text:
Where Theory Becomes Novel Plot Becomes REALITY.
Labels: My Nerdiness - Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Take Me Away by Globus.
Holy cow. Holy holy cow. You guys, I'm floored. Most here generally know that my geekiness and nerdifaction tend to know no bounds. This just almost exploded my brain.
Remember how last week I put a book called Airborn by Kenneth Oppel up on my "Top Ten Books for Reluctant Readers" list? Well, it is currently part of a trilogy (I'm seriously hoping for more because I love it so, but he's been busy writing things like a boy/chimp relationship as brothers and the childhood of Dr. Frankenstein. So we'll forgive him). Every book in the trilogy is good, believe me. The third, Starclimber, is my least favorite because of how a certain, particular character acts but I still enjoyed it and I loved the concept he used. These books take place in an alternate 1920s-ish universe, and they build - an elevator into space.
And guess what? It's real.
Here, watch this video (which, even more ironically, I was planning to use for last week's Feature Fun Friday, but Rae Carson's video won out instead).
So cool, huh?! (I sincerely hope you guys could watch that video. Please tell me if you can't!)
And so here I was, already thinking that was such a cool idea for a story, loving it, going on my merry way. And then out pops this article from discovery.com and this wired.com tumblr post and I screamed out loud.
Go Japan. I'll still be alive for this if everything goes according to plan. And from the details from discovery.com article on how long such a trip would take, it sounds remarkably close to Kenneth Oppel's descriptions. So yes - good authors do their research! This makes me want to reread this series again like you wouldn't believe. *eyes bookcase*
Oh, to heck with it. *runs over and grabs books off the shelf*
Nerdy levels are at an all-time maximum. I love life. ^_^
Labels: Monday's Muse - Monday, February 27, 2012
Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Blinding by Florence + The Machine.
What I do is go to one of several places, narrow it down to a YA field and type in a random word, any word that comes to mind. I then take a sampling of some I have never heard of before, or only vaguely heard of (and hopefully you as well). No infringement is intended for any description I take for the books. It's purely for promotional reasons. I will try and cover as many genres as possible that are fitting for the random word. Simple but it really uncovers some incredible gems. I will be doing this every other Monday. If there are any words you want to prompt me with, go ahead and fire away.
Clone.
House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer.
Matteo Alacran was not Born; He was Harvested. His DNA came from El Patron, lord of a country called Opium -- a strip of poppy fields lying between the United States and what was once called Mexico. Matt's first cell split and divided inside a petri dish. Then he was placed in the womb of a cow, where he continued the miraculous journey from embryo to fetus to baby. He is a boy now, but most consider him a monster -- except for El Patron. El Patron loves Matt as he loves himself, because Matt is himself. As Matt struggles to understand his existence, he is threatened by a sinister cast of characters, including El Patron's power-hungry family, and he is surrounded by a dangerous army of bodyguards. Escape is the only chance Matt has to survive. But escape from the Alacran Estate is no guarantee of freedom, because Matt is marked by his difference in ways he doesn't even suspect.
The Clone Codes by Patricia and Frederick McKissack.
The Cyborg Wars are over and Earth has peacefully prospered for more than one hundred years. Yet sometimes history must repeat itself until humanity learns from its mistakes. In the year 2170, despite technological and political advances, cyborgs and clones are treated no better than slaves, and an underground abolitionist movement is fighting for freedom. Thirteen-year-old Leanna's entire life is thrown into chaos when The World Federation of Nations discovers her mom is part of the radical Liberty Bell Movement.
After her mother is arrested for treason, Leanna is chased by a ruthless bounty hunter. Soon Leanna finds herself living among the Firsts, and nothing will ever be the same. With help from unlikely sources, Leanna learns The origin of the Liberty Bell Movement and how its members may have answers about her past and her new reality.
Alex Unlimited, Vol. 1: The Vosarak Code by Dan Jolley.
Alexandra Benno has a unique talent: she can instantly summon parallel-dimension versions of herself. But these duplicates are always super-idealized: smart, fast, tough, and often the most beautiful girls in their world--while Alex herself is clumsy, frizzy-haired, and has the body of a twelve-year-old boy! So when the government recruits Alex for top-secret espionage work, it's always her idealized version who gets the action and, consequently, receives all the credit. Sick of being her own sidekick, will Alex be able to crack the Vosarak Code and complete her latest mission . . . or is she destined to live in her own shadow? With pluck and wonder at every turn, Dan Jolley's smart and action-packed novel series takes the reader on one unforgettable adventure after the next.
Emily the Strange: Stranger and Stranger (Book 2 of the Emily the Strange Series) by Rob Reger.
Emily the Strange, evil genius and skateboarder extraordinaire, has invented many things in her time—golems, working cat translators, great names for bands. But the duplication device may have been a mistake, especially when an accident produces an identical Emily. At first OtherMe is cool and useful, but it quickly becomes apparent that she is evil and will take over the world if not stopped. Emily's second journal, a sequel to The Lost Days (HarperCollins, 2009), is a dark delight, filled with all kinds of Strangeness: a broken leg, a Strange Manifesto that causes the entire town to go loony, an ex-spymaster neighbor, and an oddly understanding and absurdly patient mother, all described with demented wit and great relish, and accompanied by manga-style black-and-white cartoons. Does it all make sense? No, not really. Does it matter? Not at all. Fans of the first book and newcomers alike will thoroughly enjoy the zaniness and clamor for more.—Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public Library, School Library Journal.
Star Split by Kathryn Lasky.
Thirteen-year-old Darci lives in a future of near genetic perfection. In the year 3028, gene research has reached such heights that terminal diseases no longer exist and celebrated scientists and artists are chosen for "umbellation," or cloning, so that their great brains can live on forever. In Darci's society, genetic laws are made by the Bio Union, a governmental agency that closely tracks all genetic research and severely punishes those who dare to commit the worst crime of all: illegal umbellation. Despite all this, Darci's life is a normal one, if not somewhat boring. After all, she knows all of her traits intimately--she has extensively studied her own DNA and that of her family. What fascinates her is the past, when life wasn't so predictable, "a time of cripples and geniuses ... a time of grace and mystery when not all could be controlled and not all known." Darci soon discovers that she herself has been cloned. Not knowing if or when she will be found out, Darci fears for her life and wonders for the first time about the meaning behind a long-extinct word: soul.
With Star Split, author Kathryn Lasky makes a dramatic departure from her usual historical-fiction fare. Though the story has a few unexplained holes--mostly due to the complicated scientific nature of the setting--Lasky's plot is so thought-provoking that teens won't be able to put it down until Darci's fate is decided. This is an excellent book for teens dealing with the implications of a new millennium. --Jennifer Hubert, Amazon review.
Taylor Five by Ann Halam.
Taylor Walker seems like any ordinary 14-year-old. Ordinary—if you overlook the fact that she lives on the island of Borneo, on a primate reserve run by her parents, and knows how to survive in the jungle. Obviously, Tay isn't just like everyone else. But she is like one other person. She's exactly like one other person. Tay is a clone, one of only five in the world, and her clone mother is Pam Taylor, a brilliant scientist.
When rebels attack the reserve, Tay escapes with her younger brother and Uncle, an exceptionally intelligent orangutan. As they flee through the jungle, Tay must look within to find her strength: Pam's DNA, tempered by Taylor's extraordinary life. And she looks to Uncle for guidance—for Tay knows that the uncanny bond between Uncle and herself is the key to their survival.
The Bar Code Rebellion (Book 2 of Bar Code Tattoo duology) by Suzanne Weyn.
The second book in the action-packed Bar Code series.
They want your identity. They want your freedom. They can't have them. The bar code rebellion.
Kayla has resisted getting the bar code tattoo, even though it's mean forfeiting a "normal" life. Without the tattoo, she's an exile. But she can't stay an exile for long. . . .
For reasons she doesn't completely understand--but will soon discover--Kayla is at the center of a lethal conspiracy that will soon threaten the very notion of freedom. Kayla can either give in to the bar code, or she can join the resistance and fight it. The choice, for her, is clear.
The Lab by Jack Heath.
Meet a 16-year-old superhuman: Agent Six of Hearts. He's the strongest, most effective agent in the Deck, a team of special agents fighting to uphold justice in a completely corrupt world. Six would be invincible if not for a deadly secret. He is the product of an illegal experiment by the Lab - a ruthless division of the corporation that controls his world. When the Deck begins to investigate the Lab, Six walks a tightrope between his two worlds, trying to keep his origin a secret.
Duplikate by Cherry Cheva.
To Do List:
Ace SATs
Ace finals
Ace AP physics project
Avoid murdering lab partner
Submit Yale application
Resolve possibly evil twin situation
Due date: December 15th
Countdown: 11 days
By the time Kate Larson accidentally fell asleep at three a.m., she'd already done more work in one night than the average high school senior does in a week. Getting into Yale has been her dream for years—and being generally overworked and totally under-rested is the price of admission. But when she opens her eyes the next day, she comes face-to-face with, well, her face—which is attached to her body, which is standing across the room. Wait, what?
Meet Kate's computer-generated twin. Kate doesn't know why she's here or how to put her back where she belongs, but she's real. And she's the last thing Kate has time to deal with right now. Unless . . .
Could having a double be the answer to Kate's prayers? After all, two Kates can do more work than one. Or will keeping her twin a secret turn her dream future into a living nightmare?
Blueprint by Charlotte Kerner, translated by Elizabeth D. Crawford.
Siri is the daughter/twin of Iris and one of the first cloned beings in this seamless translation of German author Kerner's exploration of the psychological reality for cloned humans. A famous pianist and composer, Iris discovers she has Multiple Sclerosis and decides that a child/clone will ensure her immortality. She talks a geneticist into creating the first human clone by implanting her with her own cloned cell. As time goes by, the pregnancy, childhood, and adolescence of Siri are described almost solely focused on the emotional impact of the impossible closeness and the antagonism of the blended egos. Games of"Iyou" and"YouI" become increasingly painful as the child separates from the parent, whose monstrous egotism continues to expect an alternative self for her own use. There is much musing from Siri, who recounts her life in beautifully cadenced and expressive prose. Upon Iris's death there is a miraculous transformation in Siri's life that seems pulled out of thin air and not from Siri's psyche. Until that epilogue the story maintains a steady, wearying descent into frustration and despair at never being loved for who you are, never quite knowing what is your own doing and what is compelled by your genetic code. It is never clear how much of her pain is the result of cloning and how much the result of Iris's ego. Observers of this"monster," as she is called by her grandmother, may debate the ethical questions, ponder the personal dilemmas, and imagine alternative responses, but they will not question the premise. Disturbing and unsettling, this is less a translation of a particular culture than a human face on a question that is intriguing worldwide.--Kirkus.
Afterschool Charisma by Kumiko Suekane.
St. Kleio Academy is a very exclusive school: all of the students are clones of famous historical figures such as Beethoven, Queen Elizabeth I, Napoleon, Mozart, and Freud. All of them, that is, except for Shiro Kamiya. As Shiro struggles to adapt to this unusual campus, St. Kleio's first graduate, the clone of John F. Kennedy, is killed. Are the clones doomed to repeat the fate of their genetic progenitors, or can they create their own destinies? And how does a normal boy like Shiro fit in?
The Goodness Gene by Sonia Levitin.
It's the future (2207) and the world has gone through a devastating chaos; now a seemingly benign dictator is in charge. He has twin sons, who are approaching adulthood, being groomed to share the power with their father. Will is a good speaker, charismatic; Berk is aggressive and somewhat ruthless. Theirs is a world in which an elite group of humans make all the decisions. They live in a highly sheltered environment, drinking nutritional drinks instead of what we would call food, enjoying symsex instead of having physical contact with others, and generally are divorced from reality. The story gets really interesting about a third of the way through when Will travels to another region and learns some hard truths about his own existence: that he and his brother are actually clones of Adolf Hitler. Will meets a rebellious underground group who are trying to keep to old values, such as growing actual food and eating it, protecting children from mercy killing at the whim of the authorities, and thinking for themselves.--Kliatt.
Avril Crump and Her Amazing Clones by Angela Woolfe.
Avril Crump, female scientist, is bald, pink, and round, with a weakness for sweets, whose greatest love of all is chemistry, science, the quest for knowledge, and using that chemistry to fix the world's ills. But one day, while Avril is helping herself to a yummy snack, she accidentally stumbles upon a scientific experiment gone awry. When her uncle's old chemistry set collides with a mysterious metal trunk, three clones are created in the accidental explosion. And with this laboratory accident, Avril's adventure begins. She must save her new friends, the clones, from their own creator.
Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix.
So my only protection is a kindergarten teacher and a ninety-eight-pound female minister....And they don't even believe I'm in danger.
As Bethany approaches her thirteenth birthday, her parents act more oddly than usual. Her mother cries constantly, and her father barely lets Bethany out of his sight. Then one morning he hustles the entire family into the car, drives across several state lines -- and leaves Bethany with an aunt she never knew existed. Bethany has no idea what's going on. She's worried her mom and dad are running from some kind of trouble, but she can't find out because they won't tell her where they are going.
Bethany's only clue is a few words she overheard her father tell her aunt: "She doesn't know anything about Elizabeth." But Aunt Myrlie won't tell Bethany who Elizabeth is, and she won't explain why people in her small town react to Bethany as if they've seen a ghost. The mystery intensifies when Bethany gets a package from her father containing four different birth certificates from four different states, with four different last names -- and thousands of dollars in cash. And when a strange man shows up asking questions, Bethany realizes she's not the only one who's desperate to unravel the secrets of her past.
Adventures in Turkish Delight
Labels: everyone has a story, My Nerdiness, Superhero Antics - Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Silence by Lizz Wright.
Well Edmund (and you, dear readers), you definitely had me scrambling. Turkish Delight is deceptively simple and adrenaline junkie's dream. And you'll get your week's worth of exercise in one go, believe me.
Here is the link to the recipe I used. Tweak as you see fit. I left out the part with the rose water and added a whole lot more to the powder coating at the end. Remember, me and rose water no likey each other. So let's begin!
I was so nervous. I had to take a picture. Remember, Beth Revis says Turkish Delight kills pans. This might be the last time I saw mine alive.
These are not innocent ingredients. These are ingredients of DEATH.
To help ensure the safety and possible life of my pan, I covered the entire thing in shortening (you're supposed to do this anyway). I may or may not have had a bit too much fun and may or may not have drawn math symbols into said shortening. Then I covered the pan in wax paper. And then - I greased the wax paper. Oh yes I did. Sugary goodness is not taking MY pan away from me!
Edmund! Do you realize what this recipe is?! All it IS is sugar, you little fiend! That and a little bit of water and corn starch and flavoring. Holy cow! No wonder you liked it so much. I'm going into a sugar coma just looking at it.
This is the consistency of the mixture once you add the flavoring and water to the sugar. A bit blurry, but I thought this would be the best way to show you visually what you are looking for here in your *ahem* sugar water turkish delight mixture (You'll notice from the sugar line it reduces a lot when you add the water and begin heating it). Take this to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
Here is the simmer after the boil. You'll notice it has clarified a lot (so you can see to the bottom). This is where the long haul comes in. You have to wait for it to come to 240 degrees Fahrenheit (this is where you reeeallly want a temperature probe/candy thermometer). It's going to go degree by painful degree up. Seriously. I made a sandwich. And ate it. But don't go very far! And always always keep half an eye on it. Because when things happen in candy making, they happen fast.
While I was waiting, I started to prep the other pot. Throw it in with pizazz! That's half the fun. :)
Of a note, it started to bubble something fierce right around 215 degrees Fahrenheit. Since this is the first time I've ever made this, I thought it important to the documentation process. I am culinary scientist. Hear me roar.
I took it off right at the 240 degree (F) mark. It distilled very quickly (and began to lose heat). (Don't worry, that yellow thing is not anything that has fallen in. It's a reflection from something above it. So don't worry, it doesn't have to be a part of your recipe).
This is where the other pot comes in, with corn starch, cream of tartar and water. It looks like milk but it grows thicker quickly. In fact the recipe said when it got to a "glue" consistency, that was when it was ready (although that is slightly problematic because I started to wonder what kind of glue. Rubber cement? Elmer's?). It started to smell like glue even, but that could just be me, considering the aforementioned thoughts. :)
And this is where my mind jerked to a sudden thought. Beth Revis said Turkish Delight kills pans, so I was so prepped and ready with a pan as slick as greased lightning, but what if she meant a pot instead? Corn starch is a thickener and almost utterly tasteless (remember that if you ever have a sauce that is too thin) and I'd just dumped over a cup into this pot. This was my "oh no..." moment.
Remember how I said when things happen they happen fast? Yeah, that was this time. My fingers were covered in sticky goo and I barely had time to snap off this blurry shot before whipping the bejeezus out this sucker before it took my pot under its sadist grip.
Having a brightly colored whisk helps. :) I beat it into submission and it turned into a lovely smooth texture (albeit a very sticky one).
Yellow food coloring. I thought five drops would do nicely.
Mixing!
And here is where you may want to deviate from my own adventure. You see, the recipe said to mix it for another hour after it gets to the gloop of death stage. o.O You're going to have bi-ceps bigger than your face by the end of it. If you have any big or little helpers in the house, you may want to bribe/switch off with them. I was dying after ten minutes. Energetic music blared loudly is a great friend here. I recommend Jonsi. Or possibly Metallica.
Because in retrospect, this is where I think I made my slip. Because it says you can tell when it is ready when the mixture turns a nice golden color. And I had already added my food coloring. So I don't think I stirred beat into a bloody pulp for nearly long enough. Chancing a mad dash downstairs to my computer I pulled up a YouTube video to see the consistency right before they poured it. It looked the same. But remember, candy making is such a precise art and science. So I would recommend mixing it longer. You may have to graduate to a wooden spoon since my whisk was giving out. But this picture is still pretty close to what you'll see right before you pour it. It's only after the setting overnight you get to see where my real adventure began. :)
Still good! Look at all that sugary goodness, Edmund. It's so pretty...
Then something happened I'd never read about or seen before. You are supposed to let it rest and cool overnight. But not in the fridge. Apparently it absolutely ruins the texture. So I stuck it down in my cellar. That is supposed to give it time for the moisture to settle and distribute evenly through the batch. Most people are afraid of "sweating" which the extra time is supposed to prevent. But this wasn't sweating. This was weeping. (You have to admit, it looks pretty cool though). :)
Again, I don't think I mixed it long enough after combining the two together, not giving the liquid time to set up properly. So once it cooled down, it wept. Openly. I'll assume it saw The Notebook or some other equally sad show while I was out.
But! Determined I was! I just figured I would add a little more corn starch to the coating powder and maybe that would soak up some of the excess moisture. (By the way, several commentators on the recipe I used said the "dusting" they recommend is a bad idea. You need to give these things a veritable bath in the mixture. And after opening the OFFICIAL TURKISH DELIGHT - FROM TURKEY they were drenched in it as well as I presumed they would be since it will keep off moisture and help preserve them. So definitely go that route).
Ooooooo. Real Turkish Delight. *claps* Now for the comparison! (There were definitely more flavors than just lemon in their Turkish Delight).
Tada! I made it and both my pan AND pots survived (run them under hot water immediately after you are done pouring. It should save you from any heart ache/grief). Thanks so much for the adventure, everyone!
Feature Fun Friday - Rae Carson interview
Labels: Feature Fun Friday - Monday, February 20, 2012
Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Road to Lisdoonvarna / Swallowtail Jig / Irish Washerwoman by Tony Elman.
Feature Fun Friday - on MONDAY! Today is an interview with the wonderful Rae Carson, who wrote the equally fantastic Girl of Fire and Thorns. (If you haven't read it yet, you should). Have a great week, everyone!
And in the dragon was a story...
Labels: everyone has a story - Thursday, February 16, 2012
Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now) A Thousand Years by Sting.
I will have to thank Meg forever for sending me this story. It is incredible. And it is the mystery I love most of all.
First off, all photos are courtesy of Christ Scott @chrisdonia (and his flickr account) whose amazing photographs brought this story to life.
This story begins in a library. It ends where it began. But it is the journey that makes this story breathtaking. And it all starts with a gift...
Left on a table at the Scottish Poetry Library in early March of last year with a simple but anonymous note bearing the words
It started with your name @byleaveswelive and became a tree.… … We know that a library is so much more than a building full of books… a book is so much more than pages full of words.… This is for you in support of libraries, books, words, ideas….. a gesture (poetic maybe?)
And from there, it grew. 10 in all.
Next came the National Library of Scotland
And then Filmhouse
And the Scottish Storytelling Centre (bearing my favorite note of all)
For @scotstorycenter – A gift in support of libraries, books, works, ideas….. Once upon a time there was a book and in the book was a nest and in the nest was an egg and in the egg was a dragon and in the dragon was a story…..
down to the National Museum of Scotland
before making a final return to the Scottish Poetry Library with a beautiful explanation of a story well and completely told. All in support of libraries and books.
"It's important that a story is not too long ……does not become tedious …….
'You need to know when to end a story,' she thought.
Often a good story ends where it begins. This would mean a return to the Poetry Library. The very place where she had left the first of the ten.
Back to those who had loved that little tree, and so encouraged her to try again …….and again.
Some had wondered who it was, leaving these small strange objects. Some even thought it was a 'he'! ……. As if!
Others looked among Book Artists, rather good ones actually…….
But they would never find her there. For though she does make things, this was the first time she had dissected books and had used them simply be- cause they seemed fitting….
Most however chose not to know….. which was the point really.
The gift, the place to sit, to look, to wonder, to dream….. of the impossible maybe…….
A tiny gesture in support of the special places…..
So, here, she will end this story, in a special place … A Poetry Library ….. where they are well used to 'anon.'
But before exiting …a few mentions. There could be more, because we have all colluded to make this work……. Just a few though.
- the twitter community who in some strange way gave rise to the idea in the first place
-@chrisdonia who gave the story a place, a shape and some great pictures
- and not least @Beathhigh whose books and reputation have been shame- lessly utilised in the making of a mystery ……..
…… But hold on. Someone's left behind a pair of gloves and a cap……….?
Cheers Edinburgh It's been fun!
If you want the most complete story (and many more pictures. Trust me, you want to see the detail on these. They are exquisite) click here.
Labels: Monday's Muse - Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Green Island Serenade by Vienna Teng.
Asia.
(though this is more a celebration of some really good ones with unknown ones mixed in) :)
Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon.
Ai Ling can see into other people's minds and reach into their spirits. But she doesn't know why this power has awakened inside her. She only knows that it is growing. It leads her on an epic journey—one that brings her to the edge of the deepest evil.
Chen Yong has a quest of his own, but then his path crosses Ai Ling's. And there's a connection so strong that neither can ignore it.
Now they must face terrifying demons determined to kill them, and battle through treacherous lands. It is their destiny. But can destiny keep them together?
Huntress by Malinda Lo.
Nature is out of balance in the human world. The sun hasn't shone in years, and crops are failing. Worse yet, strange and hostile creatures have begun to appear. The people's survival hangs in the balance.
To solve the crisis, the oracle stones are cast, and Kaede and Taisin, two seventeen-year-old girls, are picked to go on a dangerous and unheard-of journey to Tanlili, the city of the Fairy Queen. Taisin is a sage, thrumming with magic, and Kaede is of the earth, without a speck of the otherworldly. And yet the two girls' destinies are drawn together during the mission. As members of their party succumb to unearthly attacks and fairy tricks, the two come to rely on each other and even begin to fall in love. But the Kingdom needs only one huntress to save it, and what it takes could tear Kaede and Taisin apart forever.
The exciting adventure prequel to Malinda Lo's highly acclaimed novel Ash is overflowing with lush Chinese influences and details inspired by the I Ching, and is filled with action and romance.
Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins.
Chiko isn't a fighter by nature. He's a book-smart Burmese boy whose father, a doctor, is in prison for resisting the government. When Chiko is forced into the army by trickery, he must find the courage to survive the mental and physical punishment meted out by the training facility's menacing captain.
Tu Reh can't forget the image of the Burmese soldiers burning his home and the bamboo fields of his oppressed Karenni people, one of the many ethnic minorities in Burma. Now living in a Kerenni refugee camp on the Thai border, Tu Reh is consumed by anger and the need for revenge. He can't wait to join his father and the Karenni resistance in the effort to protect their people.
Chiko and Tu Reh's stories come to a violent intersection as each boy is sent on his first mission into the jungle. Extreme circumstances and unlikely friendships force each boy to confront what it means to be a man of his people.
Cinder by Marissa Meyer.
Sixteen-year-old Cinder is considered a technological mistake by most of society and a burden by her stepmother. Being cyborg does have its benefits, though—Cinder's brain interface has given her an uncanny ability to fix things (robots, hovers, her own malfunctioning parts), making her the best mechanic in New Beijing. This reputation brings the Prince Kai himself to her weekly market booth, needing her to repair a broken android before the annual ball. He jokingly calls it "a matter of national security," but Cinder suspects it's more serious than he's letting on.
Although eager to impress the prince, Cinder's intentions are derailed when her younger stepsister, and only human friend, is infected with the fatal plague that's been devastating Earth for a decade. Blaming Cinder for her daughter's illness, Cinder's stepmother volunteers her body for plague research, an "honor" that no one has survived.
But it doesn't take long for the scientists to discover something unusual about their new guinea pig. The surgeons who turned Cinder into a cyborg had been hiding something. Something others would kill for.
Inside out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai.
No one would believe me but at times I would choose wartime in Saigon over peacetime in Alabama.
For all the ten years of her life, HÀ has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, the warmth of her friends close by . . . and the beauty of her very own papaya tree.
But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. HÀ and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope. In America, HÀ discovers the foreign world of Alabama: the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food, the strange shape of its landscape . . . and the strength of her very own family.
This is the moving story of one girl's year of change, dreams, grief, and healing as she journeys from one country to another, one life to the next.
Little Sister/The Heavenward Path by Kara Dalkey.
As a girl in the Japanese imperial court of medieval Japan, Mitsuko is shielded from reality. But when Mitsuko's family is attacked by outlaws and her brother-in-law is murdered, she alone finds the courage to venture into the netherworld to find her sister's wandering spirit. With the aid of Goranu, a shape-shifter, and other magical creatures from Japanese myths, Mitsuko journeys across a landscape transformed by legend and by her own growing sense of power to become an unwitting hero.
Mitsuko is being haunted by ghosts and bad luck. An angry spirit commands her to keep a forgotten promise and assigns her a series of impossible tasks. She turns to the mischievous shape-shifter Goranu for help. Together they journey through a landscape of Japanese myths and legends made real. This sequel to Little Sister is a mythical tale of adventure and star-crossed love set in twelfth-century Japan.
Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle.
DeLisle's (Pyongyang) latest exploration of Asian life is probably the best possible argument against the ruling junta in the embattled (and now nearly obliterated) nation also known as Myanmar. Readers will find themselves initially shocked and surprised at the country's differences, then awestruck by the new traditions and finally in love with and yet enraged by Burmese daily life. DeLisle's wife is a French aid worker with Medecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), leaving DeLisle alone with their son, Louis, and his cartooning. DeLisle's style is simple but highly eloquent, and he tells more about the depth and breadth of the Burmese experience in the book's little nonfiction vignettes than he ever could in an artificially imposed narrative. Burma Chronicles is not merely a neat piece of cartooning but a valuable artifact of a repressive and highly destructive culture that curtails free speech with unparalleled tenacity. Like Joe Sacco's The Fixer and Safe Area Gorazde, DeLisle uses cartooning to dig into a story that demands to be told.--Publisher's Weekly.
Sign of Qin by L.G. Bass.
This book, a multistranded opener to a trilogy, is teeming with monsters, dragons, deities, tricksters, and demons–drawn largely but not exclusively from Chinese myth–plus an array of larger-than-life heroes and villains of both sexes. Readers are propelled from the lush opulence of the Emperor's palace to the filthy slums outside it, from misty swamps to the Gobi's desolation, from Heaven to the Netherworld dominion of Yamu, god of death. In the tradition of both classical Chinese epics and modern kung fu films, the relentlessly episodic plot takes frequent wrenching turns into set-piece comic or battle scenes, punctuated by eye-popping feats of derring-do. Young Prince Zong, born bearing a birthmark that presages a glittering destiny, grows with magical speed in the care of whiny, capricious Monkey, as his mother, Silver Lotus, flees into exile under a sentence of death. She travels with General Calabash, a monk covered in mobile, prophetic tattoos, and Yamu dispatches a lurid corps of demonic minions to prepare the way for a cataclysmic invasion. Along with bands of colorful outlaws, all eventually converge for a climactic skirmish that leaves Yamu poised to make his move. The action scenes are compellingly wild and woolly, and if, as usual, Monkey steals the show (along with everything else that's not nailed down), all of the main players are equally strong, vivid characters–which bodes well for future installments.–John Peters, New York Public Library, School Library Journal.
The Eye of Jade by Diane Liang.
Present day, Beijing. Mei Wang is a modern, independent woman. She has her own apartment. She owns a car. She has her own business with that most modern of commodities -- a male secretary. Her short career with China's prestigious Ministry for Public Security has given her intimate insight into the complicated and arbitrary world of Beijing's law enforcement. But it is her intuition, curiosity, and her uncanny knack for listening to things said -- and unsaid -- that make Mei Beijing's first successful female private investigator.
Mei is no stranger to the dark side of China. She was six years old when she last saw her father behind the wire fence of one of Mao's remote labor camps. Perhaps as a result, Mei eschews the power plays and cultural mores -- guanxi -- her sister and mother live by...for better and for worse.
Mei's family friend "Uncle" Chen hires her to find a Han dynasty jade of great value: he believes the piece was looted from the Luoyang Museum during the Cultural Revolution -- when the Red Guards swarmed the streets, destroying so many traces of the past -- and that it's currently for sale on the black market. The hunt for the eye of jade leads Mei through banquet halls and back alleys, seedy gambling dens and cheap noodle bars near the Forbidden City. Given the jade's provenance and its journey, Mei knows to treat the investigation as a most delicate matter; she cannot know, however, that this case will force her to delve not only into China's brutal history, but also into her family's dark secrets and into her own tragic separation from the man she loved in equal parts.
The first novel in an exhilarating new detective series, The Eye of Jade is both a thrilling mystery and a sensual and fascinating journey through modern China.
Death and Winners
Feature Fun Friday - A Harry Potter Compilation
Review: Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Ci...
Top Ten Books for Reluctant Readers
Feature Fun Friday - A Monster Calls Book Trailer
Oh Edmund, Fudge Tastes So Much Better. I Think.


Description: West Michigan Inspection Svc is a business categorized under relocation service, which is part of the larger category real estate agents & managers. West Michigan Inspection Svc is located at the address 1542 N M-43 Hwy in Hastings, Michigan 49058-7902. You can contact by phone (269)948-4212.
Location & access map for "West Michigan Inspection Svc"


text:
Q: How to run substring on the message field of Get-Winevent This is the PowerShell query I'm starting with:
$CRM_Serverlist = 'Server-114', 'Server-115', 'Server-118', 'Server-P119'
$CRM_Account = 'domain\svcCRM'
$svcCRM_cred = Get-Credential -Credential $CRM_Account
ForEach ($CRM_Server in $CRM_Serverlist) {
   Get-WinEvent -ComputerName $CRM_Server -Credential $svcCRM_cred -FilterHashtable @{
       LogName = 'Application'
       ProviderName='MSCRMPlatform'
       Level = 3 # 1 Critical, 2 Error, 3 Warning, 4 Information
       } | select-object message | Format-List -Property message
   }

It produces output like similar to this.  (I've truncate the SQL queries for brevity.)
Message : Query execution time of 14.6 seconds exceeded the threshold of 10 seconds. Thread: 283;
          Database: CRM_MSCRM; Server:Server-SQL1; Query: IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects ...

Message : Query execution time of 10.9 seconds exceeded the threshold of 10 seconds. Thread: 54; Database:
          CRM_MSCRM; Server:Server-SQL1; Query: select "a360_connectionrule0".a360_ConnectionId ...

Message : Query execution time of 19.3 seconds exceeded the threshold of 10 seconds. Thread: 272;
          Database: CRM_MSCRM; Server:Server-SQL1; Query: WITH "incident0Security" as (...

Message : Query execution time of 53.6 seconds exceeded the threshold of 10 seconds. Thread: 276;
          Database: CRM_MSCRM; Server:Server-SQL1; Query: select "incident0".a360_EscalationDate2...

What I want to do is extract the time from all the messages from all the servers, sort by the time so that the longest running SQL statements are listed first, then output them for so they can be tuned to run faster.  Outputting the time would be nice but is not strictly required.
It would be great if I could end up with something like this:
Time: 53.6
Message : Query execution time of 53.6 seconds exceeded the threshold of 10 seconds. Thread: 276;
          Database: CRM_MSCRM; Server:Server-SQL1; Query: select "incident0".a360_EscalationDate2...

Time: 19.3
Message : Query execution time of 19.3 seconds exceeded the threshold of 10 seconds. Thread: 272;
          Database: CRM_MSCRM; Server:Server-SQL1; Query: WITH "incident0Security" as (...

Time: 14.6
Message : Query execution time of 14.6 seconds exceeded the threshold of 10 seconds. Thread: 283;
          Database: CRM_MSCRM; Server:Server-SQL1; Query: IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects ...

Time: 10.9
Message : Query execution time of 10.9 seconds exceeded the threshold of 10 seconds. Thread: 54; Database:
          CRM_MSCRM; Server:Server-SQL1; Query: select "a360_connectionrule0".a360_ConnectionId ...

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

A: This will probably work however as stated in comments, it would be a better idea to not do it via regex and try looking into the Properties property of the EventLogRecord objects to see if the execution time value is there.
$re = [regex] '(?<=Query execution time of )[\d.]+'

$CRM_Serverlist | ForEach-Object {
    Get-WinEvent -ComputerName $_ -Credential $svcCRM_cred -FilterHashtable @{
        LogName      = 'Application'
        ProviderName = 'MSCRMPlatform'
        Level        = 3 # 1 Critical, 2 Error, 3 Warning, 4 Information
    }
} |
Select-Object @{
    Name       = 'Time'
    Expression = { [timespan]::FromSeconds($re.Match($_.Message).Value) }
}, Message | Sort-Object Time -Descending

How to know if you can get the execution time by looking into the Properties property of one of the events:

*

*Pick one event from one of your servers:

$evt = Get-WinEvent -ComputerName pickOneServer -Credential $cred -FilterHashtable @{
    LogName      = 'Application'
    ProviderName = 'MSCRMPlatform'
    Level        = 3 # 1 Critical, 2 Error, 3 Warning, 4 Information
} -MaxEvents 1

*Inspect it's Properties property:

$evt.Properties

If you see the decimal value for elapsed time here, then you can pick it by index, for example let's say the elapsed time is in index 2:
$evt.Properties.Value[1] # since index starts in 0 in pwsh

*Then assuming we could find this value there, the whole script would change to this instead of using regex to pick the value:

$CRM_Serverlist | ForEach-Object {
    Get-WinEvent -ComputerName $_ -Credential $svcCRM_cred -FilterHashtable @{
        LogName      = 'Application'
        ProviderName = 'MSCRMPlatform'
        Level        = 3 # 1 Critical, 2 Error, 3 Warning, 4 Information
    }
} | Select-Object @{
    Name       = 'Time'
    Expression = { [timespan]::FromSeconds($_.Properties.Value[1]) }
}, Message | Sort-Object Time -Descending

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
arts coronavirus
Eskenazi Museum of Art sustains group art therapy sessions through Zoom
An art therapy room sits empty inside the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art. The museum is offering virtual group art therapy in place of in-person sessions after the museum was closed to the public on March 10.
By Lauren McLaughlin
Published Apr 9, 2020 7:39 pm Last updated Apr 9, 2020 7:40 pm
The Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art is offering virtual group art therapy in place of its typical in-person sessions after the museum was closed to the public on March 10.
Sessions are 1-2:30 p.m. April 16 and 23 over Zoom. The link can be found on the calendar on the museum website. It is free and open to anyone.
The museum has already offered two online sessions in the past two weeks, but group art therapy has been in place since the museum reopened in November.
Heidi Davis-Soylu, director of education at Eskenazi, said the staff realized art therapy was one of the first things they could do online in response to the museum closure.
At the sessions, attendees participate in art projects together.
Lauren Daugherty, arts-based wellness experience manager and art therapist, leads the sessions. She said she is the first full-time art therapist hired by a university museum.
Daugherty asks participants to bring whatever art materials they have at home.
Davis-Soylu said people used tools such as sketchbooks, pencils, crayons, paper, blocks and watercolor paints.She said asking participants to use materials from home is a constraint, since participants would usually have access to multiple materials in the Eskanazi studio.
Daugherty said they can make whatever they want, or she gives a prompt to follow. It depends on her goals for the session.
Davis-Soylu attended the first online session April 2.
"It was really interesting to see how we can connect in this new virtual space with people we don't know at all and how the arts kind of help facilitate that," Davis-Soylu said.
Davis-Soylu said the first prompt was to make something with a repeating pattern.
"Each person there was giving themselves a moment to slow down and do a little bit of self-care," Soylu said. "It makes a big impact."
Daugherty said she hopes it offers a place away from the negative news about COVID-19.
"I hope this brings a time where we can come together as a group — students, community members, whoever — and just do something that's wellness-related, that's art-related and that has absolutely nothing to do with talking about the coronavirus," Daugherty said.
One benefit of virtual sessions is that people outside the Bloomington community can attend, Soylu said. She said the museum staff wants to be leaders in the field of art therapy and create a community surrounding it by offering it to as many people as possible.
"We know there's a need out there," she said. "We definitely are open to whoever finds us."
Daugherty said she plans to continue the sessions, either in-person if the museum can open or online.
Stay on top of the COVID-19 and vaccination news. This weekly newsletter will package our coverage of cornavirus news, updates and the critical information you need to know.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Many generations of Lisa Henderson's family lived in Marfork, WV. She was born there and loved it "A lttle slice of perfect paradise," she calls it. During Lisa's lifetime the town was abandoned because of pollution from nearby mountaintop removal mining. Because of this injustice, Lisa's mother Judy Bonds became one country's most ardent and outspoken advocates of environmental justice.
An only child, Lisa tagged along with her mother to community meetings, protests, rallies, and public hearings to stop mountaintop removal mining. By her mother's side, Lisa learned the meaning of courage. She watched her mother, who went from waiting tables to directing the grassroots organization Coal River Mountain Watch, take the microphone and inspire neighbors to stand up for their homes, health, and well-being.
Now Lisa is is carrying on her mother's work and help to inspire a growing community of people fighting to stop mountaintop removal.
As our country's leaders refuse to rise to this challenge of acting on climate change, Earthjustice will be working to hold them accountable in court.
Coal ash is the toxic waste created by coal-fired power plants. It is polluting communities all across America. This is the story of one of those places: La Belle, Pennsylvania.
Coal ash is the hazardous waste that remains after coal is burned. Dumped into unlined ponds or mines, the toxins from coal ash readily leach into drinking water supplies.


text:
George Tucker Stainback (April 4, 1829 in Brunswick County, Virginia – June 28, 1902 at Dyersburg, Tennessee) was an American classicist and Presbyterian minister; he served as a chaplain in the Confederate Army, and in 1877 presided over the funeral of Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Early life and education
Stainback was the son of George W. and Lucretia T. (née Eppes) Stainback who had married in 1818 and moved to Limestone County, Alabama, and then, in 1835, to Memphis, Tennessee. Stainback attended the University of Mississippi in Oxford, earning his A.B. (1854) and A.M (1856), D.D. (1855) degrees. In 1855-6 he was assistant professor of Latin and Greek.

Ministry
During the American Civil War Stainback served as a chaplain in the Confederate army.

He maintained his ministry in Columbus, Mississippi, for 13 years before moving to Huntsville, Alabama, in 1872. From 1874-1878 he was First Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Memphis, but then returned to Columbus, Mississippi, in 1879. He was noted for having a profound impact on former Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest shortly after the latter's conversion in 1875; Stainback later visited Forrest as he lay dying, and presided over Forrest's funeral services in 1877. During the general's eulogy, Stainback declared: "Lieutenant-General Nathan Bedford Forrest, though dead, yet speaketh. His acts have photographed themselves upon the hearts of thousands, and will speak there forever."

Masonry
Stainback also served as a Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Masons in Mississippi, and Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge in Tennessee.

Personal life
Stainback married Clara B. Grady on October 19, 1854. Following Grady's death on December 5, 1864, he wedded Mary Gibson of Columbus, Mississippi, on January 4, 1871. He had seven children.

Stainback died in 1902 in Dyersberg, Tennessee, and was buried in Columbus, Mississippi.

References

Classical scholars of the University of Mississippi
Confederate States Army chaplains
1829 births
1902 deaths
19th-century American clergy

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Threading + GUI (Tkinter) Estoy haciendo una interfaz de usuario con python, tengo por un lado la GUI realizada en Tkinter y un Main program que me devuelve los valores que voy a mostrar en dicha interfaz pero tengo un problema y es que el programa es un poco lento por lo que tome la decisión de implementar Threading, realice el programa que consta de:

*

*Thread 1: Leer sensores.

*Thread 2: Guardar valores en un documento de
texto por cada sensor.

Pero aquí viene mi pregunta, ya que no se como devolver esos valores a mi Script de la interfaz.
Anteriormente mi programa era de esta forma:
def MainProgram(direcciones):
datosSensor=[]
for i in range(len(direcciones)):
    direccion=direcciones[i]
    datos=ReadInformation.Read(direccion)
    SaveInformation.Savetxt(datos)
    datosSensor.append(datos)
return datosSensor

Simplemente llamaba esa función a mi programa del GUI, pero cuando implemento threading intente hacer un thread que me devuelva el valor pero simplemente queda y no corre mas el programa, el código siguiente es el que implemente los threads pero sin el de return datos porque no se bien como debo hacerlo.
def read_sensor(direccion):
ReadInformation.init()
while True:
    shared_memory_guard.acquire()
    for i in direcciones:
        data=ReadInformation.Read(i)
        information.append(data)
    print("Read")
    shared_memory_guard.release()

def save_sensor(datos):
while True:
    shared_memory_guard.acquire()
    print("save")
    for j in datos:
        SaveInformation.Savetxt(j)
    del information[:]
    shared_memory_guard.release()
direcciones = ScanAddress.address()
print('Creating threads')
t = threading.Thread(target=read_sensor, args=(direcciones,))
t2 = threading.Thread(target = save_sensor, args=(information,))
print('Executing read data thread')
t.start()
print('Executing file writer thread')
t2.start()

Espero que puedan ayudarme.

A: Efectivamente tienes que realizar threading para que tu interfaz no se bloquee al usar tkinter. Espero te sirva lo siguiente.
En este ejemplo (tiene un detalle con los nombres de archivos con acentos, pero funciona) se simula que se abre un archivo para desencriptar y se actualiza el progreso con una barra y mensajes. Es python 2, pero seguro sabrás adaptarlo y arreglarlo:
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

import os

import Tkinter
import ttk
import tkMessageBox
import tkFileDialog

import threading
import Queue
import subprocess

#import sys
import time

class Tareas():

    # propiedades de la ventana
    def __init__(self, parent, row, column, columnspan):
        self.parent = parent

        # tamaño de la ventana
        self.length=200
        self.value=0
        self.maximum=100
        self.interval=10

        # config de la barra de progreso
        self.barra_progreso = ttk.Progressbar(parent, orient=Tkinter.HORIZONTAL,
                                            length = self.length,
                                           mode="determinate",
                                           value=self.value,
                                           maximum=self.maximum)
        self.barra_progreso.grid(row=row, column=column,
                              columnspan=columnspan)

        # etiqueta status interfaz
        self.lbl_estado = Tkinter.Label(parent, text='STATUS:')
        self.lbl_estado.grid(row=9, column=0, padx = 20, pady = 5)

        # mensaje etiqueta estado de las tareas
        self.estado_aplicacion = Tkinter.StringVar()
        self.estado_aplicacion.set("Started, waiting for a task...")

        # etiqueta que muestra tareas
        self.lbl_info_estado = Tkinter.Label(parent, text=self.estado_aplicacion.get(), textvariable=self.estado_aplicacion)
        self.lbl_info_estado.grid(row=10, column=0, padx = 20, pady = 5)

    def extraerDatosArchivo(self):
        print 'tarea 1'

        # realiza una tarea antes de iniciar el thread
        self.estado_aplicacion.set('Seleccionando respaldo válido... (1/6)')

        tkMessageBox.showinfo('INFORMATION', 'Select file to decrypt.')

        self.archivo_respaldo = tkFileDialog.askopenfile(initialdir="/home/pagana", title="Select file", filetypes=(("All files", "*.*"), ("All files2", "*.*")) )

        print 'archivo a desencriptar: ', self.archivo_respaldo

        if self.archivo_respaldo is None or not self.archivo_respaldo:
            tkMessageBox.showerror('ERROR', 'No seleccionó nada.')
            return

        # --- reconfigurar la barra de progreso ---

        # reconfigurar la barra en 6+1 pasos
        # porque el primer paso ya fue hecho (value=1)
        self.barra_progreso.configure(maximum=7,
                                      value=1)

        # --- iniciar el threading

        # crear cola para comunicar/enviar tareas al thread
        self.queue = Queue.Queue()

        # crear el thread y enviar tarea
        self.thread = threading.Thread(target=self.my_function, args=(self.queue,))

        # iniciar thread
        self.thread.start()

        # iniciar la cola de tareas
        self.check_queue()

    def check_queue(self):
        print("checking queue")

        # revisar la cola para evitar bloque en la interfaz
        if not self.queue.empty():
            # obtener mensaje de la cola
            text = self.queue.get()
            print("get text from queue:", text)

            # cambar mensaje de status de tareas
            self.estado_aplicacion.set(text)

            # actualizar la barra de progreso
            self.barra_progreso['value'] += 1

            # revisar si es el último mensaje de las tareas
            if text == 'TASKS FINISHED':
                # detener barra progreso
                self.barra_progreso.stop()

                # mostrar mensaje tarea completada y salir
                tkMessageBox.showinfo('INFORMATION', 'Done!.')
                return None

                #si algo fallo mostrar error
            elif text == 'ERROR':
                self.barra_progreso.stop()
                tkMessageBox.showerror('INFORMATION', 'ERROR!.')
                return None

        # revisar si hay tareas por hacer cada 200ms (0.2s)
        root.after(200, self.check_queue)

    def my_function(self, queue):

        # cambiar status
        queue.put('Copiando clave privada... (2/6)')

        nombre_respaldo = self.archivo_respaldo.name
        print 'nombre respaldo: '+nombre_respaldo

        # realizar una tarea
        time.sleep(4)
        print '2'

        # cambiar status
        queue.put('Creando carpeta de trabajo... (3/6)')

        # echar otra tarea
        time.sleep(4)
        print '3'

        # uff... algo se revento
        #queue.put('ERROR')
        #return #detener las tareas

        # cambiar status
        queue.put('Creando carpeta de trabajo... (4/6)')

        # y otra tarea
        time.sleep(4)
        print '4'

        # cambiar status
        queue.put('Creando carpeta de trabajo... (5/6)')

        # ya mero...
        time.sleep(4)
        print '5'

        # cambiar status
        queue.put('Creando carpeta de trabajo... (6/6)')

        # la ultima...
        time.sleep(4)
        print '6'

        # al fin...
        queue.put('TASKS FINISHED')

class GUI(Tkinter.Frame):
    """ clase para definir la GUI"""

    def __init__(self, parent,):
        Tkinter.Frame.__init__(self, master=parent)

        # posicionamiento del boton
        tareas = Tareas(parent, row=8, column=0, columnspan=2)

        # config del boton
        btn_extraer_datos_archivo = Tkinter.Button(parent, text = 'Select file', width=24, height=2, command=tareas.extraerDatosArchivo, state='normal')
        btn_extraer_datos_archivo.grid(row=2, column=0, padx = 40, pady = 5)

# --- main ---

root = Tkinter.Tk()

root.title('Extractor de datos 1.0')
root.minsize(200, 200)
root.resizable(0,0)

herramienta = GUI(root)
root.mainloop()

Si te das cuenta la interfaz no se bloquea y puedes cerrar la aplicación sin problema (que es lo que necesitas).
Tal vez igual puedas usar pyqt o pygtk, pero desconozco si con ellos esté cubierta la parte de threading o tú debas resolverlo también.


If our church qualifies for the small employer health care tax credit, what forms do we file to claim the credit?
The church must file Form 8941 and carry the credit to Form 990-T (the Exempt Organization Business Tax Return). Even though the church does not owe any business income tax, the credit may be claimed.


In a production or customer environment it is not always possible to identify issues by looking at logs, nor is it always possible to setup remote debugging using an integrated development environment (IDE) and remote debug port. Often the issues are specific to the environment and can't be reproduced. Having byteman scripts can help in these situations to identify issues without actual code changes. Whenever certain java class or logic is invoked, byteman scripts will also be invoked as per defined class and method in the byteman script.
Enabling SSL/TLS in a Fabric is slightly more complex than securing a jetty in a standalone Karaf container. In the following article, we are providing feedback on the overall process. For clarity and simplification, the article will be divided into two parts.
For the purpose of this PoC, the following environment will be used.
Should I learn OSGi? What's the point?
Recently, I have been hearing a lot of debate around whether it is worth someone's time to learn OSGi. Doing a simple Google search on "OSGi usability" returns results filled with phrases such as "not easy to use", "unproductive", "developer burden", and "going away". However, you will also find that it solves a lot of common issues in the JVM, particularly issues around class loading. So is learning OSGi worth your time?


The supercentenarian, whose family has run a hot springs inn for four generations, was certified by Guinness World Records in April as the world's oldest living man at 112 years and 259 days.
"He didn't have any health problem. . . . He went peacefully and that's at least our consolation," she said.
The fastest-aging country in the world, Japan as of September 2018 had a centenarian population of 69,785, nearly 90% of them women, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
The world's oldest living person is also Japanese — Kane Tanaka, a 116-year-old woman from Fukuoka on the southern main island of Kyushu.


text:
FINWR Supported Programs
The Flyway Nature Store
"The Overlook" Newsletter
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Visit INWR!
Birding at INWR
Feeder Road Trail Audio Tour
Swallow Hollow Trail Audio Tour
Ways you can support
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Home Conservation What's So Special About a Refuge?
What's So Special About a Refuge?
By Dave Shepherd July 29, 2021 August 3, 2021
Photographer: Thomas Stearns
People who visit the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge very often describe it as a well-kept secret, a gem of conservation. But it isn't a park or recreation area. Neither is it a preserve or sanctuary.
It is a National Wildlife Refuge – and much of it is closed to the public for much of the year.
FINWR supports the programs and activities that go on at Iroquois NWR.
Click here to become a member!
Click here to donate!
So, when you visit the refuge these days, you will see a short notice posted. That notice reads, in pertinent part:
We would like to remind all our visitors that this is a critical time for migratory birds that are traveling hundreds or even thousands of miles to their breeding areas.
To help reduce disturbance for our migrants, or those setting up nesting areas, most of the refuge is closed to the public from March 1 through September 30.
For those wanting to enjoy a nature hike or observe wildlife from their vehicles, the refuge trails and overlooks remain open.
So why is that? And what exactly is a wildlife refuge, anyway?
The National Wildlife Refuge System is a network of public lands created by Congressional action that are dedicated to conservation. In forming the system, Congress was responding to pressure from many divergent groups to protect the natural heritage of the country from unchecked exploitation. Throughout the long and sometimes complicated evolution of the National Wildlife Refuge System, conservation was always the overarching mission of these lands. The United States Fish & Wildlife Service home page (https://www.fws.gov/refuges/about/) explains:
The mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System is to administer a national network of lands and waters for the conservation, management and, where appropriate, restoration of the fish, wildlife and plant resources and their habitats within the United States for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans.
[The National Wildlife Refuge System] protects some of the country's most iconic ecosystems and the fish and wildlife that rely on them … . The Refuge System also conserves waterways that give life to all of them – critical ecosystems along rivers, streams, wetlands, coasts and marine areas.
Wildlife conservation drives everything on national wildlife refuges, from the purposes for which each refuge was established, to the recreational activities offered, to the resource management tools used. …
Each refuge is established to serve a statutory purpose that, with a few exceptions, targets the conservation of native species dependent on its lands and waters. All activities on these acres are reviewed for compatibility with this statutory purpose.
The National Wildlife Refuge System has a complex history, and multiple Congressional statutes were part of the System's evolution from the beginning of the 20th Century until today. Of the many statutes that contributed to its development, three stand out as being the foundation for the National Wildlife Refuge System as it currently exists: The Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 1929, authorized the purchase or rental of lands suitable "…for use as an inviolate sanctuary, or any other management purposes, for migratory birds". Iroquois' establishment in 1958 was under this authority. Congress eventually formalized the National Wildlife Refuge System in 1966 under the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act, which was the first statute to treat the various Federally established wildlife refuges as a comprehensive system. In 1997, Congress amended the 1966 act with the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act. This Act does several things. First, it provides a clear mission for the refuges. Second, it identifies wildlife-dependent recreational uses that will be given priority consideration. These include hunting, recreational fishing, wildlife observation, wildlife photography, environmental education, and interpretation. Any use, though, must not interfere with the refuge's purpose or public safety. Refuge managers have discretion to suspend or cancel these uses if they find they are interfering with the conservation mission. Finally, the 1997 Act also clarifies the process for determining the compatibility of refuge uses and mandates a long-term refuge planning process, including comprehensive conservation plans, for all refuges. For further reading, a historical time line of pertinent legislation is available at https://www.fws.gov/refuges/history/historical-timeline.html, and a short discussion of the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act is available at https://www.fws.gov/refuges/policiesandbudget/hr1420_index.html
Over the last century, the National Wildlife Refuges have been a real conservation success story, and Iroquois is no exception. Iroquois completed its comprehensive conservation plan in 2011, to be reviewed and reissued in 2025. The plan is available at https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Iroquois/what_we_do/finalccp.html. For the patient watcher, Iroquois is a marvelous place to observe wildlife engaging in daily routines free of interference; for the hunter and fisherman, it's an opportunity to enjoy those pursuits in natural surroundings. It's widely touted as a paradise for birders: the Iroquois Observations Facebook Group features daily professional-grade photographs taken by dedicated photographers and bird watchers that showcase the diversity and richness of the habitats here. Also, Iroquois is special in that it has substantial state wildlife management lands on either side of it. Combined, these tracts comprise almost 19,000 acres, the largest contiguous conservation area in Western New York and one of the most productive in the Eastern United States.
We, as the visitors who benefit from the refuge's conservation successes, have our part to play as well. It is public land, but we share in the responsibility for keeping it and advancing its purpose. We can do that if we follow some simple rules:
Stay on the trails. Granted, there are large areas of any wildlife refuge that are restricted from public access over much of the year. There's a good reason for that. Areas that are marked as being restricted are so marked to allow for breeding, feeding, and sheltering of the plants and animals that make their homes here. Allowing unrestricted access would disturb one or more of these functions, and might well drive some of these species away. Typically, wildlife refuges have trails and overlooks from which one can observe and enjoy the land and its wildlife, and Iroquois has some of the best in Western New York.
Pack out our trash. Basic hiking etiquette requires that we 'carry in, carry out' so that we 'leave no trace.' One presumes that visitors would employ this practice as a courtesy to the staff and to other visitors, but that doesn't always happen. Aside from that, however, there are also some very strong practical reasons for picking up after ourselves: Cans, bottles, and sixpack holders can be traps; waste oil, antifreeze, suntan lotion, and other chemical products can poison the residents; cigarette butts, leftover picnic scraps, used baby diapers, plastic wrappers, and other trash can injure, sicken, or otherwise degrade both the habitat and creatures in it; some foods that are perfectly fine for us can be deadly to other creatures, and even if not, would train these creatures that humans are a food source. What makes Iroquois such a magical place is mostly the undisturbed habitats that exist here, and the richness of the ecosystems that use them. So, remember – every litter bit hurts! When you hike the trails, practice 'carry in, carry out'. Subsequent visitors will appreciate the courtesy.
Police our pets. Pets are not part of the natural community. Dogs enjoy the refuge as we do – a new place, full of wonderful creatures and exciting smells – and given the opportunity, will explore the trail and areas around the trail very enthusiastically, scaring up and chasing any of the local residents who happen to be in the way. Indeed, an experienced tracker can tell very quickly which is the fox or coyote and which is the family retriever. And unless we clean up after them, they will create a mess on the trails which detracts from the experience other visitors have – if the primary thing the kindergarten class remembers is the dog poop on the trails, that doesn't contribute to the conservation mission. So when walking the trails, please keep your pet on a leash, and clean up after it.
Observe all trail restrictions. The refuge imposes some specific restrictions on some of our trails and activities to prevent their use from becoming a nuisance and interfering in the conservation mission. For example:
The Mohawk Ski Trail, a seven mile trek through several discrete habitats around the Mohawk pool, is only open during the winter season when there's snow on the ground – during other seasons, the plant and animal communities along the trail are much more active. Deer often hide their fawns in the grass and brush lands, birds nest in the wooded areas adjacent to them, marshes are home to various waterfowl. All of that would be subject to continual disruption if the refuge were to permit hiking along that trail during the off season.
Bicycling. For all but one of our trails, the refuge does not allow bicycling or other vehicular traffic, motorized or not. Any vehicle traffic will disturb wildlife living or feeding along the trail, and in time will degrade the trail itself – most are not suitable for bicycling: the land is soft and marshy much of the year, and vehicles of any sort would tear the paths up. Feeder Road has a roadbed that is suitable for bicycling and as such, bicycling is allowed on that trail from Rte 77 to Dunlop Road.
Water trails. Parts of Oak Orchard Creek are open to canoeing and kayaking, but west of Rte 63, the refuge prohibits boat traffic. This is to provide an undisturbed habitat for the waterfowl and other creatures that make up the marsh and wetlands communities.
Special Use Permits. There are several recreational uses that require prior coordination with the refuge staff. These include trapping, handicapped-accessible hunting, off-trail photography, and educational programs. Proposals must be submitted by the applicant and must be reviewed and approved by refuge staff prior to the activity actually taking place. As with any other use, these special uses must be consistent with the refuge's purpose, and are subject to suspension or cancellation by the refuge manager.
None of this is to suggest that the refuge is completely off-limits, as a preserve or sanctuary might be. The conservation mission includes recreational and educational uses, so walk the trails, watch and listen for the residents, and increase your knowledge and enjoyment of the fish and wildlife and their habitats. But help out the staff and the volunteers there, and help protect the refuge's wildlife.
Please leave no trace, keep your dog on a leash, and be sure you know where you may go and when you may go there.
Purple Martin Colonies at Iroquois NWR
Petty about Rain
Support Our Refuge
Friends of Iroquois NWR
Juncos are Extraordinary Birds
New Trail Signage for Feeder Road & Swallow Hollow
Wildlife Refuge or Wildlife Preserve?
Which Swan is Which?
Playing Possum is Serious Business
FINWR
The Friends of Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, Inc. (FINWR) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to increasing public awareness of the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge and to helping the community understand its mission and goals.
1101 Casey Road
Basom, New York 14013
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Storm Crossed Book Spotlight & a Kindle Fire Giveaway
By Angela Thompson on 1/17/2018 04:27:00 AM
This morning, in our book spotlight, we are featuring the latest book in Dani Harper's The Grim Series. Check out Storm Crossed, learn about the author and enter for a chance to win a Kindle Fire HD in the book tour giveaway at the end of this post!
Storm Crossed
Grim Series
Dani Harper
Publisher: Montlake Romance
The latest stand-alone novel in Dani Harper's Grim Series will delight old and new fans alike, transporting them to the ancient fae realm beneath the modern human world, where magic rules and menace abounds . . .
Heir to a noble fae house, Trahern is forced to watch helplessly as his twin brother is cruelly changed into a grim—a death dog—as punishment for falling in love with the wrong person. Trahern doesn't believe love exists, but he will do anything to keep his brother alive—even join the Wild Hunt and ride the night skies of the human world.
Lissy Santiago-Callahan believes in love but has no time for it. She's busy juggling her career as an academic and her home life as a single mom to a young son with Asperger's. Her hectic life in sleepy Eastern Washington is made even more chaotic with the sudden arrival of a demanding fae and his unusual "dog."
Mortal and immortal have nothing in common, and the attraction between Lissy and Trahern surprises them both. But when their desire places Lissy and her child in the path of a deadly faery feud, will the connection last, or will their separate worlds prove too great a divide?
Read an Excerpt from Storm Crossed
"So tell me, did watching Tiger Ninja yesterday help?"
Trahern's mouth quirked. The strange and colorful little story was undeniably Fox's favorite. "It provided me with some language I could use, yes."
"That explains a lot. I didn't think deadly mega-force bombs was in your everyday vocabulary."
He kissed her before she could laugh at him. Lissy pulled away and laughed anyway.
"I have things to do. Are you coming in for lunch?"
"I believe I will remain here for a time and contemplate possible strategies for the next lesson. And I must inform the ants they are free to leave their nest now."
"I told them it was raining."
She kissed his forehead and headed to the house. Sunlight brightened her long dark curls, and she was always pleasing to gaze upon, but he found himself thinking of another Lissy, the one revealed by firelight. Glints of gold were unveiled in her hair and eyes, and the flames' glow warmed her naked skin to honeyed mead. His body stirred anew at the very thought, and he sighed aloud. The first time they had come together as lovers, he'd been undone by the unexpected tenderness, the way she generously gave of herself. Hers was not the artful stroke or the trained caress traded for the same. Instead, she seemed to put her entire self into the act, withholding nothing—wholly, gloriously present.
And she laughs often. At him, at herself. No mockery, only delight. Only the purest enjoyment of the moment. He'd never known such a thing, never imagined such a thing. Trahern fingered the scar across his throat. Imperfections were something to be shunned in the Court, yet Lissy had kissed it during their first night together and several times since, without reservation. He felt accepted—
He felt.
For no good reason, Trahern looked at his hands, as if they might belong to someone else, as if he were someone else. Perhaps he was. Had he not changed, slowly but surely, ever since Lissy Santiago-Callahan had confronted him at Palouse Falls?
Perhaps his brother had been right all along. Perhaps love did exist. But surely he had not succumbed to it. Indeed, he was still very certain he could not love. Lissy believed that he did, but his feelings for old Heddwen were no more than fondness. Not love. And although he wanted no other woman but Lissy, it was simply affection, was it not? Braith had paid a heavy price for his love of Saffir. If Trahern also yielded to love's siren call, disaster would surely follow. Love leads to ruin. Who would watch over Braith then? Teach Fox?
Worst of all, what would happen to Lissy?
He'd revealed his past to her with a touch. He hadn't told her that the veil over her own past had been drawn back as well. The grief she'd experienced over the sudden death of Matt Lovell had been wild, soul-scorching, and raw.
If we continue on this present path, will I cause her heart to sunder anew?
Legend, lore, love, and magic. These are the hallmarks of Dani Harper's transformational tales of faeries, shapeshifters, ghosts, and more, for a mature audience.
A former newspaper editor, Dani's passion for all things supernatural led her to a second career writing fiction. There isn't anything she likes better than exploring myths and legends from many cultures, which serve to inspire her sizzling and suspenseful stories.
A longtime resident of the Canadian north and southeastern Alaska, she now lives in rural Washington with her retired mountain-man husband. Together they do battle with runaway garden gnomes, rampant fruit trees, and a roving herd of predatory chickens.
Dani Harper is the author of Storm Crossed, Storm Warned, Storm Bound, Storm Warrior (the Grim Series), as well as First Bite (Dark Wolf), for Montlake Romance. She is also the author of a Yuletide ghost story, The Holiday Spirit, plus a popular shapeshifter series, which includes Changeling Moon, Changeling Dream, and Changeling Dawn.
For more, visit her website at http://www.daniharper.com
Amazon Author Page - https://www.amazon.com/Dani-Harper/e/B004FD8RV2
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Dani.Harper.Fan.Page/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/Dani_Harper or @Dani_Harper
Books Entertainment Fantasy Paranormal Romance
James Robert January 17, 2018 at 5:13 AM
Congrats and best of luck on your awesome new release.
Dani Harper, AUTHOR January 17, 2018 at 2:07 PM
Thank you very much, James! :)
Gina Marie January 17, 2018 at 6:11 AM
Where is your favorite place that you have lived?
That's a tough one. I miss the Peace River country of northern Canada, but I came to love the grandeur of Alaska - both land and sea.
Jana Leah B January 17, 2018 at 6:41 PM
How many gnomes do you have?
Dani Harper, AUTHOR January 17, 2018 at 10:46 PM
It all started with one... My mom gave me a gnome and I put it in the garden. I think he sent out invitations, because suddenly there were three. Then six. Then... Well, you get the idea. At the moment, I THINK there are 32. But I haven't counted lately. There might be more!
Heather Fuller January 17, 2018 at 6:56 PM
Many of your characters have skill and abilitys, some magical some not. If you could have one of these abilities, which would it be?
Part of me would like to be a member of the Wild Hunt, like Hyleath, and ride a fae horse unseen on the wind. The other part of me admires Lissy's geological expertise. I would sincerely like to study that field.
Thank you to Angela and the Mama's Corner family for inviting me to their blog today. I signed up for the newsletter so I'll definitely be back to see what's new here! :)
Carol L. January 18, 2018 at 9:09 PM
I love this series. I'm enjoying the excerpts on the tour and look forward to reading Storm Crossed.
Carol Luciano
Lucky4750 at aol dot com
Jana Leah B February 8, 2018 at 6:29 PM
Do you have a set schedule for your writing or do you just write whenever you have a free moment?