text:
"He prepares his cases in a meticulous manner and his advocacy is first class." Chambers & Partners
Christopher is always interested in the unusual and challenging, and with his extensive experience of jury trials is recognised as a leading and tenacious advocate across his range of practice areas including:
Divorce & Matrimonial Finance
Coroner's Inquests
Christopher has an extensive matrimonial finance practice focused on remedies following divorce and dissolution of civil partnerships in high value and complex money cases. His practice covers farms and agricultural property, trusts, professionals (doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants, financial advisers), sportsmen/women, entrepreneurs, offshore asset tracing (Bearer Shares, holding companies), businesses (limited companies and partnerships), inherited wealth, pension valuations (final salary, police, NHS, military) and insolvency. He also deals with the variation of complex financial settlements, as well as professional negligence cases relating to matrimonial finance.
In matrimonial finance proceedings, Christopher regularly deals with Financial Dispute Resolution (FDR) hearings as well as mediations and Institute of Family Law Arbitrators (IFLA) arbitrations.
Integrating his civil and Chancery practice, Christopher deals with cohabitee disputes and other Trusts of Land and Trustees Act (ToLATA) applications.
He is instructed in Schedule 1 Children Act 1989 financial applications and high value child maintenance claims. Christopher also represents parents and extended family members in private family law proceedings including contested residence and contact issues.
He is experienced in dealing with high profile clients including senior business figures, television personalities, premiership football players and other sporting personalities.
Civil & Common Law
Christopher is instructed in civil and common law matters – ranging from personal injury, clinical negligence, commercial and property disputes, contentious probate and professional negligence.
With extensive experience of jury trials against the police, Christopher specialises in claims for assault, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and misfeasance in public office.
Christopher is instructed in a range of regulatory matters, including professional discipline, environmental protection and prosecuting and defending under the Waste Management Regulations, including illegal tipping and scrapping. He has successfully defended proceedings brought by DEFRA alleging animal cruelty at a large commercial meat processing factory.
Recent cases include the successful dismissal of private prosecution proceedings against a large land developer based on alleged damage to the habitat of the legally protected Great Crested Newt.
In Willis v Derwentside District Council, Christopher successfully represented the claimants in a claim involving the escape of stythe gas at the site of a former coal mine.
Capitalising on his extensive criminal experience, Christopher is instructed in Proceeds of Crime (POCA) cases brought by Local Authorities and other public bodies seeking to recover assets arising from regulatory breaches such as trade mark infringement, environmental protection, tipping and scrapping.
Deploying his extensive jury trial advocacy experience,combined with his civil law expertise Christopher is instructed in a wide range of Coroner's Inquest matters including cases involving death in custody, work accidents, road accidents and deaths related to allegations of clinical negligence.
Christopher is recognised for his wide level of criminal advocacy experience and is regularly instructed in serious cases such as homicide and complex financial crime, including as a leader.
He has particular expertise and Court of Appeal success in issues surrounding the use and protection of informants, including procedural "know how", provision of discounts, Section 73 Serious Organised Crime & Police Act (SOCPA) "super grass" agreements, and informants identified by Court Order.
He was instructed in the leading informant discount case of R v Blackburn and P, also reported as R v P. In 2017 Christopher represented the identified informant in Operation Shelter known as "XY" in Newcastle.
He has an interest in entrapment, undercover and agent provocateur cases, including those involving child sex offences and internet grooming and has defended victims of "Dark Justice". Christopher has dealt with cases involving Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS).
He is instructed by the prosecution and defence in Serious Sex Cases including sexual assault, rape, historical and institutionalised sexual abuse, indecent images, prostitution and soliciting and internet grooming. He has successfully defended allegations of rape, marital rape and sexual allegations against police officers.
Christopher is a Crown Court Recorder authorised to try Class 2 Serious Sex Cases.
Christopher was commended by the police and CPS for his part in Operation Fibre resulting in the prosecution of three men accused of grooming and child sex offences in Teesside including counts of arranging/facilitating commission of a child sex offence, sexual activity with a child and child abduction.
He has been instructed by the defence and prosecution in relation to major armed robberies and conspiracies to rob. He was involved in Northumbria Police's Operation Zoom. Christopher is instructed in relation to cases involving firearms, including leading the defence in the case of the shooting and murder of South Shields takeaway owner, Tipu Sultan.
Christopher has particular expertise in disclosure and third-party disclosure issues in criminal proceedings. He is instructed in complex Proceeds of Crime (POCA) cases particularly arising from regulatory offences prosecuted by local authorities. He is experienced in financial crime cases involving allegations of fraud, conspiracy to defraud, mortgage fraud and money laundering.
Christopher is instructed in one of the first prosecutions under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 where a landlord is alleged to have exploited his tenants to work without pay in return for accommodation.
Christopher is experienced in dealing with clients with mental health and/or learning difficulties including using intermediaries and other special measures during court proceedings. He can put vulnerable clients at ease, build rapport and explain the particular circumstances of their case and the often daunting court process. Christopher deals with cases involving insanity, fitness to plead and Mental Health Act disposals.
As well as being regularly instructed by the Crown Prosecution Service, Christopher has also dealt with private prosecution matters.
With his extensive motor offence defence experience, Christopher deals with cases involving causing death by dangerous, careless and inconsiderate driving. In R v Hughes, Christopher acted for the successful appellant driver charged with causing death by driving whilst unlicensed and without insurance. The case has largely eliminated simple prosecutions for this offence. He has advised in several similar cases since for the prosecution and defence.
As well as private motor users, Christopher is also instructed in relation to commercial vehicles, including unintended acceleration cases involving fatality.
He has defended several high-profile sporting and public figures and personalities.
Crown Court Recorder (authorised to try Class 2 Serious Sex Cases)
Deputy Head of Chambers and Treasurer
Grade 4 Prosecutor CPS
Appointed by the Department of Energy and Climate Change to hear Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) Appeals
Criminal Bar Association
Family Law Bar Association
Association of Military Court Advocates
Christopher regularly delivers seminars on ancillary relief matters in addition to financial aspects of criminal proceedings for example proceeds of crime, money laundering and evidence.
BA (Hons) Durham.
DIRECT PUBLIC ACCESS
Whilst Christopher is qualified and able to accept instructions directly from individuals, businesses and professional organisations, given the range and complexity of work he deals with, this often results in him working collaboratively with solicitors. Under direct public access Christopher has dealt with NHS complaints, actions against the police, matrimonial finance disputes, child maintenance/support Tribunals, care home regulation and professional disciplinary matters before the General Optical Council. He also accepts private prosecution instructions.
Christopher is the Deputy Head of Trinity and is Chambers' Management Committee Treasurer. He has been a Bar Standards Board External Moderator on the Bar Vocational Course. Christopher is a Director of two small property management companies, giving him commercial and pragmatic insight as well as an understanding of Board level governance, duties and responsibilities. Christopher was previously a Governor of a successful independent school for 15 years.
Fiona Bullock
Direct Access Clerk
Steven Preen
Lead Family Clerk
Steve Walker
Lead Civil Clerk
"He is very meticulous and thorough, and his attention to detail is second to none. His experience and depth of knowledge is outstanding"
Crime, Chambers & Partners 2022
"Notable recent cases have involved political extremism, modern slavery, and firearms"
Crime, Legal 500 2021
"He is exceptional on his feet. Silk material."
"An experienced barrister who is praised for his skilful advocacy in organised crime cases. While he regularly acts for the defence, he has also represented the CPS and HMRC. He has significant experience in homicide cases and matters concerning financial crime". "Agile in court and extremely experienced."
"He prepares his cases in a meticulous manner and his advocacy is first class"
"He is a tenacious and able advocate." "Experienced in a huge range of cases."
"His bedside manners are fantastic. Clients really warm to him. His cross-examination is superb. He is very useful in cases when you're required to think outside the box."
Family/Matrimonial, Chambers & Partners 2018
"He's exceptionally able and in demand."
"Clients find him wonderful. They really like him. He is fantastic on his feet. His cross-examination is great!" "He is very experienced and someone you can call 24/7."
"Brilliant on his feet"
"Impressive junior with an extremely diverse practice, he has significant experience in homicide cases and matters concerning financial crime. While he regularly acts for defence counsel, he has also acted for the CPS and HMRC." "He's a seasoned performer who leaves the court impressed"
"Vastly experienced senior junior who has an excellent reputation for money work. He specialises in high-value ancillary relief cases with corporate issues, and receives praise for his tenacious approach in court.""A terrific cross-examiner, he'll fight our corner to the end of the earth." "He's been doing it for years but he's so enthusiastic, he makes every client feel they're his only case."
Family, Chambers & Partners 2017
"He is outstanding in cross-examination, and has passion and enthusiasm for every single case."
"His care and passion for each and every case really shows."
"Extremely tenacious and he knows his stuff...attention to detail is second to none" "A formidable advocate"
"an advocate for the high-end finance cases - but he is also the type of advocate who treats all cases like high-end cases; he is very dedicated" "very accommodating and approachable and always finds an answer. His cross-examination is superb"
"Handles a number of family finance matters on behalf of high net worth clients, and is noted for undertaking particularly challenging cases. He has a wealth of experience in dealing with ancillary relief proceedings and is highly praised for his innovative advocacy style."He fights his corner time and again. He is excellent at cross-examination." "He thinks outside of the box and his cross-examination is superb.""
"Advises clients in complex criminal defence cases. He is recommended for his capabilities in serious sex offences and cases involving informants. Successfully prosecuted members of a sex attack gang who groomed underage girls"
"He always goes the extra mile"
"A vastly experienced criminal barrister with an aptitude for handling complex homicide cases. He is renowned for his ability to act in cases that involve informants. "He is the best barrister I know by a country mile. He is tenacious and inquisitive, and he has a first-rate manner with clients."
"frequently instructed in high-value ancillary relief cases. Instructing solicitors are quick to praise his powerful advocacy. "He is always calm, collected and approachable, with a down-to-earth manner that always puts clients at ease. He is always well prepared, with a complete mastery of the facts of the case in great detail, no matter how complex.""
Family/ Matrimonial, Chambers & Partners 2014
"provides 'superb client care' in financial remedy cases"
"a noted expert in high-value provision cases. Commentators praise his powerful advocacy and considerable experience in the field."
Re X A Minor [1985] 1 All ER 53 – first contra mundum injunction.
Re X (Formerly Known as Mary Bell) [2003] 2 FCR 686/2003 EMLR 37 – subsequent case where ongoing immunity granted.
Environmental Protection/Public Nuisance
Willis v Derwentside District Council [2013] EWHC 738 (ch), [2013] Env. L.R. 31 – stythe gas leak nuisance.
R v L [2017] – successful defence of allegations of rape by a police officer.
R v G [2016] – successful defence of allegations of marital rape.
R v Hughes (Appellant) [2013] UKSC56 – successful appeal by driver charged with causing death by driving whilst unlicensed and without insurance.
CPS v Moulden [2009] 1 WLR 1173 – Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).
R v Ruddick [2004] 1 CAR (S)7 - Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).
R v Blackburn [2007] EWCA Crim 2290 – leading informant discount/plea bargaining case.
R v Love EWCA – death by dangerous driving.
R v Allsopp [2005] EWCA Crim 703 – one of the earliest reported RIPA cases, involving covert surveillance and interception of telephone communications.
R v Dodds [2003] 1 CRApp R3 – contempt of court, reluctant juror case.
R v Offen [2001] 1 All ER 253 – Human Rights.
AG's Ref (No.95 of 2009) (Blight)[2010] EWCA Crim 353 -sentencing and knife crime.
R v Mark Phillips [2008] EWCA 2830 – sleepwalking defence.
R v Mark Tye [2006] EWCA Crim 112 – death by dangerous driving.
R v George Reynolds [2005] EWCA Crim 35/9 – tax evasion.
fiona@trinitychambers.co.uk
Fiona joined Trinity Chambers in 2007 after an established career in some of Scotland's top hotels and restaurants.
After gaining a BA in Hotel Catering and Management, Fiona progressed with her Food and Beverage Management career and on moving to the North East, she became one half of a North Yorkshire restaurant.
Fiona is Chambers Direct Access clerk and has found that her previous education and experience has stood her in good stead being in a client focused role.
Outside Chambers Fiona and her Labrador Olly volunteer with Wag & Co North East Friendship Dogs.
steve@trinitychambers.co.uk
Steve Preen joined Trinity in October 2011 after earning a position of considerable respect in HM Court Service where he worked for 17 years; he has come to Trinity with a very sound knowledge of Court procedures, especially on the Civil side.
Outside of Chambers Steve enjoys playing football at a semi professional level. He has undertaken an FA coaching certificate and coaches youngsters on a voluntary basis at a local club. He also enjoys spending time with his family and two children.
'The family clerking is led by the dynamic Steven Preen and the unflappable Ken McLafferty who compliment each other to great effect.'
'Ken McLafferty and Steve Preen are excellent. They are friendly, accommodating and efficient.'
SteveW@trinitychambers.co.uk
Steve joined Trinity Chambers in 2018 as Civil Clerk. He has worked in the legal industry for over 20 years, initially as a Litigation Executive at a number of firms in Manchester and then, from 2004, as a Clerk at leading sets in Manchester, London and Newcastle. Having worked as a litigator for many years prior to becoming a clerk, Steve is acutely aware of the pressures Chambers' clients work under and goes out of his way to ensure the service they get from Chambers goes beyond that of our competitors.
As well as day to day management of the civil diary Steve is heavily involved in business development and client relationship management for the Civil Team. He is always more than happy to discuss with clients how Chambers, Members of Chambers and the Clerks might tailor the service we offer to best suit your needs.
'Steve Walker is excellent. He takes the time to understand the problem and works around the clock to ensure expectations are met.'
'Steve Walker is responsive and very helpful.' 'Steve Walker is very hard-working and does a good job looking after the barristers.' 'Steve Walker is very proactive, easy to talk to and will sort things out if we need any help.'


text:
Really Big Business
by Patrick Adams
March 31, 2005 | Mar - Apr 2005 issue
Gereffi: "Wal-Mart has taken giantism to a new level"
Photo:Jim Wallace
With the start of 2005 and the phasing-out of decades-old quotas, the landscape of global commerce is set to change in dramatic fashion. China is poised to dominate manufacturing, India to absorb more white-collar jobs, and Wal-Mart to continue unbridled as the king of retail.
Gary Gereffi, professor of sociology, talks about how it all happened, and what it all might mean.
When did global outsourcing begin?
We began to see it in the 1960s with U.S. offshore-assembly programs in Mexico, the so-called "twin-plant programs." A company making transistor radios or auto parts would send parts to an export-processing zone somewhere in Mexico, have the parts assembled by cheaper labor, and then re-exported back into the U.S. as a completed product.
The idea was that U.S. firms could keep their high, value-added core competencies of design and marketing, and they could send the production abroad where labor was cheaper. And we've been in this outsourcing mode for so long now that we've assumed we don't need production anymore. But these other countries that have the manufacturing base are beginning to reintegrate. Our companies are downsizing. Well, if you do the manufacturing and you develop a design capability to create new products and you can brand them, then you've got the whole package. You're in a much tougher competitive position in many ways than the U.S. companies that still need to look for somebody to make their products.
What's the U.S. reaction to this new competition?
One standard reaction is protectionism: Keep foreign products out of the U.S. economy. But that flies in the face of the fact that ever since the 1950s and the end of World War II, the U.S., as the predominant postwar power, has favored an open economy. We've wanted our markets open to direct foreign investment, and we've wanted to have countries recognize intellectual property rights, because we've assumed, rightly for the most part, that as the strongest economy in the world, we gain more from open international economic conditions than our rivals do. So, generally speaking, the U.S. has been the champion of a free-trade economy.
What about NAFTA? Is that promoting free trade?
It's not. Free trade is just a theoretical ideal. Most of the trade agreements are conditional. And we have lots of regional trade agreements. But the fact that the U.S. passes NAFTA and adds Mexico and Canada to the U.S. as a big regional economy doesn't mean that internationally, through the W.T.O. [World Trade Organization], we weren't also favoring global trade openness.
What would Adam Smith say about this?
I'm not sure that Adam Smith's own work got into all of the political complexities of making these things work. That's a commonly mistaken assumption; we somehow think that free trade means that governments don't play a role. In fact, we need very sophisticated political institutions to provide some kind of infrastructure for these economic exchanges to work.
The quota system is part of this infrastructure?
Yes, the quota system allowed us to do two things: It placed a ceiling on some of the countries that we thought were the most powerful exporters. But it also gave a share of the U.S. market to everybody. And that philosophy dates back to the 1960s. The U.S. said, We don't want countries to be continually reliant on us for foreign economic aid. We prefer to promote private enterprise, and we encourage them to export into the global economy. That's been the mantra of the World Bank since the mid-1980s, also called "neoliberalism," also called "the Washington Consensus." I think all of the U.S. administrations have been in favor of trying to keep the playing field level--with a few big exceptions.
Agriculture has been a big exception. Developed countries have basically continued to subsidize our farmers in ways that make it much harder for developing countries to export agricultural products to the United States. And it makes it a lot easier for us to export our agricultural products to them at lower prices that they can't match.
And the big winner is Wal-Mart?
Wal-Mart has taken giantism to a new level. It's the largest employer after the federal government and the main channel for imports into the U.S. market. And it's an incredibly important force in maintaining free trade because it will challenge manufacturers if they try to impose any restriction on imports or exports.
But with Wal-Mart, we've moved far away from the "Ford model." Henry Ford wanted to pay his workers enough that they could afford the products they were making. Now people say, sort of tongue in cheek, Wal-Mart is paying its workers so little that they have to go to Wal-Mart to shop. So, where government has to step in is where you have this huge loss of manufacturing jobs. We have to find some way to make sure that globalization doesn't mean an erosion of our productive base. We have to somehow keep building our workforce up, and I think a key to it has been educational institutions where we have been a world leader. But we can't rely on that indefinitely without countering some of the restrictions on immigration.
So, when you look at a phenomenon like Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart has helped keep the U.S. inflation rate down three or four percentage points over the last decade by bringing in the lowest-cost products and forcing lots of other suppliers to meet these low prices. I think now what people are starting to worry about is the fact that it's not just these blue-collar jobs that are moving offshore but it's also professional jobs like the ones in the information-technology industry, and so you start getting new competitors like India.
Why India?
Supposedly, India's edge in some of this programming started with the Y2K problem. The U.S. was concerned that we didn't have enough programmers to rewrite all of this code, so we created a new category of visas that allowed lots of programmers from India to work here. From about 2000 to the present, India has gotten more and more involved in supplying information-tech services that U.S. companies need. Now they've set up companies in India, like Wipro and Infosys, that are saying, Look, we can take advantage of the fact that we're about twelve hours ahead of the U.S. We could have a twenty-four-hour work cycle. We get U.S. companies to shift some of the more routine activities here. But what's happening is their own wage rates are going up. Cheaper countries are going to come online. And India is going to have to do some of its own outsourcing. It's just a perpetual-motion machine.
Is the U.S. in trouble?
I think we could be. We're still ahead of the game. But all of the long-term trends are favoring other countries that are investing much more heavily in their infrastructure. And if you talk to people in industry after industry in the U.S., we're losing skills. I think we really do run this risk of relying so heavily on other countries that, without incredible innovation, there's going to be a real shift in global bargaining power.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


to Deaf educators. Britta Hansen, director of the Deaf's Center for Total Communication, is interpreting right.
SignWriting was first developed by Valerie Sutton, an American, at the University of Copenhagen in 1974-1975, on a research project conducted by Lars von der Lieth.
From 1975-1982, Valerie lived and worked in her homeland, the United States, developing and improving SignWriting, with the advice and assistance of native ASL signers.
Even so, it was still Denmark that became the first country to adopt SignWriting offcially. The system has been used in Deaf education and research in the Danish school system since 1982.
Britta Hansen, 1982 director of the Deaf Center For Total Communication (KC) in Copenhagen, was the first to support SignWriting for Deaf education. The Danish Deaf Center continues to use SignWriting to this day, in a variety of ways.
Linguist Karen Albertsen and her colleagues at the Deaf Center For Total Communication in Copenhagen, designed their own computer program on the Macintosh, using SignWriting. Called TegnBank, which means "SignBank" in Danish, the program is a linguistic data base for dictionaries of signs. Karen and others have been building a large Danish Sign Language dictionary in SignWriting in the computer.


text:
Now in a bottle!
Fuchsiacast
Fuchsiacast Classic
I Just Play for the Story
Fuchsia Plays
Shot of Fuchsia
Cory sucks at…
Team Moon Moon Marathons
Aaron's Adventures
Deb Dabbles
Nanners Nonsense
Kay's Top Doom Games of 2016
January 23, 2017 kay Reviews
Doooooooooooooooooooooom. In a year when many outside factors made me want to crawl in a hole, the fantasy world of gaming was my safe haven. I'm not anthropomorphizing a year, just saying trying to complete grad school and working at a pawn shop will do things to a person. Changes a person man, you see stuff, you do things you're not proud of… Anyway! Make a game ultra-violent or make it super cute and that's my type of game. My top 10 runs the spectrum between these two and managed to make me feel things that wasn't the despair of the outside world.
10. Rocket League
Yes, Yes, I know this didn't come out in 2016, but this is my list of my favorite games I played this year. You can pick team orange! Any game that does that is going to at least get a mention on my list. By now it is an 'older' game that people have already played, but I was super late to the party on this one. This year they updated it with new modes and arenas that put a fun twist on the soccer-but-with-cars mechanic. Soccer-but-with-hockey-pucks and soccer-but-with-basketball-hoops is just as fun as the original mode.
9. Firewatch
Firewatch suffers from February-itis. It was a great game, but its lower position on my list is due to being great than forgotten about for 11 months. It is a great story-driven game that kept me guessing about the plot. It felt creepy and voyeuristic at times, and sad, the loneliness felt real. But it was also happy and then it was a redemption story, it was all over the place and that's a good thing. Firewatch is a beautiful and engaging game and played similar to, but much better than, Gone Home as an exploration and story heavy game.
http://www.firewatchgame.com/media/
8. The Witcher 3 : Blood and Wine
Labeling this as just DLC does it a disservice. Blood and Wine added more to this The Witcher 3 in terms of content than there was in some other games on my list. There's easily 30+ hours that I put into this expansion. I was not bored of the same environment nor by the story. Even the side quests, the little details of this game are so cool, so well thought-out.
7. Vermintide
Quite simply this 2015 game is Left 4 Dead with a Warhammer skin. It was a fun co-op game with not much in the way of story or looks, but it was neat anyway and gets a solid mid-level mention on my list just out of cheesy enjoyment.
6. Pokemon Go
I'm a completionist. I enjoy the challenge of catching them all. This game motivated me to get out and get to Poke stops or chase Pokemon. I didn't get into battling, by the time I got into it, everything was powered waaaay above me. I did enjoy catching things, walking to hatch eggs and working to evolve my Pokemon. To date I have caught 121 of the original 151, and I'm still motivated to try and complete the set.
5. Witness
The Witness is a beautiful puzzle game for those who have patience. The puzzle types were a good challenge, not to hard, not too easy, but juuuust right so that when I did solve one, I felt like the smartest person in the world. Each area of the world has different puzzle types. You do a few starter puzzles to learn the rules of a new set and it ramps up pretty quick. There are plenty of puzzle that integrate ideas from past things, or things you didn't learn, so you have to try to break the rules sometimes. There's also non-puzzle puzzles that are neat when you first discover them. I didn't beat the game, but I still really enjoyed my time with it and can see myself going back to it casually. This is also a game I would die for on the iPad as I think it would be great for travel rather than sitting at a desk.
4. Overwatch
2016 was a year that made me mostly want to hide in a hole, but also to be around friends that made me feel better. Overwatch was the most reliable game this year to find my friends online and have a good time. I liked the variety of characters and play styles that Overwatch offered me. If you liked TF2, and I did back in the day sink 200 hours into it, then Overwatch is a must play. Its got that signature Blizzard polish where things just work and are cool. There biggest thing I didn't like about it was the lack of modes to play. Push the cart, capture the point and that's about it. The only thing that saved it is the amount of play styles like support or tank made the repetitive modes a different experience. The weekly brawls also kept me coming back for more as they were often silly, like all support, which is a nightmare to play.
3. Tales from the Borderlands
I will find a way from now until forever to get a Borderlands game on my list every year. I am super invested in the story and rich universe that Gearbox has created. This being a Telltale game, story is pretty much all it has going for it. The game play is like every other Telltale game. Some quick events, choose story-line dialog, move here, that's it. What made this game great for me was the integration of new characters and well-known characters. The final episode came out in 2015 but I had purposefully been waiting on the final 3 episodes to tear through knowing I couldn't handle the suspense between final releases. Tear also works as an homograph because I also teared up quite a bit during the gut-punch of these last episodes.
http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/tales-from-the-borderlands-episode-two-atlas-mugge/1900-6416067/
2. Superhot/ Superhot VR
In normal life I'm usually crippled by decision making as I can see the multi-path results of my choices all play in my head. I'm constantly worried about something before it even happens. Here was an FPS game that manifests that into its mechanic. Time only moves when you move, so its a massive chess game of "When I move here, that guy will move here, but if I stay here and then go that way, he'll be over here". The beauty of this is that unlike an FPS you have the option of standing still and considering all your options and routes. The guys are still shooting you, but you have the luxury to watch the bullet come at you slow-mo style. Superhot VR is the same thing but now your body is the controller. There is nothing more badass that punching a guy, grabbing a gun out of midair, spinning around, shooting a guy and then ducking out of the way of another guy. It made me want to go practice my gun kata and put on tights and a cape or something.
1. Doom
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
Most Emotional: Tales from the Borderlands
I don't need to repeat much that I didn't already say above, but this game had me in tears more than once.
Biggest disappointment No Man's Sky
Arguably the reason I lobbied so hard to get a PS4. I'm glad I didn't have money at the time to buy a ticket on this hype-train.
Funniest : Sausage Sports Club
I need to quote Brady here on one of our previous podcasts "What's a sausage animal?"
Prettiest: Everyone's Gone to the Rapture
Another 2015 entry on my 2016 list, but god this was good looking and serene.
Most addicting : Heroes of the Storm
Hey, I didn't call it HOTS Jon! Again, I craved comfort this year, and this game was like settling down with an old familiar book.
Best early access game : Sausage Sports Club
Ok, it has a corgi in it, what more do you want from me?
The one that got away: Obduction
I remember being super excited for this game, it fell off my radar and then suddenly realized it came out months ago. I'm worried that it flying below my radar means it wasn't very good? I've got it on my to-do list, so tune in in 2017 maybe for the verdict.
Of Course I'll Rebuy that!: Atari Vault Collection
I own an actual Darth Vader 2600. I don't know why I'd re-buy these games on PC, but I did. Playing Sword Quest in 2016 or playing multiplayer Combat sounds great. Until you try it, and nothing works, and you go back to HotS cuz those dailies ain't gonna earn themselves.
Shame :World of Warcraft.
Its not so much the shame that I played this, it was good, I was a Pandaren, I liked my time with it. The shame is that, yes I actually did subscribe with real money for a month to earn the virtual corgi puppy for a game I'll likely never play again. No regrets, that puppy is friggin' cute.
That Beat Tho': Doom.
The guys say I can't get away with just yelling Doooooom again as my reason. This game was just so frantic, so frenetic, so intense, I didn't realize how amp'd I was until the fight died down and the music stopped that I realized my heart was racing and I was having an amazing time with this game.
Best MultitaskGame: Witcher 3: Blood and Wine
I think this is slightly the other way around, as this was the game I played when I should have been writing my thesis.
The Future is Bright: Persona 5. Wattam, Syberia 3, Dead Island 2, Cuphead
This category is my brainchild, as games often pop into my head and I need to google "What ever happened to X?" So these are the games I hope actually get released this year and I hope they are good.
Doom, Firewatch, Overwatch, Pokemon: GO, Rocket League, SUPERHOT, Tales from the Borderlands, The Witness, Vermintide, Witcher 3
Fuchsiacast #73: Playing What's Left
Fuchsiacast #72: Makin' Marios
Fuchsiacast #71: How Long Have We Been On Mute?
Bottled Fuchsia GOTY 2018 Part 3: The Final List
Bottled Fuchsia GOTY 2018 Part 2: Let's Chop
Copyright © 2020 | Bottled Fuchsia


Editor's note: This Lent season, Bread Blog is running a series of devotionals written by staff, alumni, and friends of the San Francisco Theological Seminary, which is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
In these days so permeated by fear, anxiety, anger, fatigue, discouragement, this old chorus reaches out over time. It sings in my heart and reminds me that even though youths (which I am not any more) grow weary, and the young grow faint, we do have this promise: we will soar like eagles, we can run and not grow weary, we can walk (more my speed!) and not faint. We will be granted the energy it takes to keep going in the work of justice.
The key, it seems, is in that first line of the chorus: "They that wait upon the LORD." We only have this ability to walk without fainting, to run, and, yes, even to soar as if on the wings of an eagle as we "wait upon the LORD." Not in and through our own power, stamina, gifts, but by trusting and hoping in the LORD, acknowledging the source of our power and strength, and aligning ourselves with the work God is already beginning in the midst of the struggle around us.
So, as we begin this Lenten Season, let us stop, listen deeply, acknowledge our fears, hurt, anxiety, fatigue, bruises, and whatever else we carry, and wait in hope upon the LORD. From this center, to which we are invited to return daily, find strength for today. As each of us does the piece given to us for this day, we shall crawl, stumble, walk, run, and sometimes even soar as together we respond to the call of our God for justice, inclusion, harmony, and peace among all peoples and Earth itself.
Dr. Elizabeth Liebert is professor of spiritua life at the San Francisco Theological Seminary.
In these days so permeated by fear, anxiety, anger, fatigue, discouragement, this old chorus reaches out over time.


Ann recently spent her summer abroad in the UTokyo Amgen Scholars Programme. The Amgen Scholars Programme offers research opportunities at world-class institutions in the U.S., Europe and Japan. As of now, the Japan programme is the only one which accepts students from all over the world.
In the University of Tokyo, she had the privilege of working under Prof. Akimitsu Okamoto in the Okamoto Laboratory located on the Komaba campus. During her time there, she also had the honour of being mentored by two graduate students, Kenta Kohyama and Yuya Moriyama. The Okamoto Laboratory is a multidisciplinary laboratory focused on research combining life science with synthetic chemistry. As an SPS student, this was especially pertinent to her due to the emphasis SPS places on interdisciplinary learning.
As the Amgen Programme welcomes applicants with backgrounds in science and engineering, she also had the privilege of meeting people from different disciplines and being acquainted with their work. The entire research project culminated in a symposium comprising one minute, one slide oral presentation and a poster presentation on her work in the detection of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, an epigenetic modification with possible implications on gene expression. The write-up below is a reflection of her experience in the University of Tokyo.
Never would I have imagined that I would be micropipetting DNA into microcentrifuge tubes amidst a background of chirping cicadas on a fine summer day in Tokyo. Ever since my first foray into Studio Ghibli films at a young age, I have been fascinated with Japan and Japanese culture. Thus, it was a no-brainer for me to apply to the UTokyo Amgen Scholars Programme which combined my passion for science with my love of Japan.
The Amgen Scholars Programme offers research opportunities at world-class institutions in the U.S., Europe and Japan. As of now (and fortunately for me), the Japan programme is the only one which accepts students from all over the world.
In the University of Tokyo, I had the privilege of working under Prof. Akimitsu Okamoto in the Okamoto Laboratory located on the Komaba campus. The Okamoto Laboratory is a multidisciplinary laboratory focused on research combining life science with synthetic chemistry. As an SPS student, this was especially pertinent to me due to the emphasis SPS places on interdisciplinary learning. During my time there, I was working on the detection of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, an epigenetic modification with possible implications on gene expression. As a Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Economics (PCME) student who had never taken H2 Biology, this was unfamiliar territory. Thankfully though, the experience of working in a biology laboratory during the practical sessions of SP2174 eased my transition.
The Okamoto Laboratory is helmed by Prof. Okamoto and is divided into three sub-groups. Research in the Okamoto Laboratory was in general quite similar to that in Singapore as the same scientific method of inquiry formed the backbone of the research project. During my time there, I had the honour of being mentored by two graduate students, Kenta Kohyama and Yuya Moriyama. It was amazing to be mentored in person by the authors of papers that I had been reading prior to my stint in the Okamoto Laboratory. My mentors introduced me to the techniques and skills required to carry out my experiments, and as with SPS mentors, they were also present to give suggestions when I was having difficulty interpreting unusual results. Unlike the mentorship offered in SP2171 and SP3172, there were no scheduled meetings with my mentors and I usually just approached them when I was facing problems. As my mentors had been in the Okamoto Laboratory since they were fourth year Bachelor students, they were very familiar with the laboratory and provided a unique insight into the advantages of staying in the same laboratory and working on related projects for an extended period of time.
Research in the University of Tokyo was a very interesting experience as there were some customs in the Okamoto Laboratory that were foreign to me. Changing shoes before entering the laboratory is a must in the Okamoto Laboratory and it was something that I had to get used to. Friday mornings were allocated to cleaning, with the whole laboratory coming together to clean the area with each person being assigned a task based on their sub-group. Not unlike SPS, omiyage or souvenirs from laboratory members were something we looked forward to with snacks often being devoured within days. These were things that I would not have experienced had I not gone to Japan.
As the Amgen Programme welcomes applicants with backgrounds in science and engineering, I also had the privilege of meeting people from different disciplines and being acquainted with their work. The UTokyo programme was dominated by life science or biology majors as like in SPS. Thus, listening to them talk about their work was not as alien as it would have been if I had not been initiated into biology projects during the SPS congresses. The entire research project culminated in a symposium comprising one minute, one slide oral presentations and poster presentations.
It was definitely not all work and no play during my time there. On weekends, if we were free, we would visit places of interest in Tokyo and beyond. It was definitely interesting listening my fellow programme mates talk about their experiences in their home countries and their universities during these trips together.
All in all, this summer spent doing research in the University of Tokyo was an unforgettable one. I would encourage anyone with the opportunity to do so to apply for overseas research attachments as it was truly an eye-opener to observe how research was conducted in Japan. I have learnt and done so much, and met so many wonderful people during my time there. This is an experience that I will treasure for years to come.
Figure 1: Tokyo University's Hongo campus clock tower.
Figure 2: Tokyo University's Komaba II campus clock tower.


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V. Penelope Pelizzon
penelopepelizzon.com
1 To Certain Students 01:05
V. Penelope Pelizzon is the author of two poetry collections, Whose Flesh is Flame, Whose Bone is time (Waywiser Press, 2014); and Nostos (Ohio University Press, 2000), which won the Hollis Summers Prize and the Poetry Society of America's Norma Farber First Book Award. She is also co-author of Tabloid, Inc: Crimes, Newspapers, Narratives (Ohio State University Press, 2010), a study of the relations among sensation journalism, photography, and film between 1927-1958. Her poems and essays have appeared in journals including, Poetry, FIELD, The Hudson Review, The Missouri Review, New England Review, 32 Poems, The Kenyon Review, The Nation, Ploughshares, Zyzzva and Fourth Genre, and her writing has received awards including a Lannan Foundation Writing Residency Fellowship, a Pennsylvania Council for the Arts Grant, a John N. Wall Fellowship in Poetry at the Sewanee Writers' Conference, and the "Discovery"/The Nation Award. She is an associate professor of English at the University of Connecticut, and currently splits her time between Connecticut and Brooklyn.
V. Penelope Pelizzon Full Reading at Bowdoin College, April 19, 2007
What He Thought (live, Bowdoin)
Post Script (live, Bowdoin)
Grown (live, Bowdoin)
The Better Half of Man (live, Bowdoin)
Adagio Ma Non Troppo (live, Bowdoin)
Villa of the Mysteries (live, Bowdoin)
from The Villa of the Mysteries (one) (live, Bowdoin)
from The Villa of the Mysteries (two) (live, Bowdoin)
from The Villa of the Mysteries (three) (live, Bowdoin)
FULL ARCHIVE FOR 'V. Penelope Pelizzon' »
V. Penelope Pelizzon Q&A discusses the formal strategy of her poem Seven Penitential Psalms


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a crucifix & a banana muffin… Being Human 4.04 "A Spectre Calls"
Posted by aquamarine-jo in reviews of being human...
andrew gower, bbc three, being human, cutler, damien molony, ghost, hal, james lance, kirby, lenora crichlow, michael socha, review, series four, toby whithouse, tom, vampire, werewolf
Possibly the first Being Human episode that was genuinely, uncomfortably creepy, thanks to Alfie Kirby. Ghost psychopath. Or possibly sociopath. Or was it that gorgeous 70s ensemble that gave me the creeps. (And a serious case of static cling…)
"Nina sent me"
James Lance's Kirby slithers through this episode in the most oleaginous way, dominating, twisting and haunting it, just as Kirby himself does to our fledgling family. A classic case of divide and conquer as he drip feeds us a little titbits about himself, going from a bit odd and maybe not the nicest ghost to a truly unsettling creature.
Just why is he so welcomed? Well, Kirby is pretty convincing. A salesman, a con man, a psychopath – to him the trio are easy prey. Annie is still terrified of being alone, missing her friends and a little message from short and scary Nina goes a long way. Tom wants a family, someone who cares and Hal… Well Hal is more resistant, perhaps because of the impact on his routines but he's soon dragged in by Kirby's comments to the others, casting doubt on his motives and intentions. Where should he start? Tom looks to be an easy mark…
Tom is the human heart of this series and he neatly reverses the previous werewolf dilemma, rather than a human who is learning to live as a werewolf Tom is a werewolf learning to be human. It's easy to underestimate the influence of his upbringing but despite his lovely manners and his killer instincts Tom has been raised away from normal life. He doesn't know how it works, how other people interact. He's never been taught how. He misses McNair – how could he not – and Kirby notices his reaction to his early statement about werewolves not being ghosts and he comes back to it later, making sure Tom believes his dad can never return.
His tears are those of a boy and in so many ways that's just what he is. Trouble is he's a boy in a man's body in a hostile world – he reacts with alcohol and violence instead of upending his toybox and refusing to eat sprouts. Above all else he wants – needs – a family and the love and support that come with it. His wall of pictures – images of happy families, normal life – show what he yearns for and I do wonder if he resents McNair for depriving him of such simple pleasures. Although I'd be very happy with a stake and a sparkler on my birthday (it's soon if anyone wants to oblige!)
"Your toxic fucking blood!"
When Hal fights with Tom – Tom may start it but Kirby instigated it – we see a snapshot of a different man. After Tom gets blood on his arm Hal pushes him away, shouts at him, he swears – something we haven't seen before. Is it the deep down hatred of werewolves, pain or just the fight that had made him change? It's another hint of just what he might be without radio four…
Tom gets drunk and beats up a vampire, one who conveniently pops up and shows his fangs. Was that vampire a real coincidence or was it a Cutler set up, CCTV and all. It's the first time we see Tom acting other than with the clinical efficiency of an assassin – he beats the vampire with a savagery which is shocking and ends up in jail. Luckily for him he gets a good lawyer!
So Cutler's a lawyer, or at least appears to be a lawyer. Nice suit, briefcase and on first name terms with the local coppers. Is he the duty solicitor or just keeping a wary eye on proceedings? He must have informants and contacts in the police – after all Fergus can't have been the only one – he got that CCTV footage from someone pretty swiftly, or was he watching it live?. What's in it for Cutler to befriend Tom? Just how useful would a tame werewolf be when you want to blame them for everything? His speech about good vampires is clever, not overdone but just enough to make Tom think and especially at a point when he has been destabilised by Kirby. Cutler has an in to Honolulu Heights now…
"I'm gay and I'm stray… no, that's not it"
If you're a ghost and your baby's poorly – who're you gonna call? Ghostdoctors? The NHS is going to struggle to deal with an invisible career so the only solution that presents itself is for Tom to play Eve's dad. And Eve's Mum? Hal. Two gay dads – it's a very clever play on stereotypes and political correctness. Whatever the GP says that might be even slightly misinterpreted could land him in very hot water! The best way to stop too many questions. A very funny scene – Hal's body language screaming with contradictions, his face when Tom puts his arm round him is priceless and the humour is only added to by Annie's shouting and annoyance that the doctor is utterly oblivious to.
When he follows the GP, it's the first time Kirby shows his full creepiness and he decides to make sure any risk posed by the confused but curious GP is annihilated. Literally. He gives him a heart attack. We also get the snippet that back in the day he'd have used a knife… Something you'd like to tell us? We find out much later that Kirby isn't just a creep and a slimeball, he's a serial killer; but irritatingly for him not a famous one. His rundown of evil to Tom and Hal is beautifully done – we know he's done some awful things, he piles on the detail, the toy sales, the children, the gullible mothers. This is getting very dark and it's almost a relief when we find out that he cut the mother's throats and a testament to the strength of Tom Grieves' writing.
"Is it me, or do I have the worst taste in men… ever?"
Kirby keys into Annie almost instantly – does he know her background? He knows about Mitchell but does he know Owen? It's not all that clear but what is plain to see is that this is yet another abusive relationship and a position that Annie falls into almost instinctively. She let Owen dominate and hurt her, she let Mitchell walk all over her and now she lets Kirby sap her energy, drain her, chase away her friends and leave her vulnerable. Just like Herrick he calls her nice with a sneer and eventually he kills her all over again and without anyone left to anchor her, Annie is smoke.
Then comes probably the best dance on Being Human – in a tank top – dig those 70s shapes! He's barely finishes before we find out who sent him – its future woman/possibly grown up Eve/whatever. FW needs to know the deed is done – does she look upset that Annie is gone? Maybe, but does that prove she is Eve? Now all Kirby has to do is kill the baby but before he can Hal and Tom return after a heart to heart through Hal's car window while blocking the whole road! Can they stop Kirby? They don't need to find out – their presence back in the house changes everything and Annie materialises – all blue-eyed and blue-lit and powerful and she vanquishes the rather startled Kirby. Done.
"I wasn't expecting this"
Just what is Cutler's plan? I still think it's to expose werewolves, making vampires seem to be a better way for the world. He's started to get Tom onside and now he's using the Box Tunnel massacre. It s a great plan – the press coverage that we saw in S3 suggested supernatural forces were at work and even a certain Professor Lucy Jaggat's name got a mention. Was the plan in action right back then? Maybe it was… The coroner is one of his allies and she reported human flesh in the killer's stomach – well, the supposed killer set up by Wyndam. Is Jason Healy a werewolf or will it suit Cutler if he just seems to be?
Hal is putting this together and he confronts the Coroner, scaring her although Cutler's hold is tighter and she won't talk, only to say it was another vampire. She's terrified and with good cause – as soon as she's told Cutler what she knows she's supper. Good boy, nice and evil and not a drop of blood spilled on the shirt. You have to admire that!
If werewolves can't be ghosts then Amy McBride was a bloody apparition sent to drive Lucy and pervy Lloyd bats. Not a proper ghost. She must have been something else unless Kirby was making it up. Chances are he was.
"I'd kill everyone I encountered until I was sated. Barry, Cardiff, most of South Wales"
"Right. Not all bad, then"
Kirby must have had a TV set in heaven/hell/purgatory – Starsky and Hutch didn't air in the UK in 1976, a year after his car/head incident.
Good handbrake on Hal/Leo's old car! How long did he sit at the end of the road?
One day Annie will let someone tell her things she really needs to hear.
That burn on Hal's arm? The nemesis? Nah – that's Toby playing with us! Isn't it?
Was Cutler a lawyer before he was recruited? Echoes of Herrick, the Victorian legal clerk…
"Evil is like travelling first class. Try it once and you can never go back"
Hal doesn't sing. Commendable. I wish other people took the same view. However… does that mean it can't be him in the 2037 flash-forward, yodeling New York New York to the oppressed and suppressed wolfies?
I'm sure it wasn't but it's a nice thought, as opined on the night, that it was Toby Whithouse driving the car that knocked down Kirby in 1975. I'm sure that there must be an elf 'n' safety rule about writers running over actors – but whether it prohibits or encourages it I'd be loathe to say!
"Now look what you made me do…"
Now pull on that tank top and dance – you know you want to!
4 thoughts on "a crucifix & a banana muffin… Being Human 4.04 "A Spectre Calls""
Annie said:
Loved this one! And I know a lot of people hated them but I thought the gay dads and Kirby's dance were hysterical. I managed to feel sorry for all three leads this episode – Hal's tear and his distress at his messy room, Tom's reaction to no-one remembering (knowing it was?) his birthday and Annie when Kirby was shredding her self-esteem. Fabby episode. More of that please!
So much I didn't write about (I try and keep the posts to slightly less than War and Peace) but how could I have forgotten Hal's tear? Generally very clever stuff, on the surface it seemed they just walked into Kirby's traps but he had them all sussed, knew exactly what buttons to press.
Annie REALLY does have rubbish taste in men…
And yes, I'm still laughing at the gay dads too – it's Hal's face!
1) Starsky and Hutch: I think Kirby hung around for a while after the car+head incident. From what he says to the GP, I think he'd done the heart-attack trick before.
2) Driver of the anti-Kirby car: appears to be female. (I paused to look.) Then again, could just have had long hair, it's a bit blurry.
3) Poor Annie – are there support programmes for ghostly victims of domestic abuse? Plenty of them out there, after all… She still seems to automatically self-delude and ignore any bad signs. She also hasn't learnt that when a vamp wants to confess, it's a good idea to let him do so – she's listened to the prophecy too, silly Annie… Loving the glimpse of her tough side, makes a nice change. Haven't seen much of that since mid-S2.
4) I don't think Tom actually drank all that much. He doesn't need to (not an experienced drinker)…
saintixe said:
I felt so sad about Tom's birthday; it was like kicking a trusty puppy. Poor Tom and amazing acting. Allowing us to forget Tom is an adult and only getting us to focus on his 'inner child'. I agree with you. Tom previous experience must have been limited a half-pint with George so unlikely to have drunk a lot, was pretty steady on his feet. Angry Tom. Blog should offer Tom a birthday cake and something with elegance but a bit more Tom age related than his 'dad's taste
Annie persists in refusing to listen; that is a worrying pattern and there will be a reckoning…


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August 11, 2015 at 7:30 AM.
Breakfast provided by Cutthroat Cafe!


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Sunday Star Times, 17th November 2002
MEETING KARPOVSKY
By Helen Moulder, Sue Rider and Sir Jon Trimmer
Court Theatre, Christchurch, to December 7. Reviewer: Jim Tully
Meeting Karpovsky, which had its world premiere at the Court Theatre, is a showcase for the remarkable talents of Helen Moulder and Sir Jon Trimmer.
Moulder is superb as Sylvia, a woman who deals with her aloneness by invoking an imaginary world at the centre of which is the great ballet dancer Alexander Karpovsky, whom she idolises.
Sylvia is without the two people she loves - her husband, who has gone to another woman, and her daughter, who lives overseas, most recently in China. Moulder brilliantly conveys a woman on an emotional knife-edge, finding solace in her "relationship" with Karpovsky as she works through her deep sense of loss.
I will remember this year at the Court for Moulder's consummate skill in a series of diverse performances.
Sir Jon utters just one word in the play - and so liberates Sylvia from her fantasy world - but has a commanding presence and utilises his renowned skills as a dancer. There are some delightful moments as he leads a heavy-footed Sylvia through steps from Giselle and others of considerable poignancy as he helps Sylvia confront the fate of her daughter.
The play itself is well-crafted with an ebb and flow of emotional tension, some lovely touches of humour and a measure of suspense though the final revelation comes as no great surprise... It is certainly a play with universal themes that could be easily adapted to other settings.
Meeting Karpovsky is really an opportunity to meet two great performers and to enjoy their memorable combination.


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I finally finished this book!!!!!
Death Sentence: The True Story of Velma Barfield's Life, Crimes, and Execution by Jerry Bledsoe
This was an interesting story about the first woman executed in the U. S. since the ban was lifted in 1976. Velma Barfield (also known as Margie) was a woman convicted of the murder of her fiance' Stuart Taylor in North Carolina in 1978 by poisoning him with arsenic.
This book chronicles her horrific childhood, her descent into drug abuse, and her "redemption" through Christianity, which, of course, occured after her conviction. Velma was only convicted of one murder, but she confessed to at least six, including her own mother. She claimed she only wanted to make her fiance' sick (with ant poison), but she did not lift a finger to help any of the people she killed. She watched 4 of them die a painful and agonizing death.
This story is extremely thorough in its details, but I feel the author spends too much time on Velma's day-to-day life once she is in prison. I got tired of reading what she had for breakfast, what she read, who she talked to, what songs she sang, who she received letters from (including the Rev. Billy Graham and his wife), and every little detail about her days. The narrative makes it obvious that the author is opposed to the death penalty rather than telling the story from a neutral viewpoint. Admittedly, it made me examine my views on the issue, and I am still unsure. After all, a jury determined her punishment according to North Carolina law at the time.
While on death row, "Miss Margie," also know as "Death Row Granny" touched many lives in a positive way, but I had a difficult time feeling empathy due to the terrible crimes she committed. I don't think the author focused enough on her victims. Her children were also victims, and the story does discuss how these events affected them. It was her son who turned her in. She was, in the end, executed by lethal injection in 1984 at the age of 52. She was the first woman in the U.S. executed by lethal injection. Another woman would not be executed in the U.S. until 1998.
If you're interested in true crime, female serial killers, the debate over the death penalty, and you have time for a rather long book, then you might like to read this one.
Posted by Forgetfulone at 10:26 PM
Filed Under: book review, Sunday synopsis
messymimi April 10, 2022 4:26 PM
Abuse can result in some horribly damaged thinkong patterns, and a true rebirth in Christ can result in a complete change and much healing. As St. Paul pointed out, those already in prison when they come to Christ need to understand they are saved from the ultimate penalty of sin, but not necessarily from its consequences on earth, like remaining in prison or even being executed.
If she truly came to know Jesus as Savior, and did what good she could for the Kingdom in prison, then that's as much as she could do.
Like you, i have horrible mixed feelings about the death penalty, i could not vote for it in a jury with a clear conscience simply because dead people cannot repent and while there's life, there can be redemption of some kind.
Forgetfulone April 10, 2022 9:32 PM
You put that so eloquently. I doubt that I could impose the death penalty, either, but the victims were not considered enough throughout her appeals process.
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What we call the auspicious evidences are solemnity, to which seasonable rain is the correlate; good order, to which seasonable sunshine is the correlate; wisdom, to which seasonable heat is the correlate; good planning, to which seasonable cold is the correlate; saintliness, to which seasonable wind is the correlate.
What we call the inauspicious evidences are violence, to which constant rain is the correlate; arrogance, to which constant sunshine is the correlate; dissipation, to which constant heat is the correlate; rashness, to which constant cold is the correlate; stupidity, to which constant wind is the correlate. . . .
When the seasonableness of year, month and day is unchanging, the hundred kinds of grain thereby ripen, the administration of government is thereby enlightened, talents among the common people are thereby revealed, families are thereby peaceful and healthy.
Shu Ching
The Taoist school urged men to unity of spirit. teaching that all activities should be in harmony with the unseen, with abundant liberality towards all things in Nature.
SSU-MA TAN
Chinese spirituality, which suffused the philosophy, religion and science of ancient China, has mighty roots which vanish mysteriously in the fog of history. H.P. Blavatsky noted that the original Chinese, now confined to the deep interior of the country and fast dying out, are remnants of the Fourth Root Race, and that China can trace its history to the First Sub- Race of the Fifth Root Race, long before the advent of written records, public archives or even language as the contemporary world knows it. The dragon, last seen officially on the imperial robe, originally represented the Sons of Wisdom and thereafter great Initiates who belonged to the oldest spiritual lineages. It came to represent profound Sages and eventually applied even to the emperor, who ruled with the "mandate of Heaven". The moral and spiritual ideas that emerge into history from the dimness beyond bear the stamp of their origins. Mysterious, at once open textured and precise, metaphorical in their essence, they offer a perspective luminous to the intuition but impenetrably vague to discursive analysis. Within the scope of recorded history, one figure towers above all others as a preserver, synthesizer and transmitter of China's ancient spiritual heritage. Known to history as Lao Tzu, he is as mysterious as the doctrines he taught.
Nothing certain is known about Lao Tzu, whose name means 'the Ancient Master' and is a reverential title rather than a name. Even the century in which he lived has been the subject of scholarly dispute. Traditionally, Lao Tzu is said to have lived in the early sixth century B.C.E. and was an elder contemporary of Confucius, but modern scholarship tends to place him in the fourth century, although some recent studies have once again preferred the traditional date. According to Ssu-ma Ch'ien, an historian who wrote the Shih-chi (Historical Records) about 100 B.C.E., Lao Tzu was born in the village of Ch'u-jen, located in the ancient state of Ch'u, now part of eastern Honan Province. His family name was perhaps Li, and he may have been known as Li Tan or, less likely, Li Erh. According to Ssu-ma Ch'ien, he was appointed shih at the imperial Chou court. Although the word shih came to mean 'historian', in Lao Tzu's day it referred to one who had mastered astrology and divination and was the custodian of sacred books. Perhaps this is why he is said to have written nine hundred and thirty books on religion and ethics and seventy on magic, constituting one thousand works in all. Of these, only the Tao Te Ching survives in public circulation. Legend holds that Lao Tzu met Confucius at least once and possibly on several other occasions.
It is said that when Lao Tzu realized that the Chou dynasty was in irreversible decline, he decided to leave China, declaring that life amongst barbarians, who at least were innocent in their subliterate life, was preferable to life amidst educated degenerates who could wantonly sink below the level of animal existence. He left for the West, leaving the culture and civilization of China behind him. Upon coming to the Hsien-ku Pass, which marked the boundary between Ch'u and Ch'in, he rested at the gatehouse with a few disciples who were travelling with him to the border. There Yin Hsi, the kuan-ling or guardian of the pass, reverently approached Lao Tzu and lamented the fact that he had never been able to descend from his post into Ch'u to hear the Master's teachings. He begged Lao Tzu to write out a motto that he might engrave on his consciousness for life. Taking pity on the faithful and neglected servant of Ch'u, Lao Tzu called for brush and paper. Within a very short time, he wrote out five thousand Chinese characters, composing the brief text called the Tao Te Ching. If the story is to be believed, humanity owes to the compassion of the Sage and the earnest plea of a forgotten gatekeeper one of its richest treasures and most sacred texts.
After entrusting his treatise to Yin Hsi, Lao Tzu continued on his journey, having bidden his disciples farewell. Ssu-ma Ch'ien remarked simply, "No one knows what became of him." He noted, however, that some Taoists believed that he lived at least one hundred and forty years, and others said he flourished for more than two hundred years. Long after Lao Tzu disappeared from the world of men, he came to be considered divine. As Lao-chun (Lord Lao) he was revered, and Taoists held that he had taken on many forms throughout history, only one of which was Lao Tzu. When Buddhist monks came to China to disseminate the teachings of Buddha, they found Taoists both their most sympathetic listeners and most adamant foes. Soon they heard a remarkable story. Lord Lao, who as Lao Tzu had vanished in the West, had journeyed to India, where he was known as Gautama Buddha. Though initially surprised, some Buddhists willingly made use of the Taoist tale to further their own work. Although Taoists, Confucians and, later, Buddhists vied for the hearts and souls of people, all joined together in veneration of a being who effortlessly transcended claims of relative greatness and doctrinal disputes. Whatever traditions the Chinese have followed, Lao Tzu has remained like the unchanging Mount Meru in their midst, reflecting from its snowy peak that spiritual light which transcends time and conditions, yet suffuses both with its eternal truth.
The Tao Te Ching, the sole accessible work of Lao Tzu, splendidly captures the multivalent subtlety of ancient Chinese thought. Admittedly arcane in many respects, it can nonetheless be pondered at several levels. The title has been translated The Classic of the Way of Power, The Book of the Way and Its Virtue and The Book of the Perfectibility of Nature. As the various translations of the title suggest, the text encompasses metaphysics and ontology, psychology and health, social theory and political thought, whilst maintaining a spiritual perspective and offering hints that formed the basis of later alchemical works. Despite the diversity of subjects touched upon, some with Heraclitean brevity, the entire text is crystallized in the enigmatic first chapter:
The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao;
The name that can be named is not the eternal Name.
The Nameless is the Source of Heaven and Earth;
The named is the Mother of the Ten Thousand Things.
Desireless, one may behold the mystery;
Desiring, one may see the manifestations.
Though one in origin,
They emerge with distinct names.
Both are mysteries –
Depth within depth –
The threshold of all secrets.
The Tao is a mystery only partly because it is the origin of all manifestation and therefore transcends categories of thought arising from and used to comprehend manifestation. It is also an impenetrable mystery because it is pure, unlimited potentiality, the source of everything existing and possible, yet therefore nothing itself. Although Tao is as elusive as the parabrahm of Hindu thought, the agathon of Plato, the apeiron of Anaximander or the Buddhist shunyata, it is approximated in different ways by Lao Tzu. Tao is eternal truth, paramarthasatya, and so it cannot be told or expressed; it is the source and origin of all things and the giver of life; it is ceaseless motion, whose operation is cyclic; it pervades all things; it is the first principle and the primordial ruler; it is the ultimate standard to be followed; and it is the quintessential core of Nature. Yet these seven characterizations are not descriptions of Tao. Rather, they express seven primary facets of the mystery, like the seven rays of light emerging from a prism into which white light pours. None of the rays reveal the pristine whiteness of its source, yet all the rays of light point beyond them selves to it. Hence Lao Tzu taught that the Tao which could be named is not the eternal Tao.
Seen as the first cause, Tao is the limit of manifestation, the threshold behind which the Nameless (wu) remains forever with drawn and from which everything takes its rise. If the Nameless can be called the Source of Heaven and Earth, above and below, creative spirit and receptive matter, yang and yin, Tao as first cause is the Mother of the Ten Thousand Things, that is, of every thing that exists in its noumenal nature. Since desire is the reflection of the capacity for creative expression in the human being, it is naturally directed towards the diversity of objects which constitute the world. Thus, in desiring, one witnesses the wondrous panoply of Nature. But if one abides without desire, withdrawing from any urge to manifest, one beholds not the eternal Tao but the mystery which is the portal between the ever-unmanifest and the source of all manifestation. Here one may stand at the "thresh old of all secrets", where the two mysteries of the Nameless and the Mother of the Ten Thousand Things have their single origin. Wu and yu, non-being and being, are rooted in ch'ang tao, the eternal Tao.
Typical of Lao Tzu's thinking is the sudden shift from a meta physical consideration of the Tao to the consciousness required to understand it. Man is the microcosm of the macrocosm, and since Tao pervades every part of the universe, so it suffuses the human being, where its mystery abides just as it does at the invisible heart of Nature. Tao is therefore truly the Way (one literal translation of Tao is 'road'), for when man follows Tao, his nature is perfectly harmonized with great Nature. In becoming one with Nature, man becomes her master and magic becomes as natural as breathing. Since "returning is the motion of Tao", the Way is cyclic, and the wise man works within cycles, nurturing the contrasts – ease and difficulty, high and low, before and after – and not resisting them. "Yielding is the method of Tao", Lao Tzu taught, without suggesting passivity. Speaking of the Sage, one who has followed the Way and achieved the perfect harmony which is the dynamic balance between heaven and earth, he said:
The Sage acts without acting,
Teaches without words.
The Ten Thousand Things unceasingly wax and wane:
Nourishing them, he claims no ownership,
Doing his work, he craves no reward.
Completing his task, he calls for no commendation.
His work is finished and forgotten,
Its fruition is forever intact.
The Sage acts by wu-wei, not acting. Whilst he is ever active and never complacent, much less passive, his action so accords with the ceaseless action of the Tao that it leaves no trace. Resisting the natural flow of causes and events only leads eventually to reversals; acting in accord with Tao is to be invincible, because one is living in accordance with one's true nature. Because the Sage exemplifies wu-wei, he leaves no mark upon the Way, and yet what he accomplishes never reverses but remains forever.
The life of the Sage embodies the highest standard of action, and it represents a condition metaphorically characterized as p'u, the uncarved block, the raw material of myriad uses before it has been put to use. Once it is carved – into a bowl, a pillar, a grinding stone – it is useful, but its pristine nature is confined. So it is with human beings: to the extent they set about tasks for one or another purpose or in fulfilment of one or another desire, they cease to live in their original nature. The carved object which is worn out or broken ceases to have any use at all, whilst the uncarved block remains potentially useful. Hence the Sage seems to do nothing, being neither utilitarian nor empirical, and yet is the relevant factor in every condition and at every moment. In the sense appropriate to the Tao, only the Sage ever accomplishes anything of lasting value. He is the unperceived ruler of the world.
The best rulers are barely known to men.
The next best are cherished and extolled.
The lesser are feared, and the least are scorned.
Distrust cannot summon trust.
The Sage acts without words
And the people take all for granted.
If the Sage is the Tao in action, then it is possible to understand both falling away from Tao and returning to it – the movement towards destruction, on the one hand, and immortality, on the other. Movement away from the Tao is signalled by definition, limitation, categorization, externalization and ritualization. It can be readily seen in the social decline from a humane and spontaneous society to a formalistic and heartless one.
When Tao is lost, virtue lingers;
When virtue is lost, pity lingers;
When pity is lost, righteousness lingers;
When righteousness is lost, propriety lingers.
Propriety is the merest husk of faith and fidelity,
And the beginning of chaos and disorder.
. . . . . . .
Therefore the mature man chooses the core
And not the husk.
How can one "choose the core"? One cannot withdraw from action since the Tao is ceaseless motion, but one can withdraw from allegiance to the epiphenomenal external world, like moving from the rim to the centre of a revolving wheel. Lao Tzu advised:
Attain absolute voidness;
Preserve perfect stillness.
The Ten Thousand Things rise together, yet return:
They ramify and flourish, yet each returns to its root.
Returning to the root is tranquillity;
It is releasing one's destiny.
To release one's destiny is to know constancy.
Knowing constancy is enlightenment;
Spurning constancy is plunging into misery.
Knowing constancy points to consistency,
Consistency to magnanimity,
Magnanimity to boundlessness,
Boundlessness to the Tao,
The Tao to perpetuity,
One with Tao he endures without end.
As the Tao is eternal, consciousness which becomes fully consonant with the Tao experiences immortality. It is no longer subject to the play of opposites because it has transcended them by understanding and assimilating their operation and integrating them into the ceaseless, soundless hum of the Tao.
He who knows how to live can move
Without fear of tiger or rhinoceros.
In battle no weapon will touch him.
In him the rhinoceros can find
Nowhere to drive its horn,
The tiger finds nowhere to put its claws,
Weapons find nowhere to thrust their blades.
Because he has passed beyond the region of death.
For Lao Tzu, knowing how to live involves the intimately related concepts of self-knowledge and timing; one could have neither without the other. Self-knowledge is not a mass of personal data to be learnt and stored away. It is a state of consciousness represented by the uncarved block, just as timing is not merely efficient action, but is action through seeming non-action.
Knowing others is wisdom;
Knowing oneself is enlightenment.
Mastering others requires power;
Mastering oneself needs strength.
One who knows he has enough is wealthy.
One who perseveres has will.
One who stays in place endures.
One who dies without perishing is eternally present.
Self-knowledge involves stripping away all that one thinks one is – the carvings on the block which obscure the ontological priority of the block itself – until one is like the zero in the number system. One becomes increasingly like the Tao itself, which is not one but zero, the critical factor implicit in all numbers but not itself one of them. From this standpoint, the Sage recognizes that the universe is generous in that there is a time for everything and anything, but it is also ruthless in not supporting a single thing out of its place or season. "The Sage", he wrote, "shuns excess, extremes and smugness." Alert to the world around him, instead of seeking to impose some personalized purpose upon it, he remains absolutely calm. "The serene and calm", Lao Tzu taught, "set the rhythm of the world."
Only Nothing can enter into emptiness.
Hence I know the potency of non-action.
Few learn the lessons of Silence.
Few seek the fruits of non-action.
Despite the metaphorical imagery summoned to express Lao Tzu's teachings, his refusal to provide discursive or analytical accounts of his ideas, and his emphasis on the dynamic, integral unity of Nature, conspired to make his philosophy hazy and seemingly indefinite, yet, it has in truth a Pythagorean precision.
Tao gives birth to One;
One gives birth to Two;
Two gives birth to Three.
Three gives birth to the Ten Thousand Things.
The Ten Thousand Things uphold yin and embrace yang.
They harmonize through blending these vital breaths.
The Tao as a principle cannot be conceived of as a thing, and yet it is the vital essence of all things. It cannot be thought of as conscious, yet it is the living heart of consciousness. Its utter transcendence is veiled by the One which is Nameless, which in turn gives rise to the possibility of differentiation through contrast – heaven and earth – which then produce the creative interaction known as the Mother of the Ten Thousand Things. They reflect their ultimate parentage through the harmonious interplay of yin and yang, unity in diversity, the ever-hidden Tao in the dynamic efflorescence of the world. Hence, Lao Tzu affirmed:
Tao is Supreme,
Heaven is Supreme,
Earth is Supreme,
And Man is also Supreme.
Tao, the ultimate reality, is immanent as Tao, the unchanging Way, which is Tao, the law of Nature. Tao, the law or principle, is transcendental unity – the One without a second – manifest as universal harmony. There is an exact correspondence with the ultimate reflected on each plane of existence and being as hsuan te, the mysterious power, which is the radiance, so to speak, of the Tao.
Man follows the Earth.
Earth follows Heaven.
Heaven follows Tao.
Tao follows its intrinsic nature.
And this intrinsic nature, tzu-jan, is spontaneity seen in the man of self-knowledge and good timing. With mathematical precision, any attempt to break with the harmony of Nature is an effort to deny the tzu-jan of the Tao, and the consequences can only be disintegration and destruction. This is why Lao Tzu could say:
What others teach, I also teach:
A violent person will meet a violent end.
This is the core of my teaching.
That vigilant tranquillity which is the invisible signature of the Sage and arduous goal of the aspirant who would cleave to Tao is inseparably linked to wu, non-being. Humanity drifts away from the Tao not because it is involved in yu, being, but because it fails to recognize the critical role of non-being within being. Clinging to one-hall of the balance, it is unbalanced, caught in an endless struggle to right itself. Lao Tzu provided the solution through simple but telling analogies:
Thirty spokes share a single hub,
And the central void makes the cartwheel useful.
Clay is moulded into a vessel,
And the empty space makes it valuable.
Doors and windows are cut out in the walls,
And these openings make the room livable.
We benefit from Being.
We avail ourselves of Non-Being.
And in the last two lines of the Tao Te Ching he reminded humanity how this is done:
The Tao of Heaven is to help without hindering.
The Tao of the Sage is to serve without striving.
When Lao Tzu had his apocryphal meeting with Confucius, he upbraided the latter for his pride and ambition. Rather than thinking that two renowned men carped at one another, one can see in this exchange Lao Tzu's deep appreciation of Confucius's teaching, which involved rooting out just such traits in order to become a truly good man. Confucius must have understood Lao Tzu's deepest meaning, for he took his leave most reverentially and later likened Lao Tzu to a celestial dragon who rides the wind and clouds. Lao Tzu indeed seems like a dragon in his teachings which fuse the highest conceptions with the most mundane activities and testify to the presence of the Tao everywhere. When Lu-lan spoke of the dragon, he could just as well have spoken of that mysterious being known to history as Lao Tzu, the Ancient Master:
The Dragon feeds in the pure water of Wisdom and
sports in the clear waters of Life.
Just as the omnipresent aether, owing to its subtlety, is not
tainted, so too the Self (atman), though abiding in all bodies, is
undefiled.
Bhagavad GitaXIII.32 SHRI KRISHNA


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One of Ireland's leading Islamic clerics has called for the release of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian who has been tried for blasphemy.
"I call for her release and I believe that she should be released. This is the right thing to do according to Islamic teaching," Shayk Dr Umar Al-Qadri told The Irish Catholic.
Asia Bibi was first sentenced to death for blasphemy in 2010, and her case has been on appeal since. Pakistan's Supreme Court reached a final verdict on the case earlier this month, but the court has reserved its verdict.
Dr Al-Qadri, a member of a Pakistani Muslim family and chair of the Irish Muslim Peace and Integration Council, criticised Pakistan's blasphemy law as against Islamic teaching.
"When it comes to Asia Bibi's case, I have personally and publicly spoken for her release, I have called for her release, and I have in fact written an article a year or so ago that says there is no death penalty in Islam for someone who is not a Muslim," he said.
"Asia Bibi is a case where the lady is denying that she committed blasphemy, and based on that it would be sufficient for the court to release her, but unfortunately that particular law, the blasphemy law in Pakistan, does not represent the true Islamic teaching," he continued, adding that the law had originally been introduced under pressure from extremist groups.
He offered his support to any organisations calling for Ms Bibi's release, saying that he would be involved in any events calling for this.
His comments come against the background of an appeal from Aid to the Church in Need for Pakistani Muslims in Britain and Ireland to speak out about Ms Bibi's plight, and to call for Pakistan to offer religious freedoms comparable to those enjoyed by Muslims in the west.
The organisation also called for the Government to apply moral leverage through the European Union to persuade Pakistan to protect Christians in the country. Asked what the Government is currently doing about her case, however, a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs merely said that "the Department, including through Embassy Ankara which is accredited to Pakistan, continues to monitor the case of Ms Asia Bibi".