text:
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Victims’ advocate wants unlimited Facebook access — does that apply to all?

  • This topic has 29 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 6 months ago by AvatarFRegistryTerrorists.
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    • #42415 Reply
      Sandy Rozek
      Sandy Rozek

      By Sandy . . . I read with interest “Facebook block riles advocates of sex crime survivors.” Racheal Gonzales of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has posited
      [See the full post at: Victims’ advocate wants unlimited Facebook access — does that apply to all?]

    • #42417 Reply

      I am not entirely sure, specifically, just why SORA victims (defining “victim” as us who are unconstitutionally on any SORA list) (see, e.g. the 6th cir. Ct. of appeals ruling) are unable to use social media. Many so-called “offenders’ ” convictions had nothing to do with social media, and we registrants use various social media sites responsibly. These social media sites allow us to not only have a discourse about legal issues, and with elected officials and those running for elected positions, and keep apprised of their platforms, but also local news outlets, the businesses we frequent, and of course families and friends in ways we cannot otherwise do. Social media allows us the protected constitutional right of free speech in all forms. The unconstitutional act of barring us to use these forums stifles us, gags us and tries to keep us ignorant, and tries to keep our voices from being heard. This effectively keeps hundreds of thousands of us from participating in the political processes and many other parts of American life every day.

      I am severely and permanently disabled, a full-time user of wheelchairs, and am unable to go out to visit others. Social media is my only avenue to visit, correspond and have video calling to keep connected, and to help keep me mentally healthy.

      When will true Justice come?

      • #42483 Reply
        Kirk Kubik

        Facebook is very addictive. Period. I agree with this posting but I am better off not on Facebook as it gives me time to enhance my God given talents, and to have actual relationships with those around me. A representatives Facebook account is monitored by a flunky and may not ever be seen by your representative. Personal interactions with my representatives are the only way I can be sure they have heard from me. Not just a secretary sending out a reply with a signature ( called appeasement) . Our time is much better spent loving these people who would hold us back, and not in making people like Mr Zuckerberg richer. Which makes none of us richer, only poorer for having been addicted to his frivolous site. I spent plenty of time before I was outed looking and posting on Facebook up until 2010, then I freaked out for 2 weeks when I got kicked. Finally realizing I had been addicted I was able to put my effort into more positive endeavors. I miss it not. Although at first I missed a few family functions because well “ I posted it on Facebook “ and people finally realized they need to communicate with those of us not on Facebook. Don’t wish for something that may only look better from your side of the fence it isn’t any greener over there. It just looks greener at the moment. ENVY = Green. Let us spend our energy and our talents on something that matters- Our cause to be free from …. all those things we despise. In other words LIBERTY. True Liberty. What I have done is wrong and I have grown into a person who can be trusted. Who is lovable. Who deserves those things we all strive for. I am. Just like you. No better. No worse . A sinner. Passionately LOVED by God. This world is only temporary. What these fools hold against us will be held against them FOREVER. It surely would be nice to be recognized by all as an overcomer. Someone who has put in the work needed to actually change who they were. I will not fret if it doesn’t happen I am in control not those others. They have no control over me. As they have only the control over you that you allow. Become something MORE. Much More. You can do it. Let us quit our whining about how unfair life is, and start being truly thankful for what we have. Praise God.

    • #42421 Reply

      Excellent point, Sandy! Along that same line, as a registrant, I can’t tell you how often I have read an online news article and have been unable to post a comment or counter-argument because that media outlet’s only method of posting a comment is via FaceBook. It’s enormously frustrating.

    • #42423 Reply

      Never going to happen. Most of these advocates can only see their little part of the world.

    • #42424 Reply
      Michael Christianson

      Ms.Gonzales would never commit to such a thing. People like her, the pedocentrists, are advocating only for vindictive justice and the suppression and anialation of a class of people they disdain because it is profitable. Were her, and other pedocentric person’s like her to normalize the conversation it would admit what pedocentrics try desperately to hide – the reality that they are pedosexuals on the opposite side of the spectrum. Having in most circumstances refused to act on their natural inclinations. There is no truth in much of the pedosexual conversation, unfortunately. It’s a sad fact.

    • #42427 Reply
      Jessie Taylor

      Most sex offenders go to prison and serve their time. They pay for their crimes. Unless they are pedophiles why shouldn’t they be allowed to live outside of prison and have the same benefits as all other citizens? Many should not be allowed outside the prison, but there are some first-time offenders that find themselves on the Sex Offender List which haunts them the rest of their lives in all phases of their life. I am quite sure if given access to Facebook and they do something wrong, there are enough eyes out there by law enforcement monitoring them and also Facebook police. If they abuse the system, shut them down. We law non sex-offenders that have access to Facebook get shut down if we post something FB disapproves to.

    • #42429 Reply

      Facebook company policy only to keep Sex Offenders off their website. Zuckerberg should withdraw this policy.

    • #42431 Reply
      Gail Colletta

      Thank you Sandi,
      I could not have said it any better .

    • #42432 Reply
      Tim Lawver

      Truly why the 03 SCOTUS and Mr Roberts fu%&ed up the DOES rulings.
      Those cases demanded “strictest scrutiny” and NOT the ” intermediate scrutiny ” used. The claim that NO LIBERTY INTEREST was implicated by the law on its face and in black and white applied to those already convicted was a broad distortion. Clearly free speech was implicated as the people today utilize the electronic list to ban, bar, or prohibit those who have completed their sentences. Mr. Kennedy expressed that concern in N.C. V. PACKINGHAM

      Is there no liberty interest in the right to remain silent? The MOST IMPORTANT SPEECH RIGHT! Registration forms demand speech because it is the same effect as being interviewed by a state agent.

      During 2011 trial for SOR violation I asked the agent these questions.

      Maam, the SOR demands email addresses etc under threat of felony?
      A: Yes

      Does SOR….. agents intend to communicate with registered persons by email?

      Ma’am can you tell the Jury the purpose of collecting email addresses if not for communication, that is the real purpose and intent. Ma’am what are they going to do with it?

      They use it to impose disability and restraint, bar, ban, prohibit, even the right to not speak. Always was the original intent of the electronic list. What’s true is more is coming down the pipe electronically speaking.

    • #42433 Reply
      James Coghill

      People may joke that others spend too much time on the internet, but this intricate series of tubes has become an important part of everyday life—so much so that it’s become a human rights violation to take it away. That’s according to the United Nations Human Rights Council, which passed a non-binding resolution in June 2016 that condemns countries that intentionally take away or disrupt its citizens’ internet access. ( Retrieved 06/21/18)

      I was not aware that Facebook patrols it’s members looking for people on the registry. What happens to people with similar names and ages to those on the registry but they are not RSO’s? Most of the prohibition I have seen concerning Facebook has come from probation. Which to my mind is government sanctioned censorship. Part of the problem with the UN comes from non-binding resolutions. I think you would find most nations refusing to agree that internet access including Facebook is a basic human right if it were a binding resolution. Non-binding resolutions are nothing more than lip service to the masses. The function of ALL governments is control and you can’t have control when a population is running around doing and saying whatever they like.

      • #42445 Reply

        I wasn’t aware that those on the registry weren’t allowed on Facebook. I personally know someone who was on both the registry and Facebook. (Unfortunately for many others, he then used the Facebook medium to solicit pictures from my daughter and at least one other underage girl. Unlike MOST offenders, he re-offended in a major way. It made it really challenging for me to advocate for those on the registry– I know several — because everything was in the newspaper and made very public. I still do advocate for offenders as I had previously, but my credibility is much lower. I know about the pictures because I saw the conversations and talked with him about it. Someone else reported to the authorities.)
        I’m not saying this as fodder for the pro-registry mill! If it will be taken that way, please don’t post this.

        • #42464 Reply

          There’s always one person that ruins it for the rest.

          It’s like punishing all people who drank alcohol at some point because one or two people ran over someone while drunk driving.

          And to answer your question about Facebook, a person can easily use a fake name or variation. Personally, I think social media should be restricted to those over 18, unless the parent(s) are going to monitor all communication. That opens a whole ‘nother can ‘o worms then.

        • #42475 Reply
          Sandy Rozek
          Sandy Rozek

          There will always be a very small percentage who either cannot or will not alter their behavior. We have to accept this as a given. Sheryl, I am very sorry that this affected your family. Thank you for not letting that negative experience destroy your faith in our advocacy, which is for the vast majority who do NOT repeat their behavior or were wrongfully accused and convicted, all of those who struggle with the registry and its impediments to building a meaningful, productive life.

          • #42495 Reply

            Good answer, Sandy. How come people don’t get as frustrated about those who constantly steal or use/sell drugs or keep going back to the gangs after each prison stint?
            No. Only those with a sexual “problem”(?) need to be restricted from everything and one person’s bad behavior effects us all. Bogus.

    • #42447 Reply

      I wonder if FaceBook checks us by our state or by sites like HomeFacts. I checked my state registry and I am no longer listed. I googled my name and found my listing on HomeFacts. I’m considering contacting an attorney about this because my information is NO LONGER public.

      And today, even tho I am no longer on the registry, I STILL received my address confirmation, which I plan to ignore to see if they send their typical 2nd “warning” notice.

      Sandy, I hope you manage to get a dialogue with Ms. Gonzalez, though I doubt she’ll do it. She’ll spew HER rights to do this and that and run from anything logical.

      • #42453 Reply

        HomeFacts is run by the same kind of crooks who ran MugShots. Having an attorney look into it is definitely the way to go.

    • #42457 Reply

      Why does it always seem that when someone (celebrity or not) wants to make a comparison to outline bad or the worst of an argument, they use “Pedophiles” or “Sex Offenders” as their front and center examples?

      Peter Fonda apologizes for Barron Trump tweet

      Actor Peter Fonda has apologized for a tweet in which he said that President Trump’s youngest son Barron should be separated from his mother and put “in a cage with pedophiles.”
      Source: CNN

      • #42465 Reply

        Because we are the lepers of modern society.

    • #42459 Reply

      If Facebook, etc, are considered to have (almost) monopolistic power of influence and communication, then nobody over 18 should be blocked from access. It is just another way of excluding a group of people from information, representation, and their opinion. The Supreme Court apparently thinks these social media platforms can inhibit free speech by allowing the blocking of non-constituents, then Facebook blocking people should be illegal.

    • #42476 Reply

      We would all do well to remember that Facebook is a corporate, commercial entity, and refusing to let us on, or booting people off is well within its right and does not implicate the 1st Amendment. When you create an account, you agree to their terms of service, which are always in their favor. Our President was using a US Government official account, through US Government servers and network, and in his case with Twitter, blocking someone *did* implicate the 1st Amendment.

      Having said that, I have had a FB account for years as an RSO, and have never had any problems, so they can’t really be searching too damn hard, and more than likely rely on snitches for the tips. I keep a low profile and do not create waves, and am left alone. Whether this is by intent or negligence, I don’t know, but I’m not complaining.

      Racheal Gonzalez is just another in the long line of people who will push what they can get away with to the limits. These self-serving and self-aggrandizing people do nothing but virtue-signal and cause as much fuss as they can in order to make the lives of others miserable. This is a psychological need to subjugate others to make themselves feel good. Further, she and others are not “victims,” but “survivors,” yet play the pity, hate and victim cards to the fullest extent of what they can get away with. She has NO right to the information, and she can, frankly, piss off and go elsewhere if she doesn’t like it. My bet is Facebook will not comply as this would open it up to lawsuits.

      At some point, folks, we have to collectively stand up and call bullshit on everything that is being perpetrated against us. No one may have noticed, but yesterday the United States pulled out of the UN Human Rights Council and I fear this does not bode well for us all.

      • #42496 Reply

        “Having said that, I have had a FB account for years as an RSO, and have never had any problems, so they can’t really be searching too damn hard, and more than likely rely on snitches for the tips.”

        I’m not sure that it’s snitches because that would mean any time someone gets mad at one of their “friends” on FB or if someone doesn’t like something you said or posted, they can contact FB and lie about you. And FB will take someone’s word without proof, then they’ll ask the accused for proof of who they are in order to restore their profile.

        I had a FB from 2009 to 2014 and then one day it was gone with a note from FB to prove my identity. So I made another profile, did not add ANYONE to my friends list, posted a photo of myself only in my photo album with a main profile pic of a landscape and within 2 days that profile was gone also. I think they somehow do a face recognition on every person that joins.

        I have yet another FB account and not a single photo of me. I basically use it to go into certain groups on there such as movie collectors and rock band fan groups. I have only 5 “friends” , none of whom I know because they friended me from posts in the groups. And one of the people on my friends list is my all time favorite rock star. I was beyond excited when he accepted my friend request cuz his FB had the friend request option disabled for quite a while.

        I’m hoping that now that I am off the registry, I can post my photos with this particular rock band when I meet them backstage next week. But HomeFacts worries me because they still have my image up. 🤷🏻♂

    • #42487 Reply

      After actually checking to see just what info Facebook kept about me- deleted conversations-blocked people list. It was creepy enough for me to delete everything and create a fake profile. I don’t need them having a report of my life.
      I’m not on the registry, but my son will be when he gets out of prison. I’ve been preparing for a very different life for 4 years. We just want to be left alone which is what most people want I’m guessing.

      • #42497 Reply

        This is why I miss MySpace. MySpace did not need the sacrifice of your first born (sarcasm) to make a profile. Facebook wants EVERYTHING!

        I’ve read articles about FB deleting profiles of people who use artistic names. Those people fought back but had to make whole new profiles since FB deleted their entire history. FB needs to be put in their place. I don’t care to keep hearing about them being a “private entity” that can do what they want. They don’t screen people for terrorist crimes or drug dealing via the Internet so why pick on us? Because parents cannot be parents? Tough sh*t! People need to be more mindful of who their kids are talking to.

        So basically you have have any other type of criminal record as long as it’s not a sex offense.
        I wonder – if Facebook were sued over this and got ordered to delete ANYONE with any type of criminal record, how much would FB’s user base drop? It would be nice to see it happen. Let everyone feel what it’s like to be ousted.

    • #42488 Reply

      Ah the facebook scenairo. Sandy you and maestro are going to get me in trouble. I got violated myself by being on facebook and believe it or not I wasn’t actually on facebook to evemn sign in to it. Sounds strange doesn’t it

      Brenda Jones had given me a contact to my Virginia NARSOL rep J.P Welch and he has got my story of this account in certain details to the event he even gave me some lawyers to check out if I needed one.
      Actually what had happen is during 2016 I wanted to do a little bit of telephone campaiging for Donald Trump. I was still in my depressed or oppressed mode a bit and thought this campaign for Trump was a good thing to do.

      I know one can call Donald Trump the best of the two evils but thats besides the point actually he’s a good man. At times one has to leave things up to truth when one campaign’s for someone. Believe it or not I had a good feeling that he would win.

      Things didn’t go to well as when the office say everybody had to sign up to do the telephone campaiging via facebook that cut things short. I went to the link to sign up or to see what it was all about but I really didn’t sign up. I had a lie detector test at the time and I mentioned that on the test that I was on facebook. That sort of made my PO upset. He even said I don’t care if you signed up or not you were on the page. My sister and I got into it that night and she wasn’t for Trump and after a little arguing I said, I bet you by the end of this campaign Trumps going to win.

      I went to court on this they didn’t really know what to do, I even had to speak up thru my court appointed lawyer. I tried everything I could do to talk to my PO to keep him from sending me back to court and he even said it will give you a chance to tell your whole story of why you got involved with this sex registry thing. They say timing is everything and I even told the public attorney they gave me and he said that wasn’t a good time to bring your whole ordeal up and I sort of agreed with the attorney that that wasn’t the right time as we were talking about a presidential election.

      As far as facebook goes I have no negives or positives about it if one watches themself to keep in check . Now Sandy at your discression you can post this as this is a true detail and the truth doesn’t hurt as I have nothing to be ashamed of about the president as we all do the best we can in life.

      • #42501 Reply

        Sometimes the truth DOES hurt. Learn to be a better liar for those polygraphs. There’s no need for us to have to go through that nonsense anyway. It’s all propaganda and money making schemes.
        Take a relaxation pill before doing the polygraph and never EVER answer honestly on the questionnaire prior to taking the poly.
        Yes, I am advocating for lying to these brainless weasels. But only if you are not involved in continuous criminal activity.

    • #42530 Reply

      Actually you are right about lying and the truth does hurt if one lets it but see NARSOL is about Human Rights and change which is very interesting in this particular ordeal we all face. Srue some people want access to facebook. Even the President said In one of his speeches its so important in getting Justice. getting internet access. Yes I agree with your truth hurts but you see I didn’t tell a lie. Forgive me George Washington.

      Now I like to stand on principals and I’m sure we all do the best we can in that department. This outcry about the kids being taken away from there parents and this zero tolerance imigration thing is a bit too much. Sure I ‘m for forgivness as everybody that is human makes mistakes. We all can talk about lying or good and bad government or if it goes to far, than if it goes to far there is an outcry for true justice.. sure all these circumstances may be different but its the principal of the whole thing. Now their are good and bad qualities in every person but we are not to judge. One of the first president may have quoted this It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the bible” and yes some say that quote was attributed to him.

      I know Sandy’s gone start pullimg her hair out now and Maestro NARSOL is all about Human Rights and yes principal has a lot to do in this human drama The border crisis was one principal, are we not another principal or should we all be taken advanged of and I believe everyone on this NARSOL site would agree somewhat.

      • #42632 Reply

        “Actually you are right about lying and the truth does hurt if one lets it but see NARSOL is about Human Rights and change which is very interesting in this particular ordeal we all face.”

        I don’t know what goes on in your mind but your comments are a lot of times incoherent.
        What does NARSOL have to do with a discussion about taking a polygraph and lying to save yourself from the inconvenience of being re-arrested and taken to court? Also, your use of the term “ordeal” is overwhelming.

    • #42721 Reply
      Steven VAN SCOTER

      Several states will provide Facebook with the emails that are required to be disclosed via SORA registration. I had for years been on Facebook under my real name. After a stay in Florida to help my mother after a stroke in which I did the lawful thing and registered, my account was disabled shortly after that.

    • #42722 Reply

      The answer is that governments simply should not be allowed to use any services which are not available to any citizen. Governments should not be allowed to use Facebook. Any that do should be sued.

      Also, all people who are listed on the $EX Offender Registries should have a Facebook account. It is trivial to do and it is the proper, moral thing to do.

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Making the Grade

None of our family now remembers the actual grades that my adult son Daniel earned in fourth grade, but we all remember his early student activism.  When the school principal decided that lunchroom noise was getting out of hand, she banned talking during lunchtime.  Daniel then drew up a petition protesting that action but offering alternative ways to maintain order and allow talking.  He got other students to sign the petition, leading the principal to lift her ban.  That petition was also the beginning of Daniel’s ongoing involvement with communication and civic commitment, in his professional and personal life.  As September begins a new school year here in Minnesota, our family’s experience reminds me that kids and teens learn a lot more in school than is ever measured on tests.  There are multiple ways to “make the grade” in life, but sometimes formal education does not recognize this.  Sometimes schools even hinder student progress or success.  Today, I look at three graphic novels that deal with different types of “education” and miseducation, each with its own distinctive emotional register.  One focuses on elementary school, while the others follow their protagonists into adulthood.

Comics Squad Recess (2014) is a compilation of eight rollicking “riffs” on elementary school life, each by a different comics author-illustrator or writer-and-artist pair.  Its three editors—the sister and brother team of Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm, along with Jarrett J. Kroscoczka—are themselves acclaimed graphic novelists.  Their best-known characters—the Holms’ Babymouse and Kroscoczka’s Lunch Lady—are stars in their own separate series of popular, fun-filled graphic novels.  In Comics Squad Recess, Baby Mouse and Lunch Lady not only anchor two of the eight stories but also appear as zestful narrators between the stories, urging the reader to turn the page, try out do-it-yourself projects, or buy zany imaginary products.  These page-long “promos” are like the old-fashioned transitions that used to appear in comic books.  Babymouse and Lunch Lady’s gleeful, pop-up appearances add to the fun as they connect the stories.  The vivid two-color presentation here, alternating shades of orange with black and its gradations, is similarly attention-grabbing and cheerful.

As its title suggests, most of the stories in Comics Squad Recess focus on the non-academic parts of school life: recess, winter vacation, lunch time, and hallway hijinks outside of class.  How to interact with one another, be one’s own person, and discover the vast realms of the imagination are some of the serious topics explored in these funny tales of typical elementary school life.  (There are also a couple of creative fantasy versions of school, with squirrels, cupcakes, and healthier snacks as characters.)  I am hard-pressed to name a favorite story, but Gene Luen Yang’s “The Super-Secret Ninja Club” is lots of fun.  Author-illustrator Yang often smartly lets readers piece together for ourselves how image and text fit together, as when someone outside the frame asks, “Anyone seen the star that’s supposed to go on top of the Christmas tree?” and we see a young, would-be ninja practicing “Throwing Weapons Techniques“ with the star as a make-shift shurikan.  Providing the Japanese names for ninja practices is one way Yang, himself a teacher, slips still more knowledge into this tale—something that young-at-heart readers as well as kids will appreciate.   (That active learning can take place outside of school—during winter break, or while holding a comics anthology in one’s hands—is just a given here.)

The one story that deals most directly with in-class, traditional ‘book learning’ will similarly appeal to a broad audience.  Dav Pilkey’s “Book ‘Em, Dog Man,” purportedly a comic created by two elementary-school age students named George B. and Harold H., is prefaced by Pilkey’s clever letter from these boys’   first-grade teacher to their parents.  She sternly recommends that they try to cure their sons of their “creative streak,” shown by the wild characters of the comic book they were told would not be acceptable homework.  She cannot see past the spelling and grammar mistakes or the fantastic story line there to the imaginative, affectionate respect for reading in this kids’-eye view of a world bereft of readable books.

If your first thought, like mine, is that such a teacher’s response seems outdated, that most adults today recognize and respect how graphic literature reaches and moves kids, I will highlight this ironic fact:  the most challenged book in schools and libraries in 2013 was Dav Pilkey’s popular comic book series Captain Underpants.  This series featuring George B. and Harold H. as fourth graders was deemed offensive more often last year than E.L. James’ erotic bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey!   Captain Underpants also topped the American Library Association’s 2012 list of ten most challenged books.  Despite these bizarre facts, I am certain that readers of all ages will enjoy the verve and humor its creators bring to this Comics Squad Recess’ short book trailer .

A different kind of school “failure” based on fact is revealed in Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas (2013).  This fictionalized biography, written by Jim Ottaviani and illustrated by Maris Wicks,  shows how little relevance traditional education had to the scientific passions and success of these three groundbreaking naturalists.  Their discoveries about  surprising ways humans and other primates are alike and how primates act in the wild were self-motivated.  We meet Jane Goodall as a preteen absorbed by Edgar Rice Burrough’s tales about Tarzan of the Apes.  Watching farm animals had also piqued her curiosity about the natural world.  Unable to afford college, clerical worker Goodall began her life’s study of chimpanzees after travelling to Africa and meeting paleontologist Louis Leakey, who supported her efforts. Dian Fossey, whose education and career as an occupational therapist did not satisfy her passionate interest in the great apes of Africa, was also aided by Leakey when the 31-year-old woman took a longed-for African vacation.  On the other hand, Birute Galdikas was already an academic success in anthropology, when a lecture by Leakey and follow-up meeting with him changed her career path.  With his help, she switched to the study of orangutans and their behavior.   While Galdikas had to switch her academic focus, Goodall and Fossey had to “backtrack” and complete advanced college degrees in ethology in order, ironically, to receive official support and recognition of their considerable achievements.  All three of these scientific pioneers had to combat the prevailing, mid-twentieth century prejudice that women were not intellectually suited to be scientists.  In one more ironic twist, Louis Leakey’s own views on women’s innate differences from men—his belief that women are more patient and dedicated—spurred his support of these researchers.

Maris Wicks’ illustrations provide much of the gentle, sometimes rueful humor that dominates Primates. Against the vivid green hues of African and Malaysian jungles, she depicts human researchers stumbling awake; humans and apes attempting to outstare and out-sniff each other; and the awkward, sometimes physically irritating lessons humans have to learn about living in the wild.  Wicks use of different typeface sizes, shapes, and colors to reflect wild sounds and noises is very effective, as are the frequent wordless panels which convey the stillness of these researchers observing primate life.  Wicks even manages gently to underscore the unsuccessful ways in which Louis Leakey attempted to be more than “fatherly” with these female protégées.  Every time he thinks about this, we see he has removed his spectacles, perhaps unconsciously, to appear more dashing.  In one such scene, his wife and research partner Mary Leakey mutters to herself in the background, “Huh. Here we go again.”  She is also happy to discover that Birute Galdikas is married, though readers later see the toll that a research career has on that relationship.  The light ways in which these ‘adult’ matters are touched upon support author Ottaviani’s view that Primates is “designed to work well for [younger readers] but . . .  it’s a book that appeals to anyone interested in primatology and the scientists who work in that field.”  Treading that middle ground in readership may explain why Ottaviani omitted mention of Fossey’s unsolved murder, most likely by the animal poachers she opposed.  Certainly, Ottaviani was more forthright about adult foibles and habits in his award-winning graphic biography, Feynman (2011), about physicist Richard Feynman, who had his own battles as a student and teacher with formal education.  However, the more serious information about Fossey is readily discoverable in many resources, one being the Bibliography that Ottaviani provides in Primates.

The ways in which educational institutions fail to help and even harm such brilliant students is the subject of the graphic novel Genius (2013), written by Steven T. Seagle and illustrated by Teddy Kristiansen.  These frequent collaborators here use muted pastels and sepia tones in a sincere, sometimes bleak, but ultimately hopeful story that twines the life of a fictional physicist with the experiences of 20th century luminary Albert Einstein.  Seagle has said that he was inspired in part by the real-life experiences of his wife’s grandfather, a soldier during World War II who had met Einstein.

The book’s protagonist, Ted Halker, a pre-teen who ‘skips’ several grades in school, learns the hard way that there is a “chasm between knowledge . . . and knowing.”  He is too physically different from other high school students to be readily accepted, and he lacks the social skills to change this.  Ironically, his intellectual and social isolation in school, represented in a full page image that blocks him off centrally from other seated classmates, reoccurs when Halkner nears forty, having failed in the last decade to make the scientific leaps that characterized his early 20s.  Once again, illustrator Kristiansen shows Halker center page, this time in a think tank’s block of cubicles, peopled now by younger scientists who are ahead of him intellectually.  Einstein too achieved his greatest breakthroughs in theoretical physics in his 20s.  But Einstein did not face losing his job, as Halker does, unless . . . just possibly, his aged father-in-law really did learn one of Einstein’s secrets while he served as one of the genius’ most trusted army guards.  If so, perhaps Halker can use this information to help himself and his family.  His wife, just diagnosed with cancer, needs expensive medical care, and his smart-aleck teenage son and gifted daughter are facing their own social and academic challenges.

Einstein’s supposed thoughts float through this book, as Halkner hears something from his father-in-law, represented in several wordless pages of dramatically more vivid, abstract patterns, overwhelmed finally by one dark color mysteriously covering an entire page.  Is the old man’s whispered message a discovery about the theoretical anomaly Einstein himself seemed never able to resolve?  Perhaps.  But these pages may also represent the life-altering shift in viewpoint that Halkner soon makes, placing his family first and discovering a new, satisfying career as a high school physics teacher.  He now knows he will be happy to be there for “that kid—or kids” who as geniuses need the kinds of help he did not receive in school.   Grading student homework, including a notebook containing a doodled Einstein figure, Halkner is in this novel’s final panels content in new, hopeful ways.  He no longer judges himself by the artificial standards and numbers that dominated his school-centric childhood and adolescence.

At the start of a new academic year, many students and schools face problems not addressed in this post: poverty, racism, physical and emotional deficits . . . overcrowding, understaffing and underfunding, government restrictions or requirements.  I do realize the family anecdote which began this post shows just how fortunate and privileged we have been in our dealings with professional educators and schools.  But what then of my adult son?  I think he has finally forgiven us for not permitting him to skip grades in school.  And I know he continues to “make the grade” in interesting, unusual ways.  His former principal, now a family friend, was smiling as she recently told me she had received another written communication from Daniel—this time an e-mail  suggesting sights to see when she toured Istanbul, his former home for several years.  He had also mentioned places where one might enjoyably dine.  I do not believe any of them were particularly quiet, even at lunch time.

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Bless The Lord

The following is simply a prayer of response to Psalm 103. This is no difficult feat, it is merely praying through the Psalm, applying it to my personal life, and meditating on the truths contained within it. I hope that you are encouraged to pray through Psalms on your own. I have found this practice to be the most transformative discipline in my life and I wish I did it more.

Oh Lord, let my mind, heart, words, and actions bless your holy name. May my every thought, action, and intention be pleasing to you. Let me not forget the ways that you have so richly blessed me. Remind me each day that every good thing in my life is a gift from you, not something that I have obtained via my own strength.

You have forgiven my every sin, you have healed every wicked way in me. What a wonderful blessing. What a wonderful truth. There is no sin held against me any longer. You have redeemed my life from the darkness of my evil bent towards sin. Your steadfast love and mercy are the treasured possession of my life.

You have satisfied my soul with good things. Food, friends, family, and faith. You have blessed me with the opportunity to enjoy life to the fullest in You. My strength and energy is renewed when I meditate accordingly upon your gifts to me.

May the oppressed in my community experience your justice. May the unrighteous in my community see your righteousness. Use me as a conduit of your justice, help me to stand up for those in need. Lord, your ways and acts toward your people have been well documented through the ages. May I not forget the ways that you have blessed me in even the past week.

You are gracious and merciful. I deserve death. Yet you stay your anger and pour out your steadfast love upon my soul. You do chide and reprimand me out of your love, but you don’t always do this. Your anger is not everlasting. Your love is. Lord, YOU DO NOT DEAL WITH ME ACCORDING TO MY SIN, OR REPAY ME ACCORDING TO MY INIQUITIES. This promise makes me want to sing songs of praise to you O Lord. I deserve punishment for my sin, and yet your steadfast love covers over them.

Lord, I don’t fear you as I should. Evoke this godly fear in me. Lord, you have cast my sins as far as the east is from the west. This too is wonderful and worthy of praise. You have removed my transgressions from me. They are no longer held against me.

You are a compassionate God. You look on my frame with compassion. You are compassionate towards the things that grieve me, and it is towards this end that you work all things in my life. You are loving. I am dust. My role and call in life is to preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten.

My days oh Lord are like grass. I am here one moment and gone the next. Because of my frailty, help me to better enjoy the moments you have given me here on earth with family, friends, food, and fun. It is because life is short that I should live life to the fullest in You.

Your steadfast love is upon me every moment of my life. There is discipline at times for sin, but even this is your love. Your love extends to countless generations of those who fear you. Thank you Lord for the way that you drew me into a saving relationship with you.

I don’t walk out your commands as well as I should. Where there is fleshly desires, replace these with the fruit of the Spirit. Where there is autonomy, replace this with a dependence upon you daily for grace and vitality. Help me to remember daily to live in such a way that honors you.

Lord, the world is broken and battered. There are rulers and leaders who oppress and enslave. Yet your throne is in the heavens. No one can usurp your throne. No one can remove you from your throne. This brings comfort that you are in control of all the nations on earth.

Angels of God, bless Him. All hosts of God, bless Him. In every community on earth, let God be praised.

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

In His Name,

Nate Roach

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LAURENS COUNTY, Ga. — Students at one Central Georgia school are going above and beyond to make sure one of their classmates feels included. Serenity Thomas was born deaf in 2010. That’s why she never knew the names of any of her classmates until a simple donation of a dictionary changed that.

Imagine going through life not being able to hear or understand what is going on around you. That is the reality for Serenity Thomas and with most of her friends not knowing how to sign.

She knows their faces and she knew some of their names, but if she hadn’t had an immediate class with them, she did not necessarily know what their first name was or what their last name was — ‘That girl, I know her, she was in PE,’ but she didn’t know that girl’s name,”  sign language interpreter for deaf and hard of hearing students Miranda Daidone said.

That is until the Rotary Club of Dublin made a very special donation that resulted in them getting a “thank you” letter.

“I wanted to thank you for the dictionaries my class got. They had to sign language ABCs in it. My friends learned how to spell their names. This let people learn how I talk,” President of the Rotary Club Jack Walker said, reading Serenity’s letter.  Walker didn’t know this simple gesture would mean so much to Serenity.

“It gave her this pride that all of these kids were doing this, they wanted to be able to communicate with their friend,”  Walker said.

“To see how excited she got, I mean, it really did bring tears to my eyes because she was like, ‘Oh, I know her, I’ve known her,'” Daidone said.

Serenity’s friend Maliyah Pickett knows how much joy this brought her.

“I think it made her feel happy,” Pickett said.  Sign language interpreter Miranda Daidone says Serenity’s friends gave her something we all want.

“It gives her community, and for anybody to take interest in it, she is like a light bulb when somebody tries to sign something she just brightens up,” Daidone said.

The Rotary Club of Dublin donated 400 dictionaries to schools across Laurens County.  At East Laurens Elementary students in Serenity’s class are continuing to learn sign language so they can communicate with her.

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Youth Day at Pyramid Lake High School – October 21, 2019

About this event:

A panel of instructors and students from Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) will highlight STEM career paths in higher education in presentations to students in science classes at Pyramid Lake High School. Panelists will share information about their career path and passions, then answer questions from students and the event facilitator.

Panelists will include:

  • Steve Chischilly (NTU)
  • Dalyna Hannah (undergraduate student at NTU)
  • Lynsie Dunn (Pyramid Lake High School counselor and former UNR student advisor)
  • Dan Mosely (Director of Fisheries at Pyramid Lake)
  • Maureen McCarthy

October 21, 2019

Pyramid Lake High School, Nixon, Nevada


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NATO Parliamentarians set to review security challenges in the MENA region

22 November 2017

Rome, 22 November 2017 - On 23 and 24 November, a Joint Seminar of the Mediterranean and Middle East Special Group (GSM) and the Sub-Committee on Transatlantic Defence and Security Cooperation (DSCTC) will be held in Rome, Italy.

The event, which has been organised in conjunction with the Italian Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) led by Andrea Manciulli, will consider a range of topics including the situation in Libya and North Africa, the migration crisis, the situation in Syria and Iraq, the terrorist threat to Europe and the Western Balkans, and countering radicalisation and violent extremism. Participants will also consider a draft report presented by Andrea Manciulli on the threat posed by ISIL/DAESH and Al Qaeda to Europe. That report is available here.

One hundred members of parliament from 35 countries will attend the Seminar, including MPs from NATO Member and Associate Member States, associated Mediterranean countries, Gulf states and countries on the southern rim of the Mediterranean. The Seminar will also hear from academics and security experts specialising in the Mediterranean and Middle East.

Among the Italian speakers are: Paolo Gentiloni, Prime Minister; Laura Boldrini, President of the Chamber of Deputies; Angelino Alfano, Minister Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; Roberta Pinotti, Minister of Defense; Marco Minniti, Minister of Interior; General Claudio Graziano, Chief of the Defence Staff; Cosimo Ferri, Undersecretary for Justice; and Paolo Alli, the President of the NATO PA. Other speakers include: Robin Wright, a noted US journalist and a distinguished fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington DC; François Burgat, the Research Director at the French National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS); Luigi Soreca, Director Security at DG Security Home Affairs at the European Commission; Rosemary Hollis, a Professor of International Politics at the City University of London; and Frederic Wehrey, Senior Fellow in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The GSM of the NATO PA is a forum through which MPs from NATO Member States and MPs from Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries meet to discuss political and security issues and promote cooperation. The group provides a forum for dialogue with countries in the Mediterranean area that are not members of NATO.

The seminar will be streamed live on the WebTV and satellite channel of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, and can also be followed on Twitter at #GSMRome.

Information for the press:
Accreditation (by Wednesday 22 November): ; 06 6760 2125 – 2866
Accreditation for parliamentary press and professional journalists: Sergio Amici and Marco Di Fonzo


text:
Cut the Paper Before the Paper Cuts You

How much paper is too much paper? It’s obvious that our workplaces and oftentimes our home lives rely on paper for everything from packing slips, bills, and resumes, to grocery lists and “To do” reminders. When does paper become overwhelming? Most importantly, when does it become a burden to your organization costing you money and your employees time?

Paper, by way of applications, resumes, receipts, work orders, invoices, bills, and more, consumes time across an organization in how the company interacts with it. Human Resources, Accounts Payable, and Accounts Receivable, Facilities Management—even the holy grail of all business, Customer Service—is affected by the way paper is handled. Slow processing, difficulty retrieving files, incomplete information, duplicate work…these are all productivity killers and customer service nightmares for a business.

How else does paper cut an organization? It takes up space! Numerous organizations have large file rooms, or worse file warehouses. Since those files are stacked, oftentimes an employee (or team of employees) has the job to find, retrieve, and refile those documents in the appropriate order. This process consumes the employee’s time with low-value tasks; tasks that could be managed with technology, thus freeing up that employee’s time to focus on higher-value add tasks that truly require human intervention and decision making skills and abilities.

An Enterprise Content Management solution can combat these problems with paper consumption by eliminating wasteful, unproductive steps from an organization’s operational and administrative processes. Full disclosure: No transactional enterprise content management solution will fully eliminate paper from your business life. Paper will always exist, but it’s not necessary to work at a level in which paper is overwhelming and severely hindering your day-to-day business encounters. A smart, easy-to-use document management solution can seamlessly collect, organize, and index the multitude of documents and content an organization has into a single 360-degree view for smart decision making.

About Kara Martin

As a content writer for Naviant, Kara’s goal is to help companies better understand how Naviant can assist them with their document management, intelligent capture, and workflow automation needs to reach their goals. Through authoring articles and blogs after researching and conversing with subject matter experts (SME), Kara transforms complex content into simple pieces that educate business users about how this technology can help them. Kara is also a UW-Madison graduate and spends her free time doing anything active or music-related, from hiking and weight lifting to collecting LPs and playing the violin.

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Staff Profile: Ann R. Knebel

Ann R. Knebel
Ann R. Knebel, Ph.D., RN

Deputy Scientific Director

Division of Pre-Clinical Innovation

National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences

National Institutes of Health

Email Ann R. Knebel

Ann Knebel is the deputy scientific director in the Division of Pre-Clinical Innovation at NCATS, where she assists the scientific director and serves as a liaison between basic and clinical scientists. Prior to joining NCATS in December 2016, she had developed significant leadership, administrative and clinical scientific expertise during her tenure in various positions at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Knebel has served as a clinical nurse specialist in the NIH Clinical Center’s Nursing Department. She also worked as an extramural research program director and deputy director at the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR).

As a U.S. Public Health Service Officer, Knebel volunteered for a temporary assignment to staff the first aid stations at the World Trade Center disaster site in New York City following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Subsequently, she was transferred to the Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness within the Office of the Secretary of HHS, where she held positions of increasing leadership responsibility. In 2012, following 20 years of service, Knebel retired from the U.S. Public Health Service at the rank of Rear Admiral (lower half) and returned to NIH as the deputy director of NINR, where she provided scientific and programmatic expertise to guide nursing science in support of the Institute’s mission.

Knebel received her Ph.D. in physiological nursing from the University of California, San Francisco.

Research Topics

Knebel’s research interests are focused on symptom management, quality of life and functional performance in people with genetic lung diseases such as alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; palliative care and end of life; and ethical decision making for the allocation of public health and medical resources in disasters.

Selected Publications

  1. Comparison of breathing comfort during weaning with two ventilatory modes.


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null NCET Tech Awards
                 NCET members may bring an unlimited number of guests to any NCET event at member prices.
Please note that you must login first to select the member price.
 Join before you RSVP and your savings will pay for some or all of your membership!  Join NCET now and save

Tell your friends you are attending using your favorite social media platform.

NCET Special Luncheon - UAS Business Opportunities - June 18

  • June 18, 2015
  • 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM
  • Atlantis Casino Resort Spa - PARADISE Ballroom

(depends on selected options)

Base fee:

Ticket are no longer available for this event. Walk-ins are not available for this event.

Atlantis Casino Resort Spa
Paradise Ballroom
3800 S. Virginia Street
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$35 – NCET Members
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For more information contact NCET at (775) 453-0130 or

The fine print:

  • We encourage you to pay in advance as there’s a $10 service charge if you pay at the door
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text:
Booting ubuntu help

New Member
I installed ubuntu on my D drive (i have a 100gb C: almost completely full from windows, and a 120gb D: used just for media that I have about 80% backed up and plenty of space).

I made an entry with EasyBCD with the following:
Type: Grub
Name: Ubuntu
Drive: Drive 1, Partition 1 (Linux swap - 5 GB) (i'm pretty sure this is accurate as the linux partition on the D drive)

And when I select it at start up all it says is:
BootPart 2.6 Bootsector
Loading new partition
Bootsector from C.H.Hochstatter
Cannot load from hard disk
Insert Systemdisk and press any key

This does not sound right.

I looked at the settings of my entry on EasyBCD and it reads:
Entry #2

Name: Linux
BCD ID: {b5d810ae-3830-11dd-9513-0016d49290e4}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \NST\nst_grub.mbr

How can I point EasyBCD in the right direction?

Thanks for your help.

Mostly Harmless
Staff member
Hi d4ktu,

I don't think that's right. You pointed EasyBCD to the Linux swap partition, and not the Linux partition itself.


text:
Franchise Wars

With the release of the Avengers: Infinity War trailer dropping earlier this week, and the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi due out in a few days, nerd-dom is at its highest of levels right now. And while I cannot wait to see The Last Jedi in theaters on opening day, I’ve come to realize that I am more excited for Avengers than I am for Star Wars.

To some, this may seem sacrilegious. The franchises aren’t even in the same category or genre. How can they even be compared?
Continue reading

As I sit here at my desk pretending to do work that matters, I find my thoughts woozily drifting off to to the stars of 2183 and interstellar space travel. Sipping my green shake in my N7 hoodie, I fondly remember my expedition with Garrus, Wrex, and most importantly Commander Sheppard. Ten years have passed, and still the journey is as fresh as the day I started.

With Mass Effect: Andromeda released earlier this year, the Mass Effect series celebrates a Continue reading

Nerd-Base's 10 Best Remakes/Reboots Part 1

Every site’s gotta have at least ONE Top 10 list these days, right?
Here’s a list of the 10 best movie re-makes (that I could think of, it’s by no means definitive, but  then again, what is? Everyone’s got an opinion). I hesitate to use the new term “Re-Boot”. I think that term is something that some Hollywood PR guy cooked up because of all the press and social ire towards the incredible lack of individuality being pumped out of the big studio movie making machines. I think for something to be called a Re-Boot, it needs to come out within the same decade as the last iteration of its license.
Either way, here’s a list of our favorite unoriginal films!

10) Death Race (2008)

Okay, before anyone starts going “What?! Have you even SEEN the original? They’re barely the same movie!!”, I know. I know. The changes between the two are vast. However, let’s be honest here, the original “Death Race 2000” (1975), like many Corman films, was remarkably cheesy and the only REAL draw to it was the point system (which they sort of hit on in the remake) and the funky cars.

The thing about this movie, and what most of its naysayers aren’t aware of, is that it’s not really a re-make or a re-boot, per se. It’s actually meant as a prequel to “Death Race 2000”. As a prequel, it fits rather nicely. I mean, of course there are inconsistencies, but they can be forgiven, if for no other reason than, are you REALLY going to take a movie about souped up death-cars that seriously? Bottom line is, this movie is an enjoyable action fest with all the bloody-explodey-gritty-boom-boom that makes such guilty pleasures in the genre so memorable.

9) I Am Legend (2007)

“Omega Man” (1971) is one of my all-time favorite films. I’m not saying it’s a great film, but it’s up there in a collection of movies that since I first saw it when I was about 6 years old, I can and have watched multiple times without getting tired of.

Vincent Price is one of my favorite actors, always has been. Perhaps because there was just something about him that reminded me a lot of a really classy version of my grandfather. Imagine my surprise when I found out while pouring through a video store at about 10 years old that he had made an earlier version of that story called “The Last Man on Earth” (1964)!

So yes, early on, one of my favorite tales of post-apocalyptic earth was the film versions of Richard Matheson’s “I Am Legend”. Having finally gotten around to reading the source material for the films in my teens, I discovered that the movies I loved had little similarity to the book. The closest being “The Last Man on Earth”, the screenplay of which, I had found out, was originally written by Matheson. Alas, after many rewrites by the studio and production companies, he had his name taken off.

That leads us to 2007.
I’m not one of those big “Oh “f” Wil Smith” guys. I honestly quite like his movies. He’s really not a bad actor. Regardless, with the huge amount of stinker remakes coming out of Hollywood at the time, I was understandably cynical about this movie. It was probably the last time I allowed myself to act in such a way as to dismiss a film before seeing it.
“I Am Legend” is not the book. It’s neither “Omega Man” or “Last Man On Earth”. Rather it is a combining of all three while standing on its own. The beginning of the film, like the beginning of “Omega Man”, really captures the loneliness of the Smith’s Robert Neville. The flashback sequences, telling the story of how the world came to be in such a state, harkens back to “Last Man on Earth”. Lastly, and perhaps most interestingly, the ending…no, not the weird “butterfly glass”, explodey ending that was on the theatrical release, but the original, cut, ending of the movie, was a very big nod to the novel. Neville is made to realize that the creatures are attacking him because in actuality, HE is the monster. They’re defending themselves from him and Neville finally recognizes it. As the character in the book says before he dies, “[I am] a new superstition entering the unassailable fortress of forever. I am legend”.

8) Fright Night (2011)
“Oh you’re so cool Brewster!”

Say that to anyone who is or was a fan of 80’s horror films and they’ll know almost immediately where it’s from. At the absolute least, they’ll remember that squeaky voice of none other than Stephen Geoffreys’ “Evil Ed”.
“Fright Night” is a film that could only have been made when it was. In the mid-80’s, the larger corporations were starting to gobble up network TV, and the reign of the late-night horror host was coming to an end. The Horror Host shows as some younger readers may not know, where a big staple of late-night TV for about 20 years from the 60’s through the 80’s. The likes of Vampira, Zacherlie, Svengoolie, and of course, Elvira would host showings of (mostly low-budget) horror movies during the late hours on local tv stations as a pull to try to grab viewers that would normally have turned off the tube hours ago. Unfortunately, with the coming of the infomercial, stations found they could make more money from hours-long advertisers/ments, than something cheap just placed there to run more commercials.
The original “Fright Night” was definitely a film for its time, so you can imagine the hesitance when a re-make was announced. Nobody knew what kind of angle they could take. All the general public saw was another studio trying to cash in on a beloved favorite. Even if that’s what it was at its base, it was so much more.

“Fright Night” 2011, was just enough of a separation from the original to really let it stand on its own and feel fresh to new audiences while not feeling like an “insult” to the fans or the 80’s film.
David Tennant (who was brilliantly cast here. The producers knew who they had and really marketed him to the Doctor Who fans as this was his first big American film after coming off his run as the 10th Doctor) plays the spirit of the original “Peter Vincent” so well, replacing the washed up Horror Host with a washed up Vegas magician. Anton Yelchin’s “Charley Brewster” (which honestly surprised me since I’d only seen/noticed him as the garble-accent-mouthed Chekov in 2009’s “Star Trek”) was fantastic and very much like the original. Who now could you possibly get to play the geeky-weird friend other than “McLovin” himself? Well, I will say this, Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s “Ed” is definitely NOT as memorable as Geoffreys’ was, but good nonetheless. Lastly, Colin Farrell’s “Jerry Dandrige”? Creepy. Creepy in an almost realistic, unstoppable serial killer/predator way. Smart, manipulative, and brutal.
If you haven’t seen it yet, and you need a good Friday night creeper, I recommend it.

7) Invasion of the Body Snatchers

I’m not going to do a big write-up on this one. I’m just going to say that this remake of the classic 1956 film of the same name is not as well-known, not because it’s bad by any means, but rather because it’s so damned creepy that nobody wants to think about it anymore after seeing it. Seriously, maybe these are “spoiler-y”, but if you haven’t seen this movie in the past 30 years, I can hardly be blamed, but I’m going to leave you with just these two short clips to watch:
Scene 1:

Scene 2:

Okay? Now try to go to sleep. Can’t do it? Don’t worry, neither can I. *shudder*

6) Dawn of the Dead (2004)

The original “Dawn of the Dead” is, in the opinion of many, one of the greatest zombie films ever made. It is one of my personal favorites. As you can imagine, to this day, there are many, MANY who still complain about the changes made to the feel and especially to the zombies in Zack Snyder’s 2004 remake. I am not one of them.
This remake is only similar in very few ways to the orignal. The setting, (some of) the characters, and the undead are pretty much all that is kept. I’m okay with that. Why? Because I’ll always have my collection of all the different release versions of the original to watch. Also, if you take some “artistic license” and do it well, any changes can be made acceptable. This movie is most definitely acceptable. The human emotion and danger is captured very well. The theme that Romero puts forth in his films, that the “humans” can pose a bigger threat than the monsters is well engrained in this film. Think about it, if everyone just gave a moments thought to the consequence of their actions, they could have survived comfortably in that mall. But really, when does that ever happen in real life? Some concepts in this were brilliantly conceived. Having the other survivor so close, but so far, the “pregnancy”, the greedy power-mad mall workers, all led to the drama and thrill of this movie to the point where the zombies were almost…almost an afterthought.
If you happen to be one of those that have dismissed this movie and/or refuse to watch it because you’re so upset about what it does to the original, you really must get over that hurdle and allow yourself to enjoy this great entry into the genre.

Go check out part 2 covering 5-1 here!!!!


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What is Next Gen?

What is Next GenWhen fellow Nerd-Base writer Dave Chosid and I get into discussions about videogames, there is one topic that continuously comes up.  What is next gen?  Why upgrade?  Is it just better graphics, or is there more to it?  At first I didn’t have a good response for him because it seemed like he was right.  I didn’t see anything else other than slightly updated graphics.  As news continues to come out about both systems, I think I finally have a good idea as to what next gen is supposed to be.

This last generation was all about motion controls, and high definition.  The Xbox 360 kicked everything off with HD graphics right out the gate.  The original Xbox and the PS2 could do some games in HD, but it was few and far between.  The PS3 and the Wii launched about a year later.  The PS3 continued the trend with HD graphics, but the Wii went a different way with motion controls.  After the Wii’s great success Microsoft and Sony followed suit with the Kinect, and the PlayStation Move.

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Microsoft just sold me on buying a PS4

Xbox-Next-Gen-2013-Xbox-One-Reveal-041A few weeks ago Microsoft finally announced the successor to the Xbox 360.  The new console, the Xbox One, is slated for release later this year.  I’ve been a diehard Xbox fan since the original Xbox for a few reasons including the size of their controllers over Sony’s Dual Shock controllers.  That all being said, MS might be pushing me towards using Sony’s small controllers with their 24 hour connectivity checks.

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Wii U Review part 1

After getting my hands on Nintendo’s latest hardware at NYCC I wasn’t planning on buying it, but being the technophile that I am, the new shiny precious was calling.  For those not in the know, the Wii U is basically the Wii 2.  It’s backwards compatible with all of your Wii controllers, and games, but it adds a new touchscreen tablet, and HD graphics.  I’m pretty sure my Wii U will get way more use than my Wii has, which I’ve used on average once a year since launch 6 years ago.

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Most people who haven’t read the Marvel comics got their first taste of Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts as Rescue when Avengers: Endgame was released. For some who have kept up with the Iron Man series they were first introduced to Rescue back in 2009 when she was given her own variation of the Iron Man suit.

Rescue is set to make a comeback in the new series Iron Man 2020.

The cover is drawn by Jen Bartel, with Paco Medina getting the main cover. Iron Man 2020 is written by Dana Schwartz with art from Jacen Burrows.

According to resources run will focus on Pepper and her post relationship with Tony himself.

“Pepper Potts moved on from Tony Stark. She’s getting her life together, finding her place in the world,” the synopsis for Iron Man 2020 reads. “Unfortunately, that’s exactly when Tony Stark decides it’s time for a full-tilt, full-blown meltdown. And if Pepper can’t suit up and save the day, Tony is toast.”

Rescue is set to hit shelves in March 2020, head down and add to your pull ASAP!

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Discovering Euphoria: 2019 in Review

the good place

“If there were an answer I could give you to how the universe works, it wouldn’t be special. It would just be machinery fulfilling its cosmic design. It would just be a big, dumb food processor. But since nothing seems to make sense, when you find something or someone that does, it’s euphoria.”

When I think back on 2019, I’ll think of this quote from The Good Place. At many points this year, things—personally, professionally, and in even in my fangirl life—didn’t seem to make sense. This was a challenging year on a lot of levels for me and for a lot of people I know—and even a lot of people I know only through this wonderful world of fandom. But through it all, one of the best and most beautiful things about it were those brief moments when something clicked—when something finally made sense and the pieces fell into place and for just one moment it was euphoria.

Looking at my favorite pieces of media this year, they’re all connected by that thread—moments of euphoria amidst the pandemonium. As I searched for meaning in the chaos of my own life, I found comfort, catharsis, and so much joy in watching fictional characters do the same.

It began with The Good Place—the show that gave us those beautiful words about our search for meaning and where we find it. There’s no more perfect show for this current moment in our world because it never tells us that life is supposed to be painless or that being a good person is easy. It acknowledges that life can be hard and hope can feel a million miles away and happiness can be fleeting. But it also reminds us that the important thing is to never stop trying to make things a little better for your fellow human beings. That’s how we find euphoria—in connecting with others, for a moment or for eternity. And maybe—just maybe—those connections—that love—can be the thing that saves us all.

There’s no message more brazenly, bravely, beautifully hopeful than that.

And almost every other piece of media I loved this year followed in those footsteps—reminding me that there’s hope to be found in moments when we feel truly understood and accepted—by others or even by ourselves.

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Never Really Gone: The View from the End of the Skywalker Saga

SW logo

No matter how much we fought, I always hated watching you leave.

This is it. The end of the Skywalker Saga is upon us. On Thursday night (or sometime before if you’re lucky or after if you’ve got the patience or willpower of a saint), we’ll be watching the story that’s shaped so many of our lives leave us. And just like Leia and Han in The Force Awakens, when the time for that final farewell comes, I know I won’t be thinking about any parts of the story that disappointed me or didn’t turn out like I’d hoped. Instead, I’ll be thinking about the good stuff—because there was so much good stuff.

Star Wars has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I was barely out of kindergarten when I was pretending to escape the Death Star on the playground with my cousins. Return of the Jedi was my comfort movie on many sick days in elementary school, and The Empire Strikes Back was pretty much my signal that puberty started when I watched it basically every day the summer I turned 13. (No teenage girl hormones can resist Harrison Ford in his prime.) I asked for Star Wars Trivial Pursuit for Christmas (but no one would play with me because I knew all the answers). I saw both Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith multiple times in theaters. I subscribed to Star Wars magazines.

And it was one of those magazines that ultimately brought me to the fangirl life I now proudly live—in a way that’s very strongly connected to the trilogy that’s about to end this week.

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Nothing to Prove: A Story of Soccer, Success, and Self-Worth

“I have nothing to prove to you.”

Those words were said earlier this year by Carol Danvers (aka Captain Marvel), but they could have just as easily been said by Megan Rapinoe (aka captain of the World Cup winning USWNT).

Superheroes think alike, I suppose.

In fact, there are many comparisons that can be drawn from one captain to another. Both have short, eye-catching haircuts. Both speak with a commanding presence. Both have no time for people who abuse power. Both stand up for what they believe is right, even when it makes them a target. Both became their most powerful selves when the world needed them the most.

And both are fiercely, beautifully, and unapologetically confident.

When I first started noticing the backlash directed at Rapinoe and her USWNT teammates, it reminded me so much of that small but vocal chorus of whiners after Captain Marvel who thought both Carol and the woman who plays her—Brie Larson—came off as “arrogant” and “unlikable.” Both sets of critics are cut from the same cloth—an unyielding fabric that doesn’t seem to want to bend and mold to a new era for women, an era in which we no longer have to downplay what makes us special, treat our skills with a sick kind of self-deprecation, or stand in the shadows because the world isn’t ready for what we look like in the sunlight.

On Sunday, when Rapinoe stood in her now iconic pose—arms spread wide, chin high, chest out—after scoring the first (and ultimately game-winning) goal of the World Cup final, the world saw what we look like in the sunlight. And it was breathtaking.

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I’m Off the Deep End (Watch as I Obsessively Talk About Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga)

“We’re far from the shallow now…”

There was nothing shallow about Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s performance of their Oscar-winning, Grammy-winning, and everything-else-winning hit from A Star Is Born. In fact, in an Oscar telecast filled with a surprising number of high points (Olivia Colman! Melissa McCarthy covered in rabbits! Women winning so many things! Spike Lee climbing Samuel L. Jackson like a tree!) their breathtaking take on the instant-classic “Shallow” might have been the moment with the most depth—or at least the moment people rewound the most to make sure they caught every last detail.

And there were some magical details to catch. From the way Gaga seemed to hold her breath as he sang and their ridiculously intense eye contact to his smile as she sang and that final intimate chorus that launched a thousand tweets, it seems people can’t get enough of them and their performance (myself included).

So what made this moment so special? Why can’t we stop talking and tweeting about it?

It felt real. Even if these are two actors who are both talented enough to be nominated for Oscars. Even if they’re just good friends (who like to look into each other’s eyes for so long it seems they’re trying to break some kind of record). The intimacy they created on that stage felt real, and sometimes what we feel matters more to us than the facts.

What I felt—more than anything else—was the best kind of vulnerability from both of them, and that’s where real intimacy comes from. Cooper has talked often about being unable to hide when you sing, and that was certainly true in this performance. From the minimal staging to the soft lighting and even the lack of introduction and stripped down arrangement, the moment was all about the two people sharing it and nothing else. Which isn’t an easy thing for an actor who didn’t sing before doing this movie and for a singer who’s used to hiding behind a persona when she takes the stage. All they had was each other and a piano, and that proved to be more than enough.

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Nerdy Girl Predicts: The 2019 Oscars

I love the Oscars. I know they don’t always award—or even nominate—the right people and films. I know they have plenty of problems with diversity and inclusion and accepting new visions of what filmmaking can be. I know this year’s race and ceremony in particular have been a hot mess of controversy, bad decisions, and backpedaling.

So why is Oscar Sunday still one of my favorite days of the year?

It’s simple: I love movies, and Oscar Sunday is a day people set aside to celebrate movies. It’s a day to unabashedly and unashamedly care about movies. It’s a day to proudly be passionate about film. And for me, it’s even more special this year because this year rekindled my passion for film in a way I wasn’t expecting and yet in a way I desperately needed.

With the end of many of the TV shows that had been part of my life for so long, I found myself lost as a fangirl without a home. But then movies came back into my life, and they helped me find a part of myself that I lost when my enthusiasm for film waned in my 20s. I saw so many movies this year—including all but one of the year’s Best Picture nominees. (Sorry, Vice.) And in those hours spent in darkened theaters and on my couch, I remembered what it feels like to become completely transported and transformed by a movie. It’s unlike any other media experience you can have, and it brought the purest kind of joy into my life when I needed it most.

So no matter how mad I may be that Bradley Cooper was snubbed for a Best Director nomination or how annoyed I may be with all the changes—and then weird retractions of changes—to the ceremony itself, I haven’t been this excited about the Oscars since I was 17 years old and still dreaming of being a film critic. I’m more educated about these races than I’ve ever been. (Thanks in no small part to Collider’s amazing For Your Consideration videos, which I have watched religiously for months and have come to see as true bright spots of movie nerd enthusiasm in my life.) And I can’t wait to share my predictions with you this year because they come from a place of deep analysis and also genuine fangirl love, which is what NGN is all about.

I hope you share your picks for the night’s winners in the comments because I’m ready to start talking more about film around here! And as always, I’ll be live tweeting all the night’s festivities starting with the red carpet at 6 p.m. EST, so follow along on Twitter if you want to see my emotional breakdown over Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga singing “Shallow” in real time.

Without further ado, here are my picks for the winners in every category tonight (I tried to keep my thoughts short since I also added analysis for every category this year—not just the big ones)!

My Pick: Roma
My Thoughts: This is the most wide-open Best Picture race in years, and I think at least 5 of the 8 nominees have realistic chances to take home the win, especially with the preferential ballot system (which awards films that many people like rather than films that a smaller group love). Although my heart belongs to A Star Is Born, I’d love to see Black Panther break new ground with a win, and there’s plenty of support behind Green Book to make it possibly even the favorite at this point, I still think Roma is going to take home the night’s big prize. Roma is a gorgeous film that affirms the universality of themes like family, trauma, loss, and the strength of women while being stylistically in a class of its own. A win for Roma wouldn’t just be a win for a beautiful, unique movie, it would send a message about the stories we have in common being more important than the things that people want to use to divide us.

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Nerdy Girl Predicts: The 2019 Golden Globes

golden globes

It’s been a while (five years, to be exact!) since I’ve predicted the Golden Globes around these parts, but I’m back and ready to talk about my favorite awards show! The Golden Globes are the kickoff party for awards season—one of my favorite times of the year. They’re typically more fun than your average award show, feature memorable speeches, and celebrate both TV and film—the two great loves of my life. They’re also famously full of surprises and are notoriously hard to predict, which is exciting for the fangirl in me but challenging for the perfectionist who always wants to get as many picks right as possible.

Despite how hard it is to play the Golden Globes guessing game, I couldn’t resist making my predictions public this year when I have so many horses in this race. From the last chance for one of my favorite television shows of all time to the movie I loved this year more than any other, I haven’t been this emotionally invested in the entirety of an awards show in a long time. So if you want to see the multiple emotional meltdowns that are sure to occur in real time, I’ll be live tweeting the festivities starting at 6 p.m. EST tonight.

Until then, here are my predictions for what’s sure to be another memorable and surprising Golden Globes ceremony. Don’t forget to share your picks in the comments!

Best Motion Picture: Drama
My Pick: A Star Is Born
My Thoughts: If there’s one thing the HFPA seems to love, it’s star power. This film had that and more. It was a fresh but faithful take on a beloved Hollywood story, the debut of an actor-turned-director (another thing the Globes often honor), and a showcase for one of the biggest stars of the moment: Lady Gaga. A Star Is Born is a film with the kind of mass appeal and genuine artistry to take home the night’s biggest film award, and my intense devotion to its sincere storytelling means I’ll be crying happy tears on my couch if this prediction comes true.

Best Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy
My Pick: Green Book
My Thoughts: This category seems a bit more wide open than its dramatic counterpart. Although both Black Panther and BlacKkKlansman pose a bit of a threat to A Star Is Born, that’s remained the frontrunner, while the comedy/musical category has many options that all make strong cases for consideration. Despite my deep love for Mary Poppins Returns, I think Green Book has the kind of broad support and critical acclaim that will give it the edge. The Favourite is another strong possibility, but I think Green Book is the kind of feel-good, crowd-pleasing “comedy” that voters will want to reward at the Globes.

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NGN’s Best of 2018: TV, Movies, and More

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

As 2018 draws to a close, it’s time once again to highlight the best of pop culture from this year. In previous years, I’ve stuck to television, but one of my goals for 2018 was to expose myself to more of a variety of media, so I watched more movies and read more books than I have in the past. That, coupled with a slight dip in the amount (and, frankly, the quality) of TV I watched this year inspired me to expand my year in review post to include movies, books, and sports in addition to television. I also hope this inspires you to share all of you favorite media from 2018, because one of the best things about these posts over the years has been all the wonderful recommendations I’ve been given in the comments. (I never would have fallen in love with The Americans without my NGN Family championing it in these posts years ago.)

Looking back on this year in media, it’s no surprise that so many of my favorite things revolved around female characters. The books, movies, and TV I loved this year almost unanimously dealt with women learning to define themselves on their own terms as brave, strong, and—most importantly—kind people. The media I gravitated toward this year often celebrated a kind of radical goodness—a message of light pushing back against the darkness, of love surviving even the most painful things life can throw at us, and of hope existing in that quiet corner of our souls that allows us to keep getting up when everything around us seems determined to keep us pinned down. This year in media taught me that we all have choices to make and those choices determine who we are. And when we choose to believe in ourselves and our capacity to love—that’s when we become our best selves. That’s the message I’m taking into 2019, and what an empowering message it is.

Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at my favorite television, movies, and more in 2018!

Best Show (Drama): The Americans
The Americans changed me in ways I never could have expected when I first started watching it. It changed me as a writer; it changed me as a TV viewer. It forced me to look more closely and think more deeply about the media I consumed, and it challenged me every week to find the words to talk about its brilliance with others. Although I was sad to see it end this year, I couldn’t have asked for a better final season for what I consider the best show I’ve ever watched. The Americans was always a show about marriage and family above everything else, and this final season reinforced that in the most surprising and impressive ways imaginable as it built to a finale that was all about letting your children leave you behind as they grow. From “Don’t Dream It’s Over” to “With or Without You,” this season took us on a journey of self-definition for nearly every character that ended in a way I don’t think anyone expected. Along the way, it gave us heart-stopping chase scenes, romantic axe mutilations, line dancing, and a moment that will go down in TV history simply as “the parking garage scene.” With everyone in the cast turning in top-notch performances and masterful moments of silence balanced by lines that cut like a dagger (“You’re a whore!”), The Americans turned in one of television’s most complex and unique final seasons by staying true to itself until the very end.

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“But I Won’t Feel Blue”: The Case for Purposeful Fluff

Mamma Mia

When my friend asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday later this month, I told her all I really wanted was go to brunch and see Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again—for the third time since it came out last week.

Why the sudden, overwhelming interest in sitting in a movie theater and watching a bunch of actors sing ABBA songs? Is it the gorgeous Grecian landscapes? The spunky choreography? The presence of icons like Christine Baranski, Meryl Streep, and Cher?

All of those things have contributed to my latest pop culture obsession (especially Cher), but my love for Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again goes beyond my love for catchy pop songs and iconic actresses.

I love this movie because it’s happy. It exists to do nothing other than make you leave the movie theater feeling better than you did when you went in. And in a world where it can be really hard to feel good most days, that’s a downright heroic mission statement.

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Nerdy Girl Predicts: The 2018 Oscars

Oscar Sunday has been a special day for me since I was a little kid. I’ve always loved movies, so the Oscars and all their pomp and circumstance and glamour have always drawn me to my couch to marvel at the gorgeous gowns, cheer when my favorites finally win, and loudly complain when other favorites are snubbed.

Although the Oscars can sometimes be frustrating to watch and we all know the best movies and performances don’t always win, my desire to watch them from an educated perspective taught me so much about film—especially in my teens. I used to try to watch every Best Picture nominee in a given year (which was much easier when there were only five), and that broadened my understanding of what movies could be and how they could make me feel by introducing me to movies I might never have seen without Oscar nominations behind them. (I’m looking at you, Brokeback Mountain, The Social Network, Slumdog Millionaire, and Revolutionary Road.)

In recent years, I was lucky to see one or maybe two Oscar contenders, but this year, I made a point of seeing as many as I could, and in the process, I fell back in love with movies and how much life-affirming beauty can be found in the hours spent in a darkened theater. So I wanted to come back to these predictions after four years off because I have a stronger sense of the year’s biggest contenders than I’ve had in a while. I hope you’ll share your own predictions with me in the comments and join me on Twitter for all the fun starting with my annual live tweeting of the red carpet at 6 p.m. EST!

Without further ado, let the predicting begin!

My Pick: The Shape of Water
My Thoughts: This is such a wide-open category this year, but I can’t pick against the magic of this movie. Some movies are simply works of art—like paintings come to life—and The Shape of Water is one of those movies. I can’t stop thinking about this movie as a whole, but what’s so special and unique about it is the way certain shots have gotten under my skin and become unforgettable to me not because they were disturbing or shocking or upsetting, but because they were so beautiful. Everything about this film was beautiful—its score, its cinematography, its color palette, its performances (I will sing the praises of Richard Jenkins in this film until the end of time.), and its message that love (even the strangest, most unexpected kind of love) can conquer all. This is a movie about a group of outcasts and outsiders coming together, and it’s also a movie that speaks to the power of cinema to inspire, which we all know Oscar voters love. It’s a love letter to movies, and it’s a creative love story unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. While I wouldn’t mind seeing Lady Bird or Get Out pull a shocking upset, I think this will be a case where the film with the most nominations takes home the big prize.

My Pick: Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water)
My Thoughts: The creativity, care, and unique perspective del Toro brought to this film took my breath away. Every part of the film was touched by del Toro’s ability to balance the gritty and dark realities of life in the real world with the magic of the movies. This is his masterpiece, and I hope it earns this visionary a well-deserved Oscar.

My Pick: Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
My Thoughts: Although I feel like you can never count out Meryl Streep and Saoirse Ronan gave my favorite performance among the nominees this year, McDormand’s fierce and fearless work makes her one of the night’s few sure bets. Her ability to use seething silences to portray the overwhelming anger of grief in a way few actors are brave enough to touch made Three Billboards work, and I can’t see anyone else upsetting what’s essentially been a one-horse race since early on in awards season.

My Pick: Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)
My Thoughts: The Oscars love a good makeover, and no one changed their appearance for a role more than Oldman did this year. Although I didn’t see Darkest Hour so I can’t offer a truly informed opinion, I think picking with crowd is the way to go on this one. However, part of me is really hoping for a Daniel Kaluuya upset.

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NGN’s Best of 2017: Reasons to Hope

the good place

One woman, standing in the middle of no man’s land with only a shield and an unshakeable sense of purpose, drawing all the fire to protect those who cannot fight for themselves.

One woman, staring down certain death with steel in her eyes, deciding to sacrifice herself to save the people and the cause she believes in with everything she has.

Two sisters, coming together despite their differences, finally executing the man who caused them, their family, and their home so much loss.

A mother and daughter, training together in a garage, learning what it means to never feel like a victim again.

A team, finding their strengths in the wrestling ring, using their bodies for themselves and not for anyone else.

A group of mothers, putting aside the things they believed divided them, acting as a force of nature to make sure an abuser never lays a hand on his victims again.

When I looked back on my favorite media moments of the year, one theme emerged loud and clear: This was a year that so many pieces of media—from prestige TV dramas to big-budget blockbusters—let women be their own heroes. This was the year that women teamed up, fought back, and found strength in themselves and in their relationships with one another.

This was the year female characters said “No more.” No more pushing us to the background. No more telling us people don’t care about our stories because of our gender, our race, our sexuality, or our age. No more trying to divide us or painting us as each other’s enemies. No more abuse. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this was also the year more women than ever before started to say “No more” in real life, too.

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