text:
Counselling is not magic. It is purposeful.
As parents and teachers we tend to be sensitive to issues that bother our children, our students. Therefore we try our best to help them deal with their problems and make their childhood / school days happy. Counselling is one useful tool that parents and teachers could use to secure the desired objective.
Counselling is a one to one dialogue between the child/student and a counsellor. It can be done individually or in group. The child (or children) gets an opportunity to ventilate his/her feelings. This helps to change one's behavior in a positive manner.
Counselling is not magic. It is a purposeful, planned activity that could be of variable time duration. It works well when it is a joint effort of the child, teacher, parent and the counsellor. If all these stake holders whole heartedly participate with patience and faith in the process, then the chance of success is extremely high.
The different types of counselling are:
The extent of Counselling at the school level depends on the available facilities. At the minimum, we deal with children at the Clinical level. Some of the problems that are normally seen with students are :
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text:
real life Pinterest & DIY
I created a bit of a moodboard by printing some of the inspiring images from my Pinterst, including Annaleena's gorgeous diamond and Roxy's printed envelopes.
I also made that concrete pyramid after making a concrete votive (for those of you who follow me in Instagram you may remember this). I might post a tutorial on how to make one, would you like that?
Other Stories
13 comments:
Your house is full of never ending inspiration!ReplyDelete
Love it! I would definitely want to learn how to make a concrete pyramid. My bf is all about heavy objects (it's weird...I know...we have a lot of antique dumb bells) & it'd be so cool to make him one.ReplyDelete
I love this collage of black and white you have here. People think black and white is dull but I am finding it more and more alluring. Its simpleness is a mere mask to its complexity and greatness. I have to say your feather has me a bit mesmerized.ReplyDelete
would love to see how you made it ;)ReplyDelete
I would really like a tutorial! The past week I m trying really hard to make shapes like this with clay. But it seems I need to work on that harder cause I don't get the result wanted. Anyway, I d love to see how you make this kind of stuff yourself.ReplyDelete
Love these pictures! And I would really like to see the pyramid tutorial. :)ReplyDelete
Would love to have the tutorial! Do share please! :-)ReplyDelete
Yes, yes please! I love pyramids, and concrete, so this is a dream come true.ReplyDelete
love it!!ReplyDelete
I would LOVE to learn how to make a pyramide like that.ReplyDelete
(I just have to say, You are my favorite blog nowadays.
Totally. Thank you for posting, writing and inspireing.
Just had to say.)
Hugs, and lots of them too,
from an-magritt
I may not have this perfect concrete pyramid but I did make this one out of paraffin.. I think you'll like it! http://my-lifebox.blogspot.gr/2012/10/diy-pyramid-candle.htmlReplyDelete
I would LOVE a tutorial on how you made that pyramid. please please!ReplyDelete
Thank you for your comments, I love hearing from you!
Questions, comments or sponsorship inquires, please contact me via the 'contact' link.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
WASHINGTON—It was late January, and a small group of liberal bloggers were about to lift an obscure U.S. House candidate in Georgia to political stardom.
At a time of unprecedented energy from the Democratic Party's liberal base, an endorsement from Daily Kos Elections can make you famous —and raise a small fortune.
The website's online fundraising pitch collected $400,000 for Jon Ossoff in a single week, more than some candidates for the House of Representatives raise in a year. Eventually, donations totalled about $1.6 million.
"We knew right away that the amount of money coming in was just enormous, far, far beyond our wildest dreams," said David Nir, Daily Kos's longtime political director, who wrote the site's endorsement.
Meet the Democratic Party's new kingmakers.
Ossoff, running in a special race in Georgia's 6th Congressional District, has gone on to become the face of the backlash to President Donald Trump.
But the more lasting effect might come from this heavily trafficked blog, which is part of the larger Daily Kos online community, which has been a hub of liberal activity since the days of president George W. Bush.
Since Georgia, the site has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for another Democratic House candidate in Thursday's special election, Rob Quist in Montana. And it spearheaded an effort to raise money against Republican lawmakers who voted for the American Health Care Act, collecting more than $1 million.
That's enormous money — the kind that has not gone unnoticed by Democratic and even Republican officials in Washington. And it has meant that, in the early days of the Trump era, there's been no better news for a Democratic candidate than the seal of approval from Daily Kos Elections.
"Our campaign has been fortunate to benefit from widespread grass-roots support and enthusiasm, and Daily Kos was instrumental in tapping into that energy from the beginning," said Keenan Pontoni, Ossoff's campaign manager.
But despite its presence in the activist community, what makes the site poised to play an especially important role in Democratic politics are the qualities it shares with most hardheaded professional strategists.
Daily Kos Elections, created in 2003 as the Swing State Project before moving over to Daily Kos in 2011, is run by three men: Nir (who lives in New York), Stephen Wolf (Greensboro, North Carolina) and Jeff Singer (Boston). Each is full time, paid and, in their own words, a political nerd. The site also has a half-dozen other people who contribute.
In Washington terms, that means they follow not just presidential news but also races for Congress and governor, and even state and local contests.
They do a lot more than just deliver endorsements: Each member of the trio offers a running commentary on the day's news and passes along important stories about overlooked races.
They also crunch their own data. Just days after last year's election, in fact, Singer began calculating the presidential results in each congressional district.
That's when he and Nir first recognized that Trump had performed relatively poorly in Georgia's 6th Congressional District, just barely edging out Hillary Clinton in a place Mitt Romney had won easily four years earlier. It's what led them to take a harder look at the Democratic candidates who were preparing to run in the special election there, eventually settling on Ossoff.
Ossoff's subsequent success made Democrats recognize the site's newfound importance.
"Had we not raised that huge sum for Ossoff in the first week and sent his campaign into the stratosphere, perhaps his campaign would have languished," Nir said. "It forced everyone to take notice, including the (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee), and now they're in big."
"We definitely have a new influence," he added.
That might sound like a boast, but it's one that Democratic officials in Washington readily agree with. One strategist, asked about Daily Kos Elections, pulled out his phone to show a webpage with the site's presidential-results-by-congressional-district tabulations — which he said he kept handy at all times.
"They're super-smart people," said a DCCC official. "They may be working for a left-leaning outfit, but they have a really accurate, smart sense of where the most competitive races are and what it takes to win them."
The feeling is mutual. Singer, Nir and Wolf might be true-blue Democratic activists themselves but they approach races with the clear-eyed — and coldhearted — sensibility of a Washington operative.
They've even defended the DCCC when it has faced criticism from activists, as it did in April when some on the left wondered why the committee didn't do more to to help out a candidate in a special House election in Kansas. The Democrat, James Thompson, was unexpectedly competitive despite receiving little help from national groups.
In response, Daily Kos Elections published a story explaining what political groups like the DCCC are supposed to do. And Nir, in an interview this month, said that rather than criticize the House Democrats' political arm, he looked to see what his own group could have done better in the race — if anything.
"My feeling is if Daily Kos had gotten in a week or two earlier, then Republicans would have started spending money earlier, and we would have wound up with pretty much the same result, or even a worse one," he said.
The answer mirrors one given by Democratic officials in the wake of the Kansas race.
"What I have always said is that if progressives want to make gains and win elections, we have to be very honest and realistic about what our chances are, and what our targets should be," Nir said. "Telling people they should simply clap harder or that they should spend money on every race does everyone a disservice."
The Democratic establishment and the blog won't always be on the same page. Nir stressed that his website will always take chances on long-shot candidates the DCCC won't support. And of course, it takes an extra interest in candidates who support a progressive agenda.
But that doesn't mean they aren't on the same team.
"We certainly don't see ourselves at odds with the national party," said Wolf, who specializes in writing about gerrymandering and laws that affect voter participation. "We like to see ourselves as more a complement to what they're doing."
There have been some missteps along the road. In April, the site withdrew its endorsement of Omaha mayoral candidate Heath Mello amid controversy about his past support for laws that would restrict abortion rights.
The chumminess with groups like the DCCC also rubs some activists the wrong way.
"There is a new paradigm emerging in politics, and I don't think Daily Kos has their finger on that pulse at all," said Winnie Wong, co-founder of the progressive group People for Bernie. Wong said Democrats need to invest heavily in places like the Kansas district, confident that Trump's unpopularity makes once safely Republican seats vulnerable.
The founder of the Daily Kos, Markos Moulitsas, has a strained relationship with supporters of Bernie Sanders, the independent Vermont senator who challenged Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination last year.
It's not unusual for a partisan website to receive more attention after the other party's presidential candidate wins, as unhappy voters look for a place to channel their frustration.
To Nir, it's an unhappy tradeoff, but if it's one he has to make, he's bent on taking advantage.
"I would trade anything for Hillary Clinton to be president instead of Donald Trump, but the fact is, Trump has energized the grass roots in a way we've never seen before," he said. "What matters now is how we respond and how we channel that energy, and we've been channeling it extremely well."


text:
John Bozzelli
Founder, Injection Molding Solutions
Founder, Injection Molding Solutions
Keeping ahead of the competition is key to survival for molders. How do you stay in the lead? Start by following Dr. Deming's teachings and pay attention to details. There are hundreds of details you must identify and control to run a successful molding plant. One that is almost always at the top of the list is optimizing cycle time. Shorter cycles that make acceptable parts improve profits.
The "details" that can affect cycle time include part design, resin selection, tool design, and processing parameters such as injection rate, melt temperature, cooling, back pressure, etc. You have to pinpoint the "detail" that is limiting your cycle time and find a way to fix or improve it.
Featured Content
Let's focus here on screw recovery time. You don't want screw-recovery or plasticating time to exceed the cooling time required for the part. If the screw cannot melt the amount of plastic required for the shot by the time the part is cool enough to be ejected, the clamp stays shut until the screw reaches its shot size plus decompression (if any). You will often find this inefficient situation in shops that mold storage tubs or trash containers, or run high-cavitation molds for caps, closures, etc.
With the goal defined—minimize screw recovery time—what are the options available to a molder?
Like most of the other details in processing, there is not one simple answer. And remember that the primary goal is uniform melt temperature and viscosity. Reducing cycle time at the expense of a uniform melt will not improve your profit margin in the long term.
Here's our list of options:
•Feed-throat temperature: Many molders run the feed throat too cool in an effort to prevent bridging. If bridging is caused by granules sticking, you do need to lower your feed-throat temperature. However, in most cases I've encountered, bridging is not caused by granules sticking but instead by a solid ball of melted plastic. This is not a feed-throat temperature problem; it's most likely a check-valve issue. So run the feed throat warm. Start at 140 F (60 C). Experiment with even higher feed zone temperatures.
•Rear zone temperature: This influences how the granules begin to stick to the barrel wall. The better the friction, the faster the screw will recover. This is influenced by resin type, granule size and shape, etc. The only way to find out if this is an option is to check recovery time over the span of recommended melt temperatures. Too high or too low a temperature will provide longer recovery times.
•Backpressure: Appropriate backpressure is critical for obtaining melt uniformity and color blending. High backpressures cause longer recovery times but sometimes are required for melt uniformity. Make sure the backpressure is not too high or too low.
•Zone temperature settings: With the myriad of available temperature profile options (flat, reverse, standard etc.), we will tackle this detail in a separate article.
•Screw design: Again, there are a myriad of options that will have to be tabled for separate article, but I will state emphatically that if you are using a standard "general-purpose" screw you will not get a uniform melt. End of discussion.
•Screw speed or screw-flight circumferential velocity: Higher rpm does not always mean faster screw recovery. Test a range of screw speeds and allow time for the process to stabilize. This can take a long time.
•Carrier for the color: Some color concentrate carriers have a lubricating effect that reduces the friction between the plastic granules and the barrel wall. This extends recovery time. As a simple check, run natural resin with no color and note whether recovery time decreases.
Let's assume you have optimized all the processing variables available, but you are still stuck waiting for the screw to reach shot size. Options now are limited to only two:
1. Get a bigger barrel to gain melting capacity. If this is your choice, keep in mind that you will be using a small percentage of the barrel capacity. Bigger barrels increase residence time. Also, you'll wind up with a shorter stroke distance during injection, which translates into less control over hitting transfer position accurately. There is a chance of more screw overtravel or larger effects from nonreturn valve leakage. Add in the significant capital expense of a new barrel and screw. Capital expenditures, degraded resin, black specks, less control on injection, etc. are all costly to the molder's bottom line.
2. Adapt the barrel with a nozzle shutoff valve. It mechanically closes after melt decompress at the end of hold or second stage. Shutoff nozzles block the flow of plastic from going through the nozzle of the injection machine. This allows the screw to continue to rotate during mold opening, ejection, parts removal, and mold closing. So you have the entire time from mold open to mold close to get the screw back. This can add a few precious seconds of extra plasticating time to get the screw to the shot size. Various types of shutoff nozzles are available, and you should pick one that is robust, provides minimal pressure drop, doesn't drool, and is easy to install.
•Spring-loaded: These are basically a needle valve that is held shut via a heavy spring. When injection starts, the screw moves forward and compresses the plastic to a certain pressure, which pushes the needle valve open to allow plastic to flow through the nozzle into the sprue bushing of the mold. Spring-loaded nozzles may not adequately decompress the melt after injection, leading to stringing out of the gates when the mold opens.
•Mechanically driven: There are two variants here. One type has a needle valve that lies in the direction of flow and is mechanically opened and closed with either a hydraulic or pneumatic drive cylinder. At injection (or a fraction of a second before), the drive cylinder is actuated to mechanically open the shutoff valve and actuated in the reverse direction at the end of hold or second stage. These tend to develop a high pressure loss, as the needle is usually in the middle of the plastic flow channel. Instead of having a full-round tube for a flow path (the ideal), the plastic has to pass through an annular channel (see Fig. 1).
The second variant has a pin valve that is again actuated by a hydraulic or pneumatic drive cylinder. However, this type has a full-open flow path because the pin is perpendicular to the flow path and is pulled out of the flow path when in the open position and is pushed forward to block the flow path in the closed postion (Fig. 2). With this type of shutoff valve it is important to ensure the pin is aligned properly. Side loads can cause premature failure. Shutoff valves are high-maintenance devices that add cost to the process. Often it is wise to have a spare handy to keep production going.
About the Author
John Bozzelli is the founder of Injection Molding Solutions (Scientific Molding) in Midland, Mich., a provider of training and consulting services to injection molders, including LIMS, and other specialties. E-mail email@example.com or visit scientificmolding.com for scheduled dates.
How to Set Barrel Zone Temps
Start by picking a target melt temperature, and double-check data sheets for the resin supplier's recommendations. Now for the rest...
How to Stop Flash
Flashing of a part can occur for several reasons—from variations in the process or material to tooling trouble.
How to Reduce Sinks
Modifications to the common core pin can be a simple solution, but don't expect all resins to behave the same. Gas assist is also worth a try.


text: Catalog Auction info Fall Equipment Auction, Grenada, MS (#86062) 10/09/2015 8:00 AM CDT - 10/23/2015 2:05 PM CDT CLOSED! Starts Ending 10/23/2015 12:00 PM CDT Lot #6Vehicle History and Title Documentation Click image to enlarge PreviousNext Remove from watchlist Add to watchlist Tell a friendAsk a question Fall Equipment Auction, Grenada, MS (#86062) 10/09/2015 8:00 AM CDT - 10/23/2015 2:05 PM CDT CLOSED! Starts Ending 10/23/2015 12:00 PM CDT Description Don't wonder anymore!!! Taylor Auction is now providing a vehicle history report and title document. Click through on each lot for more information. *Loading Information Daily Terms and conditions 10% buyer's premium Everything Sells AS-IS, WHERE-IS No sales tax will be assessed on any titled vehicle. Tax on titled vehicles will be paid in the county where you title the vehicle in your name. 7% sales tax will be charged in regard to all other items. If you are an out of state bidder and are the successful purchaser; please complete a certificate of interstate sales and bring at pickup. This form is required by the Mississippi State Tax Commission for out- of- state buyers in regard to exemption of Mississippi Sales Tax. Download the Certificate of Interstate sales from the website below. http://www.dor.ms.gov/docs/sales_72315.pdf IMPORTANT INFORMATION PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU BID: OPEN DAILY MONDAY - FRIDAY FROM 9-5PM, Please call 662.226.2080 or 662.417.0397 before you travel to our facility. Therefore, we can have someone meet you. PAYMENT TERMS: All accounts must be settled at the conclusion of the auction. We request Payment made in full day of pickup. We prefer CASH, CHECK, CERTIFIED CHECK OR WIRE TRANSFER. We will not be accepting credit cards in regard to this auction. Bidders will be charged a 10% Buyers Fee and the appropriate sales tax if applicable. Further Payment Instruction: Electronic bank transfers for final payment of purchases must originate from an account of the registered buyer or the business the buyer represents. The transfer must include the bidder number and the invoice number. ITEMS TO BE PICKED UP: After October 23, 2015: If you are unable to remove the vehicles until later, please call us at 662.226.2080. If we concur, you are not intending to remove the items in a timely manner and/or bring payment; your credit card will be charged the amount due. In addition, a storage fee of $20.00 a day will be charged to your credit card. If buyer does not pick up items or make payments up to date on merchandise, the buyer will be flagged for all MarkNet auctions. This includes all auction companies that are a part of the www.MarknetAlliance Organization.marknetalliance.com. This means, you will not be able to bid on any online auction of the forty-five auction companies associated with MarkNetAlliance. GENERAL TERMS AT REGISTRATION: All bids are subject to acceptance by the AUCTIONEER/AUCTION COMPANY. No bid shall be deemed a valid bid until accepted by the Auctioneer. If you are the successful bidder, you agree to pay the amount of your bid plus all taxes and premiums in accordance with all written or oral terms and conditions of the auction. Winning high bidders will be notified by email when all items in the auction have closed. Bidders are responsible for checking their email to receive notification that they have won a lot(s). By placing a bid, you agree to all of the terms and conditions which may be set forth by each individual auction company and expressly acknowledge and affirm that you have read and are familiar with the terms and conditions of each individual auction company as well as each terms and conditions of each individual auction. The Auctioneer/ Auction Company has the sole discretion to advance the bidding and may reject any and all bids which in the Auctioneer's sole discretion does not advance and/or injurious to the auction, including but not limited to minimal suspicious and/or suspect advances. The Auctioneer shall have sole discretion in deciding the successful bidder in the event of a bidding dispute. All sales are final upon the determination of the successful bidder by the auctioneer. By placing a bid, you acknowledge that your bid is a legally binding offer to purchase the item or property being auctioned. Times shall be of the essence. Taylor Auction & Realty, Inc. reserves the right to withdraw or re-catalog items in this auction. ALL PROPERTY IS SOLD 'AS-IS' and ALL SALES ARE FINAL .Property is open to thorough public inspection. Due Diligence is the responsibility of the bidder. It is the Bidder's responsibility to determine nature, condition, age, genuineness, value, state of title or any other decisive factor on each item purchased.Taylor Auction & Realty, Inc. may attempt to describe the merchandise in advertising, on the internet and at the auction but makes no representations. Printed statements or descriptions by staff are provided in good faith and are matters of opinion. In no event shall Taylor Auction & Realty, Inc. be held responsible for having made or implied any warranty of merchant-ability or fitness for a particular purpose. Bidder shall be the sole judge of value. Bidders who bid from off-site understand and acknowledge that they may not be able to inspect an item as well as if they examined it in person. Taylor Auction & Realty, Inc. will not be responsible for any errors or omissions in the description of the merchandise. Bidder agrees that everything is sold as is and that they may not return any item they purchase. There shall be no returns or exchanges. NEITHER THE COMPANY PROVIDING THE SOFTWARE NOR THE AUCTION COMPANY SHALL BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR A MISSED BID OR THE FAILURE OF THE SOFTWARE TO FUNCTION PROPERLY FOR ANY REASON. Taylor Auction & Realty, Inc.is providing online bidding as a service to Bidder. Bidder acknowledges and understands that this service may or may not function correctly the day of the auction. Under no circumstances shall Bidder have any kind of claim against Taylor Auction & Realty, Inc. or anyone else if the internet service fails to work correctly. Taylor Auction & Realty, Inc. will not be responsible for any missed bids from any source. The successful purchaser agrees to pay any and all reasonable attorney's fees and costs incurred by the Auction Company, the seller and/or their servants, agents or employees in the commencement or defense of any actions here-under as well as in the collection of any obligations here-under. The purchaser agrees that a fee of 2% per month be added to the balance of any unpaid balance due the Auction Company and any other costs or losses incurred by the purchaser's failure to adhere to these terms. Sole and Exclusive Venue & Jurisdiction of all disputes: Any debt collection and all disputes which may arise by virtue of this auction sale or stemming from this auction sale shall be in the Appropriate Court in Grenada County, Mississippi. Choice of Law: The Law of the State of Mississippi shall govern the interpretation of any and all disputes or other matters relating to the subject sale and/or stemming from this auction sale. Bidder acknowledges that no relationship of any nature or type, agent, employee, independent contractor or otherwise is created between bidder and auctioneer, affiliated auction companies, affiliated software companies and/or any servant, agent or employee of the same by bidder's participation in this auction. Bidder acknowledges and agrees that Auctioneer is acting solely as the agent for the seller in this auction. Disclaimer of warranties: There are no understandings,agreements, representations or warranties, express or implied not specified herein, respecting this contract or the item or property sold here-under,including but not limited to the merchant-ability or fitness for a particular purpose. MAX BIDS: Internet bidders who desire to make certain their bids are acknowledged should use the internet bidding feature and leave their maximum bid. When you bid your max, the current bid price doesn`t automatically go to your max bid. Someone else has to bid to increase the current price and the computer will automatically bid up to your max in the increments specified. REFRESH YOU SCREEN: Please remember to REFRESH your screen to find out if you have been outbid. To refresh your screen, you need to click on `RESET CATALOG` or REFRESH ALL for the whole page to refresh or use the refresh button on your browser. This is most important at the end of the auction. YOU MUST REFRESH THE SCREEN TO KEEP THE TIME ACCURATE. STAGGERED ENDING: This Auction utilizes a staggered end time of (15) Lots ending every 5 minutes. (Lots 1-15 end at 12:00 PM, Lots 16-30 end at 12:05 PM, Lots 31-45 end at 12:10 PM, etc. Lots will remain open as long as there is bidding activity. (See Extending Bidding paragraph below) EXTENDED BIDDING: Our auctions use the Auto-Extend feature. The basic rule is, there must be a minimum of 5 minutes for a bidder to react to a bid. If there is a bid placed in the final 5 minutes for an item, the ending time for that item is automatically extended to allow the 5 minute reaction time. If another bid is received during that 'extended time', the ending time is extended again--and again, if necessary, for 5 additional minutes for each extension. This continues and repeats until there are no more bids submitted. This 'Auto-Extend' feature allows the bidding process to be more fair for every bidder and gives all bidders a chance to respond to any last-minute snipe bid(s). Items are Auto-extended ONLY if a bid is placed within 5 minutes of the scheduled closing time. This online feature uses a staggered ending time. If the auction is scheduled to end at 12:00 PM the first item is scheduled to end at 12:00 PM and each item after the first will end in set staggered intervals. HOLD HARMLESS: Buyer and or bidder agrees that Taylor Auction and Realty, Inc. is a representative of the Seller and agrees to hold harmless and indemnify Taylor Auction & Realty, Inc. and its Agents, Owner, Directors, Employees and its Representatives from any and all claims, demands, expenses, damages which bidder/buyer may claim on account of or any way growing out of said auction and to look solely to the Seller for any remedy demanded. LOCATION: Taylor Auction & Realty Auction Facility: 15488 Hwy 51 N, Grenada, Ms 38901 INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE


text:
I'm moving back home with my parents from a 1 bedroom apartment and I'm trying to find a cheap moving company. I plan on doing all of the packing myself, but I cannot move anything myself because I have a bad back,
Can anyone suggest a good moving company that is VERY reasonably priced?
I'm moving from Richmond, VA to New Castle, DE


text:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Blendover Episode Sixty Seven:
We look into the shooting of a Texas student by a campus policeman blocks away from the university in a 'routine traffic stop'. We update the Lee Rigby murder trial; where Michael Adebolajo speaks out, Later, we report on the hardware woes with the PS4; then celebrate the planet that Doctor Who fans are petitioning to be named Gallifrey!
Topics Discussed:
- Shout-Outs
- Pussy Riot
- The Death of Robert Redus
- Michael Adebolajo and the Woolwich Murder of Lee Rigby
- 2black
- PlayStation 4
- Doctor Who: Gallifrey Has Been Found – HD 106906 b
BlendoveR is a fun, hard-hitting podcast where rules are regularly thrown out the window in favor of honest, open commentating opinions. Presented by Greg Davies (cGt2099 from The-TrukstoP.com), and Terr Ciavarra (Media Nox from medianox.bandcamp.com), we stray on to any topic that presents itself or wanders off onto its own tangent.
Shout Outs
Pussy Riot
The Death of Robert Redus
Baytown Christian valedictorian fatally shot in San Antonio traffic stop
'I didn't hear him say anything. He just started shooting': Investigation launched after campus officer fatally shoots student
Sarcastic quip ends student's life
Texas Student Receives the Death Penalty for Speeding: WTF?
Michael Adebolajo and the Woolwich Murder of Lee Rigby
Lee Rigby murder trial: 'I'm a soldier just like Drummer Rigby… I killed him because this is war'
Lee Rigby murder trial: Michael Adebolajo 'a soldier of Allah'
One of Accused Admits to Killing British Soldier Lee Rigby
2black @ Encyclopaedia Metallum
PlayStation 4
PS4 hardware issues, and what you can do to resolve them
Doctor Who: Gallifrey Has Been Found – HD 106906 b
Giant alien world discovered where it should not exist
Planet Has Been Discovered That Should Not Be There
There's a petition to name a recently-discovered planet 'Gallifrey'
Music Featured:
- "Mind Infect" by 2black from the album Mind Infect


text:
In a largely object-oriented world, one Redditer asks if it's still okay to just use functions, the more procedural method of PHP development:
Is there anything wrong with using an include file of functions instead of using full code in a file? [...] Obviously you wouldn't write functions for one off tiny things, but I think it would help to read files altogether especially if the functions file was alphabetically listed.
There's several suggestions in the comments including things like:
- You should also look into using a templating engine, so you can separate your html from your php code.
- One thing you could always ask yourself is "Do I will ever need to write that part a second time somewhere else ?" If "yes", that means you should put that part in a function.
- Before you go writing a load of functions and putting them all in a file, which can get quite unmanageable, consider grouping them logically and placing them in classes.
- Function names should start with a verb though (except for trivial getters whose meaning is clear by context, which can be named after the thing they get).
- Do group them logically, but it's not necessary to place them in a class unless they share data or state.


text:
I was looking at the cartoon Garfield Minus Garfield the other day, and I started thinking about being alone.
Jon always seemed to me a quintessentially pathetic character living in a hostile, hate-filled world. In Garfield Minus Garfield he is at last reduced to the stark reality of his situation: a miserable love life, no real friends, the companionship he built his world around an empty husk. In portraying the void at the centre of his life, these scenes feel realer, more recognisable, and finally more honest to me than the actual Garfield comics. I feel some sympathy for Jon when I see him alone like this. I imagine that this is his life now after the deaths of both Garfield and Odie; from here, he might be able to scrape back some dignity.
But why do I only feel this way about Jon when he's alone? Why does Alone Jon seem to portray a complexity that I'm blind to when he's with others? I'm a bit reluctant to ask myself this question because it means I'm going to have to say something about my childhood. AGAIN.
As a kid, I absorbed the idea that being alone, even though it wasn't all that fun, made me special. I don't know where I got this idea from. For once, I'm not even sure that it was books. Well, anyway, these were the days before 'reject' and 'reej' were such fatal insults, way before having a group 'to hang around with' was crucial to your authentication as a human being, so in many ways I felt OK with having no friends, and on some days went out of my way to have none. I have a vivid memory of walking towards the adventure playground (a ricketty wooden tower with a prickly conifer growing through the middle), seeing my classmates and various screaming kids swarming all over it, and looking down to kick through autumn leaves with my shoes, hanging my head low, thinking, 'I am lonely.' I thought those words, but I remember feeling a vague boredom with having to go through with this rigmarole in order to seem special, to seem different. It probably would've been easier to make friends, but I didn't know how. In high school, especially in the fifth and sixth forms, being alone was instead a source of deep shame and smallness. I would rotate my interval and lunchtime hiding places, at one point hiding in a small underground room behind the stage in the assembly hall, where my art class was stretching some canvasses. Somehow I'd managed to talk my art teacher into giving me the key to this room. There was a long narrow window just above the room where I could see people's feet as they walked past, which always reminded me of that Quentin Blake picture book Snuff, when Snuff and Sir Thomas Magpie and the horses walk past the basement window wearing all sorts of fancy boots to scare the boot thieves inside. Even though I always felt massive relief when I got inside the room, because I could lock the door and be alone, time moved very slowly and unhappily there, and I'd feel an equal relief when the bell rang for class and I could leave – the truth was, I did like being around people, but only when there was some kind of order in place, as in a classroom. A classmate once asked me, looking slightly suspicious, 'Who do you hang around with at lunchtime?' I panicked and blurted, 'Everyone!'
One of the best things about being an adult is that no one will ever ask me again who I hang around with at lunchtime. I can wear my aloneness freely without needing to find a secret place to hide it in. It's still not always easy for an adult to go somewhere for dinner alone or sit alone in a a busy cafe on a Sunday – see: Solo Date City – but the stench of social failure no longer hangs about you, at least not as pungently.
Still: 'Everyone'! In a second I can transport myself back to the mortification that led me to tell this outrageous hokum.
Maybe I have a hyper-alertness to this stuff, or maybe this is something to do with the changing of the seasons etc, but – recently I've noticed more urgent expressions of loneliness, despair, sometimes numbness, on the internet. It feels like there's a new energy in it, a new sharpness, even a new humour. I think if I were a highschooler again right now, I would find some kind of solace in it. (All things considered, though, I'm glad I'm not a highschooler right now.)
The currency of Screenshots of Despair is the humorously bleak, and most of its bleakness stems from a sense of isolation so all-encompassing that it becomes absurd. The isolation loops back upon itself to become a kind of hysterical meta-isolation. An earlier site, Windows 95 Tips, does a similar thing, only here, the programme itself becomes the agent of the user's doom.
Both of these sites have had surges of popularity, I guess because they speak directly to the anxiety a lot of us share about the effect of web use on us as human beings. The sites confirm but also ridicule our fears that our lives online have disconnected us from reality, melted our brains, brought us to a deeper despair than we could ever have known offline.
See also: funny tweets about loneliness and/or dying alone.
I don't mind this stuff. Laughing about it helps, kind of, to defuse our fears, even though the isolation being portrayed here borders on the surreal and is far removed from the reality of many people's lives. What I feel violently allergic to is despair marketing (it's the only way I can think to describe it) such as Despair.com ('We offer the cure for hope') and The Pessimist ('Expecting the worst. Never disappointed). These sites invert popular self-help and motivational jargon with a result that's just as phoney as the very thing it's mocking. The stuff Despair.com sells – the pessimist's wall calendar, the glass half-empty mug, demotivational posters ('Sometimes the best solution to morale problems is just to fire all of the unhappy people') – is no more useful or insightful than a stock image of a nondescript galloping horse emblazoned with an inspirational quote 'to brighten your day', as sometimes seen posted on Facebook (Eleanor Roosevelt: 'Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people' – a masterful twist on 'inspiration' that causes the reader to feel mildly pissed off). Despair.com renders the whole notion of despair meaningless, just as the notion of calm stoicism has been emptied of heart by the plague of 'Keep Calm and [Insert Your Text Here]' merchandise.
There's a less direct, maybe more seductive way of portraying despair online. Two sites I used to look a lot are the Tumblrs This Isn't Happiness (often NSFW) and Magnificent Ruin, both of which present photography, illustration, design, quotations, and other miscellanea from around the web. Often you'll find really interesting, clever stuff taken out of context, and I've stumbled across things that have led me down ever deeper rabbit holes (worm holes?) of discovery. But these sites have always taken a stance of disquiet and disillusionment (as you'd expect from their titles) and I've finally reached saturation point with the ethos that drives their curation. Too many photographs of models alone in bare, dimly lit rooms, cigarette smoke unfurling from their mouths; too many cells of Charlie Brown at his most bleak; too many fragments of poetry by Bukowski and John Tottenham (whose work focuses pretty much solely on feelings of futility and bitter disappointment). These fragments fuel a kind of myth-making about feeling unhappy: that it's interesting, mysterious, and, very often, beautiful. It is despair as an aesthetic, not as a human feeling in all its messiness and difficulty and struggle.
Many of the images on these Tumblrs also associate being alone with a kind of authenticity, even an emotional intelligence. A person's character seems keenly delineated on its own. You're apart, therefore you're realer. I've fallen into this trap with the way I look at Alone Jon, whose unhinged outbursts just seem to me like honesty. And this comes straight back to that odd fantasy about being alone, that same fantasy I had as a primary schooler plodding through the wet grass on the rec, where I would cast myself as the disillusioned character in my own movie. But that's all it is: a fantasy.
Anyway. Maybe the point of sites like This Isn't Happiness is to reduce unhappiness to its bones, its signifiers. But suddenly, now, it makes me feel alienated, as if I were watching beautiful, blank-faced fashion models wearing city council recycling bags as they stalk down a runway, and being told that this is meaningful.
I've begun to have a similar response to some artists who I used to really love, such as Bored Rita (er, also often NSFW) and David Shrigley, who – and maybe it's just through too much exposure to their work – now leave me cold. Bored Rita's work now seems hardened by bleakness and misanthropy. Is it the work that's changed, or me? I don't know. But I look at it and I feel as though Bored Rita hates me. Writing this, I'm suddenly afraid that she'll discover this post and tear me to shreds with the same pointy teeth as her characters. In a similar vein, I can recognise that David Shrigley's stuff is clever and original, that it walks a tightrope between stupidity and profundity, that it messes with perceptions of what important art is – but all I can really take from it, in the end, is hostility. Maybe that, too, is the point. But where do you go from hostility, what can you take with you into your life?
This won't go on for too much longer – there's just one more thing.
I read an essay recently about emotional 'ache', ie. what it is, what it feels like, what it's good for. The essay tried to provide a universal description of ache, which, I would argue, is a nebulous, infinitely various feeling. When I finished reading the piece, I felt kind of grumpy and short-changed – as though I'd been offered a thin blanket to warm up when I was clearly frozen into some prehistoric peat. And I think the reason I found it hard to get anything from the piece was because the writer hadn't really put himself on the line in confronting the feeling of 'ache' – instead, he'd thrown adjectives at it. I realised that there is a limit to description, to simile, to 'the defining image'. Sometimes all that's needed is story. The piece made me think about all the expressions of despair and loneliness online, and how interpreting them is often an exercise in navigating irony, double meanings, fashion. It's rare to come across an expression that feels real, that feels like it's come out of somebody's lived experience, that touches us.


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Retired officer charged with killing man over texting
A retired police captain was charged with shooting and killing a man during an argument over phone texting inside a Florida theater, authorities said Monday.
Pasco County Sheriff's spokeswoman Melanie Snow said two couples had been watching "Lone Survivor" Monday at a movie theater at Wesley Chapel, Fla., north of Tampa, when shots were fired.
She said Curtis Reeves, 71, asked Chad Oulson, 43, to stop texting on his cellphone, and that they argued.
Oulson and his wife, Nichole, were taken to a local hospital where he died. His wife's injuries weren't considered life-threatening.
The sheriff's office says an off-duty deputy detained Reeves until police arrived. Reeves was charged with second-degree murder. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney.
Tampa Police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said Reeves was a captain when he retired from the department in 1993. Reeves' son also is a Tampa officer, police said.
Sheriff Chris Nocco said the shooting was at Cobb Theatres Grove 16 & CineBistro in Wesley Chapel.
The argument started when the male victim was texting during the previews before a showing of Lone Survivor, Nocco said.
"It's absolutely crazy it would rise to this level over somebody just texting," Nocco said.
Charles Cummings, who was in the theater, said Oulson told Reeves he was texting with his 3-year-old daughter.
"Somebody throws popcorn. I'm not sure who threw the popcorn," Cummings said. "And then bang, he was shot."
The victims were airlifted to a Bay area hospital. Investigators describe the shooting as an "isolated incident."
Cobb Theatres issued a statement saying the company was "deeply saddened," adding that "our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families." The building was closed and an investigation was underway. "The safety, security and comfort of our guests and team members are always our top priorities, and we are truly heartbroken by this incident," the statement said.
Wesley Chapel, which has a population of about 45,000, is located near Tampa.
In July 2012, 12 people were killed and 70 wounded when a man walked into a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., and started shooting. James Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His trial is set for August.
Contributing: William M. Welch, USA Today; Associated Press


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See more
- Cat C7.1 engine meets EU Stage IV emission standards. Emissions technology is transparent – no action required from the operator and no stopping for regeneration.
- Up to a 10% fuel consumption reduction vs. previous model with the same productivity.
- Built-in fuel savers, eliminating waste with features like Auto Engine Speed Control, Engine Idle Shutdown and efficient Eco Mode.
- "On-Demand" Strategies, to consume just the right amount of fuel, with on-demand fan or new optimized demand-driven driveline.
- Dedicated swing pump, allowing faster, smoother combined movements.
- Highly mobile, the M318F can travel up to 35 km/h (22 mph).


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Almost half of Canadian teens report problems with body or self-image. They need help to build confidence and realize they're not alone. Your renewed support of Kids Help Phone will ensure that we can always be open for teens and youth in need.
You can give kids a comfortable way to talk. Anytime. Anywhere.
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Trustmark is a mark of Imagine Canada used under licence by Kids Help Phone.
Kids Help Phone has been accredited by Imagine Canada's Standards Program for excellence in nonprofit accountability, transparency, governance, fundraising, and staff and volunteer management since 2013.


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On Tuesday, if all goes according to plan, the federal health law's marketplaces for individual health insurance are scheduled to open for business.
Nearly all Americans will be required to have health insurance starting Jan. 1, 2014, or else they'll be liable for a tax penalty.
Even now, there is quite a bit of confusion about the law and how it will work. The administration has even enlisted former President Bill Clinton to serve as the law's explainer in chief.
On the eve of the marketplaces' planned opening, many people aren't sure if they'll qualify for subsidized insurance. Many also have no clear idea of how much their insurance tab would run.
If you've asked yourself, "How much will Obamacare cost me?" We can help you find the answer.
A calculator produced by the Kaiser Family Foundation in collaboration with NPR allows shoppers to find out if they qualify for subsidized insurance coverage or Medicaid.
Enter your ZIP code, income, age, family size and a few other factors into the calculator to get subsidy estimates and insurance premiums available for coverage sold on the marketplaces, or exchanges, once enrollment begins.
The calculator makes use of premium data from 46 states plus the District of Columbia. The remaining four states (Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont) either set premiums using different formulas or haven't provided data yet.
As states release details about the insurance plans that will be offered in their exchanges, Kaiser and NPR will update the calculator.
Regardless of what happens on Capitol Hill, the Affordable Care Act healthcare marketplaces are set to open for business tomorrow. NPR's Julie Rovner joins me in the studio with the latest. Hi, Julie.
JULIE ROVNER, BYLINE: Hey, Melissa.
BLOCK: And I gather that this afternoon, officials announced that there are a number of new plans being added to the list of plans that people can choose from when they go to the exchanges tomorrow. What can you tell us about these plans?
ROVNER: Right. These are about 150 additional Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans that will be offered in 30 states and the District of Columbia. Some of which will have national networks of doctors and hospitals. These are in addition to the plans and prices the administration unveiled last week for the 36 states where it's going to be running the exchanges in full or in part.
BLOCK: And when those exchanges open tomorrow, one main question they should be able to answer for people is, how much is this going to cost me?
ROVNER: That's right. And we still can't tell you exactly what you'll pay under the law. It's going to depend on a lot of different things like your age, where you live, how many people are in your family. But with the help of our colleagues at the Kaiser Family Foundation, we can tell you if you're maybe eligible for government help paying premiums if you buy insurance at the new health exchanges and, if so, how much help you might be able to expect.
BLOCK: Right. And the Kaiser Family Foundation has put together a subsidy calculator. How does it work?
ROVNER: Well, it's pretty simple. You can find it on our website at npr.org/shots, and you can just plug in some basic information: your state, zip code, age, family size and income. You know, the administration is expecting about 7 million people to sign up for coverage through the exchanges this first year, an estimated 6 million of those people are expected to be eligible for some kind of government help. You can get it if your income is as high as four times the poverty level. So let's try it.
BLOCK: OK. So we've plugged in a hypothetical family of three from Miami, Florida, with an income of $45,000 a year, one child under the age of 20. And, Julie, here's what I'm looking at. This is an estimate, I gather. This family is said to be at 230 percent of the poverty level. Health insurance would cost maybe $6,600. About half of that would be paid for by the family. The other half would be covered by the government. Again, a rough estimate.
ROVNER: That's right. And, you know, when the exchanges open, you'll have to get on your state's website and compare the number of plans that there are to see the actual prices. But this will give you an idea of how big a discount off those sticker prices you might be able to get. Now, we've been warned that one of the most common computer glitches that states are seeing is the ability to apply these discounts to those sticker prices. So tomorrow when the prices do go online, you might have to wait a bit to see exactly what you'd pay. But meanwhile, this calculator will let you do some rough math.
BLOCK: OK. Julie, thanks.
ROVNER: Thank you.
BLOCK: It's NPR's health policy correspondent, Julie Rovner.
You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Mr. Saenz is (understandably) skeptical about efforts being made to ensure that advanced AI will be "friendly" to human beings. He argues that the belief that such a thing is possible is a holdover from the robot stories of Isaac Asimov. He joins in with a fairly large chorus of criticism of Asimov's famous "Three Laws of Robotics," although unlike many such critics he also seems to understand that in the robot stories, Asimov himself seemed to be exploring the consequences and adequacy of the laws he had created. But in any case, Mr. Saenz notes how we already make robots that, by design, violate these laws (such as military drones) — and how he is very dubious that intelligence so advanced as to be capable of learning and modifying its own programming could be genuinely restrained by mere human intelligence.
That's a powerful combination of arguments, playing off one anticipated characteristic of advanced AI (self-modification) over another (ensuring human safety), and showing that the reality of how we use robots already does and will continue to trump idealistic plans for how we should use them. So why isn't Mr. Saenz blogging for us? A couple of intriguing paragraphs tell the story.
As he is warming to his topic, Mr. Saenz provides an extended account of why he is "not worried about a robot apocalypse." Purposefully rejecting one of the most well-known sci-fi tropes, he makes clear that he thinks that The Terminator, Battlestar Galactica, 2001, and The Matrix all got it wrong. How does he know they all got it wrong? Because these stories were not really about robots at all, but about the social anxieties of their times: "all these other villains were just modern human worries wrapped up in a shiny metal shell."
There are a couple of problems here. First, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander: if all of these films are merely interesting as sociological artifacts, then it would only seem fair to notice that Asimov's robot stories are "really" about race relations in the United States. But let's let that go for now.
More interesting is the piece's vanishing memory of itself. At least initially, advanced AI will exist in a human world, and will play whatever role it plays in relation to human purposes, hopes and fears. But when Mr. Saenz dismisses the significance of human worries about destructive robots, he is forgetting his own observation that human worries are already driving us towards the creation of robots that will deliberately not be bound by anything that would prevent them from killing a human being. Every generation of robots that human beings make will, of necessity, be human worries and aspirations trapped in a shiny metal shell. So it is not a foolish thing to try to understand the ways that the potential powers of robots and advanced AI might play an increasingly large role in the realm of human concerns, since human beings have a serious capacity for doing very dangerous things.
Mr. Saenz is perfectly aware of this capacity, as he indicates in his remarkable concluding thoughts:
We cannot control intelligence — it doesn't work on humans, it certainly won't work on machines with superior learning abilities. But just because I don't believe in control, doesn't mean that I'm not optimistic. Humanity has done many horrible things in the past, but it hasn't wiped itself out yet. If machine intelligence proves to be a new form of Armageddon, I think we'll be wise enough to walk away. If it proves to be benevolent, I think we'll find a way to live with its unpredictability. If it proves to be all-consuming, I think we'll find a way to become a part of it. I never bet against intelligence, even when it's human.
Here, unfortunately, is the transhumanist magic wand in action, sprinkling optimism dust and waving away all problems. Yes, humans are capable of horrible things, but no real worry there. Why not? Because Mr. Saenz never bets against intelligence — examples of which would presumably include the intelligence that allows humans to do horrible things, and to, say, use AI to do them more effectively. And when worse comes to worst, we will "walk away" from Armageddon. Kind of like in Cormac McCarthy's The Road, I suppose. That is not just whistling in the dark — it is whistling in the dark while wandering about with one's eyes closed, pretending there is plenty of light.


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Roger Long to be remembered in a Celebration of Life theatre event
Friends will share memories of eminent director-actorUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Anita Hodges, (808) 956-6052
College of Arts and Humanities
College of Arts and Humanities
Posted: Aug 13, 2007HONOLULU - A Celebration of Life will be held Monday, August 20, for the late Roger Long, former associate Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities and emeritus professor of Asian Theatre at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Roger Long passed away on April 30 at the age of 68 after a long illness. He was an eminent director and actor whose lifelong passion was Indonesian wayang kulit — Javanese shadow puppetry. Dr. Long produced rarely performed Indonesian and Balinese dramas at Kennedy Theatre and earned Po'okela Awards for his direction of American dramas, including "Wit" and "Angels in America, Part 1" at Manoa Valley Theatre.
The memorial service will be Aug. 20 at Kennedy Theatre from 4:30-6:30 p.m.
This celebration will be a reflection of Roger's life - joyous, irreverent, creative and, at times, serious. Friends will share their memories of him in a series of brief remembrances.


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Careers at the Doctorate Level
The doctoral degree is recognized by the APA as the basic credential for psychologist and the entry-level degree to the profession. Many jobs, as well as licenses to practice, require a doctorate. At the doctoral level, your three basic options (in order of prevalence) are doctor of philosophy (PhD), doctor of psychology (PsyD), and doctor of education (EdD). Which degree is awarded by a program is generally a reflection both of the training model and of the institutional setting in which a program is housed. The PhD, then, is usually the degree granted by university-based psychology departments that train in the research or scientist-practitioner models, although some professional programs award the PhD as well. The PsyD is usually granted by a university-based or freestanding professional school of psychology that trains with the professional model. The EdD is a psychology PhD that is granted by a university-based education department, as opposed to a psychology department, and, like the PhD, usually reflects either the research or the scientist-practitioner training model.
As might be expected, the highest paid and greatest range of jobs in psychology are available to doctoral graduates. Although the number of doctoral graduates has at least doubled over the past 12 years, the demand continues to meet the supply. Furthermore, unemployment and underemployment rates for doctoral psychologist are slightly below the average for other scientists and engineers. Few drop out of the field.
The greatest expansion of career opportunities for doctoral psychologists in the last decade have been in the subfields of clinical, counseling, school, health, industrial and educational psychology. As a consequence proportionally fewer new doctorates have headed into faculty positions as compared with the past.


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Rent Selections From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
QRS Cat #662091
Seasons Of Love
One Song Glory
Light My Candle
Today 4 U
Tango Maureen
Out Tonight
Santa Fe
I'll Cover You
La Vie Boheme A & B
I Should Tell You
Take Me Or Leave Me
Without You
I'll Cover You Reprise
What You Own
Finale B
Love Heals
What You Receive: The original audio CD plus a 3-digit access code for this CD. This will access and synchronize the corresponding SyncAlong piano files for this CD, which are contained on the CompactFlash card shipped FREE to first-time SyncAlong CD purchasers. Free Updates to these Piano Files will be issued regularly via this website.
Piano Transcribed & Played by: Christopher Sierzchula
Rent Selections From The Original Motion...
QRS Cat #662091


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- Αυτή η εκδήλωση έχει τελειώσει.
All Conjunctions Are Not Created Equally
Speaker: Adam Gainsburg
United States
Κυριακή, Μάρτιος 31, 2019 @ 3:00 μμ - 4:30 μμ EDTFee: $9.99 or get it for FREE if you are ISAR Member Become ISAR Member for $59/Year
A re-examination of the actual dynamic of an astrological conjunction. Adam will focus on the planets' Sky Factors such as brightness, speed and Earth proximity and demonstrate how they constitute a more robust delineation of the conjunction.
• Five of the main Sky Factors: Earth proximity (or Field Effect), Sky Appearance, Brightness, Speed and Latitude;
• How these considerations are best delineated in concert with sign, house other chart factors;
• Clear graphical explanation of why our round chart wheels ignore the sky and what we're missing;
A fascinating investigation into a Mercury-Venus Rx conjunction in light of each of their Sky Factors.


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Kurt Nimmo
Prison Planet.com
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Joe Biden went to Israel not for the sake of peace or even to admonish the country for its plan to build 1,600 illegal settlement homes in East Jerusalem. Biden went there to talk about bombing Iran back to the Stone Age.
|Israeli UN ambassador Gabriela Shalev.
Gabriela Shalev, Israel's U.N. ambassador, told the Associated Press earlier in the week that Biden's visit to Israel and Israeli officials meeting in Washington are about agreeing on what to do about Iran. "Shalev said high-ranking Israeli and U.S. government and military leaders both in Washington and Jerusalem are currently discussing whether a military strike could stop Iran's nuclear program."
Ms. Shalev said she "was encouraged that Biden said Iran poses a threat to the United States."
Sort of like the same way Iraq posed a threat to the United States before the U.S. invaded, wrecked the country's already enfeebled civilian infrastructure, and killed over a million Iraqis.
Iraq posed absolutely zero threat to the United States — it could hardly threaten its nearest neighbors — but that didn't stop the Arab-hating neocons from inventing preposterous lies they fed to the New York Times and the rest of the corporate media in order to set the stage for invasion and mass murder.
Shalev broadened Iran's supposed threat. "I say even more — Iran is a threat to the whole world." Translation: Iran is a threat to Israel's hegemonic dominance of the Middle East.
Israel has invaded and occupied Lebanon, bombed a nuclear reactor in Iraq, stolen land from Syria, and engaged in numerous border provocations, all of it either tacitly or directly supported by the United States.
"Israel clearly prepares itself to seek overtly a hegemony over the entire Middle East," Israeli Israel Shahak wrote in 1997, "without hesitating to use for the purpose all means available, including nuclear ones."
Israel has around 400 nuclear weapons while Iran has zero. Israel has used its "Samson option" to threaten and intimidate its Arab and Muslim neighbors. Israeli leaders created the term in the mid-1960s, inspired by the Biblical figure Samson, who destroyed a Philistine temple, killing himself and thousands of Philistine enemies. Israel admits it has used the threat of nuclear annihilation for "compellent purposes," that is to say to force others to accept its political demands.
Unlike Israel, Iran has accepted supervision of its nuclear program under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. "Israel opposes any challenge to its nuclear hegemony since not only would it be less able to use its nuclear threat to keep confiscated lands, but fear of Iran actually might cause citizens to leave Israel and investment to dry up," writes Carol Moore.
According to Shalev, Israel no longer has patience for the diplomatic game and believes sanctions are useless. Israel would like the Security Council to approve "crippling" sanctions — making the people of Iran hurt like the people of Iraq were seriously hurt under sanctions (ultimately to the tune of more than 500,000 dead children) — but Shalev conceded "the chances now seem grim."
So confident is Israel on the futility of sanctions, it plans to distribute gas masks to the public in preparation for an Iranian retaliatory attack.
Meanwhile, Bush era retread, Robert Gates, the Secretary of Defense, has engaged in war council talks with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and plans to talk with Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan about "U.S. efforts to push for U.N. sanctions against Iran," according to Reuters.
"Speaking earlier in the day at a U.S. military base in southwest Asia, Gates said Iran was seeking to undermine U.S. efforts in Afghanistan and 'make our lives harder' by supporting the Taliban," the austere religious fanatics installed by the United States. In his memoirs, From the Shadows, Gates stated that the CIA began to aid the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention. A large number of the Mujahedeen would eventually form the Taliban with ample support and funding from the U.S., Britain, and the Saudis.
It certainly appears the U.S. is preparing to work with Israel and will eventually attack Iran or actively support an Israeli attack on the country. However, if a war game conducted at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, part of the Washington-based Brookings Institution in Washington, is any indication the affair will go bad in a big way.
"With diplomacy failing and precious intelligence just received about two new secret Iranian nuclear facilities, Israel launches a pre-emptive strike against Teheran's nuclear complex. The strike is successful, wiping out six of Iran's key sites and setting back its suspected quest for a bomb by years," McClatchy reported in February. "But what happens next isn't pretty… Iran attacks Israel, both directly and through its proxies in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. It misinterprets U.S. actions as weakness and mines the Straits of Hormuz, the world's chief oil artery. That sparks a clash and a massive U.S. military reinforcement in the Persian Gulf."
American political analyst George Friedman told Press TV in 2008 "that a war against Iran would likely result in Tehran retaliating with attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic passage for oil transfer from the Persian Gulf states…. Crude oil prices may subsequently rise to 'more than $300 a barrel', which will be 'cataclysmic to the global economy and stock markets' even over a short period."
In other words, if you think the economy is bad now it will be far worse after the United States helps its "friend" Israel attack Iran.
Iran is not taking the latest round of pre-war talks in Israel, the United States, and the Gulf states lightly. From the Middle East Newsline on March 9: "Iran was said to have been deploying a range of naval assets for a massive strike on its Gulf neighbors. A report asserted that Iran has been acquiring and deploying a range of missiles and naval platforms to strike at shipping and energy facilities of its Gulf Arab neighbors. The report by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments said Iran wants to intimidate the United States from operating in the Gulf."
More like they are preparing to defend themselves.
Any chance at averting a major war is looking more bleak with every passing day.
This article was posted: Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 11:50 am


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Hypocrisy, in my opinion, is one of the worst human flaws. I understand this sentiment is ironic because just about a year ago, I wrote a post which discussed hitting rock bottom and how I was going to change myself into the woman I have the potential of being, the woman I so desperately want to be. However, the year came and went and nothing changed. If anything, I got worse; the weight has ballooned into an unhealthy, unattractive number; creative writing has all but ceased; I still spend more nights than I care to admit to publically eating bad food and re-watching romantic comedies at home … alone.
But recently, I was forced to think about the last five years of my life. With the clarity hindsight provides, I was able to understand that I had been through several tumultuous periods and had tried to blindly just trudge ahead. The spirit is commendable, but in doing so, I developed many unhealthy coping mechanisms that have since cost me my health and happiness and, to a point, my sanity.
So that is my resolution for 2018: to get back to good, and to take my life back. To do that, I am going to spend more time doing what I love. I'll read more and I will update this blog once a week (every Wednesday for Writer Wednesday … get it? I'm a sucker for alliteration). Granted they start on a Thursday this week, but I had snowmageddon to contend with. And would it really be me if I did something right the first time around?
I will progress my literary career in 2018.
I will start taking classes for my Masters degree.
I will diet and exercise and the goal is to lose at least 30 pounds by May 16th (when I see Bruce Springsteen on Broadway!). I want to go hiking at least once a month and really spend more time in nature. This, plus starting therapy, will help me regain mental health and stability.
I will begin making improvements to my home to make it cozier and to become more independent.
Putting all this in writing helps me to formulate a plan and in my attempt to avoid hypocrisy at all costs, helps me to stick to these resolutions.
And now for some creative writing; stay golden, readers. And be excellent to each other.
WRITING PROMPT #01.2018: After falling asleep on a twenty-hour bus ride to his mother's house, a college student wakes up to discover that he's been on the wrong bus the entire time.
I stood in the bus station, looking out at a deserted Main Street that was slowly but surely filling with snow. The winter wind was whipping itself into a frenzy; I could feel it slipping through the door in front of me, and it was enough to make me shiver in my jeans and tee shirt. I was woefully unprepared for the wintry mix outside because I had fully anticipated waking up as the bus came to a stop in Atlanta, Georgia. Yet here I was in Liberty, Indiana.
I couldn't understand how it happened. Obviously, I boarded the wrong bus, but how could that have happened? How could I have made such a stupid, stupid mistake? I rubbed my cheek, felt the stubble that needed to be shaved. It was bristly against my palm and helped me come back to myself. Staring out the door would do no good. I needed a plan. I needed to think of some course of action, so I walked back to the uncomfortable bench that was no more than a piece of curved steel. It was cold against my lower back, as the thin cotton of my shirt was powerless against the cold that seemed to pervade everywhere. It helped me to prioritize; I would get myself some boots, a heavy coat, some gloves, a scarf, and a hat. If I was going to be lost, I could at least be comfortable doing it.
Behind the counter was an elderly, grizzled-looking man who just wanted to get home. He watched me approach without interest, with a cold detachment that I took as a bad sign. I had heard that people in the Midwest, although weird, were incredibly friendly. This guy looked like I could have walked up to him on fire, burning alive, and he would have yawned and apathetically watched me turn to ash. I did my best to smile, and as polite as humanly possible, I said, "Good evening, sir."
He said nothing in reply. He only blinked back at me.
I swallowed hard and pressed on. "Could you tell me where the nearest clothing store is? I didn't know it'd be- "
"There's the Liberty Mall right next door. You might have some luck there."
I nodded, mumbling my thanks as I pulled the straps of my duffle bag higher up on my shoulder. He nodded in return and turned away.
I was on my own.
Outside the bus station, the cold was overwhelming. I imagined my fingers and toes turning blue, then black, then falling off. I'd leave a trail of them the cops could follow to the doors of the Liberty Mall, where they'd find me all frozen and stiff and dead.
I didn't used to be this dramatic.
I hurried over to the mall, walking close against the sides of the buildings to avoid all snow as best as I could. I wrenched the door open against the wind that was really starting to pick up, and the first thing I saw was a little, sad-looking department store that appeared to have ignore the turn of the last century. My feeling of disorientation was growing; what time was it? Had I traveled not only in the wrong direction for twenty hours, but had I also gone back in time? The yellow lights that burned overhead burned low, so that everything was washed in a depressing shade of yellow and looked older than it was and sickly. There was a young woman who came from around the counter and walked to the very edge of the store's boundary. She hadn't noticed me, and she reached high up over head. I realized she meant to close the metal gate that rolled down, so I sprinted over to her.
"Miss, please! Don't close that gate!"
She looked at me in alarm, scrambling back a few steps and wrapping her arms around herself. I felt bad but was grateful she'd backed away from the gate. "I'm sorry, sir," she said, "but we're closing." She looked at me from the sides of her eyes, turning her head mostly away from me.
"I can appreciate that, but I don't have any winter clothes and I'll freeze to death outside." I stopped just inside the store. "I'm supposed to be in Atlanta. I got on the wrong bus and I have no winter clothes packed. Can I buy some clothes?"
She slightly turned her head towards me and looked me up and down. "But I've already shut down the register."
"I'll pay cash. We'll cut the tags off and you can ring everything up first thing tomorrow." She didn't move. "Or you can turn it back on while I look around. Please, miss. Please … what's your name?"
"Please, Caroline. My name's Dillon and I just rode a bus from Philadelphia for twenty hours. I'm embarrassed, I'm cold, I'm tired, and I'm hungry. Help me fix one of those things, please."
Caroline's hands dropped to her sides. Her eyes were big and brown and nice to look at it now that they were no longer narrowed with suspicion. "Be quick," she said before she turned and went behind the counter. I thanked her again and again, what seemed like a thousand times over, and she only got me to shut up by pointing me in the direction of the outer wear – first right off the main aisle. As I turned, I could see the bulky jackets crudely stuffed against one another, hanging from circular racks. I breathed a little easier and slowed my pace, figuring I could take a second to enjoy the tiny victory. I passed a t-shaped rack filled with coats for infants, the sizes ran from 0-3 months, and I came to a complete stop.
Later, when I called my mom from a bar with a steak and a mound of mashed potatoes both smothered in gravy in front of me, she harassed me, berated me until I could explain how I managed to be so stupid. What kind of jackass gets on the wrong bus? I tried the empty, obvious answers; that the bus station was crowded and overwhelmed with holiday travelers. I lied and said I was half-listening when the man who sold me my ticket talked about transfers, so I fell asleep and forgot. She wasn't satisfied. She knew I was lying even though she couldn't see my face in the way that only mothers can. I did the only thing I could do; I broke and told my mother the God's honest truth about the last 48 hours.
Staring at the infant jackets reminded me of Alicia. I had met her in college, after I had gone to the north and broken my mother's heart. Alicia was an art major who didn't give a damn about plans or responsibilities. I was intoxicated by her freedom and her wildness, and she helped me to let my guard down and to get into a little bit of trouble. It wasn't anything serious; no legal troubles, but a few stories to tell with a big smile. I loved her. And I'd tell her all the time. I told her I loved her constantly. She never said it back, just took me into her arms, into her bedroom, into the nearest place that offered any kind of privacy and she'd let me show her how much I loved her. I never thought much of it; I was happy and it made me stupid, I guess.
I invited Alicia home to meet my mom. She was supposed to be on the bus with me.
But she sat me down in the kitchen of her on-campus apartment and explained that she wasn't looking for anything serious. She said going home to meet a guy's family was pretty serious, the way having a baby was serious. Alicia usually talked in long, winding paths that eventually got to some point. And I could usually anticipate the destination of her dialogue and patiently wait for her to get there. But this time, I was confused. "Who said anything about having a baby? No one said anything about a baby."
Alicia looked at her hands between her knees. "I didn't want to tell you because I saw this coming. I knew you were getting caught up."
I stood up. "Tell me what?"
"I was pregnant."
There was a moment of stunned silence. She told me she was on the pill, so how this could have happened seemed the obvious question to ask next, but her phrasing troubled me more. "What do you mean was?"
"Don't worry, I took care of it."
It was hard for me to swallow. My face felt hot, but I knew I was cold all over. "What do you mean you took care of it?"
"Don't be stupid," Alicia said. She rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean, Dillon. Don't make me say the obvious."
"You didn't tell me?"
"I knew this was going to happen," Alicia said. "You always take things too seriously. You get too invested. You're gonna break your heart a million times over doing that." She went to walk past me, to leave me standing there alone. As she passed, I grabbed her nearest arm and wrenched her back. She stumbled back to stand in front of me. Her face was pale, her eyes were wide, and her breathing had quickened. She was scared but I didn't give a shit.
"You're a fucking bitch."
Alicia brought her hands to her face like I slapped her, like I was bringing my hand back to do it again. I still didn't give a shit. "I love you! We've been sleeping together for two years, and you don't tell me you're pregnant? You don't tell me you're gonna get rid of it? That's fucking weird, Alicia."
Alicia came back to herself. "It's my body, my decision. And I don't have to explain myself to you! Just because I don't buy into some Judeo-Christian definition of woman-"
"Oh, fuck off! This isn't political! This is personal!"
Alicia pushed me hard. I moved back a step or two. She wasn't strong, but she surprised me. "Don't you tell me to fuck off, you petulant man child! I knew you'd be hypersensitive about this. Grow up, Dillon! You're so pathetic, I-"
I shoved her. Hard. Hard enough so she fell back onto the carpeted floor of the living room, just a few steps away. I was losing control, and an apology rose to my lips, but I kept them shut tight. I had never laid a hand on anybody my entire life. I was a father, then I wasn't. I was a gentleman, then I wasn't.
Alicia was this smart, beautiful firecracker I tried to keep held securely in my hand. But firecrackers explode, go off, and the result was injury.
I left her lying on the floor. Confused, depressed, and desperate, I went back to my dorm room and drank until I fell asleep. When I woke, I only had thirty minutes to pack and get to the bus station. I blindly followed the crowds onto the wrong bus, going unnoticed because of the thronging crowds of holiday travelers, and then I slept.
"Dillon? Sir? Are you finding everything okay?"
I blinked and silent tears rolled down my cheeks. Caroline had caught me hundreds of miles away, in a different time and place. She found me vulnerable, crying in an outdated department store in a small town in Indiana.


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WordBubbles Daily Puzzle Answers December 15 2019
Word Bubbles Daily Puzzle Answers for December 15 2019. Today's word bubble puzzle is spinning around two simple words. These words would remind you of something that has to do with your intentions. Or maybe give you information about something.
Let us help you while you slide your finger around to solve this puzzle of Word Bubbles 15th December 2019
Wordbubbles Daily Puzzle Answers is a collection of the daily puzzle solutions for word bubbles game. Wordbubbles is a new kind of word puzzle game. Ever thought of sliding your fingers across to solve the puzzle, yes that is how it works. All you need to do is swipe across, up, down or diagonally to connect the letters to form a hidden word in the game. You may be thrown with multiple words at times, need not worry, track them down one by one.
We highly recommend you to hit it down on your own, however, if you are really stuck and need some help, drop in your favorite daily word puzzle answers site to find the daily word bubbles answers. We will keep posting the daily answers here, so get along with us on a fun ride.
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Home > Greeting Cards > General Cards
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UPC: 5052849194308MPN: LAB010Brand: Labyrinth
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Jareth the Goblin King from Jim Henson's Labyrinth starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly.
An all occasion greeting card
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We aim to dispatch all orders within 1 working day. Please note: we do not hold all sizes of every clothing design in stock. These will be ordered from the supplier and can take a little longer to arrive.
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With the exception of Arrested Development, there is no higher-profile show for Netflix than David Fincher's House of Cards. The series "follows ruthless politician Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey), the majority whip of the House of Representatives, and his wife, Claire (Robin Wright), as they pursue power and all the good things that come with it in Washington." Netflix, if it plans to survive, has to develop original content, and Fincher's adaptation of the BBC TV series could be a major hit. Since Netflix doesn't have to abide by the same rules as traditional networks, the New York Times is reporting that the subscription streaming service will premiere all 13 episodes on February 1, 2013. Fincher developed the series and directed the first two episodes with other episodes being directed by James Foley, Joel Schumacher, Carl Franklin, Alan Coulter, and Charles McDougall.
Coupled with the fourth seasons of Arrested Development, 2013 could be a huge year for Netflix in terms of breaking away from its flagging steaming service, and breaking into a redefinition of broadcast television. Hit the jump to check out the first poster for House of Cards.
Via The Playlist.


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Welcome to year two of our weekly series of 'link-up' Posts which reflect on life's journey, old memories and family stories (see below for more info).
New year, new theme, so how about stepping back in time to your early adulthood?
I left school at 18 with a clutch of A levels and an academic teaching staff who fully expected that every girl who left the campus of my prim and proper 'Grammar School for Gals' would descend upon some university or other and carry on where they had left off. Hmmmm.
My Britannic chums, 1986.(Me, second from left)
I was skint. I wanted a flat, a car and a social life, none of which were likely if I spent the next 4 years poring over more text books. So I determined to get a job.
In my parents' eyes (this was 1985 I hasten to remind you) a 'respectable' job meant a bank, so I set about writing letters (on actual paper) to endless large corporations, begging for their attention. I finally found refuge at a large insurance company – Britannic Assurance. It was a large, terrifying building with endless corridors of marbled floors, with hundreds of brown-suited suicidal-looking people clocking in and out.
They offered me £3200 per year. Perfect. I got the job and started straight away.
Turns out my teachers were right. I should have gone to Uni. Within weeks I was bored senseless. Our desks were laid out in actual rows, with the 'supervisor'/headmaster seated behind us (ALWAYS referred to as Mr X and NEVER by his christian name) so that he could watch us naughty girls like a hawk. And he did.
I took files out of drawers, dictated standard letters which secretaries typed and handed back to me (I could not be trusted to type, having only 4 A levels), and stamped things a lot. The stamping part was a highlight if I'm honest… a bit like playing post offices. I wasn't allowed to write non standard letters, having only 4 A levels, and there did seem to be a competition to see who could get their work done in the fastest time (accuracy not necessarily important). This meant that I got to read my book (under the desk) when my work was finished (usually around 1pm). I read a lot of books that year.
I saved up Flexi time and messed about. A lot. I wan't allowed to talk to customers, having only 4 A levels. You getting the picture? It was a little less challenging than the French literature I had been occupied with only weeks beforehand….
My Britannic chums are sadly no longer in my life. We just lost touch sadly, but my memories of the happy, hilarious and rebellious times we had there for the 18 months I could tolerate it will always stay with me.
Lucinda – if you ever read this – you rocked.
What was your first ever job? Did you go to Uni or just dive right in like me? Share your memories by joining our weekly Link-up (new theme each week) with your own blog post, or simply by chatting in the comments section. Everyone is welcome for a dose of sweet nostalgia!
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More about the Life's a Journey weekly memories series.
A selection of other posts from this series:-
Week 2 - Old School Portrait
Week 4 - Bestest Friends
Week 5 - Teenage Crushes
Week 6 - First Movie Memories
Week 9 - Favourite Childhood Books
Week 19 - Becoming a Parent
Week 25 - Old Boyfriends
Week 39 – My home town
Tagged: family, jobs, kids, life's a journey, Linky, memories, nostalgia, stories


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One of the big, stereotype-busting findings that has gotten a lot of attention over the past few years is that married people are in some important ways less socially connected than single people. Results from several national surveys, reported by Naomi Gerstel and Natalia Sarkisian, show that Americans who have always been single are more likely than currently married people to support, advise, visit, and stay in touch with their siblings and parents. They are also more likely to help, encourage, and socialize with friends and neighbors.
Sociologists have a name for the retreat from other people that many (though not all) married people exhibit – they call it "greedy marriage." It is akin to what I have called "intensive coupling." The married couple wants almost all of the attention and resources for itself. These are couples who probably view it as a threat if their partner wants to spend time with friends.
Contemporary Americans without a sense of social history or an international perspective may not realize how unusual the practice of intensive (and jealous) coupling really is. At other times and in other places, the desire to spend time with people other than your partner was in no way a negative judgment on the state of the marital relationship.
One of the high-profile articles that brought attention to the concept of "greedy marriage" was Kate Bolick's wildy popular cover story for the November 2011 Atlantic magazine, "All the single ladies." The Atlantic got so many responses to the story – hundreds, in fact – that the magazine printed two pages of letters in the January 2012 issue.
One was from Robert Nohr of Milwaukee, who reiterated the usual claims about the benefits of marrying for health and well-being and for the kids. He did so, as is so often the case, without any awareness of the ways in which those claims are grossly exaggerated or just plain wrong. (I review the evidence and detail the methodological embarrassments in Chapters 2 and 9 of Singled Out, and I've critiqued studies published after Singled Out in Single with Attitude and in many of my blog posts.)
About the claim that married people neglect many of their social ties, Nohr said this: "True, we married folks may call our friends less often, but it is because we are busy with a fairly important task – supporting and raising the next generation."
Is Nohr right about this?
Let's go directly to the source, to see what Gerstel and Sarkisian discovered about the generality of the "greedy marriage" effect across people who are and are not parents, people of different ages and social classes and races, and men and women:
"These differences in contacts and assistance emerge even if the married, never married, and previously married are the same age and have the same class position (similar amounts of income and education, and similar employment status). And the differences between the married and unmarried exist both among parents of young children and among the childless. They also exist among whites, African Americans, and Hispanics. Further, these differences exist for both women and men" (p. 17-18).
In short, married people are not neglecting their friends because they have kids. They are neglecting them because they are married. It's just what (many) contemporary American married people do.
Young family photo available from Shutterstock.


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Your BlackBerry can do a lot more than just send off e-mails to your boss and BBM your best friends. Believe it or not, your BlackBerry works hard so it can play hard. With that said, I want to share something with you...
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Got Questions Or Comments For Jimmy Moore?
Got a question for Jimmy about low-carb or how this forum thing works? Here's the place to do it!
What's On Your Mind About Low-Carb?
If it's low-carb, then we're talking about it here!
Share YOUR Low-Carb Journey With Us Here
Open your own personal journal and get friendly with other LLVLC members.
What Are The Low-Carb Options?
Find a low-carb plan that will work for you and then join in on weight loss challenges to stay motivated.
An Ode To The Brilliant Work Of Gary Taubes
In September 2007, New York Times science writer Gary Taubes penned a book entitled "Good Calories, Bad Calories" that forever changed the landscape of diet, health, and nutrition. This thread honors and recognizes the importance of this monumental tome along with the December 2010 release of his follow-up book "Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It."
Hungry For Low-Carb Food & Recipes? Here ya go!
The best part of low-carb is the food, so share your cooking prowess here.
If It's Low-Carb, Then Review It Here!
Gotta review of a restaurant, book, or product that is low-carb? Share it with us!
We Want To Pump Your Low-Carb Body Up!
Exchange cardio and weight lifting tips for your low-carb lifestyle here.
Geeky & Technical Low-Carb Science Talk
We're all about the latest research and science behind low-carb, so share anything you find.
Wanna Talk About Whatever You Want? LET 'ER RIP HERE!
If you wanna talk about it and no other category fits, then it goes here. ENJOY! :)


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The number of words your first grader can read and spell increases dramatically during this year. Children can achieve this through lots of practice, at school and at home. Through talking with adults, listening to books read aloud, and discussing everyday experiences, they continue to develop the language skills that help them learn to read and write. Most importantly, your first grader starts to crack the code of written language, as he sounds out words, learns to identify them, and understands their meaning.
First graders develop the tools for reading the printed word. They learn to recognize many common words by sight, and they develop strategies for decoding, or figuring out, words as they read. By the end of the year, most first graders are able to read easy books all by themselves. Writing daily helps your first grader learn to read by reinforcing the relationships between sounds and letters. At the same time, through talking and listening, she continues to develop new vocabulary and knowledge about the world that will help her understand what she reads.
First graders spend a large part of their day at school reading and writing. However, parents still have a huge effect on a child's literacy development. When you talk to your first grader about new words, listen to her read books aloud, and communicate with her teacher on a regular basis, you take simple but important steps in supporting her reading and writing. Learn more ways you can encourage and inspire your first grader as she learns to read and write.
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