Single Shaft Shredder S Series-Single Shaft Shredder-Zibo United Tech Machinery Co., Ltd.
With the function of Siemens microcomputer control system, it is possible to control automatically start, stop. Automatic reverse sensors to protect the machine against over loading and jamming. The outputcapability typically range between 300kg/hr –5,000kg/hr+ depending on the different model and different materials.
The cutting part of the single shaft shredder including the rotor, rotor blade, counter blade and the screen. The minimum mounting clearances between the rotor blade and counter blade is 0.1mm. The motor drive the rotor by high speed rotating trough the speed reducer, therefore the rotor blade cutting the counter blade. After one cutting, the materials will be discharged if its size smaller the screen mesh size. Or the material will be double or more cutting, until the size is smaller than the screen holes.
* Siemens PLC Control System, automatic reverse sensor to protect the machine against over loading and jamming.


Second seasons can be tricky things to get right. Many great shows in the past have struggled with second seasons such as Lost, Heroes and the more recently panned True Detective. It's as though the writers get too comfortable following a monumentally successful first season. Fargo is an example of what can go right in a second season if you don't rest on your laurels!
Fargo is another of the breed of anthology shows which includes American Horror Story and True Detective yet there is still an element of continuation. Season 2 is set in the same universe but acts as a prequel to season 1, occurring some twenty seven years before the events of season 1. This means that we can still relate to the characters despite it being an entirely new cast list. While season 1 followed Deputy Molly Solverson as she investigated a series of murders, season 2 follows her father, Lou Solverson, as he tries to protect presidential candidate Ronald Reagan while also investigating some murders. While the first season gave subtle hints to a wider gangland involvement in the Fargo universe, the second season puts us right in the middle of a brewing gangland war. What's great about Fargo though is that despite a much bigger picture, the focal points are the 'little' people who somehow get involved in events much bigger than themselves.
The thing that was great about season 1 was that it boasted a truly great cast of characters, and season 2 is the same. While some names may escape you, so many faces are familiar. Kirsten Dunst and Ted Danson are perhaps the biggest names, although if you liked Breaking Bad, then you'll also recognise Jesse Plemons who played Todd during the final season. Another recognisable face should be Jean Smart who appeared in the fifth and sixth seasons of 24 as First Lady Martha Logan.
The storyline is a complicated one, and if Fargo has a weakness then this is it. In the early episodes there seems to be so many strands and different characters popping up that you do wonder how it's all going to come together. When it does come together though, the payoff is brilliant and well worth it. It's unashamedly violent and most importantly it's not trying to be something it's not. This is how you follow a great first season! True Detective, take note!
Fargo Season 2 is currently airing on Channel 4 on Mondays at 10pm. You can also catch up on the series on Channel 4's on demand service, All4.


text:
Home > Republished Content > Family & relationships > Let your children play in the mud
istock.com
Let your children play in the mud
Presented by Professor Jennie Hudson
Professor Jennie Hudson's research focuses on the prevention and treatment of children's emotional health problems using cognitive behavioural therapy.
Professor Jennie Hudson is a researcher at the Centre for Emotional Health in the Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Her research focuses on anxiety disorders in children and adolescents, specifically the role of parents in the development of anxiety disorders in youth. Her work also focuses on the prevention and treatment of children's emotional health problems using cognitive behavioural therapy.
Prof. Hudson has co-authored a book 'Treating anxious children: An evidence-based approach' (2000) and edited a book "Psychopathology and the Family" (2006). In recognition of her achievements, Prof. Hudson has received awards from a number of organisations including Australian Psychological Society, Anxiety Disorders Association of America, The Australian Association of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and The Australian Institute of Political Sciences.
Published in: Family & relationships, Health
Tags: Adolescence, Anxiety, Children, Clinical psychology, Cognitive psychology, Counselling psychology, Early intervention, Educational psychology, Mental health, Mental illness
Do we inherit masculine and feminine behaviours?
The psychology behind why clowns creep us out
The downsides of a mental health diagnosis

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Take a look at the aerodynamic Toyota Prius here at Toyota Chula Vista and learn why this Toyota is a standard in hybrid innovation. With Hybrid Synergy Drive, the new Toyota Prius is designed to provide the benefits of a quiet electric motor with the power of a gas engine when you need it. Getting the great miles per gallon isn't the only advantage of the Toyota Prius. Designed with the Star Safety System, a Pre-Collision System and Lane Keep Assist getting to your destination safely is easier than you might think. Take advantage of navigation, Bluetooth, a backup camera and JBL Audio to arrive comfortably. Build your own Toyota Prius in Chula Vista, CA today with our online build tool or visit us to take a test drive here at our Toyota dealer serving San Diego, CA and all surrounding areas.
Take a look at the aerodynamic 2018 Toyota Prius here at Toyota Chula Vista and learn why this Toyota is a standard in hybrid innovation. With Hybrid Synergy Drive, the new 2018 Toyota Prius is designed to provide the benefits of a quiet electric motor with the power of a gas engine when you need it. Getting the great miles per gallon isn't the only advantage of the 2018 Toyota Prius. Designed with the Star Safety System, a Pre-Collision System and Lane Keep Assist getting to your destination safely is easier than you might think. Take advantage of navigation, Bluetooth, a backup camera and JBL Audio to arrive comfortably. Build your own Toyota Prius in Chula Vista, CA today with our online build tool or visit us to take a test drive here at our Toyota dealer serving San Diego, CA and all surrounding areas. Don't forget to take a look through all of our specials on new 2018 Toyota cars as well!


ATE the RICH UK: NOT AGAIN !
The original write up and photos in NMM (May '77) by the original Phil Mather. I promise not to mention Old Blu' again, ha ha had my fingers crossed behind my back so doesn't count.
Never get tired looking at this bike. Can't believe someone changed it.
Nah, only jokin, it still looked the business after you were done.
and completly off topic but pts me in mind of another builder but into his HD's Leon ???????, around the same time.
Feck brain fade, help me out here.
Ray Leon 69. Hit the choppers button and have a look back through some old posts. One or two of his bikes on here and a photo of the old shop in Putney.
I remember Old Blu from a Superbike article pictured along with a sporty. Also remember seeing it for sale in the window of ACE ? motorcycles on Deansgate , Manchester, late 70's, teenage wetdreams.


← How Indian am I?
I do actually use Twitter occassionally, you can follow me here: http://www.twitter.com/simonmcnorton.
This entry was posted in Experiences and tagged comedy, twitter. Bookmark the permalink.
Kick -the -tires -and -light -the -fires, -problem -ofafliilcy -solved!
Your's -is -the -intelligent -approach -to -this -issue.


It's been back to back reads with strange meta-narrative, mobius plot threads (I followed this one with Bats of the Republic) The Impossible Fairy Tale is weirdly unsettling and moves ahead with a grim inevitability following the intertwined lives of two 12 year old girls. The language skitters off on strange tangents and plays with words in a way that must have proven a unique challenge to translate. Violence and death constantly linger in the periphery but the tangents pulled me out of the story making me wish for the relentless energy of Samanta Schweblin's David in Fever Dream, who kept the narrative on its creepy track. The novel then shifts it's focus halfway through and the book becomes something else entirely. I just couldn't get invested enough to truly follow along and make the necessary connections. And I was frankly still catching my breath from the ending of the first half. Inventive and challenging, it just wasn't what I was after.
A very strange but interesting book. I liked it but I'm not fully sure how I feel about it. Very odd but worth the read (I think).
Really weird, strange book. I have no idea what to think about it yet, but I think I liked it? Asian authors have been killing it with unique narrative voices lately, and this is no exception.
This book is published by a small UK publisher Tilted Axis who publish "books that might not otherwise make it into English, for the very reasons that make them exciting to us – artistic originality, radical vision, the sense that here is something new." Their name refers to their aim to tilt "the axis of world literature from the centre to the margins ...… where multiple traditions spark new forms and translation plays a crucial role."It was founded by Deborah Smith, the English-Korean translator of Han Kang's "The Vegetarian" and winner with her of the 2016 Man Booker International Prize.Smith has commented on the founding of Tilted Axis "The idea initially came out of my own work as a translator, getting an insider's view of the publishing industry and discovering some of the implicit biases preventing certain books from making it through into English. So our main objective is to subvert or circumvent as many of those biases as possible by publishing under-represented writing, which is an intersection of original language, style, content, and often its author's gender. To publish it properly, in a way that makes it clear that this is art, not anthropology. To spotlight the importance of translation in making cultures less dully homogenous. To push for better rates and recognition for translators themselves".The original author of this book is the Korean Han Yujoo, herself both a translator (in her case of English literature into Korean) and a publisher (her own micro-press Oulipo Press focuses on experimental literature).The translator of this book is Janet Hong a writer and translator living in Canada. In fascinating end note to her translation she comments that just as she was embarking on the translation she read a very favorable review of the original book by a Korean literary critic who then "noted that the story relied heavily on wordplay …and that such sections would unfortunately be lost in translation".It is clear both from the translation that a kind of stream of consciousness wordplay, relying on word association and transitions between similar words is key to the novel – and the complexity of this is I think increased by the key role played in this by Korean characters and by what I understand to be the greater prevalence of onomatopoeia in the Korean language compared to English.My first reaction when I hear of the attempted translation such a book is two-fold – firstly to ask whether the book itself is really in any sense the same book as was originally written; secondly to query if the effort in translation can really be justified.To her credit the translator addresses effectively both these issues in her end note. The first by saying that she worked with the author on the translation (something I think which must be made a lot more valid by the author's own translation ability and presumably English fluency). Secondly by stating (in what I think is an admiral sentiment) that the translation is a result of "a humble, passionate and joyous attempt [to share] this chilling, exquisite, mesmerizing tale with readers who otherwise would not have had access to the original".The book has two distinct parts. The first tells the story of two children – the first is two contrasting twelve year old classmates. The first is Mia, a child with (for reasons not entirely clear) two fathers, from both of whom her mother seems estranged, a situation she exploits to her own advantage, by leveraging the guilt of the three parents to get what she wants. Mia herself could be described as pre/early-adolescent, feeling to herself misunderstood and unfortunate, but to others as being blessed with looks, intelligence and possessions. She talks about violent acts (being for example taken with a detective novel where someone is killed by the sharp end of fountain pen dropped from a great height) and thinks about killing others, but its clear her talk and thoughts are very theoretical and childish.The second is quite literally anonymous, both to us and to her classmates – known only as "The Child". She is clearly physically and mentally abused by her parents – and yet, as part of her anonymity and invisibility, the other children and more damningly the adults at the school, completely overlook and even rationalise the clear evidence and signs of that abuse (bleeding, bruises, even ripped off fingernails). The Child also thinks violent thoughts – but it is clear in her case firstly that her experience and knowledge of violence is much more real and mature, and secondly that the boundary between thought and action is much more blurred (for example when she murders a stray cat).The children's society is one marked by the almost casual acceptance of violence – the children by small chicks and then devise ways to kill them, their default game when adults are not present is the "fainting game" where they choke each other to the point of passing out. As a fairytale this owes much more to the traditional fairytales, with their assumption of darkness and malevolence, than the Disney-fied versions of childhood innocence – and there is an unsettling undercurrent to the story which we know is going to end far from happily ever after.Chapters alternate between the viewpoints of The Child and Mia, and the Child's sections in particular grow in menace, undercut by the increasing use of rhythmic and often violent word imagery and associations. A repeated theme in this section is a series of forking paths outside of the school.The second part of the book takes a distinct meta-fictional turn – it starts with a series of odd dream sequences, but then the narrator of the second part, seemingly a teacher is confronted in a class by an unexpected and familiar face. We realise that the narrator is the author of the first part of the book, and the other character her fictional creation The Child, and that time is somehow mixed between the events of the book, and the period in which the author meets her own creation (possibly 8 or 15 years later). The Child retraces some of her actions in the first part, reads the journals the author wrote when she was reading the book and debates with the author who was really responsible for The Child's actions in the first part – The Child or the author who had planned out what she was going to do.As an example in the journal, The Child reads (in what serves as an excellent description of the contrasting characters of Mia and her in the first part)"Scary, fearful, sickening, terrifying, hideous, frightful, chilly". These were probably meant for me. And below were these adjectives "premature, immature, unripe, young, delicate, childish". These were probably meant not for me, but someone else. I'm sure of itThere are further hints that in writing the first part, the author based the character of The Child (and possibly Mia) on aspects of her own childhood. Before she meets The Child, she saysI can disguise my childhood and as I disguise it I can make allusions, and as I reveal details about the allusions, I can make them appear fictitious, and in this way I can deceive you all.When The Child confronts her after class, the meeting is precipitated by the narrator falling down stairs (in the same was as happens to The Child frequently in the first part); further her initial reaction to seeing The Child face to face is:The face is unfamiliar. The face watches me in silence. I see myself in that face. It's actually mine. We may have had the same childhood. She's me. You're me. But I'm not me and I don't look like anyone else. I sense that the writing about me has already begunThis impression is made stronger by a powerful section in the first part, which completely goes against the flow of the rest of that part, and features short paragraphs on each of the class members, featuring some incident from their childhood which they remember (seemingly as adults).The second section, like the first, features the same stream of consciousness, word-association, wordplay. Unfortunately this technique is not always (in fact not often) successful and instead distracts from what from the core elements of each part – the growing menace of the first part and the meta-fictional aspects of the second.As an example a bizarre dream sequence early in the second part, contains repeated variation around a nag which is nagging the narrator, a dog which has dried out, discussions of the word confusion having no opposite, some very odd discussions of the differences between lilacs and buttercups and lots of repetition of the word bricks. Some of this effect may be lost in translation – for example I have no idea of what lies behind the choice of the nag that nags and what was in the original Korean, but whatever it was the effect in English is very weak. However I suspect that most of the fault is not barriers in the translation, but ones that the author has added herself in the original Korean. Disappointingly and surprisingly for someone who I understand started her writing career in short stories, Han Yunjo seems unable to write the tight prose that is really needed to add real menace to the first part and real insight into the authorial process into the second. My thanks to Tilted Axis for a review copy.
The Impossible Fairy Tale is published by Tilted Axis Press.Founded in 2015 and based in south London, Tilted Axis is a not-for-profit press on a mission to shake up contemporary international literature. Tilted Axis publishes the books that might not otherwise make it into English, for the very reasons that make them exciting to us – artistic originality, radical vision, the sense that here is something new.The novel was written by Korean author Han Yujoo and translated by Janet Hong. Whilst I have zero knowledge of Korean, I believe from what I read in the English version that translation must have presented some serious challenges. If I have read the book correctly, there is a lot of word play, word association, word trickery involved and this must be every translator's nightmare (just because a word spelled the same can have several different meanings in one language - my favourite in English is "scuttle" - that does not mean the same word will have the same different meanings in another language. In fact, I doubt that ever really happens).Fellow Goodreader Paul has far more inside knowledge about Korean language and culture than I do and his review is well worth reading for both those insights and for his comments on the book in general. (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...).My gut feeling is that we mere mortals lacking in Korean language skills perhaps miss some of the important aspects of this book.The book is split into two parts. The first part tells us the story of Mia and The Child (no name given), along with several other characters, although adults are mostly noticeable by their absence - they are referred to rather than active most of the time. You know a book is going to get a bit creepy when a child is given a title rather than a name. Mia has a relatively good life. In fact the book says Mia is lucky. She does not lack for things. On the other hand, The Child has a hard life. Somewhere outside of the book, her domestic situation seems to include a lot of abusive physical and mental violence. To begin with, The Child seems perhaps a rebellious, naughty child. But her actions gradual turn darker and darker until a final climax at the end of the first part of the book. This won't be a surprise to most readers as there are plenty of hints and the general mood of the story indicates that what happens is going to happen.The second part of the book is where things start to get really interesting. This second part takes the form of a first person narrative which the author writes to/about The Child. This becomes then an exploration of what it means to create a character in a novel (and what it means to BE a character in a novel). There are multiple references back to the story in the first part. For example, in the first part we read of The ChildShe habitually eats paper. Without being aware of it, she tears the paper into little pieces and puts them in her mouth.And then we read the author writing to The Child in the second half sayingYou habitually eat paper. Without being aware of it, you tore the paper into little pieces and put them in your mouth.There are other examples along the same lines.And we see the author thinking about what it means to create a character when she writesEvery time I see you enact the habits I've designed, I feel both an unnameable sense of happiness and unease.And we see the created character starting to take on a life of its own when The Child, in the dialogue written by the author, saysI'm going to write what you're unable to write,…In this way, there are elements of this book that remind me of An English Guide to Birdwatching, because both books exist in two halves where the first half tells a story and the second half the reflects back that story in some kind of meta-narrative fashion. The approach these two books take to this is very different, with Birdwatching taking a more theoretical stance and this book exploring a dialogue between the author and one of her characters. But there are definite similarities in the overall ambition of the books. You can tell by my ratings which one I preferred, although I am not sure I have got the balance right and may change my mind. What Birdwatching has in theory and intelligence, this book makes up for with atmosphere and drama, so it's a difficult one to decide. Of course, there isn't normally any real requirement to decide between books. They have similarities and they have differences, so perhaps best to leave it at that.
The Impossible Fairytale, by Han Yujoo (translated by Janet Hong), tells the story of The Child, a twelve year old girl living in Korea who, unbeknown to anyone at her school, suffers appalling abuse at the hands of her mother. She deals with her pain by inflicting suffering on others. She wants to kill.The Child has learned that punishments are minimised if she is can get through each day unnoticed. She moves softly, interacts only when necessary, rarely speaks. She lives life on the margins, merging with the background of others' everyday existence.The reader is introduced to her classmates. Mia is a pretty girl granted everything she desires by her indulgent parents. She keeps two journals – one to be handed in at school and one for her secrets. As she lives a gentle, unconstrained life her secrets are few.The boys in the class play rough games, hurting each other in the name of fun. They torture and kill insects and small animals. They mercilessly bully a child with special needs. Mia and The Child observe this behaviour. The casual cruelties of children are horrifically portrayed.The Child acquires a key to the classroom and writes in her classmates' journals. When her tampering is discovered the teacher demands that the culprit come forward, to no avail. The Child is worried that she will be discovered and attempts to hide what she has done. A chance encounter draws Mia into her web with devastating consequences.The second part of the book picks up the story and turns meta, developing it from the point of view of an author completing the work. This change took some time to segue with before regaining my attention.Throughout there is much play on words. The voice employed in both sections is detached yet compelling. There is repetition and a number of strange dream sequences but what is conveyed remains chillingly coherent.The writing is savage, playful, visceral and intellectually stimulating. There is a raw energy to its progression, a dreadful realism at the heart of its depictions that make them grim yet gripping.Unusual but never difficult, this is an impressive read.My copy of this book was provided gratis by the publisher, Tilted Axis.
This book has all the ingredients of something I should love. Strange Asian magical realism about dark, disturbing children? Twisted fairy-tale elements? Surreal and unsettling writing? A surprise meta-narrative? Yes to all of these things. And while I think The Impossible Fairy Tale does a lot right, I found it falling surprisingly flat for me by the end. My absolute favorite element here was the writing itself. It's strange and disturbing and unlike anything I've read before. The narrative will circle around itself, starting with an idea or concept and discussing it in a strangely repetitive fashion before veering in a totally different direction. There are large chunks that literally feel like you are in a dark fairy tale: it's confusing and gets under your skin, but also feels strangely glimmering and magical. I was totally enchanted by it, and I'll read anything Yujoo writes in the future for sure.And the first half of the story is actually fairly strong. It's definitely got that fairy tale style where the reader is kept at arm's length from the characters so there is an emotional distance, but the mirroring of Mia (the Good Child) and The Child (the "Bad" Child) was deftly done and very interesting. In fact, there are a lot of aspects of the story (from characters to plots to colors) that are mirrored so cleverly. It makes you feel off-balance because it's repetitive but also... not quite the same. Like fun house mirror versions of things you read about. My issue is the same as almost everyone else's: the big shift right in the middle. I actually loved the idea (someone writing a story suddenly confronted with a character they thought they had made up) but it went nowhere. The plot was moving along steadily, there's a big event, the characters come to life (or were possibly alive all along?) and then bam, dead in the water. It meanders around for another 40% of what feels like filler. I think there was SO much potential when The Child confronts The Author, but we got nothing out of it. It was a waste of paper, really, and I found myself insanely frustrated with this section. What was the point? I have no idea. 3 stars is usually a pretty "it was okay, I'm neutral on it" rating, but this book I both loved and hated. It was magical but frustrating, and didn't live up to either the hype or the amazing premise. I'm happy I read it because the writing is truly fantastic, but I'm also really sad about the (lack of) direction it went in to.
2.5 stars.I had such high hopes for this one and I am very sorry to report that it left me so very conflicted. There is no denying that Han Yujoo has serious writing chops, or that she has a very interesting premise going into this novel. However, I felt held at arm's length for the majority of the novel and then the second half... well, who the hell knows what was going on there.Read my full reviewhere!
The plot of this book never once flowed in an expected direction, yet all the emotions behind the characters, Mia, The Child, and even Inju, felt real and fully developed. The intricate wordplay in this story showcases the highly skilled translation of Janet Hong. The way that Han Yujoo explores with her words, creating seemingly simple sentences and minutely changing a syllable or a tense to create a new meaning, a new dimension to the text was reflected so beautifully in Janet Hong's translation that it has me itching to see the original text so as to fully understand the mammoth task that she undertook.As this novel was more abstract and conceptual than I initially expected, it turned out to be much more work as a reader than I wanted. However, it was nonetheless a fascinating book and leaves me excited to read more from both the author and the translator.
weird and intriguing.I reviewed this for the magazine Words Without Borders."For a book full of so much mystery, the creative mission of Han Yujoo's The Impossible Fairy Tale is remarkable for its author's openness about choices regarding how to tell stories, how an author reveals information, and the dissecting and peeling away of the layers of artifice inherent in the reading and writing of fiction.Broken into two parts, Part I begins with Mia, an average twelve-year-old in an average neighborhood attending an average school in South Korea in the 1990s...."
I, like many others, don't quite know what to make of this novel. I think this is my first foray into experimental fiction? But what I do know is that Han Yujoo/Janet Hong's words certainly flow off the page. I'm hesitant to really rate or review, as this is a translated work that is heavily dependent on Korean wordplay, but the fact that the English is still quite beautiful is a testament to Janet Hong's translating prowess. I can only imagine how much effort she put into capturing the spirit of Han Yujoo's words.This book is frequently described as having two separate parts, the first being about two children, and the second being about the narrator of the first story confronting one of the children (i.e. their character). Really though it's just all one meta-narrative wrapped with a ribbon of creeping horror.I think it's worth the read.
Inventive and creepy. It sucked me in. Though, I guess it didn't blow me away.
I've never read a book like this before. I think that I loved this book so much because I was drawn to Yujoo's style of repeating words and ideas, circling back each time to add one small detail on top. I'm so amazed that this was able to be done consistently in a translation! This book read like experimental poetry, and for that I loved it.
A strange, chilling book with an unusual and unexpected meta-narrative (it half reminded me of Mr. Fox in this respect). The edition I read emphasised the role of the translator (the original Korean relies heavily on word play), which I found interesting. Overall - grim but intriguing.
The prose is too exquisitely written and translated to receive less than three stars. The story is too repetitive, formless, inert to receive more than two stars. Which will it be? Two stars or three stars. The reviewer flips a coin, specifically a 100 won coin, to determine the rating. Heads is 3 stars, tails is 2 stars. Look at the coin. It is tails. 2 stars. This book is unlucky.
incredible as a work of experimental fiction. incredible as a story. pushes the boundary between reading and reader, writing and writer, imagination and plot. also a total mindfuck, but in the best way possible. excellent translating.
I could not finish this book. I was hugely confused most of the time. I disliked the violence involving animals and children. I stayed with it until Part 2 hoping somehow I would finally understand the point and it was just more of the same. Too many good books out there to waste time on this one.
The Impossible Fairy Tale (2013) is the first novel by Korean writer Han Yujoo to be translated into English. It is short, just over 200 pages, is written in monosyllables like a children's story, and is a very weird parable about the evil inherent in mankind, in this case in children. It's a modern rendition of William Golding's Lord of the Flies. The tale is told in two parts. In the first part we follow the characters in the third person, a choice that emphasizes our distance from them just as it highlights their distance from each other. The story is told in the childlike cadence of a fairy tale, a style that contrasts nicely with the underlying evil, creating a sense of evil's banality. We meet two young girls, Mia and the never-named The Child, thirteen and twelve respectively, who are in the same fifth grade class. The imagery concisely captures the essence of the two main characters: in moments of stress Mia develops "white psoriasis" around her mouth, suggesting death or purity; The Child sees "collapses" of things around her, a description of her mental state.Mia is a "lucky" girl; her mother loves her, she has two fathers whom she can play against each other for gifts that her mother denies her, she is trusting and trustworthy. Mia is also selfish and grasping, as are most fifth graders. Like all children in her class Mia keeps a school journal recording her thoughts and activities, a journal that is reviewed regularly by her teacher. She also keeps a private second journal filled largely with her material wishes. The Child is Mia's classmate and alter ego, a "luckless" girl with an angry mother at home. The Child is pure id. She expects punishment, she feels invisible, and she shows a wide streak of cruelty fueled by the fear that her mother instills. She has visions of mice and ants tormenting her, and she wants to disappear. The Child also keeps a school journal. It is filled with beautiful words but its entries have dark and hidden meaning—it is written in a word substitution code using beautiful words in place of brutal words. For example, the word "wind" is a substitute for "bruise," giving an entirely different meaning to a simple sentence like, "I went home and felt the wind when I opened the door." The teacher is, of course, clueless and when she read the journal she always responds, "This has no concrete story." It's a summary of The Child's life.Strange things happen in Mia's class: chicks brought to the classroom have been dying; the children's journals kept under the teacher's desk suddenly have mysterious and disturbing notations like "I hate you;" the boys play the "fainting game" in which a boy is strangled until he faints; a rumor circulates among the parents that a boy in the class engages in animal cruelty with the class chicks, burning them in the microwave oven and doing other unspeakable things. The parent grapevine also says that Mia started the story and Mia's mother is shamed by the news that Mia would start such a rumor. She confronts Mia, who says, truthfully, that she never said such a thing. But Mia isn't believed. A search of Mia's room brings her secret second journal to light.Disturbing events multiply and build on each other, heightening the tension—something awful is going to happen within this small collection of children on the edge of their teens. But when the awful arrives it is so sudden and stealthy that its almost unnoticed, its just another part of an impossible fairy tale. Thus ends Part 1, the central story. One would expect tht Part 2 would be the aftermath—identification of the killer, conviction, and punishment. But not so. The reader is gloriously surprised with a first person dialogue that challenges the reality of the story and the faint line between reality and imagination. This is perhaps the most unique ending of a novel that I've ever read. Every fairy tale has a moral. This one is that sometimes the bad things that happen can't happen. I found it exciting, but from the rather dismal average rating given it by Goodreads readers, I'm in the minority. So be it.Five Stars.
This book was divided into two parts. After finishing the first part of the book, I would have given the story about 3 or 4 stars. But after the second part, my positive feelings about the book were greatly reduced. Part two of the book is experimental in nature. I like connecting to characters in a story. But in Han's experimental section, the emphasis is on showing how her story was built. As a result, I couldn't connect to the characters very well in the second part of the book. The things that I thought were positive about the book are:- The author portrayed different kinds of difficulties that children face within families. She portrayed a child who is severely abused and also a child who comes from a blended family.- The author has a talent for creating suspense. I wanted to keep reading the book and was able to finish it quite quickly.The things I thought were negative about the book (I'm going to hide this part because of spoilers):(view spoiler)[- While the first portion of the book uses conventional storytelling, the second section of the book employs meta fiction. The second section follows the author of the book as a main character. The author is visited by her character the Child. Because of this shift in the storytelling it made me not care about the story any more. Ms. Han is making the reader examine and accept that the entire first portion of the novel is made up. While reading the second part, I felt myself care less and less about the Child (though I had cared for her deeply in Part I). I tried to transfer my empathy from the Child to the author, but really it wasn't happening. I know that if the entire novel had just been told traditionally, minus the meta-fiction portion, I would have enjoyed the book so much more. - The afterword, in my interpretation, completely lacks any heart. It uses an extended math metaphor. It reinforced in me the feeling that my empathetic connection to the characters had been cut off by the author's writing style.- The author has a recurring motif about objects appearing and then disappearing. It was repeated a lot through out the second portion. I don't really understand the purpose of the motif, and also these sections made me feel nothing. I think Han was interested in the power of the author to both create and destroy the story. But I personally don't have any interest in this. Here is an example of this motif: "The four seasons pass. But no one passes by. It rains. It snows. The wind blows and clouds pass by. A heavy rain falls and a light breeze blows. It grows misty and the sun shines. You feel neither warmth nor cold. All the world's seasons penetrate you." - Lastly, I find it perhaps gratuitous to portray children committing extreme acts of violence. Or if it's not gratuitous, I can say that it's just not within my tastes. I know many readers love books like Battle Royale, which is a dystopian story full of child violence. Just me personally, it's not something I like to read. (hide spoiler)]Overall, I think this author has a natural knack for storytelling. I would definitely try out another novel from her. But I hope that if she continues with experimental writing that she works to make those portions more accessible and enjoyable for the average reader.
Underneath the brightly colored cover of this book is a satisfyingly dark novel. It was a little too meta for my brain, so I had to read other published reviews to wrap my head around this. I also listened to this interview with the author herself, found at this link.The first part of the novel is a morbid story of young elementary school children, mainly focusing on a girl named Mia and another girl simply referred to as "the Child". We then go to metafiction territory in the second part.I like Han Yujoo's creative style in this novel. It's different and refreshing, though it might test the patience of some readers. Some paragraphs are deliberately repetitive and there's also lots of wordplay going on. Ineluctably, some nuances will definitely be lost in translation, so credits to translator Janet Hong for keeping the English version as faithful as possible to the original in Korean.One example of wordplay is the recurring references to dogs in the novel. In the interview I referenced above, Han briefly explains this: "Dog" in Korean is 개 (gae / geh) while "the Child" is 그 아이 (geu ah-ee). Say "그 아이" fast, over and over, and the resulting contraction becomes "개". Interesting.For now, this is all I can make of The Impossible Fairy Tale. To appreciate this more, I'll be reading this again when my "pending-to-read" list becomes more manageable.LitHub has an excerpt here.
Je tiens tout d'abord à remercier les « Éditions Decrescenzo » pour m'avoir fait découvrir ce livre. J'ai choisi ce livre pour deux raisons : sa magnifique couverture avec ses couleurs pastel et son résumé qui m'a intriguée. J'ai eu un peu de mal avec cette lecture, car je n'ai pas réussi à retrouver ce que le résumé nous promettait. Il faut dire que j'ai trouvé l'écriture de l'auteur vraiment très spéciale et je dois bien avouer que j'ai été gênée par les trop nombreuses répétitions qui jalonnent le récit. Par moment, je me suis un peu ennuyée. J'ai trouvé ce roman vraiment très étrange et je pense qu'il n'était pas fait pour moi. Certains passages de l'histoire étaient même difficile à comprendre, même après parfois plusieurs lectures. Je ne sais pas si c'est volontaire de la part de l'auteur d'avoir voulu nous laisser dans le flou, mais là, pour le coup, j'ai trouvé ça un peu laborieux à lire. Je ne dirais pas je n'ai pas aimé, mais je ne dirais pas non plus que j'ai apprécié. C'est assez rare qu'une lecture me laisse ce genre de sentiments, mais je ne vais pas faire de la langue de bois et vous dire que ce roman a été une déception pour moi. Attention, je ne dis pas qu'il le sera pour vous, donc n'hésitez pas à lui laisser sa chance et peut-être que l'histoire vous plaira. À lire !
This book is incredible!The first half is like a if a book were a painting, made up of thousands of tiny brushstrokes until a full scene emerges. Tiny brushstrokes that overlap and cover each other or blend together.I read the subject of this novel as an expression of an author's attempts to be erased and eternalised in the same movement, or in the same story. She's trying to make characters that are as real as she is, and she does this by breaking them down into tiny pieces, and then those pieces down into tinier ones. The action of constantly breaking down proves the existence of the thing, because a fake thing or a lie would eventually vaporise under the pressure.The conflict then, I suppose, is that the main character does not want to exist and that the breaking hurts her.The bricks were my favourite part. When the objects of the story won't flow with it, they become bricks. There are whole paragraphs with every second word being 'brick', making the entire page into a brick wall.IT'S VERY VERY GOOD AND I LIKED IT A LOT.
While 'The Impossible Fairy Tale' is interesting, unique, and very readable, it's ultimately unsatisfying. It's more of a 2.5 star read for me, but I'll give it 3. The first part of the book revolves around young children, the two main characters being Mia and a girl only referred to as the Child (she's so unremarkable she doesn't deserve a name). Mia seems to have all the luck while the Child is neither lucky nor unlucky. When the Child adds strange sentences to the journals of her classmates, an unfortunate series of events is set into place, escalating in great violence. The second part of the book revolves around the author of the first part. Yeah, strange, right? It gets even stranger. I like odd/unique but didn't feel the book totally came together in the end. The author seems to be commenting on an authors relationship to her characters, but, eh, it got less and less interesting by the final pages.


To target a specific audience, whilst maximizing the purchase intent and conversion in order to help drive sales and awareness for a forthcoming family-based promotion.
We worked with a leading data owner which broadcasts impactful email creative to over a million households with families living in London and the South East. The email creative was engaging and informative and directed users to a promotional page on our client's website where they could purchase.
The email campaign achieved a solid 15.5% open rate and over 5% click through rate resulting in significant awareness and substantial revenue (despite an aggressive price-led offer).


The Hook and Loop Hold Down and Release Mechanism was used during the launch of CBNT-2, Earth-i's pre-production prototype satellite of its upcoming satellite constellation.
The new commercial constellation – called Vivid-i – will be the first of its kind to provide full-colour video; and the first European-owned constellation able to provide both video and still images.
The multiple satellites within the Vivid-i Constellation will significantly increase the ability of companies and institutions to monitor, track and analyse activities, patterns of life and changes at any location on earth.
The Hook and Loop Hold Down and Release Mechanism was funded by the UK Space Agency's National Space Technology Programme with a £35,000 grant and developed by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. It is a new type of release mechanism which uses the dual lock type of Velcro to hold down and release the solar panels of the satellite.
"Today's launch is a significant moment for the UK and global space industries with Earth-i's progress being tracked across the world. Earth-i is an exciting and innovative British company and is a fine example of our thriving space sector.
The prototype satellite, designated CBNT-2 by manufacturer Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), was launched on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle from the Sriharikota rocket launch centre operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation, located in South East India, at 3.58am GMT.
CBNT-2 is a technology demonstration mission, operated by SSTL, and will be referred to as VividX2 by the Earth-i team.
It will demonstrate and prove technology and processes for Earth-i's forthcoming constellation including tasking, data downlinks to ground stations, image quality and the complex motion control systems that enable the spacecraft to capture video from space.
At the heart of the new satellite is an Ultra High Definition (UHD) camera which will capture high-resolution images for any location on Earth – and film up to two minutes at a time of video which can show moving objects such as vehicles, vessels and aircraft.
Find out more about the UK Space Agency's National Space Technology Programme.


Enjoy an overnight stay at the 4-star Cork International Hotel this Spring for only €109 which includes Bed & full Irish buffet breakfast for two people sharing. We're right on the doorstep of Cork City and perfect for an epic adventure along the Wild Atlantic Way. We have a number of family-friendly activities on-site also.


The Vamps lead guitarist James Mcvey said "Forevermore" star Liza Soberano is lovely. The British pop band was a guest on "ASAP" on Sunday (February 1) to promote their one-night-only concert at the Mall of Asia Arena.
They performed on the "ASAP" stage, and were interviewed in the show's segment, "ASAP Chill Out." During the show, James had a chance to meet Liza, and even took a picture with her.
Later on, he posted on Instagram that selfie he took with the young actress. He captioned this with: "You were so lovely @lizasoberano."
Liza, who is currently being linked to her on-screen partner Enrique Gil, was spotted at the Arena to watch The Vamps' concert.
Aiza Seguerra, Liza Diño Mulling In Vit..
Aiza Seguerra And Liza Dino Are Proud Of..


text:
About HB Auld
Auld Family History
hbauld's Weblog
Follow This Blog Now
World War II Hero, Flying Ace, and Test Pilot Dead at 97
Posted on December 7, 2020 by HB Auld, Jr.
by HB Auld, Jr.
American US Air Force hero, flying ace, and test pilot Brigadier General Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager died today. He was 97 years old.
In 1947, General Yeager became the first confirmed test pilot to exceed the speed of sound in level flight.
General Yeager began his service to the Nation in 1941 as a Private in the US Army Air Corps as an aircraft mechanic. In 1942, he entered enlisted flight training and was promoted to Flight Officer upon graduation. Later on the Western Front, he had 11 confirmed kills, shooting down enemy aircraft.
Following World War II, he became an aircraft test pilot, flying the Bell X-1 at a speed of Mach I and breaking the sound barrier on October 14, 1947. During the Viet Nam War, he commanded squadrons in Southeast Asia and was promoted to US Air Force Brigadier General in 1969. He served more than 30 years in three military wars. General Yeager retired from military service March 1, 1975.
General Chuck Yeager passed away on Monday, December 7, 2020.
Filed under: Chuck Yeager, Test Pilot, World War II | Tagged: Chuck Yeager, Flying Ace, Test Pilot |	Leave a comment »
Pearl Harbor Ambushed 79 Years Ago Today
Seventy-nine years ago today on December 7, 1941, Imperial Japan attacked the neutral United States with a surprise Sunday morning ambush on naval bases at Pearl Harbor, HI.
During the unprovacated assault on the United States, aircraft from the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service killed 2,403 US citizens and injured 1,178 others. It also sank four battleships and damaged four others, damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, and one minelayer. Additionally, 188 aircraft were destroyed and another 159 planes were damaged.
The following day, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt appeared before Congress and declaring the previous day "…a day which will live forever in infamy…." requested that Congress declare war against Japan. Congress quickly complied and the United States entered World War II hostilities against Japan.
My own father, HB Auld, Sr., was already serving in the US Army when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and spent the remainder of his military service fighting the Japanese on the island of New Guinea.
My father-in-law, JB Kattes, enlisted in the Army four days after the surprise attack, on December 11, 1941, and served in the Army in Washington, Alaska, and Georgia until the end of the War.
God bless all of the men and women who served and all of those who gave their lives in Pearl Harbor and elsewhere in the War.
Filed under: Pearl Harbor, World War II | Tagged: December 7 1941, Pearl Harbor |	2 Comments »
75th Anniversary of the Surrender of Japan, Ending WWII
Posted on September 2, 2020 by HB Auld, Jr.
Today is the 75th anniversary of V-J Day, the day remembered as the Victory over Japan day and the effective end of World War II. War would not "officially" end until the Treaty of San Francisco, signed almost seven years later on April 28, 1952.
On September 2, 1945, members of the Supreme Allied Forces and the Government of Japan gathered on the teak deck of the USS MISSOURI (BB 63) to sign the formal declaration of surrender by the Japanese Empire. Hostilities leading to the United States' entrance into World War II had begun almost four years earlier with a surprise attack on naval forces at Pearl Harbor, HI. Now, the "Rising Sun" empire would cease the fighting in the Pacific and China, with the primary condition of surrender being the preservation of the life of Japanese Emperor Hirohito.
Japanese Foreign Minister Shigemitsu signed for the Japanese government, while Japanese General Umezu signed for the Japanese armed forces. General of the Armies Douglas MacArthur and Navy Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz signed for the United States. US Forces officers dressed in their daily khaki work uniforms for the auspicious ceremony. MacArthur is said to have ordered that he and his men would wear that working uniform, implying that this was just another "day at the office." On the bulkhead behind the signatories that day was the "Perry Flag," the US flag that flew over USS POWHATAN commanded by Commodore Matthew C. Perry on the first of his two expeditions to Japan in 1853, forcing the Japanese to open their country to trade with America.
That Perry flag was retrieved from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, especially for the ceremony. Admiral Bull Halsey wanted the flag for the ceremony, so a young naval officer, LT. John K. Bremyer, was tasked with rushing it 9,000 miles in record time from Annapolis to the Pacific. He was told to "get there any way you can" and that he did, hitching rides and going without sleep and sometimes meals as he traveled on his mission. He carried the flag in a box inside a courier bag and he slept with it, ate with it, even carried it to the bathroom with him, never letting it out of his sight. He held a Top Secret Clearance and was a member of the elite Courier Force whose job it was to ferry documents in military wartime. God bless LT John K. Bremyer.
My dad, HB Auld, Sr., fought in the Pacific in New Guinea; my father-in-law, JB Kattes, served in Alaska; and my uncle, Ross Wilton Hargis, was a pilot in Germany…all during World War II. Truly, they were members of The Greatest Generation.
Filed under: LT John Bremyer, USS Missouri, V-J Day, World War II, World War II Surrender | Tagged: Surrender of Japan, USS Missouri, World War II |	Leave a comment »
The 75th Anniversary of the Bombing of Hiroshima, Japan
Posted on August 6, 2020 by HB Auld, Jr.
By Guest Author, Tara Ross
On this day in 1945, Americans drop an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The bombing came not too long after Japan had rejected a final opportunity to surrender.
The so-called Potsdam Declaration was issued through a combined statement of the United States, Great Britain, and China.
"The time has come," these Allies declared, "for Japan to decide whether she will continue to be controlled by those self-willed militaristic advisers whose unintelligent calculations have brought the Empire of Japan to the threshold of annihilation, or whether she will follow the path of reason."
Unconditional surrender was necessary. The alternative was "prompt and utter destruction."
Japan rejected the ultimatum. Presumably, no one in Japan really knew what was coming. But you have to wonder whether anyone in America truly understood what was coming, either?
Captain William Parsons of the Manhattan Project briefed the crew of the Enola Gay (and others) before they departed on their historic mission: "The bomb you are going to drop," he told them, "is something new in the history of warfare. It is the most destructive weapon ever produced. We think it will knock out everything within a three mile area."
Well, yes, it did. But it also shattered glass in suburbs that were twelve miles away from the detonation site.
Later that day, President Harry S. Truman made a statement:
"The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. . . . We are now prepared to obliterate . . . every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city," he stated. "We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake; we shall completely destroy Japan's power to make war."
Unfortunately, the Japanese did not surrender that day. A second bomb would be dropped on Nagasaki mere days later.
It was a hard day in world history, but it was also the beginning of the end of World War II.
History posts are copyright © 2013-2020 by Tara Ross. I appreciate it when you use the share feature instead of cutting/pasting. #TDIH#OTD#History#USHistory#liberty#freedom#ShareTheHistory
Guest author, Tara Ross, is a mother, wife, writer, and retired lawyer. She is the author of The Indispensable Electoral College: How the Founders' Plan Saves Our Country from Mob Rule,Enlightened Democracy: The Case for the Electoral College, co-author of Under God: George Washington and the Question of Church and State (with Joseph C. Smith, Jr.), & We Elect A President: The Story of our Electoral College. She is a constitutionalist, but with a definite libertarian streak! Stay tuned here for updates on pretty much anything to do with the Electoral College, George Washington, & our wonderfully rich American heritage.
Filed under: Hiroshima, Uncategorized, World War II | Tagged: Atomic Bomb, Hiroshima, Japan, World War II |	2 Comments »
Fellowship Baptist Church, Longview, TX
KSTA-AM Radio 1000
Mount Olive Baptist Church, Paris, Texas
Pastor Randy Cutter's Weblog
Shipwrecked in South Carolina
Tales of a Busy Housewife
The Bible Journey Blog
The Free Patriot
The Goat Locker
Wild Postcards
Wittenberg Nail


A little bit about myself: I'm an alumnus of the University of Minnesota, with a BA in Computer Science. I am currently employed with the Office of Information Technology at the University, and I am a former member of the U's student chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery. For fun, I build computers out of whatever boards happen to be lying around, dissect old computer games to see how they work, and occasionally write a song or two.
I now have a LiveJournal. Read, if you dare.
I've graduated from college, so I took the opportunity to tune up the website a bit. It really is in dire need of a redesign from scratch, though.
Places I've Been - my WWW Bookmarks (consider it my "lukewarm links" page). Since I don't use this browser much anymore, the links may be a bit dated. Caveat Browsor.
"The biggest danger to children on the Internet is FEAR MONGERS."
This site is best viewed with whatever browser you happen to like. Click on the logo to find out about the Anybrowser campaign for browser-independent content on the Web.


Marine ecosystems are highly dynamic and contain a diverse faunal assemblage that are subject to various natural and anthropogenic variability. Globally, seagrass ecosystems are located adjacent to coastal areas that are heavily impacted by human development and urbanization potentially altering the community structure within these ecosystem. Complex food webs connect many components of these systems, often in unexpected ways, and are ultimately based on one of two pathways: benthic (i.e., seagrass, epiphytes, microalgae, detritus) and planktonic (i.e., phytoplankton). Understanding the pathway which the food web is based gives further insight regarding the biological balance of the ecosystem; thus it is important to expand beyond bounds of single-species approaches for research and management.
Observing what a predator consumes and its preference for any particular prey can be informative in regards to how a predator interacts and utilizes an ecosystem. Predatory fish are exposed to a wide range of potential prey with varying levels of mobility in their natural environment and may employ a wide range of feeding tactics in order to capture prey. Overall, prey availability and abundances are influenced by many factors (e.g., seasons, tides, habitat loss and gain) and many piscivorous fishes will undergo ontogenetic shift in diet in order to optimize their energetic return limiting the interpretation of electivity studies. Although much information can be obtained through stomach analysis of fish, some prey are more rapidly digested due to the lack of hard, external structures and may be overlooked in the analysis. Furthermore, prey preference cannot be based solely on the observed abundance in the diet of a predator because it takes time for a predator to find, consume, and digest prey (i.e., "handling time"). Therefore, multiple approaches, both observational and experimental, are necessary to fully understand trophodynamics of fishes and their ecosystems.
To better understand the trophodynamics of the Spotted Seatrout, Cynoscion nebulosus, my thesis incorporates both an observational and experimental study. My observational study compares three stomach analyses datasets to address changes in the diet composition over a thirty-two year timespan during which natural and anthropogenic changes potentially altered the community structure of Tampa Bay. This is paired with an experimental study to address differently handling times of two morphologically- and behaviorally- different prey that were observed in the diet of juvenile Spotted Seatrout.
Scharf, Brittany Jalene, "Ontogenetic Diet Shifts and Prey Preference of a Generalist Predatory Fish" (2014). Graduate Theses and Dissertations.


The School of Julianos is no mere temple, dedicated to mindless obeisance to a distant and hazy God figure. Julianos is a god, to be sure, but foremost he is a symbol of learning, logic, philosophy, and wisdom. We espouse no moral philosophy other than the goodness of knowledge. As the great Psijic once said, the power of ignorance can truly shatter mithril like glass. That is our enemy. Scholarship is a long and difficult journey, and Julianos does not tolerate those who wish to shorten it. However, He does bless those who generously donate to His School with a temporary increase in their magical skills. While we advocate literacy and education for all Tamrielans, our policy for those who wish to join the School itself is very stringent. We have little time to waste training the slow and the lazy.
This page was last modified on 21 September 2018, at 00:23.


text:
Jan. 17, 2013 — Fruitland Park
Lake County sheriff's Deputies Jason Dunlap and Billy Walls were looking for Jeremy Donye Walker, who wanted in an assault.
Lake SO
When they tracked Walker, 25, to a home in Fruitland Park, they said that he jumped in a car and accelerated toward Dunlap. Dunlap opened fire with a high-powered rifle, striking Walker five times, including a shot in the back.
Walker survived the shooting and, months later, was found not guilty of trying to run over the deputies. "There was just no evidence he was trying to run over the deputies," defense lawyer Chmari Anderson told the Daily Commercial. Read more
The jury convicted Walker on a marijuana charge and resisting without violence but found him not guilty of aggravated assault on an officer and possession of cocaine.
Dunlap was cleared in the shooting.
This was the 14th police shooting in Florida in 2013.
The same day, one officer shot one person in Miami .
Four days later, one officer shot one person in Vero Beach .
Deputy Dunlap was involved in one other shooting from 2009 to 2014. Eighty-five officers were involved in more than one shooting during that time period.
Evidence in this case, and accounts given by officers and witnesses, included conflicting details. That was true for 27 other cases.
Walker was among the 7 percent of people who appeared to be on drugs before being shot.
Walker was one of 36 people shot in the back by police.
Walker and 94 other people who police shot reportedly drove at an officer.
Walker was fleeing from police or a crime scene, which is true in a quarter of shootings.
2012. HALLANDALE BEACH — Police were pursuing a Lexus SUV driven by shoplifting suspect Eduardo Prieto, 32, when it pulled into the valet parking area of a... 1 killed
2009. PENSACOLA — An Escambia County deputy was justified in shooting at a West Pensacola man who flashed a "shiny object" in the window of his home, according to the state... 1 injured
2010. MIAMI — An officer with the Miami-Dade Police Department robbery intervention detail noticed a car at a BP gas station in Miami that records showed was stolen in an armed... 1 injured


One of the craziest things about climbers and boulderers is that virtually all of us want and almost seem to expect that our performances on the rocks should be consistent and linearly progressive – in other words, that we should be constantly peaking in performance as well as constantly improving our ability levels.
This is completely misguided and actually impossible: a totally unrealistic expectation. If you truly push yourself to climb or boulder at your true physical limits frequently, you will not experience this type of consistent performance output, nor will you feel awesome and like you're ready to crush on every single day you climb. If you don't climb at your true physical limits, you may always feel consistent and energetic – but that's because you're not actually taxing your body on most, if any, days in the same way that someone who does push this hard regularly does.
True athletic peaks can only last for two or three weeks, tops.
To stimulate a peak, you need to taper (or unload) your current climbing/training regimen. This means that you need to do less than what you've been doing and rest more.
Decreasing the volume of training/climbing for one or two weeks may be the best method of tapering, meaning you use shorter sessions but maintain the intensity and possibly the frequency of climbing/training.
You're better off doing less than you think you should before a big climbing competition or redpoint attempt than doing more than you think you should – or probably by even doing what you think you should. Three or four or even five days of rest can actually be a magical ticket to sending if you're well prepared to send but haven't dissipated fatigue or had a bunch of rest days in a while, but only if you can handle it and not feed yourself negative messages about losing fitness. What the mind believes, it achieves, You have to have faith in this process.
After peaking (send or fail, win or lose), no matter how stoked you are to start training hard or climbing hard again, it's not uncommon for the body to crash a little or even a lot, depending on how hard/how long you pushed during the peak. Be careful with getting back into climbing or training and move more slowly back into it than you might want to. Listen to your body and let your level of recovery and psych be your guide. Taking some time off (up to a month) and doing something different for exercise/fitness can help prepare you to resume training and/or climbing again at full recovery/energy levels.
The best-made training program does not result in linear progression; undulating ups and downs in performance and ability are normal.
A slight downturn in performance in training or climbing is not an indicator that you should train harder or more; it indicates that you need to rest more and focus on recovery. Training regularly or harder than usual in an already downturned-performance state can lead to overtraining, burnout and overuse injuries.
Training programs usually take more time than you want them to take to generate visible results; seeing tangible climbing performance results after three or six weeks of training is the exception rather than the rule.
Most of the time, progression from training happens so gradually that you won't really notice it until you think back a year or two and realize that you've come a long way from where you were when you started.
Because of the gradual nature of performance improvement for most people, deciding to sacrifice climbing time for training as a part of your regular training program requires an incredible amount of discipline and faith. It is an efficient and effective approach in the big picture for most, meaning it leads to faster overall gains that just climbing would, especially if you've never tried to train your weaknesses or address them outside of just climbing before, and especially if you have some pretty glaring weaknesses holding you back. However, because it takes so much time to see results and because it limits your climbing and climbing performance during some of the year, it can be intolerable for some people. More on this in the next series…Improve Your Sport Climbing (14): Mental Training (HARD). It will start up on January 2, just in time for the New Year. Until then, safe travels and Happy Holidays!


Novelty Fabric Panels - Field of Dreams Panel 6" x 6"
This 6" square is perfect for Jody's Zippered Pouches. It's a nice little gift for a graduate or special encouragement for any friend. Printed on heavyweight cotton with eco-friendly dyes in the USA.


text:
Posted on January 2, 2019 January 20, 2020 by Ian Pople
In an annual tradition rapidly taking on as much importance as the Queen's Christmas Message, remembering to remove the plastic bag containing the turkey giblets, and avoiding Mrs Brown and her Boys until they've all been imprisoned on a remote Scottish island without any form of communication, I bring you the first instalment of The Acoustic Egg Box Albums of the Year for 2018.
I've undoubtedly missed some wonderful records again this year and I actively encourage you to let me know what they are. I only have a finite amount of hours in a day and, generally speaking, if I'm not listening to music I'm reading about it so I genuinely rely on my many equally sociopathic friends on various social media platforms to keep me informed about things I might have overlooked.
Although they would undoubtedly have been high up in my chart, I haven't included the posthumous Charles Bradley album "Black Velvet" as, out of the ten tracks, only three are new. Likewise, Primal Scream's "Give Out But Don't Give Up: The Original Memphis Recordings" is exceptional but it's not "new" as such and therefore can't be included (my gaff, my rules!). Also, an honourable mention to those that fell just short of the Top 20: The Coral "Move Through The Dawn"; Janelle Monae "Dirty Computer"; Belle & Sebastian "How To Solve Our Human Problems"; Khruangbin "Con Todo El Mundo"; James Hunter Six "Whatever It Takes"; Jonathan Wilson "Rare Birds; Corduroy "Return of the Fabric Four"
My other favourite things this year were:
Gig : Georgie Fame – Rosemoor Gardens, Torrington 25th May
Film: BlacKkKlansman
TV Show: A Very English Scandal
Book: Stuart Cosgrove's "Memphis '68: The Tragedy Of Southern Soul"
Disappointments of the year for me were the new Suede album "The Blue Hour", which I've persevered long and hard with but just can't get into, the fabulous John Grant's "Love Is Magic" which is just hard work and not up to his usual very high standard. And Morrissey.
Anyway, enough of this bollocks, here's the Top 20 – a Spotify playlist of which you can listen to below.
20: JONATHAN JEREMIAH – Good Day (PIAS)
Previously unheard of by me, it came as a surprise that "Good Day" is North London-based singer/ songwriter Jonathan Jeremiah's fourth studio album. Jeremiah possesses a warm, soulful voice which has more than a hint of John Martyn about it. His voice is perfectly showcased on the album's title track, a gorgeous slice of summery soul which was the opening single and, for me, one of the records of the year. Other album highlights include "Deadweight", a seven-minute epic, apparently inspired by the Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra classic "Some Velvet Morning" and "U-Bahn (It's Not Too Late For Us)", a track that sounds like a lost '70s classic that Glen Campbell never recorded.
19: TARA MILTON WITH THE BOY AND MOON – Serpentine Waltz (Boy & Moon Recordings)
A handsome, edgy, talented musician and songwriter, Tara Milton should have been a major star. In 1991 he was the bassist and singer with Mod rockers, Five Thirty, who recorded one classic album, "Bed", before disbanding acrimoniously shortly after its release. In the twenty years since Milton's second band, The Nubiles, split, the only hint of him resurfacing was the occasional rumour that he was working on new material. Earlier this year, happily, those rumours proved to be true when "Serpentine Waltz" was born; and what a triumphant return from the wilderness it was. With shades of Dylan, Drake and "22 Dreams" era Weller, he has treated us to nine lush, beautifully crafted tracks. From album opener, the cinematic "Assassins" through the gorgeous, late-night jazz-club feel of "Getting It On With The Man In The Moon" and the exceptional, existential two-part epic "Double Yellow (Lines 1 and 2)", Serpentine Waltz is without a doubt the comeback album of the year – just don't make us wait another 20 years Tara!
* You can read a full album review by clicking on the brilliant Monkey Picks blog here.
18: WOODEN SHJIPS – V. (Thrill Jockey)
V. is Wooden Shjips (named after the Jefferson Airplane/ Crosby Stills & Nash track – adding the extra "j" to make themselves sound Swedish!) fifth album to date. Across forty-three minutes and six tracks, in V., the San Franciscan psychedelic space-rockers have, at least for them, released a more accessible record than their previous efforts which, especially on album closer "Ride On", is almost stately in places. That said, the album is far from sedate. The cracking opening track, "Eclipse", kicks things off with a driving, motorik beat underpinning echoey, Stone Roses-esque vocals, while the shimmering "Staring At The Sun" sounds like a superb reimagining of Buffalo Springfield's classic "For What It's Worth". If it emerged slap bang in the middle of 1967 V. would still sound great which only enhances its credentials as one of the best rock albums of 2018.
17: STONE FOUNDATION – Everybody, Anyone (100% Records)
The hardest working British band around, have followed up last year's excellent Top 30 album "Street Rituals" (AEB 2017 No.10) with another accomplished set of funky, soulful, grooves. "Everybody, Anyone" is the band's eighth studio album in just over thirteen years – a period in which they've toured relentlessly and gained more fans (including a certain Mr Weller) with each release. Heavyweight guests on this album include former Style Councillors, Mick Talbot and Steve White; Dr Robert from The Blow Monkeys; singer/ songwriter Kathryn Williams and legendary Average White Band guitarist Hamish Stuart. Best tracks; rich with brass and strings, the sultry, uplifting seven-minute groover, "Standing On The Top" and the gorgeous, lilting "Don't Walk Away" featuring Kathryn Williams. As good as their recorded output is, the band need to be seen live as the obvious love and passion for what they do shines through like a big, funky beacon. For me, their gig at Bristol's Thekla in November was one of the best, and most enjoyable of the year.
16: SPIRITUALIZED – And Nothing Hurt (Bella Union)
After surviving liver failure, a recent bout of double pneumonia and years of rampant "self-medication", praise be that Jason Pierce is still with us let alone releasing arguably his best work since 1997's classic, "Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space". "And Nothing Hurt" was, apparently, recorded alone in the spare room of his apartment with "no one on the record being in the same place at the same time"; some achievement given his state of health. Of the nine tracks on the album, only two are uptempo, "On The Sunshine" and "The Morning After", the rest feature Pierce's fragile vocals backed by heavenly choirs, dense orchestration, psychedelic synths and lullaby melodies whilst on country-tinged ballad "Here It Comes (The Road) Let's Go" he even doffs a cap towards early '70s Stones. As with all Spiritualized records, "And Nothing Hurt" is, still thankfully, the aural equivalent of being half asleep in a warm bath whilst a flickering candle casts occasionally unnerving shadows on the walls.
15: LEON BRIDGES – Good Thing (Columbia)
Leon Bridges 2015 début album "Coming Home" (AEB 2015 No.19) was a reverent homage to the great soul singers of the '60s. "Good Thing", however, whilst retaining many traditional "soul" elements, sees Bridges move towards a more contemporary sound, albeit a contemporary sound rooted in the '80s & '90s than the late noughties. "If It Feels Good (Then It Must be)" enters Pharell territory; "You Don't Know" has Nile Rodgers' influence running through it; opening single, the brilliant "Bad, Bad News", is a swinging, jazzy number and "Beyond" is one of the most heartfelt ballads you'll hear this year. It will be interesting to see which direction this talented, 29-year-old Texan takes next.
14: INSECURE MEN – Insecure Men (Fat Possum)
When Saul Adamczewski, the songwriter and newly clean former heroin-addict from perennial miserablists Fat White Family, joined up with his old friend Ben Romans-Hopcraft, frontman of pop-soul outfit, Childhood, ("Universal High" AEB No.5 2017) to form Insecure Men, the outcome was far from certain. However, the resulting, self-titled album is, on the surface at least, a tuneful delight awash with echoey vocals, loungey exotica, squelchy synths and the occasional Bontempi organ underpinning off-kilter easy-listening melodies. Scratch just beneath the surface though and you will discover an incongruous lyrical bleakness running through many of the album's eleven songs, especially "Mekong Glitter" (about Gary Glitter), "The Saddest Man In Penge" (a painful memoirs), "Cliff Has Left the Building" and the heartbreaking "Whitney Houston & I". "Insecure Men" is definitely one of the year's unexpected treasures.
13: VILLAGERS – The Art Of Pretending To Swim (Domino)
Conor O'Brien, the driving force behind Dublin's Villagers has had a busy year. Not only has he released the most accessible and sonically interesting Villagers album to date, but he also co-wrote and produced a track for Paul Weller's current LP. Maybe spreading his wings is the reason that Villagers' latest effort has a more eclectic feel to it, with elements of electronica weaving interesting and often unexpected textures through many of the tracks. Always melodically strong, O'Brien's songwriting on "The Art Of…." has taken on a greater maturity with "faith" being a central theme, especially evident on the album's best track "Trick Of The Light" where he writes "If I see a sign in the sky tonight / Nobody's gonna tell me it's a trick of the light / May never come but I'm willing to wait / What can I say? I'm a man of the faith".
12: JOSH ROUSE – Love In The Modern Age (Yep Roc)
Josh Rouse is one of my favourite singer/songwriters and yet, despite "Love In the Modern Age" being his twelfth album in twenty years, is virtually unknown to the casual music fan. So, before I start this mini-review of his current LP, here's a plea – if you love "proper" songs and don't know his work, start with 2003's "Under Cold Blue Stars" and then work backwards and forwards from there. "Love In The Modern Age" is superb, but it's the least "Josh Rouse" album he's ever released. Goodbye acoustic Americana tinged pop-folk and hello shiny '80s production values and synths. It's a supremely catchy album with earworms at every turn, no more so than on opening track "Salton Sea" with its electronic drum patterns, vocodered vocals and a guitar riff reminiscent of The Cure's "A Forest". Other album highlights are the title track, and "Businessman"; two perfect slices of smooth, retro-pop, both of which could have been inspired by The Blue Nile. A marmite album for sure, but I am a sucker for some good old-fashioned synth-pop, a well-placed saxophone and a drum machine so it's definitely a "yes" from me!
11: ISRAEL NASH – Lifted (Loose)
Back in 2015, Nash's wonderful fourth album "Silver Season" (AEB 2015 No.3) was my introduction to this enigmatic artist. Three years on, and although the Neil Young/ CSNY influences are still very much in evidence, they have also been joined by celestial Beach Boys harmonies and a production that gives this suite of expansive, widescreen songs room to grow and breathe – "Looking Glass" being the prime example. If you've ever wondered what War On Drugs would sound like with added smatterings of woozy pedal steel, a sprinkle of psychedelic space dust and produced by a hippie Phil Spector, you'll probably find "Lifted" fits your bill.
10: THE FERNWEH – The Fernweh (Skeleton Key Records)
In January, BBC6Music got behind The Fernweh's excellent début single, "The Liar" – a record that for thirty seconds sounds like a lost Joy Division single but then the vocals kick in and it takes a left turn before veering off down a sunny, psychedelic country lane. In March the second single "Is This Man Bothering You", a rockier number that tips its hat to "John Barleycorn" era Traffic, followed whilst in June, the band cemented their place in my heart with the release of "The Next Time Around", a song with a melody and vocal so pretty and timeless you'd be forgiven for thinking that they'd resurrected a lost Syd Barrett penned Peter & Gordon track from 1964. In fact, dotted throughout the album there are subtle '60s folk and psychedelia influences with nods to Fairport Convention, The Zombies and latter-era Beatles. In 2017, my album of the year was The Clientele's wonderful "Music For The Age Of Miracles (AEB 2017 No.1) and the biggest praise that I can give "The Fernweh" is that they have made a superb record that inhabits the same woozy, autumnal sphere, conjuring up a bygone, sepia-toned, age when bonfires, bicycles and birdsong were kings.
9: J.P. BIMENI & THE BLACK BELTS – Free Me (Tucxone Records)
On his multi-cultural debut album, "Free Me", London-based, Burundian born J.P. Bimeni, along with his superb Spanish backing band, The Black Belts, has absolutely nailed the unmistakable sound of classic '60s soul. Having been shot, poisoned and witnessed the murder of several school friends, Bimeni managed to flee his country's civil war as a refugee in the early '90s, bringing with him a deep well of life experience to draw on. Because of these experiences, you know that when he says: "When I sing, it feels like I'm cleansing myself; music is a way for me to forget" he means it. All great soul singers have a certain undefinable gift that sets them apart from "normal" vocalists and on "Pain Is The Name Of Your Game", "Honesty Is A Luxury" or album highlight, "I Miss You", you realise that Bimeni has that gift in bucket loads. With the loss of soul heavyweights Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley in the last couple of years, J.P. Bimeni has the voice, the looks, the band and the songs to be a huge future star.
8: GRUFF RHYS – Babelsberg (Rough Trade)
Former Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys is one of the most eccentric, but utterly brilliant, British songwriters of his generation. On this, his fifth solo studio album, Rhys has followed up 2014's "American Interior" (AEB 2014 No.19) (a concept album about 18th Century Welsh explorer John Evans!) with a set of mini-masterpieces – all enhanced by a seventy-two piece orchestra. Opening track, the brilliant "Frontier Man" is an acerbic "Rhinestone Cowboy"- the sort of record that Lee Hazlewood might have made if he'd grown of in the Rhondda Valley. The catchy, "Limited Edition Heart" is as lyrically daft as it gets ("I'm not interested in your limited edition lies, limited edition porcupines, I'm just interested in your limited edition heart"); "Take That Call" is a string-laden AOR delight lifted straight from the '70s, and album closer, "Selfies In The Sunset", a duet with Lily Cole, is a love song but with the bizarre a backdrop of impending nuclear Armageddon. No one writes quite like Gruff Rhys which is why he remains this country's most unique musical maverick.
7: MICHAEL NAU & THE MIGHTY THREAD – Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread (Full Time Hobby)
In my book, anyone who makes music that sounds uncannily like "Nixon" era Lambchop, and there is plenty on this record that ticks that very agreeable box, is worthy of further investigation. When the gorgeous, season-defining "Can't Take One" floated from the radio back during our long, hot summer, my musical love affair with this previously unknown artist began. Nau writes beautiful, textured pop music of indefinable but classic provenance. The album's opening track, "Less Than Positive", has Cash and Orbison undertones which give the track a richness and depth often lost these days due to unnecessary over-production. Throughout the album's eleven tracks, the lush, summery arrangements give it a warm, soulful feel; "On Ice" and "What's A Loon" being prime examples. Swooning pedal steel, slightly off-beat vibraphone and Nau's languid, comforting voice add to the narcotic ambience which, by the end of final track "Smudge" will have calmed even the most irascible mood.
6: FATHER JOHN MISTY – God's Favourite Customer (Sub Pop)
Those of you hoping to hear an electroclash dance anthem or a jazz-fusion wig-out will be disappointed, as this is an unmistakably FJM album. Although the former Fleet Fox isn't known for his three-minute party anthems, "God's Favourite Customer" takes on an even more melancholy tone than his previous releases, feeling somewhat like an aural morning-after-the-night-before, narcotic hangover. Starting with the romantic, love-drunk feel of career-best, "I Love You Honeybear" (AEB No.1 2015) through last year's majestically sprawling, "Pure Comedy" (AEB No.11 2017) his current effort plays out like a cryptic break-up album and is (possibly?) the third part of an exceptional, personal journey, trilogy. Self-confessional, self-absorbed and occasionally self-loathing, Tillman's beautifully crafted and elegantly composed songs resonate with emotion; they move in an orbit inhabited by the classic works of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, early '70s era Elton John et al. If you need proof of this, listen to the best track on "God's Favourite Customer", the exquisite, piano-accompanied minor-chord ballad, "The Palace", and after the pleading last line "I'm In Way Over My Head", fades out, let me know I'm wrong…….
5: TRACEY THORN: Record (Unmade)
I love Tracey Thorn. She is the rarest of beasts in an entertainment world full of professionally incompetent narcissists – a supremely talented yet disarmingly modest and genuinely charming lady. Not only has she been involved with some of the greatest pop records of the past forty years, penned one of the best music autobiographies ever (Bedsit Disco Queen) and is currently the writer of a witty, intelligent monthly column for The New Statesman, but in 2018 Thorn has just made the best solo album of her long, distinguished career. "Record" (2012 Christmas album Tinsel & Lights apart) is her first release since 2010 and is also her most successful solo effort to date. A synth-pop tour de force, "Record", in her own words, comprises "nine feminist bangers", the most strident of which is the menacing "Sister", an eight-minute collaboration with Corinne Bailey-Rae and Warpaint's pounding rhythm section. With the opening lines "Don't mess with me/ don't hug my babies/ I'll come for you/ you'll find you've bitten off/ More than you can chew" Thorn certainly seems like she means business! Although lyrically the album appears disarmingly confessional at times, the catchy, uplifting Human League style electro-pop of album opener "Queen" is a rumination on what-ifs ("What happened if we never met?/ If I'd just ignored/ Those sliding doors"). The bright, breezy "Guitar" hints at an adolescent crush teaching her about music as well as love; "Babies" is a humorous take on not wanting/ wanting kids and the ensuing travails of motherhood and "Go", is a melancholy ballad about those same "babies" then leaving home for University. Very few artists make intelligent "pop" music these days and, sadly, Tracey Thorn may well be a member of the last generation doing it this well.
4: ELVIS COSTELLO & THE IMPOSTERS – Look Now (Concord)
In a career spanning over forty years and (including collaborative efforts) forty-three albums encompassing genres as diverse as pop, jazz, country, rock'n'roll and reggae, you can hardly accuse the former Declan MacManus of being lazy or lacking in diversity. "Look Now" is Costello's first album for five years and his first with The Imposters for ten, it is also his most melodic and emotionally satisfying work since the stunning 1998 collaboration with Burt Bacharach, "Painted From Memory". No surprises then that Bacharach co-wrote and played piano on album highlights, "Don't Look Now", "He's Given Me Things" and "Photographs Can Lie" although his influence can also be found throughout, especially on the sublime "Stripping Paper". Dear old Burt isn't the only living-legend involved with "Look Now" though, as Carole King also contributes a co-write on the upbeat stomping soul of "Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter". As one of the most talented and best-loved songwriters that this country has ever produced, it came as a shock to many when news broke earlier in the year that the sixty-four-year old Costello was having treatment for an aggressive form of cancer. Hopefully, the treatment he's received has resulted in a cure because on the strength of this wonderful record, there is still plenty of creative life left in the old dog yet.
3: R W HEDGES – THE HUNTERS IN THE SNOW (Wonderfulsound)
In an era when most of what passes as pop music is often generic, derivative overproduced tat with not even so much as a memorable melody to rescue it, it is always a huge pleasure when I discover new British talent who can still combine great tunes with intelligent, thoughtful lyrics. RW Hedges, is in fact, a collaboration combining (Roy) Hedges and Luca Nieri, old school friends now working in tandem to create music born of their passion and love for songs from the classic American songbook. Whilst the influences of Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer or Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe may lurk knowingly in the background of the nine songs on this delicate and, in places, achingly beautiful album, there are also harmonies and melodies that would sit gracefully on any classic Everly Brothers album. The opening two tracks, the yearning, plaintive "Out Of Your Rain" and "Night Owl" are both imbued with a "Roy Orbison meets Richard Hawley and a "True Love Ways" era Buddy Holly in a smoky gin bar", vibe. "Some Girl" opens like "Close To You" before settling into a lovelorn lament about a man struggling to find a good woman, before the superb opening single, "Signal Man", offers a change of tack with a stunning song based on the Charles Dickens ghost story of the same name. Anyway, I hope I've given you a flavour of what to expect from "The Hunters In The Snow", however I'm not going to run through every track as I'm hoping to interview Roy and Luca at some point soon and I'm sure they will offer up a more personal insight into how some of the songs were conceived. Before that happens though, do yourselves a favour and take a chance on this exceptional record – you really won't be disappointed.
2: TRACYANNE & DANNY – Tracyanne & Danny (Merge)
When the lead singer from one of my favourite bands of the last twenty years teamed up with the man who released my favourite album of 2012, there was always a likelihood that something special might happen. It did. This beguiling, '60s tinged eponymous début from Glasgow's Tracyanne (Campbell), of Camera Obscura and Bristol's Danny (Coughlan) who is, to all intents and purposes, Crybaby is VERY special. Much like the RW Hedges record, there is a gentle, timeless quality to this album's ten Edwyn Collins produced songs on which Coughlan's Morrissey meets Orbison croon dovetails perfectly with Campbell's sweet Caledonian country-soul voice. This combination (along with a cameo from Collins himself) is no more evident than on the album's greatest track, Alabama – a warm, pedal steel infused tribute to Campbell's best friend, Camera Obscura's Carey Lander, who died of cancer in 2015 aged just thirty-three. Although Ms Campbell with her unmistakable vocal style takes centre stage on most tracks, Coughlan delivers the goods on "Jacqeline", a mournful Leonard Cohen style ballad about love gone wrong "Jacqueline/ Heart-breaking porcelain/ Cursed with a winning smile/ Tears of a crocodile". With Camera Obscura on what we are led to believe is an uncertain hiatus, this stunning record is everything, and more, that fans of the band could have been hoped for. Tracyanne Campbell is most certainly back and in fine form and the great news is that in Danny Coughlan she's found a new and very talented partner in crime.
1: PAUL WELLER: True Meanings (Parlophone)
As he's my biggest (living) musical hero, I find it difficult to write objectively about Paul Weller – not only that, it's difficult to add anything original when writing about one of the few remaining, and most documented great British rock icons still performing. Through his various incarnations, Weller, even at the arse end of the '80s when it seemed that he was about to become a burnt-out footnote (an important, influential burnt-out footnote mind you), his songs and lyrics continued to be as important to me as they ever had. Happily, with the UK release of his self titled, solo début album in 1992, the great man resurrected himself and, although unknown to any of us at that time, was about to enter, Lazarus like, the most productive period of his career. "True Meanings" is now Weller's fifteenth solo album and his third in as many years, coming hot on the heels of 2017's superb "A Kind Revolution", (AEB No.4 2017) and "Saturns Pattern" from 2015,(AEB No.18 2015). Released to coincide with his sixtieth birthday, this album is, without doubt, one of Weller's most accomplished and satisfying records, however, anyone expecting an angry, politically charged rant will be somewhat disappointed. A largely acoustic, modestly paced record replete with orchestral flourishes and string arrangements courtesy of The Unthanks' Hannah Peel, "True Meanings" is aligned more to the pastoral folk of Wild Wood and 22 Dreams than, say, the more experimental and rockier "Saturns Pattern" or "Wake Up the Nation". Although notoriously a man in supreme control, Weller has given up co-songwriting/ vocal duties on four of the album's fourteen tracks. Villagers Conor O'Brien takes a co-writing and vocal credit on soulful opener "The Soul Searchers" and Erland Cooper of Erland & The Carnival is a co-writer on "Bowie", reportedly written the day after the titular star died, the bucolic, folky "Wishing Well" and album closer, the gorgeous, reflective "White Horses". It is, however, on the album's self-penned ballads that Weller shines, tracks that see him ruminating on, and coming to terms with, his advancing years. "Gravity", ("Find the child inside of me/ This rusty key will set him free") written back in 2011 is simply one of the most beautiful songs he has ever written and is the track that the album is reportedly based around. "Glide" ("Glide, glide/ Through a portal to my youth/ When the stillness of silence/ Bought its undisputed truth") is a beautiful, dreamy lullaby whilst "May Love Travel With You" ("Wherever your mind wanders/ While coming through the years/ May love travel with you/ Forever and without fear") is an orchestral, soaring, almost hymnal epic. I did state at the outset of this review that it's difficult for me to write objectively about Paul Weller, but, in my defence, whoever had the supreme talent to release something this good in 2018 would be looking at the top spot as this album is an absolute masterpiece.
TagsA Very English Scandal, BlacKkKlansman, Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Father John Misty, Georgie fame, Gruff Rhys, Insecure men, Israel Nash, J.P. Bimeni & The Black Belts, John Grant, Jonathan Jeremiah, Josh Rouse, Leon Bridges, Memphis '68; The Tragedy Of Southern Soul, Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread, Paul Weller, R W Hedges, Spiritualized, Stone Foundation, Stuart Cosgrove, Suede, Tara Milton, The Fernweh, Tracey Thorn, Tracyanne & Danny, Villagers, Wooden Shjips
Previous PostPrevious Don't Just Sit There – Say Something!
Next PostNext How Was YOUR Day?


The work of University of Wisconsin-Stout alumni Ryan Foose and Eliza Wheeler is currently on display in Furlong Gallery leading up to Art & Design Week. Both artists are scheduled to talk on campus about their experiences and advise students on finding their own way.
Wheeler is a 2006 graduate of Stout's graphic design program who has been working as a full-time illustrator and author since 2013. Her original artworks and illustrations for various picture books and middle grade novels are currently featured in the gallery alongside a sneak peak of her current project, Illustrations for "When You Are Brave" by Pat Zietlow-Miller.
Foose graduated in 2011 with a double major in graphic design and industrial design before earning his master's in graphic design at North Carolina State University. "Stout has been producing good artists for decades. They finally planted a flag. I feel really proud to know the school itself has taken a step forward. They finally got that designation as an art and design school," Foose said.
Foose says he found success by being in the right place at the right time. "One of the hats was sold to the VPO of marketing at Minor League Baseball. I was a local that was all about pushing sports with a user experience," Foose said.
Foose has worked with IBM as a user-experience designer and established his own design company, Fooser Sports Design, in 2013. His designs are worn by teams all around the country.
"You have a very awesome opportunity to creates something new every day. Some projects are fun, some are tooth and nail and some will be something nobody has seen before." Foose said.
He will host his lecture on Feb. 21 in Ballrooms B and C in the Memorial Student Center as a part of Art & Design Week.


Does this boot look familiar ? Reebok is now teaming up with Warson Brands to design, manufacture and market Reebok Duty Footwear. We will be supplying some new Reebok Duty Boots in 2013 but we will also continue to service and sell the tried and true � Rapid Response � series in service worldwide for over five years.
The RB8674 is a 6 � � Non � Metallic � Safety Toe Boot and it features a Side Zipper for quick on and off. Ideal for station wear where light weight performance and foot protection are crucial. Weighing in at around 2 LBS the Reebok Rapid Response Boot offers comfort, protection and reliable durability.
High performance athletic stealth boot with Quick-Access Side Zipper, full grain leather and 1000 denier nylon upper; removable Foot Force cushion insert; Shock Eliminator System and SureGrip Plus Trail Outsole. 100% Non-Metallic.