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Shure in counterfeit raids
NB. See our 2012 update on fake & counterfeit Shure microphonesShure has announced two further victories in its ongoing fight against counterfeiting, through close cooperation with Chinese authorities, leading to 8,500 bogus earphones being seized at Chinese warehouse
An investigation initiated by Shure in the Futian District of Shenzhen, Mainland China, led to a raid by the Shenzhen Administration for Industry and Commerce (AIC) on a wholesale shop, Sanze Electronics, in the Zhongdian Electronics and Technology Building on Huaqiang Road, along with another at an associated warehouse.
Goods seized included 8,500 pairs of counterfeit earphones bearing the Shure name and other well-known trademarks. Penalties imposed by the Shenzhen AIC against the wholesale outlet include the confiscation of all earphones, the requirement that the outlet ceases its infringement activities immediately, and a fine of 30,000 RMB. Penalties against the warehouse will be determined in February.
"Counterfeiting is not just a problem for Shure," said Sandy LaMantia, Shure's President and CEO. "This is a serious issue that impacts our entire industry. Every brand of professional audio and consumer electronics is at risk because of this criminal activity.
Shure continues to cooperate with other brands in joint actions and criminal prosecutions in China to present a united front against this illegal activity."
Anita Man, managing director of Shure Asia in Hong Kong added: "Counterfeiters are keen to exploit the value of the Shure name. This is demonstrated by the fact that a large number of the products seized during the raids in Shenzhen consisted of Shure-branded earphones and were not even copies of actual Shure models. They were absolute fakes that looked nothing like our products."
"Customers should be highly suspicious of any 'factory direct' deals and low prices," concluded LaMantia. "Whether these offers are found at retail outlets or online, our customers need to know that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is."
In addition to its vigorous anti-counterfeiting efforts in China, Shure also has mounted successful operations to uncover and halt intellectual property violations in other parts of Asia, Europe, South America, the Middle East, Africa, and the United States.


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A 20-year-old man accused of breaking into actor Taye Diggs' Studio City home was charged Tuesday with first-degree burglary, officials said.
Hassan Omar Juna of Hollywood was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon on the felony charge, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office announced. If convicted, he faces up to six years in prison.
Diggs, who appears on TV's "Private Practice," discovered the suspect in his garage Sunday night after returning from the Screen Actors Guild Awards, prosecutors said.
Los Angeles police Officer Alex Martinez said the alleged intruder was "looking for stuff to take" when Diggs chased Juna from his home and detained the suspect until officers arrived.
No injuries were reported in the incident, police said.
Diggs isn't the first celebrity to take down an intruder. In August, actor-rapper LL Cool J discovered a burglar at his Studio City kitchen and broke the man's nose and jaw in what police sources described as a "knock-down, drag-out" fight. LL Cool J was holding the suspect when authorities arrived.
— Kate Mather

subset: commoncrawl


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Military Brides
Legally married before the wedding?
Re: Legally married before the wedding?
manjermjPlus, this post is months old and at this point OP probably already went and got married at the courthouse (you know that LEGALLY BINDING ceremony) and continues to lie to her friends and family that they aren't married, all while collected the extra money from the government....


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Recently I've read with much interest an email exchange between my Dharma sister, Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi and Jeff Shore, professor of Hanazono University in Kyōto, a Japanese Rinzai lineage affiliated university, where he has taught since 1987. For anyone associated with Eido Shimano Roshi or any of his five Dharma Heirs (I am the last of these) this will be a must read. (See: http://www.shimanoarchive.com/PDFs/20121021_Chayat_Shore.pdf)
The Shimano Archive reported some time ago that Eido Shimano was not listed as a Dharma Heir under Soen Nakagawa Roshi in an official Japanese Rinzai lineage chart. After exploring this matter for myself I concluded in 2010 that "Apparently, Soen Roshi… gave Dharma Transmission to Eido Roshi, but failed to record it properly in Japan. I believe he did this because he was so angry with Eido Roshi for not stopping his bad behavior." (See: http://www.choboji.org/PMN104.pdf, Plum Mountain News, V17.4, page 7)
My deep interest in Zen training began with a conversation with Osho Diazen Brian Victoria on the UCLA campus in 1975 (Daizen went on to write Zen at War where he talks about the "moral blindness" of Japanese Zen.) He sent me to learn zazen from Thích Thiên-Ân at the College of Oriental Studies in LA near ZCLA. After graduation and my move to Seattle, I began sitting with Glenn Webb Sensei and the Seattle Zen Center. This group invited Osho Genki Takabayashi to be its resident teacher in 1978. I was at the airport to greet Genki when he arrived in Seattle and apprenticed with him for twenty years until his retirement. However, even though Genki Takabayashi claimed to be a Dharma Heir in the Japanese Rinzai lineage, his claim is NOT sanctioned by the hierarchy in Japan any more than Eido Shimano's.
Where does that leave me and all Dharma Heirs linked to Eido Shimano? We are all not recognized by the hierarchy of the Japanese Rinzai lineage. Does this disturb me very much? Not really; I am now in the good company of many sister American lineages such as the Philip Kapleau line. For a great review of issues surrounding Dharma transmission see the following essay by my good friend Bodhin Kjolhede, head of the Rochester Zen Center (See: http://www3.telus.net/public/sarlo/Ykjolhede.htm#kjol). Also take a look at an excellent essay by Dale Wright, which explores how sanctioned masters fall short (see: http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Philosophical/Satori_and_Moral_Dimension.pdf).
Gempo Yamamoto Roshi, who I still think of as my Dharma Great-Grandfather, likened our adult sense of a separated ego identity as feeling as though we are stuck in a really narrow box; we might think of it as a crib. When we're stuck inside our personal identity, it's like we're stuck inside our infantile idea of self. However, when we have some "awakening" we realize that the box has no lid and we step out of it. I suppose one could call it attainment but all we're doing is stepping outside of our own box of our infantile idea of self. Zen Master Rinzai refers to this as "obtaining the Dharma." Whether we call it "obtaining," "attainment," "realization," or "enlightenment," all we have really done is step outside of the box of our infantile idea of self. That's it!
It is as though we are mostly little baby Buddhas who live a lot of life in our cribs. When we step out of the crib, living outside the box is so simple. And, when we find ourselves back in our cribs, living inside the box feels narrow and difficult. We all have a lot of growing up to do to learn how to live outside our cribs. First we need to step even briefly outside of the box, get that open-hearted feeling, and let in the truth that we are one with Kannon (Bodhisattva of Compassion) and the Tathâgata, then the real work begins when you come back to your crib.
Before we can more consistently live out of the box we must clean out the stinky karmic baggage we have collected since birth. This may take as long to clean out as it took to collect. Zen practice is initially all about pushing us out of the box, which is helpful and grants us for a time a very wide perspective. However, it is difficult to connect with a sense of emancipation and unconditional compassion for very long. Sooner or later we discover that we have once again returned to the box of our own making.
Most of us have deep resistance to working with our karmic baggage. In some cases we can become so resistant to working with our baggage that we repress our own history. If this happens we may come to believe we have no shit. A big mistake! It is great to step outside the box and make a heart connection with Kannon, but our real work begins when we are able to look at ourselves clearly, becoming deeply motivated to face our faults and clean up our poor behavior. If through difficult purges, many dark nights of the soul, our own intestines become relatively clear, our great vow will motivate us to begin clearing the baggage of the collective unconscious. This is truly the deep work of Zen practice. On this point my "Dharma Father" Eido Shimano, my "Dharma Sister" Shinge Roko Chayat and I have a lot of work to do. In this light, I'm exploring an association with Joan Halifax and Bernie Glassman and will be attending the Zen Peacemakers retreat this November at Auschwitz in Poland (see: http://zenpeacemakers.org/events/bearing-witness-retreat-at-auschwitzbirkenau/)
As for my view of the Zen Studies Society (ZSS) and Shinge's position in regards to Eido Shimano, I have made my opinion abundantly and repeatedly clear, for an overview see: http://www.choboji.org/PMN114.pdf pages 8 & 9. Shinge claims that she "will not hide behind delusive chains," that "the smoke and mirrors.. must be cleared away" and that "the reason we are in such a mess is that we believed in a manipulative sociopath who was anything but a true man without rank." This being the case it seems to me the first step would be to repudiate her own erroneous actions of support for Eido Shimano. A start would be excluding him hence forth from stepping foot on ZSS properties, and refusing to pay him a penny more in compensation while he continues to teach in any venue.
Both the positives and negatives arising from my association with Genki Roshi and Eido Roshi have proved to be great catalysts in my own unfolding and development, and I believe they have served similarly for others. That they are not approved "Roshis" in the official Japanese Rinzai lineage is of little consequence to me. I derive my own confidence in having no attachment to rank or position from my own hard work. I have no need of a title, and I have nothing against accepting a role/title to assist in others' unfolding. I hope to pass on the best of what I've learned in my more than three decades of Zen training, along with many necessary cautions. If I succeed in serving others in this way, I will be most blessed.
What is of great consequence to me, and all those waiting for real recovery at the ZSS, is that the Shimanos continue to be supported and honored by Shinge and the ZSS board, while those taken advantage of, over decades of abuse of power, are essentially abandoned by the organization. In my opinion, victims NOT support of the Shimanos should be given highest priority. Shinge and the ZSS board have as yet failed to sufficiently publicly repudiate and distance themselves from Shimanos or admit their organizational culpability. They are still caught in their own hall of smoke and mirrors. For my part I will continue to press for support for victims and will never hide the fact that my "Dharma Father," Eido Shimano has demonstrated repeatedly that he is a narcissist of the highest caliber, who stands somewhere between Jerry Sandusky and Lance Armstrong. All three men have talent, but they, and their supporters, are in such denial that they have little or no idea of the harm they have done and continue to do by proving themselves incapable of real remorse or restitution.


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On the one year anniversary of her death, Ryan O'Neal and son Redmond visited the grave of Farrah Fawcett at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery yesterday.
Redmond was granted special leave from the Pasadena sober living facility where he is undergoing court-ordered drug rehab.
The anniversary of Farrah's passing was largely overshadowed yesterday by the one-year anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson.
RIP Farrah.
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Claude F. "Buddy" Robinson, 71, of W. Main Street, Fayette, Ohio, died Feb. 25, 2006 at his home.
He was born Nov. 19, 1934 in Anawalt, W. Va., to Thad "Charlie" and Hazel O. (Gentry) Robinson. He married Mildred Harris on Oct. 21, 1966 in Alvordton, Ohio, and she survives.
Claude was employed at Fayette Tubular Products for more than 20 years and retired from ITT Higby in Archbold, Ohio, in 1994 with more than 33 years of service. He was a Fayette area resident for more than 45 years. He was an avid sports fan and dearly loved his children and grandchildren.
Besides his wife, Claude is survived by three children, Stanley (and Aimee) Cruz of Waldron, Sandy (and Doug) Lichtenwald of Fayette, and Tony (and Angel) Robinson of Wauseon, Ohio; eight grandchildren, Melissa Taulbee, Doug Froelich, Tori, Tara and Damon Lichtenwald and Kyleigh, Payton and Jensyn Robinson; three sisters, Jean Lundy of Cocoa, Fla., Bonnie (and Meyer) Van Dam of Morenci, Mich. and Betty (and Jimmy) Collins of Edgewater, Fla.; two brothers, Willie (and Jeannie) Robinson of Cocoa, Fla., and Jim (and Peggy) Robinson of Fayette, Ohio, and several nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents.
Funeral services are planned at 11 a.m. today (Wednesday) at Eagle Funeral Home in Fayette with Rev. Samuel Wickard officiating. Burial will follow in Pleasant View Union Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Gorham Fayette Fire and Rescue Squad.


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Human females stop reproducing long before they die. Among other mammals, only pilot and killer whales exhibit a comparable period of post-reproductive life. The grandmother hypothesis suggests that kin selection can favour post-reproductive survival when older females help their relatives to reproduce. But although there is an evidence that grandmothers can provide such assistance, it is puzzling why menopause should have evolved only among the great apes and toothed whales. We have previously suggested (Cant & Johnstone 2008 Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 105, 5332–5336 (doi:10.1073/pnas.0711911105)) that relatedness asymmetries owing to female-biased dispersal in ancestral humans would have favoured younger females in reproductive competition with older females, predisposing our species to the evolution of menopause. But this argument appears inapplicable to menopausal cetaceans, which exhibit philopatry of both sexes combined with extra-group mating. Here, we derive general formulae for 'kinship dynamics', the age-related changes in local relatedness that occur in long-lived social organisms as a consequence of dispersal and mortality. We show that the very different social structures of great apes and menopausal whales both give rise to an increase in local relatedness with female age, favouring late-life helping. Our analysis can therefore help to explain why, of all long-lived, social mammals, it is specifically among the great apes and toothed whales that menopause and post-reproductive helping have evolved.
1. Introduction
In natural-fertility human populations, median ages at last birth cluster around 38 (Wood 1994; Cant & Johnstone 2008). This is followed by menopause some 10 years later. Yet, even in hunter–gatherer societies that do not enjoy the benefits of modern medicine, women can expect 20 or so years of active life following the cessation of reproduction (Hill & Hurtado 1996; Blurton-Jones et al. 2002). This pattern of early reproductive cessation and prolonged post-reproductive survival is very unusual. Chimpanzees and gorillas may, controversially, exhibit menopause (Nishida et al. 2003; Atsalis & Margulis 2006; Videan et al. 2006; Emery Thompson et al. 2007); more certainly, so too do short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) and killer whales (Orcinus orca; Whitehead & Mann 2000; McAuliffe & Whitehead 2005; Foote 2008). Short-finned pilot whale females stop breeding by 36 years of age, but can live up to 65 years (Kasuya & Marsh 1984; Marsh & Kasuya 1984); resident killer whale females stop breeding by 48 years old, but can live up to 90 years (Olesiuk et al. 1984; Foote 2008). By contrast, other long-lived mammals can continue to breed until the end of life—elephants, for instance, into their 60s (Moss 2001) and baleen whales into their 90s (Mizroch 1981).
The 'grandmother' hypothesis suggests that early reproductive cessation and post-reproductive survival have been favoured by kin selection. Older women, even if they do not bear more children themselves, can nevertheless gain inclusive fitness by helping their existing offspring to survive and reproduce (Williams 1957; Hamilton 1966; Hawkes et al. 1998). Similarly, it has been suggested that post-reproductive cetacean females may confer benefits on their social group, either directly (Baird 2000) or by virtue of the information they possess (Connor et al. 2000; Whitehead & Mann 2000; McAuliffe & Whitehead 2005). In humans, there is growing evidence that post-reproductive grandmothers can boost the fitness of their children (Sear et al. 2000; Voland & Beise 2002; Lahdenperä et al. 2004; Mace & Sear 2005; Fox et al. 2009), but the hypothesis itself raises two puzzling questions. First, among cooperatively breeding species in which there is an overlap of generations within the group, it is almost always younger individuals, who forego reproduction and assist older breeders (often their parents) as 'helpers at the nest' (Emlen 1995). What could account for the reversal of this typical pattern in menopausal species, in which older, post-reproductive 'helpers' assist younger breeders? Second, why should the reversed pattern have evolved only among the great apes and toothed whales? Why are post-reproductive grandmothers lacking in other long-lived, cooperative species?
We suggest that the answers to these questions may lie in the age-specific changes in local relatedness encountered by females in menopausal and non-menopausal species. Existing models of menopause often invoke selection to account for reproductive restraint (Williams 1957; Hamilton 1966; Rogers 1993; Hill & Hurtado 1996; Hawkes et al. 1998). To explain the timing of reproduction versus help, however, they focus exclusively on changes in the direct costs and benefits of reproduction with female age, while treating relatedness as a constant. But in species with overlapping generations, relatedness to other group members can also be expected to change with age as some group members disperse, and others die and are replaced. In a previous paper (Cant & Johnstone 2008), we showed that relatedness asymmetries owing to female-biased dispersal in ancestral humans are expected to favour younger females in reproductive competition with older females, providing an explanation for the timing of reproductive cessation. However, this argument seems to be inapplicable to cetacean menopause, since dispersal is not female-biased in menopausal whales. Here, however, we provide a much more general analysis of demographic effects on age-specific relatedness, which reveals that the social systems of menopausal cetaceans can also select for early reproductive cessation and late-life helping. By deriving general formulae for kinship dynamics, we highlight the underlying similarity between the ape and whale cases, which would otherwise be obscured by the differences in their social structure.
2. Results and discussion
To determine how relatedness and the impact of kin selection change across the lifespan, given different patterns of mating and dispersal, we build on the infinite-island modelling framework, which has been widely used to explore the consequences of demography for kin selection (Taylor 1992a,b; Van Balen & Rand 1998; Ronce et al. 2000; Taylor & Irwin 2000; Irwin & Taylor 2001; Lehmann & Perrin 2002; Gardner & West 2006; Lehmann & Keller 2007; Johnstone & Cant 2008). We focus on a diploid, sexually reproducing population that exists in a large number of discrete groups, each containing nf female and nm male breeders. Time proceeds in a series of discrete steps or cycles, during each of which the following events occur one after the other.
— Reproduction. Breeders mate and females produce a large number of offspring (we assume for simplicity a 1 : 1 sex ratio among offspring; qualitatively identical results are obtained when this assumption is relaxed (Johnstone & Cant 2008)). A fraction m of the young produced in a group are fathered by males within that group (chosen at random), the remainder by males from outside the group.
— Dispersal. Offspring disperse with probability df if female and dm if male, each arriving in a random group if they do so.
— Adult mortality. Each breeder in a group survives with probability (1−μf) if female and (1−μm) if male.
— Competition. Offspring in a group, immigrant or native, compete on an equal basis with others of their own sex for any vacated breeding positions; those who fail to obtain a position, die.
The cycle then repeats. In appendix A in the electronic supplementary material, we derive the mean relatedness, to a female breeder of age a, of other females, and of males in her group. These relatedness coefficients will be denoted rfa and rma. Although several previous models have explored local relatedness and kin selection in a group-structured population with overlapping generations (Van Balen & Rand 1998; Taylor & Irwin 2000; Irwin & Taylor 2001) very few have explicitly considered the change in relatedness and kin selection with age; Ronce et al. (2000) do so but do not, however, explore the consequences of sex-biased dispersal as we do here.
As shown in figure 1, over the full parameter space of the model, relatedness among females shows little change with age. By contrast, relatedness between a female and local males may change with her age, sometimes dramatically, depending upon the pattern of mating and dispersal. Such age-specific changes occur when either there are sex-differences in dispersal, or when most mating is non-local; by contrast, if mating is local and both sexes exhibit similar dispersal rates, as typically assumed in existing models, there is no change with age (note that sex-differences in dispersal also lead to differences in relatedness between maternally and paternally inherited alleles (Haig 2000); here, we focus only on mean relatedness across both classes of allele).
When dispersal is male-biased, and mating occurs locally (figure 1a(iii)), then the relatedness between a female and local males decreases with her age. Under these circumstances, a female usually remains in her natal group with her father, so that initial relatedness to males is high. Any sons she or her local relatives produce, however, are likely to disperse away from the group. Consequently, as her father or other, older male relatives die, they are usually replaced by unrelated immigrants, and her relatedness to local males declines. Since female–female relatedness remains roughly constant over time, the result is that (averaging across both sexes) her relatedness to other local breeders, and to the offspring they produce, decreases with age.
By contrast, when males are philopatric, and either females disperse or mating is non-local or both (figure 1a(ii),b(i)(ii)), then the relatedness of males to a breeding female increases with her age. Under these circumstances, a female begins her reproductive life apart from her father (and paternal relatives), either because she has dispersed, or because she is the product of an extra-group mating. Initially, therefore, her relatedness to male breeders is low. Any sons she produces, however, are likely to remain in the group. Consequently, her relatedness to local males builds up over time. Since female–female relatedness remains roughly constant over time, the result is that (averaging across both sexes) her relatedness to other local breeders, and to the offspring they produce, increases with age.
What are the consequences of these age-dependent changes in relatedness for the evolution of reproductive behaviour? Recent models have shown that the impact of kin selection on social acts depends on the level of competition between relatives, which is determined by population structure and patterns of dispersal (Taylor 1992a; Ronce et al. 2000; Gardner & West 2006; Lehmann & Keller 2007; Johnstone & Cant 2008). Consider, then, an action taken by a female of age a that entails an immediate loss of c offspring for the actor, and an immediate gain of b offspring for others in the group (note that the benefit of the act is conferred on all members of the local group, rather than being targeted specifically at a female's relatives). If b > 0, we will speak of 'helping' behaviour, while if b < 0, we will speak of 'harming' behaviour. These immediate losses and gains will further impact on the fitness of locally produced offspring (both those of the actor and of others) through competition for breeding vacancies. Using an inclusive fitness approach (Taylor 1992a,b) in the electronic supplementary material, appendix B, we quantify the impact of the act in question on the actor and on local females and males for three illustrative cases: (i) male-biased dispersal and local mating, (ii) female-biased dispersal and local mating, and (iii) no dispersal of either sex but non-local mating. Together with the age-specific relatedness coefficients derived in the electronic supplementary material, appendix A, this allows us to determine the strength of selection favouring helping and harming at different ages.
We focus on helping and harming behaviour that affect all others in the local group, because we are concerned with the evolution of menopause and reproductive cessation. Reproduction is likely to impose fecundity costs on all other local breeders, because it intensifies local competition among breeders for food and other resources to support offspring production (in addition to intensifying competition for local breeding vacancies among offspring that remain on the patch). Consequently, it constitutes perhaps the simplest form of harming behaviour. Conversely, if reproductive cessation reduces the intensity of resource competition experienced by other local breeders, leading to increase in their fecundity (in addition to reducing competition for local breeding vacancies among offspring that remain on the patch), it constitutes a simple form of indiscriminate helping behaviour.
Using the above approach, we find that in all cases, the act in question will be favoured only if the magnitude of the ratio c/b is sufficiently small, i.e. only if the immediate cost incurred by the actor is sufficiently small compared with the immediate impact of the act (whether positive or negative) on the recipients. Whether it is helping or harming that is potentially favoured, however, and how low must the magnitude of c/b be for this to occur, changes with age in a manner that depends upon the pattern of mating and dispersal.
In figure 2, we see that when dispersal is male-biased and mating occurs locally (panel a), yielding a decrease in local relatedness with female age (as described above), selection favours helping more weakly for older than for younger females (i.e. the critical ratio of cost to benefit below which an altruistic act is favoured declines with age). The reason is that older females are less related on average to the offspring they help to produce than are younger females. Since breeding entails relatively greater kin-selected costs, and helping yields relatively greater kin-selected benefits at younger ages, helping (if it evolves) is more likely to be restricted to younger individuals and breeding to older ones (note that helpers must have someone to help). By contrast, when males are philopatric and either females disperse or mating is non-local (panels b and c), yielding an increase in local relatedness with female age (as described above), we see that helping behaviour is favoured more strongly at older ages, because older females are more closely related to the offspring they help to produce than are younger females. Indeed, below a critical age selection may in fact favour harming rather than helping behaviour, as a means of reducing local competition for breeding spots. Since breeding entails relatively greater kin-selected costs, and helping yields relatively greater kin-selected benefits at older ages, helping is in this case more likely to be restricted to older individuals and breeding to younger ones. In short, whether it is younger or older individuals that are most likely to refrain from breeding and adopt the role of kin-selected helpers, depends upon the pattern of dispersal and mating.
In addition to the above, where mating occurs outside the group (and one or both sexes exhibit a degree of philopatry), selection will favour helping of males rather than females, because production of additional offspring within the group intensifies local competition for breeding vacancies (note that we have focused on the impact of kin selection on female behaviour; patterns of age-specific local relatedness experienced by males are, in the case of local mating, the precise mirror image of those experienced by females, but males will not experience the same age-specific change in the impact of kin selection because competition over paternity does not directly impact on female fecundity, and it is relatedness to local members of the opposite sex that changes with age).
We previously (Cant & Johnstone 2008) showed that the outcome of reproductive competition between generations will depend strongly on whether older females compete with their daughters or with their sons' unrelated mates. Our analysis relied, however, on extrinsically specified patterns of relatedness, and implicitly assumed that there were only two age-classes of female as well as only two competing breeders per patch. In addition, we did not consider the possibility of non-local mating. The present analysis shows that we can derive age-specific coefficients of relatedness from patterns of dispersal and mating very generally, and thus predict which demographies are more or less favourable to the evolution of late-life helping.
Most social mammals exhibit male-biased dispersal and female-biased philopatry (Clutton-Brock 1989; Lawson Handley & Perrin 2007). By contrast, three lines of evidence suggest an evolutionary history of female-biased dispersal and male-biased philopatry in humans. First, transfer between groups is markedly female-biased in our closest relatives: chimpanzees (both Pan troglodytes (Pusey et al. 1997; Nishida et al. 2003; Langergraber et al. 2007) and Pan paniscus (Eriksson et al. 2006), and gorillas (Yamagiwa & Kahekwa 2001; Stokes et al. 2003) exhibit strongly female-biased dispersal. Second, molecular analysis of Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation suggests a history of female-biased transfer in most human populations (Sielstad et al. 1998; Hammer et al. 2001; Segurel et al. 2008), at least at the relevant, local scale (Wilder et al. 2004). Comparison of mtDNA and nuclear DNA variation in humans, chimpanzees and gorillas supports a shift to female-biased dispersal in the Pan-Homo lineage, after divergence from gorillas (Jensen-Seaman et al. 2001). Finally, among human forager societies female transfer to the husband's family at marriage or after the early years of marriage is more common than the reverse pattern (Ember 1978; Marlowe 2004), although flexible residence and bilocality are also common (Alvarez 2004). Although far from conclusive, these different lines of evidence suggest that menopause is likely to have evolved in a social environment in which dispersal was female-biased (Cant & Johnstone 2008; Cant et al. 2009). In contemporary and historical human populations, grandmothers often assist the offspring of both sons and daughters (Sear & Mace (2008) report that 60% of statistically valid studies found a positive impact of paternal grandmothers on offspring survival, and 69%, a positive impact of maternal grandmothers). However, since the impact of different kin classes varies among populations, patterns of helping do not offer a reliable guide to ancestral patterns of dispersal.
Turning to the menopausal cetaceans, both male and female resident killer whales are philopatric, but mate outside the local group (Baird 2000; Whitehead & Mann 2000; it is not known whether or not transient killer whales, which do disperse, also exhibit menopause). Short-finned pilot whales are thought to show a similar pattern—there is clear evidence that this is the case for their sister species, the long-finned pilot whale (Amos 1993), and the available genetic data suggest that the short-finned and the long-finned species are comparable (Amos 1998).
Our analysis thus implies that females of most social mammalian species will experience a decline in local relatedness with age, but that the two unusual and very different social arrangements that characterize menopausal species (respectively, female-biased dispersal and local mating in ancestral humans, and philopatry of both sexes combined with extra-group mating in pilot and resident killer whales) both give rise to an increase in local relatedness with female age. This build-up of local relatedness over the reproductive lifespan of a female means that the great apes and toothed whales, by contrast with most mammals, are predisposed to the evolution of reproductive restraint and altruistic helping behaviour later rather than earlier in life. The value of an explicit focus on kinship dynamics is that it reveals the underlying similarity between the ape and whale cases, which would otherwise be obscured by the differences in their social structure.
Under the 'whale' model (Figure 2c), late-life helping is driven by increasing local relatedness to group males as a female grows older. Moreover, because mothers experience local resource competition when females in the group reproduce, while local males' offspring are raised in other groups, the model predicts that females (and especially older females) should preferentially direct care towards males rather than towards females. Two observations offer empirical support for this prediction. First, in resident killer whales, mothers maintain closer associations with their adult sons than with their adult daughters, and may aid their sons' foraging efforts, or form effective alliance partners for them in agonistic encounters with other males (Baird 2000). Second, whaling reports suggest that in pilot whales daughters are weaned at around 4–6 years old, whereas sons continue to suckle into their teens (Kasuya & Marsh 1984; Mann 2000).
In addition to discriminating between sons and daughters, females in both the ape and whale cases would be expected to selectively help closer relatives within the group. In our analysis, however, we have assumed that helping and harming affect all other members of the group equally. As we point out, refraining from reproduction is likely to confer at least some indiscriminate benefits on all other members of the local group, owing to reduced competition among breeders for resources. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to model discriminatory helping or harming, though to do so is technically challenging and beyond the scope of this paper. We emphasize, however, that the kinship dynamics we have explored are likely to influence selective helping and harming of close relatives in a similar way to the generalized helping and harming that we model here. Changes in mean relatedness with age largely reflect changes in the expected number of close relatives present in the group. Consequently, even though a female's relatedness to her daughters and grandchildren, or to her parents and grandparents, remains constant throughout her lifespan, the expected numbers of close relatives present in the local group, and thus the opportunity to help close relatives, will change with age in a way that corresponds closely to changes in mean relatedness. The expected benefits of ceasing reproduction in order to selectively assist close kin will thus increase with age in the ape and whale cases because younger females are less likely than are older females to have close relatives in the group—there is little value to sacrificing the possibility of direct reproduction to become a helper at an age when there are likely to be few or no kin present to help.
To conclude, our analysis shows that age-specific changes in relatedness can have a significant influence on the evolution of reproductive life history, and reveals the underlying similarity between the ape and whale cases in this respect, which would otherwise be obscured by the differences in their social structure. We emphasize that a species' pattern of mating and dispersal is not the only factor relevant to the evolution of 'grandmothering' and menopause. Not only age-specific relatedness but also the inclusive fitness costs and benefits of breeding and helping will vary from one species to another. For instance, the costs of reproductive competition are likely to be greater in humans than in chimpanzees and gorillas because of the greater cost of offspring production and more extensive sharing of resources (Cant & Johnstone 2008). Consequently, we would not predict that every species with male-biased philopatry will inevitably evolve menopause. Nevertheless, kinship dynamics can help to explain why, of all long-lived, social mammals, it is specifically among the great apes and toothed whales that menopause has evolved.
We thank A. Russell for helpful discussion and comments, and J. Alpedrinha, R. Chicot, T. Clutton-Brock, N. Davies, J. Field, A. Gardner, O. Holen, R. Kilner, N. Kutsukake, L. Lehmann and an anonymous referee for comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript. M.A.C. was funded by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship.
- Received May 10, 2010.
- Accepted June 9, 2010.
- © 2010 The Royal Society
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


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|NYU Psychology
|Lloyd Kaufman
Research Interests
Over a very long career, my work ranged from applied problems (such as designing and evaluating flight instruments and the role of vision in midair collisions of aircraft) to a wide range of basic problems in perception. My earliest papers in perception dealt with the moon illusion, i.e., why the moon over the horizon may appear to be much larger than the elevated moon, even though the size of the image of the moon in the eye is the same regardless of its elevation. Despite the passage of many years, my interest in this problem persists. I am currently writing a new paper on the moon illusion, and several recent papers are linked to this web page. I also published extensively on stereoscopic depth perception and binocular rivalry, and even now I am finishing a new paper on these subjects. I spent more than 20 years working on the electrical activity of the human brain and its magnetic field. Based on measures of changes in the brain's field elicited by acoustic stimuli, my colleagues and I succeeded in determining the basic tonotopic organization of the human auditory cortex. This finding was confirmed about 20 years later using positron emission tomography. While I retain an interest in this general area, I am no longer actively engaged in research. However, I am still working on the perception of size and distance to objects, and the depth between them, at both near and very long distances.
Ph.D. Psychology, New School University, 1961
Senior Research Scientist, Long Island University, C.W.Post Campus. Brookville, NY. (1995 - present).
Note: follow link to cv (above) for complete professional biography.
Selected Publications
The Moon Illusion I, L. Kaufman & I. Rock, Science, 1962, 136, 953-61.
Perceptual distance and the moon illusion. Kaufman, L., Vassiliades, V., Noble, R. & Kaufman, J. H. Spatial Vision, 2007 (20) 155 – 175, in.
Perceptual distance and the constancy of size and stereoscopic depth. Kaufman, L., Kaufman, J. H., Noble, R. Edlund, E., Bai, S. & King, T. Spatial Vision, 2006 (19) 439 – 457.
Explaining the Moon Illusion. L. Kaufman & J.H. Kaufman. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2000, (97) 500- 505.
Contact Information
Email: email@example.com


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By: Dr Lynda Kelly, Category: Museullaneous, Date: 30 Sep 2011
DangerOz was a long time in development. A few false starts, a couple of staff changes, Government tendering and contractual requirements all combined to slow this project down. However, we learned a great deal along the way so thought I'd share some reflections.
Project management
Treat app development like a mini exhibition – establish a team with clear responsibilities, have regular project meetings, nominate a Project Manager to look after timelines, contracts and budgets. One person should have overall responsibility for all content, writing and fact-checking – this ensures a consistent voice, especially if content ranges across different areas of the organisation. In the beginning work out a system of keeping track of content, content updates and suggested changes using Excel – this is especially important for both accuracy and time management. Remember to have a good sign-off system for content, preferably the Project Manager in conjunction with the content person, and get content edited and proof-read by an objective third-party.
The app development process
Decide on the platform early and be clear on why the choice was made (and also why a particular platform was not accommodated – go here for our reasoning about an Android version). I believe it's OK to go on particular platforms as long as there's a good reason, especially as we're all still learning about this stuff.
At the same time as you're planning Stage 1, plan for Stage 2 – both in maintenance and app support, as well as updates. Content for DangerOz is directly linked to our website's CMS so adding new material shouldn't be too hard (but agreeing on the next ten dangerous animals to include might be!).
Also decide early on pricing. Should we have charged $2.99AUD? I don't really know but I'm glad we did as we learned a great deal and now will be able to be a bit more creative with pricing of the next version as well as future apps.
The Store
Get onto the Apple Store as soon as you know you will be developing an app – setting up your business account and the associated paperwork takes more time than you think.
Remember that when you release the app you won't get figures until the last time zone is closed (and it took some time for us to work out when that is!). This post, At what time is an app released on the App Store when set to a specific release date? helps explain some of this.
Keep monitoring the figures as well as the reviews. We have a few negative reviews for DangerOz and are talking steps to deal with them (a starter is this blog post about our app development process).
Marketing and Launch
Pick a launch date and stick with it. If necessary (and in the spirit of agile development) just get a beta version out to test the market. Determine a marketing plan early, especially if it involves competitions and special deals (and be wary of how you give it away on Facebook and Twitter – it isn't as straightforward as you think!). The Apple Store gives a maximum of 50 promotional codes per app so remember to keep aside some for journalists and use them as they only have a four-week time span.
Galvanize your community and encourage plenty of shares, retweets and likes – word of mouth is our best selling tool as outlined in this blog post: In selling apps, word-of-mouth is king. We also found this handy How to MarketYour Mobile App guide from Smashing Magazine that was useful.
We experimented with QRCodes, and while this is a fairly new'ish area for museums, I think it's worth pursuing. See this blog post for more on QRCodes.
Our Facebook ad did well with over 650 clicks over three days, resulting in new Likes for the Museum's Facebook page and sales (we believe). I would definitely do this again.
We made the New and Noteworthy section of the App Store and still are the number one selling paid app in the Education category. Again, while it's a bit hard to tell, we think this also helped sales.
Final thoughts
In hindsight I suggest starting with a straightforward app and take baby steps – like we did with DangerOz. Use the rapid agile development approach and keep in mind that we're all still learning, so keep on sharing feedback (and thanks to Seb at the Powerhouse Museum for his useful blog posts about their Love Lace app).
If you want some insights about developing the app check out this blog post. Any thoughts you like to add please feel free to comment, or find me on Twitter - @lyndakelly61.
Thnx for your comment Seb. I like the magazine analogy. I guess each mobile product is unique – some will be like mini-exhibitions with a major release and then some minor tweaks, and others will take the magazine model of new content and regular updates. I think DangerOz is a bit in the middle here as we will be adding new animals and doing some design work on the nav to make it more attractive, yet there will be an end-point as we need to commit resources to other projects.
The point I have learned is that we need to think about and plan for whatever approach at the very beginning of the project and not as an afterthought.
Another big learning curve with apps was that we need to be very responsive to feedback. We have had some negative comments in the store about DangerOz (mostly on price) and, even though it was a small proportion compared to the amount of sales, appearing right there on the App Store is a bit sobering! As a response we have cut the price to $1.99, and as a result we believe sales have increased again after petering off. We made the decision to do this now and not with the next release as we wanted to see if price was a factor and it appears so (plus we have met our income target already so the timing was right). As you point out, (and another lesson we learned) charging a higher price initially has allowed us to experiment with pricing, so in hindsight this was a good thing.
Our study, Measuring the Value of Mobile Apps, has shown so far that people have said price isn't a factor in deciding on an app, although I believe that perceived value for money, rather than the actual costs per se, is an important factor, especially when comparing with other products in-store
So, thanks again, and we'll keep you everyone posted on our experiments.


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Teaser Tuesday! Prologue from Breaking Nova, which comes out Sept. 3, 2013! Hope you enjoy!
Sometimes I wonder if there are some memories the mind doesn't want to deal with and that if it really wants to, it can block out the images, shut down, numb the pain connected to what we saw—what we didn't want to see. If we allow it to, the numbness can drown out everything, even the spark of life inside us. And eventually the person we once were is nothing but a vanishing memory.
I didn't always use to think this way. I used to have hope. I used to believe in things. Like when my father told me if I wanted something bad enough that I could make it happen.
"No one else in the world can make things happen for you, Nova," he'd said while we were lying on our backs on the hill in our backyard, staring up at the stars. I was six and happy and a little naïve, eating his words up like handfuls of sugar. "But if you want something bad enough and are willing to work hard at it, then anything's possible."
"Anything?" I'd said, turning my head toward him. "Even if I want to be a princess?"
He smiled, looking genuinely happy. "Even a princess."
I grinned, looking up at the sky, thinking how wonderful it would be to wear a diamond tiara on my head and a sparkly pink dress and matching heels. I would spin around in circles and laugh as my dress spun with me. Never once did I think about what it truly meant to be a princess and how impossible it was for me to actually become one.
"Earth to Nova." My boyfriend, Landon Evans, waves his hand in front of my face.
I blink my gaze away from the stars and angle my head sideways along the bottom of the grassy hill in his backyard, looking him in the eyes. "What's up?"
He laughs at me, but his smile looks unnatural, like it doesn't belong there. But that's normal for Landon. He's an artist, and he tells me that in order to portray pain in his portraits he has to carry it within him all the time. "You were totally spacing off on me there." The front porch light is on, and the fluorescent glow makes his honey-brown eyes look like the charcoal he uses for his sketchings.
I roll on my side and tuck my hands underneath my head, so I can really look at him. "Sorry, I was just thinking."
"You have that look on your face, like you're thinking deep." He rotates on his hip and props his elbow up on the ground, resting his head against his palm. Wisps of his inky-black hair fall into his eyes. "Want to talk about it?"
I shake my head. "No, I don't really feel like talking."
He offers me a trivial but genuine smile, and the sadness in my mind fleetingly dissolves. It's one of the things that I love about Landon. He's the only person on this planet who can make me smile—except for my dad, but he's no longer alive anymore, so smiles are rare in my book.
Landon and I were best friends up until about six months ago, and maybe that's why he can make me happy. We got to bond on a deeper level and understand each other before all the kissing and hormones came along. I know we're only eighteen and haven't even graduated high school yet, but sometimes, when I'm alone in my room, I can picture him and me together years ahead, in love, maybe getting married. It's surprising because for a long time after my dad died, I couldn't picture my future—I didn't want to. But things change. People evolve. Move on. Grow as new people enter their lives.
"I saw the picture you drew for the art project," I say, brushing some of the hair out of his eyes. "It was hanging up on Mr. Felmon's wall."
He frowns, which he always does whenever we're talking about his art. "Yeah, it didn't turn out how I planned."
"It seemed like you were sad when you were drawing it," I tell him, lowering my hand to my hip. "But all your drawings do."
Any happiness in his expression withers as he rolls onto his back and pinpoints his attention to the star-cut sky. He's silent for a while and I turn onto my back, letting him be, knowing that he's stuck in his own head. Landon is one of the saddest people I've met, and it's part of what drew me to him.
I was thirteen, and he'd just moved in across the street from me. He was sitting against the tree in his front his yard, scribbling in a sketchbook, when I first saw him and decided to go over and introduce myself. It was right after my dad had died, and I'd pretty much kept my distance from people. But with Landon, I don't know, there was just something about him.
I'd crossed the street, very curious about what he was drawing. When I stopped in front of him, he glanced up at me, and I was taken aback by how much anguish was in his honey-brown eyes—the torture and internal suffering. I'd never seen so much of it in anyone my age before, and even though I didn't know what was causing it, I guessed we were going to be friends. He looked how I felt inside, like I'd been broken apart and the pieces hadn't healed correctly. Just like I guessed, we did become best friends—more than best friends, actually. We're almost inseparable, addicted to each other, and I absolutely hate being away from him because I feel lost and misplaced in the world whenever he's gone.
"Do you ever get the feeling that we're all just lost?" Landon utters, jerking me away from my thoughts again. "Just roaming around the earth, waiting around to die."
I bite on my lip, considering what he said as I find Cassiopeia in the sky. "Is that what you really think?"
"I'm not sure," he answers, and I turn my head, analyzing his perfect profile. "I sometimes wonder, though, what the point of life is." He stops, and it feels like he's waiting for me to say something.
"I'm not sure." I rack my brain for something else to add. But I can't think of a single coherent, reasonable response to his dark thoughts on the meaning of life, so I add, "I love you."
"I love you too, Nova," he promises without looking at me, then he reaches across the grass and grabs my hand, twining his fingers through mine. "And I mean that, Nova, no matter what. I love you."
We get lost in the stillness of the night while we watch the stars glimmer and fade. It's peaceful but unsettling at the same time, because I can't turn my thoughts off. I worry about him when he gets depressed like this. It's like he goes into his own little world that's carved of gloomy thoughts and a blackened future, and I can't reach him no matter how hard I try.
We lie quietly, watching the stars and holding on to each other. Eventually, I drift to sleep with my face pressed against the cool grass, the spring breeze chilly against my skin, and Landon's fingers soothingly stroking the inside of my wrist. When I wake up again, all the stars have blended in with the grayness of morning, the moon is tucked away in the glow of daybreak, and the grass is damp with dew. The first thing I notice is that Landon's hand is missing from mine, and it makes me feel empty, like one of my arms has been detached from my body.
I sit up, rubbing my eyes then stretching my arms above my head as I glance around the backyard, searching for Landon. The only thing I can think of is that he got up to go to the bathroom, because he would never leave me sleeping on the hill alone in his backyard.
I push to my feet and brush the grass off the back of my legs before hiking up the hill toward his two-story house at the top of the backyard. It seems like a really long walk, because I'm tired—it's too early in the morning to be up. When I reach the back porch, I take my phone from my pocket to text Landon and see what he's doing. But I notice the back door is cracked, and I find myself walking inside, which is a little out of character for me. It's not like I'm used to walking into his house without being let in. I always knock, even when he texts me and tells me to come straight up to his room.
But this time, something begs my feet to step over the threshold. It's cold inside the kitchen, and I wonder how long the back door has been open. Shivering, I wrap my arms around myself and cross the entryway to the kitchen. Landon's parents are asleep upstairs, so I make sure to walk quietly, heading downstairs to Landon's room, which is in the basement. The stairs creak underneath my shoes, and I hold my breath the entire way down, not sure what will happen if his parents wake up and catch me sneaking down to his room.
"Landon," I whisper as I walk toward his bedroom. It's dark, except for the spark of the sunlight through the windows. "Are you down here?"
Silence is the only answer, and I almost turn around and go back upstairs. But then I hear the lyrics of an unknown song playing softly from somewhere in the house. I head for his bedroom door, and the music gets louder.
"Landon," I say as I approach his closed door, my nerves bubbling inside me. I don't know why I feel nervous. Or maybe I do. Maybe I've known for a long time, but I never wanted to accept it.
My hand trembles as I turn the knob. When I push the door open, every single word Landon's ever said to me suddenly makes sense to me. As the powerful lyrics playing from the stereo wrap around me, so does an undying chill. My hand falls lifeless to my side and I stand in the doorway, unblinking. I keep wishing for what I'm seeing to go away, to disappear from my mind, to erase the memories. I wish and wish—will it to happen—telling myself that if I want it badly enough, it'll happen. I start to count backward, focusing on the pattern and rhythm of the numbers, and after a few minutes, numbness swallows my heart. Just like I wanted, my surroundings fade and I can't feel anything.
I fall to the floor, hitting it hard, but I can't feel the pain.…
I'm driving way too fast. I know that and I know I should slow down, but everyone's complaining for me to hurry up and get them home. They're worried we're going to miss our curfew. Sometimes I wonder how I get myself into these kinds of messes. It's not like it's a big deal, but I'd probably be having a lot more fun if I was wasted with the rest of them, because it's spring break and I should be having fun. I'm not a fan of being the designated driver, but I usually end up offering to be one, and now I'm stuck driving around a bunch of drunken idiots.
"Stop smoking in here." I roll down the window as smoke begins to fill up the car. "My mom will smell it from a mile away, and then she's not going to let me drive her car anymore."
"Oh come on, Quinton," my girlfriend, Lexi, pouts as she takes a deep drag off her cigarette, then extends her arm out the open window. "We'll air it out."
Shaking my head, I reach over with my free hand and snatch the cigarette from her. "No more smoking." I hold the cigarette out my cracked window until the cherry falls off, then release the rest out into the night. It's late, the road we're driving on is windy and curves around a lake, and we haven't seen a car in ages. It's good, though, since everyone else in the car is underage and drunk out of their minds.
Lexi sticks out her lip and crosses her arms over her chest, slumping back in her seat. "You're so boring when you're sober."
I press back a grin. We've been dating for a couple of years now, and she's the only girl I've ever been with and can ever see myself being with. I know it sounds superlame and cheesy because we're only eighteen, but I'm seriously going to end up marrying her.
Still pouting, she slides her hand up my thigh until she reaches my cock, then she gives it a good rub. "Does that feel good? Because I'll keep doing it if you just let me smoke."
I try not to laugh at her, because she's wasted and it'll probably piss her off, but it's funny how annoyed she's getting by my soberness. "And you're feisty and pouty when you're drunk." I squirm as she hits the right spot and fight not to shut my eyelids. "But I'm still not going to let you smoke in the car."
She rolls her eyes, draws her hand away from me, and glances in the backseat, where my cousin Ryder is making out with some guy she met at the party. Their hands are all over each other. I'm not a fan of hanging out with her, but she comes out to Seattle sometimes and stays with my grandma. Lexi and Ryder became best friends during one of her visits when they were about twelve, and they've been inseparable ever since, which is pretty much how I met Lexi.
When Lexi looks away, her nose is scrunched. "So gross."
I decelerate the car for a sharp corner in the road. "Oh, don't pretend like you don't wish it was you and me back there." I wink at her and she rolls her eyes. "You know you do."
She sighs and lets her arms fall to her lap. "Yeah, right. If we were back there and I was trying to stick my tongue down your throat, you'd totally be like"—she makes air quotes— "'Lexi, please, there are people in the front seat who can see us.'"
"You're making me sound like an old man." I flash a playful grin at her as I downshift the car and the engine roars. The road is getting windier, and I have to slow down.
"You kind of are."
"Bullshit. I'm fucking fun as hell."
"No, you're nice as hell, Quinton Carter. You're seriously like the nicest guy I know, but the most fun? I'm not sure…" A conniving look crosses her face as she taps her finger against her lip. "How about we find out?" Without taking her eyes off me, she rolls the window down the rest of the way. The wind howls inside and blows her hair into her face.
"What the hell?" Ryder says from the backseat, jerking her lips away from the guy's, and plucks strands of her hair out of her mouth. "Lexi, roll up the damn window. I'm eating my own hair here."
"So Mr. Fucking Fun as Hell," Lexi says, with her eyes on me as she arches her back and moves her head toward the window. "Let's find out just how fun you are."
I don't like where she's going with this. She's too drunk, and even sober she's always been a daredevil, impulsive and a little bit reckless. "Lexi, what are you doing? Get in here. I don't want you to get hurt."
A lazy smile spreads across her lips as she sticks her head farther out the window. The pale glow of the moon hits her chest and makes her skin look ghostly against the darkness. "I want to see just how fun you are, Quinton." She extends her arms above her head as she slides up onto the windowsill. "I want to see how much you love me."
"Quinton, make her stop," Ryder says, scooting forward in the seat. "She's going to hurt herself."
"Lexi, stop it," I warn, gripping onto the steering wheel with one hand and reaching for her with my other. "I love you and that's why I need you to get down. Right now."
She shakes her head. I can't see her face or if she's not holding onto anything. I have no idea what the hell she's doing or thinking, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't, either, and it's fucking terrifying.
"If you're so fun, then just let me be free," she calls out. Her dress is blowing up over her legs and her feet are tucked down between the seat and the door.
Ryder lifts her leg to climb over into the front seat, but smacks her head on the roof and falls back. Shaking my head, I gently tap on the brakes as I lean over in the seat to grab Lexi. My fingers snag the bottom of Lexi's dress and that's when I hear the scream. Seconds later, the car is spinning out of control, and I don't know what's up or what's down. Shards of glass fly everywhere and cut at my arms and face as I try to hold onto Lexi's dress. But I feel the fabric leave my fingers as I'm jarred to the side. Everyone is screaming and crying as metal crunches and bends. I see bright lights, feel the warmth of blood as something slashes through my chest.
"Quinton…," I hear someone whisper, but I can't see who it is. I try to open my eyes, but it feels like they're already open, yet all I see is darkness.
But maybe that's better than seeing what's actually there.…
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Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Nova-ebook/dp/B00DY8HARG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375127669&sr=8-1&keywords=breaking+nova
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/breaking-nova-jessica-sorensen/1116060128?ean=9781455582723
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Add to Goodreads:http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17672770-breaking-nova