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The most recent American poll regarding attitudes towards Israel and the Palestinians, just published by the Pew Research Center, reveals a familiar and pleasant situation: American public opinion remains very strongly pro-Israel by a ratio of 5:1. This has been a consistent outcome of polls taken in the US, over a period of many years. No change after the Gaza operation, and the re-election of Barrack Obama. So far so good, but can things really be that good? My inherent healthy skepticism is at play here, and I wish to sound some alarm bells, so as to put it all in a more realistic perspective.

I am guided by none other than our President, Shimon Peres, who remarked once that a good poll is like a good perfume; it is tempting to smell it, but imperative not to be intoxicated by the smell. This colorful observation is very relevant for at least two important reasons. One has to do with an aspect of the findings, one with what is not specified there.

The finding that should cause concern is, that among Liberal Democrats , the ratio is 33% pro-Israel, as opposed to 22% for the other side. Not good, as Liberal Democrats are in control of the Democratic Party. Also not good because, most of our Jewish American brethren define themselves as Liberal Democrats, and the erosion in support for Israel among this particular group of Jews, which has been recognized in many polls, can be partly attributed to the feeling of many of them that being vocally pro-Israel is no longer a good entry ticket to the big Liberal Democratic tent.

The fact is that members of the Progressive and Liberal Democratic caucus in Congress have already departed from the traditional pro-Israel voting record which characterized the Democratic party for many years. I personally examined this development when analyzing the voting trends among Democrats in the 111th Congress [2008/2010]. In particular, I relate to a distinctly anti-Israel letter, signed by 54 Democrats during operation ‘’Cast Lead’’ in Gaza at the beginning of 2009. The list of non-congressional sponsors of the letter read like a Who’s Who of the pro-Palestinian community in the US.

Even more significant was the distribution by state of the signers of the letter: One third of the California democratic delegation, a majority of the Massachusetts Delegation, almost half of the Washington State, Minnesota and Oregon Delegations. All these states are considered rock solid Liberal Democrat bastions.

Another element worth mentioning is that a large number of the signers were from minority communities [African-American, Hispanic, Asian–American], and among the non-minority signers, many came from districts where the percentage of minorities in the population was high.

I did not look into data regarding Democratic voting trends in the last three years, but have no reason to believe they are different.

Clearly, all this points to the empty half of the glass, problems that Israel has among Liberals, Progressives and minorities, which happen to be the rising forces within the Democratic Party.

Then, there is the full half of the glass. The signers represented only one fifth of the Democratic Caucus. No Republicans were among them, and the two houses of Congress continue to be stable and strong pillars of support for Israel.

Still, much work should be done in order to maintain a situation of bi-partisan support for Israel, and regardless of political orientation, the pro-Israel community should find creative ways to cultivate a fruitful dialogue with those groups whose reservations about Israel are apparent. In this case, we cannot rest on our laurels.

The one sector not mentioned in the ‘Pew’ poll were students and members of academia. Here, the picture is disturbing and getting growingly so. It is beyond the scope of this article to delve in great detail into this issue with all its complexities, even though I devote a lot my time to this subject.

One observation though is essential, as it hits at the core of the problem and its potential implications. The great Alan Dershowitz remarked a few years ago that ‘’the anti-Israel sentiment in campus is misunderstood and misdiagnosed. The vast majority of university students in the US are not anti-Israel and not pro-Israel. They are uninformed, and if informed, neutral and leaning pro-Israel.” Unfortunately, here Dershowitz is wrong. Indeed, most students are not interested in the Middle East, or any other foreign policy issue, but if informed, they tend to be anti-Israel.

Two clarifications are in place here: First, ‘’they’’ means those who care to study the Middle East and International Politics. In these disciplines, the situation is bad and fast deteriorating. The majority of professors are Arab, Muslim, left-wing Americans, Jews and non-Jews alike. The Walt-Mearsheimer tirade against AIPAC and Israel is a cult book in these departments, and the two American scholars, who both come from academic institutions heavily subsidized by Arab money, are among the most popular and widely quoted authors among their academic peers, as was clearly established by a 2009 survey of the Teaching, Research and International Policy Project (TRIP).

Second, the graduates of these departments go straight to the State Department and other arms of the policy–making , security and intelligence agencies of the Federal Government, as well as staffing the think tanks. The implications of this state of affairs cannot be overestimated.

So, the overall polls are still good, but the black spots are also very evident and call us all to take urgent action.


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By now few people interested in Jewish affairs will have managed to avoid reading about the ‘Iraqi-Jewish archive’, or seeing with their own eyes examples thereof, exhibited until 5 January in the National Archives building in Washington DC.

Iraqi Jews have registered their outrage and consternation that this collection of records and documents, miraculously shipped to the US to undergo $3 million’s worth of restoration work, will be returned to Iraq next June, instead of to its rightful Jewish owners.

The archive represents the tip of a large iceberg. As Jewish families abandoned their homes in a desperate bid to escape the country in the early seventies, looters moved in, seizing private possessions, Persian carpets and silverware. They had little use for private diplomas and certificates, and there were instances of these being chucked into the dustbins.

But mystery still surrounds how the 2,700 documents of the Iraqi-Jewish archive came into the hands of the Mukhabarat, or secret police. Jews who lived through that horrific period are casting their minds back and exchanging theories of what they think happened.

The official version, according to Harold Rhode, the man who was responsible for retrieving the documents from the flooded basement of the Mukhabarat HQ, is that the collection was carted off in 1984 by Saddam’s henchmen from the Bataween synagogue, Baghdad’s last. The documents had apparently been stored there by Iraq’s dwindling Jewish community for safe keeping.

But other versions are beginning to emerge: one is that as the Jewish schools closed for lack of pupils, they were repossessed by the government and their contents transferred and centralised in the Mukhabarat building.

Another version holds that communal documents – marriage and school records – were confiscated from the Baghdad Jewish Community Centre in the mid-70s and transferred to the Mukhabarat.

Most likely, it’s all true.

According to Maurice Shohet, president of the World Organisation of Jews from Iraq, the Mukhabarat made use of a Jew to accomplish the seizure of those documents, although the Mukhabarat were themselves no strangers to raiding Jewish property.

According to one account, the Jew encouraged Iraqi intelligence to seize all Sifrei Torah from synagogues ‘except the handful needed for prayers’.

The man was Mordechai Khabaza, an Iraqi Jew living in Israel who had responded to Saddam’s 1975 call for Jews to return to Iraq. The call to return was made by several Arab regimes at the time: unlike Israel vis-a-vis the Palestinians, Arab states could no longer be accused of denying a ‘right of return’ to their ex-Jewish citizens.

As soon as Khabaza arrived from ‘the Zionist entity’, he immediately aroused the suspicions and anger of the few hundred local Jews remaining in Iraq. They avoided contact with him, fearing that the authorities would accuse them of associating with a Zionist. Zionism had been made a capital crime, and Jews were commonly accused of fabricated spying charges.

After he had helped the authorities amass their stash of Jewish documents, nothing more was heard of Mordechai Khabaza. The community believed that Saddam had had him killed once he had outlived his usefulness.

Incidentally, three members of the Nawi family also returned to Iraq from Israel. A husband and wife, active members of the Communist party in Petah Tikva, moved back to Baghdad with their son. Mrs. Nawi exclaimed to reporters at Baghdad airport that now she had started breathing the Baghdad air, she felt she was back in paradise. After a while,however, this family too disappeared without trace – although some claim that they left Baghdad to safety.

According to one story, one day members of the Iraqi intelligence services delivered to the community a coffin, instructing them to bury it in the Baghdad Jewish cemetery. The agents accompanied the community to the cemetery, to ensure that the coffin was not opened. Some Jews immediately concluded that the coffin contained the bodies of the Nawi couple: Iraqi propaganda had ceased to have any further use for them. Others believe that the coffin was that of Mordechai Khabaza.

Nobody is suggesting that the Iraqi-Jewish archive too, if it is returned to Iraq, is destined for an end as ignominious as that of those Jews who returned under Saddam. But their tragic fate it is a salutary reminder, despite all assurances, of what might happen.

Please sign the petition: Don’t let the Iraqi-Jewish archive go back to Iraq.

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Two days ago, this article could have been titled the Winds of War. A coalition attack on Syria following the use of chemical weapons seemed imminent. Forces were in place, targets were selected, intelligence was gathered and all that was missing was the green light from The White House.

The countdown had begun.

Today this article is titled The Windmills of War because suddenly everyone seems to be jumping of the intervention wagon. Egypt, who several months ago severed diplomatic ties with Syria has stated that it opposes any military intervention as has Jordan. The French have toned down the war rhetoric and the British government, which lost a crucial Parliamentary vote yesterday, has announced it will not take part in any American led strike against the Assad regime.

On Wednesday, Secretary General of the United Nation, Ban Ki-moon, voiced his concerns regarding a possible military intervention in Syria asking the US and its allies to first exhaust diplomatic efforts and “give peace a chance”.

The Secretary General’s remarks are puzzling to say the least. In the past two years, over one hundred thousand Syrians have died in a violent and merciless civil war. Millions have been displaced and hundreds of thousands have fled to refugee camps in Turkey and Jordan. And all the while diplomatic efforts have failed to stop the violence. The deadlock between the Syrian army and the rebels is comparable only to the two year deadlock in the UN Security Council.

To quote another John Lennon song title, the UN seems to be Crippled Inside.

The question that should have been put to the Secretary General is just how long should we give peace a chance? How many more Syrians need die before he too will be willing to put an end to the violence ? More importantly, how long will the Secretary General see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil?

There is of course a measure of hypocrisy in a possible strike against Syria. Like the UN Secretary General, most world leaders have also sat idly bye and watched as events unfold in Syria. Now we are told they are poised for action following the use of chemical weapons. Reports indicate that any US led attack will be a limited one meant to punish the Syrian President and send a strong message to all world leaders regarding the use of such weapons in warfare.

According to this logic, the message sent to tyrants, dictators and madman is the following- massacres, murders and indiscriminate shooting- go; chemical weapons-no go. But looking for logic in international diplomacy makes as much sense as measuring the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.

At the moment, like its many battle carriers assembling in the Mediterranean, the United States is adrift at sea alone. Perhaps, like Israel, it should seek an international coalition with the Federated States of Micronesia. The rest of the world doesn’t really seem to care.


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January 27, 1945 marks the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp where one million Jews were murdered by the Nazis. Sixty years later, in November 2005 the United Nations General Assembly resolved that January 27 should be observed as a day to honor the memory of Holocaust victims and encourage the development of education programs about Holocaust history to help prevent further acts of genocide.

The calendar pages have turned and January 2013 marks my tenth year as rabbi in Italy. I began my work in the north, in Milan, where I served Italy’s first modern liberal synagogue as Italy’s first woman and first non-orthodox rabbi.

 My father, Antonio Abramo Aiello (z’l) was a liberator of the Buchenwald death camp and his experiences, coupled with my living and working as I do  as an Italian Jew on the “doorstep” of the Shoah, gave special significance to each January 27 – known throughout Europe as Holocaust Memorial Day.

One in particular touched my heart.

It was the morning of January 27, 2006 when Milan was hit with the biggest snowstorm in a quarter century. But that did not deter us – we were eight hearty souls from Synagogue Lev Chadash who, in the driving snowstorm, accompanied me, their rabbi, to the prison at San Vittore to remember the incarceration of Italian Jews and the murder of the Jews of Europe.

 As the snow fell we recalled the horrors of death camp life. One of our group, a young teen, noted that although the snow was deep and the temperature in Milan was below freezing, we Jews were dressed in coats and hats, scarves, gloves, boots and heavy shoes – things the Jews of Auschwitz never had.

In front of the prison, we cleared snow from a park bench to make a place for our candles. Our ceremony included the lighting of six candles to represent the Six Million and to incorporate an American rabbinic colleague’s interpretation of  the significance of “Zachor,” the Hebrew word which means “remember.”

“Zachor,” we said, in voices loud enough for passersby to hear and for some of them to pause and listen. The first candle, recalled “Shabbat Zachor” when we hear the story of Amalek and we remember as well that Haman was a direct descendant of one of the first men who set out to kill the Jews.  The first candle served as a reminder that evil still exits in our world.

“Zachor,” we said to candles two and three. Additional definitions of Zachor include “to mention,” and “to articulate.” We remember to speak about those we lost and to tell their stories, like our own Becky Behar Ottolenghi, now of blessed memory, a survivor of the Jewish massacre at Meina (near Lake Como) whose tireless efforts at sharing her experiences with school children earned her Honorary Citizenship from cities all over Italy.

  Zachor also signifies remembering those who are different. Our fourth candle recalled all of those who, along with the Jews, were also killed, including homosexuals, gypsies, disabled persons and political prisoners.

As the candles struggled and hissed in the falling snow, the Zachor of candle five recalled the murdered children.  We honored the Holocaust survivors who frequented our synagogue and we paused to honor our own child survivor, Fernanda Diaz, who was saved from certain death by a righteous gentile, an Italian pescatore who shoved her into a trap door in the floor of his fish market. We pondered a horrific statistic; that for every Jewish child that lived through the Holocaust, thirteen Jewish children were murdered by the Nazis.

The sixth candle is the Zachor of Shabbat.  We are reminded that the first strand in the braided challah, the bread of the Sabbath, is called Zachor. “Remember Shabbat and keep it holy,” Torah tells us.  And no matter what our trials have been or will be, Shabbat brings us peace, hope and joy.

Later on as we sipped cappuccino in a nearby bar, we learned that in the early morning, just hours before our ceremony, former German President Johannes Rau had passed away. He was the first person to speak the German language in the halls of the Israeli Knesset. The mission of Rau’s presidency was to improve German –Israeli relations by first seeking forgiveness for the Holocaust.  He told the Israel Parliament, “…I bow in humility before those murdered and … I am asking forgiveness for what Germans have done…”

Sadly international news services hardly mentioned President Rau’s death, in part because the news from the Middle East dominated that day. On that January 27, Europe was reeling. Hamas was officially designated the winner of the Palestinian elections. This prompted journalists all over Europe to ask how we Jews felt about the upset victory by an organization that vowed to destroy the Sate of Israel.

As we readied ourselves to brave the cold, the bar’s television set blared overhead.  Mittens and scarves in hand, we stopped to watch as a sprightly BBC journalist asked an Auschwitz survivor, “Just what lesson did you learn from your experiences?” Without missing a beat, the elderly gentleman pulled the microphone close and said, “Dahling, this I learned.  If someone says he wants to kill you, believe him.”

Our ceremony of remembrance on January 27, 2006 in Milan was a day filled with contrasts. Leaving the warmth of the bar behind us, we visited our candles once more.  As they flickered in the snow we offered the Kaddish Memorial prayer and ended with the words of Psalm 133.  Hinei MaTov, How good and pleasant it is when we dwell together as brothers and sisters.” We joined hands, sang and promised to remember.  Zachor.


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Tag Archives: coastal-cleanup-day

ZEISS Supports NABU Naturschutzjugend in Hamburg

People generally associate Hamburg with bustling trade and busy streets, and not with nature. Apart from its port, Hamburg is a typical big city in Europe – with a large number of paved areas. The locals only encounter nature in one of the city’s parks or once they venture further afield. And yet there are a great many children and young people who enjoy spending time in the great outdoors and are committed to nature conservation.

“In a big city like Hamburg, there are plenty of things for children and young people to do in their free time. It’s not always easy to position our Naturschutzjugend activities. Still, we have quite a number of volunteers and popular youth groups,” says 19-year-old Jan Göldner. When Jan isn’t studying for his high school diploma or working a shift at the hardware store, he spends a lot of time as a regional youth spokesman for Naturschutzjugend and runs a youth group that focuses on nature conservation.


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‘Leprechaun: Origins’ Plays Straight and Brutal in First Trailer

Leprechaun: Origins

WWE Studios and Lionsgate have given Bloody the first full trailer for Leprechaun: Origins, which stars wrestler Hornswoggle (Dylan Postl) as the title character (you can see that Lep is more of a clothes-less creature in the below screengrabs). The other news here is that it seems as though this film may not be getting a wide release since it’s scheduled to hit VOD on August 26th and DVD/Blu on September 30th.

Also starring Stephanie Bennett (Grave Encounters 2), Andrew Dunbar (Alien Trespass), Melissa Roxburgh (Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days) and Brendan Fletcher (Freddy vs Jason), Leprechaun: Origins was written by Harris Wilkinson and directed by Zach Lipovsky.

My first impressions from this trailer? It’s played wayyyyyyyyy more straight than I would have thought. I mean this is a Leprechaun movie and it stars a guy named “Hornswoggle.” We’ll see when it comes out I guess!

Backpacking through the lush Irish countryside, two unsuspecting young couples discover a town’s chilling secret. Ben (Dunbar), Sophie (Bennet), David (Fletcher) and Jeni (Roxburgh) quickly discover the idyllic land is not what it appears to be when the town’s residents offer the hikers an old cabin at the edge of the woods. Soon, the friends will find that one of Ireland’s most famous legends is a terrifying reality.

Special features on the home video releases include both the “Leprechaun: An Icon Reborn” featurette and “Leprechaun: Behind the Blood” featurette.

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Olga Gubanova. Essay. Grand Paris Project. The presentation of Bertrand Lemoine. Saint Petersburg Design Week 2013

The essay of Olga Gubanova about Grand Paris Project, the presentation of Bertrand Lemoine, Director General of the Atelier International Grand Paris (AIGP), Saint Petersburg Design Week 2013

Part III
25 May 2013

High time”

Grand Paris Project”
the presentation of Bertrand Lemoine
Director General of
the Atelier International Grand Paris (AIGP)
in the Nevskaya Courtine of the St. Peter and Paul Fortress
with the collaboration of PRO ARTE Foundation for Culture and Arts

We had the privilege of meeting with Bertrand Lemoine in Saint Peterburg on 25 May 2013. Bertrand Lemoine, an engineer, architect, architectural historian, author, technical advisor, chief editor, manager and director of the multitude of projects, departments and institutions in the different aspects of his professional field, the frequent guest of architectural forums, biennale and seminars in Moscow, introduced to Saint Petersburg's public the highly modern French model of the sustainable existence of metropolises, the sole possible state of their being - development. Bertrand Lemoine tried to convey the latest social and philosophical ideas and the gleams of technological achievements, antipodes of chaos, despondency, inertness and desolation, companions and followers of mankind life and so far begotten by it organized systems.

Grand Paris, the pivot of Ile-de-France, is incredibly complicated tremendous and diverse creature possessing an international reputation.

It's profitable center - classical wealthy by it's attainments Paris with the multitude of cultural and architectural treasures, bedroom communities, office districts and suburbs - is the source of the half of the gross national product of France. It incorporates diverse sides of life and styles and levels of living. And it is surrounded by the layers of pictorial gardens, parks, forests and functioning rural and agricultural areas. The infrastructure of this intense region is mainly developed.

The modern structure of magnificent and complex Paris was begotten by the system and the evolution of crenellated battlements. The last wall of 1845 established the historical center of the city. The epoch of organized architectural planning began in 1920's-1930's. Since these times Paris has been splashing out of it's borders. In 1934 the new conception and the term of Paris region was defined. In 1965 was decided to create 5 new cities around Paris. The realization of this choice applied the ideas of the previously accepted plan of development. For the following years the metropolis has been enlarging. Intensive growth was substituted for extensive spacial growth. Utmost functional growing suburbs weren't able to find their identity while the center, old Paris, exceptionally attractive and saturated by cultural landmarks and the traces of history, remained the same.

The problems begotten by the natural evolutions of the urban reality and environment are those problems which modern Parisians through the interaction with organised by their will and efforts new public institution, Atelier International Grand Paris, have and it seems intend to solve.

It was decided to undertake actions regarding the next fields attracting particular attention of French and international parts of the team of architects, city planners, philosophers and the public.

The transport system of the large agglomeration is planed to be developed. The new system and the additional branches of public transport must interconnect all clusters of the metropolis, the economically successful districts and the economically challenged, especially important ones at the periphery, and provide them easy and fast access to the center.

This direction includes development and innovations: significant enlargement of the subway equipped by new automated trains, 72 new railway stations appropriate for the next integration with other kinds of transport and forthcoming it's new systems, 175 additional kilometres of the subway, the total length has to achieve the sizes about 80 to 110 kilometres from the north to the south and approximately 130 kilometres from the east to the west; expanded web of high-speed trains; trams; the separated lines for the movement of buses; the invention and the introduction of the symbiotic system of private, the privilege of remote regions, and public transport, promotion of the core element of this symbiosis, electric vehicles.

At the same time the regions of metropolis must be specified. This is, for example, already defined the mathematical and physical specialisation of researches on the south and the region for aerospace investigations on the north. New secondary centers surrounded by minor ones with own developed infrastructure have to be created.

Mentioned above actions, firstly, will allow to hasten and simplify the travelling for the citizens of Grand Paris and it's guests, secondly, they will increase the attractiveness of the remote regions and, consequently, decrease traffic. Finally, the new utterly contemporary and beautiful projects and completed buildings will become the sources of pride and the way of the discovery of personality and the next identity of those remote districts. They will improve social climate and strengthen social interaction and social connections. Among these projects, buildings changing the appearance and the status of particular remote districts can be quoted: France Ministry of Defense with origami-like roof, the project of Nicolas Michelin by ANMA on the south. Le Palais de Justice de Paris by Renzo Piano on the north-east of Paris. Le Project Triangle on the south by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. Duo by Jean Nouvel on the east. Arena Stadium 92 on the west by Christian de Portzamparc. La Cite Du Cinema, it is a film studio complex supported by the film director and producer Luc Besson, designed in 2000 and located in Saint-Denis, on the north of Paris. It was open on 21 September 2012. Stade Jean Bouin by Rudy Ricciotti. Philharmonie de Paris by Ateliers Jean Nouvel. Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation designed by Frank Gehry and the Louis Vuitton Foundation.

An accommodation in Grand Paris is expensive and in modern Paris aren't enough apartment houses and living spaces. The rent is expensive as well. Having judged demography and migration it was decided to increase the amount of new flats from 35 000 per year to 70 000. At the same time the metropolis has to remain inside it's natural boarders, forests and agricultural zones. Paris has to cease it's extension.

It could be achieved by means of modern technologies, new technologies of building and the development of obvious and at the same time unordinary areas, for example, the building on the immersible areas. It is planned to renovate industrial zones, to reequip the first floors of buildings and storehouses, to reconstruct separate buildings. Often it supposes the full renovation and also the construction of additional storeys. The changes of the transport system could provide the opportunity to build commercially and economically attractive buildings and centers nearby city roads and to free potential areas for living by means of this.

The team declares ecological attitudes to human health and the natural environment. The Atelier International Grand Paris highlights the necessity to preserve the natural diversity of the region and it's natural resources, rivers, especially Seine, for the forthcoming sustainable development of Paris. The banks of Seine, it is nearby 200 kilometres from Paris to the English Channel and the possible direction of building, have to be secured from development. Grand Paris has to remain compact and be rebuilt inside itself. The green areas and the open spaces inside existing Paris must be saved. These green lungs of Paris will evolve and expand through the technologies of sustainable building. The buildings can become the continuations of parks and parks can be built on these buildings. Grand Paris can be the medium of the rethought and renewed conception of ecologically friendly, responsible and climate supporting hanging gardens with people living there.

The new buildings will use efficient systems of natural heating, ventilating and air conditioning, the systems of the rainwater collection and it's purification, generate renewable energy, especially solar and wind energy. The smart homes building will be enhanced. The attitudes to the changes of the conditions of insolation and views of residential areas nearby developing zones will be conscious. The city will create missing organs of it's organism and connected with them systems inside metropolis like inside an imaginary body, it will purify itself and produce energy like more or less perfect self-sufficient and definitely efficient system.

About 40% scientific researches in France have been accomplishing in Paris, there are located also a lot of internationally acclaimed universities and schools. These institutions must be supported. Their development, underlining their meaning and importance, the investment in education will directly influence on international status of the city and strengthen it. The multitude of international projects in the field of architecture, their scales, the strength of their architectural idea and the potential of insights will emphasize this international status of the city. These modern breakthrough are the long-term results of the developed systems of education.

The way of governing

The current fragmentary character of the regions inside the Grand Paris is supported by the way of their management. Ile-de-France unites 1282 communes and the decisions about new building can't be accepted without agreement of their direction. The authorities in the field of city planning could be delegated to the new integrated institutions. Possible agglomerations are already defined and the discussion of the adoption of the corresponding law is on the agenda in the French Parliament for the middle of this summer.

The long-term constructive goal and the dream imagined by the members and the guests of the Atelier International Grand Paris is the compact sustainable city, very coherent, quite independent balanced and comfortable for living there. Utopia.

Bertrand Lemoine, the French architect, Director General of the Atelier International Grand Paris, can produce rain by his beautiful streamy speech. And rain in many cultures can be interpreted like the greatest blessing. The last third of his performance in the St. Peter and Paul Fortress was accompanied by the sounds of sudden dense rain falling outside the red and white thick walls of the ancient fortress in the heart of Saint Petersburg. And it was raining when everything was said. On that day rain changed the palette of the city. May be this architect and enlightener will be able to organize and control the creation of utopia. After all it seems the blessing was granted.

original copyright © Olga Gubanova 2013
© Ольга Губанова 2013
воспроизведение текста эссе любым образом без письменного разрешения автора запрещается.

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Monthly Archive for: ‘August, 2015’

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    The Proper Uniform

    My good friend Blake McLemore (a gifted bodyworker in his own right), included this in his most recent newsletter.  It’s a poem by the irreverent Buddhist poet Ram Tzu and one of my favorites.  It’s so good that I am stealing it and putting it …

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Monday, March 10, 2008

More thoughts on whining

Last Monday, I was sick at home with no voice and no energy, but was excited to hear this discussion on "What Makes a Best-Selling Children's Book?" on the Leonard Lopate Show:

If that didn't work, you can also listen to it here (the comments are, uh, funny).

I didn't really hear anything I didn't already know, but one comment in particular that I found interesting was Jean Feiwel's (I think?) belief that a great book will always find its way in the market, which Micha Hershman of Borders disagreed with. I would disagree as well. I think that there are countless wonderful beautiful books that get published that never find the audience they deserve. Which leads us back to my post from last Monday.

To be fair, "no whining," is indeed, as Anna said, a patronizing way to put it. And to the agent's defense, I think he or she said that as a way to show sympathy for the publishing side, to indicate to me that the agency appreciates all that a publisher does for each and every book that gets published (Harold Underdown has a good outline of this here, and Stacy Whitman one here), and understands our limitations in terms of marketing and publicity. I also wanted to add here that my #4 on the list, that the publisher puts the book in their catalog, wasn't really from the agent, and was really meant as a stand-in for all of the basic marketing and publicity that a publisher would do for each and every book--the catalog, presenting the books at trade and institutional shows like BEA and ALA, sending out review copies to over 100 different publications, and so on. No book is just thrown out there with no support, even if it may seem that way.

The agent was basically saying that their agency's clients would never be those authors (and we all know they exist) who complain that their publisher isn't doing enough to support their books. (I'm sure exceptions would be made for valid issues.) The agency also focuses on finding authors with a "platform" so that they can better help the author find marketing and publicity partners.

Unfortunately, the need for a "platform" may limit who their clients are. But this is the business plan their agency has decided on, and I think it probably works well for them and their authors.

Believe me, I wish we could do more to help each book be a success, and I agree that the publisher and author should work together to do everything they can reasonably do to make the book sell. Authors have the right to ask the publishers for as much as they can (without actually whining!), but it is also the responsibility of the authors to do everything they can, too. But the thing is, publishers don't randomly pick which books they decide to give big pushes for--a lot of thought, various factors, and a ton of planning goes on. A publisher is most likely not going to change their publishing plans too drastically because an author or agent complains or asks for more, unless they see that it makes business sense. Then again, it really doesn't hurt to ask nicely for something specific you feel will really make a difference--for example, if you do a ton of school visits, you might want to ask if the publisher could print bookmarks or postcards for you to distribute. Or, they may decide it's worth it to produce teacher's guides to help get your books into schools. If you know the perfect specialty website or magazine to send your book to, they'll most likely comply.

Because of the way the publishing business works these days (and to be honest, I don't know how much this differs from "the days of yore"--perhaps it was always this way), it's just not possible to promote every book we publish heavily, and virtually impossible to market each book to the author's satisfaction.

The fact is, there are too many books being published. I used to think that marketing money=sales, that you could make any book a bestseller if you did everything in your power to do so, but I've seen enough examples of books with huge marketing plans that underperformed to know this isn't the case. And in other cases, a book with little or no marketing "extras" can often out perform expectations. And remember, any marketing money spent on the book gets factored into the book's profit and loss calculations, so that's yet more money the book will have to earn back in order to be considered a success. (Harold Underdown has a great snapshot on what it takes here.) The publisher has to weigh whether, say, the cost of an ad would more than make up for the number of copies sold.

As I mentioned in this post, I've decided that it's basically a crap shoot as to what succeeds and what doesn't. And I think partially because of this, publishers send out as many books as they can in the hopes that the more books they publish, the more possibilities they have for success.

But there's an adult publisher who has tried a new strategy: Twelve. I will disclose now that Twelve is actually part of the umbrella publishing group that my division is part of as well, but it took an NPR story for me to actually understand what they were doing. They've decided to publish twelve books a year, one each month, and do everything in their power to make each book a best seller. Two of their first four books published were, indeed, New York Times best sellers. Not a bad percentage--although I think this also shows that marketing attention doesn't guarantee best selling success.

Although I find this publishing strategy extremely attractive, I wonder how the publishing landscape would change if more publishers adopted their plan. (Check out their mission statement!) One definite result would be that less books would be published each year--which means fewer authors would have their dreams of being published realized; publishers would be even pickier than they are now. Also, more books published encourages more diversity in the subjects covered, and more freedom for a publisher to take chances.

So, what do you all say--would the trade offs be worth it? How can we do things better?

Anonymous said...

Dear Alvina,

I think Twelve worked, in part, because it is a new idea and consequently received press coverage. That strikes me as the tricky part of marketing. It is oftentimes most successful if it has never been done before.

Did you see the article titled "Book Lovers Ask, What's Seattle's Secret?"in yesterday's NYTimes? You can access it from their website. The article was actually more about how books are being sold today, rather than books in Seattle. Seems sales are shifting to different outlets and larger outlets. More Costco, Amazon, Starbucks etc. "More people are bypassing bookstores and buying at mass-market merchants, online retailers and specialty stores, says Albert N. Greco, a marketing professor at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Business Administration."

I wonder how this shift is going to affect marketing. Are you aware of any marketing shifts in your company to respond to these trends?

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
christine tripp said...

I wonder how the publishing landscape would change if more publishers adopted their plan.

Well first thing would be the pubs would have to leave their massive Manhatten buildings and relocate in small town USA. Then they would have to learn to operate with one Editor, one AD, one Marketing person and one legal/contract person.
I just don't see the publishers loving this somehow:)

While it would put to an end the massive and controlling book store chains (not enough books to fill their thousands of sq feet of floor space) it would have the Indies cheering in the streets.

On the author/illustrator side, it would be dismal. With so few books to make a living from, it would seem the publishers would lean toward commercially successful books alone, leaving no room for taking chances on something very good, well written yet perhaps a risk and not going to appeal to the masses.
Looking at 12's titles, they appear to mostly be non fiction, with a lot of potential for movie and television production... but that is only a first glimps feeling I get.

Meghan McAwesome said...

I would rather publish fewer books a year/years and have those fewer receive more attention than publish all the books I want and have them receive no attention. It's true, lots of people get to realize their dreams, but I don't think it takes long for reality to set in.

Grace Lin said...

hmm, I'd have to say I wouldn't be willing to have less books. I think, as Alvina and the commentors said before me, that publishers would just end up printed the "safe" books or only the ones with perceived marketing value. Those quiet books that I love so much would probably be the first slashed, quickly followed by the niche market multicultural books. And I would be out of a job. Okay, I admit to selfish motivation...
-grace, who is now going back to her work on her small market novel

Dana Goldberg said...

There's a huge difference between publishing only 12 books a year and publishing, say, 100 new titles per year. I do agree that the reading public (and authors and illustrators) would suffer if every publisher switched to the Twelve model, but I also think it's a false choice to say that's the only alternative. If publishers cut back their frontlist by even 10%, I wonder if it wouldn't help everyone by easing what is definitely a glutted marketplace.

Then again, I work for a nonprofit press that only puts out 4 new hardcovers a year, so...

christine tripp said...

>If publishers cut back their frontlist by even 10%, I wonder if it wouldn't help everyone by easing what is definitely a glutted marketplace.<

I agree, unfortunately my fear would be that cutting back the number of books, even by only 10%, would result in a publishers knee-jerk reaction to ALSO cutting back on staffing by that very same percentage. I don't know if they would give the idea time to see if it resulted in larger profits. The cut backs could put everyone back to square one, too few people to give all of their books the attention they would wish to give them.
Publishers already have to think of tie ins, potential series and licensing. I think suggesting they reduce their new releases will result in even more of the same, with more manuscripts read with this criteria in mind.
Not saying any author wouldn't want these things for their book, just saying many good books out there do not lend themselves to more then... just a good book. Would they be passed over?

Just finished listening to the radio podcast. Not a lot new but one thing I did not know before, about the NYT book reviews and how, before the Children's review was set up seperately, Adult authors were screaming mad that the odd Children's Author would make the Best Sellers List. I had no idea some of the adult authors contracts would include bonus clauses for getting on the NYT list!:) Do some Children's book contracts have this same clause I wonder?

alvina said...

Katherine--thanks for the referral to that article, interesting stuff. I know that in some rare cases we've tried to follow some of the formatting and pricing guidelines for Target (they prefer vertical trim sizes so they can display more copies, and have a lower ideal price point than book stores), but overall, not much has changed except we try to get our books into those markets!

Dana--I think that's a good compromise, and in a way, I think some publishers HAVE decided to do this already (we slightly reduced the number of titles we publish each year about 4 years ago), but I don't know if it's made much of a difference. Then again, our company has been doing really really well, so maybe it HAS made a difference. I had forgotten about that...

Christine--yes, occasionally children's book contracts have similar best-seller bonus clauses, just as we occasionally have bonus clauses for Newbery, Caldecott, and other such awards. Generally, though, we try for net sales bonuses as opposed to best seller list bonuses, because it's kind of a mystery what really determines how books land on bestseller lists. Anyway, these bonus clauses have become more common as more adult agents have come to represent children's books, too.

christine tripp said...

Thanks for that info Alvina! I loved where the person speaking about this (I have forgotten the woman's name) mentioned that the "Adult" authors where NOT happy when a "Children's" author would make it on the list and cut them out of their bonuses, haha, I could just imagine some of them, bested by an author who writes for, for.... CHILDREN!!!!!:) Pretty cool actually!

Dana Goldberg said...

Alvina, I'm curious -- did the decision to cut back on new titles come from discussions around this issue of there being too much product in the marketplace? Was it accompanied by staff cutbacks (I'm thinking of Christine's comment above -- I hadn't thought of that as a possible consequence of reducing the number of frontlist titles)?

alvina said...

Hard to say, but it did come at a time when my company had a hiring freeze and a few layoffs--not in my department, luckily (we did have one editor leave to go to grad school, and we chose not to replace him).

I think it's all about profit, what balance of titles to employees makes the most financial sense.

I think there will also always be small niche publishers who will make sure that diverse topics get covered, but again, they might not get the attention they deserve.


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My Blue Summer House

My Blue Summer House

Friday, 24 June 2011

Frosty Friends DT Card

The challenge for this week at Winter Wonderland was set by Denise and she has chosen Pretty in Pink, so we want to see a Christmas card or project with lots of pink on it.

Our sponsor for this week is Simon Says Stamp

The prize is a $15 gift certificate.
Here is my card.
Card Recipe
Card Blank - 14.5cm x 14.5cm.
Harriet Hurst Stamp - Frosty Friends.
Lili of the Valley - Sentiment.
Papermania Design Paper - Festive Frolics.
Spellbinders Nestabilities Die - Standard Circles Large, Petite Scalloped Circles Large.
Nellies Multi Frame Die - Round.
Sizzix Sizzlits Die - Snowflake #6, #5.
Woodware Punch - Snowflake.
Martha Stewart Border Trim - Snowflakes.
Embellishments used from own stash.
This image was coloured in using Copic markers.
Hints and Tips
The glitter card I used for the snowflakes actually has roses printed on it but you can't tell after it has been die cut so it is a good way to use up left over scraps.

This card was entered into the following challenges:
ABC Christmas Challenge: M for Monochrome.

Love Linda xxx

  1. Gorgeous card Linda and what a super image! Hugs, Claire x

  2. great image, and love the sparkle too
    Hugs Kate xx

  3. Stunning love the theme great image and nicely coloured.....:) Sandra H

  4. Beautiful, gorgeous card Linda.

  5. Gorgeous card, Linda! Lovely image and I love that big snowflake! Thanks for joining us at the ABC Christmas Challenge and good luck! Delphine xx

  6. Hi Linda! lovely card and sooooo cute love your sparkle and the snowflakes too, thanks for playing along with us on the ABC Christmas Challenge this time! hope you can come play again too! hugs Samantha :0)

  7. Gorgeous card! The snowflake is a real eye-catcher.

  8. Such a sweet card!
    Thanks for joining us at the ABC Christmas Challenge!
    Helen x

Thank You for spending time visiting my blog it does brighten up my day love Linda


text:
Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Global warming/positive feedback

From a comment on Judith Curry's blog comes the best explanation I have ever read of how CO2 actually affects atmospheric temperatures. (It's not through the "greenhouse effect," which is basically about restrictiong convection. Instead, it's through raising the altitude and thus lowering the temperature of the CO2 photosphere.)

Near-IR video cameras aren't much different from visible-light ones. The one in this clip looks pretty sophisticated by comparison.

However I have to agree that the demonstration is nowhere near quantitative enough to infer much about absorption by CO2 of thermal radiation from Earth's surface. A far more accurate method is to calculate it line-by-line from theHITRAN line spectra tables.

However mere absorption of surface radiation is only about 6% of the impact of CO2 on global warming even in the no-feedback case. This is because what heats the Earth is reduction in outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) from the top of the atmosphere (TOA). Only 6% of that radiation is emitted by the surface, the rest is radiation from clouds and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Clouds are not water vapor but droplets, which unlike water vapor but like the surface are much closer to being black body radiators. Although there is somewhat less CO2 above the clouds than above the surface (the difference being the amount of CO2 between the clouds and the surface), it's quite enough to absorb the same bands emitted by the clouds as those emitted by the surface.

Radiation from the atmosphere's greenhouse gases is narrow-band, even at sea level but increasingly so at higher altitudes as the effect of pressure-broadening decreases. Every greenhouse gas emits its own set of lines, and absorbs the same again, so there's a lot of emitting and absorbing going on in the atmosphere.

Looking down from above the atmosphere, a thermal imaging camera sees only the "top layer" of all this radiation. This layer is not sharply defined but rather is a separatephotosphere for each wavelength of IR. To quote the Wikipedia article, "The photosphere of an astronomical object is the region from which externally received light originates." Wavelengths that are absorbed more strongly create more opaque and therefore higher-altitude photospheres. The further below the photosphere, the lower the probability that a photon from that depth will escape to space. The probability is nonzero however no matter how deep, whence the indistinctness of each photosphere.

What increasing any greenhouse gas does is to make it more opaque, thereby raising the altitude of the photosphere associated with each wavelength at which that gas absorbs and emits. The higher you go the colder, namely 10 C/km for dry air (the Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate or DALR) all the way down to 5 C/km for saturated air (the Moist Adiabatic Lapse Rate or MALR) when very warm. Hence a higher photosphere is colder. And since radiation follows the Stefan-Boltzmann law, the amount of radiation falls off as the 4th power of this decreasing temperature.

Higher temperatures raise the water vapor in the atmosphere. Hence heating the atmosphere by increasing the CO2 will increase water vapor, another greenhouse gas, which in turns heats the atmosphere even more. This vicious cycle is called a positive feedback, and is believed to add considerably to the basic no-feedback greenhouse effect attributable to CO2.

Richard Feynman said of quantum mechanics that if you think you understand it then you don't. The greenhouse effect is not quite that bad, but it runs a close second. John Nielson-Gammon has offered "The Best Ever Description of the Atmospheric Greenhouse Effect". I don't know if my account above is as good, but it's only half the length.

Hahahahaaaa!!! That is ME laughing at YOU, cruel world.
    -Jordan Rixon

I could not love thee, dear, so much,
Loved I not Honour more.

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The Motley Fool Discussion Boards

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Subject:  Re: Wachovia Date:  10/18/2003  3:36 PM
Author:  ResNullius Number:  128551 of 874895

What is now know as Wachovia in fact is First Union Bank, which is pandering under it's new name of Wachovia. The reason for the name change was the numerous acts of illicit conduct perpetrated by the securities division and other divisons of First Union. It's reputation was so bad that it bought Wachovia so it could use a name that had an excellent reputation for conservative and ethical management.
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Financial Planning / Tax Strategies

Subject:  1099-MISC form Date:  6/25/2010  11:51 PM
Author:  Milan10 Number:  110606 of 127189

I need any and all help you fellow fools can provide me with. Here's the problem: I got a letter from the IRS saying I owe $2000 for not reporting self-employment income last year. The company that I worked for as a specialist in retail sent to the IRS a 1099-MISC stating they had paid me 2 grand. I never received a single dollar from them. The IRS says the burden of proof is on me to prove I never received the money, but I can't use my bank statements as evidence because they "don't know how many bank accounts I have." I have called the IRS several times, they said request a letter from the company explaining you never got the money. Any help is appreciated.
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No. of Recommendations: 0
BTW your link was to the school one of my daughter's went to. She got 2 degrees from Kennesaw State University. It is also the school Gingrich got in trouble over finances and some course he was touting (teaching?).

Fun fact on Kennesaw:

Kennesaw, Georgia, passed a law in 1982 that every head of household had to own a gun with ammunition. It was done in response to another city in Illinois passing a law prohibiting gun ownership within the city limits.

When we moved to Georgia in 1991, we told the Realtor not to take us anywhere near that town. YMMV, of course.

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Buon giorno Kathy - si, Lei ha parlato qualcosa.

Ha parlato (penso) "Good day to us...and good luck!!"

Hi Kathy - yes, you said something. You said (I think) "Good day to us...and good luck!!".

I'm glad you started this board, and I will be lurking...

I'm glad someone has shown up! :) Kindof hard to practice by yourself. :)

Di dovè, Lei? Sono di Fremont, CA, negli Stati Uniti.

Where are you from? I'm from Fremont, CA, in the United States.

Oh, and by the way - I'm a TOTAL beginner at Italian, so if you see any mistakes or have any questions (probably meaning I misspelled something or used the wrong word), please feel free to correct me!
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No. of Recommendations: 20
This guy makes a good argument why an "emergency fund" is a bad idea and is pretty useless advice. Among other things, he says that (almost) nobody has an e-fund, anyway.

I only read a bit of his site, but I don't find his argument that you don't need an emergency fund because you can insure against most things, and true emergencies are really rare to be convincing. If I lose my job tomorrow, I still need a way to pay my mortgage and eat, and I can't insure against that. Unemployment only pays me a very small portion of my pay, so I would need to tap savings. I've been unemployed for 9 months and then another time for a year, and so having enough cash available to continue paying things like our mortgage, COBRA (which was almost as much as the mortgage) and general expenses like food was a pretty big deal, hence why I do still think people should have an emergency fund.

In the downturn of the 1990's, I watched friends and neighbors lose everything and declare bankruptcy when both partners lost jobs and they could no longer afford their houses because they ran out of what little emergency funds they had.

* 401K to get the full employer match (6% = $4,800/yr = $400/mo)
* $1100/mo into a bank account at ALLY or Alliant CU, etc. earning not quite 1%.
* Any excess, into that same bank account.
* When the bank account equals the debt, or when it stops being 0%, pay the debt from the bank account.
* Then put money into long-term non-IRA, non-401K investments. This is your "emergency fund". See the CYC blog.
* ASAP, start a Roth IRA -- even as small as $100. In 5 years you can withdraw what you've put in, tax free. Put $5000 in it as soon as you can. In 5 years from the time you opened it, that'll be your "emergency fund".

I generally agree with your order here, particularly as you cannot go back in time to contribute to a retirement account, and I find an employer match, together with compounding over time, to be too good to pass up.

As far as treating the Roth IRA as an emergency fund, I highly disagree with this. I find that a lot of folks nowadays seem to think of a Roth IRA as an easy place to get money, and I think retirement savings should be just that. Looking at it as the place to take out money for other expenses seems too close to thinking about your house as a four-sided credit card, and I think that sets up bad financial habits.

I much prefer contributing to retirement accounts, and having taxable investments outside of those accounts to have some flexibility on finding funds for things besides retirement. And I still like to have a solid efund for those things that are unexpected and emergencies like losing your job.
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Pharris Cemetery Jackson County
February 08, 2013 06:48AM
The Pharris Cemetery in now listed on the TNGen Web.

It is not complete as the way the rows are not in order, and was a very hard cemetery to list.

Thank you for all you help.

Bettie Sue Goolsby, archivist of the Putnam County TN Cemetery Records


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Oil and Gas Markets: Global Risk Management, Price Risk Management, Treasury Management

  • Course Details:

    Ref: SRM2 Length: 2 Days
    Location: London Price: £1350 excl. VAT

The Oil and Gas Markets: Global Risk Management, Price Risk Management, Treasury Management two day comprehensive, “hands-on” workshop covers a complete range of risk management tools and treasury products related to market activities, their use in managing risks, an institution’s own risks from using these products, and strategies for managing these risks.

Who should attend

Those with an understanding of physical markets who wish to learn more about derivatives and hedging; those who interface with risk management from elsewhere in the industry, from banks, accountancy practices, law firms and elsewhere.

Course Content

Risk identification

Risk management

Instruments and markets

  • Futures markets
  • Forward markets
  • bfoe and dated brent markets
  • cfds / dfls
  • Swaps and otc markets
  • Role of the market maker
  • Comparison of in-strumentsoptions
  • Exchange and otc

  • Options strategies
  • Option pricing and the greeks
  • Tailored swaps and embedded options
  • Using option pricing software
  • Trading volatility

  • Identifying and valuing optionality in the oil markets

Risk management techniques

  • Hedging with futures, swaps and forwards
  • Hedging with options
  • Spread trading
  • Basis risk
  • Refinery margin hedging
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  • Exchange for physical
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  • Clearing and exchanges
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  • Various techniques and innovative instruments to mitigate company’s exposure to the various treasury and financial risks which typically include fx, operational, compliance, structured trade finance and documentary risk.
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Learning Outcome

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

  • Identify price exposure in company’s activities
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  • Manage refinery margin risk
  • Use contracts for difference (CFDs and DFLs) to manage contango/backwardation risk in the dated/paper markets
  • Separate price and supply and maintain control over pricing using EFPs and triggers.Examine and compare the cost and effectiveness of different options strategies
  • Use various tools to determine existing treasury risks and reduce/ manage it

Want to make an enquiry on Oil and Gas Markets: Global Risk Management, Price Risk Management, Treasury Management Training Course?

Please call us on +44 (0) 207 112 4846, email us at training@boc-uk.com or complete our on-line form below.

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Small Classes

With small class sizes, much more individual attention can be given to each delegate.

Competitive Pricing

We believe our prices are very competitive and our quality is second to none.

Friendly Staff

Our friendly Customer Support team is here to help you with every step of the way to make your BOC experience comfortable and welcoming.

Course registrations can be made via our website either from individual course pages or through our booking page.

Alternatively, you can download and complete course application form and send via email: training@boc-uk.com or        fax: +44 (0) 207 112 4845 Call: +44 (0) 207 112 4846

Why Choose BOC?

Commitment to Quality

We strive to provide the best service possible, with the highest regards to quality and professionalism.

Different trainers every day

Each day we have different trainers to maximise the experience sharing.

Kindle for every BOC Delegate

to promote paper free environment, we are giving Kindle Fire to our delegates instead of the course binder.

Luxury Course Venue

All our Training Courses take place at the luxury 4-5 Star hotels located in central London

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At the end of the programme participants will receive a certificate of achievement.

FREE On-going Support

Each delegate receives unlimited support from the trainers after they attended the course with us.

All of our open courses can also be run as bespoke courses, tailored to your organisation's specific needs and requirements. Our Tailored Management Training comes in many formats from one-to-one through to fully customised company wide programmes.

To find out more email: training@boc-uk.com or call us on +44 (0) 207 112 4846

All of BOC open courses can also be run as One to One Training Sessions, where delegate gets a dedicated trainer for their specific learning requirements. This mode of training is highly preferred by those who need undivided attention of the instructor for a fulfilling learning experience. The courses can be tailored to suit the individual needs of the organisation and the delegate.

To find out more email: training@boc-uk.com or call us on +44 (0) 207 112 4846

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to keep up to date with with news and updates on conferences and upcoming training courses.

The Petrochemical Markets: Managing Commercial and Financial Risk two-day course provides an understanding of petrochemical commercial and financial risks. Participants will analyse the production and supply costs which will highlight the price determining mechanisms and opportunities for profits in the industry.

This intensive “Project management in the oil and gas sector” 2 day course examines the economic nature and structure of the oil, gas and energy sectors, provides the skills necessary to deliver advanced project management, and dissects all fundamental project management disciplines and phases.


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Thursday, 16 September 2010

Start of a Beautiful Friendship

I've had my Kindle for nearly two weeks and it's love! All them books at the touch of a button. I can even get passages to see if I'll like the book...couldn't do that in a bookshop without getting some funny looks off the staff, with mutterings of, 'This is not a library!'

I'll still be a lover of the hard copy in my hands (I'm a secret page smeller...shhh! Don't tell anyone) and the feel of the covers, but being able to take a ton a books with me in that little thing is my idea of heaven. I'm terrible for taking at least ten books with me for a weekend trip anywhere, just so that I have choice, and sometimes they get a little ruined- I can't abide ruined books. Dog-eared and creased books make me cry and don't get me started on seeing someone lay a book flat down to hold their place whilst bending the spine so. I can almost hear the book whimper when I see that.

So yes. May I proudly introduce Emma's Amazon Kindle!
My only gripe, Mr Amazon, is when prices of books are the same or more as the hard copy. I'm well aware that the author needs paying and so do the people working their little socks off to get the book there, but you've no printing costs! What's that about?!

Still love it though! Now, anyone need ebooks reviewing?

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Sunday, November 15, 2009

On Books and Reading

These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves. From each of them goes out its own voice.
- Gilbert Highet

I divide all readers into two classes; those who read to remember and those who read to forget.
- William Lyon Phelps

Friday, November 13, 2009

Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow

Another gem from my Booksale hunt.

This book has bite and it won't let go of any rabid reader.

Sharp Teeth has gone rogue with werewolves in LA. Barlow weaves the lycanthrope myth in free verse and flows evenly like spoken word poetry.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The Girl Who Played Go by Shan Sa

This find really made my day.

I remember being at Bibliarch once and 9 Asian fiction novels were on display, they were released with similarly styled covers. I guess they were being marketed as a novels having the same theme and feel. Three of them were quite popular already and one, Norwegian Wood being a common favorite of the literati. I bought one of the eight - Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. Since Dai Sijie the author is also a filmmaker.  But I also have my eye on Yukio Mishima'sThe Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea in my bookworm radar.

Synopsis: In war-torn Manchuria of the 1930s, a young girl and a Japanese soldier briefly find peace over a game of go.

A lovely photo of the author Shan Sa.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician

I loved the magic realism of Big Fish, this is what lured me in taking a chance in this book by Daniel Wallace and best of all the copy is in large print. Oh my poor eyes...

Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician is a multi-layer fantastical feast told by all the surrounding characters in reference to the main ones in the title, both whom we never really get to hear from. This book has just has too many tricks. Deceptive at times, this novel distorts its own reality like a fun house mirror.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

The Virgin Suicides and Middle Sex

Two books by Jeffrey Eugenides acquired two years apart from the same Book Sale branch in MCS Makati. Woohoo!

The Virgin Suicides is one of the most unforgettable and lyrical coming-of-age tales ever. Tender and heartbreaking, the dreamy narrative recalls the Lisbon sisters as the objects of desire and fascination of several young boys in a quiet little suburb.

Notably, the film version by Sofia Coppola was successful in capturing the foreboding mood and the dreamy, nostalgic essence of Eugenides' novel.

MiddleSex is a nosedive into the fluidity of sexuality, a tale of two sexes from the point of view of Cal, a hermaphrodite.

These books weren't easy to hunt down, but good things really come to those who wait.


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What Is Flash Fiction?

If you’ve ever written a tale that didn’t take much space, it’s possible that it wouldn’t be deemed a short story with its length. When it’s not long enough to be a ‘short story’, a piece that has the usual requirements to be a ‘story’ in general would most likely be deemed ‘flash fiction’.

According to Dictionary.com, flash fiction is defined as “very short works of fiction that are typically no longer than a couple of pages and may be as short as one paragraph.” The term itself was apparently coined in the early 1990s, but examples of it predate modern history- it has existed from the moment storytelling was born.

Examples include Aesop’s fables from thousands of years ago, the “short short stories” as associated with Cosmopolitan in the 1920s, or modern stories you can find online that don’t quite add up to being a ‘short story’, though feel fulfilled all on their own. In a way, it’s basically an umbrella term that can vary in use from publisher to publisher and from writer to writer.  While some writers and publishers would count the six-word-story concept as ‘flash fiction’, others would push that it only fits the category if there’s at least five-hundred but no more than two thousand words.

Because there’s such variety in opinion, the definition itself may not be as helpful as desired when labeling your work. I recommend possibly taking the definition itself with a grain of salt. Like many words, and like writing itself, the term is flexible and easily changed. Instead of focusing on the word count, it might be best to focus on the story itself. If the characters and the story can reach fruition within a thousand words or two, you’ve written yourself a piece of flash fiction. If it’s too long or too short, you can always tweak it to fit the size you need. Use only the critical details and find your way from the beginning to the end of your character’s trials, no matter what they may be. Either way, your story must be told. In the end, calling it ‘flash fiction’ just means it’s quick to read, quick to compel and quick to finish. It may not always be quick to write- but it’s a great endeavor no matter what you’re used to.

Why not give writing flash fiction a try?

It’s Flash Fiction Month in our Writer’s Haven. Join our virtual global community of writers as we motivate each other to write more flash fiction in February! Join here: http://baqm.co/writershaven


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The ideas put forth in this book regarding revolution, autonomy, and the law are somewhat thought provoking. It throws the trends we currently see in our global society into a reality within the context of a future off-world that is attempting to cope with the consequences of today’s problems.

My reading experience was a bit mediocre and a bit boring. The writing style is stilted and in some places hard to read. I did not feel emotionally invested in any of the characters. The characters lacked any dimension or likability. Having a supercomputer figure out everything for the characters also made the ending both unsatisfying and gave the characters no ability to figure out the revolution for themselves.

The story began with decent world-crafting and a lot description, but the last third of the novel drones on and on about minuscule events that don’t add to the plot or the universe of the book. Also, his views on women left a sour taste in my mouth, especially with the several times he mentions how simple or emotional women are. So it’s no surprise that his female characters, while strong in some sense, are boring and usually serve only to present a simplistic opinion that is countered and shot down by a male character. “Silly women, revolutions are for men.” Bleh! This is so strange, considering that Heinlein’s wife was a brilliant scientist and engineer.

Overall, interesting philosophical concepts were put forth, but with mediocre characters and narration.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars


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Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Review: Better Off Thread

Better Off Thread
By Amanda Lee
Embroidery Mystery #10
Berkley, 2016

Santa finds himself in a stitch of trouble in the tenth in the series from the national bestselling author of The Stitching Hour…

Marcy is busy helping her customers make hand-crafted ornaments at her embroidery shop, the Seven-Year Stitch. But despite the yuletide bustle, when her friend Captain Moe asks for her help, she can’t refuse—especially when the favor is to play the elf to his Santa for sick children at a local hospital. Despite the ridiculous outfit, Marcy finds herself enjoying spreading cheer—until the hospital’s administrator is found murdered.

Although the deceased had plenty of people willing to fill her stocking with coal, evidence pins the crime on Moe. Now it’s up to Marcy, with the help of her police officer boyfriend Ted and her Irish Wolfhound Angus, to stitch together the clues to clear Moe’s name—before someone else winds up crossed off Santa’s list for good…

My thoughts

This is the first of Amanda Lee’s series that I’ve read and I enjoyed it very much. When I think of the term “cozy mystery,” Better Off Thread fits the description perfectly. All the essential elements are present … small-town setting in Oregon, amateur detective who owns an embroidery shop, a strong supporting cast of friends, intuitive investigation, humor, a sweet romance, and the most adorable Irish Wolfhound named Angus! The writing is tight, flowing smoothly throughout. And, to top it all off, this story is completely clean – no graphic scenes or profanity!

A story or series is only as strong as its heroine, and Marcy, owner of Seven-Year Stitch, is wonderfully appealing. She’s sensitive, caring, and intelligent – the kind of person you would want for a friend. Marcy even has the hidden talent of stunt driving, revealed in a most creative way. Her romantic interest, Ted, is admirable also and readers will love the surprise ending. This story stands alone, but I’m eager to follow all the characters through the previous books as time allows.

The mystery is well plotted and kept me turning the pages. Character depth can make or break a book for me, and that is one of this story’s strengths. I especially enjoyed the scenes of Marcy assisting Santa with the children at the hospital. While Better Off Thread is a perfect read for any time of the year, it is especially enjoyable during the Christmas season.

Highly recommended. Within the cozy mystery genre, 5 stars.

Gayle Trent (and pseudonym Amanda Lee) writes the Daphne Martin Cake Decorating series  and the Embroidery Mystery series. The cake decorating series features a heroine who is starting her life over in Southwest Virginia after a nasty divorce. The Embroidery Mystery series  features a heroine who recently moved to the Oregon coast to open an embroidery specialty shop. She also writes the Down South Café Mysteries  as Gayle Leeson.

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Purchase Links:  Amazon │ B&N │ kobo

I was provided a free copy of this book through Great Escapes Tours. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

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The Female Poets of America

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The Female Poets of America by Thomas Buchanan Read. Philadelphia: E. H. Butler & Co., 1867. 478 pages. Leather.

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Sunday, December 13, 2009

Richard Alfred Herlevi

Richard Alfred Herlevi 78, died Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at the home of his brother, Waino, in Orem, Utah.

Dick was born April 19, 1931 in Scofield, UT to John Jalmer and Lillie Jarvi Herlevi. Dick was the third of eight children born to John and Lillie, four of whom survived to adulthood: Lillian LaVern Skadsberg, Diluth, MN; Walter Herlevi, Oak Harbor, WA; and Waino Herlevi, Orem, UT.

Dick attended schools in Scofield, UT, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Price, UT where he played the tuba in the Price Jr. High and Carbon High School Bands.

Dick loved to hunt and shot his first deer at age 11 with a single shot 22. He loved to hunt deer and elk and was an avid fisherman.

Dick joined the Air Force in 1949 and was a veteran of the Korean War.

He worked for Kraync Motors for 11 years and then was a mechanic for General Electric in Salt Lake City for 26 years until his retirement in 1994.

Dick spent his weekends in Scofield until he retired and then moved there permanently. He passed his time hunting and fishing, riding his ATV, keeping tabs on the town, caring for his yard and the cemetery, and selling nightcrawlers. He was an excellent cook--jams, jellies, pastries, and ribs were some of his specialties.

Dick was proceeded in death by his parents, and his first beagle, Killer #1.

He is survived by a sister and 2 brothers: LaVern Skadsberg, Walter (Esther) Herlevi, and Waino (Bette) Herlevi; nephews: Rick (Kelli), Jason (Kyoko), and Jon (Teresa), and niece: Kristine. And great -nieces: Summer and Sierra, and great-nephew: Cole Richard. And his loyal companion, Killer #2.

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Friday, April 13, 2007

Now I am well aware that the resignation of the President of the World Bank pales in comparison to the high drama that is Don Imus, but can't we at least PRETEND that we're paying attention?

To my knowledge, the part about the booing Wolfie got from the staff yesterday did not make the US papers.

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