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Eraser is a 1996 American action film directed by Chuck Russell and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vanessa Williams, James Caan, James Coburn, and Robert Pastorelli.  The film follows a U.S. Marshal of WITSEC who protects a senior operative testifying about an illegal arms deal and is forced to fight his former allies when one of the players is revealed to be a mole inside WITSEC.

Eraser premiered in Hollywood on June 11, 1996 was released in the rest of the United States on June 21, 1996, and was a commercial success, grossing over $242 million against a budget of $100 million. It received mixed reviews from critics, but they praised Williams's and Schwarzenegger's performances, the action sequences and the visual effects. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Effects Editing in 1997. It was also one of the first major films released on DVD, being part of the Japanese launch lineup of Warner Home Video's debut of the format on December 20, 1996.

A direct-to-video reboot of the film titled Eraser: Reborn starring Dominic Sherwood, was released on June 7, 2022.

Plot
John Kruger – a top U.S. Marshal for the Witness Security Protection Program (WITSEC) – specializes in "erasing" high-profile witnesses: faking their deaths and giving them new identities. After erasing mobster-turned-informant Johnny Casteleone and his wife, John is given a new assignment by his superior: to protect Lee Cullen, a senior executive at defense contractor Cyrez Corporation. Lee has alerted the FBI that Cyrez executives have secretly financed the creation of an advanced electromagnetic rifle, which they intend to sell on the black market.

During an FBI sting operation, Lee downloads data from the weapon's development onto two discs: one for the FBI and one for herself. Cyrez Vice President William Donohue detects Lee's intrusion and summons her for a meeting. After finding Lee's hidden camera, Donohue commits suicide. Lee delivers the disc but refuses John's offer to go into witness protection, believing the FBI was willing to sacrifice her to nail the conspirators. The FBI's disc is secretly replaced with a fake on the orders of Under Secretary of Defense Daniel Harper, the conspiracy's mastermind.

That night, Lee is attacked by mercenaries sent by Cyrez CEO Eugene Morehart. John rescues Lee and erases her, setting her up in a new identity and keeping her location a secret even from WITSEC. Meanwhile, several witnesses John had previously helped are being murdered due to someone in WITSEC leaking information. The agency is now transferring all protected witnesses to new locations. Accompanied by Marshals Calderon, Schiff, and new recruit Monroe, John helps his old mentor, Marshal Robert DeGuerin,  raid a cabin and rescue a witness from a team of assassins. DeGuerin discreetly murders the witness when she overhears one of her captors reveal that he is the mole.

Flying back to DC, DeGuerin drugs John, who manages to warn Lee before losing consciousness. The warning call is traced to New York City and DeGuerin kills Monroe with John's gun, framing him as the mole. Revealing he, Calderon, and Schiff are corrupt, DeGuerin explains that they are the go-betweens for a wealthy buyer who plans to purchase the rifle. John escapes from the plane to rescue Lee from the same mercenaries who tried to kill her before. John and Lee flee through the Central Park Zoo; John releases several alligators to trap and kill the mercenaries.

DeGuerin has John and Lee branded as fugitives. With help from Johnny, they infiltrate Cyrez Corporation and use Donohue's terminal to decrypt Lee's second disc. The disc reveals that a huge shipment of EM rifles has been stashed at the docks in Baltimore. The buyer is Russian Mafia boss Sergei Ivanovich Petrofsky, who plans to resell the weapons to terrorists. The company detects the intrusion, pinpoints their whereabouts, and remotely erases the disc; DeGuerin then kidnaps Lee and takes her to the docks as the shipment is being loaded onto Petrofsky's Russian-flagged freighter.

Johnny contacts his mobster cousin, Tony Two-Toes, who controls the docks; angered that he's being cut out of the deal, he has his men assist John. They kill Petrofsky, his henchmen, Calderon, and Schiff. In a struggle atop a shipping container, DeGuerin tries to shoot Lee, but John comes to her aid and destroys the pulley system on the container crane, dropping DeGuerin and the container to the ground and exposing the presence of the EM rifles. John secures DeGuerin, leaving him to be detained by the authorities. This proves John and Lee's innocence. Weeks later, DeGuerin, Harper, and Morehart are indicted for treason. However, it quickly becomes clear that without solid evidence, they will likely be acquitted in court. For their safety, John fakes his and Lee's deaths in an explosion.

After being liberated, DeGuerin, Harper and Morehart leave in a limo that stops at a railroad crossing. The driver – a disguised Johnny – locks the doors and exits the vehicle. Seconds later, a massive freight train plows through the car, killing the three men in a staged accident.

Cast

Production

Development and casting
Director Chuck Russell and star Arnold Schwarzenegger were originally working on another project together when Eraser was brought to their attention. Russell was excited about the possibilities the film could bring between actor and the character: "I see Arnold the way a lot of people do – as a mythic, bigger-than-life character – and that's who Kruger is.  The character and the scenario are based firmly in reality, but I liked the mythic proportions of this man with a strong sense of duty, a strong sense of honor, who will literally do anything to protect a noble witness.  I was excited about doing a film that had heroic proportions." Producer Arnold Kopelson was also keen to cast Schwarzenegger in the role of "The Eraser", having talked with the actor about working on projects before. Vanessa Williams would be cast as the lead female character, Lee Cullen, the key witness Eraser must protect.  Williams came to the attention of the Kopelsons when Maria Shriver, the wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger, suggested her for the role. To play the character of DeGuerin (Kruger's mentor and the main sociopathic antagonist), the filmmakers wanted an actor who could "convey intelligence, skill and magnetism – a more mature version of the Kruger character", they would cast  James Caan in this role. Before Caan was officially cast, Jonathan Pryce was also considered for the role.  The screenplay was initially the work of Tony Puryear, who had a background in advertising and rap videos. Writers Walon Green and Michael S. Chernuchin had previously worked together on the television drama Law & Order. Extensive, uncredited rewrites were made by Frank Darabont and William Wisher Jr. (Terminator 2: Judgment Day). Additional rewrites were made by John Milius as a favor to Schwarzenegger.

Design
The "rail-gun" featured in the film as a key plot device, Schwarzenegger talks on the subject: "We paid a lot of attention to making the audience feel the danger of this weapon, that anyone can be outside of your house, looking right through the walls.  It really leaves you nowhere to hide," he explains.  "But, on top of that, we show the sophistication of the weapon in a lot of fun ways: you not only see through a building, you see a person's skeleton and even their heart beating inside.  There are some great visual effects there."

Filming
Eraser began principal photography in 1995 in New York City. Locations would include The Harlem Rail Yard in the South Bronx, Central Park's Sheep Meadow and Chinatown. Following shooting in New York production moved to Washington D.C. For the action sequence which takes place in the Reptile House of New York City Zoo, interiors were built on the soundstages of the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. The screenplay went through numerous drafts with some of the most prominent screenwriters in the business, with a great deal of uncredited script-doctoring work being done by Graham Yost and William Wisher.

One of the most demanding action sequences in the film featured the character of Kruger forced to flee from a jet speeding through the skies at  per hour.  Speaking about this scene, director Russell says: "These things are jigsaw puzzle pieces not only within shooting sequence but within each shot.  You had elements that were live action, elements that were miniature, sometimes computer-generated, and they're all married together in the final processing." Some of the physical stunts were performed by Schwarzenegger himself. For the "aerial" stunt Arnold was required to fall  in vertical descent and perform a back flip in mid-flight.  The shot took seven takes to get right.  In the final film, Kruger appears to drop along the length of the fuselage and past the flaming engine of the jet thanks to inventive camera angles and special effects.

Post production
The original name of the Cyrez corporations was "Cyrex".  However, Cyrix, a microprocessor corporation and rival of Intel, protested.  The name was then changed digitally in any scenes where the name appeared in a fairly costly process for the time, and dialogue redubbed. Some instances of the "Cyrex" logo are still visible in the finished film.

Release

Home media
Eraser was released on VHS and LaserDisc on October 29, 1996.

Reception

Box office
Eraser had an opening weekend of $24.5 million in the United States during the summer season of 1996, staying ahead of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The final US gross was $101.2 million and final worldwide gross was $242.3 million. Eraser was a commercial success in the Philippines, grossing more at the local box office than Twister, Mission: Impossible, and The Rock. The film also had the largest opening for a Warner Bros. film in Malaysia, holding that record for six years until 2002 when it was given to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Critical response
Based on 53 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an overall approval rating of 42% and an average score of 5.1/10. The site's consensus reads: "Erasers shoot-'em-up action might show off some cutting edge weaponry, but its rote story is embarrassingly obsolete". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 56 out of 100 based on reviews from 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

A more positive review came from Roger Ebert, who gave the film 3 stars out of a possible 4. He wrote that there were so many plot holes that "it helps to have a short attention span", but that Eraser is nonetheless "actually good action fun, with spectacular stunts and special effects" and a spirited performance from Williams "running and jumping and fighting and shooting and kicking and screaming and being tied to chairs and smuggling computer discs and looking great."

Other media

Novelization
A novelization based on the film by Robert Tine titled Eraser, was released in 1996.

Video game
The PC video game Eraser - Turnabout was released as a follow up to the plot of the film.

Reboot

In September 2021, a sequel, which became a reboot of Eraser instead, was announced to be in development with Dominic Sherwood in the lead role. The film co-stars Jacky Lai, and the supporting cast includes McKinley Belcher III and Eddie Ramos. It was filmed secretly in mid-2021, for release through Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The film was released theatrically in Germany on March 31, 2022, and on Digital, Blu-ray & DVD in United States on June 7, 2022. It is available for streaming on HBO Max in fall 2022.

See also

 List of American films of 1996
 Arnold Schwarzenegger filmography

References

External links

1996 films
1996 action films
1990s chase films
1990s English-language films
American action films
American chase films
Films set in Fairfax County, Virginia
Films about terrorism in the United States
Films about witness protection
Films directed by Chuck Russell
Films produced by Arnold Kopelson
Films scored by Alan Silvestri
Films set in California
Films set in New York City
Films set in Manhattan
Films set in Maryland
Films set in Queens, New York
Films set in Washington, D.C.
United States Marshals Service in fiction
Warner Bros. films
1990s American films


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This Cart Never Gets Empty
You Will Be Surprised to Know Why Firoz Khan From Mahabharat Changed his Real Name to 'Arjun'
By Afifa Shah May 1, 2020 May 1, 2020
The return of epic mythological shows Ramayan and Mahabharat amid the lockdown has created a stir on the internet. The shows are ruling the TRP charts as the audience is loving them. Relaunching the two shows not only increased popularity of the series but also its actors.
One such actor is Firoz Khan, who played the role of Arjun in Mahabharat. Reportedly, twenty three thousand actors auditioned for the role of Arjun and it finally went to Firoz Khan. But do you know Firoz Khan changed his name to Arjun after the success of the show?
Yes, that's right. According to a report, when Firoz Khan used to approach producers and directors after the show ended, he was often confused with Bollywood actor Feroz Khan. That's when Rahi Masoom Raza suggested him to change his name to Arjun as most people know him for his role as Arjun.
He took the advice and changed his professional name to Arjun. Apart from Mahabharat, Firoz has done movies like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Aa Gale Lag Jaa, Mohabbat and Swayam Krushi and many more.
Before Firoz Khan, Jackie Shroff was being considered to play the role of Arjun. But as they say destiny has its own plans, and the role finally went to Firoz. However, Govinda and Chunky Panday were also considered for the role of Abhimanyu, but both of them opted out because of prior commitment.
Firoz got so attached to the show that on the last day of shooting, he cried his heart out. Watch the video below:
Rishi Kapoor Tweeted an Emotional Appeal to all his Beloved Fans Before Taking Final Breath
A Troll Teases Kapil Sharma Over His Controversial Tweets, Comedian Gives Him Furious Reply
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All the talk pre-match was of the reunion between Derby County and their ex-manager Gary Rowett, but it was one of their former players who decided a fiery, controversial Championship contest.
Tom Ince struck the winning goal to give Stoke City a 2-1 victory over the Rams at the bet365 Stadium.
And Stoke had to play for more than an hour with 10 men after midfielder Peter Etebo was sent off after 33 minutes.
They were ahead at the time through Sam Clucas but Harry Wilson's free kick pulled Derby level five minutes after the break only for Ince to strike and give the Potters the three points.
The disappointment for Derby was that after equalising they did not do enough despite their numerical advantage.
They did not pass the ball well enough nor have enough creativity to open up Stoke and so they are left nursing a defeat.
The number of changes made by Derby raised a few eyebrows. They made five, two of them in the back four.
Jayden Bogle returned after he missed Saturday's win at Hillsborough due to illness. He replaced Andre Wisdom while Curtis Davies came in for Fikayo Tomori, who had a torrid first half against Sheffield Wednesday.
There were also two changes in the midfield three as Craig Bryson came in for Duane Holmes and Bradley Johnson got the nod ahead of Tom Huddlestone. It was Johnson's first start in eight games since the draw away to Queens Park Rangers. The other change saw Tom Lawrence recalled for Florian Jozefzoon in one of the wide attacking roles.
Stoke opted for three changes, including both full backs with Cuco Martina and Erik Pieters coming in.
This was the first meeting of the two clubs since a League Cup tie in January 2012 that the Potters won 2-0 at Pride Park, but this was Derby's fist visit to the bet365 Stadium in 10 years since December 2008 when Nathan Ellington's rolled in a 90th-minute spot kick to give the Rams a 1-0 win and send them into the semi-finals of the League Cup for the first time in 40 years.
Rowett expected a frosty reception from the Derby fans upset at his decision to leave for Stoke after the end of last season. He had guided the Rams to the play-offs, where they lost to Fulham, and had signed a new contract only a few months earlier but left to take over at relegated Stoke.
"I'm quite looking forward to it, if I'm being perfectly honest because every second Derby fans sing abusive songs about me is another second or minute they are not singing songs supporting their own team. So bring it on, let them sing as much as they want," said Rowett pre-match.
Many among the 3,000 Derby fans that made the short trip down the A50 did sing, and booed when Rowett emerged from the players' tunnel, and there were a number of inflatable snakes being waved at him.
The atmosphere fuelled a frenetic start and Stoke keeper Jack Butland had to be alert when Ryan Shawcross's poor clearance reached Lawrence, who surged past his man and drilled in a low shot that Butland did well to turn behind at his near post.
Stoke settled and started to build some pressure, and forced Derby back. Bogle made a vital clearance from Joe Allen's cut back before Scott Carson made a double save - first he parried a shot from Ince and then grabbed the loose ball away from Etebo.
Ince saw a drive blocked by Richard Keogh and then Lawrence was booked for a foul after Ince ran into him! How the referee expected Lawrence to get out of the way, only he will know.
But the home side continued to ask questions of Derby and went ahead after 24 minutes.
Allen got the better of Johnson and threaded a neat pass in behind Derby's back-line for Clucas who, not tracked by Bogle, finished low past Carson from 12 yards. The ball was not particularly well struck and was hit close to Carson, who got a hand to it but could not prevent it from finding the net.
Derby are now without a clean sheet in 11 league games and have only three in 19. The stat means they have to score two at least to win games, and that is not always possible - and it wasn't on this occasion.
Taking the lead boosted Stoke, but the edge that had been there since kick off spilled over just after the half-hour mark following a shocking challenge by Etebo on Keogh. Allen then barged into Johnson's back, and there was an unsavoury tussle between the two. TV replays of the tussle did not look good.
Other players rushed over, and it lead to a melee. Calm was restored and Etebo was quite rightly shown a straight red card to leave Stoke with 10 men while both Johnson and Allen were fortunate to remain on the pitch. They were booked, and Johnson now has five yellow cards for the season and he will be suspended for Saturday's clash with Swansea.
When play eventually resumed, Lawrence brought another save from Lawrence but Derby were forced into a change on the stroke of half time when Davies went down. He immediately signalled to the bench and was carried off on a stretcher. It did not look good for the defender.
Tomori came on, and the hope was that half time would bring a cooling-off period. Johnson did not appear for the second half and he was replaced by Huddlestone.
Derby needed to make their one-man advantage count, and came within inches of doing so early in the second half.
Scott Malone raided down the left and whipped in a cross and Jack Marriott's effort struck the inside of the near post and rolled across the face of goal before Pieters cleared.
So close, but Derby did equalise after 50 minutes.
Bogle was brought down by Saido Berahino a couple of yards outside Stoke's box and in an inviting position. Wilson's eyes must have lit up, and he was soon celebrating in front of the Derby fans after he curled his free kick past Butland's desperate dive.
Wilson now has six goals for the season and five have come from outside the area.
Just the response Derby needed, but they found themselves trailing again after 64 minutes.
Berahino fed Clucas, who ran at Bogle and was allowed to get in a cross which Ince turned low past Carson. The keeper again got a hand to ball.
Tomori's close-range effort was kept out by Butland as Derby looked to hit back and Martyn Waghorn joined Marriott up front after he came on for Bryson.
Stoke, to their credit, handled matters well after being pegged back and Rowett hailed it as his side's "biggest performance of the season".
The sparks continued to fly in added time as Rams boss Frank Lampard went into Stoke's technical area to retrieve the ball with time running out for his team. Words appeared to be exchanged between him and Stoke coach Mark Sale, who was at Derby with Rowett.
STOKE CITY: Butland; Martina, Williams, Shawcross, Pieters; Allen, Woods, Etebo; Ince (Edwards, 90+2), Berahino (Afobe, 80), Clucas (McClean 74).
DERBY COUNTY: Carson; Bogle, Keogh, Davies (Tomori, 45), Malone; Bryson (Waghorn, 71), Johnson (Huddlestone, 46), Mount; Wilson, Marriott, Lawrence.
Stoke City: Etebo (33) foul on Keogh.


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Yerba mate (British spelling, Yerba-maté, Spanish yerba mate, Portuguese erva-mate), Ilex paraguariensis, is a species of holly (family Aquifoliaceae) native to subtropical South America in Argentina, eastern Paraguay, western Uruguay and southern Brazil. It was first scientifically classified by Swiss botanist Moses Bertoni, who settled in Paraguay in 1894. The yerba mate plant is a shrub or small tree growing up to 15 meters tall. The leaves are evergreen, 7–11 cm long and 3–5.5 cm wide, with a serrated margin. The flowers are small, greenish-white, with four petals. The fruit is a red drupe 4–6 mm diameter. Infusion and Preparation The infusion called mate is prepared by steeping dry leaves (and twigs) of yerba mate in hot water, rather than in boiling water like black tea. Drinking mate with friends from a shared hollow gourd (also called a mate or guampa in Spanish, or cabaça or cuia in Portuguese) with a metal straw (a bombilla in Spanish, bomba or canudo in Portuguese) is a common social practice in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, southern Chile, eastern Bolivia and Southern Region, Brazil and also Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. In Brazil, a toasted version of mate, known as chá mate or "mate tea", is sold in a teabag and loose form, and served, sweetened, in specialized shops, either hot or iced with fruit juice or milk. An iced, sweetened version of toasted mate is sold as an uncarbonated soft drink, with or without fruit flavoring. Nutritional Benefits Each infusion of Yerba Mate contains vitamins A, C, E B1, Niacin (B3), B5, and B Complex. The minerals Mate contains are calcium, manganese and phosphorus. Yerba Mate is also high in fatty acids, Chlorophyll, Flavonols, Polyphenols, Trace Minerals, antioxidants, Pantothenic acid and 15 Amino acids. According to Dr. Mowry, Director of Mountainwest Institute of Herbal Sciences, one of the group of investigators from the Pasteur Institute and the Paris Scientific Society concluded that Yerba Mate contains "practically all of the vitamins needed to sustain life". Learn more about Yerba Maté
Yerba Mate Mangosteen
Yerba Mate Orange Sun
Mate Choco Cappuccino Tea
Yerba Mate Caramel
Yerba Mate Vanilla Chai
Yerba Mate Morocco
Yerba Mate Roasted


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Dietary choline associated with reduced risk of dementia
Neuroscience News August 6, 2019
FeaturedNeurologyNeuroscience5 min read
Summary: Adding extra choline through eggs or meat to your daily diet could help stave off the effects of dementia. Higher phosphatidylcholine intake through diet was associated with lower rates of dementia and improved cognitive function in aging men.
Source: University of Eastern Finland
A new study by researchers at the University of Eastern Finland is the first to observe that dietary intake of phosphatidylcholine is associated with a reduced risk of dementia. Phosphatidylcholine was also linked to enhanced cognitive performance. The main dietary sources of phosphatidylcholine were eggs and meat. The findings were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Choline is an essential nutrient, usually occurring in food in various compounds. Choline is also necessary for the formation of acetylcholine, which is a neurotransmitter. Earlier studies have linked choline intake with cognitive processing, and adequate choline intake may play a role in the prevention of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. In fact, choline is nowadays used in a multi-nutrient medical drink intended for the treatment of early Alzheimer's.
The new study now shows that the risk of dementia was 28% lower in men with the highest intake of dietary phosphatidylcholine, when compared to men with the lowest intake. Men with the highest intake of dietary phosphatidylcholine also excelled in tests measuring their memory and linguistic abilities. These findings are significant, considering that more than 50 million people worldwide are suffering from a memory disorder that has led to dementia, and the number is expected to grow as the population ages. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, for which no cure currently exists. The new findings may, therefore, play a vital role in the prevention of dementia. Successful dementia prevention is a sum of many things and in this equation, even small individual factors can have a positive effect on the overall risk, possibly by preventing or delaying the disease onset.
"However, this is just one observational study, and we need further research before any definitive conclusions can be drawn," Maija Ylilauri, a Ph.D. Student at the University of Eastern Finland points out.
The data for the study were derived from the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study, KIHD. At the onset of the study in 1984-1989, researchers analyzed approximately 2,500 Finnish men aged between 42 and 60 for their dietary and lifestyle habits, and health in general. These data were combined with their hospital records, cause of death records and medication reimbursement records after an average follow-up period of 22 years. In addition, four years after the study onset, approximately 500 men completed tests measuring their memory and cognitive processing. During the follow-up, 337 men developed dementia.
The key sources of phosphatidylcholine in the study population's diet were eggs (39%) and meat (37%). The image is in the public domain.
The analyses extensively accounted for other lifestyle and nutrition-related factors that could have explained the observed associations. In addition, the APOE4 gene, which predisposes to Alzheimer's disease and is common in the Finnish population, was accounted for, showing no significant impact on the findings. The key sources of phosphatidylcholine in the study population's diet were eggs (39%) and meat (37%).
Maija Ylilauri – University of Eastern Finland
Original Research: Closed access
"Associations of dietary choline intake with risk of incident dementia and with cognitive performance: the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study ". Maija P.T. Ylilauri, Sari Voutilainen, Eija Lönnroos, Heli E.K. Virtanen, Tomi-Pekka Tuomainen, Jukka T. Salonen, Jyrki K. Virtanen.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqz148
Associations of dietary choline intake with risk of incident dementia and with cognitive performance: the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study
Moderate egg intake has been associated with better cognitive performance in observational studies. This association may be due to the rich content of choline, especially phosphatidylcholine, in eggs because choline has been suggested to have a role in the prevention of cognitive decline.
We investigated the associations of dietary choline intake with the risk of incident dementia and with cognitive performance in middle-aged and older men in the prospective, population-based Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study.
A population-based sample of 2497 dementia-free men aged 42–60 y was examined in 1984–1989. A subset of 482 men completed 5 different cognitive performance tests 4 y later. Dementia and Alzheimer disease diagnoses were retrieved from Finnish health registers. Dietary intakes were assessed with the use of 4-d food records at baseline. Cox regression and ANCOVA were used for the analyses. All analyses were also stratified by the apolipoprotein E phenotype (APOE-ε4 compared with other phenotypes). These data were available for 1259 men.
The mean ± SD total choline intake was 431 ± 88 mg/d, of which 188 ± 63 mg/d was phosphatidylcholine. During a 21.9-y follow-up, 337 men were diagnosed with dementia. Those in the highest compared with the lowest phosphatidylcholine intake quartile had 28% (95% CI: 1%, 48%; P-trend = 0.02 across quartiles) lower multivariable-adjusted risk of incident dementia. Total choline intake had no association with the risk of incident dementia. However, both total choline and phosphatidylcholine intakes were associated with better performance in cognitive tests assessing frontal and temporal lobe functioning. For example, higher intakes were associated with better performance in verbal fluency and memory functions. The APOE phenotype had little or no impact on the associations.
Higher phosphatidylcholine intake was associated with lower risk of incident dementia and better cognitive performance in men in eastern Finland. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03221127.
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Alzheimer's diseaseAPOE-e4brain researchcholinedementiadietdietary cholineeggsGeneticsmeatneurobiologyneurodegenerative diseasesNeurologyNeurosciencephosphatidylcholineUniversity of Eastern Finland


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https://www.prepadviser.com/news/business-schools-rankings-need-know-part-5-comparison
Business Schools Rankings - Part 5 (Comparison)
Business schools rankings - what you need to know.
Sofia Yotova
MBA and Masters News, MBA
This series of articles has aimed to give you some details about five of the most internationally respected and widely popular MBA rankings.
During the series, we focused on what the Financial Times, the Economist, the Bloomberg Businessweek, the Forbes and the U.S. News & World Report rankings are like. We saw which features and criteria each of the rankings evaluates the schools against, how often the rankings are published, what their individual methodologies are and so on.
Here you can find an easy summary and a go-to tool about all the rankings we looked into. You can make a comparison and see which criteria each source includes in its ranking. You can see which source publishes information about the criteria that are most important to you.
Even though all rankings have certain advantages, if you are looking for thorough, very detailed and specific business schools rankings that include specific information about criteria that may not interest too many people but may be of interest to you, then the Financial Times and the Economist are the two sources you should refer to. The Financial Times rankings are also the most popular source for applicants outside of the United States.
Last but not least, remember that you should never rely on rankings only – be cautious and educate yourself about all aspects of the schools of your choice.
Business Schools Rankings are a great source of information as to where a particular programme stands globally in comparison to other big name institutions, but don't forget that getting an MBA is not about attending a school that tops the charts, but instead about finding the ideal place to realise your potential and get the best return on your investment.


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Q: Selecting the top row in each group in mysql I have a table with two columns - region and profession
region   |  profession
India    |  IT
India    |  IT
US       |  HR
US       |  HR
India    |  HR

I want to display the most popular profession in every region. the output should only be
Region | Profession
India  | IT
US     | HR

A: First, get a count of the results per group.  Then you need to establish an order per group -- mysql can do this with user-defined variables.
Here's an example:
select region, profession
from (
  select region, profession,
    @rn:=if(@oldregion=region,@rn+1,0) rn,
    @oldregion:=region
  from (
    select region, profession, count(*) cnt
    from yourtable
    group by region, profession) t, (select @rn:=0, @oldregion='') t2
  order by region, cnt desc) t3
where rn = 0

*

*SQL Fiddle Demo

Here's another solution using a correlated subquery:
select distinct region, (
    select profession
    from yourtable t2
    where t.region = t2.region
    group by region, profession
    order by count(*) desc
    limit 1) as profession
from yourtable t

*

*More Fiddle

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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By Mark Haysom on September 3, 2015 in BookMark
MARK HAYSOM is the author of the critically acclaimed 'Love, Love Me Do' and 'Imagine'. From time to time, he publishes favourite quotes from great writers, leaders and thinkers.
'None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm'
'I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude'
'I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestioned ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavour'
'If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment'
'The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it'
'It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see'
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, and historian. A leading transcendentalist, Thoreau is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay Resistance to Civil Government (also known as Civil Disobedience), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state. (Source: Wikipedia)
'A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities'
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high-fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. (Source: Wikipedia)
'Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them'
'If you look for perfection, you'll never be content'
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (9 September 28 August 1828 – 20 November 7 November 1910), also known as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian novelist, short story writer, philosopher and playwright who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Tolstoy was a master of realistic fiction and is widely considered one of the greatest novelists of all time. He is best known for two long novels, War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877).
'I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week sometimes to make it up'
'If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.'
'A human being has a natural desire to have more of a good thing than he needs'
'There are several good protections against temptations, but the surest is cowardice'
'The first half of life consists of the capacity to enjoy without the chance; the last half consists of the chance without the capacity'
'A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain'
'Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.'
'Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.'
'When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained'
'Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured'
'A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes'
'Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen'
'Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.'
'If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything'
'To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence'
'The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself'
'Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life'
'Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect'
'The secret of getting ahead is getting started'
'Go to heaven for the climate and hell for the company'
'Most writers regard the truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are most economical in its use'
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885. Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which provided the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. After an apprenticeship with a printer, he worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to the newspaper of his older brother, Orion Clemens. He later became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River before heading west to join Orion in Nevada. He referred humorously to his singular lack of success at mining, turning to journalism for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. In 1865, his humorous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", was published, based on a story he heard at Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California, where he had spent some time as a miner. The short story brought international attention, and was even translated into classic Greek. (Source: Wikipedia)
'Common sense is not so common'
François-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), known by his nom de plume Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. (Source: Wikipedia)
'They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself'
Andy Warhol (1928 –1987) was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became a renowned and sometimes controversial artist. The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives. It is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist. (Source: Wikipedia)
'If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.'
'It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one'
George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) was the first President of the United States (1789–97), the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He presided over the convention that drafted the United States Constitution, which replaced the Articles of Confederation and remains the supreme law of the land. (Source: Wikipedia)
'Civilization is a race between education and catastrophe'
Herbert George Wells (1866 –1946) was a prolific English writer in many genres, including the novel, history, politics, and social commentary, and textbooks and rules for war games. He is now best remembered for his science fiction novels, and Wells is called a father of science fiction. His most notable science fiction works include The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898). (Source: Wikipedia)
'Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you'
Walter "Walt" Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality. (Source: Wikipedia)
'Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes'
'Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing'
'What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.'
'My own business always bores me to death; I prefer other people's.'
'Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not'
'It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.'
'Action is the last resource of those who know not how to dream'
'To have become a deeper man is the privilege of those who have suffered'
'Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go'
'In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.'
'I always pass on good advice. It's the only thing to do with it. It is never any use to oneself.'
'Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about'
'To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable'
'You can never be overdressed or overeducated'
'Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much'
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he is remembered for his epigrams, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, his plays, and the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death. At the height of his fame and success, while his masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), was still on stage in London, Wilde had the Marquess of Queensberry prosecuted for libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The charge carried a penalty of up to two years in prison. The trial unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and trial for gross indecency with other men. After two more trials he was convicted and imprisoned for two years' hard labour. (Source: Wikipedia)
'In memory everything seems to happen to music'
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983) was an American playwright and author of many stage classics. Along with Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller he is considered among the three foremost playwrights in 20th century American drama. After years of obscurity, he became suddenly famous with The Glass Menagerie (1944), closely reflecting his own unhappy family background. (Source: Wikipedia)
'Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death'
'He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery'
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1976. He won four general elections. (Source: Wikipedia)
'You cannot find peace by avoiding life'
Adeline Virginia Woolf (25 January 1882 – 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the foremost modernists of the twentieth century. During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a central figure in the influential Bloomsbury Group of intellectuals. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own (1929), with its famous dictum, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." Woolf suffered from severe bouts of mental illness throughout her life, thought to have been the result of what is now termed bipolar disorder, and committed suicide by drowning in 1941 at the age of 59. (Source:Wikipedia)
'Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire'
William Butler Yeats (13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939) was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms. Yeats was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and, along with Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn, and others, founded the Abbey Theatre, where he served as its chief during its early years. In 1923, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature as the first Irishman so honoured for what the Nobel Committee described as "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation." (Source: Wikipedia)
19. The games we play and how they make us what we are


Railway Recruitment Board - RRB, Government of India, Ministry of Railways published an official notification for Recruitment for the Post of Assistant Loco Pilot (ALP) & Technician Categories. Eligible candidates can apply for this recruitment. You can view more details about this recruitment including No. of posts, name of post, Educational qualification, Age limit, Selection process, How to apply etc... You can also view official notification and other important facts about this recruitment e.g. Important links and Important dates.
. View Exam process, eligibility criteria, important date, apply online link, detailed advertisement / notification.
Note: Details of qualification in official advertisement.
Rs. 500/- for all candidates except the fee concession categories mentioned below at Sl No 2.
Rs. 250/- for Candidates belonging to SC / ST / Ex-Serviceman / PWDs / Female / Transgender / Minorities / Economically backward class.
Negative Marking: There shall be negative marking for incorrect answers in First and Second Stage CBT. 1/3rd of the marks allotted for each question shall be deducted for each wrong answer. There shall be no negative marking for Computer Based Aptitude Test.
General Science: The syllabus under this shall cover Physics, Chemistry and Life Sciences of 10th standard level.
General awareness: on current affairs in Science & Technology, Sports, Culture, Personalities, Economics, Politics and other subjects of importance.
Basic Science and Engineering: The broad topics that are covered under this shall be Engineering Drawing (Projections, Views, Drawing Instruments, Lines, Geometric figures, Symbolic Representation), Units, Measurements, Mass Weight and Density, Work Power and Energy, Speed and Velocity, Heat and Temperature, Basic Electricity, Levers and Simple Machines, Occupational Safety and Health, Environment Education, IT Literacy etc.
General Awareness: on Current Affairs in Science & Technology, Sports, Culture, Personalities, Economics, Politics and any other subjects of importance.
Opening Date & Time for Online Registration and submission of Application: 03/02/2018 at 10.00 hrs.
Closing Date & Time for submission of Online application: 05/03/2018 at 23.59 hrs.
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SBI Bank Challan: 05/03/2018 at 13.00 hrs.
Post Office Challan: 03/03/2018 at 13.00 hrs.
First stage Computer Based Test (CBT): Tentatively scheduled during April and May, 2018.


As for our friendship, I'm sure it is strong enough because thrillers and historical novels, tales, works "1984", it was fashionable for intellectuals to admire Stalinist Russia. She has very little time for it, because.
In some libraries we can find books in many foreign languages. When a reader comes to a library for the first time he fills in his library card and the librarian helps him to choose something to read. The reader is allowed to borrow books for a certain number of dating websites married Musselburgh days. We should not make notes in library books or dog's ears in the pages. The reading rooms in the public libraries are open dating websites married Musselburgh to all who wish to work there. Except books we can get periodical newspapers and magazines to read there. Readers come to reading rooms to study and prepare materials for their reports or dating websites married Musselburgh for their scientific work. A school library is a collection of textbooks and books for reading. Our pupils and teachers go there to read, to find some magazines or newspapers or to first anniversary ideas for her Westminster prepare for a report. Sometimes teachers prepare for lessons at our school library. In Greece and Rome the earliest books were written on tablets of wood or pieces of bark covered with wax, and writing was possible dating married Musselburgh websites upon them with a small stick called "stylus". In dating websites married Musselburgh Assyria and Babylonia clay tablets were used for writing and the words were drawn with a piece of wood. They were dating married websites Musselburgh long-lasting and some dating websites married Musselburgh of them survived until the present day. The earliest books of the ancient world were written on papyrus and	skins of young animals.
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Extraversion (sometimes called Surgency). The broad dimension of Extraversion encompasses such more specific traits as talkative, energetic, and assertive.
Agreeableness. Includes traits like sympathetic, kind, and affectionate.
Conscientiousness. Includes traits like organized, thorough, and planful.
Neuroticism (sometimes reversed and called Emotional Stability). Includes traits like tense, moody, and anxious.
Openness to Experience (sometimes called Intellect or Intellect/Imagination). Includes traits like having wide interests, and being imaginative and insightful.
What Does Your Openness to Experience Rating Mean?
A person who is high in openness to experience is creative, flexible, curious and adventurous. He enjoys having his mind and senses stimulated, such as by viewing art, listening to new music, sampling exotic cuisine and reading literature and poetry. An open person likes to have variety in his day-to-day life and craves novelty.
On the other hand, a person who is low in openness to experience tends to enjoy the following routines, likes predictability and structure and tends not to engage his imagination on a regular basis. His beliefs typically match the status quo and his choices in occupation, apparel, and other purchases tend to go along with the mainstream standards.
Most people's personalities fall somewhere between these two extremes.
How Is the Openness to Experience Rating Used?
To help predict an individual's response to a given situation.
People who rate high on Openness to Experience are often considered to be good leaders. Traits such as creativity and flexibility are often associated with CEOs, successful artists, and innovative thinkers. While Openness to Experience is sometimes linked to intellectual ability (IQ), the reality is that the rating does not correlate directly to intelligence.
Openness to Experience is also an important quality when considering relationships. A person who craves novelty and adventure may not be a good match for someone who prefers structure and consistency. In addition, people who rate high in Openness to Experience tend to value art and culture over tradition and security.
Openness to experience gradually increases until about 20 years of age. Parents of tweens can build upon this natural increase by encouraging divergent thinking. You might do this by writing poems together or going to an art museum and talking about what you each see in the paintings.
Research suggests, however, that Openness to Experience may be, to some degree, inherited. It is also shaped by personal experience and temperament. At the same time, though, it may the case that cognitive training can increase your Openness to Experience. Challenging yourself to try new things may actually help you to become more open to experience.
Rathus, Ph.D., Spencer. Psychology: Concepts and Connections, Brief Version. 8th edition. 2007. Belmont, CA: Thomson, Wadsworth.
Srivastava, Sanjay. Measuring the big five personality domains. Personality and Social Dynamics Lab, University of Oregon. Web. 2017.
When Will Your Child's True Personality Actually Appear?
Do You Have Strong Agreeable Traits According to the Big 5 Theory?


text:
use std::net::{IpAddr, SocketAddr};

#[cfg(feature = "local-tun")]
use ipnet::IpNet;
#[cfg(feature = "local-redir")]
use shadowsocks_service::config::RedirType;
#[cfg(feature = "local-dns")]
use shadowsocks_service::local::dns::NameServerAddr;
use shadowsocks_service::{
    config::{ManagerServerHost, ManagerServerMode},
    shadowsocks::{crypto::CipherKind, relay::socks5::Address, ManagerAddr, ServerAddr, ServerConfig},
};

macro_rules! value_parser_type {
    ($name:ident, $ty:ty, $help:expr) => {
        pub fn $name(v: &str) -> Result<$ty, String> {
            match v.parse::<$ty>() {
                Ok(t) => Ok(t),
                Err(..) => Err($help.to_owned()),
            }
        }
    };
}

value_parser_type!(parse_server_addr, ServerAddr, "should be either ip:port or domain:port");
value_parser_type!(parse_ip_addr, IpAddr, "should be a valid IPv4 or IPv6 address");
value_parser_type!(parse_socket_addr, SocketAddr, "should be ip:port");
value_parser_type!(parse_address, Address, "should be either ip:port or domain:port");
value_parser_type!(
    parse_manager_addr,
    ManagerAddr,
    "should be either ip:port, domain:port or /path/to/unix.sock"
);
value_parser_type!(parse_manager_server_host, ManagerServerHost, "invalid server-host");
value_parser_type!(
    parse_manager_server_mode,
    ManagerServerMode,
    "should be \"builtin\" or \"standalone\""
);
#[cfg(feature = "local-dns")]
value_parser_type!(
    parse_name_server_addr,
    NameServerAddr,
    "should be either ip:port or a path to unix domain socket"
);
value_parser_type!(parse_cipher_kind, CipherKind, "invalid cipher");

pub fn parse_server_url(v: &str) -> Result<ServerConfig, String> {
    match ServerConfig::from_url(v) {
        Ok(t) => Ok(t),
        Err(..) => Err("should be SIP002 (https://shadowsocks.org/guide/sip002.html) format".to_owned()),
    }
}

#[cfg(feature = "local-tun")]
pub fn parse_ipnet(v: &str) -> Result<IpNet, String> {
    match v.parse::<IpNet>() {
        Err(..) => Err("should be a CIDR address like 10.1.2.3/24".to_owned()),
        Ok(n) => {
            if n.trunc() == n {
                Err("should be a valid CIDR address with a host like 10.1.2.3/24".to_owned())
            } else {
                Ok(n)
            }
        }
    }
}

#[cfg(feature = "local-redir")]
value_parser_type!(parse_redir_type, RedirType, "invalid redir-type");

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
13 Mar Back to the past? Preliminary voting analysis of Johor polls
Posted at 17:45h in Articles by Bridget Welsh
The results from Johor polls are in and Umno/BN has won over two-thirds of the seats, with the opposition politically marginalised in the Johor state assembly.
As the analysis of the results has started, the debate has focused on the fact that Umno/BN only managed to secure 43 percent of the overall vote in its decisive return to government. This outcome is common in first-past-the-post electoral systems, which favour those that win a plurality of votes in particular seats and exclude the representation of alternatives.
The discussion has, however, opened up the questions, whether Umno/BN has in fact increased its support and whether its victory was the product of opposition division rather than the strength of its own support. Has Umno returned to electoral safety?
A preliminary look at voting patterns comparing the Johor 2022 polls to the state results in 2018 – vote share, seat results, ethnic voting and turnout patterns, and turnout in seats – shows that Umno/BN gained support overall and among different communities, but not as much as the overall results would suggest.
What is striking about the Umno/BN results is their consistency with the past. The Umno-dominant coalition won back the traditional party faithful, but did not return to its previous vote share even to 2013 levels (54 percent).
The main findings from the preliminary analysis, however, are within the opposition, with Harapan losing support badly across different communities. The preliminary findings show erosion of support across parties and communities for Harapan. Its support level is nowhere near levels of the past.
In contrast, Perikatan Nasional held onto its support. In fact, there were gains for PN across different communities.
No Umno/BN landslide, but Harapan erosion
Let's take each of these initial preliminary findings one-by-one, starting with vote share.
All of the BN parties gained in vote share, with Umno gaining 3.6 percent of the vote, MCA 1.6 percent and MIC, a marginal, 0.4 percent. Low, these vote share gains are not in line with a "landslide" victory.
They do show, however, that BN's victory was across parties, and that the long defeated coalition in which both MIC and MCA have four seats has been electorally resuscitated.
Umno would not have the 2/3rds majority without its election partners, whose outreach to Chinese and Indian Johoreans was critical for the outcome.
Bersatu and PAS effectively held onto their vote share from 2018, with PAS actually losing a marginal 0.9 percent in the recent polls even as it picked up the seat of Maharani in a competitive contest. Still four-year loser Gerakan gained 1.9 percent of the vote.
The PN coalition came second in 25 seats significantly cutting into the previous support levels of Harapan. This was evident in seats like Parit Yaani, lost by Amanah by 294 votes.
To understand the electoral impact of PN in the race, in 35 out of 56 seats, the combined vote share of PN and Harapan was bigger than that of Umno/BN's. The "landslide" victor clearly benefitted from a split opposition.
Yet the defeat was also the product of the opposition itself, notably Harapan. DAP lost the largest vote share, 7.9 percent, followed by Amanah 2.5 percent and PKR 1.6 percent.
Voters were not happy with their performance while leading the state and federal governments. Even popular hardworking incumbents such as Amanah's Zulkifli Ahmad (former assemblyperson, not the health minister) in Kota Iskandar was ousted.
The drop in margins for the DAP seats that were won speak for themselves. For example, the "safe" seat of Johor Jaya's majority dropped to 1,922 from 15,965 in 2018.
PKR on its part performed badly in most of its seats, losing deposits and only scraping through in the one seat it won, Bukit Batu. This erosion speaks to the serious problems with Harapan's ability to garner political support under its current leadership.
The only bright spot was their loose alliance with Muda, which won 3.5 percent of the total vote competing in only seven seats, with inroads in urban and rural areas and importantly, across ethnic communities. Without the young party's presence in the campaign, Harapan's overall vote would have decreased further.
All Johoreans swing: Ethnic voting changes
The reality of Harapan's losses become clearly looking at the macro estimates of ethnic voting. (Please note these are preliminary estimates to be reviewed further at the polling station levels).
Harapan's ethnic support dropped across all communities. The most apparent is the estimated 20 percent drop in Malay support, a testimony to the failure of Harapan's leadership of Anwar Ibrahim, in particular, to win over Malay Johoreans.
Yet, there is also a drop in support among Indians of an estimated 18 percent and 14 percent among others, notably Sarawakians and Sabahans in Johor.
The Chinese support for Harapan dropped by an estimated 10 percent, repeating the weaknesses for the DAP that was also evident in Sarawak polls among Chinese voters. Harapan lost support across all ethnic communities in Johor.
By way of contrast, Umno/BN only gained in one community, Indians, by a margin of an estimated 8 percent. In reinforcing the consistency of current Umno/BN support with the past, winning only its usual supporters, there was little change among Malay support, Chinese support (2 percent estimated drop) and other ethnic communities.
Where the gains were made across ethnic communities was in PN. PN more than doubled its support among Malays, capturing an estimated third (33 percent) of this community in Johor. As argued earlier, PN is challenging Umno among the Malay electorate.
PN also picked up support among Indians, an estimated 8 percent, Chinese, an estimated 6 percent, and others, an estimated 17 percent.
The impact of resources and social assistance programmes was especially impactful in the outreach – but what comes out of the election is a stronger multi-ethnic showing for the PN coalition, yet one that does not win enough Chinese and Indian support to win seats in the multi-ethnic seats that comprise Johor's assembly – or most of the seats nationally as well.
Staying Home: Turnout drop
Compared to GE14, there was a drop in turnout of 29 percent, from 84.5 percent to 54.9 percent.
As this is calculated by overall share and this includes new voters and those who have automatically registered, a drop was expected. This was especially the case due to the difficulties of voters coming back from Singapore during Covid.
The impact of the Singapore border is evident in voter turnout drop. Over half the seats, such as Perling and Skudai to Tiram, are in the south and were affected by many voters working in the Red Dot.
Yet, there was also a drop in turnout around/in Muar such as in Bentayan, Simpang Jeram and Maharani, and in more remote seats such as Tenang and Endau. Many outstation voters did not come back.
The lacklustre campaign, Covid-19 and high costs of travel impacted the Johor election.
The results in quite a few of these seats were affected by turnout, such as Kota Iskandar and Bukit Batu.
Rural areas, especially in Felda communities, saw higher turnout levels; Sedili had 66 percent, with Sri Medan 67 percent, but these levels are far below turnout of the past.
The turnout drop was concentrated among Chinese and Indian communities, estimated at 43 percent and 39 percent decline respectively.
The drop among others was estimated at 27 percent, and among Malay Johoreans at 19 percent.
This across the board ethnic drop is now a common pattern in state-only polls, but turnout drop among voters that usually voted for Harapan in the past had a political impact.
While future analysis will look at the impact of other socio-economic cleavages using polling station data, on the ground discussions in Muar on election day suggested older and younger cohorts both opted to stay home.
Covid-19 was cited for older voters, with younger voters pointing to work obligations as well as discontent with all on offer.
To appreciate how important the drop in turnout is, one only needs to look at the seat results. Fifteen seats were won with a low margin of less than 10 percent.
Four seats were won with a margin of less than 500 votes: Bukit Batu (137), Bukit Pasir (198), Parit Yaani (294) and, Tangkak (372).
The seat-by-seat results were closer than the overall "landslide" results would suggest.
Changing fortunes
Overall, the results show that Johor was a highly competitive election and politics within the state, and by extension nationally, are far from stable. The swings in voting patterns show an electorate engaged with changes taking place, even if that choice is to disengage.
Turnout will continue to shape outcomes, and the lower turnout overall benefitted Umno/BN as they had better machinery on the ground to bring out their supporters.
The results show, however, that Umno/BN did not win over many new supporters. As Umno/BN calls for an early general election, they should take stock that their political base is not increasing.
In fact, their support is stagnant and still at a comparatively low level historically in Johor, far below it was before 2018. In particular, they are not gaining meaningful Malay support.
Umno/BN are reliant on a divided opposition to win, and, in the case of Harapan, a poorly performing coalition losing support.
They are also counting on the opposition – PN and Harapan – not being able to cross the ethnic divide to garner strong support across communities and to continue to avoid the repeated electoral calls for a leadership change. Of the two opposition coalitions, Harapan is by far in the most electoral difficulties.
The changes in ethnic voting and vote share show, however, that voters are watching, reacting and shifting to what is on offer, especially what is "new" – as shown by the gains of Muda electorally and persistent strength of PN.
Umno/BN was able to reverse its electoral fortunes in a short period.
The situation is not one where Umno/BN has returned to the political safety of the past, as the situation remains competitive and fluid.
First published on malaysiakini.com
Barisan Nasional, Johor, Johor polls, Malaysia, Pakatan Harapan, perikatan nasional, UMNO


This one is only on here by chance as I clicked on them with the artist Little Boots in mind (who also released an album, Working Girl, earlier this year). To my surprise, and my enjoyment, it was something new! After listening to the first couple songs I realized I'd heard them before, they featured on "Early", a track from Run The Jewels' second record, and my favorite hip hop album of 2014 Run The Jewels 2. So I decided to give it a run. The album is their full length debut and overall it's pretty solid. The style is a mixture between industrial and heavy electronic tones, which makes it chaotic and noisy but at the same time never loud. I honestly can't think of another artist to compare them to, at times I hear glimpses of Kasabian. I don't know, honestly that is such a stretch, they really don't sound like anyone, which is pretty cool. After one listen through I didn't really know how to feel so I waited a day and listened through again and liked some songs better but other songs not as much. Though it maintains a nice consistency it also straddles the line of being repetitive, which is obviously not uncommon for a first record. All in all it's solid, though there's much improving to do. I'm interested to see where they take their sound from here. Check out "C.U.R.E." and let it play into the moody "Oracles" to get a feel for their sound, but my favorites on the album are "I Run Roulette" and the title track "AQUARIA".


ISO 16961:2015 specifies the minimum requirements for surface preparation, materials, application, inspection and testing of internal coating lining systems that are intended to be applied on internal surfaces of steel storage tanks of crude oil, hydrocarbons and water for corrosion protection.
It covers both new construction and maintenance works of tank internal coating and lining as well as the repair of defective and deteriorated systems.
ISO 16961:2015 also provides the minimum requirements for shop performance testing of the coated/lined samples and the criteria for their approval.


Stanford University, the American media and the United States government are all complicit in the atrocities that have developed in the Gaza Strip over the past few days.
Yesterday, Nov. 14, Israeli forces fired strikes upon Gaza that have killed at least 15 Palestinians, including seven-year-old Ranan Arafat and 11-month-old Omar Mashrawi. Attacks by the Israeli Defense Forces have wounded at least 100 Palestinians so far.
Ranan Afarat, 7, was killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza on November 14.
Israel is preparing to expand the raid that killed Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari with air and naval assault yesterday. American media were conspicuously silent on these developments, having waited hours after outlets like Reuters, Russia Today and Al Jazeera English first ran reports on the strikes — and having buried this story deep on their homepages.
The New York Times has misreported the events leading up to the Israeli attack and did not give a single mention to the civilian casualties in its original report, which was released hours after most major outlets had already confirmed such deaths.
The United States government continues to offer unwavering support to Israel, which the rest of the international community has consistently reprimanded for its violation of international human rights in its occupation of Palestine and acts of collective punishment against Palestinians.
The United States spends $8.5 million in aid every day to support Israel's military, and Stanford's endowments — both on the university level and within our ASSU endowment — have not yet divested from companies that profit from Israel's human rights violations. It is imperative that we do so as this conflict escalates.
Here is the timeline of events that The New York Times, America's most esteemed news outlet, failed to report on the backstory leading up to yesterday's strikes against Gaza.
As stated above, The Times did not mention a single one of the civilian deaths or injuries Palestinians have suffered in the past 24 hours.
Beyond that, The Times paints Israel's military aggression as one of response to Palestinian provocation, without noting the series of six preemptive extrajudicial executions Israel has committed in the past week — including the killings of three Palestinian children between Nov. 8 and Nov. 12.
The rockets fired from Gaza in the days preceding Wednesday's Israeli offensive were in retaliation to Israeli provocation.
Relatives of Matar Abu Al-Atta (19), killed the day before by an Israeli military attack, mourn during his funeral in the al-Shoja'iya neighborhood east of Gaza City, Nov. 11, 2012.
This frame is perpetuated by an American media that has been all but silent on the escalations between Israel and Gaza.
Beyond reporting that Israeli forces killed Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari on Wednesday, American media was largely silent on the casualties of the attacks. This silence is shocking when compared with international outlets like Russia Today, which has been live blogging updates since 10 a.m. PST on Wednesday.
Reuters, The Telegraph, The Guardian and Al Jazeera all also ran the story as their front-and-center features.
Russia Today headline story on Israeli strikes in Gaza on Nov. 14, 2012.
While all of these foreign outlets have been pursuing these developments as their leading stories, American media initially buried the story deep on their homepages. It required zooming out to view the story on the Times' homepage, CNN and Fox News mentioned the developments as mid-page bullet points, and one had to scroll down three screens on the Wall Street Journal to see a headline about Gaza.
NYT homepage requires zooming out to view information about Israeli attacks on Gaza.
The silence of American media on this very important development for our "biggest ally in the Middle East" is indicative of the moral failure of this country in the context of the Palestine-Israel conflict.
Burying the story ensures that Americans will remain ignorant about the conflict, and ignorant about their role in it. They will not know that more of their aid goes to Israel than all of Africa and Latin America combined each year.
Ignorance ensures that people will not care enough to demand their government stop sponsoring international human rights violations.
Apathy here means supporting an oppressive status quo.
The IDF has gone as far as to live-tweet the operation, with links to YouTube videos and pictures of the strike on Jabari and the hashtag #pillarofdefense.
Tweet from Israeli Defense Forces on Nov. 14 attacks on Gaza.
"We recommend that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead," the handle IDFSpokesperson tweeted Wednesday.
IDF spokesperson live-tweeting Nov. 14 attacks on Gaza.
The flippant dehumanization of such a media campaign — conducted for English-speaking audiences — is something we have not seen a nation-state do before and paints a frightening image of what our futures may look like.
I wrote last week and again this week about not supporting Barack Obama's re-election because his foreign policies leave the United States on the wrong side of history. I maintain that United States' policy is still on the wrong side of history.
"We support Israel's right to defend itself, and we encourage Israel to continue to take every effort to avoid civilian casualties," the Pentagon wrote today in a press release.
Such a statement is highly concerning in the context of Israel's history attacking Gaza.
The intensity of today's attacks are reminiscent of Operation Cast Lead, in which Israeli forces responded to missile strikes by Hamas and other Palestinian factions by killing 1,400 Palestinians in a 22-day raid on the Gaza Strip. Three hundred of these casualties were children, and hundreds were unarmed civilians.
Israel lost 10 soldiers and three civilians during this same period of time.
The U.S. government was similarly silent in response to these 1,400 deaths.
Our University endowment and our ASSU endowment each likely invest in companies that profit off of human rights violations in Palestine-Israel.
Given that Lockheed Martin is number 58 on the 2012 Fortune 500 list and participates in Stanford's Career Fair, it is safe to assume that at least some part of our $17 billion goes toward this company that is directly implicated in this week's violence in Gaza.
It is the University's ethical responsibility to disinvest itself (divest) from this international conflict.
"Today we sent a clear message to Hamas and other terrorist organizations, and if it becomes necessary we are prepared to expand the operation," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday.
What message is clear is that silence on the American media's part — and strong support from the American government — seems to give Israeli forces the go-ahead for a similarly catastrophic attack.
Unless the world speaks up.
We play a role in this conflict as students, and I encourage you, Stanford, to get educated and not to be apathetic.
The Palestinians are a people occupied and oppressed by one of the most powerful militaries in the world, with billions of dollars in aid each year from the largest military force in the world. In Gaza, Israel has control over all borders — land, sea and air — and therefore can limit access to the outside world, including access to food and medicine.
Stanford, we must do our part by demanding that the University divest from these conflicts, spreading this information and protesting at the Israeli consulate in San Francisco on Friday. We. Must. Do. Something.
To close this piece, I present a series of information about the grossly unbalanced power structures in operation in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Stop The Killing of Innocent Children!!


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James "Jim" Rybicki is an American federal government official who formerly worked in the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Biography
Rybicki has a law degree, and formerly worked as an officer in the United States Capitol Police before he began working at the DOJ in 2001. He worked in various departments at the DOJ, including the National Security Division, the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, and the United States Attorney's Office for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Career at the FBI
Rybicki served as chief of staff to then-director of the FBI James Comey when President Donald Trump fired Comey from this position in May 2017. He continued to serve as chief of staff to Comey's successor, Christopher A. Wray, until January 2018, when Wray replaced him with Zachary Harmon.

Role in Clinton email investigation
As Comey's chief of staff, Rybicki had been scrutinized by Congressional Republicans over his role in the FBI's investigation of the Hillary Clinton email controversy. In October 2017, the FBI released an email he had sent to several other FBI officials in May 2016, in which he stated, "Please send me any comments on this statement so we may roll into a master doc for discussion with the Director at a future date." The release of this email shows that drafts of Comey's statement on the Clinton investigation has been prepared months before he had interviewed Clinton herself. Congressional Republicans sought for Rybicki to testify on the Clinton investigation for months, with some of them suggesting that his testimony might vindicate Trump's decision to fire Comey. These efforts culminated in Rybicki testifying before Congress on the investigation the week before he left the FBI.

Soon after Rybicki's departure, speculation ensued as to whether he had been forced out due to pressure from Congressional Republicans. Despite this speculation, federal law enforcement officials said that Rybicki was not fired or forced out from his job at the FBI; instead, such officials told Fox News that Rybicki's departure had already been planned for some time. Similarly, Wray said in a statement to CNN that Rybicki's departure from the FBI was voluntary, stating that "Jim Rybicki notified me last month that he will be leaving the FBI to accept an opportunity in the corporate sector."

References

Living people
United States Department of Justice officials
Chiefs of staff
21st-century American lawyers
Year of birth missing (living people)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Archive for the 'interviews' Category
Interview with author Howard Andrew Jones
In: Howard Andrew Jones | interviews
I recently had the opportunity to interview author Howard Andrew Jones, whose forthcoming fantasy book, For The Killing of Kings, will be available in February from St. Martin's press. The first in an epic, adventure-filled trilogy, For The Killing of Kings involves a fragile peace, forgeries, conspiracies, and a near unstoppable invading force. Brace yourself for a fantastic and action packed February!
Howard Andrew Jones has written a series of Arabian historical fantasies, and a number of Pathfinder novels. He was the managing editor for Black Gate Magazine, has posted a ton of blog posts about the art and struggle of creating fiction and editing, and among other editing projects is currently the Executive Editor of Perilous Worlds. Howard was kind enough to chat with me about the new fantasy series, editing, his family farm, gaming, and more. To learn more about Howard and his work, head over to his website, HowardAndrewJones.com.
Little Red Reviewer: Congratulations on your forthcoming novel For the Killing of Kings! What can you tell us about this book's journey from idea to finished novel?
Howard Andrew Jones: Thanks! This one has been with me for a looong time in some form or other. The primary characters starred in an unpublished novel twenty years ago, and while I set that book aside, the characters stayed with me. I've been working on the first two books off and on for the last four years, in between other projects. My previous novels have been inter-related, but weren't as closely connected, and it took me a little time to figure out how to assemble a trilogy. It also required a couple of drafts to get to a longer length a lot of modern readers seem to prefer and keep the swift pacing I like.
LRR: Who was your favorite character to write?
HAJ: Honestly, I loved writing all of these characters. The swordswoman and enchantress Elenai, the novel's principal protagonist, is an awful lot of fun because of her drive and curiosity, and I get a particular charge out of the brilliant, precise, and slightly peculiar Varama. She adds more than her body weight to any scene where she appears. Two of my initial inspirations were Corwin and Benedict of Amber because I always wanted to see more of both on the page. After more than two decades in my head, the two characters who started out as homages to them are their own people, but I had a blast writing the charming, deadly warrior and the tactical genius.
LRR: This is the beginning of a trilogy. Do you have the entire thing planned out, or will you just write and see where the story goes?
Tags: fantasy, Interview
Interview with author C.A. Voss about his debut novel Genesis
In: Chris Voss | interviews
I got chatting with author Chris Voss over twitter (@vossdross), and if you follow the #RRSciFiMonth tag, you've probably seen some of his tweets about his science fiction TBR, enjoying Doctor Who, his current reads, and reminiscing about scifi paperbacks he enjoyed as a kid.
Chris's debut novel, Genesis, came out earlier this year, and boy did I have a ton of question for him about it! I wanted to know everything – what was his favorite scene to write? what inspired the book? why go the self publishing route? you know. . . everything! Sorry Chris, I didn't mean to freak you out with so many questions! I'm just curious about everything, and i might be an introvert but that doesn't stop me from e-mailing someone a million questions. This is a pretty cool interview, if I do say so myself!
In a world ravaged by climate change, social inequality and dwindling natural resources there's only one solution: abandon ship and terraform a new home.
Operation Genesis is beset by problems from the start – sabotage, covert infiltration, planning by committee – but Dylan Lomax, an emotionally disconnected empath, soon discovers there are worse things than organisational incompetence. The mission to bring life to a new planet has a terrible secret, one which threatens to take humanity to the brink of extinction.
About Chris Voss:
C.A. Voss was raised in Walsall, a small industrial town in the UK famous for its close proximity to the M6, Jerome K. Jerome and a concrete hippo (Google it). He moved to Leicester to study at De Montfort University and has been resident there ever since. He writes in his spare time and would love nothing more than to earn a living by telling stories.
He loves the writing of Edgar Allan Poe, Philip K. Dick and Hunter S. Thompson, to name but a few, and believes the greatest novel ever written was the first, Don Quixote by Cervantes. He also draws inspiration from the thousands of movies and TV shows consumed during a misspent youth; and hopes that his work contains a fraction of the wit, intelligence and excitement displayed by creatives like Joss Whedon, Aaron Sorkin and Steven Spielberg.
Let's get to the interview!
Little Red Reviewer: Hi Chris! Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Chris Voss: I find writing a little about myself way more difficult than writing a 100,000 word novel!
The initials in my pen name, C.A. Voss, stand for Chris(topher) Adam. I live in Leicester, in the UK, with my girlfriend Jen. A few years ago we both quit our jobs to go travel the world on a shoe-string budget and had the most amazing adventure. We barely scratched the surface of all the sights and experiences the world has to offer and can't wait to get out and do it again someday.
I'm a master of procrastination; binge-watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, reading books off my TBR list and playing Red Dead Redemption II when I should be writing my next novel. I have three great ideas I'm working on at the moment, including a spiritual sequel to my debut novel Genesis.
Tags: author, Interview, science fiction
Interview with author Robert J. Sawyer
Posted by: Redhead on: May 4, 2017
In: Apex Magazine | interviews | Robert Sawyer
You've all read Robert Sawyer (right?). The WWW series, the Hominids series, Flashforward, Mindscan, Frameshift, about a 20 other novels, and his newest novel is Quantum Night.
Sawyer won his first Prix Aurora award in 1991 and has been going strong ever since. His books are accessible and easy on the eyes. He writes the kind of near future scifi thrillers that are perfect for your friends who don't want something too weird.
Head over the Apex Magazine website to read my interview with Robert Sawyer, where we mostly talk about Quantum Night, but also talk about getting characters (and readers!) excited about science, what baseball has to do with writing hard science fiction, what BattleStar Galactica has to do with psychology, and the reason why your surgeon might have pretty crappy bedside manner.
I am very proud of this interview. Mr. Sawyer and I spoke on the phone for about 40 minutes, and then I muppetflailed around the house for about a week. I took time out from the muppetflailing to transcribe the interview. If you enjoy reading the interview as much as I enjoyed conducting it, please leave a comment over at the Apex site, so they know you enjoyed it too.
Also? If you like Jeff Vandermeer, you should read "How Lovely Is The Silence of Growing Things", also in this issue of Apex.
Tags: Apex Magazine, Interview, near-future, science fiction, thriller
An Interview with Michael Wehunt, author of GREENER PASTURES
Posted by: Redhead on: April 4, 2017
In: interviews | Michael Wehunt
In Michael Wehunt's debut short story collection, Greener Pastures, readers will enjoy a variety of his favorite short stories – everything from unsettling horror, to spooky fun, to Southern gothic, to unnerving dogs and haunted woods. If you're looking for unsettling stories that touch on a variety of themes, this is a collection you should look. Greener Pastures was nominated for the Crawford Award, which is presented annually by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts for a first book of fantasy.
Michael had some fun when Greener Pastures came out from Apex Publications, he made a bunch of meme-ish images, and they are hilarious! I'll be posting a few of them throughout the interview, here's a link to the whole collection. Michael's short fiction has appeared in Innsmouth Magazine, Shock Totem Magazine, Aghast, Unlikely Story, The Dark, Cemetery Dance, Year's Best Weird Fiction Vol 3, and The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror 2016 among many others. Michael was kind enough to answer my questions about the amazing cover art on this collection, how he knew what should go in the collection and what should be left out, why writing horror is so much fun, and more! Let's get to the interview!
Andrea Johnson: The cover art for Greener Pastures features some easter eggs that connect with stories in the collection. Most authors don't have any control over the cover art of their books, but you had a number of conversations with cover artist Michael Bukowksi about what you wanted in the artwork. What can you tell us about your brainstorming sessions with the artist and how the two of you decided what the cover art should include?
Michael Wehunt: I was lucky to be able to commission an artist for a new piece, and I was doubly lucky to choose someone as talented and collaborative as Michael. He was enthusiastic and communicative from the beginning. The first thing I told him was that I was open to anything. The second thing was an asterisk regarding the first thing—that I had my heart set on trees. Not every story in Greener Pastures features trees, but the book as a whole felt very woodsy and earthy to me. And I knew from Michael's style that the trees would look amazing and draw the viewer in. We started brainstorming with the diner from the title story, crowded on one side by the woods, but as soon as Michael read the story "October Film Haunt: Under the House," he really wanted to use the dog with the wooden crown in its mouth as the focal point (the dog unnerved him deeply), and that was instantly a yes for both of us. So the woods became the entire backdrop, which was the right choice. From there we decided to do a full wraparound cover, which was exciting, and with the extra space we chose elements from three other stories to include in the art, and a year later I'm still in love with the entire piece.
Tags: horror, Interview, Southern Gothic, weird fiction
Interview with Author Lee Thompson
Posted by: Redhead on: March 25, 2017
In: interviews | Lee Thompson
Lee Thompson's newest novella, Shine Your Light On Me, is now available through Apex Publications. Thompson writes thrillers, mysteries, and horror, often focusing on how to regain our humanity when we feel that all has been lost. His previous novels include A Beautiful Madness, It's Only Death, With Fury in Hand, and When We Join Jesus in Hell. (Click here for info on purchasing Shine Your Light On Me)
In Shine Your Light on Me, Aiden faces a family tragedy only to months later be given the gift of healing. He doesn't understand how his gift works, but his neighbors and acquaintances demand that he use it for them. When he could have the power to heal an entire town, does Aiden really have a choice? Desperate measures, indeed. Lee Thompson was kind enough to chat with me over e-mail about this thrilling new novella and other projects he has in the works. You can learn more about Lee at his website, Lee Thompson Fiction.
Andrea: The plot of Shine Your Light On Me sounds absolutely fascinating. Miraculous healings, hopefulness that turns into dark desperation, and a teenager thrown into the middle of it all. Where did the idea for this story come from? Even more incredible is that this is a novella! How did you cram all of that into less than 200 pages?
Lee: Thanks for the interview, Andrea.
Well, Ken Wood from Shock Totem would tell you I was inspired by the cover for issue 4. And he's partly right. Mostly it was asking myself, what things haven't I written about that I want to now, right now? And I thought about it for weeks, finally realizing that to go from being a no one to everyone wanting a piece of you, would be terrifying to me. Especially if I was still a teenager. It's kind of the opposite of Stephen King's Carrie.
Tags: horror, Interview, thriller
An interview with Karina Sumner Smith
In: interviews | Karina Sumner-Smith
Karina Sumner-Smith is a fantasy author and freelance writer. She is the author of the Towers Trilogy from Talos Press: Radiant (2014), Defiant (2015) and Towers Fall (2015), which just hit bookstore shelves last week.
Prior to focusing on novel-length work, Karina published a range of fantasy, science fiction and horror short stories, including the Nebula Award nominated story "An End to All Things," and the ultra short story "When the Zombies Win," which appeared in Ellen Datlow's The Best Horror of the Year, Vol 3.
Though she still thinks of Toronto as her home, Karina now lives in a small, lakefront community in rural Ontario, Canada, where she may be found lost in a book, dancing in the kitchen, or planning her next great adventure.
Karina was kind enough to chat with me a bit about the Towers trilogy, how plotting can sometimes be a plot-killer, her Sci-Fi filled youth, and her dance troupe.
Little Red Reviewer: The big idea in your Towers Trilogy is that magic is currency (you even wrote a Big Idea post at Scalzi's Whatever!). How did you get the idea to develop a story around naturally occurring magic that is used as a currency of sorts? Once you got the idea, how did you develop the plot of the books around it?
Karina Sumner-Smith: It seems like the idea should come first, shouldn't it? The idea that magic is currency—that magic is the driving life force of this entire society—is central to the novels, and shapes the two main characters' lives in very different ways. Yet the idea actually stemmed from an entirely different source.
The Towers Trilogy began as a short story, "An End to All Things," which garnered me a Nebula nomination back in 2007. I had an idea to write about a girl who can see ghosts; I sat down at my computer, and this world just opened up before me. The first scene of the short story is very similar to the opening scene in Radiant, and that's where everything came from: the world, my entry to the story, the magical concepts, all of it. It's all there in seed form in that tense exchange between a homeless girl, Xhea, negotiating with a distraught man who had a ghost tethered to the center of his chest.
The importance of magic-as-currency came to the fore, though, with a deeper understanding of that ghost, Shai, and why great powers were willing to go to such lengths to retrieve her, dead or alive. The idea, at its base level, is really looking at the idea of value in society, and how we decide the worth of a person. All of which makes it sound very constructed, as if this book was an intentional rant on the role of privilege in society. While that's definitely a thematic core, the books themselves are about people: a homeless girl with no magic, living in the abandoned tunnels beneath the city; the ghost of a girl who generates magical fortunes unthinkingly; and what happens when they save each other. Xhea and Shai. Those two are where the plot came from, and (for me, at least) the source for all the book's thematic resonances.
Tags: Interview, science fiction
Interview with Bradley Beaulieu, and give away!
In: Bradley Beaulieu | epic fantasy | interviews
Bradley Beaulieu, author of the Lays of Anuskaya (The Winds of Khalakovo, The Straits of Galahesh, and The Flames of Shadem Khoreh) is about to release a brand new epic fantasy novel called Twelve Kings in Sharakhai. The first in a new trilogy, Twelve Kings in Sharakhai follows the story of Çeda, a young woman who flaunts the laws of immortal kings and finds herself drawn towards the secrets of her own origins. A sprawling, complex story in a vibrant and richly drawn world, the new novel hits bookstore shelves on Sept 1st. Click here for a preview.
Brad was kind enough to answer a few of my questions about the new series. Also, I've got not one, but two copies of this book to give away to two lucky readers! See the fine print at the bottom of this blog post for details.
Little Red Reviewer: This is the second time you've written of ships that don't sail on the water. In your Lays of Anuskaya trilogy, the multi-masted ships sail the winds. And in Twelve Kings, the ships sail the dunes of this desert land. It's even possible to surf over the dunes. For this non-ocean environment, what made you decide that ships with sails should be the primary method of long distance travel?
Bradley Beaulieu: What made me decide on ships? Well, when it comes down to it, I just love 'em. I've taken several sailing tours on tall ships on Lake Michigan, a few out of Milwaukee harbor and once out of Navy Pier in Chicago. I think it's such a cool time in our history, the age of sail, being trapped in such a tight community for weeks or months at a time, then stopping in a new, unexplored land, then hopping back to go back to the place you know. I've got a very romantic view of it, I'll admit.
And, well, I also just wanted to weird the world up a bit. I wanted some unique aspects to the great desert in which Sharakhai sits. I wanted there to be a unique flavor to the commerce of the world, how people communicated over long distances, and so on. It's essentially the same reason I did it in The Lays of Anuskaya, though the specific incarnations of ship travel, as you mentioned, are different. It's been a lot of fun exploring this aspect of the world. (And I've yet to have a really rousing ship-to-ship battle, but believe me, that's coming!)
LRR: I love the world of Twelve Kings in Sharakhai. This is a desert culture, so staying protected from the sands and winds is a big deal, as is ensuring water and food supplies, and the clothing and activities of the characters reflect this. The terminology has an Arabic feel, with characters wearing turbans, thawbs, and hijabs, and visiting the bazaar. Can you tell us about the research you did the ensure the terminology and contextual activities matched the world and culture you built within the novel?
Tags: desert culture, epic fantasy, give away, Interview


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