text:
Harrowscape - The Haunted World of Horror Writer Christopher Collins
Media and Upcoming Events
The Howling Season
Art & Stuff
ABC - Always Be Communicating!
Okay, so. This past weekend was all about Dragon Con. I love to see the proud geeks and dorks (myself, included), who have waited a whole year to be able to be at the biggest comic convention in the southeast, going gaga over whatever floats their little geek boat, dressed in costumes that range from amazing to startling to slightly disturbing. But it's not all about the pageantry, for me. You may not be aware of this, but there are a whole slew of "tracks" that are available, in the form of panels that you can attend. They range from comics panels, to actor/actress, to martial arts and skeptics panels.
I attended panels on the writer's track (yep, it's a thing). Writers like Kevin J. Anderson, Sherilyn Kenyon, David B. Coe, Janny Wurtz, and other writers you may recognize, speak about their experiences, give advice, and answer questions from us nobodies, who want to be somebodies (cue Marilyn Manson).
Most of the panels I attended were on marketing/PR (there is a blurry but definable difference: Marketing is designed to get people/companies interested in buying your product, and typically involves buying ads, materials, designing attractive book covers, etc., while Public Relations is generally about communication designed to promote your brand. That's interviews, managing a website/blog, networking, getting beta readers to review your book, stuff like that. This is overly-simplistic - it's all about getting people to buy what you're selling - and as I said, the line blurs on the two. But I think you get the picture), and I learned a few things. Here are a few things you might find useful.
First thing: If you don't have a website, get one. This falls under the heading of "Don't expect your publisher (if you have one) to do much (or any) of the marketing for you. In fact, they typically expect you to have a sales "platform" which includes a website for you to sell yourself, and your product on. Don't make that site the product (i.e., your book). Because, unless you plan on being a one-hit wonder, you're going to write more books, and then you're faced with either completely overhauling your current website, or creating a new one. (Can you imagine if Stephen King or James Patterson had a different website for every book they'd written???) On that website, you want to have, in addition to your longer bio, a short one that, say, Barnes & Noble, or your local cafe, or a podcast, can lift and share, if you do an interview or a book signing. For that same reason, you want to have a picture of yourself, and of your book(s), and the links to all of your social media. Look around my site. You'll see I've included that stuff on my home page.
Your website/blog should not be a constant hammering about your book(s) either. In this age of social media, where people post the most intimate details of their lives on a daily basis, people want to be invested in you, not just your product. If you get them to care about you, they will be more likely to have a vested interested in your success. Yes, as writers, we tend to be introverted, and grit our teeth at the time taken away from writing to actually talk to people. But think about it. What are YOU more likely to respond to: people who spam you with "Buy my book, buy my book!" or someone who's got the same interests and personality as you, whose posts you look forward to reading, because they make you think, or laugh, or whatever, who then says, "Hey, by the way, my book is coming out. It's about (whatever). You should give it a try?
The last thing I'll share, is about managing social media. First off: you do NOT have to have a presence on every freaking platform that exists. But you should have a presence on at least one. Pick the one that you like the most. The panel members I heard speaking all seemed to agree on Instagram and Twitter (in that order) as their favorites. They also happen to be mine. But they also emphasized that whatever your favorite is, is what you should use. If you feel like the platform you're using is painful, it will come off that way. At the very least, it will seem insincere, and more "spammy." And you can use social media manager apps like hootsuite to help you keep from going crazy.
Also, use lots of hashtags on those platforms. It's how people who may have no idea who you are, may be able to find your work. Let's say there are groups of flying saucer enthusiasts, or sci-fi writers, or whatever, who all post pictures and other interesting things to the hashtag #flyingsaucers. And let's further say that you write a book about flying saucers, and write a post about that book that includes #flyingsaucers? Well, guess what? Your post - and the posts of ALL the people who have used that hashtag, will appear together. You're now linked to them. And all of those people will now be able to see your post about your book about a subject that they are passionate about. And anyone not of those groups, who happens to come across one post, then clicks on the hashtag, will suddenly be able to see all of those posts, including yours. See the possibilities? I tested it today: I posted something about my novel on Instagram to #bookstagram, and various horror hashtags. And no longer than 5 minutes passed after I hit post, that someone from France, England, and at least one book group, had liked my post, and/or followed me. Those are people who never would have otherwise known the first thing about me, who will now get my posts, and, if I peak their interest enough, may decide to buy my book.
These are just a few things that you can be doing better to make yourself more visible to potential fans, and more likely to reel them in. Again, as writers, I know the first instinct is to shun anything that isn't about the actual process of writing. But if you want to do this for a living, then you'd better start treating this like the business that it is. Suck it up, and do it! Small steps like these can mean the difference between a successful career, and a failed one!
Fact and Fiction: Two Sides of the Same Coin
So, maybe a week ago, I was watching TV, not really paying attention, just letting the sounds fill the silence as I flipped through unopened mail, trying to decide which ones looked serious enough to demand my attention right then. I am not even entirely sure what show was playing (although "One Strange Rock" is sticking out in my mind, for some reason), only that there was some science-y-type stuff going on (which I love; PBS is one of my favorite stations, for that reason).
Anyway, I tuned in for just a moment, long enough to hear something about dire wolves and sabre-toothed cats living in the same era in Earth's history. My whole soul froze at that moment. Wait, I thought. What, now?
Yeah, dire wolves. Marinate on that for a second. I don't read a TON of fantasy, but I've read enough that contains these beasts to know about them, and to think they're pretty cool. And to find out that they actually existed? Whoah! Now, it's entirely possible that I am the last person on Earth who didn't know about them, so maybe this "revelation" is all in my head. And that's okay. The point is, my world expanded just with that few minutes of learning. It made me appreciate both their roles in fiction, and the writers who used them.
No real lesson here, other than that dire wolves are lit AF (and can you imagine the dog and cat fight between a dire wolf and a sabre-tooth?). And that the truth is an invaluable tool in creating fiction.
Hell, most of the work has already been done for you! Now, go. Learn some stuff. Then write about it.
It might make you famous.
Later people!
Letting Your Creep Flag Fly
One of my very best friends and I occasionally get into a discussion about the kind of horror movies we like. She favors the slasher flick over the supernatural. In her opinion, a guy with a knife (or a machete, or chainsaw, or...you get the picture) is a lot scarier than any ghost going bump in the night. "That's reality," she would say. "That could actually happen."
I, on the other hand, have always been fascinated by the other-worldly. And since I was raised in the church, I am pretty much hardwired to have a healthy respect of the supernatural. If a guy comes at me with a knife, it's either him or me, loser buys the farm. That's scary, but it's not, you know...scary. On the other hand, when the walls start bleeding, and objects begin to move by themselves, and you suddenly feel a soft, feather-light touch on the back of your neck, when you're alone, that's what gives me the heebie-jeebies! I mean, what the crap do you do about that? What can you do? Most of us don't have a priest on speed dial.
That's just preference. But don't get it twisted. I can watch any number of slasher flicks with great pleasure. I love Halloween, Friday the 13th, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and a bunch more. I watch them every year during the Howling Season (coming soon, my friends). And my friend is quite happy to watch a well-done supernatural horror movie. We just have different ideas of what truly creeps us out.
That's only one level, though. The kind of horror is only one part of the fear equation. After all, I've seen supernatural horror movies that made me laugh my ass off, while few movies are as terrifying as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or, say, Hostel. There has to be something beyond the well-known tropes of horror that compels you to read or watch (and me to write) horror, of whatever stripe you're into. What is that?
On my homepage, I give the definition of the word 'harrow': "To disturb keenly or painfully...To cause intense fear or dread." As in any genre, you manipulate the readers' emotions by holding a mirror to their faces, and showing them the things they already know, deep down in their hearts. In horror, that mirror shows a dark reflection of mankind's deepest fears, the old, atavistic terrors that haunt us in the hours before dawn, and the superstitions and dreads that remind us how small and vulnerable we are. Think about how you would feel if you turned and saw a message written in blood on the wall that hadn't been there before. How would you feel walking alone on a sidewalk at night, and hearing a set of echoing footsteps behind you, stealthily keeping pace. The uncertainty, turning to fear, becoming outright terror, maybe mixed with awe, or a sense of hopelessness. And what kind of terror? Terror of losing one's life, one's sanity, or even one's soul. Terror of losing one's family. How might those things manifest themselves? How do they change the atmosphere? And how do they affect thoughts, words, and actions?
These are some of the things I like to consider when I'm writing. Because the silent, hulking giant holding the knife, and the creaking door on a moonless, windless night, are only part of the story. You've got to get the reader on that sidewalk or in that dark room, feeling the tingle as it works its way up the spine. You do that by getting the reader inside the character's head. By showing what the character notices through his senses--feeling the bite of a cold wind, or the muffled thump of a footfall in another room--or her reaction to what she is sensing; the character swallows nervously, sweats with fear as she imagines the face of the man behind her, imagines his hand falling on her shoulder.
Use descriptive sensual imagery, internal thoughts and perceptions, and physical responses to create an atmosphere of dread in your story. With those tools, you're sure to have your readers sleeping with the lights on!
The Raggedy Man Turns 1 Year Old!!!
Well, it's been a year since THE RAGGEDY MAN was published by Bloodshot Books (the actual date of publication was June 4th, if you want to be exact. I don't, but, hey, you do you). A lot has happened since then, not the least of which, was the passing of my wife, a little over a month ago. The last two years of her life were particularly difficult, and that, as you can imagine, has made the time since the book was published, bittersweet. Nevertheless, my dreams of becoming a published author were realized. I became wealthy overnight, and famous beyond all my wildest dreams. And...
And only the first thing happened. Sorry. After one year on the market, my first lesson to the would be author is this: if you're in this for the fame and fortune, I beg you, get out. Do something - do anything - else. This ain't that kinda party, brah. You do this because you love it. You do this because, to not do it is to deny your very nature, your reason for being on this planet. And if you're not doing what you're meant to do, well, then, what's the freaking point?
Sure, you could be one of the fortunate few: the next King, the next Patterson, the next Rowling; one book sold, and suddenly you're a household name, your books printed in the thousands - the millions - in almost every major language known to man. But for most of us writing remains a labor of love (sometimes unrequited), even with several books under our belt. Some of us never get more than one or two books published. And evern for those who achieve more, writing remains a passion that at most, provides supplemental income to our 9-5 job. So, if you put down your law book, or medical notes to pick up a pen in order to obtain riches, you should know now that you chose poorly.
Okay. If you haven't thrown down your pen, your pencil, or (oh, I hope not) your laptop, and gone back to your law books or medical notes, then I guess you won't be dissuaded. You're in it for the long haul - more fool, you. And for you, here is how it's been for me, and likely, how it will be for you:
In the past year, I haven't gotten rich or famous. Agents and publishers have not come crawling out of the woodwork to offer me multi-book deals, and not a single supermodel has thrown herself at my feet (though there is a slight possibility that one or two have filed a restraining order, a slight misunderstanding that will all be worked out to everyone's satisfaction, I am sure). But what I have had is one co-worker whose son has vowed to buy anything I write. I've had the son of an editor praise my writing, and wonder when my next book will come out. Another person who said that she couldn't stop turning pages. I've had several people voice their pleasure - and displeasure - at the fate of a main character, and one pal, who has pretty much demanded that another character be given a book of his own. (His wife has threatened to send the ASPCA to my house for one scene with some animals.) To many of you, that will sound like small potatoes, and you'll wonder what the hell the point of it all was. The thing is, that actually IS the point, and if you can't see that, then I urge you to reconsider your law or medical degree.
See, that's the real coin of the realm for me, and, I suspect, many other writers. I remember what it was like reading Stephen King's Carrie, for the first time. Robert McGammon's Swan Song, William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist. That delicious thrill of fear that demands you stop reading, even as it forces you to turn the page to find out what happens next. The idea that something I have written could excite that in someone reading my work - hell, of creating that for myself - is like an addict anticipating that next hit. And so I write.
Okay, so, I'm running long on this one. But I'm not done yet. I've got a few more thoughts on the things I've learned in the last year. I'd love to hear from others who have done so, or wish to, who would like to share their experiences.
Till then....
The Future of Reading: Are Books Out of Print?
The other day, I got into a discussion with a couple of co-workers that somehow got onto reading, and then, the future of printed books. "Physical books," one person said, "are going away. You'll only be able to read them electronically." She said it as a thing already done, and only the timing in question. Another woman in the conversation nodded agreement, her grave features suggesting that anything might happen to civilization after all the books have gone.
It's an old prediction going back to the roll out of e-readers, and it's a compelling one, I suppose. E-readers can hold an entire library of books stored on the device itself, or in"the cloud." They are convenient, and easy to use, and have some advantages that physical books don't. E-books don't lose their bindings, or have pages to rip, or fade with time. And, more importantly, if you're like me, and like to have a variety of books on long trips, vacations, or just in case your mood changes or you finish one before you get home, the number of choices in the palm of your hand are limited only to the number of books stored in your "library. Most readers even have a backlight effect so you can read at night in the dark."
With all that going for them, it's easy to see why some people feel there's no longer any need for hardcover or paperback books. But disappear? Nah...I don't think so. Having a new way to do something does not always mean "sundowning" the old way. Television didn't replace movies, after all, and even vinyl records are making a comeback. There's just something about the feel of a book in your hands, the weight of it, even the smell of it, that no e-reader or book can replace. I love sitting in my workspace and being able to look over at bookcases overflowing with well-read volumes. Just seeing the title on the spine of some of these often brings back the pleasure of the first time I read them. Call it romanticism if you will, (or nostalgia, I guess, if you're one of those who've moved on from physical books) but there is an intimacy with physical books that you just can't get with e-readers.
Now, don't get it twisted. I am no Luddite, even when it comes to my reading preference. I have a Kindle app, and I like it just fine, thank you very much. I've got a whole list of books stored in it, some of which I've read, and some of which I am very much looking forward to reading. But...books, though.
Still, I do acknowledge that there is a shift in the publishing paradigm. Physical books will never go away, IMHO, but if you're a writer, you'd better pay attention to that shift. With many publishers, especially magazines, more interested in publishing electronically than with getting into brick-and-mortar stores, or, at least equally, you would do well to familiarize yourself with the legal definition, industry standard rates for royalties, and even the different forms of contractual language involved with electronic rights (they may not be specifically called "electronic rights;" The contract could just refer to "any and all media and formats," or some such), and acceptable contract terms for same, or you may end up wishing you'd paid more attention to the fine print.
Adapt...or Else!
Well, then. I've made no secret of the fact that I've been in the weeds this past year. As the old nugget goes, and as I am sure many of you can attest: "Life is what happens while you're busy making plans." (a less cynical version of another old nugget which posits that feces doth occur-and usually at the worst possible moment) No need to go into detail: that's not the point of this piece. The point is that feces is always going to occur; but that doesn't mean that the things that matter should just be allowed to wither away like a seed in too-shallow ground, burning away in the sun.
For me (and hopefully, if you're reading this, for you) one of those things is writing. In order to continue to write, I have had to change my approach to it. Before, I always felt like I had to write on my laptop; writing longhand, it seemed like I couldn't keep up with my thoughts. But then, I found myself unable to get to my computer. And when I could get to my computer, I often found myself responding to social media messages and the like, more than I was working. So I went old school. I dug out an old leather organizer with a 3-ring binder section for notebook paper, and an area that allowed a college-ruled note pad. . I got a pack of #2 pencils, sharpened to a needle point. And I got to work.
And guess what? It worked!
I have been making steady progress on re-writes of my second novel, plus a novella, that I've been working on in fits and starts for quite a while. Sometimes, I do find myself frustrated that I can't seem to write as quickly as I think. But there are benefits. The first, and most obvious being that I am not bound by time or location. As long as I've got my writing pad and a pencil or pen, I can write. I can write during TV commercials, during breaks at work, or in hospital rooms, while I'm sitting around, not really doing much of anything. Another benefit, is the lack of many of the dangerous time-sucks clamoring for attention on electronic devices, like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Put Pandora on on my Firestick, break out my writing pad, and I am absolutely golden.
All of which is to say that if you find you are spending more of your writing time screwing around than producing content-or worse, not writing at all, because feces keeps occurring during writing time, or even because you just need to switch things up, get yourself out of a rut, you may need to consider taking another approach. Yeah...some people may be offended that you haven't responded to their FB posts of that cute-AF cat doing that thing that makes you go "Awwwwww...," but you may just find your writing life has become much more fulfilling.
Now, go on. Get outta here and get to work. Those words ain't gonna write themselves.
New Year's Resolutions for Writers
Well...2017 has certainly been something. I got a novel published. That's pretty cool. A bunch of other things have happened that are not quite so cool. But it's all part of the cycle of life. As Remo Williams would say: That's the biz, sweetheart.
But it's 2018, now. And I'm trying to build off the successes that I have fought for, and brush off the dust of my failures, in order to move ahead and achieve more success. As I look back on my literary journey in 2017, I have come up with 4 New Year's Resolutions for 2018. Here they are.
I resolve to:
1. Show and not tell. My most recent post is all about the tendency, especially of new writers, to give a list of events in a story, rather than show, through a description of characters' thoughts, actions, reactions, etc. I'm going to stop telling you what "Bob" felt, and show you by the way he licks his lips and averts his eyes when he's lying, or the way his left hand twitches when he's on the verge of violence, or he grins sheepishly when confronted with the empty bag of Fritos lying half out of the overflowing garbage can.
2. Give passive voice a pass. Nothing washes out your prose more than passive voice. It's Show, not tell's ugly little sister. Never "The car was stolen by Bob," when you can "Bob stole the car." Unless you're a journalist, that's just plain wrong.
3. Phase adverbs out of my writing. Gently. Look, if you've been writing for any length of time, you know that adverbs are to writing as food after midnight is to gremlins. They're just going to wreck your stuff. That being said, there are exceptions to every rule, particularly the one that says never to use adverbs. My advice? As with everything else in life: "All things in moderation."
4. Write more. The bottom line of this resolution is ass in seat. No matter how good a writer you are, if you aren't putting in work, you might as well invest your time in a more profitable hobby. Like day trading. Life gets in the way, sometimes. Happens to me. It's going to happen to you. The only thing you can do is try to make use of the moments you have. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices. TV. Parties. Sleep. Do what you gotta do, man.
Just get it done. And, oh, yeah...Happy New Year!
Show, Don't Tell: Get it Write!
So, a couple months ago, my writing group critique mates were kind enough to read a portion of my second WIP, tentatively titled THE COMING DARKNESS. As always, they were insightful, thorough, and kind, even when telling me something wasn't working for them. One of those things involved a couple of spots in the narration where one of the main characters was feeling something, or performing an action, where I described said thought or deed, rather than showing.
The distinction may be challenging for the new writer to understand (and even published writers have to keep a wary eye out for it). But if you want writing that gets inside the reader and keeps them turning pages long after bedtime, it's one you'd better learn. And what is the difference?
Consider the following sentence: He grew furious.
I gave you a fact. Something happened, and a character grew furious. I told. Which is fine, and sometimes, it's necessary. But now, consider this passage: John glared at his cowering brother, teeth clenched, his expression a thunderhead of rage. Without moving a muscle, he seemed at once to become larger and more compact, his muscular frame poised on the verge of unleashing violence.
Okay, not great, maybe. But I hope this illustrates the difference between telling someone how a character feels and showing, through the character's thoughts and actions. One is factual and dull. The other is visceral and evocative, forming a connection between the reader and the character, even if the character isn't a likable one. It gets the reader in the moment, allowing him or her not only to visualize, but to feel the action as it takes place. I didn't just tell you he was furious, I made you get right in there and see it!
Now try this one: He was an ugly man.
Versus: The girl behind the counter glanced up at him and recoiled slightly, her smile nearly collapsing into the grimace of distaste he could see trying to replace it; it was a look he'd gotten nearly every day his entire life, and it no longer bothered him. Well, not so much. Not most days.
Again, the first example is mere exposition. It states a detail about a character. But the second example paints a much more vivid picture by showing the reaction of others to the character, as well as giving some insight into the character's mindset regarding his own ugliness. It is a thing he is aware of, and to a certain degree, accepts.
Sometimes, the difference between telling and showing is as simple as choosing a stronger verb or verb phrase: He sat, impatiently vs. He threw himself into the chair and waited, one knee bouncing up and down like a jackhammer. Or She walked in the door, vs She glided into the room, She stormed in, She slunk in. (See how changing the verb gives you a different image of her walking in? Hence, the power of showing!)
Anyway, you get the picture.
Again, exposition can be a fine and useful, even necessary thing. But when you combine images, strong verbs, good dialogue, and specific visual details of characters acting, reacting, or interacting, you help the reader move past the intellect to that place where dreams are real and anything can happen. It's called the willing suspension of disbelief, and it is your job, as the writer, to lay straight the path there. So, before you consider your masterpiece well and truly done, do yourself a favor and go back through it one more time. Look for some areas where you can show us the action rather than telling. I promise you, any potential publisher will be sensitive to it. Because they know that if they can't "see" it, neither will the readers.
So I'm taking a break from working on book #2 to (try to) work on a short story for the Fall Fiction Contest, to be judged by Brian Evenson. It's a max of 7000 words, and the winning story earns a $2000 prize. Some writers would give a limb to make that off their writing in a given year.
I heard about the contest late (last Tuesday; it ends 11/15), and I've been taking care of the wife after a fall resulting in injury, so who knows whether I'll be able to pull off a story I think is good enough to submit. But as the Lottery motto tells us: You can't win if you don't play. Payout aside, this contest also serves another purpose for me. I don't tend to suffer from writer's block. But I sometimes get burnt out on a subject. And when that happens, it's good to step away and focus on something else for a while, then come back with a fresh perspective. Not saying that's happened with my current WIP (work in progress, for the uninitiated) - I've recently come up with a few things I think are going to make the story much stronger, and I'm excited to get those things done. But I don't mind the break.
Also, if you're between stories, and you're looking for something new to write, it's not a bad idea to look for contests such as this, or even just search magazine websites for open calls. They are often looking for specific types of stories, which may challenge you in a way you hadn't considered before. Never written a steampunk vampire western before, and magazine ABC wants you to send in your best? Well, think about taking on the challenge. Even if you don't like the result, or if the magazine doesn't, you will have broadened your horizon a bit, and possibly planted the seed of a future story somewhere in your subconscious.
Well, that's all I've got time for today. The 15th is fast approaching, and I've got write a freaking masterpiece of a story before then. Wish me luck!
Chris
Rewrites, Edits, and Other Bad Words
CiaI'm still working on the second draft of my second, still-unnamed novel. (I have a working title, but I haven't decided if I like it enough to introduce to family, yet. It's a writer thing--thank you for your patience) I had hoped to be done with it by now, so that I can get it sent out to at least one agent and one publisher before everyone in the publishing community broke for the holidays. Looks like that's not going to happen. Why? Partly...just life. It slows you down, like rush hour traffic, you know? But mostly, I hit a bump.
A "bump" to me is when you're chugging along making minor changes--switching articles, adding and subtracting pesky commas, weighing options to the universally-shunned adverbs that spring up like weeds in a garden--and then, suddenly...a bump, the thing in the writing itself that stops your progress cold, or at least redirects it. Maybe you missed some plot point. Maybe what should have been a minor character steps forward and does something major, requiring backstory or at least more page time. Or maybe you've got an entire section that is not only not important to the plot, but possibly the work of your evil twin who might have been hopped up on medication and suffering a psychotic break when he wrote it. If it's the latter, your work is easy: hack it out and either toss it or save it for a future story. If it's one of the others, well, you've got some major rewriting to do.
Now, this isn't a bad thing. Not at all. Finding these bumps and fixing them are, after all, what rewriting is about, and can only make your work stronger. But of course this is going to add more time and effort, ranging from mildly inconvenient to soul-shatteringly disheartening depending on the severity of the problem. In my case, I realized that I had written nearly half the book talking about this darkness inside the main character, hinting at this past event that had caused it, without devoting a single page to it. I needed, I realized, to have that story much sooner, and it wasn't going to be a matter of simply cutting those scenes from later in the book and pasting them earlier. It's going to be a major rewrite, after which, I will go through the rest of the book, and then re-read the whole thing again, seeing if the new stuff works well enough with the rest.
But it's all good, folks. I wanted to have more of the work done, by now, sure. But I know that I'm making the story better. My goal as a writer is to write something that hooks the reader, drags them into the story, and then makes them forget that they are reading. It only takes "Wait, what?" moment to snatch the reader out of the story. Too many of those, and whether the reader bothers to finish your story or not, the likelihood of them picking up your next book are slim to none.
So do the work. Rewriting and editing can be a drag, but they are essential to making your book the best it can possibly be. Hire a professional editor to go through it if you need to (and if you're self-publishing, you should do that anyway; possibly, even if you are going through a traditional publisher!), and work with them to make your book better. (Just one caveat: take what time you need to make the work the best you can make it, but know when you're done. Perfection is impossible, and at some point, you're going to have to get the book out there, or you'll never have a career. As the King said to the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland: "Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.")
Put in work, my people. Put in work, and you'll produce something that people will remember and talk about. And maybe recommend. You want that, don't you?
Chris Collins is a reader and writer of horror. Anything that sends a shiver crawling up your spine has a home in Harrowscape. His first novel, "The Raggedy Man," hit the shelves in 2017, and he has been working on the next thing ever since.
Photo used under Creative Commons from Films Inbound
harrow, harrowscape, Chris, Christopher, Christopher Collins, horror, writer, haunted


text:
Govt faces severe financing crunch
Seeks to issue multi-billion dollar Eurobonds imminently
Reopens domestic 3-yr bond issuance just 2 months to maturity
Seeks US$750m bridging loan from two int. banks
The Government of Ghana is facing a severe financing crisis, Goldstreet Business has learnt. To avert it top government officials, led by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta have opened negotiations with potential investors in a planned Eurobond issue of up to US$3 billion, earlier this week, in London, New York and Boston.
At the same time government has re-opened a tap issuance for an undetermined volume of three year domestic bonds; but while this is a standard strategy, the fact that the original issuance, done in 2016, is due to mature just two months from now, in May, illustrates the intensity of government's need.
But the biggest evidence of the immediate need for finance comes from government's proposal to Parliament, made last week for approval for a US$750 million syndicated bridging finance loan, which is to be paid from the proceeds of the impending Eurobond issuance, which could become available within the next two to three months.
Government's financing crunch has been brought about by the reticence of investors to buy up its debt securities. Aside from making it difficult for government to meet its budgetary deficit financing needs and repayment obligations on maturing public debt, the reluctance of foreign currency wielding non-resident investors to buy up domestic debt securities is instigating accelerated depreciation of the cedi which Bloomberg now rates as the worst performing of the 140 currencies it tracks, so far this year.
Government has appointed Bank of America, Merril Lynch, JP Morgan Chase & Co, Morgan Stanley, Standard Bank and Standard Chartered Bank Plc to organize the meetings with potential investors in its imminent Eurobond issuance, which started on Wednesday. It has also appointed local institutions, Fidelity Bank, IC Securities and Databank as co-arrangers for the issue, which could be done immediately if investors can be convinced to accept a coupon interest rate acceptable to government. If not, government officials are claiming they are ready to wait a bit for more favourable pricing to be secured. To this end the banks contracted are to arrange a benchmark dollar denominated bond issuance with maturities of between seven and 12 years or perhaps longer.
However, government cannot afford to be very patient – last week it proposed to parliament that it takes a US$750 million syndicated bridging finance facility being negotiated with two international banks – Standard Bank and Standard Chartered Bank Plc – which would be paid back from the proceeds of the impending Eurobond loan. Ministry of Finance officials explain that this is needed because even if the ongoing meetings result in a firm agreement with investors, securing the proceeds of a consequent Eurobond issuance could still be two to three months away. This implies that government would be forced into the best Eurobond deal it can get within the time frame provided by the tenor of the impending bridging loan.
Ghana needs US$2 billion to fund its budgetary expenditures inclusive of maturing debt amortization and is ready to take up to another US$1 billion to refinance existing bonds if it can secure a new issuance at relatively low interest rates. The primary target here would expectedly be the Eurobonds issued by the Mahama administration in 2015 at a coupon rate of 10.25 percent, the highest cost bonds on Ghana's books. Specifically, Bloomberg reported this week that government is offering to buy back US$250 million of its US$2 billion in bonds maturing in 2023 and 2030.
However financial analysts are not sure that a pricing deal can easily be reached. Bloomberg reported earlier this week that analysts at Renaissance Capital, a global investment banking firm represented in Ghana, have formally warned its clients that Ghana has a "terrible fiscal record" in recent years. This refers to the two most recent general election years, in which the Mahama administration churned up unplanned fiscal deficits of nearly 10 percent of GDP on both occasions, each time nearly doubling the target for the year.
Added to this are fears that Ghana may abandon its fiscal discipline once the International Monetary Fund exits at the imminent expiration of its Extended Credit Facility programme, begun in April 2015 and due to end on April 4 this year. Although the incumbent President Nana Akufo Addo administration has passed legislation limiting the fiscal deficit to not more than five percent of GDP going forward, analysts and investors fret over the government's turn from demand management to supply side economics; the fiscal deficit target was raised rather than lowered for the 2019 fiscal year for the first time since Ghana entered the IMF programme.
Even as government intensifies its efforts to secure dollar denominated funding it has also taken an unprecedented step to attract more foreign exchange through cedi denominated domestic debt bond issuance. Yesterday, March 14, it reopened a tap issue for the three year bond issuance done in 2016, and which is due to mature in May this year, just two months away.
The issue was originally done at a coupon rate of 24.50 percent which is significantly higher than the current three year bond yield less than 22 percent. Under the terms of the offer there is no uniform clearing level; successful bidders will be allocated at the price at which they bid and partial allocations will go to bids at the cut off price at government's discretion in event of oversubscription. It is similarly instructive that this tap offer is additional to the debt issuance calendar for the first quarter of 2019, which had one three year bond issuance, of GHc800 million slated for March.
Government's ongoing difficulties are illustrated by the recent shortfalls it has suffered in its debt securities issuances. For instance, a fortnight ago it was only able to raise GHcx993.32 million, well below the target of GHc1.26 billion.
By Toma Imirhe
Stakeholders adopt strategies to tackle postharvest loses
Resolving Ghana's forex travails

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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S & P 500
C Spire begins pre-orders for new Samsung Galaxy Note8 smartphone
PRESS RELEASE PR Newswire
Aug. 25, 2017, 10:48 PM
RIDGELAND, Miss., Aug. 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- C Spire began accepting customer pre-orders Thursday for the new Samsung Galaxy Note8 smartphone that will be unveiled on its "Customer Inspired" Maximum Range 4G LTE network next month.
Consumers can reserve Samsung's Galaxy Note8 online at www.cspire.com/note8 or via phone through Customer Telesales at 1.855.CSPIRE4 for home delivery or pick up at any C Spire retail store once the device is available in retail channels beginning on Sept. 15.
For a limited time, consumers who pre-order the Galaxy Note8 can choose either a free Gear 360 camera or a 128GB memory card and fast wireless charging convertible valued at up to $229.
The Note8's 6.3" inch Quad HD+Super AMOLED Infinity Display is the biggest screen ever on a Note device while the narrow body makes it comfortable to hold in one hand, see more and scroll less. The device also features an S pen performance stylus, dual 12MP rear cameras with pro mode and a powerfully fast Octa core (2.35GHz Quad + 1.9GHz Quad) 10nm processor.
Pricing for the flagship device, which has garnered praise from leading technology media, starts at $38.74 per month for 24 months on C Spire's Device Payment Plan. The phone is available for $929.99 without an agreement or payment plan and comes in Midnight Black with 64GB of storage.
For more information on C Spire products and services, please visit www.cspire.com. To pre-order the new Galaxy Note8, qualify for the free Gear 360 camera, memory card and wireless charging offer, please visit www.cspire.com/note8.
About C Spire
C Spire is a diversified telecommunications and technology services company that provides world-class, customer-inspired wireless communications, 1 Gigabit consumer Internet access as well as a full suite of dedicated Internet, wireless, IP Voice, data and cloud services for businesses. This news release and other announcements are available at www.cspire.com/news. For more information about C Spire, visit www.cspire.com or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cspire or Twitter at www.twitter.com/cspire.
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Weight, Status in Adolescence May Up Cancer Risk
Christine Hsu
Update Date: Oct 14, 2013 04:55 PM EDT
Overweight teens are twice as likely to develop esophageal cancer compared to their normal weight counterparts, a new study suggests.
The study also found that lower socioeconomic status and immigration from higher risk countries were important determinants of gastric cancer.
The latest study involved data from 1 million Israeli adolescent males who underwent a general health examination at an average age of 17 years from 1967 to 2005. The participants were followed from 2.5 to almost 40 years, with an average follow-up of 18.8 years.
The findings revealed that weight and socioeconomic status up to the age of 17 had a significantly impact upon cancer development later in life. Teens who were overweight had a 2.1 fold increased risk of developing intestinal type gastric cancer. However, those who had nine years or less of education had a 1.9-fold increased risk of developing intestinal type gastric cancer.
The study also revealed that immigrants born in Asia and in former USSR countries were 3.0 and 2.8 times more likely to develop gastric cancer.
"Adolescents who are overweight and obese are prone to esophageal cancer, probably due to reflux that they have throughout their life. Also, a lower socioeconomic position as a child has a lot of impact upon incidence of gastric cancer as an adult," lead researcher Zohar Levi, MD, MHA, of the Rabin Medical Center in Israel said in a news release. "We look at obesity as dangerous from cardiovascular aspects at ages 40 and over, but here we can see that it has effects much earlier." He noted that it is unclear whether losing weight later in life or gaining higher socioeconomic status might reduce the risks observed in this study.
The findings are published in the journal Cancer.
Tagscancer, Adolescence, socioeconomic status, Overweight, Obese
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Mayor Rahm Emanuel's departing top political hand has landed himself a new gig — with a GOP-leaning firm that's looking to widen its reach and become one of the city's top public affairs shops.
Tom Bowen is joining Mac Strategies Group Inc. as a senior adviser. He served as deputy campaign manager for Mr. Emanuel and ran the mayor's Chicago Committee leadership PAC. He's also worked for former U.S. Senate hopeful Alexi Giannoulias and Barack Obama — the latter both as a state senator and as a candidate for president.
In an interview, Mr. Bowen said his new job will be to help interest groups and companies tell their story in an effective manner.
"In the business world, you're not electing someone but looking to get a bill passed in Chicago or Springfield or Washington," he said. "You need to get your message out."
Mr. Bowen "will play an important role in growing our practice," Mr. McLaughlin said. "This partnership strengthens our public relations and public affairs capabilities immediately, while adding a whole new dimension in the scope of services we can provide."
Mr Bowen's wife, Aviva Bowen, is also changing jobs, leaving as communications director for Congressman Mike Quigley, D-Chicago, to assume a similar post for the Illinois Federation of Teachers.
Mac Strategies' expansion is only the latest by Chicago policy affairs firms, with David Axelrod's old AKPD Communications and Media hiring, and relatively new firms like Res Publica and Culloton Strategies competing with older firms such as Jasculca Terman & Associates.


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HomeArchiveSurveillance Drones Expected to Become Permanent Sight in Skies Over America
Surveillance Drones Expected to Become Permanent Sight in Skies Over America
By Keith Johnson
Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's . . . an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and thanks to the bought-and-paid-for politicians who work on behalf of the burgeoning drone industry, these intrusive surveillance devices will soon become a permanent presence in the skies over America.
According to a new report by the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), "dronemakers have sought congressional help to speed their entry into a domestic market valued in the billions. The 60-member House of Representatives' 'drone caucus' —officially, the Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus—has helped push that agenda. And over the last four years, caucus members have drawn nearly $8 million in drone-related campaign contributions."
Earlier this year, the military-industrial-banking complex's intense lobbying efforts paid off after President Obama signed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, which compels the Federal Aviation Administration to modify United States airspace rules and allow for widespread deployment of UAVs by 2015. Since this legislation was passed, applications have been pouring in from law enforcement agencies and private corporations seeking permission to place their own eyes in the sky.
"In places like California, Texas and Washington State, police officers in recent weeks have intensified their demands for surveillance drones, a necessary addition they say to their arsenal of tools to help thwart crime," news website RT recently reported. "The Federal Aviation Administration has yet to finalize plans to put drones in U.S. airspace, but by the end of the decade as many as 30,000 UAVs are expected to be soaring through the sky."
In their 2012 market report, Teal Group, an aerospace and war consulting firm, "estimates that UAV spending will almost double over the next decade from current worldwide UAV expenditures of $6.6 billion annually to $11.4 billion, totaling just over $89 billion in the next 10 years."
Unfortunately, this dangerous trend has yet to resonate with a significant number of Americans. According to a recent poll conducted by Associated Press (AP) and the National Constitution Center (NCC), 44% of those surveyed said they were in favor of allowing police departments to use unmanned drones for surveillance purposes.
"I had assumed that the idea that American police would be using the same technology that our military is using in Afghanistan would garner an almost hysterical response," said NCC president and CEO David Eisner. "[Support for drone use] shows that people are feeling less physically secure than they'd like to because they are willing to accept fairly extreme police action to improve that security."
Perhaps those security-obsessed Americans would have a change of heart if they learned just how unsafe these drones really are. According to FAA experimental flight records obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting through the Freedom of Information Act, UAV manufacturers are years away from developing a "see and avoid" system that can mimic a human pilot in the cockpit. Similarly, a report by the Government Accountability Office concludes that unmanned drones "pose technological, regulatory, workload and coordination challenges that affect their ability to operate safely and routinely" and "cannot meet aviation safety requirements, such as seeing and avoiding other aircraft."
In addition to the obvious privacy and safety concerns, there is always the lingering question of how these drones will be used in the future. Last year, Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office in Texas used a $300,000 Homeland Security grant to purchase a 50-pound ShadowHawk drone capable of accommodating a 40-mm grenade launcher and a 12-gauge shotgun.
According to the now-defunct news website "The Daily," "While McDaniel said the department has no interest in loading lethal weapons systems onto its ShadowHawk, he said the sheriff's office was open to the idea of adding non-lethal weapons like tear gas, rubber bullets or Taser-style rounds to the drone."
If the violent response to last year's Occupy Wall Street protests is any indication, it is almost certain that police agencies across the nation will be champing at the bit to use their newly obtained technology to quell future civil unrest. And if things get bad enough, they may even resort to the kind of lethal action taken against our so-called "foreign enemies."
For those complacent Americans who still take this issue lightly, a new study by researchers at the New York University School of Law and the Stanford University Law School, entitled "Living Under Drones," should help put things into perspective. According to the report, "Drones hover 24 hours a day over communities in northwest Pakistan, striking homes, vehicles and public spaces without warning. Their presence terrorizes men, women and children, giving rise to anxiety and psychological trauma among civilian communities. Those living under drones have to face the constant worry that a deadly strike may be fired at any moment and the knowledge that they are powerless to protect themselves."
Keith Johnson in an investigative journalist and host of the Revolt of the Plebs radio program.


Kristiansand lived up to its reputation as the warmest, sunniest town in Norway although it took awhile for the sun to break through the clouds today. We were just here a few days ago at the end of the last cruise, but since it seems to be a tourist mecca, there were still interesting things to see that were not included in our last visit. We took a tour to Høllen, a picturesque seaside town that it is overrun with tourists in the summer doubling the size of the local population. Many of the locals rent out their houses and move into their boats for the season. The kids are back in school now and things are considerably calmer. We strolled small quiet streets with our guide, admiring the old wooden homes painted white to show the affluence of the owner. (The zinc in white paint made it the most expensive.) Many flowers were still in bloom, a testament to the mild climate here. One of the homes had a mirror shaped like an open book attached to the window. The guide said these used to be common. People used them to keep an eye on what was going on in the street without standing near the window, revealing how nosey they were.
As we have come to expect in Norway, every yard was well maintained. We haven't noticed a piece of litter since we left New York. Norwegians are said to be among the happiest people in the world and we can see why. We haven't seen a single slum and do not realize we are in a fancy neighborhood unless the guide says so. The low lows and high highs that we see in our country are missing here. No one likes to pay taxes, but here they seem to be well spent on things like free education including university, low cost health care and maintaining and improving the infrastructure. Over 900 tunnels covering about 500 kilometers of road have been built, saving drivers the hair-raising zig-zag drives around the fjords, providing dry pavement in the winter. New mothers are paid to take up a year of maternity leave and fathers can take up to twelve paid weeks off as well. The Norwegians have banked a sizable percentage of their oil field profits, saving them for the rainy day that has now arrived. They used a chunk of the funds to subsidize pensions, enabling retired people to remain in their homes and secure extra services as needed. Because nearly everyone is comfortably middle class, they can afford to take advantage of their month of vacation time to head south when they need a break from the dark, cold winter. A sane, sensible approach to life.
We visited Vest Agdir, an open-air museum. Wooden homes from nearby farms were moved into one section, all covered with thickly growing grass. Some of the homes were surprisingly tall - first floor for animals, second floor for household goods, third floor for sleeping quarters. Others were one small room with a hole in the roof to let out the smoke from the cooking fire. The beds were all quite small, not because the people were so small, but because they believed that the only time people lay down flat is when they are dead. They slept sitting up, their backs padded with straw, a bit like birds in a nest. Life expectancy during these early primitive times was 45. Once some of the farmers were able to visit Kristiansand and see how the other half lives, they began to spruce up their crude wooden huts, painting at least the front white and inserting windows and chimneys. Another section of the museum was houses moved there from town. Most of the rooms were extensively furnished as they had been back in the day.
We ended this day in port with a stop in the concert hall next to our ship, taking advantage of their fast, free wifi. Two days at sea lie ahead and you can't count on good connections as we head north toward the Arctic.


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Hyundai U.S.-Market Cumulative Fuel Cell Mileage Completes 17 Emissions-free Lunar Journeys for National Hydrogen Day
NEXO and Tucson Fuel Cell SUVs Have Accumulated more than 8.4 Million Miles Emissions-free, Reaching the Lunar Surface and Returning more than 17 times
Hyundai Fuel Cells Represent a Massive Reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., Oct. 8, 2019 – Celebrating National Hydrogen Day 2019, Hyundai's U.S.-market fuel cell SUVs, the NEXO fuel cell SUV and the Tucson fuel cell SUV, together have accumulated more than 8.4 million miles while emitting only clean water vapor. This cumulative distance is the equivalent of 17 round-trip journeys to the surface of the moon, a distance of approximately 238,900 miles.
https://www.hyundainews.com/models/hyundai-nexo-2020-nexo
"Celebrating National Hydrogen Day 2019, we couldn't be more proud of our NEXO and former Tucson Fuel Cell's direct impact in reducing harmful greenhouse emissions in our planet," said Michael O'Brien, vice president of Product, Corporate and Digital Planning, Hyundai Motor America. "As our hydrogen refueling infrastructure continues to grow in California and into the northeastern U.S., we eagerly anticipate the exponential reduction in emissions it will bring, resulting in a cleaner atmosphere for everyone."
NEXO is the new technological flagship of Hyundai's growing eco-vehicle portfolio and marks Hyundai's continued momentum with the industry's most diverse SUV powertrain lineup. The NEXO Blue model has an estimated range of 380 miles and the NEXO Limited Trim has an estimated range of 354 miles. NEXO Blue models have estimated MPGe of 65 city, 58 highway and 61 combined, while NEXO Limited models have an estimated MPGe of 59 city, 54 highway and 57 combined. NEXO refueling can be achieved in as little as five minutes, allowing a consumer lifestyle very similar to a comparable internal-combustion SUV in terms of both range and refueling speed. NEXO dealers include Keyes Hyundai in Van Nuys, Tustin Hyundai and Capitol Hyundai in Northern California.
SEOUL, January 21, 2019 — Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) and Hydrogen Council Co-chair Euisun Chung has identified three key steps to accelerate the transition to a hydrogen society during the Hydrogen Council's third...
2020 NEXO
Added: Jul 17, 2019 | ID: 37473


If there is an error in your order, please contact us immediately. If the error was made by the printer or by us, we will correct the error as soon as possible at no charge to you. All errors or problems with your order must be reported to us within 10 days of receiving your order. Reprinted orders due to errors made by the printer or by us will be reprinted only with the error corrected and no other changes.
If there is an error that was made by you (for example, you put the wrong time down for your event) we will work with you to correct the problem. There will be an additional charge for reprinting, but we will try to keep the additional costs as low as possible.


Florence, Italy is one of the most beautiful cities in the country. It is the place where the Renaissance was born, and one of the cities most visited by thousands every year; they fall in love with every corner of it. Located in the northern central region of Italy, it is the capital of Tuscany, one of the most charming areas in all of Europe. Florence is the historic, artistic, economic and administrative center of the region.
Florence is the perfect place for those who love art and history, as well as the natural beauty subtlety hidden in every corner of Tuscany. If you want to learn Italian in a place full of culture, Florence is the best place for you.
Florence, Italy is open and multicultural; each year it welcomes students who are interested in the Italian language and culture, as well as art, history, architecture, design and fashion.
The city is one of the most important in Italy and has tourists from all over the world. In order to actually feel Italian, there is no greater way than actually living in Florence. Getting lost in its medieval neighborhoods and streets, visiting its markets, studying its culture, and learning to cook typical delicious dishes, are some of the activities you will try if you come discover Florence!
Those who visit Florence will fall in love with everything in it; its cathedral, the Palazzio Vecchio, the Signoria Square and the Ponte Vecchio. Do not forget the charm of Spring by Botticelli, David by Michelangelo and the paintings of Tiziano and Beato Angelico.
From Florence it is possible to easily escape to visit Pisa, Rome, Venice or Cinque Terre, one of the most charming places in La Spezia. It is worth discovering every corner of Tuscany. We are sure you will not want to leave.
Discover Florence and learn Italian at the same time!
Located in Piazza Santo Spirito, the historic center of the city, the school has welcomed many students since 1978. Through the communicative method, it provides students the necessary linguistic and cultural tools to ensure interaction and communication between students and local inhabitants during their daily life in Florence.
Learn Italian with Centro Machiavelli!


Portmeirion wedding photographer Mathew Quake always enjoys capturing weddings at this unique, beautiful wedding venue on the coast of North Wales. It was a pleasure to capture Lindsey and Jon's wedding in July, at Portmeirion, my favourite wedding venue. Although we had spoken on the phone we didn't meet in person until the day before the wedding, when we had a chat about the order of the day in more detail. Whilst chatting we discovered that both Jon's grandmother and my own were very good friends at one time, which was a lovely connection to have to the groom. They seemed very relaxed about the day and I appreciated their faith in me to capture lovely photographs of them during the day and at the best spots in Portmeirion Village. The wedding itself was conducted at St Johns church in Porthmadog, where an intimate service was held, followed with the wedding reception at Castell Deudraeth, part of the Portmeirion estate. On arrival at the castle, Lindsey, Jon and I went into the village for some softly directed photographs of them both at some of the best spots, finishing at the lovely Chinese inspired garden in the woodland, before heading back to join guests for a champagne reception. The whole day felt very relaxed, with the weather on our side and guests enjoying the beautiful surroundings, food and wine. I noticed that Lindsey and Jon held each other's hand and shared a kiss often through the day, it was easy to see how close a bond they share and I couldn't be happier for them. Very best wishes to the two of you for the future, please enjoy a sneak peek at your wedding day.


There are a few basics you need to know whether you are looking to kick up things a notch or moving into a new home with your first garage. Choosing essential tools will depend on the type of work you are going to use it for. Using the right tools for the job will save you a lot of money if you have home improvement projects or you are paying professionals to do a minor car maintenance. There are specific tools you can use for pursuing mechanical excellence. We have highlighted some of the necessary tools that should not lack in your garage.
The central place to most of your projects will be to have a workbench. It can be made easily from your home or you can get it done professionally. Searching the web can be a good idea if you want to do it for yourself. The ready-made work stations are preferable if they can fit perfectly in the intended workplace. The most affordable option sports two tool storage drawers, a thin particleboard or MDF work surface and a backboard with inbuilt lighting. Other brands have steel-frame workbenches that give it a more rugged bench. You can also customize your workspace with the craftsman's selection of modular workbenches.
The quality of your work can be minimized with inadequate lighting in the garage. Fluorescent light fixtures mounted on the ceiling can be ideal for your space as they are easily affordable. You can also have hanging lights or ones having flexible stands that can be adjusted to provide illumination where it is needed most. A portable work light will also come in handy when being used at night.
A bench vise is an essential tool that can be used to hold your projects in place. It is important to consider the quality since cheaper brands are prone to premature failure. You will also find a folding clamp useful when working with larger materials or you need a portable solution.
Your garage will be highly efficient if you own more tools. It not only makes it convenient to work on various projects but also offers flexibility. A 26 by 12-inch footprint won't accommodate more space on a workbench. The chest is spacious enough due to the shallow drawers.
The most economical way to store pieces of equipment and individual tools is by using a garage staple and a pegboard. Various hooks are available for extension cords, hammers, and other tools. You will achieve greater flexibility with open shelving or enclosed cabinets. An affordable option is to go for individual tool hangers if you are not ready to spend on such setup.
A 10-outlet power strip measuring 4 feet long, is perfect for placement on a workbench. It can incorporate corded tools with ease. If you want to make different outlets more accessible, you will have to use smaller power strips. Use power strips that are encased with metal since it is ideal for the garage. Another garage necessity is by having longer extension cords. You won't have to drag power cords across the floor as it offers greater range.
There should be a dedicated area for safety equipment set up in your shop or working space. For eye protection, you will need two pairs of safety glasses that are impact related. One glass for yourself and another for the on looking partner. It is also important to have safety goggles for chemical splash protection that will wrap tightly around your face. Leather or mechanics gloves are also ideal for the projects. Always keep a small first-aid kit handy. Print out material safety sheets for hazardous chemicals you store or use in your garage.
A torque wrench that is an essential tool that can be used to fasten a nut or bolt. It has special internal mechanisms and is usually in the form of a socket wrench. Take some time to determine the best torque wrench for your car repair. Gone are the days when you used a pry bar or hammer to fix things.
One of the immeasurable assets when working on your car is having good solid jack stands with safety pins. It is a bad idea to let your car rest on the brake discs after removing the wheels. Since most stuff is situated underneath your vehicle, you will need quality jack stands or lifts.
A good air compressor is not only used for inflating tires but also blow clean and dry parts. It is a justifiable necessity and can be useful in making your garage more efficient.
As you work inside your garage, remember that you are in an enclosed space with lots of flammable materials. There is a powerful electrical energy source or a sizable amount of explosive liquid. Some of them include battery and gasoline. Anything can catch fire when you least expected. It is essential to equip yourself with a fire extinguisher for the benefit of your car, garage and most importantly, yourself.
You can use the screwdriver set to tighten cabinet hardware, crack open lids on the metal paint cans, or install light switches. In the 10-piece set, you get stubby versions that will help you handle the tight spots. They come in many varieties and you can always choose one that suits your garage preferences.
One of the necessities includes repair manuals and sometimes you will always need outsourced advice. Having a Web portal will be convenient for your garage instead of tracking greasy fingerprints all over the space. You won't have to run back and forth with the mindset that you can make all things happen instantly. Checking the manuals through a computer can boost your knowledge about handling some part of your project. Although you may be a veteran, a Web portal will give you a different perspective of how you can work faster and efficiently.


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Interruption is the new black
by Philip Khosid April 27, 2016
Battery's CCO says it's time for the next wave of interruptive digital advertising ... and a return of the creatives who know how to make it compelling
I'm not a traditionalist. But let's face it — digital didn't revolutionize ads the way we all expected. At the onset of the digital age, industry thinking was that banners would create a totally transactional marketplace in which consumers would click on an ad and watch a brand video, and even shop for products. Advertising was dead.
When was the last time anyone rolled over an ad to look at this stuff, let alone buy anything? Most people consider banners annoying or superfluous. And what happened to all those microsites? Those highly acclaimed digital destinations where consumers could play games, win trips to Disneyland, and immerse themselves in the culture of Lysol and Tide and other incredibly fascinating products?
Back in 2008, as digital started to go mainstream, I was an ECD of the digital division at an agency. We were creating online video ads, seven-second downloadable pre-pre-roll, you could call them. We raised banners and leaderboards connected to big boxes, you name it. Technology was a canvas not an idea. And everyone was a fan. Then one day a new general manager came in and said "I want you to know, we're never shooting video for digital ever again. Video is not the future of digital." Three years later Cisco's VP of Marketing David Hsieh predicted that by 2014, 90% of all Internet traffic would be video.
Eight years ago, when digital became white hot, advertising surrendered the future to technologists. Marketers were mesmerized by technology. Digital advocates told brands: "You have to think differently. What we're doing is new. We will adapt and reinterpret the creative as we move into these new channels." I used to tell my clients this all the time, because it was my mandate to make my department profitable. I would tell them that their big idea was all well and good, but it needed to take on a different life in digital. "The consumer is giving you permission to talk to them," I'd tell them. "You must adapt, go granular, change your voice to accommodate the many demands being made on the brand."
Have you noticed, affirmative "permission" hardly exists anymore? It's a negative. You can "skip video in 3 seconds." Consumers have been saying "No." Not "Yes." And the industry has responded by pulling back permission. By streaming video that cannot be skipped, content that is once again engaging to watch.
Clearly, the pendulum is swinging back to interruption. We're back on board with the 30-second (or longer) spot leaping in front of our eyeballs, invited and uninvited. Increased bandwidth is providing the platform for a resurgence of a new era of creativity in advertising, not unlike what happened during the golden age of TV, when Bill Bernbach and other top creatives exploited the maturing medium with simple clear ideas and dominated the industry.
Now that we have close to full penetration of broadband, your phone is a thousand times more powerful than your computer was in 1989. You can download and stream content now, and you can push it out anytime you want. Content is film. Long-form advertising. We're doing TV spots online, only bigger, two minutes, five minutes. And the best speak to a bigger idea, a simple truth that is inextricably connected to the brand.
And who knows how to do this stuff best? Creatives who have been doing it forever. The people everybody fired back in 2008. The industry basically dumped an entire class of professionals who can think for a living, write scripts, come up with big ideas, create a voice for a brand. An executive layer of people who knew how to create a brand story and pass that genius on down to a new generation was removed. But they're still out there. They've just gone freelance. Hundreds of them, and they're coming back.
In the words of Lee Clow, "People don't hate advertising; they hate bad advertising." Just listen to the perennial buzz around Super Bowl ads if you need proof. You still have to give people something they want to watch. And if you can't do that, if you can't give them something interesting, a big idea that will catch someone's attention and keep their attention, you've lost.
Yes, interruption is the new black. So let's stop offering a "no" and give the consumer a "yes." Let's get on with it. Last year at Cannes, Jeff Goodby said we used to do things that made brands famous, we changed culture and people would talk about it. Guess what? We're back, we're doing it again. Video is the future of digital.
Philip Khosid is the Chief Creative Officer and Partner of Battery.
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Nations Trust Bank (NTB) has been consistently recording solid performances with strong growth in both momentum and revenue. Despite being a young Sri Lankan bank, NTB has established itself as a major player in the banking sector by adopting a customer-centric approach, a must-do mantra and capitalising on its strengths. Today, Nations Trust Bank is a leader in consumer banking and through the implementation of lean processes and innovative technology such as FriMi and Nations Open API Banking, the Bank is significantly ahead of its Sri Lankan peers in terms of Digital Banking. Renuka Fernando, Director/CEO of NTB, is an innovative and inspiring trailblazer in her own right. She is one of a handful of female corporate leaders in Sri Lanka and is confident about the Bank's position.
Performance in 2018 has been mixed. On the positive side, the growth momentum has continued and we have made headway in terms of our core operational income. The 'Nations Trust idea' is to always capture market share and deepen our client's wallet size. Therefore, we are not only focused on increasing our client base, but also deepening our relationship with the client. Over the last few years, we have invested a lot of time in deepening those relationships by looking at the entire ecosystem of our customer and growing with the client. This means looking at the employees, retailers, distributors and suppliers of our client and then working towards intensifying relationships horizontally and vertically and this has paid dividends for us. We have seen that our revenue has performed well this year where Fees and NII are good. We have also taken a lot of initiatives in terms of efficiencies within the Bank which has brought cost efficiencies. We adopted lean processes about four years ago and are now reaping the benefits as it takes at least four to five years before those concepts are really integrated into the organisation. We are also further automating our processes. So overall, in terms of the core business, we are doing well.
In the last three or four years, we focused on increasing revenue and building relationships with existing customers.
However, on the other side of the coin, the market is very tight. There are many customers, especially in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector, who are facing great difficulties. These are of course economic cycles that we go through. There is a lot of cash flow crunch in the market due to non-payment by debtors or delayed payments. As a result, our impairment has increased, both in the consumer and SME sectors. Impairment this year is also impacted by IFRS 9 (International Financial Reporting Standard). The methodology requires impairment to be frontloaded rather than calculated over a period of time, which means future impairment possibilities are also taken into account. So, whilst we are doing well in terms of revenue and managing costs, impairment has hit us. But from an overall profit point of view, our first half performance is quite good.
Going forward, what are the strategies in place and new initiatives taken?
In the last three or four years, we focused on increasing revenue and building relationships with existing customers. This has received a lot of traction and the businesses are doing well. Therefore, from credit cards, to leasing, to SMEs, to corporate business and to trade, we have continued to devote more resources to this effort over the last two years.
Nations Trust Bank is a customer-centric organisation with a vision to help people and businesses achieve today's goals and tomorrow's aspirations. We sincerely believe in this vision, and thus we want to bring benchmark for customer experiences to the market. A key to achieving this objective is by redesigning our processes, to create a simple, easy and frictionless delivery for the customer. This is not easy because we are a heavily regulated industry. It is possible with technology advancement and automation, which are key to better customer delivery, interactions and servicing.
Since end 2017, we have begun robotic process automation, which is great for repetitive banking transactions, resulting in better delivery times and increased accuracy as human error is eliminated. Thus, robotic process automation is an on-going effort and has already and will continue to enhance customer experience.
We are also expanding automation within the organisation, to ensure manual intervention is reduced as much as possible and that paper-waste is reduced, resulting in faster and easier banking experience. Going further, we are looking at implementing an enterprise-wide, seamless customer relationship management system that will amalgamate customer information from across the organisation in one place so that we can deliver seamless personalised banking experiences. Whether a customer is accessing our services physically or digitally through an ATM or Mobile or Online Banking, the experience must be an Omni-Channel one. This is what we're trying to do. We are determined and are investing heavily in technology and other resources to provide that experience.
Our aim is to make Nations Trust branches the customer relationship point of contact, while serving our customer's day-to-day transactional requirements primarily through digital channels.
The future is also about efficiency within the organisation. We have recorded a good cost-income ratio thus far, but we believe it can be brought down further and in the future our objective is to be less than 40 per cent. As we grow, automation will play an increasingly large role within the organisation and serve to increase efficiency. We are also looking at concepts such as activity based costing for the organisation which will help us to understand and attack inefficiencies.
Today, nearly 60% of our customer initiated transactions are on digital channels. But this does not mean the branch is redundant. The branch is likely to remain for the foreseeable future, because the human element is still very important for banking. You may not visit a branch for transactions, but a physical contact point is essential in terms of financial products, relationships and investments. Therefore, we are transforming our branches to be less transaction-focused and more centred on spending time with the customer. Our aim is to make Nations Trust branches the customer relationship point of contact, while serving our customer's day-to-day transactional requirements primarily through digital channels.
On the innovation side, for the next couple of years, we will be focusing on enhancing FriMi the first Digital Bank in Sri Lanka, which is steadily gaining traction. We are looking forward to the adoption of eKYC (Know Your Customer) in Sri Lanka and have planned many innovative technologies and have shared some of our ideas with the Government. We believe it's an important step for Sri Lankan banks. This would mean greater customer inclusiveness, as you can reach any customer in Sri Lanka without a branch network, with much lower costs and much better customer experiences.
Nations Trust Bank is a relatively young bank in Sri Lanka, can you elaborate how Nations Trust bank is facing up to the challenge?
We don't use the word 'challenge' in the organisation. We have said there are no 'buts' and no 'cant's'. In our organisation everything is 'can' or 'must-do'. Whether it is the economy, regulations, or any other issue, we make our business to be able to predict future hurdles and find ways around them. When compared to our peers, we understand that size is not our strength. We are a medium-sized bank. Our strength lies in our ability to shine in our own chosen segments.
We do have a nationwide presence but have a strong presence in the Western, Central, Southern and North Western Provinces, which is where we have been strong historically. Although we started off as a consumer bank, we have moved into the SME sector a few years ago which has grown at a remarkable pace and can hold their own against any competitor.
Today, we are number one in terms of credit cards in Sri Lanka and we are strong in our consumer business, which is what we started with initially. When we started we were the first Sri Lankan bank to bring a consumer model to Sri Lanka. On the corporate side too, we are quite strong today. We have also moved into syndications and project finance and are strong in the market.
I believe there is a philosophy at Nations Trust where if we undertake something, we have to be the best at it or at least in the top three. We do not venture into products and services where we lack the ability to become strong over a period of time. Hence, in all our verticals we are comparative to the rest of the industry.
In terms of digitisation and technology, we believe that we have had a head start with FriMi. We were the first bank to introduce a complete digital proposition to the market and we have gained great traction. This proposition offers a bank account, all banking transactions you can normally do, a payment platform and QR-code based money transfers that nobody else can offer. For example, if you have FriMi and want to transfer money, but do not have the receiver's bank account number, all you need is their mobile number to make the transfer from anywhere in the country. The receiver gets a cash token which he can encash at any Nations Trust ATM and withdraw the money. No one in this country offers this facility through a bank account. We have long been pioneers of such innovation.
More recently, we became the first bank in Sri Lanka to introduce Open API Banking, which means our core systems can be integrated with third party system of our customers. We are the first bank in Sri Lanka to offer this. We see huge potential in Open API Banking and are now implementing greater infrastructure to support this service, particularly to our corporate clients.
In terms of being ahead of the market, how has the customer responded to such initiatives?
The response to both FriMi and Open API has been excellent. FriMi was initially an idea that we had for a digital proposition for the younger generation. At the time, we were very strong on the 30 to 65 age group, but were not catering to the younger demographic - from the first job to the age of 30. That generation does not even like the word 'bank' nor do they like to visit a bank. The idea was to introduce a completely digital proposition that appealed to this generation. But FriMi has become loved not just by the younger demographic but also by other age groups who appreciate the added convenience. We see increases in volumes literally every day.
In terms of digitisation and technological implementation, we believe that we have had a head start with FriMi. We were the first bank to introduce a complete digital proposition to the market.
Open API Banking has seen a massive response as many start-ups and individuals who found it difficult to introduce proper payments systems for their ventures have turned to us for this service. For large corporates, the Open API Banking provides the ability to directly integrate their payments systems with our own systems, streamlining processes as well as increasing efficiency.
A great example of Open API Banking is the direct integration of FriMi at Keells Supermarkets. Through Open API Banking, we have now directly integrated FriMi to the Keells electronic cash register, enabling clients to handle payments from your bank account to Keells directly using your mobile phone.
In terms of Nations Trust Bank being the sole acquirer and an issuer for American Express credit cards, what has been the experience?
While we are no longer the sole issuer of American Express in Sri Lanka, but we are still the sole acquirer for American Express. Our Cards business is one of the major drivers of revenue and profitability at Nations Trust Bank and we have learnt a lot from American Express over the years. We have toiled to establish one of the best acceptance networks for American Express world-wide outside of the USA and we are extremely proud of this. In many markets, American Express acquirers have not been able to penetrate as deeply as we have done in our country and therefore, this is one of our big success stories.
In terms of issuing, we still remain the single largest issuer of credit cards in Sri Lanka with American Express pitched as a travel and high-end card but we have also entered the mid-market segment. We were the last to enter the cards business, as every other bank offered credit cards when we entered the market fifteen years ago. But today, we have beaten everyone. In the cards business, what you need to be conscious of is collection and we have a very strong collections division. We will continue to forge ahead in this business, always putting the customer first.
How did the market react to AMEX when other credit cards were already established in the country?
American Express is a premium global brand and this played a role when we first pitched it to the top-end of the market. But Nations Trust really understood how to leverage this and build a brand that was aspirational for many people. We started with the top end in Sri Lanka and moved towards the mid-level. The top reacted well as the brand is well known; everyone wanted an American Express Card and we created a unique aura around membership.
I always advise them to take up the opportunities that come their way, without second guessing themselves and how they will cope.
American Express was the first of our businesses to really understand customers; their wants, their travel habits, and dining trends. This has helped to personalise the experience for each segment and help us to bring this kind of focus to our other banking products as well. I believe our success was achieved through this unique relationship with our customer.
In terms of the Central Bank regulations, how is Nations Trust Bank adjusting and incorporating these regulations?
The new regulations are mainly the BASEL III, which has impacted our capital requirements. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has a sliding scale to arrive at the final ratio and we are very comfortable as we raised capital last year taking all this into consideration. One of the largest advantages we have is the support from our shareholders, especially John Keells, Central Finance and Fairfax.
Regulatory changes have, however, changed our outlook on the business we do. In the past capital was freely available. Today, ROC has become far more important.
We are organised by business units, and each business must prove its worth. Whether it is the cards business, leasing business, SME business, Corporate or Consumer businesses, each division at Nations Trust must show good return on capital. It's no longer just about profits.
As a lady CEO, can you tell us about your experience what this means for Sri Lanka and what advice you would give to women in Sri Lanka?
I don't think I have had any special treatment or experience being a lady. I always tell everyone that I have never felt it, because I have not encountered any difficulties because I am a woman. I was lucky that all the organisations I have worked for were truly equal opportunity employers.
My advice to younger women is to be confident of yourself, believe in your abilities and speak your mind. I notice that female professionals are often quite shy about expressing their opinion when they are in forums and meetings and therefore can get overlooked. I guess this is mostly because they fear that they will be classified as "aggressive" in a society that generally expects women to be seen more than heard. These attitudes are slowly changing, but its up to us to push that along.
Also often young female professionals question themselves on their ability to cope, when new challengers are offered, given the demands placed on them to manage their families. I always advise them to take up the opportunities that come their way, without second guessing themselves and how they will cope. Often we adjust ourselves and manage these situations. If the worst comes to the worst then they still have choices they can make at that time.


Remote sensing is the acquisition of information of an object or phenomenon, by the use of either recording or real-time sensing device(s), that is not in physical or intimate contact with the object (such as by way of aircraft, spacecraft, satellite, buoy, or ship). In practice, remote sensing is the stand-off collection through the use of a variety of devices for gathering information on a given object or area. Human existence is dependent on our ability to understand, utilize, manage and maintain the environment we live in - Geoscience is the science that seeks to achieve these goals. This book is a collection of contributions from world-class scientists, engineers and educators engaged in the fields of geoscience and remote sensing.
By Kaiser, M. F., Amin, A. S. and Aboulela, H. A.
By Ramos J., Marrufo L. and Gonzlez F.J.


A new study supports what gun rights activists have said all along: the background check system is severely flawed. Plus, a Texas lawmaker looks to close the so-called "lie and try" gun sale loophole, the Sioux City, Iowa Council gives its final approval for a "toy" firearms ban and a group of scientists call for laws to prevent dementia patients from owning guns. Darren LaSorte, Beth Baumann, Kerry Picket and Cam Edwards join Dana Loesch to bring you these stories and more.
A new study supports what gun rights activists have said all along: the background check system is severely flawed.
NRATV Contributor Darren LaSorte joins Dana Loesch to weigh in.
Townhall's Beth Baumann joins Dana Loesch to discuss her new article, "The Background Check System Is Severely Flawed."


Children's entertainers in the Newcastle and Tyne & Wear area.
You can contact Nutty's Children's Parties direct by completing the form below and clicking the 'Send' button.
Tick box to make this enquiry available to other children's entertainer companies who cover the LONDON (SE21) and London areas.
These details were last reviewed by Nutty's Children's Parties, LONDON (SE21) on 28/10/2013. NOTE: This account appears dormant. It is scheduled for deletion on or just after 29/10/2013.


text:
Q: localhost is not opening in firefox but working fine in IE8 i am working in a apache web application. i completed a project with this and its working fine in IE8. Now i tried this same in firefox ,opera and chrome it results the source code.
when i typed http://localhost/, it results,
<html>
<head>
<title>X2A.biz</title>
<script type="text/javascript">
window.location.href = "../pages/X2AFrame.htm"
</script>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>

i tried with html transitional doc type also. In X2AFrame.htm, i have frameset.
can any one help in this? pls...

A: Firefox and Chrome support a Javascript debugger in them. For firefox, you can install the firebug extension, but it's already there in chrome, so :
open your page in chrome, press ctrl+shift+j to open up a javacsript debugger, and look at ther error there, it should point you in the direction of what's going wrong.

A: That's because you didn't configure your web server correctly - it serves this page with MIME type text/plain instead of text/html. IE does content sniffing and detects that you gave it an HTML page, other browsers don't (the standard-compliant approach). So you need to fix the configuration of your web server, in Apache you can use the AddType directive:
AddType text/html .htm

A: hi friends i found the issue...
In httpd.conf file,LoadModule mime_module modules/mod_mime.so was commented for me... thats the issue..

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Немуръёган (устар. Немур-Юган) — река в Приуральском районе Ямало-Ненецкого АО.

Описание
Исток реки находится у самой границы ЯНАО и Республики Коми. Направление течения — юго-восточное. Устье реки находится в 168 км по левому берегу реки Лонготъёган. Длина реки — 26 км.
На 8 км от устья по левому берегу впадает река Сядотаяха, на 10 км по правому берегу — ручей Ступенчатый, на 13 км справа — река Крестовая, длиной 14 км, на 17 км слева — ручей Мраморный.

Недалеко от р. Мраморный располагалась геологическая база. По берегам проходят вездеходные дороги. На берегах реки в летнее время часто стоят чумы ненцев. Снежники на берегах Немурёгана за летний период не всегда таят.

Данные водного реестра
По данным государственного водного реестра России относится к Нижнеобскому бассейновому округу, водохозяйственный участок реки — Обь от города Салехард и до устья, речной подбассейн реки — бассейны притоков Оби ниже впадения Северной Сосьвы. Речной бассейн реки — (Нижняя) Обь от впадения Иртыша.

Примечания

Притоки Лонготъёгана
Реки Приуральского района

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Economists are starting to alert manufacturers to expect moderate wage growth this year.
In his February report to middle market executives, McGladrey LLP Chief Economist Joe Brusuelas writes that the firm's model "indicates wage and salary growth is heading toward 3% this year, with the risk of a higher pace of economic growth setting the stage for a breakout in wage gains to 4% year-over-year in 2016."
He noted that the pace of economic growth, which he estimated will be about 4% through the final three quarters of 2014, and a sustained pace in hiring near the six-month average of 263,000 sets the stage for the increase. He expects that the hiring pace will shift bargaining power from employers to employees for the first time since the end of the Great Recession.
The good news, Brusuelas added: "The growth picture reflects a self-sustaining turn in the pace of economic activity… [which] should set the stage for a banner year of growth…"
Dan Meckstroth, MAPI Foundation chief economist, agreed that current economic conditions pointed toward higher wages but wouldn't hazard an estimate. "What has historically happened, and what economic theory would tell you is, when the unemployment drops, particularly below 5%, it's going to cause upward pressure on wages."
"By the end of next year, [unemployment] will be below 5%, I believe," he added. "In manufacturing, you're seeing the unemployment rate at 4.5% already, and it's getting tighter by the minute."
Compounding the tightening labor market is demographics, according to Meckstroth. "The 1.9% employment growth can't continue, because we're going to run out of people," he said, explaining that a 0.7% population growth, combined with retiring Baby Boomers, means that "the labor force growth is going to be much slower than population growth."
That said, he continued: "Nobody is calling for the return of wage-price spiral. It's limited by how much firms can raise prices and/or increase productivity. To get higher wages, we've got to see faster productivity growth, because I don't believe we're going back to much higher inflation rates."


Graduate study at San Diego State University has long been characterized by a close, collegial working relationship between students and faculty. A flexible curriculum, complemented by careful advising, permits the Department to design a program tailored to the educational goals of each master's candidate. San Diego State University now offers three Geography degrees at the Master's level.
The Geography Masters program offers both M.A. and M.S. degrees. Students wishing to specialize in Watershed Science or Geographic Information Science register for the M.S. degree. Students interested in Human and Environmental Geography may choose the M.A. degree.
The Master's degree programs are designed to provide advanced training for students who plan to terminate their graduate studies at the Master's level and for those who anticipate additional work leading to the doctoral degree in geography or related fields.
All Master's students are required to complete and present a thesis that fulfills the requirements of the Graduate School, described in the Graduate Bulletin Leave geography site.
Students work closely with a Thesis Committee Chair to develop an original project for the thesis, which is evaluated and approved by a committee chosen by the student and his/her advisor. Students work independently during all aspects of the thesis, including design, data collection, analysis, and write-up, but consult regularly with their advisor and committee members.
While many students are working on research problems in the San Diego region and other locations in the U.S., the Department has provided opportunities for students to conduct research abroad including Mexico, India, South Africa, Ghana, China and Ecuador.
View the Master's Program Brochure PDF file.