It's weekend and time from more Rainbow Snippets. The Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook asks its members to share six sentence snippets from their work each weekend. Check out the group's Facebook page to read all the snippets and add lots of great books to your tbr. You'll find all sorts of books with the common thread that the main character will identify as LGBTQ+.
My snippet comes from The Scholar's Heart again this weekend. This takes place at Etan's birthday party. Tristan is dancing with Etan's younger sister Meriall.
But he had to look like a dark cloud among the dancers. The traditional gray he wore for Dariela's death stood out among the bright gowns the ladies wore and the myriad colors of the men's clothing. Meriall's gown was a confection of rose-pink silk and ivory lace that stood out next to his stormy gray. Etan would too—he looked edible in rich ruby red with the stark white of his shirt peeking out from beneath. The bold color suited Etan, highlighting the lines of his body and heightening his dramatic coloring. Tristan liked the way he looked in it, but he thought he'd like to strip it off him even more and see what was beneath.
He glanced back, toward where they left Etan, and found him still standing there. Watching. Watching Meriall. There was a fondness in Etan's eyes he reserved only for her. But then Etan shifted his attention and met Tristan's eyes again. Etan's were still too full of emotions for Tristan to understand what was happening, but the intensity of Etan's gaze... that he could see, could feel. He shivered from the feeling of that intense gaze on him.
I may switch to snippets from something else next time. I wouldn't want you to get bored. Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!
Lovely description and intensity. The emotions came through clearly.
Ah, this is hot, smoldering, and lovely! I'm really glad to feel a little steam on Tristan's side!
I think even I shivered from this gaze. Great description!
Wonderful description. The colours set the scene and feelings perfectly.
Wonderful description - it pulled me right in and made the scene very easy to visualise. Poor Tristan. You're definitely not boring me - more please.
I love Tristan & Etan.
The description in this is just lovely.
Oooh. Smokin'. I love the way the scene drew me in.
Wonderful description, I could see them perfectly.
Lovely description of the scene.
Lovely and vivid. I can feel the intensity between them here.


In March 2014 John and Monika Mundell said goodbye to their 11 pet birds and set sail (literally) on an adventure that so far has taken them to 4 continents and counting. Their journey, often by cruise ship, has seen them visit Papua New Guinea, Japan, Russia, North, Central and South America and across to Europe where we caught up with them housesitting amongst the vines in the beautiful French setting of Pellegrue, a quaint village of around 1000 locals approximately one hour east of Bordeaux.
1. How Colombia is not what it used to be. These guys spent several months there and rate it their favorite place to return to. The old image of drug lords and random killings has largely disappeared thanks to a large scale clean up and Colombia is welcoming tourists and expats with open arms – plus apparently it has first class dental care; Monika has already earmarked her next lot of dental work for when she returns.
2. Cruise ships are a very viable way to get around. These guys were averaging $15 0 per day when onboard a boat, certainly more than the cost of many if their longer term accommodation arrangements in cheaper locations but given they weren't scrimping 9they admit they could have done it cheaper), and cruising involves food, accommodation, entertainment, and transportation all rolled into one it's not a bad way to get yourself from A to B.
3. You need less than you think. They started with several suitcases, packs and day bags but have now jettisoned much of what they thought they needed and are travelling with a combined weight of less than 60kgs – furthermore they aren't missing for anything proving the fact that much of what we gather in possessions really aren't necessary to have a happy life.


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Instant Download Murder Mystery Games
To assist you both before and after you have purchased one of our games, here is a list of commonly asked questions. The questions are grouped in two categories, pre-purchase and post-purchase, in order to help you first determine if this game is right for you, and then to help you make the most of your party once you have purchased the game.
If you have any questions that are not covered here, please contact us and we will help you on your way!
What makes Murders R Us different from other mystery games?
Murders R Us's strength is the unique and diverse characters in each of the games. Every game has several highly detailed characters, whose intricate lives and motives are explained to your guests. This provides the person playing that character with a lot of guidance as to how to portray that character while allowing wide latitude for independent action.
While most Murder Mystery party games and dinner parties give you set scripts, the Murders R Us games allow your imagination to take charge of the game. The only thing set in stone is the identity of the murderer and who the victim will be. Everything else, including dialogue, the way the murder is carried out, and whether the killer will get away with it, is all up to the players.
Murders R Us is a Murder Mystery role-playing game (RPG). As such, you and all the guests who join you in the fun will take on the role of a character during the party. Think of the night as a play in which you and your guests are the actors and your home is the stage.
Each guest will take on the role of a different character. Among these characters are one killer and one victim. During the party, the killer will murder the victim. For the rest of the night the other players will attempt to figure out who the killer is while the murderer does everything, they can to evade justice.
Every character has a detailed background that explains their history and motivations. These character sheets will also give clues about some of the other characters. Each character knows a little bit more of the story. Some information is quite valuable while others are red herrings. Armed with this information, your guests will begin to mingle on the night of the party, learning what they can as they talk to the other guests.
Eventually, one of the partygoers will murder another character and then the mystery begins! All the characters will have to get together and try to figure out who the killer is. The evening ends when one of the characters is arrested and the identity of the killer is announced. If the killer is in custody, then the investigators have won the day, but if the killer is still on the loose then he or she has won.
How do I buy the game?
Once you decide which of our games you would like to play, you simply add it to your shopping cart or click on the "buy now" icon. You will be asked to become a member. After you join, you will be sent a password to enter the secured portion of the web site where you can complete your transaction. Your credit card will be processed immediately and upon acceptance, you will be able to download your game from the "My Account" portion of the web site.
What do you need to play?
Everything you need to play is included in the PDF download available from our products page. Each PDF contains instructions for gameplay and a complete set of character information, as well as clues, player instruction sheets, and an investigator worksheet for each player. This information can be printed and given to your players. You can also request that we e-mail the information to your players.
Your guests will be required to bring any costumes or props.
The only other element you need is your imagination and the capacity to let go of reality and allow yourself to be carried off by the evening's drama!
The game can be as long or as short as you would like. Most games tend to last around 3 to 4 hours. Allow at least an hour or so before the murder is committed and then the next couple of hours after that for everyone to make their accusations and finally to arrest a suspect. See the Frequently Asked Questions (post-purchase) page for tips on how to slow down or speed up a party to meet your time frame.
How many people can play?
Most of these games are set up with an ideal of about a dozen "primary" characters. The exact number of people recommended for each game is listed in the detailed information on our products page. Some of these characters can be taken out if you don't have enough guests. A special list of "secondary" characters is included if you find you need more than the primary characters. Some characters can even be changed from male to female, or vice versa, as your situation requires. The entire Murders R Us series is highly adaptable and can easily fit into whatever situation would best suit you and your guests.
What is the difference between Primary and Secondary Characters?
Each Murders R Us game has about a dozen primary characters and six secondary characters. Primary characters are better developed, have a more complete history, and no more clues than secondary characters. They are the main characters in the game. All the roles for the primary characters should be assigned before moving on to the secondary characters.
The main purpose of the secondary characters is to provide additional characters if your party will have more players than there are primary characters. While not integral parts of the plot, secondary characters do have access to certain clues. Those playing secondary characters, however, have the same ability to make accusations and investigate the murder as primary characters.
Upon request, additional secondary characters can be made available if you have a particularly large group.
Post-purchase
If I'm the murderer, what do I do if I'm caught in the act?
This is a difficult question that doesn't have a simple answer. If you are caught in the act, there are several things you can do, but it really depends on how obvious your actions were to the person who found you. Talking your way out of it is often the easiest method. Make sure the person who caught you doesn't believe that he caught you. Sometimes, however, this will simply not work, and you will have to resort to another strategy. Depending on the character you are playing, and which character has caught you, you may want to kill that character. After all, what's one more body when you have already committed murder? If the person who finds you is friendly to your cause, you may have an ally who can help you get away with the murder.
What do I do if nobody participates?
Normally, this problem can be nipped in the bud by careful player selection. Simply inviting several individuals who enjoy dramatics or have flamboyant personalities will start the game on the right foot. Even games that have stagnated due to poor participation can be turned around if one player is into the game and is able to involve the others. Once one or two players begin to act out their parts, the rest of the players will soon join in.
Though there is no way to control every character, there are other measures you can take to ensure participation:
Turn off the television – there is nothing more distracting and mind-numbing than television to kill any party, not to mention one that demands interaction between the players.
Provide a selection of refreshments. They always put people in a better mood and will make players more willing to get into the flow of the game.
Set an example for the other players. Once they see somebody else acting out a role, they will be more willing to follow suit.
What do I do if one of the main characters doesn't show up?
There are several interesting characters that have a great deal of information and insight about the murder. Even so, there are only two characters that are essential to the game: the killer and the victim. You decide which player will portray which character so you can greatly reduce the chances of one of these characters not showing up by selecting reliable people. To ensure that at least one of the characters will arrive, you can even select yourself to play either role.
Despite these preparations, however, things do come up and there is a possibility that one or both players will not be able to show up. If you have not already taken a role as a major character, you can step into the vacant role yourself. Moving a newly arrived character from a less important role to one of the main roles is also an option. The only real problem with either of these options is that the other players may become suspicious when one character is traded for another. This is especially true for the murderer. Simply by dropping one role to fill an apparently more important role can make the cast wonder why that character is more important and therefore discern who the murderer is.
What if the game is taking too long?
The key parts where the game can sometimes slow down are just before the murder, and during the time between the murder and the formal accusations. If it is the murder itself that is taking too long, simply approach the killer and let them know that they need to commit the act soon. Similarly, approach the victim and let them know that their death is immanent. Be careful, however, that you do this without being seen by other players or they may prematurely guess who the killer is.
You can do several things if the game seems to have stagnated and/or nobody is using their formal accusations. One common practice is to set an artificial time limit on the game. For example, you can say that if nobody is caught by midnight the killer wins the game. You can also try to convince people to use their formal accusations either while remaining in character, or by temporarily stepping out of character for a moment. In general, once one person makes an accusation, others will quickly follow.
What if the game is moving too fast?
Sometimes players are in such a rush to be the one to solve the case that they make formal accusations before there has even been any discussion. In these cases, you can remind them that they can use any number of informal accusations and that they might want to save their formal accusations for a later date.
You can also step out of character for a moment and set an artificial time before any formal accusations can be made. For example, if the murder occurred at 8:00, you can say that no formal accusations can be made until 8:30 or 9:00. This will ensure some discussion and will prolong what some people consider the best part of the game.
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Aisha considers herself devoted to both Islam and the game.
Aisha got her first call from the terrorists when she was fourteen. It was 2013, and she was at home, in Mogadishu, Somalia, when an unknown number appeared on her phone. She picked up. The man on the other end told her that Islam does not allow women to play sports, or to wear shirts and pants. It was immodest and indecent, he said. His voice was harsh and menacing. He told her that he was going to kill her if she didn't stop playing basketball. The next day, another man called to say the same thing.
Aisha changed her phone number three times, but the calls kept coming, and she became convinced that someone at the mobile-phone company was giving out her contact information. After a while, Aisha began to argue with the callers, telling them that she was going to do whatever she wanted. When they threatened to kill her, she responded that only God was permitted to be in control of people's souls. She was just a teen-age girl, but even she knew that—unlike these supposedly pious men. Then her mother started getting calls, from men who warned that she was going to lose a daughter. Trying to appeal to her faith, they told her that basketball was haram—forbidden. Her mother was worried, and wanted Aisha to stop playing.
Aisha had first picked up a basketball only recently, but she had taken to it quickly. Her phone filled with photos and videos of the basketball player she most wanted to emulate: a famous American athlete named LeBron James. She had seen James on the Internet and found him mesmerizing. "He is black and tall and a really nice player," she said. He was powerful and agile, endlessly clever. She wanted to have that kind of magic.
In a way, she felt destined for the game. Her mother, Warsan, had played when she was younger. Her father, Khaled, had worked as a referee in Somali basketball leagues, and she had gone to his games. "To see women and men playing, it was inspiring," Aisha recalled. She began joining pickup games in tan-dirt lots around her house with kids who lived in her neighborhood. She didn't know what she was doing, but she didn't care; it was exciting just to hold a ball. "I always wanted to play basketball, but I was afraid that I wouldn't find girls who would want to play with me," she said. Not long after, a coach named Nasro Mohamed, a former teammate of her mother's, asked if she was interested in playing regularly. Mohamed got Aisha together with seven other girls to start practicing.
Mogadishu was once a beautiful place, with pale, handsome government offices, mosques, and grand homes, all angling for proximity to the white beaches at the edge of the Indian Ocean. Now, after more than two decades of civil war and lawlessness, the buildings are riddled with bullet and shell holes, or crumbling from neglect, or newly built and characterless; the streets, where sand pools in the cracks, are filled with soldiers and policemen.
Aisha grew up in Suuq Bacaad, a neighborhood of low bungalows behind gates with bright, peeling paint. Her father had four wives and divided his time between them, but he managed to be with Aisha enough for her to feel loved. Her family wasn't rich, but had enough money to get by. "My parents really worked hard to make sure that I had everything I needed," she recalled. Aisha had two brothers and a sister, and she took it for granted that each member of the family would look out for the others. Even her neighborhood functioned like a clan: she played hide-and-seek with other children, some of whom were as close to her as siblings.
Warsan ran a café and a business that sold gold. She was tall and gentle, and never hit her children, as other mothers in the neighborhood did. She understood Aisha's passion for basketball, because she'd once had the same need to play. Khaled supported Aisha, too, visiting her on the court and urging her to take the game seriously. Somalia has a club league, in which hundreds of girls and women play on eight teams in Mogadishu and several more in other parts of the country; the best players are recruited for the national team. "My father told me, 'Either leave basketball or aspire to be a professional,' " Aisha said.
For Aisha, the best part of the day was going with her friends to a neighborhood court. In school, she was easily distracted. "I was not good with the teachers," she said. "I never stopped talking and telling jokes. I annoyed everyone." When she was in the eighth grade, she stopped going to school altogether. Her parents were upset; they had both gone to university and prioritized education for their children. They tried to force her to go back, but Aisha refused. "I didn't feel like it was necessary for me to continue," she told me. And, anyway, there was a civil war raging, and the future was impossible to predict.
Somalia ceased to be a coherent state in 1991, when its dictator, Siad Barre, was deposed by rebel militias. Barre, who had taken power in a military coup two decades before, had treated opponents brutally, but had also attempted to modernize the country. He moved to end the lineage-based clan, which traditionally defined politics in Somalia, by imposing a nationalist form of socialism. He codified a written form of the Somali language, which had been exclusively oral, and introduced a countrywide literacy program. His government promoted women's rights, enabling women's basketball to flourish; the national team played at the Pan Arab Games, and travelled to Iraq, Jordan, and Morocco.
A decade of lawlessness followed Barre's fall, until the Islamic Courts Union, a group of Sharia courts backed by militias, assumed power. They took a harsh view of crime: thieves' limbs were amputated, adulterers were stoned, and murderers were executed. Sports were declared satanic acts, and Somalis caught watching games on television were arrested; girls couldn't go to stadiums to watch basketball, handball, or track and field, let alone compete in them. But, as the country reacted to the uncertainty with increasing conservatism, the Sharia courts had popular support. After a U.S.-backed Ethiopian invasion disbanded them, in 2006, a faction of their militias called al-Shabaab, or "the Youth," rose up in response. It was even more extreme than the courts: when its members caught Somalis involved in sports, they sometimes killed them.
For five years, al-Shabaab fought bloody skirmishes for control of Mogadishu and the surrounding regions. Soldiers from the African Union, a continental organization, battled against them, with help from Somali clan militias. The United States, eager to fight terror but reluctant to send in its own troops, provided aid to the A.U. soldiers' home countries and often ignored their human-rights abuses. Finally, in 2011, the coalition took back control of Mogadishu.
But the militants just went underground, vying with government forces neighborhood by neighborhood. (The U.S. has also conducted a clandestine campaign through Special Forces and private contractors.) Somalis still endured terror attacks near their homes and at their weddings and funerals. Government officials allegedly paid off clan militias and al-Shabaab leaders to keep their positions, and to stay alive. Drone strikes and indiscriminate neighborhood raids left young people distrustful of the government. The Islamic State has attempted to gain influence, with insurgents trying to establish outposts on the coast.
For ordinary Somalis, the terrorists and the military were both menaces, not to be trusted. Last year, a friend took me to an outdoor restaurant in Mogadishu called Beach View, which al-Shabaab had attacked a few months before. Militants drove a car filled with explosives into the adjoining hotel, and then ran into the restaurant, shooting. Patrons hid under the tables and in the kitchen; some fled to the beach, only to die on the sand. At least twenty people were killed. But when I visited there was no sign of mourning. People crowded the tables, laughing, eating seafood, taking selfies. Past the balcony, children played on the beach and, out at sea, families were piled into wooden boats for sunset rides. While they lasted on this earth, Somalis would not be denied the few pleasures it had to offer them.
Aisha divided her time between her mother's house and her sister's house, in a neighborhood targeted by al-Shabaab because it contained a police station. When I visited her there, my driver was nervous, and said that he wouldn't wait longer than a few minutes; he soon left without me. The house was bright blue, with a courtyard that had turned muddy from steady rain overnight. On the porch, Aisha's cousins were braiding their hair, pulling on head scarves, drinking tea. A faint, melodic call to prayer came from outside the gate. The room where Aisha slept was off the porch. Dim and drowsy, the room had one window with half-open blue shutters; a crookedly hung drape blew in a weak breeze. Two mattresses with the sheets pushed aside were on the floor, and we settled on top of them.
Aisha was seventeen, with an expressive face and a gold nose ring so tiny that it took a few long looks to notice it. She described herself as "always happy," and she had a compulsive need to say what she thought and felt. She talked constantly, in a scratchy, high voice, while gesturing with her hands; at practice, her coach regularly threatened to kick her out if she didn't stop talking. She was slight, and I observed that she seemed small for basketball. "There are a lot of players who are short and really good," she said. "The playing should be from your heart and not dependent on how tall you are." She had a game that night, and she offered to point out a girl who was tall but didn't know how to shoot.
When Aisha started playing, she didn't have the right clothes or shoes. Nasro Mohamed, her first coach, helped her get the equipment, and she was grateful. "When you have the kind of passion I have for basketball, everything else is kind of blurry," she said. If she didn't have money to take a minibus to the court, she asked neighbors for help or called teammates to see if anyone could pick her up. "I go beyond everything just to get to the court," she said.
Once Aisha had learned the fundamentals from Mohamed, she flitted among teams in the club league. She played with single girls, married women, mothers, students. They were mostly in their teens and early twenties, and they talked and joked like sisters. Aisha's teammates were energetic and scrappy, a mix of experienced players and novices. In a game I saw, one short girl kept stealing the ball to take shot after shot, missing nearly all of them, with a wide grin on her face. When a player on the other team made a three-pointer, she went over to congratulate her. Aisha, by contrast, had a pugilistic intensity; she was constantly moving and scheming. She was a center, the most physical position on the court.
On a team called Heegan, Aisha made friends with two outgoing, adventurous girls named Salma and Bushra. One evening, after practice, the three of them hailed a tuk-tuk, one of the yellow rickshaw taxis that crash through Mogadishu's streets, and told the driver their destination. On the way, the driver took a wrong turn and then stopped. Aisha leaned forward and asked him where he was going. He told her that something was wrong with the vehicle, and that he was calling for help. Another man approached, holding a gun. "You girls are infidels," the man told them. "You're playing sports and walking on the street wearing pants." He aimed the gun at Salma, and she jumped up and lunged for the weapon. But he fired and the bullet grazed Bushra's leg. The girls managed to call over a policeman. After they breathlessly told him what had happened, he took the men to jail.
Later, the police had a press conference announcing the arrest of the man with the gun; he had admitted to planning several bombings in the city. Aisha watched the announcement on television. "He is still in prison today," she said with satisfaction. But there were others, all over the city, who shared his views.
Mogadishu is a hard place to go unnoticed; there are always eyes watching you as you make your way through the city. In sidewalk cafés, men gather to talk and argue at all hours, drinking tea, smoking hookah, and chewing khat. Women linger nearby, selling food from stalls. They all keep watch on the street, observing passersby and the events of the day. They can be friendly, willing to offer help if a car bomb goes off. Or they can be hostile. People in Mogadishu speak of spies—neighbors, colleagues, friends, family—who report to al-Shabaab.
When I met Aisha, she was playing for a club team called O.F.C. Late one afternoon, at her sister's house, she was getting ready for practice. In her bedroom, Aisha looked like the embodiment of a feminine Somali woman, wearing a long floral skirt, a pale blouse, and a dark floral-print head scarf. She then walked across the room to rummage through a red suitcase. She stripped off the skirt, the blouse, and the head scarf, and replaced them with a red cotton tank top and a sky-blue jersey with the number ten on the back. (She was already wearing matching track pants under her skirt, as she usually did.) She retied the head scarf, knotting it like a bun, instead of letting it drape around her shoulders in the traditional way. Next, she pulled on a floor-length skirt and a mustard-yellow jilbab, which covered her head but left her face exposed. She was ready to make her way to the court to play ball.
We drove through a labyrinthine market in Hamar Weyne, a quarter of narrow streets lined with ancient crenellated walls. People filled the market, talking, haggling at stalls, pulling battered carts loaded with animals and cargo for sale. We arrived at a facility with an outdoor court, enclosed by peeling pink cement walls. Aisha's teammates were scattered through the place, shooting hoops, running on treadmills, and lounging on benches, gossiping. Aisha pulled off her skirt and jilbab and roamed the grounds. Although the girls weren't much safer here than anywhere else in Mogadishu, they were loud and carefree: this court was home.
One of the girls, Khadro, was visiting from New York, staying with her grandmother for the summer. She played basketball at home, and an uncle in Mogadishu had suggested that she join a local team while she was in town. She was amazed, she told me, at the girls who played despite all the strictures.
"The Heegan soccer team is not that great," Aisha yelled. "They're in fourth place!" Her voice rose to a shriek. "O.F.C. is the No. 1 team! This ground belongs to me!" The girls laughed as the man retreated. Aisha picked up a ball and started dribbling, drawing some of the other girls into an impromptu game. Before long, her shouts could be heard through the court.
One morning, I was with Aisha at her sister's house. She usually cooked breakfast for the family: lahoh—crêpes rolled with butter and honey—or sometimes camel liver with bread, a traditional meal. A few times a week, she also attended a technical school, not far from her house, to take computer classes. Mostly, though, she practiced: twice a day, six days a week. Occasionally, there were games. Friday, the holy day, she had off.
She considered herself devoted to Islam. She had memorized the Quran, and her uncle had a library of Islamic books, most of which she had read. "Praying and reading the Quran and going through these books gives me the feeling of being connected to God. It gives me the feeling that, on Judgment Day, I will not be judged because I missed my prayer or anything else, Inshallah," she explained. But it didn't make sense to her that God would care about girls playing basketball if they tried to be faithful and good.
Despite the extremists' attempts to repress women, Aisha and her friends found ways to feel normal. In her circles, she said, "people speak what they feel." When she was sixteen, her team travelled to Galkayo for a game, and on the way through the Mogadishu airport a young man asked if he could call her. Aisha thought he was handsome, and, though she didn't give him her number, they later connected on Facebook, and she began to consider what romance might mean for her future. A lot of boys she had met wanted her to stop playing and get married. "I believe that I can manage to be married and play basketball," she said. "There are girls who married and have kids who still play on my team." She started going to the beach with the young man, and he visited her at home and talked with her mother over tea. Like her father, he supported her playing, and he came to her games. Now, when Aisha's phone buzzed with calls from other boys, she usually silenced the phone with a smile. She wasn't interested.
Some of the women in Aisha's life were less encouraging. When she stayed at her sister's house, the neighbors always told her that girls' playing basketball was against Islam. Aisha's grandmother said that she should stay inside, away from the men with guns. But she didn't listen. "We need to go after our dreams and what we want for ourselves," she said.
One evening after practice, she and five teammates were leaving a court in Hodan District—known as a dangerous place, where shootings and attacks were common. Aisha was on the phone with her mother, who was asking her to pick up milk and cooking oil on her way home. As the players walked, a black sedan stopped alongside them, and the driver asked if they needed a ride—a common occurrence in Somalia. Aisha didn't recognize the man; he wore his beard long, and had on a white qamis, a linen robe. One of the girls asked him to drop them off down the road. Aisha wedged herself into the back seat with her friends.
The man's phone rang, and he got out to take the call, locking the car behind him. The girls, panicking, pounded on the doors, but they wouldn't budge. The man came back and rolled down a window so that he could watch them as he talked. Aisha pushed herself through the open window and fell onto the ground. Looking desperately around her, she picked up a big stone. She told the man that if he didn't let them leave, she would throw the stone at the windshield. "I know I'm crazy, but I had to do something," she told me. "If we stayed scared, this guy would kill us." The man said, "Now you want to destroy my car? I wasn't going to harm you. Calm down." He unlocked the doors, and the girls scrambled out.
Aisha hailed a tuk-tuk and they got in, sitting tightly next to one another to feel safe. On the way home, they reported to the police that a man from al-Shabaab had threatened them. Aisha told no one else. "I had to hide it from my family so that they wouldn't stop me playing," she said. She was sure that if her parents found out they would send her to stay with her aunt in Ethiopia or, worse, keep her at home.
Many of the players and coaches complained that the officials who oversaw sports in Somalia didn't do more to help female athletes. The men's club teams had uniforms, regular games and practices, and space to play. The women's teams had none of that. The men's national team travelled around the continent to compete. The women's team hadn't left the country since 2011, when it went to Qatar for the Pan Arab Games, and placed fourth out of twenty-two countries. It was the only tournament the women had played since the civil war began, two and a half decades before.
Duran Ahmed Farah, the president of the Somali Olympic Committee, suggested that the problem was finding safe places. "We have to avoid risks as much as we can," he told me. "Culturally, it's not easy for girls to play sports outside. The boys can play soccer on the streets, but it doesn't look good to a community if girls are playing sports outside." Only two stadiums still stood in Mogadishu after the war; African Union soldiers had taken over the larger one, Mogadishu Stadium, and until recently used it as a military base. But Somalis had found ways to play sports on the streets, in vacant lots, on the beach, and in open-air courts that they built themselves.
The sports ministry blamed the spreading influence of al-Shabaab. "Families are putting a lot of pressure on girls," Osman Aden Dhubow, the deputy minister, told me in his office. "Before, girls could play freely, dress how they wanted, they had their training facilities, they had finances. They don't have that now. They don't have the right coaches. Everything is at the wrong time." I asked Dhubow and a colleague when the women's teams would have their next game, and it took them several minutes to figure it out. The girls had so many constraints: their teams shared the few courts with the men's teams, which evidently had priority, and there weren't enough female referees, which complicated putting on games. When I asked how the sport could be made more accessible to girls, the officials said that the country had bigger issues to deal with, such as education and health.
Not long afterward, I met Abdulkadir Moalin, who helped run the basketball federation, which managed both the men's and the women's teams. We were at Wiish Stadium, near the city's corniche, where families gathered, jumping away from waves as they broke over the seawall. Sitting on concrete bleachers, Moalin, a stout man with a salt-and-pepper beard, tried to explain why the girls so seldom travelled to compete. The members of the federation were unpaid volunteers, he said, and they had to recruit sponsors to pay for the teams' travel expenses. It was a "false impression" that all the money seemed to go to the men. "Different people, different opinions," he said, shrugging. "There are no resources at all!" Becoming agitated, he abruptly changed the subject to the United States. "How many women Presidents have you had?" he asked.
In 2015, several girls in the league had a chance to enter a tournament in the United Arab Emirates, but the federation balked. Moalin told me that it was difficult to travel with a Somali passport—and, of course, there was no money. "Some people in the federation do want to improve women's basketball," Aisha told me. "But others do not want any improvement for us. They just want us to keep playing by ourselves." She had played at an event promoting women in sports, and when federation officials suspended her for not notifying them first she had managed to get the decision overturned.
Aisha was finding other ways to assert herself. A local radio station held singing contests for young people, and she liked to participate, performing songs that told stories about Somalia. Her mother didn't like it, but she was resigned to her daughter's stubbornness. Aisha had recently thrown a party at a hotel that became an illicit club at night. She and her friends drank and danced to Somali and American pop music, and she held her boyfriend. It was risky—militants sometimes targeted clubs with explosives—but Aisha usually found a way to do what she wanted.
The older Aisha became, the more she argued with relatives. She had recently pointed out to her brother-in-law that her mother, in addition to playing basketball, swam competitively before the war, wearing a bathing suit. "Women used to go without the hijab and represent Somalia internationally while wearing almost nothing," she said. "We shouldn't say now that Islam doesn't let us play." Aisha thought it was good that Somalis were more in tune with their religion, but she didn't think anyone should control how women carried themselves. "It should be their choice, not someone forcing them or telling them what to do," she said.
Late last year, Aisha heard that Somalia was planning its first nationwide women's basketball tournament, in the city of Garowe, in the Puntland region, where al-Shabaab was weaker. She couldn't stop talking about it. Women were coming from all over the country to play; a filmmaker named Hana Mire, who is working on a documentary about Somali women's basketball, was accompanying the team. But, just before Christmas, a group of influential clerics called the Somali Religious Council released a statement calling basketball "un-Islamic" and a "threat to their faith." The council's spokesman warned girls like Aisha not to show their "body and beauty" for men to see. On Facebook, Aisha said, the clerics encouraged people in Garowe to cut the girls' throats.
Aisha, wearing an electric-yellow-and-black athletic shirt and pants, boarded the plane with trepidation. "I was afraid of what they were saying. All of my teammates and I were afraid," she said. But she was distracted by the thrill of being on a plane, peering through the clouds at her receding home town and then landing in a new place—the city of Bosaso—less crazed and tense than Mogadishu. The team piled in a van and drove to Garowe, almost three hundred miles away, singing Somali pop songs, sticking their hands out the windows, and shouting at people they passed.
At their hotel, the players met the competing teams. "It was an amazing feeling. I didn't even know these other girls existed," Aisha said. There was a beautiful, expansive court, with a pale-green surface, that was theirs to use; for the next week, day and night, they could just play basketball.
The religious leaders had said that the players were going naked, and being sinful, so the girls decided to show that they could be pious on the clerics' terms and also defiant. They played in hijab, along with the usual long pants and shirts. It was hot and uncomfortable, but Aisha thought that if wearing a hijab kept them safer at such an important moment, she would do it—this time.
Security guards stood at the entrance to the stadium, frisking everyone who entered, but the atmosphere in the stands was festive. The crowd was full of women: younger, older, holding babies, wearing jilbabs in an array of colors. It was the first basketball game for many of them, and they cheered for both teams, refusing to pick a side. An elderly woman yelled until she grew hoarse. During the opening game, after the first half, the crowd rushed the court, thinking that it was already over.


Starting in February, the desert floor comes alive with blooms – which may seem odd for a place that is known for being one of the driest in the world. This year is unique, however because the valley received an unusual amount of rain in the fall and winter of last year. During my most recent visit in December, we experienced a shower one evening, which is more rain than I've personally seen in Death Valley. This unusual amount of rainfall can indicate one thing -- a desert in bloom this spring.
Spring comes early to the valley, usually between early February to mid-April. But these are also the ideal months to visit, since temperatures at this time are also mild.
Several tour operators can take you to Death Valley and have departures in February and March -- offering everything from journeys by motorcoach to walking trips and adventure travel.
Explore the heights and depths of this arid valley with Country Walkers where you will walk through the polished marble of Mosaic Canyon, explore the colorful mineral deposits of Artists Palette, descend from Dante's View and check out Telescope Peak on a four-day, three-night walking tour. Each day, plan on between two and five miles of walking. Ideal times are between the late fall and early spring when temperatures in the valley are warm and mild.
Explore the irony of largest park in the lower 48 states, Death Valley, with Austin Adventures. Expert guides will introduce guests to rolling sand dunes, glorious palettes, golden canyons and rocky volcanic remnants. Reside in an oasis fueled by one of the state's largest and oldest aquifers located in one of the driest valleys in the world. The tour includes bike rides and Jeep rides, backcountry exploration, hiking and more while you reside in the comfort of the historic Furnace Creek Inn.
Globus offers guests the chance to experience all the amazing attractions on its Southern California tour – such as Long Beach, Catalina Island and San Diego – as well as visit two of the state's most stunning national parks, Death Valley and Joshua Tree. Highlights of the trip include stargazing in Death Valley, a Jeep tour in Joshua Tree National Park, a visit to Ash Meadows – the largest remaining oasis in the Mojave Desert and home to nearly 30 species of plants and animals that do not exist anywhere else on earth – like a desert Galapagos Islands.
In the Southern California area, guests will be able to visit the Cabrillo National Monument, the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego and ride the aerial tramway in Palm Springs.
Spend six days in Death Valley National Park with Smithsonian Journeys. Highlights of the tour include the Shoreline Butte, Badwater, Harmony Borax Works, Dante's View, sand dunes, off-roading in Titus Canyon and a visit to Ubehebe Crater. You will have the chance to experience sunrise at Zabriskie Point, presentations from Smithsonian experts throughout the journey, hiking in Golden Canyon, a walk along the Salt Creek and more. One of the best parts of the journey is a visit to the historic Amargosa Opera House, the creation of dancer and artist, Marta Beckett.
Guests will have a chance to watch a documentary about the opera house in preparation for the visit and then tour it on the last day of the trip. The journey finishes with a visit to Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge on the way back to Las Vegas where the journey is complete.
NOTE: Many tours also include a visit to Scotty's Castle, but due to flash flooding in October 2015, the castle is currently closed and undergoing a refurbishment.
What's Death Valley Weather Like? We know! Read This and You Will, Too.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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BATON ROUGE - Lawrence "Larry" Clark has been selected as the next chancellor of LSU Shreveport, LSU President and Chancellor F. King Alexander announced. Clark will begin as LSUS chancellor on July 1, pending approval by the LSU Board of Supervisors.
"We are pleased to welcome Larry Clark as chancellor of LSU Shreveport and to the LSU leadership team," said LSU President and Chancellor F. King Alexander. "Dean Clark has extensive experience at numerous public universities as dean, including LSUS. We look forward to working with him in serving the educational and economic development needs of North Louisiana."
Clark is currently dean of the Cameron School of Business, University of North Carolina Wilmington. He earned the Juris Doctor from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics/business administration from Knox College in Illinois and Master of Laws in Taxation from the DePaul University School of Law.
"It is a privilege to be able to return as chancellor of LSU Shreveport," Clark said. "I know and respect the LSUS mission, culture and journey - and that of the region. I am eager to begin building strong, innovative teams to grow the university and to more effectively serve both students and the communities of Northwest Louisiana."
Clark's career began as an instructor of business law at Northern Illinois University in 1974. He served as an officer in the Judge Advocate General's Staff & Faculty from 1975-1978. From 1978-1981, he returned to Northern Illinois as an assistant professor of business law. He began at LSUS as a professor of business law in 1981, and chaired the Department of Management & Marketing from 1983-1985. He served as dean of the LSUS College of Business from 1985-1994 and dean of the Sonoma State University School of Business and professor of business law from 1994-2000, before becoming dean of the UNC Wilmington Cameron School of Business. At UNC Wilmington, the business school has become highly respected for its student mentoring and global business programs.
Clark, a native of Freeport, Ill., is active with AACSB International, the professional business school accreditation organization, in the peer review of other business schools. He has served on the AACSB candidacy and by-laws committees. He is an active member of the Southern Business Administration Association and is a member and former president of the Southwestern Business Dean's Association.
Clark has published a number of journal articles and books, including editions of "CPS Examination Review Series" and "Law and Business, Editions 1-4," which were McGraw-Hill's best-selling business law textbook series from 1986-1994. He was the first honoree of the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce's "Jay Stromgren Memorial Award," which honors the chamber's most valuable volunteer for economic development leadership and work.
Alexander expressed his thanks to the search committee and everyone who participated in the search process and provided feedback. He also thanked Paul Sisson for serving as interim chancellor of LSUS.
"Dr. Paul Sisson has done a wonderful job representing LSUS as interim chancellor," said Alexander. "His dedication and hard work has not gone un-noticed, and we will always be grateful for his commitment to this university. There are great things happening on the campus, and I look forward to what Larry Clark will do for the future of LSUS."
The chancellor search committee, chaired by David Gustavson, associate athletic director for development at LSUS, was comprised of a group of LSUS faculty, staff, students, alumni, members of the LSU Shreveport Foundation Board of Directors and members of the Shreveport-Bossier community at-large. Four finalists were invited to campus between Feb. 10 and 13 to meet with campus and community representatives and Alexander.
Clark will assume the role of chancellor during the beginning stage of many positive changes taking place at LSUS, including the recent launch of a new doctoral program, and the ability to offer classes in both the traditional setting as well as a more flexible eight-week accelerated format.
LSUS is a public university proudly serving the Shreveport-Bossier educational community with 25 undergraduate degree programs and 11 master's degree programs. LSUS is a member of the LSU System, and provides a number of centers and institutes, as well as more than 70 student organizations, that serve as valuable economic development and educational resources to the community and students.
To find out more about LSUS, call 318-797-5000 or visit www.lsus.edu.


text:
Home Articles Funding & Incentives Greenkraft Sweetens Alt-Fuel Truck Incentives in California
Greenkraft Sweetens Alt-Fuel Truck Incentives in California
Greenkraft Inc. has announced new incentives available in California for its alternative fuel trucks.
Greenkraft's marketing director recently met with personnel from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District in Fresno, Calif. The district recently received $108 million from the State of California to fund incentives for the purchase of low-emission vehicles and engines.
Now, Greenkraft says its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) – i.e., propane – and compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks are eligible for up to $100,000 in buy-down incentives from the district. The company's 26,000-lb. and 33,000-lb. trucks are available in forward cabin configurations with CNG and LPG.
The incentives will help Greenkraft further expand, the company notes. Greenkraft is currently exploring merger and acquisition and buy-out opportunities.


A lot had changed back in Appaloosa Plains while I was at the Police Academy.
For starters, my nephew Keith is now an active toddler.
And my little sister Jennifer is now a teenager.
We also got a few new business in town. Someone opened up a bakery. On my first day back I decided to check it out.
I couldn't help it and ordered a donut.
It soon became a regular hangout for not only myself but also many other locals. One day I stopped by during my patrols and ran into my brother-in-law Rusty Elliott. He is married to my sister Jasmine and they have two sons.
"Hey, man, how's it going?" I asked.
"Oh no, nothing wrong with Jas or the boys?" I asked worried.
Later that night my sister Jessica invited me to a pool party at her place. Only she has no pool.
The only other guest at the party was my nephew Emilio (brother Jafar's son). Like me he had also become a cop and happens to be my boss at the station.
"Dude, you are my uncle. You don't need to call me boss when we are off the clock," he said with a laugh.
"I know but what I want to talk to you about actually involves police business," I said.
So I went on to explain to him about my conversation with Rusty.
My life doesn't involve only sitting around eating donuts at the bakery or working. I also let myself have a little fun. I spend a lot of my free time at the gym.
I will often invite Spring along. We have been spending a lot of time together. She is so awesome. I think I might be in love with her.
Back at home dad has been going around making everything in the house unbreakable. I asked him why he didn't do something cool and update the graphics card or something. His response was what good is updated graphics if the computer breaks all the time. I guess he does have a point.
Mom has been working with Keith on learning to talk, walk, and use the potty.
Jennifer has really developed a passion for music. Her favorite is the guitar. I love listening to her play.
My sister Jasmine has been playing matchmaker. She set our brother Jacob up on a blind date with Rusty's (her husband) sister Gabbie. I remember Gabbie from high school. We were in the same grade but had never really hung out.
They met at the coffee shop and he brought her flowers. He said they had a great time just visiting and getting to know each other.
He called her up the next day and invited her to see a performance at the park.
He said she loved it and they had a great time.
After their performance they shared their first kiss and made plans to go out later in the week.
For their next date they went to a club and sang karaoke together.
Afterwards they took a selfie out front of the club. I saw later that he made the picture his background on his phone. So of course I have to give him a hard time.
They went on other dates dancing.
Or would sit out and watch the stars.
He invited her to Keith's birthday party. As you can see from this picture Spring had stayed over the night before. I can't believe both mom and Spring came to the party in their pajamas.
He takes after his grandfather in that he loves horses. He has been a big help in taking care of Prairie.
It didn't take long for Jacob to propose to Gabbie. She said yes.
I had to do my twin brother duties and throw Jacob a bachelor party. I think I look pretty good in my party clothes.
Dad and Justin were both looking good too.
Drew brought a keg and had Jacob doing handstands on it.
Someone invited dancers who came dressed as cheerleaders.
I gave a speech and shared embarrassing stories about Jacob.
Rusty shook Jacob's hand and made Jacob promise to always treat his sister right.
My best friend and police partner Grady had fun dancing with the cheerleaders. He is usually so socially awkward I am surprised he actually talked to one of them.
We partied all night and eventually passed out on the living room floor.
The following night Gabbie and Jacob married in a moonlight ceremony.
And all of the guests danced under the stars.
Later Spring joined me for our own private celebration.
The next day we all headed to the summer festival for some fun and relaxation. I was planning on asking Spring to marry me.
Unfortunately, before I could work up the courage to ask mom passed away.
We were all devastated by her loss.
Even though she was only 89 years old she seemed to think it was her time and shook death's hand.
The next evening there was a knock at the door. When dad opened it he was shocked to see Jade standing on the other side.


text:
Things We Learned of 2019 in 2018
11.1.2019 Tuomas Jalamo
In 2018, the leaps we made as a company reflected what was happening in the realm of technology – and the world in general.
According to late futurist Roy Amara, we humans tend to underestimate the effects of technology in the long run, but overestimate them in the short run.
Maybe we are just victims of the said phenomenon, but it feels like so much has changed around us since we last wrote our yearly report. Perhaps the state of the world is such that evolving tech has not so much been a question of following the latest fads or jumping on a hype train – it's been downright necessary.
In 2018, the developments in tech have been characterised by a sense of urgency. And interestingly enough, that mindset and many of the global hot topics have also been present our increasingly swift and eventful journey as a company.
The Many Faces Of AI
Artificial Intelligence was on everyone's lips in 2018. What we found inspiring was the breathtaking speed in which the discussion became popular within so many disciplines. If we truly want to make the most of AI (and avoid its potential pitfalls), the phenomenon and its potential applications need to be understood by a wide range of professionals.
We helped an exciting new startup Saidot in their mission to build more trustworthy AIs and teamed up with Turku AI Society to organise an event that gathered people with a wide array of backgrounds to discuss the present and the future of AI in terms of what it all means in terms of actually designing services that utilise it.
In case you missed it, here's a recap of the talk our UX Designer Joni gave at the event.
For our event with Turku AI Society, we decided to decorate the office with neon lights. It turned out quite atmospheric!
Towards A More Responsible Future
In late 2018, Finnish fast food chain Hesburger released a short documentary promoting taking action against climate change. Being a company whose business has for decades been built around meat products, this was a bold and respectable move. In addition to seeking ethical solutions to packaging and production, the food chain has begun developing plant-based protein products.
The idea of minimising waste was also present in the way Hesburger sought to make their in-house development more efficient. We had the honour of building the company a comprehensive design system. Simply put, it is a continuously updated design guide and component/layout library to be used in Hesburger's internal systems. The idea is that when every separate system follows the same principles in terms of user interfaces, visual language and code, it becomes much easier to manage and update. And perhaps most importantly, consistent and less confusing user experience for every Hesburger employer.
Striving towards sustainability has gone hand in hand with the philosophy of doing more with less: not just digitalising stuff for the sake of it.
It has been interesting to see how striving towards sustainability has gone hand in hand with the philosophy of doing more with less: not just digitalising stuff for the sake of it, but rather only building services that have real substance and are as inclusive as possible.
This was a common theme at both the World Usability Day conference in Tallinn and Interaction18 event in Lyon. A blog post we wrote on the latter can be found here.
Our team of designers at Interaction18 in Lyon, France.
Anna, our Design Anthropologist gave a talk about trust, fear and grief in digital design at Interaction18.
The Power of UX & Innovation in Digitalised Transportation
Talking of issues of responsibility and making things more efficient, the digitalisation of vehicles was definitely a source of some heated discussion during the past year. Electric cars especially are a great challenge from usability and safety perspectives. This was evident at Audi's Mobility Quotient in Ingolstadt, Germany – an event that aptly shed light on the said issues. Here's our take on some of the things that went down there.
Ville & Mikko at Audi's Mobility Quotient event.
Notably, we happened to work on one new transportation-related case ourselves: building an innovative application for Buster Boats. Integrated with the Buster Q system found on all the new Buster models, the app allows the users to remotely monitor the status and location of their boat as well as create a digital logbook of their journeys at sea. This marked the first time a major boat manufacturer has offered such a service and thus, we're extremely excited about where the project might take us in 2019.
New Office, New Family Members
In our blog post last year, we joked about needing "a bigger boat". Turned out we ended up getting both the new boat and some new crew members to steer it.
Sami, the newly appointed Design Director of our Helsinki office posing with Ville and Mikko.
In July, we opened our new Helsinki office in Lönnrotinkatu that does not stand in the shadow of our Turku HQ anymore. Sami Sorvali, a veteran in all things UX, was recruited as the Design Director for the shiny new premises.
All in all, the Taiste family was joined by eight new people – some of them mostly working in Helsinki and others in Turku. Over the course of the year, we have gotten to know talented and inspiring new colleagues through various projects we have worked on together. We have also made our boat swifter by fine-tuning our internal processes even further. Moreover, we have organised several fantastic events and bonded over food, drinks and games.
The Night of the Digital Arts event celebrated the opening of our new Helsinki office.
Less Clutter, More Quality
The ever-changing landscape of our field of work, alongside with the growing size of our team and operations has and will continue to push us to broaden our horizons and become even better in terms of what we can and want to do.
We want to be on the side of digitalisation that does not produce digital waste.
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RICHARD NIXON WAS ALWAYS TRICKY
Richard Nixon: The Life by John A. Farrell
"The president 'was an almost completely political animal. He was neither moral nor immoral, but was amoral,' said Farmer, the civil rights leader….'I don't think right or wrong entered into it.'
'Nixon would have been recorded as being a very great president had it not been for the fatal character flaw,' said Farmer. 'He did not believe in anything.'"
I can remember in 1994 when Richard Nixon died that one of my friends, who has been an unrepentant hippy her whole life, said she was going to the Nixon funeral, but only if it was an open casket. She wanted to make sure the SOB was really dead. Nixon certainly inspired this level of animosity, not only in political enemies, but the numerous personal enemies he made over the years for being...well...a dick.
"'When you got into a campaign, especially with a guy like Nixon whose guts we hated, it was easy to get combative. You're not running against a nice guy. You're running against a first-class son of a bitch.'"
I didn't know much about Nixon's early days in California. John A. Farrell gives some background. The deaths of several members of his family seemed to have a lifetime impact on Nixon. I was more interested in what kind of man he was after he got back from service in WWII. I thought maybe I would see the progression of a brash, idealistic, young man who eventually evolved into the brooding, wounded Darth Vader who resigned in 1974. His opponents, from Jerry Voorhis for the 1946 House seat to the 'pink lady' Helen Gahagan Douglas in 1950 for the Senate seat, were both completely unprepared to face the type of tactics that Nixon was willing to unleash. Winning was everything. There was no sense of decorum in a Nixon campaign. There was no progression, Nixon was as ruthless at the beginning of his career as he was at the end of his career.
I know you are going to be shocked about this, but there were two main staples of Nixon's campaign tactics. One was to paint any Democrat as soft on communism, thus dubbing Helen Gahagan Douglas as the pink lady. Two was to lie and, when caught in a lie, to lie about ever saying the lie. Then, bludgeon the opponent for using unfair tactics by calling Nixon a liar.
When he was campaigning to be Dwight D. Eisenhower's vice president, he called President Truman a traitor. Which is a *gasp* moment. Where is the line that should never be crossed? Then, he denied saying it. He became furious when reporters started carrying around tape recorders to his events. We have discovered in the current political climate that even getting a politician on tape may not be enough to convince his party followers to condemn him.
I was surprised to learn that Richard Nixon was Tricky Dick Nixon from the first moment he decided to become a politician. There was simply nothing he wouldn't do to win a campaign. It was all about winning and achieving power. Whatever he had to do to make that happen was not weighed on a moral scale, but was weighed by how much it would help him win and by a calculation of what his chances were to get away with it.
I knew he was diabolical, but underneath it all, I thought maybe there was merit. I'd, over the years, began to give him some credit for being a good statesmen, after office. I considered him a thoughtful writer who seemed to see the world with more objectivity and not through the darkened optics of a warped Nixon lens.
This is the moment in the speech when Richard is showing how he has the universe by the nuts and how he is going to squeeze until he gets what he wants.
His famous Checkers speech, when he went on the air and defended his use of campaign finances, was that moment in time when his footnote to history could have been smaller. Eisenhower was about to drop him from the ticket as his vice president. This is one of those moments in time where Nixon could explode, casting his boiling vile and deep seated hate for the world in all directions. He could have been the disgruntled civil servant who throws grenades over his shoulder as he walks out the door. This speech was given with such feeling and passion that he brought tears to the eyes of the film crew, not to mention the public.
How does he do that? He doesn't even like people enough to pull off a speech like that. The only thing I can think is that his adoration for himself overcame his natural loathing for himself long enough for him to save his career. He didn't want "them" to win.
Escaping these moments, and there are many throughout his career where he should have been politically destroyed, kept enhancing his ego, gave fire to his paranoia, and, ultimately, lead to his spectacular demise.
"'Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?' mused Henry II, and a knight seeking royal favor murdered Archbishop Thomas Becket in the cathedral at Canterbury. Did Richard Nixon order every breach of the law? No. But in May 1971 he called for the wiretapping of his Democratic foes. And in June he instructed Haldeman and Colson: 'You've got to really have a sophisticated assault upon the Democrats. Humphrey must be destroyed. Muskie must be destroyed. Teddy Kennedy must be.' It wasn't hard for Nixon's knights to know what the sovereign wanted. Nixon's mutterings led not to Canterbury, but to Watergate."
The dubious men who were hired to carry out these clandestined tasks called themselves The Plumbers, but plumbers all over the world should be insulted because of what bumbling fools they turned out to be. Certainly, Nixon did not specifically order everything these idiots attempted to do, but to be frank, Nixon loved the covert nature of their cloak-and-dagger enterprises. He wanted to know details so that he could relish in the belief that he was smarter and craftier than his moron opponents. What sinks him is a White House tape from June 23rd. Oh, yes, the taping setup that would help him write books about his life as president after office. He would have plenty of time to write books, sooner than he thought.
Farrell talks about some interesting things that have been revealed for the first time. I'm not going to go into detail because those are the type of things that encourage people to read the book for themselves, but one particular covert Nixon action is haunting for me because it led to seven more years of war in Vietnam. The cost in blood and money was going to be steep.
I was also really bothered by his selection of Spiro Agnew as vice president. "The selection of Spiro Agnew revealed Nixon at his worst. It was a cynical nod, a race-baiting wink--a catastrophic blunder. It was Nixon's first 'presidential' decision--the choosing of a running mate--and a disaster." Nixon referred to Agnew as the "assassin's dilemma." I felt the same way when George H. W. Bush selected Dan Quayle, or how about George W. Bush putting Dick Cheney one heartbeat away from the presidency, or how about the baffling choice of Sarah Palin by John McCain? Are these choices merely hedges against assassination? Nixon was that cynical. I'm not sure these other presidential candidates were, but sometimes I do wonder.
Dick, if you stare into the camera with enough intense concentration, maybe the world will burst into flames.
Farrell's writing style is very fluid. He does not become bogged down in minutiae. Certainly, my perspective has shifted once again about one of the more conflicted and controversial figures in American history. Unfortunately, history tends to repeat itself, and here we are stuck with another paranoid, delusional, blustering court jester in the presidency. People tell me how boring they find history to be, but they don't seem to realize that, by reading the past, you are reading the present and the future. It is infinitely fascinating.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
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Step 1: Is This Right For You?
BEST: Foundation plantings on any side of the house.
BETTER: The borders of a patio, deck, or fence.
GOOD: The border of a path. In your photo, please indicate the ends of the area you want to plant (lawn chairs or standing people are good for that).
FAIR: Planting beds in wooded or grassy areas.
NOT GOOD: Sites with changes in grade (hills, slopes) in wooded or grassy areas.
NOTE: For photos, stand in the center of the project area and take 360 degrees of photos as you turn.
Pleas fill out the form below and answer all questions as well as you can. All information will help us assess your needs and offer the best product possible.
Do you like your garden to be..
Do you have a particular type of garden style you like?
What are you looking to achieve in this garden space? Check all that apply?
Is this plan subject to a Homeowner's Association Guidelines? If it is, you will need to furnish the applicable rules. Upload files below.
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What plants do you like and why?
What plants do you dislike and why?
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Project area: (x feet by y feet) - Measure the length and width of the area you want us to plan. To the foot is fine we just need a general idea.
If you are unable to send your photographs because the file size is too large, please attach and send them (2 or 3 at a time) to liz@yardprouddesign.com.
Step 3: We will look the information over then set up a time to discuss it with you. At that time we will let you know whether we can do the project and how much it will cost. If you agree you will continue to step 4.
We discuss and I make one FREE change if desired.
*Additional changes after this time can be made but will require an additional fee.


text:
Nat and Her Holiday Tigers at Clifton's!
Nat and Her Holiday Tigers!
About the Venue: Clifton's Republic
How would I describe Clifton's Republic in Downtown LA? It's a cafeteria, vintage bar, and kitschy "natural history museum" all rolled into one amazing multi-level building. It's one of the last remaining vestiges of golden-age Los Angeles charm. It's an amazing Swing dance venue as well!
Clifford Clinton opened Clifton's Cafeteria on 648 S.Broadway in 1935. It's the oldest surviving cafeteria-style restaurant in Los Angeles. Established during the height of the Great Depression, Clifford Clinton had his restaurant serve millions of meals for free to needy patrons, as well as to paying ones.
In 1938, Clinton re-decorated the facility, using the Brookdale Lodge in the Santa Cruz Mountains as inspiration. He added waterfalls, murals, and trees to create the atmosphere.
Clifton's reached the height of its popularity during the 1940s when there were lines out the door to get in.
In 1946, Clinton sold his cafeteria to his children and retired.
In 2010, Andrew Meieran, owner of the amazing Edison nightclub, purchased Clifton's with plans to restore it to its former glory. He removed the hideous aluminum facade that was added in 1963. Known for being a perfectionist when it came to design, he finally opened the restaurant in October 2015.
Clifton's has five publicly-accessible levels: the basement and three regular floors, plus the Pacific Seas which has a separate line to enter. The fireplace-tree is the centerpiece on the second floor, extending up through the third floor.
The second floor features additional dining space, a small stream, the famous fireplace/tree centerpiece, and a vintage bar.
The third floor features the "Gothic Bar" on one end, and a huge 1930's-era dining room (the Brookdale Ballroom) where the live performances happen on the other. In between is a vintage lounge area.
Walking around, you'll immediately notice that Clifton's is populated by a menagerie of taxidermied animals – actual animals that were stuffed.What do stuffed animals have to do with a cafeteria? I have no idea but I love it.
In short, Meiran has preserved both the classy and kitschy aspects of Clifton's to create a charming forest oasis in the heart of downtown L.A.'s Broadway district.
The Dancing
I got upstairs to the Brookdale Ballroom about half a song into the first set to see a sparse dance floor with only two or three couples dancing and more leaders than follows. It was looking like a "bring-your-own-partner" night at this point. But, I was later proven wrong.
As the evening progressed, many more people showed up. And, the lead/follow ratio flipped big time (so follows, get there early if you want to dance a lot).
By the second set, the dance floor was absolutely packed with dancers of all skill levels, from dance instructors down to flailing 20-somethings just having a good time. Many Swing regulars who go to Joe's Bar showed up alone and had no problem finding people to dance with!
At times, it reminded me of the Derby – and I mean that in a good way: a real nightclub with amazing ambiance packed with dancers and non-dancers both having a great time to fantastic live music.
I can't guarantee that Clifton's will always have this many dancers on every Swing night; the Feetwarmers are definitely one of the most popular bands. But, I do say that Clifton's is a legit Swing dance venue, among many other things! So, if you haven't been there yet, I highly recommend checking it out!
Swing Dancing has returned to Clifton's! For the most up-to-date information, see the Clifton's Irregular Regulars FB Page.. Even with the cover, I think it's a bargain to experience this amazing venue!
If you get in for free, please buy food and drinks! Let's not screw this up and have them kick out the Swing dancers (like so many other venues have) because we don't buy anything! (Personally, I would prefer if they charged cover to get into the ballroom area so you didn't have to buy drinks, but that probably won't happen).
There are several parking garages and lots in the area. The closest one is a converted old office building across the street above the Burlington Coat Factory. Cost is $16. There are cheaper options around.
Friday and Saturday nights with lesson from 8-9PM, band 9PM
Free before 9PM, $20 after
Beginner and regular Swing dancers with lots of non Swing dancers around (don't resent them too much - they buy drinks and pay the bills). 21 and over.
Nightclub attire; there is a dress code at Door Manager's discretion
Small wooden dance floor, or you can dance on the carpet
21 and over after 9PM, strictly enforced!
https://theneverlands.com/cliftons-republic/
648 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90014. Parking garage across the street.