I love cheesecake - but then again so do most people. Creamy rich filling with a crisp crust — a perfect ratio of fat and sugar. However, I'm not too keen on the traditional toppings of cherries or blueberries though. I must admit that I usual scrape a lot of it to the side to get to the good stuff (sorry, I know).
But this little tweak proves to be a winner. Joanne had some passion fruit given to her by a friend and decided to give it a try. It was a hit. With just the right amount of fruit, it turned out to be a refreshing glaze. The citrus element made it feel deceptively lighter than it was.
I brought a slice to work and some of my coworkers went nuts. I literally had people asking for orders. We may consider it, but in the meantime I don't mind being the beneficiary of Joanne's culinary experiments.
So now that you've had the hubby's take on this recipe, let me fill you in on the recipe itself. I have posted the Juniors Famous Cheesecake recipe on the blog as my go to recipe for my cheesecakes but it's actually adapted. I have never done the crust from their recipe because I personally love the classic graham cracker crust. I love a thicker crust and I like it kind of coming up the side of the cake a little. That is just personal taste, so feel free to adjust measurements when making crust to your liking.
Now a few things to consider about the crust. It's not always easy to find graham crackers or prepackaged crumbled crackers here in Trinidad. Although we do have an amazing pre-packaged one made here locally which is delicious and I use it all the time if it's available. But if it's not, I simply use digestive crackers or cookies and adjust or omit the amount of sugar according to taste and I grind them down in my food processor. Otherwise you can put them in a sealed plastic bag and pound them out or roll with a rolling pin until fine and until you have enough.
I make the filling the same exact way every time. There's no need to make any changes - it's perfection every time!! I always bake it in a water bath. I also always leave it to cool for at least an hour before refrigerating it, and I refrigerate for at least a couple of hours before I top it.
Side tip about about the water bath: I have never been able to avoid water or what I originally thought was water from seeping through the five layers of foil that I would wrap my spring-form pan in. Well according to some super smart Youtube clip about making the perfect cheesecake, that is not water seeping in. Duh!!!! It's condensation and literally unavoidable unless (they had the best and smartest solution!!!!!!!!) you place your spring-form pan in a baking dish that's just slightly bigger than your spring form and then place it in the water bath!!! And cue the sound of the heavens opening up and aahhhh. Simple and yet a genius way to keep the moisture from condensation to a bare minimum if any.
Once your cheesecake is set, you can make the topping by combining the cornflour and water in a small pot and stirring until smooth over a medium heat.
Add the passion fruit and sugar and continue to cook for 5 or so minutes while it boils and thickens.
Allow to cool slightly before pouring onto the cake and returning to the fridge for at least an hour to set.


Each year, worldwide, tens of thousands of people get food poisoning from seafood products. Hélène Martin-Yken is a scientist in INRA's Joint Research Unit for the Engineering of Biological Systems and Processes (LISBP). She and her team performed a study aimed at improving tools for detecting foodborne toxins of marine origin, which are the primary cause of seafood-related food poisoning. The results were published in Environmental Research.
Of the various illnesses caused by seafood consumption, ciguatera fish poisoning is the most common worldwide. Ciguatera is not a new disease—the explorers Cook and Vasco da Gama both fell ill from this form of fish poisoning. While ciguatera has always been especially prevalent in the tropics and subtropics, it has progressively spread to more temperate regions, like Europe, notably because of climate change.
Around 30 years ago, researchers discovered the cause of the disease: microalgae in the genus Gambierdiscus that tend to proliferate in disturbed areas, particularly those in which coral reefs have suffered because of pollution or global warming. These plankton produce extremely potent neurotoxins: ciguatoxins (CTXs). When fish and shellfish eat the plankton, they also ingest the CTXs. These toxins bioaccumulate along the food chain and can reach high concentrations in large fish, including the most commonly caught species. When humans consume CTX-contaminated fish or seafood, they can become ill with ciguatera; symptoms can last several weeks or even months. An additional challenge is that these toxins cannot be destroyed by cooking or freezing.
CTXs were the subject of a research study led by Hélène Martin-Yken, a LISBP researcher. This work was carried out as part of a collaboration with scientists from the Laboratory of Toxic Microalgae (LMT), which is affiliated with the Louis Malardé Institute and the French Research Institute for Development in French Polynesia. The study's findings were published in the journal Environmental Research.
Some of these researchers have long been working with yeasts, which are frequently employed as biological models and study tools because yeast cells share strong similarities with human cells. The idea arose to use the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to detect the presence of toxins. The research team showed that, even at high concentrations, CTXs were not toxic to yeast cells. However, the yeast species could sense and respond to the CTXs, which means it could potentially be used to determine toxin presence and abundance.
These findings may greatly contribute to improving methods for detecting CTXs in seafood, as current tools are both expensive and time intensive. The use of yeast cells could make it easier to detect these toxins and thus, ultimately, more rapidly control outbreaks of foodborne illnesses.
At present, the researchers are working to increase the sensitivity of their tests to render them even more effective.
Ciguatoxins activate the Calcineurin signalling pathway in Yeasts: Potential for development of an alternative detection tool? H. Martin-Yken, C. Gironde, S. Derick, H.T. Darius, C. Furger, D. Laurent, and M. Chinain. Environ Res. 4 Jan 2018 (162): 144-151. DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2017.12.022.


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Home » Lifestyle » Major energy supplier to pay thousands of customers up to £100 to use less energy this winter – how to get it | The Sun
Major energy supplier to pay thousands of customers up to £100 to use less energy this winter – how to get it | The Sun
November 29, 2022 mediabest Lifestyle
A MAJOR energy supplier is the latest to announce it will pay customers to use less energy this winter.
Households will be paid up to £100 to turn off their appliances during peak times to help prevent blackouts.
OVO Energy has announced today that it will be joining the National Grid's "demand flexibility service".
It is launching a new trial which rewards customers for shifting their energy usage away from peak times.
OVO says it will offer a competitive rewards system through its exclusive high demand day/time notifications.
Running from December 8 to March 31, 2023, the trial could see customers earning up to £100.
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It will see three types of notification, two of which will be exclusive to OVO customers and the other will be the standard National Grid notification for those signed up.
They will be issued to participants via email at various times, encouraging them to shift their non-essential electricity usage outside of peak periods.
These exclusive notifications will alert participants of the days the grid is most likely to see demand, as well as the time of day.
Customers can make a minimum of £1 for every kWh shifted below their personal target – the more electricity shifted, the more the money they'll make.
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Each month a credit bill will be shared with all the notification rewards collated.
An average home could earn around £50 in total, but it could be up to £100 depending on usage and participation in more events.
Initially, the scheme is open to 15,000 OVO customers, with this figure planned to increase after the first month.
Customers will need to opt-in to receiving email notifications by 11.59pm on that same day in order to be eligible for the reward the following day, and opt-ins after this time will not count.
Eligibility is based on:
being an existing OVO Energy customer
have a working electricity smart meter installed
opt in to daily or half-hourly meter reads
be supplied by OVO Energy throughout the trial
not be part of the Power Move promotion
not be registered for the Demand Flexibility Service with another provider
Those eligible will be invited to sign up via email.
Raman Bhatia, CEO of OVO, said: "We're pleased to be joining the National Grid Electricity System Operator's Demand Flexibility Scheme and launching another trial which rewards customers for their efforts in making small but significant changes to the way they consume energy.
"We know that winter is going to be a challenging time for many, so relieving that pressure where we can, and supporting our customers has never been more important."
The trial is part of the national effort by energy providers to make the electricity grid more stable this winter.
The hope is that it will reduce the chances of needing nationwide energy blackouts, which were nearly activated today.
The National Grid was set to trigger an emergency blackout plan which would have involved asking Brits to turn off their appliances to avoid power cuts.
It comes after the National Grid cancelled a warning about Britain's electricity supply just six days ago.
The system which pays households to cut their usage at peak times has been tested twice since it was launched a month ago.
But suppliers don't have to take part in the scheme and so far only four have confirmed they are running the offer.
Exactly how much you can earn will also vary from supplier to supplier.
Among those taking part already are British Gas, EDF, EON and Octopus.
A spokesperson for British Gas confirmed to The Sun that it is working with the National Grid on what the offer to customers will look like.
EDF has now said it'll offer SOME customers the £100 grant but only those it invites personally.
While EON said it would be taking part in the Demand Flexibility Scheme and would be outlining details of the offer to customers soon.
Octopus Energy says its 1.4million customers on smart meters and 5,000 of its business customers can save £100 by signing up to the scheme.
The supplier has already said that more than 350,000 customers have signed up for its flexibility service called Saving Sessions.
For the full list of offers and details see here.
A number of suppliers have still not confirmed whether they will sign up for the demand flexibility scheme.
I've been forced to sleep in TENT because my mouldy house is making me sick
I'm a time-traveller and I KNOW who wins the World Cup…I have video proof
Bulb confirmed that it wouldn't be taking part.
Check with your supplier to see if they'll let you sign up for the scheme.
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Image: Archi Banal
BusinessJanuary 15, 2022
Mocktails, margarine sculptures and memories: Has Valentines still got it?
By Jihee Junn
In its heyday, Valentines was New Zealand's leading chain of licensed buffet restaurants. But how does the once go-to birthday party venue hold up in 2022? Jihee Junn pays a visit, and talks to its new owners, to find out.
If you grew up in the 90s or early 2000s, going to Valentines was the ultimate dining experience. As a kid, it felt like a place that was fancy and upscale: a place where you were shown to your table and waiters would come round to clear your plates and ask if you liked your meal. A place where oysters and steak were as plentiful and abundant as the ice cream machine serving up vanilla soft serve. A place where tiny glass cups filled with trifle and green jelly adorned the dessert cabinets like sugary jewels. And a place where brightly coloured sodas masqueraded as cocktails for kids and margarine magically turned into larger-than-life works of art.
Like most people, for my family going to Valentines was reserved for only the most special of occasions – birthdays, anniversaries, graduations. Its North Shore branch was a staple for celebratory meals for families like mine, until one day – for no real discernible reason – it wasn't. By the time the 2010s rolled around, we stopped going altogether. After that, I never went or thought of it again, and judging by its restaurant numbers (just four by the end of 2018), I certainly wasn't the only one.
The Valentines of old (Photo: Supplied)
In its heyday, Valentines was New Zealand's leading chain of licensed buffet restaurants. Launched by couple Geoff and Marina MacRae in Pakuranga, Auckland on Valentine's Day in 1989, the business quickly grew to more than 18 locations across New Zealand and Australia. It dominated the all-you-can-eat buffet industry of the 90s, but by the time the new millennium rolled around, cracks were already starting to appear.
Internally, the business faced heavy financial losses and fallouts with franchisees, mostly as a result of its rapid trans-Tasman expansion. At the same time, New Zealand's food scene had started to shift, becoming bigger, more competitive and more diverse than ever before. Diners were also becoming more conscious of their health and the quality of their food, which didn't bode well for Valentines' array of roast meats, drenched salads and garish desserts. Finally, coupled with the rise of fast casual dining and the demand from social media platforms for new and aesthetically pleasing dishes, the buffet had slowly yet surely been pushed to the margins, with institutions like Pizza Hut's all-you-could-eat restaurants failing to survive at all.
On its 30th anniversary in 2019, the Valentines empire – once more than two dozen strong – had been whittled down to just four locations, all located in the upper North Island. It had become a shell of its former self, and few would've been surprised to witness its eventual demise. But behind the scenes, things were changing: the business was getting a second life.
The margarine sculptures of years gone by (Photos: Supplied)
In 2017, Valentines came under new ownership, with Auckland-based brothers Ravi and Ron Lal taking the business under their wing. With the former as master franchisor and the latter as marketing manager, the pair realised that while Valentines was an excellent concept, the business had to keep up with the times, pointing out a number of flaws, such as the lack of consistency between the restaurants, the food they offered, and the franchise system itself.
"Coming from a sales and marketing background, I was looking for a chance to really brighten up something that was so iconic," says Ron Lal. "We really wanted to help revive the brand and bring its nostalgic feel to the modern era … We couldn't really be stuck in the old set-up – we needed to move on with the times."
Lal says the first step in turning the brand around was to reopen its Rotorua branch after it had closed down back in 2015. Under new management, the restaurant launched with an upgraded menu – now standardised across all Valentines restaurants – featuring a mix of classics as well as more dishes from east and south Asian cuisines. According to franchise owner Dinesh Sharma, the restaurant was running at full capacity for its first four months, eventually increasing its seating from 200 people to 240 in an effort to meet the boom in demand.
Soon after, the team got to work on launching a new, albeit smaller branch in Christchurch, partnering with food display specialists FPG to pilot a more modern look and feel for the brand while incorporating elements like live cooking. Once the pilot store had opened to much success at the end of 2019, Lal says it then took that concept and brought it up to Auckland, applying it on a larger scale for its flagship North Shore branch.
The new-look Valentines
Curious and intrigued by this supposedly new-look Valentines, a friend and I decided to check things out ourselves, venturing out for a weekday lunch one December afternoon. Neither of us had visited a Valentines for an indiscernible amount of years, and we quickly got to speculating what we might still find: would the ice cream machine be there? Would the chocolate fountain be running? Would they still be putting balloons inked with personalised messages out on tables? Judging from a quick look at its revamped website, photos showed an interior boasting chic lighting, trendy signs, and a wall of modern exposed brick. Was this really the sort of place you'd expect to find a margarine sculpture of a giant majestic eagle in flight?
Within minutes, we realised that despite the outward makeover, very little had changed. The Valentines of our childhood was all still there: the desserts, the balloons, the roast meats and salads, even all the classic kids' "cocktails" that made us feel like grownups when we were young. We decided to order a deep blue sea for old time's sake and were met with an aquamarine 90s throwback – maraschino cherry, tiny paper umbrella, and a concoction of pineapple juice and blindingly blue liquid food colouring poured on top.
The classic deep blue sea kids cocktail, and the soft serve (Photos: Jihee Junn)
At the buffet, where a margarine sculpture of a miniature dragon sat perched above the seafood section (fun fact: sculpted by Tim Aspinall using a "special" margarine that doesn't need to be refrigerated, these sculptures last up to six months, says Lal), we were met with all the usual classics, plus a few new and surprising additions: Korean-style fried chicken, some Indian curries, vegetarian dumplings, and a mushroom and pine nut pizza. In the dessert aisle, where the chocolate fountain still gushed at full throttle, we headed straight to the ice cream machine that oozed out what was, frankly, a grainy, half-melted soft serve mess. We kind of liked it in a sickly sweet sort of way though: like Aptamil baby formula mixed with condensed milk.
While the food overall was a bit hit-and-miss, I wasn't exactly expecting to find world-class cuisine at a $30 all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant. The important thing was that I still somehow left feeling full and content, knowing that despite some changes, Valentines was, at its core, its playful, kitschy yet comforting self – the same nostalgic fever dream of years gone by where yes, you can still dine free on your birthday.
"Some staples were always going to be part of the buffet, like the chocolate fountain or the ice cream machine – we never really looked at taking those away," says Lal. "We did consider changing the name at one point, but then we thought no, the Valentines name itself holds a lot of value. When you say Valentines buffet people click on right away and say 'oh, my parents used to take me' or 'I went for my fifth birthday', and that's something that's really invaluable."
The lineup (Photo: Jihee Junn)
Despite its humble resurgence in recent years, Valentines, like so many hospitality businesses, is still facing an uncertain future. Due to Covid-19, buffets in particular are in a precarious position, and as recently as November, one of Auckland's most popular and loved buffets, Paradise, announced it would be closing its $20 all-you-could-eat restaurant for good.
During lockdown, Lal says the business pivoted to takeaway shareboxes customers could order online in an effort to stay afloat. "Obviously Valentines isn't really known for takeaways, and it's not like a McDonald's or KFC, of course, but it was still something that helped keep the tills ticking and people employed," he says.
"These were things we had to do because business was shut, but they actually started to become quite popular. Luckily, it's been a positive outcome for us all."
While Covid-19 put a dent in Valentines' plans to refurbish its remaining restaurants in Manukau, Hamilton and Rotorua with its brand new look (as well as opening its sixth branch in Taupō), Lal says the company is still intent on following through on these plans within the next few years. "But again, Covid has taught us a lot, so we're in the middle of planning something that could be a bit of a spinoff to Valentines buffet as well," he says. "It's in its planning stages at the moment, but we have to wait and see what the market really wants and needs at this stage.
"We're just trying to keep the business alive and ticking by capitalising on this iconic brand," he says. "We want it to be a staple for every little kid growing up now just like it was for so many of us. We're just glad we can keep that buffet experience alive."
The Spinoff's business section is enabled by our friends at Kiwibank. Kiwibank backs small to medium businesses, social enterprises and Kiwi who innovate to make good things happen.
Check out how Kiwibank can help your business take the next step.
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Musings Over a Barrel: "They Disarmed Their Warriors First"
"They Disarmed Their Warriors First"
How much longer will we stand idly by, like the proverbial frog in boiling water?
Now that the 0bama administration's horrific treatment of veterans has been exposed in the VA scandal, Whittle's observations, originally published on April 11, are all the more unsettling. Disarming, and allowing to die, seems to be the progressive modus operandi when it comes to our Nation's heroes.
During this Memorial weekend, let's also remember those veterans who died due to a broken corrupt government healthcare system.
"When SHTF, I'm coming to your house"
Two Local Breweries. And BBQ.
How Was Your Hump Day?
What Country Did I Wake Up In?


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Orioles Are Making Jim Johnson Available
By Ray Kuhn
Jim Johnson (Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports)
The Houston Astros need a closer. I'm not sure that I can be more blunt than that.
Not even just a closer, but essentially a brand new bullpen. That is what happens when your team leads the league with 29 blown saves. There are plenty of other advanced statistics that back up how bad the bullpen was and the games that it cost the Astros in 2013, but that is in the past. Quite frankly, none of that matters if Jeff Luhnow upgrades the stable of relievers that Bo Porter can call upon in 2014.
Peter Moylan, who was invited to Spring Training on a minor league contract is a start. Same with Raul Valdes and Darin Downs — regardless of my thoughts as to whether they should be on the 40-man roster. But they are just a start. The tip of the proverbial iceberg if you would. While the possibility is there for all three to be solid contributors, there is still more work to be done. At the same time, there are some young pieces like Josh Fields and Kevin Chapman that should not be discounted.
But I'm not sure that Jim Johnson is the answer.
Baltimore has put their All-Star closer on the trade market for obvious reasons. Johnson has had his share of success over the last few seasons, but he very quickly is getting expensive. And for the same reasons why the Orioles would entertain trading Johnson, I do not think pursuing him would be prudent.
The Orioles say they are willing to listen to offers for closer Jim Johnson, who is set to make more than $10m in arbitration in '14.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 27, 2013
Johnson is not your stereotypical closer just based on the fact that he does not throw hard. The 30-year old only struck out 41 batters in 68.2 innings in 2012 and followed that up with 56 strikeouts over 70.1 innings last season. But he did save 51 and 50 games respectively the last two years. And both seasons, he had an ERA under three (2.49 and 2.94), so what is the problem? Clearly the fact that Johnson is not a strikeout pitcher should not matter.
As a red flag his WHIP did increase in 2013 from 1.02 to 1.28 which caused the jump in ERA. Even though he was temporarily removed from the closer's role over the summer, it didn't hamper him that much as he still saved 50 games.
Closers sometimes have a shorter shelf life, and I'm not entirely confident in Johnson's chances at another 50 save season in 2014, or even 40 saves for that matter.
I wouldn't be in total objection to the Astros acquiring him, but it just doesn't make sense at this time. Houston would have to give up prospects, pay him $10 million this season, and then also commit to Johnson long term to make the trade worth while. For a player that I don't have complete confidence in, it might not be the most prudent move. Plus for a team with so many other weaknesses, that is not the best allocation of funds.


The Sundance sci-fi The Signal, almost a mystery as much as it is a science fiction piece, played really well at the festival this year. While I didn't get to see it, Peter loved the film, and it was quickly set for a summer release by Focus Features. But The Signal remains a mystery to most potential audiences — and that's where these new images and a viral video come in. None of these materials will give away what's going on in the film, but they probably will make you a lot more curious about seeing it.
Here's the video, which points to the website RUAGITATED.COM, from which the images originally came.
The Signal is set for a June release.
Three college students on a road trip across the Southwest experience a detour; the tracking of a computer genius who has already hacked into MIT and exposed security faults. The trio find themselves drawn to an eerily isolated area when suddenly, everything goes dark. When one of the students, Nic, regains consciousness, he is in a waking nightmare… The Signal stars Brenton Thwaites, Olivia Cooke, Beau Knapp and Laurence Fishburne and is directed by William Eubank.


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We recommend rebalancing your tyres to extend their lifespan and ensure your safety on the road.
There are a number of factors that can cause a vehicles wheels to become unbalanced, with the most common being your vehicle suffering an impact from a kerb or pothole.
Wheel balancing (Tyre Balancing) will ensure that weight is evenly distributed around the wheel and means that the tyre can rotate evenly. Wheels and tyres are never exactly the same weight all around and this valuable balancing service is essential in maintaining consistent performance and efficiency.
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How are my wheels balanced?
This is done by counter-balancing the weight difference of each wheel.
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Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar is offering some Valentine's Day specials for all those dining duos. The special menu will be available at the restaurant from February 14th – 17th.
Furthermore, tn the 17th, Lazy Dog will bring ack their beloved seasonal Girl Scout Thin Mint Shake featuring America's favorite cookie blended into vanilla bean ice cream and topped with whipped cream. The shake will be available from February 17th – March 27th with $1 from every sale of the $4.95 offering going toward a local Girl Scout Troop.


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Medical representation at key meetings such as KOL, agency or due diligence.


text:
Developed as a direct successor to the well-known Gulfstream GV, the G550 expands upon the long-range capabilities of its predecessor and adds an updated interior to provide passengers with optimal comfort. The G550 turned heads right from the start—in October 2003, less than two weeks after entering service, a G550 flew nonstop from Seoul, South Korea to Orlando, Florida, covering the 7,301 nm distance in 14.5 hours and breaking the GV's previous ground distance record by over 1,000 nm. It would go on to set 40 city-pair records in its next five years of service. This brawny jet with international reach can fly further and faster than the GV, and does so while incorporating several advancements for passenger and pilot alike.
Gulfstream G550 Features
When redesigning the Gulfstream G550's interior, Gulfstream aerospace created the perfect balance between business and pleasure, maximizing comfort and maneuverability. The cabin measures 50.1 feet long, 6.2 feet high, and 7.3 feet wide, with a total volume of 1,669 cubic feet. Gulfstream upgraded the cabin by 58 more cubic feet, creating one of the largest interiors in the heavy business jet category. With the additional cabin length, Gulfstream was able to add two additional windows for a total of 14. Up to four separate living areas provide ample space for entertainment, business, or privacy. In addition, the G550 features 226 cubic feet of interior baggage storage, allowing passengers to store an abundance of luggage which they're able to access while in the air.
With that much available space, a variety of cabin layouts are found across G550s. They include a forward or aft full-service galley, forward and aft lavatories, and storage credenzas, with some layouts including a crew rest compartment, dining or conference room, and even a full lavatory with a shower. Passengers enjoy a full-cabin entertainment system, all-leather seats in "club four" configurations with slide and swivel motions and footrests, and individual power outlets for phones, tablets, computers, and other electronics. The cabin is also equipped with individual high-quality LCD monitors, giving passengers the option for entertainment and real-time flight tracking.
Those on board will arrive at their far-away destinations feeling refreshed, too—thanks to a cabin environment Gulfstream describes as "ultraquiet," a low cabin altitude of 6,000 feet, and a 100-percent fresh-air system that replaces the air in the cabin every two to three minutes.
The G550 is renowned for its transcontinental capabilities. It is powered by two BMW/Rolls Royce BF 700-710-C4-11 turbofan engines, each producing 15,385 lbs. of thrust. This combination engines provides the aircraft with enough power to complete long-leg missions in a very efficient manner—with 8 passengers and 4 crew and while travelling at mach .8, the G550 has a max range of 6,750 nautical miles. This means the accomplished jet can complete legs like Washington, D.C. to Dubai, London to Singapore, or Tokyo to Paris without fuel stops.
Possessing a surface ceiling of 51,000 feet, the G550 can dodge air traffic and dangerous weather conditions while increasing reliability and stability. From sea level, the jet can climb from sea level to 37,000 feet in just 18 minutes and from a runway as short as 5,950 feet. Drag-reducing modifications have been introduced, including a blunter-contoured wing design to help with turbulence, improved seals between fin and rudder, and a reconfigured cabin pressurization outflow valve.
The Gulfstream G550's avionics suite is designed to provide pilots with sophisticated and easy-to-use instruments that will increase their vision and hand-eye coordination in flight. The glass cockpit features Gulfstream's PlaneView avionics suite, their exclusive version of the Honeywell Primus Epic system, with data displayed across four 14-inch LCD screens as well as a heads-up display. Either pilot can operate PlaneView using Gulfstream's convenient cursor control device, not unlike a computer mouse or track ball. The G550 also uses the first interactive navigation system, I-NAV, which allows pilots to view and interact with the flight plan, add and delete routes, and view potential waypoints while in flight. A Honeywell/BAE visual guidance system and enhanced vision system come standard.
BUILD YOUR G550 JET CARD


Unfortunately, we have put this project on hold for now.
Thanks to all of the teams that have used the product, we've had some awesome feedback and we had a fantastic time running and growing Newspaper.
We have removed the Slack add-on so there is nothing you need to do on your side.


text:
844-Our-Bull
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5 Tips to Help Workers Upskill and Adapt to Artificial Intelligence
The World Economic Forum says technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) will displace 75 million jobs by 2022 but will also create 133 million new roles. That's a net gain of 58 million new jobs. To prepare workers for these new jobs, organizations will have to provide significant resources for upskilling their workforce. And employees will need to take personal responsibility for their career development in a context of rapid technological change.
How can HR professionals prepare employees and organizations for a present and future where AI is increasingly working with humans to drive business outcomes?
The 'Right' Mindset about AI
"HR professionals need to begin by shifting their mindsets about AI," said Jeff Schwartz, a principal with Deloitte Consulting. "It's not about dividing work between people and AI—it's not an either/or proposition—but about how to create new value in new ways." The author of the upcoming book Work Disrupted (Wiley, 2021), Schwartz compares AI's impact to that of ATMs, beginning in the late 1970s: "ATMs didn't eliminate the jobs of bank tellers. We've actually seen an increase in the number of bank tellers and in bank branches since ATMs came on the scene."
What HR professionals need to consider is how people and AI can work together to do things better, which will likely mean reconfiguring work. As a general matter, Schwartz said, "AI is good at performing tasks in large scale, working with speed and analyzing massive amounts of data. People, on the other hand, are good with empathy, with communication, with flexibility in problem-solving."
Acting as strategic partners with the overall business, HR professionals should be asking, "What are our potential ATMs, our complementary solutions that add value with technology and humans working together?" HR has to rethink work, the workforce and the workplace in order to create new value, explained Schwartz, "especially at a time of accelerating change when organizations and individuals need to be more agile."
Upskilling: A Win-Win
Sean Chou, CEO of Chicago-based automation technology firm Catalytic, is a strong advocate of upskilling as a way to support both his organization and his employees in adapting to AI-enhanced ways of working. "AI means less employee time spent searching for and manually formatting data, leaving them with more time for analysis and decision-making," Chou said. "This time savings also means that workers have more time for upskilling. That's a win-win, since employees become more valuable to themselves and the company, while employee morale and retention are boosted."
Gretchen Alarcon, vice president of HR Service Delivery at California-based software company ServiceNow, involves employees in the process of reconfiguring their own jobs. "We engage our employees to help design the AI-enhanced processes they will use every day, and this starts with listening and discovery to understand which existing processes need to be fixed," she said. "After all, the people who stand to benefit the most from AI are also the ones who will know where AI is needed most." Alarcon finds that this bottom-up approach improves the efficiency of AI in the workplace and, more importantly, "puts employees at the forefront of leading change, not being dragged along by it."
5 Tips for Supporting Employees in Adapting to AI
We asked experts to share their best tips with HR professionals striving to support employees in upskilling and adapting to AI.
1. Be clear about your AI strategy and value. Detail how AI will positively impact employees so that they adapt to the changes with an open mind. Listen to employee concerns and quell any fears they may have by being upfront and honest about how things will change. Some employees may make the transition in no time (for instance, 43 percent of members of Generation Z say they want to use AI on the job, according to a ServiceNow survey), while others won't be so quick to embrace the technology. HR professionals need to make sure everyone is supported, according to Alarcon.
2. Explain how AI can benefit employee experience. Show employees the transformative power of AI to handle all the administrative, repetitive tasks they dread and how it empowers them to have new and impactful experiences in the workplace. If deployed correctly, AI can serve as a journey accelerator for employees and give them the tools to go from new hire to team rock star in no time, said Anne Fulton, CEO of career experience platform Fuel50.
3. Explore ways AI can help employees beyond the elimination of manual processes. Get employees thinking about potential future benefits of AI to improve the employee experience. Imagine a near-term future where an AI bot recognizes that an employee is working on a new project and could use some more background knowledge, so an informational video gets shared to help that employee. Perhaps the AI can detect a change in an employee's mood and alert a manager to suggest a longer lunch break. Keep exploring the multiple ways AI can add value, Fulton said.
4. Promote a culture of learning and development to help the workforce gain a sense of purpose and innovation in their work. Investing in workplace tools, promoting a culture of curiosity and innovation, and offering training and learning opportunities for employees are important levers organizations can use to grow skills and capabilities around AI, according to Art Mazor, Deloitte's global HR transformation practice leader.
5. Share successes and best practices. Create some key metrics you'd like to improve as a result of implementing AI, including your upskilling efforts, then track your progress. Like any technology, adding AI can seem daunting at first, but it's important to remember why you implemented the technology and encourage your team to share their "wins" and lessons learned with each other. That builds momentum, said Jessica Rush, chief talent officer at conversational AI software provider Paradox.
Joseph Romsey is a freelance writer based in Massachusetts.
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Kellyanne Conway accused of tweeting topless photo of 16-year-old daughter
by: Russell Falcon, KXAN, Nexstar Media Wire
Kellyanne Conway speaks in the Briefing Room at the White House in Washington. in 2019. Conway, one of President Donald Trump's most influential and longest serving advisers, announced Sunday that she would be leaving the White House at the end of the month.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
(KXAN) – Kellyanne Conway, one of former President Trump's aides, is under fire after reportedly posting a topless photo of her 16-year-old daughter Claudia on Twitter.
The now-deleted photo was posted to Kellyanne's official Twitter profile (@KellyannePolls) as a Fleet, a newer Twitter feature similar to an Instagram Story that disappears after 24 hours. But the photo was still able to be documented and should be reported immediately if seen.
Amanda Berry joins U.S. Marshals to find missing people
Claudia is known for being an outspoken critic of her mother's politics on TikTok, where the teen has over 1 million followers. She has also previously accused her mother of abuse and explained plans to seek emancipation from her parents.
i'm officially pushing for emancipation. buckle up because this is probably going to be public one way or another, unfortunately. welcome to my life
— CLAUDIA CONWAY (@claudiamconwayy) August 23, 2020
On Monday, she posted a video message confirming the picture was real. While it's since been deleted, the video was recorded by several users.
Twitter permanently bans My Pillow CEO
In the deleted video, Claudia reportedly gave the following theory: "I'm assuming my mom took a picture of it to use against me one day and then somebody hacked her or something. I'm literally at a loss for words. If you see it, report it."
Claudia reportedly followed up that video with another (also deleted but recorded by other users), in which she said, "Nobody would ever have any photo like that, ever. So, Kellyanne, you're going to f—— jail."
However, George Conway, Kellyanne Conway's husband, tweeted a TikTok video Tuesday, saying, "Our daughter Claudia asked me to tweet this statement for her."
In the video, Claudia said, "This isn't forced. This is coming completely from me, Claudia. I have faith, and I know that my mother would never put something like that on the internet as well as me. We would never do that."
Claudia said she would be taking a break from social media to work on her relationship with her mom and family, adding that they are "really tired of being headlines."
"Please do not incite hate or violence on my family," she said. "Please, no threats, no calls to authorities. I love my mom and she loves me."
Our daughter Claudia asked me to tweet this statement for her. https://t.co/ilH7IFqERB
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) January 26, 2021
Several media outlets, including Variety, were unable to reach Kellyanne Conway for comment. Twitter, meanwhile, says it's investigating.
The bio section of Claudia Conway's TikTok profile now reads, "629 days left," a seeming reference to when she'll be able to be legally independent from her parents.
If you have seen or know of photos, videos or instances of exploited children, you're asked to call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678.


Hungry time burger time, and when its come to sale its Boxo Burger. Boxo Burger family thanks you taking interest in it. We welcome you in our family….
We in span of a short period has created the position in the market.
Boxo Burger which was establish in 2013 is in the process of being the most trusted western fast food brand. What makes us different from other is our make in India motive and we gives high returns in low budget.When you hears a name burger international taste comes in our mind but we not only serve international taste but we came with Indian burgers too.
How to stop stomach when it want to eat both burger and pizza! so remember us because its not just Burger its Boxo Burger.


text:
namespace blink {

namespace style_change_reason {
const char kActiveStylesheetsUpdate[] = "ActiveStylesheetsUpdate";
const char kAnimation[] = "Animation";
const char kAttribute[] = "Attribute";
const char kControlValue[] = "ControlValue";
const char kControl[] = "Control";
const char kDeclarativeContent[] = "Extension declarativeContent.css";
const char kDesignMode[] = "DesignMode";
const char kDialog[] = "Dialog";
const char kDisplayLock[] = "DisplayLock";
const char kDocumentTransition[] = "DocumentTransition";
const char kFlatTreeChange[] = "FlatTreeChange";
const char kFonts[] = "Fonts";
const char kFrame[] = "Frame";
const char kFullscreen[] = "Fullscreen";
const char kInheritedStyleChangeFromParentFrame[] =
    "InheritedStyleChangeFromParentFrame";
const char kInlineCSSStyleMutated[] =
    "Inline CSS style declaration was mutated";
const char kInspector[] = "Inspector";
const char kLanguage[] = "Language";
const char kLinkColorChange[] = "LinkColorChange";
const char kPictureSourceChanged[] = "PictureSourceChange";
const char kPlatformColorChange[] = "PlatformColorChange";
const char kPluginChanged[] = "Plugin Changed";
const char kPopupVisibilityChange[] = "Popup Visibility Change";
const char kPropertyRegistration[] = "PropertyRegistration";
const char kPseudoClass[] = "PseudoClass";
const char kScrollTimeline[] = "ScrollTimeline";
const char kSVGContainerSizeChange[] = "SVGContainerSizeChange";
const char kSettings[] = "Settings";
const char kShadow[] = "Shadow";
const char kStyleInvalidator[] = "StyleInvalidator";
const char kStyleSheetChange[] = "StyleSheetChange";
const char kUseFallback[] = "UseFallback";
const char kViewportDefiningElement[] = "ViewportDefiningElement";
const char kViewportUnits[] = "ViewportUnits";
const char kVisuallyOrdered[] = "VisuallyOrdered";
const char kWritingModeChange[] = "WritingModeChange";
const char kZoom[] = "Zoom";
}  // namespace style_change_reason

namespace style_change_extra_data {
DEFINE_GLOBAL(AtomicString, g_active);
DEFINE_GLOBAL(AtomicString, g_disabled);
DEFINE_GLOBAL(AtomicString, g_drag);
DEFINE_GLOBAL(AtomicString, g_focus);
DEFINE_GLOBAL(AtomicString, g_focus_visible);
DEFINE_GLOBAL(AtomicString, g_focus_within);
DEFINE_GLOBAL(AtomicString, g_hover);
DEFINE_GLOBAL(AtomicString, g_past);
DEFINE_GLOBAL(AtomicString, g_toggle);
DEFINE_GLOBAL(AtomicString, g_unresolved);

void Init() {
  DCHECK(IsMainThread());

  new (NotNullTag::kNotNull, (void*)&g_active) AtomicString(":active");
  new (NotNullTag::kNotNull, (void*)&g_disabled) AtomicString(":disabled");
  new (NotNullTag::kNotNull, (void*)&g_drag) AtomicString(":-webkit-drag");
  new (NotNullTag::kNotNull, (void*)&g_focus) AtomicString(":focus");
  new (NotNullTag::kNotNull, (void*)&g_focus_visible)
      AtomicString(":focus-visible");
  new (NotNullTag::kNotNull, (void*)&g_focus_within)
      AtomicString(":focus-within");
  new (NotNullTag::kNotNull, (void*)&g_hover) AtomicString(":hover");
  new (NotNullTag::kNotNull, (void*)&g_past) AtomicString(":past");
  new (NotNullTag::kNotNull, (void*)&g_toggle) AtomicString(":toggle");
  new (NotNullTag::kNotNull, (void*)&g_unresolved) AtomicString(":unresolved");
}

}  // namespace style_change_extra_data

}  // namespace blink

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Katherine Sherwood, Purple Carnations (After C.P.) 2022. Mixed media on found cotton duck, 40 x 48 inches.
NEW YORK, NY.- The George Adams Gallery is presenting its exhibition of paintings by Bay Area artist Katherine Sherwood titled, Pandemic Madonnas and Other Views from the Garden. Building on two on-going bodies of work, her Venuses and Brain Flowers, the exhibition shows the evolution of both series while also introducing Sherwood's Pandemic Madonnas, completed within the past year. Accompanying the exhibition is an extensively illustrated catalogue, In the Garden of the Yelling Clinic, surveying the development of all three, ongoing bodies of work, with scholarly essays by Ginny Treanor and Farley Gwazda, along with a personal reflection by the artist.
Sherwood has long used her artwork to engage with concerns around disability and feminism, by considering how both ableism and gender play a role in our understanding of art from both a historical and contemporary perspective. Herself disabled following a debilitating cerebral hemorrhage at forty-four, in the decades since, such concerns have only become more urgent and visible in Sherwood's work. In these recent paintings, she continues with her strategy of making revisionist additions to art historical images, collaging in scans of her own brain or depicting her subjects with assistive medical devices – particularly those she uses herself. Simultaneously, she has deepened her exploration of the historical precedent of female artists, notably in a major self-portrait after an altarpiece by the 17th century Portuguese painter, Josefa de Óbidos. While the original painting combines elements from devotional paintings and still-lives, a hallmark of de Óbidos's oeuvre, Sherwood replaces the central Christ child with her own disabled body, offering a two-fold critique: of the limitations in subject matter female painters historically faced and the liberating potential of the self-portrait.
The duality present in Venus (after de Óbidos) reflects two broader, inter-related aspects of Sherwood's work. She addresses the concept of the male gaze and preconceived notions of beauty in her Venus paintings, modeled after classical odalisques, while the Brain Flower series flips the script, re-inserting the female gaze by considering the work of Renaissance female painters, who were often limited in their subject matter to still-lives. As art historian Ginny Treanor points out in her contribution to the catalogue, for the women whose paintings Sherwood appropriates, the floral arrangements they painted were as much a scientific enterprise as an artistic one. Following in this tradition, by replacing select flowers with collaged scans of her own brain; Sherwood draws a parallel between the beauty and complexity within both structures.
Another commonality across these series is the use of art historical reproductions as a substrate, where Sherwood is literally working on the back of historical paintings or, as in the case of her Pandemic Madonnas, on the front. Working from examples of the Madonna and Child by Dürer, Botticelli, Raphael and others, she directly alters the image, adding in prosthetics, braces, crutches and other devices to the subjects as a commentary on the immaculate, idealized body. Pointedly, Sherwood intentionally models these interventions after antiquated, outdated medical devices, further drawing attention to our preconceptions around the visible markers of disability. A seated Madonna may be placed in a wheelchair, the baby Jesus given a prosthetic limb or brace, however the effect is not to undermine, but rather transcend. As these paintings were intended to reveal the divine as more perfect beings, Sherwood's manipulations offer a more nuanced understanding of our inherent humanity.
As Sherwood discusses the trajectory of her work over the last ten years in the catalogue accompanying the exhibition, she elaborates on her understanding of the "Garden" as a conceptual extension of the imaginary "Yelling Clinic:" a space for healing that has served as the inspiration for her paintings since 2010. The Yelling Clinic is also a disability collective Sherwood co-founded in 2008, which among its goals, combines art and activism to move conversations around disability outside a medical context. For Sherwood, the interventions and re-contextualizing she manifests within her paintings are in themselves acts of healing and therefore an extension of her activism. Her "Garden" is home to the Brain Flowers, where the blooms she paints are equally reminders of mortality and objects of beauty in their own right.


For those whose editor/pager of choice is not Emacs and who are not entirely satisfied with the --vi-keys option (see --vi-keys), GNU Info provides a way to define different key-to-command bindings and variable settings from the defaults described in this document.
On startup, GNU Info looks for a configuration file in the invoker's HOME directory called `.info'(7). If it is present, and appears to contain Info configuration data, and was created with the current version of the infokey command, then Info adopts the key bindings and variable settings contained therein.
The `.info' file contains compact, non-textual data for reasons of efficiency and because its design was lifted wholesale from the GNU Less program, which also does it that way. It must be created by compiling a textual source file using the infokey command.


Metro's SmarTrip cards now have an auto reload option.
Similar to the way E-ZPass works, the new program will let customers link a credit or debit card to their SmarTrips.
However, while that feature is standard for E-ZPass customers, SmarTrip users will have to opt in for auto reload. They will also be able to determine the amount added to their cards each time.
The value will renew whenever the balance drops below $20 on a regular-fare SmarTrip card, or below $10 on a senior/disabled card.
If you use a seven-day bus or rail pass, Auto Reload will kick in when three days remain on the previous pass. Customers' 28- or 30-day passes will be reloaded when seven days remain.
To sign up for Auto Reload, make sure your card is registered online. Then you'll be able to link your SmarTrip card to a credit or debit card, and decide on the amount you want added at each reload.
The feature was announced in June as one of several upgrades to the program.


text:
Editorial: Do police and yourself a favor: Lock your cars and homes
It's a simple solution that can solve a lot of problems, save taxpayers money, free up police officers and it doesn't cost one cent to do: lock your vehicles and your homes. That's it.
It's pretty easy: no muss, no fuss and in some cases, all it takes is a push of a button on a remote control.
So why are our police officers in New Haven, Middlesex and Litchfield counties spending valuable time writing reports and documenting what has been stolen from vehicles and homes when the solution to the problem takes less than a second?
Police are not sure why but once again are urging residents to lock their cars, remove valuables from plain sight and never leave the car running unattended or the keys in the car overnight.
Nearly 100 cases of property crime have taken place in Greater New Haven this past week, with car burglaries doubling from the previous week. Police say this time of year brings out the itchy fingers of burglars and they're striking everywhere: downtown New Haven, Westville, the Hill North area, the Dwight neighborhood, Newhallville and Beaver Hills.
And not only in Greater New Haven.
Haddam, East Hampton, Chester and other towns in Middlesex County are experiencing break-ins also, though Middletown has largely been spared from an increase. Torrington is also experiencing car break-ins and home burglaries, though the city hasn't seen an uptick there.
What are the burglars stealing? Everything from Parmesan cheese to a Louis Vuitton handbag to a dirt bike to small electronics. Even a boat was stolen. But the would-be thieves are not just after the big-ticket items. That loose change scattered on the seats or in the console also will draw their eye.
Police say most of these crimes are not the result of criminals smashing windows to get into a vehicle but rather a crime of opportunity — an unlocked door and valuables in plain sight. Some of the would-be burglars parade in groups and are brazen in their actions. Police have video showing a group of would-be thieves pulling on car door handles in the Hill South district in New Haven. If the group found a car unlocked, they took what they could find.
Murder, car accidents and assaults are the headline attention grabbers but police say week after week, the number of property crimes, including burglary, motor vehicle theft, larceny from vehicles and other larcenies tops the number of crimes in the city.
So, we can all help police by doing a better job of protecting the belongings we worked hard for by locking our cars, homes and windows.
As Lt. Jason Minardi of the New Haven Police Department says, "I don't know any other way to say it: lock your cars."
It's that simple — and will go a long way in keeping our valuables safe.


text:
La Yuma
Dramas • 1h 23m
Directed by Florence Jaugey • Drama • With Alma Blanco • 2011 • 91 minutes
Nicaragua's first full-length feature in 20 years, La Yuma tells the story of a young woman who dreams of transcending her bleak life in the slums of Managua by becoming a boxer. Looking beyond the meager possibilities that seem available to her (and ignoring the advice of her gang-member friends), she finds solace and hope in her training and falls in love with a middle-class journalism student. With an extraordinary performance by Alma Blanco as Yuma, the strength, astuteness and determination of the main character reflect the feelings of a population that faces adversity and inequality. Jaugey's film allows us the rare opportunity to get a glimpse of life in this Central American country where gender and class inequality are an everyday challenge.
drama, exclusive1, expository, family, international, international politics, la yuma, latinamerfilm, narrative, oscar® contenders, ovid, ovid_ca, pragda, title_l, women, youth
Up Next in Dramas
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The Paranoids
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Gabriel Medina's wonderfully crafted debut feature is a fresh, visually innovative, and often hilarious glimpse into the lives of some very offbeat, yet human, characters. T...
Directed by Andrea Arnold • Drama • With Kaya Scodelario, James Howson • 2010 • 129 minutes
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Jake Bailey watched as the feral creatures emerged from the carcass of a 1978 Ford Granada, from the piles of fiberglass insulation beneath the skeleton of a trailer that had been immolated by fire. The cats were skittish around people, yet they came to his neighbor's yard each evening. At seven o'clock sharp, Frank would play his harmonica and put out cans of food, and the cats would gather and rub up against his legs.
The two would talk to each other, while Jake sat in a lawn chair on the roof of his trailer house. Jake's mother, Krystal, found it odd that Frank talked at all, told Jake that Frank was the shyest person in Quinn, the only permanent stranger in a town of 956. Unlike Frank, his mother was well known, and as a nurse, she was useful. His mother refused to wear any makeup, despite her thin lips. Krystal had enormous green eyes and glossy brown hair that hung past her shoulder blades, content to be a natural beauty. She wore her hospital scrubs at home, and no jewelry. Jake found it frustrating to shop for his mother.
Jake had been coming to the rooftop since he was seven years old, when Krystal stopped noticing what he was doing as long as he was in the yard. From the roof, Jake could see all of the trailer court and parts of the town. He was twelve now, and he no longer spied on his neighbors. After five years, he realized that they were gross. Now he came to the roof for refuge. The space belonged to him, and he furnished it with a lawn chair and a waterproof tub that held his paperbacks, a parasol, and a pile of cassette singles. He sat on the roof through most of the year, sat there for hours, even in winter, when he sat until he could no longer bear it. His perch had revealed who was having affairs with the UPS man, who was eating too much when they thought nobody was watching, who was stealing checks from mailboxes. Jake was not a private detective, but he had a private-detective outfit. He also had several piles of polyester leisure suits and a complete set of motorcycle leathers.
He had found rosary beads at the thrift store, and he wore these as he listened to Madonna, even though he was not religious. He wore three necklaces at a time: glass, baby-blue stones, and wood. He knew he was supposed to say a prayer and finger every bead, but instead he named his enemies. It seemed impossible that he had fifty-nine enemies, but the football team took up thirty-two, and there were twenty-seven other bullies and assholes in town. According to Jake's math, he disliked one-sixteenth of the town. Frank was not one of them.
The cats came around despite the freezing weather. Some nights, Frank built a tiny fire in a washtub. He played his harmonica, surrounded by piles of empty cans of cat food, and the flames shone on the tins and cast the snowy yard in waves of reflected light.
When Frank wasn't playing music, he recited facts and observations to Jake: the harmonica was the Special 20, model number 560 manufactured by Hohner, plastic comb instead of wooden. Frank told Jake that feral cats woke at four in the afternoon, that their hunting parties went out at six, and then they went back to sleep after he fed them. The cats woke again at three in the morning, foraged for the next three hours, slept all day. Jake thought that they were much like Bert, Krystal's boyfriend.
Bert was a human barnacle that had attached itself to Jake and Krystal's trailer house in 1989. He courted them with shopping trips to Spokane, boxes of garage sale books, a new furnace for the trailer. He promised to be a father figure. As soon as Bert moved in, he never moved again, leaving the couch only to go to the bar. He was surly and possessive, drunk and useless, and worst of all, fertile. Krystal was pregnant within a month.
Before Bert came, Frank had built a small storage shed for Jake, shoved up against the siding, between the back door and Jake's bedroom window. Frank knew that Jake's thrift store purchases were piled to the ceiling in his bedroom, each article of clothing perfectly folded but sandwiched so tightly that Jake was constantly ironing. Frank worked silently, building the shed out of cedar, so Jake's clothes would smell less like old people and more like expensive people. He added a gambrel roof, sturdy enough to support Jake's weight. Now Jake could climb out of his bedroom window and use the roof of the storage shed to push himself up to the flat metal panels on the top of the trailer house.
After Bert moved in, Frank built a privacy fence around his entire property in the summer of 1990. Bert had started trapping Frank's feral cats in the alley, collecting them in metal cages. He drove to the boating launch and threw the cages in the shallows of the river. Bert described this process in detail but was secretive about what he did with the bodies. Frank's fence was six feet high, enough to shield Frank from the sight of Bert drinking in the yard, the sight of Bert entirely.
Jake's best friend, Misty, lived with her mother on the left side of Frank's new fence. They had grown up together in the trailer court, walking endlessly around the unpaved loop of twenty-six houses and a Laundromat, throwing rocks at swallows' nests. Misty blasted heavy metal at all hours.
Bert caused just as much commotion. When he had no one to fight with, Bert fought with himself, and loudly. Bert was the kind of drunk who fell on and off the wagon so many times that he called everybody at the bar by their last names and everybody at AA meetings by their first.
Frank was surrounded by this chaos but never called the cops. He was meek, a slight man with a thick dark beard. When he wasn't feeding the cats, he watched the mountains with binoculars. He told Jake that he used to spend his summers in the fire lookouts and that these habits were hard to break. He looked for fire, even in the winter. Frank wore only bright yellow work shirts and dark green pants, and he told Jake that he had retired early from the Forest Service but never explained why.
The week before Christmas, Jake combed through the thrift shop, found several suits that looked like they would fit. Frank was silent when Jake brought them to his front porch, wrapped carefully, freshly cleaned by hand.
The next night, Jake took his place on the roof, careful not to trip on the wires of Christmas lights Krystal had draped over the gutters. He had finally bought the entire "Like a Prayer" album, and a different rosary for every track, upping his collection to fourteen. Plastic or pearl, he had a necklace for every song and wore them on the outside of his snowsuit. He wrapped himself in blankets; the lawn chair was covered in new snow, and he sat on a plastic bag so his pants wouldn't get wet. Frank began his concert for the cats, but ended it early after only twenty minutes. He blew into his bare hands, which must have been frozen; Frank could not play harmonica with mittens. The cats ate greedily, and Jake watched a skinny pair fight over a can of pork and beans. Inside the trailer, Jake and Frank could hear Krystal and Bert fighting about getting cable television, and their new baby was crying. Frank walked over to the fence and threw the harmonica up to Jake, and then he turned away and went inside his house, without speaking a word.
The ambulance came the next day. Krystal heard the details on the police scanner and told Jake to go to his room. He watched out his window as the volunteer firemen came in their massive vehicles, followed closely by the van of the volunteer ambulance. There were no sirens. Then the cars came to the trailer court—the onlookers. It was as if every person who lived in town had heard the dispatch on the police scanner. Jake snuck out of his window and found Misty on the street. Even in the freezing cold, Bert lay drunkenly in the yard, tangled up in a lawn chair, but the crowd paid no attention. Misty and Jake hid in the alley, behind a Dumpster that was missing a wheel, and Misty smoked a cigarette as the volunteer fire department surrounded the stretcher.
Jake and Misty watched as they brought out Frank's body.
"He never told me he was sad," said Jake.
"I wonder if he used a gun," said Misty.
They watched until they were spotted by Krystal. "You shouldn't be seeing this!" she yelled at them as they tried to cower behind the Dumpster.
The winter grew thicker and darker, and Jake still thought of Frank. He kept the harmonica under his bed. Every morning, Jake shoved open the back door, kicked at the snow that had piled upon the cinder blocks of the back steps, and trudged in his slippers to the storage shed. He thought of Frank as he picked out his clothes for the day. Krystal would not speak of Frank's death, would not declare it a suicide. Bert claimed that the cats had eaten him.
For a few weeks, Jake bought cat food and stood in Frank's backyard. The cats came, but Jake could only hum. Jake hung his glass rosary on Frank's doorknob. The last week of January, Bert caught him and gave him a split lip for trespassing.
After that, Jake watched from the roof as the cats came around for a few more days, mewling and licking at the empty cans. Eventually, they found somewhere else to go. Jake hoped they were welcomed and serenaded, hoped they had found a new home.
By the time Jake's lip healed, there were no more cats. Bert had trapped them all, Frank was gone, and only the harmonica remained. Frank's yard and trailer stayed untouched, the snow piling in deeper drifts around the front door.
This reading group guide for The Flood Girls includes an introduction, discussion questions, ideas for enhancing your book club, and a Q&A with author Richard Fifield. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.
In the tiny, isolated town of Quinn, Montana, Laverna Flood owns and operates the Dirty Shame, a local watering hole patronized by day-drinking lesbian silver miners and a variety of alcoholics, and moonlights as the coach of the Flood Girls, an all-women's softball team that has never had a winning season. When her prodigal daughter Rachel returns after a nine-year absence, newly sober and hoping to redeem herself after sleeping with most of Quinn's male population (including her mother's boyfriend), Laverna plans on maintaining the silent treatment—until her right fielder suddenly quits, forcing her to put Rachel on the Flood Girls' roster.
As Rachel reacquaints herself with Quinn and does her best to get past that stubborn Step 9 (it's difficult to make amends when your entire hometown refuses to read your apology letters), she forms an unlikely friendship with Jake, a flamboyant twelve year old with exquisite taste, a vast second-hand wardrobe, and a long list of persecutors. Over the course of the Flood Girls' first-ever winning season, Rachel finds comfort, self-acceptance, and a support system that gets her through the hardest of losses, both on and off the field.
1. Laverna is a commanding—and often feared—presence in Quinn. Discuss Fifield's depiction of Laverna. Would you describe her as an anti-hero? How does she act as both a divisive and a unifying force?
2. Fifield uncovers Rachel's dark past slowly over the course of the book. How did your impression of Rachel change as you discovered more about her backstory? Ultimately, did you see her as a sympathetic character, despite her transgressions?
3. Discuss Jake's and Rachel's unlikely friendship. How do the two find common ground? What do they learn from each other?
4. How do Rachel and Laverna evolve over the course of the book? What experiences and life lessons allow them to overcome their years-long rift?
5. Redemption and forgiveness are two major themes of The Flood Girls. Discuss the ways in which Rachel, Laverna, Bert, and Krystal attempt to make amends for their mistakes. How successful are they?
6. After recounting Quinn's history of devastating fires, Fifield writes, "The whole town seemed to be waiting for the flames to return" (pg. 30). How does this sentiment resonate throughout the storyline? In your opinion, is The Flood Girls a hopeful novel?
7. The Flood Girls tackles serious issues like discrimination and addiction, but it is peppered with moments of surprising humor and levity. What was your favorite moment of comic relief?
8. As Rachel observes children in sleds pulled along by their dads' four wheelers, she thinks, "This was how you survived the winter in Quinn . . . Sometimes you had to let other people pull you" (pg. 109). Discuss how the characters in The Flood Girls allow others to help them, often in unexpected ways. Did any of these moments surprise you? Why?
9. Many of the characters are guided by religion and spirituality, from Bert's evangelism to Rachel's higher power to Jake's rosary beads. What, in your opinion, does The Flood Girls have to say about religion?
10. Why do you think Fifield decided to bookmark The Flood Girls with two deaths? What are the legacies that Frank and Jake leave behind?
11. The Flood Girls features an unforgettable ensemble cast, from the braless and tempestuous Red Mabel to meth-addled Black Mabel to big-hearted and big-toothed Bucky. Who was your favorite secondary character, and why?
12. In what ways does the landscape of Quinn, with its bitter snowstorms, bear invasions, and lack of street signs, traffic lights, and sidewalks, function as a character in The Flood Girls? How does the setting influence the course of events in the novel?
1. Host a Flood Girls–inspired movie night and watch A League of Their Own.
4. Learn more about the author by visiting his website (www.richardfifield.com), and by following him on Twitter (@richard_fifield) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/richardfifieldthefloodgirls).
You indicate in the author's note that Jake's storyline is semiautobiographical. How are you and Jake similar? How are you different? Aside from Jake, are there any other characters in particular that you relate to?
Jake and I are both from a small town in Montana. He dressed much better than I, however. I only wish I had his fashion sense! We both relied on Jackie Collins and Madonna for a taste of life outside the mountains. Like Jake, I stuck out from the crowd, and could not help it. Jake has a rough life, but I was fortunate enough to have a tremendously supportive family. There were certainly bullies growing up, but I always had a pack of girlfriends that offered love and camaraderie, and most important, protection. My real hometown is a much more nuanced place—the people of Troy are amazing. I was probably more like Misty as a child—I was definitely a handful. I relate to Rachel's reckless faith, but also Laverna's need for control.
Which character was the most fun to write? Which was the most challenging for you?
My favorite character to write was Laverna, which should come as no surprise. I thought that Rachel would be the easiest to write, as our journey has been so similar, but giving her depth was a challenge at times.
Did the process of writing The Flood Girls change the way in which you view your real-life hometown?
Most definitely! When I was growing up, all I could think of was getting out as quickly as possible. I hated it. Getting older, and writing this book, and practicing forgiveness have all made me realize how lucky I was. I'm from the last generation before the Internet, and I was forced to create my own entertainment. Dreaming and writing were my escapes.
What was the revision process like for you, particularly given that you wrote the first draft of The Flood Girls so quickly?
Editing is painful. There is no better feeling than filling pages while writing a rough draft, but editing is like math, addition, and subtraction. I hate math. Writing a book is like having a baby, but then you have to wait months to find out if your baby is cute or completely horrendous. This process has taught me so much about patience, and most important, letting go. I am so thankful that I had such great readers and editors—Jenny Bent and Alison Callahan were invaluable, and I trusted them completely.
You depict many different examples of drug and alcohol abuse in The Flood Girls. What would you most like your readers to take away from your novel regarding the nature of addiction?
For me, it's really about faith. Rachel tries to push her way through recovery, and I know that doesn't work. I have learned that I am powerless over people, places, and things. All I can control is my effort, and my reaction. Everything else is out of my hands. I'm sure that is why I am drawn to fiction—I can still control what happens, without having to make an amends!
What do you think the future holds for your characters beyond the ending of the book? Will the Flood Girls improve upon their first winning season?
If it were up to me, I would only write about the Flood Girls for the rest of my life! I am madly in love with every character. I want to know what happens to them! Laverna needs a trophy, dammit.
Does Jake take after you in listening to music while he works? If so, what is your writing soundtrack?
Absolutely. I cannot write in silence—I have an unquiet mind! I must have music, and I am a Type A Gay Virgo—each character had a playlist that I loved curating. Jake's soundtrack had lots of Florence and the Machine, Sinead O'Connor, and the Cure. And tons of house music from the '80s and '90s—especially all of my cherished Madonna remixes. When writing Rachel, I listened to Patty Griffin, and only Patty Griffin. Her music devastates me, and makes me write honestly and with grace. Laverna, on the other hand, had a playlist full of Don Williams, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, the Judds, and Miranda Lambert. It was totally the jukebox at the Dirty Shame!
Who are your biggest literary influences? What inspires you to write?
Anne Tyler, without a doubt. She can do no wrong. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant is a book I reread every year. Geek Love, by Katherine Dunn, is probably my favorite book of all time—I read it at a very young age, and learned that there are no boundaries in fiction. That book is FEARLESS, and should be canonized. I'm also obsessed with Ann Patchett, John Irving, Richard Russo, Barbara Kingsolver, John Updike, Kate Atkinson, Truman Capote, and Jackie Collins, of course.
Who would you cast in the movie version of The Flood Girls?
Jake would have to be an unknown—I know there is a fabulous kid on Youtube somewhere that would be perfect for the part. I always imagined Jennifer Lawrence as Rachel—she just has this strength and quiet sadness that I am drawn to. Laverna is hard to cast; there are so many actresses that I admire for their ferocity—Alison Janney, Vera Farmiga, Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore. Although she seems an odd choice, Reese Witherspoon would be perfect for Laverna—the character is an adult version of Tracy Flick from Election.
Hopefully, more Flood Girls novels! Currently, I'm writing a horror novel, just because I wanted to write something completely different. I'd love to write a novel about NYC in 1990—I'm obsessed with the supermodels (Naomi, Linda, Christy, etc.) and the drag ballroom scene. Paris Is Burning meets Gia. It's just an honor to be a writer, and it is truly a pleasure to entertain people. I'm looking forward to the future!