text:
Trade deal with Japan critical to U.S. dairy industry
U.S. risks losing $5.4 billion in dairy export business without swift action to deliver a strong trade agreement with one of the world's largest dairy buyers.
Japan is the largest cheese importer in the world and a significant buyer of whey, lactose and other dairy products. Forecasts suggest Japanese dairy imports will continue to grow in the years ahead due to rising consumption and constraints on the nation's domestic dairy farming sector.
However, the United States' ability to win a larger share of that export demand or even maintain its current level of dairy business with Japan is in jeopardy due to recent Japanese trade agreements with U.S. Dairy export competitors. Through preferential market access provisions in the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the European Union, New Zealand and Australia have gained a significant market access advantage.
Without a strong U.S.-Japan free trade agreement, USDEC estimates competitors could win half of existing U.S. export business in Japan, with lost sales mounting to a total of $5.4 billion when the EU-Japan deal and CPTPP are fully phased in.
"There is no question that the U.S. dairy industry can compete in the Japanese market," says John Wilson, senior vice president and chief fluid marketing officer at Dairy Farmers of America (DFA). But "to maximize opportunities there, we need a trade deal that at least puts us on a level playing field with competitors like Australia, New Zealand and the EU. We're hopeful that a strong U.S.-Japan free trade agreement can be negotiated soon and think it's critical for the continued growth and success of the U.S. dairy economy."
In an effort organized by USDEC and the National Milk Producers Federation, DFA and 69 other dairy companies, farmer-owned cooperatives and associations, sent a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture asking the U.S. government to capitalize on the recent conclusion of Japanese national elections and quickly finalize a strong trade deal with Japan that secures critical market access for the U.S. dairy industry. USDEC also sent out a news release on that letter.
What people are saying about the need for a trade deal with Japan
"Today Darigold supplies over 50% of the US American-style cheese exports to Japan. Those sales will soon be lost as competitor trade deals take effect."
--Stan Ryan, Darigold president and CEO
"Japan has been a very important market for Leprino Foods Company's US-produced products for years. We invested heavily in developing lactose and whey protein exports several decades ago and, more recently, mozzarella exports into this important market and believe that the market has significant further growth potential. We risk losing these sales and growth opportunities to competitors who recently finalized preferential trade agreements unless the US negotiates a strong agreement. We are very supportive of the administration's efforts to secure an agreement that allows us to retain and grow this important market."
--Sue Taylor, vice president of dairy policy and procurement for Leprino Foods Company
"Japan is an important market for Glanbia Nutritionals, where we have the opportunity to grow our dairy exports. We are at an important juncture where our competitors have secure preferential trading terms that are impacting US dairy ambitions. To ensure we can deliver on the opportunity in Japan, we need our trade negotiators to quickly finalize a trade agreement that secures access for American dairy products and ample room to grow."
--Wilf Costello, chief commercial officer for global cheese with Glanbia Nutritionals
"For our next generation of dairy farmers, it's critical that we continue to create growth opportunities, particularly in important dairy markets like Japan. Free trade matters for farm families in the Pacific Northwest."
--Leroy Plagerman, Darigold board chairman and dairy farmer in Washington state
"There is no question that the U.S. dairy industry can compete in the Japanese market. To maximize opportunities there, we need a trade deal that at least puts us on a level playing field with competitors like Australia, New Zealand and the EU. We're hopeful that a strong US-Japan free trade agreement can be negotiated soon and think it's critical for the continued growth and success of the U.S. dairy economy."
--John Wilson, senior vice president and chief fluid marketing officer at Dairy Farmers of America
U.S. Could Triple Cheese Exports to Japan with New Trade Agreement
Charts Show Projected Impact of New Japanese Trade Agreements on U.S. Dairy Exports
Trade Policy Japan Free trade agreements

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The new VersaPlate gives users of the ability to easily mount battery packs, wireless mic brackets and many other accessories just about anywhere on your rig. Mounting hole patterns are repeated on both sides allowing mounting of a battery plate on one side and a wireless receiver holder on the other. The mounting hole patterns are clearly marked for each brand so you don't have to mess around trying to find the correct holes. Side holes are provided for adding the BEC-ABSPU Side Plate. The VersaPlate can be mounted vertically, horizontally, on it's side or even angled using our Cross Camp.
The plate can be attached directly to our shoulder pad making a convenient counterweight out of your accessories. The plate can be purchased with or without one of our Ultra-light 60mm rail blocks with counter-bored mounting (part #RB-60-UL-CB) This rail block allows mounting from any side or face. The plate measures 5.5" x 3.1" x 1/2" and weighs just 8 ounces.
A hardware kit is provided with mounting screws for IDX, Anton Bauer and BEC accessories as well as screws for mounting our accessories. A pair of 1 inch long stand-offs are included for extra clearance when mounting the BEC side plate allowing additional clearance for battery pack cables. In addition to all of the mounting holes for the accessories listed above, the plate has four 3/8-16, eight 1/4-20 and sixteen 10-32 tapped holes for mounting most of our accessory components and items you may already have. This plate has a lot of holes but is still very easy to configure.
For something as commonly needed as a cheese plate to mount Gold and V Mount Plates on, it is hard to find a good one. This is the best one by a long shot. Light, has all the screw taps you can need.
VERSA PLATE FOR IDX, ANTON BAUER & BEC GROUP ACC.


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text:
W.W. Cross Company
May 5, 2013 Charles Williams
The W.W. Cross Company was founded in Brockton, Mass in 1869. It flourished there well past the turn of the century, playing a vital roll in the burgeoning shoe industry which was so central to the New England economy through those years. It is the story of two W.W.s and two towns, Brockton, Mass and Jaffrey, NH.
Brockton must have been an exciting place to live one hundred and fifty years ago, when William W. Cross was founding the company which bore his name throughout it's history.
Brockton was a small New England town on the move. North Bridgewater, as it was called then, was very soon to become the fastest growing city in Massachusetts and the shoe capital of the world.
And 36 year old William W. Cross was one of the adventurous businessmen who was its driving force.
The tack factory was but one of his endeavors. He became vice president of the Brockton National Bank. He was a founder, the first president and the largest individual stockholder of the Brockton Street Railway Company. He went from business and banking into real estate, developing his own land to create housing for the fast growing city. And he was general manager of the Brockton City Theater.
A native of Brockton, born in 1833, he moved to Palmer, Massachusetts, as a young man and ran a dry goods business there for 14 years before going home to put his roots down once again in Brockton.
He bought a going business in 1869. That was the year the transcontinental railroad was connected by driving a golden spike at Promontory, Utah, to mark the junction of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads. It was one year after President Andrew Johnson was acquitted in, at that time, the nation's one and only impeachment trial. It was two years before Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over a lantern and started the fire that destroyed the heart of Chicago.
The going business which W.W. Cross bought in 1869 already had a history, and an early account of Brockton recounts it as follows. " About the year 1790," the history recounts, "Benjamin Silvester built a mill on the Salisbury River, near the residence of Galen Packard, for a fulling mill. He sold his interest to his brother, Seth Silvester, who was succeeded by John Wales, who established a carding mill.
" Mr. Ephraim Cole bought the privilege of Mr. Wales and continued until 1825, when he sold out to Galen Packard, who soon commenced manufacturing ship spikes, nails, and all kinds of ship work, using a trip hammer."
Brockton had yet to take its place as the shoe capital, you see, so tacks go back even farther in the W.W. Cross background than does the shoe industry.
Packard's nails went into the ships which sailed from New England all over the world.
"Mr. Packard sold out to Jefferson Bisbee," the old history continues, "who came from Canton, Mass., and began to manufacture hay and manure forks. Benjamin F. Wheeler afterward purchased the works and manufactured small nails, tacks, shoe nails, and carpet tacks. Benjamin Franklin Kingman succeeded Mr. Wheeler, since which time William W. Cross has enlarged the works and is doing a successful business."
W.W. Cross, at the age of 36, with fourteen years experience in dry goods, obviously had vision. He must have seen what shoes were going to do for Brockton. and Benjamin Wheeler's modest beginning obviously made it clear that a city couldn't make shoes without tacks.
The Brockton Souvenir, a promotional piece published around 1900, touches briefly on what William Cross did with Benjamin Wheeler's fledging enterprise. " When Cross became proprietor of the business, in 1869, the factory building was only 60 feet in length and but 13 machines were operated. since that time two 30 foot extensions have been added to the building, making it 120 feet long, and other machines have been added until now there are 52 machines in operation, and the factory is run to its fullest capacity every working day of the year. the latest improved machinery is used, and twenty-five hands are employed."
It was about this time that steam power came to Brockton, as it came to New England and to the world. The first Cross factory was built on a natural site, where water power was available, but water power had its limitations.
The official City History of Brockton, a thick book, recalls that an early sawmill on the site was driven by water. " We should judge this mill was of small power," the official history qualifies, "As it was related of a man who was passing the works on his way from Bridgewater to Boston ( a journey of two or three days) as he passed, the saw was going up and when he returned , it was just coming down. " the steam engine speeded things up considerably.
In 1878, Mr. Cross took his son, Mr. W.B. Cross, into the firm," according to the Brockton Souvenir. " The younger Mr. Cross now devotes his entire time to the business of the concern, the elder Mr. Cross being thus enabled to give his attention to his other large financial and business interests."
The company had broadened its line substantially by 1900. "The product of the factory consists of extra-quality shoe, carriage, carpet, card, brush, lace and gimp tacks; Swedes, charcoal and American iron shoe nails, cigar-box and Hungarian and /channel nails; also improved patent brads.
"The firm has perfected machinery for making patent insulating saddle staples, for electrical wiring. These staples are patented in America and Europe, and have just been placed on the market. "
W.W. Cross's ingenuity made it possible to succeed, Brockton's success made it possible to flourish.
The city multiplied in a manner that has seldom been matched since. In 1865, the now prosperous city of Brockton was a quiet, country village, known as North Bridgewater, with a population of a little over 6000 people. Five years latter, in 1870, it had increased to 8007; in 1875 to 10,578; in 1880, to 13,608; in 1885, to 20,783 and in 1890, to 27,294. By this showing, it can be seen that the population increased 100 percent between the years 1880 and 1890. the city was valued at $6,876,427 in 1881. It had exploded to $17,495,602 in 1890 and again, to $31,895,728 in 1904.
It was only one of three cities in Massachusetts producing more then $5,000,000 a year in manufactured goods in 1904. The other two were Haverhill and Lynn, both shoe cities.
The high water mark in the shoe industry came in 1901, when 629,413 cases of shoes were made and shipped.
With all these powerful forces acting to shape the destiny of W.W. Cross, it was a simpler one, a commoner one, that ultimately, made itself felt.
The official City History of Brockton devotes an entire chapter to fire, that elemental force. Fires in Brockton are listed by dates. And three simple entries in that chapter are of significance to the Cross Company.
"1866, October 10. the shoe tool manufactory belonging to Wilbur Webster of Salisbury Heights destroyed by fire."
"1973, April 23. Fire at the tack factory of William B. Cross, Esq. on Pleasant Street. Loss small. "
"1893, July 17. Fire in the tack factory owned and occupied by Williams W. Cross of Pleasant Street. Loss $16,767.76."
Wilbur Webster, whose "manufactory" was destroyed by fire three years before W.W. Cross founded his firm, pulled up stakes in Brockton not many years later and moved to Jaffrey, NH.
Cross's firm, which later suffered such a heavy loss in 1893, was eventually to follow.
The firm absorbed, over the years, tack factories in Braintree, Dighton, Kingston, Raynham, Rockland, South Hanover and Worcester, Massachusetts; in St. Louis, Missouri and Chicago, Illinois.
Now it is time to turn to the other tackmaking W.W. whose lifeline intertwines with William W. Cross'
Wilbur Webster was born in Appleton, Maine, on September 19, 1839. He had ancestors in common with the great Daniel Webster, and he was of New Hampshire stock, but he was the first of his line to live in Jaffrey.
He went from Maine to Cuba, where he was an engineer in charge of production at a sugar mill. He was still a young man when he returned to his homeland and, coincidently, to Brockton, then North Bridgewater, Mass.
He, too, founded a manufacturing firm in Brockton in the 1860's, but it had nothing to do with tacks.
The history books do not say, so far as we've been able to determine, whether the two WW's knew each other in the vibrant town of North Bridgewater where they were both young men. It was a small town, though, and both men were ambitious, so they must have been acquainted.
W.W. Cross was six years the older. He was born in Brockton. But, he may have been living in Palmer, Mass., when Wilbur Webster returned from Cuba to settle down for a few years in Brockton. Cross ran a dry goods business in Palmer until he sold it and bought a going tack factory in 1869, at which time Webster had already set himself up in business.
Wilbur Webster's first company made cutlery for the shoe industry, and his first factory was destroyed by fire on October 10, 1866, when Cross was still in Palmer. He rebuilt, apparently, because he kept at the cutlery trade. And in 1873 he moved his company to Jaffrey, New Hampshire.
It was not until the year 1897 that tacks were first made in Jaffrey. Webster sold his cutlery works to the C.J. Kimball Company of Bennington in 1894, and together with a skilled mechanic named Chester M. Jackson went to work on the fine points of the product to which W.W. Cross had turned 25 years before.
He founded the Granite State Tack Company in his former cutlery mill on an early industrial site. More recently, we have known the site as the Charles LeTourneau woodworking plant, but it had been the old Foster Fulling Mill and latter became the sawmill of August St. Pierre. And thus, another "coincidence". W.W. Cross's original factory in Brockton also stood on what had once been the site of an early fulling mill.
Wilbur Webster's older brother, William T. Webster, who had come here with him in 1873 and had been associated in the cutlery works, died on April 7, 1895, as the result of injuries received apparently during the plants transition from cutlery to tacks. He was known, too, as an expert mechanic and a fine workman, and his hobby was making violins.
The Granite State Tack Company prospered and eventually its leading customer became the United Shoe Machinery Corporation of Boston, Mass, which played such a significant role in the growth of Brockton, and which eventually acquired the firm which had been founded by W.W. Cross.
The original Jaffrey tack factory, at the corner of Cross Street and Old Peterborough Road was destroyed by fire on July 20, 1915, and that was the turning point.
Granite State had been successful. Jaffrey people had built up a substantial know how in the making of tacks. Obviously the company should be continued. United Shoe Machinery considered acquiring it and moving it down to the shoe region around Brockton, but, the roots were deep in Jaffrey.
It was at this point that Jaffrey people first counted their blessings and saw fully what the tack industry meant to the town. They pooled their resources, built a plant of concrete with 21,000 square feet of manufacturing space, a capacity for 80 machines, and offered a ten year tax incentive.
It was enough to turn the tide. The company stayed. The plant was ready to produce tacks again in 1916, with the latest electrically driven machines. The new tack factory was immediately successful, the local investment being returned in three years.
United Shoe Machinery Corporation bought the Granite State Tack Company in 1920, and in 1932 brought the W.W. Cross Company, in its entirety, to Jaffrey from Brockton.
Wilbur Webster's career as a tackmaker was short lived. He died in July of 1905, ten years after his older brother and eight years after Granite State began producing tacks.
His widow, the former Elizabeth Hamilton, a native of Brockton, lived here until the new factory was built and operational. she died in Jaffrey in April of 1916, a month before her granddaughter was born.
When Wilbur Webster retired in 1903 his son, Wilbur E. Webster took the helm.
It was their son, Wilbur E. (born in Jaffrey four years after his parents, his mother then 23, moved to Jaffrey) who nurtured the firm, guided it through the formative years to maturity.
In 1957 USM Corporation was being dismantled by the United States Justice Department for having a monopoly.
This turned out to be the undoing of the American Shoe Industry and the many allied industries that supported it. Without the vast research investment of United Shoe Machinery Corporation it wasn't long before the North American shoe industry fell behind other countries.
As part of the court mandated solution, USM sold the W.W. Cross Co., J.C. Rhodes Co and a shoemaking supply business to the Plymouth Cordage Company of Plymouth, MA. The companies were operated as a division of the Plymouth Cordage Co. known as Plymouth Cordage Industries or more commonly, PCI.
From a series of articles written by Richard Noyes for the The Monadnock Ledger on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the W.W. Cross Company, a Division of Plymouth Cordage Industries.
Historical information from John Morton, former Plant Manager of W.W. Cross Co. and Charles Williams, Vice President Sales and Marketing - Footwear Products, PCI
Edited by Charles Williams
← J.C. Rhodes CompanyPerkins' Tack Making Machinery →


You want to map database column and table names to the names expected by your code for the DataSet.
Create ColumnMapping objects for each column and DataTableMapping objects for each table, and assign them to the DataAdapter.TableMappings collection.
The DataAdapter provides a layer of indirection between the data source and the DataSet. Using the DataAdapter, you can configure table and column mappings so that code remains unchanged when the data source changes (or vice versa).


Reinhart studied Applied Graphics at the Sint Lukas institute in Brussels. He debuted with cartoons in the national press and worked as a graphic artist for different media. Then he switched to being a self-employed illustrator.
Through many commissions, Reinhart developed a geometric signature style reminiscent of European clear line masters like Mariscal and Ever Meulen. He finally moulded it into a full-fledged comic strip in 2007, with the first episode in the whodunit series Just: The Butterfly Net.
In his second series, Hunker Bunker, Reinhart narrates the humoristic and recognisable adventures of a little family living in a pink bunker. It instantly appealed to a wide public and now appears in several Flemish magazines. Bries published two compilations to date.


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You will find that there is a high number of people who are not sure about the use of the product as they think that it will lead to the plants being shocked. The one thing that you should put in mind is that this is not something that is true. When you use the pipe you will get that the water you will be hosing is safe for the plants and at the same time it will help in the melting of the snow.
The other thing that you should note is that the heating element is a thermostatically controlled and this means that it is possible for it to be able to turn on and off at a given temperature range. One of the things that you should put in mind is that you can leave the product plugged on so that it can be ready when you need to use it.
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Sacha Baron Cohen has offered to pay the fines of the six stag revellers who were arrested in Kazakhstan for wearing 'Borat'-inspired mankinis out in public.
The 46-year-old actor - who made the skimpy male swimsuit famous when he wore it to play his character Borat, a fictional Kazakh TV presenter, in the mockumentary film of the same name in 2006 - has agreed to fork out over £300 for the Czech tourists who were detained after they posed for a photo in their ''indecent'' attires.
The hit movie, 'Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan', was banned in Kazakhstan after authorities accused it of portraying the country as primitive and racist.
However, the foreign minister later thanked the comedian for boosting tourism as they've seen a rise in visa applications ever since it was released in 2006.
Sacha previously stated he will never again portray the controversial alter ego again because he fears for the safety of himself and his family - wife Isla Fisher, 39, and three children, daughters Olive, 10, and Elula, seven and son Montgomery, two - as he made his films and TV shows on the premise they he was a real person and his madcap antics can have seriously dangerous consequences.


I sat hunched over in the back seat, my arms folded across my chest. I promised myself I wasn't going to talk to Ronnie Wolf, but I couldn't avoid hearing him. His voice was loud and wild-sounding, and I couldn't tell if he was yelling to be heard over the wind roaring through his window, or to show me he wasn't embarrassed about getting us sent to the principal's office after cheating off my Civics exam.
Ronnie yelled about how glad he was that Coach Payne couldn't fit us into the school van. Then he yelled that his dad's vintage Buick was much better than the tin cans made today. My brother, Andrew, kept asking about the Buick's maintenance, and Ronnie kept screaming the answers. Andrew had gotten his driver's license four months ago, but I wouldn't get mine until next year.
When the air circled my head like an arctic blast, I shoved my fists into my armpits to keep them warm. It was too cold for spring sports to be starting, but that's where we were going—to a night game in Augusta. The All Saints team, on which my brother and Ronnie played, was pitted against the Augusta Devils, and I'd been roped into going because the boys' sports reporter had mono, and Father Ryan, the faculty sponsor, said I had to be there if I wanted to continue as editor.
"Hey Ronnie, how about closing the window?" Andrew said, seconds after I realized my lower jaw was frozen into place.
"Sure, Gov," Ronnie said, closing his window.
Andrew was the most popular kid at All Saints, and all the guys looked up to him. Having a popular brother made things interesting for me. I'm not exactly a great beauty—for one thing, I've got red hair, and for another, I've got a little limp. Anyway, it goes without saying that I wasn't in Andrew's inner circle. Because of him, though, I wasn't in the basement either.
There were three groups at All Saints: the Elite, the Middle, and the Bottom. My friend Olivia and I were in the bottom of the Middle, which meant that no matter what, we couldn't reach the top. The truth is, we were in constant danger of moving down. In January, when I wrote an editorial telling how much more money was spent on boys' sports than on girls', I was definitely in the basement. Next month Olivia, who's half-Japanese, gave a Buddhist chant during religion class, and people actually stepped out of her way in the halls.
"Whoa!" Andrew yelled, when Ronnie turned onto the turnpike so fast the brakes squealed.
"Just got carried away in this baby," Ronnie said. "It's real loose. A bit like a loose woman, I guess you might say."
Andrew's neck turned beet-color, but Mr. Popularity didn't say a word. A lot of the guys had begun talking dirty during the past year.
"Yup," Ronnie continued, "Feels good pushing it."
"Take it easy," Andrew said. "Keep your mind on driving."
"I wouldn't mind giving that Olivia a few good pushes. She walks around school with that yellow nose stuck up in the air."
"Shut up, you idiot!" The words burst out of my mouth with such force I couldn't have held them back if I'd bitten off the inside of my cheeks. The boys didn't even move.
I looked out the window to the line of apartments. We were climbing the six lane highway, heading up to Reservation Road. "You don't like hearing about your girlfriend, Margaret?" Ronnie said, his voice sing-songing. "What are you two up to all the time, walking around like Siamese twins? You sure it's all just normal girly stuff?"
"Hey, Gov, I know she's your sister, but she's not exactly an all-around normal girl."
"What's gotten into you, Ronnie?" Andrew asked, turning to me with raised eyebrows, as if he was the most surprised kid at All Saints to learn what a jerk Ronnie Wolf was.
"Just relaxing," Ronnie said, "with help from my friend here." He reached under the seat and held up a half-empty fifth of vodka.
I slapped the back of Andrew's seat, but he was already telling Ronnie that he couldn't drive. "I'll take over, just pull up there by that convenience store."
"I'm fine," Ronnie said. We were in the far left lane and cars were passing on the right.
"Forget the convenience store," Andrew said, after we sailed past it. He was straining his neck to see when we could move to the slower lanes. "Just put the signal on to let them know you want to get over."
"I'm okay, don't worry," Ronnie said, accelerating. He moved the car even closer to the center median, where three lanes of traffic headed toward us.
"Just get the signal on and give me the bottle."
"No way!" Ronnie said, jerking the bottle, and with it, the steering wheel. To correct for heading too far to the left, he moved the car to the middle lane.
"Okay, no problem," Andrew said, over the squeal of brakes from the car we'd cut off. "That's good, Ronnie. Now ease yourself over. We got that light up there where we need to turn anyway."
Ronnie jammed his foot on the brake but we were still a good distance from the light at Reservation Road. Instead of just letting the car slow itself so we'd creep to the light, he accelerated again.
"Slow down!" Andrew yelled. "Now!"
Ronnie hit the brake. Luckily, the car to the right decided to continue through the yellow light, so when he began making the turn, he didn't ram into anyone.
"That's it. Pull the car over," Andrew said, "I'm driving."
A grove of baby pines grew on either side of Reservation Road, and it was getting dark. Posts with reflector lights stood every eighth of a mile, marking the curves. I held my hands over my mouth while Ronnie continued weaving from one side of the two-lane road to the other. In some corner of my brain, I told myself Andrew would do something to save us, but short of reaching over and pulling the wheel, I didn't know what he could do.
After Ronnie managed to roll down the window and lean his upper body against the door, Andrew slid to the center of the seat. "It's all right," he said, his voice soft. "There's hardly any traffic here. Slow down. I want to drive." Just then, Ronnie pitched the empty bottle out the window. For an instant the sound of shattering glass made me think we'd been hit from the back. "Okay, take it easy," Andrew said.
Ronnie moved the car back to the right. Then he eased the brake pedal down and brought the car to a stop. "I got to piss," he said. When he got out, Andrew slid into the driver's seat.
"Let's leave him," I said.
"We can't. But he's not getting behind the wheel again. I promise you that. There's nowhere to turn around up here. I'll have to go on to the deer paddock to turn. We'll take him home, then call the coach and tell him we can't make it. We'll think of something."
"Okay," I said, a second before Ronnie opened the door on the passenger's side.
"So the big Gov is gonna drive," Ronnie said.
Andrew put the car into gear. A fog had fallen onto the road and it was getting darker as we moved deeper into the nature preserve.
Just when I started breathing normally, Ronnie reached over and pulled the wheel. Andrew, who had both hands on the steering wheel, was able to hold on, but not without having the car veer onto the shoulder. "Stop it!" Andrew yelled, shooting out his right arm.
Ronnie reached for the wheel again, and Andrew brought the car to a stop. He slid toward Ronnie, and with both hands and the full weight of his body he pinned Ronnie's arms to his sides. Ronnie kept struggling, but Andrew was growling between clenched teeth. "Keep your goddam hands to yourself, or we'll leave you here."
Andrew's voice was so deep and snarly he sounded like a bear.
"It's okay, Andrew," I said, more to calm myself than to reassure my brother. "It's all right."
While Andrew was still breathing in this scary way, Ronnie began throwing his head about, using it as a weapon to get free.
A strange thing happened then, something so weird and powerful I can't even explain it. All I can say is, I was compelled to move. It was as if I'd been given a suggestion under a hypnotic trance, and I had to take action. I slid along the back seat and let myself out of the car. Next, I climbed into the driver's seat and put the car into gear, even though I didn't know how to drive. Without looking behind me, I bumped onto the road, staying close to the line of trees on the right.
"Just hold him," I told Andrew. "When we get to the deer paddock we'll throw him out."
Andrew's back was all I could see. The bouncing in the seat had stopped, but heavy breathing came from both boys. "It's gonna be okay," I said, over and over. My hands were holding the wheel so tightly the muscles in my arms were shaking. I accelerated to feel more in control. The road was dark but the center line was still visible, and I had no trouble keeping the car to the right of the line.
I actually heard the truck before I saw its light coming toward me from around a bend. "It's okay," I said, as the truck pressed down on us. Its lights were bright but I held the wheel steady, and as the truck drew closer, I lifted my foot off the pedal. The sound of the truck's engine was deafening. "Thank you, God," I whispered, as the car shook in the truck's wake. Three minutes earlier the truck would have run us right over.
It must have been the shaking that threw me off, because after the truck passed, instead of finding the brake, I hit the accelerator and pulled the car to the left then the right.
That was all I knew until I found myself leaning against a ten-foot post that held the heavy wire fencing of the deer paddock. The car was twenty yards back, its one undamaged light shining into the woods. The other light and the whole right side of the car were mashed into a large oak tree, the last big tree before the gravel parking lot began.
I had a vague, dreamlike memory of getting out of the car, and I could see that the driver's door was open. The back door on the driver's side was open too, and while I couldn't clearly remember walking to where I now found myself, I knew I had. My left foot, bare of the blue canvas shoes I'd been wearing, was embedded with stones. I tried to bend my knee to lean forward, but the pain in my shoulder made me groan.
I must have groaned a long time without knowing it because when I stopped, my throat started throbbing. I turned my head to where four large shapes moved toward me. The shadows, like monsters in the ray of the headlight, came closer. It was only when the first shape touched the metal fence that I saw it was a deer.
The deer stood still for several seconds before moving along the fence toward the car wreck. I was staring at them when I first heard the persistent chirp of crickets, so steady the individual sounds gave way to a roar. Other animals were making noises, too—crunchy sounds, clicking sounds, high ear-tingling sounds. After a while I realized that the chattering noise was coming from my teeth. Later still, I noticed my body was shaking violently, causing the wire fence to clatter down the line.
"Joan," I whispered, but I don't know if I said her name before or after I saw my patron saint. Joan of Arc was there, dressed in armor, sitting on a white horse and holding a skinny red banner. She didn't speak, or at least I didn't hear her. Still, it seemed she was sending me a message.
"What is it?" I managed to ask.
Joan remained on her horse, looking down. It wasn't a still picture like a photograph. The horse shook its head and moved forward so that its tack made jingle bell sounds. The saint, her hair in a bowl cut, had a loving expression on her face. She tilted her head so the hair over her right ear fell away from her face.
"What?" I said again, because despite her calmness, it was clear Joan was trying to tell me something. The expression, "Keep your own counsel," came to me. That same expression—or rather "A girl who keeps her own counsel"—had been under a picture of Joan of Arc in the book I'd been given for my Confirmation. I could see those words clearly. In the fifteenth century, Joan, a country girl who couldn't read or write, knew enough to keep her own counsel.
I took several deep breaths, never taking my eyes off her. She smiled slowly and her grin grew wider. I noticed her dimples. When her smile faded, her lips became sealed together.
The wail of an ambulance cut through the air. I turned to see where it was coming from, and when I looked back, Joan was gone.
In the next minutes the woods began to light up. There were flashing lights and loud static sounds. Men and women were calling to each other. The sounds came directly to my ears as if the noises were being piped into a funnel and the funnel was pressed to my head.
"The passenger's dead," a man's voice said. "The driver's still breathing."
For an instant the sound of gurneys clattering reminded me of trays crashing in the school cafeteria. In a matter of moments someone would know the terrible thing I'd done.
"The doors came open on impact," a woman's voice said, just as a second ambulance came screaming down the road. More voices filled the air, along with radio static and the rattling of metal.
"It looks like the passenger's head impacted with the pillar post," a different man said. "The other boy, the driver, slammed into the dash and mirror."
In that instant I knew Ronnie was the dead passenger.
"There's a young girl over here," a woman's voice said. "Call for the other unit."
I looked up as a woman in white pants bent down to me. "She's in shock," she said. Two men ran over and began wrapping me in blankets.
"It's all right, Sweetie," the woman said.
I closed my eyes, not opening them until the third ambulance came. This one pulled up to the gravel, and I was lifted onto a gurney. In that moment of being lifted, I began to cry. "I can't leave," I said, feeling there was a clock ticking inside my chest. It was growing bigger and louder with each passing second.
"It's okay," the woman said. "We're taking you to Mercy Hospital."
"No," I shouted. "Is my brother all right?"
I hesitated, but I knew what I was being asked. "Yes," I said.
"I won't lie to you. He was hurt pretty bad."
Before they'd lifted me, I'd felt that what had happened wasn't real. I hadn't thought, as people always say they do after terrible events, that it was a dream. I was too aware of my own wakefulness to believe that. It was more as if the scene had been played out as a kind of possibility. While in a certain sense it was real, it wasn't a part of real time.
"You'll be all right," the woman said. "I'll stay with you."
"Don't go," I yelled, as the ambulance door slammed shut. "Don't go. Don't go. Don't go." The words echoed in my head as we left the gravel and moved onto the road.
It was strange how just then I thought about my Earth Science class and how we'd learned that the earth's surface is made up of these huge plates that shift around in different directions. As the plates push and crunch against each other, the rocks and mountains rise up and create a fall line that determines which way the water will flow.
When the ambulance picked up speed and the siren began to wail, I understood that what had just happened had shifted the plates in my life. It was too early to know where the rocks and mountains would settle, and too early to say which way the rivers would flow. But I knew the water would follow a different path from the one it would have taken before we turned onto Reservation Road.
"How are you doing?" the woman asked, patting my shoulder.
I looked at her but didn't answer. I wasn't going to say anything. I pressed my lips together and prayed for Joan's guidance.
Kathleen Ford has published over 30 short stories, appearing in Redbook, Southern Review, Virginia Quarterly, and elsewhere. Two stories won PEN Awards for Syndicated Fiction and another was published in Cabbage and Bones, an anthology of stories by Irish American women. Her first novel, Jeffrey County, was published by St. Martin's Press. For the past several years Kathleen has been writing about Irish maids and the soldiers of World War I. She teaches adult ESL in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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Maui, the pan-Polynesian demigod, has caused wonder and awe for generations of Polynesian families. Hearthside stories of Maui and the amazing feats he accomplished with his great fishhook Manaiakalani has long captivated our imaginations. Manaiakalani: The Hook from The Heaven is the story of how our ancestor's ingenuity in merging ancient wisdom and new technology continues to inspire us in contemporary times. It is the story of Pt. England School in Auckland, New Zealand, and the entire Manaiakalani School Cluster, who draw from the genius of storied navigator Maui-Tikitiki-A-Taranga to provide a cutting edge educational experience to disenfranchised communities. Their inspiring story draws the attention of Hōkūleʻaʻs Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage, making for a historic and memorable encounter and celebration of indigenous culture and excellence.


text:
Council Committee Overwhelmingly Backs Flushing Waterfront Development, Votes 14-to-1
Special Flushing Waterfront District rendering (Courtesy of FWRA)
Dec. 9, 2020 By Allie Griffin
The proposed 13-tower, mixed-use development on the Flushing waterfront is a step closer toward becoming a reality.
The City Council's Land Use Committee overwhelmingly voted to approve a zoning change that is needed for the ambitious project to move ahead.
The committee voted 14-to-1 to approve the land use application that calls for a 29-acre "Special Flushing Waterfront District." Only Brooklyn Council Member Inez Barron voted against the project.
The application will go before the full city council for a final vote Thursday. However, now that it has the backing of the Land Use Committee, it is likely that the full council will approve it.
The committee held the vote today, after having negotiated an agreement between the applicant FWRA — a consortium of three developers that each own a portion of the 29 acre district — and union leaders last night.
FWRA reached an agreement with the 32BJ Service Employees International Union and the New York Hotel & Motels Trades Council to provide hundreds of residential, building service and hotel jobs at the project.
The two influential unions had urged the city council to vote against the application prior to the agreement.
"I'm really happy to announce that last night we reached an agreement with labor groups and the applicants that will include union jobs in the Special Flushing Waterfront District with both 32BJ and the Hotel Trades Council," said Flushing Council Member Peter Koo, who sits on the Land Use committee and voted for the zoning application.
Koo has expressed support for the Flushing project for some time — citing how it would transform the barren industrial land into a publicly accessible waterfront for downtown Flushing. The project would bring 1,725 apartments, multiple hotels, office and retail space as well as a brand new road network and 2.8 acres of public waterfront space.
Dept. of City Planning
Koo's support is vital, since the council traditionally votes in accordance with the wishes of the member who represents the district where the rezoning is proposed.
The lack of union support had been a stumbling block prior to the union agreement. The limited number of affordable housing units — just 75 to 90 out of 1,725 units – within the proposal was another obstacle several council members took issue with.
However, Koo said FWRA has since agreed to continue talks about adding additional affordable units — though he didn't provide a specific number.
The developers have agreed to continue conversations with the New York City Department of Housing and Preservation (HPD), which manages the city's stock of affordable housing, over the next three years, he said.
"Importantly, the applicants have entered into an agreement with the city to further engage in discussions over the next three years with HPD and the Council to work on ways to secure financing so we can maximize the amount of affordable housing on site," Koo said at the committee meeting.
FWRA's plans for 75 to 90 affordable units meets the rezoning requirements, but several council members want to see the number increased.
Last month, Council Member Francisco Moya, Chair of the Zoning Subcommittee, and 11 other council members said in a joint statement that they wouldn't vote to approve the project as it stood at that point – given the lack of union support and the number of affordable units.
Three of the members who signed the statement–Moya and Council Members Diana Ayala and Carlina Rivera – sit on the Land Use committee and voted today to approve the application.
Moya is one of five Queens council members on the committee and all approved it. The others are Koo, Adrienne Adams, Barry Grodenchik, I. Daneek Miller and Antonio Reynoso.
However, Reynoso, who represents parts of Ridgewood, Bushwick and Williamsburg, said in a statement that he had voted for "the lesser of two evils," saying that what the developers can build as of right is less desirable.
"This is definitely a lesser of two evils vote and I am uncomfortable with it, however the as-of-right scenario is clearly the worse option and I am therefore voting yes on this application," Reynoso said.
The developers said without the council's approval of their land use application, they would instead build on the waterfront site as-of-right — and include no affordable housing units and few community benefits.
Reynoso said the project is not a true win for Flushing as it "does absolutely nothing to dig us out of our housing crisis."
However, the need for well-paying jobs during an economic crisis pushed him to vote yes on the Special Flushing Waterfront District, he said.
The project is estimated to bring in about $116 million in property tax revenue for the city in addition to the hundreds of jobs.
Koo said the revenue will help Flushing's economy recover.
"As our city comes to terms with a second wave of COVID-19, rising unemployment, and a faltering economy, this project has the potential to revitalize the downtown Flushing economy at a time when we need it most," he said in a statement. "Our community has suffered long before COVID ever reached our shores. Now is the time to rebuild."
FWRA has previously said it would break ground on the project as soon as it gets the go-ahead from the city council. The development could be completed as soon as 2025.


Tenants that are thinking about moving into a "plain vanilla box" office or retail space should be aware that making changes to the space to suit their specific needs could involve extensive negotiations with their owner. So don't treat the process of finishing your new space's raw interior, known as a buildout, as an incidental part of your lease. A buildout has real value and—if poorly negotiated—negative financial consequences for you.


text:
Problem: Requests to WFS services using version 2.0 result in requests timing out or exceedingly slow response times.
Affects: WFS version 2.0 only. 1.0 and 1.1 are unaffected.
Description: Requests are exceedingly slow or generating timeout errors due to an ArcGIS Server 10.31 bug that causes WFS requests to ignore the enforced service feature limits (aka maximum record count) and try to return the entire dataset in one request.
This problem typically only occurs for larger datasets with hundreds of thousands of records, or for smaller datasets with complex or dense geometries (e.g. nature landform datasets).
A fix for this bug is being investigated.
For more information please see All Software: Requests Timing Out.
Workaround: There are three approaches to working around this issue:
Use the ArcGIS REST API - Both MapServer and FeatureServer endpoints expose an API that is largely feature equivalent to WFS 2.0, as well as including a range of more advanced functionality for querying and filtering datasets. Importantly in this case - software using the ArcGIS REST API implement paging (making multiple smaller requests to download a dataset) and the the API respects the service feature limits in place.
This is the recommended approach if your software supports it.
If using FME, please refer to our How To: Download Geospatial Data using FME article for an approach that avoids using WFS. We're planning to write articles similar to this one for some of these alternative tools, so if you're interested in using other tools to automate downloading data please get in touch.
Use result paging in WFS 2.0 - WFS 2.0 supports paging of query results - i.e. making many smaller individual requests to fetch the results of a query. For example, if you're making a WFS query that would ordinarily return 200,000 features at once, paging can split that up into 8 separate queries of 25,000 features each that are then combined back together into a single resultset.
This avoids this specific issue of exceeding ArcGIS Server's capacity to serve features, and is generally a more reliable and mature approach to downloading feature data. Support for WFS 2.0 paging varies between GIS software, so please check the functionality and documentation of your software.
At the time of writing (August, 2017) we are in the process of rolling out support for paging to WFS services provided through services.slip.wa.gov.au. To determine if a service supports paging make a GetCapabilities request and verify that the ImplementsResultPaging constraint is set to TRUE.
FME -
For example, FME 2017 implements both the Count and Max Features parameters in the WFS Service Reader. If both of these parameters are set to the number of features to return per request then ArcGIS Server honours the limits.
The Count parameter was only made available in FME 2017, so this approach does not work for older versions of FME. Please refer to our How To: Download Geospatial Data using FME article for an approach that avoids using WFS.
Increase client timeout limits - In scenarios where time is not a factor it may be possible to simply increase the network timeout setting in the software you're using WFS with. At the time of writing (July 2017) the timeout limit on the WFS services is set to 10 minutes.
If using QGIS, please refer to our QGIS: WFS Timeout Issues article for workarounds.
If use FME with the WFS Reader, please ensure your Transfer Timeout Length and Connection Timeout Length Reader parameters have been set to 600 (seconds), rather than the much more conservative 90 (seconds) as is the default.
Fallback to WFS 1.0/1.1 - In some scenarios it may be possible to fallback to using older versions of WFS that do respect the service feature limits in place. However, as WFS 1.x does not support paging you will need to implement this yourself - typically by breaking your area of interest up into a range of smaller query areas.
This approach is not recommended due to the added complexity and overhead.
How To: Download Geospatial Data using GDAL and ogr2ogr


text:
Women, Money, and the Law: 19th Century Gender and the Courts
Joyce Warren
University of Iowa Press
"Women, Money, and the Law is one of the most sophisticated, complex, and interesting studies to date of the economics of gender. Through close readings of court documents and literature, Joyce Warren offers us multiple ways—some expected, some utterly surprising—of understanding the financial circumstances of a range of women in the 19th century."—Cathy N. Davidson, Ruth F. DeVarney Professor of English and vice provost for interdisciplinary studies, Duke University, author of Revolution and the Word: The Rise of the Novel in America, and co-editor of No More Separate Spheres! A Next Wave American Studies Reader
Did 19th-century American women have money of their own? To answer this question, Women, Money, and the Law looks at the public and private stories of individual women within the context of American culture, assessing how legal and cultural traditions affected women's lives, particularly with respect to class and racial differences, and analyzing the ways in which women were involved in economic matters.
Joyce Warren has uncovered a vast, untapped archive of legal documents from the New York Supreme Court that had been expunged from the official record. By exploring hundreds of court cases involving women litigants between 1845 and 1875—women whose stories had, in effect, been erased from history—and by studying the lives and works of a wide selection of 19th-century women writers, Warren has found convincing evidence of women's involvement with money.
The court cases show that in spite of the most egregious gender restrictions of law and custom, many 19th-century women lived independently, coping with the legal and economic restraints of their culture while making money for themselves and often for their families as well. They managed their lives and their money with courage and tenacity and fractured constructed gender identities by their lived experience. Many women writers, even when they did not publicly advocate economic independence for women, supported themselves and their families throughout their writing careers and in their fiction portrayed the importance of money in women's lives. Women from all backgrounds—some defeated through ignorance and placidity, others as ruthless and callous as the most hardened businessmen—were in fact very much a part of the money economy.
Together, the evidence of the court cases and the writers runs counter to the official narrative, which scripted women as economically dependent and financially uninvolved. Warren provides an illuminating counternarrative that significantly questions contemporary assumptions about the lives of 19th-century women. Women, Money, and the Law is an important corrective to the traditional view and will fascinate scholars and students in women's studies, literary studies, and legal history as well as the general reader.


text:
from __future__ import unicode_literals

from django.db import migrations, models

class Migration(migrations.Migration):

    dependencies = [
        ('core', '0006_auto_20180131_1235'),
    ]

    operations = [
        migrations.AddField(
            model_name='task',
            name='trigger',
            field=models.CharField(blank=True, max_length=255, null=True),
        ),
    ]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Kennedy's Last Days
By Bill O'Reilly
Genre: Kids & Young Adults
Kennedy's Last Days Bill O'Reilly
Summary : Kennedy's Last Days
On a sunny day in Dallas, Texas, at the end of a campaign trip, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy is assassinated by an angry, lonely drifter named Lee Harvey Oswald. The former Marine Corps sharpshooter escapes briefly, but is hunted down, captured, and then shot dead while in police custody.
Kennedy's Last Days is a gripping account of the events leading up to the most notorious crime of the twentieth century. Author Bill O'Reilly vividly describes the Kennedy family's life in the public eye, the crises facing the president around the world and at home, the nation's growing fascination with their vigorous, youthful president, and finally, the shocking events leading up to his demise.
Adapted from Bill O'Reilly's best-selling historical thriller Killing Kennedy, with an unforgettable cast of characters, page-turning action, and art on every spread, Kennedy's Last Days is history that reads like a thriller. This exciting book will captivate adults and young readers alike.
(Tags : Kennedy's Last Days Bill O'Reilly Audiobook, Bill O'Reilly Audio CD )
More by Bill O'Reilly
Killing the Mob
Bill O'Reilly & Martin Dugard
Killing Crazy Horse
Killing the SS
Killing Lincoln
The United States of Trump
Killing Kennedy
Killing England
Killing Jesus
Killing Patton
Killing the Rising Sun
Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Real West
David Fisher & Bill O'Reilly
Killing Reagan
Hitler's Last Days
The O'Reilly Factor For Kids: A Survival Guide for America's Families (Unabridged)
Bill O'Reilly & Charles Flowers
The Last Days of Jesus
The Day the World Went Nuclear
The Day the President Was Shot
Bill O'Reilly & Bruce Feirstein
Lincoln's Last Days
Bill O'Reilly & Dwight Jon Zimmerman
Pinheads and Patriots
A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity (Unabridged)
The O'Reilly Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Ridiculous in American Life (Abridged)
Culture Warrior (Unabridged)
Keep It Pithy: Useful Observations in a Tough World (Unabridged)
Those Who Trespass: A Novel of Television and Murder (Abridged)
Who's Looking Out For You? (Unabridged)
The No Spin Zone: Confrontations with the Powerful and Famous in America (Unabridged)
Kids Are Americans Too


text:
#2 Urban Fantasy: Wicked Spirits
TITLE: Wicked Spirits
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
Demon bartender Vess discovers the only way to break her 4,000 year loveless streak is to trigger the apocalypse. To make matters worse, her only potential suitor happens to have a contract out to kill her. Along with her drunken demon cohorts, Vess and her buddies fumble and carouse their way towards the big, red button.
If my best friend wasn't already dying, I'd kill her for this.
The man in front of me eyed me coldly, his gaunt face a mask of displeasure. I inhaled slowly and tried to center myself with some yoga-breathing. He noticed my discomfort and smirked. I wondered at the cruel jest my life had become as I stared down one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. My body tensed, deciding between fight or flight. Then I remembered my promise to her, and mustered the courage to give it a shot.
"Diah didn't mention your name when she set this up," I said, trying to start the conversation with the grim figure seated across from me. "I'm Vesshana—Vess for short," I offered.
He looked at me flatly. "My name can only be properly pronounced in the throes of agony," he answered, taking a sip from a glass of sweating ice water.
"Oh," I answered, wondering what the hell I should call him. I certainly didn't plan on ending up in any kind of throes tonight, let alone agony. "So what do you go by?"
The ice clinked against his teeth as he responded, "Walter."
I suppressed a laugh. "Ok, Walter," I said with a smile. Judging by his demeanor, probably the first and only of the evening. "So what do you do for fun?"
Labels: Baker's Dozen Agent Auction
Bron December 2, 2011 at 8:16 AM
You have a great voice. I love the 4000-year dateless streak and the fact the horseman's name can only be produced in the throes of agony.
There were a few minor things I'd change:
I don't think you need a hyphen for 'yoga-breathing'
You say 'her' in the last sentence of the first paragraph, but it's been several sentences since you mentioned your friend so it feels strange to have you refer to 'her'. I would use her name instead. She's the only other female character at this point so we will know to whom you're referring.
I don't think you need to have 'I offered'. Just end the sentence at 'Vess for short."'You've already told us it's Vess speaking and there's no line break so we know it's still her speaking.
Apart from that, I liked it, though I didn't get the idea that they were on a date at first. You mention dating in the logline so it's probably a problem at my end (it's nearly midnight here and I'm tired!) but when you mentioned that your best friend was dying, I thought Walter had tried to kill her just before the scene started. If it were me, I would think about removing the logline-type start for this reason, and also because I have a personal dislike for these type of beginnings. That's just me though, so see what everyone else says. That's the brilliance of these critiques.
Good luck for the auction!
David Barrett DeLozier December 2, 2011 at 8:22 AM
I like this! Interesting concept. I agree with the previous comment that you don't need the second attribute, "I offered." May want to lose the "He looked at me flatly," too. Reads stronger without it (words ending in "ly" tend to diminish action/description, in my humble opinion). Fun read!
Marieke December 2, 2011 at 8:33 AM
The first few paragraphs didn't hook me. The first sentence I've read in so many forms and guises it feels incredibly clichéd. The second paragraph can do with the cutting of adverbs.
And even in the rest of the fragment there are quite a few slips that make me wonder if the writer has been careful enough combing through it.
But the thing is... ""My name can only be properly pronounced in the throes of agony," he answered, taking a sip from [a] glass of sweating ice water." made laugh. Vess's reaction made me warm to her. Walter is an ace name. And in those few paragraphs, despite the sometimes (apparently) careless prose, you convinced me you can write and write very well.
It may not be my cup of tea, but all the best with it! :D
Jessica Leake December 2, 2011 at 8:43 AM
Oh goodness, fabulous voice. You had me sucked in with the first line.
There's a lot out there with demons, but the voice in this is so compelling, and you have great tension in the opening scene. I loved that she's facing the four horsemen for her dying best friend--very intriguing! The humor was just icing on the cake. :)
Leigh Ann December 2, 2011 at 8:56 AM
*I write YA, so I'm mostly just commenting as a reader. :)*
Logline - Okay, this sounds epically, morbidly, HILARIOUS.
Awesome voice. Like seriously awesome. I really love that we slowly, slowly learn this is a date. Which makes my favorite line even more hilarious:
"My name can only be properly pronounced int he throes of agony."
BHAHAHAHAHAHA
So much luck to you.
erica m. chapman December 2, 2011 at 9:50 AM
LOVE this!! Your voice is great! I also laughed out loud.
I'm trying to find something else to say, but honestly, this is done really well. Nice job and good luck!
Gail Shepherd December 2, 2011 at 9:53 AM
Hilarious. Love the 4,000-year loveless streak. Love the horseman. I'll bid... oh, right, I'm not an agent. Good luck!
Stephanie Thornton December 2, 2011 at 10:17 AM
This has got a killer voice and I had to chuckle once I realized she was on a date with him. I really like that it takes a couple paragraphs to figure that out as it kind of pulls the rug from under the reader, but in a good way.
The Walter piece is perfect!
Rebecca Hart December 2, 2011 at 11:08 AM
I like the premise - though there are alot of demon stories around, this one has a unique take that helps set it apart. Great humor in the piece as well. Kudos there.
I did find the logline a bit confusing, and I am not sure if I read only that, that I would be buying the book. Didnt feel it really gave justice to the story that followed it.
That opening line is just plain great. I'd keep reading if I had this book in my lap.
Good luck with the auction!
M. Bail December 2, 2011 at 12:17 PM
Vess's voice is great, and I think the overall premise is good. I certainly like the log line.
For me, the first sentence is kind of cliche, and in the next paragraph almost all the sentences begin with a pronoun and the rhythm is off. You could fix that by varying your sentence types and openings.
Also, there are too many dialog tags or attributes or whatever you want to call them. It makes the rhythm of the dialog stilted. With only two people talking you don't need to attribute every piece of dialog.
I love the line: "my name can only be properly pronounced in the throes of agony."
The glass of sweating ice water: is the glass sweating or is the ice water sweating? As you have it, the ice water is sweating, which isn't really possible.
I love the sentence: "I certainly didn't plan on ending up in any kind of throes tonight, let alone agony." It goes a long way to establishing Vess's voice.
The next sentence: the ice clinked against his teeth as he responded...can he talk and have his teeth clinking with ice at the same time? I'm having a hard time picturing this.
And the last sentence confused me. "judging by his demeanor, probably the first and only of the evening." The first and only what?
Overall, I think this has potential and the voice is great, but it needs a lot of cleanup and tightening. Otherwise, I'd be interested to see where the story goes.
Good luck on the auction!
Beth Hull December 2, 2011 at 3:43 PM
I also thought the "throes of agony bit," was funny, but you really had me laughing at "Walter." Plus, your log line already has me cheering for her because of the 4,000 year loveless streak. Instant sympathy vote, and it just sounds fun!
Suze December 2, 2011 at 3:56 PM
I loved this. The voice was great, and I loved finding out that she was on a blind date! With the tone and pace, I really didn't notice any of the things that some of the ohter commenters did, I just really wanted to read more!
SwiftScribbler December 2, 2011 at 4:24 PM
Hilarious--LOVED it! My favorite so far.
Walter. Bwahaha! You have a funny voice, a fun premise. Great job.
Debra Anastasia December 2, 2011 at 6:00 PM
I think humor is one of the hardest things to master, and you've nailed it. I'd love to see where this plot would take me as a reader.
This makes me smile in all the right ways. Full of snark and comedic dry wit.
Shalu December 2, 2011 at 6:59 PM
I love the tone and character here. She's immediately relatable. It sounds like the ride will be hilarious and fun & I honestly can see this published.
K. Cooper December 2, 2011 at 7:33 PM
Nothing wrong with the premise here, but if I were to recommend anything it would be to tighten the prose a bit. Unnecessary dialogue tags weigh this down and take away from the snappy and morbidly hilarious plot you seem to be setting up. (For example, trying to start the conversation with the grim figure seated across from me is definitely unnecessary, as we already know he's grim and the dialogue itself implies the conversation is starting.)
The only other thing is that I couldn't tell if Diah set up the meet for Vess to make a deal with the horseman, or if this is a date. Might want to replace some of the unnecessary text (second example, he looked at me flatly) and use the extra word space to fully set up the circumstances. Loglines are part of this contest only. Remember that won't be on your first page if this is published, so all the clues have to be right there in the text. In this case, as a reader this being on a date would be more of a hook (not to mention clue me onto the fact that I, a woman, am the target reader), so I don't want to wait beyond page 1 for that info.
Nancy Bilyeau December 3, 2011 at 5:34 AM
This entry has one of the best lines of dialogue I've read in a long time: "My name can only be properly pronounced in the throes of agony."--
Your opening is funny and provocative with a nice tension. The very first line--"If my best friend weren't already dying, I'd kill her for this"--has a real snap to it.
My suggestions are to not withhold quite so much--we need to know if her best friend set this up as a date or something else and also why this would necessitate a promise--and to watch the adverbs. "He eyed me COLDLY." "He looked at me FLATLY." Try to convey the mood without an adverb. I think you can do it!
The logline premise is written well, promises some fun and thrills. I wonder if the title is a little soft for the irreverent, modern tone of your writing.
KiyaRaven December 3, 2011 at 6:49 AM
The premise alone makes me laugh - she's so desperate to end her dry spell she's willing to bring about the apocalypse? Pretty sure most of us have felt like that at some time in our lives.
The voice of Vess is great. Her dry sense of humor is very clear.
Looking forward to seeing more of this story in the future.
Gabrielle Harbowy December 3, 2011 at 11:38 AM
I like the premise and the setup, but I would also recommend tightening up the prose.
I have a special dislike for "as" as an indicator of simultaneous action, because it's usually actually being used in those situations to describe linear actions, or cause and effect. Like in "the ice clinked against his teeth as he responded." If the ice clinked, and then his response was a new sentence, that would work for me, but I don't think he'd be talking into his glass with ice against his teeth. The same with "wondered at the cruel jest my life had become as I stared down..." It's not that those things happen to occur at the same time. It's the staring down that MAKES her wonder. Compare it with "I stared down at..., wondering at the cruel jest my life had become."
You don't need "I said, trying to start the conversation" because it's evident that she's trying to start a conversation. You don't need "wondering what I should call him," because "So, what do you go by" shows that she's wondering that. Those spots, if you take out the redundant, are ripe for little observations that further show her voice.
I like the way the date teases out and the "throes of agony" line, but see above comments on the sweaty water. I'd like to see the dialogue and the action separated by a period so that they don't seem simultaneous. I'd also like to see "flatly" replaced by a bit more description about his grim, deadpan behavior, maybe something about his posture or his eyes? Adverbs sometimes shout out to the reader that they're shortcuts, in places where you have opportunities to let us see that behavior for ourselves.
With about five minutes of analyzing your prose and tightening it up, this can really shine. Best of luck!
Tara Dairman December 3, 2011 at 7:26 PM
I loved this last month, and I still love it. A lot. My only nits are that I think you can cut the "I offered" dialogue tag and the hyphen in "yoga breathing" (both of which I think others have suggested above, too.) And in the logline, I assume that her "drunken demon cohorts" are the same people (I mean, demons) as "her buddies," so you can probably tighten that part up to avoid the repetition.
Other than that, all I have to say is go Wicked Spirits, go! I hope this one takes the auction by storm. =)
Weronika Janczuk December 6, 2011 at 11:06 AM
5 pages!
Josh Getzler December 6, 2011 at 11:06 AM
Victoria Marini December 6, 2011 at 11:21 AM
wait, never mind, I cvan't so 150
AND NOW I CAN, Full.
Authoress December 6, 2011 at 11:27 AM
BIDDING ON THIS ITEM IS NOW CLOSED!
Josh, I am calling you so many names in my head right now!
Got lucky...
well played :)
Submission Instructions: Off-blog Critique, Week 1
Wrapping Up the Year
And Now, A Few Words From Our Agents
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Baker's Dozen Auction: On Your Mark, Get Set...


text:
import user_sessions.models
from django.db import migrations

class Migration(migrations.Migration):

    dependencies = [
        ("axes", "0003_auto_20160322_0929"),
        ("oauth2_provider", "0002_auto_20190406_1805"),
        ("social_django", "0006_partial"),
        ("otp_totp", "0001_initial"),
        ("user_sessions", "0003_auto_20161205_1516"),
        ("two_factor", "0005_auto_20160224_0450"),
        ("otp_static", "0001_initial"),
        ("socialprofile", "0001_initial"),
    ]

    operations = [
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name="ProxyAccessAttempt",
            fields=[],
            options={
                "verbose_name": "Monitor: access attempt",
                "proxy": True,
                "verbose_name_plural": "Monitor: access attempts",
                "indexes": [],
            },
            bases=("axes.accessattempt",),
        ),
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name="ProxyAccessLog",
            fields=[],
            options={
                "verbose_name": "Monitor: access log",
                "proxy": True,
                "verbose_name_plural": "Monitor: access logs",
                "indexes": [],
            },
            bases=("axes.accesslog",),
        ),
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name="ProxyAccessToken",
            fields=[],
            options={
                "verbose_name": "Token: access token",
                "proxy": True,
                "verbose_name_plural": "Token: access tokens",
                "indexes": [],
            },
            bases=("oauth2_provider.accesstoken",),
        ),
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name="ProxyApplication",
            fields=[],
            options={
                "verbose_name": "Token: application",
                "proxy": True,
                "verbose_name_plural": "Token: applications",
                "indexes": [],
            },
            bases=("oauth2_provider.application",),
        ),
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name="ProxyAssociation",
            fields=[],
            options={
                "verbose_name": "OAuth: association",
                "proxy": True,
                "verbose_name_plural": "OAuth: associations",
                "indexes": [],
            },
            bases=("social_django.association",),
        ),
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name="ProxyGrant",
            fields=[],
            options={
                "verbose_name": "Token: grant",
                "proxy": True,
                "verbose_name_plural": "Token: grants",
                "indexes": [],
            },
            bases=("oauth2_provider.grant",),
        ),
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name="ProxyNonce",
            fields=[],
            options={
                "verbose_name": "OAuth: nonce",
                "proxy": True,
                "verbose_name_plural": "OAuth: nonces",
                "indexes": [],
            },
            bases=("social_django.nonce",),
        ),
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name="ProxyPhoneDevice",
            fields=[],
            options={
                "verbose_name": "Otp: phone device",
                "proxy": True,
                "verbose_name_plural": "Otp: phone devices",
                "indexes": [],
            },
            bases=("two_factor.phonedevice",),
        ),
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name="ProxyRefreshToken",
            fields=[],
            options={
                "verbose_name": "Token: refresh token",
                "proxy": True,
                "verbose_name_plural": "Token: refresh tokens",
                "indexes": [],
            },
            bases=("oauth2_provider.refreshtoken",),
        ),
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name="ProxySession",
            fields=[],
            options={
                "verbose_name": "Monitor: sessione",
                "proxy": True,
                "verbose_name_plural": "Monitor: sessioni",
                "indexes": [],
            },
            bases=("user_sessions.session",),
            managers=[
                ("objects", user_sessions.models.SessionManager()),
            ],
        ),
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name="ProxyStaticDevice",
            fields=[],
            options={
                "verbose_name": "Otp: static device",
                "proxy": True,
                "verbose_name_plural": "Otp: static devices",
                "indexes": [],
            },
            bases=("otp_static.staticdevice",),
        ),
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name="ProxyTOTPDevice",
            fields=[],
            options={
                "verbose_name": "Otp: TOTP device",
                "proxy": True,
                "verbose_name_plural": "Otp: TOTP devices",
                "indexes": [],
            },
            bases=("otp_totp.totpdevice",),
        ),
        migrations.CreateModel(
            name="ProxyUserSocialAuth",
            fields=[],
            options={
                "verbose_name": "OAuth: user social auth",
                "proxy": True,
                "verbose_name_plural": "OAuth: user social auths",
                "indexes": [],
            },
            bases=("social_django.usersocialauth",),
        ),
    ]


text:
Ashland is a Canadian community in Carleton County, New Brunswick.

Ashland is located 3.71 km south of Coldstream.

History

A post office branch was established there in 1876 and was removed in 1914. In 1898, Ashland was a settlement with 1 post office and a population of 90.

Notable people

See also
List of communities in New Brunswick

References

Communities in Carleton County, New Brunswick

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: How to get singular value from a generator? I'm writing an app to monitor chicken deaths in a poultry farm and have the following code:
today = datetime.date.today()
deaths = (sum(cd.count) for cd in ChickenDeath.objects.filter(date__gte=datetime.date(today.year, today.month, 1)))
print(deaths)

My problem is it just prints out <generator object chickens_overview.<locals>.<genexpr> at 0x110010678> instead of the actual sum. I've tried next(deaths) as well however I just get the error 'int' object not iterable. Is there another way to get the value from this generator?

A: You shouldn't be returning a generator at all here. The generator should be the input to the sum function.
At the moment, you're effectively creating a list of items, each of which is the "sum" of a single value. That's why you get the error about not iterable; it's cd.count that is not iterable, because it's a single value and you can't sum that.
I suspect what you meant was to sum all the counts:
deaths = sum(cd.count for cd in ChickenDeath.objects.filter(...))

but that is not the right thing to do. You should ask the database to do the sum for you:
from django.db.models import Sum
deaths = ChickenDeath.objects.filter(...).aggregate(total=Sum('count'))
print(deaths['total'])

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Mephisto X Concepts CCM-96 Shoes
Everyone knows that the legendary Steve Jobs was a New Balance 992 fan, but in the early '90s, Apple had a pair of shoes created with a similar silhouette to promote the company. However, it only reached the prototype stage and was only worn by a few lucky employees before being shelved. Now, Mephisto and Concepts have teamed up to pay homage to the original $15,000 Apple sneakers with the CCM-96 shoes.
The Mephisto x Concepts CCM-96 shoes aren't exactly the same as the Apple sneakers, as they are more stout and have updated molding and shaping. They're made with high-grade leather, chunky midsoles, and feature the rainbow logo, which has been updated to look more contemporary. The classic sneakers are available now for $395, but you have to be on your A-game to grab a pair. Concepts will also release two hoodies and a t-shirt inspired by Apple's Think Different campaigns.
Purchase: $130
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Forty-five orchids rendered in exquisite line-drawings include both exotic varieties and familiar species. Captions give scientific names, essential information. Learn about some of the loveliest flowers in existence as you color drawings for framing, reproduction, or collections. Introduction, captions, glossary. 45 black-and-white drawings, shown in color on covers.
Book ID of Orchids of the World Coloring Book's Books is WTssx8oMgcMC, Book which was written byVirginie Fowler Elberthave ETAG "+ZniCEKOH4Q"