As higher education institutions focus on increased retention and graduation rates, the current economic climate adds pressure to college students who need to complete degrees quickly—perhaps even faster than commonly accomplished through 2- and 4-year plans. Therefore, college and university administrators continuously consider various impacts of student support systems, including analysis on the personnel who provide academic advising. Many factors influence the choice of individuals who provide academic advising at each campus, such as the mission of the institution, size of campus, public or private status, student demographics, and staff budgets.
Results from the 2011 NACADA National Survey confirm that full-time professional and faculty advisors continue to be the most frequently utilized advising personnel, and well over one half of respondents indicated the use of both at their institutions. Evidence shows that adjunct (part-time) advisors, peer and graduate students, and support staff provide academic advising; however, not in high numbers. Small and private campuses report employing more faculty advisors than large, public institutions where more professional advisors are hired.
According to 63% of respondents, personnel in a variety of campus positions, including those whose primary role is neither teaching nor advising, provide academic advising assistance. Some institutions may be promoting an all-hands-on-deck approach as budgets tighten and the emphasis on raising retention and graduation rates increases. Those at institutions that actively promote academic advising as part of the teaching and learning mission and overall student success efforts, and not simply as a part of course registration, may take this all-in approach more frequently than those who espouse other views of advising.
The issue of mandated academic advising, including questions about whether advising should be required for all students or only specific cohorts, creates a common discussion point at all institutions. The strategy of ensuring compliance usually involves limiting student access to required processes or procedures, including registration for future semesters, until they meet with an advisor. Survey data indicate that more faculty advisors work in all-encompassing mandatory advising systems than do professional advisors; however, more professional advisors work with students specifically selected for mandatory advising. This finding may suggest that small, private institutions implement a more rigorously mandated advising policy for all students, and large schools may promote it for specific student groups. As seen overall, multiple individuals in various roles appear to play a part in assisting with mandatory advising.
Since the birth of higher education, faculty members have provided academic advising for students (Beatty, 1991/2009; Cook, 2009; Thelin & Hirschy, 2009). In addition to providing classroom instruction and research, faculty members continue to play a major role in academic advising for students, and for their contributions to be effective, leadership must consider their teaching load, advising case numbers, and typical responsibilities, as based on historical and contractual obligations, and individual interest or desire to advise undergraduates. Teaching and research expectations for the faculty may be overwhelming, especially for the promotion and tenure process. If not included in the overall process of evaluation nor as a consideration for promotion and tenure, advising responsibilities will not be a high priority for faculty members.
Those on the faculty with the time and support to understand their discipline and institution-wide curricula as well as serve as strong referral agents to key on-campus resources make effective academic advisors. They must commit to keeping up with the technology utilized to enhance the overall academic-advising experience. Many small and private institutions have successfully maintained the role of faculty advising by offering relevant support and training.
According to the 2011 NACADA National Survey, large institutions utilize professional academic advising to replace or supplement faculty advising models. Professional advisors devote the majority of their workday to meeting directly with students to address academic curriculum requirements, college policies and procedures, and general student development and success issues. Looking at data from The Findings from ACT's Sixth National Survey (Habley, 2004) and the current survey, one sees a trend of institutions increasingly using professional advisors to meet student needs.
Administrators in charge of advising should ask themselves, "Who will be more proactive and intentional in addressing student issues and challenges?" For a variety of reasons, the answer may be "professional advisors." When institution priorities change, professional advisors may adapt quicker than faculty members to address transitional issues. Professional advisors may also be best prepared to handle questions about the institution-wide curriculum as well as maintain updated knowledge about student resources across campus. In addition, professional advisors typically handle academic discussions with parents and family members.
Faculty members may be better than professional advisors at addressing specific career-related questions from students and offering insight on specific course content related to an academic program. However, with increasing attention on career advising and the number of liaisons with academic departments and campus career services, professional advisors should be able to address students' career-related questions.
According to survey data, more peer, graduate student, and paraprofessional advisors work at large institutions than at small ones. Typically considered effective as a supplement to professional or faculty advisor programs, staff roles vary among campuses. In general, with procedures not protected by the Family Educational Rights to Privacy Act (Department of Education, n.d.), students offer efficient and cost-effective assistance, and in my experience, advisees typically express strong satisfaction with peer advising support.
Peer and graduate student advising support must be developed through strong training programs and monitored carefully through consistent supervision. Regardless of the scope of their responsibilities, student employees represent the advising unit just as much as full-time employees, so care must be taken to ensure accountability and accuracy.
Although not universally utilized, part-time faculty and professional advisors tend to work in large and 2-year institutions. Where hired (respondents from some types of institutions reported that they only hired full-time advisors), part-time advisors typically offer assistance during peak periods such as summer orientation or course registration, but others maintain general advising efforts.
Challenges with employing part-time advisors, especially those hired for the busy seasons, include training. Also part-time advisors may be unable to promote the relationship between the advisor-advisee, which may create dissatisfaction, especially for students who prefer working with the same academic advisor throughout all the phases of their education.
Many individuals whose primary roles are neither faculty members nor advisors fulfill academic advising roles. While the reasons for employing nonprofessional or nonfaculty advisors vary across institutions, administrators creating and evaluating campus advising programs need to recognize their value. The use of diverse individuals to assist students with academic success initiatives may constitute a positive strategy if these facilitators receive the proper support and training. A collaborative approach across campus must still be coordinated and monitored to ensure students attain the assistance needed to be successful.
Strong academic advising programs in the 21st century must include the support of technological resources accessible to both advisors and students. College students should expect technology to be a part of the resources and services they will receive. Academic advisors must utilize current technology to support and enhance individual relationship with students. Common technology resources include student information systems, degree audit programs, online learning environments, and student-accessible web portals to institutional resources (see Chapter 15).
Regardless of the persons who provide academic advising at any institution, the success or failure of efforts depends upon a strong training and professional development program. According to Habley (1986), anyone assisting students with academic curricula, course registration, relationship building, and general or specific student success services must receive continuous support in the form of training and development. Habley specifically identified the following key aspects that characterize successful training and development initiatives: informational (knowledge of curricula, policies, procedures, resources, etc.); relational (listening skills, communication competencies, knowledge of generational issues, etc.); and conceptual (mission, articulated goals, common general understanding of the academic advising process, etc.). More recently, McClellan (2007) suggested that technology and personal components receive critical attention as components of successful advising.
Faculty members, professional advisors, undergraduate or graduate students, paraprofessionals, and any other individual who fulfills advising and student success goals must understand their responsibility to the institution. Therefore, individuals responsible for training and development programs must have the authority and the resources to ensure consistency and accountability for anyone who serves in an academic advising role.
Does the institutional mission or vision indicate who should provide advising at the institution?
Do faculty members have time for an academic advising load? Do they want to provide advising in addition to their other faculty responsibilities?
What benefits and challenges characterize the current advising model?
If changes are desired, what type of academic advisor would best meet the specific needs for identified student populations? Who desires these changes and why?
Should academic advising be centralized or decentralized? Should each academic unit employ its own academic advisors?
Do peer or graduate student advisors have a role at the institution?
Who provides academic advising for exploratory/undeclared students? Are the specific needs of exploratory/undeclared students being met in the current model?
Cook, S. (2009). Important events in the development of academic advising in the United States. NACADA Journal, 29(2), 18–40.
Davis, K. J. (2003). Advisor training and development workshops. In Advisor training: Exemplary practices in the development of advisor skills. (Monograph No. 9) (pp. 13–16). Manhattan, KS: National Academic Advising Association.
Habley, W. R. (1986). Advisor training: Whatever happened to instructional design? ACT workshop presentation. Iowa City, IA: ACT.
Habley, W.R. (2004). The status of academic advising: Findings from the ACT Sixth National Survey (Monograph No. 10). Manhattan, KS: National Academic Advising Association.
King, M. C. (2000). Designing effective training for academic advisors. In V. N. Gordon & W. R. Habley (Eds.), Academic advising: A comprehensive handbook (pp. 289–297). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Thelin, J. R., & Hirschy, A. S. (2009). College students and the curriculum: The fantastic voyage of higher education, 1636 to the present. NACADA Journal, 29(2), 9–17.


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A Small Rant About The Things I Might or Might Not Know Which I Might or Might Not Tell You About
Posted on June 5, 2009 Posted by John Scalzi 130 Comments
Spin magazine had up a piece on Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman performing a benefit gig the other night, in which it revealed that the two of them revealed to the audience that they were dating. Good for them. But the news of their dating prompted someone to send me an e-mail, asking me why I had never mentioned that Palmer and Gaiman were dating and suggesting that it was somehow my duty to keep people informed about such things.
E-mail being the emotionally flat medium that it is, I was not entirely sure that this person was joking, but the more I re-read it the more I became convinced that this person was at least mildly piqued that they thought I was holding such a choice tidbit of quasi-celebrity news from them, and did believe I was obliged to spill about people of fame they assumed that I knew personally.
Assuming that I am in fact not being hypersensitive, two points here:
1. How was I supposed to know this? I'm an admirer of both Miss Palmer's music and her crazy eyebrows, but I don't know her and have never met her. Seems unlikely I would be her bosom confidant. Likewise, while it may seem to some outside observers that I should know Neil Gaiman, we've only ever exchanged a few brief e-mails, mostly about the recent Hugo Voters Packet. I've spoken to him once, but that was in 1992, when I called him up to interview him for a newspaper article I was doing on graphic novels. At no time in our conversation did Gaiman ever say "Hey, anonymous newspaper reporter whom I shall probably never speak with again, seventeen years from now I plan to date a very cute and talented musician. Please keep this news in the strictest of confidence, unless at such time you happen to own a blog, which right now sounds like a disease involving phlegm, but which in the future will mean something else entirely, in which case you may write about it there." At which point I suspect I would have thought to myself, hmmm, this guy's been drinking too much cartoonist's ink.
Well, you say, you know lots of people who know Gaiman (and now, presumably, Miss Palmer). That's almost like knowing them! Well, no, not really. Look: One of the people who is close enough to me that I consider them family is close enough to Brad Pitt that they went to each other's weddings. I do not know Brad Pitt. Someone I was a friend of in college was for years a close confidant of Hilary Clinton. I do not know Hilary Clinton. As recently noted, people I know can get on the phone and talk to Harlan Ellison any time they want. I do not know Harlan Ellison. I could amaze and delight you with the list of all the notable people I almost but in fact don't know personally.
Now, perhaps one day I shall meet Mr. Gaiman and Miss Palmer; seems a reasonable bet I'll see at least one of them this August. And perhaps on that day we'll experience the sort of immediate and massive friendcrush that leads each of us to reveal all sorts of secrets to one another in long intimate conversations that will instantly cement our new status as ZOMG totally BFFs. Hey, I'm somewhat personable; it could happen. And then in fact I will know everything there is possibly to know about Mr. Gaiman and/or Miss Palmer. Which leads to the next point:
2. Even if I did know personal information about Gaiman or Palmer, why would any of you be under the impression I would tell you? I already have enough problems with people who don't know me assuming that every single thing that I ever do or learn about in my personal life is going to get plastered up on Whatever in an orgy of attention-seeking indiscretion. The last thing I need to do is to actually prove them right.
This may be hard for some folks to believe, but my default assumption when someone mentions something about themselves to me is to tell no one else. Before anything else, this is simply the polite thing to do, and what I would hope others would do for me if the situations were reversed. But more than that, there's the fact that somewhere along the way I realized it's better to have the sort of friends who know they can trust you, than the sort of friends who value the entertainment value of your inability to keep a confidence. I want friends, not an audience.
If I meet Neil Gaiman/Amanda Palmer/Whomever and we decide we're gonna be pals and share each other's unmentionable, career-damaging secrets in the creative person's drunken equivalent of becoming blood brothers, here's probably what I'd mention about it here: "Hey, so I met Neil Gaiman/Amanda Palmer/Whomever, and they were very cool once I got all my squeee over and done with." Because — no offense — that's about all you need to know about that. Everyone's personal life is personal until and unless they choose to make it otherwise. Even the people you like and admire and may in some way, and against all reason, feel you own.
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130 Comments on "A Small Rant About The Things I Might or Might Not Know Which I Might or Might Not Tell You About"
Mark Maranta
I'm not detecting any hypersensitivity here, John. That's a pretty bizarre kind of e-mail to be receiving. Must have been tongue-in-cheek… maybe the sender forgot to pop in some smileys?
And hey, I see you and Larry Niven have the same publisher.. can you get me his autograph? 8^D
spillingink5
I am related to a retired Nascar driver. Unfortunately, we aren't BFFs so I can't get you pit passes. Nor does he realize we're cousins or in fact even know me.
Phiala
It's too bad this even needs to be said. Though your version is entertaining, as always.
Josh Jasper
Oh, for the love of mike, I cannot *seriously* believe the person who sent the emails *incredible frigging gall*. Career damaging or not, who the hell do these people think you are, a source for the National Enquirer?
Look, I know industry gossip type facts, you know industry gossip type facts. You probably know more than I do, because you go to more cons than I do, and hang out with pros more (of course, the regular KGB readings her ein NY make that a close thing.) But *neither* of us are going to blab to people who shouldn't know.
That said, *dayum* Gaiman has it going. Amanda Palmer is smoking hot. And contra-wise, Palmer has it going too, 'cos Gaiman is pretty hot himself.
Jill Smith
Hey, you know – I'm a second cousin three or four times removed from Almonzo Wilder. And no – I can't get you Laura Ingalls Wilder's autograph, because I never met the woman. And also because, you know, she's dead.
And also, what the everbloomin' hell is it these days with people and entitlement issues?!
eviljwinter
It amazes me how people think that famous people owe the public their private lives when, in fact, all that is owed is a good performance in their chosen field.
Wanna see what they think? Go bug a headlining comedian after a show when he's trying to wind down in a bar and get something to eat. They're done being funny for the night, so you're apt to be disappointed.
Of course, all this is fed by the upper crust A listers turning every little thing they do into a media circus, then charging outrageous amounts to parasites like Perez Hilton for the most intimate details.
I almost but don't know John Scalzi, in that I now (as of last week!) work with one of his advance copy readers who got a dedication in, I think it was Old Man's War. (Hi, Regan!)
And even here, and even in this post, this fact is of so little value as to only be barely relevant. (Other than the fact that, if Mr. Scalzi is in the area, there's a chance he'd stop by and visit our office, and I could say Hi, I once posted in your blog about how I almost but don't know you, and he could say, "Ah, and thus the prophecy is complete.")
Mark Terry
Hey, do you know if Britney's really lip-syncing or not?
Okay, really, probably less than 6 degrees of separation. My sister-in-law played at James Woods' wedding (one of them), and she knows Tobias B., who you know, so you're what, 5 degrees of separation from damned near everybody in the movie industry? At the very least? And I bet I could do better than that.
So really… do you have Madonna's phone number?
I was fortunate enough to be at the Gaiman/Palmer reading, and should let you all know that when Mr. Gaiman confirmed they were indeed dating, he gave a quick shout-out to Scalzi and Colin Powell for not spilling the beans. Oh, before I forget, let me just add a smiley ;-p
but you're still getting me Bacon Cat Girl's phone number, right?
Does that mean you're canceling your daily briefing on the color of Wil Wheatons' undershorts? Damn. (Pun intended, BTW.)
Kevin M
This, of course, raises the question: What dark secrets do you know that you are hiding from us by posting this rant?
MikeT
I just heard that JD Salinger is dating Bacon Cat Girl! Why didn't you warn us?!?!
And since we're bragging about almost knowing famous people, my best friend's wife almost got to server beer to Brad Pitt once in Springfield, MO, and I work with Spielberg's brother in law.
maevele
Okay, but i swear I, of all the people they don't know, knew this like 2 weeks ago at least. I don't know how I knew, but I was all "old news" when i heard the news yesterday.
Apparently I should have told you so you could tell people.
Lanna Lee Maheux-Quinn
Thanks for letting me know that Neil Gaiman is dating Amanda Palmer. I didn't know that. =0)
And rant on!
angie k
Well, they seem like a lovely couple regardless of who knew/didn't know about it ahead of time.
Also, so this means you can't send me one of Mr. Gaiman's black tshirts? *scoffs*
Alternative Eric S.
I was about do a variation of a joke that's so old that anyone under 25 probably wouldn't get it. Instead I'll just throw out the payoff name and those of you who are over 30 can just smile and nod to yourself.
Morgan Fairchild.
Adam Rakunas
Eric S @ 18:
Sorry, I'm 35 and don't get it.
mythago
Well, and setting aside all the celebrity gossip thing – you know, Gaiman has his own blog going on. Why did the email think it was your job to be Gaiman's Adjunct Blogger?
Keith C.
Smiling and nodding.
I have an unusual surname that I happen to share with a couple of celebrities. We are likely distant cousins. Whenever anyone asks about the connection, I tell them that we're distant cousins but have never met. They (the asker, not the cousin) always seem so disappointed. I need to come up with better answer.
Jeff S.
The paparazzi mentality is pandemic in this country and is a more dangerous infection than swine flu will ever be.
I almost don't know anyone of consequence which means I'll never be bothered by e-mails of this type.
That makes me happy. 8D
I am in awe of the number and celebrity of people you almost know. Now that I have posted to your blog comments, I consider myself almost knowing you, so by proxy I now almost almost know Brad Pitt! How cool is that?
Great Big Nerd
Worth noting that Gaiman maintains one of these here "weblogs" his own self, and has not seen fit to mention the status of his relationship with Palmer, and only got around to publicly acknowledging his divorce fairly recently, and only then in order to minimize the impact of internet gossip. So it's not like he's real forthcoming about information about his personal life to begin with…
I'd rather know Scalzi's Erdos number than his connection to Gaiman gossip.
JulieB
Also: Couldn't anyone who cares figure it out months ago from Mr. G's blog? It was pretty obvious; at least I thought so.
JS – well some of this might be related to the "cost of fame". Remember many here are your number one fans. Speaking of listing your personal info, have you listed your shoe size or the date when you and the mrs. played hide the bacon? :-)
Kameron Hurley
Oh, pulleeeeez. Anybody who follows both their Twitter accounts would know that they're dating. Folks are just too lazy to make their own inferences.
A few of my claims to almost fame:
The lady who used to watch my sister and me was the aunt of sure-bet Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox — couldn't even get free Braves tix with that connection.
A friend of mine went to high school with Julia Roberts — said she was kinda' snobby back then.
Another acquaintance went to high school with country star Travis Tritt — said he was pretty cool.
A third acquaintance went to high school with Black Crowes bandmates Chris and Rich Robinson — claims to have beaten Chris up on several occasions, but I doubt it.
And finally, when I was in middle school I got to meet Dale Murphy who, at the time, was a star outfielder for the Braves — great guy who I admire to this day.
For some reason I found that email terribly funny. I really have to wonder if it wasn't all a joke.
As for the celeb connections, Robert Redford rented a house in my hometown from the parents of my best friend from elementary school. He was out jogging one day and my dad almost hit him with his car. I don't think any words were exchanged.
That said, if anyone is interested in the autograph of the woman who started the United State's first gourmet goat cheese company, I can totally hook you up (she's my step-mom). She's totally famous in food circles.
Wait, I'm confused, I thought Scalzi was the Perez Hilton of the Science Fiction world? My boyfriend lied to me…
Great Big Nerd @24 – sure, I think a lot of people whose knowledge of Gaiman's personal life is limited to what's on his jacket copy might have done a double take and said "dating? wait, isn't he married or something?" But that's not really what Scalzi's saying. He apparently got an email from somebody chiding him for not sharing information about Gaiman's personal life, presumably because they're both SFF guys and kinda have met a couple of times.
Stephanie @ 31 – no, that's io9. Seriously. Except they're stuck on film/TV fandom, whch I'm sure drives more traffic, but is of possibly less interest to us book fans.
I think Mr. Gaiman already got outed like that by another graphic novelist once in the past. At least, that is a story I have in my head about comic book guys that was related to me by another fanboy.
Steve Burnap
Just as long as you make sure to let us know if George R.R. Martin is dating her as he owes us a book and shouldn't be distracted!
I once rode an elevator with Francis Crick, so if anyone has any questions about genetics, I'm your man.
You mean all quazi-celebrities don't meet regularly at some undisclosed location to drink brandy and practice secret handshakes? I'm shocked.
I went to college with Margret Hamilton's niece.
And I know somebody who once dated Tom Dohrety and a second person who worked with him prior to Tor.
Kristi Wachter
There's probably a reason why the word "separation" is in the phrase "six degrees of separation."
(Also, I think you mean "by default assumption" to be "my default assumption.")
Hell, I've met both Jim Watson AND Francis Crick. No, I don't have their phone numbers.
I know John Scalzi. As in, I've read the Whatever, I've posted here, I've even exchanged e-mails. I've met the man, seen him speak, knows what he looks like. Can verify that yes, he does sit in the bar at SF cons… for hours. And yes, he does drink the occasional case of Coke Zero. I have EVEN, been on panels at SF cons with John, including one at Penguicon 7.0 that I suggested and put his name (and the name of that deadbeat Wil Wheaton) forward as someone who should be on that panel.
But when I finish some novels this fall during my sabbatical, I'm not likely to e-mail the draft to John for him to look at, or bug him about recommending me to his agent and publisher(s), just because we've crossed paths a couple of times. He's not someone I'd count on to come up to Kalamazoo and help me move 17 years of junk out of my office if I don't have a job a year from now. I'm not going to call him up and borrow a thousand dollars for a transmission rebuild. Or show up at his place and ask to crash on his floor for the night if I happened to be passing by.
In short, John is a friend in a sort of global electronic village sense — but not a friend. And I'd never ask, or expect to be asked by, anyone for gossip and dirt on celebrities.
Anyone else is unclear on the concept.
I live in a town called Palmer, Alaska, so that sort of makes Amanda Palmer my business, Scalzi. You should have told me.
Also, I think you should try the official Palmer lightning bolt eyebrows, it could be a good look for you.
Since you are the king of bloggers, you must know everything about everyone else who blogs, right? So we can e-mail you, in a piqued mood, about not spilling the personal details of the lives of all the famous bloggers.
Sheesh! Even if I did suspect you knew Neil Gaiman and/or Amanda Palmer, I'd expect you to keep any personal information about them to yourself. I don't think it's anyone's business unless the people in question want to make it public. Frankly, I'm happy to know that he's happy after recently learning of his divorce. But, at least, I know it's really none of my business.
I look at it this way… I kinda know Scalzi since I comment on his blog(*cough*)… and he once exchanged emails with Gaiman who's dating Amanda Palmer. So in my eyes, I almost dated Amanda Palmer. Yeah, that's it…
In other comments.. WTF? People before you send mails to Scalzi,take your damn meds…
Nekussa
A friend of mine was at one time running the official fan club for one of the Star Trek actors. All that means is that she had this person's blessing to run a club and did in fact know how to get hold of the actor via their agent, but there were members of the club who were absolutely convinced that she was having in-depth, personal conversations all the time with this person, and they wanted to know the inside details, dammit! She had a hard time convincing them that no, she wasn't holding out on them, and the most she ever talked about with this actor was upcoming TV/film work and convention appearances.
Xopher
Ridiculous email. Hope it was a joke. Good response.
[Name-dropping about "famous people I have met" deleted because after I wrote it it seemed kind of tasteless. Suffice to say that, while I like and admire many of the "famous" people I have met, I wouldn't presume to consider any of them "friends" as such, and my actual friends are all non-famous (for values of 'famous' that extend beyond fandom).]
For the record, my squee-upon-meeting-you didn't happen until I got home and I realized what a fantastically fantastic opportunity I'd enjoyed. "I just spent two days hanging out and being sarcastic with John Scalzi. Whoa!"
And *then* the squee. And the name-dropping. And the posting of photos-as-proof. And the claiming that we are *for now and always* BFFs. Because aren't we?
By the way, why aren't you returning my calls?
The really amusing bit is the idea that famous people should somehow be announcing that they are dating and that if they don't take out a New York Times ad saying "We're together" it is somehow a "secret affair". There is a difference between "not particularly anyone's business" and secret.
11 minutes ago, the man himself fired off this tweet:
"neilhimself RT @aiela: news flash: @neilhimself and Amanda Palmer are dating. Also in the news: sky blue, water wet, babies cry."
mensley
And, really, anybody who's been reading this for even a little while should have been convinced by Chang that it's your cat who's the omniscient one of the household.
My brother-in-law is Peter David. Harlan Ellison was the best man at the wedding.
It's fun watching the reactions I get when I mention this. (Though, it really depends on the context–some people are impressed, others are baffled.)
Great Big Nerd @ 24:
I can sort of speak to this. No one will ever mistake me for famous or even notable (and those who do, please get help. There are trained professionals to get you through this.), I did sort of go through what a lot of people do when they keep private details to themselves.
When my first wife and I separated, we chose not to tell anyone, including family, until the holidays that year. So there were several months where maybe one or two people said, "Hey, how come you never talk about Diane anymore?" The real reason was, of course, "None of your business."
So we waited until the holidays and broke the news to our families, then told the world at large, including coworkers. Shortly after that, both Diane and I started seeing other people. Hey, it's public. Nothing to hide now, right?
Well, I still get questions of "Why did you marry a woman only four months after you left your wife?"
Answer: Because you're leaving out about six-nine months where the marriage was over that you were not privy to.
So how does this apply to Neil Gaiman?
Simple. Neil Gaiman has exactly the same rights as a person as I do. The difference is not too many people are interested in my personal life. But just because a lot of people are in Neil Gaiman's doesn't change the fact that you still don't have an absolute right to know if he doesn't tell you.
As to why someone would ask John about that is beyond me. Celebrity worship is the most pervasive form of mental illness in the world today.
MikeB
And namedropping about "famous people you have met" is a close second. If your self-image is so poor that you have to bolster it up with such references then you have a whole different set of problems coming your way.
My own almost-but-not-quite brushes with fame:
I know Tom Hanks' brother.
I have a friend whose brother is a screenwriter (and the creator of Castle).
I went to college with a guy who dated that kid from Who's the Boss.
I worked with a girl who went to high school with one of the sisters from Charmed.
(I just wanted to see how ridiculous I could get. Heehee.)
The Pathetic Earthling
@50: I think you are largely right, except in the context of a discrete "these are famous people I've met" conversation, which I think is a perfectly fine way to kill some time. I think it's when folks mistake "I've met" with "I know" or "I've met" and "therefore I can speak for or authoritatively about" that it's a problem.
eviljwinter – good analogy!
J.D. Rhoades
Good for Neil and Amanda. Much happiness to them both, as they seem like good and talented people.
BC Woods
My uncle Doug was born with one testicle.
I'll just add that in case anyone wanted to know.
I was once in a bathroom dressed up as a psychotic circus clown, covered in blood, and tied to a chair when then NJ Governor Christine Todd Whitman tried to come in to see me. But the door was locked at the time.
Hard as it might be to believe, true story.
Who couldn't have guessed that, anyway? Not that it matters. Or that it's any of our business. But really, if you read NG's blog, it seems like it was a good bet.
Bill the Splut
I'm related to Jimmy Buffet. He's my mother's second cousin's brother in law. The second cousin is Thomas McGuane, the novelist and screenwriter. He wrote the screenplay for The Missouri Breaks, the only movie starring Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando that no one has ever heard of. This is because the movie is terrible. MAD magazine parodied it with the introduction "As you watch, you'll wonder when The Misery Breaks." His last collection of short stories includes characters based on my grandparents.
WHO CARES? Not me. I can win a game of 6 Degrees very easily, but that's about it.
Nicholas Waller
People should feel encouraged to carry on sending you such emails, mind you, as they result in entertaining rants.
I just became a degree of separation from Barack Obama this week, as he shook hands with President Mubarak of Egypt, who I once shook hands with and said hallo to. But I don't know Obama. I don't know Mubarak either – he was shaking hands with all sorts of publishers' reps at the Cairo Book Fair in January 1991, of which I was one.
Do you think Twitter will make this type of thing even more of a problem, as people might feel even more of a "personal" daily connection to you?
/Serious question is serious
iain:
I don't see the Twitterlings getting the idea they are intimates, no. Mostly because I write silliness over there.
If we're establishing connections to Barack (I call him that), then I'm only one step further on the same route. When I was in High School Band, I got to play the Egyptian National Anthem when Sadat came to meet with Gerald Ford. We didn't shake hands or anything but he was really tight with Mubarak…who shook hands with Barack just the other day.
Cool?
(P.S. I'm confident that Sadat isn't dating anyone at the moment, but I'll let you know if that changes.)
George William Herbert
Mark @1:
Larry Niven's autograph? Oh come on. I've used Larry as a blast shield at a rocket test firing. Autographs are so passe.
And while we're on the subject, Neil Armstrong lives two towns over from me and near the CEO of my company and Peter Frampton, whom the DJ my wife used to work with knows in passing.
Therefore, I am an expert not only on the space program, I am also a veritable encyclopedia of rock stars who know, worked with, or ever uttered the name Peter Frampton.
I just glanced at the article, so forgive me if I'm off base with my comment but this touches on something I feel fairly strongly about.
I once spent a few years as a bartender. I quickly learned that I could cause a great deal of harm, even possibly divorces if I chose to. It didn't take too long to learn to just keep my mouth shut….mind my own business both on and off the job. What I saw while working there was noone's business but the actual parties involved. Neil can do whatever the hell he likes, as long as he's not injuring anyone in the process. Don't care, not interested. Hell, there's times you find yourself actually not wanting to know stuff when you learn of it.
Everyone is entitled to their privacy, even public figures barring those who preach an elevated level of ethics to the rest of us immoral chimps. They are fair game, you can draw a target on them if you like.
To be honest, I'd be very disappointed, extremely so, to see something like this in your site. So, if you did know something, good for you for not telling us. It's none of our freaking business.
RobotRevolution
Scalzi's indignant rants are among the best on the web.
Don't you know you work for US????????? ;-):-);-)
And, while we're at it, I think you should change the way you write. I want phonetic spelling and worse plots.
;-):-) some more :-)
I've been so disappointed Obama wouldn't put me at the top of the ticket in Colorado and be my Veep candidate; I voted for him and everything, and all for what?
Oh, and all :-)
Miles Archer
That was not nearly snarky enough. You're getting soft.
Hey, I said it was a small rant.
I thank heavens every day that I am not famed in any way. I, too, am only one degree of separation from Mr. Gaiman, yet did not know this tidbit until today. At which point I though, "how cute, he made an announcement at a shared gig!" and moved on to being baffled by the fan uproar. Yet no one will ever email me to ask why on earth I didn't tell them, and thus I will be saved having to verbally eviscerate them.
You show great restraint, Mr. Scalzi. I'm impressed. :-)
(That's the smiley face of tongue-in-cheek-ness)
(NB for the insatiably curious: I live in Minneapolis, the largest small town in the world. Everyone's a friend of a friend, if not closer. It's not as cozy as it sounds.)
I would just forward the email you received to Perez Hilton because it was obviously mistakenly sent to you.
Kevin S.
Wait, wasn't Amanda Palmer that girl that got killed in that small town in the northeast near the Canadian border? They found her wrapped in plastic or something, didn't they?
@73 Kevin:
Uhhh that's Laura Palmer.
I once asked a question at Neil Gaiman's website which he chose to answser on his blog, so clearly I know Neil. We're close.
And now you tell me that I've been jilted for Amanda Palmer?
Damn you, Scalzi!!!
@ tt #73
Oh, well that's a relief. I thought maybe there could have been a Neil Gaiman – Killer Bob connection and we could have cracked that case. I hear the detective working on it went nuts.
Bozo the Clone
Amanda Palmer? Wasn't she the missing girl in Twin Peaks?
Apart from the chutzpah of the email, I still have to wonder at people who spend so much of their lifetime consuming celebrity gossip in the first place. It doesn't really matter whether the person is the most famous person in the world or just a regional personality, there's always an obsessed fan out there.
Unless you plan on stalking them, how does their personal life impact on your life at all? I can understand wanting to emulate a person you admire, but do you really need to know the fabric and color of their underwear in order to model your behavior after them?
This is why I'll never be a good fiction writer or actor. I have enough trouble figuring out my own irrational behavior, let alone pathological examples.
Craig Ranapia
I'm only worried if Palmer is going to smash Gaiman's typing fingers with a hammer.
Otherwise, what my favourite writers do with their genitals in the presence of consenting adults is not only none of my business but rather boring.
The Brightest Bulb
"Wil Wheatons' undershorts" would be a good name for a band.
Also not famous for anything, but just off the top of my head…I met every astronaut in the Gemini and Apollo programs. I saw JFK speak the day before he died, and I once shook hands with Nixon. And I was an extra in MARS ATTACKS, which pretty much guarantees me a "Bacon number" of 2 from near-infinite approaches, even though the background scene I was in got cut.
(I've also met John Scalzi, which generates a small-b bacon number of 1.)
gottacook
As several people above have mentioned TNG, there are two actors on that show whom I'm one degree of separation from: Dan Roebuck, who played a Romulan in the two-parter "Unification" and is better known as Arzt in season 1 of Lost among many other roles (an old friend of one of my siblings), and Jonathan Frakes, who was an orthodontic patient of my dad's more than 40 years ago. I'm unlikely to ever meet them; that's OK.
Oh yeah, and I might be related to David Duchovny about 100 years back – that is, if he had family from Odessa, Ukraine – although now that he's stained the family name, I'm just as glad my maternal grandfather's surname was changed by the probably Irish immigration officers to "Dennis" when his family arrived in the US.
GWH @63:
Actually, back around 1992 I fired off a letter to Mr. Niven with regard to his book 'Fallen Angels'… being a California native, I guess he didn't realize the impossibility of driving around in a rear-wheel drive van at 60 mph in foot-deep snow. Anyway he wrote a short note back along the lines that 'he was supposed to have editors to catch that kind of thing'… anyway, if memory serves, he signed the letter so the autograph is taken care of. The request was purely facetious. Irony and all that.
Re: Larry Niven's autograph… I bet you can get it at Worldcon! He's super nice. You have only to ask him nicely and he will surely acquiesce.
Re: Knowing everything AND Larry Niven… I was once at a Larry Niven panel where, when he opened it up for questions, he said, "Apparently, I know everything, so just ask me." So, why didn't Larry Niven tell us all about Neil and Amanda???
Re: Neil Gaiman… Lucky Amanda. *glossy-eyed starry look* *sigh* How long until Worldcon??? :)
Nick Mamatas
But when will you announce that you and I are dating?
htom
Oh Lordy, I can believe the sender was serious. I, too, have a small number of relatives and friends in "high" places, both in entertainment and politics, and it's a rare month that someone doesn't take me to task about something I should have known (I usually didn't) and should have blabbed about (why, it's none of the world's business?) Since you didn't, you couldn't, and if you had, I hope that you would have not, as I suspect you already have about any number of things.
Good manners are the lubricant of civilized behaviour, or something like that. RAH?
Another Damned Medievalist
Also, when I was a small child, I was picked up and swung around by Batman. And I have sold movie tickets to Steve Martin, John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Michael Douglas, Malcolm MacDowell, Joe Cocker, and Richard Simmons. Also, a cousin is director of photography on a popular 'cop' procedural show that is neither a CSI NOR a Law & Order franchisee. He has even directed a couple of episodes.
They are all my bffs.
Scalzi Number: 1
I hope this doesn't mean even heavier rotation of that damned "Coin Operated Boy" song on college radio. It was cute the first 700 times. Just my grumpy, geriatric opinion.
Hm. I have a one degree of separation from Neil Patrick Harris, as the woman who played the nurse on DOOGIE HOWSER is married to a friend of mine.
Then again, she's a delightful person, a hugely talented stage actress, drop dead gorgeous, and have a hell of a good time whenever I'm around her–so why should I care?
Damn it, Nick, I wanted to keep it something just for us. This is why we can't have nice things, you know.
Andrew Necci
What's really funny about this is that I figured out purely from context clues that Gaiman and Palmer were dating, probably about a month ago. I can't imagine I was the only person who heard about this and thought, "Uh huh, I saw that coming." So I don't see why this random weirdo emailing you even needs you to tell them this stuff. Duh, just PAY ATTENTION!
jujuwiz
Wait, but you have a blog… and he has a blog… Are you really telling me everyone on the internets doesn't know each other?
Shoot, no wonder Wil Wheaton keeps ignoring my emails requesting an introduction to monorail cat.
Christopher Hawley
John: Glad you found the missing "Not" and restored it unto its rightful place.
FWIW, I'm related to absolutely no one who is famous. Makes me feel kinda special, actually… ☺
So you're not omniscient?
You're… you're dating Nick.
You've just taken the anticipation out of Anticipation.
No, I'm all right. Or, should I say, alright.
mister slim
My uncle was an extra in Mars Attacks, though most of the scene was cut. That puts me 2 degrees away from Tully @79. I'm too lazy to figure out the further implications of that connection.
pizzangst
I'm BFF with everyone; that's why I'm typing this from home on a Friday night.
OK, I'm two marriages away from Gilligan's peeps.
I know someone who knows John Scalzi. I know someone who knows both Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer.
I am really not happy that I was left out of the loop of this ever important gossip. My friends are going to get a stern talking to. I refuse to be out TMZ!
dragonet2
I'm so nervous about having people get mad at me that unless I know for sure about something (or especially if I'm upset about something), I usually redact names IF I feel the need to talk abut it on my blog.
I've met a lot of very nice people that I admired from afar before. I've been an SF fan for a long time and a scant few of those nice people have become friends, sometimes from long distance and sometimes in person.
The only (and actually best) thing about trying to attain a Worldcon for KC in 2006 and 2009 is the number of nice people I've met in fandom, and the friends I've made across the country and internationally.
I have enough to blog about without that stuff. Especially cats and cherries (soon, soon, they are trending toward pinkness…)
Best wishes and thanks for your GoH stint at ConQuesT.
Tangozulu
Well that was an eloquent way to politely say,"none of your business!"
mister slim #95: Was he at the Burns shoots? They cut my scene but at least I got to see them blow the donut. That was KEWL.
You mean Whatever is not a gossip column? The tag line calls the river shallow and the bed dark and deep. I could have sworn this was the place for dishin' out the info. Hm!
mythago @ 24: Yup, you're right, that is exactly what Scalzi was writing about. Glad we're both on the same page. I guess you read English, too.
eviljwinter@ 49: People have a real hard time with "none of your business" for some reason, even when it's the best answer. I certainly hope my comment wasn't interpreted to imply that I think Gaiman (or Scalzi or anyone else) owes us any more than they care to share about their personal lives. Honestly, I couldn't care less if he's dating someone I've barely heard of from a band whose music I've never listened to. Good for them, hope they're happy.
I was just observing that Gaiman's got his own space to make whatever announcements he chooses to about what's going on with him, which he very rarely does, thinking that perhaps it adds an extra layer of silliness to someone expecting Mr. Scalzi to keep us updated about what Neil's doing these days. That's all. Carry on.
Scalzi breezily pantomimed:
and they were very cool once I got all my squeee over and done with.
Unfortunately, I have doubts about this. I suspect that, once the surface squee had been melted away from a burgeoning BFF with Gaiman, Scalzi would try to dig down the foundations of the friendship and slam into a pesky layer of perma-squee.
Nick from The O.C.
Just so we're clear, my ex-wife's best friend's mother once taught Italian to Robert Towne. So obviously I'm an expert on all things related to the film Chinatown, including the true story about Roman Polanski. It also makes me an expert on the equally classic film Tequila Sunrise and the personal lives of its stars (Mel Gibson, Kurt Russell, Michele Pfeiffer).
Perhaps more importantly, the husband of that same best friend of my ex-wife had a role in Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time. So if you have any burning unanswered questions on that classic SF film, please let me know. Because obviously that makes me a Hollywood insider with access to all the dirt on Marc Singer and Wings Hauser.
Oh gosh…If I choose to admire someone, I go and hang around his/her blog, write some useless comments and thats it. I would be ultimately pissed if there would be random people who would like to know EVERYTHING about my and/or my friends lives, just cause I can act/write/masturbate/whatever better than your avarage Joe and made a living out of it. I imgine that most famous people feel the same. So I try not to bother them! If hey choose to tell how long their private member is, or something like that, go ahead, but I'm not intrested.
WendyB_09
Well, last time I checked, the title on this blog was "Whatever" NOT TMZ…which gives the owner the right to publish or not publish whatever he chooses at any given point in time.
And I had an uncle that was an extra in the big casino scene at the end of RUSH HOUR 2, he was part of the masses fleeing when the place blows up. Think he had about 2 seconds screen time. Said his only concern during the shoot was "don't fall running up the stairs to the exit!"
Don Fitch
To modify (considerably) something said by the late F.M. Busby (in a fanzine, back before he became a Pro s-f Writer): "Having fans is like having teen-age kids in the household, only all the kids eventually grow up, whereas new, clueless, fans keep coming along".
Thanks for the delightful Rant, and I hope you expect to see it quoted in future years — it deals perfectly with a recurrent problem.
zakur
John, because of certain knowledge now in hand, and since we have exchanged a few emails in the past, I just want to let you know up front – Please don't share the personal details of my life on your blog even though you know no such details, and likely never will. Thanks.
Wait, this person, who seems utterly fascinated with Neil Gaiman's private life, DIDN'T KNOW that they were dating? What, the morning pictures of her at his house, and her constant presence in his blog posts were TOO SUBTLE????
Ingvar M
I worked with the brother of an action film actor for, what, year and a half, some 10 years ago. Also, my uni flat-mate used to train at the same dojo as the very same action film actor, some 15-20 years ago.
Nonetheless, I am pretty sure that the action film actor in question has never heard of me, the broter of said film actor would probably not recognise me, though I suspect ex-flat-mate would.
Jinnet
You know, I bet John Scalvi would have told us.
My husband met Jack Nicholson once, so that makes us experts on The Shining, obviously. (Jack told him that he liked his shoes.)
Dr Paisley
Tully @ 79: (I've also met John Scalzi, which generates a small-b bacon number of 1.)
As one who made Scalzi his own personal Bacon Explosion, I guess my bacon number would be 0.
And John, how are those arteries doing? Are you still sweating pork fat? (not a euphemism)
@Tully, #100
It was a funeral scene shoot in Kansas. I don't really remember any more than that. I think I would have remembered stories of a donut exploding, so probably not.
mjfgates
What's this? An entire post about celebrity dating?
I am shocked, shocked to see this website sink so into the morass of celebrity gossip-mongering.
Yes, John, but when are you going to tell us about your MENAGE A TROIS with the two of them? (Oh God, I hope I didn't just open up a portal to Gaiman/Scalzi slash. It could feature something like this, a la Last Tango in Paris: )
Get the bacon.
Right, that's probably enough to get me banned from this blog. And deservedly so.
Dr Dalim
I love the comments one of John's rants produces. It makes me smile to know that not everyone one here thinks the same as the email sender – if said sender was being serious.
And truth be told I believe that if surveyed everyone here would have a link or tie to "someone" famous. Which is not a bad thing, I have a few myself and I share them with friends and receive stories back. It's fun it's silly and totally meaningless – as long as we all understand that that is all it was or is. A brief moment passing in a corridor or photoshopped image sent in response to a comment on a blog etc. It is also good to remember that these "celebrities" are also real people who have BBQ's with neighbours, go to the dentist and post letters.
'Nuff said…
mister slim #133: They built the donut shop in Burns ("Perkinsville") just for the film. They built the giant donut itself in LA and trucked it to Burns in pieces. Later, as part of the "Perkinsville" invasion sequence, they blew up the giant donut. I think the crowd that turned out to watch was about three times the population of Burns. It was awesome.
Pam Adams
Wouldn't it have been easier to use the actual giant doughnuts and not build a new one?
You can't just blow up an important historical landmark like a giant doughnut.
My last name is Wrigley but I can't get you free chewing gum. All my life, this has struck me as deeply unfair.
Pat Cadigan
OK. I forgive you.
Katz20two
Yes, I know, I don't know you… but I still would like to say that this is a brilliantly hilarious and incredibly well written article. Not the underlying topic of course, that is just sad, but you handled it beautifully. Thank you.
I have met Neil Gaiman, and had multiple letters published on his blog, including one with his full name. Also, he totally made an @reply to me on Twitter. We're so tight.
I have also met Barack Obama, and sold books to him. Most importantly, I made him chuckle. We have a solemn bond — you know the bond between bookseller and booksellee. It is very solen.
With all due respect to Mr. Scalzi, if Neil Gaiman and Barack Obama ever started dating, I will shout it from the rooftops in fangirl glee.
Krystal Chormpa
Only after reading Spin's article on Palmer's and Gaiman's performance did I learn they were dating. The article's picture of them hugging did not clue me in; reading Gaiman's tweets which are peppered with references to Palmer did not clue me in.
After reading the article I remember thinking: Man, I am soooo slow, and I'm always the last person to know these things. "These things" being who's dating who, even as it pertains to one of my favorite authors of all time.
So, I was again surprised to learn that most everyone else was as clueless as I was and perhaps I'm not so slow after all? Well, at least not in this instance:)
In any event, kudos to Palmer and Gaiman for keeping their business, well, their business. Because at the end of the day, it really is none of ours.
I follow your site; I had never the impression that your themes were about gossip and the personal life of anyone, never mind how famous s/he is.
You are not a paparazzi or an editor of tabloids. Not as far as I know.
I can but congratulate you for this. That you know people or not is irrelevant. Your site has never been a tabloid and I sincerely wish it will never become one.
Rachel – Were you working at that indie bookstore in Chicago I hear Obama frequented?
Chas Dean
Coming far too late to the party..
1) And? This couldn't have been intuited by Mr Neil's photoblogging? (Some of us don't tweet, BTW)
2) So? I suppose some people needed to go to GoogleAnswers to confirm his marital status in the first place…
3) What? Is anyone not jealous? Seriously? Come on now.
Oh, John – serious apologies for not speculating about your own social life. Serves you right for being all married and stuff. Give us a little filth and we will happily extrapolate for you. Assuming Greg's comment isn't just idle speculation, of course..? *fans self*
i 'met' Pete Wentz. No wait, I just saw him from three feet away and he talked to people around me. i don't know him (although how awesome would that be?) and even if I did, his secrets are his secrets, not mine, right?
Mest
[Deleted because it's off topic and also annoyed me — JS]
[Deleted because it was off-topic, and also annoyed me — JS]
Taunting the tauntable since 1998
John Scalzi, proprietor – JS
Athena Scalzi, contributor – AMS
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Several people have reported they've been to the WMBW website and can't find any place to subscribe to the Thoughts and Opinions posts, or to be put on the mailing list.
That said, we're really just giving them a try, and if you have complaints or suggestions regarding our subscription process, we'll love to hear from you.
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Well Joseph, that seems to be workin'…. unlike me….


The US State Department is to make a formal protest to China over cyber-attacks on the giant internet search company, Google.
A spokesperson says the United States will demand an explanation.
Google this week threatened to pull out of China because of what it said were hacking attacks and censorship. Beijing has tried to play down the threat.
In response to Google's concerns, China has said that foreign internet firms are welcome to do business there "according to the law".
Google announced late on Tuesday that it was no longer willing to censor its Chinese search engine - google.cn.
Yahoo is also reported to have been targeted by hackers in China, but has not confirmed this.


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Blues, Brews & BBQ Featuring Naughty Professor...
Presented by Snowbasin Resort at Snowbasin Resort
Free concert, delicious BBQ, and family fun every Sunday afternoon.
Join us on the lawn at Earl's Lodge on Sunday, June 9 for the kick-off of our Blues, Brews & BBQ Concert Series with Memphis McCool, Jeff Crosby & The Refugees, and the Naughty Professor! Relax on the lawn with a blanket, have a beverage, and listen to some incredible FREE live music! Delicious BBQ lunch and other offerings are available in Earl's Lodge are available as well as several local brews on tap. There are great family-friendly activities and games for the kids including a bungee jump, climbing wall, adventure course, playground and newest activity – The Wildflower Mini Golf Course.
12:15 pm: Memphis McCool
2:15 pm: Jeff Crosby and the Refugees
4:15 pm: Naughty Professor
Share your photos using #snowbasinsummer!
***No outside food or beverage allowed in the music venue or the lodge. Utah State Law prohibits the possession and consumption of outside alcohol including beer & wine on premise. Bags may be subject to search at the music venue gate and any alcohol or outside food may be confiscated.
Dogs are allowed in the music venue, but they must be on a leash at all times, and they must stay on the grassy areas. Dogs are never allowed in the lodges or on the patio, with the exception of service dogs. Umbrellas, shade tents, and chairs are allowed, but please be courteous of other guests.
If you have a tent or umbrella, please set it up near the back of the venue and do not block other's views. Low chairs welcome towards the front (cannot fit a basketball underneath) but if you have higher chairs, please move towards the back.
About the Bands:
Naughty Professor:
Naughty Professor is an iconoclastic New Orleans-based jazz-funk sextet whose adventurous recordings and horn-charged, high-energy live performances have earned them an enthusiastic fan base, critical acclaim, and widespread attention from their musical peers. Their diligent roadwork has established Naughty Professor as a beloved live act. Weaving together complex, inventive compositions, and loose, organic improvisation, the band honors their hometown\'s jazz, R&B and brass-band traditions while looking to the future.
http://www.naughtyprofessormusic.com/
Jeff Crosby & The Refugees:
Born and raised in Idaho, Jeff Crosby has been sharing his unique perspective of Americana throughout the US and beyond for the past decade. His songs are a collection from growing up in a small town in Idaho with all of the hardships and beauty of living in small-town America, to five years living in a shoebox apartment off Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles CA, then to traveling and living on the road playing 250 shows a year. Though recently making the move to Nashville TN, Jeff continues to spend the majority of his time touring the country.
https://www.jeffcrosbymusic.com/
Memphis McCool:
Memphis McCool is a modern take on soul and groove music highly influenced by the music that came from Memphis, Detroit, and Muscle Shoals!
https://www.memphismccool.com/
Snowbasin Resort
3925 East Snowbasin Road, Huntsville, UT 84317


Please note that the Help page has been updated (with effect from 1st April 2009) (NOT an April Fool!)..
- Minimum 8 x wagering of deposits (rather than 5) before cashing out and claiming VIP points (this is just due to many only playing 5 times, cashing out, re-depositing, and claiming again - this is not in the way they are due to be done). (Yes, if you lose the total deposit of course - you can also claim).
- Revision of the guidelines for VIP levels (this is just based on what we've seen so far) and is only a rough guide.
If you have any questions re. VIP terms old or new - please reply here with them.
Geno, what if we are not sure how much we wagered with a deposit? Should we claim and let you check it or is there some way we can check ourselves?
Generally most players who are genuinely gamble and don't cash out just to 'reach play-thru' will find that they easily reach this requirement.
Of course yes, if not sure - feel free to submit them and if there's any problems I'll decline them and if you can claim lower instead - I will PM.
Rat, go to the VIP Area and register your account VIP status at Irish Luck then file. Once that is confirmed you can claim the VIP point for your deposit.
I'm not quite sure about your question hun. I'm sorry.
I will however send Geno a pm and ask him to see if he can help.
Sable you are allowed to take a bonus with your deposits but the bonuses don't count toward your VIP Points..
Just the original amount deposited will..so when you're calculating the amount of deposits, don't count the bonuses..
Thank you so very much Sarah, I will cancel my pm to Geno.
and I know it says in the redeems that no bonus but does it work like the VIP that you just cannot count the bonus money?


An Ontario arbitration award made by Brian Etherington has ruled in favour of five city workers in London, Ontario who were denied full benefits after they turned 65.
The union that represents them, CUPE, Local 107, filed a grievance against the city after the employees were told they were no longer entitled to certain dental, vision, disability and life insurance benefits. The issue stemmed from the abolition of mandatory retirement at 65 under amendments made to the Ontario Human Rights Code in December 2005 (the amendments came into effect in 2006).
Although the changes make it illegal for employers to terminate senior workers on the basis of age, they do allow employers latitude to provide lesser benefits to workers over 65.


text:
Wilmore é uma cidade localizada no estado americano de Kentucky, no Condado de Jessamine.

Demografia
Segundo o censo americano de 2000, a sua população era de 5905 habitantes.
Em 2006, foi estimada uma população de 5876, um decréscimo de 29 (-0.5%).

Geografia
De acordo com o United States Census Bureau tem uma área de
6,8 km², dos quais 6,8 km² cobertos por terra e 0,0 km² cobertos por água. Wilmore localiza-se a aproximadamente 232 m acima do nível do mar.

Localidades na vizinhança
O diagrama seguinte representa as localidades num raio de 24 km ao redor de Wilmore.

Ligações externas

Cidades de Kentucky

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Microsoft Might Get Advantage or Pain from Order To Not Sell Word
By Erik Sherman
Updated on: December 23, 2009 / 8:31 AM / MoneyWatch
A federal court panel upheld the $290 million patent infringement judgment against Microsoft, as well as the permanent injunction against selling Word, that i4i had won in a lower court. Given the size of the award, you might anticipate that Microsoft will head to further rounds of appeals. But you have to wonder whether Microsoft might see silver in those clouds, and whether the results could throw a monkey wrench into plans that Google and others have to compete with Office.
The infringement suit was over a patent that i4i holds on handling XML metadata in files separately from the data in the files themselves. Specifically, the courts have read this is covering files with custom XML code. In August, i4i got its request for a permanent injunction prohibiting Microsoft from selling versions of Word that infringed on the patent.
Microsoft appealed the ruling and got a temporary stay of the injunction. Now that this round of appeals is over, the date for the start of the injunction is now January 11, 2010. Its "scope is narrow," according to the decision:
It applies only to users who purchase or license Word after the date the injunction takes effect. Users who purchase or license Word before the injunction's effective date may continue using Word's custom XML editor, and receiving technical support.
It's not as though Microsoft's legal handling has been faultless. As the decision indicates, for example, the company waived its right to challenge a number of things by not raising certain challenges early enough in the process. But it still has some options and, given the amount of the judgment, it seems reasonable that it will appeal again, first to a so-called en banc hearing of the entire Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (the appeals court that hears patent cases) and, should that go against it, the Supreme Court.
Microsoft is saying that it could come up with a technical workaround, but make no mistake, should the injunction go into force, there are some big issues. As the decision notes, here's what Microsoft would not be able to do under the injunction:
"selling, offering to sell, and/or importing into the United States any infringing Word products with the capability of opening XML files containing custom XML"
"using Word to open an XML file containing custom XML"
"instructing or encouraging anyone to use Word to open an XML containing custom XML"
providing support or assistance that describes how to use Word to open an XML file containing custom XML"
"testing, demonstrating, or marketing Word's ability to open an XML file containing custom XML"
So why does this interest Google? Because the company wants to woo corporate customers away from Microsoft Office, which is why it is acquiring DocVerse, a service that allows collaborative sharing of Office documents. But all that is based on the existing versions of the files, including the versions of Word that infringe on the patent. If DocVerse, run by a couple of ex-Microsoft people, used a similar approach in opening Word files, then they're will have as much need to disable those particular functions as would Microsoft, or else face a potential patent infringement suit. The question facing all of them is how easy might it be to find another way to open files with custom XML? And just what is custom XML? According to something found by Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet, it's XML used to identify parts of a document by business semantics, like "this phrase is the ship to address for the customer." By using a w:customXML tag, the user can define the tag and let others see what is happening in the document. Somehow, I think that would be pretty important for collaboration, which is a potentially big weapon for Google to compete in the office application space.
is something that my former colleague Michael Hickins mentioned back in August:
Microsoft could agree to license custom XML from i4i with the understanding that i4i will also enforce its patent against other vendors using custom XML, which would both allow Microsoft to continue using its applications as written while wounding its competition (with the added benefit of looking innocent).
Right now that doesn't seem to be in the cards. But as things go on and pressure mounts, it may change its tune ... assuming that i4i was interested in a deal. Then again, there is another possibility: Google could buy i4i and then turn around and stick it to Microsoft.
Gavel image via Flickr user Thomas Roche, CC 2.0.
First published on December 23, 2009 / 8:31 AM
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
Erik Sherman
Erik Sherman is a widely published writer and editor who also does select ghosting and corporate work. The views expressed in this column belong to Sherman and do not represent the views of CBS Interactive. Follow him on Twitter at @ErikSherman or on Facebook.
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text:
From 'Growing Pains' To Directing, Joanna Kerns, At 68, Is All About Paying It Forward
by Ed Gross
When it comes to Joanna Kerns, Growing Pains is not only the name of her classic 1980s sitcom but what she had to go through in her efforts to segue from actress to director in a medium that was, in that time, strictly a man's club. The fact that she remains, all these decades later, a working director is a testament to her own spirit to push ever forward despite obstacles thrown in her path.
"In order to direct television, I needed to get my card from the Directors Guild of America," Joanna explains in an exclusive interview. "I got my card on Growing Pains doing one episode at the very end of our run after years of begging and pleading."
What Joanna Kerns is up to now
Begging and pleading on a show in which she was one of the leads, and which was a massive hit in its time, boggles the imagination, but, as she explains it, that was just business as usual. "We had one director [John Tracy] who did all the episodes produced until the very last season," she details. "And the season before he left, we had a big renegotiation of our contracts, and I said, 'In lieu of money, I really want to direct the next few years,' so that I could get my feet firmly in the directing world. Well, my producer said yes and the director said, 'Over my dead body.' So I had to wait until he was gone the last year and then I had new producers, and I finally got my episode and it did what I needed it to do: it got me my card. And my card allowed other shows to consider me, but so many of them literally said things like, 'This is an action show. We do not hire women. We hired a woman last year and it didn't work out.'
"Usually," Joanna elaborates, "it was men who were running the show who worked with other men. But I still had enough of a TV Q as an actress to say, 'Okay, I'll guest star on your show if you let me direct it.' So I traded that way for quite a while, but it was David Kelly hiring me on Ally McBeal at the height of that show's popularity in its second season that really launched me. At that point, I had to make a choice on whether I was going to be acting or directing because directors are hired early on in the television season when a show gets picked up.
"The first thing they do is get on the phone, go to the agents and lock down all the directors. They do it usually for the first half of the season, and at that time shows were being picked up for 20 episodes; they're not anymore. But they would lock down their first 10 spots, and oftentimes the producers were directing the first two and the last two, so that only left six spots. And I could not commit to a directing job and then say, 'Oh, I'm so sorry, but I got an acting job.' So I had to make a choice and I really did. I believe I really crossed over full-time in '95 or '96. It took a long time. One job, even if you did great, did not necessarily mean you got asked back because I was the one female and then the whole season went by and the next season they did not hire females. It was slow, but it's great now. Now it's like, 'I need a break to rest.'"
Early Dreams of Stardom
She was born Joanna Crussie DeVarona on February 12, 1953, in San Francisco, California, and was the youngest of three siblings, with her older sister, Donna, being a two-time swimmer gold medal winner in the 1964 Olympics, and the person who in essence drove her towards the idea of acting and dancing so that she could be in the spotlight as well.
"My parents thought I was smoking something when I told them what I wanted to go into," she laughs. "I went to UCLA and tried to get into the film school. Of course, I did not have any credentials to do that; plus, every kid in L.A. whose parent was in the business went to the school and was doing theatre or making films. I thought if I got into the fine arts school, I could transfer or do something between disciplines. So I got into the dance department at UCLA, and soon learned that I could not do anything with the theatre department or the film department. I mean, I could act in something if they cast me, but they were only casting actors from the department."
Joanna distinctly remembers exiting a dance lab one day and there, on the bulletin board, was a notice that caught her attention. "This is where destiny or fate or whatever you want to call it, comes in," she offers sincerely. "There was an audition slip for a Gene Kelly musical. I must have seen every Gene Kelly musical ever made over and over again, because they always played on TV. And what he wanted were dancers that tumbled, and I had spent my whole childhood and high school years competing in gymnastics. So I had the gymnastics and dancing and knew I had to try."
It paid off. Kelly, who was attempting to come up with his version of Disney on Parade, was traveling around the country hiring young talent. She was invited to audition — and she was hired. Says Joanna, "I dropped out of college to go on the road with Gene Kelly, but the show closed three months after it opened and I was out of a job, I was out of school and my parents went crazy. I ended up dancing in another show, Two Gentlemen of Verona, for Joe Papp and the New York Shakespeare Festival. I was in the first national company of that, started in New York, went to Toronto and Detroit and then, eventually, to L.A. But I realized in that show that I was not a good singer. I was a great dancer, but not a good singer, so there was no future for me in musical theatre."
She began studying acting, scored some commercials, and tested for several series a season for about seven years before scoring a starring role in the 1984 TV version of Alan Alda's film The Four Seasons, playing the role originally essayed by Bess Armstrong. Unfortunately, it only lasted 13 episodes. The following season she auditioned for a pair of pilots, one of which was for Growing Pains, which she thought would never go to series. But it did.
Growing Pains, which ran on ABC from 1982 to 1995 for a total of 166 episodes, focused on the Seaver family of Long Island, New York. Alan Thicke is Jason Seaver, a work-from-home psychiatrist while Joanna is his wife, Maggie, a reporter, out of the house much of the time. Jason oversees their three kids, Mike (Kirk Cameron), Carol (Tracey Gold), and Ben (Jeremy Miller). Mike, who in many ways would become the center of the show with Cameron achieving teen heartthrob status, was always getting into trouble. Later, a fourth child, Chrissy (played by twins Kelsey and Kirsten Dohring and, later, Ashley Johnson) would join, and a homeless teen named Luke Brower (Leonardo DiCaprio) was taken into the Seaver home during the final season.
"For me, Growing Pains was a lifesaver," Joanna, who was married to Richard Kerns from 1976 to 1985, reflects. "I was a newly single mom and it was the show that changed my life. I just feel so lucky to have been in the place I was at the time, and have the experience I did. A lot of young actors want to be famous and, while some people walk in the door and they can do it and have what it takes to sustain it, more often than not, that is not the case. It is a long road to get to a place where you have the craft to carry it off, and the emotional maturity to handle it all. That is a big part of it."
Fame can indeed be a dangerous trap, and when you're on a hit show, like Growing Pains was, suddenly an actor is being interviewed and featured in magazines and finding themselves in the center of a media spotlight. "It can be a mess," she warns. "I credit Alan Thicke, who was a producer. People know how much he wrote and how famous he was in Canada before he ever got Growing Pains. I learned a lot from him, because he understood both sides of it and had been on both sides of it. It was great to have a costar who understood all that. One thing he said was, 'You never complain at the bottom, you complain at the top. And you do it behind a closed door.' That helped me cultivate the relationships that helped me make the transition into directing because they knew I was an adult. A lot of actors want to direct, but it doesn't always pan into a bigger career, because they don't know how to handle it. They're used to being actors being taken care of, instead of taking care of everybody else."
One of the keys to Growing Pains' success in its early days, prior to Kirk Cameron's ascension, was the connection between Alan Thicke and Joanna as Jason and Maggie Seaver, which was something that was apparent with the two actors right from the start.
"Alan was a very charming, funny, smart guy, and we were instant friends," she states. "For some reason, he was really good at making fun of himself, so it was disarming. And he was really good at making fun of you. I remember coming home and would still be laughing at the end of the show day about the things he would say to me. I loved him for it. I mean, funny will get me every time and he was not mean funny, just funny funny. He was a quirky guy and the cheapest man on the planet. The writers wrote it into his character, but he would order lunch every day and he would order two, because he would take one home at night. I mean, here he is making all this money, yet he would do that. It was so funny. He would just smile and shrug. And we stayed great friends. I miss him. I saw him on the golf course just a few weeks before he passed [in 2016]. We would golf together every once in a while and share stories. I tried to hire him a few times, but he was always opening a supermarket somewhere. This guy would do anything you asked him to do."
There is also the question of her evolving relationship with her younger costars, Kirk Cameron, Tracey Gold, and Jeremy Miller, which she says was good, noting that Jeremy "was a baby of seven or eight when we started; he grew up on that show." Tracey had on and off battles with anorexia and Kirk became a born-again Christian, which created major strife between he and just about everyone else working on the series. "With Tracy," she says, "I think it's almost impossible to be a child star and not be scarred from it, to grow up so publicly and go through all of those stages. And then we all know what happened with Kirk and his religion, and that caused issues with the cast.
"Kirk is a pretty black and white guy," Joanna continues. "When he first found his faith, he did not approve of our lifestyle or our jokes. The kid that was so relaxed and laid back, became very judgmental. He has since apologized for that, but he is still clearly having a belief system that does not align with many of us. Certainly not me. He did not want to kiss a girl that wasn't his wife, and then his wife came on the show and you can only write for so many characters in a week, so it became a bone of contention for us, because we lost the humor. Alan said to him, 'If you want to do a show that's Christian based, do The Pat Boone Show, do The Kirk Cameron Show. Go do that. But it is not this show.' It's the reason they brought Leonardo DiCaprio on the show, because the whole premise of Growing Pains was about this family, with this son who was falling into trouble and falling out, not a great student and something that we hadn't really seen before. We'd had real smart kids and whatever, but his character was on the edge of making big life mistakes that, through the love of his family, he made a better choice. If he wouldn't play that, then what do you have? You do not have a show. So that was the conflict. We would have loved to do Growing Pains longer, but it died."
Although the show ended its run in 1995, there were a pair of reunion movies: 2000's The Growing Pains Movie and 2004's Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers, which Joanna directed. Those were far more uplifting experiences than the final season of the series had been.
"They were great," she says warmly. "We had not seen each other in a long time and Tracey was pregnant — she's been pregnant a lot; she has, like four kids. And it was fun to be there with Alan and everything was fine. Kirk, on the first TV movie, made amends to all of us. He said, 'Look, I was 18 and I'm sorry I did this way.' And we all accepted it because we love him. I can love somebody and not agree with their politics."
'High School Musical: The Musical: The Series'
During and after her time playing Maggie Seaver, Joanna starred in no less than 29 TV movies, a few feature films and made a couple of guest star appearances. More importantly, for her, she has directed well over a hundred episodes of television and a few TV movies, moving back and forth between comedies and dramas. Interestingly, one of the places she's felt the most comfortable has been on the Disney+ series, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, of which she has directed six episodes.
"It is great to be a part of the fabric of a show when it's the beginning stages because you help set the tone and the look," Joanna details. "I did High School Musical in its first two seasons and reshot quite a bit of their pilot, and I definitely had an imprint on the way the show looks. I'm not the producer/director, but I definitely have a voice in the room when I go back and direct episodes."
All of which is an incredible accomplishment when you consider her earliest days trying to get behind the camera and bumping heads with Growing Pains director John Tracy, who had admonished her with his statement that she would direct "over my dead body."
"That really broke my heart," she admits. "What happens in a four-camera sitcom world versus the one camera or even half-hour one camera shows is that a four-camera show is much easier to produce. On Growing Pains at the end, we were doing our show in four days. Two of those were rehearsal and blocking, one day was camera blocking and the fourth day was the show, which we filmed basically from noon until four or five, and then we took a dinner break, and then we did a show in front of an audience. So one director can do an entire season. For instance, Jamie Widdoes did all of Two and a Half Men and then went on to Mom. And this director did not want to give up anything. And he did not let me follow him so that I could learn the process.
"When I direct," she closes, "I usually have a young woman, an aspiring director, follow me. I introduce her to my producers and my crew, and I let her follow me every step of the way. I believe the more women there are, the more opportunity there is. You have to pay it forward. Eventually, it will not be how many women have you hired, it will be the best director for the job. We're not there yet, but we're getting closer."
SOURCE: https://doyouremember.com/157010/joanna-kerns-growing-pains
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text: Q: Mean Value Theorem and Vector Valued Functions Say I have the following vector valued function $f: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^2$ defined by $f(x) = ({x^2},{x^3})$. Clearly the derivative $f'(x) = ({2x},{3x^2})$. But, does there exist a $0 < b < 1$ such that $f'(b) = f(1) - f(0)$? Obviously simple arithmetic says no, but doesn't this contradict the mean value theorem?

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