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Sport and leisure books
Inside the Divide: One City, Two Teams… The Old Firm by Richard Wilson – review
Kevin McKenna enjoys an insightful and wonderfully written account of the fierce rivalry between Glasgow's two football clubs
Sat 7 Jan 2012 19.04 EST First published on Sat 7 Jan 2012 19.04 EST
Rangers and Celtic fans at an Old Firm derby at Glasgow's Celtic Park stadium, 5 December 2002. Photograph: Ben Curtis/PA
I was 15 years old when, on 21 May 1979, I witnessed my first Celtic v Rangers match. My father, in common with other responsible parents in the west of Scotland, had previously imposed a ban on any of his children attending this fixture. He felt that the religious tribalism and the ever-present insinuation of violence that cloaked these occasions was a mix too toxic for impressionable youths.
In the event, he could hardly have chosen a worse "Old Firm" baptism. For, on that warm early summer evening, Celtic and Rangers faced each other in a winner-takes-all confrontation that would decide the destination of the Scottish league championship. Celtic, my team, eventually triumphed 4-2 in a match that has since secured its own chapter in the folklore of the club. Spectators and participants in these matches will tell you that their first one passes quickly and in a blur; details can never be recalled and there is simply a sense of relief when the game finishes and you have survived. Curiously though, I remember many small details from this first encounter. I recall feeling breathless in the moments before kick-off when the noise reaches an impossible crescendo and you sense that something terrible is about to happen. I remember, too, the sheer passion of the soberly attired, properly spoken middle-aged men beside me. In this, the Facebook age, which tells us that the world is our family, tribal disputes and religious fervour and territorial tension seem to diminish. And so it is difficult to convey just why a football match between two Glasgow clubs matters to millions of people across the planet. But this rather splendid new book sets out to explain the ancient and bitter rivalry between Celtic and Rangers, and it does so admirably.
Richard Wilson tells his story by visiting one game in January 2010 and speaking to some of the bit-players in the drama. Here we have the senior match policeman, the Sky commentator, the gnarled supporter, the nurse in a Glasgow A&E ward, the hapless referee. As the narrative of that otherwise unremarkable game unfolds, Wilson uses it to jump backwards in time to recall the stories of older battles and to speak to the veterans. For David Edgar, a Rangers supporter of many years standing, the pre-match tension is never diminished. "Nobody enjoys going to Old Firm games. It's a really strange, queasy sensation. You can't sleep, you try to force some food down, the heart's beating, your hands are shaking, you're twitchy, you're nervous, you're talking through your arse."
Wilson is a fine writer and he describes part of the symphony that accompanies this drama. "The first noise you hear is a distinct metal crack, which carries round the stadium. It is the sound of thousands of metal seats flipping back simultaneously as the supporters stand for their team, and it continues throughout the match, a clear, tinny punctuation to the game's dramas."
We Scots, in our constant struggle to tell the world that we actually invented everything, are not immune from exaggerating the importance of this rivalry. Yet here, some of the finest players in the world talk in hushed tones about what they have just witnessed or taken part in. Gary Lineker wrote about it once: "I can testify that there is nothing to compare with them in terms of their intensity and ferocity, not to mention the sheer noise. I found it quite disturbing."
So where does it all come from? Why is the intensity and the passion and the drama undiminished after nearly 125 years of this fixture? Why does Michael Laudrup, who played in Spain's El Clasico, Barcelona v Real Madrid, regret that he never participated in the Glasgow version?
There are football rivalries all over the world in which class, race, politics and mere city geography determine the path you will take when the division bell sounds. In Glasgow, they are all of these and more: Celtic, established to represent the aspiration of the poor and downtrodden Catholic Irish people in a foreign country; Rangers, the club chosen by the Protestant Scottish establishment to oppose them. The politics of rebellion and the politics of the state; a united Ireland against the British state; the deprived east end against the douce southern burghs.
But all of this doesn't explain the medieval religious fervour in a post-church society. What does is that these two clubs give many poor people a sense of belonging and self-worth. Those whom the Labour party and the Conservatives and – now – the SNP have marginalised and held in contempt, feel better about themselves by belonging to either of these clubs. When all of the "back to work" schemes and urban regeneration projects have failed, Celtic and Rangers will remain constant. Their existence has given generations of Glasgow's dispossessed joy, pride and identity. And this is why the tiny intellectual Edinburgh elite who think they hold sway in Scotland hate the Old Firm so.
Richard Wilson, more than anyone in recent years, has told us why Celtic and Rangers matter and why their adherents have little of which to be ashamed and much of which to be proud. I salute him.


Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action (PSARA) will present "Herstory: Stories of Old Lesbians" on Thursday, March 14, at 1 p.m., at the Burien Library.
The oral herstories featured in the presentation have been collected by the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project (OLOHP).
Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project presentations not only discuss the Project and how it works, but includes live readings of excerpts taken from their collection of 600+ interviews.
Some of the readers are old lesbians themselves, and others are volunteers invited to participate.
The Burien Library is located at 400 SW 152nd Street.


Wait a minute. You said that Pablo had given us an explanation. You did not say that his was the explanation, Diego. What's up with that?
Well you don't really expect that I'm going to purposely subvert centuries of fascination with my painting.
Picasso, Newkirk, Holland and Aitken – groans, laughter and protests of "You're bad! Oh, come on now! Sly devil. Never trust anyone over 300! Ha Ha!
Everyone enjoys the moment and something like quiet returns to the table as they finish their dinners. Coffee follows, camomille tea for Holland. We hear the clatter of dishes being collected, the scuff of chairs being pushed back from tables; smiles accompany sighs of contentment at every table. New diners arrive to claim tables that have been vacated.
Well, I suppose I'm to blame for that fiasco. But thank you, Pablo, for your analysis. I like it whether it's definitive, or not. And, despite my disappointment, I do like the idea of the mystery continuing too, Diego. What a marvellous painting it is in any case. And actually, it's the spatial play that interests me more than the mystery on the canvas you're painting – back and forth, deep and shallow within the painting, and even extending into our own space on this side of the picture plane. Just amazing, really. Oh, I know that others played with this sort of thing, coming out to greet the viewers in our own space; Michelangelo's architectural designs, like the staircase in the Laurentian Library, for example, and of course Bernini. Personally though, I think that your painting is so satisfyingly complex and prophetic, even inspirational for Paul Cezanne and Pablo. (Picasso nods and murmurs agreement. And Velazquez, acknowledging the compliment, tilts his head to one side and, smiling, nods graciously).
But, if you don't mind, I'd like to return to the question of artistic legacy. I sometimes wonder if it matters at all. I certainly know of young artists whose work would seem to suggest that they are making 'cool' stuff, for 'cool' occasions, that their art is in line with the immediate gratification they are accustomed to – think of digital photography as compared to film, the internet, texting, carrying your phone everywhere. It sometimes seems that the art is purpose-built, and disposable – that's not new, I know. Does this mean that new art also should be about immediacy? Are we seeing a school of immediacy that is content to discard history? And does it matter? Should it matter?
Pablo, you may not have seen this, but John Richardson has written a massive and very thorough biography about you. In it, this stayed with me. He quotes Ingres as having said "He who will not look to any other mind than his own will soon find himself reduced to the most miserable of all imitations, that is to say his own works."


Jungle Red Writers: Hurray for the Agatha Best First Nominees!
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: How great is this? I can tell you with absolute certainty, that nowhere on the planet are there five happier women than the nominees for the Agatha Award Best First Novel.
Oh. When you've worked and worked and worried and worried, and then the phone call comes...oh. It is a life-changing moment.
So it looks like I am typing, but I am really standing and cheering and leading the standing ovation for our fabulous wonderful talented Agatha Best First nominees.
Hurray! and now, I am thrilled to let you meet them all. With a very tantalizing question for all of us!
NOMINEES: Thanks for having us on Jungle Red Writers! As we bask in the glow of our Agatha Best First Novel nominations, we thought it would be fun to share our first bylines. Such great variety, just like our books!
We'd love to hear about your first foray into writing. Was it life-changing? Funny? The bite that gave you the writing bug? Please share!
As long as I can disregard a poem published in my elementary school anthology, my first byline was in 1986 for "The Call of the Sea," an essay on underwater sound that went to press in The Diver magazine. It was magical to learn the very first article I'd ever submitted had been accepted. It still makes me smile to think that my first foray into publishing and my debut novel both involved scuba diving.
My first byline (or the first one I remember) was for an editorial I wrote for a school newspaper (middle or high school – it's all fuzzy). I wrote a commentary on student athletes and SAT scores. At the time there was a lot of public discussion about requirements that student athletes needed to maintain a minimum GPA and SAT/ACT score to receive college scholarships. I felt the standards weren't that high and athletes should be held to a similar standard as other students pursuing college educations. Interestingly, in The Plot is Murder, Samantha Washington's assistant, Dawson Alexander is a student athlete who is placed on academic probation and Sam and Nana Jo tutor him. I guess, I've been writing this book a lot longer than I realized.
I have known I wanted to write since I was five years-old. In the ensuing thirty-plus years, I have probably attempted every form of writing except for poetry, which is honestly probably for the best. I used to start and immediately discard stories as a kid. My mom still has them somewhere in her garage. They are definitely blackmail material. I vaguely remember winning some award for an essay contest at a local Jack and Jill event. I can't remember what the topic but I must have known a lot about it at the time! One "first byline" I will never forget is my first television credit. I was a staff writer on a CBS show called Cold Case, which was known for using flashbacks to key periods of American history. My episode was about the World War II Japanese internment camps that falsely imprisoned many American citizens solely because of the color of their skin. It's such an important and painful part of our history, yet also one we often ignore. So I was happy to be able to help spotlight it on national TV.
There's something special about going to your favorite bookstore in search of a magazine and being able to flip through it to find your byline. When I was asked to be a columnist for Digital Camera Magazine back in the late 1990's, I felt I had reached an important professional goal. I remember taking a trip to my local Hasting's to search for it on the newsstand. I purchased a copy of the first issue with my new column, even though the publisher had also sent copies. More recently, writing a guest column for Writer's Digest was such a special experience. As a faithful reader of that magazine for so many years, being asked to contribute was a huge thrill. Seeing a WD tweet promoting my article? You bet I took a screenshot of that! I'm just not that cool to pretend it wasn't a big deal.
Early in my writing career, I dabbled in journalism, writing articles for local papers and a piece for a national car magazine. But it wasn't until I consistently wrote for my supper that I felt that I had somehow made it. The irony? There was no byline at all.
So I did. The anonymity allowed me to turn off my internal editor and take chances I would never have taken if my name accompanied the spot, which went on to win awards. It was the writing equivalent of "Dance like no one's watching," and I loved it—and continued loving it for more than two decades.
Fast forward to today. My name is front and center—literally—on my book. To say that it took some getting used to is a serious understatement. I even asked for the size of my name to be reduced on the book cover! Now that I'm out in the world, I've made peace with having a public byline. I'm even enjoying it. After all, my heart is already on those pages. It makes sense that my name is, too.
say congratulations. And hey--who will we all see at Malice?
Now, meet your talented nominees!
A retired police captain, Micki Browning writes the Mer Cavallo Mystery series set in the Florida Keys. In addition to the Agatha nomination for Best First Novel, Adrift has won both the Daphne du Maurier and the Royal Palm Literary Awards. Beached, her second novel, launched January 2018. Micki's work has appeared in dive magazines, anthologies, mystery magazines, and textbooks. She lives in South Florida with her partner in crime and a vast array of scuba equipment she uses for "research." Learn more about Micki at MickiBrowning.com.
Marine biologist-turned-divemaster Meredith Cavallo thought adjusting to a laid-back life in the Florida Keys would be a breeze. But when the host of a ghost-hunting documentary crew hires her as a safety diver and then vanishes during the midnight dive, Mer's caught in a storm of supernatural intrigue. Determined to find a rational explanation, Mer approaches the man's disappearance as any scientist would—by asking questions, gathering data, and deducing the truth. But the victim's life is as shrouded in mystery as his disappearance. Still, something happened under the water and before long, she's in over her head. When someone tries to kill her, she knows the truth is about to surface. Maybe dead men do tell tales.
V.M. (Valerie) Burns was born in Northwestern Indiana and spent many years in Southwestern Michigan on the Lake Michigan shoreline. She is a lover of dogs, British historic cozies, and scones with clotted cream. After many years in the Midwest she went in search of milder winters and currently lives in Eastern Tennessee with her poodles. Receiving the Agatha nomination for Best First Novel has been a dream come true. Valerie is a member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and a lifetime member of Sisters in Crime. Readers can learn more by visiting her website at vmburns.com.
Samantha Washington has dreamed of owning a mystery bookstore for as long as she can remember. And as she prepares for the store's grand opening, she's also realizing another dream—penning a cozy mystery set in England between the wars. While Samantha hires employees and fills the shelves with the latest mysteries, quick-witted Lady Penelope Marsh, long-overshadowed by her beautiful sister Daphne, refuses to lose the besotted Victor Carlston to her sibling's charms. When one of Daphne's suitors is murdered in a maze, Penelope steps in to solve the labyrinthine puzzle and win Victor. But as Samantha indulges her imagination, the unimaginable happens in real life. A shady realtor turns up dead in her backyard, and the police suspect her—after all, the owner of a mystery bookstore might know a thing or two about murder. Aided by her feisty grandmother and an enthusiastic ensemble of colorful retirees, Samantha is determined to close the case before she opens her store. But will she live to conclude her own story when the killer has a revised ending in mind for her?
Kellye Garrett writes the Detective by Day mysteries about a semi-famous, mega-broke black actress who takes on the deadliest role of her life: Homicide Detective. The first, Hollywood Homicide, won the 2018 Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery Novel and was recently nominated for Agatha and Barry awards. The second, Hollywood Ending, will be released on August 8, 2018 from Midnight Ink. Prior to writing novels, Kellye spent eight years working in Hollywood, including a stint writing for the TV drama Cold Case. The New Jersey native now works for a leading media company in New York City and serves on the national Board of Directors for Sisters in Crime. You can learn more about her at KellyeGarrett.com and ChicksontheCase.com.
Laura Oles is a photo industry journalist who spent twenty years covering tech and trends before turning to crime fiction. She served as a columnist for numerous photography magazines and publications. Laura's short stories have appeared in several anthologies, including Murder on Wheels, which won the Silver Falchion Award in 2016. Her debut mystery, Daughters of Bad Men, is a Claymore Award Finalist and an Agatha nominee for Best First Novel. She is also a Writers' League of Texas Award Finalist. Laura is a member of Austin Mystery Writers, Sisters in Crime and Writers' League of Texas. Laura lives on the edge of the Texas Hill Country with her husband, daughter and twin sons. Visit her online at lauraoles.com.
Jamie Rush understands what it takes to disappear because her parents taught her that long ago. Leveraging her knowledge of why and how people run from their own lives, Jamie has built a business based on bringing those in hiding back to answer for their actions. She takes pride in using her skills to work both inside and outside the law.
When her estranged brother, Brian, calls and says his daughter is missing, Jamie initially turns down the case. Kristen has always been a bit wild, frequently dropping off the grid then showing up a few days later. But Brian swears this time is different, and even though Jamie vowed years ago to keep her conniving sibling at arm's length, she can't walk away if Kristen could be in real trouble.
As Jamie begins digging into Kristen's life, she uncovers her niece's most guarded secrets. Uncovering the truth will put a target on Jamie's back and endanger the lives of those she loves.
Kathleen Valenti is the author of the Maggie O'Malley mystery series. The series' first book, Agatha- and Lefty-nominated Protocol, introduces us to Maggie, a pharmaceutical researcher with a new job, a used phone, and a deadly problem. The series' second book, 39 Winks, releases May 22. When Kathleen isn't writing page-turning mysteries that combine humor and suspense, she works as a nationally award-winning advertising copywriter. She lives in Oregon with her family where she pretends to enjoy running. Learn more at www.kathleenvalenti.com.
Freshly minted college graduate Maggie O'Malley embarks on a career fueled by professional ambition and a desire to escape the past. As a pharmaceutical researcher, she's determined to save lives from the shelter of her lab. But on her very first day she's pulled into a world of uncertainty. Reminders appear on her phone for meetings she's never scheduled with people she's never met.
People who end up dead.
Congratulations on your Agatha nominations Micki, Valerie, Kellye, Laura, and Kathleen . . . truly a well-deserved honor.
Thank you, Joan! I'm thrilled to be in such talented company!
I still have to pinch myself. It's been wonderful getting to know all the nominees. Thank you Joan!
Thank you. I'm super excited. It's been an amazing experience.
I'm late chiming in as we're finishing up our snow camping adventure. (We have a camp trailer, which we keep at a balmy 45-50 degrees!) Thank you for the kind words and warm congratulations! It truly is such an amazing honor.
Kathy! YOu are SO brave!
The husband and children love winter camping. I'd prefer palm trees and sandy beaches!
I am SO happy for each of you, and can't wait to meet you at Malice! There's nothing like that first book... Tell us, how did you react when you got that nominating phone call??
Thanks Edith. Looking forward to seeing you again. I was definitely shocked when I got the call! I almost didn't pick up because I didn't recognize the number and I hate talking on the phone. But I'm definitely glad I picked up!!!
It was a bit after 9pm when the phone rang. I didn't recognize the number, but it said the caller was from Bethesda... My first thought was it was a telemarketer. But... Bethesda... Could it be? Nah. But what if? I answered. A wonderful lady (whose name, sadly, I will never remember) delivered the good news. My gasp took ten years off my husband's life. When the call was over, big, bad, retired cop that I am, I burst into tears.
LOVE that story, Micki! Cannot wait to catch up at Malice.
I was driving home from work when I learned I had been nominated for the Agatha Award and I nearly wrecked my car. I then called my sister and cried like a baby (best day ever).
Thank you,Edith! Such a great question! I got the call on the eve of my pneumonia diagnosis. I was sick as a dog and had my phone turned off. I didn't know until I listened to my voicemail. I was sure I was having febrile hallucinations! Such a wonderful surprise!
Congratulations ladies! This is such a special time--enjoy every moment of it!
Thanks Roberta! I remember when you sent me a personal message congratulating me when I got my publishing deal. And then you were so nice to agree to blurb the book. I've been such a huge fan of your work that it meant so much that you were so nice to me. Super talented and super nice is such a great combo!
Thank you, Lucy. It has been a wonderful experience. It's very humbling!
Thank you. It has been an amazing experience.
Congratulations to all the nominees. I read the synopsis for each book and I'm very intrigued by all of them. So I am forewarning everyone that when I end up filing for bankruptcy, it will be all JRW's fault...I get introduced to way too many appealing authors and their books this way!
As for what gave me the writing bug, it first goes to my parents who encouraged reading and writing at an early age. I've always been able to string words together in a mostly coherent manner.
But it wasn't until I saw something I wrote in print, whether it was a letter to a newspaper, a comic book or a letter I wrote to the now defunct Basketball Digest that I truly got into writing as means of expressing my thoughts to more than just the people who happen to be around me.
That led to writing for a number of websites and eventually for Mystery Scene.
It's not nearly as outstanding as writing your own novel, but it's good enough for me.
What a great story , Jay!
Thanks Jay! I feel you on the possibly going bankrupt. I'm trying to switch to e-books because the physical copies were taking over my living room.
And what a cool story on sharing your writing journey! As a former journalist, I know being able to write concisely in such a small word count is a true art form.
My grandmother was the one who really taught me the value of reading. Like you with your parents, I owe her such a debt of gratitude.
Love that story, Jay! And kudos to your parents for instilling a love of reading and writing.
Kellye, I'm sure e-books would be a great space saver for me but I just can't do it. I'm a tactile person I guess. I have to have the book in hand. As for writing concisely, it's just the stuff for Mystery Scene that I have to be aware of a word count. When I write for the two websites I work for now, length isn't a concern so much as quality and accuracy.
Micki, while my parents encouraged the reading and writing, I do have my grandmother to thank for my love of John Sandford thrillers. She gave me "Rules of Prey".
V.M., I really love the setting of your book and have plans to order that today.
Hank, the blame is yours then instead of my lack of impulse control when it comes to buying new books despite 200 waiting to be read already. LOL!
Thanks, Jay! I appreciate the support.
Let me say 'Congratulations!' to each of you! I will be seeing you all at Malice. In fact, I've volunteered to help with the panel that features the group. Last year, attending my first Malice, I found that volunteering to help with panels was a great way to quickly meet the authors. So, I'm Kay and I'll be making sure your water pitcher is filled. Ha!
Seriously, I can only imagine how exciting it is for all of you. Loved hearing about your 'first byline'. Laura, I live in the Austin area - so, hey, from Central Texas. Kathleen, I lived in Oregon for a few years. Kellye, I loved Cold Case and remember the episode you mentioned. Micki, my Dad was a state policeman for over 30 years, so I grew up knowing about that life - no scuba diving though. Ha! Valerie, I have a daughter named Samantha and I would live in a mystery bookstore if I could. Cannot wait to read all your books - they are all on my list. Again, best wishes and see you soon!
Wow—you are the perfect person for that panel! Can't wait to come cheer you on!
Thank you, Kay! I'm looking forward to meeting you at Malice. I have to confess, I'm glad I didn't grow up in a house where my father was a cop...I was a bit of a wild child.
Thank you so much, Kay! Very much looking forward to meeting you and exchanging Oregon stories!
Congratulations to all of you! Looking forward to seeing you at Malice.
Hi Triss! Looking forward to seeing you at Malice. I haven't seen you since my release ay when we were both on that panel at the library! It was so nice hearing your story of your series.
Thank you Triss! I'm looking forward to meeting you at Malice too.
Thank you, Triss!Looking forward to meeting you!
Five talented, accomplished women--I predict these won't be the last awards for which you'll find yourselves nominated--but I also predict that none will ever feel like this one: to leap off that cliff and fly so high, first time out!! Congratulations to you all!!
Thanks to JRW, I'm never at a loss for reading ideas!
Thank you Flora! I'm definitely trying to enjoy every moment!
I'm still gobsmacked. It is an incredible feeling, and one I shall always treasure. Thank you, Flora!
Thank you Flora. I'm very excited and I appreciate all of the positive thoughts for the future. I agree JRW does a great job.
Isn't it such fun to see this? And to know what wonderful careers they have ahead. Wow.
I also love the sisterhood of this blog tour—so gracious and supportive.
Is Margaret Maron moderating your Malice panel?
Hi Hank! I can't tell you how much I appreciate the support (from when I first got my deal to when my book came out to now). I believe that Margaret Maron is moderating! So exciting.
Margaret Maron is the moderator. I'm such a fangirl! You're right, Hank. She is brilliant.
Thanks Hank! I'm really looking forward to meeting Margaret Maron and everyone else who has been so supportive.
Cannot wait to come cheer you all on!
So looking forward to meeting Margaret Maron! So many wonderful, supportive people to get to know.
Congratulations to all of you! ENJOY THE RIDE! This is (probably) your FIRST nom, too. Wish I were going to the conference to cheer you on.
My first real by-line was an op-ed piece in the Boston Globe about leaving public school teaching at a time when most younger teachers were getting RIFed, receiving pink slips rewarding them for the year's work. So many of us bailed from teaching. An aside: I'm so happy to see teachers (Yay, Kentucky! Oklahoma!) taking the lead from students and standing up for themselves and their right to make a living wage.
Hi Hallie! Thank you! I work in Manhattan so I'm going to be crashing the Edgars Week reception at Mysterious. If you're there, I will definitely introduce myself. And most of my family is in education so I'm so happy for teachers making sure they get their due.
Thank you, Hallie. I wish you were going to the conference as well. I'd love to meet you. I have such respect for teachers. I owe my love of writing to my 9th grade English teacher, Mrs. Simons.
Thank you so much Hallie. I wish you were going to Malice this year, but I hope to meet you next time.
Congratulations everyone for your nomination ! I'm so happy for you.
With passion and work, we can achieve anything we wish to.
Five new universes to explore for me. Thank you Hank for introducing those five inspiring women to us.
Thank you, Danielle! I've read everyone's books and they are all amazing!
Thank you, Danielle! I agree with your assessment that with passion and a bit of work, we can do just about anything. I'd add that a trace of stubbornness certainly doesn't hurt either!
Thank you so much, Danielle! I'm so lucky to be among these wonderful women.
Writing your first book is exciting enough, but to get such recognition as a Best First nomination--wow, that must be amazing. Well done, nominees. I'll be at Malice to see who wins, but this is already pretty wonderful.
Jay, we can shop for barrels together, when we run out of money for real clothes.
My first byline ever was for the high school newspaper in freshman year (they removed all my ellipses, the first of many humbling experiences of having my work edited). My first national byline was in Threads Magazine, a long time ago. Very little editing done to that article.
Oh, that is the sweetest story! And I have to admit. Ellipses can usually go, right?
Thank you Karen. I thought seeing my book on the shelf at a bookstore was the most amazing thing ever until I found out I was nominated for an Agatha Award. I am looking forward to meeting you at Malice.
I LOVE ellipses...I find that they are my go-to-let's-pretend-I learned-nothing-in-English-class punctuation in informal writing. Formally, it's the em dash that gets me in trouble with the copy editors.
You're right, Karen, this is a wonderful time. Whether or not I walk away with a teapot, I'll never forget the feeling of being a nominee or the many wonderful people I've met because of Malice Domestic.
Yeah, I give myself one exclamation mark per book. It kind of works! Oops.
Congratulations to ALL of the Agatha nominees! I have two of the books and this is the first time I heard of other books, so thank you! I look forward to reading all of the books mentioned.
When I was about 4 years old, I was learning to read and write. I remember a daily journal, which my parents helped me with. When I was in the 6th grade, our teacher had us write a daily journal. I wrote creative stories. That was fun for me.
Although I have not published books yet, I enjoy writing for myself.
So sweet to think of you and your parents working on your journal… Do you still have it?
Hi Diana. How cool that you had a daily journal. I always try to start one and never follow through.
I still take a journal with me whenever I go for a hike. The words I record are just for me, and they ground me in a way that other words don't. I think they are some of my most important musings.
Oh, what a treasure that journal must be!
Thank you Diana, That is a great memory to have of journaling with your parents. I have a journal which I use whenever I find myself waiting at the doctor's office, car repair or while sitting under the hair dryer at the beauty shop.
Everyone, thank you. My speech teacher encouraged my parents to keep a journal for me and we would go over the journal after dinner daily when I was little. It was to help with my reading and writing. I think I still have it in one of my boxes.
These days I do not keep a daily journal, though I do keep a reading journal. I am trying to remedy that by writing happy events in my calendar book.
I love the idea of journaling. How wonderful that you still have an early one! These days, Facebook functions as my journal. It tells me something fun or funny that happened years ago that I never would have remembered on my own!
Kathy, thank you. You may want to look at your privacy settings on Facebook. We all need to be careful about what information we want to share and with who on Facebook.
Mega congrats to each of you! I look forward to reading your books.
Oh, I bet that was adorable! You know, I never wrote anything like that when I was a little kid… Wonder what that means?
How cool!! And it's so great that you still have one. I need to hunt down my stories that I wrote. Unlike you, I never was able to finish one!
My first poem was entitled "The Crocodile's Tea." The gist was that the crocodile wanted me for tea, and not just to share a table. Its awfulness still makes me laugh. I came across it just a few months ago. I'm so glad you still have your story!
Thanks Amanda. How cool that you still have your first published book and the knowledge that your mother typed it using carbon paper has to make it even more special.
I totally remember carbon paper! (And I remember running "dittos" for my mom.) How lovely that your mother typed it out and shared with family. Moms are the best!
Congratulations to all of you, and I wish all could win, because you are all winners! We had planned to attend Malice this year but life got in the way. Enjoy yourselves and maybe next year.
We will fill you in on all the scoop, dear Ann!
Oh no! You will be missed and hopefully we can meet in 2019!
Thank you, Ann. I'm so sorry we won't have the chance to meet this year. Life often has a plan of its own. I hope all is well.
Thanks Ann. Sorry I won't get a chance to meet you at Malice this year, but hope there will be other opportunities.
Thank you, Ann! You will be missed. Hope to see you next year!
I look forward to meeting you atMalice.
My first by line was at the age of ten. A local department store had an essay competition " why I like shopping at Hines" I won a pound!
Yes! Nothing like getting paid for your work. Looking forward to meeting you in person at Malice!
Thank you, Rhys. That's a great story. I remember treasuring a silver dollar as a child, so I can only imagine your excitement!
Thank you, Rhys. I'm excited for the opportunity to meet you at Malice. How awesome to get paid for writing at ten-years-old. That is impressive.
Looking forward to meeting you at Malice! How wonderful that your first byline was a paying gig!
Oh, this is great. Five terrific sounding reads, and all so different. I'm looking forward to dipping into these. Congratulations to all of you.
I love the spectrum as well! But that's why I love mysteries so much. We have so many different sub-genres.
Thank you, Susan! It's a fabulous genre!
Thank you Susan. I love the variety too.
I don't remember my first byline. But my brother sent me a text just a couple days ago that he found an essay of mine in one of our high school publications. He said it was "very good" and my brother is a tough critic.
Ugh, typing too fast and not enough caffeine. Congrats to all the nominees!
Hi Mary! You already know I'm looking forward to hanging out at Malice so we can celebrate you and your book deal!
Thanks Mary! I still don't think I've impressed my brother, so you are definitely one up on me! Congrats on your book deal!
Oh, the mom thing is very difficult..mine wasn't impressed, or at least she didn't let on that she was, until she saw the actual book.
Thanks Mary. How exciting for you and congrats on your book deal. I look forward to meeting you at Malice.
Thanks all and I look forward to meeting all of you!
Hank, no typos. Just forgot to say congrats!
Looking forward to meeting you in person, Mary!
The youthful energy and amazing talent! Thank you for this. And, I just have to say that "Cold Case" was one of my favorite TV series EVER -- I remember the Japanese internment case. These women are the future!
Oh, that is the perfect way of looking at it! And I will admit I have never seen that show… Should I start now?
Cold Case was such a great show. I have to admit my sister was into it before I was. so happy you remembered my episode.
Oh, what a cool insidery thing to know!
Thank you, Denise. Your words are so kind (and a bit daunting! lol). I hope I have the opportunity to meet you at Malice Domestic!
Thank you so much, Denise Ann. I look forward to meeting you in person at Malice.
Oh, my gosh! I want to read each of these books! Congratulations to all the writers. Wish I could go to Malice but I'll be with you in spirit.
Whenever I write anything it's mostly for fun, to entertain family and friends, mostly in the firm of letters and emails. I wrote occasionally for a dormitory newsletter in college. I suppose you could call it a Gossip Column, which amuses me, because I don't think I've ever read one! I don't remember if I had a byline.
Off to count my pennies to see if I can afford to start buying the awards-nominated books!
Oh, another instance of wondering if you still have any of those!
Hi Deborah! The idea of a dorm Gossip Column sounds great and like the TV show Gossip Girl. You were ahead of your time!
A hand-written letter is such an amazing gift in this age of emails and texts. I bet your recipients treasure them!
Thanks Deborah. A college dorm gossip column sounds like a great setup for a murder mystery. Maybe we'll see you at a future Malice.
Valerie, that is a brilliant idea!
Thank you Deborah! And ditto what Kellye and Valerie said. You were ahead of your time and have a great mystery concept!
Congrats to the nominees! I hope you are all reveling in this time!
My first byline was in the "newspaper" I produced at home. I did the illustrations, as well. I remember an article I wrote about Jimmy Carter, which gives you a sense of the time period!
Thank you, Ingrid! I'm in awe of all the creativity of these first bylines. I was the laziest kid ever.
Kellye, I picked up your book because one of the librarians at the Seattle Public Library was raving about it! Really enjoying it!
Thank you, Ingrid. You've got us all beat--publishing your own newspaper! That's fabulous!
Thank you, Ingrid. I'm impressed. You published a newspaper AND did illustrations. That's amazing.
The illustrations were horrible! Don't be impressed!
Oh, congratulations to you all! Such an exciting time -- and a bit nerve-wracking, as I remember well. Malice is such a great con -- 500 of your closest friends in one place! And everyone will be so pleased to meet you and cheer you on!
My first byline was at age 10, when the local paper ran a contest for kids on the meaning of Christmas. We'd been told I was a winner and looked every day in December for my piece. It didn't run and didn't run, and I started to think I hadn't won after all. Finally, it ran -- on Christmas Day! My sweet dad said "they saved the best for last." I was hooked!
Kellye, yes to Malice! And the Best First Nominees panel is always such a delight. Well, okay, being ON it is terror, but as you said about waiting, great preparation!
Thank you Leslie. That is an amazing story and what a great memory of your first byline. I look forward to meeting you at Malice.
Oh my gosh. I love that story! Very much looking forward to meeting you!
Congratulations, everyone! Getting the Best First nom...sigh. Nothing else will ever top the elation of the first one. Also, as a practical matter, it's a GREAT way to start your career! I'm looking forward to reading everyone's work in the run-up to Malice.
Julia, I feel so blessed. Thank you.
And you will get a special ribbon on your name badge!
Thank you, Julia! It really is such a thrill. Thank you for the kind words and support!
I am in awe of all five of you! I can't wait to stand and cheer you on at Malice in just a few short weeks!
What I remember most about my first official byline wasn't the story so much as the panic I felt the first time someone approached me about having read the piece. All I could think was, "Oh my God, NO. People are actually going to READ what I wrote!" I got over it, thankfully.
Congratulations, ladies. What a fabulous group of nominees we have this year!
Thanks Annette! I have to confess, I've felt that same panic!
Thanks Annette. I'm really excited about the nomination and I have to admit my heart races everytime someone says, "I read your book." Good to know the panic subsides. Congrats on your nomination as well. I look forward to chearing you as well.
Congratulations ladies all your books look wonderful, I have already reserved a few. So nice to see photos of all of you. I like seeing the face of the genius behind the words.
I am not a professional writer buy have been published. My first self pub was a poem I typed when I was about 7? I thought it was official because it WAS TYPED. My first column was about 30 years ago appearing Tampa Parenting Magazine, It was about using books to entertain children on road trips.
Not going to Malice but I AM GOING TO BOUCHERCON. Everyone has to come too so I can meet y'all.
Thank you, Coralee. I have an affinity for poems. I used to climb the mimosa tree in the front yard and write really, really bad poetry cradled in its boughs. I'm pretty sure not even typing would have helped.
Thank you Coralee. I think writing a poem at age 7 is impressive. The fact that you actually typed it is even more impressive. I am planning to attend Bouchercon too this year, so I will look forward to meeting you then.
Thank you, Coralee! I'm sorry to miss you at Malice, but hope to meet you soon!
I found this post so fascinating. I love learning about new authors and their books, and getting to read about the first bylines and early writing is a treat. Each of the books appeal to me, and I know that they will all be strong contenders for the Agatha. Congratulations to all of you nominees and good luck! Oh, Kathleen, I loved that last line of your piece, "After all, my heart is already on those pages. It makes sense that my name is, too."
The mystery community is so open and gracious. Thank you, Kathy. I hope our paths cross at Malice!
See you there! xoooo We can have a reds reunion!
Thank you Kathy. I hope you will be at Malice and that I will have an opportunity to meet you in person.
Aw thanks, Kathy! One of my favorite parts about being nominated is learning about my sister-authors. Everyone has such great stories to share!
Just now chiming in. Congratulations ladies! Your books all sound like something I'd enjoy reading.
Very interesting to read about your earlier firsts. And congrats once again to all of you!
Thank you so very much, Mark!
Thank you so much, Hank. I am looking forward to meeting you at Malice.
My first byline was probably the short story I wrote in 5th grade. Everyone had to write their own version of the Three Little Pigs. My version had the Big Bad Wolf as a drug dealer and the pigs were trying to take him down. That's all I really remember about it. Guess I was destined to be a crime fiction writer, huh?
Thank you, Mia! Looking forward to your book's byline. I bet you'll have it sooner than you imagine!
Thank you, Mia. I love your creative Three Little Pigs story too. Best of luck with the next byline.
Thank you so much, Jenn. I know we are all thrilled and appreciate all of the well wishes.


text:
Chess club championships 2019
Chess Club had humble beginnings of just four pupils when it was set up last year. Since then the club's popularity has grown to 24 regular members who attend every Friday lunchtime.
Due its increasing fame and reputation, club co-ordinator Mrs Swire, made the decision to re-introduce a competition that last took place 16 years ago! So the challenge was on to find a new chess champion!
The first rounds of the competition were held last Friday (13th), with 15 club members keen to battle it out. After a very tense 3-hour afternoon four finalists emerged.
The final, on Wednesday this week, saw a grippingly close game however someone had to win and Alfie D emerged as the Chess Club Champion for 2019.
Runner up was Year 10 pupil, Jack D. A play-off for third and fourth place saw Year 9 Tom D as second runner up and Year 8 Tyler P as third runner up.
All the pupils who took part received a certificate and the runners up received an extra prize. Alfie will have his name engraved on the club trophy's roll of honour.
Well done: Nathan C, Stephen P, Jack W, Lochlan S, Daniel R, Viktoria B, Freddie S, William C, Junior D, Leo S, Matt H, Tyler P, Alfie D, Tom D, Jack D.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Focusing on customer's best interest IT AAKASH StrategicERP has launched a brand new Real Estate ERP software i.e Real Estate Basic V.18.2 for SME Real Estate. Real Estate ERP Basic is a web-based and mobile based start to end ERP solution that satisfies all the requirements of SME's real estate and construction industry. It provides quick ROI to SME's real estate.
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Real Estate ERP Basic is designed in such a way that it mainly place emphasis on streamlining start to end Real Estate Project activities. It solves the challenges occurring in project planning, project costing, project budgeting, and project execution. Best ERP for Real Estate gives way to SME's Real Estate to move towards success. And Real Estate ERP Basic is one of the finest ERP software which can bring higher profitability and productivity to SME's Real Estate.
Create Master setup for companies.
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Generates reports such as Ledgers, Bank Reconciliation, Trail Balance, P & L and Balance Sheet.
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Creates reminders – To Do tasks.
Checks business performance with the help of analytics.
Manages all office and petty cash expenses on regular basis.
Manage all Requisitions, Purchase Orders, Goods Receiving, Goods Issuing and Bills etc.
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Manages all Sales activity like creation of the customer, allocation of unit collection of receipts, allocation car parking etc.
Manages all post sale activity like sales follow up, cancellation of unit, transfer of unit, refund etc.
Generates the reports like Installment letter, Demand letter, Reminder letter,Member finance info, Project finance info etc.
Helps to define Project & Sub project details like total sale area, basic rate,floor rise rate & even payment schedule.
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Real Estate Basic system reports approval & closing of project.


Another bad news has surfaced for Android users. Famous anti-virus company Avast has published a statement according to which, millions of Android phones around the world may be infected with dormant or active malware. This malware, according to Avast experts, hides in apps and may remain inactive for months before showing its real face.
The alert by Avast was issued in the form of a blog post by Fillip Chytry, who is a security expert at the company. He said that a few days ago, a complaint was lodged by an Android use which was not taken seriously. But upon taking a closer look, Chytry discovered that adware malware is hiding itself in apparently legitimate apps which are downloaded by millions of users around the world.
Some of these malware infected apps are Durak ( a famous card game downloaded more than 5 million times from the Google Play Store), IQ test and a history app.
According to the source, the mechanism through which this lethal malware works is pretty smart and deceives the users easily. The malware effected app works normally for more than 30 days. After a specific period of time, whenever the users unlocks the device, a pop-up ad will appear, warning the user about potential vulnerabilities in the device's security. The worried user clicks the ad and that is when the damage begins. The malware gets active and retrieves the user data from contacts, messages and other sources.
The most bothering factor is that this adware might have effected numerous famous apps which users install and use daily. The source added that many apps are using adware for promotions, which is burgeoning the spread of this malware rapidly.
Google is yet to comment on this flabbergasting claim by Avast.
"Flabbergasting claim"? This scenario sounds totally plausible to me. There are well over a million apps available on the Google Play store. It is unreasonable to think that none of them would be embedded with malicious code. I have been using my Android Gingerbread equipped phone for over 4 years. My Android KitKat equipped tablet is basically the same, just a prettier interface. The more I use Android, the more I dislike it. I have been running a security program on my phone and tablet from day 1, but still get prompted to download suspicious apps or get peculiar pop-ups in the browser. Some of the pop-ups do not permit the user to go back or cancel, requiring a total reboot to clear the prompt. As much as I dislike Apple, I am starting to think there may be an iPhone in my future.


text:
NEWS Last modified on January 15, 2015
Frankfurt achieves new passenger traffic record in 2014
Frankfurt Airport has reported it achieved a new passenger traffic record in 2014 and rising cargo volumes, which it says came despite several strikes.
Some 59.57 million travellers passed through Germany's largest aviation hub last year, an increase of 2.6% year-on-year.
Passenger growth at Fraport AG's home base would have been even greater with an underlying rise of around 3.9% to about 60.3 million passengers – when taking into account the high number of mainly strike-related flight cancellations and other cancellations, including due to adverse weather.
Cargo volumes at Frankfurt also advanced in 2014, rising by 1.7% to about 2.2 million metric tonnes by year-end.
Aircraft movements edged down by 0.8% to about 469,000 take-offs and landings, it says reflected the ongoing trend towards larger aircraft and better capacity utilization along with higher passenger and cargo volumes.
Simultaneously, accumulated maximum take-off weights (MTOW) increased by 1.9% to about 29 million metric tonnes.
In the reporting month of December 2014, Frankfurt served around four million passengers, which represents a 2% decrease year-on-year, resulting from strike and weather-related flight cancellations.
Aircraft movements also declined by 5.2% in December 2014 to 32,954 take-offs and landings, while accumulated MTOWs contracted 1.1% to 2.1 million metric tonnes.
Cargo volumes also slipped by 1.4% year-on-year, reaching a total of 176,241 metric tonnes.
Fraport's executive board chairman, Dr Stefan Schulte, says: "We are delighted that – despite the strikes – we were clearly able to maintain the expected growth range forecast for FRA in 2014.
"On behalf of the entire executive board, I would like to extend special thanks to all of our Fraport employees.
"Even on the busiest days in 2014 – when traffic frequently exceeded the 200,000 level – our employees showed excellent team performance and did their utmost to provide the best possible travel experience to our passengers."
Looking in the future, Schulte emphasizes: "The growth trend experienced in 2014 confirms our forecasts for the coming years. This further underscores why we need a third new passenger terminal here at Frankfurt Airport.
"If the current trend continues, with growth rates ranging from two to three percent, in the coming years, the existing terminals will reach their capacity limits by 2021 at the latest.
"We will need the new Terminal 3 to ensure that we can continue delivering excellent service quality to our passengers, also with modern and trendsetting ambiance in the future."
Across the group, the airports in Fraport's international portfolio also recorded positive traffic growth in 2014.
Ljubljana Airport
Slovenia's capital city airport of Ljubljana Airport, which Fraport acquired in September 2014 – welcomed 1.3 million passengers and reported growth of 3.1% year-on-year.
With some 15.7 million passengers, Lima Airport in Peru recorded a 5% jump in passenger traffic compared to 2013, while the Fraport Twinstar airports of Burgas and Varna on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast saw traffic rise by 3.1% to 3.9 million passengers.
Antalya Airport on the Turkish Riviera served some 28 million passengers in 2014 – a 4.7% increase compared to the previous year, St Petersburg-Pulkovo Airport, passenger traffic surged by 11% to 14.3 million in 2014, and Hanover Airport recorded 1.1% growth to almost 5.3 million passengers.
In China, Xi'an Airport served some 29.2 million passengers in 2014, achieving double-digit growth of 12% versus the previous year.
In December 2014, all of Fraport's international airports recorded traffic growth, thus contributing to the group's overall positive result, and Dr Schulte explaines the dynamic performance of Fraport's global portfolio shows the company is following the right path: "Our strong portfolio, which has been performing well for many years now, will further benefit from the recent addition of Ljubljana Airport in Slovenia and US-based Airmall."
More traffic highs than lows for Fraport's airports in 2019
New robot on duty at Frankfurt Airport
Fantastic Journey
Project Watch - Frankfurt Airport
Mixed fortunes for Fraport's airport group in July


Japanese Episode DP 003: "A Rival Battle! Three vs. Three!!"
American Episode 467: "When Pokémon Worlds Collide"
As Satoshi continues his search for Pikachu, he sees a powerful electric attack in the distance. Thinking the attack is coming from Pikachu, Satoshi and Takeshi rush to the source to find a trainer named Shinji and his Elekid. Shinji is a young trainer who releases pokemon he deems as being "useless," and this attitude rubs Satoshi the wrong way. Suddenly, Satoshi sees a Volt Tackle attack in the distance and runs toward it, thinking it belongs to Pikachu. When he arrives, he finds his Pikachu being held captive by one of the Rocket-Dan's mechas! Satoshi jumps onto the mecha to retrieve his pokemon and eventually succeeds in sending the Rocket-Dan blasting off again. After reuniting with his pokemon, Satoshi and Takeshi introduce themselves to Hikari, who had been watching the battle the entire time. They return to a nearby Pokemon Center where the the three trainers decide to travel together throughout the Shin'ou region. As they head outside to start on their journey to Kotobuki City, they find that Shinji has been waiting for them! The trainer from Tobari City challenges Satoshi to a three-on-three battle to prove how weak he is. Shinji's Mukkuru is able to defeat Satoshi's Mukkuru, but his Hikozaru is unable to defeat Aipom's Focus Punch attack. The final match-up pits Pikachu against Elekid and ends in a draw. Shinji releases his Mukkuru for being too weak and resumes his journey as Satoshi glares at his new rival. After the pokemon rest up, Satoshi, Hikari, and Takeshi begin their journey through the Shin'ou region.
Ahhhhh, Shinji. After nearly a decade of annoyingly happy go-lucky trainers, it's refreshing to see a jerk like him shaking things up. Shinji will continue to anger Satoshi by releasing pokemon after pokemon in future episodes, so those of you who liked what you saw here will have plenty to look forward to.
Other than the introduction of Satoshi's rival, Hikari officially joins the group. I find it disappointing that Satoshi and Takeshi don't so much as mention Haruka when Hikari mentions her goals of being a Pokemon Coordinator, but I guess the writers used up their one example of remembering the past with that Rumika cameo in the previous episode. *sigh* We also get to see Satoshi's Pikachu gets beaten by a beginning trainer's Elekid even though it just took down a Regice a few episodes earlier. While fans could argue that Pikachu got a power down after the first Advanced Generation episode, the same can't be said for this series, where there's no reason for Pikachu to be as weak as it is in this episode.
Paul sounds way older than he should, but so does Shinji, so I can't really be too hard on either one of them. I'm just glad PUSA didn't give Ash's rival that Gary voice like so many of us were afraid they would.
In the Japanese version, Kimi no Soba de ~Hikari no Teema~ is used as the closing theme.
Elekid keeps its Japanese voice.
The opening scenes of the episode that sort of recap what's been going on so far are removed from the dub.
The shot of Mukkuru that starts the episode off is then shortened by a second.
Also, the title screen is, predictably, removed.
Hopefully, all of these cuts will be restored once this airs as a regular episode.
End English Episode 466, about three and a half minutes in.
The eyecatches change another time to add Takeshi to the group.
Only one more update to go!
Paul: "The name's Paul, and from the looks of things, you must be Professor Rowan."
In the Japanese version, he also said that he's from Tobari City (Veilstone City). Any good ADR supervisor should have been able to fit that information into the above line, so I don't really know why it's omitted from the dub.
You know how, back in the Pokémon Chronicles era, 4Kids would remove the TO BE CONTINUED text from each and every episode?
Well, PUSA sort of does the same thing here. Except in this episode, they don't break out their digital paint artists...instead, they simply slow down the final zoom-out shot so much that the episode's over before the video has time to get to the TO BE CONTINUED text.
Also, PUSA freezes the final scene to make it three seconds longer than it was in the Japanese version.


text:
Ascensionfregattfågel (Fregata aquila) är en fågel i familjen fregattfåglar inom ordningen sulfåglar. Den häckar i endast en liten ögrupp i Sydatlanten och är följaktligen fåtalig.

Utseende
Ascensionfregattfågeln är en mycket stor havslevande fågel, liksom övriga fregattfåglar med långa vingar och lång kluven stjärt. Hanen är i princip identiskt med praktfregattfågeln med sin helsvarta dräkt, grönglans på huvudet och röd strupsäck som blåses upp till en boll under spelet. Honan däremot skiljer sig från hona praktfregattfågel (liksom alla fregattfåglar) genom avsaknaden av vitt på huvud och kropp. I övrigt är honan mörkbrun med rostbrunt halsband och bröst.

Utbredning
Fågeln häckar enbart i den isolerade ögruppen Ascension i Sydatlanten, där fram tills nyligen endast på det lilla skäret Boatswainbird. Sedan 2012 har den dock återkoloniserat huvudön efter att man gjort den fri från katter.

Efter häckning sprider den sig till vattnen utanför Västafrika. Arten har påträffats i Europa vid två tillfällen, båda gånger märkligt nog i Argyll, Skottland: 10 juli 1953 och nästan exakt 60 år senare 5 juli 2013. Den har även setts i Brasilien.

Ekologi
Ascensionfregattfågeln häckar i fyra lösa kolonier, huvudsakligen på Boatswainbird Islands högplatå. Sedan 2012 finns även en liten koloni på sydvästsidan av klippön Letterbox mindre än en kilometer från Boatswainbird. Den häckar året runt, men med en topp i oktober. Den lägger endast ett ägg och häckningsframgången är ofta dålig, där chansen för överlevnad endast är 50%.

Fågeln är i unik i familjen genom att inte huvudsakligen vara kleptoparasiter utan tar fisk från ytan, framför allt flygfiskar i släktena Cypsilurus och Hirundichthys samt arten Exocoetus volitans, men också nykläckta ungar av grön havssköldpadda Chelonia mydas. Troligen är det endast honor som ägnar sig åt kleptoparasitism.

Status
Eftersom arten har en mycket begränsat utbredning där nästan hela världspopulationen häckar på en enda ö kategoriserar internationella naturvårdsunionen arten som sårbar. Världspopulationen uppskattas till mellan 25.000 och 32.000 individer, Arten kan hotas av långrevsfiske som sedan 1988 bedrivs i området, även om direkta bevis saknas. Det har dock förekommit att den har fångats under sportfiske.

Noter

Externa länkar

 Bilder och filmer på Internet Bird Collection

Fregattfåglar
Fåglar i oceaniska regionen

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


After gaining momentum earlier in the year 2018, most agricultural commodity prices weakened significantly in the third quarter of 2018. This was mostly in response to upward revisions to production estimates for key crops and, to a lesser extent, currency depreciations among some commodity exporters. Oils suffered the largest losses following China's 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans. On average, the Agricultural Price Index was expected to be roughly unchanged in 2018 compared to 2017, and to rise by just under 2 percent in 2019, mainly owing to higher costs of energy and fertilizers. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA)(October 2018), global supplies of wheat, maize, and rice were projected to reach a combined 2,906 million metric tons (mmt) this season (September 2018 to August 2019), nearly identical to last season.
The Grain Price Index is projected to edge up 1 percent in 2019 after an estimated 10 percent rise in 2018 resulting from a drought in Europe and Central Asia that affected wheat prices.
Global production of wheat is projected to be 4 percent lower than last season's record of 759 mmt, according to the USDA. Yields have been adversely affected by heat waves in key producing countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Global consumption of wheat is expected to grow by less than 1 percent from last season, pushing the stocks-to-use ratio (an approximate measure of supply relative to demand) down by 2 percentage points, still the second highest level of the past two decades.
Rice production is projected to decline marginally in 2018-19 to 488 mmt in line with earlier assessments. Growing conditions have been mixed: delays in Vietnam's harvest due to late plantings and reduced yields in Thailand due to heavy rains have been offset by favorable conditions in China, India, and Indonesia. Global consumption of rice is expected to increase marginally, leaving the stocks-to-use ratio largely unchanged at 30 percent.
Global maize production is expected to fall more than 3 percent this season, to 1,043 mmt. Crop conditions in the Southern Hemisphere are mixed—Brazil's harvest is expected to be near its five-year average; but weather conditions in Argentina have been unfavorable notwithstanding some recent improvement. Despite a promising start in maize sowing in the Northern Hemisphere (United States, Mexico, and China), the USDA's prospective plantings report points to a 2 percent decline in land allocated to maize for the next season. South Africa may also experience a decline in maize plantings. Global maize consumption is anticipated to expand nearly 3 percent, reducing the stocksto-use ratio to 18.6 percent, nearly 4 percentage points below last season but much higher than the lows in 2010-12.
Global output of the 17 major edible oils (including palm, soybean, and rapeseed) is forecast to increase 3 percent in the 2018-19. The World Bank's Oils and Meals Price Index fell almost 11 percent in the third quarter of 2018 (q/q), and stands 3 percent lower than the same quarter of last year. The weakness reflects favorable crop conditions across-the-board and, in the case of soybeans, trade policies. Prices for soybean meal and coconut oil each plunged 13 percent in the quarter, followed by palm oil (down 11 percent) and soybean oil (down 8 percent). The production outlook for the current season (October 2018-September 2019) looks promising in view of continuing favorable growing conditions.
Production of oilseeds in 2018-19 is also expected to be healthy, with global supplies of the ten major oilseeds projected to reach 590 mmt, up from last season's 564 mmt. Almost all of this growth is expected from soybeans, mostly from Argentina, and less so in Brazil and the United States.
Global coffee production is projected to increase 7 percent in 2018-19.A modest recovery is expected in 2019. Despite the recent price weakness, cocoa prices are expected to gain 2 percent in 2019, following a projected increase of 13 percent in 2018, as consumption is expected to outpace production in both years. Global tea prices declined more than 5 percent in the third quarter of 2018 (q/q). Tea prices are expected to gain 1 percent in 2019, following a projected decline of 9 percent in 2018.
Although global cotton production outpaced consumption by a small margin in 2017-18, production next season is projected to decline by 4 percent, creating room for the unwinding of China's stocks. Cotton prices are expected to remain nearly flat in 2019, following a projected gain of 11 percent in 2018.
The World Bank's Beverage Price Index declined almost 9 percent in the third quarter (q/q), with roughly similar losses across all of its components, following upward revisions to global supplies in all three markets. The Index was projected to decline more than 5 percent in 2018, before stabilizing in 2019.
Fertilizer prices are projected to rise 2 percent in 2019 due to modest global demand growth. Energy and fertilizer prices are expected to rise marginally in 2019 (1 and 2 percent, respectively) and, as noted in the energy section, upside risks to the forecast are elevated, especially for crude oil. Higher-thanexpected energy prices could exert upward pressure on grain and oilseed prices.


text:
Toying With Goal-Directedness
Locality of goals
by adamShimi7 min read22nd Jun 20208 comments
Ω 11
Goal-DirectednessAIRationality
Thermostats and Goals
Goals Across Cartesian Boundaries
What Is Locality Anyway?
Crossposted from the AI Alignment Forum. May contain more technical jargon than usual.
Studying goal-directedness produces two kinds of questions: questions about goals, and questions about being directed towards a goal. Most of my previous posts focused on the second kind; this one shifts to the first kind.
Assume some goal-directed system with a known goal. The nature of this goal will influence which issues of safety the system might have. If the goal focuses on the input, the system might wirehead itself and/or game its specification. On the other hand, if the goal lies firmly in the environment, the system might have convergent instrumental subgoals and/or destroy any unspecified value.
Locality aims at capturing this distinction.
Intuitively, the locality of the system's goal captures how far away from the system one must look to check the accomplishment of the goal.
Let's give some examples:
The goal of "My sensor reaches the number 23" is very local, probably maximally local.
The goal of "Maintain the temperature of the room at 23 °C" is less local, but still focused on a close neighborhood of the system.
The goal of "No death from cancer in the whole world" is even less local.
Locality isn't about how the system extract a model of the world from its input, but about whether and how much it cares about the world beyond it.
This intuition about locality came from the collision of two different classification of goals: the first from from Daniel Dennett and the second from Evan Hubinger.
In "The Intentional Stance", Dennett explains, extends and defends... the intentional stance. One point he discusses is his liberalism: he is completely comfortable with admitting ridiculously simple systems like thermostats in the club of intentional systems -- to give them meaningful mental states about beliefs, desires and goals.
Lest we readers feel insulted at the comparison, Dennett nonetheless admits that the goals of a thermostat differ from ours.
Going along with the gag, we might agree to grant [the thermostat] the capacity for about half a dozen different beliefs and fewer desires—it can believe the room is too cold or too hot, that the boiler is on or off, and that if it wants the room warmer it should turn on the boiler, and so forth. But surely this is imputing too much to the thermostat; it has no concept of heat or of a boiler, for instance. So suppose we de-interpret its beliefs and desires: it can believe the A is too F or G, and if it wants the A to be more F it should do K, and so forth. After all, by attaching the thermostatic control mechanism to different input and output devices, it could be made to regulate the amount of water in a tank, or the speed of a train, for instance.
The goals and beliefs of a thermostat are thus not about heat and the room it is in, as our anthropomorphic bias might suggest, but about the binary state of its sensor.
Now, if the thermostat had more information about the world -- a camera, GPS position, general reasoning ability to infer information about the actual temperature from all its inputs --, then Dennett argues its beliefs and goals would be much more related to heat in the room.
The more of this we add, the less amenable our device becomes to serving as the control structure of anything other than a room-temperature maintenance system. A more formal way of saying this is that the class of indistinguishably satisfactory models of the formal system embodied in its internal states gets smaller and smaller as we add such complexities; the more we add, the richer or more demanding or specific the semantics of the system, until eventually we reach systems for which a unique semantic interpretation is practically (but never in principle) dictated (cf. Hayes 1979). At that point we say this device (or animal or person) has beliefs about heat and about this very room, and so forth, not only because of the system's actual location in, and operations on, the world, but because we cannot imagine an-other niche in which it could be placed where it would work.
Humans, Dennett argues, are more like this enhanced thermostat, in that our beliefs and goals intertwine with the state of the world. Or put differently, when the world around us changes, it will influence almost always influence our mental states; whereas a basic thermostat might react the exact same way in vastly different environments.
But as systems become perceptually richer and behaviorally more versatile, it becomes harder and harder to make substitutions in the actual links of the system to the world without changing the organization of the system itself. If you change its environment, it will notice, in effect, and make a change in its internal state in response. There comes to be a two-way constraint of growing specificity between the device and the environment. Fix the device in any one state and it demands a very specific environment in which to operate properly (you can no longer switch it easily from regulating temperature to regulating speed or anything else); but at the same time, if you do not fix the state it is in, but just plonk it down in a changed environment, its sensory attachments will be sensitive and discriminative enough to respond appropriately to the change, driving the system into a new state, in which it will operate effectively in the new environment.
Part of this distinction between goals comes from generalization, a property considered necessary for goal-directedness since Rohin's initial post on the subject. But the two goals also differs in their "groundedness": the thermostat's goal lies completely in its sensors' inputs, whereas the goals of humans depend on things farther away, on the environment itself.
That is, these two goals have different locality.
The other classification of goals comes from Evan Hubinger, in a personal discussion. Assuming a Cartesian Boundary outlining the system and its inputs and outputs, goals can be functions of:
The environment. This includes most human goals, since we tend to refuse wireheading. Hence the goal depends on something else than our brain state.
The input. A typical goal as a function of the input is the one ascribed to the simple thermostat: maintaining the number given by its sensor above some threshold. If we look at the thermostat without assuming that its goal is a proxy for something else, then this system would happily wirehead itself, as the goal IS the input.
The output. This one is a bit weirder, but captures goals about actions: for example, the goal of twitching. If there is a robot that only twitches, not even trying to keep twitching, just twitching, its goal seems about its output only.
The internals. Lastly, goals can depend on what happens inside the system. For example, a very depressed person might have the goal of "Feeling good". If that is the only thing that matters, then it is a goal about their internal state, and nothing else.
Of course, many goals are functions of multiple parts of this quatuor. Yet separating them allows a characterization of a given goal through their proportions.
Going back to Dennett's example, the basic thermostat's goal is a function of its input, while human goals tend to be functions of the environment. And once again, an important aspect of the difference appears to lie in how far from the system is there information relevant to the goal -- locality.
Assuming some model of the world (possibly a causal DAG) containing the system, the locality of the goal is inversely proportional to the minimum radius of a ball, centered at the system, which suffice to evaluate the goal. Basically, one needs to look a certain distance away to check whether one's goal is accomplished; locality is a measure of this distance. The more local a goal, the less grounded in the environment, and the most it is susceptible to wireheading or change of environment without change of internal state.
Running with this attempt at formalization, a couple of interesting point follow:
If the model of the world includes time, then locality also captures how far in the future and in the past one must go to evaluate the goal. This is basically the short-sightedness of a goal, as exemplified by variants of twitching robots: the robot that simply twitches; the one that want to maximize its twitch in the next second; the one that want to maximize its twitching in the next 2 seconds,... up to the robot that want to maximize the time it twitches in the future.
Despite the previous point, locality differs from the short term/long term split. An example of a short-term goal (or one-shot goal) is wanting an ice cream: after its accomplishment, the goal simply dissolves. Whereas an example of a long-term goal (or continuous goal) is to bring about and maintaing world peace -- something that is never over, but instead constrains the shape of the whole future. Short-sightedness differs from short-term, as a short-sighted goal can be long-term: "for all times t (in hours to simplify), I need to eat an ice cream in the interval [t-4,t+4]".
Where we put the center of the ball inside the system is probably irrelevant, as the classes of locality should matter more than the exact distance.
An alternative definition would be to allow the center of the ball to be anywhere in the world, and make locality inversely proportional to the sum of the distance of the center to the system plus the radius. This captures goals that do not depend on the state of the system, but would give similar numbers than the initial definition.
In summary, locality is a measure of the distance at which information about the world matters for a system's goal. It appears in various guises in different classification of goals, and underlies multiple safety issues. What I give is far from a formalization; it is instead a first exploration of the concept, with open directions to boot. Yet I believe that the concept can be put into more formal terms, and that such a measure of locality captures a fundamental aspect of goal-directedness.
Thanks to Victoria Krakovna, Evan Hubinger and Michele Campolo for discussions on this idea.
Goal-Directedness5AI2Rationality2
Goal-directedness is behavioral, not structural
12 comments6 karma
Goals and short descriptions
69Literature Review on Goal-Directedness
64Agents Over Cartesian World Models
44Modeling Risks From Learned Optimization
37Why You Should Care About Goal-Directedness
13[AN #107]: The convergent instrumental subgoals of goal-directed agents
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[-]johnswentworth3y Ω5
One related thing I was thinking about last week: part of the idea of abstraction is that we can pick a Markov blanket around some variable X, and anything outside that Markov blanket can only "see" abstract summary information f(X). So, if we have a goal which only cares about things outside that Markov blanket, then that goal will only care about f(X) rather than all of X. This holds for any goal which only cares about things outside the blanket. That sounds like instrumental convergence: any goal which does not explicitly care about things near X itself, will care only about controlling f(X), not all of X.
This isn't quite the same notion of goal-locality that the OP is using (it's not about how close the goal-variables are to the agent), but it feels like there's some overlapping ideas there.
[-]adamShimi3y Ω2
The more I think about it, the more I come to believe that locality is very related to abstraction. Not the distance part necessarily, but the underlying intuition. If my goal is not "about the world", then I can throw almost all information about the world except a few details and still be able to check my goal. The "world" of the thermostat is in that sense a very abstracted map of the world where anything except the number on its sensor is thrown away.
Thanks! Glad that I managed to write something that was not causally or rhetorically all wrong. ^^
One related thing I was thinking about last week: part of the idea of abstraction is that we can pick a Markov blanket around some variable X, and anything outside that Markov blanket can only "see" abstract summary information f(X). So, if we have a goal which only cares about things outside that Markov blanket, then that goal will only care about f(X) rather than all of X
That makes even more sense to me than you might think. My intuitions about locality comes from its uses in distributed computing, where it measures both how many rounds of communication are needed to solve a problem and how far in the communication graph one needs to look to compute one's own output. This looks like my use of locality here.
On the other hand, recent work on distributed complexity also studied the volume complexity of a problem: the size of the subgraph one needs to look at, which might be very different from a ball. The only real constraint is connectedness. Modulo the usual "exactness issue", which we can deal with by replacing "the node is not used" by "only f(X) is used", this looks a lot like your idea.
[-]Rohin Shah3y Ω4
Planned summary for the Alignment Newsletter:
This post introduces the concept of the _locality_ of a goal, that is, how "far" away the target of the goal is. For example, a thermometer's "goal" is very local: it "wants" to regulate the temperature of this room, and doesn't "care" about the temperature of the neighboring house. In contrast, a paperclip maximizer has extremely nonlocal goals, as it "cares" about paperclips anywhere in the universe. We can also consider whether the goal depends on the agent's internals, its input, its output, and/or the environment.
The concept is useful because for extremely local goals (usually goals about the internals or the input) we would expect wireheading or tampering, whereas for extremely nonlocal goals, we would instead expect convergent instrumental subgoals like resource acquisition.
Thanks for the summary! It's representative of the idea.
Just by curiosity, how do you decide for which posts/paper you want to write an opinion?
I ask myself if there's anything in particular I want to say about the post / paper that the author(s) didn't say, with an emphasis on ensuring that the opinion has content. If yes, then I write it.
(Sorry, that's not very informative, but I don't really have a system for it.)
No worries, that's a good answer. I was just curious, not expecting a full-fledged system. ;)
[-]Joe_Collman3y
[I'm not sure I'm understanding correctly, so do correct me where I'm not getting your meaning. Pre-emptive apologies if much of this gets at incidental details and side-issues]
The idea seems interesting, and possibly important.
(1) Presumably you mean to define locality as the distance (our distance) that the system would (?need to?) look to check its own goal. The distance we'd need to look doesn't seem safety relevant, since that doesn't tell us anything about system behaviour.
So we need to reason within the system's own model to understand 'where' it needs to look - but we need to ground that 'where' in our world model to measure the distance.
Let's say we can see that a system X has achieved its goal by our looking at its local memory state (within 30cm of X). However, X must check another memory location (200 miles away in our terms) to know that it's achieved its goal.
In that case, I assume: Locality = 1 / (200 miles) ??
(I don't think it's helpful to use: Locality = 1 / (30cm), if the system's behaviour is to exert influence over 200 miles)
(2) I don't see a good way to define locality in general (outside artificially simple environments), since for almost all goals the distance to check a goal will be contingent on the world state. The worst-case distance will often be unbounded. E.g. "Keep this room above 23 degrees" isn't very local if someone moves the room to the other side of the continent, or splits it into four pieces and moves each into a separate galaxy.
This applies to the system itself too. The system's memory can be put on the other side of the galaxy, or split up.... (if you'd want to count these as having low distance from the system, then this would be a way to cheat for any environmental goal: split up the system and place a part of it next to anything in the environment that needs to be tested)
You'd seem to need some caveats to rule out weird stuff, and even then you'd probably end up with categories: either locality zero (for almost any environmental goal), or locality around 1 (for any input/output/internal goal).
If things go that way, I'm not sure having a number is worthwhile.
(3a) Where there's uncertainty over world state, it might be clearer to talk in terms of probabilistic thresholds.
E.g. my goal of eating ice cream doesn't dissolve, since I never know I've eaten an ice cream. In my world model, the goal of eating an ice cream *with certainty* has locality zero, since I can search my entire future light-cone and never be sure I achieved that goal (e.g. some crafty magician, omega, or a VR machine might have deceived me).
I think you'd need to parameterise locality:
To know whether you've achieved g with probability > p, you'd need to look (1/locality) meters.
Then a relevant safety question is the level of certainty the system will seek.
(3b) Once things are uncertain, you'd need a way to avoid most goal-checking being at near-zero distance: a suitable system can check most goals by referring to its own memory. For many complex goals that's required, since it can't simultaneously perceive all the components. The goal might not be "make my memory reflect this outcome", but "check that my memory reflects this outcome" is a valid test (given that the system tends not to manipulate its memory to perform well on tests).
(4) I'm not sure it makes sense to rush to collapse locality into one dimension. In general we'll be interested in some region (perhaps not a connected region), not only in a one-dimensional representation of that region.
Currently, caring about the entire galaxy gets the same locality value as caring about one vase (or indeed one memory location) that happens to be on the other side of the galaxy. Splitting a measure of displacement from a measure of region size might help here.
If you want one number, I think I'd go with something focused on the size of the goal-satisfying region. Maybe something like:
1 / [The minimum over the sum of radii of balls in (some set of balls of minimum radius k, such that any information needed to check the goal is contained within at least one of the balls)]
(5) I'm not sure humans do tend to avoid wireheading. What we tend to avoid is intentionally and explicitly choosing to wirehead. If it happens without our attention, I don't think we avoid it by default.
Self-deception is essentially wire-heading; if we think that's unusual, we're deceiving ourselves :)
This is important, since it highlights that we should expect wireheading by default. It's not enough for a highly capable system not to be actively aiming to wirehead. To avoid accidental/side-effect wireheading, a system will need to be actively searching for evidence, and thoroughly analysing its input for wireheading signs.
Another way to think about this:
There aren't actually any "environment" goals.
"Environment-based" is just a shorthand for: (input + internal state + output)-based
So to say a goal is environment-based, is just to say that we're giving ourselves the maximal toolkit to avoid wireheading. We should expect wireheading unless we use that toolkit well.
Do you agree with this? If not, what exactly do you mean by "(a function of) the environment"?
If so, then from the system's point of view, isn't locality always about 1: since it can only ever check (input + internal state + output)? Or do we care about the distance over which the agent must have interacted in gathering the required information? I still don't see a clean way to define this without a load of caveats.
Overall, if the aim is to split into "environmental" and "non-environmental" goals, I'm not sure I think that's a meaningful distinction - at least beyond what I've said above (that you can't call a goal "environmental" unless it depends on all of input, internal-state and output).
I think our position is that of complex thermostats with internal state.
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Beto O'Rourke is holding a rally in El Paso, Texas at the very same time as Donald Trump. We're bringing this one to you live.
At 6:00 PM PST, two competing rallies will commence in El Paso, TX. Beto O'Rourke, who challenged Ted Cruz in 2018 and lost by a narrow margin, will be holding a rally at the very same time Donald Trump's rally is scheduled to begin.
Some backstory here: When Trump smacked El Paso in his State of the Union address, the mayor of that fine city was not very happy. Not at all. El Paso is proud of their low crime rate and they know they don't need a wall for it. So of course, Donald Trump decided El Paso would be a great place to hold a rally.
As Ali Vitali noted this morning, the attendees for the Trump rally are mostly NOT from El Paso. Some have driven 9 hours to see Trump hold a rally. They follow him all over the country in their RVs to worship at the altar of Trump. I like to call them "MAGAbonds."
Meanwhile, Beto O'Rourke does a good job with big rallies too. And El Paso loves him, so it should be interesting. He is expected to organize and lead a "March for Truth" as well.
Also, this is hilarious except that his MAGAbonds will believe him. And just another reminder that the majority of those folks are NOT from El Paso.
This particular stream was shot from a weird angle -- side stage. I found another feed on a local Texas station and took a screenshot of some of the crowd leaving. It was a huge crowd. Huge.
UPDATE: Latest crowd estimates for Beto: 10,000-15,000 people. Here's a snippet of his speech with a better shot of the crowd. Also, his speech was a far better take on immigration and national issues than anything Trump has ever done. That didn't stop Trump from magically exaggerating his crowd size and the threat from immigrants, however.


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It could be, but I was thinking about how fast bunnies multiply. If it was Link... It would definately make my life easier..
However, I decided to pick the color. And it white, for white hat, but I suppose it would work for a Matrix reference as well.
A white Rabit named "Link"