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You have to read to build the mental tools you need to tell the truth from the lies. Read lots of stuff from lots of sources. Think about what you read... maybe even write a review.
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Billy Pilgrim has Come Unstuck In Time
Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, is a classic story of WWII that is fairly easy to read and well worth every minute you invest in it. Written as a work of fiction, it is nonetheless the testimony of a man who lived the days of which he writes. So we, as readers, must absorb both the legal disclaimer at the front of the book ("Slaughterhouse Five is a work of fiction…. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.") to the author's opening sentences ("All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true.") The author compels us to imagine.
Kurt Vonnegut and I have a lot in common. Vonnegut fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and was cut off behind enemy lines and captured. My father fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and was cut off behind enemy lines, but managed to keep an ad-hoc combat formation of 60 stragglers intact and mostly alive until the Allied counterattack pushed the Germans back and "liberated" them. Well, okay, so maybe Vonnegut and my dad have that in common. But I grew up listening to my dad's stories, and a lot of what Vonnegut says resonates.
But back to Vonnegut and me. He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and so was I. Of course, he was born in 1922 and I was born in 1961, but, at least according to Vonnegut's Tralfamadorians, this business of seeing time as linear and important is a function of our human perception, and really isn't very important at all. The Tralfamadorians were the aliens who captured Vonnegut's protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, and took him to their home planet. As Pilgrim navigates the horrors of his captivity, and the hunger and freezing cold of the winter of 1944-45, he occasionally departs the confines of our home planet and describes his captivity on Tralfamador, where he is treated far more humanely than he is here on earth.
Now I cannot imagine my dad babbling on about space aliens. He was a pretty "in-the-moment" guy, my dad. But then again, my dad didn't experience what Vonnegut experienced as a prisoner in Dresden. Dresden was firebombed in February, 1945 and 25,000 people died. That was the most people killed in that kind of bombing until a few months later, when the first atomic bomb killed six times that many people in Hiroshima. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not apologizing for Dresden or Hiroshima or anything. No sirree. You have to do what you have to do to defeat evil in this world. And we are all a lot better off than we would have been if Hitler had won the war. Well, at least most of us are.
And, as far as the space aliens go, well, maybe that's just what PTSD looked like to a guy who was part of a generation that lived through World War II. For a minute, I was going to say "a generation that fought World War II," but then I remembered one of my favorite parts of Vonnegut's book was where he was talking about how NOT everybody really fought in the war. And how the "toughest" people he knew were the ones who spent the war as public relations officers in Baltimore, while "the nicest veterans… the kindest and funniest ones, the ones who hated war the most, were the ones who'd really fought." That resonates.
Vonnegut survived the Dresden raids because he and some other prisoners were kept in a meat locker in a slaughterhouse. But then he had to come out to help clean up the bodies and the city. His description of what he saw is worth reading. And then, eventually, he got "liberated," too.
So maybe the whole time-travel-space-alien thing was PTSD, and maybe not. Maybe, if you were Vonnegut, and you wanted to write something that would remind people how bad things can get and how quickly they can get that way, you would invent some aliens to remind us that there really isn't much difference between 70 years ago and today. Because, for the Tralfamadorians, it's all the same. So it goes.
Plato at the Googleplex: Plato's Excellent Adventure
It is no surprise that someone who has spent a good part of his adult life studying and teaching philosophy wholeheartedly endorses this book about Plato. But even those who struggled through a standard course in philosophy should admit there is something compelling about projecting Plato into the 21st century as an author on a book tour, and relating his encounters with an audience of the technical elite at Google's headquarters, as a panelist at a public discussion in New York City, responding to reader questions about their lives, loves and careers with an advice columnist, and being interviewed on cable news by a somewhat hostile host. Through this creative vehicle, Professor Goldstein highlights the relevance of Plato's dialogues for us today and makes a compelling case for their stature as timeless classics.
For the most part, the expository sections of the book are also refreshingly clear and serve to underscore the book's major assertions about Plato. I would summarize and prioritize these assertions as follows: (1) Plato's dialogues describe the life and teaching of Socrates rather than present a system or theory we might be tempted to call Plato's philosophy; (2) through his dialogues, we can see that Plato believed the perspective of all of us as individuals was inherently flawed and distorted. The only path to reduce the distortion and approach truth more closely was through dialogue with other individuals and the rigorous use of reason to adjudicate the inevitable differences. Plato's dialogues thus take the form of discussions among several people. (3) Plato believed that everything in existence reflected an underlying rational structure, even though we as humans might be unable to fully comprehend that rational structure; (4) Plato believed that the pursuit of knowledge about the structure of everything was the path to truth, beauty and goodness, that humans had a natural affinity to pursue knowledge, and that the best kind of life was one which indulged this individual and collective pursuit.
Professor Goldstein has given us a true gem. There is a clear roadmap to how and where specific ancient dialogues relate to the issues whose relevance explodes from the pages of her book. In the process, Goldberg takes pains to point out that the parts of philosophy that have proven resistant to the scientific method form the foundation of our ability to claim any progress at all in the scientific arena. Hopefully, the book is making its way into the classroom as an entertaining and edifying complement to the works of the famous old dead dude himself.
Hillbilly Elegy: Honest, Tragic Portrait of Rust Belt America
J.D. Vance, Marine veteran of the war in Iraq and Yale Law School graduate, has written a powerful memoir of growing up as a poor child of "hillbilly royalty". His book focuses on four generations of his own family: he describes their roots in a poor rural community in eastern Kentucky, the post-war migration that briefly brought one generation a glimpse of economic progress as they moved to manufacturing jobs in Middletown, Ohio, and the economic and social despair that overtook the last two generations of his relatives and people like them in Rust Belt America. Vance exemplifies hope by telling his personal story of escaping that despair by first enlisting in the Marines, and then becoming the first in his family to earn a college degree. But his story is inextricably linked with the tragedy of those around him. Vance describes a kind of cultural psychosis that traps most of the book's characters in recurring patterns of domestic violence, substance abuse, economic failure, dependence on welfare, and denial of the role their own behaviors play in perpetuating this cycle.
One key takeaway from Elegy is that drug abuse, crime, violence, welfare dependency, and the inability to shoulder the basic responsibilities of raising a family are endemic among poor white people in "Greater Appalachia." "Thanks to the massive migration from the poorer regions of Appalachia to places like Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, hillbilly values spread widely along with hillbilly people" (p. 21), and "…it is in Greater Appalachia where the fortunes of working-class whites seem dimmest. From low social mobility to poverty to divorce and drug addiction, my home is a hub of misery." (p. 4) "This was my world: a world of truly irrational behavior. We spend our way into the poorhouse…. Our homes are a chaotic mess. We scream and yell at each other like we're spectators at a football game. At least one member of the family uses drugs—sometimes the father, sometimes the mother, sometimes both. At especially stressful times, we'll hit and punch each other, all in front of the rest of the family, including young children; …. We don't study as children, and we don't make our kids study when we're parents. Our kids perform poorly in school…. We choose not to work when we should be looking for jobs. Sometimes we'll get a job, but it won't last. We'll get fired for tardiness, or for stealing merchandise and selling it on eBay, or for having a customer complain about the smell of alcohol on our breath, or for taking five thirty-minute restroom breaks per shift. We talk about the value of hard work but tell ourselves that the reason we're not working is some perceived unfairness: Obama shut down the coal mines, or all the jobs went to the Chinese. These are the lies we tell ourselves to solve the cognitive dissonance—the broken connection between the world we see and the values we preach." (pp. 146-47) In short, socially destructive behaviors that are stereotypically "blamed" on minority and immigrant populations are endemic among the majority white population of the Rust Belt.
A second key point Vance makes is that the hillbillies of Greater Appalachia are unable or unwilling to admit the truth about their own responsibility for their circumstances. "There is a lack of agency here—a feeling that you have little control over your life and a willingness to blame everyone but yourself." (p. 7) The author contends the cultural inability to admit the truth is a behavior learned as a coping mechanism in childhood. "In a December 2000 paper, sociologists Carol A. Markstrom, Sheila K. Marshall, and Robin J. Tryon found that avoidance and wishful-thinking forms of coping 'significantly predicted resiliency' among Appalachian teens. Their paper suggests that hillbillies learn from an early age to deal with uncomfortable truths by avoiding them, or by pretending better truths exist." (p. 20) He cites a number of examples of people around him manifesting this behavior. "One of our neighbors was a lifetime welfare recipient, but in between asking my grandmother to borrow her car or offering to trade food stamps for cash at a premium, she'd blather on about the importance of industriousness. 'So many people abuse the system, it's impossible for the hardworking people to get the help they need,' she'd say. This is the construct she'd built in her head: Most of the beneficiaries of the system were extravagant moochers, but she—despite never having worked in her life—was an obvious exception." (p. 57)
Vance is quick to credit his grandparents and the Marine Corps with instilling in him a sense of personal responsibility, and helping him escape the cycle that grips so many of the people in his extended family. But he acknowledges that he was lucky, and that the odds are clearly against children growing up under these circumstances. "For many kids, the first impulse is to escape, but people who lurch toward the exit rarely choose the right door. This is how my aunt found herself married at sixteen to an abusive husband. It's how my mom, the salutatiorian of her high school class, had both a baby and a divorce, but not a single college credit under her belt before her teenage years were over. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Chaos begets chaos. Instability begets instability. Welcome to family life for the American hillbilly." (p. 229)
To his credit, the author resists the temptation to assert that there are any easy solutions to the widespread problems of this part of America. He resists the urge to vilify the people he describes. He credits his success to several key people who intervened and influenced him at important junctures. He never asserts any personal superiority of intelligence or discipline or character. In fact, he claims that the biggest hindrance to success for most of the people he grew up among is the lack of positive encouragement and role models. He loves his family, and he is proud of his heritage. He is, it seems, painfully describing problems he has experienced at a deeply personal level out of a sincere desire to illuminate a complex set of problems and to move us all toward a meaningful constellation of solutions.
One hindrance to implementing meaningful solutions is a political climate that takes advantage of the people of the region by pandering to the myths they want to believe rather than focusing on positive paths out of the current quagmire. "Here is where the rhetoric of modern conservatives (and I say this as one of them) fails to meet the real challenges of their biggest constituents. Instead of encouraging engagement, conservatives increasingly foment the kind of detachment that has sapped the ambition of so many of my peers. I have watched some friends blossom into successful adults and others fall victim to the worst of Middletown's temptations—premature parenthood, drugs, incarceration. What separates the successful from the unsuccessful are the expectations that they had for their own lives. Yet the message of the right is increasingly: It's not your fault that you're a loser; it's the government's fault." (p. 194) Some things that could help Vance's hillbillies include: (1) a new generation of politicians willing to speak uncomfortable truths; (2) widespread and sustained development of the mental tools necessary to recognize the truth of their circumstances, resources and constraints.
The Martian: Movie On the Way, But Book is Worth Reading #TheMartian
There is something about the story of a castaway that lends itself to the written journal. I mean, Tom Hanks did a great job in the movie Cast Away and all, but I there is something to reading the account of a person who is supposed to be stranded alone. After all, if you are watching them, it is like they aren't really alone, right? Anyway, The Martian is a great twist on the castaway theme, with astronaut Mark Watney left for dead on the surface of the red planet after a freak accident during an emergency departure. Even though the movie is due to be released soon, I am glad I read the book, and I think you will be, too.
Author Andy Weir does a wonderful job telling the story. The language may be offensive to some, but I think the tone, language and rough humor are realistic and human. At least, Weir captures the atmosphere I have experienced throughout my life in barracks, locker rooms, and other shared spaces where groups of competitive people are pursuing big goals under intense pressure. It is clear Weir has done his technical homework, as well. The book offers a terrific insight into the equipment available today that make missions to Mars possible. As most of us know, the only thing lacking to send people to Mars is the will to do it. The exploration of conditions necessary to make agriculture possible on Mars was particularly interesting to me.
At the individual level, there is something uplifting about an individual facing overwhelming odds who refuses to give up. Watney's continuous use of brains and brawn to meet seemingly insurmountable challenges is inspiring. I guess this will be true for most of us. After all, the storyline of people journeying to a distant, seemingly inhospitable place in order to build a better future for themselves is central to our national narrative.
And face it, there are no shortages of challenges facing our societies here on earth that rise to the level of being a threats to long-term survival. Some of them could quickly become short-term threats as well. From the perspective the individual, these threats may seem remote or impossible for us to overcome. Here is where we find one valuable lesson of The Martian for each of us: Mark Watney doesn't wait for NASA or some government official or other supreme power to solve his problems for him. He identifies his options, and the likely consequences of each, and relentlessly pursues the best solutions within his power to control and implement those solutions. Ultimately, we should all do the same. The solutions to our global challenges lie within the realm of behaviors we can control ourselves--our own behaviors--whether it be writing your own Accountability Citizenship or acting on the positive ideas gleaned from someone else's.
Cry, the Beloved Country transcends Nationality and Time (#Cry)
I read Cry, The Beloved Country recently with my son. He had to read it over the summer and write an essay on it as he enters 9th grade, and I wanted to be able to speak with him about the book and the assignment. Although the story is of South Africa and was published in 1948, I found Paton's writing to be exceptional. Cry, The Beloved Country is a work of art that illuminates timeless themes of justice, integrity, and human experience.
The book starts slowly, but the beautiful prose is present from the opening lines. The story gathers speed throughout Book I, and Book II is hard to put down. In my opinion, Paton connects the reader with the humanity of his characters in a compelling and artful fashion. Throughout the book, as Paton describes some mundane task or ritual of one of the characters, I found myself thinking, "Ah, yes, that is what I do when I am trying to..." The fact that this transcendent humanity appears in characters of all colors is powerful today, but must have been exceedingly so 70 years ago.
The single point I found most powerful was the musing of a father over the murder of his son. As he is confronted with universal testimony of his son's charity and striving for justice, and then contrasts that with the circumstances of his death, the father repeatedly reflects to himself and others close to him how he doesn't understand why his son--who had devoted his life to helping others--was murdered. Paton never directly relates how the father answers this question, but the reader can surmise what conclusions the father has reached by his actions throughout the rest of the book. As if to underscore his point, the author comes at the same theme with a clear description of the role of the judge as opposed to the character of the law administered by the judge. Without preaching, or departing from a compelling narrative of real people navigating a series of perplexing and tragic events, Paton leads the reader to see the contrast between justice and injustice at the level of the individual and of the society as a whole.
Another compelling aspect of this story is the description of the destructive effects progress can have on the environment, and how environmental degradation hastens the destruction of other social structures. He is careful to illustrate how these destructive effects are avoidable. Again, though written a long time ago, there are clear lessons for the challenges we face today in both the social and environmental realms. I hope this book remains required reading for a long time to come, and that those who have not read it make a point of seeking it out. Reading Cry, The Beloved Country is time well spent.
Ghost Fleet Entertains Modestly
The authors of Ghost Fleet claim Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising as inspiration, and the front flap states the book is a thriller in the spirit of The Hunt for Red October, another Clancy classic. This book falls short of both, but is still a good summer read. Further, it may be entertaining enough to distract some politicians from their quest for re-election long enough to educate them a little on some potential implications of the chronic lack of fiscal discipline and efficiency in government at every level. My primary disappointments with the book lie in its sometimes plodding narrative and on its insistence of projecting the community of nation-states in the future as an extension of 20th century paradigms, albeit empowered with the latest technical gizmos.
On the first count, I found myself reading narrative that served only to explain the author's vision of the future, rather than developing the characters or the plot. That is something I don't remember from any Clancy book. I don't fault the realism of the scenarios the authors project, but the book has moments that read more like a Pentagon policy paper than a novel.
My second criticism is that the nation states and the way they interact reflect a 20th-century paradigm that I think is unlikely to hold in the future. At the outset, the only change is that the Chinese Communist Party has been replaced by an oligarchy of business, administrative and military leaders. One could argue that a similar change--with true elective Democratic and Republican leaders being replaced by an oligarchy of our own--is underway and likely to be completed faster in the United States than in China. The authors acknowledge the power of non-governmental organizations in a peripheral way, but I think miss an opportunity to explore the power of such organizations, in a true information age, to reshape the relationship between nation states and between people and their government.
Given the choice to project cold-war international relations into this narrative, it perhaps is inevitable that the plot revolves around a scenario that portrays a monolithically evil China versus the United States. Something as broad as "the next world war" may have to sacrifice some realism at the individual level from the pen of most authors, but I found myself hoping for some Boris Pasternak or Herman Wouk moments that never came. So I qualify my conclusion--that this is a readable and entertaining book--with the observation that the authors care more about their geopolitical projection (and its ability to sell books) than they do about a realistic portrayal of individual human behavior.
A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell: A Must-Read for anyone serious about informed participation in our political system
This is a classic that has had a profound impact on my leadership style as well as on my political philosophy. The beauty of this book lies in its exposition of two fundamentally different, yet plausible, conceptions of the human condition, and Sowell's use of these two conceptions to illuminate how reasonable people can disagree on fundamental issues. In my own book, Accountability Citizenship, I describe Sowell's work as follows:
Thomas Sowell's A Conflict of Visions is the most elegant expression I have encountered of how intelligent people can reason to fundamentally different conclusions on the same issue. Sowell proposes that each of us reason from different "visions" of human nature. He presents two ends of the spectrum as the constrained vision and the unconstrained vision but is careful to note that each of us may apply different parts of the spectrum to various aspects of our set of values and beliefs. Basically, the constrained vision is the sense of human beings as being limited by our self-interest. On this view, people will behave selfishly by nature. Government must craft trade-offs and establish incentives for actions that are desirable for optimal social harmony. The unconstrained vision is the sense of human beings as capable of rising above self-interest to act for the greatest good of all. From this perspective, the role of government is to enable people to achieve their potential by eliminating incentives and trade-offs that encourage constrained behavior. Reasoning from different starting points on the spectrum of visions leads reasonable people to different conclusions.
Sowell's work allowed me to acknowledge the rationality of others' views without giving in to the popular temptation to demonize those with different beliefs and values as evil or stupid or selfish. While not a cure for political and social disagreement,I believe Sowell's distinction between constrained and unconstrained visions of human nature offers a path to restore a higher level of civility in our discourse. It may be the case that seemingly intractable problems can be advanced or resolved by leaders willing to discuss solutions and compromises without the emotional handcuffs of strict partisan ideology.
I have recommended this book since I first read it in 1992, and I still feel it should be mandatory reading for all first year college students... maybe even seniors in high school.
All Quiet on the Western Front Still Demands our attention
All Quiet on the Western Front is an important work for all of us to read, and perhaps to re-read. I finished my third reading of the book last year, motivated by the fact that 2014 was the centennial of the start of the First World War and my trip to France in June of that year to visit some of the battlefields and cemeteries of that war. Without a doubt, All Quiet on the Western Front is a classic fully deserving the praise it has received.
The author, Erich Remarque, was in combat in the First World War, and was wounded five times. His prose is beautiful. He powerfully conveys the intimate bonds that grow between the soldiers in his squad, which magnifies the impact as each, in turn, becomes a casualty. His vivid description of combat in the trenches is all the more horrifying because it is an eye-witness account. Remarque's description of the alienation he feels while returning home is also worthy of review.
As with my recent review of Tuchman's The Guns of August, I was particularly interested in considering the author's view of the causes of the war. There are several points where he touches on this topic. In general, he conveys the view that the people who suffer with him, regardless of the uniform they wear, have no tangible connection to the abstractions for which they fight.
For me, All Quiet on the Western Front is another powerful reason for each of us to insist on accountability from our government. We in the United States live in a time and place where we have unprecedented abilities to influence our government, yet we do not seem willing or able to exercise those abilities. We allow the members of Congress who can vote to send our sons and daughters into harm's way to tell us that they will not take a political courage test because it exposes them to too much political risk. Certainly one of the causes of the First World War is that the leaders who committed their nations to the fighting had little or no political risk or accountability. From my perspective, we should read accounts such as All Quiet on the Western Front to remind ourselves of our duty to demand a high standard of accountability from each of our elected officials.
Reading, or re-reading, this book is a great resolution at any time.
Accountability Citizenship Review: Sisters: The Lives of America's Suffragists
This is a powerful history of the lives of five women who were leaders in the struggle for women's rights in the United States. But Baker's project is more than just a retelling of key moments in this struggle. Rather, she reveals details from the personal lives of the women about whom she writes that serve to illuminate the struggle for women's rights in our country.
I particularly liked the chapter on Alice Paul: her leadership of the National Women's Party and subsequent efforts to get President Wilson to support a constitutional amendment giving women the vote make her one of the most noble figures in American history in my view. Baker is able to root Paul's deep commitment To justice in her Quaker upbringing. The Quaker tradition holds that souls have no gender, and therefore women had an equal role as men in Paul's upbring. This deep philosophical point is one we can learn from today; I am surprised it hasn't been used or publicized more in the ongoing struggle for marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.
Good history makes events of long ago accessible and pertinent to the reader. In Sisters, Baker has given us some very good history.


You may have seen the article by Max Coleman in Scottish Forestry about CALEDON – a computer game about tree health – and seen that we are seeking feedback for a review in Autumn.
If you are ready to share your thoughts on CALEDON, you can do so with this Google form.
Otherwise, you can read a bit more here first.
Nice idea.I haven't got time to play it but I'll pass it on. The Sitka spruce in the demo ended up with Dothistroma needle blight which although possible under a high spore load from an adjacent Corsican pine plantation, isn't likely.
Hi Mike – I recommend you find a few minutes to play the free play (sandbox) level if you can. Although I expect it less relaxing for someone professionally concerned with tree health!
The Sitka spruce in this game also gets Phytophthora ramorum quite easily. (I guess a certain amount of realism has to be sacrificed for game balance).


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Curbed Atlanta | How the renovation of Adair Park's massive 'The MET' is coming together now
What was once the country's largest single freestanding building is being transformed into a massive mixed-use complex, catered toward Atlanta's creative community.
Built in 1914 by Coca-Cola cofounder Asa Candler, Adair Park's 1.1 million-square-foot former warehouse district—once known as the Metropolitan and now dubbed simply "The MET"—has been undergoing renovations that owner and developer Carter hopes will make the site the "cultural engine of Atlanta" for local creatives.
Development reps tell Curbed Atlanta that The MET, positioned between Metropolitan Parkway and Murphy Avenue, has secured a new tenant—digital agency and production studio Chil & Co.—and completed construction of its new courtyard.
Chil & Co. came from downtown's Switchyards complex, needing more space to grow, according to Carter officials.
Crews are still working on the courtyard's "cosmetic updates," including landscaping features and a monument sign that will remind patrons of the property's history, according to a development spokesperson.
But the tenant news means the Adair Park project is about 75 percent leased up.
Additionally, areas surrounding the courtyard are going through a major renovation slated for a spring completion, which will turn existing spaces into more communal hangouts and include the reintroduction of an entrance to Murphy Avenue.
The entrance's reopening is scheduled for about April, around the same time the finishing touches of the courtyard should wrap.
The site, accessible from the Beltline's Westside Trail and the West End MARTA stop, could also see the construction of additional buildings and a parking deck.
Watch the MET video here.
By Sean Kennan

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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6 Astrology Myths To Stop Believing
By Amanda Chatel
Hannah Burton for Bustle
As much as some might scoff at the idea of astrology, there's certainly an argument to it. If we, as humans, are made of the same elements as stars and planets, it would seem almost silly to dismiss the fact that we're all interconnected. And, according to a 2017 study 150,000 stars, humans and the galaxy are absolutely made of the same stuff — 97 percent of the same stuff to be exact — so it would make sense that the placement of the planets, moons, and stars affect humanity in one way or another.
"Astrology has a far reaching history," astrologer and psychic, Cindy Mckean, tells Bustle. "Markings on bones and cave walls recording cycles of the moon were found dating back as far as 25,000 years ago. By 3000 B.C., widespread civilizations developed sophisticated systems for astrology to help them determine when to expect changes in their environment which was extremely useful for agricultural purposes and navigation."
Astrology, according to Mckean, did't evolve in just one part of the world. It was prevalent East Asia, India, the Middle East, Europe, and Mesoamerica, as each culture used astrology in their own way.
"Astrology soon spread to the rest of the world from the main origins," Mckean says. "The type of astrology popular in the West today, Western Astrology, gained popularity through personalization of the horoscope so that people were able to forecast what to expect in their lives."
Although astrology isn't an exact science, it definitely has its merits. All you have to do is look at how your zodiac affects your personality as proof. Here are six astrology myths to stop believing, according to Mckean.
Myth #1: Astrology Is Just A Trend
Tina Gong/Bustle
A trend is a flash in the pan with a short shelf-life that goes out of fashion as quickly as it comes into fashion. But astrology has existed as far back as 25,000 years ago.
"In the Middle Ages, astrology flourished and was part of daily life and culture in many parts of the world," Mckean says. "Cambridge University in England had astrology chairs. The royal court was known to have astrologers on staff. Many popes supported astrology and even when Copernicus, a Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer who formulated that the Earth isn't the center of the universe and that it rotates around the sun, he dedicated his main work to Pope Paul III."
But, by the end of the Middle Ages, when the church pretty much ruled the world and the people on it, all that changed. The church declared astrology heresy, forcing even Galileo to renounce his astrological beliefs so he would not be killed. To believe in or practice astrology under the church's reign, was like playing Russian roulette with someone's life. When The Age of Reason rolled around in the 17th and 18th centuries, astrology's credibility diminished even further. During this time, emphasis on analytical reasoning and scientific methods reigned supreme, pushing astrology into a box labeled sinful and nonsensical.
"Given that astrology articles and Google searches have increased over ten-fold in the past decade, it indeed looks like a trend," Mckean says, "but given the historical existence of astrology for thousands of years, it's more like a reemergence of a highly detailed system our ancestors relied on."
Myth #2: Astrology And Astronomy Are The Same
"Astrology, finding meaning in the celestial bodies, and astronomy, measuring the celestial bodies, were inseparable concomitants," Mckean says. "While they were interlinked as a single study, in the 17th century, they started to be treated separately."
Although both astronomers and astrologers study how celestial bodies affect the Earth and the Universe as a whole, the approach by both is different.
"[A]stronomy studies the contents of the universe outside of the Earth's atmosphere while astrology studies the effects of those external celestial bodies on the Earth as mundane and personal events," Mckean says.
Myth #3: Astrology Is Based On Magic And The Paranormal
"Naysayers, skeptics, and critics often dismiss astrology as illegitimate," Mckean says. "But because modern science hasn't yet defined a phenomena doesn't mean it's not real."
According to Mckean, there have been many times in which astrological phenomena has been explained by modern science. While that should give skeptics something to reconsider, when such things happen, the credit is given to astronomy instead of astrology.
"There is a mechanism to how the positions of celestial bodies affect life on Earth," Mckean says. "The biggest example is how the phases of the moon have an effect on tides. When there's a full moon, tides swell due to the gravitational pull of the moon on bodies of water. Police precincts report how crimes are higher during full moons. Farmers used the phases of the moon to determine the best timing to plant seeds and harvest crops, but they even used the moon along with the position of other planets to determine the best time for day-to-day activities such as cutting hair, cleaning house, buying new equipment."
Mckean also notes that RCA (Radio Corporations of America), which was once the biggest communications firm in the States, used sun spots to figure out how to avoid drops in communication over the television or radio. They did this because, as astronomy determined, solar prominences affect the geomagnetic field of the Earth.
"What was dismissed as 'magical thinking' (the belief in fantasy) about astrology turned out to be a real mechanism that could be measured and timed," Mckean says. "Many of the planetary influences have the same effect on Earth and other planets in our solar system through similar mechanisms: gravitational pull, magnetism, and luminosity."
Myth #4: Astrology Is A Bunch Of Generalizations
"The multi-millionaire and financier J.P. Morgan said, 'Millionaires don't use astrology. Billionaires do.' His family went on to become multi-billionaires," Mckean says.
But J.P. Morgan isn't the only prominent figure throughout history to rely on astrology. Former U.S. president Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy used astrologers when it came to making important decisions in their lives . Queen Elizabeth I of England had, John Dee, an astrologer on staff as an advisor to the royal family. And, of course, Nostradamus was much sought after in the 1500s by aristocrats all over Europe for his astrological and esoteric advice. Even today people turn to his 1555 work, The Prophecies, when looking toward the future — don't worry; the world doesn't end until 3797, according to his predictions.
"When prominent heads of state and businessmen use astrology as a tool to help them make decisions, generalizations aren't enough," Mckean says. "There must be a degree of accuracy for it to be useful. While it's true that the daily horoscopes are general, it is because daily horoscopes often only focus on a sun sign, and no other factors in the chart. No one part of a horoscope should be read in a vacuum or as an isolated island. Just as the universe is interconnected, our horoscopes should be read in whole too."
Mckean compares reading only part of one's horoscope to saying the sun will shine in July, but leaving out that the sun might be obscured by the clouds in moon. In other words, you're not getting the full, accurate report.
"However, there is a fair amount of information that can be gleaned by outstanding features in our horoscopes, such as our sun sign — those are generalizations. Because they are so general, it's not one-size-fits-all; it doesn't apply to everyone in that one-twelfth of the population when reading their sign," Mckean says. "Fortunately, most people know that, yet astrology still remains a staple in newspapers and magazines decade after decade."
Myth #5: Zodiac Signs Are The Same As The Astrological Constellations
While it might seem easy to lump these things into the same category, they're not the same. In fact, different studies of astrology use different zodiacs. While Western astrology uses the Tropical Zodiac, in India, where Vedic astrology is studied, the Sidreal Zodiac is used.
"In Western astrology ... instead of following the movement of the visible stars, the Tropical Zodiac uses static zones that track celestial movement in and around the ecliptic, or a visible band around the Earth," Mckean says. "This system was created by Claudius Ptolemy, a Greco-Roman polymath. In creating this system, he used the same name for the zodiac signs as he did for the constellations. Though the constellations have shifted from our vantage point, the zodiac signs have remained static, thus remain on fixed dates, with Aries, or the spring equinox being the start date of the astrological new year."
Mckean points out that if the names of the zodiac signs were removed in Western astrology, the confusion could be eliminated. But because astrology is steeped in tradition (and you don't mess with tradition), when astrology first began the signs actually did line up with the constellations. But this was before the axial precession changed what could be seen of the stars and what could not.
"When the Earth spins, there's a subtle wobble called axial precession, also referred to precession of the equinox," Mckean says. "The placements of the constellations in relationship to Earth coordinates slowly shifts over thousands of years."
Myth #6: The Zodiac Signs Have Changed And There's A 13th Zodiac Sign
"This isn't exactly false, but it's not the system that Western or Vedic Astrology uses," Mckean says. "It's a different system called Constellation Zodiac where zodiac signs correspond to fixed stars. Unlike Tropical Zodiac that has fixed dates for the zodiac signs, this system matches the zodiac signs to the [eponymous] constellations within the ecliptic as the axial precession changes."
It's in this third (and relatively new) system that the 13th zodiac can be found: Ophiuchus (a serpent bearer). Ophiuchus sits between Scorpio and Sagittarius.
"With this system, many of stars in the constellations overlap, thus there is controversy over when one sign starts and another sign ends if they were to correlate signs to constellations," Mckean says. "If one wants to follow a strictly material alignment of signs and constellations, the Constellational Zodiac is a logical choice."
However, according to Mckean, astrology has a spiritual aspect to it that's open to different schools of thought.
"We don't need to see a radio wave, for example, to know that radio waves exist," Mckean says. "The fact that we are able to tune into a certain frequency indicates to us that the radio wave indeed exists. Western and Vedic astrology work in a similar way."
So the next time someone gives you the side eye about astrology, you can list off these six debunked myths.


Recent events in Charlottesville provide yet another reminder of our desperate need for change.
Scripture is clear that our oneness in Christ extends to all races and ethnicities.
And all of humanity are of one divine and one earthly origin, of infinite and equal value.
The Church must stand together as brothers and sisters in the fight against all forms of racism – invisible, subtle and systemic – for which we all bear some guilt. These sins create a big cloud over the Church, but also a great opportunity to demonstrate that in Christ we are different from the world.
The increase in racially charged incidents, coupled with acknowledgment of passivity in the Church, have been wakeup calls – paving a pathway for change and action. Our challenge and confession (particularly for white brothers and sisters) is that we need to do more listening and learning so that we become each other's advocates, and so that 'your people become my people.' We need biblical lamenting – a deep grief and sorrow that does not go away until healing and justice are done. We must go beyond simply liking the idea of racial reconciliation and being willing to sacrifice for it.
In this tragic backdrop, God is not surprised. Rather, He is sovereign, present and working in powerful ways. Several years ago, God started working in the hearts of Church leaders around Metro Washington DC. A growing number of leaders were broken over the disunity of our churches and how this was affecting our witness and effectiveness in advancing the gospel. Leaders began to meet across denominations, generations, racial and ethnic diversities. The OneHeartDC movement was birthed with a foundation on Prayer, Unity and Hope.
More and more leaders are becoming ready for change. This is happening through relationships cutting across racial and ethnic lines. God started it, but these leaders are courageously doing the hard work of reconciliation. "But not yet" have we reached our goal of unity. We have not yet reached the tipping point for broad transformation. We are in a process that takes prayer and perseverance. Much work lies ahead.
When we are equipped so we are able.
We have learned that the most productive way to bring unity is to invest in relationships. There are more than twenty leadership clusters around ten jurisdictions of Metro Washington DC where this is happening.
Reconciliation is an ongoing spiritual process involving forgiveness, repentance and justice that restores broken relationships and systems to reflect God's original intention for all creation to flourish.
While each cluster will approach this in its own way, the objectives will be the same – heart shaping and equipping of pastors to lead their congregations towards transformation. These transformed Christ followers will show that only in Christ is unconditional love and unity possible.
Early this year a group of Montgomery County, MD pastors and churches sponsored 'United in Action', a Christian conversation about race. The aim was to come together as local churches and have the uncomfortable conversations. These discussions weren't previously happening from pulpits, or in the pews or in the community. The participating pastors and churches came from diverse backgrounds, and the numbers continue to grow. As they shared over coffee and meals, they learned to be open to each other's perspective and understanding grew.
Together, we continue working for unity in and between our churches and for the common good of our communities – all for the glory of Jesus Christ. To be continued.
 We also witnessed a palpable brokenness over the lostness of our communities and our failure to be the blessing we needed to be. Even though God was working wonderfully in many of our churches, we confessed we weren't significantly advancing the gospel regionally.
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The present painting, which as a nocturnal animal piece is an unusual pictorial invention, is traditionally attributed to Bigot.
From around 1620 to 1634, Bigot was active in Rome. Between 1638 and 1642 he lived in Aix-en-Provence, where he painted a number of altarpieces. Before and after his years in Aix, he spent time in Arles. In 1644 he finally settled in Avignon. In 1960, Benedict Nicolson managed to compile a group of some forty paintings as the work of an anonymous artist who was given the name "Candlelight Master". In an article published in 1964, he finally succeeded in identifying this master as Bigot. Earlier it had been assumed that these works could also have been painted by Gerrit van Honthorst, Matthias Stom, or Georges de La Tour. Nicolson's attribution to Bigot, however, met with wide acceptance.
Because of stylistic differences between the works from his Roman and French periods, it had been proposed that there might have been two painters named Bigot. The hypothesis that they could have been father and son was successfully refuted through documents in the municipal archives of Arles. A copper engraving based on a lost painting by Bigot of the Madonna and Child in the Workshop of Joseph (private collection) made in Aix-en-Provence possibly provides a connection between his Roman and Provençal output. In the early seventeenth century, Joachim von Sandrart already knew of a Caravaggesque painter of nocturnal busts called Trufemondi; according to Jean Boyer, the name refers to Bigot.


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News Burst: After Win2000, it's Whistler and Blackcomb
Windows development team have moved on to work on the next two versions to be released in 2001 and 2002
By Mary Jo Foley | February 10, 2000 -- 13:56 GMT (05:56 PST) | Topic: Tech Industry
Microsoft wants all eyes on Windows 2000 when it officially rolls out the product next week. But its Windows development team already has moved on to work on the next two versions of Windows.
Microsoft is targeting March 2001 to deliver the first full upgrade to Windows 2000, code-named Whistler, according to sources close to the company. The follow-on to Whistler, code-named Blackcomb, is a 2002 or later Windows release.
Full story to follow
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HomeLifestylePam Tillis Returns With Soulful New Song 'Looking for a Feeling'
Pam Tillis Returns With Soulful New Song 'Looking for a Feeling'
Grammy-winning country artist Pam Tillis is making her return with the new album Looking for a Feeling, due out April 24th via her own Stellar Cat Records. As a preview of the upcoming project, the "Maybe It Was Memphis" singer has issued the smoky title track, a bit of Muscle Shoals-style country-soul in the key of Bobbie Gentry.
"Sister's on a sidewalk listening to the devil's lies/Brother's on a mountaintop trying to get wise," she begins, rattling off a cast of characters who are all looking for something more — or at least something different. "Who can point a finger, who can say what's wrong? We all get high or low, turning over every stone," she concludes. Driven by percussive acoustic guitar strums and a funky drum pattern, the production provides Tillis with enough space for an expressive vocal performance that ranges from a Dylanesque tumble of words to the gritty gospel soul of Mavis Staples.
"'Looking for a Feeling' is a song I excavated with Waylon Payne one dreary February day," says Tillis. "It's a non-judgmental look at a cast of spiritually adrift characters just trying to get right. Those characters, that searching — I see parts of myself in all of them."
Tillis' 11th studio album, Looking for a Feeling follows 2012's independently released Recollections, which featured updated versions of hits including "Let that Pony Run" and "Mi Vida Loca." Most recently, Tillis joined up with fellow Nineties star Lorrie Morgan for a pair of collaborative albums, 2013's Dos Divas and 2017's Come See Me and Come Lonely.
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Too Soon Festival Interview - Danny Bowes and Jillian Tully of Chemistry
Name: Danny Bowes and Jillian Tully
Play: Chemistry
Relationship to production: Danny: co-author, actor, director; Jillian: (takes a deep breath) I am one of the two playwrights. I am also playing the male lead, designing the costumes and sound cues, and assisting the director. You know, now that I think of it, I'm kind of a co-producer, too. How's that for a relationship? Maybe we need to start thinking about giving each other some space, taking a break, possibly even seeing other people...
Website: The official Facebook event invitation page for Chemistry
How long have you been involved in theatre?
Danny: I wrote my first play in high school, and started acting in college, so about 15 and 13 years respectively.
Jillian: Consciously? Since about 4th grade... but one could argue that I've been giving acting choices as far back as when they were merely compensation for being too young to write my own name or form coherent sentences. Oh wow, that sounds terrible. Let's just stick with 4th grade, then.
What play had the biggest influence on your life?
Danny: Betrayal by Harold Pinter, for the use of what appears to be a gimmick at first---the backward structure---but what actually turns out to be an essential part of the play being as emotionally powerful as it is.
Jillian: Hands down - Pippin. I was taken to see a high school production of it when I was about 9 years old. I'd always liked musicals and dance, coming from a theatrical family and all, but this was the first show I had seen that looked, sounded and felt like what I wanted to be doing. The face paint, the folky, pop-informed music, the costumes - there was this sort of DIY, punk rock playfulness to this awesome show about a guy trying to find his place in the world that gobsmacked me then and still stays with me now. I actually have a tattoo of a Pippin Apple; I got it to celebrate my first full year of making theatre my career, you know, finding my "corner of the sky" and what have you.
Danny: As Marlo Stanfield once mumbled malignantly "You want it to be one way . . . but it's the other way." More specifically, it's about a relationship where one party is at the beginning and the other is at the end. And, in that sense, it's about the different way men and women view relationships, and since Jillian and I are playing each other, about each trying to understand the other.
Jillian: ...How awesome Mexican pop music is. No, that's not right - it's a boy-meets-girl story, only, of course, gender-switched. Which I guess makes it a girl-as-boy-meets-boy-as-girl story, then?
What led you to create it?
Danny: The initial idea was Jillian and I writing the story of how we met together, which was soon followed by the idea of each other in drag. It's kind of hard to say what led us to that, though whiskey and insomnia are probably high up on my list.
Jillian: These questions! Doozies, they are. This play was born out of the very true events contained within it. I can't speak for anyone else, but sometimes life can feel scripted... so, why the hell not write one? The progression from off-the-cuff idea to the actual production has been crazy; I have had the thought during this process that this must be what the editors of reality TV feel like. No... I think Danny and I are way cooler than any reality show "personalities", if only because we listen to Mexican pop music.
What inspired you to apply for the Too Soon Festival?
Danny: Our entire show is about things being too soon. It's that simple. And we came up with it before they announced the festival theme!
Jillian: Well, both Danny and I are part of the lovely little Island of Misfit Toys that orbit The Brick... and serendipity? Happenstance? We had a story on our hands that could easily be a business meeting presentation on the concept of "too soon". In fact, even our submission went in before the real-life story's conclusion had happened. The amount of meta is making my eyes cross. I love it.
What's next for you after Too Soon?
Danny: Getting my movie production company, Seedy Kay Films, off the ground, and working on a couple scripts I want to film.
Jillian: I have started work on designing costumes for the play Father Of Lies, written and directed by Jose Zayas, which will be going up in July as part of PS122's Undergroundzero Festival, as well as returning to the handful of musical theatre projects in development that have me on their cast list, recording my next EP with my band, rainy day assembly, singing in the subway and of course, continuing my campaign to convince my cats to let me pick them up and hug them.
And finally, if you could slow the world down and get two more hours out of every day, what would you do with them?
Danny: Probably spend most of the two hours trying to scheme a way to squeeze another two out of the deal, and the last minute or so pondering the notions of futility and irony.
Jillian: Check Facebook. I wish you could see my lack of ability to keep a straight face there. My usual shift as a subway musician is two hours - I'd do that. Or, you know... play with my cats.
Written by Danny Bowes and Jillian Tully
Directed by Danny Bowes
Sun 6/6, 5pm
Fri 6/11, 7:30pm
Sat 6/12, 10:45pm
Tue 6/15, 8:45pm
Thu 6/17, 7pm
Labels: Festival, Interview, Playwright, Too Soon


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Check out my FB page for a Christmas Santa Wakeboarding Video https://www.facebook.com/davidwakeocaoimh/ and thank you all for your support over the year and hope everyone has a great 2017.
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Stoked on my new sponsor!!!!
I am stoked to announce that I am representing "Wake Fury". It's a start up clothing brand in the UK who create really cool clothes for anyone who is action and water sports minded!
Pumped to finally nail a whirlydick!! Next up I've got to land it on the boat!!
So cool to be out here in Indonesia – especially when it's so cold at home!!!!
Having a blast at Bali Wake Park. 30 degrees over here right now!!!


Remember the excitement of tearing into the school tuckshop, fistful of coins at the ready, making the deliciously difficult decision on which treat to buy? The Brooklyn Tuckshop is a grown up version of this. They're a little village cafe/bakery serving organic sourdough, mighty fine toasties and even better specialty coffee.
The logo we developed logo explores the concept of geometry in the development of a custom-made 'Tuckshop' font. The font is memorable and playful yet remains simple and considered. The identity is playful and sweet – perfect of this local, happy little corner cafe.


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ARCHIVED - Fourth and fifth earthquakes in Region of Murcia this week
Fortuna, Murcia, registered a second and third earthquake on Wednesday
The municipality of Fortuna, which recorded a 3.5-magnitude earthquake on Tuesday October 12, was rocked by two more seismic tremors this Wednesday, with only around 48 hours between the three earthquakes.
Wednesday's first earthquake took place at 4.54pm at a depth of 1km and, although no damages have been reported, residents in both Fortuna and the neighbouring municipality of Santomera were able to feel the 2.4-magnitude tremor. The second earthquake, at 11.13pm, was similar in magnitude (2.3) and was also registered at a depth of approximately 1km.
Two other minor earthquakes were recorded in the Region on Sunday October 10, making the total five earthquakes in four days, and the recent increase in seismic activity in Murcia coincides with the almost constant earthquakes in La Palma, where the Cumbre Vieja volcano has been active for around three weeks.
Image: IGN


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Read & Write with Pride 2017
I'm super excited to tell you about the reading event Read & Write with Pride that took place at Audrey's Books last night.
We had five readers: Ruby Swanson, Heidi Belleau, Marina Reid Hale, Rob Browatzke, and myself. We were hosted by Sheldon L'henaff, who did a great job of keeping us all on track.
When I first arrived, I was nervous that a) I would say something really dumb (which happens at times) and b) that no one would show up.
I was nervous for absolutely no reason, because not only did lots of people show up, but for the first time, I managed to do an intro to my reading which made complete sense, and I didn't forget anything. This is a good thing.
So, I read fourth, and I read from my yet-to-be-released story with the place title "Yaliana" but which will soon have a proper title. I asked earlier on Twitter whether I should do an action scene or a sappy scene, but found, to my dismay, that most of the scenes I could choose from were all action scenes. I tried to include some light banter before all hell broke loose, so I hope I succeeded.
Ruby Swanson read first, opening up out little gathering. She read from her book A Family Outing which is about her and her son, who comes out to her as gay. It was a very poignant piece, and I think that a lot of people were touched by the scene where she and her son sit in her office at the U of A and talk.
Heidi Belleau read next, and she read a section from her novel that she co-wrote with Sam Schooler, Dead Ringer. She read a rather intense scene between the two main characters Percy and Brandon, who are discussing Brandon's grandfather James Ringer and his sexuality.
Then Marina Reid Hale opened with a bang, reading from one of her slam poems about female bodies and male entitlement. She performed several more poems from her book of poems titled These are NOT Love Poems.
Lastly, Rob Browatzke read from Wonderland. The section that he read from is a flashback from his childhood and younger years about all the times that he has been bullied for being gay. It was also a rather intense reading. He also read a short section on his own experiences, which was a deeply personal piece to read to us.
All in all, we all had a good time meeting and greeting people afterwards as well as doing the actual readings. I had a lot of fun, and I will hopefully be back next year for more of the same.
Tags book reading, edmonton pride, lgbtq authors, lgbtq books, lgbtq fiction, lgbtq writers
Read and Write with Pride 2017
This is the third year in a row that we're holding this event in Edmonton, Canada at Audrey's Books. I hope that there are some of you in Edmonton during Pride that can make it to this event!
Date June 1, 2017
Tags book reading, edmonton pride, lgbtq authors, lgbtq books, lgbtq writers
TransFics and Love Bites!
Hello all! I just got back to the hotel after the TransFics and Love Bites readings at Hugo House! We had a wonderful time, and J.K. Pendragon and myself did readings, as well as everyone else on the Trans Authors panel.
Austin Chant went first, and he read from his trans retelling of Peter Pan. We got to hear a lot of witty banter between Peter and Captain Hook, who are lost together. It was a very funny reading, and there was a bit of (one-sided???) sexual tension near the end to entice us to read more.
Next up was Tobi Meyer Hill, who read from her upcoming anthology Nerve Endings. It featured a very interesting sex party in which the main character was uncertain and nervous about being there. It all ended happily for her in the end, however.
Then Laylah Hunter read from a military fantasy novella work in progress in which the main character has lost his memory after a crash-landing, and one of his comrades came to his rescue. Were they more to each other or not? We'll have to read it when it comes out to find out!
E.E. Ottoman read from their novel Documenting Light in which one of the characters takes a long walk in the park and has an intense inner struggle after having a fight with his lover. It was very angsty, and it really made you feel for the poor character!
J.K. Pendragon read from Witch, Cat & Cobb, a trans lesbian fantasy novella starring a runaway princess, a talking cat, and a reluctant witch. They read a section in which the princess wakes up to the witch yelling in the garden right after she had stayed the night after running away from the castle to escape an arranged marriage.
Lastly, I read from Charmed by Chance, which is in the charity anthology Magic & Mayhem. I read a section from the very beginning of the story in which the main character Merritt meets Verity, who is the mech mage who helps to fix his prosthetic hand. I chose the mage x cyborg pairing for my story, as you can probably tell.
We had a short break, and then we went right on to the Love Bites readings!
The first reading was by Karelia Stetz-Waters, who read from Slack Tides, which is also in the Magic & Mayhem anthology. She chose the soldier x tattoo artist pairing for her story. She read a steamy scene between her main character, who is surprised and pleased to find that her lover is as skillful in bed as on the battlefield.
Next up was Richard Compson Sater, who read from his upcoming novel, Rank. His main character is the aide of a very handsome General, and in the section he read, the main character and the General share a very suggestive dance.
Isabella read from her story involving a lesbian yakuza gang leader who sees her ex-lover at a club trying to catch a new lover. Her character doesn't like this, and she moves in to take charge. Luckily, her former partner isn't as adverse to this as you might think. Bring a fan to this one, because it is hot!
Cora Walker read from her lesbian urban fantasy novel, which is coming out from Less Than Three Press! She read a section in which her two characters, a detective and a templar have some down time.
CJAne Elliot read from one of her novels, in which her main character has just been caught in a compromising position with a professor and a player by the guy he likes. He has to chase after him and explain what happened. Will he get his man, or won't he? Those of us who attended the reading know!
Jeff Adams read from his novel Hattrick, in which his main character shares a room with one of the other boys on his hockey team. He not only had to navigate the treacherous waters of teen romance as well as tackling the issue of being gay.
Dev Bentham read a funny section from her story from the charity anthology One Pulse about a bisexual character who runs into a teacher of his daughter's at a LGBTQ meeting. The two share a second meeting, and the main character awkwardly and hilariously stumbles through a greeting.
That was the end of the readings. We had a great time, but I am tired now, so I am going to go to bed. Hopefully I see some of you at the conference tomorrow!
Catch you all later!
Tags book reading, gay romance, grnw, grnw 2016, lgbt books, lgbt fiction, lgbt romance, lgbtq books, lgbtq fiction, trans fiction
So I want to tell you all about the Read and Write with Pride event that just happened, because I'm so excited about my first reading event. I've read things aloud in the past, and I have no issues with public speaking. But I've never read my own work to an audience before!
It wasn't as nerve-wracking as I thought it would be.
This all started two weeks ago when my friend Heidi Belleau, a very well-known author who writes for Riptide Publishing invited me to this event. Of course, I accepted the invitation immediately.
This week was Pride week in Edmonton, hence the Pride reading event. We had quite the array of authors reading, which was great fun.
Danielle, our lovely host from Audrey's Books introduced us all. Audrey's is an awesome little local bookstore, and it has an entire LGBT section! I was really happy to see that.
First up was Rob Browatske, a local author who opened us up with a trip down the rabbit hole with the first chapter of his book Wonderland. This excerpt took us deep into the psychedelic gay club scene.
I was up next. I read an excerpt from Sky Knights, which is my lesbian fighter pilot novel. I read a fight sequence, which are always my favourite to write, and I have a feeling also my favourite to read.
Next was Marc Colbourne, who read from the memoirs of gay Iranian activist Arsham Parsi in Exiled for Love. We were given a real look at how a gay man in Iran comes to terms with his sexuality.
We inter-spaced our prose with some poetry. Marina Reid Hale performed some slam poetry for us. My personal favourite was one that didn't have a title, but was about bisexuality.
Next up was Sheldon L'Henaff, who read from his gay fiction piece Joy (Maybe this Christmas), which is a Christmas story that involves drinking, dancing drag queens, and a very naughty Santa.
Heidi Belleau, our event organizer, went second to last. She read from Wallflower, which features a genderqueer protagonist! The section that she read from that made me laugh, and most of the audience as well!
Lastly, Laurie MacFayden, well-known local poet read us some poetry from her books White Shirt and Kissing Keeps us Afloat. She has some fun, quirky poetry about romance, but I particularly loved the poem "White Shirt," about picking someone up at a bar.
I think our event was a great success, and I'd love to do another reading like this anytime!
Tags audrey's books, author, author blog, book reading, books, lgbt authors, lgbt books, lgbt events, lgbt writer


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Home Research > Members > 1386-1421 > MALLORY, John (-d.1434)
MALLORY, John (d.1434), of Newbold Revel, Warws. and Winwick, Northants.
s. of Sir John Mallory of Winwick by Alice, da. and coh. of Sir John Revel† of Newbold Revel. m. Philippa, da. of Sir William Chetwynd† of Ingestre, Staffs. and Grendon, Warws., 1s. Sir Thomas†, 1da. ?Kntd. bef. d.
Sheriff, Warws. and Leics. 30 Nov. 1416-10 Nov. 1417, 6 Nov. 1424-15 Jan. 1426.
Commr. of array, Warws. May 1418; to raise royal loans Nov. 1419.
J.p. Warws. 12 Feb. 1422-d.
Escheator, Warws. and Leics. 13 Nov. 1423-6 Nov. 1424.
In about 1405 Mallory inherited from his father (the sheriff of Warwickshire and Leicestershire 1391-2, and of Northamptonshire 1392-3), the manor of Winwick, which had belonged to the family since the 13th century, together with that of Stormsworth (Leicestershire), and from his mother Newbold Revel (then known as 'Fenny Newbold') and lands in Easenhall, Stretton, Aston and Pailton, all in Warwickshire.1 In 1412 his property in Northamptonshire was estimated to be worth £20 a year, and in 1436 his widow was said to have landed holdings in Warwickshire and elsewhere worth £60 annually.2 It is unlikely that either figure was particularly accurate.
It may have been this John Mallory 'esquire' who was a prisoner in the Tower in February 1400, at the same time as the surviving conspirators of the plot to dethrone Henry IV, but if so he evidently escaped severe penalty. Mallory's marriage led to his involvement in the affairs of the Chetwynd family, prominent members of the minor gentry of the region: thus in 1412 he was party to transactions with kinsmen of his wife and the Hertfordshire landowner Sir John Poultney*; and in 1423 he assisted his brother-in-law, John Chetwynd*, in a lawsuit over land at Alspath. Having been first returned to Parliament in 1413, he was appointed sheriff of Warwickshire three years later. It is not known when he first came to the attention of Richard, earl of Warwick, but at Easter 1417 he witnessed the deed by which the manor of Baginton was settled on the earl in reversion. Furthermore, there were family connexions which might have encouraged his entrance into the Warwick circle: his kinsman, Sir Giles Mallory*, had once served as chief steward of the Beauchamp estates, and his own son, Thomas, had joined the earl's retinue for the French campaign of 1415. In 1419, the year of his second return to Parliament, Mallory was associated in business transactions with others of that affinity such as Sir Thomas Burdet*, Sir Alfred Trussell* and John Harewell*. His name appeared on the list of 13 sent by the j.p.s. of Warwickshire to the King's Council in January 1420 in response to a request for information about those best able to do military service, but there is no evidence that he ever took part in the conquest of France.3 Under Henry VI he held office as a j.p., escheator and sheriff for a second term (as such supervising the elections of 1425). His own fifth election to Parliament in 1427 was the cause of considerable local unrest. Immediately after he and (Sir) William Mountfort I* had been chosen, a mob from Warwick led by (Sir) William Peyto* insisted on the substitution of the latter's name for Mallory's on the electoral indenture, Peyto having secured the connivance of the under sheriff. Eventually a jury at Monks Kirby, Mallory's home, declared him duly elected, but which of the two men actually sat in the Commons on this occasion remains unclear. There is a possibility that there were political, not just personal, issues involved here: Mallory may by then have joined the affinity of the duke of Norfolk, while Peyto was a Beauchamp retainer. That Mallory may have discarded his former attachment to Warwick is suggested by his appearance at the head of a Warwickshire jury which in 1429 brought indictments against followers of the earl's aunt Joan, Lady Beauchamp of Abergavenny.4
Mallory is last recorded on his re-appointment as a j.p. in October 1435. He was excluded from the bench in February following and died before June, when his widow negotiated with Sir Edward Doddingsells† the marriage of her daughter to Doddingsells's son.5 Mallory's son Sir Thomas, who sat for Warwickshire in 1445, was best known to contemporaries for his violent criminal activities, but to posterity as author of the Morte D'Arthur.
He has been distinguished from John Mallory of Walton-on-the Wolds, Leics., s. of Sir John Mallory of the same, who held lands in Northants. and Beds. which in 1412 were estimated to be worth 40 marks a year (Feudal Aids, vi. 492-3).
1. VCH Warws. vi. 175; Warws. Feet of Fines (Dugdale Soc. xviii), no. 2330; J. Bridges, Northants. i. 603; W. Dugdale, Warws. 82; J. Nichols, Leics. iv. 368; CAD, iii. A6084.
2. Feudal Aids, vi. 492-3; EHR, xlix. 639.
3. CCR, 1399-1402, p. 43; CAD, ii. A2753; iv. A8467; W. Bagot, Mems. Bagot Fam. app. p. vii; E28/97 m. 32; Peds. Plea Rolls ed. Wrottesley, 315; H.E. Chetwynd-Stapylton, Chetwynds of Ingestre, 85.
4. C219/13/3; M.C. Carpenter, 'Pol. Soc. Warws.' (Cambridge Univ. Ph.D. thesis, 1976), 110, 115, 117, app. p. 108; KB27/677 rex m. 5; RP, iv. 412.
5. CCR, 1429-35, pp. 313-14.


Text book Landing Page targeting a popular search term – this example Mobile Web Development. NuBlue has done a good job here demonstrating their service with crisp devices, parallax effects and a good responsive design. My only crits are the 100% width enquiry form looks awkward on a bigger monitor and that Open Sans kerning looks a touch tight.
A one page website designed and built by NuBlue to showcase our mobile web design, responsive web design and mobile ecommerce work.


text:
When Brent Burns reads and reacts, Sharks often…
When Brent Burns reads and reacts, Sharks often benefit
By William Love Correspondent |
PUBLISHED: June 9, 2016 at 11:16 p.m. | UPDATED: August 15, 2016 at 9:14 a.m.
PITTSBURGH — Paul Martin didn't have time for calculated thinking when he tried to find a polite way to say that fellow Sharks defenseman Brent Burns is at his best when he, well, avoids calculated thinking.
"He's one of those guys that he just reads and reacts," Martin said Thursday night after Burns set the tone with a quick goal in the Sharks' 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final.
"That's the way that he plays the game. If you … I don't want to say make him think too much, but if you see just the way he is when he just plays the game and just reads and reacts, a lot of it is that when things are going well, he finds a way to get it done, offensively or defensively."
Burns scored on a deft turning shot 1:04 into regulation. Logan Couture made it 2-0 just 1:49 later, and the Sharks had the jump-start they had been craving all series.
Although Pittsburgh tied it before the game was six minutes old, the Sharks rode their early momentum, getting a goal later in the first from Melker Karlsson and an empty-netter from Joe Pavelski to stave off elimination. They trail in the series 3-2.
"That was big," Martin said of Burns' goal. "He's one of our key guys. To get him going, to get him on the board early, he loosens up and he starts to play a different type of game. That's big for our team — and just to get on the board early, change the way things have been going."
Burns found himself in an area not always comfortable for defensemen — behind his own net.
"It was a good forecheck by (Karlsson)," Burns said. "I just tried to help him out."
Burns carried the puck out to the lower part of the left circle and whipped the puck past Pittsburgh goaltender Matt Murray.
"We talked about getting a better start, getting a lead," Burns said.
He helped provide it.
"When he's jumping in the rush, it adds a different dimension to our team," Couture said. "Everyone knows he's got the shot, but he can makes plays when he's able to pinch and use his big body to track pucks and score a goal."
That gives Burns seven goals, 23 points this postseason. That point total ties him with Larry Murphy (Penguins, 1991) for fourth-most points by a defenseman in a postseason since 1986. He's also tied with Pavelski for second among the Sharks in points in these playoffs.
While he had been relatively quiet offensively in the series before Game 5 — he had two assists in a Game 1 loss, no points in Games 2-4 — Burns, a Norris Trophy finalist, has been on Pittsburgh's radar from the start.
"Burns is in the rush all the time," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "That's part of what he brings to their team. He's a very good player. He has the ability to generate offense from the blue line."
Burns had three shots in the game, with four more attempts blocked by Pittsburgh, along with two hits and a blocked shot.
About an hour after the game, the affable Burns — noticeable this night for his Christmas-tree-green plaid suit and of course the ZZ Top beard — was in the mostly empty Consol Energy Center stands visiting with a handful of folks in Sharks jerseys. It was unclear whether or how he knew them, but it apparently was a pleasant enough conversation that he lost track of time.
"C'mon, 'Burnsie,' you're going to miss the bus," a team employee who had come looking for him bellowed at him, and Burns made a hasty dash to leave.
He will be back if the Sharks can tie the series with a win Sunday night at home. The team can only hope Burns will be at the top of his game again if there is a Game 7.
"I think Burnsie brings the same energy every night," Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. "It's not realistic that he will score every night, but he consistently tries to be a difference-maker in every game he plays."
William Love Correspondent


text:
Q: FFmpeg - Concatenating videos with different resolutions I currently have an android app where the videos get combined using ffmpeg's concat. That works fine. However, when I add text (using drawtext) to one of the videos, after combining the videos again, the combined video gets distorted. The video with the drawtext shows up fine, but then the videos without text switches orientation.
I think the problem roots from the fact that a vertical video on my android phone has the resolution of 1920x1080, however if I use that for the scale when executing drawtext, it becomes horizontal.
I think an example might help explain this better. Let's say I have 2 vertically recorded videos, and I combine them with concat. The combined video shows up fine. Then if I add text to the 1st video using drawtext, the combined video will then show the first video (with text) at normal orientation (vertical). However, when it transitions to the next video, it first stalls for a couple seconds and then the 2nd video is shown at a horizontal orientation.
Also, I tried this also with having the aspect ratio as 1:1 so it wouldn't matter, but the second video's orientation still changed counter clockwise.
Thanks for the help, and happy to add more clarification if needed.
This is for adding the text:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf drawbox=y=ih-200:color=black@0.5:width=iw:height=200:t=max
    ,drawtext=fontfile=RobotoRegular.ttf:text='Text':x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)-100:fontsize=70:fontcolor=white
    -c:v libx264 -b:v 17000k -r 30 -preset ultrafast -y output.mp4

Output:
ffmpeg version n3.0.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2016 the FFmpeg developers
                                                       built with gcc 4.8 (GCC)
                                                       configuration: --target-os=linux --cross-prefix=/home/vagrant/SourceCode/ffmpeg-android/toolchain-android/bin/arm-linux-androideabi- --arch=arm --cpu=cortex-a8 --enable-runtime-cpudetect --sysroot=/home/vagrant/SourceCode/ffmpeg-android/toolchain-android/sysroot --enable-pic --enable-libx264 --enable-libass --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libmp3lame --enable-fontconfig --enable-pthreads --disable-debug --disable-ffserver --enable-version3 --enable-hardcoded-tables --disable-ffplay --disable-ffprobe --enable-gpl --enable-yasm --disable-doc --disable-shared --enable-static --pkg-config=/home/vagrant/SourceCode/ffmpeg-android/ffmpeg-pkg-config --prefix=/home/vagrant/SourceCode/ffmpeg-android/build/armeabi-v7a --extra-cflags='-I/home/vagrant/SourceCode/ffmpeg-android/toolchain-android/include -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fno-strict-overflow -fstack-protector-all' --extra-ldflags='-L/home/vagrant/SourceCode/ffmpeg-android/toolchain-android/lib -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -pie' --extra-libs='-lpng -lexpat -lm' --extra-cxxflags=
                                                       libavutil      55. 17.103 / 55. 17.103
                                                       libavcodec     57. 24.102 / 57. 24.102
                                                       libavformat    57. 25.100 / 57. 25.100
                                                       libavdevice    57.  0.101 / 57.  0.101
                                                       libavfilter     6. 31.100 /  6. 31.100
                                                       libswscale      4.  0.100 /  4.  0.100
                                                       libswresample   2.  0.101 /  2.  0.101
                                                       libpostproc    54.  0.100 / 54.  0.100
                                                     Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from '/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.me.app/files/65/VID_20170802_111518.mp4':
                                                       Metadata:
                                                         major_brand     : mp42
                                                         minor_version   : 0
                                                         compatible_brands: isommp42
                                                         creation_time   : 2017-08-02 18:15:20
                                                         com.android.version: 7.0
                                                       Duration: 00:00:00.93, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 16415 kb/s
                                                         Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, bt709), 1920x1080, 16408 kb/s, SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9, 28.94 fps, 30 tbr, 90k tbn, 180k tbc (default)
                                                         Metadata:
                                                           rotate          : 90
                                                           creation_time   : 2017-08-02 18:15:20
                                                           handler_name    : VideoHandle
                                                         Side data:
                                                           displaymatrix: rotation of -90.00 degrees
                                                     [libx264 @ 0xeab7ec00] using SAR=1/1
                                                     [libx264 @ 0xeab7ec00] using cpu capabilities: none!
                                                     [libx264 @ 0xeab7ec00] profile Constrained Baseline, level 4.1
                                                     [libx264 @ 0xeab7ec00] 264 - core 148 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2015 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=0 ref=1 deblock=0:0:0 analyse=0:0 me=dia subme=0 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.00 mixed_ref=0 me_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=0 8x8dct=0 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=1 chroma_qp_offset=0 threads=12 lookahead_threads=2 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=0 weightp=0 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=0 intra_refresh=0 rc=abr mbtree=0 bitrate=17000 ratetol=1.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=0
                                                     Output #0, mp4, to '/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.me.app/files/65/temp.mp4':
                                                       Metadata:
                                                         major_brand     : mp42
                                                         minor_version   : 0
                                                         compatible_brands: isommp42
                                                         com.android.version: 7.0
                                                         encoder         : Lavf57.25.100
                                                         Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 (libx264) ([33][0][0][0] / 0x0021), yuv420p, 1080x1920 [SAR 1:1 DAR 9:16], q=-1--1, 17000 kb/s, 30 fps, 15360 tbn, 30 tbc (default)
                                                         Metadata:
                                                           handler_name    : VideoHandle
                                                           creation_time   : 2017-08-02 18:15:20
                                                           encoder         : Lavc57.24.102 libx264
                                                         Side data:
                                                           unknown side data type 10 (24 bytes)
                                                     Stream mapping:
                                                       Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (h264 (native) -> h264 (libx264))
                                                     Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
                                                     frame=    6 fps=0.0 q=0.0 size=       0kB time=00:00:00.00 bitrate=N/A dup=1 drop=0 speed=   0x
                                                     frame=   10 fps=8.8 q=0.0 size=       0kB time=00:00:00.00 bitrate=N/A dup=1 drop=0 speed=   0x
                                                     frame=   14 fps=8.4 q=15.0 size=     155kB time=00:00:00.03 bitrate=38067.5kbits/s dup=1 drop=0 speed=0.0201x
                                                     frame=   18 fps=8.0 q=22.0 size=     744kB time=00:00:00.16 bitrate=36592.5kb

ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i input.mp4 -c copy -y output.mp4
Output:
ffmpeg version n3.0.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2016 the FFmpeg developers
                                                        built with gcc 4.8 (GCC)
                                                        configuration: --target-os=linux --cross-prefix=/home/vagrant/SourceCode/ffmpeg-android/toolchain-android/bin/arm-linux-androideabi- --arch=arm --cpu=cortex-a8 --enable-runtime-cpudetect --sysroot=/home/vagrant/SourceCode/ffmpeg-android/toolchain-android/sysroot --enable-pic --enable-libx264 --enable-libass --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libmp3lame --enable-fontconfig --enable-pthreads --disable-debug --disable-ffserver --enable-version3 --enable-hardcoded-tables --disable-ffplay --disable-ffprobe --enable-gpl --enable-yasm --disable-doc --disable-shared --enable-static --pkg-config=/home/vagrant/SourceCode/ffmpeg-android/ffmpeg-pkg-config --prefix=/home/vagrant/SourceCode/ffmpeg-android/build/armeabi-v7a --extra-cflags='-I/home/vagrant/SourceCode/ffmpeg-android/toolchain-android/include -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fno-strict-overflow -fstack-protector-all' --extra-ldflags='-L/home/vagrant/SourceCode/ffmpeg-android/toolchain-android/lib -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -pie' --extra-libs='-lpng -lexpat -lm' --extra-cxxflags=
                                                        libavutil      55. 17.103 / 55. 17.103
                                                        libavcodec     57. 24.102 / 57. 24.102
                                                        libavformat    57. 25.100 / 57. 25.100
                                                        libavdevice    57.  0.101 / 57.  0.101
                                                        libavfilter     6. 31.100 /  6. 31.100
                                                        libswscale      4.  0.100 /  4.  0.100
                                                        libswresample   2.  0.101 /  2.  0.101
                                                        libpostproc    54.  0.100 / 54.  0.100
                                                      [mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0xe762a600] Auto-inserting h264_mp4toannexb bitstream filter
                                                      Input #0, concat, from '/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.me.app/files/64/TXT_20170802_110325.txt':
                                                        Duration: N/A, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 23403 kb/s
                                                          Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 (Constrained Baseline) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 1080x1920 [SAR 1:1 DAR 9:16], 23403 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 15360 tbn, 60 tbc
                                                          Metadata:
                                                            handler_name    : VideoHandler
                                                      Output #0, mp4, to '/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.me.app/files/64/VID_20170802_110325concat.mp4':
                                                        Metadata:
                                                          encoder         : Lavf57.25.100
                                                          Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 ([33][0][0][0] / 0x0021), yuv420p, 1080x1920 [SAR 1:1 DAR 9:16], q=2-31, 23403 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 15360 tbn, 15360 tbc
                                                          Metadata:
                                                            handler_name    : VideoHandler
                                                      Stream mapping:
                                                        Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (copy)
                                                      Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
                                                      [mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0xe762a600] Auto-inserting h264_mp4toannexb bitstream filter
                                                      frame=   64 fps=0.0 q=-1.0 Lsize=    5218kB time=00:00:12.30 bitrate=3474.5kbits/s speed= 122x
                                                      video:5217kB audio:0kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 0.025721%

A: From your log, you can see that your source is 1920x1080 with meta data rotation 90. After drawtext, the output is 1080x1920 with no meta data.
Then you concat 1080x1920 video without rotation and 1920x1080 video with rotation 90 together. The final output is half 1080x1920 and half 1920x1080 video without rotation.
My suggestion is to use transpose filter to rotate your video to 0 degree before processing and concat.
Update
If you want to keep the original rotation, you need to drawtext on a intermediate buffer, rotate it, then overlay with the input. You may also need to add the meta data to the output. The sample command is as follow:
ffmpeg -f lavfi -i color=color=0x000000@0.0:s=1080x1920,format=yuva444p -noautorotate -i input.mp4 \
-filter_complex "[0:v]drawbox=y=ih-200:color=black@0.5:width=iw:height=200:t=max,drawtext=fontfile=RobotoRegular.ttf:text='Text':x=(w-text_w)/2:y=(h-text_h)-100:fontsize=70:fontcolor=white,transpose=dir=2,[1:v]overlay" \
-c:v libx264 -b:v 17000k -r 30 -preset ultrafast -y output1.mp4

ffmpeg -i output1.mp4 -c copy -metadata:s:v:0 rotate=-90 output2.mp4

Then you can concat the output with your another rotated source.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I chat frequently with "Da", 23, whom we have known for several years. Da was always a bright girl, full of potential, and had she stayed with our assistance could have a university degree by now. Instead she now lives in her home province and works a retail job six days a week, supporting not only her two children but her young "husband" while he runs around.
"I do everything for him," Da laments. "I chose him even though my family didn't like him. I thought I could put up with his bad character. But I can't. I cry every time he does the same things I don't like. It's been 4 years. I can't go anywhere. I love him too much to leave. I have so much fear.
That last statement comes up often when talking to women caught in these relationships. Most of them grew up fatherless, so feel desperate to hang on, even at great sacrifice.
Naturally we do our best to coach and counsel. At the very least we are able to provide encouragement and a listening ear. When we see a true harmful situation we help get her and her children to safety. In other cases we encourage her to stop fighting, complaining etc., following Peter's advice in 1 Peter 3:1-6. Indeed we have seen a few couples become fairly healthy.
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I'm about to go all WordPress Geek 2.5 on y'all now. So, if you don't want to look at PHP code or have no clue what a widget is, then you might want to take a break from this post.
WordPress theme developers. Pay attention.
Ian Stewart just created the "we need to kill the sidebar bandwagon," and it's about time you all hopped on.
The basic idea is that with all the things we can do with widgets, it makes no sense to call these widgetized sections sidebars at all. Why would we call a footer or a header widget area "Footer Sidebar" or "Header Sidebar"? You can even vote on this idea.
Since a few of you requested it, I'll give you a tutorial on how to take full advantage of WordPress 2.5's new widget interface.
This is totally new code straight from the development versions of my old and new themes.
The first thing you need to decide is what you want to widgetize. For the sake of this tutorial and the No Sidebar Bandwagon, let's pretend our theme has no sidebars at all. I'll try to avoid using the term "sidebar" as much as possible.
Now, we need to put together a bunch of widgetized areas for our widget panel in the WordPress dashboard. Typically, we'll put these in the functions.php file of the theme we're using.
I've found the best way to do this, which is a lot less coding, is to create an array of all the sidebars we want to use. Plus, it's much cooler.
Note: This tutorial uses text strings that are ready for localization.
Pimp out this page with an endless amount of widget sections.
If that seemed a bit complicated, let me break the process down a bit. We're first creating an array of all our widgetized sections. The reason we're doing this is because we don't want to have to write the second part of the code over and over and over. So, for the second part, we just loop through each widget section and register it.
I'll show you how to display this for your header section. It will be basically same for each of our sections.
Now, you have the basic tools to widgtize your site in any way you want. You could create widgets for any section of any page you'd like. You could build a three-column all widget theme if you wanted. The only limit here is your preconceptions of what widgets are and what they can do.
WordPress' built-in conditional tags are your friends. Use them.
If you're using my Options theme, then I have a special tutorial for making many sidebars.
I encourage you all to start thinking about what more we can do with this.