The Tech Academy was an amazing experience and everything that I was looking for when I was looking to switch my career from sales to development. They were always super helpful and very good at describing difficult concepts. Without The Tech Academy I don't think I would have had the motivation or collection of materials necessary to make a career switch. They really did a great job explaining how everything you're learning is applicable on the job. They covered a wide range of employable technologies and tools. At the start of of my time at The Tech Academy I was local and learned at their Portland facility. I then decided that I wanted to learn and progress through the courses remotely which The Tech Academy was able to accommodate with zero hiccups. I am incredibly grateful for the knowledge I have gained through The Tech Academy, 10/10 would recommend.
Over all good experience! The job placement course is helpful and the self paced aspect is wonderful for busy people! The instructores are very with it and the environment makes for an excellent workspace!
Excellent place to start for someone with no technical background. They will teach you how to learn the basics of a language, as well as a lot of the vocabulary you need to know.
Breadth of knowledge--you'll learn 7 different languages.
Job-placement programs is top-notch, and will help you with your resume, cover letters, and interview skills. +1 star for this and the following.
Very friendly and helpful instructors. Seriously!
Can study remotely, at your own pace. Loaner laptop included!
Lack of depth in any language--you learn 7 different languages so there's no time to go deeply into any one. You'll learn what an API is but never implement one, and learn what TDD is but never how to do it. Most employers (and the blogs that Tech Academy encourages you to follow) recommend diving deeply into a single language and associated frameworks.
Curriculum is weak, although it's constantly being upgraded (meaning you might finish a unit only to find that it just got upgraded). I learned more HTML/CSS in a $10 course from Udemy. You'll learn how to do long division of binary numbers, but not how to write a unit test.
Ultimately, it's not a bad school, but you'll have to supplement the education you get here with a lot of stuff they don't teach (or already have a background in tech) if you want to actually find a job in tech.
Thank you for the review and feedback! I'm glad you enjoyed working with the staff. We enjoyed working with you as well! As a note, we've made significant upgrades to the curriculum since you had taken the majority of the courses, and thank you for any feedback during that time to allow us to better make improvements. Very well done on landing the job that you got in the Software industry! Best of luck in your future career!
I am a student at The Tech Academy nearing the job search stage of my boot camp. My experience has been fantastic thus far at the The Academy. Both the dialogue I have with instructors and fellow students while on campus and the content available for consumption have been engaging and constructive. The curriculum gives you as much as you put into it, with lots of extra references to material to assist you if you stumble.
There is one caviat to working with this self paced style of program. If you are not a self starter and motivated person I would not suggest taking The Tech Academy boot camp remotely. I considered working remotely and am very happy I have decided to takle programming in the environment provided on Campus. You are not always sitting in front of a computer while on campus, you can if you choose participate in roudtable discussions both soft skill and technical interview questions weekly.
If you intend to make a career change into software development or are just entering the job market I highly recommend The Tech Academy's software developer bootcamp.
Before enrolling at the Tech Academy I was working in construction feeling stuck as far as what I wanted to do with my life. I have always enjoyed problem-solving and have had a good inclination towards taking things apart and fixing them. I didn't really have the right outlet to help me decide on a fulfilling career track. Little did I know how perfect pursuing programming was going to be for me. I came to the Tech Academy with no prior experience in programming, and now I'm confident to say that I possess a strong skill set in full stack development. I was able to maintain my full-time job as well attend the academy, having great help along the way. The instructors are always willing to work with you in a way that enhances your grasp of concepts and practices. The Tech Academy is a dedicated team working with you to become a talented developer. I couldn't have asked for a better experience or a better group of people to have built relationships with. The Tech Academy really helped me get started on a great career path.
I love hearing stories about being to make the career switch into programming and a more stimulating environment. That's very impressive that you were able to keep your full time job during the day, and make it through our program. That feat takes hard work and dedication. Very well done on your performance, and best of luck to you in your future!
So far, this has been a very solid place to learn programming. Even with a background in Electrical Engineering, I found my coding skills were very weak. The instructors on site are all very nice and extremely welcoming. This is the type of program where you will get as much out of it as you put in. There are no real boundaries in place that prevent you from moving on in a course. There are various checkpoints throughout courses that are just there to check your knowledge. It is up to you whether or not you feel that you need to spend more time on a course. Also, do not feel afraid to ask questions. The instructors are there to assist you when you need help. That aside, it IS important to try to struggle through the difficult material first before asking for assistance.
As a person that usually requires some time for information to truly click, this style of learning greatly suited me. There is also a remote option for the Tech Academy. I have never explored this option myself as I live a 30 minute bus ride away from the school, but there are people who try this option and are successful. There are also job placement people who are extremely good at what they do. They will hold weekly "practice interview" sessions to aid you in acing an interview for a job in the future. I would say, if you're willing to put in the effort and are looking for a coding school that covers a wide range of the popular languages needed in software development nowadays, this is a great school to consider.
Thanks for this review! I particularly liked what you mentioned about our testing. We do have checkpoints where your knowledge is tested on theory, but it's done in a way that allows for reflection/restudy as necessary. More focus is put on "Can the person code?" rather than "Can the person pass a test?" More attention on application has proven important when actually working in the industry.
I am a current student at The Tech Academy in Portland, Oregon, and been in the program for several weeks now. I love the flexibility that The Tech Academy has offered me! I have been able to study on my own schedule to add a new, concrete skill to my resume and still have the freedom to work as well. Even though I have not fully completed the program as of yet, just being enrolled has helped me to attain a higher profile job with more pay. I'm excited to finish the course and see how much further I can take myself!
Before choosing The Tech Academy, I did a great deal of research on which course in the Portland-area I wanted to attend. I ultimately chose The Tech Academy for their very extensive and comprehensive bootcamp-style program. You start from the basics and build upon them, which I feel provides a more rooted knowledge of software development. It's impossible to learn everything that you could possibly need to know when delving into the land of computer programming, but The Tech Academy aims to really teach you how to think like a developer and troubleshoot the roadblocks you will come across. There are also a full and friendly staff of instructors and job placement specialists to help you along on your journey. They also host weekly Tech Talks with industry professionials and graduates of the program and meet-ups allowing you to become acquianted with other locals working and studying within the tech world.
All in all, I've been very happy with my decision to attend The Tech Academy and am excited to see what future doors will open!
Glad to hear that you've enjoyed everything so far, and well done on the upgrade in your job! Thanks for pointing out some of the different aspects of our school, such as the ground-up approach. We do believe having a firm foundation and understanding of computers is an integral component in a successful career as a software developer.
The Tech Academy provided me a broad overview of what I needed to know in the realm of software development and taught me the fundamentals of object oriented programming. The broad exposure allowed me to narrow in on areas of interest.
I think that's a really good point. A good percentage of our students starting out on the program know that they want to get into software development, but they're not quite sure which area of this broad and expansive field would be best for them. As part of the curriculum, students learn six or more different programming languages, which include front-end, and back-end development. By the time the student is through the program, they have a better idea of what they want to do, because they have exposure to so many different languages. I have found this helps a lot on job placement because the student is certain and enthusiastic about what they want to do.
I recently attended an open house hosted by The Tech Academy. More than anything, they seem to genuinely WANT every student to succeed. They literally have staff members that are available at virtually all times to assist students when they need help (Each one has completed the course him/herself as well). I think that's critical for students. At the open-house I was able to speak with quite a few graduates who spoke very highly of this program. I'm not surprised to see all the 5-star ratings.
Glad to hear you made it to one of our Open Houses! We have them every Friday afternoon, so feel free to come to another!
My husband was working as a telemarketer and I was employed as a nurse on the graveyard shift. He was always good with computers so we decided to roll the dice and see about him going back to school to learn programming. We looked around and found The Tech Academy. My initial impression of them was good but I remained skeptical. My husband made his way through the coursework. There were ups and downs but altogether he relayed a positive experience to me. He then began applying for jobs and received help from the school's job placement staff. He was able to land a technical job that paid him enough so that I no longer have to work nights and weekends. Because we are now surviving better and on the same schedule, I am very grateful for all the help The Tech Academy has provided us. His attending has changed our lives for the better.
Hi! Wow this success is really why I came to work here. I'm so glad to hear that you guys are able to be on the same schedule now and things have totally shifted for you. I hope nothing but success in your future!
I'm writing this review for my son as he was forced to sign a waiver that he would not provide a negative online review. Since I paid for the classes, I do feel I have a vested interest to provide an honest review.
Up front, the Tech Academy served its purpose for my son and it was part of the reason he did get employed in the tech industry; but the program did not live up to the upfront promises. And if you are not the right fit, this would not be a wise investment.
The actual successful completion rate in 15 weeks is very rare, some students are still in the program after a year. Some do get discourage and just plain quit. Even though we asked up front, we were told that almost everyone finishes and nobody had quit. Not true.
At the very start, they make you take a "personality" test to see if you have the aptitude to succeed. Turns out to be a Scientology personality test. And it almost always finds some flaw. Based on that flaw, they won't let you sign up, unless you sign a waiver to never write a bad online review (yes, you should be suspicious when all the reviews on the Internet area almost all 4 & 5 stars . . . and yes, some of the reviews are written by the owners and employees of the company). In my opinion, this is just plain trickery.
The course topics are appropriate and the school does a good job trying to keep the students focused, motivated and moving forward. Instructors do check in with the students on a very regular basis.
The content of the courses is a mixture of books, videos, printed material. About 75% of the learning material comes from the outside world and not created by the school (a non-consistent mishmash of material). And some of the material was inaccurate and not always best practice. Also at the time, they did provide the use of a laptop computer. And the downtown location was open and available almost seven days a week. A great way to build discipline based on a set "work/study' schedule.
The "instructors" are there to help answer questions by email or in person. But the instructors are almost always other students that are still working through the program. This is neither good nor bad, but if you are expecting experience "lecture" sessions in a structured fashion from seasoned professionals, you won't find it here. REALITY: my son did find that some of the material and instructor help was sometimes off the mark, when compared to previous college level classes. There is no strong emphasis on "good programing" techniques and strategies.
Was it worth the $7,000 I paid for my son? I believe it turned out okay for him; but this was only because he had a fair amount of foundation programming education in college and had done quite a bit of self-learning (TreeHouse.com and CodeAcadmy.com) over the previous four years. If you have never had experience, you may struggle; and even with just aptitude, you may only learn the basics and struggle in the future without the strong foundations. (With that said, there are amazing situations where someone is able to become a fabulous coder through their own self-determination, so anything is possible). After finishing the coursework, there was no substantial job placement help; it took about 8 weeks on his own to find a tech job and the effort was his concentrated effort on all the right steps (with 50+ applications and five company interviews).
So in the end, this part of his life with the Tech Academy turned out fine; but the school was not what it was advertised, and the reason for the review is to give a more complete picture for prospective students to decide if this is a right fix for them.
To offset some of the co-opted favorable review by staff and signed waiver keeping others from providing bad reviews, I am lowering my rating down an extra notch.
Hi there! Thank you for sharing your experiences and making your concerns known. Also, I've stayed in contact with your son, and I'm glad to know he's doing well at the company he's working with now and he may come back to the Tech Academy soon to do one of our Friday Tech Talks.
Having spoken to your son directly since you wrote this, he has conveyed a different picture to me. In his own words, he enjoyed the program and is happy with his current job. He also mentioned that he would have preferred you had not posted this, since it was him, not you, that took the program.
You mentioned that we guarantee a $65,000 job upon completing the program. Perhaps there was a misunderstanding, because we have never made that guarantee. At one point, we promoted 100% job placement rate because all of our graduates had landed jobs after completing. As we've had a higher volume of students come through, the figure has changed to 95%, which we have updated on our website and other media. 95% is still pretty good, and our Job Placement team works very hard to do everything possible for each graduate to get them employed, including thorough resume review, review of cover letters, interview prep for technical and non-technical interviews, as well as unlimited guidance and direction. This is all on top of our Job Placement Course that prepares students for their job search. I personally remember working with your son on his job search and being in touch with him almost every day during his search. He was doing work with a company he and his friends had started, and the company ended up doing so well that he didn't want to search anywhere else for a job. I think that's a pretty big accomplishment, especially considering his last job was at McDonald's. That's a pretty big upgrade. I offered, and still offer today, any additional assistance he might want if he ever chose to seek different employment. The average salary of our graduates was and still is $60,000. We have never guaranteed that.
As for the friends of your son who you say are still looking for jobs after completing the program, this is a little hard to respond to, since I don't know who those friends are. I know of one friend of your son who was doing our program, and he mysteriously went out of communication with us in the middle of the program, and we haven't been able to reach him since despite multiple attempts. He never finished, but if he would get back in touch with us, we'd be happy to work with him, so he can get through the program and get a job.
You're totally right in that not everyone who enrolls finishes the program. However, the vast majority do finish. 15 weeks is the average for students who study consistently 40 hours per week. Our program is structured in such a way where students go at their own pace and we're much more flexible than other boot camps. Thus, we've had students who study very aggressively and get through the program in 8 or 9 weeks, and others who are working full-time jobs and who only study 20 hours per week, who end up taking closer to 30 weeks on the program.
You mentioned that we have students sign a waiver that they will never write a negative review. I want to clarify this: we have students take entry testing. One of the purposes of this testing is to locate negative personality types that are hyper-critical and will cause problems on the program. A couple years ago, one of our Registration Directors (Morgan) was using a "loophole" for students that failed entry testing. He created a waiver that protected the school from potentially problematic students and it included in it that these students that failed our entry testing would not attack the school publicly (since it was already clear from their entry testing and our experiences with them that they were highly critical). But there has never been a statement that we require 5 star reviews. Very few people ever signed the waiver and our Co-Founder canceled its use over a year ago (I estimate only 10 out of the 300+ people we've signed up ever signed it). None of the reviews on this site are from one of the very few students that signed this waiver.
Tech Academy students and graduates are free to write whatever reviews they'd like and they have.
Thank you for acknowledging the persistence of our instructors to motivate and encourage the students on the program.
And yes, the curriculum does include include books, videos, and printed material and we do use outside sources. We make that very clear in our registration video before any students enroll. It's a very large task, but we are working on a project to make all of our content original. We do highly promote best practices. I'm not sure where you got the idea we don't, especially since you haven't seen our materials yourself since you never enrolled with us. We do, however, have a system wherein any error in the material can be reported directly to our Quality Control Director, who rapidly updates the curriculum with the necessary improvements. In this way, we've continually been able to keep our curriculum up-to-date.
All of our instructors are graduates of our program. Due to the self-paced aspect of the curriculum, they aren't always lecturing in front of the class - you're totally right about that. We do, however, invite a professional from the tech community to come in to the school and speak at the Tech Talks we have every Friday, which we Live Stream for our remote students as well.
You mentioned that your son didn't receive substantial job assistance after completing the coursework. A lot of the job assistance given is actually during the coursework in the "Job Placement Course" that every student does. During the course, the student learns the essentials on how to find a job, how to write an excellent tech resume, how to write a good cover letter, how to interview well, and more. We don't guarantee a job, and we make it clear that it is 100% the responsibility of the student to get hired, but we do everything in our power to ensure it happens. I personally thoroughly reviewed your son's resume, checked off on his cover letter template, did mock interviews with him, and stayed in close communication with him while he was searching for a job and called him almost every day to give him guidance, and he did get a job, which he was very happy about.
If there's anything you don't feel I've addressed, please call or email me directly. Our door is still open for your son if he needs anything and he knows that.
Again, I'd like to thank you for your review. There were some valid points, which have long since been corrected. We are a relatively new company and always try to learn from mistakes and constantly better ourselves. If you'd like to discuss this further, or if you have any other concerns you would like addressed, please send me an email at techacademyjobplacement@learncodinganywhere.com or call me at (503)206-6915.
I started the program at the Tech Academy at the age of 58. I have had no experience with coding and wondered if someone with as little experience and as old as I was could do this program. Upon being around the other students here, I have seen the excitement of the newer and older students doing this program. Upon talking to the other students, I have only heard positive comments about their experience here. Once when I was in the office, I witnessed a graduated student that walked into the office say how happy he was with the job he had and how his income was much higher than it was before attending the Tech Academy. I think this is a program that many people can do if they have the desire to do it.
Wow that's really great to hear! And you're totally right: we designed the program so that even people with no exposure to coding can get through it. And for those who do have coding experience, the program validates and solidifies their understanding of core concepts. Glad to hear you're enjoying the program so far, and keep it up!


OFF-MARKET Flip in THE COLONY! This area is smoking hot right now and deals are being gobbled up by homeowners and investors alike. This house is super clean and was previously used as rental until the owner decided he wants to dump it now that the tenants lease is up. Very minor foundation and cosmetic upgrades is all you'll need to hit top of the market in this prestigious pocket!


i have an 09 rmz 450 that i just had the motor rebuilt crank,new oil pumps, new pistons, and valves. im have an issue while priming the engine there isn't any oil getting to the top end. i have not started it yet but when i pulled the oil pressure bolt out of the head and with my finger over the hole its pulling vacuum. not sure if that is the way its supposed to be but im going to replace the oil relief valve today and try that. just wanted to see if anyone had this problem before.


Let's make some wishes come true together! One Simple Wish believes all children deserve to a joyful childhood. And we want to work with you to make that possible. If you represent a nonprofit that serves children in foster care, please use the form below to apply to become part of our Community Partner Network.
One Simple Wish works tirelessly to create and strengthen relationships with people around the world to encourage awareness and support of the needs of children in foster care.
One Simple Wish shares your wishes with thousands of individual, group and corporate supporters to find a connection that will make your wishes come true.
When each wish is granted, our dedicated OSW Reps carefully fill each wish.
OSW Reps follow up to learn the impact of each wish.
One Simple Wish continues to engage supporters in our mission to ensure that every child in foster care has a chance at a happier childhood.
Ask the children you work with what would make their life a little bit brighter.
Submit those wishes in a clear and compelling manner through our website.
Once posted, share those wishes with your network through email, social media and word of mouth.
Confirm receipt of each wish once it is received.
Send handwritten or handmade thank you notes from the child or young person for each wish received. Pictures approved for sharing are encouraged!


Today marked the fourth annual WakeMed Patient Safety House of Horrors where nursing staff can learn how to identify and prevent mistakes before they happen. The Center for Innovative Learning staff, infection control, dietary, clinical analysis, and others helped stage mock food trays, nursing stations, patients in wheel chairs, and patients in beds using medical simulators. In total, there were more than 200 errors from patient identification issues to food allergies to wrong site surgeries.
The Patient Safety House of Horrors is a good learning experience for nurses, and it is important that everyone who works in health care be alert and aware of potential errors. But it is equally as important for patients and their loved ones to be on the lookout for potential errors while in the hospital as well.
Ask you several times what type of procedure you are having. If you are having surgery, your surgeon will sign initials at the surgery location just to make sure there is no confusion in the operating room.
Before any test or procedure, ask if it will require any dyes or medicines that you might be allergic to.
Look at all medicines before you take them. If it looks different to you, ask why.
Remind the nurse or doctor if you have allergies to any medications, dye, food or latex.
Ask you caregiver if they washed their hands before they come in contact with you.
And, as always, ask questions if there is something you do not understand.
The Patient Safety House of Horrors is fun, interactive and memorable learning experience, but it has a very serious educational purpose, preventing medical errors.
The House of Horrors is a fantastic resource. Is there any way that it could be set up so night-shift staff could take advantage of it?


text:
You are here: HomenextPlacesnextLocal List of Heritage AssetsnextCourtney Gate, Kingsway, Hove
Local listing is different to statutory listing; it does not provide further legislative controls. and does not affect when planning permission is required. However, when planning permission is required, the 'special interest' of a locally listed heritage asset will be taken into account. In 2013 the council asked for nominations for inclusion in the list; over five hundred submissions were considered. The Local List of Heritage Assets was adopted on 18th June 2015, it will be reviewed in 2020; other items in the current list can be seen here
Click on images to open a large version in a new window
Courtney Gate is a large six and seven storey Neo-Georgian block of serviced apartments. It was built in 1934 to designs by Coleridge, Jennings & Soimenow. The building is of gault brick, with rusticated render to the ground floor and a strong rendered storey band between the fourth and fifth storeys. A further storey band between the fifth and sixth is in stone, as is the parapet. There are shallow bows to the outside bays.
It is of architectural, design and artistic interest and is a good quality example of a building of this type and period, with a robust design.It is within The Avenues conservation area, but atypical of it due to its scale and period of construction. The use of gault brick nevertheless ties the building in with the character of the conservation area. The building forms an imposing landmark at the terminus to Hove Lawns. It is clearly visible in long views across the Lawns, Kingsway and the seafront. The building retains many of its original features and overall design composition.
A fine building – as is 4, Grand Avenue.
By Geoff Stoner (06/10/2015)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


@callofduty is out today! Get it here for only $49.99... unless you like paying more elsewhere. ⬇⬇⬇⬇ 5957 Alpha Rd, Dallas, TX 75240 #ReChargeElectronics #Dallas #Playstation4 #PS4 #XBoxOne #XBoxOneS #XBoxOneX #CallOfDuty #callofdutyblackops4 •••• P.S. When you're done playing, you can sell is back to us for $40!
This Friday @callofduty Black Ops 4 is released! Get it from us for less than anywhere in Dallas! ⬇⬇⬇⬇ 5957 Alpha Rd, Dallas, TX 75240 #ReChargeElectronics #Dallas #Playstation4 #PS4 #XBoxOne #XBoxOneS #XBoxOneX #CallOfDuty #callofdutyblackops4 •••• P.S. When you're done playing, you can sell is back to us for $40!


text:
Small dog euthanized after being sexually assaulted, man gets 60 days in jail
Fidel Lopez (Portland Police Bureau)
(FOX NEWS) - An Oregon man was sentenced Wednesday to 60 days in jail for sexually assaulting a dog who had to be euthanized due to extensive injuries.
Fidel Lopez, 52, was given the maximum penalty allowed for his offense, Multnomah County Judge Angel Lopez said, according to KOIN-TV in Portland.
"If it could have been more, I would have gladly given you more," the judge said.
Lopez admitted to investigators to sexually assaulting the dog, a Lhasa Apso mix named Estrella. Estrella's owner took her to a veterinarian in November 2018 after suspecting she had been abused, the station reported. Lopez knew the owner and admitted to investigators to abusing the dog.
In addition to jail time, Lopez will remain on probation for three years, was fined $500, cannot possess a dog for 15 years and must undergo treatment for those convicted of animal abuse.
Get updates on this story at FOXNews.com


text:
Q: Never want to hide tooltip on highcharts I am using HighCharts in my ASP.Net MVC application using JQuery.
I have managed to show a tooltip with crosshair vertical bar on mouse move. However, I do not want to hide this toolop + bar even if user moves the mouse out of chart. Is there any option available in Highcharts to achieve this?
I searched forums but could not find any working example. One of those solutions is related to cloning tooltip on click event.

A: You can wrap the Highcharts.Tooltip.prototype.hide by an empty (no-op) function as follows
(function (H) {
    H.wrap(H.Tooltip.prototype, 'hide', function (defaultCallback) {
        /*
            ░░░░░▄▄▄▄▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▄▄▄▄▄▄░░░░░░░
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            */
    });
}(Highcharts));

Highcharts/Highstock tooltip always visible @ JsFiddle
For the minimalists,
(function (H) {
    H.wrap(H.Tooltip.prototype, 'hide', function () {});
}(Highcharts));

does the job too ;)
Read More @ Customizing Highcharts - Tooltip Visibility

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


If you were ever wondering what I looked like as a child please see the picture above. It's actually quite eerie. Although I'm pretty sure I didn't have the appetite of a truck driver, which this one does.
Jack and I had another epic sleepover and apparently I make the best scrambled cheesy eggs in history.
I went to Water Country and probably got SARS.
We also made it to the river which was beautiful on a rainy morning.
When they light the food on fire at a Japanese Steakhouse I still get a little scared.
They're so much more fearless than I was, I envy them that.
If I see another pizza I'm gonna get sick.
Livvie looks so adorable when she pouts I kept taking pics of it which she hated.
I wish they lived closer.
I'm a bit hoarse because they made me sing Single Ladies like 95 times.
They're fabulous dancers, they get that from me.
I'm gonna sleep for a week!
A minor miracle has occurred over the last few weeks. On numerous occasions, while I've been working in my front yard, total strangers walking by have told me how great my yard looks and that they wish they knew how to make theirs look as good. The first couple times I thought I was being punked. It's taken six years of trial and error, wasted money, dead plants and frustration to figure it out. SIX YEARS! Now, when I sit on my porch and admire my handiwork, I wish I could transport that girl who felt like she would never get it right to today and let her know she would. It helps to remind me that that day will come in a few other areas too. I just have to be patient.
Today's post is dedicated to just that, best laid plans. I actually plan my blog posts quite far in advance, at least a month I'd say. I tried letting things just happen spur of the moment, but that never worked and stressed me out even more. I realized if I wanted to fit blogging into my self-induced busy life, I had to be more deliberate about it. I also hate, in ever facet of my life, putting something out there that I know I could have done better. I know that perfect is the enemy of good, but I always want to feel that I've done my best.
This brings us to last Sunday. I invited my mom over for dinner because we always like to do something special for Father's Day even though my Dad's been gone almost six years. My mom is a trooper when it comes to this kind of thing, and I appreciate her genuine enthusiasm for always wanting to help us remember my Father in small ways even though they'd been divorced for almost twenty years when he passed. The plan was to photograph dinner, I make a mean Roast Pork Loin, and then post those photographs today.
Here's the deal....I forgot. Sunday was beautiful, I went on a long bike ride, sat by the river and soaked up some sun with a friend, made dinner and then promptly forgot to take the photos. In retrospect, photos of raw pork may not have been my finest idea anyway. So the one photo above is all you get:)! I literally laid the platter on my kitchen table and went "Crap"! The pork was damn good though. Happy Father's Day Dad. Miss you!
Waddup Philly! Work conference meant a looooooong week in the city of brotherly love, but I had a little fun and explored some parts I hadn't before. Hope you enjoy the pics!


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Apple goes big on premium services: Apple TV+ streaming, News+, Arcade and new credit card
Backed by Hollywood stars and original content, Tim Cook & Co. go all in on streaming. Will consumers subscribe to the new offerings?
Apple goes big on premium services: Apple TV+ streaming, News+, Arcade and new credit card Backed by Hollywood stars and original content, Tim Cook & Co. go all in on streaming. Will consumers subscribe to the new offerings? Check out this story on courier-journal.com: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/money/companies/2019/03/26/apple-event-unveils-new-premium-news-and-streaming-services/3276230002/
Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY Published 10:55 a.m. ET March 26, 2019
Stars of Apple: Company goes big for launch of Apple TV+ streaming service
Actors Jason Momoa, left, and Alfre Woodard speak at the Steve Jobs Theater during an event to announce new Apple products on March 25, 2019, in Cupertino, Calif. JEFFERSON GRAHAM, USA TODAY
Sara Bareilles JEFFERSON GRAHAM, USA TODAY
Kumail Nanjiani JEFFERSON GRAHAM, USA TODAY
Steven Spielberg NOAH BERGER, AFP/Getty Images
Actors Steve Carrell, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. Michael Short, Getty Images
Apple launches Apple Arcade, a game subscription service. APPLE INC.,/ HANDOUT, EPA-EFE
Filmmaker Steven Spielberg. Michael Short, Getty Images
Oprah Winfrey. Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY
A screen grab of Apple Arcade, a game subscription service. APPLE INC.,/ HANDOUT, EPA-EFE
Apple CEO Tim Cook at the Steve Jobs Theater during an event to announce new products. Tony Avelar, AP
JJ Abrams and Sara Bareilles. Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY
Big Bird. Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY
Steve Carrell, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY
Tim Cook and Oprah Winfrey. Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY
Tim Cook hopes there's no business like show business.
And with the backing of Hollywood A-listers Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Steve Carrell, Reese Witherspoon, Jason Momoa, J.J. Abrams, Sarah Bareilles, Alfre Woodard, Kumail Nanjiani, Jennifer Aniston, even Big Bird – each appeared on the Steve Jobs Theater stage and will do their part to contribute original content – Apple's CEO on Monday announced Apple TV+, a long-rumored ad-free, on-demand entertainment streaming service.
Apple TV+ will launch in the fall and be part of a revamped Apple TV app.
In broad strokes, the new service would appear to pit Apple against the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu.
Apple didn't spell out pricing for Apple TV+, but it doesn't appear to be free. You'll have the option, apparently, to pay for premium channels you don't currently subscribe to (with Apple presumably getting an undisclosed cut).
Meantime, the revamped Apple TV app will turn up in May, via the Apple TV set-top box and on your iPhone and iPad. The app will come to Macs in the fall.
And Apple also announced that it will be made available on smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony and Vizio, and even on the boxes that compete with Apple TV hardware, notably Fire TV and Roku.
"We love TV," Cook said on stage.
Apple announces a new credit card, arcade and streaming subscription service. USA TODAY
Going all in on news
Separately, the company announced a beefed-up newspaper and magazine service called Apple News+. It costs $9.99 a month and includes such newspapers as The Wall Street Journal, Toronto Star and Los Angeles Times, along with more than 300 magazines like People, National Geographic, Popular Science, Sports Illustrated, Billboard, Vogue, Fortune, New York and The New Yorker.
Content will be curated: It is unknown whether you'll get all or just some of the content from your favorite digital publications under Apple's single news subscription.
Apple says it is not charging extra to share the news subscription with members of your family. The first month is free.
The app features animated magazine covers that resemble Live Photos on the iPhone.
And in a nod to privacy, Apple claims advertisers will not be able to track what you are reading.
Will there be bundled pricing?
Cook has long signaled Apple's increased reliance on the services sector. This, in addition to the brand-new streaming services, includes iCloud, Apple Pay, and Apple Music, which has garnered about 50 million subscribers since its debut in June 2015.
Apple's biggest advantage here would seem to be the Apple brand itself, built around an installed base of loyal customers, who collectively have about 1.4 billion Apple devices out in the wild, most notably, the iPhone.
Most of Apple's services to date have been closely tied to those Apple products, and if anything, today's announcements may further cement that symbiotic relationship.
Still unclear is whether Apple will bundle Apple TV+, Apple News+, Apple Music and perhaps some combination of premium TV channels into a single discounted offering.
Another open question: Will Apple give any kind of price break to iPhone owners or people who have other iDevices?
The press gather at the Steve Jobs Theater for Apple's `Showtime' media event. (Photo: Jefferson Graham)
Apple is still looking at services to keep consumers in its ecosystem.
"Apple will need to continue to increase investments in original content and licensing to differentiate itself from competitors. However, it could take advantage of its massive smartphone reach in the U.S. and abroad," says eMarketer senior forecasting analyst Chris Bendtsen.
Indeed, whatever advantage Apple gains through hardware, the Apple TV set-top box, for now, is at the bottom of the U.S. connected TV market – behind Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Google Chromecast. This year, 25.1 million Americans will use an Apple TV device, or 13.2 percent of connected TV users, eMarketer reports.
In an exclusive USA TODAY/SurveyMonkey Audience online poll of more than 1,030 people, conducted over two days last week, about a third of consumers indicated that they had seen or heard the news about a new (rumored) video streaming service from Apple. Nearly a quarter said they were either "likely" or "very likely" to subscribe to it if launched, with 31 percent undecided.
Inside the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, Calif., where Apple is set to announce new streaming services. (Photo: Jefferson Graham)
Then there's the matter of subscription fatigue, given that U.S. viewers have more than 300 top video options.
According to a recent Deloitte survey, the average U.S. consumer now subscribes to three streaming video services. Will they go for a fourth? And if not, what will they cut to accommodate Apple?
Meanwhile, 43 percent of consumers in the Deloitte survey subscribe to both streaming and conventional pay TV services.
A key driver, of course, is the kind of content consumers will be exposed to. High-quality original content continues to be a dominant factor in streaming growth, with 57 percent of current U.S. streaming households (and, 71 percent of millennials) subscribing to specific original content, Deloitte says.
A credit card and games, too
Apple also unveiled a new subscription offering for gamers called Apple Arcade and will include more than 100 curated titles you can play on your phone, Apple TV, Mac and iPad. It works offline. The company says parents can manage Screen Time usage in case the kids play games instead of doing their homework. Apple Arcade will be made available in the fall – no pricing has been disclosed yet.
Apple Arcade seems to be Apple's answer to Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass, which costs $9.99.
It's not like gaming is new to Apple. Apple's App Store platform has nearly 300,000 free and paid games, and Apple claims more than 1 billion of its customers play games.
Apple separately announced a titanium Mastercard credit card called Apple Card, with a Daily Cash feature that adds a 2 percent rebate on purchases made through Apple Pay. The rebate climbs to 3 percent on purchases made directly with through Apple Stores, the App Store or for Apple's services.
There are no annual fees, late fees or international currency exchange fees. Apple claims low-interest rates, too, though no specifics on that front have been offered yet. Though there's no penalty, per se, late or missed payments will result in additional interest accumulating toward a customer's balance.
What's in your wallet?: Apple wants you to add an Apple Card credit card, coming in summer
Game on: Apple Arcade brings Apple into gaming with new subscription service
The company is partnering with Goldman Sachs on the new card. The card includes a variety of privacy and security features built-in, notably that Apple doesn't know what you bought, where you bought it or how much you paid. And Apple says Goldman Sachs will never share your data to third parties for marketing or advertising purposes.
No card number, security code, expiration date or signature is visible on the card.
The card will come to the Apple Wallet app in the U.S. this summer.
Email: ebaig@usatoday.com; Follow @edbaig on Twitter
Read or Share this story: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/money/companies/2019/03/26/apple-event-unveils-new-premium-news-and-streaming-services/3276230002/
I went to the Jane Austen Festival, Forecastle and Lebowski Fest and lived to tell about it
Walmart rolls out sale ahead of Prime Day
Will your health insurance premium rise in 2020?
Hamburger and hot dog buns recalled in Kentucky, Indiana
Kentucky clothing brand is spreading Appalachian chic worldwide
Hauck's Handy Store to be sold to real estate agent


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It's safe to say I'm not an Adam Sandler fan. I can see the appeal of his earlier work and he was great in Punch Drunk Love, but that just serves to make his period of completely not trying, using movies as an excuse for paid exotic excursions with his buddies and his whorish fellating of corporate sponsorship all the more offensive. Movies like Jack and Jill and The Ridiculous Six are barely films. They're lazy, cynical products stuffed with ugly humour. I can't resent people finding them funny too much as humour is completely subjective, but I do resent the way in which Sandler's riding on a wave of unearned nostalgia for his particular brand of "entertainment" with effort going into all the wrong areas.
The Do-Over is Sandler's second Netflix project. Sandler plays Max Kessler, an FBI agent who finds his high school BFF, Charlie (David Spade) in a bad place in his life. Charlie's a meek and submissive bank manager for a bank inside a supermarket, married to a woman who belittles and cheats on him and father to two young punks who have no respect for him whatsoever. Max swoops in and takes Charlie on a yacht, reminding him of all the good times they had. Max drugs Charlie and blows up the yacht, ostensibly killing them. The pair then assume the identities of two dead men and Max gives Charlie a chance to have a fresh start. However, the lives the men have assumed carry life baggage with them and they soon find themselves embroiled in a big plot that has heavily armed men pursuing them across the globe.
The Do-Over's construction is more involved than I initially gave it credit for. It functions like a standard comedy script and there are actually set up jokes that pay off or are called back to later in the film. It even has twists based around new information coming to light. Now, granted- 90% of films should have these things as the bare minimum, but I was surprised that a modern Sandler film even bothered with genre conventions at all. The inexcusable Jack and Jill just existed, with one scene happening, finishing and then another starting, with no real reason why and no flow between skits whatsoever. The Do-Over actually has some elements of proper storytelling to it and whilst the bar is set so low crabs could trip on it, I have to call out good things when I see them. For instance, David Spade actually puts in a comedy character performance, with the nebbish Charlie being a fair distance away from the usual smarmy, insufferable scrotes Spade usually plays.
Is it funny? Nope. I'm sure there are people out there who wet themselves every time Sandler cracks a gag, but I ain't one of them. Like with the structure, I could see how certain things could be funny, but the film had me rolling my eyes, sighing and checking how long was left throughout. Not one joke or gag worked and most of them had concerning things to say about Sandler's outlook on life.
Y'see, I may have vaguely praised The Do-Over a bit, but that doesn't stop it from being truly awful in a whole bunch of ways. Sandler's character of Max is an awesome badass, who is meant to be the hero of the piece. Apart from providing us with the hilarious spectacle of having scenes where he's all serious and shoots guns, Sandler seems to be playing an idealised version of himself, complete with little to no flaws and leaving all the pratfalling and looking dumb to Spade. There's always been an off-putting sense of ego to his work and the character of Max is a complete monument to that. It may have writers, directors and all the other filmmaking things, but Sandler owns all the toys and he's not going to bother with anything that doesn't make him look good or conform to his seemingly depressed, misogynistic and angry world view.
Gender politics and Happy Madison productions have never seen eye-to-eye. Women do not come across well in The Do-Over. All the women are either crazy bitches, nymphomaniacs or both. Paula Patton (who can do so much better than this toss) is the standard "hot one" with a relatively normal personality. That is until the film decides to (SPOILER I guess, but get real) reveal that she's been a crazy bitch all along and was manipulating our poor innocent males with her feminine charms. There's one eyebrow-raising scene when Charlie fights her, thumping her whilst screaming about being tired of being lied to and screwed over by women. The message of the film, as gossamer thin as it is, seems to be an asinine "bros before hoes" kind of deal and instead of it making me laugh, it just bugged me how a powerful and influential 49 year old man has the sensibilities of a dumb 13 year old kid. With great power, there must also come great responsibility. Why do people always forget about the responsibility part?
So I hated every turgid second of The Do-Over. I know you won't believe me, but I do try and keep an open mind and I'm always delighted when low expectations are met with a surprisingly good product. People will tell you to turn your brain off, that it's a typical Sandler movie and that critics just wanted to hate it, but that's more troubling than anything else. I can imagine liking it, but feeling so passionately about it that you defend and make excuses for it? That's straight-up alien behaviour and you may want to have a word with yourself.
If you're a Sandler fan, you don't need me to tell you what I think. However, if you're opposed or indifferent to Sandler's nonsense and you're absent-mindedly browsing Netflix and see the thumbnail, please don't bother. It'll only hurt.
Author Ben BrownePosted on May 29, 2016 May 29, 2016 Categories ReviewTags Adam Sandler, David Spade, Netflix, Paula Patton, Steven Brill, The Do-OverLeave a comment on The Do-Over (2016)
The exclusivity wars : Whoever wins, we lose
Netflix and other on demand services of its ilk have had such a huge impact on viewing habits in such a short amount of time. Don't know about you but I'm getting a bit sick of service exclusive content and I can see some unpleasant things on the horizon. Speaking of which, I assume you've heard about Adam Sandler's four-film deal with Netflix? Basically, the theoretical comedian has made a deal to produce and star in four films for the company. Also, the sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon will premiere exclusively on the service. That's great an' all but what if you don't have a Netflix account? What if you've signed up to Amazon Instant Video instead and can only justify one VOD subscription? Well, the answer seems to be "fuck you". No terrible Sandler film or potentially great martial arts action for you. If these experiments are successful, you can bet that this'll only be the start of it. Expect to see more exclusive studio deals with all new and back catalogue titles only appearing on one service. Fancy watching an X-Men film? Fuck you NowTV subscriber, Netflix has a deal with 20th Century Fox and all future, past and Days of Future Past X-Flicks will only be available there, so choke on it. Or, even better, each studio will create its own streaming service. Hooray for Paramount on Demand! Watch Transformers: Age of Extinction and Top Gun for only £7.99 a month! Not available on any other service!
This may seem like a bit of a leap and yes, this is all massively speculative, but I've just got a bad feeling about this. That's not to say I'm completely blinkered. I can definitely see the potential. It means there's another option for films to reach the masses. We could get showcases for directors the mainstream won't take a chance on. It could be massive for the indie movie scene. We could get sequels to things that should rightfully have them but are deemed "too risky", like Dredd. If they're smart about this, it could be awesome. However, we all know how Hollywood can be, chasing the short-term gain over any kind of rational plan. This is an industry where you've got big cheeses like Jeffrey Katzenberg thinking along the lines of a pay by screen size system where cinemas only have films for 3 weeks and then it's up for download. Of course, what ol' Katzy hasn't taken into account is how unenforceable the system would be and the fact that it would make cinemas pretty much pointless and ensure that they make even less on ticket sales than they do now. But that's just it. They don't think. With that in mind, why wouldn't they go for something like this? They're already terrified of Video on Demand as a competitor for eyeballs and wallets. So why wouldn't they ally themselves with the enemy and get a fat payday now so their executives can afford to go diamond parasailing or whatever the hell rich people do for the next few years?
Physical media is already dying so this digital only future may come sooner than you think. Sony posted record losses this year and most of the blame is at Blu-ray's door. It sucks because I'm a fan of physical media. I like having a collection. I like the convenience of watching what I want, when I want. You don't have that with VOD services. You're at their mercy. Films and shows are taken down on a whim and with very little warning. I know some people selling their film collections because they have Netflix. Seems short-sighted to me. At least when you have a Blu-ray or DVD, you actually own the thing and its availability isn't down to the outcome of various meetings with studios.
All of this stuff diminishes the advantages that streaming has over piracy. People won't care about all the new exclusive films, because they'll be ripped and reuploaded on torrenting sites mere hours after they're made available in a bog-standard file that doesn't do anything stupid like limit viewing options. If this continues, the only advantage that streaming will have is the fact it's legal – and we all know how many fucks the general public give about that. Why bother paying per month for a limited library that may or may not have the things you like when you can get an unlimited HD file of something you actually want for free?
Let's not forget what "exclusive" means: not shared with others; belonging or catering to a minority. It's a rather worrying trend. So unless you want to spend a ridiculous amount per month, you might be seeing fewer films in the future and that's pretty saddening.
Author Ben BrownePosted on October 13, 2014 October 14, 2014 Categories SoapboxTags Amazon Instant Video, Exclusives, industry bullshit, Netflix, Now TV, VODLeave a comment on The exclusivity wars : Whoever wins, we lose


A time zone item specifies an international time zone, indicated by a small set of letters, e.g., `UTC' or `Z' for Coordinated Universal Time. Any included periods are ignored. By following a non-daylight-saving time zone by the string `DST' in a separate word (that is, separated by some white space), the corresponding daylight saving time zone may be specified. Alternatively, a non-daylight-saving time zone can be followed by a time zone correction, to add the two values. This is normally done only for `UTC'; for example, `UTC+05:30' is equivalent to `+05:30'.
Time zone items other than `UTC' and `Z' are obsolescent and are not recommended, because they are ambiguous; for example, `EST' has a different meaning in Australia than in the United States. Instead, it's better to use unambiguous numeric time zone corrections like `-0500', as described in the previous section.
If neither a time zone item nor a time zone correction is supplied, timestamps are interpreted using the rules of the default time zone (see section Specifying time zone rules).


Welcome to my website where I share dark comical stories for all ages along with my passion for horror movies, zombies, wine, and evil in pop culture. Originally from Chicago, I now live in Colorado where I spend my days writing dark comedy and getting duped by 3 mischievous beagles. Looking for a short, funny tale. Check out Pete Sinclair's story in the Fall for Freedom prequel to The Courier series. He's been blamed for closing the Gates of Hell and releasing an imprisoned fallen angel by the name of Azael. Lucky for Pete, an angel's apprentice believes he's innocent. She offers him freedom from Satan's forces in exchange for his help returning Azael to his prison cell. If only he and the demon who possesses him had the courage and know how to fight a fallen angel.


Gin has never really gone out of fashion, but it is enjoying something of a renaissance, as younger drinkers are turning to this old favourite. However, it is gin 'with a twist' that is attracting people to this traditional British spirit. Here, we look at gin being offered in the run up to Christmas and how you can have a go at infusing your own gin at home.
According to the Guardian, British people bought a record 40 million bottles of gin during 2016. This resurgence in gin drinking has also led to a large increase in the number of gin distilleries in Britain, with 40 new distilleries opening in 2016.
Many of the supermarket retailers are selling and marketing different forms and flavours of gin in the run up to Christmas. This is to try and keep up with consumer demand for alternatives to the traditional gin and tonic. Flavoured gin isn't something new and people have been flavouring gin with fruit such as sloes and damsons for a long time. However, distillers are using alternative fruits and flavours that they think pair well with gin.
Supermarket Lidl is doing something even more radical and is selling gin liqueurs flavoured with rhubarb and ginger and Scottish raspberry. The rhubarb and ginger liqueur could be mixed with ginger beer, rather than traditional tonic, while the raspberry version could be mixed with champagne or drunk on its own over ice.
If you don't want to buy flavoured gin from the supermarket, you could always have a go at flavouring gin yourself at home. If you wanted a gin that has a Christmas twist, then you could try using cranberries, or if you wanted to try and make a raspberry flavoured gin as opposed to a raspberry gin liqueur, then this would work using natural raspberry flavouring.
Try experimenting using a cheap gin, a clean, sterilised Kilner jar and whatever fruit or herbs take your fancy. Several other flavours pair well with gin, including strawberry and elderflower, and these are available from http://www.foodieflavours.com/shop/flavours/natural-flavouring/raspberry/.
So if you fancy a change from your traditional G&T, there are plenty of alternatives on offer, or you could even have a go at making your own.


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Eliza Gilkyson – Roses at the End of Time
(Red House)
www.redhouserecords.com
It's hard to eschew expectations about any new Eliza
Gilkyson release. Every album is accompanied by the anticipation that would be
appropriate around a veteran magician: Will she recreate the undulating heat of
"Unless You Want Me Now"? Can she make her way back onto the high wire from
which she unfurled the breathtaking vulnerability of "Redemption Road"? Both songs are from the
1996 watermark named for the latter. Since Redemption Road,
prolific, occasionally brilliant songwriting has added flesh to her ongoing
narrative. Gilkyson so handily weaves spiritual, political, personal, pop,
country, and new wave influences and viewpoints into a folk patchwork that her
followers unblinkingly purchase tickets for the ride. Her deft musicianship and
intense vocals (like a more textured Patti Smith, with some well-placed
huskiness, and minus the roar) brand everything she does. The effect's enhanced
by a pop sensibility — Gilkyson grew up around the music of her father Terry,
whose compositions for Disney included "The Bare Necessities"– and the knack
of collaborating with top-drawer players.
In 2004 she received a Grammy nomination for Land of Milk and Honey.
This back story's being explicated because Gilkyson's one of
the most talented folk artists in America – and, for years, relative
to her talent, was relatively unknown. But what of Roses at the End of Time?
The less-than-great news may be that Gilkyson has grown
accustomed to her loyal legion of fans. Also, for the last decade, she's pumped
out a new set approximately every two years. She performs a lot. Onstage, songs
that go on for six or seven hypnotic minutes are enjoyed and appreciated.
Happily (perhaps), Roses at the End of
Time isn't any shorter on high points than Gilkyson is on listeners who are
likely to sit intently through the more plodding and pedestrian interludes.
The languor of the nearly six-minute opener, "Blue Moon
Night," is saved from flaccidity by a gorgeous instrumental backdrop (Gilkyson
on electric and acoustic guitars; Mike Hardwick providing sustained electric
chords). But lovely guitar playing isn't
enough to hold my interest in a rather stock, very sleepy,
through-the-eyes-of-Mexican-farm-workers dirge, "Vayan al Norte." The seven
minutes of a sympathy card to an abandoned woman, "Belle of the Ball," are
enough enlivened by Cisco (drum loops, electric guitar, piano, and vocal
harmonies) to provide what's probably a stunning live piece. Here, it's a
stretch, albeit lovely; and most likely to appeal to listeners open to musing
along over herbal tea — or with herb in hand; headphones on ears. It makes me
nostalgic for Sandy Denny – while her tracks, long or short, were coddled by
the cream of progressive British folk, they hold my interest without any sort
of herbal supplementation.
Roses at the End of
Time has considerable sparkle. Bolstered by bass and drums, "Looking for a
Place" has a crisp gait that sustains inspired electric guitar chording and
Gilkyson's casual, Dylanesque lyrics. It could be a Traveling Wilburys outtake.
is solidly "down on the corner." The clubfooted shuffle and old-timey
embellishment (trombone, Dobro, and pedal steel guitar) prompt a brainstorm:
What kind of fireworks could Gilkyson create with Tom Waits?
The backwoodsy plinks and plunks (fiddle and banjo) of
"Death in Arkansas"
are also persuasive. But when the sun is setting, I'd still place bets that no
one is sorry when Gilkyson eases back into well-written, simply-realized
ballads. Her acoustic guitar, with thoughtful upright bass playing from Chris
Marsh, and Hardwick's luscious electric echoes, bring the best out of "Blue
Moon Night," "Once I had a Home," and "Midnight on Raton." Gilkyson seems to be
enjoying what might be called her prime. The end of her abilities and endurance
seems pretty far down the line.
DOWNLOAD: "Looking for a Place," "Slouching towards Bethlehem,"
"Midnight on Raton," "Death in Arkansas"
MARY LEARY
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on May 19, 2011 by Stephen Judge.
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Derek began his career in the technology industry in global roles with PwC and Barclays Bank. He led the growth of a management consulting business through to its sale to an ASX listed business.
He then founded Greensense – a software company (SaaS) that measured energy, water and waste consumption in commercial buildings and successfully exited when the company was acquired by ASX listed ERM Power.
He now is an active tech and impact investor which he does through companies he founded – Go Capital and Purpose Ventures. He established the angel investor group Innovation Bay in Perth, holds a number of Advisory Board roles, run the BetterLabs Venture Fund, and is Entrepreneur-In-Residence for the RAC and the Plus Eight accelerator run at Spacecubed.


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Jerusalem Post Health & Wellness
Haredi rabbi promoting living kidney donations to alleviate transplant waiting list
Rabbi Yeshaya Haber discussed the kidney donation that he himself received and which opened his eyes to the issue, how he helped more than two hundred people in Israel to donate a kidney.
By JEREMY SHARON
Doctors perform surgery
(photo credit: COURTESY SZMC)
A haredi rabbi in Jerusalem has become in recent years a leading proponent of living kidney donations, people who donate one of their kidneys to a stranger suffering from kidney disease and failure.
Speaking with the Jerusalem Post, Rabbi Yeshaya Haber discussed the kidney donation that he himself received and which opened his eyes to the issue, how he helped more than two hundred people in Israel to donate a kidney to someone they had never met before, and his ultimate goal of eliminating waiting lists for kidney donations.
Rabbi Yeshaya Haber received his kidney donation seven years ago. In the time since his operation, Haber and his wife have dedicated themselves to their mission of searching for kidney donors who are willing to help not friends or family members but dialysis patients in Israel whom they have never before met in their lives.
"Donating a kidney from a living person is the greatest thing a person can do with his body – because he is saving a life," said the rabbi.
"I was saved because of a kidney donation, so that my children got back their father due to the donation of a complete stranger and my wife got back her husband.
"There are so many people that are in need of a kidney transplant and, because of my own personal experience, I decided to do all that is possible to ensure that as many people as possible donate their kidneys and save as many people as possible who wait for such a long time."
The organization which Haber runs is called Matanat Chayim, meaning the Gift of Life, a registered Israeli charity. In June 2014, Haber was awarded the "Volunteering Award of the President of Israel" by former Israeli President Shimon Peres for his activities promoting and actively seeking living kidney donors.
At its heart, Matanat Chayim is a small operation, with just six salaried employees, of which Haber is not one, and several dozen volunteers. It has so far helped find 216 living kidney donors who successfully donated their kidney with another three donations expected to take place next week.
The organization has been active in raising awareness for living kidney transplants in the haredi and national-religious sectors for most of its life, with some 98 percent of its donors coming from these two population groups, half from each community. The organization is however seeking to increase its exposure in broader Israeli society.
Haber is eager to underline that living kidney donations have been permitted under Jewish law by some of the most senior haredi rabbis alive including Rabbis Aharon Leib Shteinman and Haim Kanievski, as well as some of the most respected figures of recent generations such as the late rabbis Ovadia Yosef, Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and Shlomo Zalman Auerbach.
While most donors to Matnat Chayim are currently from the religious sector, recipients are from across the Israeli societal spectrum, with 70 percent coming from the non-religious population.
Matnat Chayim's main method of reaching potential donors is through newspaper and other media advertisements and promotional material. Haber says that no efforts are made to persuade or convince people to donate and that it is donors who are the ones to make contact with the organization.
Once an individual has expressed interest in donating a kidney, Matnat Chayim provides donors with information as to the risks of the transplant operation, the recovery period and other vital details about the process.
According to the Mayo Clinic medical research organization in the US, there is little long-term risk for kidney donation, as long as careful and comprehensive medical tests are conducted on the individual before they become a donor.
"Long-term survival rate, quality of life, general health status and risk of kidney failure are about the same" as for non-donors, the organization says.
The operation itself is described as "major surgery," is performed under general anesthetic, and after the operation, a donor requires several days hospitalization in order to recuperate.
After a donor approaches Matnat Chayim, he or she is sent for the requisite tests. Before they are found to be suitable donors they must gain approval by hospital committee, as well as a committee within the Ministry of Health, which examine if the donor is indeed acting out of altruism and not through any form of coercion, are not being paid money for their kidney donation, and also evaluate donors physically and psychiatrically.
According to Haber, there are currently 5,800 people receiving kidney dialysis treatment in Israel, of which, 850 are on a transplant waiting list and another 400 who are in need of transplant but have not yet been listed. The average wait for a kidney transplant is seven years.
"Every time we are alerted to a person in need of a kidney donation we turn the world upside down in order to find a donor.
"I cannot describe what it means for a person to live with kidneys that do not function," Haber told the Post, describing the regime of three dialysis treatments per week of approximately four hours each and the strict limitations on what food and the quantity of liquid a dialysis patient may eat and drink while receiving this treatment.
"There is so much suffering that such people need to cope with, and after I myself experienced this and was fortunate enough to receive a kidney donation myself, I decided to undertake, together with my wife, to help these people and to help one person save another's life.
"There are very many patients waiting in line to receive a kidney donation and we will fight for each and every one of them," concludes Haber. "The road before us is a long one and I am sure we will succeed in reducing the list of patients waiting for a transplant to the bare minimum. Donating a kidney save lives and is a great Mitzvah, so we will do all that is possible in order that as many people as possible will become aware of this and will donate life to others."
Tags national council for surgery


BI IBP Business Card Template (6 Nov 2018)- NZ….. PLEASE NOTE: You will need to download the entire zip file and provide it to your printer. These files contain all the formatting that your printer will require.


text:
μ Phoenicis, Latinized as Mu Phoenicis, is a suspected astrometric binary star system in the southern constellation of Phoenix. It is visible to the naked eye as a faint, yellow-hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.59. This system is located approximately 246 light years distant from the Sun based on parallax, and is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +17.4 km/s.

The visible component is an aging G-type giant star with a stellar classification of G8III. Having exhausted the supply of hydrogen at its core, this star cooled and expanded off the main sequence. At present it has 13 times the girth of the Sun. It is 1.4 billion years old with 2.5 times the mass of the Sun. It is radiating 97 times the luminosity of the Sun from its swollen photosphere at an effective temperature of 4,900 K.

References

G-type giants
Astrometric binaries
Phoenix (constellation)
Phoenicis, Mu
Durchmusterung objects
003919
003245
0180

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


1-2 for -1.1 units yesterday as the Padres play was void when Chacin got scratched. This is a nice time to remind you guys to always take "listed" instead of "action" on our plays. Last night for example I wanted Chacin, not that minor leaguer the Pads threw out there at the last minute. If you bet "action" you were stuck. Anyways, moving on to Wednesday. No time for write ups but this is what I have….


New to political campaigning, Murray Rankin said he's been drinking too much coffee and losing weight cycling around Victoria's neighbourhoods.
While he wasn't running for office as such, Rankin took the race for the NDP's nomination in the Victoria federal byelection seriously.
"I took nothing for granted – I was running scared the whole election," he said Monday, a day after winning a first-ballot vote amongst NDP members.
All that "good old-fashioned" door knocking paid off, helping Rankin earn 352 votes at the nomination meeting at the University of Victoria. His total was well ahead of runner-up Elizabeth Cull (96 votes), Charley Beresford (51) and Ben Isitt (36).
The new candidate said Stephen Harper's leadership will be the main issue in the upcoming campaign.
"People feel the increasing income inequality in our society," Rankin said.
Also last weekend, the Liberal Party named lone nominee Paul Summerville its candidate by acclamation.
Summerville fingered the Harper Government for imposing sewage treatment.
But Rankin, an environmental lawyer who has done work with the provincial NDP, pointed to the B.C. Liberal Party's role in mandating the project.
"Do people forget that?" he asked.
While the NDP do not oppose sewage treatment, Rankin said there are many pertinent issues facing Victoria voters, such as the recently approved luxury yacht marina in the Songhees, and homelessness.
The date for the byelection has not been set. It was triggered by the resignation of MP Denise Savoie due to health reasons.
Two weeks ago, the Green Party nominated Donald Galloway as its candidate in the race.
Late to the game is the Conservative party. The Victoria Conservative Association is gathering tonight (Oct. 15) to confirm potential candidates and set a date for its nomination meeting.
Former Victoria candidate Patrick Hunt was rumoured to be running, but has since confirmed he will not seek the nomination.


text:
My family spent years hoarding junk - now the council wants to charge me to get rid of it
Two brothers are struggling to cope clearing the family home lived in by generations of hoarders
Anna Savva
Brothers Tim and Christopher are unable to stay in the home they grew up in.
A man will learning difficulties is struggling to clear his hoarder family's council house after the authority asked him to leave.
His brother Christopher Ashley said Tim was given a year's notice to vacate the three-bed council home he had shared with their mother since his birth.
Tim, 51, has brain damage and the home has been specially adapted for his needs - but since his mother died Mr Ashley says the authority has refused to let them stay on at the house.
Mr Ashley, 53, says there is no way his brother could clear the house himself - which was filled up by his mum, nan and step dad who were all hoarders - and believes they should have been given more time.
He also says the authority has threatened the family with a bill if they cannot clear the entire property themselves.
Christopher says his nan, mum and dad were hoarders.
He told the News: "There is no way he can do it. So I have been clearing it all out and it is still not cleared."
Mr Ashley has so far only cleared one bedroom, and told the News there was much more to be done.
He said he was only aware of the notice five months after it was served by Uttlesford District Council.
"My brother has brain damage and we have been treated like dirt by the council," Mr Ashley added.
"I phoned up the council and asked them about taking the tenancy agreement on.
"My brother was born and bred in that house and that's all he knew.
"They said I could not take the property over.
"That only gave me six months to clear the house.
"My mum, my nan, my step dad they were all hoarders and so I have a lot of stuff to clear out of the property."
The home on Mountfichet Rd
Overwhelming task
Mr Ashley says his brother suffered from epilepsy when he was younger, which left him unable to talk properly or go out on his own.
He can also only walk so far because he gets very breathless.
Protesters call on council to reverse children's centres cuts decision
Christopher, who currently lives in another property near Bishops Stortford and is looking after Tim, said he feels overwhelmed at the thought of clearing the property.
He also suffers from depression and recently lost his partner of 32 years.
"Everyone I've spoken to about this they tell me it is a wonder I am not dead yet," he said.
"I have high blood pressure and the doctor told me to take things easy because I am on the verge of a heart attack or a stroke."
He continued: "I have suffered from depression since I lost my step dad in 2007.
"I have been through a lot of losses. I lost my nan in 2012, then I lost my girlfriend four months after my mum.
"I am just trying to move the stuff all on my own.
"The council won't help me, they said to me if I leave anything here whatsoever I am going to be charged for the clearance - for them to clear it.
"Everyone seems to have turned their back on us."
The family would store Christmas decorations and gifts in the home.
Brother is still paying rent on home
Meanwhile Christopher claims his brother still pays rent from housing benefit for the three-bed home in Stansted Mountfitchet.
After their mother's death, he moved Tim into his house to look after him because he is afraid he will be put into a carehome.
He said: "I am not having him put away.
Tim's adapted wet room.
"There is no way anyone is splitting us up. We are going to be together. He is the only one I have left.
"I think we should have been allowed to stay in the property because it had all been adapted for him, with a wet room and a room at the back was specially built for him to be dried off after a shower."
Decision not to spend cash after increasing council tax branded 'insult to people of Cambridgeshire'
The ordeal has also upset Tim, whose condition means routine is especially important.
Christopher said: "It has upset him in a very big way.
"It is all ups and downs for him, the poor lad doesn't know if he is coming or going.
"I have tried to sit down and explain what is going on.
Tim and Christopher are unable to stay on at the family home after their mother died last year
"I couldn't get my mum laid to rest till November because of all the holdups I have had with the council.
"It is just very stressful."
A spokesman for Uttlesford District Council said they are supporting the brothers.
He said: "The council is in regular contact with Mr Ashley and has been supporting him and his brother over many months.
"Officers will be meeting him again next week to see what further assistance we can offer in their forthcoming move to a more suitable council property of Mr Ashley's choice."
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The ever-transcending quest in the poetry of Sri Chinmoy: the human quest for God-Realisation; God's quest for manifestation
Mrinali C Clarke
2014 International Journal of Dharma Studies
https://web.archive.org/web/20170811002543/https://internationaljournaldharmastudies.springeropen.com/track/pdf/10.1186/2196-8802-2-4?site=internationaljournaldharmastudies.springeropen.com
This is a discussion paper that sets out to explore an approach to the writings of the spiritual master Sri Chinmoy, through the motif of the Quest. In particular, it explores his own journey to God-realisation, or Self-realisation, and his teaching of the interdependence of the relationship between aspiring humanity and the ever-transcending nature of the Supreme Being. Discussion: The Quest is defined in general terms as a journey towards humanity's inner divinity, and corresponds to the more » ... esponds to the three traditional steps of Separation, Trial and Return, which are illustrated throughout the writings, particularly in the poetry. The human soul, separated from the divine Oneness of existence, descends into the physical world to enter God's Cosmic Game of hide and seek. Endless trials and cycles of life eventually awaken man to his higher purpose and fulfillment in seeking union with the Beloved. It is aspiration through the heart that Sri Chinmoy claims will cause the descent of divine Compassion and the bestowing of the Union, and he illustrates this through his own journey to the highest. He portrays the exalted states of blissful absorption in the divine Consciousness, and illustrates that his poetry and writings then become a pathway for all seekers to enter a higher state of consciousnesswhich he calls the 'manifestation', the divine purpose of God to fulfil himself and humanity at the same time. Summary: The cross-referencing of Sri Chinmoy's poetry and prose writings both supports and explains many of the mysteries of the ever-transcending Quest of the Supreme for divine manifestation in the sphere of the physical world and offers a bright new path of spirituality which itself transcends boundaries of East and West.
doi:10.1186/2196-8802-2-4 fatcat:yvp23wt52fbjffnueela6ibeqe
springer.com
Mrinali C Clarke. "The ever-transcending quest in the poetry of Sri Chinmoy: the human quest for God-Realisation; God's quest for manifestation." International Journal of Dharma Studies (2014)


Recorded in 2000 on analog microcassette then converted to digital audio.
Introduction:: In this fishing story of Growin' Up in Maine Dad reveals the name of the highly guarded secret fishing hole known as Spring Brook Deadwater where insiders fish for Maine brook trout.
Maine fishermen remain tight lipped about the location of this secret place to catch some of the best native Maine trout.
This is one in a series of guest stories by my late Dad, Ted Degerstrom Sr, and some others will feature Mom, Blanche Degerstrom. While Dad describes the "what" about Spring Brook Deadwater, please wait before wasting time looking for it because Mom will reveal the secret of "where" in the next episode.
Did I ever show you that ahhh Spring Brook Deadwater? It's off the road coming in here… off from Bear Brook… not off from Bear Brook. No. No fish there either. I'm talking about Spring Brook Deadwater.
No. I'm talking about a spring in about ahhh an area a little bit bigger than this carpet right here… and just white sand, and that water ice cold. That water boiling right up out of that white sand and just as clear as a crystal.
I've often said "Oh, my God if a guy ever had that Spring Brook Deadwater near a city or any place… Wow! Gee!" Hell, that ain't too far from here. I mean if you went down to the end of the road. I'll bet ya it's still there, too. Yuh. Spring Brook Deadwater.
I went fishing up there and stayed overnight… with… ahh… remember Everett Black?… remember Cold Turd? You don't remember him? They lived up on top of Derby Hill. Geez whiz. I'll never forget the time riding home and we had them nice trout.
This ahh… old Doctor Bundy… Dr Bundy: "Hi Degerstrom, did you get any trout?"… said "Yuh", and Cold Turd said "Show him", so I opened up the bag.
Closing comment from Jim: This was recorded around a campfire at Jo Mary Lake campground near Millinocket, Maine, and you may hear the fire crackling in the background during the telling of this story.
While Dad remained coy and elusive about giving directions to Spring Brook Deadwater, Mom spills the beans in the next episode. Stay tuned… you just might find out the given name of "Cold Turd", too.


Sound Therapist, Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher, Reiki Master Teacher, Integrated Energy Therapy Practitioner, Owner-Founder of Center for Sound Therapy & Sonic Power Yoga, LLC.
Master Sound Alchemist, Shamanic Practitioner, Reiki Master Healer.
Maria and Calvin began their journey with sound in 2013 after they were introduced to it's healing potential following an experience that left them in awe. This life-changing experience motivated them to pursue deeper study into sound therapy and they became certified in 2014.
Since then, Maria and Calvin have transformed their lives and dedicated themselves to helping people heal using their unique style of sound resonance therapy. Through their therapy sessions, workshops, presentations, and retreats they have helped many people bring balance and harmony back to their mind, body and spirit and re-connect with their true divine essence.
Maria and Calvin have performed at a number of yoga studios and wellness centers and have become well known for their work. They also collaborate with local physicians and medical institutions to provide wellness programs to the community.
Maria and Calvin recently opened the Youngstown areas first sound therapy center dedicated to focusing on the person as a whole, taking steps to create a meditative environment and apply the healing science of sound therapy to reharmonize the emotional body and clear energetic stagnation from our whole being to promote total health & wholeness.
Learn more at Center for Sound Therapy.
This is a deep meditative experience that allows participants to completely let go and receive a re-alignment to their entire energetic body using powerful sound vibration. The quartz crystal singing bowls, pyramids, gongs, drums and other instruments produce a matrix of healing energies that are used to induce relaxation, expansion, clearing, and healing on every level of your being. These sacred sounds can also open up a path of spiritual awakening and ultimately re-connect you with your divine essence. The various frequencies work from the "inside" out like sonic massage and will help to relieve all from forms of physical, mental and emotional stress. The vibrations produce a deep states of relaxation as they balance the brain hemispheres, release stress & muscle tension, stimulate the flow of your vital energy and accelerate our healing and recovery.
*This workshop will include a brief overview of sound therapy and how it relates to healing and meditation.
Chakras are centers of spiritual power and light energy that exist in our energy field. The health of the chakra system is governed by our experiences, our ability to handle stress & anxiety and by what beliefs and thoughts we have about ourselves and about life in general. During this powerful meditative experience we will journey through the chakra system to align to higher frequency energies that will purify and release stored negative or blocked energy from the body and auric field. This workshop will help you bring awareness to what is going on within each chakra so you can work through the issues that maybe lying within.The crystal singing bowls will help to massage the entire aura back into balance and harmony.
*We will tune into the chakra system using the voice, visualization and sound vibration.
This is a very unique and therapeutic chakra balancing yoga session where we combine vibrational sound therapy with breath, posture movement and mantra to restore balance and harmony to the body, mind and spirit. We use the powerful force of crystal singing bowls to stir the senses and help participants move beyond the physical practice so they can discover the deeper whispers of the soul. This is a rich experience that will raise the awareness and leave everyone feeling purified and cleansed.
*The yoga session can be modified to support all styles of yoga.
Toning is an ancient healing method that uses the vibratory power of the voice to bring balance and harmony back to the mind, body and spirit. Vocal Toning is using your voice to express specific sounds, syllables or mantras that help to release, clear, and balance the dis-harmonious frequencies.
The sounds and vibrations that you create will travel through your entire body and help you to let go of negative feelings like anger, fear, worry, resentment, anxiety and hate. Toning can also help you find relief from pain and move stuck inflammatory energy from sensitive areas of the body. Toning helps to deepen the breath, allowing the lungs to fully open, which expands your auric field and improves energy flow through the body.
You will feel massaged from the inside out. We use the healing and supportive vibratory tones of our massive crystal singing bowls to support and surround everyone, giving confidence to find their voice.


Posted April 24, 2017 by Josette Farrell in News.
Plean Teanga don Ghaeilge i do cheantar. Tá deis agat páirt a ghlacadh.
An Irish Language Plan for your area. Have your say.
Beidh tús á chur go luath le hobair ar Phlean Teanga i do cheantar le húsáid na Gaeilge a neartú agus a threisiú. Beidh an obair seo á dhéanamh mar chuid den phróiseas pleanála teanga atá ar siúl sa Ghaeltacht faoi láthair. Tá sé mar sprioc ag an bpróiseas sin tacú níos fearr leis an nGaeilge mar theanga pobail agus teaghlaigh i gceantair Ghaeltachta.
Tá sé mar aidhm ag an bplean teanga gníomhaíochtaí a leagan amach agus a fheidhmiú a chuirfidh le húsáid na Gaeilge sa teaghlach, sa phobal, i struchtúir an oideachais, gnó, sóisialta agus poiblí i Limistéar Pleanála Teanga An tEachréidh.
Tá cruinniú poiblí á eagrú le heolas a thabhairt don phobal maidir leis an bpróiseas pleanála teanga agus na deiseanna atá ann anois plean nua don Ghaeilge a fhorbairt don cheantar. Tá deis agat mar dhuine aonair páirt a ghlacadh san iarracht seo agus do thuairimí a thabhairt.
Beidh cruinniú poiblí á reáchtáil in Óstán Claregalway, Dé Máirt, 25 Aibreán ag a 8.00 i.n. Cuimsíonn LPT An tEachréidh na bailte fearainn seo a leanas: Eanach Dhúin, Coill Uachtar, Baile Chlár, An Carn Mór.
Beidh seirbhís ateangaireachta comhuainí ar fáil le linn an chruinnithe.
Steps are currently being undertaken to begin the development and implementation of an Irish Language Plan in the areas surrounding Galway city. This work is central to the language planning process that is taking place currently in the Gaeltacht, and aims to revitalise, support and strengthen the Irish language in those areas.
The Irish Language Plan aims to set out a range of initiatives and measures that will promote, support and increase the use of Irish in everyday life in the home, the community, in education and in social, business and public structures in the Language Planning Area of An tEachréidh. We invite you to get involved in this initiative.
A public information meeting will be held in the Claregalway Hotel, Tuesday, 25 April at 8.00pm to inform the communities in the Eachréidh Language Planning Area, which includes the townlands of Eanach Dhúin, Coill Uachtar, Baile Chlár, An Carn Mór. (Annaghdown, Kilroughter, Claregalway, Carnmore).
A simultaneous translation service will be provided during the meeting.
Gaeltacht Survey for Annaghadown, Claregalway and Carnmore.


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The End of Hope: A Review of Fate of the Fallen, by Kel Kade
On March 11, 2020 March 10, 2020 By Michael CostanzoIn Book Review
One of the longest enduring staples in fiction is that of the Chosen One. The Chosen One is the special hero, standing above all others as the only one capable of defeating the enemy of the story or saving the world. The method for selecting a chosen one can be varied. In many stories, there is some form of prophecy which only fits this one individual. In others, they may have a certain birthmark or be born from the right parents at just the right time. This trope is not even relegated to one genre. Chosen one are found all throughout fantasy, science-fiction, and beyond. Harry Potter may be one of the most recognizable examples, but the chosen one can also be found in Star Wars in the form of Anakin Skywalker, and in The Matrix with Neo. Even The Lord of the Rings, which posits that anyone can defeat evil if they have the courage to rise up, contains a chosen one to a certain extent with Eowyn. However, the chosen one has waned in popularity. There are no chosen ones in real life.
Fresh off her debut series of fantasy novels, King's Dark Tidings, Kel Kade has decided to completely flip the chosen one narrative on its head with Fate of the Fallen. Published at the end of 2019, the novel refuses to become a standard messianic tale and examines a more realistic outcome of a chosen one prophecy. This practicality may be informed by Kade's previous life, prior to becoming an author. Formerly an environmental consultant, it is possible Kade saw the lengths some people may go to avoid real world consequences. After that point in her life, she continued into a doctoral program studying volcanic rock geochemistry and marine research. This dedication to science and reason definitely shows in her writing style, which balances being measured and endlessly entertaining. Currently, Kade occasionally works as adjunct faculty at a university near her home.
From here on out, this will be a full spoiler review. If you do not wish to learn about the plot, please go read the book and come back. This review will wait.
Fate of the Fallen is a novel about what happens when the heroes lose immediately, when everyone focuses too much on the chosen one to think about what happens if they lose. This is a novel where the end times are nigh, and people are just giving up in the face of the apocalypse. Kade sets up the two heroes of the novel, Mathias and Aaslo, young men living in the remote northern forest of their continent. Mathias is sharp, quick witted, and a skilled fighter. Aaslo is quieter, thoughtful, and still an excellent fighter. Very quickly, we learn that Mathias is the chosen one, the only one able to defeat the coming danger. He is both the result of prophecy and a special birthmark. He also dies at the end of chapter two. Immediately, we realize that Mathias, while the chosen one, was never the hero of this story. The protagonist is Aaslo, picking up his best friend's burden and pledging to try and fight on.
Aaslo is a reluctant hero. He had not wish to leave the forest, having sworn his life to tending it. Aaslo is a forester which, in Kade's fictional world, is sort of like a highly respected conservationist. Foresters maintain the forests and the animals which call them home. They maintain a balance in nature, and work with the local governments to ensure that all can enjoy the forest's bounties without destroying them. Logging is still an industry, but only in areas deemed acceptable by the forester. And new trees must be planted for every one cut down. The forester is a highly respected profession, and just as mysterious to the common folk. This is our hero of the story. Mysterious, knowledgeable, and a skilled fighter. Aaslo carries Mathias' burden, in more ways than one, as he attempts to rally the world to fight the oncoming end times. Aware that he will never motivate people like Mathias, Aaslo gets more desperate as the story progresses.
While Mathias falls very early in the story, moving the plot to Aaslo, he is by no means gone. Immediately after his death, Aaslo is instructed to take Mathias' head to the king as proof that the chosen one has died. Preserved through magical means, the head of Mathias never leaves Aaslo's side throughout the adventure. While this alone makes other characters question his sanity, Aaslo also continues to hear Mathias speak to him. The novel never provides an exact answer for what is happening. It could be that Aaslo was driven insane by the death of his closest friend, his brother in all things. Or it could be something far more supernatural in nature. There are moments when the voice is silent, mostly when Aaslo is separated from the head. Towards the end of the novel, Aaslo even comments how the voice does not always act like Mathias did in life. While the voice could disappear if Aaslo confronts his grieve, it is just as likely that Kade is saving up for a major twist in a later novel.
While Aaslo journeys with Mathias' head, Kade introduces another major protagonist in the guise of Myropa, a reaper from the world of the gods. As a reaper, she is tasked with gathering souls at the moment of their death and ferrying them to the Sea of Transcendence, where all souls go when they die. It is hinted multiple times that Myropa, while once human, was selected as a reaper as punishment for committing suicide. Killing herself was an insult to the gods she now serves. Her story opens up the world of Fate of the Fallen and provides answers to many questions most series would save until the final novel. The end times, the prophecy, the murder of the chosen one; it is all the will of the gods. For their own reasons, the gods have decided to exterminate all humans through a final war. Myropa is tasked with following Aaslo and reporting on his activities. But there is still some mystery, as she seems to show some emotional investment with the hero. Hopefully, she remains as a main character throughout the series.
As Fate of the Fallen progresses, Kade takes us to darker and darker depths. Characters become desperate and kings resign themselves to their fate. The novel opens with a flash forward to a world where the undead seem to roam the lands, and the ending of novel hints at how that will come to pass. Throughout the novel, we also hear about the prophecy and how that ties into the gods' plans, but the ending shows that nothing is set in stone. Fate of the Fallen is just the beginning of the series, however, and only future novels will show if our heroes will truly avert disaster, or just usher in a different apocalypse.
Fate of the Fallen can be found in store, online, or wherever books are sold
Next on the List: The Fire Never Goes Out: A Memoir In Pictures, by Noelle Stevenson
adventureapocalyptic fictionchosen onefantasyfate of the fallenkel kadeprophecyshroud of prophecy
Throwback Thursday: Baptism of Fire, by Andrzej Sapkowski: Book 3 of the Witcher Saga


Suvendo is a thorough specialist in his profession with the ability to work across a broad spectrum of diverse areas. He is an extremity fast paced worker, generous in edits, and is patient and understanding. He is a talented artist and graphic designer who is able to work across all areas and industries with an eye for multiple design styles. Thank you very much, I look forward to working with you again!