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Sunnah of Social Behavior
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Posted: 08 February 2006 at 5:20pm
Sunnah of Social Behavior - from Imam Bukhari's al-Adab al-Mufrad
Visit http://www.sunnipath.com/Resources/PrintMedia/Hadith/H0003P0 000.aspx
"I am a slave. I eat as a slave eats and I sit as a slave sits.", Beloved, sallallahu alyhi wa-sallam.
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Bi ismillahir rahmanir raheem
assalamu alaikum
When it comes to ahadith collections such as the one above and below you can take advice from them literally, generally speaking that is and act on it as they pertain to adab or muslim character and etiquettes not fiqh rulings which are a separate field of knowledge and require much deeper analysis of all the evidence. this also goes for the Quran or other ahadith collections such as sahih bukhari when they are referring to Adab, you dont need someone to investigate and see that allah is merciful or karim but you do when it comes to matters such inheritance and business. Insha allah khair.
Riyad as-Salihin
(The Meadows of the Righteous)
7. Certainty and Trust in Allah
10. Hastening to perform good actions
12. On the encouragement to increase good actions
16. The command to follow the Sunna
17. The Obligation to obey the judgement of Allah
18. Chapter: The prohibition against innovations
19. The one who makes a good or bad sunna
20. On showing the way to good
21.Helping one another to goodness and fear of Allah
23. Commanding the right and forbidding the wrong
24. The harsh punishment of someone who commands right or forbids wrong while his own actions contradict what he says
25. The command to deliver trusts
27. Respecting the sacred things of the Muslims
28. Veiling the faults of Muslims
29. Taking care of the needs of the Muslims
31. Putting things right between people
32. The excellence of the weak
33. Kindness to orphans and girls
35. The rights of a husband from his wife
37. Spending out of what one loves
38. On the obligation to command one's family and children to obey Allah
39. The right of the neighbour
41. The prohibition of disobeying parents
42. The excellence of dutifulness shown to the friends of one's father and mother, relatives, wife, and others
43. Honouring the people of the family of the Messenger of Allah
44. Respect for people of knowledge, the great and people of importance
45.Visiting the people of virtue, sitting with them and keeping their company
46. The excellence of love for the sake of Allah
47. On the signs of Allah's love for His slave
48. Cautioning against causing injury to the righteous, the weak and the poor
49. Judging people according to the outward while leaving their secrets to Allah
53. On combining Fear and Hope
55. On the Excellence of making do with little of this world
56. On the excellence of hunger
57. On Contentment, self-restraint, and moderation in life style and spending
58. On the permission to take that which is not asked for
59. The encouragement to eat from the work of one's own hand
61. Forbidding miserliness and avarice
63. On the desire for in matters which pertain to the Next World
64. On the excellence of the grateful wealthy person
66. On the recommendation for men to visit the graves
67. On it being disliked to wish for death
69. On the recommendation to withdraw when things are corrupt
70. On the excellence of having dealings with people
72. On the Prohibition of pride and arrogance
74. On forbearance, patience and kindness
77. On anger when the sacred things of the Shari'a are violated
78. On commanding those in authority to be kind to their subjects
80. On the obligation to obey those in authority
81. On the prohibition against seeking authority
82. On encouraging the Sultan, qadi and others in authority to adopt a righteous counsellor
83. Not appointing those who desire authority
Book on the Adab related to Food (100-116)
Book of the Adab of Sleep (127-128)
129. On the Adab of the Assembly
Book of the Greeting (131-143)
Book on Visiting the Sick (144-149)
Chapters on Dying and the Funeral (150-165)
Book of the Adab of Travelling (166-179)
Recitation of the Qur'an (180-184)
Book of Praise of Allah and Thankfulness to Him
Book on the Prayer on the Messenger of Allah
Book on Things which are Forbidden
372. On what Allah has promised the believers in the Garden
Edited by rami - 24 May 2008 at 5:16pm
Rasul Allah (sallah llahu alaihi wa sallam) said: "Whoever knows himself, knows his Lord" and whoever knows his Lord has been given His gnosis and nearness.
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As Salamu Alaikum
Jazakallahu Khairan brothers Murabit and Rami for all these links.
Masha Allah it is great to have them here in one place.
"Verily your Lord is quick in punishment; yet He is indeed Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful (Surah Al-An'am 6:165)
"Indeed, we belong to Allah and to Him is our return" (Surah Baqarah 2: 155)
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Allah is Sufficient as a Walee (Protector) and Allah is Sufficient as a Naseer (Helper).
(Surah An-Nisa, Chapter #4, Verse #45)
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jazakallahukhair those sites where very useful. Does anyone know a place i can order the books. i've been looking 4 the sunnah translated in english 4 a while. i only have it in arabic which i don't understand but can read. My dad usually translates it for me but i would like to read the translation myself. reading from the computer hurts my eyes. so please if u can find it for me i would really like that.
"Words have Power" ex: The Quran
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Here we go Sis: http://www.islamicbookstore.com/b8475.html
I've got the book and mashAllah, it is excellent.
"I am a slave. I eat as a slave eats and I sit as a slave sits.", Beloved, sallallahu alyhi wa-sallam.
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jizakallahkheir the link was very helpful
"Words have Power" ex: The Quran
Daniel Dworsky
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Dear Murabit and Rami,
Thank You for these links. So many of the Jewish and christian people I
deal with are fearful of Islam. Many of the Muslims that I deal with
assume that I am ignorant. This will serve me well. I have a Muslim friend
who years ago was my co-worker in an orchestra run by another friend
(Our boss at the time) who happened to be jewish.
Both parties thought the other to be cheating the other. I fed my muslim
friend a few lines of talmud appropriate to use in his meeting with my
Jewish friend (Our boss) They became great friends. Both are complicated
people both had at the time newly embraced their separate religious
In the end it turns out they were both fair but both lacking in their social
skills. They still work together today. They still argue like an old married
couple. To me they refer to each other playfully as Golda and Farakan. I
have blessedly moved on.
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subset: commoncrawl


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My name is JA Konrath. I'm a full time fiction writer. You can find out more about me, and my books, at JAKonrath.com.
While I'm not wildly successful, I make a pretty good living. When I finally landed a book deal, after years of trying and hundreds of rejections, I chose to learn as much as I could about the business.
I've been posting bits of information in various threads about signings, touring, and drop-ins. This post contains everything I've learned so far.
How to do Drive By Signings
Your book has made it into the stores! Congratulations!
Your publisher/distributor/sales reps have done their jobs---now its time to do yours.
Four out of five books dont earn back their advance. Half of all books are returned, remaindered, or destroyed. You can accept this as a fact of the business, or you can take the wheel of your career and do something to improve your odds.
Autographed books sell better than their unsigned counterparts. Customers regard authors as celebrities, and a signed book is a value-added purchase.
But how likely is it that your publisher will set up a signing at every bookstore in America? Especially when each store carries just three copies of your magnum opus?
The answer: The Drive-By Signing. You drive up, you go in, you sign the stock, you get out.
For my thriller novels Whiskey Sour and Bloody Mary, Ive done over 400 drive-by signings in the past 18 months, leaving my signature on several thousand books, meeting thousands of people.
Sound impossible? Its actually pretty easy to do, once you know the routine.
1. Find the stores.
Go to www.bookweb.org, www.booksense.com, www.bn.com, www.waldenbooks.com, www.american-stores.us/book, www.borders.com, www.booksamillion.com, and search for stores by city and zip code. Or go to the public library and look through the phone books. Try to list all the stores within 50 miles of your home, or within 25 miles of the town youre visiting.
2. Call the stores you intend to drop in on.
You need to find out if the store still exists, what time they close, and if they carry your books.
DO NOT tell them you're the author. Why? All that does is complicate things. They'll say you have to speak to a manager, or an events coordinator, or they'll say you aren't allowed to come in unless it has been cleared by your publisher, or they'll say that they don't do signings, or they'll set the books aside and then no one will be able to find them when you come in, or you'll set everything up and when you get there no one will know who the heck you are, or... you get the point. Bookstores and publishers have a set of rules about author signings.
You want to bypass those rules. So call and see if they have copies, and ask how many. I wouldn't drive 20 miles to sign three paperbacks, but for three hardcovers I would.
Call a day or two before you plan on dropping by---calling ten days before may result in your books being gone by then.
3. Map out your route.
Use city maps, or Internet sites such as www.mapquest.com, www.maps.yahoo.com, www.maps.google.com. Plot a course going location to location. A GPS navigation unit is heaven sent for touring authors, and saves a lot of time and effort.
Many Barnes & Noble and Borders stores often have locations just a few miles from one another.
Shopping malls often have a Waldenbooks or B. Dalton.
Independent booksellers are generally happier to see you, and more eager to sell your books. Fit as many of these into the drop-in tour as possible.
4. When you get to a store, find your own books.
Booksellers are busy, and you want to be low maintenance and take up very little of their time.
Take your books to the Information Desk, or to a counter, and say your spiel to an employee. Mine is:
"Hi! This is me. (Smiling, pointing to my name on cover.) I'm an author. Great to meet you. (Shake hand.) Thanks for carrying my books! Do you mind if I sign them?"
Start signing when you get the 'yes.' Youll always get a yes (though once I was asked for ID, which I provided.)
Then ask them if they like your genre, and tell them about your books.
While talking to the employee, give them something---a card, a bookmark, or in my case, a drink coaster with my book cover on it, and SIGN THE ITEM. Signing it will hopefully prevent them from throwing the item away, on the off chance that one day you'll be famous and they can sell it on eBay.
Also, ask them if they can check to see if there are any more in the store that you couldn't find. Be patient---if the store is busy, let them take care of customers before you. That gives you a chance to pitch to customers as well.
When the books are signed, ask if they have stickers that say "Autographed Copy". If they do, help them sticker the books. If they don't, use your own stickers, which you took from the last store you signed at.
Barnes & Noble have square green stickers. Borders and Waldenbooks have red triangles. Sometimes Waldenbooks have blue rectangles, and Borders have brown rectangles. Don't get confused.
After the books are signed and stickered, ask the employees to read them.
"Youll enjoy this, I promise."
A bookstore employee who meets you and reads you is one that will forever sell you.
Often they'll make a display for you. Don't suggest a display yourself--let them suggest it. This appeal for help is important--it shows you're not a snooty author, but a regular person who needs them.
I also tell employees that whoever sells 20 copies or more will be mentioned in the acknowledgements for my next book, and give them my personal email so they can contact me.
6. Meet as many employees in the store that you can.
Thank them profusely for selling your book, and for the great job they're doing. Take their business cards, and add them to your email newsletter list.
But dont overstay your welcome. Theyre there to work, and so are you.
7. If you're at an independent bookstore, never leave without buying something.
If you want them to support you, you should support them.
8. Keep a log of where you visited, who you met, and how many copies you signed.
Share this info with your agent and publisher. You don't have to give them the full list, but an email saying, "I was just in Arizona for the weekend and signed stock at 21 bookstores" will impress them.
9. Return to stores a few months later.
Often theyll have new stock and new employees. Many stores automatically buy more copies after a book sells. Ive visited some stores five or six times, and I always meet new people and sign more books.
Obviously, your local bookstores are the ones youll visit the most. But whenever you leave town on business, or for vacation, check to see what bookstores are in the area before you go.
Final Words: If youre planning on touring, youll get the most bang for your buck with large cities. A major metropolis like Chicago or Manhattan has over 100 bookstores. Even smaller cities like Phoenix, Denver, Houston, or Indianapolis have a few dozen stores, which is well worth your time.
When planning a drive-by tour, sooner is better. If you wait six months after your book comes out, you may discover your books are no longer there.
If you dont have time to tour, try to visit every bookstore in your area, and set aside time during business trips and on vacation to hit a few stores in the area. The more places you visit, the more it will help your career.
Contrary to popular belief, signed books can be returned or destroyed. But its less likely they will be, especially if you were nice to the staff.
In todays market, even bestselling writers must do their own publicity, or else they wont be writers for very long. Drive-by signings are only one weapon in your publicity arsenal. But if done correctly, they can be the most powerful weapon you have.
How to Make a Disastrous Booksigning Event a Success
No aspect of a writers job offers more opportunity for euphoria (and anxiety) than a booksigning. But how do these events really go down?
The Fantasy. Your escort picks us up at the airport and drives you to the largest bookstore in the state. She tells you theyve advertised the event in the three local papers and on the radio. When you arrive, there are a hundred fans already waiting. You meet the excited staff and sit behind a table stocked with a huge pile of books, under a giant color poster of your cover. You read a chapter aloud, receive thunderous applause, and then do a quick Q & A before signing for a solid 90 minutes, people waiting patiently in an endless line to tell you how much they love you.
The Reality. You arrive at the bookstore ten minutes early. Theres no crowd of fans---theres not even one. No posters, no signs, no table full of books. The employees look at you like youve grown a second nose when you say youre the author and there to sign. Finally you convince someone to help you and they unearth a box of your books and set up a small table for you in the rear of the store, near the washrooms. You sit there for two hours, each second an eternity. People try hard to avoid eye-contact when they pass. Some approach you and ask where The DaVinci Code is. One will always come over and say, So youre an author? Ive got a lot of ideas. How about I tell them to you, you write them, and well split the millions? No one buys a book. Its debasing, humiliating, discouraging, and you vow to never do this again.
The Plan. But it doesnt have to be that way. With proper preparation, and a little bit of self-confidence, you can do very well at bookstore signings even if your last name isnt Clancy. Heres how.
A Month Before the Event. Book the signing yourself by calling or dropping by the bookstore and speaking to a manager or an event coordinator.
Often the store is not very receptive---author events dont ever go well. Convince them that yours will, because you have a different way of doing things.
If youre with a small publisher, your books may be difficult or impossible to order. Offer to bring the books in yourself and give the bookseller the standard 40% discount.
If youre with a large publisher, they might refuse to pay the store co-op money (publishers pay stores to host events, often between fifty and several hundred dollars.)
If thats the case, the store wont be allowed to host a signing. Tell them you dont want to do an official signing, but rather a drop-in just to sign stock. Then make sure they have at least twenty copies available.
Two weeks before the event. Advertising is up to you. Make a flyer featuring the date and time of the signing, your book cover, and a few blurbs. Send the bookstore 100 copies.
List the event on your website and in your newsletter, with an address and a phone number for the bookstore.
If you havent already, make a large (2 x 3) poster of your book cover and a sign that says AUTHOR EVENT TODAY. Often your publisher will do this for you; just ask when you receive the cover art. Or you can have one made from a digital file at any copy shop, like Fed-Ex Kinkos.
Three days before the event. Call the store and make sure they have copies of your book in. If they dont, remind them that you can bring copies of your own.
Most authors get discounted copies from their publisher. Instead, I suggest you buddy up with a local independent bookstore owner, and ask if she can sell you copies at her 40% discount. That way, they count toward your royalties.
How do you become friends with a local indie? Make them your base of operations, and have anyone who wants a signed copy go through them. Also, use them for your initial booklaunch party---theyll be happy to help you out after that.
Day of the event. Make sure you have the essentials; 100 business cards with your website on them, flyers that feature some blurbs and reviews, some mints (so your breath stays fresh), some bottled water (hydration is important), and a nametag that says AUTHOR.
Dress. Business casual or better. Shaved, bathed, combed, made up and smelling nice.
Upon arrival. Get there fifteen minutes early to set up. Your first order of business is to introduce yourself to EVERY employee in the bookstore. Shake their hands. Give them a signed business card. Briefly tell them what your book is about, and let them know youll be there for a few hours.
Bring pizza or donuts for the staff. Employees are used to bigshot authors snubbing them. Be a bigshot author who appreciates them, and theyll champion your books for life.
Set up. Sometimes the bookstore has already set up a table for you. Try to get one at the front of the store. If not, no problem---you can work around it.
Put your flyers and some business cards on the table, and hang your poster in a prominent place. Make sure your books are arranged in an attractive manner.
An employee might offer you a chair. Kindly tell them you dont need oneyoull be on your feet for the whole event.
Ready, Set, Go! If youre lucky, some people may have come to see you. Usually this isnt the case. You're a new, unknown author. All of your friends and family have already bought your book. Even if the event has had heavy advertising and publicity, would you go to see an author youve never heard of before?
Neither will anyone else.
The only way you'll move your wares is through determination, personality, and fearlessness.
Put on your smile, stick out your hand, and get ready to greet EVERY PERSON that comes into the bookstore.
Does that terrify you? It shouldnt. People are excited to meet authors. Youre a minor celebrity. Everyone likes to meet celebrities.
Dont worry about being rebuffed or ignored. Youve dealt with rejection before. Youre a writer, and rejection is part of the business.
The Approach. People will be preoccupied when they walk into a bookstore. Some are on a mission to buy the new Harry Potter, or latest issue of Guns and Ammo. Some are there to browse genres other than the one youre writing in.
But all people, no matter their reason for being there, will respond when you introduce yourself and offer to shake hands.
I use one of two lines:
"Are you a mystery fan? Im a mystery writer." or "Hi, Im an author. Do you like thrillers?"
Its extremely rare that a person will ignore an outstretched hand---its only happened to me three times, and Ive shaken thousands of hands.
The Pitch. If I get a yes to one of the above questions, I launch into my pitch.
"My name is JA Konrath. I write a mystery series about a Chicago cop named Jack Daniels. Jack is short for Jacqueline, and she's in her forties, divorced, has a train wreck for a personal life, but shes great at her job. She chases serial killers."
If they still seem interested at this point (about 1 out of 5) I continue:
"The book is actually very funny, similar to Janet Evanovich or Dave Barry. But it also has a darker side, kind of like James Patterson or Hannibal Lecter/Silence of the Lambs. So it goes from laugh out loud funny, to pretty scary--you'll want to turn on the lights and make sure the doors and windows are locked when you're reading."
It's important to maintain eye contact and keep smiling. Then finish your pitch.
"Whiskey Sour is the first book in a new series. The second is Bloody Mary. Theyve won several wards and appeared on some bestseller lists. I'd love to sign a copy or two for you-- and if you like, I can make it out to EBay."
Relax and Be Casual. No one likes high pressure sales. Selling isnt about forcing people to buy something they dont want. Its about finding the people who are looking for your product.
And yes, books are products. Publishing is a business. Take off the artist hat, and put on the salesperson hat. If youre shy, or have low self esteem, take a public speaking class. The better you can talk to people, the further youll go in this career.
The Hand Off. While doing the spiel Ill hand them the book itself. That connection is important. Holding something implies ownership, and you want them to look at the cover, read the jacket, and begin to think of this book as theirs.
Adjustments. I tailor the pitch depending on the person's interest. Often I ask questions. Sometimes I answer questions. I adjust the pitch to the individual (if a customer likes romances, I play up the romantic end. If they like thrillers, I downplay the comedy, etc.)
The Rejection. Most people wont be interested, even after hearing your wonderful pitch. That doesnt mean you should move along yet.
Hand them a flyer to look at, or autograph a business card or bookmark, and ask them to pass it along to anyone they know who is a fan of your kind of books.
Thank them for their time, and mention it was great meeting them. Also let them know that youll be around for a while, if they decide they want something signed.
Often people come back. Sometimes while youre there. Sometimes days later.
The Acceptance. If they buy a copy, be genuinely grateful. I once did a signing with an author who grumbled, I hate signing books in front of the person he was autographing it for. The fans jaw hit the floor. I dont recommend that approach.
Thank the customer for giving you a try, and ask them who theyd like the book personalized to. ALWAYS ask for them to spell the name, even if its Kim, (I had a Kymm once.)
Then thank them again, shake hands again, and give them the biggest smile you can give.
Enlisting the Staff. Large chain stores will often make announcements. Ask if they can announce you every half hour, or if you can make the announcements yourself.
Today we have local author J.A. Konrath---thats me---signing books from the Jack Daniels series. I encourage everyone of come over to front of the store and say hello. Autographed books make a great gift, for family, friends, or yourself.
If the staff really likes you (and if you brought them pizza, they will) ask if they can pass out flyers, or walk around holding copies of your book and directing patrons to your table.
Does it Work? Typically, 1 out of 5 people I pitch to will buy the book. And I pitch to several dozen an hour--depending on how busy the store is.
I did an event last Saturday, and sold 40 hardcover books in 6 hours. The week before I did 40 books in 8 hours (store wasn't as crowded). Week before, 60 books in 8 hours. My record is 120 in ten hours.
It isn't easy getting a stranger to part with $22. Sometimes there are stretches when I approach 30 people and can't sell a single book. It's disheartening, depressing, and just plain awful.
Other times, I'll sell five books in three minutes--one person buys it and others will wander over to check out what's going on.
To date, using this method Ive handsold over 2000 books.
Time to Leave. How long you stay is up to you. I think four hours is minimum, and if the store is really busy Ill stay for six or more.
When youre finally ready to go, you should once again thank the booksellers--they watched you bust your butt and are on your side.
If you didn't sell every copy, ask to sign the remaining stock, and affix stickers that say "signed by the author."
If the store doesnt have stickers, use the ones you borrowed from the last place you signed at---the employees shouldnt mind if you ask to take some extras, and you should always keep a supply of stickers on you from various chain stores.
If you brought your own books, dont ask to be paid upfront---thats bad business. Leave your contact information and let them know they can mail a check.
Most importantly, ask to come back in a month or two. I visit some local stores five times a year. Signed books really do well during the holidays.
Staying Positive. Every time I come into a bookstore and see that big stack of my books, I get a little sick inside. There's no way I'll sell all of those, I think. No one will come in to the store. People will ignore me. My pitch is crummy and wont work. The staff is laughing behind my back. Im a writer, not a salesperson.
Then I remind myself that the Great Wall of China was built one brick at a time, and that's how I'll sell my books--one at a time.
Each book you handsell is a book that never would have sold without your efforts.
Each person you meet is likely to talk about you to others.
Each reader who becomes a fan will become a fan for life and remember the time they shook your hand.
Each bookstore you visit will have employees who will handsell you for weeks, months, and even years after youve gone.
In my acknowledgements page on my latest book, I have a list of a dozen booksellers that I thank, because theyve each handsold at least twenty copies of my first novel.
In the next book, Ill be thanking over fifty booksellers. One particular bookseller has helped me sell over 300 hardcovers at one location. I named a character after him in my third book.
Your Goal. Theres no reason a booksigning has to be a stressful, unpleasant experience. In reality it is one of the cheapest, most-effective ways to build your career.
Its your name on the books cover, and its your job to sell it. Sales is just like writing---the more you do, the better you become, the more success you achieve.Now go get em, tiger!
Six Keys to a Successful Bookstore Pitch
1. Introduce yourself with a smile.
2. Explain the books premise, setting, and lead character in just a few seconds.
3. Compare your books to well known books the reader will recognize (Its like a chick-lit version of Silence of the Lambs )
4. Ask the customer a question. (Who do you like to read? What book did you come in for?)
5. Offer to sign and personalize a copy for them.
6. Thank them, whether they buy a copy or not.
Signing Survival Kit
· Snacks for Bookstore Employees
· 3 Good Pens
· 100 Business Cards
· 50 Flyers
· Poster of Book Cover
· Sign saying Author Signing Today
· Mints (gum annoys people)
· Bottled water
· Extra Autographed Copy stickers
· A Big Smile and a Good Attitude
How to Survive a Book Tour
You just found out your publisher is sending you on a tour. Youre surprised, excited, grateful and terrified. Youve heard other others complain about how grueling and disappointing tours are, even with all-expenses paid.
So what can you expect? How can you make sure your experience is a good one for you, the bookstores, and your publisher?
I just went on my very first tour---eight cities in eleven days---to promote my new hardcover thriller BLOODY MARY, and the paperback release of the first book in the Lt. Jack Daniels series, WHISKEY SOUR. I signed 933 books at 105 bookstores in Colorado, Arizona, California, Oregon, and Washington.
Here are 15 things I learned while on the road.
TOUR TIP #1: Use a GPS.
Your publisher will set up official signings for you, and possibly some publicity opportunities such as radio and TV interviews, library talks, and speeches.
Sometimes they provide escortsthose folks who pick you up at the airport and drive you around.
A cheaper, and better, alternative is a GPS Tracker. GPS stands for Global Positioning Satellite. Navman, Nextell, Magellon, and Garmin are some of the big names. These units are mini-computers that attach to the window of your car. You program in addresses, then they visually and verbally direct you to your destination. The best models have millions of addresses pre-programmed into their memory, tell you when youll reach your destination, and offer alternative routes if traffic is bad.
A GPS takes a lot of the stress out of being on tour. They can be added to your rental car, or purchased for a few hundred dollars. If youre an author, you need one as much as you need a website and a cell phone.
TOUR TIP #2: Always allow yourself more time than you think you need to get to a destination.
Sometimes traffic is bad. Sometimes you stay at a store longer than expected. Sometimes you have car trouble.
For scheduled events, always plan on getting there 45 minutes early. If youre going to be late, phone them as soon as you know. But try not to be late.
TOUR TIP #3: At an official signing, work the room before you begin.
Introduce yourself to the bookstore employees, and bring gifts (I give them a signed bottle of Jack Daniels). Thank them for having you. Praise their store.
Then give each person who showed up a handshake and warm welcome.
Bestselling thriller author Barry Eisler is a master at this---he always arrives early and talks to each member of the audience before he begins. It takes a few extra minutes, but youll have the crowd on your side before you begin, and customers and fans love the personal touch.
Be upbeat and show youre happy to be there, even if you get a small crowd. If no one shows up at all, hang out with the booksellers and talk shop---your positive attitude will be remembered.
TOUR TIP #4: Rehearse your presentation, but pay attention to your response.
At an event, youll be asked to speak, or read, or answer questions, or all of the above. Be sure you have something prepared for all possible scenarios.
Monologues are boring and can be done in an empty room. Storytelling is an active, dynamic thing that requires the audience to participate. If they aren't involved, get them involved by making eye contact, asking questions, and smiling. Watch out for speech hesitations (ummm and uhhhh), get to the point quickly, and dont drone on too long.
If youre afraid to speak in public, get over it. If youre unsure of how you present yourself, have a friend videotape you, and watch the recording later.
TOUR TIP #5: Publicly acknowledge your people.
If you have friends or family in the audience, big fans who traveled a long distance to see you, or published authors in the room, thank them by name when you do your presentation.
Also thank the bookstore and the employees again.
Most people love to be mentionedthough some are easily embarrassed. Ask beforehand if its okay you say their name in front of the crowd.
TOUR TIP #6: When reading, be brief (no more than ten minutes), and if appropriate, be funny.
Practice until you're smooth and confident. Use inflection and different tones for the characters. Smile while you read---it comes through in your voice.
Also, make sure the passage youve picked to read won't offend anyone. Avoid graphic language, sex, or violence---unless youre reading at a horror convention.
Glance up at your audience often to gauge their reaction and draw them further into your words---people pay closer attention if they see youre looking at them.
Not good at reading? Get good at it, or dont do it at all. A poor reader hurts more than helps her cause.
TOUR TIP #7: When signing, always ask who they'd like the book inscribed to, and how to spell their name.
I've met Aymee, Jym, Marscha, Debbera, and Chuk, to misname a few.
Have a few witty phrases that you can use when needed. Since my books are named after drinks, I often write Dont Read and Drive! or Enjoy in Moderation!
Take your time when signing to avoid mistakes---those books get returned and destroyed.
TOUR TIP #8: Don't leave without signing everything.
Even if no one comes to your signing, ask to sign all the stock and any posters. Also ask if they have stickers that say Autographed Copy to put on the books.
If they dont have stickers, supply your own. Each time you visit a chain store and sign, ask to take a few extra stickers, so you have some for the next store that cant find theirs.
TOUR TIP #9: When signing at an independent store, always buy something before you leave.
Support the folks who support you. If there are no books on your want-list, ask for recommendations from the employees.
If youre signing with another author, or several authors, buy their books. Were all in the same boat, and need to help one another.
This business is all about building contacts and relationships, and generosity goes a long way.
TOUR TIP #10: Do drive-by signings.
Even if your schedule is packed, youll have some extra time to stop by other local bookstores. Signing stock and introducing yourself to bookstore employees is always a smart idea when youre in a new town. It builds word of mouth and good will. Award-winning mystery author Julia Spencer-Fleming calls it a force multiplier; the more people you get on your side, the better.
Your publisher will appreciate the extra effort youre making. I had eight scheduled signings, but I signed at 97 extra bookstores during the tour. Everyone at my publishing house was in awe---which cant hurt when youre negotiating your next contract.
When you do drop-ins, always have something to give the bookstore employees.
I give them an autographed coaster with my book title, WHISKEY SOUR, on the front. Signed things get kept, and youll be remembered.
TOUR TIP #11: When planning your drive-by itinerary, phone first.
Some stores close early. Some stores change locations. Some stores dont carry your books.
Use the local phonebooks, Mapquest.com, and your good old GPS to help plot your course. If theres a Borders, theres often a Barnes & Noble nearby. Most malls have a bookstore. Genre stores can be found through Internet searches, or through writers organizations like RWA, MWA, HWA, and SFWA.
Call to make sure theyre open and they stock your titles.
TOUR TIP #12: At drive-by signings, get in and get out.
Save time by finding your books on the shelf and bringing them to the Information Desk to sign them. Ask the staff to check if there are more copies. Sometimes there are others in the stockroom, or on end caps that you didnt see.
After youve done signing your books and talking to the staff, get out of there. Lingering makes you look bad, and besides, you have more bookstores you have to visit.
TOUR TIP #13: Pay for as much as you can on your own.
Your publisher is sending you to work, not on a vacation. They pay for transportation and lodging. Pay-per-view movies, the beer in the honor bar, and room service are not options if you ever want to be toured again.
If your publisher gives you an expense account, use it wisely. No alcohol, dinner for friends, or theater tickets.
Show your publisher youre a pro who wants to save them money, and theyll reward you with more locations on your next tour.
TOUR TIP #14: Be good to yourself.
After visiting ten stores a day for a week straight, everything began to blur. I couldnt remember what store I was in, where I parked, or what my books were about.
When that happens, take a little break. Sit down. Eat something. Call home. Hearing friendly voices helps you clear your head.
Its important to dress well, look fresh, and stay healthy. This might be the only time people have a chance to meet you. Make a good impression.
I take a bottle of water with me everywhere to stay hydrated (dry mouth is common on tour), and always try to get at least six hours of sleep per night.
TOUR TIP #15: Let your publisher know how things are going.
Theyll be following your tour, calling stores after your events, and checking to make sure you arrived at the hotels. But they wont ask you how youre doing.
Communicate with your publicist through email or phone calls, letting her know how everything is going. Stay upbeat and positive, even though youll be exhausted. If something unusual happens, let them know about it from you, rather than hear about it from someone else.
Remember to thank your publisher for all they are doing for you. Not many authors get toured, and this is a tremendous show of support. Be grateful.
Final words: Publishers dont make money off of book tours, even with bestselling authors. Tours simply cost too much money.
While selling books is important, the main reason for touring is to have the author meet the readers and the booksellers. Building good word-of-mouth, establishing a brand, and making contacts in the business is why youre on the road.
If you stay focused on the big picture, your tour will be a huge success even if you dont sell a single book.


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Grind Season All Stars (Haj Euro,Baby Boi Nate, Ceadda, Lady P, Friday) - Flava In Ya Ear Remix [Label Submitted]
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Discussion Topic: Adequacy of Bandwidth
From ConnectivityStudy
What is sufficient badwidth for a public library? How should we define 'broadband for the purposes of our study?
To kick off the discussion, here is a link to an interesting article by John Bertot and Chuck McClure:
John Carlo Bertot and Charles R. McClure (2006). Assessing Sufficiency and Quality of Bandwidth for Public Libraries, Information Technology and Libraries Available at: [1] (pdf)
Here is some measure of broadband for households:
- ITU 1.5 Mbps to 2 Mbps
- OECD 256 Kbps
- FCC 200 Kbps (in one direction
Are these definitions adequate to support library services now? In the future?


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43 thoughts on "How to be a Woman from Halloween to January 2"
Witty, funny and depressingly true at time.
Loved this… rings all the more true for me as a disabled woman whose accomplishments this year have been 3 miscarriages and 2 hospital visits!
I now feel slightly less like a failure for knowing I'll fail to tick all the mandatory Halloween, Christmas etc celebration boxes, and certainly fail to take and upload the photos to prove it.
Thank you!
And what exactly is wrong with women deciding to photograph themselves and post it on their personal space which you choose to share with them?
Making fun of people enjoying themselves does not seem like a productive thing to do. People have always taken pictures of things – unless you want to tell me you don't have family photo albums. The only difference is that now those pictures are easier to share. So what? Don't want to share them? Get off facebook, but being bitter about it isn't going to make it go away.
People have to move on from trying to tell other women what to do with themselves. Take pictures, or don't – why do you give a darn if someone else does.
Man, it's Halloween already? I suppose all those girls that are buying into their gender roles defined by our stringent societal norms are probably carving pumpkins again. Like all those kids and men who also enjoy doing it. But it's basically cooking, amirite? Amirite guys? And ugh, then there's the costumes. I'm so different because I can live outside the oppression of the make up industry. Women who waste their time and money on something they enjoy is a gross misrepresentation of the female identity. And Halloween? Why would you waste your time assuming another identity for something as frivolous as 'fun'? FEMINISTS CAN NEVER BE FUN, it's science, look it up.
It's Guy Fawkes and the bourgeoisie are probably out letting off fireworks, AGAIN. All those families and kids having fun outside when it's cold and dark, fucking morons. They should go inside and read some Sylvia Plath for God's sake. Everyone should always be reading Sylvia Plath. Never stop reading Sylvia Plath is basically what I'm saying here.
Oh, it's not party season again, is it? The dreaded run up to Christmas, where people socialize and catch up and drink. Where you get to meet people and find out about their lives, blergh, get me out of that. And decorating the tree? Like a tiny stupid child? Like those stupid kids? Like when you were a stupid kid and waited and waited and waited and the waiting made you want to die because you were so excited and every part of Christmas made you so happy and so frustrated at the same time? When you parents took you to get a fresh tree from the yard, and you break out all the old decorations and if you were super lucky you'd get to decorate it too, even though your older sister was all "you're doing it wrong, that's not neat!" but your parents let you join in anyway. And then there was the longest night of the year where falling asleep was the one thing you wanted to achieve and the one thing that alluded you because your stomach was tight with anticipation for Santa coming to your house. Who wants to remember what that's like?
Fuck, is it Christmas day? Is it? Don't wake me, I hate getting thoughtful presents from people that love me and then sitting down to a boss meal and hanging out with my family. I mean, it's the same year after year after year after year.
New Years? Don't get me started, I don't want the day off. Just count me out. It's all just a waste of time.
It's funny 'cause it's true.
Brilliant article – well done !
I've never owned a facebook/myspace/other account myself, but from watching my partners (when they had one) always suspected there was some correlation between frequency of posts and that persons insecurity.
This just comes off as mean spirited. Also, there's a generation of people who don't know any different, they've grown up with broadband, smart phones and social media, it's their way of life. Plus, I freaking LOVE Halloween and xmas. I love pumpkin carving, I love xmas themed coffee chain drinks and I love decorating the tree. You know what else I like? Fighting the patriarchy and generally kicking arse. They ain't mutually exclusive and the winter is long and miserable. So I enjoy the holidays we have and make the most of them…and yeah, sometimes I take a photo and put it on instagram, so what?
Oh God I have been guilty of literally all of these. Apart from the Queen Speech one because I'm too busy stuffing turkey down my face. However since I have suddenly found myself with a profound lack of friends, money, decent job, life etc I will be eschewing all festivities. Bah humbug.
I do give a damn because the women (or people, to avoid the implication that the perpetrators are victims of some sort of misogyny here) who churn out this stuff assume it's interesting to others, otherwise they'd keep it more private. I have absolutely no problem with women (or people) enjoying themselves and recording it for their own use and for people close to them who they know are interested – the family photo album if you like. But the ability to indiscriminately record everything brings overload: the minutiae, the detail, are NOT INTERESTING to others, and if everyone is doing it and sharing it with everyone else, the truly interesting thoughts and experiences that people have just get swamped by the blah and lost. Life is too short to plough through this torrent of ephemeral mush from hordes of "friends" in the hope that something substantive and significant might emerge. Why would someone want every trivial action of theirs to be recorded and displayed in public? Historically and culturally to do so is an anomaly. Are they trying to prove to themselves they exist? It's not only boring, it's pathological….but then I'm old and antisocial, probably.
Hey, guess what, I found a rubber band on the pavement today – a red one – but it's not going on my Facebook.
I think some people are missing the point of this. I think she's not saying that she hates holidays and Christmas and fun things but that you don't need to know every single detail of everyone else's. When people constantly post pictures and status of their own SUPER FUN holidays it kind of makes you feel like yours is less fun and that you couldn't possibly be having as good a time as they are, even though if you'd never even seen theirs you would be having fun. That sounds really jealous and I'm not saying that people shouldn't post pictures of their fun times lest it make someone feel jealous but just not ALL THE TIME.
You know, Facebook (and Twitter, Pinterest, etc etc) isn't actually compulsory. If it's winding you up that much – leave.
Or unfriend people. Or hide them from their feed. Just stop playing the victim, y'know? 'Oh woe, I'm so booooored by all this….'… so take some control of your life (because this is one aspect that you absolutely CAN control) and stop whining about it.
OOOOOH look at me! I choose to be on social-media just so I can slam the rest of you and your boring little lives! I'm such s speshul snowflake, I can see right through your pretend pinteresty lifestyle! Whaaaaat would make you think I care remotely about the things you care about and that was why I decided to be connected to you in the first place?????
I think (and I don't want to put words into the mouth of the author, because this is just my interpretation of the article) that the key message is actually all about image crafting on social media. It's not specific to gender, everyone is guilty of it. We live in a media driven world and people, whether they are conscious of doing it or not, use media platforms to project their ideal persona, life, whatever. What this article does in a very witty way is highlight all the standard self indulgent image crafting that will happen for the next few months. Everyone would do well to read this article from the Huffington Post which neatly describes the prolific narcissism everybody wades through on a daily basis.
And yes you may think social media platforms are not compulsory, and you can avoid this all, but actually they are. You don't have to work in PR, marketing or media, to need to know how to use these interfaces. It's a given with many jobs you should be a savvy social media guru.
I have no idea what this article is supposed to be saying.
Love this article – Facebook/Instagram takes the 'keeping up with the Joneses' attitude to the extreme.
Wow, so much hostility. I just wanted to add that I think its a shame that so little of our lives are sacred and so much of our lives aren't that interesting. We are not a product or a commodity, we need not self promote in the way that we do. I personally enjoy not knowing everything about my friends so the 'catch and having fun' bit consists of exactly that, opposed to, yeah, i saw that (insert social media site), when you documented the entire event. Contrary to my 'we are not a product' line, a great product doesn't need any advertising at all. It would be good to see a reduction in the saturation of information from people seemingly attempting to justify their lives. Give me a call and tell me about the last book you've read rather than showing me pictures of your cat.
I don't think she was saying no one's should have fun or do those things… it's more that people seem to feel that the things they do aren't worth anything, or aren't really even happening, if they can't record it and show it to everyone in real time.
The whole staring at your phone putting it up on Facebook, rather than actually enjoying it, thing.
Exactly! There is supposedly a correlation between looking at social media sites and feeling depressed afterwards, which I can definitely testify to.
Never thought of it that way! Interesting..
"Life is too short to plough through this torrent of ephemeral mush from hordes of "friends" in the hope that something substantive and significant might emerge"
So don't use facebook. Are you morally/legally/financially obliged?
Or use the option to hide updates and remove items/people from your feed.
Or why not unfriend the people who post the stuff you hate? It's not hard. Just delete them. Boom, done. You're happy, they won't know the difference. Or perhaps they will. After all, if you're thinking "I don't want to delete person X because they'd be offended" then you care that they care, which means that you are one of the "people close to them". And in that case you should just accept that they're boring and you have to put up with it, or stop being friends with them because they obviously piss you off, or accept it and stop whining about seeing their posts.
It's an easy thing to overcome. Live and let live. If they want to post, let them. It's your personal choice to use facebook and be friends with these people and read what they write.
YES ALL OF THAT YES. Thank you Miss Honey Bear, my thoughts exactly!
Highly amused by the number of people accusing the author of being joyless while utterly failing to get the article's joke themselves. God help us if British readers can no longer deal with irony, pastiche and sarcasm. There'll be nothing left to hold this country together…
Nah, frequency of posts is directly correlated to amount of time stuck at a computer in an unfulfilling office job where there's nothing better to do to while away the long, long hours of boredom and frustration.
Waaah! I hate this article because it accurately satirises my social media habits! I shall:
- criticise the author for being a joyless humbug.
- make excuses along the line of This Is How We Live Now.
- use the 'if you don't like it, leave' argument while refusing to see how that same argument could be used against my own whingeing right this very second.
- probably tweet something sarcastic about it.
- kick fuck out of my pumpkin, as it'll start going soft soon anyway and I need to vent.
- 'OMFG lol just kicked fuck out of my pumpkin cos sooooo needed to vent FML lol x [pics attached]'
Yes! This! Thank you!
You know how suicide rates increase around Christmas? For many people, this constant flood of "OMG look what a FABULOUS time ABSOLUTELY EVERYBODY is having because we've entered those two months where everything is sparkly and lovely and nobody can possibly be unhappy even if a close relative died one Christmas or they can't afford decorations or they're too ill to leave the house because THIS IS A TIME OF JOY" gets pretty unbearable. And yes, those joyless freaks could just leave the internet for 1/6th of the year so their obviously sub-sparkly participation doesn't bring people down, or we could just bear in mind that we might be overdoing things a little, on occasion.
Oh dear, Vagenda…
The quality of your journalism seems to be fluctuating more and more these days. This article sounds very much to me like an angry rant by someone who has a problem with an individual and – it isn't even backed up with evidence from real life.
Why begrudge a 'successful' woman? Is this not what we are meant to be fighting for? It doesn't really matter how a woman manifests her success. She may well be annoying, but there are plenty more successful women who don't boast.
The last thing the Vagenda's writers should be doing is enforcing stereotypes, least of all about women who are successful. Why give the anti-feminists something to feed on?
This article annoys me, and I'm not sure why. I'm not entirely sure why it's 'How to be a *Woman*…' because I know plenty of men, women and children who love carving pumpkins, dressing up for Halloween parties, watching fireworks, having Christmas/New Year parties, watching the Queen's Speech, going for walks on Boxing Day, making and breaking New Year's Resolutions, and in particular moaning about how hungover they are. I also know many people of all genders and ages who don't do this, who have their own traditions and methods of celebrating that they share just as much as the stereotypes above, but I fail to see how these stereotypical people deserve such a roasting. If you want to pick on seasonal stereotypes, why not go for how in adverts it's always the mother-figure slaving away over the turkey and every other aspect of Christmas, whereas Dad plays with the presents, carves the bird then falls asleep on the sofa, leaving the woman to clear it all up. Outdated, sexist, inaccurate, and has a far more negative impact than people enjoying fireworks, for Chrissakes.
I understand that everyone has different opinions on how much social media sharing is too much, and that modern technology allows us to broadcast our news and emotions and mundanity to a wider audience than we used to through the age-old medium of CONVERSATION. Part of the point of Facebook, in my understanding, is to update those interested in you about what's going on in your life, particularly if you're living abroad or far from your loved ones, and that includes showing them a photo of the kick-ass pumpkin I carved because they weren't there on the day to see it, and if I were to ring them up or bump into them on the street and they asked me, 'So, what did you do for Halloween?' I'd tell them about it and probably show them the picture anyway. Same if they ask me about my plans for Christmas. I don't see how Facebook is that different; no-one physically asks you, but in accepting someone's friend request, the implication is that you care enough about them to hear their news, and particularly if you're on their profile. If they keep coming up on your News Feed and they're irritating you, that's what the scroll down button is for.
The whole thing of being jealous of people during the festive "season" (a phrase I hate, incidentally, because nowadays it seems to stretch from August to mid-February if you pay attention to the seasonal aisle in Tesco) can indeed be justified in some cases – see Vicky's examples above – but I don't agree that no-one's allowed to be unhappy or that everyone is deliberately attempting to make others jealous. If your friends are really that small-minded and petty, why are you friends with them? Most of us are just enjoying being happy and want to share that joy, and if you're having a rough time of it, true friends will sympathise, take your mind off the bad stuff and find other ways of making you happy. God knows there's enough misery in the world, and whilst I enjoy a sprinkling of cynicism as much as the next Brit, I'm struggling to see why someone would smack down the idea of being a successful woman on a feminist blog? The same blog that celebrated how women should blow their own trumpets more a few articles back? I realise that different authors have different opinions, etc, etc, but fuck it, if I'm proud of something then it probably will go on Facebook or Twitter, probably with a good old-fashioned dollop of British modesty and self-criticism, but it's going up all the same. If you don't want to hear about people's achievements or happiness, go live on an island like a hermit, it's the only way to truly escape the horror of people actually enjoying their relatively short time on this planet.
I thought maybe the point was that we don't need to try so hard to SHOW that we're having a good time. You know? A lot of people, myself included, like to use social media to show that "hey guys, my life is great, look at my great life, I'm doing fun stuff, everything is great!" Maybe we could all just chillax with the photo-taking, tweets, and statuses, and just…actually enjoy ourselves without feeling the need to let the world know how happy and successful we are?
No, I don't think people who post pictures of themselves enjoying their lives think that you will find all the details interesting. I think they think you are a grown up who is capable of not reading posts or looking at things you find boring. And yes, some of their close friends probably do care and enjoy sharing these pictures and facts with each other. Do you not tell your friends and family about things you are happy about?
I read this site for interesting feminist perspectives on pop-culture, not to read posts shaming women for daring to enjoy themselves. Lift your game.
I'm not sure how these experiences/ non-experiences are exclusive to women? I have lots of men and younger cousins (whom I shall call children) on my Facebook who do the exact same thing. I just hide the ones I don't like and think no more of it.
agreed with naommmi. for the record i like seeing pictures of people's different halloween costumes especially if they're creative, the way they've carved their pumpkins etc etc.
what the fuck am i reading? image crafting? Maybe people just want to tell facebook they got their dream job/got into med school/whatever because people might be wondering what they're doing??? Isn't it really selfish to turn it into a "oh they only put that on facebook to make me jealous and miserable!" thing? christ alive that's a bitter article you've linked us to.
i understand that. where my issue arises is that the article solely talks about this issue in regards to women, as in this is a female "crime". a majority of the population partakes in these traditional activities and post them on facebook.. so why are we hating specifically on women on a feminist blog?
Wait… don't you have a choice about who you're friends with on facebook? Bummer. What a pity you're being physically strapped to your computer screen, constantly refreshing with stories like 'OMG a puppy!?!?!'.
Because if those things weren't true, then it would be hard to feel sympathy for you. I don't massively enjoy the 'LOL mulled wine OMG I'm so DARING!!!1!' posts, but y'know. Humans. Either I ignore it, or I drink my own mulled wine. Yeah, that's right. I had mulled wine last night. And you can TOTALLY see it on my instagram. Lolz.
I understand that this article is clearly tongue in cheek and whenever one writes an opinionated article its impossible to mince their words just to appease everyone.
This article has still annoyed me though. I was under the impression that the notion of feminism was campaiging for equal rights between men and women, and not that we were some sort of snobby, exclusive highly intellectual group, as many people seem to believe. But its articles like this that DO make us seem like that. Shouldn't we be trying to dispell this stereotype? Really, just because someone carves a pumpkin or posts a picture of a Halloween party then they are undermining themselves as women?! It makes no sense. Women get enough criticism as it is, so we don't need to start pointlessly bitching about each other.
Moreover, has it ever occured to you that people can have their nails done because they care about their appearance, and still be a feminist?! The two are not mutually exclusive. I regularly post both interesting feminist articles and pictures of my new nails, and I don't think this undermines me as a woman at all. Its possible to do both, believe it or not!
Furthermore as others have said further up the page, the whole point of social networks is to share your life on the Internet. Completely fair enough if that annoys you…but you don't have to use them!
After reading this article, I am not sure what the author's point is. If it's that women are stereotyped by reference to their gender during the festive period (as they are throughout the year), then I can understand the author's frustration. However, the tone of the article is condescending and seems to reinforce stereotypes. Do women, and men, who enjoy the John Lewis adverts and pumpkin carving deserve to be sneered at? I am a feminist and after reading this article, I felt as though the author was looking down at me in quite an unpleasant way. I enjoy fashion, manicures and pampering.. as do a lot of my female and male friends. I also enjoy football, adventure running and off-road cycling.. as do a lot of my female and male friends.
Whilst we should endeavour to be aware of the way in which our behaviour is influenced by gender stereotyping, I refuse to be made to feel like an idiot for enjoying Christmas traditions, and hope that was not the author's intentions.
I'm not sure why anyone would find this article in any way amusing. It's not that I'm taking it too seriously, it's just that it was incredibly unfunny.
It feels like it belongs along the ranks of wannabe-ironic listicles touted by Thought Catalog. I don't know why the author wrote it.
Seven Light: "I thought maybe the point was that we don't need to try so hard to SHOW that we're having a good time. You know? A lot of people, myself included, like to use social media to show that "hey guys, my life is great, look at my great life, I'm doing fun stuff, everything is great!" Maybe we could all just chillax with the photo-taking, tweets, and statuses, and just…actually enjoy ourselves without feeling the need to let the world know how happy and successful we are?"
I agree with the above.
Perhaps the title of the article suggests otherwise (I think it's relevant to both sexes), but it is effective in highlighting the unnecessary need for constant validation and reassurance via social media that has almost become commonplace. The 'like' button for example – everyone feels a bit better after someone 'likes' their post or status or 'favourites' their tweet, because it is being validated, and thus it makes you feel like your life is being validated. The whole thing has become as addictive as a drug. Social media anxiety is actually a 'thing' now.
It's not wrong to express your opinion or to share photos, or to update your friends as to what you're up to – but when information like what coffee you're drinking; what you're eating, where you are eating it, 'selfies' upon 'selfies', photos of your legs on the beach (and not the actual beach itself) and more selfies flood your newsfeed…well…where's all the 'living' life? Are we living life through a lens, a blurred perspective, incapable of perceiving the wonder and beauty of this world because – thanks to the likes of facebook – we feel the need to let everyone know how amazing our glass of wine is by taking a photo of us drinking it? How about enjoying it, savouring the experience and trying not to worry if 'so and so' will 'like' this. That's the point I got from the article, and I personally found it very amusing.


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Focus on Emeriti Faculty
Retirement doesn't mean what it used to.
Emeriti faculty within our College continue to enjoy important leadership roles within the campus community long after their retirements, sharing ongoing scholarship and research interests with students, newer faculty, and the larger community. Their knowledge and skills are critically important to a thriving and exciting campus community, and their contributions are valued as long as they want to remain active within their fields and affiliated with their academic Departments.
In May 2006, Dr. Judy Everson (Professor Emerita, English) co-led a guided tour of Lincoln Memorial Gardens along Lake Springfield with UIS alumni Dick and Helon Adorjan. The three recently collaborated on a book about the Garden, Lincoln Memorial Garden: A Living Memorial to Abraham Lincoln. Dr. Everson is still active on campus as a member of the Coordinating Committee for SAGE, an environmental conservation society at UIS.
Professor Charles Schweighauser, a former English professor, continues to lead the Astronomy-Physics Program. In addition to teaching courses in both subjects, he also directs the Star Parties at UIS, where students, faculty, and the greater Springfield community are invited to the campus observatory to view the night sky through the university's telescopes.


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O n January 20, 2009, when Barack Obama assumed the presidency, the overwhelming majority of African-Americans cheered and prayed for him. His inauguration was a signal moment in black history, reminiscent of the celebrations that accompanied the Emancipation Proclamation, Joe Louis' victory over Max Schmeling and the March on Washington. Irma Brown-Williams traveled to the inauguration from Tuskegee, Alabama, wearing a coat on which she had pinned photos of her mother, father and siblings, all of whom were deceased. Asked to explain, she said, "I'm here for them. … They could not be here, so I brought them with me." Against the backdrop of such exhilaration and triumphalism, an emotional downturn was inescapable. It has come to pass. For many, the passion has cooled. For some, the thrill is gone.
Obama swept into office with a reputation as an intellectual politician with vision. Part of the reason had to do with his memoir, Dreams from My Father, his campaign book, The Audacity of Hope, and a March 18, 2008, address, "A More Perfect Union," in which he explained his relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the Chicago preacher who had denounced the status quo in memorably inflammatory fashion: "God Damn America!"
Story Continued Below
The speech was immediately celebrated, with some likening it to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address or Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. These gushings were a vivid symptom of Obamamania. For in fact "A More Perfect Union" is not a speech for the ages; it was simply a tactical intervention aimed at quelling whites' discomfort about Obama's long association with a radical, left-wing minister. In neither its rhetoric nor its analysis nor its prescriptions did the speech offer anything beyond a carefully calibrated effort to defuse a public relations crisis. "In the end," Obama declared, "what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less than … that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper. … Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well." Fine banalities that could have been voiced just as easily by Mitch McConnell.
Still, many listeners discerned in the speech a desire and ability to grapple in an innovative fashion with the unfinished business of racial justice. Obama said, after all, that the subject of race was too important to ignore and implicitly promised to confront it if he won the presidency.
He has not. He has avoided the subject assiduously. And when he has addressed it, he has typically done so only obliquely. "Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago" and similar signature musings over the Obama years do not explain much, do not promise much and do not tell us where we should go from here. For many African-Americans, he has been a hero—but also a disappointment. On critical matters of racial justice, he has posited no agenda, unveiled no vision, set forth no overarching mission to be accomplished.
Take criminal justice. Nothing in the day-to-day lives of black Americans is more menacing than their vulnerability to criminality on the one hand and mistreatment by police on the other. Yet on neither front has Obama focused the attention of the nation. Oh, yes—there was the "beer summit." In his first term, the president suggested that a police officer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, had acted "stupidly" when, after investigating a report of a possible burglary, he arrested a black man, Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Harvard professor who owned the house to which the officer had been dispatched. Obama expressly refrained from attributing a racial motive to the officer's action. But many commentators nonetheless saw it that way, which fueled a fierce reaction against Obama. He backpedaled quickly, invited the officer (and Gates) to the White House for a beer and abandoned any further discussion about the matter of black Americans' interactions with police in particular and the criminal justice system more generally. This was painful to witness. In the words of Glenn Loury, an economist at Brown University who wrote a 2008 book on the racial politics of incarceration, the president's performance was "depressing in the extreme."
For many African-Americans, Obama has been a hero—but also a let-down. He has set forth no overarching mission to be accomplished.
The conspicuous disproportionality of blacks in handcuffs, jails and prisons is an urgent matter. In 2010, the imprisonment rate for blacks was 4.6 times that of whites—a greater magnitude of racial disparity than in almost any another arena.


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Rick Pitino's Cardinals became the first, but certainly not the last high seed to bow out early. There's justice in an unlikable coach falling to an obscure-therefore-likable team, and there's a joke somewhere in Pitino getting bounced by a team called Morehead State. Maybe you can find one.
We're of mixed feeling about sad mascots, however. The broken body language provides a discordant note with the perpetual smile (or, in the case of the unimaginatively named Cardinal Bird, a perpetual sneer). Sad mascots make us sad.
(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
Great day of games so far. Brian Hickey's here to shepherd you through the night.


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NBA Live 10 - PS3
Release Date:09 October 2009
Also on:PlayStation 3 PSP Xbox 360
Viewing UK:Also on USA.
Although big names in the sport are still virtually uinknown here, Basketball is becoming ever more popular outside of America and NBA Live 10, while far from perfect as a video game, may encourage would be players to take up the sport.
Lowly Worm
PlayStation 3
In NBA Live 10, post play has been de-emphasized and no matter what the reason is there is absence of a modifier which is needed for posting up and instead, blocks posturing is performed by maneuvering the left analog and you can already utilize the right stick to do well in the variety of moves once you get the ball. In contrast to the post play, the passing has also improved. It is now simple to get the ball through your best player.
Apart from that, the team has strengthened the gameplay with brand new emphasis in the defense which accelerated the pragmatism satisfactorily. Much credit is given to the crisp difficulty settings which will force the player to think of ways and means in attacking various situations. Shooting is also simplified into a single press of the button regardless of how hard you try to score. The basic jumper can be transformed in many ways with the use of the right trigger and the left analog stick.
There are still peculiarities that will arise now and then even if artificial intelligence has made some improvements in the defensive side of the court. Though there are gripes visible in the game, the positive advances have overwhelmed the game series. There is fluidity and authenticity in the game's experience particularly in contrast to what the game has stood for in many years. The Dynamic Season of the game will permit every player to take part in the existing NBA games and be able to create your personal version on a particular season.
Another kind of feature which is known as the Adidas Live Run will allow 10 players to be connected online and will run a 5-on-5 game. The squad mechanics that is built-in will permit the players in the formation of teams together with other users and will keep a record and stats as you encounter other teams. Meanwhile, the dynasty mode is the destination where you spend some time. Here, you will begin by setting your goals and employ personnel for the year to come and then train the players with the training games done in the past year.
In contrast to the modes which were not given much attention, elements in visual and presentation have significantly improved. The audio quality is also a mix combination. Although, the crowd sounds are fantastic, the announcers on the other hand are most of the time very redundant. While the game has various issues to complain about, the game is precisely what the game series require to trigger a fan base that is dwindling with additions of new players. The whole gameplay is fantastically refined and imitates true basketball with greater amount of success compared to the previous games.
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Jun 19, 2014


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Yamaha AVENTAGE® RX-A710 Home Theatre Receiver
A good value for the money
Heads up!Welcome to this article from the Crutchfield archives. Have fun reading it, but be aware that the information may be outdated and links may be broken.
I'm the proud new owner of a Yamaha AVENTAGE RX-A710 7.1 home theater receiver. I was in the market for a new home theater receiver because my older Sony receiver had no HDMI inputs/outputs and lacked many of today's new features, such as USB input and Internet connectivity.
I wanted to purchase a quality receiver without breaking the bank. Like most folks, I was looking for a good value — not the cheapest, not the most expensive, but a receiver that met my needs at the right price. After a lot of research, I landed on the Yamaha AVENTAGE RX-A710.
Yamaha AVENTAGE
The Yamaha RX-A710 is part of the Yamaha AVENTAGE (pronounced Ah-VEN-Taj) series of A/V receivers. It's the entry-level model to Yamaha's high-performance line-up, yet it's anything but entry level.
The RX-A710 had everything I was looking for — HDMI connectivity, Dolby® TrueHD & DTS-HD™ surround processing, analog-to-HDMI video upconversion, iPod®/iPhone® support, a Network connection, and great build quality. Everything my older receiver was missing.
Simple speaker calibration
The included Yamaha Parametric Acoustic Optimizer and
microphone makes it easy to adjust your speakers properly.
The receiver's YPAO (Yamaha Parametric Acoustic Optimizer) and microphone made setup easy. It guided me step-by-step though my speaker setup and automatically adjusted the RX-A710 for my room's acoustics.
And what's even nicer, is that even after the receiver finished auto-calibrating, it still let me come back through and fine tune the system to my personal preference.
Movietime magic
Once I had everything connected, my wife and I had to have my brother and his girlfriend over for movie night. We watched Thor, and the difference in sound quality between the Yamaha RX-A710 and my older receiver was like night and day. My brother and his girlfriend noticed it immediately.
The surround sound was so much more enveloping and the bass had way more extension and punch to it then we were used to with my old receiver. And the RX-A710's Cinema DSP modes let me tailor the sound to the type of movie we were watching for an even greater home theater experience.
Music matters
I probably listen to music more than I watch movies though. So the receiver I got had to sound good in stereo too, and the RX-A710 did the job. I own a set of Polk tower speakers and was never able to bi-amp them before (see Dave's article about the advantages of bi-amping). But with the RX-A710, I was able to do so, and it made a noticeable difference in the sound coming out of my front speakers.
The bass, midrange, and highs were simply richer and clearer. And the RX-A710's Compressed Music Enhancer feature made a huge difference when playing back my iPod/iPhone's music library and when listening to satellite or Internet radio.
That's right, the RX-A710 let me plug my iPod and iPhone directly into the unit's front-panel USB port. And it has an Ethernet network connection to listen to online content from PANDORA® Internet radio, Rhapsody, Napster, and SiriusXM.
My older receiver just didn't sound good with compressed music file content. It was flat and not in a good way — it was just missing something. The RX-A710 made those same compressed music files come back to life with greater detail.
Final thoughts
The only thing I wished the receiver had was a built-in Wi-Fi® network connection (but that can be worked around). All-in-all, though, I've been very happy with my Yamaha AVENTAGE RX-A710 receiver. I've had it for about a month now, and would confidently recommend it to anyone.
Stacey Batten
Crutchfield Product Research Team


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2011 137x 43 raptor pro
I previously rode a 135x41 bulldozer which I think is an awsome freestyle/freeride board but is a little stiffer ride which some may not like for freeride in the chop.
Having not ridden any previous raptor pros this is not a comparative review.
First of all the board is a beauty. At first glance it appears to be a pure freestyle board. It is very flat in the midsection and has a smooth progressive scoop rocker that I measured to be about 3cm of rocker. So, very little rocker which makes this board fast and great for jumping.
The concave is completely tip to tip not just the section under your feet which made the board feel very locked in on edge. During the first ride I wasn't sure if I liked it better than my bulldozer, but once I got dialed in on this board it is has a very nice feel and is extremely versatile. The crazy flex tips are apparently a new design for this year and are the stand out feature IMO on this board. The flex is incredible and NOT flimsey at all, it is the type of flex the doesn't slow the board down and increases potential energy for pop better than any other flex characteristics I have tried on a twin tip. The flex allows for great carving with excellent control. A board with more rocker and that is stiffer would feel more skatey and less locked in on a carve. if you want a board that carves heel to toe with superb control this is it. It took a few rides to get dialed in; the potential is a little more technical than say a slingshot sx which is very skatey and slippery.To push the raptor into a carve requires weighting your back foot more and really powering through a turn. I love the locked in control and drive through the turns as there is very little loss of speed because the board flexes where it is loaded and conserves momentum very well.
The Mid section is quite stiff and when the board first arrived I was wondering if the ride was going to be any softer then my bulldozer. What I found is the board still has the solid fast feel of a stiff board with very excellent upwind ability and shock absorbtion where you want it without any flimsey feeling. When I say flimsey I mean a flexability that can be too flacid and has very little recoil properties that slow you down and damper pop. The flex on this board increases pop and allows speed to be maintained when loading and the board reamains stable will not get away from you when loading for a jump. although it can be technically tapped into the raptor is very stable and easy to ride for a new kiter and the type of board that you will grow into and never need another twin tip in my opinion. The concave all the way to the tip gives good torsion control too, which means there is less twisting along the heal to toe axis at the tips which contributes to overall board control.
Bottom line: this is the board that does everything and is super easy to ride. For my weight 185lbs dry, this is the perfect all around size and never feel over powered on it. I had it out the other day at Ocean beach in San Francisco and there was an occasional gust to 50mph and I was never over powered on the board with average speed at or near 30 mph.
Now for the negative: : The STRAPs and pads have an overall great fit and they are comfortable. A little less cushion than the previous 09 pad but better for board offs. The straps fit great and require very little work with your toes to hang on to the board and they are a great fit for my 10.5 inch feet. Here is the bad part: The velcro sucks.... in fresh water you will probably be ok, but in salt water the velcro will come undone as it did 5 times with me in a 2.5 hour session, each time having to return to shore and park the kite on the sand depowered in pause mode to reset my straps. What a dissapointment from an otherwise awsome near perfect board and straps. I have a friend who is an out door gear sales rep and said crapy velcro will come undone when lubricated with microorganisms in salt water. So, this must be crap velcro because the 09 straps never did this and the adhesive properties of this velcro is less tacky and easier to undo even when dry. Bummer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Crazyfly FIX THIS. and yes the straps are installed properly I already confirmed this.
My idea to fix this is to sew in a piece of industrial strength velcro and see how that works.
Great board and strap/pad setup just watch out for the velcro.
Hope this review helps and please email any questions.
The end


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Limited Edition iconic photography. Available as framed prints from $139
Iconic Limited Edition Photography
Bernard Sumner
Bernard Sumner of New Order photographed in 1985.
Quality Promise
Each print is framed to order in hand made wooden frames with gallery quality perspex to protect the print.
Ready to Hang
Our framed prints are strung and delivered ready to hang
Archive Quality
All prints are printed on Fuji Crystal Archive paper and mounted in acid free mounts, the backs are taped to protect the print.
Individually Numbered
All prints are numbered and certified with the story of the image on the reverse of the print.
Jackson Pollock
Service rating : Great Service
Product : Great quality...
Rive Gauche
Service rating : delivered as promised timewise and was meticulously packaged. Good stuff
Joni Mitchell, Portrait Session
Service rating : Excellent service. Lovely product.
Product : Beautiful rare photo. Love it...
Hendrix Montagu Place
Service rating : Great service, received it 2 days after I ordered!
Product : Superb print. Nicely...


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Aug. 31, 2008
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The No. 12 Santa Clara women's soccer team fell to No. 5 Notre Dame, 2-0, in their final game at the Inn at Saint Mary's Soccer Classic in South Bend, Ind. on the campus of Notre Dame. Forwards Kiki Bosio and Lexi Orand, and midfielder Kendra Perry were named to the Inn at Saint Mary's Soccer Classic All-Tournament Team for their strong performances all weekend.
"I am very proud of our team," said head coach Jerry Smith. "They fought very hard against a very talented Notre Dame team. Kiki, Lexi and Kendra were all very deserving of being named to the All-Tournament team. "
The Broncos lost defender Lindsey Johnson in the first minutes of play to injury and freshman Kathleen Matthew subbed in and played in her second game on the back line for SCU. In the 16th minute the Fighting Irish got a lucky break when Michel Weissenhofer's shot was saved by Meagan McCray and deflected back into goal by Matthew giving Notre Dame a 1-0 lead over Santa Clara.
Twenty minutes later the Irish's Erica Iantorno scored their first earned goal, off a loose ball at the top of the box that was shot into the right corner of the goal. In the second half the Broncos kept Notre Dame out of any more scoring opportunities. The Irish defense was able to maintain the 2-0 lead, keeping Santa Clara out of the goal.
While McCray gave up two goals, she had a standout game. She tallied nine saves on Notre Dame's 11 shots on goal.
"Meagan had a great weekend at goal," said Smith. "She was fantastic at goal and we want to congratulate her on her performance. She was an obvious omission from the All-Tournament team."
The Broncos return to action this week when they travel to Southern California. On Friday, Sept. 5 they take on the 2007 National Champions, No. 1 USC at 3 p.m. PT. Two days later they take on Cal State Fullerton, on Sept. 7 at 1 p.m. PT.


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The Cryptolocker ransom Trojan has claimed another victim in small-town America, scrambling eight years-worth of files held by a New Hampshire town authority. Some are believed to be irretrievable.
According to local press, the notorious malware found its way into the network of Greenland town hall on 26 December after an employee opened an attachment that had arrived in an email purporting to be from AT&T.
Town administrator Karen Anderson learned of the infection on 30 December, by which time Cryptolocker's ransom deadline had expired, taking with it Microsoft Word and Excel files going back most of a decade.
"The results have left us with documents that are no longer readable. I've lost eight years-worth of my work," Anderson was quoted as saying by Seacoast Online.
Many of the files had been recovered from backups, including some that had been stored in paper form in a safe. Files lost forever included forms, requests for proposals, business bids, and some miscellaneous data on costs.
"I've tracked all our electric costs by building, waste tonnage, recycling tonnage ... for the eight years. All that data is gone," Anderson said. "It is not harmful to the town. It will just be more time consuming recreating all of these documents."
Luckily, a proprietary software system had been used to store tax files, saving it from Cryptolocker's attention possibly because it used an unusual data format.
The attack highlights the vulnerability of small and probably under-protected government offices and SMEs to the ravages of Cryptolocker, a form of malware designed specifically to target this data-rich sector above all others.
It was a similar if more disquieting story in November when a police department not far away from Greenland in the Massachusetts town of Swansea ended up paying a $750 (£470) ransom to the criminals behind Cryptolocker in order to recover scrambled files.
Despite probably infecting at least 250,000 systems since September, the worst of Cryptolocker's first wave appears to be over. A small but lucrative percentage of those infected paid up and the criminals have had to re-design the malware in order to keep its business model going.
Recent innovations include targeting narrower target lists such as P2P file sharers and adding the worm-like behaviour of spreading via USB stick.
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Game 1: Purchase - 3, Farmingdale State - 2
Game 2: Farmingdale State - 2, Purchase - 1 F/10
Purchase, N.Y. - After dropping the first game, Farmingdale State answered with an extra inning victory to force a split at Purchase in a Skyline Conference doubleheader on Friday. The Rams now stand at 18-10 (9-5), while the Panthers are 12-10 (9-4).
Senior center fielder Edward Bergmann (East Meadow, N.Y.) led off the game with a double to left and later scored on a sacrifice fly by junior right fielder Michael Marino (Franklin Square, N.Y.) to quickly put Farmingdale State ahead 1-0.
In the top of the third, the Rams increased their lead to 2-0 on an RBI groundout by Bergmann which scored freshman catcher Kenneth Johntry (Yaphank, N.Y.).
In the bottom of the fifth, senior catcher John Jonas (Goshen, N.Y.) cut the deficit in half with a solo home run. Later in the inning, senior second baseman Michael Sarni (Shelton, Conn.) hit a 2 RBI single to center to give Purchase their first lead of the game, 3-2.
The Panthers did not allow a hit to Farmingdale State over the final four innings as they earned a 3-2 game one victory.
Farmingdale State senior pitcher Michael Dolce (St. James, N.Y.) threw a complete game allowing three runs on five hits while striking out eight in the loss.
In game two, the Rams broke the scoreless tie in the seventh inning on a Tom Rydzewski (Franklin Square, N.Y.) RBI groundout.
The Panthers quickly answered with a run in the bottom half of the seventh to tie the game at 1-1.
In the top of the tenth, senior third baseman Sal Sanquini (East Meadow, N.Y.) reached base on an error and advanced to second on a Johntry sac bunt. Farmingdale State took a 2-1 lead on an RBI single to left field by junior shortstop Anthony Alvino (Lindenhurst, N.Y.).
Freshman pitcher Daniel Tierney (Patchogue, N.Y.) retired the Panthers in order in the bottom of the tenth to seal the 2-1 win.
Sophomore pitcher Alex Weingarten (East Rockaway, N.Y.) threw 6.2 innings allowing one run, while Tierney recorded the win after 3.1 innings of scoreless relief.
The Rams next will travel to Mount Saint Vincent for a 9-inning make-up game on Friday, April 25th at a time to be determined.