meet barbara + aimee: one active mother-daughter duo of #fabfitbookers! mom barbara has never really struggled much with her weight, while daughter aimee played sports throughout high school + college, and now works as a swim teacher, swim team coach + lifeguard. but when barbara was diagnosed with early-onset osteoporosis a few years ago, she realized it was time to up her activity even more, setting out to build up those biceps (and bone density) with weights + strength training. around the same time, aimee had started running + doing 5Ks, so joining in was a no-brainer for barb.
after retiring last fall, barbara was steadily upping her running times, but was still struggling to run a full 5K, so when she came across fitbook, she felt like it might give her the extra push she needed in the form of structure + accountability. now, one fitbook in, she's hooked - so hooked that she + aimee are now both in it to win it, together! now each fitbooking their way toward their individual health goals, they decided to join our 6-week COMEBACK program together.
we caught up with this adorable mother-daughter fab fitbooker pair to find out what setbacks they're working to overcome + what they're most hoping to learn from their comebacks.
barbara: i've been thin + fairly active most of my life, but was never able to get back to my pre-baby weight after aimee. about five years ago, after being diagnosed with early-onset osteoporosis, i started trying to build up my strength with weights. i also started running with aimee. when i retired in october 2017 + had the time to focus more on me, my running times were increasing, but i was still struggling to run a full 5K.
aimee: i have always been active, so exercising has always been in my daily routine, but i also enjoy eating, so that sometimes caused me to struggle with my weight. i started running + progressed from 5Ks to triathlons to half-marathons. i just finished running my first full marathon last month!
barbara: when i came across fitbook, i thought it would give me the structure i needed to journal my eating + exercise. i haven't ever done formal programs before, but i really like the flexibility of fitbook, and the COMEBACK program has also helped to provide structure with flexibility.
aimee: i have always wanted to keep a personal journal to write down thoughts + inspiration to motivate me, but i never got around to it. having this journal that tied in gratitude and fitness was the next step for me. i love calendars + quotes! i'm constantly posting them on social media. so this was a perfect fit for me. the COMEBACK, the journal, and the desk calendar are constant reminders for me to hold myself accountable.
barbara: i like 'paper and pen'; being able to write in fitbook + go back to look at past entries. it provides structure, but is very easy to fill in + stick with it. i like being able to see short + long term goals. i also have the daily calendar and really look forward to turning the page each day to see what is next.
aimee: i like the motivational quotes + facts on the calendar. and i love the sticky-notes -i them on my fridge or door to remind me of things!
barbara: i had ordered fitbook at the end of last year, but hesitated to start it. the COMEBACK program gave me that incentive to finally start, and the two are a natural fit together. for me, it has been the combination of all the offerings together that have helped. i have lost weight and inches – definitely have more to go, but i look forward to the structure and spending the 15-20 minutes a day with the exercises. the variety of the workouts has been great also!
aimee: holding myself accountable has always been my biggest problem, following through after i have already started something. and since these last few months of training for my first marathon have been consumed by running, there has been an emotional, mental + physical toll, so setting aside time for myself to clear my mind or write daily reflections or track my meals and workouts or do some yoga poses has been great. it's really helped me stay focused and on-track.
being part of this 6-week COMEBACK has helped me stay positive when things get hard, as well as be proud of both the big and small accomplishments. it's nice to see + read others going through the same things as well in the facebook forum.
barbara: it's been fun sharing the program with aimee! we trade notes on how we are doing and keep each other motivated to keep going. she is such a caring, hard-working person + she's so passionate about life, so it's been really great.
aimee: having my mom doing this program + going through this process with me has been so fun and encouraging. i love that we are able to chat about it and share in the soreness! my mom is very loving. she is my biggest fan + the best supporter in all that i have going on in my life. she did so much more than she even knows to help me get prepared for the marathon. her coming to watch me cross the finish line just topped it all off. now that she's retired and i have purchased my own home + moved out, our schedules are difficult to sync, so the time we spend together is even more cherished. having things in common like running races together on the weekends or going on bike rides or out for walks together brings a more special meaning to spending time together. i cherish those times more + love making new active memories with her. knowing she is getting out, being active, getting stronger, staying healthy, and taking care of her body gives me such a sense of pride.
congratulations on your health wins, ladies! we could not possibly be more joyful to be a part of your precious mother-daughter memory-making. we can't wait to catch up again post-COMEBACK!
inspired by barbara + aimee? questions for our fab fitbookers?
let them know in the comments below! wanna be featured?


text:
Email Elizabeth
by Elizabeth Wood | May 24, 2007 · 12:00 pm
A stroll around the square
My partner and I are unplugging ourselves from the grid for 10 days!
Well, perhaps we'll check email now and then, but probably we wont, and if we do, we probably won't answer. We've spent altogether too much time at our desks in the same room studiously ignoring each other while we've been working feverishly on assorted projects, and now we need to spend some time being more than "co-present."
We'll be in a pine grove in New Hampshire, in a cabin without a telephone, on bit of land that separates a lake from the river that it feeds. It is a beautiful spot, and after the electronic withdrawal wears off I intend to enjoy the chirping of crickets and the calls of the red wing blackbirds, instead of the chirping of my email and the calls of my IM (though I very much love the conversations that those beckoning sounds elicit).
You, in the meantime, should feel free to wander the public square looking at the artifacts left here over the past 11 months. It's hard to believe it's been nearly a year since I started this blog, but indeed it has.
In that time, we've talked about sex workers, sexually oriented businesses, abortion and contraception, the pink ghetto, the complications of sexual orientation and gender categories, age of consent, sex offender legislation, and, of course, we've talked about the way people talk about all of these things.
If this were a public square in real physical space, I imagine it would be populated with interesting coffee shops and book stores and lamp posts where flyers for parties and discussions and workshops and demonstrations would flutter, ragged bottoms where all the "call for more information" tabs have been torn off. There would be groups of people standing around, hanging out, chatting, gossiping or engrossed in serious conversations about local or national or international issues. There would be kids playing and arguing and sorting things out for themselves. There would be music and their would be art.
If this were a public square in physical space I would take you on a tour and point out all the spots where groups of people gathered to discuss this issue or that bit of news. So imagine for a moment that it is. Stroll for a little while through the less well-lit, less popular but very interesting spots in our public square.
There are, of course, the spots that everybody stops by: the place where we talked about the perils of posting naked pictures on the Internet, or the place where we argued about whether teen girls had gone wild differently from teen boys, or the place where a Tom Joaquin informed us that vibrators were more dangerous than guns if you lived in Alabama.
But there are other spots that people forget and I want to take you for a walk past some of my favorites.
Here, back in July, I stood on my soapbox and argued that we really must reconceptualize sexual orientation categories, and that "heterosexual" people need to come out about all their orientations to sex. I was on this particular soapbox in part because of a ridiculous policy decision about condoms for prisoners (namely, not to distribute condoms because the prisoners weren't "gay".) Frank discussion of sexual practices is going to be a big focus of the forums in the expanded Public Square.
And here, back in August, just a few months before the Mark Foley scandal broke, I raised questions about an article in the New York Times that profiled teenage interns of 30-something employers who seemed to blur the lines between employer and friend.
Earlier, near the opening of the Public Square, we argued about whether conservative Christian kink-friendly web sites and stores were a positive development or an exploitive maneuver.
And more recently do you remember when we stood around and talked about whether or not sex offender residency restrictions made sense and about the absurd outcomes of certain sex-offense prosecutions? Remember Genarlow Wilson and Jule Amero?
There's been a lot going on around here, and there's a lot more to come. When I return in 10 days we should be just about ready to cut the ribbon on the new space.
I think we need to plan a block party!
Filed under culture, Genarlow Wilson, public discourse, sex
by Elizabeth Wood | May 23, 2007 · 9:52 pm
Here are a couple of "sex-in-the-news" quickies that I've been meaning to blog about and haven't. I'm headed out tomorrow for a week and a half and since I'm not going to get around to detailed posts on these items any time soon, I figured I'd just toss them out for you to read on your own.
Circumcision of boys has been in the news lately as two divorced parents exhaust the legal system in a fight over whether the father can have their 12-year-old son circumcised. This is not a brand new case, but it is interesting to me in part because of the age of the boy. Shouldn't the boy have a say? There is no claim that the surgery is for any other than religious purposes. Religious conversion is a personal matter. It isn't as if we're discussing whether a minor should be allowed to reject medical treatment over the wishes of his parents. Shouldn't it be his choice?
The New York Times blows an editorial about anti-trafficking legislation being considered in Albany by completely separating sex and work. They talk about how people are trafficked for "forced sex or labor," as if forced sex isn't labor. In fact, by using a term like "forced sex" instead of "forced sex work" they are conflating prostitution with rape in a way that is entirely unhelpful to prostitutes or to rape victims. They accurately report that the penalties for sex trafficking would be higher than the penalties for labor trafficking (this is without regard to the age of the trafficked victims), again seeming to say that it is more acceptable to be trafficked for purposes of forced labor in a factory or field or private home than it is to be trafficked for the purpose of strip club, massage parlor or brothel work. It seems to me that all forced labor is appallingly wrong and that to separate out some forced labor as sex, and thus not work, is to reinforce the stigma attached to sexual labor and thus injure again the people who have been forced into it.
On the other hand, the New York Times also ran a good article on homeless shelters for gay teens and a few weeks earlier they'd run an article on a shelter in Queens, New York, that takes in transgender teens. Estimates by shelter workers and surveys of homeless youths indicate that about 1 in 5 homeless teens and kids is gay. (For perspective, fewer than 1 in 10 adults identifies as gay.) The kids interviewed for the article reported appalling abuses by family, friends of family, and by shelter workers at other homeless shelters. Earlier in the month I blogged about the Safe Harbor legislation also being considered in New York State and argued it was especially important, but the Times editorial on trafficking, mentioned above, makes it sound as if that legislation has been left out of the larger trafficking bill. Perhaps we need a phone/letter campaign to make sure it is considered separately!
Isn't it amazing that the issues we discuss here seem to be always in the news. Yet another reason to expand the space for sex in the public square!
Comments Off on Quickies
Filed under Circumcision, News and politics, public discourse, sex work, sexual orientation
Expanding the Public Square…
More to do and more space to do it in!
I started this blog as a way to write about ideas that didn't easily fit into a different project I've been working on. That was nearly a year ago now, and Sex in the Public Square has quickly become much more than what I'd intended. Rather than remaining a container for distractions from my work, it has become an integral part of my work.
Sex in the Public Square is one piece of a large and beautifully decentralized attempt at building more rational and productive spaces for talking about sex. As the wise and perceptive bloggers at the newly-born Sex Calumny point out, "It's not that people aren't talking about sex. It's just that sex is so often discussed in unproductive ways: euphemisms, commandments, myths, norms." So I was happy, a year ago, to join other writers who use their blogs to expand the space available for productive discussions of sex, whether at the personal, community or cultural level. (My side bar is full of links to these amazing people so I'm not going to name them all here!)
And as I wrote yesterday, expanding the space for productive and honest discussion of sex and sexuality is essential to the health of our society and our communities — reducing unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections — just as it is essential to our own individual sexual fulfillment or happiness. After all, it's hard to get what you want if you can't communicate about it!
For those reasons, but just as importantly because I have been so encouraged by some of the conversations that have taken place here, I've decided it is time to expand my corner of the public square. I'm teaming up with Chris Hall of Literate Perversions, Tom Joaquin of The Free Lance, and others to create SexInThePublicSquare.org. (If you want to join in keep reading then drop me a note! And don't try the URL just yet; it'll just point you back here. We're nearly ready to take down the scaffolding and put away the drop clothes, but not quite! Soon, though. I'll tell you when.)
We've laid out our mission like this:
We believe that sexuality is a key component of human life, and that it cannot be excluded from "polite conversation" without losing an important element of democratic participation. We seek to expand the space available for discussions of all aspects of sexuality, and to build communities where respect and inclusion are the norm. We also believe that talk about sex needn't always be "serious" in order to be "appropriate" and we welcome playful conversations that focus on the fun of sex as well as serious conversations that focus on things like policy, safety, and identity.
The new site will be collaborative, with varying levels of access depending on the interest level of the member. There will be many different ways to participate. And just as here, unregistered visitors will be able to read and comment on everything.)
A public square is a place of intersections, of interactions, of communication and recreation, of political and expressive space, and mostly, of community building. SexInThePublicSquare.org will be basically blog-like in format, thus easy to navigate and easy to keep up with, but will have features and capabilities that a typical blog doesn't have, and that begin to add more of that "public square" feel. In addition to the kinds of blog entries you're used to reading here (which will still be here, by the way, but will also be there), it will have:
Forums where readers and members can talk about all kinds of sex-related stuff regardless of what I'm blogging about at the moment.
"Take Action" space that makes it easy to contact the media or your elected officials when an issue motivates you to act. (Let's put sex back into politics — in a helpful way!)
Reviews of sex-related books, films, music or web sites. It will have links to blogs, agencies, foundations and other resources.
Listings of interesting sex-related events — lectures, demonstrations, rallies, readings — that we know about or that are contributed by readers.
Links to sex-related research, advocacy groups and blogs.
My question to you, the readers of Sex in the Public Square on WordPress, is this:
What else should it have?
It was you, after all, who inspired me to think about expanding this space. It was the conversations in the comments of this blog, most of which were carried on by people who do not usually blog about sex in their own spaces, that made me think it would be wonderful to have an expanded space for people of all sorts to come and participate in discussions about sex.
Think about it, and then email me using the contact form above or leave your comments here. And if you're really curious and think you want to contribute to the shaping of the site, send a note saying so and I'll see about showing it to you at its temporary "in development" address.
It's true that there isn't any space on the Internet that's truly public, but we're about to open up a space that is as close to public as we can without buying a phone company.
Filed under activism, community-building, culture, Education, public discourse, sex
"Do it ourselves" Abortion Reduction Policy
Atul Gawande had a very clear, concise, mostly very smart and only partially problematic op-ed in yesterday's New York Times about how to reduce the number of abortions in the US (TimesSelect registration required). He started out by dispelling some of the myths we have about who has abortions and why. For example, on the upsetting side, roughly half of pregnancies are unintended, and four in 10 unintended pregnancies end in abortion. On the optimistic side, teens are getting the message about contraception:
"Pregnancies at age 15 to 17 are down 35 percent since 1995, according to federal data; one-fourth of the drop is from delaying sex, and three-fourths is from increased use of contraceptives. Today, just 7 percent of abortions occur in minors."
"Forty-five percent of abortions occur in adults ages 18 to 24; 48 percent occur after age 25. Most are in women who have already had a child. The kids are all right. We are the issue."
Consistent and correct use of contraception appears to be the biggest problem:
"92 percent of abortions occur in women who said they used birth control. Six in 10 used contraception the month they got pregnant. The others reported that they had used birth control previously but, for one reason or another, not that month. (Many, for example, say they didn't expect to have sex.)
Gawande then asserts that the "trouble appears to be blindness to how easy it is to get pregnant and what it takes to make birth control really work." I would disagree: the trouble is not blindness to how easy it is to get pregnant. It is wishful thinking of the "it won't happen to me" variety, and a difficulty accepting one's own likelihood of having sex. It is also fear of the stigma attached to being willing to have sex without a committed relationship. Another problem is the difficulty women have with requiring their male partners to use condoms, and the difficulty some men have using them. Then there is the forgetting of the many ways to have sex that can't result in pregnancy in the first place! Lets get more creative with our hands and our mouths and the rest of our bodies! Lets buy sex toys. (Wow, did I actually just recommend a consumer-based solution to a problem? Yikes!)
Gawande is right, though, that the number of unwanted pregnancies in the United States — and thus the number of abortions — could be dramatically reduced if we were a more sexually honest and open society. If we — men and women — were honest with ourselves and with each other about the situations in which we are willing to have sex, and about the degree to which we do not want to be responsible for a child, I think we would have an easier time consistently and correctly using contraception. Imagine….
…if we were more honest with ourselves about how the contraception we do use makes us feel, and more willing to talk to each other about our contraceptive methods, we would be better able to find the methods that would work best for us.
…if we were more willing to admit that we simply won't stop having sex just because we aren't ready, able or interested in raising children.
…if we could acknowledge sexual pleasure as a basic human right and not a privilege for the middle and upper classes.
Then perhaps we would — as a society — realize our moral imperative to improve access to contraception and safer sex education and supplies for those who need them.
Gawande believes that politics precludes government from helping to create that society and that ultimately we need a "do it yourself" approach. I'm not willing to let government or the politicians who control it off the hook quite so quickly, but I agree that there is much we can change about this society if we "do it ourselves." And among the things we can change through grassroots community-based activism is, in fact, the government.
Among the things the government could do better, or do at all:
Offer incentives for research and development of long-lasting contraceptives that have fewer risks and side effects.
Provide contraceptives free, and without any burdensome monitoring, to women and men who want them.
Require that sex education programs offer clear, accurate information about the effectiveness of contraceptives and about their correct use.
Support programs that help parents learn how to talk to their kids about sex.
But Gawande is right that, absent some sea change in what we as individuals and communities demand of our government, these things are not going to happen quickly. We need to take up the lead of organizations like Planned Parenthood which already offer workshops on how to talk about sex, and start branching out in our communities and among our friends to "do it ourselves." Imagine if we each had at least one conversation a week with someone about the right to sexual pleasure, or he right to sex without fear of pregnancy or disease.
Try it out. Start with yourself and make a list that honestly accounts for the ways you like to have sex, the people you like to have it with, and your own risks of pregnancy. (Yes, this applies to men too. Women don't get pregnant on their own!) Any unpleasant surprises on your list? If so, acknowledge them and make a plan to reduce your risks. Then, be courageous: share your list with someone. And share this post. Next week try a conversation with someone else. Ask someone how they feel about the right to have sex because it feels good. Discuss whether we should take a punitive attitude toward sex for pleasure.
And stay tuned here. This blog has been part of my attempt to create more open space for reasonable and productive conversations about sex. But you've inspired me to do more, and I've decided to expand the public square:
Coming soon to a computer near you: SexInThePublicSquare.org!
Comments Off on "Do it ourselves" Abortion Reduction Policy
Filed under abortion, activism, culture, EC, emergency contraception, Family, feminism, Health, inequality, pro-choice, public discourse, reproductive freedom, sex, sex and health, sexuality
by Tom Joaquin | May 17, 2007 · 5:01 pm
The New Anti-Abortion Law — Bad News For Women's Health and Doctor's Ethics
In an earlier post I discussed the Supreme Court's analysis of the so-called Partial Birth Abortion Act, concluding that the Court's decision to uphold the Act was intellectually dishonest and inequitable. This post is about the purposes of the Act, as described by Congress, and the Act's probable consequences for the practice of medicine and the health of women.
Understanding the Act requires some minimal understanding about abortion procedures. (This explanation is more or less lifted directly from my earlier post on the Carhart decision.) The Act targets the procedure used in essentially all abortions taking place after first trimester and before viability. (Viability is the point in pregnancy when, given the current state of medicine, a premature infant has a fifty percent chance of survival. At present, viability occurs around the 23rd week.) The procedure is referred to as "dilation and evacuation" or "D&E". A D&E is performed by first dilating the patient's cervix for a period from a few hours to a few days. The physician then removes the fetus, placenta and related material from the uterus through the cervix, and out of the body. Often, the fetus must be removed from the uterus in pieces. Sometimes, though, the fetus can be removed from the cervix intact (called an "intact D&E" by the Court). Because the fetus is not destroyed during the intact D&E process, the physician must 'kill' (the word used in the Act), the non-viable fetus. The loaded term "partial-birth abortion" is thus an obvious mischaracterization of this procedure. The nonviable fetus cannot be "born," either partially (whatever that might mean), or otherwise.
The Act makes it a crime for a physician to knowingly perform an abortion using the following procedure:
1. The physician removes the intact fetus from the woman's body to a particular point:
In a head-first position, to the point where the entire head is outside the woman's body;
in a breech (foot-first) position, where any portion of the fetus past the navel is outside the woman's body; and,
2. The physician then takes an overt act that kills the fetus.
(This is my summary of the Act. The full Act can be found here.)
The Act provides no exception to preserve the health of the woman undergoing the procedure.
The Act won't stop a single abortion from taking place. Justice Ginsburg noted during oral argument, "[W]e're not talking about whether any fetus will be preserved by this legislation… It doesn't preserve any fetus because you just [terminate fetal life] inside the womb instead of outside." The US attorney defending the Act agreed with Justice Ginsburg. In other words, in order to be compliant with the Act, a physician must terminate the fetus' life prior to delivery, even in cases where the physician believes it is safer for the mother to do otherwise.
Whether an intact D&E' is considered medically necessary depends on a number of factors, including the age and health of the woman, especially if the woman has an underlying medical problem; the condition of the fetus; and the sophistication of the medical facilities available. Under the Act, a doctor is no longer allowed to make this decision. With the Act, Congress has overruled the the physician's medical judgment, as well as her ethical obligation to provide the best possible medical care. Is appears the Hippocratic Oath has joined the Geneva Conventions as "quaint" obligations our government has decided can be ignored.
The trade-off Congress made in the Act and the Supreme Court appears hardly rational: Physicians must choose between following the law, on one hand, or providing the best possible care to preserve the health of the mother. What exactly has Congress achieved in return? Nothing, it seems. Abortions will not be reduced. But the Act will make abortions more dangerous and more difficult to obtain. Some physicians will likely withdraw from the practice of performing intact D&E's rather than risk criminal charges. The health of some women will be harmed as a result, because they will not be able to obtain the best possible care. And, perhaps most troubling, those seeking to limit reproductive rights have established that their political agenda can override concerns about privacy, personal autonomy, and women's health.
Tom Joaquin
TheFreeLance Continue reading →
Filed under abortion, Advocacy, Info, and Activism, feminism, Gonzales v. Carhart, Health, News and politics, News..., pro-choice, public discourse, reproductive freedom
My not-collaborative, daughter-only, very late Mother's Day post
I wanted to write this post with my mother, who was visiting this weekend for, you guessed it, Mother's Day. But every time we'd start talking about the post we'd end up in a debate about whether the ideas were feasible or whether they were too idealistic. I think my mother likes to debate with me, even when she agrees with my positions, because she doesn't get a chance to have a lot of intellectual debates and because we can argue with each other without it becoming personal. Believe it or not, I think that arguing was part of my mother's day gift to my mom!
So, instead of a collaborative mother-daughter post, you're getting my list of things I want to see achieved so that mothers — and hence the rest of us really — can have better lives and lives where working for sexual freedom doesn't seem like such a luxury.
My list, the items on which my mother largely generally thought important but too idealistic, includes the following:
– Sexual openness so that women can enjoy their sexuality and share it fearlessly with their partners. Through sex we express desires, we communicate, we connect, and we feel pleasure. We should continue to work so that women are free to experience the fullness of their sexualities without shame or danger.
– Access to contraception and safeguarding the right to abortion when needed so that all motherhood is by choice. This is a place we need to redouble our efforts, as access to good information about contraception, and access to abortion when needed, is being eroded in this country, and being eroded or prevented in other countries this country's policies.
– High quality, affordable — dare we even say government subsidized — child care so that all parents who work outside the home — including those for whom work is a necessity and not a choice — can do so without economic penalty or fear for the safety of their children.
– Realistic part-time and flexible work options so that parents have more choices about how to divide the labor of wage-earning and child-care. I don't mean part time with no stability and low pay. I mean part time with reasonable wages that would exceed the child care costs incurred while working those more flexible hours.
– Universal health care — not just health insurance — so that employers are no longer the ones who provide our access to health care. This isn't just a matter of concern for the poor, either. Plenty of middle income people end up financially devestated even if they do have health insurance because the part of the medical bills that the health insurance doesn't cover is still more than they can afford. (This is especially awful for people who have fallen prey to the "two income trap" where two parents are both working to pay for meeting the basic needs of the family and then one gets sick and the other can't make up the difference.) Oh, and of course this health care has to cover treatment for addictions and mental illness just as it covers physical illness.
– Fair wages for all workers. This means eliminating the wage gap, guaranteeing equal pay for equal work, and providing living wages to all workers. Living wages mean that parents can work reasonable hours and spend time with their kids. And we also need reasonable paid leave policies so that people don't lose out when they need to take care of a child.
– Peace. The costs of wars, in dollars and in lives, is too great to justify, and the paying of that cost is keeping us from doing the kinds of things suggested above — things that would make economic security a reality for many more people.
Julia Ward Howe is often credited with initiating Mother's Day in the United States as a protest against war, ironic since she also penned the Battle Hymn of the Republic. But she herself was inspired by the work of Anna Jarvis who organized around workplace health and safety issues and then organized women to tend to the wounded in the Civil War. In fact, the Mother's Day we now celebrate is on or about the anniversary of a memorial that Jarvis's daughter held in her honor after she died. The holiday, which originally honored women who worked for social justice and peace has become, in the US, a mostly-consumer, mostly-private holiday where we thank our own mothers for the sacrifices they have made and the work they have done. I think it's time, again, to turn the day around and make it a day when mothers — and the rest of us — call for justice and peace.
Mothers have sex, and they need sexual freedom and economic security. Without economic security it is difficult for people to make sexual freedom a high priority. When people don't have economic security their first priority must always be gathering what resources they can to meet their basic needs. All people, regardless of economic status, must be entitled to sexual freedom but sexual freedom feels like a luxury when you are too exhausted from working your second job and making sure the kids got to school to even think about having sex with your partner. When we work for sexual freedom we must take into account the needs of the poor and working class as well as the needs of the middle class and the wealthy.
Health care, child care, contraception, fair wages, peace, and sexual freedom. They're all connected.
Click here for Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation as posted on the CodePink web site.
Click here to watch the Mom's Rising! Mothers' Day E-Card featuring the Infant Aerial Stunt Team and a simple laying-out of the Moms Rising policy goals (several of which are reflected in my post, above).
Filed under activism, culture, Family, feminism, inequality, mothers day, public discourse, reproductive freedom, sex
by Elizabeth Wood | May 9, 2007 · 2:31 pm
Will New York Stop Treating Teen Prostitutes as Criminals?
Keep tabs on these two bills making their way through the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. Assembly bill A.5258, the Safe Harbor For Exploited Youth Act passed last year but didn't make it to a vote in the Senate. It's up again this year (its bill number in the Senate is S.3175), and I hope the Senate takes it up and passes it.
If it were to pass it would mean, as the New York Times pointed out in an editorial this morning, that we would treat American born teen prostitutes much the way we treat internationally trafficked teens caught working as prostitutes: that is, we would treat them as people in need of protection and services rather than as criminals. Here's the lead paragraph from this morning's New York Times editorial:
Sexually exploited children can be helped by the law or victimized by it, depending on where they are from. An Eastern European child smuggled into this country as a sex slave is offered protection under the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act. An American child who flees abusive parents and ends up selling her body on the streets is labeled a criminal and sent to the juvenile equivalent of prison.
That statement is important because it points out one reality of young prostitutes: they are sometimes engaged in prostitution because, as runaways, there are few options open to them that will allow them to remain free of the homes they are trying to escape. The National Runaway Switchboard sites a 1998 study published in the journal Child Abuse and Neglect, indicating that 34% of runaway youth (girls and boys) reported sexual abuse before leaving home and forty-three percent of runaway youth (girls and boys) reported physical abuse before leaving home.
In addition to offering treatment and care to teen prostitutes (instead of detention and punishment) the law recognizes that the needs of sexually exploited "boys, girls and transgendered youth," may be different from each other, and should be treated as distinct where necessary. The inclusion of transgendered youth is important because transgendered youth are at high risk of family conflicts that are often behind running away in the first place, and the needs of transgendered youth certainly are distinct from those of other youth in important ways, and need to be met in appropriate ways.
Services mandated by the bill are to be provided in safe houses specifically for sexually exploited youth and will include: "housing, diagnostic assessment, individual case management, medical services including substance abuse services, counseling and therapeutic services, educational services including life skills services and planning services to successfully transition residents back to the community."
The law is not without its problems. For one thing, the youth in question would not have a choice about participating in the state's protection. Services would be "made available" to them whether they are "accessed voluntarily, as a condition of an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal issued in criminal court," or through other court proceedings. In other words, if picked up for prostitution, protective services will be mandatory if not chosen voluntarily. This is likely to be a good thing for many youth engaged in prostitution, but not all teen prostitutes are operating in the same conditions nor do they all have the same needs. In addition, state care is not always effective, and until we know more about the quality of the services to be provided, and the culture of the safe houses, it is hard to have an unrestrained enthusiasm for the program. If the treatment options pathologize teens and their developing sexualities, they will not be helpful, and they may do more harm than good. Not only that, the law still separates sexual exploitation from other kinds of exploitation, and quite possibly will result in the release of youth "back into the community" where they are forced to choose some other kind of exploitation as a way to earn an independent living. Until we solve the fundamental economic problems of our society, exploitation would seem to be a necessary condition of many lives. We should not be concerned only with exploitation of a sexual nature.
Lastly, the comprehensive needs of abused or neglected youth will not be met by this bill alone. This bill makes an important step in the direction of humane treatment for young people in desperate circumstances, but we need to continue to work to solve the problems that lead teens to run away in the first place. Those reasons sometimes, themselves, have to do with sexuality. Teens are thrown out of their homes or run away from home because their sexual orientation or gender expression is rejected by their families. They are abused (whether sexually or otherwise) and run away to escape their abuse. They sometimes run away to be with boyfriends or girlfriends or lovers they have been barred from seeing. In other words, the denial of teens self-hood and sexuality is, itself, sometimes what leads to the sexual exploitation this bill is trying to address. If it does nothing more than offer treatment instead of punishment, this bill will have helped. I hope, though, that it will do more than that: I hope that the discussions generated by this bill will encourage us to move further down the road toward recognizing and affirming teens' developing sexualities, and toward treating young people in our society with greater dignity.
NY Senate Bill 3175
NY Assembly Bill 5258
OutProud (National Coalition for GLBT youth)
National Runaway Switchboard
Filed under Gender, Health, inequality, News and politics, public discourse, sex, sex and health, sex and the law, sex work, sexuality and age
Will the "Washington Madam" Scandal Help Destigmatize Sex Work?
It won't do the job on it's own, but imagine if more and more high powered people were to "come out" or be outed as clients of escort services. Imagine if sex industry clientele all stood up one day and identified themselves.
Perhaps you've been following the story. The New York Times reports that, according to ABC, which received a list of phone numbers from Ms. Palfrey to try to match to real names of clients, the list includes
"a Bush administration economist, the head of a conservative think tank, a prominent C.E.O., several lobbyists and a handful of military officials" in addition to Mr. Tobias and Mr. Ullman.
Destigmatizing sex work is as important as decriminalizing it. In fact, perhaps it's even more important. In response to my last post about sex workers, Alex asked whether or not there was any data on the connection between legalization of sex work and a reduction in crime against sex workers. I said I didn't know offhand. Then, just yesterday, I read a post by Kochanie, writing at Real Adult Sex, in which she describes some research she's been doing, and which indicates that
for prostitutes in Sweden, New Zealand, Netherlands, or Australia, decriminalization and legalization of their trade has not removed the stigma of engaging in sex work. Even where sex work is legal within certain zoned areas of a city, prostitutes are reluctant to press charges against an abusive client because of the lack of support from local law enforcement. Complaints of police harassment were cited in most reports I read. Some prostitutes did not want to even register as members of the sex trade, because they felt that, once registered, the stigma could never be erased.
She concludes, I think rightly, that decriminalization and legalization on their own are not enough to make sex workers safer. Without removing the stigma from the work, the people who do it will not benefit as much from the decriminalization as proponents of those measures would intend.
I think of this in part because, as I wrote a few days ago, my union just voted overwhelmingly in support of strong anti-trafficking legislation that would allow having been trafficked to be a defense against prosecution for illegal sex work. At a meeting of the Civil and Human Rights committee, where this was being discussed, I suggested amending our resolution to also include support for organizing efforts among sex workers. You could have heard a pin drop. The amendment did not get much support, though several people came to me after the meeting to suggest that I prepare more thoroughly and propose a resolution at next year's Assembly. My rationale is this: if large groups of organized workers come out in support of the organizing of sex workers, that would be a powerful push in the direction of destigmatization. Imagine if teachers stood up for their students who are sex workers, and if nurses stood up for their patients who are sex workers. Or, imagine if the carpenters and the lawyers and the politicians and the electricians stood up for the sex workers they patronize.
Several months ago I was fortunate enough to interview Audacia Ray, an incredibly powerful sex worker advocate and very inspiring woman. (She's just finished her Master's Thesis, produced her first porn film and published her first book!) She said something at the end of our interview that really struck me. We were talking about the difference between destigmatization and decriminalization of sex work. She said she didn't think the US was nearly ready for decriminalization, but that destigmatization might be happening, and in ways that some of us might not really like. When I asked her to clarify, she referred to "sex worker chic" trends in mainstream media.
I wonder if the exposing of powerful, upper middle class clients of high end escort services is also going to become a source of destigmatization.
I'd be thrilled if labor organizations become another engine for the destigmatizing of sex work. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 790 is the union with which the Lusty Lady employees (now owners) affiliated back in the mid-90s, so this isn't as much a stretch as some might think. (Click here and scroll down for a link to their 2005-2006 contract).
Those of us who are members of labor unions will need to speak up in favor of sex workers' organizing efforts and to acknowledge them as our sisters and brothers in the labor movement. We're all safer when sex workers are safer.
Some other good reasons to be thinking about sex workers today:
Today is May Day, which is both International Labor Day and a day traditionally associated with ancient spring-into-summer fertility rituals featuring dancing and passion and ecstatic celebration
Oh, and the Sex Worker Visions II Art Show has it's gala opening tonight! Maybe I'll see you there.
Filed under activism, feminism, labor organizing, News and politics, public discourse, sex, sex and the law, sex work, sexually oriented businesses
Where you're coming from…
Note: I do not track any personal information about any of my readers. This map provides information about general location only.
Visit our community site!
↑ Want to help spread the word? Grab this Headline Animator for your site
Sex In The Public Square dot Org Headlines
Two stories about gender inequality
Ad Placement Fail?
Come out for labor rights
What you like best…
Find Us At http://sexinthepublicsquare.org!
Our conversations…
Scott on Why we need more explicit sex talk in courtrooms
norm on The Foreskin Dialogues
db on "Middle School Girls Gone Wild"… Really? I think the boys are wilder!
bluebell on Melissa Farley in Scotland: Trivializing prostitution and trivializing violence against women
vikinggirl on The Foreskin Dialogues
Jack on The Foreskin Dialogues
11:30pm, Feb. 25, 2007. (i.e. much later the same day) « Al Fin del Mundo on Q: When is a vibrator more dangerous than a gun?
Wannabe Amazonian on The Foreskin Dialogues
wkhai on The perils of posting naked pictures if you have tattoos, are not thin, and are married to the chief of police
Anthony Kennerson on Melissa Farley in Scotland: Trivializing prostitution and trivializing violence against women
Another Address Change
If you are looking for new material from Sex In The Public Square…
SITPS.org: A Labor Day Call to Johns
Melissa Farley in Scotland: Trivializing prostitution and trivializing violence against women
Sex 2.0 – a very brief recap
Important voices: Lisa Chavez and Liz Derrington tell their stories
Some recent blogging from Sex In The Public Square (dot org)
The Myth of the Liberal Media, or Further Evidence that the NYT is an Elitist Paper
Spitzer coverage on Sex In The Public Square
Sex in the Public Square Presents…
Advocacy, Info, and Activism
Advocates for Youth: Rights, Respect, Responsibility
Alternatives to Marriage Project
Center for Sex and Culture
Guttmacher Institute
Legal Momentum
National Coalition for Sexual Freedom
Planned Parenthood Health Information Page
San Francisco Sex Information Web Resources
Scarleteen – sex education for the real world
SIECUS (Sexuality Informaton and Education Council of the U.S.)
Vagina Verite
Woodull Freedom Foundation
I read...
Being Amber Rhea
Chronicles of Sex-Positive Culture by Carol Queen
Conservatives Love Porn Too
Feminism Without Clothes
Fetch me my axe
Figleaf's Blog: Real Adult Sex
Finally Feminism 101
freaksexual
It's All Connected by Richard Jeffrey Newman
Literate Perversions, by Chris Hall
LUSTY LADY by Rachel Kramer Bussel
Memoirs of a Skepchick
MissSlut
One Life, Take Two
Pandagon
Pretty Dumb Things, by Chelsea Girl
Queen's Consort
Sexblo.gs
SmackDog Chronicles
Susie Bright's Journal
Techsploitation by Annalee Newitz
Tess: Urban Gypsy
The Free Lance
Tiny Nibbles by Violet Blue
Viviane's Sex Carnival
Waking Vixen by Audacia Ray
What's New with Judith Levine
MotherJones.com | Home
t r u t h o u t | News Politics
Tools and Resources for Bloggers
"Dateline: To Catch a Predator"
abstinence only
Archives of Sexual Behavior
Audacia Ray
Blog Against Sexism
Blog for Choice
Bob Herbert
Carol Queen
Charter for the Sexual and Reproductive Rigths of Youth
Cindy M. Meston
Daniel Day
Genarlow Wilson
Gonzales v. Carhart
heterosexism
Ignacio Rivera
James Holsinger
Julie Amaro
labor organizing
Loving v. Virginia
Lux Nightmare
Melanie Ross
Michele Capozzi
moral panic
Naked on the Internet
nonmonogamy
Pamir Safi
pink ghetto
Political Obscenity
Rapture Cafe
sex — kinds of
Sex 2.0
sex and health
sex and the law
sex and the media
sexuality and age
sexually oriented businesses
Tory Bowen
Veronica Vera
Victoria Bowen
Violet Blue
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License by Elizabeth Anne Wood.
image by Tricia Lupien
Recent Readers
View Entire Community Provided by MyBlogLog
Join the Blue Ribbon Online Free Speech Campaign!
Sex in the Public Square · Critical reactions to sex in the news, and other rants and raves

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Qualifying at Monza
Posted on September 10, 2021 December 29, 2021 by James T
The 2021 Italian GP at Monza is the second race to feature F1's new 'Sprint' qualifying format. This is the fourth qualifying format to be used in the 21st century although spring does include the current standard 'Knock Out' session as part of it.
Whether Sprint is the right format for F1 won't be discussed here but it is already known that it wouldn't work everywhere with Monaco being the obvious example. As such there have been discussions about having different formats at certain tracks and while I don't really support this, Monza has shown that such a system may be necessary. In my opinion, the knock out format is the best solution as it has been proven to work and does the job of organising the cars by who is fastest individually.
Monza however is quite unique in terms of its layout with it effectively being 4 long straights connected by a few corners. This means that the dirty air effect of modern F1 cars is actually of benefit to following cars. This is particularly true in qualifying where the tow (slipstream at a greater distance) can give a driver several tenths advantage. Although this usually hasn't caused many issues, in the last three years it has lead to ridiculous situations where drivers desperately back up to try and get a tow.
This came to a head in 2019 where on the final out lap of Q3 all drivers left the pit as late as possible giving them just 1:40 to get around and start a lap. Additionally, they all drove at a snail's pace as everyone wanted to stay behind each other, this included Hulekneberg taking the escape road at turn one so that the rest of the grid would end up ahead (which didn't happen). In the end, Sainz was the only car to make it to the line and set a lap time.
Again in 2020 in Q1 the same problem caused 5 cars to enter turn one at the same time… ON A QUALIFYING LAP! Sebastian Vettel was the major casualty from that incident with the German being knocked out of Q1 as a result.
And then we come to 2021 with Friday qualifying complete and yet again we saw multiple incidents around cars trying to get a tow.
Firstly Verstappen on a flying lap had to weave through three cars on into the second chicane and in the end, had aport the lap as cars were on the racing line. Then into Ascari, a queue of four cars going slowly saw Gasly almost collide with the Ferrari of Leclerc and that was just Q1.
Q2 saw the worst incident of the day with all several cars flying out the pits at once, Sebastian Vettel drove out ahead of his teammate almost colliding with Hamilton and coming way too close to hitting an Aston Martin and Alpine mechanic.
Thankfully some had become wise to this and decided to get on with it, with Verstappen overtaking three cars on the pit exit who were again driving at a snail's pace. And for the final runs in Q3 Red Bull sent their drivers out first to avoid any incidents with slow cars.
So clearly there is an issue with qualifying at Monza however this time it's not the cars or track layout, it's the teams and drivers doing anything possible to get the best tow advantage over their rivals regardless of the consequences which as we've seen can end up in no one being able to set a lap.
So while is don't agree with F1's constant need to change up the qualifying format, I do feel that changes could be made to prevent situations like this from happening again.
For me, one way this could be solved is to keep the current qualy system but have the cars go out one by one with a large enough gap in between that no one can get a toe. This would mean there would be no clashes of drivers slowing down and make it an even playing field with no one getting an advantage. It may seem harsh but if the teams and drivers can't be trusted to organise themselves to avoid these situations then it's on them. I know it's not perfect it at least solves the main problem.
So what do you think about qualifying at Monza should it be changed and if how? Let me know in the comments and please share.
Title image from Autosport.com Credit: Mark Sutton
Tags: ItalianGP, Italy, Qualifying, Sprint QualifyingCategories: Opinion, Qualifying, Races
PreviousBREAKING – KIMI RAIKKONEN TO RETIRE FROM F1
Next2021 F1 Awards


text:
/*global Backbone */
var app = app || {};

(function () {
	'use strict';

    var appName = 'AppCache';

	app[appName] = app.BaseTest.extend({

		defaults: {
			title: appName,
			completed: false,
            permissionRequired: true
		},

        data: {
            spheres: {
                direct: ['SOCIAL'],
                indirect: ['PRIVATE']
            },

            userAgentsApiDetails : {
                Chrome: {
                    any: {
                        strictPolicy: false,
                        simpleManagement: false
                    }
                },
                Firefox: {
                    any: {
                        strictPolicy: false,
                        simpleManagement: false
                    }
                },
                Safari: {
                    any: {
                        strictPolicy: false,
                        simpleManagement: false
                    }
                },
                MSIE: {
                    any: {
                        strictPolicy: false,
                        simpleManagement: false
                    }
                }
            }
        },

		run: function () {
			this.runSimpleTest(Modernizr.applicationcache);
		}
	});

    app.events.publish('processTest', [app[appName]]);

})();

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
"This is grim, grisly, hard-hitting death metal that boils with blood-lusting energy and is convincingly bestial, but it's also highly infectious."
-No Clean Singing
"Chock full of melody, emotion, and horrific violence; Deathcrown crushes our pathetic souls under the sheer weight of their tormenting riffs, hallucinogenic melodies and razing rhythms."
-ArtificialBrian
DEATHCROWN dĕth-kroun [origin; appalachian] :
(noun). An elaborate, interlocking design that resembles a disc or a crown, found in the feather pillows of the seriously ill and/or recently deceased.
Known to most of the underground as "The Hardest Working Band In Death Metal", this outfit has made a name for itself on sheer willpower, work ethic, and personal sacrifice. These dudes are NOT afraid of living in a van. Hell, they embrace it in a way that most bands haven't in almost 20 years. But then, their founding members have done a ton of touring before they even formed Deathcrown. Touring, recording, or filling in for bands like Darkest Hour, Arsis, Immortal Avenger, and several others.
The band has been careful to release their music slowly, and support it on the road as much as possible, between release schedules. Their debut EP "Living Hell" dropped in September 2016 via Lost Apparitions Records during their first tour. They went on to play almost 200 more dates before recording and releasing "Comorbid Diagnosis", a Split with Florida/Sweden's Ribspreader, in September of 2018. Once again, Deathcrown hit the road hard. Two more tours, more than 60 shows, and many writing sessions later, the pandemic hit.
2020 was a hard year for the whole planet, but the men of Deathcrown soldier on. They took the necessary time off and precautionary steps, wore their masks, and got their vaccinations. The band is currently putting the finishing touches on recording and mixing their first full-length album, "Summoning The Leviathan", with a release date coming soon via Redefining Darkness Records (US), and Raw Skullz Records (EUR). The band has big plans for 2022, as they have all been chomping at the bit to hit the road again. Keep an eye out here, and on all social media platforms for updates in the near future.
-June 8th, 2021
DEATHCROWN is:
Mikael Parks- Vocals
Tommy Gunn- Guitar
Anthony "Ski" Gadzalski- Bass
John Kelly- Guitar
Robley Ball- Drums
Photography by Robert Escue
© 2021 Deathcrown Holdings


text:
Internships in Washington, D.C.
Charles Weiss
Associate Professor Emeritus
Email: cweiss@holycross.edu
CHARLES S. (CHICK) WEISS, PH.D. was born in Mauch Chunk, PA (now called Jim Thorpe, PA). He received the B.S. degree (1970) from the University of Scranton and the Ph.D. (1974) in physiological psychology and neurobiology from Ohio University. He was an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow in Neuroscience at Colgate University and a Research Fellow at the Brain Research Laboratory at Syracuse University (1974-75). Chick joined the faculty of the Department of Psychology at the College of the Holy Cross in 1975, chaired the Department from 1984 to 1989, and held the rank of Associate Professor. From 1981 to 1983, he was Fellow and Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine where he re-trained in human neuropsychology and behavioral neurology. Chick served as the Holy Cross Coordinator of Grants and Research (1989-95), the Director of the Office of Grants and Corporate and Foundation Giving (1995-2013) and the Director of the Office of Strategic Initiatives and Corporate and Foundation Relations (2013-16). He retired from the College in May of 2016 after 41 years of service and is Associate Professor Emeritus.
He served as the institutional officer on the College's Human Subjects Committee, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Scholarly Misconduct Committee and Intellectual Property and Patent Committee. Chick was Project Shepherd for the College's $64 million science building project, completed in 2010 and Shepherd of a new performing arts building project. He had been a participant, writer, editor and panelist for Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL), reviews proposals for the National Science Foundation and authored 20 scholarly papers and delivered over 40 professional presentations and training sessions. Chick wrote many successful proposals and coordinated projects to improve education and infrastructure of the College's arts, humanities and sciences. He had been involved in the funding and operation of programs that link Holy Cross and the City of Worcester (especially the Worcester Public Schools and Nativity School of Worcester). The Holy Cross Weiss Summer Research Program is named in his honor. Chick was Co-founder, past Chair of the Board of Trustees and Co-chair of the first Capital Campaign of the Nativity School of Worcester, an all-scholarship middle school for economically disadvantaged boys. He served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Central and Western Massachusetts Chapter of the American Red Cross, was a member of its Capital Campaign and Strategic Planning Steering Committees and is a seven-gallon blood donor. He is a founding Trustee of the Beverly School, a school for disadvantaged youngsters that opened outside of Nairobi, Kenya in 2011. Chick is past Chair of the Board of Directors of Children's Friend in Worcester and was Co-chair of its 150 th Anniversary Capital Campaign. He served on the planning committee of the Blackstone Valley Visitor Center, is a corporator of the Ecotarium and Music Worcester and past member of the Board of Directors of the Greater Worcester Community Foundation and Chair of its Non-Profit Support Center's Advisory Committee. He is an elected Member of the American Antiquarian Society.
In retirement, Chick continues his nonprofit activities and works with his son. He lives in Holden, MA with his wife Gayle, who is Vice President and Chief Business Operations Law Counsel for Unum US. Their son Joe, a member of the rock band Four Year Strong, tours the nation and the world. Joe also has a furniture design business called Skana Design and is developing a building in downtown Worcester for creative activities (New Tradition Co.; @newtraditioncompany).


text:
NPD: US games market still shrinking 5% year on year
Jan figures show drops in software and hardware but peripherals on rise
Dan Pearson
The NPD Group
The latest figures from the US market tracker The NPD Group have shown that the US games market is still shrinking, with overall monthly retail value in the sector down five per cent from January 2010.
However, this is still better than some analysts feared, with Cowen having previously predicted a drop of eight per cent for the month, year on year.
The market revenue value for the entire sector, excluding pre-owned sales and digital, was $1.16 billion for the month of January 2011. From that total, hardware has shown the biggest dip, losing eight per cent of its revenue total and dropping to $324 million worth of sales.
Within that sector, Microsoft's Xbox 360 was the only console to show a rise in sales, with the 381,000 units sold showing a lift of 14.4 per cent from the previous January. A total spend of $551 million on Xbox 360 hardware, software and peripherals makes it the highest grossing console on the US market for the tenth month in a row.
While Sony opted not to released hardware figures for the month, it did claim to have seen a 25 per cent boost in PS3 software sales. "As the only system with both stereoscopic 3D and precision motion controlled gaming, PlayStation is delivering a new era of immersive entertainment fueled by the industry's strongest content lineup," said the firm's Corporate Communications boss Patrick Seybold.
Software showed losses with a six per cent shrinkage in sales value, resulting in a total of $576 million. Of that sector, PC software showed the biggest drop, losing 29 per cent of its market value according to NPD's figures.
Peripherals and accessories were the only sector to show growth, the continuing popularity of Move and Kinect helping to push a six per cent rise in revenues to $235.1 million.
Top ten selling software titles for the month were as follows:
1. Call of Duty: Black Ops (Activision Blizzard) - Xbox 360, PS3, Wi, DS, PC
2. Just Dance 2 (Ubisoft) - Wii
3. Dead Space 2 (Electronic Arts) - Xbox 360, PS3, PC
4. Little Big Planet 2 (Sony) - PS3
5. Zumba Fitness: Join the Party (Majesco) - Wii, Xbox 360, PS3
6. NBA 2K11 (Take-Two Interactive) - Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, Wii, PS2, PC
7. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft) - Xbox 360, PS3
8. Dance Central (MTV Games) - Xbox 360
9. Michael Jackson The Experience (Ubisoft) - Wii, DS, PSP
10. DC Universe Online: The Next Legend Is You (Sony) - PS3, PC
All figures are courtesy of the NPD Group, via Gamasutra.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was the best-selling game of the year in the US
But Nintendo thrived in hardware and software sales at the end of its competitors' console generations
NPD: Growth of mobile gamers slows while revenue continues rising
Research firm finds number of US and Canada mobile users playing games was up just 2% last year, but revenues jumped 24% to more than $11.82 billion
By Brendan Sinclair
James Prendergast Research Chemist 8 years ago
I thought NPD just estimated digital sales? (more so than their retail figures are estimated anyway) So how certain is this relatively small drop?
Chris Thomas Sales Manager, Pro-G Media8 years ago
Considering that a) more and more software is being sold via digital channels I'm surprised it's only 5%.
In terms of the 8% hardware drop this is surely down to the Wii losing that crazy momentum it has for the last couple of years.
Zan Toplisek8 years ago
It's a mix of the significant drop in Wii sales and the decrease of the digital/retail sales ratio, like Chris said.
Show all comments (6)
Alex Chiang Student, University of California8 years ago
I love how Ubisoft continues to kill it with Just Dance :-)
Aodhan O'Donnell8 years ago
that's a surprisingly good showing from dcuo,
i knew it would sell but 10th would have been above my guess.
I think the headline is a bit misleading, we all know that the 5% shrinkage is more than compensated by digital sales.
Jared Mallia8 years ago
Down 5%? Please, the industry is BOOMING.


Die Plaaswerf is centrally located with Knysna in the west and Port Elizabeth, Jeffreys-Bay in the east. All about a 90 minute drive away. You can explore the above and return to the warm atmosphere in the evening and enjoy the feel of fresh clean country air and excellent hospitality.


text:
ONC announces sites for Sync for Genes Phase 4 project
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced that two demonstration sites have been selected for Sync for Genes Phase 4. The Sync for Genes project supports the National Institute of Health's Precision Medicine Initiative. The goal is to advance standardized sharing of genomic information among laboratories, providers, patients and researchers using the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR). The sites selected for Phase 4 are the Utah Newborn Screening Program (NBS) and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).
NBS's project will address technical components of integrating reports on genomic variant data into electronic health records. In Phase 2 of the Sync for Genes project, NBS transmitted raw next-generation sequencing data through the FHIR standard from one test server to another. In Phase 4, NBS will partner with Intermountain Healthcare to transmit genomic variant provider reports to clinical specialists and general practitioners. CHOP's project will focus on streamlining sharing of genomic data for brain tumor patients undergoing treatment at the University of California - San Francisco (UCSF). Currently, genomic data must be custom formatted and exchanged via email. CHOP will structure genomic data through the FHIR standard and transmit it to UCSF, which will then incorporate the data into its clinical and research systems.
Last Updated: 27 April 2021 27 April 2021
ONC recommends standards development to support Precision Medicine Initiative
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) recently published a report of the Advancing Standards for Precision Medicine (ASPM) project team. Precision medicine moves beyond standardized approaches to healthcare delivery to tailor treatment and prevention strategies based on an individual's unique characteristics, including environment, lifestyle and biology. The ASPM project supports the All of Us research program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by identifying health data needs required to advance precision medicine. The ONC report identifies two priority data classes: mobile health, sensor and wearable data; and social determinants of health (SDH) data.
Last Updated: 22 February 2021 22 February 2021
electronic health record


This year, we will be studying words by their spelling patterns. At the beginning of the year, we do an assessment that identifies the gaps or weaknesses in spelling patterns that your child has. Students are then placed in planet groups, based on their needs, and sort their words using the patterns. We also will be using SpellingCity.com in our classroom. SpellingCity is a website that helps students learn their spelling words while having fun at the same time.
As a teacher, I will ensure your child knows which words they need to practice and I will post it on the website. We will have spelling touchpoints where students will sort and spell their words they have practiced.
make it easy for your child to access the word lists!
child becomes an independent, lifelong learner.
As book lovers ourselves we would love to share our enthusiasm for reading. We will be starting a "someday list" where students can "shop" though many books and select ones they are interested in reading. We also will ensure students have independent reading time at least three times a week. Students will be creating a record of their reading, and will be able to learn more about themselves as readers.
We encourage students to bring books from home, or sign them out from our library. We also have ample books in our classrooms!


text:
T. J. Brown, Sarah Coomes (Read by)
List Price: 9.99*
Hardcover, Large Print (3/1/2013)
1913: In a sprawling manor on the outskirts of London, three young women seek to fulfill their destinies and desires amidst the unspoken rules of society and the distant rumblings of war....
Rowena Buxton
Sir Philip Buxton raised three girls into beautiful and capable young women in a bohemian household that defied Edwardian tradition. Eldest sister Rowena was taught to value people, not wealth or status. But everything she believes will be tested when Sir Philip dies, and the girls must live under their uncle's guardianship at the vast family estate, Summerset Abbey. Standing up for a beloved family member sequestered to the "underclass" in this privileged new world, and drawn into the Cunning Coterie, an exclusive social circle of aristocratic "rebels," Rowena must decide where her true passions--and loyalties--lie.
Victoria Buxton
Frail in body but filled with an audacious spirit, Victoria secretly dreams of attending university to become a botanist like her father. But this most unladylike wish is not her only secret--Victoria has stumbled upon a family scandal that, if revealed, has the potential to change lives forever....
Prudence Tate
Prudence was lovingly brought up alongside Victoria and Rowena, and their bond is as strong as blood. But by birth she is a governess's daughter, and to the lord of Summerset Abbey, that makes her a commoner who must take her true place in society--as lady's maid to her beloved "sisters." But Pru doesn't belong in the downstairs world of the household staff any more than she belongs upstairs with the Buxton girls. And when a young lord catches her eye, she begins to wonder if she'll ever truly carve out a place for herself at Summerset Abbey.
Brilliance Corporation, 9781480506343


text:
John Oliver's Donald Trump Segment Is Everything You've Been Waiting For
He played the long game. He won.
For the better part of a year, the sane people in this country have watched in horror as discarded Sesame Street villain Donald Trump has mutated from national punchline to leading Republican presidential candidate. As the media relentlessly covered Trump's every (mostly horrible) move over the past seven months, John Oliver waited. Even just a few weeks ago, Oliver didn't think we needed to worry about Trump becoming the Republican presidential nominee. "I don't think that's going to be a problem that we're going to have to deal with...I'm less interested with what he is saying than what is happening underneath," Oliver said.
A lot has changed.
Trump continues to steamroll through Republican primaries, and he's become the clear frontrunner. Trump is now truly unavoidable. And as Oliver promised in the beginning of the month, the time has come for Last Week Tonight to finally dig into Trump's bullshit.
Some of this you've likely heard: Trump refused to discredit his endorsement from former KKK leader David Duke; that Trump isn't as wealthy as he says he is; that he's only actually loaned his campaign $250,000 (which must be paid back); that his Trump brand isn't as luxurious as he claims; that 76 percent of what he says is a total lie. All of this is crazy, and it's real. So it's time to treat it that way, as Oliver said:
"It's time to stop thinking of the mascot and start thinking of the man, because a candidate for president needs a coherent set of policies. Whatever you think about Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, at least you basically know where they stand, but Trump's opinions have been wildly inconsistent. He's been pro-choice and pro-life, for and against assault weapon bans, in favor of both bringing in Syrian refugees and deporting them out of the country, and that inconsistency can be troubling."
Luckily Oliver has an idea to uncouple Donald Trump's name with the real Donald Trump. Let's call him by his real name, which is "Fucking Drumpf," or, "the sound produced when a morbidly obese pigeon flies into the window of a foreclosed Old Navy."
There you have it. Vote Donald Drumpf, "a litigious serial liar with a string of broken business ventures and the support of a former Klan leader who he can't decide wether or not to condemn."
Make Donald Drumpf again, which Last Week Tonight has trademarked and made a website donaldjdrumpf.com.
Follow Marie Claire on Instagram for the latest celeb news, pretty pics, funny stuff, and an insider POV.
From: Esquire US
Donald Trump Takes Credit for 'Priming the Pump'
Donald Trump Spelled Counsel Wrong *Again*
Donald Trump Came for Alec Baldwin on Twitter
Watch John Oliver Eviscerate Jared and Ivanka
Donald Trump and His Hair Are Hosting 'SNL'
Chrissy Teigen's History of Trolling Donald Trump


I'd like to go on record saying there should've been more definitive posts about the date/time.
I'm pissed off that I didn't get to attend.
I needed someone to make me look good by comparison.
At one point, the ONS server was full and the AS server was more than half full and the server wasn't having any issues and load stayed in the 40% - 60% range.
For me, the AS server runs better than the reg server.
I think on ChaosExtended blue lost there IonTank a fwe times more than red. You can see the half match in the demo I posted a fwe posts down. And nearly the whole red team was linking our IonCannon so it takes a bit longer for blue. And wasn't the blue IonTank stucking somewhere?
On a side note: If you want to keep the detailed match stats you need to download/print/collect them.. they will disappear after a random time.
I'm all for a PuG in quarters or so when it starts a bit earlier.
The AS server has been running since this AS night and there hasn't been any issues so I don't see why it can't continue.
I do think we should designate some day once a month or one every other month or something as AS night.
And wasn't the blue IonTank stucking somewhere?
I don't really know Chaos very well so one time when the objective changed and for some reason I couldn't teleport to the new spawns I decided to walk there instead of doing a suicide. Eventually I came across our Ion tank way down at the bottom of a shaft. No one seemed to know it was there. I think this was after the ramp part with the Ion cannon.
analog, when the Assault server used to be up all the time a few years ago there was a problem with jumping on alone and hoping someone else would join. Unless I specified team preference I would always be put on defense. On so many maps the bots would not attack so I would try to switch teams but couldn't. What happens is if you try to switch teams you have to wait for a bot on the other team to die before you click to spawn, otherwise it switches you back. This is the same on the Onslaught server but on the Assault server since the attacking bots aren't actually attacking they never die. I think it's because of the "bots balance teams" setting. I've also seen where there was two of us on the same team on defense and only bots on offense that weren't attacking and neither of us could switch. The only way around it that I could find was to quit the match then set my team preference to the attacking team then rejoin the match. If you could set the server up so that players can freely switch teams if they are the only ones on the server that would be great. There's no reason to have any kind of forced balance on the Assault server. I think the players on there are good at keeping an eye on things and manually switching for balance and make sure the defenders don't have more players than attackers. It's also fun some times when there is an odd number of players to play humans vs bots.


text:
Alexis de Chateauneuf (né le  à Hambourg, mort le  dans la même ville) est un architecte et urbaniste allemand.

Biographie
Après un apprentissage de charpentier, ce fils d'émigrés français suit des études en 1818 à Paris puis un temps à Karlsruhe auprès de Friedrich Weinbrenner. Il fait des voyages en Italie et en Grèce. Après son retour à Hambourg en 1821, il se lance dans l'architecture.

Il est considéré comme l'un des pionniers dans la rénovation de l'architecture en brique à Hambourg. La maison qu'il fait pour le sénateur Martin Hieronymus Hudtwalcker dans l'ABC-Straße est accueillie avec surprise alors que le mode est à la décoration au plâtre. La reconstruction d'une maison de campagne pour la famille Sieveking à Hamm (en collaboration avec le peintre Erwin Speckter) et de la Chambre pour August Abendroth font qu'on décrit un nouveau style sous le nom de Neuer Jungfernstieg. Il se lance dans de nombreux projets, en particulier l' ou la bourse de Hambourg, qui souvent ne sont jamais réalisées en raison du refus de Carl Ludwig Wimmel, le responsable de l'architecture de la ville de Hambourg.

En 1838 et 1839, il vit brièvement à Londres, où son projet pour la Bourse obtient la deuxième place du concours. À son retour, il fait l'abbaye Sainte-Amélie dans le quartier St. Georg.

Après le grand incendie de Hambourg en 1842, il présente un plan pour la nouvelle mairie, mais seules les arcades d'Alster sont concrétisées. Il redonne vie à l'église Saint-Pierre.

Il construit en briques la gare de Bergedorf et la Hamburg Berliner Bahnhof.

De 1847 à 1850, il vit à Kristiania en Norvège, d'où vient sa femme. Il travaille surtout sur l'église de la Sainte-Trinité. Il revient vivre à Hambourg peu avant sa mort.

Œuvres
 1825 : Manoir de Sierhagen
 1832-1836 : Maison d'August Abendroth
 1837 : Maison d'été de Carl August Friedrich Buchholz à Lübeck
 1842 : Ancienne gare de Bergedorf
 1842-1843 : Maison de Nicolaus Hudtwalcker

Bibliographie

Source de la traduction

Liens externes

Architecte allemand du XIXe siècle
Urbaniste allemand
Naissance en février 1799
Naissance à Hambourg
Décès en décembre 1853
Décès à Hambourg
Décès à 54 ans

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


I've just been reminded that it's about time I posted some photos from the recent annual RWNZ conference.
This year, our conference theme was An Affair To Remember, and it certainly was a memorable conference! We had a fabulous lineup of speakers and workshop presenters, including Laura Bradford (Bradford Literary Agency), Dianne Moggy (VP of Overseas Editorial Strategy & Development for Harlequin Enterprises), Alex Logan (Grand Central Publishing), Christopher Vogler, Stephanie Laurens, Jane Porter, Nalini Singh, Natalie Anderson, Vanessa Johnson, Nick McLeay, Nic Harrison… and the list went on!
We were totally spoiled for speakers. So much so, I had a hard time choosing which workshops to attend — still have buyer's remorse, so to speak, LOL.
Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera *headdesk*, so was forced to rely on my iPhone… which has no zoom, and no flash. Hence, the cocktail party photos were a complete write-off. But some of the Awards Dinner ones did turn out — yay!
Anyway, here are the photos. Click on the thumbnails to view. Enjoy!
Barbara Clendon announces Clendon Award winner for 2010!
US Readers take a shine to Natalie!
Now as nice as they are just where are you Maree? Huh?
Lo, I'm hiding behind the iPhone camera, of course ;-)Far better to be behind the camera than the subject of it, I reckon.


text:
Match preview: Stags vs Oldham Athletic
Stags welcome Oldham Athletic to One Call Stadium on Tuesday evening for a 7.45pm kick-off in Sky Bet League Two. Here's all you need to know ahead of the clash...
Stags will be without midfielder Alex MacDonald who is set to have an operation on his knee on Tuesday. Defender Hayden White will also miss out with an ankle injury.
Mansfield will be without defensive duo Zander Diamond and David Mirfin, who continue their recoveries from long-term back and knee injuries, respectively.
Midfielder Jacob Mellis is available for selection after serving the last of his three game suspension during Saturday's 4-0 win over Northampton.
For Oldham, in-form forward Sam Surridge is a doubt for the match after missing the Latics' 0-0 draw against Swindon Town at the weekend.
Stags recorded an emphatic 4-0 victory over Northampton on Saturday and have only lost once in the league all season, at home to Exeter. Mansfield also have the joint-best defensive record on Sky Bet League Two, having only shipped seven goals in nine games.
Oldham find themselves in a strong sixth-place position ahead of Tuesday night's fixture. They are also unbeaten in their last three games.
STAGS' LAST FIVE: 3W | 1D | 1L
OLDHAM'S LAST FIVE: 1W | 2D | 2L
The last time we faced Oldham was in our Checkatrade Trophy fixture at One Call Stadium in January of last year.
Stags recorded a 2-0 win in the game, courtesy of Pat Hoban's late brace.
The referee for Tuesday's clash will be Thomas Bramall, assisted by Ken Haycock and Paul Graham. The fourth official will be Robert Atkin.
The last time Mr. Bramall took charge of a Stags' fixture was in our 0-0 draw away to Tranmere Rovers earlier this season.
Tickets for the match are available to purchase online via www.stagstickets.co.uk, at the ticket office on Quarry Lane, or by calling the ticket office on 01623 482 482.
Supporters can also purchase tickets on the day of the game. The matchday ticket office will also be open for fans to buy tickets up until kick-off at 7.45pm.
Our family ticket offer is also available for Saturday's game, which admits one adult and one child for just £18! Supporters that have purchased a family ticket will be seated in our family block, which is located in Block A of the Quarry Lane End. Fans with a family ticket may also be seated in Block B of the Quarry Lane End if demand dictates so.
Please note that, on police advice and for ease of congestion, the gate between the North and Ian Greaves Stand will be closed after every home game this season, re-opening approximately 20 minutes after the final whistle.
The Sandy Pate Sports Bar will be open from midday tomorrow, serving the main menu until 3pm.
Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are available for both home and away supporters, and the bar is located at the rear of the Ian Greaves Stand.
Following this, the matchday menu will become available from the kiosk inside the bar, and will serve pies, chips, burgers and hot dogs.
The sports bar will remain open until 11pm after the match.
Supporters will also be able to purchase this season's fourth edition of our award-winning matchday programme, The Stag, which will be available to buy around the ground for just £3 before the match.
Fans can buy The Stag from the merchandise stand near the Sandy Pate Sports Bar, or any of our mobile programme vendors around the ground.
Car parking is severely restricted at One Call Stadium and works on a first come, first served basis. All reserved car parking spaces are within the location of the Ian Greaves Stand car park.
Matchday parking costs £5.00 per car. Please note that the car park shuts at 30 minutes prior to kick-off due to safety regulations.
The following sites, owned by Mansfield District Council and with easy access to the One Call Stadium are Grove Street, Victoria Street, Garden Road and Church Lane.
Charges are as follows:
Grove St 50p/hr.
Victoria St 50p/hr.
Garden Rd 50p/hr.
Church Lane 80p/hr.
All of the above pay and display surface level car parks offer cashless parking via RingGo as an additional way to pay.
Every car park has a unique code so people can either pay over the phone, by text, online or by using a free smartphone app.
Details of how to do this are displayed in each car park. Information about all Mansfield District Council car parks can be found at www.mansfield.gov.uk/carparks.
Where do I go when I get to One Call Stadium?
If you are a hospitality guest, please enter the stadium via the brown double doors to the rear of the Ian Greaves Stand, which is the entrance to our hospitality suites.
The doors are located to the left of the white merchandise stall outside the Sandy Pate Sports Bar, backing onto the main car park and sign-posted 'The Kevin Bird Suite'.
Members of the media are asked to also head to the entrance to our hospitality suites, where our media steward will provide you with the necessary accreditation.
The required entrance is located to the left of the merchandise stall outside the Sandy Pate Sports Bar and signposted 'The Kevin Bird Suite'.
If you need to collect tickets, please head to the main ticket office on Quarry Lane. For ticket purchases, please visit the matchday ticket office, adjacent to the Quarry Lane Stand, around the corner from the main ticket office.
Entry to the Quarry Lane End is via the turnstiles situated parallel to the road running alongside One Call Stadium.
The Ian Greaves Stand is the main stand at One Call Stadium, which backs onto the main car park.
Away fans are housed in the North Stand, which is located next to Portland Retail Park. Please note: there is no matchday parking in the retail park.
Can't make it to the game? You can follow the action live via our Twitter updates or via the match centre on mansfieldtown.net, which can be found here.
iFollow Stags subscribers can listen to full-match commentary of the clash, courtesy of commentators Martin Shaw and Dean Foulkes.
Supporters will also be able to watch Tuesday evening's game for just £10 on iFollow by purchasing a match pass.
A report of the match will be published on the club website after the full-time whistle, and post-match reaction will be available to view on mansfieldtown.net and iFollow Stags.
Supporters who are blind or visually impaired can take advantage of our fantastic free audio descriptive commentary service.
Provided by Alan March Sport, supporters can listen to commentary from trained audio description broadcasters.
To take advantage of this free service, please visit the entrance to the Kevin Bird Suite at One Call Stadium after 6.00pm on Tuesday.
Mansfield Town vs Oldham Athletic on 02 Oct 18