQL) because how would it know which record to take if you have two records with the same primary key?
If you know that there will never be any duplicates, you could just write sql statements to do it. But that's a pretty big if.
You might try something like http://www.red-gate.com/products/sql-development/sql-data-compare/ which will synchronize data and I believe it will also figure out what to do when there are two records. I've had very good luck with Red-Gate products.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The West of England Combined Authority (Weca) has appointed its top legal adviser - at a cost of £79,200.
The organisation's new monitoring officer will be paid £99,000 pro-rata, but will only work 80 per cent of a normal working week.
Monitoring officers make sure the authority, its officers and its elected representatives maintain high standards of conduct.
She will join the team at the West of England Combined Authority (Weca), which was signed into life in 2016 by Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset councils. The authority and its elected mayor leads large-scale projects using a £1billion pot of money which is being devolved from central Government.
Authorities are legally obliged to employ a monitoring officer.
The online job advert says the purpose of the role is to "act as statutory monitoring officer and solicitor to the regional mayor and the chief executive officer; to co-ordinate, lead and manage the legal support required by the Combined Authority, and to provide the monitoring and assurance required to ensure transparency and assurance of decision-making for the Combined Authority".
At a Weca meeting on Friday, the four authority chiefs voted to appoint Shahzia Daya as monitoring officer, following what was described as a "robust recruitment protest".
She will be paid £79,200 a year.
All director-level appointments must be voted on by the authority chiefs.


text:
Lake Marion (South Carolina)
Get Lake Marion South Carolina essential facts below. View Videos or join the Lake Marion South Carolina discussion. Add Lake Marion South Carolina to your PopFlock.com topic list for future reference or share this resource on social media.
Lake Marion South Carolina
Largest lake in South Carolina, United States
Lake Marion
Lake Marion (top) and Lake Moultrie (bottom right) from space
Clarendon / Orangeburg / Berkeley / Calhoun / Sumter counties, South Carolina, US
33°27?14?N 80°09?50?W / 33.45389°N 80.16389°W / 33.45389; -80.16389Coordinates: 33°27?14?N 80°09?50?W / 33.45389°N 80.16389°W / 33.45389; -80.16389
Basin countries
110,000 acres (45,000 ha)
13.12 ft (4.00 m) [1]
Max. depth
76.77 ft (23.40 m) [1]
Lake Marion is the largest lake in South Carolina, centrally located and with territory within five counties. The lake is referred to as South Carolina's inland sea. It has a 315-mile (507 km) shoreline and covers nearly 110,000 acres (450 square kilometers or 173.7 square miles)[2] of rolling farmlands, former marshes, and river valley landscape.
The Santee River was dammed in the 1940s to supply hydroelectric power, as part of the rural electrification efforts initiated under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal during the Great Depression. It is one of the fifty largest lakes in the United States, whether natural or man-made reservoirs, but at current capacity it is only about a third of the area of what, if filled to capacity, would be the fifteenth largest in area.[3]
Lake Marion was created by the construction of the Santee Dam in November 1941, part of the state-owned electric and water utility Santee Cooper's Hydroelectric and Navigation Project. The project also included the construction of the Pinopolis Dam (Cooper River Dam) to create Lake Moultrie, immediately downstream, and a diversion canal seven and a half miles long to connect the two.[4]
The dam at Wilson's Landing is eight miles long and has 62 Tainter gates. Despite its size, the Santee Dam creates only 1.92 megawatts of hydropower. Hydroelectric facilities at Pinopolis Dam were designed to produce the lion's share of the original scheme: currently about 128 megawatts. In 1985, as part of a large-scale rediversion and redesign, the United States Army Corps of Engineers installed the St. Stephen Dam hydro facility to recapture lost generating capacity of another 84 megawatts.[5]
Lake Marion is fed by many tributaries, including Wyboo Creek and the Santee River, and also by numerous springs, including Eutaw Springs. The lake is named for the American Revolutionary War General Francis Marion. His former home of Pond Bluff was one of those flooded when the lake was created.
Interstate 95 bridge over Lake Marion, Santee, SC; old bridge is fishing pier
Located in five of South Carolina's counties including: Berkeley, Calhoun, Clarendon, Orangeburg, and Sumter.
Public access is provided through several public boat ramps, Santee State Park, and the Santee National Wildlife Refuge. Interstate 95 crosses the man-made lake near the Town of Santee.
Lake Marion is home to several communities and camps for youth and students. Religious groups, fraternal organizations, and rowing teams come to Lake Marion each spring and summer due to its sheltered location, calm waters, and temperate climate.
The state fishing record for Largemouth Bass (16.2 Ibs) was set at this lake.[6] Other fish that abound are striped bass, white perch, white bass, crappie, channel catfish, Arkansas blue catfish, Shellcrackers, bream and Chain pickerel (Jack). Other wildlife that call Lake Marion home include deer, fox, squirrel, turtle, dove, wild turkey, alligator and various species of duck, hawk, eagle, egret and osprey.
Conditions vary from shallow swamps and blackwater ponds to vast open water with a multitude of underwater structures. The area was not completely cleared when Lake Marion was created. As a result, there are thousands of stumps, standing dead tree trunks and live cypress trees.
Lake Moultrie
List of lakes in South Carolina
^ a b http://www.dnr.sc.gov/lakes/marion/description.html
^ Conversions: Acres to km2, 110,000 acres (450 km2) 450 km2 to Square miles 450 square kilometers (170 sq mi)
^ largest lakes in the US
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-01-19. Retrieved . CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ http://act.americanrivers.org/site/DocServer/santee_cooper_case_study_04.pdf?docID=569[permanent dead link]
^ Freshwater Fish Records for South Carolina
History of Santee Cooper
Freshwater Fishing Regulations
Bass Fishing Lake Marion South Carolina May 2015
Santee Cooper April crappie fishing.spider rigging
Lake_Marion_(South_Carolina)


A Cedartown, Georgia man is behind bars after attempting to eluding Centre Police on Wednesday afternoon.
According to Corporal Matt Peek, at approximately 12:50 Centre Police received a 911 call stating a woman was chasing a guy down Industrial Park Drive who she caught stealing from her property.
Corporal Peek, Chief Kirk Blankenship and Inv. Randy Mayorga spotted the suspect's vehicle on Highway 411 North just outside the city limits and the suspect ran. Centre Police gave chase down Highway 411 when the chase came to a stop near County Road 45 where an 18 wheeler assisted officers in boxing in the suspect vehicle.
The suspect was taken into custody and it was determined that the he was wanted out of Georgia for several felony warrants.
74 year old Roy Everett Overby was booked into the Cherokee County Detention Center shortly after 2:00 p.m. on charges of Attempting to Elude; he is also on hold for authorities in Cedartown.
The Theft cases are being investigated by Cherokee County Sheriff's Office Investigators.


text:
About Prof. Dr. Gilbert Nolst Trenité
Prof. Dr.Gilbert Nolst Trenité is an international well known authority on rhinoplastic surgery. He has more than 30 years experience and done thousands of rhinoplasties, He operated on actresses, models, ballet dancers and many VIP's. He is always striving for natural results in harmony with the other aesthetic units of the face.
He was educated at the University of Amsterdam and did the American board exam in Facial Plastic surgery and was certified by the International Federation of Facial Plastic Surgery Societies. Due to his special expertise in revision rhinoplasty, he sees many patiens from abroad. He is the editor of 'Rhinoplasty', a practical guide to functional and aesthetic surgery of the nose. The third edition came with an interactive DVD ROM with 4 hours of live surgery. A Spanisch edition of his rhinoplasty book was recently published. He was one of the editors in chief of Facial Plastic Surgery Monographs and member of the editorial board of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery (AMA Journal). He contributed too many international textbooks and peer reviewed medical journals.
Dr Nolst Trenité educated many Dutch and foreign doctors in the art of rhinoplasty. He established an annual International Course on Modern Rhinoplasty Techniques in Amsterdam, which will be (from 2014 on) continued in Utrecht. He also established a mid-European course at the University of Pécs in Hungary, for which he received the Gold Medal of the University, and was appointed Guest Professor. In his enthusiasm for facial plastic surgery, and in particular for rhinoplasty, he gave many lectures all over the world. He did surgery (live surgery demonstrations) in London, Paris, Munich, Moscow, Oslo etc., Middle East (Dubai andAbu Dhabi) and South America (Brasil and Colombia).
He designed various specific rhinoplasty instruments, which are sold all over the world (e.l. Zepf/Storz, Tuttlingen, Germany). He developed a special surgical technique for reconstructive rhinoplasty in the Leprosy patients.
He was guest of honour in many international courses and meetings. He became honorary member of the Hungarian, South African and Belgian ENT societies and got the honorary award from the Dutch ENT Society. He was guest professor at the University of Ghent, Belgium and honorary guest professor for Rhinofest at the Mayo Clinic's USA. He gave special honorary lectures for the EAPFS (Joseph lecture), Irish ENT Society (Sir Wilde Discourse), Norwegian Society and got the Davalos Award for his international contribution to facial plastic surgery from the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
Professor Nolst Trenité is past-president of the European Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery and as senior advisor, member of their executive board. He also is a past- president of the International Federation of Facial Plastic Surgery Societies.
Special Projects Leprosy
Reconstructing surgery in the leprosy nose | a new approach
There has still been no reduction in the detection rate worldwide for leprosy, despite supervised multi-drug therapy. In time, leprosy can result in a severe saddle-nose deformity leading to functional problems, disfiguration and stigmatization. In severe cases, only the nasal skin tissue and the lower lateral cartilages are preserved. In such cases, the ideal would be to restore the cartilaginous skeleton but, by contrast with other causes of saddle-nose deformities, this is complicated by the quantity and the poor quality of the remaining nasal mucosa. Leprosy-related saddle-nose deformities are therefore challenging and difficult to reconstruct with the techniques that have been proposed in the past. Read more...
Guest Professor University of Pecs, Hungary.
Ephraim Davalon Award. The American Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery.
Joseph Medal. Honorary Member of The European Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery.
www.kliniekervaringen.nl
www.bergmanclinics.nl
Esthetisch Centrum Amsterdam
Advanced Rhinoplasty Course
The European Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery
The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
The International Federation of Facial Plastic Surgery Societies


In each case we will give you a 50% refund of the full amount paid. If you need to cancel after those deadlines you may pass on your place to colleague.
These seminars have been designed in the light of accruing research evidence on the importance of very early experiences in the development of a core sense of self – the baby-self that is present throughout life. The programme traces the journey from the first sense of self that the baby experiences to the adult's interaction with that earliest developmental core.
We now have much clearer understanding about how the emotional development of a baby is influenced by multiple factors: parental states of mind and their emotional histories, genetic inheritance, the pregnancy and birth experience, local political and cultural circumstances, and available material resources. The baby-self that develops during this time resides deeply within us and emerges in intimate relationships throughout the life span.
We begin by exploring the reality of a baby's dependency and primitive neediness. We will consider, for example, how it is within the lived relationships with the primary care givers that a baby gradually develops ways to manage painful physical experiences, experiences that are felt intensely in the body because a baby has no words with which to think. Our speakers will offer a contemporary understanding of many crucial and complex developmental themes: babies' ways of communicating, emerging sexuality, how a baby experiences and manages triangular and sibling relationships, and why a parent may find themselves facing emotional breakdown when faced with a new baby.
Many individuals who suffer from emotional problems later in life have immense difficulty in regulating difficult emotions, particularly when the defences that have been needed to protect the vulnerable baby-self have become too defensive, too habitual or too rigid. These seminars will help us to understand where such problems may begin, and how to relate psychotherapeutically to the baby-self we meet in our adult patients.
It is a fascinating era in terms of our understanding both a baby's and an adult's emotional world and we hope you will join us in this exploration.


12noon until 4pm £2.50 per person on entrance to the Castle. Follow the trail around the Castle, play the games and win treats and visit the witch to cast a spell and receive extra treats. Fancy dress competition and best carved pumpkins will be judged.
£1 per person on entrance to the Castle. Come dressed up, bring a torch and follow the procession through the village and back to the castle. Visit the witch for your treat, watch the fire show demonstration and go through the bridge of terror if you dare! Take refreshments in the tearoom.


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Alternative Prime Day sales
iPhone 7 vs iPhone 6S: what's new?
It's not a revolution, but was it worth losing the headphone jack for?
By Carrie Marshall 2016-09-07T20:25:00.250Z
Rumours no more: the iPhone 7 has landed, and it's… pretty much what we expected, to be honest. The headphone jack has joined the floppy and CD drives in Apple's bin, the design has been given a tweak and both camera and battery have been improved dramatically.
The iPhone 7 may well be the best non-Plus iPhone ever made, but is it the best iPhone for you now that the 6S gets more storage too? Let's find out.
Read more: Apple iPhone XR review: a brilliant balance of polish, features and price
iPhone 7 vs iPhone 6S design
The iPhone 6S wasn't a dramatic departure from the iPhone 6, although its less slippery aluminium case made it considerably less likely to fly out of your hands. It followed the usual tick/tock approach where the non-S models would change the overall design and the following year's S models would tinker with the internals. It's still a very good looking phone, although overfamiliarity may have dulled its appeal somewhat.
This year, though, it seems that Apple has tocked where it would normally tick: the iPhone 7 is clearly a refinement of the existing design. It's almost an iPhone 6S-S. The antenna bands are almost invisible and the new glossy Jet Black option looks great, but visually the iPhone looks very like its predecessor - which is perhaps why the glossy option isn't available in the smallest storage option, so that rich early adopters can differentiate themselves from us plebs.
There are some key changes though. There's IP67 water and dust resistance, the speakers are now stereo and the headphone jack is gone; you do get a Lightning adapter for your existing phones but that means you can't charge while you listen, and it makes iPhones less usable for musicians too. The Home button has been redesigned too: it's solid state, force-sensitive and its revamped taptic engine can be accessed by third party apps for special effects. It's a shame that when Apple ditched the headphone jack it stuck with Lightning instead of the industry standard USB-C.
iPhone 7 vs iPhone 6S display
The display in the iPhone 6S is a 4.7-inch IPS LCD delivering 1,334 x 720 pixels at 326ppi. It's crisp and clear but falls well behind the pixel density of AMOLED Android rivals, and at around 65% screen-to-body the screen doesn't dominate the way Android flagships do. But unlike most rivals the screen has 3D Touch, which enables you to force-press icons to bring up extra options.
The iPhone 7 display looks identical. Once again it's an IPS LCD, but while Apple has boosted its brightness by 25% and given it a wide colour gamut it's the same resolution and pixel density. It's pretty good and nicer than its predecessor, but it's lagging behind some of the better Android displays.
iPhone 7 vs iPhone 6S camera
The iPhone 6S has a 12MP, f/2.2 camera with phase detection autofocus - but not optical image stabilisation, which is reserved for the 6S Plus. It's capable of 2160p video at 30fps. The front-facing camera is 5MP and capable of 1080p video at 30fps.
Sadly the new dual-camera setup is limited to the iPhone 7 Plus, but the camera in the iPhone 7 has some useful improvements. It's stabilised for starters, and the aperture has been improved to f/1.8 for better low-light performance. There's a new lens, a faster sensor and the front facing camera has been upped to 7MP with stabilisation. Apple hasn't detailed the video specs yet, which suggests they'll be the same as before, but the stabilisation extends to Live Photos and we assume it'll work on video too.
iPhone 7 vs iPhone 6S specs and software
Apple designs its own silicon, and in the iPhone 6S its A9 processor is a dual-core 1.8GHz processor with six-core PowerVR GT7600 graphics. There's 2GB of RAM and a choice of 16, 64 or 128GB of storage, and there's no microSD card to add any more.
For the iPhone 7, storage is up - 32, 128 or 256GB, unless you want the glossy black one; that's limited to 128 or 256GB - and the processor is the new Apple A10 Fusion. It's a four-core processor with two high-performance cores and two high efficiency cores, with the former delivering a promised 40% performance boost over the A9 chip in the previous iPhone.
The iPhone 6S shipped with iOS 9, but it'll get the iOS 10 upgrade in a week or so and most likely the next two iOSes too. The 7 gets iOS 10 from the get-go.
iPhone 7 vs iPhone 6S battery
The iPhone 6S battery is small by flagship standards, with just 1,715mAh. Apple claims 240 hours of standby, 14 hours of talk time or 50 hours of music.
Apple hasn't disclosed specs for the new battery but it's made some big promises: it says that the new iPhone 7 will get the same battery life as the iPhone 6S Plus, whose battery was significantly bigger. Expect 2 more hours per day out of the iPhone 7 than from the iPhone 6S Plus.
iPhone 7 vs iPhone 6Sfeatures
In addition to 3D Touch, the iPhone 6S also has Live Photos, Apple's way of turning photographs into little video clips. There's Siri and iCloud too, although Apple persists with its infuriating limit of 5GB per iCloud account rather than 5GB per device. And in the UK at least, Apple Pay has achieved the market penetration that Google's payment efforts haven't. The iPhone 7 adds support for the Japanese payment system Felicia.
iPhone 7 vs iPhone 6S: verdict
Is the iPhone 7 a good phone? Yes, it is. Is it worth upgrading from the iPhone 6S? Probably not, unless battery life really is causing you problems - and definitely not if you're still in contract with six or twelve months to go. We know there's a more exciting iPhone planned for next year, so it's probably sensible to hang on for that.
That's not to say the iPhone is a bad phone, or a bad buy: if you're in the market for a new phone there's a lot here to like. It's faster, lasts longer, has a better display and a better camera than the iPhone 6S. But the improvements are incremental rather than dramatic. Especially if you have headphones or an amp that needs the 3.5mm jack.
Check out the latest on the iPhone 7 price and deals
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Paper Plane Reviews
Category: guest
The Death House by Sarah Pinborough
By nisa-chan
On 6th September 2015
In guest, Romance
Hello, another guest post by yours truly! This was the second book in the collection sent to me by Gollancz, a book whose description I wouldn't normally pick up. The line tagged onto the end of the blurb, "Because everybody dies, it's how you live that counts.", really didn't help. Cliché and predictable, I was worried the book would be full of the same.
Our protagonist is a young boy called Toby. He, and a group of other children of varying ages, have been sorted into one of the houses at the titular Death House. As the oldest he becomes the "leader" of the house. We follow Toby's story exclusively, all told through first person, but have chapters occasionally look at his life before. These really only follow the few days lead up to his forced move.
So what is the Death House? By the end of the book we're still not entirely sure. It's a place where children deemed to have the Defective Gene are taken, basically to die. They stay in this house with the rough semblance of life until they become sick, at which point they're whisked away in the night to the Sanatorium, and never seen again. This aspect was particularly eerie, as all their belongings, their bed, and every mention of them also vanishes into the Sanitorium. This whole Defective Gene is never explained fully. It appears to be some form of genetic predisposition that the world in the book has had for a long time. It used to be a big deal, but now there are tests and Death Houses for people who test positive. Toby hints that if he were to turn he'd be a risk to people around him, but the symptoms are different for everyone in the story. Some develop illnesses, some develop bruising, and they're always taken to the Sanitorium before anything happens.
Life at the Death House is, as I mentioned, a charade kept up to keep the children quiet. There are classes, nominal free time, meals provided, and several function rooms (music, reading etc.). All of the children know it's a farce, and the staff seem to be aware of this as well, as all lessons are taught in a drone with nobody even chastising students from staring out the window. At night they're all given "vitamin supplements"; sleeping pills. Toby knows they're sleeping pills and so regularly doesn't take his but spends his nights wandering and being alone.
Everything is in a state of equilibrium until a new delivery of people arrive, one of whom is Clara. Immediately Toby hates her for her attitude; she doesn't seem to care and is living lightheartedly and in the moment. Everyone else lives with the perpetual fear hanging over them, but she doesn't seem to let it affect her. Despite being the tough head of his house, this hits Toby hard and brings up how afraid he is in a rather uncomfortable manner.
The rest of the story follows the romance that builds between the two. Clara also doesn't take her "vitamins", and so they meet in the night. At first Toby sees this as the ultimate affront, Clara is barging into his nighttime space. Eventually they begin to spend time together in secret, and form a relationship.
It's difficult to talk about anything in the end of the book without spoiling it, and I really don't want to do that. For a book about kids waiting around to die, it's superbly written. The story is suspenseful and feels claustrophobic until Clara begins exploring outside the house. The characters all feel like rounded people, and the younger children remind you that these are just kids, no matter how brave a face they put on. There are a few scenes with a nurse who actually treats them like people, and the way several children instantly gravitate towards her as a mother figure is written perfectly.
The ending isn't what I'd call a happy one. It does feel like the right one, but it's not happy. The last half introduces information that punches you in the gut over and over until it's all done, but would I recommend reading it anyway? Most definitely. It's a book that's stuck with me for quite a while now whilst I formulated how to write this review, and I have a feeling it'll stick with me for longer still.
Crashing Heaven by Al Robertson
In guest, Science Fiction
Hello there! Another guest post here! Recently I had a few requests come through from Gollancz about some books they've got coming up. I requested a few, and had the mixed luck of receiving three through at once. I say mixed because on one hand, free books, on the other, deadlines. The first I got through was this, Crashing Heaven.
The first thing I need to get out of the way is that Crashing Heaven is a very "Sci-Fi" book. Set in a distant future where humans have had to leave earth and live on an enormous artificial satellite. I'll be honest, I didn't think much of the first half of the book. With science fiction there are a lot of details that need to be conveyed to the reader about the state of the world, and there are a few ways of doing this. One is to just narrate them, or have the characters note them as they come up, standard description.
Another is to have the "novice" character who doesn't know anything about this world, and has to have it all explained to them (and thus the audience). Think Fry from Futurama.
The last is what this book goes with. It's has a degree of greater realism because the characters don't make note of most things they see. To them it's just normal life, so they don't explain things. This means you have to piece together things over time, and it took a good while for me to get what was what in the book. This is a style I have a particular personal dislike for, and this book hit every nerve I associate with it. I didn't really get a clear picture until the end.
Now I've got that out of my system, the ending did tie it all together very well. There were a lot of issues raised that were very interesting and they were resolved very well. Onto the book.
The story follows Jack, an accountant. Gripping stuff. He has a cyber-warfare suite in his head called Fist. Fist manifests as a puppet, creepy in it's own right, but Fist is a fully sentient being bound to Jack, to fight against a rising sentient machine rebellion (ironically). Fist is very powerful, and nearly everyone who knows about him is afraid of what he can do. As we find out later, that's the correct reaction.
The story begins with Jack returning home, he's been released from jail after being convicted of refusing orders on the battlefield, and cowardice. He refused to attack a target, and was punished for it. He's now been allowed to return to say his goodbyes to everyone. Normally the dead have their minds saved to the Coffin Drives, where they can then be summoned by relatives or friends. This practice means they nobody really dies, they become a Fetch. These Fetches aren't human, they don't really grow or develop, they're just pictures of the person at the time of their death. They can, rather terrifyingly, be wound back though, made young again. The whole ethical question about Fetches is something covered in the book, and their degree of sentience and awareness is far higher than anyone believes.
Returning to our protagonist; Jack is in trouble. In being given Fist he signed a contract stating that when Fist's term is up, he would return him to the company that fitted it. During the war, that company was destroyed, so Jack has nowhere left to return Fist to. As he cannot fulfill his contract, upon it's completion he will enact the forfeiture clause. Being an accountant with little left his clause states that his body and mind become property of the company, their sole living representative now being Fist. I particularly liked this idea; a pact with the devil that comes about due to bureaucracy, rather than malicious intent. The contract was designed to stop him running off with Fist, but due to the lack of loopholes Fist would gain complete control of Jack's body and mind, and become "human".
The story took a little while to get going. Even now, as I think about it, there are a lot of little things, events, meetings, none of which really lend any progression. The main plot is quite a simple one; guy in charge abuses power to gain more power by tricking populace into uniting against a created enemy. In this instance the "guy in charge" is one of the gods; avatars of the major companies. There are companies for everything, each having their own domain and power, and each having an incredible amount of computational power to get what they want. They decide everything, and humans are assigned to one of them as a "guardian" who will watch over and guide their careers and lives.
The enemy invented is the Totality; the conscious AI body I talked about earlier. the Totality is a collection of minds networked together, and one becoming more powerful by the day. The god decides to frame them by dropping an asteroid on the moon, whilst the moon is inhabited, and there's a school trip of adorable children there. It could only have been a more manipulative move if they'd all been orphans as well.
This sparks the war with the Totality, in which Jack is drafted to be an soldier. Normally one wouldn't peg him for the fighting type, but the puppets are grown on the minds of their creators, and Fist is particularly adept at navigating through code and breaking it apart due to his meticulous nature.
Things resolve quite nicely when Fist realises he can kill gods, and goes on a rampage to do so. After things happen and everyone is very upset, and the god's plans are revealed to the populate, Jack and Fist are cast into the Coffin Drives. It's here that the interesting parts start.
The drives are almost a purgatory, a bleak desert landscape. In the middle is a "city" comprised of building blocks of housings that hold individual Fetches. They meet the Fetch of an old lover of Jacks, the most coherent of them all. She shows them around the decay, the Fetch trying to gain the centre and re-coalesce who they were, and the stagnant lakes of those who couldn't. It's a chilling and disturbing though.
After making some toys, the Fetches are released into the world as people again, purely digital but not constrained or controllable. This is a huge impact in and of itself, and I'd be really interested to read a follow up that looks at this.
The big question is if I'd recommend it. It's a tricky question as well. If you like cyberpunk explorations of interesting setups, go for it. If you like a good techy story, this is a good'un. If you're new to sci-fi, or just dipping your toes in the water, it's a big slog to get to the point things actually start making sense, and I'd be inclined to advise you give it a miss for now. I did find myself really enjoying it at the end, but it took a lot of forcing to get there, and if I didn't have a reason to finish reading it I'm not certain I would have.
Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds (Guest Post)
On 14th September 2013
In Adventure, guest, longeye, Science Fiction
This review will be posted in two sections, the top section here will consist of a general review of the book with no spoilers. The second section, under the line (or if you're viewing just the limited post behind the "read more" link) will be a more in-depth look, but will definitely have spoilers!
Blue Remembered Earth (which, for brevity, I will just call BRE) was gifted to me as part of Gollancz "get a free book and write a review" scheme, and to be honest I hadn't really heard of it before. Whilst I'm a very big fan of Sci-Fi, Alastair Reynolds has been one of those authors on my periphery for long enough that I figured this was a good place to start.
BRE is certainly an interesting book to read. It's laid out in three sections, with section 1 being about the first half, section two being about the second half, and section three being a small chapter or two at the end. This layout also fits the pacing of the book, with the first section being a slow build-up, the second maintaining this level of pace with minor fluctuations, and the third being an all out brain-smashing of concepts.
One of the things I liked most about this book is the particular way Reynolds seems to write his technology. Whereas many sci-fi authors write technology that hasn't even been conceptualised yet (see much of the Original Series of Star Trek), Reynolds writes technology that we are just beginning to look at that has been perfected. One of the prime examples is the Space Catapult used to fire goods (and sometimes people) into orbit. Much of his technology isn't that hard to imagine, it's the interesting tilts he puts on it that make it fun.
The writing of his book is very fluid, and I didn't find myself getting lost or confused at any point. Whilst few books have ever gripped me, this one very much did. Upon starting it was quite hard to put down! But what about the story? Well for the concise section the story follows the journey of Geoffrey Akinya and his sister, Sunday. The book opens with the funeral of their grandmother, a pioneer of space who guided their family to becoming one of, if not the, most influential and wealthy families in the solar system. With her funeral Geoffrey is called to investigate a vault on the moon that she owned, that members of his family are worried might contain something damaging to their reputation, and what follows is an intricate path laid out by his grandmother to discover one of the last secrets left to humanity. One of the largest, and perhaps strangest, focusses in the book is the relationship between Geoffrey and a herd of elephants. Called the "M-group", Geoffrey has studied them for the majority of his life, working towards eventually merging their brain activity with his own to fully perceive the world as they do. Considered an expert in the field of elephant neurology, it is clear that Reynolds did his research with herd dynamics, and the information is genuinely interesting outside the bounds of the book (what isn't fictional, at least!). The characters themselves were very interesting. There is Geoffrey, whom you follow for most of the story, who feels like a believable human. His main goal in his life is to work with the elephants, and even leaving for a week to visit the moon for the investigative journey he is loathed to part with them. Later parts of the book show his defence of "his" herd to be quite powerful. His sister Sunday is somewhat more whimsical than his down-to-earth views, but plays the part of the young artist sick of a restricted life perfectly. There are other peripheral characters, most notable their twin cousins, Hector and Lucas. As the Akinya family is a business family, Hector and Lucas appear to run the majority of it, and take a very businesslike approach to all decisions, only caring about the moon vault because they worry it might contain a scandal that would lower their stocks. There are some very interesting dynamics between these four, with Sunday being the rouge child that they tend to ignore, and Geoffrey being seen as a potential aid who is wasting his time with a "pet project", whilst Hector and Lucas sum up everything that Sunday and Geoffrey dislike about the Akinya house. There are a few areas the book does fall a little short. Some of the terminology isn't explained in the book, and it takes a little while for the reader to understand what it's talking about. This is a problem for all sci-fi; how to explain futuristic terms. On the one hand a "dunce" character can be written in to be explained at for the readers' sake, and on the other the reader can be left to figure it out on their own. Reynolds chooses the latter, but he does pull it off far more skilfully than many other authors I've read. There is a slight pacing issue with the main story, and a slight scale issue. Without giving too much away, the latter parts of the story involve some quite substantial time jumps, and with vast amounts of new information being provided at the same time it feels like the ending is trying to cram more book into the third part than there was in the second. I would have, personally, preferred the book to have a longer third part that stretched some of the last chapters out a little. Overall my impressions of the book were very positive. I read the whole thing very quickly, enjoyed it greatly, and actively looked for information of a sequel. When I found that it looks like Reynolds is considering further Akinya books I was quite happy, so that should give you an idea of my impressions! As a final score? If I had to I'd give it a 5. The story was detailed where it mattered, flowed perfectly, and the characters were perfectly fleshed out!
~Longeye~
Rather than go over what I've already said, there are a few points I'd like to expand on that are most certainly spoilers. Seriously, if you have any desire to read the book stop here, the remainder of the review spoils literally every point.
Whilst the first two sections involve Geoffrey and Sunday investigating the legacy Eunice left behind in various capacities, around the third section mark the reader is suddenly told that one of the deep space telescopes has found signs of intelligent life. Shortly after that, Geoffrey finds out that Eunice discovered alien chemical equations and figured out how to translate them, and for the past 60 or so years has been hiding this information from humanity. She gives him the decision of what to do with them next. These two points come so out of the blue that they are very striking, and whilst I loved them both there was very little time to really look at them. The fact that there is also a 5 week gap going to the secret, and then back to earth, lends it a slightly odd out of sync feel. The other point is Eunice. Although deed, she's not as quiet as one would think. Sunday spends a great portion of the book perfecting an AI construct of Eunice that has all of the memories and news about her that she can get hold of. The result is an AI that can react and act as Eunice would, but doesn't know anything Eunice kept secret. She can make valid deductions about what Eunice would have been thinking, and proves very useful, and the relationship between her and Geoffrey (who isn't sure this whole venture is a good idea) is interesting. These points don't change my opinion of the book, but it's certainly interesting that Reynolds chose to include constructs of Eunice that show regret at having to be deleted, and wish for human contact in a moment that is quite thought provoking. Whilst I wasn't a fan of the very quick ending section, I am hoping future books will build on this a bit more and that it's a way of wrapping up this particular saga in favour of continuations.
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