text:
Read The Book of M Online
Authors: Peng Shepherd
The Book of M (4 page)
Ory thought then. He took a few faltering steps. There was no point in wondering who'd gotten the drop on him. It didn't matter now. His pack was gone, and the bicycle he wanted to give her, but he was alive. And so was Max. And she'd be panicked out of her mind by now. Ory had never been this late before, ever. Not even the first time he went out and almost got killed, and then got lost trying to get home. He wanted to sit down and close his eyes again. Instead, he kept walking.
HOW HE MADE IT TO THE SHELTER WAS HAZY. HE MUST HAVE
retraced his steps from memory, able to navigate the demolished neighborhoods even in darkness. Once or twice he thought he heard something rustling in the bushes nearby, but he was too dizzy to spot it, and in no shape to fight it anyway. It was almost as bad as death to lose that pack, everything he'd had in it, but he might not have
made it back at all in his condition if he'd been carrying all that extra weight.
Suddenly he was on the ground floor of the shelter. He'd made it. He leaned over and vomited again, and then almost fell into it.
Just two floors to go, and he'd be home.
Please let her still remember how to clean a wound,
Ory thought.
Please let her still remember everything right now.
Tomorrow he could face it, but not now. If he opened the door and it was the moment that Max had forgotten who he was, in his current state Ory doubted he could string together a coherent sentence at all, much less convince her they'd been married for the past five years, and he went out and got himself almost killed like this every week. At least she wouldn't remember that he'd had a pack to lose.
Ory climbed the stairs slowly, leaning against the wall as he ascended to stop the world from spinning. The back of his head felt freshly wet. He'd need Max to check it to make sure it didn't need stitches. He grimaced as he imagined the possibility. Her having to shave a patch in the back with their last dull disposable razor, the piercing pop of one of her sewing needles through the skin, over and over, a sensation he knew far too well by now. The back of his scalp tingled in reluctant anticipation.
Just don't fall asleep,
Ory thought dimly when he reached their door. He'd read that somewhere once—if you had a concussion, you shouldn't go to sleep. Otherwise you might never wake up. That was all he wanted now, though. To curl up with Max and close his eyes until everything didn't blur and tilt.
But as soon as he put his key into the tumbler and started to turn it, everything snapped into humming, crystallized focus.
The door was unlocked.
No, no, no.
Ory shoved the door open and ran inside before he could think about it for another second. Before the terror of all the horrible things that could have happened to her—bandits, robbers, wild animals, her memory—could overwhelm him.
Please don't let something have
happened to her in the hours I was gone,
he prayed. Please don't let it be that if he hadn't gone to Broad Street, if he'd only been home on time, he could have caught her before she forgot. "Max!" he screamed, and tore across the living room to the kitchenette, then the bedroom, then the bathroom, and then farther out, down other halls, into other rooms, searching every inch of the shelter. "Max!
Max! MAX!
She was gone.
WAIT, LET ME TURN IT ON . . . OKAY, SAY IT
FIFTY-TWO.
Mahnaz Ahmadi
NAZ DREAMED OFTEN ABOUT THE NIGHT IT ALL BEGAN. THERE
was just so much joy, so much wonder. No one knew then what the shadowlessness would lead to. Even when she dreamed about it now, now that she'd seen what it all became, the dream still never turned into a nightmare. She didn't know what that meant. Maybe it didn't mean anything at all.
Naz, her coach, and her teammates were celebrating the approval of her green card that evening. They'd just found out the paperwork had gone through, and she was officially allowed to stay in the United States forever, to keep training. It sounded silly, because tryouts weren't even for another three years, but somehow the green card made it all real for her. She might someday become the first Iranian to medal in archery at the Olympics. She might even have a shot at
gold.
They were all gathered around the couch in her apartment's living room in Boston, her coach leaning over the coffee table to uncork a bottle of wine. Two of her teammates had gotten a banner printed that read,
Congrats, Naz! Olympics, watch out!
and another that said,
Bull's-eye!
and hung them on the wall right above the case where she stored her competition bow.
She'd mostly tuned out the vague blinks of color coming from the TV as they laughed, drinking and snacking on a cheese plate and a cake she had baked, but something caught her eye. A red news ticker at the top of the screen flashed:
. That's when she first heard the name Hemu Joshi.
There was an annual festival that day in India, so the local news crews were already out in the bigger cities, including Pune; they'd been on Hemu for all of seven minutes before someone working for
an international station caught sight of their live feeds. Everything exploded.
Within six hours, it was on every channel and website in the United States, and crews from every country were touching down in Mumbai and frantically renting cars by the dozen to drive three hours away to the outdoor spice market in Pune—Mandai, the locals called it—in a span of time that seemed impossibly short for a transatlantic flight. Naz, her coach, and her teammates all stared transfixed at the screen, unable to look away.
At the time, none of them knew that they actually should have been terrified. Instead, they were fascinated. Obsessed. And Hemu obliged them. He stood gamely in the street of Mandai's largest aisle for those first three days, giving demonstrations for curious passersby. No matter how many times he did it, it never got old. Naz could watch him for twelve hours straight, with breaks only to microwave food and bring it back to the couch or go to the bathroom.
First he would smile and say something, to prove he was real and that it was live, not a tape being looped. Then he'd hold out his hand, or stand on one foot and dangle the other one in the air. The street children who had been haunting Hemu like little ghosts since the first moment would giggle and run circles around him. Photojournalists had a heyday with those shots. News sites were filled with vibrant images of the kids playing with him, laughing, dust swirling around them, the oranges and purples of the open-air spice stalls throbbing with such rich color that it made Naz squint.
Fortune-tellers made their way in rickshaws and on bicycles from every corner of the city to look upon this new wonder. Cripples were carried to Hemu by their relatives as if he could somehow cure them. Fathers were in the street, shouting at him and waving pictures of their daughters. By the end of the first day, Hemu had sixty-two marriage proposals, all from extremely wealthy families. There was a picture of Hemu's mother, a sturdy old woman with hair still as ink black as his own, trying to hold all of the photos of prospective
brides being pressed upon them. She'd pulled down the shoulder sash of her sari to use it like a makeshift basket, but there were so many pictures that they overflowed, the tiny faces of so many beautiful young women escaping her arms like dragonflies, flitting away down the crowded street.
The day before, Hemu had been a junior customer service representative at a call center for a U.S. cell phone company, and a second-string amateur cricket player for the Maharashtra team. A glorified benchwarmer. He'd batted once in the last fifty games, if that. Now he was almost godlike, something out of a fairy tale or a science fiction film. The world was captivated.
Hemu Joshi was the first person to lose his shadow.
WHEN NAZ AND HER LITTLE SISTER, ROJAN, WERE KIDS IN
Tehran, the year before their father died, he bought them a little telescope for one of their birthdays, to take up to the roof of their apartment building to try to spot constellations. The girls both went every night, but for different reasons. In truth, Naz could have cared less about it. She was already old enough to be allowed into the specialized sports section of the gymnasium after school, where the bows were kept. She helped drag the heavy metal instrument up the stairs as soon as darkness fell because Rojan cared. Because she had never seen her little sister so spellbound. Astronomy had become Rojan's version of Naz's archery. So every night Naz grabbed one end of the telescope and helped Rojan edge up the dark stairwell.
The rest of the family used to joke that those two things never really seemed to go together, archery and astronomy. To Naz there seemed to be a connection, though. The dark sky, the stars. The white gold of the sun. Her arrow arcing through the air beneath them. She wanted to watch Rojan watch the stars forever. But when Naz won nationals at the age of twenty-one, and the man who would become her coach called from faraway Boston, his English fast and whining and almost impossible for them to understand,
and she heard his offer—athlete visa, sponsorship, the Olympics in a few years . . .
After Naz moved to Boston, she went back home only once. That was the last time she saw her sister. She hadn't meant to mention her first American boyfriend to her mother, or dating at all. It had just slipped out. But then in the heat of the ensuing argument, she spitefully told the old woman everything about him—and the ones after.
She wasn't welcome in the house anymore after that. Her mother swore she'd never speak to Naz again. Naz swore the same. She left that night and went to visit Rojan at her university, where she was studying—Naz's heart swelled for her—astronomy. She'd managed to win a full scholarship. The next evening, they sneaked into Rojan's lab to see her research. By then Rojan knew far more than Naz did about the sky, but Naz followed as best she could. She'd remember forever the stolen looks through the telescopes she shared with her—the glow of distant planets, the streaks as comets shot by.
Naz often wondered now what happened to all of them. The telescopes. It would be strange to find them again someday, if any of them were still standing in this new world changed. Survivors would come upon them in their silent domed houses and look through their tiny glass eyepieces and think they were magic. Sometimes science seemed like magic. To watch Hemu Joshi live and breathe without his shadow was like watching magic.
There were attempts to turn his mystery into science, of course. And actually, there
some science to it. It was an obscure astronomy fact, but Naz had learned it from her sister. It turned out that actually, in a few countries, shadows disappearing happened every single year on a specific date.
It sounded impossible, but it was just physics. It had to do with the angle of the sun and the seasons—the lands between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, and sometime in late spring to early summer, to be exact. "No matter where you live, you always think of the sun
as directly above you at noon each day, but that isn't actually true," Rojan had explained to her once, when she still lived in Tehran. Naz had tried to explain it to her coach and teammates as they watched Hemu on TV—the looks on their faces had made her laugh. But it was true. The earth was too big and too curved. Even though it looked like it, the sun was actually never
overhead. Except in India, on a certain day in mid-May.
Or as the locals called it, Zero Shadow Day.
The most insane, unbelievable thing, and it happened every year. Rojan had always wanted to visit. Zero Shadow Day had become a small festival there over the decades, celebrated on successive days as the earth tilted each dawn to position a different city directly under the sun—complete with basic astronomy lessons, parades, and kite flying. Every year just before noon, huge crowds would flock to open squares in the markets to wait for the moment that the sun was so exactly poised above them that their shadows would disappear for a few stunning seconds. Teachers encouraged kids to place various objects in the street—flashlights, basketballs, cricket bats—to see if they could outsmart the sun. They never could. Under the rolling hum of hand drums and sitars, as the earth and sun became perfectly aligned, all the shadows in the city and beneath the people slowly would shrink to tiny little dark specks on the ground, vanish, and then come back as the earth rotated on and away. Always.
A perfectly scientific explanation.
There just wasn't any scientific explanation as to why after that brief window, everyone else who was outdoors on that day watched the dark shape of themselves flicker back into form from the tips of their heels, while Hemu Joshi stayed shadowless and free. No explanation but magic.
So for three magical days, the entire world watched Hemu Joshi dance around untethered to the earth, captivated by the un-understandable beauty of it. Magic. Flights and hotels were monstrously overbooked, people were sleeping in restaurants and on the
streets, television channels played his clips endlessly, poetry was written about him. He even appeared to Naz in her dreams. Scientists went wild, but not a single one could prove exactly what was going on. And the day after Hemu's shadow disappeared, news broke that it had also happened to a group of eightysomething people in Mumbai during the celebration of their own successive Zero Shadow Day festival. The news started calling them the Angels of Mumbai. It didn't sound silly at all. And then a day after that, the third day, it happened to a group of fifteen in Ahmednagar, and a group of twelve in Nashik . . .
The reports kept coming in late into that third evening, as more and more scattered cases across the state of Maharashtra were reported, family after family, village after village. It was like watching a miracle. When she heard about the Angels of Mumbai, Naz actually thought that they were all about to transcend into some kind of higher existence. And as ridiculous as that kind of statement sounded when uttered out loud, the world was so in awe that she didn't feel self-conscious. Not even a little. She was standing wrapped in a towel in her bathroom, dripping everywhere, waving her arms around and declaring it to one of her teammates and the toilet while she brushed her teeth, and she didn't feel silly or dramatic in the slightest. That's how taken the world was with it.
Then on the fourth day, it all started to go horribly wrong.
HEMU JOSHI HAD PROBABLY BEEN FORGETTING THINGS SINCE
the first moment of Zero Shadow Day, but it wasn't apparent until the morning of that fourth day.
The morning that the bad news broke, Naz got up early and turned on the TV so she could watch Hemu while she fried some eggs for breakfast. The sizzle from the skillet garbled the reporter's voice-over, but the view was familiar. Since Zero Shadow Day, Hemu had been living exactly where he was first spotted—outdoors in the center of the Mandai market—disappearing only to quickly change clothes or go to the bathroom. There had been such a desperate outcry on that
first night when he tried to go home to sleep that his two brothers had given in and dragged some bedding out and down the crowded, winding streets to him. Now the three of them camped in the center of the breezy, fluttering textiles aisle. By the middle of that first night, so many people had brought them blankets and other offerings of fruit and silk that their little patch of dusty concrete looked like some kind of ridiculous sultan's love chamber.
Something was strange, though. Since Naz had turned on the TV, only Hemu's brothers had been on the screen, instead of Hemu. She glanced away to give the eggs a good push with her spatula, and when she turned back, she realized they looked concerned this time, not friendly. One of them was shouting, "No cameras!" The other brother reached toward the cameraman, and the screen went dark as his hand grabbed the lens and yanked it down toward the ground.
"What you just saw was our most recent footage of Vinay and Rahul Joshi, Hemu Joshi's brothers, taken just minutes ago." The screen abruptly cut back to a sharp-shouldered, severe news anchor. "Since five this morning India Standard Time, Joshi's family has refused the media access to Joshi after he was found wandering through the business district of Pune, apparently disoriented and—"
Naz turned off the burner, leaving the eggs half-done and still translucent in the pan, and went to get her laptop. By the time the yolks had hardened into a yellowy mess, she had pieced together what happened. When the news crews woke up and turned the cameras back on at dawn, they realized Hemu wasn't sleeping beside Vinay and Rahul anymore. They woke the brothers, and the two of them went home to see if Hemu was there, but he wasn't. A search was mounted, and that's when they found Hemu stumbling around the opposite end of the market, confused and agitated. He was shouting at the crowd that he didn't want to be followed and he was sick of the news crews, which was understandable. But then his brothers pushed to the front of the mass, and that's when the strangest thing happened: Hemu didn't recognize them at all.
Most of the news crews were still obsessed with getting a shot of Hemu, the man who had captured the attention of billions. But there was a second-rate team from some American gossip channel in Nashik—attempting to drum up interest in a group of twelve children they were trying and failing to dub the Nashik Cherubs, a terrible rip-off of the Angels of Mumbai—who turned this from a curiosity to a tragedy.
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Home / Stories / Federal Judge May Declare Cannabis' Schedule I Status Unconstitutional
Federal Judge May Declare Cannabis' Schedule I Status Unconstitutional
Yesterday in Sacramento a federal judge heard closing arguments in a motion challenging the constitutionality of cannabis' Schedule I classification.
At issue is whether a rational basis exists for the government's contention that cannabis is properly designated as a schedule I substance — defined as possessing a "high potential for abuse," "no currently accepted medical use," and "a lack of accepted safety… under medical supervision." A federal court has not heard evidence on the matter since the early 1970s.
Lawyers for the federal government argue that it is rational for the government to maintain the plant's prohibitive status as long as there remains any dispute among experts in regard to its safety and efficacy. Defense counsel — attorneys Zenia Gilg and Heather Burke of the NORML Legal Committee — contend that the federal law prohibiting Justice Department officials from interfering with the facilitation of the regulated distribution of cannabis in over 20 U.S. states cannot be reconciled with the government's continued insistence that the plant is deserving of its Schedule I status under federal law.
In October, defense counsel and experts presented evidence over a five-day period arguing that the scientific literature is not supportive of the plant's present categorization. "Numerous clinical trials have been conducted using whole plant marijuana and have concluded the evidence strongly suggests therapeutic value," defense counsel affirmed in a written brief filed with the court last month. "Physicians in 23 states and the District of Columbia have been recommending whole plant cannabis for treatment of a myriad of medical conditions. The United States, through SAMHSA (Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, a branch of HHS), holds a patent [on the therapeutic utility of the plant]."
"… It is unimaginable to believe that if heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, or even over-the-counter medications were being distributed in 23 states and the District of Columbia, Congress and the President would abdicate all regulatory authority to those jurisdictions, and then cut off all funds… to intervene in related distribution activities… Even the most vivid imagination would be hard pressed to reconcile such action with a 'rational belief' that marijuana is one of the most dangerous drugs in the nation."
In a brief filed with the court by the federal government, it contends: "Congress' decision to treat marijuana as a controlled substance was and remains well within the broad range of permissible legislative choices. Defendants appear to argue that Congress was wrong or incorrectly weighed the evidence. Although they failed to prove even that much, it would be insufficient. Rational basis review does not permit the Court's to 'second guess' Congress' conclusions, but only to enjoin decisions that are totally irrational or without an 'imaginable' basis."
They add: "Congress is not required to be 'right,' nor does it matter if the basis on which Congress made its decision turns out to be 'wrong.' All that is required is that Congress could rationally have believed that its action — banning the production and distribution of marijuana — would advance its indisputably legitimate interests in promoting public health and welfare. Because qualified experts disagree, it is not for the Courts to decide the issue and the statute must be upheld."
The Judge is anticipated to rule on defense's motion within 30 days.
Legal briefs in the case, United States v. Pickard, et. al., No. 2:11-CR-0449-KJM, are available online here.
– See more at: http://blog.norml.org/2015/02/12/federal-judge-hears-closing-arguments-in-constitutional-challenge-to-cannabis-schedule-i-status/#sthash.w5p6CojL.dpuf
This piece first appeared on the NORML Blog.
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YearofAction says
Cannabis, hemp, marihuana, marijuana – are they all the same thing, or different things? What is the legal difference?
Is it a plant, a plant species, parts of a plant – "the seeds thereof…", "the resin extracted…", "every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation…", a drug, or an "other substance"?
What is it that is prohibited? What is not included in that prohibition?
Is it's Schedule 1 status temporary, or permanent for all time?
Is the marijuana law clear, effective, or even constitutional? What kind of law is this?
Maybe the judge can find a way to end the confusion and settle these questions.
This year is a good time to ask your representatives if they will support this simple definition of marijuana which actually shows respect for our Constitution:
16. The term "marijuana" means all parts of the smoke produced by the combustion of the plant Cannabis sativa L.
Do it for your Constitution. Do it for your children.
IEVENOUT says
Cannabis and marijuana are the same thing, although the words describe a wide range of strains.Hemp is only called hemp. All the other names describe the drug. Hemp is the male plant, it contains basically no THC,it cannot get you high, and it posses many useful characteristics: high nutritional value (high omega 3 content), it makes great ethanol for a source of renewable energy, it can be used to make paper, clothes, cement, and more! What gets you high are called buds, buds are the female reproductive organ. The male plant has seeds. Even if marijuana was dangerous and should be illegal, even if we believed in that crap… There is absolutely no logical reasons whatsoever to outlaw hemp. Period. It's simply absurd to do so. Mass insanity.
Lukedwards says
I'll agree with all but the Omega 3 comment. While the plant may be high in Omega 3 content the human body doesn't process this very well. In fact it hardly uses any of it at all compared to fish. A very common misconception.
http://chriskresser.com/why-fish-stomps-flax-as-a-source-of-omega-3
Kevin Roelofs says
That is from Flax, Cannabis also produces an exclusive protein, that is a highly digestible globular protein called Edestin. Everything nutritional derived from cannabis is readily available to the body.
Someone missed my point. For those that don't have any chemistry background. What is commonly confused is that the plant itself has very little "Digestible" nutritional value to humans. Our bodies simply can't digest and absorb the goodness in them.
However, the "NUT" or seed is very digestible and contains some of the highest levels of good stuff like Omega 3. So if you "Grind" up the seeds and eat them in the right way they are great for you!
Hope I dumbed it down good enough for you Tj but really I just wanted to explain it for everyone else.
As I regularly do, I highly suggest everyone do thier own research.
Well chemistry and biology look at fatty acids differently. Chemists count the carbonyl carbon, as where biologists count "n" or (w) carbon. Secondly, you are highly mistaken when you say its not digestible. Edestin is a G-coupled protein that is readily available to the body and is similar to the globulins found in the bloodstream. As well it provides all 8 essential Amino Acids. Each resource has its use, as the different Omega 3 fatty acids have different roles in the human body…there is more to this than just double bonds and carbon chains…you are thinking like a chemist.
You are thinking like someone who read a few articles and copied and pasted some information together.
As I said before I disagree with Kevin I mean Tj I mean Keven.. whoever you are…
I simply recommend that people do their own research since this guy seems like a politician that can't admit he's wrong.
Budmans Page says
Hemp is a strain of cannabis. Its main difference from the cannabis that we smoke is that it contains a small amount of THC. Scientifically it i the same plant, but has been bred for the purpose of manufacturing etc rather than intoxication. It is not solely male, as then you could not continue to produce seed, as seed production comes from the female of a plant, and pollen production is from the male. You need both to produce seed. Female flowers are buds, and male flowers are simply flowers producing pollen. Scientifically,Hemp and marijuana are both cannabis plants. Legally, governments have placed limits on the THC levels of cannabis for it to be legally allowed to be called hemp..
I see. Thanks mate
Hemp is NOT the Male plant. Hemp is a chemotype. It has both male and female plants, and is just low in cannabinoids, which gives Hemp its tensile strength for textiles.
Ah well, you learn something new everyday. Thanks
Marijuana with an h is the original Spanish spelling. In the 1930s, Hearst newspapers started using the Spanish word marijuana to describe ( pot, weed, cannabis, etc) because it sounded sexual, to fuel a scare campaign about it. It was during this period that cannabis was outlawed. Hemp was a threat to the paper industry in which Hearst had big investments… But it was also a racist thing, since latinos and blacks were bigger users of cannabis. Now that I think about it, perhaps cannabis describes both hemp and marijuana. but it make more sens to say hemp when talking about hemp.
Paul Michael Lizzi says
If the term marijuana means "all parts of the smoke produced by the combustion of the plant Cannabis sativa L.", than Cannabis indica would not be considered marijuana.
Edo Edo says
How can the US government claim that cannabis have no redeeming medical value when it holds a patent on that substance exactly for that purpose? Patent No. 6630507, held by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, covers cannabis/cannabinoid use for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, stroke, heart attack, Crohn's disease, diabetes and arthritis (This is mentioned in the article above). How can the government grant legal protections over an illegal substance? They can't. It's a legal irrationality and on that basis, cannabis should be removed from Schedule 1…
One of the most rational arguments I've heard with evidence to back it up! Nice job!!
Thanks. Hopefully the judge comes to the same conclusion…
cool guest says
Hope you don't mind if I use your argument man. Because It's rock-solid man.
Please do. Use it anywhere that it can do some good…
Justin Barnes says
weirdly?…….the supreme court ruled against a company that wanted to patent a natural process, in 2013…….meanwhile the FDA is like, dadeeda, don't look over here…..
There's been a lot of hypocrisy and favoritism going on in government for a long time. Our generation is very lucky to have the internet as a source of immediate information because it gives the people a powerful voice against actions like this in government. In the past, we had to rely on government or business for our sources of information. Now we get it on our own in unbiased or less biased forms and we can now use this information to increasingly make our leaders more accountable to our needs, not lobbyist desires…
that is more or less the how they lost……sunlight is the best disinfectant.
don't forget that eating cannabis oil will causes "apoptis" in cancer cells…….meaning it reprograms them to turn off…….think about how much money the cancer "industry" is worth……hundreds of billion each year….much more World wide
I do remember reading an article about that. I think the study came from the UK, right?
There have been numerous studies confirming cannabis oil causes apoptis in cancer cells…….the NIC agreed as well, in 2013…….(national institute of cancer)……
Christine Jarvis says
rsteeb says
"Schedule I Cannabis" is a Damned lie. "Schedule II" will NOT do.
Cannabis SHALL be removed from CSA "Schedule I", and placed in "CSA Subchapter I, Part A, §802. Definitions, paragraph (6)", appended to the list "distilled spirits, wine, malt beverages, or tobacco", where it will STILL be the least-toxic in the category [by several orders of magnitude].
In other words, completely EXEMPT from CSA scheduling.
Anything short of that is ABSOLUTELY unacceptable.
http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/21cfr/21usc/802.htm

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Life is slowly getting back to normal here. Royal Caribbean is the only cruise line so far to be coming back into port at Key West. Commercial air has resumed, many hotels and resorts are opening back up.
More updates to come. Please contact us with questions or to book your trip.


Throughout history, the construction industry has been characterized as a labor-intensive industry that is timely, costly, and produces excess waste at the expense of the environment. Over the past 100 years, contractors have used prefabrication and modularization techniques to reduce costs, enable process standardization, shorten lead times, improve construction quality, and reduce waste. Prefabrication is the process of assembling building systems to a nearly-complete state offsite to later deliver to the project site for installation. Modularization involves constructing a finished project offsite and then delivering it to the construction site to assemble with other modules to create the final product.
According to McGraw Hill Construction's 2011 report, "Prefabrication and Modularization: Increasing Productivity in the Construction Industry," modern technology has allowed these techniques to overcome the stigma of cheapness and poor quality, thereby driving industry productivity. Approximately 85% of respondents to McGraw's survey use these strategies to design and construct projects at some level.
The primary advantage of these techniques is increased productivity, especially when construction schedules are tight, bids are competitive, and skilled labor is scarce. Other advantages include enhanced simplified onsite logistics, less risk of theft and vandalism, and better protection from weather damage. Prefabrication and modularization help decrease material waste and create less disruption to the surrounding environment. Lean approaches can help construction companies achieve green project goals and eliminate environmental waste in the design phase. Modular buildings are also useful and cost-effective for temporary and seasonal work structures.
There is a common misconception that modular and prefab buildings are not built using the same level of quality as traditional site-built buildings and therefore, cannot adhere to architectural specifications. Ongoing education in the construction industry is necessary to propel the evolving market forward. Modular Today points out that commercial modular buildings often have limited customization and service areas. Building designs have limits on dramatic aesthetic changes, and costs increase greatly when building sites are located more than 500 miles from the factory.
Some markets have taken advantage of prefabrication and modularization techniques more than others. And according to FMI Corporation's "Prefabrication and Modularization in Construction 2013 Survey Results", the markets for healthcare, education, and lodging are expected to grow faster in the years ahead. Most prominently in the healthcare industry, growth depends on these techniques' adaptability in complex buildings, the economic climate in the country, and the ability to expand and be replicated over time.
To expand the use of prefabrication and modularization in projects, construction professionals should calculate their return on investment and measure the expected pay-back time frame. Other considerations include delivery times, quality control, procurement, and labor relations. These industry techniques are not new, but they are changing as the needs of society evolve and become more specific and sophisticated.


February 23 –Faith and Family: Let God Invade Your Home!
Dr. Tom and Kari Curran give tips on how to plan and host a fruitful, faith-filled gathering in the home with other families. Kari shares stories about hosting a Lenten gathering at their home with other Catholic families. Tom talks about how to discern God's prompting to 'do something' about the gap between what-is and what ought-to-be!


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ENIN "THE ARTIST"
About ENIN "THE ARTIST"
ENIN "THE ARTIST" aka Enin Perryman, was born in the "Windy City" of Chicago, Illinois. He was reared in Clarksdale, Mississippi (The Home of the Blues). His vocal style encompasses an array of soulful R&B Gospel blends, which reflect the creative culture of the Mississippi Delta. Singing in rural churches since the tender age of five, his grandmother soon picked up that there was something different about him early on. Enin was quickly groomed for music success upon graduating from Fresno High School in Fresno, California where his family later relocated and later attended Berkley College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts where he honed his songwriting skills. He soon mastered all the areas of performing arts these schools could offer and quickly became a rising star touring and building a following throughout the world. After continuing his education, he focused all his creative energy on writing and recording songs which helped to lay a solid foundation for moves in the music industry. As a singer/songwriter his talents in these areas have landed him notoriety with many recording artists, music producers, and industry heads after having recognized Enin's perfectionist studio work habits and performance style and creativity. His track record includes performances for or with: R. Kelly, Paris Red, Freddie Jackson, Al Green, Chuckii Booker, Pattie Labelle, Boyz II Men, Roger and Zap, Larry Gettens of Cool and the Gang, Usher, D'Angelo, DRS, Prince, Joe, Silk, Tevin Cambell, Damien Hall, Portrait, Special Generation, Quincy Jones, Brian McKnight, Snoop Dogg, Brandy, American Music Awards, Music Exposure Management, and many other industry artists. Enin's ventures as a songwriter included the R&B release "AND THEN CAME ENIN!" (Wake up Music/MMS/Sony Records), (Frankfurt, Germany) "LAID BACK GROOVES!" (Hill town Records) (Compilation), "PRAY" (E-NINE MUSIC/) gospel, "PUT YOUR TRUST IN JESUS" (E-NINE MUSIC/) gospel and his latest unreleased work "Keeping It Real" 901 Entertainment along with his work with Mikael Musix Group Inc. as a partner songwriter with the legendary Mike Vocals aka Michael Manley of the World Famous Commodores. Enin has currently finished work on a new R&B cd entitled "THEM SONGS" which features the hit singles "FLAWLESS" featuring local Memphis rapper Million, "WHAT WILL I DO", and "SHE WAS", which also includes a video on domestic violence. The album was released on indie label, E-nine Music Group Inc. and marketed on most major music download sites. As an artist, Enin continues to write music about life, love, relationships, and living by channeling real soulful music about real people in love.
For booking inquiries regarding Enin "The Artist" please contact E nine Music group inc. corderro D. white phone: (901) 552 -4366 e-mail: eninemusicgroup@gmail.com
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For WS23, Clandestino crew member Joe Morris provides some classy Balearic house vibes. Joe Morris has been involved in the Leed's underground music scene for over 15 years, with a sound that takes in influences from the glory days of Acid House, the melodic elements of Balearica and the drama of Disco. On remix duties it features two masters of the Balearic house scene, Max Essa and Coyote, who lend their signature sounds to the mixes, with label boss Aimes bringing up the rear with an uplifting flip of the original.
Truly essential gear for any sunset or sunrise party this summer.


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Whether you're designing your new home or just looking to update a room in your current house, it's always helpful to see what's popular and trending. Just because it's trending doesn't mean it's not timeless. A well-executed renovation can withstand the test of time and add substantial value to your home.
During this week's KBTribeChat, design experts from all over came together to share their thoughts and discuss the latest remodeling design trends making waves in 2018.
Let's talk style! What are the most popular remodeling trends today?
Homeowners are getting more streamlined in their overall aesthetic. It's all about creating a stress-free environment to come home to. A less is more motto.
What are the latest design & product trends in residential remodeling and custom building that are most likely to increase a home's value?
There are few things that can brighten up a home as much as a freshly remodeled kitchen. The kitchen is undoubtedly the major selling point of a home, as well as a focal point for valuable family time.
Hardwood floors also have a pretty strong ROI. Whether it's putting in new hardwood or resurfacing the existing, people appreciate a beautiful hardwood floor.
How are the demographics of aging in place and millennials changing remodeling trends and innovations?
Aging in place has prioritized remodeling for accessibility – favoring open designs that maximize mobility, expanding upon the open-floor plan.
For kitchen and baths, are there certain features (hardware, finishes, space savers, shower systems) that are in high demand and can fetch top dollars?
Quality is key. One of the most popular features to splurge on are countertops. Homeowners look for surfaces that are engineered to last. It's why so many homeowners are opting for quartz. As we like to say at Caesarstone, our quartz is designed for life.
Color trends interior or exterior; are there colors that are more appealing for home purchase or sale?
The right paint can give you a lot of bang for your buck…both inside and outside. It adds to the curb appeal and makes everything look fresh and new. White is a favorite for kitchen cabinets and grey comes in a close second. We're also seeing more mixing of colors and materials.
Let's talk about exterior trends.
You never get a second chance to make a first impression and this is true for houses, too! From replacing siding, upgrading windows and redoing landscaping, there are many ways to give your house an exterior facelift that's sure to make a lasting impression.


The unique formula in Skin Care Collection Day Cream can help you protect your skin through the day by promoting skin hydration and cell renewal, leaving your skin fresh and youthful looking. Using extracts from shea butter, green tea leaf extract and vitamins, it promotes healthy skin throughout the day.
Many people go through their day without moisturizing their skin, leaving it exposed to factors that can damage it. Life Extension's advanced Skin Care Collection is designed to support cell regeneration, replenish moisture, and to help diminish the visible signs of aging on the skin throughout the day.
Our Day Cream is enhanced with rice bran ceramides (0.5%) to enhance hydration for youthful, vibrant skin. Shea butter, green tea leaf extract, vitamins and other nourishing topical nutrients have also been included as extra nutrients in this day cream formula. This youth-promoting lotion is designed to make your skin retain a soft, smooth look and feel.
Oryza rice-bran ceramides (0.5%) generates a protective barrier that maintains skin hydration to further diminish wrinkling of the skin . Rice-bran ceramides prevent water loss and contribute to the skin's protection against microbes and its protective barrier function.
Scientists published a three-week human study about the effectiveness of oryza rice-bran ceramides. It was reported that those study participants who applied the oryza rice-bran ceramide cream had better-hydrated skin .
Skin Care Collection Day Cream also contains shea butter which is a vitamin E-rich fat extract of an African plant .
Apply daily to clean skin or after serum has been absorbed.
May be used morning and/or night, alone or under makeup.
Rawlings AV, Stephens TJ, Herndon JH, et al. The effect of a vitamin A palmitate and antioxidant-containing oil-based moisturizer on photo damaged skin of several body sites. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2013;12(1):25-35.
Asai S, Miyachi H. Evaluation of skin-moisturizing effects of oral or percutaneous use of plant ceramides. Rinsho Byori. 2007;55(3): 209-15.
Olukemi OA, Oluseyi JM, Olukemi IO, et al. The Use of Selected Nigerian Natural Products in Management of Environmentally Induced Free Radical Skin Damage. Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences.2005;8(8):1074-7.
Water, glycol stearate SE, isopropyl myristate, glycerin, cetyl alcohol, stearic acid, Butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, retinyl palmitate, sodium hyaluronate, tetrahydroxypropyl ethylenediamine, green tea leaf extract, oat kernel extract, panax ginseng root extract, raspberry leaf extract, phenylpropanol, propanediol, caprylyl glycol, tocopherol, lavender oil, squalane, urea, panthenol, carbomer, polyglyceryl-10 oleate, rice bran oil, glucosyl ceramide/glycosphingolipids, allantoin, sodium PCA, disodium EDTA, propylene glycol, hydrolyzed DNA, hydrolyzed RNA, sodium ascorbyl phosphate, tocopheryl acetate, ascorbyl palmitate, sodium carboxymethyl beta-glucan, thioctic acid, beta-carotene.
The unique formula in Skin Care Collection Day Cream uses extracts from shea butter, green tea leaf extract, and vitamins, to promote healthy skin and protection throughout the day.


Just fill in your details below. Then upload a picture of your child that you would like to enter into the competition. It's that easy!
After completing the entry form providing your and baby's name, two contact numbers, and which age category and sub-category you are entering, attach the photograph (must not exceed 15 x 10cm).
Keep the left hand side of the entry form free for the full terms and conditions and important dates to remember.
The photograph must be a recent image taken – not older than 1 month old.
Please ensure the baby is in the correct age category. The entrant will be disqualified should they be entered into an incorrect age category.
The last day for entering the competition is Sunday, 8 April 2018 at 3pm. No late entries will be accepted.
Top 20, which will be 1 winner selected per age group, per entry category, will be contacted telephonically and via e-mail by 11 April 2018.
All winning photographs must be available in digital format to be eligible for the public vote overall prize.
All entrants and winners automatically agree by entering the competition to have their photos shared on City View's online platforms, including our website, social media pages, in Centre Court and in the Berea Mail for public vote.
Voting for the overall winner will be done through Facebook, the website, SMS and the manual voting form from the Centre Management Office.
Details of these voting methods will be published upon selection of winners.
Voting week will take place 16 – 26 April 2018.
All votes will be included from all voting media, and one overall winner will be announced at the prize giving event.
The prize giving event will be held on Saturday 5 May 2018 in Centre Court, and is compulsory for all winners and their parents. The child and parent must be present to collect their prize at 10:30 to 11:30am at City View's Centre Court promotional area.
Each winner in each age category will receive a prize, with a total of R20 000 in prizes being given out.
All winners agree to have their photograph taken for press releases and marketing purposes.
Rule 1: The closing date for submission of entries is Sunday 8 April 2018 at 15:00.
Rule 2: The 20 winners in the various age and sub-categories will be selected by an independent panel of judges and will be notified telephonically on 11 April 2018 and compete for the main prize, Overall Most Beautiful Baby / Child 2018 through various voting channels.
Rule 3: The 20 winners, in their respective categories, will each receive a prize, none of which can be exchanged or transferred.
Rule 4: The Overall Most Beautiful Baby winner, chosen through public voting, may not exchange their prize for cash and may only be used for the winning child.
Rule 5: The winner for Overall Most Beautiful Baby will be decided by the amount of votes received through public votes collected through SMS, the City View Facebook page and manual voting forms only available at the Centre Management Office.
Rule 6: The overall winner will be chosen from the Top 20 finalists, and will be announced at the compulsory prize giving event.
Rule 7: All 20 finalists must provide a copy of their birth certificate to confirm their age and be present at the prize giving event for photographs and receive their prize in person.
Rule 8: This competition is open to anyone living in South Africa, except the directors, agents, consultants or employees of Growthpoint Properties Ltd, their subsidiaries and business partners, associates, store managers, store owners or their immediate families.
Rule 9: The 20 winners will be chosen by a panel of judges, their decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Rule 10: City View may collect, store and use (not share) personal information of entrants for marketing communication, newsletters or statistical purposes.
Rule 11: City View reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel and/or suspend any competition.
Rule 12: There will only be one winner per age group in their relevant category - from which only one winner will be selected as the overall Most Beautiful Baby 2018.
Rule 13: Entry confirms acceptance that photographs may be taken of winners and finalists for publishing in the press, on City View's social media page and website.
Rule 14: Entry implies acceptance of the above rules.


"Being allowed to play sport has given me a lot in my life. My commitment to Right To Play allows me to give the joy of sport and everything he has given me back to children in disadvantaged countries around the world."
Fabienne Suter is a former Swiss ski racer who has twice participated in the Olympic Winter Games and celebrated a total of four World Cup victories. Since her retirement in 2017, the young girl from Schwyz has devoted herself to other things and enjoys no longer having to bear the constant pressure of top sport. Right To Play was able to welcome Fabienne Suter as athlete ambassador in 2010. Since then she has been helping us to get our message across to the general public and to give children and young people around the world a better future through play and sport.


generally the first time is the most painful, but then it gets easier and easier with practice... right?
Congrats man! I just submitted my approval for mine. Can't wait to get that feeling you have now.
By the way, how long did it take you to get approved?
i ordered the same one too and also with the black shirt of course.


Radene Cummings Frazier, 80, passed away Monday, July 7, 2014 at her home in Woodbury. She was a native of Cannon Co.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Isaac Cummings & Lillie Bell Campbell Cummings; her nephews, Anthony Lee Young and Mark Alan Young.
She is survived by her sisters: Dorothy (Edward) Tucker, Billie (Joe) Barrett and Shirley (Felson) Young all of Woodbury; Nieces: Jolene Pemberton and her daughter, Deana, Edwina (Robert) Ward and their sons, Dustin & Justin, Rhonda (Adam) Clark and their children, Shalynn and Jacob; Nephews: David (Anna) Tucker and their daughter, Shelby and Michael Young. Also surviving are Mark's three sons, Michael and Nicholas Young and Radene's special great nephew, Tanner Lee Young who visited "Rainee" regularly from the time he was only a few weeks old until the time of her death.
Ms. Frazier was a member of the First Assembly of God, Nashville, Tn. and was retired from South Central Bell after 32 years of service.
Funeral Services will be 10 am Wed., July 9, 2014 in the Chapel of Woodbury Funeral Home with Bro. Marvin Davenport officiating. Interment will follow in the Gunter-Grizzle Cemetery. Pallbearers: Adam Clark, Michael Young, Nicholas Young, Robert Ward, Dustin & Justin Ward. Visitation with the family will be from4:00 PM until 8:00 PM Tuesday, July 8, 2014 and Wed. from 9 am until time of service.


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Here's how much you should spend on a wedding gift, according to industry experts
Frank Olito
There's a lot of factors that affect how much you should spend on a wedding gift.
Wally Santana/ AP
On Average, wedding guests allot $128 for a wedding gift, according to NerdWallet.
Amy Zawacki, owner of Wedding Chicks, told INSIDER $100 is a reasonable amount.
However, Janessa White of Simply Eloped said you should consider your relationship with the couple, how much you're already spending on the wedding, and your own financial situation.
It's no secret that weddings can get expensive. From the venue to the dress, couples can end up paying tens of thousands of dollars.
However, weddings can also be expensive for the guests. In fact, 33% of people have skipped weddings entirely because they could not afford the expenses, according to NerdWallet. After buying an outfit and traveling to the location, wedding guests still need to spend extra cash on the gift.
NerdWallet found that people typically set a $128 budget for a wedding gift in the US, while millennials tend to allot a bit more, budgeting $151 for the couple.
Amy Zawacki, co-founder of Wedding Chicks, told INSIDER that $100 is an appropriate amount for a wedding gift.
"The average wedding gift from friends or family members is usually around $100," Zawacki said. "Close friends and family members tend to spend about $150."
On average, Americans budget $128 for a wedding gift.
Jean-Marc Giboux/ AP
Jung Lee, wedding event strategist at Slowdance, however, said there is no one set dollar amount for a wedding gift. She said there are many variables to consider when deciding how much to spend. Lee said you should take into account your relationship with the couple, how much you're already spending on the wedding, and your own financial situation.
"Usually close friends and family members will be able to and really want to give a larger gift, [something] that will be truly memorable and last the couple their lifetime," Lee told INSIDER.
Read more: Couples are dropping up to $100,000 on multiple wedding ceremonies — and that's just one way they're breaking marriage traditions
Janessa White of Simply Eloped agreed with Lee.
"If you are already spending a lot of money to get to the wedding, like in the case of a destination wedding, you shouldn't feel like you need to spend a bunch of money on your gift," White told INSIDER. "If all other parts of the wedding are minimal costs and you want to spend a good chunk of money on a gift — and you can afford to do so — by all means go for it."
But White said if you're really at a loss with how much to spend, you should just look to the couple for guidance.
"Couples should set the expectations for gifts right away," she said. "If the couple is open to receiving gifts, they should register. This way people have options and can make sure they are giving a gift that the couple actually wants or needs."
"Weddings shouldn't be viewed as a dollar-for-dollar transaction," said Zawacki.
Jayme Burrows/Shutterstock
Finally, there's one wedding gift notion Zawacki advises against altogether: Some wedding goers subscribe to the idea that you should buy a gift that is equivalent to the cost of your meal at the wedding.
"Weddings shouldn't be viewed as a dollar-for-dollar transaction," she said. "It feels way better to a gift because you love the couple than to feel like you're expected to cover your cost-per-head. Couples want guests to come to witness their love, have all the feelings, eat, drink, party and leave with the most fun memories."
What the average bride spends on her wedding dress in every state
Here's how much the average wedding costs in every state
27 incredible photos of people getting married in unexpected venues
30 inspiring photos of same-sex weddings around the world
More: Weddings Gifts Wedding Gifts Money


Normally, students are expected to be able to cover their expenses during their course at Oxford, either from their own funds or from a funding body.
However, if you experience unexpected financial difficulty that was not foreseeable at the beginning of your course, Linacre and the University may be able to help you with a grant or a loan. See the Hardship Funds page for more information.
You can find details of all of the Linacre funds on the Funding page.
NOTE that for all but emergency funds, there are set dates for applications. Check the dates before you apply.
The Common Room has a small Endowment Fund that it disburses once a year, in Hilary Term. Details are here.
Limited funds are also available for social events bringing together Linacre students and Fellows in the same or related disciplines. The Senior Tutor will write to announce the availability of these funds.


Every day we have challenges that get thrown our way. A project that is due that doesn't go according to plan. Pieces you have no control over not going the way you need them to. People not doing the things you need them to. How you react to these situations will determine a lot about your life. The bumps will always come. What you can control is how you react to them in the moment. Learn from them and prepare better for next time. Is every bump along the way a challenge for you? Or is every bump an opportunity to learn and get better? It is often your attitude that determines what happens next.
Awesome article ! thanks for sharing.


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Tag Archives: Ruthanna Emrys
Pixel Scroll 2/22/19 Those Who Don't Learn From Pixelry Are Doomed To Rescroll It
Posted on February 22, 2019 by Mike Glyer
(1) RETRO HUGO FAN CATEGORY RESOURCE. Joe Siclari and the FANAC Fan History Project are providing support to Dublin 2019 Retro Hugo voters:
The nomination forms have gone out for Dublin 2019's Retro Hugo awards for works published in 1943. It's often very difficult to find materials relevant to the Fan Categories for the Retros, but we have a solution! FANAC.ORG has assembled the list of fanzines published in 1943, with links to those available on line. We've made several hundred fanzines available, and more will be added if they become available at http://fanac.org/fanzines/Retro_Hugos1943.html .
Here you'll find fanzines from 4sj, Doc Lowndes, J. Michael Rosenblum, Bob Tucker, Jack Speer, Larry Shaw, F. T. Laney and other stalwarts of 1943 fandom (and also Claude Degler). There are genzines, FAPAzines, newszines, and letterzines. There is fannish artwork, and fannish poetry. There's even the first publication of Lovecraft's "Funghi From Yuggoth". Fanzines which meet the issue requirements for Best Fanzine are so marked.
Hugo nominations continue through March 15, 2019.
(2) THE SHOW WON'T GO ON. Scott M. Roberts, the editor of Orson Scott Card's Intergalatic Medicine Show #67 announces the end. The magazine will publish two more issues before shutting down.
I am sad to report that Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show will be pulling up stakes in June 2019. I've been a reader since the first issue, and on the staff since 2009. My kids have grown up with the magazine in their lives, and I am fiercely proud of all that we've accomplished.
I am also very, very pleased with the state of science fiction and fantasy in general today. When IGMS first rolled onto the scene, online magazines were few and far between. Now the main mode of consumption of short SFF literature is online in one form or another (podcasts, e-issues, webpages, etc). And the voices of SFF today are vibrant, strident, beckoning, beseeching, screeching, awesome myriads. We have been a part of that polysymphonic wonder. We were one of the first to tell our truest lies on the brave digital frontier.
(3) RAVING ABOUT RAVENS. Adri Joy is an early bird, sharing her reaction to Leckie's new novel: "Microreview [Book]: The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie" at Nerds of a Feather.
Ah, ravens. They're smart, they're beaky, they come in murders, and many in our world are better Londoners than I am. They're also the subject of more than their share of both folklore and, through that, fantasy interest. Whether they're harbingers of death, guides to the spirit world, speakers of prophecy and truth or otherworldly tricksters, there's a lot of mileage in these feathery next-level dinosaurs. Now, in Ann Leckie's first novel-length foray into fantasy, a raven god is front and centre, alongside a cast whose human members often play second fiddle to their divine counterparts.
(4) EATING THE FANTASTIC. Scott Edelman hopes you'll share spring rolls with Ruthanna Emrys and him in episode 89 of his podcast Eating the Fantastic.
Ruthanna Emrys
Ruthanna Emrys is best known for the H. P. Lovecraft-inspired Innsmouth Legacy series, which so far includes the 2014 novella "The Litany of Earth," followed up by the novels Winter Tide in 2017 and Deep Roots in 2018. Her fiction has also appeared in such magazines as Strange Horizons and Analog Science Fiction and Fact, plus anthologies such as Timelines: Stories Inspired by H. G. Wells' The Time Machine and The Mammoth Book of Cthulhu: New Lovecraftian Fiction.
We discussed the ways in which her first exposure to Lovecraft was through pop culture references rather than the original texts, the reasons for the recent rise of Lovecraft recontextualisation, how tea with Jo Walton convinced her she was right to go ahead and write her first Innsmouth Legacy novel, why she ascribes to the tenets of the burgeoning Hopepunk movement, her love of writing X-Men fanfic and her hatred of gastropods, how she recovered from a college professor's unconstructive criticism, the time George Takei was nice to her at age 8 after she attended her first con in costume on the wrong day, and much more.
(5) NEW AWARD HONORS SUE GRAFTON. Mystery Writers of America has established the Sue Grafton Memorial Award for the best novel in a series with a female protagonist. (Do I hear Puppies howling?) The announcement is here.
Thirty-five years ago, Sue Grafton launched one of the most acclaimed and celebrated mystery series of all time with A is for Alibi, and with it created the model of the modern female detective with Kinsey Millhone, a feisty, whip-smart woman who is not above breaking the rules to solve a case or save a life. Like her fictional alter ego, Grafton was a true original, a model for every woman who has ever struck out on her own independent way.
Sue Grafton passed away on December 28, 2017, but she and Kinsey will be remembered as international icons and treasured by millions of readers across the world. Sue was adored throughout the reading world, the publishing industry, and was a longtime and beloved member of MWA, serving as MWA President in 1994 and was the recipient of three Edgar nominations as well as the Grand Master Award in 2009. G.P. Putnam's Sons is partnering with MWA to create the Sue Grafton Memorial Award honoring the Best Novel in a Series featuring a female protagonist in a series that also has the hallmarks of Sue's writing and Kinsey's character: a woman with quirks but also with a sense of herself, with empathy but also with savvy, intelligence, and wit.
The inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award will be presented at the Edgar Awards on April 25. The nominees are:
Lisa Black, Perish – Kensington
Sara Paretsky, Shell Game, HarperCollins – William Morrow
Victoria Thompson, City of Secrets, Penguin Random House – Berkley
Charles Todd, A Forgotten Place, HarperCollins – William Morrow
Jacqueline Winspear, To Die But Once, HarperCollins – Harper
(6) A VANCE MYSTERY. At Criminal Element, Hector Dejean reviews The Man in the Cage by John Holbrook Vance, better known as Jack Vance, which won the 1961 Edgar Award for the best first mystery novel, even though it wasn't his first novel in either genre: "Jack Vance's Edgar Award: A Mystery Novel Wrapped in an Enigma".
Vance was extremely talented and prolific, publishing his first book, The Dying Earth, in 1950, and his last work of fiction, Lurulu, in 2004. In 1957, he published his first mystery novel, Take My Face, using the pen name Peter Held. Later that year, he published another novel, titled either Isle of Peril or Bird Island, under the name Alan Wade. (Different versions exist, and according to some Vance-ologists the book doesn't really qualify as a crime novel.) A year later, he wrote his first mystery to be published under his full name, John Holbrook Vance. That book's title, according to sources on the Internet, was Strange People, Queer Notions.
This is where things get odd. Following a trip to Morocco—Vance was as impressive a traveler as he was a writer—Vance wrote a mystery set in North Africa; John Holbrook Vance was the name on this one as well. The book was The Man in the Cage, and it's quite good—I would even say it's a standout book, especially for readers curious about Vance who might not care for the conventions of sci-fi and fantasy. The MWA agreed, and in 1961 they gave it an award, making Vance's awards-shelf one of the more diverse of any American author.
Awarding Vance isn't the weird part. It's that the book won the Best First Novel by an American Author award, even though it was not Vance's first book, nor even his first mystery….
Dejean then goes on to laud the merits of the story itself.
(7) CONTRASTING EDGARS AND HUGOS. Criminal Element is also doing a retrospective of all Edgar Award winners for best novel: "The Edgar Awards Revisited". Cora Buhlert sent the link with a comment: "It's an interesting project and I was struck by how many women won Edgar Awards in the early years (the first five winners are four women and Raymond Chandler), which is very different from the early years of the Hugos."
(8) CRIMEMASTER AWARD. The Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance has awarded its 2019 CrimeMaster Award to Lisa Gardner.
Storied crime author Lisa Gardner writes award-winning novels that are addictive. Thankfully for us, there are more than 30 of them, with some 22 million copies in print. That's more copies than the entire population of New England, where she and her family live.
(9) TAKE COVER. Regarding the #CopyPasteCris plagiarism scandal, Nora Roberts is one of the authors whose work was appropriated, and as Kristine Kathryn Rusch phrased it —
Nora's particularly outspoken about what she has gone through, and I have to admit, I snorted tea when I read this comment from Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books:
When I saw "Nora Roberts" [on this list] my first thought was, "Everybody, get underground NOW."
Today Roberts posted her appropriately furious response: "Plagiarism Then and Now".
…I personally don't believe fiction writers should use ghosts. Celebrity auto-biographies and such, that's the job. If a fiction writer uses a ghost to help flesh out a book, or hires a book doctor to whip a book into shape, I strongly believe that person should be acknowledged–on the book.
The reader deserves honesty. The reader's entitled to know she's buying the author's–the one whose name's on the book–work, not somebody that writer hired for speed or convenience. And I'll state here as I have before. If a book has my name on it, I wrote it. Every word of it.
I do not, never have, never will comprehend how someone can feel any pride claiming a book they didn't write.
…A creature like Serruyo can have a decent run, make some money–make some best-seller lists–before she (or he, or they, who knows?) is found out. And the pain, the scars, the emotional turmoil this causes to the victims of plagiarism never ends.
Serruyo won't be the only one using that underbelly, exploiting the lack of real guardrails on Amazon and other sites for a few bucks.
I'll have a lot more to say about this, all of this. I'm not nearly done. Because the culture that fosters this ugly behavior has to be pulled out into the light and burned to cinders. Then we're going to salt the freaking earth….
(10) IT'S OFFICIAL. I learned today that Iowa declared November 2018 to be Speculative Poetry Month. Impressive!
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
Born February 22, 1925 — Edward Gorey. I reasonably sure that his animated introduction to the PBS series Mystery! Was my first encounter with him. I will recommend Gorey Cats, The Haunted Tea-Cosy: A Dispirited and Distasteful Diversion for Christmas and The Doubtful Guest. Ok he's not genre but damn if he's fun and delightfully weird. Oh, and do go read Elephant House: Or, the Home of Edward Gorey, with superb photographs and text by Kevin McDermott. (Died 2000.)
Born February 22, 1929 — James Hong, 90. Though not genre, became known to audiences through starring in The New Adventures of Charlie Chan in the late Fifties. Genre wise, his first role was in Godzilla, King of the Monsters! voicing Ogata/Serizawa. He then pops up in The Satan Bug as Dr. Yang and next is seen playing Ho Lee In Destination Inner Space. You'll no doubt recognize him in Colossus: The Forbin Project, he's Dr. Chin, but I'll bet you've never heard of, oh wait you have, Blade Runner in which he's Hannibal Chew and Big Trouble In Little China which I love in which he's wizard David Lo Pan. its back to obscure films after that with next up being Shadowzone where he's Dr. Van Fleet and Dragonfight where he's Asawa. He's next in The Shadow as Li Peng but I'll be damned if I can remember his role and the same holds true for him as Che'tsai In Tank Girl too. He's Mr. Wu in the very loose adaption of the classic The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Born February 22, 1930 — Edward Hoch. The lines between detective fiction and genre fiction can be awfully blurry at times. ISFDB listed him but I was damned if I could figure out why considering he's known as a writer of detective fiction who wrote several novels and close to a thousand short stories. It was his Simon Ark character who was the protagonist of Hoch's first published story and who was ultimately featured in thirty-nine of his stories that made him a genre writer as Ark is the cursed by God immortal doomed to wander forevermore and solved crimes. (Died 2008.)
Born February 22, 1937 — Joanna Russ. Is it fair to say she's known as much for her feminist literary criticism as her SF writings? That The Female Man is her best-known work suggests my question really isn't relevant as there may be no difference between the two. She was for a long time an influential reviewer for the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction where I think it would fair to say that you knew clearly what she thought of a given work. (Died 2011)
Born February 22, 1944 — Tucker Smallwood, 75. Space: Above and Beyond as Commodore Ross is by far my favorite genre role by him. I think his first genre appearance was as President Mazabuka on Get Smart followed by one-offs on Babylon 5, Bio-Dome, X-Files, Contact, Millennium, NightMan, Voyager, Seven Days, The Others, The Invisible Man, The Chronicle, Mirror Man and Spectres. After that he landed a role on Enterprise playingXindi-Primate Councilor for an extended period of one season.
Born February 22, 1956 — Philip Kerr. Though better known for his Bernie Gunther series of historical thrillers set in Germany and elsewhere during the 1930s, his write several genre friendly works. A Philosophical Investigation is set in a near future UK where it is possible to test for violent sociopathy and the consequences of that. The other is Children of the Lamp, a more upbeat YA series set in London involving djinns and rather obviously young children. (Died 2018.)
Born February 22, 1959 — Kyle MacLachlan, 60. Genre-wise known for his role as Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks and its weird film prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Paul Atreides in Dune, Lloyd Gallagher in The Hidden, Clifford Vandercave In The Flintstones, Calvin Zabo in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Jeffrey Beaumont in Blue Velvet (OK not genre, just weird).
Born February 22, 1968 — Jeri Ryan, 51. Seven of Nine of course but she's had other genre roles including being Juliet Stewart in Dark Skies, an UFO conspiracy theory series. She's showed up in briefly roles in Warehouse 13, The Sentinel, Helix and had recently showed up in the Arrowverse.
Born February 22, 1972 — Duane Swierczynski,47. Though a mystery writer by trade, he's also worked as a writer at both DC and Marvel on some very impressive projects. He did writing duties on the second volume of time traveling soldier Cable, penned the Birds of Prey as part of The New 52 relaunch and wrote an excellent Punisher one-off, "Force of Nature".
Psyops at Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. SJW credentials news in the hovertext. Think before you read it. Can you handle the truth?
(13) LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS. In her monthly column for The Paris Review, YA of Yore, Frankie Thomas takes a second look at the books that defined a generation.
What Was It About Animorphs?
For children's books in particular it was an era of quantity over quality, an unremitting glut. In those pre–Harry Potter days, a typical "series" meant hundreds of books churned out on a monthly basis by teams of frantic ghostwriters. You could order them by the pound. Often they came with a free bracelet or trinket, as if resorting to bribery. There were 181 Sweet Valley High books, 233 Goosebumps books, and so many Baby-Sitters Club books that their publisher, Scholastic, has never made the full number public (by my count it was at least 345 if you include all the spin-offs)—and they were all, to a certain degree, disposable crap.
But then there was Animorphs….
Harry Potter and the Secret Gay Love Story
The fifth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was published in the summer of 2003, by which point Harry was fifteen and those of us growing up along with him had discovered sex. The Harry Potter years also happened to coincide with the Wild West era of the internet and the rise of abstinence-only sex education; as a result, for better or for worse, erotic Harry Potter fan fiction played a major and under-discussed role in millennial sexual development. This was especially true if you were queer—or, not to put too fine a point on it, if you were me—and had picked up on the secret gay love story that existed between the lines of Rowling's text.
I refer, of course, to Sirius and Lupin….
(14) THEY'RE MADE OF MEAT. [Item by Mike Kennedy.] A team from Sweden's Lund University is searching for the elusive Borkborkborkino particle, which would be proof that the Chef field exists. Or at least I guess that's what they were doing at this year's "Stupid Hackathon Sweden" event. Gizmodo has the story: "Particle Physicists Build a Meatball Collider."
A team of particle physicists wanted "to unveil the deepest secrets of the Universe—and of Swedish cuisine." So, naturally, they built a Swedish meatball collider.
The MEAL, or MEatball AcceLerator collaboration, could answer important questions such as why we're made of meatballs, rather than anti-meatballs, or whether we can create dark meatballs. The proof-of-concept experiment was a success.
[…] they've got lofty goals for their next steps, according to the project's slides: "Get funding for a meatball—anti-meatball collider that has the circumference of the solar system and meatballs the size of the Earth."
(15) VIRGIN TEST. "Virgin test flight blasts to edge of space" — Reuters has video coverage.
A Virgin Galactic rocket plane on Friday soared to the edge of space with a test passenger successfully for the first time, nudging British billionaire Richard Branson's company closer to its goal of suborbital flights for space tourists.
(16) ONLY THE BEGINNING.It will take two months to land, but it's on its way: "Israel Launches Spacecraft To The Moon" – NPR has the story. (See also, BBC: "Israel's Beresheet Moon mission gets under way".)
An Israeli spacecraft blasted off this evening, aiming to land on the moon. And if the mission is successful, it would make Israel the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the lunar surface – after the U.S., the former Soviet Union and China.
It would also be the first privately initiated project to do so, although it was assisted by government partners, as Nature notes. "The feat seems set to kick off a new era of lunar exploration – one in which national space agencies work alongside private industries to investigate and exploit the moon and its resources," Nature added.
The spacecraft, which is called Beresheet (Hebrew for "in the beginning"), was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
It was initially conceived as part of Google's challenge called the Google Lunar XPRIZE for a private company to complete a soft landing on the moon. The Israeli non-profit SpaceIL was one of five international teams in the running for the $20 million grand prize; Google announced last year that the contest would end with no winner because no team was prepared to launch by the deadline. Still, the Israeli engineers at SpaceIL continued to work toward landing a spacecraft on the moon.
(17) A SCALZI CONSPIRACY FONDLY REMEMBERED. John Scalzi's classic prank showed up in the background of a recent Big Bang Theory episode.
And for those of you who didn't know: The story behind The Velvet Wesley:https://t.co/UdNEy5eqEw pic.twitter.com/Fb8kP7bcDe
— John Scalzi (@scalzi) February 22, 2019
Mayim Bialik photographed the items in Wil Wheaton's TV set apartment on Big Bang Theory and got him to explain their significance.
Wil and I both grew up on camera, and we also are geeky nerds who share a passion for discussing our mental illness struggles publicly. We are very similar, and it's so refreshing to work with him.
The set that was used as his living room was really special because it contained actual items from Wil's real life house. I was so delighted to see artwork, fan art, and memorabilia from his life—and I was so delighted that I photographed all of it and asked him to describe each item.
Wil Wheaton received the painting in 2008 and when it was finally revealed to him who had sent it, he wrote about the experience in "evil and awesome (but mostly awesome)".
Without knowing that I needed a reminder not to take this stuff so seriously, without knowing – in April, when the wheels were set into motion – that around the beginning of August I'd be feeling pretty lousy about getting cut from the show I look forward to attending every year, John did what good friends do: pick you up when you're down, and provide reality checks when you need them the most.
(18) UNFORGETTABLE. Nerds of a Feather features "6 Books with Simon Ings":
5. What's one book, which you read as a child or a young adult, that has had a lasting influence on your writing?
John Christopher got under my skin as a child and has never let me go. Kids' books like The Prince in Waiting fed me those nostalgic and valedictory notes you need if you're going to write into the British fantasy tradition. Much, much later I discovered the man had teeth: Death of Grass is a sort of John-Wyndham-without-the-apology tale about how personal virtue actually works in a disintegrating culture. Kindness is not a virtue. It is a sentiment. There, I've said it. But JC said it first.
(19) OSCAR-WORTHY FX. Here are three BBC posts with behind-the-scenes info about movie special effects.
"How we made the effects on Solo: A Star Wars Story" — video, including a scene for which most viewers think the reverse of what was actually CGI vs reality.
The film Solo: A Star Wars Story has been Oscar nominated in the best visual effects category.
Visual effects supervisor Julian Foddy of ILM London spoke to Al Moloney about some of the challenges the company faced in helping to make the film.
"Christopher Robin: How we made the film's visual effects" — video, including intermediate shots — puppetry, and actors working with stand-in beanbags.
The film Christopher Robin has been Oscar nominated in the best visual effects category.
Visual effects supervisor Chris Lawrence spoke to Al Moloney about some of the challenges the company faced in helping to make the film.
"Alita: Battle Angel – how we made the film"
Robert Rodriguez's latest stint as director is on the sci-fi blockbuster Alita: Battle Angel.
The film was written and produced by James Cameron, who originally planned to direct it.
Rodriguez says he made the movie for half the price Cameron would have, but with a reported budget of $200m (£154m), it still cost considerably more than your average indie-flick.
BBC Click's Marc Cieslak speaks to the director and cast of the film, to find out more.
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Cora Buhlert, Jason, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, Carl Slaughter, Chip Hitchcock, JJ, Andrew Porter, SF Concatenation's Jonathan Cowie, and Martin Morse Wooster for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Kip Williams.]
Posted in Pixel Scroll | Tagged Adri Joy, Ann Leckie, Beresheet, Big Bang Theory, Cora Buhlert, Dublin 2019, Edgar Allan Poe Awards, Fanac.org, Frankie Thomas, Jack Vance, Joe Siclari, John Scalzi, Mayim Bialik, Mike Kennedy, Mystery Writers of America, Nerds of a Feather, Nora Roberts, Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show, Oscars, Retro-Hugos, Ruthanna Emrys, Scott Edelman, Scott M. Roberts, Simon Ings, Sue Grafton, Sue Grafton Award, Virgin Galactic, Wil Wheaton
Pixel Scroll 1/28/16 Groundhugo Day
Posted on January 28, 2016 by Mike Glyer
(1) QUITE THE MODEL KIT. "USS Enterprise Conservation Begins Phase II" at The Smithsonian's Airspace Blog gives full details.
The final painting of the Enterprise model will begin in April, using newly discovered reference photos from our appeal to Trek fans in the fall. The team will also build new nacelle domes with LED lights to mimic the spinning effect seen on television. For reference, they will first build a 1:1 mock-up of the original mechanism, which utilized mirrors, motors, nails, and Christmas lights. Conservator Ariel O'Connor explains, "Although the original nacelle dome lights did not survive, we can replicate the original effect in a way that is safe to install on the model. The LED lights can be programmed to match the original VFX footage while eliminating the burnt-out bulbs, extreme heat, and motor problems that troubled the original lights. It is a wonderful solution to re-light the nacelles while ensuring the model's safety and longevity."
(2) OCTAVIA BUTLER. Radio Imagination celebrates the life and work of Pasadena science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006). Organized by Los Angeles-based arts nonprofit Clockshop, the program centers on ten contemporary art and literary commissions that explore Butler's archive at the Huntington Library. New work will premiere alongside performances, film screenings, and literary events throughout the year.
(3) THERE IS NO NUMBER THREE. The Guardian link to a news item about 500 new fairytales being discovered in a German archive proved to be infested with some kind of code that could not be seen with the text editing tools at my disposal, but overwrote the rest of the post with a busted survey question….! After deducing which entry was causing the problem, I chopped it out. And I'm ready to be done for the night!
(4) WALTON SEMINAR. Out of the Crooked Timber is hosting a "Jo Walton Seminar" using her books The Just City and The Philosopher Kings. (A third book in the sequence, Necessity, comes out in June).
Several posts are already online.
Ruthanna Emrys – "Under the Lemon Tree, Distracted by Chores".
One of the great appeals of the Thessaly series is the implicit invitation: join us in Socratic dialogue beneath the lemon tree, arguing practical philosophy with the best company from all of history. But I am not a philosopher king, and definitely not a Gold of the Just City. As evidence, between the first and second sentences of this paragraph, I took ten minutes to reassure a baby who'd pinched her finger in a dresser drawer. Over the past couple of days I've engaged in crafts and cleaning, cooking and political argument and snarky write-ups of old horror stories.
All of which speak to my soul, and all of which feel like part of The Good Life even if I sometimes wish the temporal ratios were different.
John Holbo — "Walton's Republic"
"It was the most real thing that had ever happened." – Jo Walton, The Just City
Thanks to Jo Walton for writing an SF novel in which people, including a pair of gods, try to realize Plato's Republic. (I've only read the first Thessaly novel, The Just City. So if what follows is premature? That sort of thing happens.)
This is an experimental novel. Succeed or fail, you learn from an experiment. But even well-constructed experiments can be failures. That's the risk.
Logically such a thing should exist. A novelization of Plato's Republic, I mean. How can no one have written this already? But can such a damn thing be written ? Surely it will fail as a novel, somewhat, at some point. But how? Only one way to find out.
So Walton's literary endeavor might be said to parallel Athene's serene, mortal-bothering, bookish Utopian progress, in the novel. Like Athene, Walton doesn't crack a smile. (There are some cracks at the end – in Athene's exterior – but let's leave those out. Don't want to spoil the ending.)
Neville Morley – "The Joy of Anachronism"
Walton's work is a mash-up: of genres, most obviously, with elements of science fiction (time travel and robots), fantasy (gods), historical fiction (recreation of past society) and the novel of ideas – but also of temporalities. Time-travelling Athene gathers together a bunch of dedicated Platonists from across the following 2500-odd years, helps them collect children and works of art from a more restricted period (unaccountably, no one bothers collecting some Canova or Alma-Tadema), gives them some robots from the future for the heavy work, and dumps the whole lot back in the bronze age, where (in theory) they're not going to disturb anyone else. In theory (again), this farrago will be held together by a shared dedication to the ideals of Plato's Republic, whether voluntary (the generation of Masters brought together from across time and space) or instilled (the Children and their descendents). In practice…
One of the reasons this is a neat trick from the novelist's point of view is that it side-steps most of the boring questions of authenticity that bedevil most fictional engagements with the classical world.
More to come from Ada Palmer, Leah Schnelbach, Sumana Harihareswara, and Crooked Timber bloggers Maria Farrell, Henry Farrell, and Belle Waring.
Crooked Timber's past seminars on genre literature have been —
Seminar on the works of Charles Stross
Seminar on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Seminar on Red Plenty by Francis Spufford
Seminar on The Rise of Ransom City by Felix Gilman
And in May 2015, Crooked Timber organized a seminar on the work of Ken MacLeod with contributions from Farah Mendlesohn, Cosma Shalizi, Sumana Harihareswara, Jo Walton, and Henry Farrell, with a response by Ken MacLeod.
(5) MINI INTEGRAL TREES. Have you seen the Air Bonsai?
Great if you're wanting to recreate The Hallelujah Mountains from "Avatar" (or a Roger Dean painting) as a diorama.
(6) THE FUTURE IS BACK. Following years of waiting, the DeLorean car made memorable by Back to the Future has returned to production.
After more than 30 years, the DeLorean Motor Company will resume production of the iconic 1982 model DeLorean, made famous by the "Back to the Future" film trilogy.
This marks the first time that the car will be manufactured in America, according to an NBC affiliate.
The car company was previously prohibited from producing the famed model because the futuristic designs belonged to John DeLorean's estate and not the auto business, which went bankrupt in 1982.
The company was revitalized by CEO Stephen Wynne and moved to Humble, Texas, in 1987. The company operated as a refurbishment facility, repairing and replacing parts for older DeLorean models for consumers around the world.
(7) ZICREE CLASS. Marc Scott Zicree, is running a one-day Supermentors Class – Life Lessons from Rod Serling, Ray Bradbury & Guillermo Del Toro.
Many of you know that with my books The Twilight Zone Companion and Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities and my friendship with Ray Bradbury, I've had some of the greatest mentors who ever worked in film, TV and books.
Life Lessons From Rod Serling, Ray Bradbury & Guillermo Del Toro — a One-Day Class I'll be teaching Sunday, February 21st, both in person here in L.A. and via Skype and audio download, drawn from what I've learned from my great mentors. Just $99 (normally $199) if you sign up by the end of the month. Log onto www.paypal.com and indicate you want to pay [email protected] Here's a video describing the class.
(8) MUMY OUT AS OSCAR VOTER. Actor Billy Mumy says he has been purged as an Academy Awards voter under the new rules, and his "to whom it may concern" protest letter has been posted online.
Like so many other Academy members who have a long history in the film industry, you are now punishing me for a lack of consistent employment, when it is beyond my own ability to cast myself or even find representation who can get me into the meetings and auditions these days for quality roles and films in the first place.
I have careers in music and writing and I chose to stay home for several years when my two children, who have both worked as actors in major studio feature films, were young. I don't see why that should now render my vote unworthy.
I'm deeply saddened and disappointed by the actions the Academy has taken, without any discussion first amongst the members, to capitulate to a handful of whiners who threaten to "boycott" by not dressing up, walk the red carpet and sit in the audience because they feel the actors branch didn't do our jobs of nominating candidates for Oscars this year to their personal satisfaction.
The nomination process is not racist. Surely you realize that members of the Academy don't get together in clandestine meetings to discuss who they're going to nominate or not nominate. Personally, I was shocked that neither Michael Caine or Harvey Keitel received a nomination for their excellent work in "Youth", but I certainly don't consider it a deliberate slight because they're senior citizen Caucasians.
(9) TODAY IN HISTORY
January 28, 1813 – Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen was published.
January 28, 1977 – Stephen King's The Shining is published.
January 28, 1986 – The space shuttle Challenger blew up shortly after launch, killing all seven crew members: Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire high school teacher, Ronald McNair, Hughes Aircraft Co. satellite engineer Gregory Jarvis, commander Francis "Dick" Scobee, pilot Michael Smith, flight engineer Judy Resnik and Ellison Onizuka.
Soon afterwards, Ray Bradbury discussed the disaster with Nightline host Ted Koppel.
Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted a poetic memorial.
https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/692776305411096577/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
A memorial service was held today at the Kennedy Space Center. The "Time of Remembrance" will mark the 49th anniversary of the 1967 Apollo launch pad fire that killed Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee on Jan. 27, 1967; the 30th anniversary of Challenger's loss on Jan. 28, 1986; and the 13th anniversary of the Columbia shuttle disaster on Feb. 1, 2003, that killed commander Rick Husband, pilot William McCool, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, David Brown, Michael Anderson and Israeli flier Illan Ramon.
(10) NEITHER SNOW NOR SLEET. "How 'Arrow' Actor Stephen Amell And His Costars Handled A Canceled Convention" —
The "Arrow" cast knows how to make the best out of a bad situation. The snowstorm forced Heroes and Villains Fan Fest to cancel the Saturday portion of their event, but many people were already at hotels near the Meadowlands Convention Center in Secaucus, New Jersey — including several celebrity guests. Cast members from "Arrow" and "The Flash" were nearby, so they didn't let the snow stop them from meeting with fans.
In the afternoon, the stars wandered down to the lobbies of their hotels to meet their snowed in fans. John Barrowman (Malcolm Merlyn on "Arrow") posted a video on Facebook with fans in his hotel and said that he and Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen on "Arrow") were doing the same thing at separate hotels.
(11) WHO SAID THAT? "The Voice Actors of The Force Awakens" identifies the actors' specific contributions. SPOILERS PROBABLE.
You may have seen a section in the credits of The Force Awakens titled "Additional Voices," with some familiar names listed. But who or what did all those familiar names play? I'm happy to finally reveal everyone below, running through the film chronologically. (There are also a couple of actor cameos in there that shall remain nameless (for now).)
(12) BE ON THE LOOKOUT. Kate Paulk told Mad Genius Club readers "The List" will be out in March. She also previewed a coming attraction:
Tune in tomorrow for a guest post by the fascinating Ben Yalow with more information about the history of the Hugo categories.
(13) KNOW THE SHADOW. Ricky Whittle of "The 100" has been cast as Shadow in Starz TV's adaptation of Neil Gaiman's American Gods.
Gaiman said in a statement, "I'm thrilled that Ricky has been cast as Shadow. His auditions were remarkable. The process of taking a world out of the pages of a book, and putting it onto the screen has begun. 'American Gods' is, at its heart, a book about immigrants, and it seems perfectly appropriate that Shadow will, like so much else, be Coming to America. I'm delighted Ricky will get to embody Shadow. Now the fun starts."
(14) HOLY CERTIORI! "Supreme Court asked to consider Batmobile copyright case" reports Comic Book Resources.
A manufacturer of unlicensed Batmobile replicas has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether Batman's signature vehicle is indeed protected by copyright.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mark Towle of Gotham Garage filed a writ of certiorari today asking the justices to review his nearly five-year-old dispute with DC Comics.
Towle, who produced replicas of the 1966 and 1989 Batmobiles that sold for as much as $90,000 each, was sued in 2011 by DC, which claimed copyright and trademark infringement, trademark counterfeiting and unfair competition.
[Thanks to Brian Z., Martin Morse Wooster, John King Tarpinian, JJ, Soon Lee, and Steven H Silver for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Will R.]
Posted in Pixel Scroll | Tagged Back to the Future, Batman, Ben Yalow, Billy Mumy, Jo Walton, John Barrowman, John Holbo, Kate Paulk, Marc Scott Zicree, Neil Gaiman, Neville Morley, Octavia Butler, Ray Bradbury, Ruthanna Emrys, Sad Puppies, Star Trek, Star Wars


So far so good. This VPS is an unmanaged service so you have to do it all by your own.
I never set up a server before but I used the super basic linux commands.
I already installed PHP, Mysql, phpMyAdmin and even a WordPress is running there.
My plan is to move everything from my actual hosting (Siteground) to this cool Linde.
So, if you have any tutorials / blog that can help me with the server administration I'd appreciate it.
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In Shinto, the indigenous religion of Japan, female deities play an equally important role as their male counterparts. The earliest surviving sculptures of female Shinto deities date to the ninth century, and they often form a set with a depiction of the male deity Hachiman. In contrast to those of their companion, however, the goddesses' identities are inexact, and such sculptures show a generic woman of the imperial court in secular dress.
Here the deity's stiff pose and blocklike shape are reminiscent of other sculptures of this type, but her softened facial features and placid expression make it apparent that the artist was skilled beyond the level of an ordinary provincial sculptor. Her robes contain traces of a floral or medallion design.


Summer can be a real challenge for those who pick up your garbage. For those visiting - keep in mind that here on Cortes your garbage is handled by humans, not machines. It gets stinky fast, especially in the heat. Compost what you can; everything needs to be clean.