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Thursday, March 30, 2006

"Name that Tune" meme -- ANSWERS!

Random quiz swiped from and crossposted to myspace

Rules for me:
1. Go to iTunes/iPod, set to shuffle.
2. Write down the first line of each of the next twenty songs.
3. If they are embarrassing, you still have to write them down. Sorry.
4. Any song where the title is the first line of the song must be excluded.
5. Only one song per artist.

Rules for you, dear readers:
1. NO GOOGLING (with a silent ", bitch!"). This must come out of your own brain. It’s on the honor code.
2. Leave your guesses as to which songs are represented above. They’ll be crossed out as people get them right. Guess song title. Album and artist are bonus, but not necessary for a correct score.
3. There may or may not be prizes, depending on how generous I’m feeling.
4. I’m not tagging anyone, but if you decide to play this game in your own blog, please let me know so I can play!

  1. Darling I can see the clouds around you, and in your heart I know a sorrow grows. becca got this one! "Til A Tear Becomes A Rose" by Keith Whitley (also recorded by John Prine).

  2. Hope. Everybody needs hope. Somebody's Out There Watching - The Kinleys

  3. A hundred days have made me older since the last time that I saw your pretty face. joker2 got this one! Here Without You - 3 Doors Down

  4. I was nothing but a lonely boy looking for something new. This fell under the "embarrassing songs" rule: All Revved Up With No Place To Go - Meatloaf

  5. Everybody sings a different kind of song. Made For Loving You - Doug Stone

  6. Well I'm a travelin' man, don't tie me down Give Back My Heart (You Fickle Redneck Woman) - Lyle Lovett

  7. When you wake in the morning its always there. An obscure Celtic number I didn't expect anyone to guess: You Saw His Eyes - Mary McLaughlin

  8. I search your profile for a translation. My friend K guessed that this one was the Ani tune, saying it was the only lyric "angsty" enough: Overlap - Ani DiFranco

  9. We must hide our love, its beauty to enfold in our eyes.Rose got this one: My Secret Wish - Club69

  10. Ice age, heat wave, can't complain. The World At Large - Modest Mouse

  11. Every night, I'm lyin' in bed, holdin' you close in my dream. artist by rose "The Eagles". title by anonymous "Best of My Love"

  12. On two bicycles, On a hillside desolate, Could nature make a man of me yet? This Charming Man - Death Cab For Cutie

  13. Well mamma told me when I was three, Lord, the street'll never get you nowhere. Step That Step - Sawyer Brown

  14. Paint the town, take a bow, thank everybody. Then The Morning Comes - SmashMouth

  15. He believes in the family unit, the union of man and wife. He Wants To Get Married - Reba McEntire

  16. She's an angel, and I ain't. Lord knows she deserves a saint. A little surprised nobody got this: Her Only Bad Habit Is Me - George Strait

  17. Comb your hair and paint and powder. You act proud and I'll act prouder. A Classic! Settin' The Woods On Fire - Hank Williams, Sr.

  18. If the night turned cold, and the stars looked down. opiate got the artist, Eric Clapton, although my version is by Sting. Title (anonymous) is "It's Probably Me". Bitter, anonymous?

  19. I'm on a mission, I made my decision Geek Stink Breath - Green Day

  20. We were all wounded in some domestic war. Enough Of Me - Melissa Etheridge

alright. i'll post correct answers as they come in.

My music taste is really more varied than the list would indicate, but it was a random sample of 20 from my library of several thousand tunes. So I guess the sample wasn't large enough to be representative... How did I do a whole list with no Jimmy Buffett on it?!?!?

Thursday, March 23, 2006

South Dakota Abortion Ban...

For a good time call...

I'm not a fan of abortion (who is, really?) but I am a fan of a woman having access to a legal, safe medical procedure that she, her doctor, and her faith all agree are the right one for her. I never, ever, ever want to read about a poor, desperate kid dying from the complications she suffered after a botched illegal abortion. I also want that kid to have clean, safe birth control available and education about her reproductive options, so she never has to face down a decision like abortion vs. adoption vs. single motherhood at 14, but that's a whole other blog.

Song lyrics that resonated with me today:

Breathe deeply and hold on tight
Chase away the anger in my heart
I just can’t go back down that twisted road again
I’ll fall back down, I’ll lose my soul
There’s nothing left here of my heart to break

From "Searching" by Ciao Bella

Monday, March 20, 2006

haven't you always wanted a monkey?

Your Final Quiz Score: 32 right out of a possible 60
The Monkey's Final Score: 17 right out of 60

Well done, you have sent the monkey to his defeat. Your score is unquestionably higher, and thus the lowly monkey has been proven once again to be humankind's intellectual inferior. Good work, however your score does leave room for improvement. We should like to see the human dominate even more completely!

You scored in the 76th percentile.
(76% of quiz takers scored worse than you)

Your score: 8
Monkey's score: 4
-- Quite a sufficient job.
Your score: 6
Monkey's score: 5
-- You might have done better.
Your score: 9
Monkey's score: 6
-- Good enough I suppose.
Random Trivia
Your score: 9
Monkey's score: 2
-- A handy defeat of the monkey.

Link: Monkey Challenge Trivia Quiz

Thursday, March 16, 2006

I went to Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas this weekend. What a fun trip!
I'm blogging this!
In Glen Rose, we stopped at a restaurant called Grannie's right off the old town square that was owned by a sweet -- well... a grannie-looking woman. She reminded me very much of my beloved, late, great-grandmother ("Grandmaw") in her dress with giant flower-print, matching neck-scarf, and Sunday shoes! She was within an inch of being as tall as i am, which means that for her day and time, she was GI-NORMOUS!!!! The food was delightful, Texas farm-food. If you ever find yourself in Glen Rose, stop off at Grannie's and eat. Yum! Well worth it.

Dinosaur Foot!The whole point of the trip was to get out to Dinosaur State Park and see the fossilized dinosaur footprints. I know that looks like "just a shadow" but the shadow in the middle is the footprint. The park was super-cool, and it afforded me the opportunity to take off my boots and wade barefooted in the water, as you can see. It's one of my favorite things to do in warm weather! Here I was searching for the footprints on a shallow ledge in the water. There were some kids on the ledge with me, trying to catch minnows in a butterfly net. They were way more interested in the fish than in the dinosaur footprints! Looking for dinosaur feet... Shortly after that picture was taken, I found a footprint, and turned to holler back at my friends about my discovery. That's when I discovered I was being photographed. In this last picture, I'm standing with one of my feet (my whole giant foot-long foot) inside the smallest toe-imprint of this fossil. All the fossils were three-toed, and some were much bigger than others. If we'd 'done' the park in the reverse order, where we went to the second set of footprints first, and the first set last, i would definitely have been swimming in my undies at the first set. Found the dinosaur feet! It was a WARM day. As it was, the second location was too busy, too shallow, and too full of chitlins for me to strip down and swim. The first location was perfect, but we hadn't been out in the heat long enough to make me think of swimming. If I ever go back, I'll dress differently and be prepared to take a dip!

At the entrance to the park, they have two giant fiberglass statues. One is a Tyrannosaurus Rex, the other is a Brontosaurus (now with it's name changed to Apatosaurus!). Those are probably the two most famous and recognizable dinosaurs around, and at the time the park was built they were suspected of leaving the tracks there. More research has shown that those two dinos didn't even live within 50 million years of each other, so they couldn't have laid tracks in the same strata. Brontosaurus (Big Thunder Lizard) has had his name changed to Apatosaurus (Deceptive Lizard) because, apparently, there's a lot of stuff about him that fooled early paleontologists. T. Rex (Tyrant King Lizard) is still the good old, terrifying T. Rex of my childhood. Anyway, they had these fiberglass statues, so they left them up because they're neato-looking and provide a great photo opportunity for the tourists. They now have signs near them stating clearly that these guys did not stomp around the park, but they're mascots so they get to stay. Here I am with my friend and the T. Rex.

Because I'm a nerd, I dug around until I found a website that explained which dinosaurs did actually leave tracks at the park. Here's what I found.

What Kinds of Tracks are Found in the Park?

The fossilized tracks in the Paluxy belong to two main types: many are three-toed, sharp-clawed prints made by two-legged meat-eating dinosaurs called theropods. Most of these prints (which are typically 15 to 25 inches long) are thought to have been made by Acrocanthosaurus, a 20-30 foot long carnosaur whose bones have been found in nearby areas. Others tracks in the Paluxy are even larger footprints (some over a yard long) made by huge, four-legged, long-necked plant-eating dinosaurs known as sauropods, or informally, "brontosaurs." The rear prints somewhat resemble giant bear tracks with large claws angling rearward, while the front prints are more round and elephant-like, with less distinct, peg-like toes. Sauropod tracks were unknown to science until discovered in Glen Rose in the 1930's. The most likely trackmaker candidate for the sauropod tracks is a dinosaur named Pleurocoelus, which was 30 to 50 feet long.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

My friend sent me this link. She thinks I need help waking up in the morning. Anyone who's ever had to deal with me before my first cup of coffee concurs, of course. Including me. Her favorites are 10, 6, and 1. Mine are 10, 9, 2, and 1. The only problem with 2 is that it requires one person to be awake to get the other person up. It's obviously not going to work for me. But if I ever get to have kids, my kids are going to HATE the grenade. Muahahahahahahahaha!

Monday, March 06, 2006

a monday meme

rather than saying any of the entirely-too-deep things that are in my head today, i've decided to post a meme! i know you're utterly surprised to hear that i'd rather deflect the topic than talk about my inner workings, but try to contain your shock. now, muster up some curiosity and do the meme! this, you may note, requires you to comment...

Ask me a question about EACH of the following:
- Friends
- Sex
- Music
- Religion
- Love
- Blogging
Then post this in your blog and see what questions you get asked!

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Yea, Vermont!!!

This afternoon the Vermont state House of Representatives passed H865, which would add gender identity as a protected class to the state anti-discrimination laws. The bill now moves to the state Senate for consideration.

NCTE congratulates the Vermont TransAction Coalition, as well as RU12, SafeSpace, Outright Vermont and the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force for their diligent work. Transgender Vermonters also should be thankful for Representative Bill Lippert, who has shepherded the bill through the state house.

The passage of the bill came on a voice vote, though the yes votes clearly outnumbered the neas. According to NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling, "When NCTE helped with training and strategy around this bill last year in Montpelier, it was apparent the folks in Vermont were committed to getting this law on the books as soon as possible."

If passed by the Senate and signed by the Governor, H865 would make Vermont the eighth state to have explicitly legislated anti-discrimination protections for transgender people. Washington state passed their law earlier this year.

NCTE Congratulates all of the advocates in Vermont for their hard work on this legislation.

National Center for Transgender Equality

phone: 202-903-0112


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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

deadbeat summer

How great is the weather, right? This romper/playsuit/onesie came right on time. From the lovely people at Chateau Vintage.

1 comment:

  1. that's an amazing print! and yes the weather is so lovely! i only wish i didn't have exams or didn't work so i could enjoy every minute of it :P

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Thursday, July 17, 2008

Scenes from an Execution

Photo/Stan Barouh

Scenes from an Execution opens literally, with its actors frozen in tableau as the narrator, aptly named Sketchbook (Allison Corke), draws us back to Venice, 1571. Galactia methodically pencils in her lover's buttocks, quick in her maddening brilliance to observe that "dead men float with their arses in the air." She is preparing to paint the great naval battle of Lepanto for the Doge, so she drives off her childish lover and focuses on Prodo (Peter Schmitz), "The Man With A Crossbow Bolt in His Head." He is content to be a freak, but neither Galactia nor Barker are willing to paint such a one-dimensional battle: instead, they shatter the audience's "peace with life" by daring to expose Truth.

The play next wrestles with the figurative interpretation, with Galactia's struggle to look, not to simply see. This is theatrical contradiction that drives the political strife, for Galactia has no intention of making Admiral Suffici (Robert Zukerman) "glorious," as his brother, the Doge, demands. Instead, she plans to paint him with a look of indifference in a sea of corpses, daring Cardinal Ostensible (Timothy Deenihan) to punish her and hence martyr the idea she believes in. Suffici warns her that "There is no such thing as what happened. Only viewed of what happened. Just as there is no such thing as a man. Only images of him." Her own daughter, Supporta (Lucy Faust), and Gina Rivera (Patricia Buckley), warn her for other reasons: her actions may damn the cause of women painters throughout Venice. But like Riddler, an equally stony Barker protagonist (A Hard Heart), Galactia believes she knows best, and her pleasure in this allows her to gleefully cast aside as many lives as it takes.

The final section of the play plunges into a symbolic interpretation, with Galactia "blinded" in prison for her treason, and Carpeta transfixed like his own passion paintings. It's a mark of excellent direction that Richard Romagnoli so easily swims between the styles: though Barker lives by the text, his scripts would simply be essays without some sort of visual flair. Galactia shows her single-minded focus by causing a scene in a funeral procession, one body fighting a current of silent and solemn gatherers. Later, the entire width of the stage sets up a panoramic view of the "Battle of Lepanto," entirely through the eyes of its actors.

Jan Maxwell makes a perfect Galactia, playing the painter like a mature Joan of Arc. She fights like a warrior as she defends her work from three drunken soldiers, and then reverts to childish behavior as she giddily unveils her finished work to her lover. As for this lover, David Barlow provides a necessary balance for Maxwell's moodiness, exaggerating just enough to be comic, but no so much that he distorts himself beyond the needy humanity of the later scenes. The play is also aided by Alex Draper, who plays the pompous Doge with a constant menace beneath his affability. Barker's words are layered with double meanings, for his characters, politically motivated, are very clever: Mr. Draper (who starred in last year's No End to Blame) is there, word for word, but with an unctuous charisma all his own.

Howard Barker's plays are not performed often enough in New York, perhaps because the material sometimes seems dated or because the conflicts are so intellectual. Both of these things are misconceptions by those who only glance at the script: that's the mistake of seeing without looking. Potomac's strong production of Scenes from an Execution is one hell of an opportunity to really look at an artist's struggle to say something; it is far more than mere drapery.

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Boko Haram ambush Army commanding officer’s convoy, kills six

By Tony Edike on 21/10/2017

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 A report by Sahara Reporters claims that six persons were killed on Thursday, October 19, when suspected Boko Haram terrorists ambushed the convoy of a Nigerian military senior officer.

According to the report, the terrorists attacked the Nigerian Army's commanding officer near Bulabilin, a village along the Maiduguri/Damboa highway.

Quoting an unnamed security source, the report also said the attack left scores of injured people.

The commanding officer’s convoy was reportedly travelling along the road when it suddenly came under heavy fire by insurgents.

The source said: “Our convoy came under terrorist attack yesterday a few kilometres after Bulabilin when the commanding officer of Bulabilin village was going to Damboa. Unrepentant terrorists killed our soldiers and seriously wounded others,” said the source.

He added that the wounded soldiers were taken to the military hospital in Maiduguri for treatment.

The Nigeria military is yet to issue a statement on the alleged ambush at the time of this report.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon on Monday, August 28, notified the U.S. Congress that Nigeria is set to buy 12 Super Tucano A-29 planes and weapons worth $593 million (over N200 billion).

It was specifically mentioned that Nigeria wants to utilize the planes for its fight against Boko Haram.

The Super Tucano A-29, an agile, propeller-driven plane with reconnaissance and surveillance as well as attack capabilities, is made by Brazil’s Embraer.

Both countries hope that the propeller-driven warplanes — tailored for counter-insurgency operations — will bolster Nigerian efforts to combat Boko Haram.

Posted 21/10/2017 07:06:11 AM

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Sep 13, 2008

"Keeping The Faith"

This movie is the directorial debut of the critically acclaimed Edward Norton. The story is simple and straightforward. I don't see what much of a challenge Norton must have faced to make a movie with very basic a plot and really no room for dramatic achievement. It's a sweet romantic comedy with a theme of religious tolerance hovering in the background. Norton plays the priest, Ben Stiller is the rabbi and Elfman is the childhood friend who revisits just when Stiller needs to find a wife to get a promotion.

There really isn't much to be said about the film (which is a first considering Norton is in it) except for this dialogue:

Father Brian Kilkenney Finn: The truth is, I don't really learn that much about your faith by asking questions like that... because those aren't really questions about faith, those are questions about religion. And it's very important to understand the difference between religion and faith. Because faith is not about having the right answers. Faith is a feeling. Faith is a hunch, really. It's a hunch that there is something bigger connecting it all... connecting us all together. And that feeling, that hunch, is God. And coming here tonight, on your Sunday evening... to connect with that feeling, that is an act of faith. And so all I have to do is look around the room at this packed church... to know that we're doing pretty well as a community. Even if all of you failed my pop quiz miserably.

Mampi said...

Even if there was not much to be said about the movie, you must say it.
TEll me more about the movie.

Majaz said...

It's just a regular romantic comedy, not even very funny or unique in its plot. Just another romcom. Period. :)

19may80 said...

I remember seeing this movie ages ago - it was pretty mehhh.

I thought you would like this quote:
Rabbi Jacob Schram: "God is a lot like Blanche Du Bois."

Majaz said...

Hahahah! Yeah, I loved that! Forgot to post it! Thanks!


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Ratings Key

= Excellent. The best the genre has to offer.
1/2 = Very Good. Perhaps not "perfect," but undoubtedly a must-see.
★★★ = Good. Accomplishes what it sets out to do and does it well.
★★1/2 = Fair. Clearly flawed and nothing spectacular, but competently made. OK entertainment.
★★ = Mediocre. Either highly uneven or by-the-numbers and uninspired.
1/2 = Bad. Very little to recommend.
= Very Bad. An absolute chore to sit through.
NO STARS! = Abysmal. Unwatchable dreck that isn't even bad-movie amusing.
SBIG = So Bad It's Good. Technically awful movies with massive entertainment value.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Der schwarze Abt (1963)

... aka: Black Abbot, The
... aka: Edgar Wallace e l'abate nero

Directed by:
Franz Josef Gottlieb

I usually like to start out my reviews doing a cursory overview of the plot and characters, but I'm really going to have to restrain myself here. I could probably do a write-up as long as the Edgar Wallace novel this is based upon if I don't watch it. A very complex mystery that requires a viewer's full attention, this is filled with scheming, duplicitous characters who are all linked together in a variety of different ways. Each has a past and each has their own possible motive for murder. The events take place in and around the Chelford Manor; a huge estate owned by the paranoid and possibly insane Harry Chelford (Dieter Borsch) and rumored to have two-and-a-half tons of gold hidden somewhere on the grounds. The film opens with the murder of a man lurking around the abbey, who's stabbed in the back by a killer dressed in a black abbot's robe. Harry was just taking a midnight stroll around where the murder took place. His administrator Dick Alford (Joachim Fuchsberger) found the body... and left behind his pipe at the scene of the crime. Ex con butler Thomas Streisser (Klaus Kinski), who's now going by the alias Thomas Fortuna, also stumbled upon the body... and Dick's pipe next to it. These three are just the tip of the iceberg as far as suspects are concerned.

Scotland Yard Inspector Puddler (Charles Régnier) and his goofy assistant Horatio W. Smith (Eddi Arent) set up shop inside the Chelford home until the crime is solved and meet a host of potential murderers. Harry is engaged to be married to the much-younger Leslie Gine (Grit Böttcher), who's actually in love with Dick (and vice versa). Harry really has nothing to do with her ("Love is for people who lack the ability needed to face reality.") and just wants her to produce an heir. She claims she's only agreed to the loveless union because her lawyer brother Arthur (Harry Wüstenhagen) is in dire need of money. Harry's former private secretary (and lover) Mary Wenner (Eva Ingeborg Scholz) once almost became the Lady of the estate, until he tossed her aside. Now determined to get her hands on the treasure, she's discovered the whereabouts of the gold but isn't going to squeal until Harry and Leslie are split up so she can marry him and become the lady of the estate. Meanwhile, Fabian Gilder (Werner Peters), pudgy head office clerk at Arthur's firm, discovers his boss has falsified documents and forged signatures pertaining to the Chelford estate. Having already skimmed 160,000 dollars from the company using a variety of false names, Gilder decides to blackmail Arthur. What does he want? Well, he's also in love with Leslie and wants to marry her...

So basically, Harry is set to be married to Leslie who is actually in love with Dick but Fabian wants to marry Leslie and Mary wants to marry Harry. Aside from the romantic complications, there's are a lot of business intermingling I won't go into detail about. The less said about the mystery the better. Horror fans can feast on atmospheric, foggy scenes set in a cemetery and forest, a bat-filled secret tomb containing pieces of a treasure map, the (maybe) ghost of the (supposedly) dead former lady of the manor wandering the grounds and, or course, many sightings of the black abbot phantom figure. And, of course, several more murders as the suspect roster is whittled down. Though often confusing and hurt some by Arent's irritating comic character, it's well-acted and very handsomely photographed. Some of the camerawork is pretty offbeat (like an upside down shot flipping around) and there are some great catacomb sets used at the very end.

Something Weird originally released this on VHS and there's a restored German DVD from Kinowelt (which has an English subtitle option). Director Gottlieb directed numerous other Wallace adaptations (like the following year's The Phantom of Soho) and the non-Wallace vampire flick Lady Vampire (1975), which is difficult to find these days.

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Friday, April 14, 2017

*Interview* with author Hannah Fielding

Interview with author Hannah Fielding

1.  Tell us a little about yourself.
I was born in Alexandria, Egypt, a city founded in the year 332 BC by order of Alexander the Great, a Greek king of Macedonia.

I went to a convent school, and after I graduated with a BA in French literature, my international nomadic years started. I lived mainly in Switzerland, France and England, and holidayed in other Mediterranean countries like Italy, Greece and Spain.
I met my husband in London at a drinks party: it was love at first sight, just like in the romance books that were my constant companions. We settled in a Georgian house in Kent where I brought up our two children, while looking after horses and dogs and running my own business renovating rundown cottages.
My children have now flown the nest and my husband and I spend half our time in our Georgian rectory in Kent and the rest in our home in the South of France, which overlooks the Mediterranean.

2.  How long have you been writing?
Behind closed doors, for as long as I can remember! But my debut novel, Burning Embers, was published in 2012, and since then I have published four more novels.

3.  Tell us about your books.
My most recent novels are the Andalucían Nights trilogy:
Spain – and Andalucía in particular – is a land of flamboyance and drama. The weather also reflects this exuberance: all year azure skies, dazzling sunshine and sweetly fragranced gardens… colour, romance, emotion. The people are intense; their culture, their music, their traditions personify passion and fire. Where better to set a family saga that spans three generations, from 1950 to the present day?
My romance novel Indiscretion is set in the 1950s. General Franco’s regime was in full swing in Spain. The book poses a question: Can love survive in a world where scandal and danger are never far away? Alexandra feels torn between her two heritages, her two families, and two different ways of life. Her attempt to reconcile these is one of the main themes of my novel.
Masquerade is set in the second half of the seventies. Franco is dead and the nation is reborn. Spain has opened its borders to outsiders and is preparing to enter what is now the European Union. Luz, Alexandra’s daughter and the heroine of Masquerade, has a much more emancipated attitude to life. Masquerade is a story of forbidden love, truth and trust, and it poses a different question: Are appearances always deceptive?
In Legacy, the final (forthcoming) book, the story takes place in the present day and Spain has changed out of all recognition. It is a much more liberal country. However, the problems the hero and heroine have to face, the hurdles they must overcome, are of a more complex nature and are almost more challenging.

4.  Do you have a certain writing process or routine?
I have a very rigid routine which has served well. Once I am ready to write, I follow a daily routine that ensures I spend plenty of time writing and editing the previous day’s writing, fuelled with fruit tea.
In winter I write indoors in my office, at a big wooden desk overlooking the back lawn where sometimes I see wild rabbits hopping about. In summer I write outdoors when I can – in the gazebo in Kent, or on the terrace in France – because I love the smells and sounds and sights of nature. If I want a change of scene, I take my notebook to a garden overlooking the sea, a meadow carpeted with wildflowers or a cafe bustling with people where I can find the description for one of my characters.
It usually takes me nine months to write a book from the moment I begin my research to the time I write the word END at the bottom of the last page… It’s a bit like having a baby!

5.  What has been your favorite book to write so far?  Least favorite?
Masquerade is my favourite so far, because I really enjoyed the art symbolism in the book (the heroine, Luz, is writing a biography of a famous Spanish Surrealist). I love art myself, and it was wonderful to have an excuse to immerse myself in this field.
Indiscretion, the first book in the Andalucian Nights trilogy, was my hardest challenge, because my heroine, Alexandra, was living in a society in which she was extremely restricted. In 1950s Spain, women had very few rights; they were essentially expected to be good little wives and mothers and nothing else. I always write strong, independent heroines with careers, so it was a challenge to fit Alexandra into this time – until I realised that Alexandra herself would be encountering the same challenge, and so that is how I wrote her: having to walk the line between being herself and conforming to expectations for women.
6.  Did you always know that you wanted to be an author?
The rambling house in which I grew up was built on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean. My bedroom was light and airy and its three windows commanded the most breathtaking views of the ever-changing sea, up to the harbour in the distance, with glowing sunsets and romantic moonlit nights over a scintillating ocean. These spectacular tableaux made my imagination run away and I would dream of princes that flew in from faraway lands on a magic carpet, of princesses dressed in gowns made of sun rays and of moonbeams, and of dragons lurking in those vast blue depths, rising from the waves that crashed against the rocks underneath my windows. I think that although in those days I had not yet formulated it in my mind, I always wanted to become a writer; it was really the only way to live the fascinating tales I dreamt up.

7.  Do you have another job or do you write full time?
Full time, I am delighted to report! I’ve been writing all my life, keeping a journal and writing stories during my childhood and after I married, while looking after my children, dogs and horses, and running my property company. But I only was able to give writing my full attention once my children had flown the nest and my company was more or less running itself. It’s wonderful to now have the time and space to write daily.

8.  Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
First and foremost, write from the heart. Be true to yourself and don’t compromise to please the market. Market change, fads come and go; your work will remain.
Research your facts thoroughly. A writer today has no excuse for not getting his/her facts right. Use all the tools available to you. Travel, internet, books, films, documentaries; it’s all there to enrich your experience and make your writing journey easier.
Plan your novel up to the smallest detail. This will make your writing so much easier and therefore so much more enjoyable. A plan is your map. Would you set out on a long journey by car without a map?
Read, reread, and reread. Edit, edit, edit. Go through your manuscript again and again and edit it. I know that it will break your heart to delete a phrase or even one word you spent time agonizing over, but sometimes less is better than more. Not easy advice to follow, but in the long run it does work. If you can leave the manuscript alone for a few weeks and revisit it at a later date, reading it as if it were someone else’s, then that’s even better.
Do not get discouraged. Continue to write whether you think your work is good or bad. There is no bad writing. There are good days and bad days. The more you write, the better you will get.

9.  What do you like to do in your spare time?
Reading: naturally! I read across many genres but I love romantic novels the best. The thicker the book, the better.
Walking: I live part of the year in the south of France, and I love taking long walks on the beach on a sunny day and letting my mind drift. In England I walk in the beautiful Kentish countryside, when weather permits; I’m not one for rain and blustery winds.
Cooking: I love cooking for guests, using the various produce of our vegetable garden: jams, chutneys, stuffed vine leaves (dolmadis), stuffed savoury and sweet filo pastry cushions, stewed fruit for winter crumbles – the list is endless.

10.  Are you working on anything right now?
I have four books in the pipeline:
First, Aphrodite’s Tears, an intriguing and exciting romance inspired by Greek mythology set on the Greek Islands.

Then a dark story of love and revenge set in Luxor, Egypt, the land of my birth, a world of deeply ingrained customs and traditions, interesting though often cruel.

After that, my readers can look forward to a love story that tackles contemporary women’s problems and is set on the French Riviera and by beautiful Lake Como.
Now I am working on a dark romance set in the beautiful setting of Ireland, the land of fairy-tales and legends.

Hannah Fielding is an incurable romantic. The seeds for her writing career were sown in early childhood, spent in Egypt, when she came to an agreement with her governess Zula: for each fairy story Zula told, Hannah would invent and relate one of her own. Years later – following a degree in French literature, several years of travelling in Europe, falling in love with an Englishman, the arrival of two beautiful children and a career in property development – Hannah decided after so many years of yearning to write that the time was now. Today, she lives the dream: writing full time at her homes in Kent, England, and the South of France, where she dreams up romances overlooking breath-taking views of the Mediterranean.
Hannah is a multi-award-winning novelist, and to date she has published five novels: Burning Embers, ‘romance like Hollywood used to make’, set in Kenya; The Echoes of Love, ‘an epic love story that is beautifully told’ set in Italy; and the Andalusian Nights Trilogy Indiscretion, Masquerade and Legacy – her fieriest novels yet, set in sunny, sultry Spain.

A troubled young journalist finds her loyalties tested when love and desire unearth dark secrets from the past.
Spring, 2010. When Luna Ward, a science journalist from New York, travels halfway across the world to work undercover at an alternative health clinic in Cadiz, her ordered life is thrown into turmoil.
The doctor she is to investigate, the controversial Rodrigo Rueda de Calderon, is not what she expected. With his wild gypsy looks and devilish sense of humour, he is intent upon drawing her to him. But how can she surrender to a passion that threatens all reason; and how could he ever learn to trust her when he discovers her true identity? Then Luna finds that Ruy is carrying a corrosive secret of his own…
Luna’s native Spanish blood begins to fire in this land of exotic legends, flamboyant gypsies and seductive flamenco guitars, as dazzling Cadiz weaves its own magic on her heart. Can Luna and Ruy’s love survive their families’ legacy of feuding and tragedy, and rise like the phoenix from the ashes of the past?
Legacy is a story of truth, dreams and desire. But in a world of secrets you need to be careful what you wish for…

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Extractive (incl. oil & gas), Sectors - Written by on Thursday, October 20, 2011 4:21 - 1 Comment

Mining/extractive industry Bribery Act masterclass

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We’re pleased to announce our  mining/extractive industry anti-bribery masterclass.

This will be held on Friday,  December 2nd from 3pm-5pm at our offices.

We are very fortunate that we shall be joined by mining sector industry experts from Control Risks as well as a Group Chief Compliance Officer from a large PLC well versed in the issues.

Participants will have the unique opportunity to hear about corporations do business globally in traditionally high risk jurisdictions with a zero tolerance approach to corruption.

In a very practical way this masterclasses will focus on the challenges facing a high risk industry.

The masterclass will be targeted to those who work solely in the mining and extractive industry and look at the issues and challenges they face in dealing with the Bribery Act and ongoing compliance issues.

The masterclass will run on the Chatham House Rule.

Attendance is free but places will be limited to 12 people.

If you would like to participate please email: barry.vitou@pinsentmasons.com.

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Laura Covill
Nov 1, 2011 2:05

I am the anti-bribery compliance officer at Renaissance Group, an international investment bank with a particular focus on metals and mining as well as several other industries. Our core markets are Russia/CIS and Africa.

If I am not too late I would be keen to participate!

Many thanks

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Tire Mountain Trail

The Tire Mountain Trail is an example of a wild area accessible by foot or mountain bike. It is maintained by Forest Service personnel as well as by mountain bikers such as the Oakridge/Westfir trails group and Disciples of Dirt mountain bike club from Eugene.

The trail is accessed via dirt roads leaving from Westfir and the Office covered bridge. It is a hearty climb on foot or bike, but the views are fabulous. The wildflowers along this trail are spectacular, appearing at different elevations year-round. The birding opportunities also run year-round: eagles, buzzards, hawks and songbirds are often sighted.

  • Seasonal access, April to November (based on snow)
  • Interpretive signage
  • Visitor center nearby

Get more information on this area from TravelOregon.com

National Geographic


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Sunday, July 29, 2012

Nose to the Grind Stone!

  As promised, I've been keeping my nose to the grind stone the last few days. I've sat at my computer drawing and writing the first 2 patterns in my Love & Valor series. They go to the printer tomorrow. Let me tell you, 8-10 hour days at the computer does not make me a happy camper! It does make me happy to get 2 patterns done though. The sore shoulders, lower back, and tired eyes are almost worth it. I really want to get them all on the market this fall, but they won't make it to Fall Market, darn. I do have some exciting news, though; the movie, Love and Valor, based on Charles F. Larimer's book, is scheduled to appear on Virginia Public Television in the near future. The video will be offered for sale during the show, as well as my L&V patterns! Hopefully, other public television stations across the country will pick it up too. That definitely motivates me to get them ready. I will start with seven and if they are popular, I have others for the series in the planning stage.

  To keep my spirits up while toiling at the computer, I've taken little mini sewing breaks to paper-piece some tiny Log Cabin blocks. They are so cute. I have no plans for them, but they're fun to make. Maybe I'll sew them into a doll quilt. Speaking of doll quilts, the mailman has been good to me this week. I received 2 more doll quilts via mail.

On Tuesday...Isn't this one nice? It's from the 1930's and measures 20' x 20".

 This one came the next day.  A simple 4-Patch on point c1900-1910, with some repairs made in the 1930's (based on the fabrics appliqued over the worn patches.) It has a neat homespun blue/white check binding. It is 20" x 21".
   I don't think I shared these with you yet. They came a few weeks ago while I was busy getting ready for my Florissant, MO trip. This c1930's Periwinkle is an eye popper with all that red, no quilting, just backed with muslin and front and back edges turned in without binding. It is 18" x 22 1/2".

 This c1880-1900 Nine-Patch fits perfectly on the large walnut doll bed I got in New Hampshire this year. It is 14 1/2" x 19 1/2". The back is pieced of several pieces of homespun in charcoal/white and tan/white.
   I made a ticking wool-stuffed mattress for the bed the day this quilt came. No pillow yet, but Kathleen Tracy posted a great tutorial on making a doll bed pillow and pillow case on July 24th. I intend to make one using her directions. Thanks, Kathleen!

  Ok, that's the end of my break for this evening. Back to work! Keep stitching. I'll be stitching again soon, I hope.

  1. I'll keep an eye out for that movie Love & Valour, it'll probably be a while before I can get a copy of it, it always takes ages to get Downunder! I remember it took ages to get a copy of The Conspirator, which was just fabulous! Look forward to seeing your patterns too! Love your little Doll quilts too, they are just so darn cute!!!! Take lots of breaks and do some stretches when you have to do long stints at the computer!!!! Take care!

  2. Love all the little quilts...

  3. I would really love to see that movie. I didn't see it listed on the local PBS station, but will try to keep my eye out for it. Congratulations for having your blocks up for sale during the movie!! That's wonderful!

  4. I love the little red & white quilt! It's just stunning!


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Sunday, June 9, 2013

New House News

   Although we're building a new house, my heart belongs to the look of old houses. I definitely plan on incorporating vintage charm into this new home. One way to accomplish this was to find an old fireplace mantel instead of the new oak one the builder tried to talk me into. I've been hearing about Preservation Station in Burlington, Iowa, where they offer for sale architectural salvage from old homes and buildings being razed locally. It is run by volunteers belonging to Heritage Trust. I did some inquiring and found out they are only open on Saturday mornings, 9 AM to 1 PM. Yesterday was the first Saturday I've been free for over a month, so off I went to Burlington with high hopes. It was love at first sight. That place is an old house lover's paradise. I asked if they had fireplace mantels and the lady at the counter said, "Well, we do, but they are all (four) listed on ebay now. :(  If you know me, you know I can be persuasive and persistent. My devastation was obvious on my face as I told her what and why I wanted one. She hesitated and called "Steve" (not sure who or what he is, but he relented) and I was shown the mantels. The first was small, curvy, lady-like, and painted "kitchen green". It looked like it belonged in a lady's bedroom, but it was very charming. I just couldn't picture it as the "one" for my living room. The next was big, oak, had "wings" on each side coming forward, needed refinished, and alas, was missing the mantel shelf, all for $500! The third was neat, dark finish, but in rough shape. The last one was AMAZING! AND like Goldilocks, I found it was just right! It was 7' tall x 5' wide, dark oak finish, columns on each side holding up a full-width mantel shelf, with a beveled glass mirror over that, followed by 2 more columns supporting a top shelf. I was in love. I tried not to let myself become too attached and asked what the dimensions were, as it may not work for our house. The builder told me the corner wall space is 6' 8" and the firebox is 36", so it had to fit on the wall while allowing for the firebox to fit too. My heart raced as they measured and then they announced the dimensions. I actually teared up when I found out it would fit and the price was not out of reach for me. I was so emotional the lady gave me a hug and said, " People like you are why we do this. We love to see someone find exactly what they want  and have that instant "heart connection" with it.

   Here it is...

  It took me awhile to settle down after my love affair with my mantel. I wandered around looking at the other old treasures. I suddenly remembered the other items on my wish list. I asked if they had old tiles. I had envisioned tiles with a delft look or willow ware in crisp blue and white, even age crackling would be forgiven. I wanted them to use around the firebox. The lady started showing me tiles, all stone look or solid colors, nothing ornate. Then we went around to the other side and she opened a box and said, "These aren't blue, but they have a design." I was love struck again! Does that mean I'm promiscuous?! They weren't delft or the shade of blue I had wanted, but they spoke to me and made me think of all my trips to Maine and the majestic ocean waves thundering on the rocky shoreline. Do they even have dolphins off the Maine shore? I didn't care, they still made me "homesick" for my annual visit to Melissa's with my Sissy. I took one out on the sidewalk to see the color in true light. Definitely teal/blue, and my heart was racing again. They will be installed one dolphin wide all around the firebox and I'll have plenty left over to possibly use along the top of the master bath counter.
  I also found a pair of french doors to use in between the family room and my quilt studio. Didn't think to take a picture of those. I spent over 2 hours at Preservation Station and will be a frequent visitor from now on.

  Jane had invited me to meet her for lunch in Fort Madison since she was picking up her husband after a bike ride from Fairfield and it is only 6 miles across the river from Mom's. I just made it from Burlington in time for our 1 o'clock lunch at the Ivy Bake Shoppe. We had a good visit while eating and then visited an antique shop up the street. You won't believe it. I walked in, looked to the right and hanging on the wall was a painting on wood of a sailing ship with the exact same teal used for the water and the ship's sails. I had to have it to hang by the fireplace next to the dolphin tiles. It wasn't till I'd paid and the lady was wrapping it that I noticed a label on the back. It gives the story of the painting. It is signed and dated 2002, but is a copy of an 1827 painting of "The General Brown" sailed out of Boston, Massachusetts, captained by Austin Matson.  It was definitely my lucky day.

  I spotted some poison green among a stack of quilts on the way out and stopped to investigate. It was a Civil War Era quilt and priced reasonably, so, of course, it came home with me too! I haven't taken a picture of it yet. It will be in my display for the first time when I speak in Missouri Valley the 18th.

  It's killing me not to be able to quilt, but I can at least work in Mom's garden since mine is now owned by a lovely couple who adore it!

  Till next time, keep stitching!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

  We had the closing on our house on Tuesday and now we're officially homeless....temporarily. We've moved in with Mom which is 50 miles from Mt. Pleasant, while our house is being built. We're having a modular home built according to our design by Heckaman Homes in Indiana. It is supposed to be done by June 24th. The only problem is with all the rain we've had, we have no basement to put the house on! It has to happen soon or we're in trouble. I really want to be moved in before school starts and it starts early this year. The house comes in sections on big rigs, a crane sets the pieces on the foundation all in a day. A crew from Heckaman Homes stays for a week finishing the inside. Local contractors will do the plumbing, electrical, heating, cooling, etc. All of that takes 4-6 weeks. The garage is built after that. We will be cutting it close to be done before August 15th, my first day back to work! I may start the school year the way this one ended, with me working like crazy to get settled and unpacked and existing on way too little sleep. Oh, but it will be worth it in the end.

  Yesterday was my first day to relax in over a month and boy, did I take advantage of that! I sat at the table with Mom drinking tea and gabbing till almost noon! I felt decadent. The day flew by and I had accomplished absolutely NOTHING! Hee hee. I'm beginning to feel rested after a couple nights of something more than 5 hours of sleep. I was really suffering from sleep deprivation. I hope my memory and thought process returns to normal soon. I've been struggling to keep up at work and life. I'm speaking/teaching in Missouri Valley, Iowa on June 18th and 19th and I want to be in "full-game mode" by then.

  No pictures to share now, but Randy bought a Hot Spot service contract so we could access the internet here at Mom's. Yippee! I'm back online and can receive/answer emails. Not quite life as usual, but getting close. In the meantime, Mom has 24 hour company and seems happy about it. (Or she's a very gifted actress!)

  Till I have something worth talking about, Keep Stitching!


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His Masters Voice

Ever looked at that logo for the His Masters Voice - the dog and the phonograph and thought how cool ? I always hated it, there was a reason, I overdosed on it as a child. It was painted by a guy called Francis Barraud who I am related to. I'm blessed with having had two painters in my distant bloodline, both Royal Academy artists. Several logos including Colmans Mustard and Kiwi Cherry boot polish both originated from members of my family who no doubt died penniless having never realised their potential in the first two decades of the twentieth century.

The reason I bring up the HMV dog and gramaphone analogy is that I work in a team led by one of the most technically gifted people I've ever had the pleasure to meet, Bryan Che, and tonight whilst I was playing catch up with articles written while I was on leave I happened to read my RSS feeds, noticing Bryan had posted a new article on Cloud.

It's a doozie. If you don't go read it you're going to kick yourself - seriously, I mean it, follow the link below.

The 2nd Tenet of Evaluating Cloud Products, You Have to Know What Problems You Want to Solve

I have to up my game, articles like this make me just want to go listen to some Cloud podcasts and firm up the next few articles I want to get out to you. Go read the article !


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Tag Archives: hack

The all enveloping genre that is known already as the Internet of Things is fast becoming labelled as being the fastest threats to emerge on our communal radar. Presenting a disorganised chaos of hard to own and manage assets delivering potentially the biggest and most arduous to secure threat fabrics ever seen in information technology.

Come with me on a trip as we turn the hands of time back to 1934  and to visualise a classification system still in use today, based on decisions made over eighty years ago when technology and communications were in their infancy. Lets explore why to not do something in the near future will destroy the promise of IoT before it has a chance to get started.

Attacks such as those seen on OVH, Brian Krebbs and now DynDns are the very start, without standardisation, without collaboration and concerted effort we may be judged in years to come as squandering opportunities to deliver flexible safe computing for the next generation.

In the 1920s and 1930s communications firms, telegraph companies and emerging radio broadcasters globally were all finding their communal feet. Existing legislation on commerce dating back to the late 1880s in the form of the ICC (The Interstate Commerce Commission) was originally conceived to manage and to counsel and prevent the ambitions of companies across America seeking to monopolise the pace of railtrack and to provide regulations on their running and operation.

The ICC by the 1930s did not scale to take into account the technological revolution that even in its embryonic state showed the promise of making the world smaller overnight. The Post Office with its Telegraph Rights, the ICC, and the Federal Radio Commission all wrapped up and became one with what would be known as the FCC. So in 1934 The Federal Communications Commission was born. North America all of a sudden had an all encompassing standards body, which would blaze a trail for countries all over the world to emulate.

If you turn over any piece of computer equipment in the US and for export (so globally) you will see an FCC rating, the FCC even today being the standards body responsible for standards implementation within its public safety and enforcement role, eighty two years after it’s inception.

Since then we’ve seen other standards bodies, CE - from the European Commission signifying their “New Approach” methodology for device manufacture and testing, UL - Underwriters Laboratories, the EMC standards for electromagnetic devices or EN standards around electrical manufacture and quality assurance. Other countries such as Australia and Canada have other systems too. However, the FCC has stood the test of time for everything from radio broadcast and spectrum management, emergence of telecommunications standards. However when it comes to the Internet of Things it’s legs fall off.

The majority of devices today, that make up the provisioned devices that are thought of as making up the predominance of the IoT global estate are often cheaply manufactured. They're mass produced dime a dozen fast to market appliances. Many mimicking products that are more expensive and playing catchup with cloned or copied devices. Many use commodity small footprint OS that may once have found their basis in Linux and Open Source communities but have been sufficiently bastardised and forked into an unsupportable image to satisfy the commodity hardware or storage footprint allowed for device operation.

Many of these devices are not connected to always on networks and have no methodology to autoupdate (where the supplier provides that functional capability). Many ship with default passwords that users then fail to change. Many that are connected to IPv4 networks have never had updates or the updates don’t address the serious underlying security weaknesses and the versions of SSH or promiscuous daemons or services running on them. These core issues as we have seen over the last month first with the attack on the Akamai hosted site where Brian Krebbs was taken offline, then round two hitting OVH, Freenode and others and then last Friday where DynDNS was all but taken offline in the latest iteration of this now almost predictable rush to launch DDoS, then creating a huge internet real estate impact.

And nowhere is there an applicable standards body or international body that polices devices prior to shipping or at the point of manufacture to ensure device hardening. Failure to prove off security concepts and issues with the developer / manufacturer are ever present. If this was concerning the manufacure of vehicle airbags or making a childseat the issue would be entirely addressed.

What we have are companies rushing to get devices to market for consumer consumption, be that Google with their acquired Nest and Home products, Amazon with Echo are all probably at the higher end of the marketplace appreciating their users are often not that conversant with securing anything they buy. Certainly devices from manufacters such as Eurotech, Evrythng and others embrace the use of PKI and TLS and have got the authentication right at point of design and provision. We aren’t addressing those but the plethora of companies from China to Malaysia, from Hungary to Thailand which are shipping devices with dated aged insecure OS platforms. These are almost always given less thought than the packaging that they ship in or the plastics used in manufacture. Aged versions of Busybox, twelve year old SSH vulnerabilities and services turned on that should never be listening.

The IPSO Alliance, The Industrial Internet Consortium, FiWare, Open Daylight IoDM, Hypercat, The All Seen Alliance, I could go on but I won’t, the list of “standards bodies” and consortia grows almost by the month. The one thing that is for sure is that they have one thing in common, none of them are relevant and making any impact on the root problem.

For this to be impacting it has to be done at the import/export level and we have to have government and industry backed assistance to make it happen. Turning the clock back to 1934 and working with the relevant governments and agencies will be the only way of enforcing change on commodity hardware vendors who are about the units shipped not the units hacked.


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Articles on Carbon dioxide

Displaying 1 - 20 of 117 articles

For a megacity, Tokyo is rich in trees. gillyberlin/flickr

We calculated how much money trees save for your city

In an increasingly urban world, trees can make a major difference. One study found that, for every dollar invested in planting, megacities saw a $2.50 return on their investment.
Researchers studied reef sands at Heron Island, Hawaii, Bermuda and Tetiaroa. In this photo, white areas show the predominance of sand on reefs. Southern Cross University

Our acid oceans will dissolve coral reef sands within decades

Ocean acidification poses an increasing threat to the sediments that form the framework of coral reefs - within around 30 years, these carbonate sands may no longer be able to form.
Children march at the welcoming ceremony of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) in Bonn, Germany. (UNclimatechange/flickr)

How citizens are fighting climate change on the global stage

As delegates meet in Bonn for the latest rounds of climate talks, civil society, NGOs, cities, regional governments and businesses, are stepping up to work together toward climate goals.
Who will emerge as the leader on climate change following the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris agreement? (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Canada has the opportunity to be a climate leader in Bonn

Canada ratified the Paris agreement on climate change, but it hasn't yet filled the leadership void left by the United States. Time is running out.
Carbon dioxide flux over China, measured by NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 satellite. NASA

Satellites are giving us a commanding view of Earth’s carbon cycle

New data from a NASA satellite show in unprecedented detail the flow of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Future satellites should even be able to detect the signatures of individual power stations.
The window for staving off the worst of climate change is wider than we thought, but still pretty narrow. Tatiana Grozetskaya/

Keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees: really hard, but not impossible

It's still possible to hit the more ambitious of the two Paris global warming goals, according to a new estimate of the global carbon budget. But it sure won't be easy, and we need to start now.
A wide range of industrial processes have released greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Paulo Resende/

Global stocktake shows the 43 greenhouse gases driving global warming

While the gases most responsible for global warming - carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide - continue to climb, other industrial greenhouse gases are being brought gradually under control.

Top contributors


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Articles on plato

Displaying all articles

The Roman army at the Battle of Cannae. The painting depicts the death of Roman consul Paulus Aemilius. John Trumbull (The Athenaeum / Yale University Art Gallery), via Wikimedia Commons

A trans soldier in the ancient Roman army?

An ancient Roman fable imagines a cinaedus, well-known for his brazen effeminacy, fighting heroically. The story raises concerns over gender identity in the military -- much like those seen today.
The Economic Freedom Fighters recently launched their manifesto in Soweto. Party leader Julius Malema (waving) is the master of political theatre. EPA/Cornell Tukiri

South Africa’s EFF: excellent politics of props and imagination

Red berets, hard hats, overalls and domestic workers’ uniforms have become a prominent part of South African politics. But these are more than just props for the EFF political party.

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Articles on anti-vaxxers

Displaying all articles

Complementary medicine practitioners could prove to be a valuable source of information about vaccinations. Stutterstock

How complementary medicine practitioners can help get kids vaccinated

Australian parents who visit complementary health practitioners are less likely to vaccinate their kids. But could these practitioners be best placed to educate sceptical parents about vaccination?
People reject science such as that about climate change and vaccines, but readily believe scientists about solar eclipses, like this one reflected on the sunglasses of a man dangerously watching in Nicosia, Cyprus, in a 2015 file photo. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Eclipse of reason: Why do people disbelieve scientists?

People universally believe scientists' solar eclipse calendars, but vaccine warnings or climate predictions are forms of science that strangely do not enjoy equivalent acceptance.
Dozens of studies and numerous reviews have demonstrated the safety of vaccines. (Shutterstock)

Public health at risk when opinion trumps evidence

In an era when opinion often trumps evidence in public health issues, it's time to support and invest in evidence-based medicine to protect the public from dangerous, poorly informed beliefs.
Edward Jenner, who pioneered vaccination, and two colleagues (right) seeing off three anti-vaccination opponents, with the dead lying at their feet (1808). I Cruikshank/Wellcome Images/Wikimedia Commons

A short history of vaccine objection, vaccine cults and conspiracy theories

Some people have objected to childhood vaccination since it was introduced in the late 1700s. And their reasons sound remarkably familiar to those of anti-vaxxers today.
This man needs to trust you before listening to your public health message. No wonder bombarding him with facts doesn’t always work. from

How to cut through when talking to anti-vaxxers and anti-fluoriders

Reassuring people "not to worry" about public health issues like vaccination or fluoridated water doesn't work. Nor does telling people "don't panic". So, what does?
If someone is spouting pseudo-science, should scientists risk legitimising them by getting into a debate with them? Shutterstock

Should scientists engage with pseudo-science or anti-science?

Some scientists refuse to debate or appear with those they consider to be unscientific. But is this the best approach to combat anti-science narratives?
Protecting the herd means a certain proportion of the population has to be immunised. Flickr/Princessrica

Explainer: what is herd immunity?

When a high proportion of a community is immune it becomes hard for diseases to spread from person to person – a phenomenon known as herd immunity.

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Saturday, 15 March 2008

Bens version of Bobo

Wan and I - and Mike- talked to Ben three weeks ago when he showed these sketches and Wan made a good point then that I agreed with- it looks more like a boys toy then a girls toy - and I thought it looked to cartoonish and told Ben that we are not looking for a funny character but a settled one and not to cartoonish - more like my neighbor Totoro - anyway - the small drawings in the corner are the changes he has done in three weeks. I talked to Ben the other day and said that I still find him to cartoonish etc and that the work has to be done faster as we are waiting for him.

I suggest we texture Wan's version of Bobo and rig him so we don't get more delayed as Ben wasn't as fast as he said he would be. Or what do u guys say?

peace n luv

Josie said...

Yeah, Have Wan's version of Bobo rigged and textured as backup

"The day That I died" Production Blog said...

no, we dont have time for that I'm afraid- we are 4 weeks late on starting the animation so we just need to start animating now so i dont think we have time to wait for ben any more + he still looks very cartoonish for how I want him

peace n luv

Akinogal said...

This comment has been removed because it linked to malicious content. Learn more.


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Posts Tagged ‘Open City Hall’

Are you interested in learning more about the City’s FY17-18 budget? There are a few ways for you to get involved between now and adoption day on June 19, 2017.

  1. Take some time to read through the budget document. It’s available online at www.decaturga.com/budget. Or if you prefer to look at a hard copy, head over to the Decatur Library reference desk (215 Sycamore Street) or stop by the City Clerk’s Office (509 N. McDonough Street) to check one out.
  2. Attend a public hearing and let the City Commission know your thoughts on the budget and the 2017 millage rates. We have three public hearings scheduled in the coming weeks – Monday, June 12th at 6:00 p.m.; Monday, June 19th at 3:30 p.m.; Monday, June 19th at 7:30 p.m. All meetings will be held in the City Commission Meeting Room at Decatur City Hall (509 N. McDonough Street.)
  3. Let us know your thoughts via the Open City Hall forum. If attending a meeting at City Hall just doesn’t work for you, you can still let the City Commission know your thoughts by sharing them here.
  4. Watch the archived video of the City Commission work session focused on the FY16-17 revised budget and the FY17-18 proposed budget. An archived video of the session is now available on the City’s website.

Budget 2017_small

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If you were one of the lucky 1,500 residents randomly selected to receive the 2016 Citizen Survey and you have not mailed it back in yet, there is still time. Survey responses are being collected through tomorrow via mail postmarked March 11, 2016 or by using the link to the online version of the form.

If you didn’t receive a survey this year but still want to be a part of the action, head on over to the City’s Open City Hall forum to register your opinion about the City’s “Complete Streets” policy, Police Department community program offerings and the establishment of a community advisory board relating to diversity, inclusion and equity. The citizen survey topics will close on March 18th.

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Be on the look out for new Open City Hall questions next week about high performance (green) buildings. Meanwhile, you can share your thoughts on three key questions about the draft Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) on Open City Hall now.

UDO phases

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The Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) process continues, and the community is asked to weigh in on three key questions.

  • Minimum floor area requirement: Should the city eliminate its minimum floor area requirements for homes, to allow residents to build more affordable housing that has less environmental impact?
  • Design review for increased floor area: Should residents be able to increase the floor area of their property by 6% if the Historic Preservation Commission approves the design?
  • Demolition delay: Should the city require property owners to post demolition permits for 15 days before demolition, to give neighbors more notice and provide the opportunity for interested parties to propose alternative uses for the property before demolition? There is no current posting requirement for demolition permits.

Go to the city’s Open City Hall page now and let us know what you think.  The questions close Sept. 7 at 11:59 p.m.

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City of Decatur residents have six days to give their feedback (via Open City Hall) about the City of Decatur’s proposed FY2014-2015 budget.

The City of Decatur’s Revised 2013-2014 and Proposed 2014-2015 budgets have been presented to the City Commission and is available to the public for review. The City’s budget is scheduled to be voted upon by the City Commission on June 16, 2014.

Do you support or oppose the adoption of this budget by the City Commission? Click here to have your say.

The City Commission is considering balanced budgets that maintain existing service levels at the existing millage rate. Highlights of the proposed budget include:

  • No change in the City millage rate of 13 mills
  • Maintain existing service delivery levels
  • Continued focus on supporting and maintaining quality of life services
  • Implementation of strategic plan priorities
  • Capital improvements – Completion of Beacon Municipal Center
  • 3% merit-based market adjustment for all positions in January 2015
  • 2.5% merit increase for in-step, non-probationary employees
  • Pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements
  • Completion of a Unified Land Development Ordinance
  • Support of Decatur’s Kitchen Garden at the United Methodist Children’s Home

The proposed 2014-2015 budget reflects the City’s “vision-based” budgeting process which is guided by the 2010 Strategic Plan and the results of citizen and employee surveys that provide an understanding of the community’s priorities. Five interdepartmental vision-based budgeting teams convened around the four 2010 Strategic Plan principles and one team focused on support of exceptional public service based on innovation, professional expertise and creativity. In addition to descriptive narratives around each strategic plan principle, the budget quantifies how each principle is supported financially.

The proposed 2014-2015 General Fund budget totals $21,830,940. This is $1,177,150 higher than the adopted 2013-2014 budget of $20,653,790. The proposed 2014-2015 budget anticipates contributing $769,930 to fund balance. This would result in a remaining fund balance of approximately $5,862,150 at June 30, 2015 or approximately 27% of the operating budget. The City’s financial policies recommend maintaining a fund balance between 20-30% of the operating budget.

Overall, the budget combines conservative revenue estimates, prudent expenditure requests, responsible use of fund balance and a commitment to the city’s strategic plan and long-term vision.

For more detailed information about the proposed budget and City priorities, you can visit the City’s budget resources page.

A summary of the budget and descriptions of projects and programs can be found in these three documents:

City Manager’s Budget Message (180 KB PDF file)
Budget Narrative (2.3 MB PDF file)
Summary of Fund Budgets (1.9 MB PDF file)

Do you support or oppose the adoption of this budget by the City Commission? Click here to have your say.

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There are 15 days left to weigh in about the updated tree ordinance draft on Open City Hall. The question is “Do you support the adoption of the UPDATED Tree Conservation Ordinance?” You can select from “Strongly Support, Support, Neutral, Oppose, Strongly Oppose” and also have the option to submit a written statement.

What is Open City Hall?

Open City Hall is an on-line forum for civic engagement. Read what others are saying about important Decatur topics, then post your own statement. City officials will read the statements and incorporate them into their decision process.

When you post your first statement, you will be asked for your name and home address. This confidential information is only used to identify statements from residents in and near Decatur – so that users know which statements are from local residents.

Open City Hall is run by Peak Democracy, a non-partisan company whose mission is to broaden civic engagement and build public trust in government. They will keep your information confidential per their strict privacy policy.

As with any public comment process, participation in Open City Hall is voluntary; city officials will consider input from this forum along with all other channels for participation. However you choose to participate, thanks for helping us build a better Decatur.

Share your opinion about the updated tree conservation ordinance right now, online

trees square

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You can now be notified by Twitter whenever a new topic opens, closes or changes. For those of you who already have Twitter accounts, click on the “Follow this Forum on Twitter” link located on the Decatur Forum homepage (see image above) to follow DecaturForums. If you don’t have a Twitter account and would like to receive updates, go to www.twitter.com and create an account – it’s free! If you don’t have a Twitter account and don’t understand why you should sign up, click on the “Why?” link on the Forum homepage or visit www.twitter.com to learn more about the service.

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We added two new topics for discussion on Open City Hall:

1.) Should the City continue its Smart Growth strategy in downtown Decatur?
2.) Should major intersections be rebuilt to promote bicycle and pedestrian uses, even if motorists are inconvenienced?

Add your thoughts and see what other participants are saying by clicking on the Open City Hall link on the www.decaturga.com homepage (see image above for clarification) or click here.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Open City Hall forum on Annexation. The statements were shared with the commissioners. They voted unanimously to defer consideration of a large-scale annexation plan and revisit the issue in 2011.

Although the Annexation topic is closed, the Urban Farming forum is still open for comments.

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Decatur is seeking input from the community regarding annexation and urban farming.  Go to www.decaturga.com and click on City Services (the City Hall building on the front page).  You will see a link to Open City Hall.  Click on that and register your name and address, read the information and post your opinions and comments.  You may choose to remain anonymous next to your comment but you must register your name and address for verification.

Decatur is partnering with Peak Democracy and the Alliance for Innovation to be a pilot site for this program which allows public participation without having to attend a public meeting.  Be one of the first to give your opinion online and read what others have to say.  If you change your mind, you can always go back in and change your viewpoint.

The city will post a total of six questions for feedback over the next few months.  At the end of the process, Peak Democracy will provide a report to the city that includes the number of participants, the opinions, and the quadrants in which participants live.

Read Full Post »


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Construction Site Safety

Construction Site Safety

Regardless of the type of construction you are doing at your company, there can be several hazards on each jobsite that could cause injuries. Safety mishaps could result in downtime, more expenses, and the missing of deadlines, making it imperative to create a safe environment at the job site.

It is critical that workers have guidelines to follow while on the job at your different jobsites. That is why it is important to keep track of job safety in a construction daily log book as a way to have everything logged and in writing for the safety of workers and your company.

At many jobsites, visibility is critical. It is important that workers have the proper accessories they need to make sure they are visible to machine or other heavy equipment operators. Eye and ear protection is very important, including safety glasses and protective headsets. It is common for workers to wear vests that have bright colors.

Secure Temporary Structures

Often times construction sites have temporary fixtures or unsecure structures that could be dangerous. It is therefore imperative that these are secured to protect the safety of your workers and that workers are equipped with all the necessary equipment, such as hard hats, to protect themselves in case anything falls.

Heat, Water, and Gas Lines Must be Visible

Construction sites always need water, electricity and heat but for many sites they are only temporary and include water and gas lines that often times can go unseen by workers and therefore workers must know at all times where those lines are. Live electrical wires should never be left exposed.

A common sight at construction sites are tractors and other forms of heavy machinery. It is imperative that the maintenance is kept up on these and that safety measures are followed for each. Workers need to know when and where heavy machinery is operating on any given day to be aware at all times.

Regardless of how many safety measures are in place, accidents can happen at job sites. However, if companies are prepared, have safety measures in place; the chance of any accident is greatly reduced.

If you are looking for a construction daily log book, please visit Safety Meeting Outlines, Inc.

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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

last 5 acres

Trekked back out to the Solitario to track down another tract...the last bit of property I own that I have yet to see.  This one is 8 miles southwest of TFL.  Went out with a buddy from the ranch that owns property that meets mine at a corner.  Had to take the long way (South County Rd.) because the creek crossing on the shorter route was too swampy.  As long as I was in the neighborhood, I swung by the 20 acre tract again and found the section marker that is my NE corner (thanks to my friend Julianne and her wizardry with transposing map numbers into GPS coordinates).  Rather disappointed that the marker was only a short piece of rebar, a stick, and some rocks.  67,78,39,0,B,0  .

Under The SC Sun said...

Well, here in SC 20 years or so back, my neighbor hired a logging company to cut his timber. The property border at the time was heavily treed. The loggers set up their landing close to our common border. They managed to roll their skidders over two of our boundary markers (Concrete monument markers) and shoved them down into the dirt. When they cleaned up and left I thought nothing of it, until I went to clear and recut my fire break lines. I found then that I was "missing" the two markers. A little measuring and shovel work later, both were found several inches lower than they were. I had trees and landmarks to help locate mine. I can imagine how tough it'd be in the desert without a GPS to guide you.

Bob from Athens said...

Hey in the desert like that you are lucky to get the rebar, most are just a big rock with an "X" on it