text:
Garbage In, Garbage Out
We'll return to Charlie Company pretty soon. More pictures will ensue. If I can post a movie, I will.
Right now, let me refer you to this:
http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2012/05/this-week-in-fake-american-history.html
One of the great talismen of the decline of our electorate is the fact that David Brooks, some years ago, became a fixture on the Jim Leher News Hour. As a few realistically inclined web pundits have realized some time ago, Mr. Brooks and a few others toil endlessly in the field of lies, to the end of persuading millions of otherwise sensible people--people who would not be swayed by the outright racism and hate of the Limbaughs and Hannitys--that, really, the whole effort to enfranchise all Americans was always a misguided effort driven by the Democratic Party's structural need for votes, and by the Democratic Party's romanticism in the face of reality. Remove those two problems, says Mr. Brooks, and we'll get "our country" back. In the process, women will be back in the kitchen, cooking, mothering, and having more babies. Black people will only vote when they can pass rigorous tests on American History and the political process. The border will be fenced, and patrolled by hundreds of drones, and those millions who are here "illegally" will be riding cattle cars back into Mexico and Central America, while their American Citizen children are removed to "foster" care. Homosexuals will be just fine if they will just stop flaunting their perversions, or trying to get married and/or raise children. Unions will be, like the gray hair in the new commercial for some sort of men's hair dye, a thing entirely of the past. And, as Mr. Romney has suggested, it will eventually be illegal to run for President if you don't have "business experience."
Hannity yesterday interviewed some third tier Nashville songwriter named John Rich. Here's a story about him from last year, and the pic posted here comes from that story:
http://www.inquisitr.com/165614/john-rich-kicked-off-plane-for-being-drunk/
Mr. Rich has written a new song, which Hannity played in full, called "Why I Pray." It's got a lot of guitar and drums and bass, and it complains a lot about how in 'Murrica these days things are bad for a lot of people. You can't celebrate Christmas or pray at football games Mr. Rich asserted and reasserted in his long interview with Hannity pre- and post-airing the ditty. He didn't mention the outrage of getting kicked off a plane for being drunk--and certainly that stupidity isn't something reserved only for conservative singer-songwriters. Rich also objected to the very bad treatment being given to Tim Tebow. His implication was that the gubment was to blame for all these outrages, and Mr. Obama in particular. The images in the video (see below) pour a veritable fountain of victimhood and loss over "ordinary people," and if you don't see this video as a backdrop for a Romney commercial before it's over this fall, I'll be surprised. Boys, says Mr. Rich, the money keeps a-rollin' in.
Well, I have to say at least it was nice to hear Hannity getting played for once. This cowboy hatted phony knows how to market, like the rest of Gnashville. Tebow (www.timtebow.com) is a victim? Pass the biscuits, I'll take some of those millions, I could get me some fucking tires. We don't celebrate Christmas any more? What the hell? While Brooks rearranges our memory banks so as to cause blank spaces where sweatshops and industrial accidents and coathanger abortions used to live, Hannity and his pal Rich are working on the short-term side. We just got past Christmas, and I KNOW it was celebrated in every conceivable way all over this great land of ours. You couldn't escape Christmas if you were holed up in Gnome, Alaska, or in the last trailer on Copperhead Road. You'd get some sort of Xmas advertising straight to your cell phone if you'd hacked yourself right off "the Grid." There'd be planes with banners tied to them flying over your house wishing you Merry Christmas, Shop Walmart if they'd closed the whole rest of American Airspace for the entire month of December.
So hat's off to Mr. Rich, I guess. He got hissef some airplay, even if he had to wear those Rock Hudson leathers with the zippers on the back. As it is every day on the Hannity Radio Extravaganza, the Whyte Dove done sang. Glory hallelujah. (Which looks like it might be either an Arabic word, or something Bob Marley might have said more than once, I and I doncha know.) And you know, if you have to have a friend like Hannity to make a living in the music business, maybe you deserve to get yosef drunk as a skunk and throwd off an airplane. Look at Nugent and Charlie Daniels, Mr. Rich. There you go, Xmas Past, Xmas Future. Have another shot, it won't hurt so bad after a while, and maybe Waylon and Willie will invite you to the big hayride in the sky some sweet day. Getting tossed off that plane is the only cred you have left.
Here's the "official video" of "Why I Pray." You be the judge of the music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjJyZfDCa88
As for the shocking banning of public prayer which Obama instituted just before the start of Ramadan last year, check out Joe Gibbs' outright flaunting of the ban down in Charlotte on a recent weekend. Good thing Coach's got Kyle Busch to fend off the black taliban.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=102Q7gFT3i8
Labels: Hazel Dickens Ought To Have a Teevee Show
Charlie Company Settles In
This past week the boys have been given full range in the house, with only a few small exceptions, which they can probably overrule as their athleticism increases with further leaps and bounds. That ain't no pun intended, it's just the deal. Cats are leapers and bounders. As well as being driven by an immense curiosity. They're damn near as curious as people, and probably more ruthless, truth be known. They just made a deal with us long ago. Feed us and we won't conspire to kill you.
These guys may not kill us outright, but they might eat us out of house and home and any chance to get a better vehicle or a tooth repaired. Next on the agenda is to get all three of them "neutered." The nads are showing. It's getting to be time. We don't want to rush it because we think their personalities need to develop, something that's already one of the human pleasures of being around them, in their home. The three are all quite different. Bruiser, now called Grey Bear by me (Libby has different names but I can't remember them, although they're very nifty and I need for her to write them down for me--put em on the fridge or something--Grey Bear is much less the pushy one now. He's the most "self-contained," happy to be by himself some of the time, while the two black ones, Fuzzy and Wuzzy, wrassle and tussle. He has a tendency, slowing waning, to want to "nurse" one of the others when he's wanting to go to sleep. In that regard, one of his favorite toys is a little rubble nipple that came with a pet-feeding bottle. Toss him that and he plays and plays with it, ignoring what the others are up to. Meanwhile, Wuzzy has become more and more vocal and more and more engaged with us. He will often meow loudly and then climb onto one of our chests, purring loudly, then going right off to sleep. This morning Wuzzy climbed the barrier into our sleeping loft and was exploring all over the bed. He has the kitty-alarm gene apparently, and also the sleek look of a siamese, which goes with his vocality. Fuzzy still has bigger feet, and the softest, sweetest temperament. He's a panther, but reasonably friendly. He doesn't mind being the nursee to Grey Bear. He'll tussle with either or both endlessly, but there's a kind of get-along way about him. If this was the Dirty Dozen, he'd be Clint Walker. I'm hoping Wuzzy isn't Telly Savalas. I'd like to give Grey Bear the honor of Lee Marvin's character, but I'm not sure he's quite that much of a leader. Maybe he's Bronson. Maybe Wuzzy is Jim Brown. Yea, that's the ticket. Nope, the wrong ticket--it's obvious really; Wuzzy is Cassavetes. He's the one who complains.
Right now they're all standing at the French doors watching Momma eat breakfast. Libby spend much of yesterday looking for that trap. They're all out at Lowes. Not a good sign, but a sign of the fact that spring is here, and summer close at hand. The livin' is easy for felines on the wild right now. There's plenty of water and the grass is high. Probably mice and voles and moles all abound. I know there's a bunch of squirrels. Rabbits too. The light comes early and stays late. The moon casts shadows in the woods.
Charlie Company doesn't realize how good they've fallen into. They look out the door and see nothing but fun, stretching forever. When they go to sleep they go upstairs, which was once our bedroom but at the moment has turned into an attic full of whatnot. I think it reminds them of the shed, where they first saw light. We go to sleep hearing them running around up there, then they quiet down, finding little secret sleeping places. Yesterday they sat on their "kitty condos" (made of particle board, cardboard, and felt, held together by staples, crafted by the crafty Chinese) and watched the Indianapolis 500. I shoulda made a movie of that.
[Libby took the pic, a few weeks back now. They're much bigger now. I think I'm wearing my Kyle Busch shirt, so it must be race day.]
Laura; or Small Victories
The following comes via Tbogg:
http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2012/05/23/look-what-you-guys-did/
Here's the thing. The Limbovians can listen every day to the radio hater and they can imagine that they are just like him, and can blow off just like he does, in any way they want to, with no consequences. And although they are actually and sadly far too correct about that state of affairs (witness, for example, NC's recent sad new Constitutional Amendment, which brings our fine Constitution down to the level of used toilet paper, now and again, ordinary people who imagine they are just like "El Rushbo" discover that, in true fact, they actually live in the world they think they are far far above.
So it is for Mr. Gene Tierney Junior of Greenville, South Carolina. His unmitigated obnoxiousness did not go unpunished.
For a full recounting of the tale of Tierney, you can go backwards through Tbogg's posts on the matter, and on, back back in time, to the start of the whole thing--where a nice law student from Georgetown University testified before a Democratic House non-hearing on the Republican House's Hearing concerning women's matters, which said hearing included no women at all, and where said law student was subsequently insulted by "El Rushbo," on the airwaves owned by all of us (so they say) for nearly a week, in the most obnoxious manner possible, stirring up all manner of controversy and leading, ultimately, to the immortal words of Mr. Gene Tierney of Greenville, South Carolina.
Once, Gene Tierney was the name of a beautiful movie star. That's her picture, above. Was she from S.C.?
Saturday Update: More good news. Amazing.
http://alicublog.blogspot.com/2012_05_01_archive.html#8189934664222161062
Update 2. I just spotted this, from Tbogg:
http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2012/05/25/all-apologies/
Reality Arrives for the Democratic Party
Driftglass has already put the dots together, so start out with these two posts of his:
http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2012/05/announcing-triumphant-return-of-mr.html
http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2012/05/david-brooks-correction.html
Here's the deal. When Mr. Booker popped off this past weekend about how Mr. Obama was being "nauseating" when he decided to attack Bain Capital head on, this was not a mistake. Nor did Mr. Booker recant his words on the Rachel Maddow show on Monday night. Certainly he did express support for much of Obama's agenda and record. Certainly he will remain a Democrat (unless progressive Democrats really decide to make a full blown issue of this, and force him to the "independent" place of mystery and confusion, where such folks as Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders now share crackers and milk and a footrub before bed).
But the Cory Booker problem puts the real Democratic Party, as it actually exists today, to the wall. On the one side--the Republican side--is the view that (as David Brooks says in his column cited by Driftglass), venture capitalism as practiced by Bain and many other businesses is actually an effective corrective medicine for what ails an economy. This means that no matter what the carnage when viewed in the particular, as Mr. Obama's advertising on the point does via interviews with people who lost their jobs via Bain Capital, in the broad overview, in the great sweep of history, and as Doris Lessing once said through the mouth of a big time gold mine exec. in South Africa, "well, you have to break some eggs to make an omlet."
The fact is, a large swathe of the Democratic Party also accepts this view. They are loath to disparage a segment of business, venture capitalism, which has made great donations to their coffers, and which continues to support candidates from both parties. Moreover, a large swathe of the Democratic Party pretty much agrees with the premise that successful business is a self-justifying thing, for society as a whole. Or, as Romney puts it in his usual inept way--anyone who makes money deserves commendation.
This evolution of the Democratic Party has been ongoing. It is marked, historically, by the defeat of Tom Harkin in 1992 by Bill Clinton, who was and is in many ways what used to be, long ago, called a Rockefeller Republican. There is, in fact, an agreement among a large center of the political "class," which includes both many Democrats and all Republicans. People who make money are to be commended. Period. As corollaries, such Democrats believe in things like "right to work" laws. (My state, North Carolina, has had such laws since the late 1950s, and through almost all of the period since we have had Democratic leadership. It makes no difference down here who's running the show.)
When Mr. Obama says that a President should be concerned with the welfare of all citizens, he is--by the lights of the vast, vague "independent" middle--saying something radical. This is why the Democratic Party is allowing Scott Walker, Republican Governor of Wisconsin, to maintain a 20/1 monetary advantage in the current campaign to unseat him and replace him with a moderate Democrat, the mayor of Milwaukee.
It looks like, when it comes to economic fealty, the Democratic Party may well leave it's own sitting President twisting slowly in the wind. Then we'll all be dependent on luck--can the GOP actually manage to be so crass and stupid as to drive away large majorities of women, black people, latinos, and various other minorities who are always under the boot when the GOP rules the United States. Or will they lure enough of these folks back into the voting booth, yet again.
Photo is from Goddard's masterpiece, La Chinoise, circa 1967, when things were clearer in some ways. While I try, usually, to see deeper into the flow of events than just the headlines of some local newspaper, there is this:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/05/bookers_defense_of_wall_street.html
Fact is, when you takes the money you pretty much puts yourself in the corner. Or, as we say, Citizens United. La Chinoise could have occurred in an odd corner of 1984, come to think of it.
Meanwhile, one could go back and look at just what "private equity companies" do to be congratulated for. Here's an explanation, from an actual economics professor who teaches these days at the University of California (just sayin'):
Charlie Company Takes Maneuvers
Just a brief update on the Houdahenians. This past weekend we took them to spend the weekend with their aunt Anna, who lives far far away in Durham County. This was a distance entirely incomprehensible to the boys, so we didn't bother to explain it to them. For them it was just "get in this box," "stay there till the car stops," "now you can get out." Might as well have been a new planet. Libby and I then went off to practice music with our old pals in Unknown Tongues, the only Down East Cajun-Zydeco band on the planet.
I'm hoping Aunt Anna will put up a post here on the doings at her house. There was, I hear tell, a kitty trampoline, and so much fun they even forgot to eat for a few hours at one point. There were also two very established yellow cats on the premises, including one who was long ago a feral kitten on the island of Ocracoke, where such critters who are tough thrive amongst the fishermen and New Jersey tourists, living the high hog of stale champagne, foi gras on broken crackers, assorted cheeses, leftover wedding reception banquets, rare roast beef and turkey bits, and the odd fresh fish head or entrail. It is only tough during hurricanes and nor'easters. These two yellow cats hissed at the boys from a distance of screen porch, the boys apparently stared back, then returned to the trampoline. They return to the deep woods of base camp today. Or we considered just leaving our truck there at Anna's and considering it a trade.
The practice was excellent. We remembered a lot of things we once knew, musically speaking. The rental car, a Toyota Yaris, was nifty. The trip was uneventful, and there's a new chunk of road which gets one from Smithfield all the way to Raleigh without a stop light. This, in inself, was a remarkable experience, new to both of us. Now the week begins, ready or not.
That's a pic of the Tongues. Here's some of their music, for free no less:
http://www.myspace.com/theunknowntongues
If you download "Tongue and Groove," let it be known that Libby is co-author. A fresh rendition can be expected at our joint gig this August 17 in Durham.
Ever watch that rather weird teevee show, The Prisoner. I saw bits and pieces of it back when it was running on, I think, UNC-TV. This was long ago. I probably never saw a whole episode, but I don't think that really mattered much. The premise was that this guy, possibly a British secret agent, had been spirited away to a prison camp which was designed to appear to be a comfy resort, where everyone was happy and having a great time. In each episode the hero discovers, somewheres along the half-way mark, that something is askew. He finds a cushion out of place that he left just so on purpose. He discovers that there's a camera in his ceiling. Another "inmate" whispers something to him, then disappears. There are countless variations on this theme of discovery, but at the end of each episode the hero (played by Patrick McGoohan) finds himself back at square one, in his nicely appointed bungalow, while unseen observers discuss his case.
So anyways, we've discovered that we are actually hostages of a feral cat colony which has been living here for an unknown number of months, unknown to us. Last evening, as dusk fell and Greg Biffle led the parade around Darlington, I went outside and looked down the driveway to where I'd parked my truck, sos I could do some mowing earlier. On top of my truck was a large silhouette--a cat's head and ears, his body shape directly behind. He was at rest, just looking. At me. I couldn't make out any of his features. I figured, though, that he was the big yellow tom. Libby later shone a flashlight in his direction and confirmed my theory.
Charlie Company might be viewed as a small invasion force, the first to make it inside our inner compound. (Except of course for the squirrels who live in the ceiling in the winter months, but they are a third force, and if anything good comes of our colonization it might be that squirrels make good meals for feral cats.) This, at least, would be the creationist logic of the situation, as opposed to visions of Newtonian entropy too depressing to savor on my meger two days away from my retirement
job. It's sort of like saying, "isn't it amazing how grapefruit all have the same number of sections. There must be a Creator." Versus something I saw the other night on the History Channel--where they were talking about Earth-like planets and someone asked, "well, how long would it take to get to one of those planets from here," and the answer was, "um, er, between 50 and 100 thousand YEARS." Which sorta takes the shine off the notion that we have alternatives "out there." Sartre was right.
I'm not sure that here in rural Chatham County we have much of a support system for them what wants to intervene in a feral cat colony, beyond the Old Ways (e.g., Mr. Yellow Tom provided a fine if silhouetted target, and I probably could have taken him out without much risk to my windshield). Here's a couple of youtubes of what people in more progressive realms do. It's pretty interesting for the cultural information, as well as for the information about feral cat colonies, imho (as the bloggers like to "say").
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STZrgEJz_mI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SydX7jnox8&feature=related
I like the "drop trap" idea. As a movie I mean. I like how you can watch the colony at work, the momma and her adolescent charges. It worries me some, that latter part of the vid, where you have to get each individual cat into a smaller carrier from the bigger group confinement area. That part where you have to have one foot just so on the bigger trap, then put a foot on the smaller trap, with the box of rocks set just right on the tab at the back. That's a juncture in the procedure where there might be problems humorous from a camera's eye point of view to be sure, but related to the bullet hole in the windshield problem discussed earlier.
So we find ourselves now looking past the three boys, careening around our former living room with the speed of Sprint Cup racers, while the race itself unfolds on the screen, indeed, stopping to watch the cars now and then before some rustle or quick movement from another brother distracts them. Now it's about trapping these creatures who live Out There, who are bringing Out There to our very doorstep. Libby fed the momma at 2 AM. She stood guard at the door so the yellow tom would not steal Momma's food. She then researched the best trap some more on-line. We are told that some local stores carry knock-off versions of these traps which tend to fail. Above all, we don't want to teach these invaders that they'd best beware of food in a shiny box. Our hope is that if we get Momma neutered, the toms will be less interested in hanging around. We can deal with her--an outside cat, per se, is easier than an inside one.
We might have to take Momma to some more "civilized" county when and if we do manage to capture her. There's not much sign of a human culture here in Chatham County which resembles the people depicted in the two videos posted above. But then, we are amongst only 8 counties in our whole state which voted against the No Equal Marriage Constitutional Amendment which just passed here in North Carolina. Maybe in this small regard the google does not know all. We'll certainly ask around. Some places, like Ocracoke, NC and Seattle WA, cherish their feral cat colonies. We don't live there I don't think. Here such colonies are more viewed as new vectors for rabies, which already thrives in raccoon and fox populations.
Put 'er in warp drive, Scottie.
Posted by Fiddlin Bill at 10:18 AM 1 comment:
A Band of Brothers
[It was chilly last night, and Charlie Company decided to enjoy some of my body heat while I was watching teevee.]
Libby took the kittens to the vet on Monday, where we discovered that we have three brothers. Charlie Company. There's the nervous squeaky one, black coat just like his mom, very quick, very very curious. He's already climbed over the barrier to our loft bedroom, and will no doubt be balancing on the ledge over the stone floor below within the next week, unless we decide to cardboard ourselves completely into our bedroom (which sucks). This one is "Wuzzy." Perhaps they're all going to end up with different names eventually, in fact it's likely. I've been calling him Wuzzy here. Wuzzy got me up this morning by, um, being there. The cat alarm system is an effective alternative to a radio that brings only bad country music or horrible news, and requires no connection to the grid.
Fuzzy is going to be much bigger than Wuzzy. He's got much softer fur and big feet. He's shy, has a caution about arms reaching for him, yet quickly snuggles up and even purrs now and then, and will go to sleep almost without exception when being petted, unless something very exciting is happening across the room. He has a quiet interest in the world. Last evening I was playing a game of wii tennis and Fuzzy sat and watched atop a scratching post, until the other two attacked him from behind and got him involved in their ongoing tussle. Fuzzy looks at you from under his brow, not exactly straight on.
The most striking of the boys is of course "Bruiser" as I first called him, although now I'm lobbying for "Chessie" and Libby's come up with a different name-a-day. He's the most self-contained, with the softest fur imaginable. He'll snuggle up and purr on his schedule, but doesn't much like to be just picked up at our whim. He likes to rough house with Wuzzy, and we've noticed that when they're all bedding down, he tends to try to nurse one or the other of his brothers. We're not sure about that. Libby's known kittens who grew to cats who never got over nursing inappropriately. "He'll nurse the dots off a chenille bedspread" is something we've heard said. It doesn't sound good. On the other hand, we don't want to be prudes.
I hear that when we get these guys neutered, we'll have to separate them for a week to keep the surgeries safe. That's going to be one tall order. Maybe we can space it out. It's coming up, this next step. Next weekend they'll be "sat" for the first time, as Libby and I have to go play some music out of town. One nice thing is, they keep each other company. I'm not sure if, in the end, we're going to keep all three. It's a major handful. Already we're living in a house with cardboard walls, and while we've never been one for a highly structured, orderly home life (Libby once put a sticker up on the fridge which said, "My only domestic quality is that I live in a house"--I took that to be a significant marriage principle and have tried to take it into consideration at all times, as the years of bliss have rushed by like autumn leaves in a hurricane)--still, having to program the microwave from over a cardboard wall isn't the easiest thing to accomplish.
Meanwhile, the larger world which has come to us continues. Momma is probably pregnant. We're frantically researching trapping methods before some new brood arrives. This week I put out a second plate of food for her as she was acting like she wanted more (in her complex method of signalling me--by showing herself, then hiding, then showing again). I was washing dishes by the door where she eats, and glanced over. There was a new cat there--a gray tabby with an amazing fur ball at the end of his tail, almost like a lion has. Never seen this guy before. Sheesh, now there's three around. I tapped on the window and he flew off the porch and out through the woods. He knew he was trespassing--on my turf. But I'm thinking that we have what in the parlance is known as a "colony." There's certainly plenty of woods out there. We've sighted the momma of course, and the big yellow cat who acts as though he owns the place. Now this third one. Maybe a former kitten from an earlier brood?
If you want to watch lots of videos about catching feral cats, they're certainly there, on youtube. Google "trapping cats" and you're on your way to a morning of delight. There's one I particularly enjoyed involving catching a whole colony with one big trap. The trick there is getting each one into a smaller carrier. It looked easy enough. On the video I mean. Driving a race car looks easy on the video too. Meanwhile, I watch the little waves of responsibility expand, ever wider, out of that moment, so long ago now yet only yesterday, when I saw a mysterious black cat insinuate herself into a distant storage shed. Little did I know.
Anyways, as I was starting to say--the Monday vet trip gave us Charlie Company, a round of worming meds, and a start to the shots they'll all need to be, um, domesticated. Which may in the end mean something akin to Libby's fridge bumper sticker of long ago. The boys do seem to like to use a litter box. I sure didn't teach them that, so there's at least something domesticated about 'em.
Labels: The Comedians
A Dark Day in North Carolina
[illustration by Maurice Sendak from "Where the Wild Things Are"]
Go over to the NPR site and listen to the wonderful interviews Terry Gross replayed last night with the late Maurice Sendak.
http://www.npr.org/2012/05/08/152248901/fresh-air-remembers-author-maurice-sendak
You might have to click around to hear all the interviews. It's worth it. Indeed, I'd rather you just listen to them than even come back and read this, but if you do...
Mr. Sendak was by any measure a person who wonderfully fulfilled his gift of life. He was a beloved and renowned children's author, who wrote books that children loved, but with great depth and truth, which adults also perceived and appreciated. He was a person of rare generosity and kindness. He embodied towering empathy, particularly for children. At one point in one of the interviews he talks about how children frequently did not understand why he was asked to autograph their books, and found the experience upsetting. Either he was stranger taking away their favorite book, and or (worse still), someone who was going to write in their book--something they had always been told not to do. He recounted a particular case of a "brave boy" who shouted, during the experience, "hey, don't mess up my book!" Sendak had to take the father aside and praise the boy--show the dad that what his kid did was actually seeing the world aright--reasonable, connected to reality--not something that was embarrassing to the dad.
Well along in life, and when the attitude towards gay and lesbian people in the United States had softened to some degree, Mr. Sendak "came out." During these interviews he talks about his partner of 50 years, a psychoanalyst who died four years ago. He talks about grief, about losing so many friends as he grew older (a fate anyone who lives a long time will endure). Even with his partner dying, and himself in very ill health, Mr. Sendak undertook a new book. He said that he had many younger friends who came and helped him, and who seemed to think he was wise. He laughed at that. As well as empathy, and a huge heart full of love, he had humility.
And yesterday North Carolina stuck a knife in the heart of love, empathy, and humility. We voted to make only a "marriage" between a man and a woman legal--indeed, "constitutional," in North Carolina. My guess (based on some legal opinions I've read and heard on the air) is that this constitutional amendment will actually injure thousands of families, including thousands of children, since there are of course many relationships of "marriage" which do not involve just one man and one women--and many of them involve children.
This is nothing particularly new in North Carolina or in the country. According to Rachel Maddow, this kind of referendum has occurred 33 times before yesterday, and lost all but once. The prejudice and bigotry America holds to its bosom towards gays and lesbians has never been seriously addressed. Precious few teachers and leaders have actually tried to lead ordinary Americans to the light on this, no matter what they themselves actually believed. And of course far too many teachers and leaders simply share the hate and bigotry. In a Fayetteville NC church just last week--leading up to the vote yesterday--a minister told his congregation to "smite the limp wrist if it appears in your family." When there was something of a media uproar about his sermon, his congregation responded with justifications--"he's being taken out of context," they said.
Mr. Sendak talked at length about his childhood, and about how his parents were desperate for a quiet, well-behaved little boy. He said his brother Jack saved him--Jack became an ally in an otherwise oppressive life. And so Mr. Sendak managed to blossom--to start writing and drawing his wonderful books. They made him famous and reasonably well off. They made us happy, and better people. But this gift did not stop North Carolinians from giving Mr. Sendak one last passing kick, because he was in the end of it nothing more than another faggot.
What a sad, sad day for North Carolina. One can only hope that, upon reflection, North Carolina voters will realize which party stood with the brutes and bigots. Mr. Biden just this past week said he had "no problem" with two people of whatever sex having a marriage. I believe he's a Democrat.
Update: Digby has a very good piece on the amendment posted today:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/problem-with-states-rights-part-745.html
Be sure to listen to the interview with the NC legislator. Rust indeed never sleeps.
While They Sleep
A return to the larger matters. Start with Charles Pierce:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/obama-campaign-2012-8583284
I read on a lot of liberal blogs that Obama is so far superior to Mr. Romney that there's no way he can lose. If one is a rational, grounded citizen, particularly with a memory longer than, say, 1994, it simply seems inconceivable that yet another Republican Administration could be allowed into office. Romney is George W. Bush cubed. It's simply amazing. He's the same guy, the same arrogant, rich, know-it-all we saw in Bush, the same utter belief in money. Plus, Romney has always believed in himself, in his own judgment. The dog-on-roof story is important mostly because he still stands by it. "He was having fun up there."
Meanwhile, there is a states-rights counterrevolution grinding on in many key presidential election states. Just look at Wisconsin, or Michigan, or Tennessee, or Virginia, or Florida, or Ohio. Laws are being passed which will limit access to the polls by voters who tend to vote Democratic. Here in North Carolina, the likelihood of Obama winning again is not high. (An interesting bell-weather will be Tuesday's upcoming primary, where a nasty "whack the queers" constitutional amendment embellishes the ballot like the star on the Xmas tree. So-called "gay marriage" is already illegal in NC. Now we're asked if we want to make it unconstitutional. A small ray of hope: in my little town there are some signs in yards saying "Another Family Against the Amendment," and "The Amendment is Bad for Children." Maybe that means this horrible idea will lose. Maybe that will mean there's more tolerance and good will left in the North Carolina electorate than one might think--surely a good thing for Mr. Obama, who represents those values in far greater degree than Mr. Romney.
The fact remains. America is an either/or democracy. One of the poles of that dichotomy now believes in destroying the country as we know it--destroying the compassion that Roosevelt and the various Democratic Administrations (and even in some ways the Nixon Administration) built into the on-going history we all are living. To have one of the two parties so radicalized, so destructive, so... well, lost. That is a very dangerous thing for all of us in an already dangerous world.
I hear rustling in the kennel. The Houdahenians awake. They know nothing of these matters, but we're down to the last can of cat food around here, and it's 8 miles to town.
[You can get the calendar and lots of other good stuff at chessieshop.com]
Houdahenianland, Chapter 2: They Sign the Lease
A few days back, Libby decided it was too frustrating to keep watch on the three critters while they searched for kitty-crevices in our cardboard box living room boundary fence. The living room is a log-walled room, which means no convenient flat edges for a panel of cardboard to line up with at more or less 90 degrees. There will always be a serrated line made up of the logs and the intervening chinking area--which is recessed. The logs themselves, being hand-hewn oak logs, are by no means plumb. The hewing happened back in 1867, and originally the interior was paneled with some kind of beaded board. How many cats have lived in this house since it enclosed thin air? A question for Saint Anselm perhaps. As I moved it piece by piece in 1979, shall we count only the kitties who've been in my care?
Anyways, Libby kitty-proofed the kitchen during one late night this past week, and now they have a room which we can safely leave them in, for a good while, when we have something else to do (such as write, watch tv, do the books, etc. Cooking we might need to move 'em to still another room--Libby's putting up card board panels even as we speak. Then we'll have two rooms out of five for the critters to simply live in. As thought they were, um... cats.
They're all eating, drinking, pooping, sleeping, playing. It worries us how fiercely they play, but so far we've seen no actual blood drawn. You could put out an eye with those whip-fast claws, I tell the gray one (he's now Gracie, and might be a she). Stop biting your sister I tell Fuzzy. Stop biting your brother I tell Wuzzy. Here's a ball to play with, stop trying to find out how to get behind the stove, I tell Wuzzy and Gracie. They go back to attacking each other's tails and ears, like I just warned them about. When Fuzzy climbs atop the kitty condo to just sit back from the action and observe, it annoys both Wuzzy and Gracie greatly--and they both attack him from opposite sides. Eventually, they all go to sleep for a while, the two black ones wrapped around each other, Gracie adjacent, on three straight-backed chairs with cushions sporting wonderfully dangling ties which have previously been of great interest to all.
It's Saturday. Laundry day. Some gardening perhaps. A summer meal, as it's 90 already. This morning Libby set up their first vet appointment for Monday morning. They'll get checked out, blood-tested, etc. Gracie had a bit of a cough last night--but we think it was some lint rather than something terrible--judging by her/his spirit and appetite today. Gawd knows we have some lint here and there for them to find. Like children, everything is interesting to taste.
Libby took the pictures. You'll of course note that as I'm wearing a Kyle Busch tee, we are using Lowes Building Supplies boxes to barricade the portions of the room(s) we'd rather our charges remain innocent of. We figure such product placement will succor JJ and might even produce a victory tomorrow at "Dega" for the big Four-Eight. We'll all be watching--all 5 of us! Gracie auditions for the role of the Chessie Cat, certainly the best American Railroad logo there ever was. Gracie is even the right color as the original model, although I have seen the logo with a black cat. Might be the moment for a name change.


text:
En/nfl/new-england-patriots
Tom Brady remarries with the Patriots? Report indicates he could play his 24th season with Bill Belichick
The 45-year-old ends his contract with the Buccaneers at the conclusion of this season
Qatar 2022. Tom Brady and Christian Pulisic: USMNT hero gets to live the life of the GOAT for a day
Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tom Brady message that at one point could have made Gisele Bündchen furious: "I'm on borrowed time anyway"
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady will become a free agent at the end of this season and there is a lot of speculation about what his next team will be, according to a press report, the destination could be his origin as he could return to his first NFL team, the New England Patriots.
Tom Brady, on Buccs OT loss to Browns: "We just didn't make the plays and they did"AP
The seven-time Super Bowl winner, who won his first six Vince Lombardi Trophies with Bill Belichick and the Pats, could return for his 24th NFL season, according to New England insider Jeff Howe of The Athletic.
Why might Tom Brady return to play for the Patriots?
"The Patriots are slated to have more than $50 million in cap space in 2023, so they can again address their flaws, this time on the heels of a couple impressive draft classes," Howe said. "Brady and Bill Belichick still have an abundance of respect for one another. They've made points to say it publicly on multiple occasions since the QB departed for Tampa. They also spent 23 minutes together in the visiting locker room at Gillette Stadium following Brady's return in 2021 - an appointment they set up prior to the game."
Brady's Broken Bucs - Tampa can't stop losing
In his last moments with the Pats, Brady and Belichick's relationship was reported to have broken down, however, a few weeks ago the head coach praised the quarterback, who congratulated the former defensive coordinator of the New York Giants for becoming the second winningest coach in NFL history during one of his appearances on the Let's Go! Podcast.
Tom Brady doesn't have to live in Florida with Gisele Bündchen anymore
Another clue that could bring TB12 closer to the Patriots is that the 45-year-old is no longer married to Brazilian top model Gisele Bündchen, so he would no longer be tied to living in Florida, where the former Victoria's Secret Angel resides with her children Benjamin, 12, and Vivian, 9.
New England Patriots - English
Bill Belichick - English
NFLTom Brady doesn't forget his first love, it's not Gisele Bündchen, it's Bill Belichick
NFLSingle Tom Brady vs. married Tom Brady: Which TB12 has won more Super Bowls?
Tampa Bay BuccaneersTom Brady's world turned upside down: Retired at 27 and with only two Super Bowls

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Class 10 - Digital Storytelling Cont.
Class 12 - Audio Apps and Podcasting in Education Cont.
_ What is a wiki?
_Get in Groups of 4.
Use your gmail account to sign in.
Create a Page titled about me. Write at least 5 sentences about yourself.
On the Home page create a new post. The post needs to be about something you have learned in this class.
After you all have created your post, you need to go comment on each others post. You need to comment no less than 6 times each.
Finally, create a new page on your weebly site. Name it Blogs and Wikis. Insert a link to your blog.


Sports science is the application of scientific principles to exercise and sport.
La Salle has a team of professionals available to educate students on the physical and psychological elements of sports, recreation, health, and wellness.
Dedicated staff at Beacon Orthopedics monitor our Student Athletes. They closely supervise therapy progress and weight training. Members of the Athletic Training Staff attend every sporting event at La Salle.
La Salle encourages all students to be as healthy in their lifestyle choices. The Strength and Conditioning coaches in collaboration with Sports Medicine professionals developed a Nutrition Manual for all La Salle students. Student Athletes are strongly encouraged to follow the manual.
Click here to download at .pdf version of the manual.
Athletes in sport will move in all three planes of motion. Therefore, they must be trained in all three planes of motion in order to stabilize and produce force. Athletes will train frontal (side to side), sagital (front to back), and transverse (rotational) in the strength and conditioning program.
Sports require balance, stabilization, strength and power. We will train and enhance these qualities by the utilization of ground based movements, which are simply any movement where the athlete is in contact with the ground. These will increase the preparedness of each athlete in their respective sport.
The ability to produce force is that which sets one athlete apart from the next. This is an essential quality to an individuals' performance in sport. We will emphasize rate of force development, or explosive training, in all movements, especially through triple extension (ankle, knee, and hip) based movements.
Utilizing multi-joint exercises will provide the greatest training effect for the athlete. These compound movements, such as the squat, power clean and dead lift will be staples of the program design. Such exercises will utilize the greatest amount of muscle mass and therefore be the foundation of the program.
The posterior chain consists of the muscles on the backside of the body, namely the lower back, glutes, and hamstrings. These muscles are an essential link to performance enhancement and the reduction of injuries. A strong and powerful posterior chain will increase the ability to generate power and strength in an athlete.
Thorough and comprehensive programming of the core will be our goal. Focus will be on training movements and not individual muscles in this area. The core makes up the entire area between the chest and knees. A weak or under developed core will be an in-effective one. A properly trained core will help display strength and power in an athlete.
Through constant evaluation by our coaching staff, we will determine areas of concern for each athlete. The evaluation will expose any potential issues in strength, balance, mobility, and flexibility. From here, each athlete may be prescribed individual work to help to reduce the chance of injury.
An essential link between the weight room and the playing field is speed and agility training. It is taking what the athlete has developed through training in the weight room and links it to sport. Speed and agility are a crucial component to the training program that will be emphasized.
Being the best at what you do means not only possessing great strength, power, and speed, but also requires that you have the energy system development (ESD) to sustain a workload during competition and practice. Each athlete will go through comprehensive energy system conditioning specific to sport.
Another essential element to the strength and conditioning program and cannot be ignored is nutrition. Each athlete should learn what, when, and how to consume food based around training, competition and on a day to day basis.


For the 10th time in his career as a Chicago public school teacher, Jerome Yanoff was ready to walk the picket line on Monday.
But thanks to the 11th-hour contract agreement reached Sunday with the Board of Education, Yanoff and approximately 26,000 Chicago school teachers will be in their classrooms instead.
No one, however, was particularly happy that Chicago`s teachers seem involved in never-ending contract disputes with the board that have caused nine strikes in the last two decades.
''It`s killing it for new people coming into our system, and it`s hurting our city very badly,'' said Yanoff, a 25-year teaching veteran who has walked the picket line in every one of Chicago`s teacher strikes.
''You have people who are moving to the suburbs because they don`t like the educational system here, and good teachers who don`t want to teach in Chicago because they don`t want to fight this every year,'' said Yanoff, who teaches special education at the Jewish Children`s Bureau, a branch of Mather High School, 5835 N. Lincoln Ave.
Ed Lowery said he resents the fact that teachers seem involved in a continual battle for more money. But Lowery, a member of the Chicago Teachers Union`s executive board, seemed resigned to the fact that being a teacher in Chicago and facing a strike go hand in hand.
''It has gone with the job,'' said Lowery, a 32-year veteran who teaches math at Morgan Park High School, 1744 W. Pryor Ave.
Teachers were forced to renegotiate their previous three-year contract with the board when the board claimed it could not financially meet the terms of the pact.
And teachers apparently aren`t the only ones who are pessimistic that a long-term solution can be found to end the continuing labor strife within the school system.
''As long as Pershing Road (board headquarters) is set up the way it is, it will be the same problem,'' said parent Mary Bunn, a member of the local school council at Barton School, 7650 S. Wolcott Ave.
But both teachers and parents said they were pleased a 10th strike is no longer a possibility-at least for now.


text:
Wolf Moon, first full moon of 2023, to rise Friday
The moon is nearing its farthest point away from Earth, which will make Jan. 6's full Wolf Moon appear up to 14% smaller than a supermoon.
Author: Christopher Nunley
Published: 2:12 PM PST January 6, 2023
Updated: 2:19 PM PST January 6, 2023
SEATTLE — 2023's first full moon will light up the evening sky on Jan. 6 with peak illumination at 3:08 p.m. PT, but the moon could appear smaller than what you're normally used to observing.
This is because the full moon this month is a micromoon or the opposite of a supermoon.
The reason the moon will appear smaller is because we're nearing the point in which the moon's orbit is farthest away from Earth. Like Earth, the orbit of the moon is an ellipse, not a perfect circle, so there are points in which the moon's orbit is farther and closer to Earth.
When the moon is farthest from the Earth, this is known as apogee. Whereas when the moon is closest to Earth, it's known as perigee. When the moon is nearing perigee, typically, full moons appear larger and brighter, which is a supermoon.
Friday evening, the moon will be nearing the point that is farthest away from Earth, which can make the moon appear to be nearly 14% smaller than a supermoon, according to EarthSky.org.
We're howling for the first full moon of 2023. 🐺
The first full moon of the year is known by many names, such as the "Wolf" Moon. Look to the night sky on Jan. 6 to spot our lunar companion, with the bright star Pollux keeping it company.
More: https://t.co/3aH24RJUXV pic.twitter.com/XxH4Wkv94y
— NASA (@NASA) January 6, 2023
The January micromoon is one of two micromoons in 2023. A second micromoon will occur in February, which will be 2023's farthest micromoon of the calendar year.
Friday evening's full moon is also often called the "Wolf Moon" because wolves were more likely to be heard howling this time of the year. According to the Farmer's Almanac, it was believed that wolves howled due to hunger during the winter. That thought has since changed over time.
How king tide, barometric pressure led to western Washington flooding
Top skywatching events of 2023 you don't want to miss
NASA's Orion capsule blazes home from test flight to moon


Posted by V the K at 8:14 am - August 5, 2016.
A reader sends a link to an article about hot Olympic swimmers, if that's the sort of thing you're into. I'm out for the weekend, so that's it unless one of the cob loggers has anything to say. And I am pretty sure interesting links will be provided in the comments.
Speaking of swimming, the British have reintroduced men-only, women-only swimming pools in order to please their Mohammedan masters.
BTW: Sexual abuse of minors … when it happened thirty years ago in the Catholic Church it was an abomination that the church must forever be hated and ridiculed for. When public school teachers do it, it's swept under the rug because Teacher's Unions are part of the Democrat Coalition. When Mohammedan refugees do it, the state and the media play it down. How about when Olympic coaches do it and the organization covers up for them? Is it still a bad thing? Are Olympic coaches part of the coalition of the left?


The popular budget smartphones BLU are back on sale at Amazon. Last week, the online giant temporarily stop them because of concerns that they contain spyware.
Amazon has now confirmed that phones are once again part of the company's catalog, and BLU has reported a "false alarm" incident. The device in question was the BLU R1 HD, which spyware software is used by a Chinese company called Shanghai Adups Technology.
Its application collects data such as location, short messages, and call history and sends them to servers in China. After these breakthroughs, BLU took measures and remove the software, but at the end of July, cyber security experts discovered that suspicious software was working on some phone models again.
• BLU is hardly the only company that does this.
• If you look at Kryptowire's data, BLU phones send a lot less data than some others (the Chineee Cubot X16S sends browser history, call logs, text message metadata, and more, while the BLU Grand M and BLU Life One X2 do not… but they do sent IMEI, WiFi MAC address, device serial number, list of applications installed on the phone, phone number, and cell tower ID).
http://szlifestyle.com/sz/2017/08/07/blu-smartphones-return-amazon-store-security-check/https://i0.wp.com/szlifestyle.com/sz/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/BLU-R1-HD-Phone.jpg?fit=1200%2C844https://i0.wp.com/szlifestyle.com/sz/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/BLU-R1-HD-Phone.jpg?resize=180%2C150 2017-08-07T11:58:42+03:00 Richard D.AMAZONTECH NEWSAmazon,Android,security,smartphoneThe popular budget smartphones BLU are back on sale at Amazon. Last week, the online giant temporarily stop them because of concerns that they contain spyware. Amazon has now confirmed that phones are once again part of the company's catalog, and BLU has reported a 'false alarm' incident. The device...Richard D.Richard Deendeen@szlifestyle.comContributorRichard Deen is a writer at szlifestyle. What can I say I love gadgets!szlifestyle.com Tech News, Life Style, Reviews, Videos!


Ceramics. a three-armed support for an object being fired.
any of several white-and-black wading birds, especially Cladorhynchus leucocephalus and Himantopus himantopus, having long, bright pink legs and a long, slender black bill.
Later, we experimented on many oological varieties, especially Stilt's and Avocet's eggs.
Now, as every stilt walker knows, it is impossible to stay motionless on stilts.
But he said he would do his best to run out the remainder on a stilt.
The speed that the stilt walkers attain is easily explained.
early 14c., "a crutch," from Proto-Germanic *steltijon (cf. Middle Low German, Middle Dutch stelte "stilt," Old High German stelza "plow handle, crutch"), from PIE root *stel- "to put, stand" (see stall (n.1)). Application to "wooden poles for walking across marshy ground, etc." is from mid-15c. Meaning "one of the posts on which a building is raised from the ground" is first attested 1690s. Stilted in the figurative sense of "pompous, stuffy" is first recorded 1820.


text:
Plenary: Emergency Care in Hostile Environments
Tuesday's plenary session will be a mix of Society business and personal accounts of delivering emergency care during natural disasters.
The highlight of the session will feature three personal descriptions of delivering emergency medical care and dealing with the public during two of the worst natural disasters in recent U.S. history.
Kalpalatha Guntupalli, MD, and Naseem Alavian, MD, volunteered to remain at Ben Taub Hospital in Houston to deliver care during Hurricane Harvey in August 2017. Harvey was the costliest U.S. hurricane on record, causing $125 billion in damage, largely due to catastrophic flooding in the Houston area. Harvey was also responsible for more than 100 deaths, most in the Houston area.
"I have been through eight or nine hurricanes in the 30 years I have lived in Houston," Dr. Guntupalli said. "This is the first time we were the target. There was so much water we were handing out life jackets so people could be safer if they had to venture outside."
John Balmes, MD, volunteered to field media and public medical and health questions during wildfires that swept through Sonoma, Napa, and adjacent counties in Northern California in October 2017. He was also a primary public medical contact during the Thomas fire that blackened nearly 300,000 acres in December near Santa Barbara, California.
Wildfires destroyed more than 10,000 structures in California last year, more than the last nine years combined. The final death toll hit 43, more than the past 10 years combined, according to the state officials. Fires were driven by a deadly combination of high temperatures, low humidity, and sustained winds up to 60 mph that drove embers and flames faster than firefighters could follow.
"People had to literally run for their lives," Dr. Balmes said. "And they didn't always make it."
At the end of the session, current ATS President Marc Moss, MD, will pass the presidency to Polly Parsons, MD. The Plenary will run from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. in Hall H.
Dr. Parsons talked about her goals and expectations for the coming year with the Daily Bulletin.
Kalpalatha Guntupalli, MD
Professor of Pulmonary Medicine and Frances K. Friedman & Oscar Friedman, M.D. '36 Endowed Professorship for Pulmonary Disorders, Baylor College of Medicine, Chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, Ben Taub Hospital, Houston
"There were a lot of situations in the hospital, but nothing we couldn't handle. The worst is just getting to and from work during a natural disaster. It's not sexy, but we had one staffer coming in to ride out the storm who was trapped in his car by rising waters. He had to break a car window and swim to the building."
Naseem Alavian, MD
Chief Resident, Ben Taub Hospital, Houston
"When you are providing care during a natural disaster, your team has to absolutely trust your leadership and you have to absolutely trust your team. We all had the same goal: that we would provide the most exceptional care we could in this setting. My team knew I would kill to get them what they needed, and I would expect them to kill to help our patients. It takes complete and total dedication to the task at hand."
John Balmes, MD
Professor of Medicine, University of California San Francisco Medical School
"In terms of human health, most wildfires are about smoke. Under the right conditions, hot, dry winds, high temperatures, low humidity, these fires move beyond the ability of fire departments to deal. The actual flames took entire communities by surprise and burned them to the ground. With climate change, we are expecting more extreme conditions like we saw last year, more catastrophic wildfires. We have to be better prepared in the future."


Remember just last week when temperatures dipped into the negative 20s in much of the upper plains? While most of that was terrible for humans, it turns out there is one potential upside: the dangerously cold temperatures could help in the fight against emerald ash borer.
Emerald ash borer (EAB) larvae live in the bark of ash trees during the winter, and they survive by generating chemicals that keep them from freezing. But, when it gets to 30-below zero or colder, like it did in many places last week, it's even too cold for many of the larvae. Rob Venette, a USDA Forest Service research biologist, said when it gets that cold, about 70-90 percent of the larvae may be frozen, an encouraging statistic.
"The precise relationship between cold and EAB mortality changes a bit from year to year," Venette noted, adding in 2014, when it was 23-below zero in the Twin Cities, about 60-70 percent of the larvae was killed in most locations that were sampled.
The cold snap didn't wipe out the pests for good, unfortunately. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources official Andrea Diss-Torrance says the polar vortex won't cause the insect to go extinct, but the cold could buy landowners time to treat trees that haven't been infected yet.
This invasive beetle larvae burrow under a tree's bark and cut off its nutrient pathways, slowly starving and killing the tree. When a tree starts showing signs of an emerald ash borer infestation, it usually dies within one to three years. The invasive insect spreads quickly, killing many ash trees in its path.


I loved this post apocalyptic fiction book very, very much. Imagine Bill Gates x10 with money and the knowledge that the world is about to end. He creates an underground compound for he and his family and we get to see how they live and survive in the apocalypse. But, unlike all those doom and gloom apocalypse predictions, these people live waaayyyy better than most of us live now.
I am all about NOT spoiling a book by telling you too much. I really dislike those book reviews that read like grade school book reports spelling out exactly what happens and why. So, sadly, to avoid being a big mouth, I now have to stop writing.
But you should go get this book if you are a PA fan and also enjoy YA books. And if you don't know what those letters mean, you can always just watch television.
Thanks to loss of our fios last weekend and no phones, television and internet (gasp), I spent several days reading. So glad to have had good material and have found another series to continue in "Monument 14". This is a young adult post-apocalyptic fiction set in modern times. And, best of all – no zombies. Can anyone explain why our culture automatically goes to zombies in the event of an apocalypse??
The premise behind "Monument 14" is interesting, but it was really the setting of the story which made it compelling. While on route to school, two buses with elementary through high school students encounter a monster hailstorm which crushes one of the buses. A quick thinking bus driver manages to rescue the surviving students and crash her bus into the opening of what is apparently the worlds largest Walmart-type store imaginable. As the world outside is experiencing Armageddon, the 14 students end up alone and locked in behind iron gates which they cannot open.
Similar to a "Lord of the Flies" theme, the students must figure out a way to conduct themselves and survive. My favorite part of any post apocalyptic fiction is the organization: stockpiling, planning, scavenging and anticipating what may come next. Setting this novel in the confines of a store where you could buy baby food through car parts, and has a mega grocery section, makes much of this novel less about surviving the elements as it is about organizing the stockpile laid before them before chaos ensues within.
My biggest complaint for this book is despite an action packed opening, it took awhile to become part of the story. In its defense, this is a young adult novel and apparently all young adult novels are not created equally. This one, at first, realllllllyyyyy felt like it was intended for younger readers. Contrast that to "The Hunger Games", or "Divergent" which reverberates from young through adult readers, and you might quit on this one before giving it a chance. Since I had no access to Facebook for days, I kept reading and am glad I did.
Ever have a relationship go bad, but you can't stop checking his Facebook page? My relationship with Robin Cook is similar. He has written about 30 books, and I've read or listened to most of them, but I no longer experience pleasure when reading his material. I keep doing it. I can't look away. I see his name prominently displayed and my hand reaches for the book despite knowing I shouldn't. It's like he has me bewitched.
But, alas, I am swearing before you all, "Nano" was my last time reading Mr. Cook. I just can't do it anymore. I love a good medical thriller. Despite some science which I may not understand, who among us can't relate to illness, doctor visits, hospital stays – and one of Cook's ultimate nemesis – insurance company greed. After dozens of these novels, though, I am beginning to question if he is actually doing the writing, or if as speculated by others on the world wide interweb – are ghost writers now employed to keep churning out these novels?
"Nano" has to be the worst of all the Cook books I have read. The story centers around a female medical researcher, Pia, with a mafia connected father and a social detachment disorder who is employed at a mystery facility where something is going on. Much of the novel centers around the kind of research being done (evil), but too much also concerns how completely desired Pia is by the men in the novel. As a reader, her character was so dull, so unlikeable, so non-personable, I found it hard to believe she could be the object of desire by a bazillionaire and another doctor. Seriously? Suspend reality much? She lacked the depth of the desk on which I am now writing.
Her boss, Zach, runs this evil empire which is on the verge of potentially earth shattering research, but he is so enthralled with this robot woman that he risks everything to convince her of what a catch he would be as a man?
The dialogue is stilted and none of the characters speak in a voice which is either natural or convincing.
Now, as to the ending. I am almost 100% confident, Cook had vacation plans or some sort of his own medical crisis, and just turned in the chapters he had finished. There is no conclusion. The book just stops. I visited other reviewers to get their take on this abrupt ending to hundreds of pages and most are in agreement that the author simply got tired of typing. I understand the concept of building a character to be continued in the next novel, but I will just pretend all these characters died in some sort of natural disaster and will never be heard from again. The end. Thank goodness.
The worst part of Mullin's young adult novel "Ashfall" is I stayed up through the night to keep reading and reading. To an author, I bet that criticism is praise to his ears.
Set in modern times, this post apocalyptic tale takes place following the eruption of a super-volcano under Yellowstone National Park. All the book seemed believable, but the introduction was especially engrossing and set the tone for an exciting, realistic vision of a young teen who must survive in a world full of falling ash, endless days of gloom, little food and mankind which easily turns on one another in the face of crisis.
You know how in every horror movie a character will knock out a villain, turn their back and the villain gets up and finishes his attack? How many times have you screamed – hit him again dummy??? Mullin has created characters who are not silly. They encounter a bad guy and are in danger – they finish off the bad guy. This felt so much more realistic and made the now dangerous world come to life for the reader.
As with most non-zombie apocalyptic books, my favorite parts involve the lengths one must go to ensure survival: finding food, securing weapons, procuring supplies to be used now that the chain of distribution has collapsed. Perhaps it is my years of being a Pepco electric customer ( http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/07/pepco-most-hated-company-in-america-comes-under-fire-for-outages-77648.html ) who routinely loses power for multiple days, but I love the orderliness of making a plan and working it. Despite living within miles of the United States President, when we get strong gusts of wind, our neighborhood power ceases and may be out as long as a week. When I hear of an impending storm, I begin my own preparations: wash and put away all laundry, run dishwasher, clean house so we don't trip in the dark over all the junk, fresh batteries, flashlights, freeze the food in hopes it will last longer, and on and on. I was built to live in the apocalypse.
So glad this is book 1 of a trilogy!
As a devotee of AMCs blockbuster show, Mad Men, I have become interested in this time period of our history. I remember some of the culture as a young girl, and the show seems spot on in much of the dynamics of the era, clothing, hairstyles, house decor.
I found this book and thought it would be intriguing to learn more about the actual profession highlighted in Mad Men – mass advertising. Although the author has included quotes from Mad Men characters, this book is about that era and advertising, not the AMC series.
Initially this book was hard to read because there is too much detail regarding specific individuals and long-named advertising firms. Interestingly, I often felt like I recognized firm names and initials from the TV show. I almost quit reading as names became confusing, but there is enough general material to keep the reader going. I wanted to learn about the psychology of how ads work, and see the "tricks" employed to lure consumers in via print or screen. There was some of this, but I think Cracknell was writing a book for people in the profession, not interested in the profession.
Since this is a non-fiction book, facts learned are the guts of the quality of the material.
Patent medicines were a BIG money maker for agencies. Boy, does this quote remind you of today and all the Big Pharma ads with sad, then happy, actors?
"The inventiveness of the manufacturers and the copywriters in coming up with increasingly vague scary diseases and afflictions that only they could fix was unbounded, preying on the fears of a simply-educated and gullible public." (page 22).
I do not remember seeing medicine ads on TV 20 years ago. Now, we are inundated with ads for anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, cholesterol, high blood pressure and on and on. The advertisers want patients to believe these ads and lobby their doctor for prescriptions. Plus, if you are familiar with the names of these meds, they must be "normal", not to be questioned, simply something we take because it is a "cure".
The original purpose of coupons wasn't to give the consumer a bargain, or even sell the product. These coupons were instead intended to tell the company which method of advertising was successful. These coupons were coded to specific advertisements and when returned provided the only real proof of which ads were working.
I wish Cracknell had talked less about specific people, and focused in a more general sense on the ads and how they worked, but as a writer, he wrote what he wanted and did manage to make the material interesting. There are many reprints of original ad work included in the book – those were especially eye opening. Back in the day, apparently people liked to read a LOT in ads. Not sure our current multi-tasking, channel clicking, move on to the next thing society would bother reading what our parents and grandparents read.
That moment when just a few chapters in you realize you are not reading the book, but living in the book – ahhhh. I love that feeling. Lately I have found this to be a rare experience, but new author Ariel Djanikian has crafted a novel which transports the reader into another world.
Dystopian fiction is suddenly the new favorite genre of many, but my love of this type of fiction goes back to junior high in the late 70s when I was introduced to "This Perfect Day", "Brave New World", and "1984". I have continued to seek out these types of books, and am so happy to be able to add this one to my list of favorites. I enjoyed it so much, even before finishing the novel, I purchased the audio version to listen to and experience the book being read to me. Yes, that's how much I loved this book.
"Office" is set in the future in a world created by our ancestors who have survived an apocalyptic-like event. Their new society is clean, safe, comfortable, and protected from the still dangerous outside world. The founders created a code of ethics by which to live, and at first glance, it seems perfectly reasonable. Ah, but once the reader understands the extremes to which this government goes in order to fulfill what it sees as its duties, the reader must question his own ethics. This novel provokes self examination.
So excited to see what Djanikian writes next.


text:
Why Can't You Be There?
"Why Can't You Be There?"
Demo by Rivers Cuomo
Patrick & Rivers
Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson
RC#
Rivers Cuomo song chronology
"The Bottle of Wine Song"
(RC# 134) "Why Can't You Be There?"
(RC# 135) "Why Do We Hurt Each Other?"
(RC# 135)
"Why Can't You Be There?" is a song written by Rivers Cuomo and Pat Wilson in 1992. Demos of the song were released as part of the Patrick & Rivers demo compilation on December 9, 2020.
3 Known recordings
Monterey Jack (1992—1993)
Patrick & Rivers (2020)
Weezer demoed the song (without lyrics) at an early rehearsal in April of 1992[1]. Cuomo and Wilson recorded demos of the song the following month. The song was first heard when it was released as part of the digital compilation Patrick & Rivers on December 9, 2020.
Known recordings
Performer(s)
Date of recording
Weezer Why Can't You Be There? April(?) 1992 2226 Amherst Avenue, Los Angeles, CA Take 1. No vocals. Take breaks down.
Weezer Why Can't You Be There? April(?) 1992 2226 Amherst Avenue, Los Angeles, CA Take 2. No vocals.
Rivers Cuomo, Pat Wilson Why Can't You Be There? 04 Why Can't You Be There.mp3 March—May 1992 2226 Amherst Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 1:53 Monterey Jack
Patrick & Rivers Shorter version. Ends with joke lyrics by Pat Wilson.
Rivers Cuomo, Pat Wilson Why Can't You Be There? why can't you be there 3.mp3 March—May 1992 2226 Amherst Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 2:33 Monterey Jack
Why can't you be there
So you can help her?
The bees are out again
One year in every ten
So you can hold her?
Way back in Boston town (way back in Wellesley)
Where she is hurting so
(Why can't you be there?)
Why don't you go there
So you can soothe her?
The bees are stinging her
But you don't go home (I want to know her ?)
Why can't you be there (Why can't you be there?)
So you can save her?
The bees are killing her
Way back in Boston town
Way back in Boston town (Why can't you be there?)
List of Patrick Wilson songs
↑ Weezer Recording History - Page 3
Retrieved from "https://www.weezerpedia.com/w/index.php?title=Why_Can%27t_You_Be_There%3F&oldid=93380"
Rivers Cuomo songs
Cuomo-Wilson collaborations
Known recordings table


If you're reading this, you're most likely looking for a free lifetime domain name.
Let me say that again, a 'free lifetime domain.' But not just any domain, you want the good stuff — a free .com (read: .org, .co, etc.) domain.
So, can you really get a free domain name in 2019? Or is it some scam? After all, it's a domain for a lifetime, and it costs you no money!
In this article, I talk about free domain names and share the only legitimate way to a lifetime subscription. And you know what? I've tested each of these methods myself — So you can rest assured they work!
Can you really get a free lifetime domain name?
Imagine this: You run a domain registrar company. You spent USD$3500 on the ICANN certification and then USD$4K on a year to maintain it.
Then you hire staff for registrar maintainer and customer support, and there's also rent and utilities to run the whole business. Would you offer FREE lifetime domain names?
Certainly not! Domain subscriptions are the core business of a domain registrar. It's how you make your money!
So why in the hell would ANY domain registrar company offer shell out thousands to run a business to offer free services?
A majority of websites that claim to offer free lifetime domains are scams and honeypots to collect your information. Some even save your credit cards and use it for fraudulent purposes.
So much for the free stuff!
There's a common expression "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" which fits this scenario perfectly. Remember, no legitimate domain registrar would offer a free .com or even a .abcxyz domain for free!
However, there are a few ways to get your hands on a free .com domain name. They are not 'hack's or tricky but instead offers that legitimate businesses provide.
This is honestly the only way to get a free lifetime domain name.
There are a few massive hosting providers that have grown so big that they can offer free domain names to customers that opt into their hosting.
Why? Because they can afford it! To them, it doesn't matter if they lose ten bucks over a free domain they gain over the subscription. They just write it off as customer acquisition cost.
Fast Comet is a top-notch cloud hosting company that offers one of the best hosting services in the market. And yes, they do provide a free domain name for a lifetime!
That sounds too good to be true, right?
That's what I thought until I directly asked them about it!
So, all you have to do is just sign-up with them and pick a domain name of your choice (.com, .org or whatever), and it's on them.
Pro Tip: A 10-year subscription of a domain name will set you back at least USD$100!
iPage is an economical hosting provider that offers its services at only USD$1.99 a month. Yes, they provide a free domain name registration but just for a single year.
However, if you're starting out and restricted to a small budget, it's a good idea to go with iPage over FastComet.
Bluehost is a popular hosting company that also offers free one-year domain registration along with their hosting subscription. The renewal would be at their standard rate.
Sub-domains are a quick and hassle-free way to get your hands on a free domain name subscription. In fact, there are many web hosting providers that offer both free web hosting and free sub-domain names.
Now, I absolutely hate sub-domains (for SEO reasons). However, if you're looking to set-up a personal blog (that you don't ever plan to grow), it's not such a bad idea use one of their subdomains.
WordPress.com is one of the most popular platforms to start a website (or a blog). They offer completely free domains and also website hosting. However, this option is quite limited with a ton of restrictions.
I'm going to take a leap and assume you're a beginner. After all, you're looking to save a few bucks over a domain name.
I've been in your place. However, now I travel the world and make money blogging. I realize the potential income you can make off a blog and don't waste time hesitating to spend a few bucks on something that gives me the freedom to do what I what!
Namecheap is hands down the best hosting company in the market. I've personally used them for all my websites.
Why? For starters, they're cheap and offer the lowest renewal plans. Second, they provide a free WHOIS guard which is a cost saving of $USD9.99/year!
Additionally, they offer live chat support that's always nice to have. For these services, I don't mind spending USD$9.99 a year (that's nothing!).
Why do I get a free .com domain name?
Reputed hosting companies offer free domains as an added value to their services.
Is a free domain any different from a normal domain?
No — a free domain name is actually the same as any other domain name.
Who really owns the domain?
You have complete ownership over the domain name.
Can I transfer an existing domain name and apply free lifetime membership?
No — you need to register a free domain on sign-up. You cannot transfer an existing domain name to the lifetime free options.
Do I have to pay renewal fees?
This varies on offer. In most cases, the domain subscription gets automatically renewed (for free) upon renewal of the hosting services.
That's it! Remember, there is no legitimate domain registrar currently offering a free lifetime domain. The only free offers are from hosting companies that provide domains as an add-on.
Thank you for reading! If you have any queries, do leave a comment below.


text:
Sports prepare for great migration north ahead of Brisbane 2032 Games
Road to Brisbane 2032
By Phil Lutton
November 4, 2021 — 6.59pm
More than a dozen sports have sought to move their major operations base to Queensland as the national high-performance landscape begins a great migration north in the long lead-up to the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane.
Major sports such as cycling and swimming are among those that could end up with homes in the Queensland capital as federations try to leverage the Games for upgraded facilities closer to what is set to become the epicentre of Australian sport.
Swimmer Mack Horton has already decided to make the move to south-east Queensland and many other athletes and sports are set to follow. Credit:Getty
Former Sport Australia chairman John Wylie has already floated the idea of relocating the Australian Institute of Sport to Brisbane, a move that received the backing of his old sparring partner and Olympic supremo John Coates, who will have a seat on the Brisbane 2032 board.
But that could just be the tip of the iceberg, with a long line of sports seeking to set up shop in the south-east Queensland region, which boasts an ideal climate and has a number of facilities in need of tenants and upgrades.
Cycling is based in Adelaide but Brisbane hosted the Commonwealth Games racing at the impressive Anna Meares Velodrome at Chandler in the city's east. That complex already features the nation's only Olympic-grade BMX track.
And it has long been suggested that swimming make the move from its Melbourne headquarters to the sunshine state. That will only gain pace in the coming years as the sport tries to unite a fractured staff stretched up and down the east coast with high-quality facilities also available at Homebush in Sydney.
But Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast have become the epicentre of high-performance swimming, with a strong base also in Adelaide, the home of freestyle star Kyle Chalmers and regular host of national trials at the Marion pool.
Michael Bohl's program at Griffith University and Dean Boxall's squad at St Peters have produced multiple Olympic champions. Mack Horton, the Rio 400m freestyle champion, has just decided to make the move from his home in Melbourne to join Bohl on the Gold Coast to try and kick-start his career after he missed an individual swim in Tokyo.
Head coach Rohan Taylor and a host of high-performance staff are already based in the region, with swimmers able to train in warm weather virtually year round.
The demand will prove to be a delicate balance for Games organisers and state and federal governments. The charter of the Olympics now requires minimal spending on new facilities, especially those that don't leave legacies once the greatest show on earth has shuffled out of town.
But with a looming Olympics, the requests are already flowing in and sports federations are wasting no time in making sure their names are on the transfer list.
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
Phil Lutton is a sports reporter.Connect via Twitter or email.
Most Viewed in Sport


text:
United States | Barack Obama
Bigger battles ahead
Barack Obama turns his sights on to the presidency
Jun 9th 2008 | New York
THE race is over: long live the race. Barack Obama and the Democratic Party have reason to feel sanguine as they contemplate the long contest ahead against John McCain and the Republican Party. The current Republican president's approval ratings are in the dumps, in part because the economy is weak—the unemployment rate rose to 5.5% last week—and in part because the war in Iraq, despite becoming less bloody recently, remains unpopular. Many voters say the country is on the wrong track.
And the Democrats have, at last, nominated a man, Mr Obama, who sends crowds into paroxysms of joy. In contrast his opponent, Mr McCain, appears lacklustre at the moment: he has taken limited advantage of the prolonged division among the Democrats.
Yet, as the next stage of the battle for the presidency begins, it is far from clear that Mr Obama will find the coming months easy. At the weekend Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign for the Democratic nomination and praised Mr Obama with what appeared to be a heartfelt speech. She seemed to dispel any notion that her support for Mr Obama would be lukewarm, or that she would hold out for some prize before she endorsed him. Speaking on Saturday June 7th she said "I have stood on the stage and gone toe-to-toe with him in 22 debates. I have had a front row seat to his candidacy, and I have seen his strength and determination, his grace and his grit." The audience's cheering all but drowned out a few scattered boos.
Healing divisions among Democratic supporters will not be simple. Some groups will need special coaxing—others will not be persuaded at all. Women, in particular, may feel aggrieved that the strongest female candidate for the nomination lost out so narrowly. But many are likely to fall in line with a Democratic candidate eventually. One consideration would be the rights of pregnant women. The Supreme Court has a bare majority of conservatives, and its oldest justice, John Paul Stevens at 88 years old, may soon retire. If Mr McCain becomes president he would probably find a conservative replacement, which could move the court to a more hostile position on abortion.
White working-class voters will be harder to woo. Those in the Appalachian states in the east (including swing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia) may prove particularly hard to win over. They voted heavily for Mrs Clinton over Mr Obama in the Democratic race. Mr Obama cannot expect to pick up their support against Mr McCain. Less well-educated voters, for example, are more likely than most to believe that Mr Obama is a Muslim (a poll in March suggested that around one-in-ten people believe this to be true) or to know more about his controversial ex-pastor, Jeremiah Wright, than about his health-care plan.
Thus Mr Obama's choice of a vice-presidential candidate looks all the more important. Some observers argue that a running mate matters little: voters look at the top of the ticket when they make their choice; vice-presidential nominees are only likely to swing their patch to the ticket if they come from small states. But Mr Obama's youth (he is 46) and relative inexperience (he joined the Senate in 2004) mean that this decision matters.
A Clinton on the ticket might remind voters in the Appalachian states of the happier economic times of the 1990s. But the prospect of Mrs Clinton running with Mr Obama is fading. Mr Obama needs to broaden his appeal to new voters. Picking someone such as Jim Webb of Virginia, Ted Strickland of Ohio or Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, would be an acknowledgment of his weakness with working-class whites. This would be a manoeuvre to reassemble the Democrats' traditional coalition.
Alternatively he could choose a woman (Janet Napolitano and Kathleen Sibelius, both governors, have been mooted), and thus attempt to persuade voters to break with white, male candidates all together. That would be a bold, but risky, move. If he looks to the West (Ms Napolitano is the governor of Arizona; the name of Montana's governor has come up too) he would signal a wish to scramble the old electoral map. Democrats like their chances in some western states opposed to big government that have voted Republican in recent elections.
None of this will be resolved soon. Mr Obama is setting off on a two-week tour of the country, taking in some typically Republican states. He will emphasise the condition of the economy and his differences with Mr McCain over economic policy. This will mean another long slog. Mr McCain is bound to campaign hard himself, and is likely to be at least as tough a rival as Mrs Clinton proved to be. The road ahead is a long one.
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text:
Business Innovation/The Future of Media & Entertainment
The rise of live video streaming
Streaming live video on social media can reach big audiences, and is being used increasingly by citizens, politicians and marketers alike
By Jon Bernstein
Elizabeth Warren is a US politician and the woman most likely to run against President Donald Trump in 2020. Earlier this month, she attempted to discredit Trump's pick for attorney general by reading a letter from Martin Luther King's widow. Barred from continuing to do so from the floor of the Senate, she took to Facebook Live instead. To date, the video has registered more than 12.5 million views.
Senator Warren's actions are the new normal. New because live streaming via a mobile device is a relatively recent phenomenon. Normal because for two decades the internet has been democratising the tools of mass communication. Live video is just the latest way to reach large audiences unmediated.
The dominance of Facebook Live
The Elizabeth Warren video tells us something else as well. Less than a year after its launch, Facebook Live has become synonymous with live streaming. Announcing the service last April, founder Mark Zuckerberg promised to put "a TV camera" in all our pockets. And yet we already had one or at least the opportunity to access mobile apps that did just that. Twitter's Periscope and the social network-agnostic Meerkat launched in March 2015 while webcasting service YouNow had a four-year jump on both. Nevertheless, Facebook Live appears to dominate. So much for first-mover advantage.
"There's a saying in Spain, 'The second mouse gets the cheese'," notes Drew Benvie, founder of social media agency Battenhall. "Facebook saw something that worked and, like so often, copied it and put it on a much bigger canvas." It's not just its scale that gives Facebook an advantage – 1.86 billion active users a month against Twitter's 319 million – but its wider demographic reach – more celebrities, more brands and more countries. Two thirds of those most actively live streaming are doing so in languages other than English, according to analysis by Socialbakers.
Live video is the latest way to reach large audiences unmediated
At the BBC, Radio 1's Newsbeat has largely swapped Periscope, used heavily during the 2015 UK general election, for Facebook Live. The news programme produces one live stream a week on average, typically on location. Reporting from the US-Mexican border during the recent presidential election, for example, viewers were granted a guided tour from a border patrol officer. "Young Newsbeat Brits were able to put their questions directly to someone they would never get to speak to otherwise," says Newsbeat's digital editor Anna Doble.
Ms Doble believes it's this interaction that gives live the edge over recorded video. "It compels people to ask in-the-moment questions," she says. And while a request on Twitter might generate six questions, Facebook Live generates 60 questions. She adds: "That's a real appeal to news organisations."
Newsbeat is learning what works and what doesn't. Visually compelling content works. Regular updates work too because few viewers watch the entirety of a stream. "Treat it like a rolling news channel," says Ms Doble. When they get it right, a Facebook Live stream on the main Newsbeat page can attract 100,000 viewers.
Individual success stories are one thing. Understanding in aggregate how many people are creating and viewing Facebook Live is quite another. Why? Because while Facebook is happy to share its headline user-base, it is reluctant to do the same for Facebook Live. It will say that the number of people broadcasting live at any given minute grew four-fold between May and October 2016. It is also understood that people watch live streams three times longer and comment ten times more often than with recorded video.
As for the most viewed Facebook Live, it's an undeniably trivial but riotously joyous piece-to-camera featuring a 37-year-old woman showing off her newly-purchased Star Wars mask. Chewbacca Mom has clocked up 164 million views.
Still, a lack of absolute numbers and an initial decision to pay some media companies and celebrities to create content, plays to a narrative that take-up may not be as high as hoped. Elsewhere, there are reports that video engagement is lower than imagined. A report by analytics firm Parse.ly found that users spend more time engaged reading text posts than watching video. The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University found similarly.
Despite this, Battenhall's Mr Benvie insists that live video, regardless of provider, is here to stay. Asked how he advises clients to use it, he says: "It's not how but who. The best examples are from individuals or brands where live video is part of how they communicate." The likes of Red Bull, General Motors and Land Rover – the latter live streaming test drives – have all experimented. By going live, these brands aim to do what Elizabeth Warren did – cut out the media middleman. Live video is now part of the content marketer's toolbox.
So where next?
Will live video prove a gateway to other immersive storytelling techniques? Ms Doble at Newsbeat thinks so. She imagines, as an example, a large protest enhanced by augmented reality and 360-degree visuals to give the viewer, in person or watching remotely, an opportunity to interact with other protestors.
Mr Benvie believes the next stage to a more immersive live video experience will see it integrated with the "story" feed, a concept first popularised by Snapchat that allows users to chart the day's events in a series of ephemeral multimedia posts. Borrowing from its parent company's playbook, Facebook-owned Instagram replicated the idea and called it "Stories". Last month it added live video. "Over the next year, we'll see live video and Stories growing hand in hand," predicts Mr Benvie.
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Super Lawyers → Super Lawyers Articles → Legal Issues → Immigration → What Happens If I Make a Mistake on Immigration Documents?
What Happens If I Make a Mistake on Immigration Documents?
Immigration law is thought to be one of the more complex areas of law—where experienced legal counsel is necessary. If that was true before, it is certain now.
Until now, if a person applied for immigration benefits and mistakenly neglected to submit a certain form, or perhaps did not fill out a form sufficiently, that person could expect a Request for Evidence (RFE) or a Notice of Intend to Deny (NOID) in response. Those notices or requests served as an opportunity for the applicant to correct the error—allowing their application to move forward. However, under rules implemented by the U.S. Attorney General in July 2018, immigration officers no longer need to offer applicants any chance to correct errors—and can outright deny the benefit applied for—potentially placing the applicant out-of-status and not lawfully in the U.S.
The severity of this rule change is compounded when combined with another rule change. That rule will require United States Citizenship Information Services (USCIS) to issue a Notice to Appear (NTA) in immigration court for removal proceedings to applicants upon the issuance of an unfavorable decision on an application, petition, or benefit request.
"Over the years, if a person made a mistake on the paperwork or they didn't provide everything that CIS was looking for, they would get a letter in the mail called a request for evidence," says Helen Parsonage, an immigration attorney in North Carolina. This request would list some questions, or identify a document that was missing and give the applicant some time (typically 30 days) to fix their mistake. "Now, this memo is saying that USCIS doesn't need to do that, that if there is a piece of information missing, the officer can now straight out deny," without providing an opportunity to the applicant to correct a potentially innocent mistake.
"You look at the other memo [regarding Notices to Appear] that says when we deny someone's application, we are going to put them into deportation, and you realize why this is important," Parsonage adds.
Previously, the rules required USCIS officers to issue a RFE unless there was no possibility that any filing deficiency could be cured by submission of additional evidence—situations like when an applicant applies for a non-existent benefit. The new rule eliminates that requirement and now allows the USCIS officer full discretion to deny applications, petitions, and requests without first issuing an RFE or a NOID.
The attorney general says this policy is not intended to penalize filers for innocent mistakes or misunderstandings of evidentiary requirements. The AG claims the new rules are intended to discourage frivolous or substantially incomplete filings used as "placeholder" filings, and encourage applicants, petitioners, and requestors to be diligent in collecting and submitting required evidence.
The subjective decision of judging whether an application has sufficient evidence, and who makes that decision, is one concern Parsonage has about the rules. Denial of an application for missing a critical document is another.
Parsonage also cautions that notaries are no replacement for licensed, legal help. Now more than ever, it is important anyone applying for immigration or immigration benefits seek the assistance of an experienced immigration attorney.
Everybody must be much more careful when filing an application. Now they can deny it and put you into deportation.
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In honor of the recent release of Resident Evil 2, I thought I would do my blog post about zombies (and zombie preparedness today).
Apparently, zombies have played such a key role in our culture that the CDC even has a small blog post on how the government plans to deal with the inevitable zombie outbreak.
To protect yourself, here's a bunch of blogs that also educate on the pending apocalypse.
This is a geeky horror blog with a focus on Zombies. This blog is a little different from other blogs because it focuses on everything involved in pop culture (including the recent resurrection of Brooklyn 99). But there is a focus on recent releases of zombie-themed books, television shows, movies, and more.
The Zombie Lifestyle is run by a Canadian mom, who is just trying to make sure everyone stays safe in the event of the zombie apocalypse. Inspired by The Zombie Survival Guide, this blog provides tips on surviving the impending apocalypse (that actually look pretty handy for any other apocalypse-type, or generally annoying, situations).
This website is a collection of people educating about zombies and connecting them to the modern world (and science).
The Zombie Research Society is a membership only collective that employs experts to fight the inevitable apocalypse. It also contributes reviews of modern pop culture zombie media.
I was hesitant to add this one, as it hasn't updated as recently, but I thought the concept was interesting enough to include.
This is a zombie apocalypse boot camp that focuses on teaching survival techniques for the upcoming apocalypse. This site features articles that different campers have written, with a very different style for each writer, which I find to be pretty interesting.
P.S. Ever wonder how we come up with ideas for our blog profiles? Our handy list of industries and subjects on PR Newswire for Journalists stays top of mind. If you're a blogger or journalist looking for horror-type news, let us know. We can customize a newsfeed for you.