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I love love love this ever growing pod of super awesome individuals. #NorwichPride During Pride month I set myself the … More
Tag: Pride
Pride Tribe
Over on my insta @forever_toofar I have been having a lot of fun this month! The best bit is that people … More
Pride Month 2018
Visible & Valid Some of you may know it was MerMay recently, which has been exciting to watch. Such and … More


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The keyboard is a defining characteristic of the BlackBerry KEYone, and we want to make sure you're getting the most out of it. Here are a few features you may not have heard about. With any luck, they'll help you be more productive and get around the BlackBerry KEYone more easily.
Swipe right to left to delete your last word
During the tutorial, you'll have already learned that the BlackBerry KEYone keyboard is touch-sensitive. Swiping upwards on the keyboard itself will insert whatever prediction suggestion comes up above on screen. This same touch sensitivity is used for other shortcuts, however. You can swipe from the right to the left anywhere on the keyboard while typing to delete your last word.
You can achieve something similar by pressing and holding the backspace key, deleting whole words doesn't happen until you've deleted a few words first. Use swiping for just deleting the last word or two, but press and hold backspace when you're looking to clear a paragraph or more.
How to find emoji on the BlackBerry KEYone keyboard
Emoji support is absolutely vital to modern messaging. You might not spot access to emoji right away on the BlackBerry KEYone keyboard, but they're there.
- Press and hold the "0" key.
- Tap the smiley icon that pops up at the bottom of the screen.
- Select the emoji you want in your text.
Note that there are tabs along the bottom to jump between subsections of emoji, or you can just swipe left and right to look at other pages of emoji.
The utility bar that pops up also provides handy shortcuts to pasting text that's already copied to the clipboard, and jumping to keyboard settings.
Use the keyboard to scroll
The great thing about the BlackBerry KEYone keyboard is that it comes in handy even when you aren't typing. Swiping up and down on the keyboard is an easy way to scroll through a webpage without having the view obscured by your finger. Swiping left and right can get you between home screens. Basically, whenever you need to scroll or navigate, you can use the BlackBerry KEYone keyboard.
Set up shortcuts
From the home screen, the keyboard can be used to launch directly into a wide range of actions. Though launching apps is a big part of this, the BlackBerry KEYone takes this one step further with shortcuts the go one level deeper. For example, it could be starting an e-mail to a specific person, or adding a new event to the calendar. There's a lot to this shortcut system. It's worth reading up on how to set BlackBerry KEYone keyboard shortcuts.
Double-tap to enter cursor mode
Fine editing of text can be tricky when you're using a finger to move a cursor around. One of the added benefits of having a touch-sensitive keyboard is that it can be used as a kind of trackpad for moving a text cursor around your document. Just double tap the keyboard (without pressing down on the keys) and you'll be able to freely navigate any text field. You can even hold down the Shift key while moving the cursor to select text.
This is helpful for fixing typos, copying text, and other editing. For even greater control, cursor mode also brings up arrow keys at the bottom of the screen which can reposition the cursor one character at a time.
BlackBerry KEYone
Unlock your productivity with the Android-powered BlackBerry KEYone!
- View all of our BlackBerry KEYone Help and How-To Guides
- Join our BlackBerry KEYone forums
- Learn more about the BlackBerry KEYone
- Where to buy the BlackBerry KEYone
Visit BlackBerryMobile.com for purchase information and to register for updates.
- How to get the most out of Hub on the BlackBerry KEYone
- These BlackBerry KEYone launcher tweaks will amp up your productivity
- Five great Android Nougat features on the BlackBerry KEYone
- Five hidden BlackBerry KEYone features you might not know
- Getting started with photos and videos on the BlackBerry KEYone
- Top BlackBerry KEYone keyboard tricks that will change your life
BlackBerry KEYone pairs the best of BlackBerry's software and security with TCL Communication's commitment to delivering high-quality, reliable smartphones to customers around the world.
Beyond the iconic BlackBerry design that's been curated for the modern user, the BlackBerry KEYone comes with a number of additional features that truly reinvents communications for the professional consumer.
- Built to last – An iconic BlackBerry smartphone made reliable for the demanding user, the BlackBerry KEYone combines a sleek aluminum frame and soft grip textured back built to offer the best in durability.
- Runs Android™ 7.1 Nougat – Giving users access to the entire Google Play store and apps - and will receive Google™ security patch updates.
- The keyboard reimagined – Forget what you knew about keyboards, the BlackBerry Smart Keyboard goes beyond typing. It can be easily programmed to launch up to 52 customizable shortcuts, providing even greater ease of use. And use it to scroll through web pages, the picture gallery or to take a picture.
- Loaded with BlackBerry® Hub® – Bringing all your messages into one consolidated place; including emails, texts and messages from any social media account.
- Unrivaled security features – The BlackBerry KEYone is designed to offer the most secure Android smartphone experience possible.
- Long battery life – Featuring the largest battery ever found in a BlackBerry smartphone, the BlackBerry KEYone offers roughly 26 hours of mixed use, thanks to its 3505mAh battery.
- Impressive photo quality – The BlackBerry KEYone includes a 12MP rear camera with an industry leading camera sensor that captures sharp, crisp photos in any light. And for when you have to take a video conference on the go, it includes an 8MP front camera with fixed focus and 84-degree wide angle lens.
|5.87 in
149.1 mm
|2.85 in
72.4 mm
|0.37 in
9.4 mm
|6.35 oz
180 grams
- Display:
- 4.5-inch IPS LCD display
- 1620x1080 resolution
- 434ppi
- Chips:
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor
- 8x 2.0Ghz Cortex A53 cores
- 32GB internal storage
- microSD card slot
- Cameras:
- 12MP ƒ/20 PDAF rear camera
- Dual-tone LED flash
- 8MP ƒ/2.2 front camera
- Battery:
- 3505 mAh battery
- Non-removable
- USB-C, Quick Charge 3.0 + boost charging
- Software:
- Android 7.1.1 Nougat
- DTEK security suite
- FIPS 140-2 full disk encryption
CRACKBERRY 2.0 UPDATE: Crazy People and Real Plans!
CrackBerry 2.0 is here – I have an awesome Co-Captain, we have a Plan and we're ready to KICK IT!

subset: commoncrawl


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Add to favourites Remove from favourites
- Add lenses
In Stock
- Progressive Eligible
- Sunglasses Eligible
- Plastic
- Spring Hinges
A style that is both refined and feminine, the Isaac Mizrahi 30013 frame is the perfect pair for anyone looking to add some flair to their everyday wardrobe. The specs feature a subtle cateye and a D-frame shape with softened corners at the bottom of the lens. These glasses will flatter those with tapered jawlines and heart faces, and the spring hinges at the temples will ensure a comfortable fit.


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Games are so exciting. Computer games are even more exciting. We are plugged into a virtual reality, where we get points, extra lives and so many exciting bonuses. Sometimes we grow bigger, sometimes we get so powered up (anointed), we are visibly untouchable. Young people can spend so much time enjoying games and being wrapped up in it.
These games no matter how rewarding and how exciting however don't give you any points you can use to augment your grades in reality. They offer you no cash rewards to buy groceries in real life. If you win a car in the game, it's just for the game. After the game is over, you face real life.
Such is life! This life is all just a small game in the scope of eternity. The real world and real reality is shaped by God's perspectives. We have however spent so much time in the game that our quests have been altered for what the game can offer, which means nothing in the real world.
If we assume that God is real, and assume that Jesus was not a comedian, but that all words he shared were real, and give us the first glimpse into what God's agenda is, and what eternal life is really about. If we take these realities as worthy ambitions to base life on, then we realize what seems missing in the lives of many who ought to live these as their realities and not just mere assumptions.
Nothing in this life can satisfy! Nothing! The bread of life is Christ, the living waters is Christ. True lasting treasure is found in Christ. Success is Christ, Eternal Life is in Christ. This does not rhyme with what is required in this life! But this life is really a game, the frame of reference of scriptures is however eternal.
Don't be lost in the game, that you spend your life pursuing things! Pursue eternal life. Follow Jesus Christ, be found in him. Cos when this game is over, nothing in this game will matter. Nothing!
Yes we have spent so much time in virtual reality that we now think the virtual world is the real world and the real world, the truth Jesus brought here, is the virtual.
Our thinking is upside down.
That is why the first thing Christ asks of us is "repent" which means rethink. The Yoruba version is stellar and more accurate "ìrònúpìwàdà" which means (and i am not a yoruba scholar) a change in behavior brought about by a change of thoughts. Once we do that, the journey to Christlikeness can begin. Until then, we remain outside.
We need people who will turn the world upside down like the Apostles because turning it upside down turns it right side up. Starts with ìrònúpìwàdà.


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Netsuite: Retrieving Picklist Value Internal IDs
In Netsuite Web Services, list fields require internal IDs to specify the list values.
First, you will need to enable the 'Show Internal IDs' in the system preference.
1. Go to Home > Set Preferences.
2. Under the General tab, under Defaults, check 'Show Internal IDs.
After that, you can go to the list field configuration page, under the Values tab, you will see list of the values and their IDs.


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Greece blocks Canadian boat in Gaza flotilla
A Canadian-organized ship carrying protesters bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip has been prevented from leaving a port in Greece.
Greek coast guards boarded the ship Friday and attempted to arrest Canadian Sandra Rush, a member of the organizing committee Canadian Boat to Gaza, for refusing to surrender the boat's registration papers, the protesters said.
Another vessel bound for Gaza carrying mainly U.S. activists made it three kilometres out to sea but was intercepted by the Greek coast guard and brought back to shore, as Greece announced it was banning vessels heading to Gaza from leaving Greek ports.
The Canadian ship, known as the Tahrir, is part of a flotilla of nine Greek and foreign-flagged vessels that have been planning to break Israel's sea blockade and deliver aid to the Palestinian territory.
Canadian organizers with the flotilla said they aren't breaking any laws and will continue attempts to sail to Gaza.
"It is the blockade of Gaza that is illegal under international law," organizer Dylan Penner said in a statement.
"We have a legal and moral obligation to challenge the blockade, given the failure of the international community to act."
U.S. ship sneaks away
The secretive attempt by the U.S. activists' ship, called the Audacity of Hope, to head out to sea ended in failure after authorities in inflatable speedboats raced after them when their vessel tried to sail without permission from the port of Perama, near the Greek capital, Athens.
"We shall overcome," the activists sang as security personnel watched from their boat just 10 metres away, according to updates protesters posted on the internet during a brief standoff.
Greek officials appealed to them to turn around, arguing that it was not safe to continue, but activists responded that it was not safe in port because of fears of sabotage of their vessels, organizers said.
On Thursday, an Irish ship, the MV Saoirse, said it had to abandon plans to set sail from the Turkish town of Gocek because of Israeli sabotage. Earlier this week, activists said the propeller of a Swedish ship in a Greek port was sabotaged. Israel has not commented on the reports.
Flotilla organizer Vangelis Pissias condemned the Greek ban on Friday and argued the government had no legal grounds to block private vessels that were heading to international waters from its ports.
"The efforts to sail will continue," he said.
Israeli pressure on Greece alleged
Many of the passengers on the Canadian and U.S. boats are Jewish; the ships also include Muslims and people of other faiths, as well as high proportions of women and people over age 50, organizers said. Filmmaker John Greyson and Quebec activist Manon Massé are among the Canadian vessel's delegates, while the U.S. boat's passengers include two former U.S. military officers.
The Greek government action delivered a major blow to the flotilla and its several hundred activists. The setback followed a week of administrative delays that organizers attributed to Israeli pressure on Greece, which is mired in an economic crisis and has grown closer to Israel as it seeks more foreign investment.
Israel has said it will thwart any effort to breach its sea blockade of Gaza, which it imposed on the Palestinian territory after the militant and political group Hamas took control of it in 2007 following its victory in parliamentary elections the year before.
The U.S., EU, Canada and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist group.
Hamas issued a statement Friday condemning Greece's ban on sailings to Gaza, saying Athens had bowed to Israeli pressure and was acting in an "inhumane" manner "contrary to international regulations and norms," according to the Agence France-Presse news agency.
An Israeli raid on a similar flotilla last year killed nine activists on a Turkish ship, with each blaming the other for the violence. Israel says its sea blockade stops weapons from reaching Iranian-backed Hamas militants.
With files from CBC News and The Associated Press


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Join TMC for a Tour of both the Andover Firehouse and Police Station! The children will get a behind the scenes look at the workings of the stations, meet some of our local heros, learn some important safety info and, of course, check out the cars and trucks!
*TMC Cares will be collecting donations for backpack supplies at this event*
**Please register for only one Safety Center visit - EITHER this date (July 25) *OR* the other (August 7th). Thank you!!


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Amnet achieves sales automation with Salesforce
AMNET provides responsible and effective data driven display advertising, performance marketing and brand campaigns. We fuse smart Demand Side Platform technology and data to improve our service delivery to clients by buying highly targeted multi channel media.
Sales Automation was a key challenge for Anmet in early 2015 with many sales processes being handled in outdated tools. Management visibility into new sales and renewals was not accurate which made forecasting revenue difficult and time-consuming. With a complex sales model finding an off the shelf product was not an option, so a solution was required that could be customised to fit the specific needs of the Sales team. The solution needed to be flexible and customisable to handle changes to process and or product as they occur.
The choice of Salesforce.com as the leading sales automation platform was not a difficult one. Choosing the right partner who could plan, customise and deploy the initial release was critical. Amnet chose WDCi as the implementation partner. Together we designed and released a successful Sales Automation process that included the following key features:
- Tracking of Campaigns, Advertisers and Insertion orders
- Quote templates that were created automatically from the platform
- Tracking of revenue projections by channel or advertiser
- Handling rate calculations
- Automated renewals
Since launch in 2015, Amnet has expanded its use of SalesForce to manage client billing as well as to become the source of truth for all business intelligence for the company.
Vikki Pearce, Head of Commercial ANZ noted that "Salesforce has enabled us, as a rapidly growing and ever-changing business to build a stable and effective platform from which to deliver our business objectives and provide a robust and accurate data set. WDCi have been fantastic in supporting us customise the platform to our needs and as we continue to evolve we hope to continue working together closely."


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- Prep Time: 4h 15 min
- Serving: Serves more than 10
Coconut Cashew Cheesecake
A richly chocolatey base with a creamy topping... but completely gluten and dairy free? It's another amazing recipe that has been shared with us by Bianca Slade from Wholefood Simply. If you want to stretch this recipe further, you can cut the cake into smaller pieces and serve with some fresh fruit. It stores well in the freezer for when you need a sweet treat.
Recipe Tester Feedback: "Oh my! This was super delicious!" - Terri
No: Gluten / Dairy / Egg
Contains: Nuts
Total Preparation Time 15 minutes + 4-6 hours freezing time
Serves 12
Can be frozen
You will need:
square 20cm tin
baking paper
small bowl
chopping board
- Base:
- desiccated coconut - 130g
- cashew nuts - 75g
- dates - 10, Medjool, seeds removed (approx. 150g prepared weight)
- cacao powder - 25g, or cocoa
- maple syrup - 25g
- salt - pinch
- Top:
- cashew nuts - 225g
- water - boiling
- coconut milk - 250g, full fat
- honey - 120g, or rice malt syrup
- coconut oil - 35g
- maple syrup - 25g
- vanilla - 2 tsp, extract
- Line a square 20cm tin with baking paper hanging over the sides.
- Place the cashews (225g) for the top layer into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Set aside while you make the base.
- Add the desiccated coconut (130g), cashews (75g), medjool dates (10), cacao (25g), maple syrup (25g) and salt (pinch) to the bowl. Blend Speed 10 / 10 seconds.
- Press the mixture firmly into your prepared tin and set aside.
- Strain the soaked cashews and add them to the bowl.
- Add the coconut milk (250g), honey (120g), coconut oil (35g), maple syrup (25g) and vanilla extract (2 tsp) to the bowl. Blend Speed 10 / 30 seconds or until the mixture is smooth and well combined.
- Spread the top evenly over the base and place the slice into the freezer for 4-6 hours to set.
- Once set, slice and store in the fridge or freezer.
- Enjoy!
Already a member? Click here to login.Add to Favourites


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Frozen shoulder, as it's called, actually has nothing to do with the temperature. It causes pain for many people, which can be prolonged. In fact, one patient in Best Health likens it to "a lightning bolt zapping me for 20-seconds."
The pain can shoot from the shoulder and down the arm, making it especially alarming. As the name of the condition suggests, it can also limit your range of movement. Let's take a closer look at 12 facts about frozen shoulder…
1. What Exactly is Frozen Shoulder?
Also referred to as adhesive capsulitis in the medical world, this is caused by connective tissues around the shoulder joint becoming inflamed, leading to pain and stiffness, notes Best Health.
The condition also results in scar tissue forming inside the shoulder capsule. The condition affects about 3- to 5-percent of the population, adds the source.


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Acceptable Use of Technology
Scope and Purpose This Technology Acceptable Use Policy is intended to inform users of the guidelines and standards governing use of technology belonging to St. Mary's University. It does not provide a comprehensive guide to federal or …June 3rd, 2020
Account Provisioning and Retention
This policy outlines the criteria for the creation, deletion and retention of university issued email accounts and network services account access. St. Mary's University provided email accounts through Microsoft Office 365 include email, calendaring, SharePoint, OneDrive etc. …June 3rd, 2020
Data Center Access
Introduction The IS Data Centers provide stable environments, enhanced security, equipment and alarms, uninterrupted power (UPS and generators), high-speed network connectivity, and other features required by the mission-critical resources they contain. The policies and procedures described in …October 2nd, 2019
Data Server Backup
Summary The purpose of this document is to outline the IS departments backup policy for the computer systems in use by St. Mary's University. The policy described within this document follows industry standards for providing Disaster Recovery …October 2nd, 2019
Information Resources Acquisition
The offices of the Vice President of Information Services (VPIS) are charged with assessing, procuring, implementing and maintaining information resources in support of the St. Mary's University mission. The Information Resources Acquisition policy establishes guidelines and procedures …October 2nd, 2019
Information Security Plan
Summary The Information Security Plan was created to allow Information Services the ability to create a foundation of information security for the St. Mary's University community. Purpose The purpose of the Information Security Plan (ISP) is to …January 9th, 2020
Passwords are one of the primary mechanisms that protect University information systems and other resources from unauthorized use. The use of secure passwords and ensuring proper password management practices are essential in University business functions and routine …October 2nd, 2019
Third Party Vendor Access
Summary Third party entities play an important role in the support of hardware and software management, and operations for the University. When properly authorized they can remotely view, copy, and modify data and audit logs; they correct …June 3rd, 2020
VPN Access
Summary A Virtual Private Network (VPN) provides a secure encrypted network connection over the Internet between authorized St. Mary's University users and the University internal network. VPN offers secure access for faculty and staff who need access …June 3rd, 2020


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My notes and thoughts from Biology 111, for Wednesday, August 27, 2008. The entire series can be found here.
Wednesday's lecture began with a review of atomic structure, including a reminder that our e– * diagrams are 2D representations of 3D space.
Then we moved on to some more basic chemistry.
We focused mostly on electrons, and will continue to, as electrons are what determines reactivity of an atom, and reactivity is what's really vital to biology.
e– orbits are called e– shells or energy levels. Each e– orbital can hold up to 2 e–.
The first energy level has one orbital, because it's so small, and electrons, having all the same negative electrical charge, repel each other.
The second and third energy levels each contain 4 orbitals, each energy level then is capable of holding 8 e– (2 e– in each orbital).
Then doc talked about how electrons fill from the innermost energy level, out.
(Continued below the fold)
e– contain Potential Energy due to location or structure.
Potential Energy is energy stored up that can be used to do work. For instance, because our lecture room is on the second floor, I have more potential energy than the student just below me on the first floor. Should a hole open up under my seat, I would fall down, releasing that potential energy as kinetic energy. That energy would be doing work, like breaking the table below me, breaking my bones, or with a water wheel type contraption the energy released by my falling could be used to produce electricity.
Now, in order to get that potential energy, I had to walk up the steps, doing work, trading kinetic energy for potential energy. So to get energy out, I first had to put energy in.
Remembering that the potential energy in my body on the second floor is caused by my distance from the center of gravity of the planet, likewise the potential energy of an electron is caused by its distance from the nucleus of an atom (though the force involved here would be electromagnetism rather than gravity). The further from the nucleus an e– is, the more potential energy it has.
e– must be in an orbital. They don't free range within the atom, and they tend towards the lowest energy level in which they can squeeze. Changing orbitals requires a change in energy. Energy into an electron causes the electron to move into higher energy levels, and energy released from an electron causes the electron to move to lower energy levels. This is often denoted by δE, pronounced "delta E".
Doc used the example of sugar. Where does the energy we get from sugar come from? Ultimately, the sun imparts the energy to the plant via the leaves. Sunlight strikes the leaves of the sugarcane plant causing an excitement of electrons, and the plant stores that energy as potential energy. When we eat the sugar, our bodies change that back into kinetic energy, giving us a sugar rush. Thus in the end, we are eating sunlight.
So before we go any further with the notes, let's take a look at the elements we're discussing. In biology, most of the elements we're going discuss are going to be found within the first 18 elements on the periodic table. Let's have the standard periodic table, with those elements highlighted. (The original table here is from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST. The electron distribution table is from a scan of page 36 in our textbook. I have put the two images together to help visualize the sections of the periodic table that we'll be discussing.)
Next up, we talked about orbitals, arrangement of electrons in those orbitals at different energy levels, and the notation we use to describe all that. The remainder of this discussion will reference this electron distribution diagram, found on page 36 of our textbook (click for a larger version):
Let's look now at a few elements on this chart. The obvious place to start is at the beginning, so we'll start with Hydrogen.
In this image, I've highlighted Hydrogen (H). A hydrogen atom consists of one e– and one p+. There are no neutrons in the nucleus of a stable hydrogen atom. The single electron travels in the orbital described. For our purposes, we're going to ignore the nucleus for the time being. In this notation, we're mostly concerned with electrons and their orbitals.
Comparing that to Helium (He), we see that in this notation, we're not going to separate the electrons on opposite sides of the atom as they physically would tend to be, we're just noting that there are two e– in this orbital. Atoms in the same row on the periodic table have the same number of shells, and in the first electron shell, there is one orbital. Each orbital will hold up to two e–. It's easy to think of this first shell as being so small that the charge of the e– (which repel each other) are just so close that they won't allow any more electrons in the vicinity.
Further out, in larger shells, each shell will consist of four orbitals, but again, each orbital can only hold 2 e–. The outer e– shell of a given atom is referred to as the valence shell. The number of e– in the valence shell is of utmost importance to chemical reactions, and thus to biology.
In the second row then, we would expect to find two e– shells, and indeed, here is Lithium (Li). Notice that Li has the inner shell full (2 e–) and then begins to work on the next shell, with its third e–. Electrons always fill out the shells from the inside out, from closest to the nucleus, to furthest from the nucleus.
Remember that except for the innermost one, e– shells each contain four e– orbitals, and each orbital holds two e–. Now, each of those orbitals in a shell will take one e– before any of them will take a second e–. Thus the notation for Beryllium shows a second electron in the valence shell, but in a separate orbital from the first e–.
Boron (B) takes a third e–, in a third orbital of the second shell, and then we come to Carbon (C). Carbon has four valence e–, one in each orbital of the valence shell. Each of the four e– orbitals of the valence shell now has a single electron.
The next element, Nitrogen (N), has five valence e–, and the fifth one can now go in the first orbital of the valence shell, since each orbital in the shell now has one electron.
Predictably, Oxygen then takes a sixth e– in the valence shell (for a total of 8 e–) and it goes in the second orbital.
At this point a pattern should be emerging. Notice that in the first column, all the elements have one valence e–, in the second they all have two, etc.
In the eighth column, all the elements have 8 valence e–, meaning that their valence shells are full (except He, which only needs two e– to fill its valence shell). The elements in this column are referred to as the Noble Gases, or the Inert Gases. Elements with full valence shells are non-reactive. They are happy with the number of e– they have, and tend not to interact with other elements.
Atoms are most stable when they have NO unpaired electrons. Natural things tend toward their most stable state. A stack of bricks is less stable than those same bricks all flat on the ground. Likewise, elements tend towards having full valence shells.
We can say then that the reactivity of an atom depends on the number of unpaired valence e–. This becomes very important for biological chemistry.
Now that we had a good idea about valence e–, we could take that information and apply it.
Chemical Bonds
We began our discussion of chemical bonds with the first type, which is called Covalent Bonding.
There are a couple ways for atoms to find e– to fill up their valence shells. They can steal one from another atom (called ionic bonding, discussed in the next lecture). But like in life, bigger atoms are better at this than small atoms. To quote Doc directly,
"If you want to be successful at taking something from someone else, you had better be bigger than them, or they will whoop your ass and take it back. Hydrogen is the smallest atom, so it will always be the whoopee, not the whooper."
So hydrogen goes a different route. It shares electrons. This is called a covalent bond.
In this fashion, two hydrogen atoms can each fill their valence shell (they each now have two e– in the valence shell). They are sharing a single pair of electrons, so this is a single bond.
We can write this in a number of ways.
There is the molecular formula
The structural formula
and the Lewis Dot diagram
Oxygen, having two spots to fill in its valence shell, will share two pairs of electrons, and Nitrogen, 3. In the quick sketch I did above (forgive the lack of neatness there…), the molecular notation, the structural notation, and the Lewis Dot Diagram are given for Oxygen and Nitrogen, the two most abundant elements in the air we breathe.
The lecture ended there. On Friday, we discussed electronegativity. I'll get those notes up (hopefully) by tomorrow.
* remembering our shorthand, e– means electron, p+ is for proton, and n is for neutron.
From whence came the art:
The first image is of our textbook, Biology, Eighth Edition, by Campbell & Reese et al. The electron distribution table is from page 36 of that textbook, and I have highlighted portions of it in the various images above to assist in visualization.
The Periodic Table of the Elements is from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST.


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|Tuesday February 3, 2009
We have uploaded some changes to our order form. We have put the 2006 Tannat on sale for only $18 ($12.60 for Vintage Circle). We are also selling our newly bottled 2008 Fresco Rose for $18. I have made my decision on the blend for the 2008 The Ultimate Cuvee. Even though we won't have it in the barrel and blended until April I want to give everyone a chance to purchase it now. The 2006 and 2007 The Ultimate Cuvee sold out in a few months after offering them. Those of you who have purchased wine in the last few years will receive an e-mail tomorrow. Matt's new wine Quip is already up on our website.
Wednesday February 11, 2009
I have found more things to spend my money on. As I have said I love spending money and that is what our economy needs. I am though going to be cautious and wait to see how our sales go in March, April and May. 50% of our sales come in during those months because we participate in two events (The Russian River Barrel Tasting, first two weekends in March AND the Passport to Dry Creek Valley on the last weekend of April). Of course we will also offer our 2009 Pre-Harvest Futures, probably on March 30. My costs are soaring for Bottles, Labels and Screwcaps, but combined they amount to only about $1.20 a bottle. Two years ago the cost for those three items was about 25 cents lower. Salaries have gone up and we are now offering medical insurance to our employees. That has tacked on another $1 a bottle to my costs. On the other side we have been receiving custom bottling fees from the Wine Guerrilla which has actually offset the rise in bottling materials. On the downside our sales were off about 5% last year, mostly in the last 4 months. Overall our cost per bottle if I include custom crushing income is up about 25 cents. I was planning to raise my "Futures" prices by at least that amount but with the Economy I plan to hold my 2009 Pre-Harvest Futures at the same price we have been charging for the last several years. That would be a price of $15 for most of the wines with $17 for the Aca Modot and Block 4. Of course Vintage Circle members are charged $2 less. By the way almost all our Pre- Harvest Futures are sold to Vintage Circle customers.
As you may remember I think Cash Flow is all that matters. If our costs are up but our custom bottling fees offset them, I can keep my bottle prices at the same amount. As long as I am buying all I want I don't need to make a profit. The problem is that my sales have to keep up with my expenses. What comes in must go out as far as I am concerned, so I am waiting until April to decide on new toys.
Now on to the new toys. I have a new local customer who has a solar energy company. Of course he wants me to put in more solar. Barack Obama wants me to put in more soar also. Right now we do have solar panels that service our main house which uses the most power. Our winery and guest house does not have solar. I think this is a great idea assuming my sales hold up.
The other toy I am interested in is a new piece of equipment that will do many tests on our wines during harvest and into December before we set up for blending. As some of you may remember I have looked into many products that can calculate the amount of sugar left in our wines during and after fermentation. Not one of those products worked well. We have a local wine lab that can do these tests with results in 24 hours (I would rather have the tests back in minutes) but the cost is $20 a test and could be more this year since every year there has been an increase in the fee of $1. We have 200 barrels, so if I tested all of them, my cost would be $4,000 for just a sugar test. It would be nice to do multiple tests at several times during the fermentation. The sooner I know when the wine has no sugar left, I can top off the barrel and add a little SO2 to keep the wine fresh and preserve the most fruit as possible. There are many other tests that I would like to do and this new instrument called the Astoria Discrete will do all of them in minutes at a low cost. In past years we have only tested the wine in a few barrels and assumed the other similar wines would test the same. We have been successful but I would like to produce even better wine by topping off and adding SO2 as soon as possible. The only problem I have is that the Discrete will cost me over $30,000 and the Solar could cost over $50,000. That is why I will wait until April to be sure my sales hold up.
Friday February 13, 2009
I tried a bottle of our 2006 Tannat last night compared to our 2006 Sonoma Cab and our 2006 Dry Creek Cab. The only one of those I have been consuming at dinner has been the Dry Creek Cab so I was pleasantly surprised when tasting blind I really liked all three wines. I actually thought the Tannat held up well compared to the Dry Creek Cab while the Sonoma Cab was balanced but did not have the tannin of the other two. When both of those cabs are open at our winery, we sell both of them at the same rate. Now that we have the 2006 Tannat on sale for only $18 ($12.60 for Vintage Circle customers) it is a great bargain.
We have people call us every month and state they have been neglecting to order wine from us for months and have been putting it off because they forget. Of course when they do finally call we make a special effort to make them satisfied with our service. Because of these calls and many other calls relating to a Wine Club I have again been trying to figure out if we should offer wine every so often to people who don't have a great deal of time to order over our website. That may include a shipment of wine that has not been specifically selected by the customer and thus sent out and followed up with an e-mail. I was wondering what some of you thought? If we decide to offer a Wine Club in addition to the Vintage Circle, we will be sending out a card and e-mail soon.
Friday February 20, 2009
I have been thinking about the Wine Club but I also have been thinking
of another way to reward customers. Starting on April First we will be
offering an extra 10% for those customers who purchase 4 cases of wine
a year from us. As far as the Wine Club is concerned we are going to set
up a shipment of two bottles of wine every two months. It will correspond
with Matt's wine Quip.
At the time of each Quip we will announce the wine that will be delivered
for the next time in case our customer prefers not to receive the next
shipment. We will offer $5 shipping for any of the Club orders. Also any
additional wine ordered at that time will also qualify for shipping at
half our cost. Those customers who prefer to pick up the wine at our winery
will be charged No sales tax. By the way California sales tax will go up
by 1% on April first to 8.75% at our winery. I may have to do some fine
tuning but you should hear more details soon on my diary and we will be
sending out e-mails and cards in March.
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The NRM.xlsm program is an Excel workbook that you can use to fit data from nutritional experiments to several models. The models may be used to estimate nutritional requirements or the most economical feeding levels of critical nutrients. It requires Microsoft Excel (with enabled macros) and some data in the form of ordered pairs.
Instructions are included in the PowerPoint presentation and on each spreadsheet of the Excel workbook.
References are included on the Instructions and References page of the workbook.
Download NRM 1.4.xlsm — the Excel Workbook
Download Using NRM 1.0.ppt — the PowerPoint Instructions
Status and Revision History
Published on Feb 15, 2011
Published with Minor Revisions on Mar 09, 2016


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Welcome to the official Orange County chapter of The University of Alabama National Alumni Association
The Orange County chapter "SoCal Bama" supports the University by assisting with the recruitment of Southern California students and building scholarships to attract the best students from Orange County high schools. We are located in Irvine, California and were founded by our dear friend and alumni, the late Gregory Hook. It was his vision that enabled us to come together and we honor his vision growing this chapter in the spirit of his love for The University of Alabama. Read more about Greg here.
Our amazing membership is comprised of alumni, family of current and past students, fans, and supporters.
We encourage any and all who are interested to contact and join our association!


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Alice Cooper shows up late in Dark Shadows. He plays himself, summoned to perform at Collinwood Manor by Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp). Perched with a couple of musicians on the foyer's massive staircase, he launches into "No More Mr. Nice Guy." The camera pitches a bit, looking up as Cooper steps carefully toward his audience. "No more Mr. Nice Guy," he essays. "No more Mr. Clean."
Creaky, teetering, and still a little weird, Alice Cooper is pretty much the perfect choice for this moment. Back in 1972, when Tim Burton's Dark Shadows is set, his genderfuck moniker and monster-movie makeup were news, as was his full-frontal assault on social proprieties. Here, Alice Cooper is a relic, a means for the movie to remember the particular rebellions he embodied, soon absorbed into a mainstream commercial culture, and to create a bit of a context for Barnabas Collins.
Ah yes, Barnabas. As freaky and gloomy and indignant as ever, he first appears in this Dark Shadows as a child, pale and big-eyed, while his adult self looks back in voiceover. He admired his ambitious parents, he says, who emigrated from Liverpool to Maine in 1760, where his father built something of an empire out of fishing and canning. And he regretted, sort of, his youthful dalliance with Angelique, a servant girl whose crush on him quickly becomes overwhelming.
That Angelique is a witch as well as poor and obsessive makes for some problems when the children become young adults. When Barnabas falls in love with an exceptionally pale young thing, Josette (Bella Heathcote), the now grown-up Angelique (Eva Green) takes offense, devising witchy ways to torment Barnabas, namely, inducing Josette to throw herself off a cliff into a notably turbulent sea and turning Barnabas into a vampire, so that he must endure his undead grief forever. To pile on, Eva leads a band of pitchfork wielders to lock up poor Barnabas in a coffin and bury him.
Cut ahead to 1972, whereupon Barnabas is unearthed by a construction crew who don't anticipate the mayhem he will wreak on them. Said mayhem is bloody and brutal and takes but a few minutes, and it suggests the movie that Dark Shadows might have been, that is, a movie that grapples with the acute horror of the vampire, not to mention the menace once posed by Alice Cooper. This Barnabas is cruel and focused, his violence is wild and abrupt, the killer sanguine and the victims surprised, as they are summarily reduced to body parts.
The comedy of this scene is premised on this surprise: for all the solemnity of Barnabas' self-descriptions, his aptly soapy moaning about his losses, he's here a bit of a clown, licking his chops and not-really-apologizing for his desperate ferocity: he's been in the ground nearly 200 years, after all. Sadly, the Barnabas who wanders through the rest of Dark Shadows is less of all that. He returns to Collinwood Manor, where he embraces his descendants, including Elizabeth (Michelle Pfeiffer) and her brother Roger (Jonny Lee Miller), and insists on restoring the actual building and the family name (that is, the business, now in disarray).
The Collins helpfully accept him and act out current customs so as to solicit his Johnny Deppishly deadpan reactions. Barnabas quips and fusses, laments that Alice Cooper is "the ugliest woman I've ever seen." Montages stand in for scenes that might expand on the vampire's overbearing sense of unease and melodrama, the qualities that made TV's Barnabas so strange and endearing. Here his pain makes him mean, sort of. And his passion, for Josette-reincarnated-as-Vicky, a governess (also played by Heathcote) who arrives just as he's resurrected, makes him less mean.
On TV, Barnabas was dreadfully self-serious, inviting a campy reading but not precisely providing it himself. Now all his tragedy is speeded up and dumped into a version of 1972 that's been refurbished for a 2012 audience. A few details suffice to establish the era — a banana seat bike, a magazine featuring Bobby Sherman, a Shell gas station, some period music ("Superfly") and Iggy Pop posters in the teenager Carolyn's (Chloë Grace Moretz) room — but the movie runs out of plot almost as soon as it introduces the stranger in a strange land premise. Just so, Barnabas marvels at advanced technologies, from muscle cars and electric lights to the "tiny songstress" Karen Carpenter, glimpsed on a television. But the gags slip by as if in a stand-up routine, not so much adjusting Barnabas' perspective as allowing viewers to feel in on a broadish, not so hilarious joke about changing fads.
Amid the period particulars, Barnabas tussles with Angelique some more, seduces a few women with his famous finger-hypnosis technique, and bonds a little with Roger's young son David (Gulliver McGrath), who sees dead people, primarily, his mom. He has sex with Helena Bonham Carter and slaughters some nameless hippies. When these random-seeming episodes come to an end, you might be thinking about the many uses of vampires, how their undeadness can serve assorted social and political purposes. You might be thinking about Tim Burton, how his fixations can lead to projects both wonderful and dull. And you might be thinking about Alice Cooper, who dons his strait jacket for his last tune, still moving gingerly on those stairs. You can feel his discomfort.


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Walker's daughter, wife, Demetria, and cousin, Andrew, keep the restaurant running, and in this bad economy, times are tough. Health care coverage is out of the question.
"It's too expensive right now," Walker said. "We are having trouble keeping our head above water. ... We had it at one time, but it was so expensive that we finally dropped it."
With a smile, Walker continues: "I get lots of grief from my wife about it - that we don't have health care."


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Gamereactor UK. Gamereactor is the largest gaming site in the Nordic region. We bring you the hottest gaming reviews and news including trailers. Join our forum today! Gamereactor uses cookies to ensure that we give you the best browsing experience on our website. If you continue, we'll assume that you are happy with our cookies policy
We get to see a little bit about what the killing game will be like, and there are some big changes.
Koji Igarashi's newest game doesn't divert from his expertise too much, but produces a spiritual successor well worthy of the title.
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The next game based on Sword Art Online features a brand new storyline with some familiar themes.
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An old favourite has dusted off its boots and is preparing to take to the field once again.
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TT Games has assembled yet another Lego title, and we've been hands-on with The Avengers.
Four light bites from the multi-movie game tie-in.
From Broforce to Gang Beasts via No Man's Sky, we take a look at some of the most promising indies down for a 2015 release.
We've been playing a lot of the new FIFA demo, and while there's plenty of changes coming, we're hopeful that they're mostly for the better.
We head to Warner to see the newest Lego game built by TT Games, and get something truly interstellar.
There's no chance of Mike Bithell's next game sneaking up on us; we've got both eyes firmly fixed on Volume.
Gamereactor takes the PAX demo of Hotline Miami 2 for a spin. It's short - but also as efficient as it's gory.
"The demo gave us a tantalising insight into Aztez, but it also left us with as many questions as we had answers."
A puzzle adventure set in a surrealistic painting. Sign us up!
Tonight we dive into hell!
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TT Games tackles the competition as the Lego creators switch from DC to Marvel. We take a look at their newest creation.
"It feels like Media Molecule has plenty of ideas to create headaches for us and is not letting touch controls be much more than a gimmick."
"This escalation of off-course chaos makes for a great companion to the combat-heavy racing on track, invigorating the frantic battle for first place."
"Previously Autolog mainly just tracked race times. Now almost everything in the game is compared - it's all about competition."
"Tearaway is that shining beacon of hope every new platform needs in order to rally the troops."
"If the full game can convince as much as this does, then it has the potential to be one of best games for the PS Vita - and a definite reason to buy the console."
"Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes is due out on just about every imaginable platform this June."
"Stepping onto a balcony with a stunning view of, among other things, the Statue of Liberty, it's easy to see how Sony's little device flexes its muscle."
"We wanted to introduce some details that only the most careful readers of the books could notice. So we created a game inspired by both films and novels," the studio explains.
"You control either Laarg or Lill (physicality coined in name), or both, as you help direct them out of their containment to freedom, and you feel, the promise of cake."
"We found we increasingly used the touch screen as it gave us the illusion of a deeper degree of control over Drake, without the gimmicky feel that's expected with the tech."
"This is the closest Wipeout will ever get to ugly. While their curves are less pronounced - think mack truck rather than Ferrari - there's still a sexiness to the retro-finish."


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On Saturday, we took you inside the troubled Scientology drug treatment center in eastern Oklahoma, Narconon Arrowhead.
Three deaths have occurred at the center since October, and the most recent of them, Stacy Murphy, 20, was found on the morning of July 19.
A former patient who knew Stacy told us what conditions were like at the center, which uses Scientology's odd "training routines" rather than drug counseling. We also talked to a former employee of the facility who told us about the shaky history of Narconon Arrowhead's certification by the state of Oklahoma. Even before the recent deaths, he told us, officials at the center had worried that its certification was "vulnerable."
And now, we have startling information about the connection between Narconon and Scientology itself which, like so many other stories we've explored here, brings us right back to church leader David Miscavige's concentration camp for executives, known as "The Hole."
We've noticed that news organizations have a tendency to characterize Narconon as "affiliated with" the church or, as one Oklahoma TV station put it, "associated with the teachings of Scientology."
We even found one story about the investigation into Murphy's death — in the Tulsa World — that didn't mention Scientology at all.
That tells us that reporters either don't understand the real connection between Scientology and its drug-treatment front group, or worse — they're operating under the notion that it's for some reason inappropriate to go there.
We're hoping this story addresses that.
It's true that Scientology and Narconon sometimes do their best to give the impression that they have little to do with each other. The drug treatment centers are each non-profit corporations of their own. They pay licensing fees to a non-profit umbrella organization called the Association for Better Living and Education, or ABLE.
ABLE, in turn, is careful to say that it is a secular "social betterment" organization that uses the ideas of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, but is not a part of the church itself.
These are smokescreens. As researchers have shown for years, Narconon is under the tight control of Scientology and its elite corps of quasi-military leaders in the church's "Sea Org."
— Only Sea Org members can be employed at ABLE, which itself grew out of Scientology's notorious "Guardian's Office," responsible for a vast 1970s infiltration of federal government offices that was broken up by the FBI.
— From the beginning, the connections between the organization that would become ABLE and Scientology were obfuscated so Narconon and the other "social betterment" programs could be kept strictly under Scientology control while masking that connection from the public.
— Narconon Arrowhead itself was designed at Scientology's International Base east of Los Angeles, says an executive who worked there at the time.
— And the most troubling connection between Narconon and Scientology, which has not been reported previously: For at least the past five years, the woman who is the president of ABLE, the umbrella group that runs Narconon and Scientology's front groups that try to get Hubbard's "technology" into public schools, has been a prisoner of Miscavige's hellish concentration camp for Scientology officials at Int Base.
Her name is Rena Weinberg, and we have eyewitness accounts that place her in "The Hole" from at least 2007 to 2012.
We put it to our fellow journalists, and to the officials looking into Narconon in Oklahoma and Quebec and Georgia and Michigan and everywhere else the drug treatment centers are being investigated and sued — if Narconon and its parent company ABLE are secular and independent of Scientology, why is ABLE's president languishing in the church's notorious California desert prison?
1. SoCo and Snow White
As we mentioned in our previous story, Narconon was started by an Arizona prison inmate named Bill Benitez in 1966. Narconon's website has a glowing history of Benitez helping other inmates after he'd discovered value in the books of L. Ron Hubbard. What the website doesn't mention, however, is that when Narconon was incorporated in 1970, two other people involved in that incorporation were Henning Heldt and Arthur "Arte" Maren, senior members of Scientology's "Guardian's Office."
British historian Chris Owen explains why that's significant:
A decade later, Heldt was in prison along with L. Ron Hubbard's wife and eleven other Guardian's Office staff, Maren and Hubbard himself were named as "unindicted co-conspirators" and the Guardian's Office was exposed as the instigator of a massive international campaign of espionage and intimidation aimed at anyone who Scientology saw as a threat: governments, newspapers, businesses, individuals. It was eventually disbanded in 1982 after losing a power struggle with the present management of the Church of Scientology.
The extent of the Guardian's Office's espionage became clear in 1977, when the FBI raided Scientology offices in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, seizing documents which spelled out the program of infiltrating federal offices, a program Hubbard had called Operation Snow White. Among the documents seized, Owen points out, were Guardian's Office records which showed that Narconon and Applied Scholastics (Scientology's school curriculum arm) were part of a group of organizations collectively known as Social Coordination, or "SoCo," and were intended to be front groups with their connection to Scientology hidden.
When the Guardian's Office was disbanded as Mary Sue Hubbard and the others went to prison for Operation Snow White, SoCo remained in existence and was later transformed into ABLE.
"Formerly our name was Social Coordination. ABLE's purpose is 'To create a total revolution in the fields of drugs, crime and education by pushing LRH tech into wide, wide use'," announced ABLE's first newsletter, in 1988.
If Scientology sometimes plays down how much its Sea Org and its top entities, like its secretive "Watchdog Committee," exert control over ABLE, it's less shy in internal documents meant for other Scientologists. From a 1988 document showing how the church entities were set up following a complex reorganization years earlier, there was this diagram that made it quite clear that ABLE was just another "sector" in the world of Scientology:
And more recently, the Voice obtained secret plans for Scientology's new "Flag Mecca" building in Clearwater, Florida that has been under construction since 1998 and is still not open. Also known as the "Super Power Building," schematics show that much of the building's first floor celebrates Scientology's various divisions with elaborate displays. In the following diagram, you can see that ABLE's various programs — including Narconon and Applied Scholastics — will be honored along with Scientology's "orgs" (its word for churches) in a set of circular rooms (click the image to expand):
[In the left room, you can see the displays set aside for the "orgs," the program WISE, which targets chiropractors and dentists and accountants and other businessmen with Hubbard "admin technology," IHELP– the International Hubbard Ecclesiastical League of Pastors (an association for field auditors), and the Volunteer Ministers, the yellow-jacket wearing Scientologists who show up at disaster sites to offer a faith-healing technique called "touch assists." In the room on the right are displays for the groups under ABLE — Criminon, the church's reform program in prisons, Narconon, The Way to Happiness Foundation, which disseminates Hubbard's 1980 booklet of generic life advice, and Applied Scholastics.]
From its incorporation in 1988, ABLE has only employed members of the Sea Org — the hardcore elite of Scientology, who tend to be recruited very young from the ranks of second-generation church members.
A year after it was founded, ABLE hired a 16-year-old Sea Org member to become its vice president of personnel, and he was put in charge of staffing up a crucial new project, to open Narconon's first really large residential facility on an Indian reservation in Chilocco, Oklahoma.
His name was Marc Headley.
2. ABLE bodied seamen
We've written about Headley's later adventures at Scientology's International Base, where he labored for pennies an hour as one of the technical workers, helping David Miscavige put out taped Hubbard lectures, put on video displays at events, and develop new e-meters. Eventually, Headley escaped from the base in 2005 with his wife Claire, and the two later sued Scientology for their years of sub-minimum wage work and for the two forced abortions Claire says she had to endure. (That lawsuit was dismissed and recently failed to be reinstated on appeal.)
Before he went to the base, however, when Marc was a new Sea Org member, he found himself working at ABLE in Hollywood, where he was at least paid minimum wage.
"It was supposed to be a separate entity from Scientology. So we got paid minimum wage and wore civilian clothes — 'upstat civvies,' they were called," he says. "It was minimum wage, but we were only being paid for a 40-hour week, even though we were working 100-hour weeks."
While he was making a few dollars an hour, meanwhile, Headley says there was a push for ABLE to bring in big money. And the executives in charge of that effort were told to find a way to get the government on the hook to pay for the social betterment programs, as well as to go the tried-and-true route of hitting up wealthy Scientologists and celebrities.
"All the big time Scientologists were being pressured to give money to ABLE," Headley says. "When I was there Kirstie Alley gave $300,000 to Narconon."
And getting her to fork that over had been an elaborate operation.
"We recorded a video of Jeff Pomerantz talking like a news anchor about Narconon, to reg her," he says, using the word, pronounced "rej," which is short for "registrar," the name for church officials who pressure members to donate money.
"She came down to the Celebrity Centre, saw the video, and gave $300,000. It was a really big deal. You didn't normally bring in that much in a week," he says.
Headley, meanwhile, was tasked with a major undertaking a thousand miles away. "My job was to put together a mission, to put together all of these people who were going to set up Narconon Chilocco," he says, and admits that he failed miserably. "I could never get anyone who was qualified."
As we wrote in our previous story, at the time Narconon was courting several Indian tribes in Oklahoma who were trying to figure out what to do with an old school that had been closed down. Saying nothing about its ties to Scientology, Narconon persuaded the Ponca tribe to sign a 25-year lease for several former school buildings.
They were opposed by Bob Lobsinger, the editor of a local newspaper, the Newkirk Herald Journal, who had discovered the connection between Narconon and the church.
"That guy at the Herald Journal, he was the nemesis of ABLE. That guy was so far up their asses," Headley says.
Despite that local opposition and the state Department of Mental Health's refusal to grant the center certification, Narconon eventually won its battle with the state when it obtained approval from a private certification group.
Scientology was determined to expand its drug treatment program and make claims that Narconon was the biggest, most effective program in existence. (Experts have repeatedly debunked the 75 to 90 percent effectiveness rates that Narconon claims — the best legitimate drug treatment programs never claim that more than about 25 percent of their patients will stay off drugs in the long term.)
Why was Scientology pushing Narconon so hard? It's important to remember that in 1989 through 1991, when it was fighting the battle of Chilocco, Scientology did not have tax-exempt status. The church's all-out war with the IRS had been going on for 25 years, and the government had repeatedly won court decisions backing up its position that Scientology was a business, not a church, even if it did have social betterment programs. Then, suddenly, in 1991, the IRS threw in the towel. Over the next two years, it hammered out a secret agreement with Scientology giving the church just about everything it was asking for.
That secret agreement was leaked in 1997, and from it we can see that the IRS clearly characterized ABLE and Narconon as "Scientology-related entities."
By then, Marc Headley had been moved to the International Base, east of Los Angeles, where, a few years later, he watched as a new, even larger Narconon center in Oklahoma was being planned by church executives.
"That whole place was designed and set up by Sea Org members, and approved by David Miscavige," he says. "I was there when we did it, at Int Base. I saw it happening."
Although Narconon had a 25-year lease at Chilocco, in 2001 it closed the facility and moved to the Arrowhead Lodge about 200 miles to the southeast, where it is today.
Headley says the Narconon facility is treated by Scientology the same way it treats one of its local churches, called orgs.
"It's set up the exact same way an org is. Any Scientology org is its own corporation, but they have to get trademarks and licensing from the Religious Technology Center," he says, referring to Scientology's controlling entity. "And they have to be inspected by RTC, and that's how they control it, but not own it. The Narconons are all set up the same way. It's a shell game they play."
And the point of the game?
"So Scientology can say it has the best drug treatment record in the world," Headley says.
Marty Rathbun, formerly the second-highest ranking official in the church until he defected in 2004, noted recently at his blog that Scientology is quick to claim Narconon as its own when it wants to raise funds from wealthy members, but when the drug treatment center runs into trouble, the church claims to have no connection to it…
When failed products of Narconon brought complaints to media or authorities, Scientology Inc. did everything it could to distance itself from Narconon, claiming zero connection or responsibility for its operation. The public at large, possessing a good measure of common sense, couldn't help but note the hypocrisy.
As I talked with Headley, several times he mentioned the name of ABLE's president, Rena Weinberg.
She was from South Africa, he said, and had been recruited into the Sea Org at a very young age. For her work with Applied Scholastics, she'd been named an early Freedom Medal Winner, the highest award David Miscavige can bestow on a Scientologist.
Every time Headley said it, Weinberg's name struck a chord in my memory. And then I remembered where I'd seen it — in our story last Thursday, Weinberg's was just one of more than a hundred names of Sea Org executives who had spent time in Miscavige's notorious office-prison, known as "The Hole."
"Yeah, how does that work? If ABLE has nothing to do with Scientology, how did she end up in the Hole at Int Base?" Headley asked when I made the connection.
But how long was she in The Hole?
I checked first with Mike Rinder, who had been Scientology's chief spokesman and who had been a prisoner in the Hole in 2006-2007 — was Weinberg in with him at that time, which was during the gulag's most hellish early period?
Yes, he told me.
And was she still a prisoner in 2010, when John Brousseau left the base in April of that year?
Yes, Brousseau tells me.
And I now have a report that Weinberg was still a prisoner in the Hole just a few months ago.
So three witnesses tell the Voice that for at least five years, Rena Weinberg has been confined to the special prison detail for the Church of Scientology's fallen executives at its International Base in Riverside County, California — through its most nightmarish period and up to more recent times, when more humane conditions have been introduced.
ABLE's website, however, still has a happy message from its president, giving no indication that she's fallen from favor, or was made to eat slop three times a day, or has spent years taking part in brutal mass confessions…
Weinberg apparently continues to run Scientology's "secular" programs while confined to its ecclesiastical prison.
On Thursday night, NBC's Rock Center will give the Oklahoma Narconon deaths national exposure. And we've heard that the network is fending off a severe pummeling from Scientology's attorneys in advance of the show.
Gary Soter, the church's mouthpiece attorney, has never answered my requests for comment.
Hey, NBC, do us all a favor and ask him this question.
Where's Rena?
See also:
"Tom Cruise worships David Miscavige like a god"
What Katie is saving Suri from: Scientology interrogation of kids
Scientology's new defections: Hubbard's granddaughter and Miscavige's dad
Scientology's disgrace: our open letter to Tom Cruise
Scientology crumbling: An entire mission defects as a group
Scientology leader David Miscavige's vanished wife: Where's Shelly?
Neil Gaiman, 7, Interviewed About Scientology by the BBC in 1968
The Master Screenplay: Scientology History from Several Different Eras
And a post that pulls together the best of our Scientology reporting
Please check out our Facebook author page for updates and schedules.
Tony Ortega has been the editor in chief of the Village Voice since March, 2007. He started writing about Scientology in 1995. You can catch his alerts at Twitter (@VoiceTonyO), at his Facebook author page, on Pinterest, and even this new Google Plus doohickey.
New readers might want to check out our primer, "What is Scientology?" Another good overview is our series from last summer, "Top 25 People Crippling Scientology." At the top of every story, you'll see the "Scientology" category which, if you click on it, will bring up all of our most recent stories.
As for hot subjects we've covered here, you may have heard about Debbie Cook, the former church official who rebelled and was sued by Scientology. You might have also heard about the Super Power Building, Scientology's "Mecca," whose secrets were revealed here. We also reported how Scientology spied on its own most precious object, Tom Cruise. (We wrote Tom an open letter that he has yet to respond to.) Have you seen a Scientology ad on TV lately? We debunked some of the claims in that 2-minute commercial you might have seen while watching Glee or American Idol.
Other stories have looked at Scientology's policy of "disconnection" that is tearing families apart. You may also have heard something about the Sea Org experiences of the Paris sisters, Valeska and Melissa, and their friend Ramana Dienes-Browning. We've also featured Paulette Cooper, who wrote about Scientology back in the day, and Janet Reitman, Hugh Urban, and the team at the Tampa Bay Times, who write about it today. And there's plenty more coming.


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What Is the Composition of Bone?
Living bone contains about 10 to 20 percent water and 60 to 70 percent bone mineral, as explained by the University of Cambridge. The remaining material is mostly collagen with trace amounts of proteins and inorganic salts.
The University of Cambridge also explains that bones contain three special cells called osteoblasts, osteocytes and osteoclasts. Osteoblasts are responsible for making the collagen-rich substance osteoid, which is key in building bone. Osteocytes are former osteoblasts that go beneath the surface of the bone and maintain its structure. Osteoclasts are responsible for bone resorption. These cells travel around the bone to areas in need of resorption.
The University of Cambridge indicates that there are two types of bone in the human body: cortical, or compact, bone and cancellous bone, which is also known as spongy or trabecular bone. Cortical bone accounts for 80 percent of the body's bone mass. This type of bone forms a cylindrical shaft around the marrow in the central part of the bone. Cancellous bone makes up only 20 percent of the body's bone mass, but it has a much higher surface area because of its higher porosity and honeycomb structure, according to the University of Cambridge. Cancellous bone is found at both sides of long bones at the articulating ends, such as the femoral head on top of the thigh bone.


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Atkins Middle East
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Ref: HP 331-1349
Job description / Role
Atkins Nuclear, now part of the SNC-Lavalin nuclear division has been operating for over 40 years with operations based in the Canada, UK, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America, and are fully engaged in the development of the next generation of nuclear power.
Our middle east office, centred in Abu Dhabi, has become one of the largest nuclear consultancies across the region, and at the forefront of emerging nuclear power markets.
As a result of continued growth, we are looking to recruit a nuclear-experienced project manager to help our client(s) manage some very complex organisational and technical projects.
Initially, we are looking for individuals to be based in Abu Dhabi, at the clients' site, and take a senior client facing role on a secondment basis, but alongside an Atkins/SNC-Lavalin team of professionals.
Manage multidisciplinary project(s), using client developed project tools and processes
Standard delivery expectations such as reporting, safety leadership, risk management, schedule oversight, and client management
Confidently engage and build trust from a broad range of client stakeholders, from technicians to C-level executives
8 years + professional experience,
Degree qualified engineer or scientist
Nuclear experience (at least 1 year)
Able to work in the field and interact well with delivery teams
Good standard of written English and the ability to write clear technical reports
Reasonable level of commercial awareness and demonstrate the ability to work within budget and programme
Innovative and open to ideas
Highly motivated and proactive, have good interpersonal skills and an ability to communicate effectively
Interpersonal skills, able to build and develop relationships internally and externally
Familiarity with the Arabic language
Project Management qualifications
Don't Miss: PR & Media Manager Job in UAE
About the Company
Atkins is one of the leading providers of professional, technology based consultancy and support services to the industry, commerce and governments in all of the worlds major economies. With over 17,000 staff operating in Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and the Americas, Atkins has a broad range of skills and resources and provides Clients with a comprehensive service throughout the entire life cycle of the projects in the built environment.
We aim to be the international first choice supplier of technical and integrated services. Shaped by our customers' needs, our vision is to:
- focus on quality
- seek world class design and excellence
- strive to add value
- be flexible to the evolving needs of a changing society
Atkins first carried out design and supervision commissions in the Gulf area in 1967. From its regional head office in Dubai, U.A.E. Atkins Middle East now employs over 2000 staff located in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Oman (Muscat ), Qatar (Doha) Bahrain (Manama), Kuwait (Kuwait City) and India (Bangalore).


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1-0 G. Higuain 11'
2-0 C. Ronaldo 18'
2-1 L. Messi 45'
Barca played horribly, but Pedro and Alba missed some good opportunities. but hey, down to 10 men, and still without a doubt Valdes was the one who gave Madrid the cup! LOL
Oh and Stunning goal by Messi, didn't think he was gonna make it from that far out.
Awesome, awesome game.
Higuain missed so many goals Real Madrid deserved to win.
lol 2 disagrees. U mad barca?
Madrid deserved it, Barcelona too sloppy
Weird seeing modric with Real jersey, and he almost scored too


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Yesterday, I read Freedom Over Me, Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan. This was one of the books most recently read by the American Library Association. Honestly, I need to send them a thank you note because until I saw this book on the award list, it had escaped my notice.
As the title makes clear, this is the story of 11 slaves. What the title doesn't tell you is that these are 11 people who have molded themselves into something of a family. They have the work that they do for the master — carpentry, sewing, cooking, farming — and many are so talented that they are "hired out" and bring even more benefit to the estate. But they also have their lives out of the master's eye. They have means of using their gifts to benefit their fellow slaves and dreams of how they might use these gifts in the future.
Doesn't feel especially fresh when I tell it like that, does it? But it starts with a poem from the POV of the master's wife. He has just died. His widow is afraid to manage their estate alone because she has heard about slave revolts. Instead, she will sell them and move home to England were she will feel safe among her own people.
Read that part again. Safe among her own people.
Do you see how powerful this set up is? From the widow's worries and words, we move on to the lives of the slave people who are once again being offered for sale which will surely mean that they will lose the families they have built. And all of this will happen after losing their African families.
The impact is profound largely because of how Bryan set up the story. The poor grieving widow is afraid. She has lost her husband and although he built this estate, she feels she must sell it and move home. Where she will be safe.
Turn the page and you are looking at 11 people who are being auctioned off. Eleven people who will very soon not be safe. They will, once again, not be among their own people
Now think about your own work-in-progress. Do you have a set up this powerful? If not, what might you do to rock your reader back on their heals? To make them see things in a new light?
Think about it.


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The Pathology of Loneliness: A Commentary
Kathi Norman, M.A.P.P.
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Corresponding Author: Kathi Norman, Positive Psychology Health & Well-being, email: firstname.lastname@example.com, www.kathinorman.com
While undertaking his emergency medicine rotation, a senior resident became frustrated when he noted a man in his late seventies had checked in to the emergency department again (Yeh, 2017). The resident carefully reviewed the chart, negative chest x-ray, negative cardiac labs, no signs of infection, and vital signs all good. The resident steeled himself to enter the room to discharge this suspected malingerer and had his senior attending physician by his side. Upon entering, they could see the old man was slouched and appeared sad. Drawing from years of wisdom, the attending physician pulled up a stool and sat in front of the patient asking how he was doing? The man revealed he had lost his wife of twenty years just a week prior. He was lonely. Though pervasive in medical school and residency, the resident had not picked up on this subtle yet widespread disease, loneliness. A sad reality of modern life is that loneliness is pervasive and on the rise, nevermore than with physicians themselves.
Loneliness is an impediment to flourishing while cultivating strong connections to others has been seen to bring meaning and wellbeing (Gable & Haidt, 2005; Vaillant, 2012). Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes individuals and systems flourish (Snyder, 2014). Seligman, sometimes referred to as "the father of positive psychology," proposed the PERMA model with five core elements of psychological well-being and happiness with the "R" representing relationships (Seligman, 2002; Butler & Kern, 2016). Positive psychology is concerned with flourishing and positive relationships as one important element.
Loneliness has been described as a negative emotion associated with the difference in the perception of one's relationships, in what one has and perceives they have, sometimes leading to pessimism, unhappiness, and dissatisfaction (Perlman & Peplau, 1981). Loneliness is a strong predictor of poor health and languishing. According to the 2010 American Association for Retired Persons (AARP) survey, over a quarter of people in America live alone and loneliness is increasing with 43 percent of Americans experiencing chronic loneliness. An article released in August of 2017 by the American Psychological Association (APA) suggests that social isolation could be a greater health hazard then obesity (Sliwa, 2017). A robust study, using the data from two meta-analysis and over 300,000 participants, revealed social connectedness to be associated with greater than a 50% reduction in early death (Sliwa, 2017). These data suggest that social isolation is a greater risk for mortality then many health indicators.
In January of 2018, Britain appointed the first in the world "Minister of Loneliness (Emling, 2018)." One study in the United Kingdom (UK) showed that many elderly had not spoken to others for over a month (Emling, 2018). Over nine million people in the UK report being lonely most of the time or always. This appointment by prime minister Theresa May was in response to years of research on loneliness that demonstrated a relationship to poor health.
Most people would not think of loneliness as a public health crisis but the 19th U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, suggests otherwise ("OPB interview," 2017). In an interview with National Public Radio, the former surgeon general describes that the pathology of loneliness was inhibiting a full and healthy life in his patient population. He found this pathology was more debilitating then other diagnoses such as diabetes or heart disease. Dr. Murthy noted that isolation reduces the lifespan more than smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The work environment has been identified as a culprit and is partly to blame. Dr. Murthy reflected during an interview with The Washington Post that, "Our social connections are in fact largely influenced by the institutions and settings where we spend the majority of our time… that includes the workplace." Medical school and residency can be included in this lonely group. One resident wrote on his web site about his medical school experience, "a lone astronaut wandering in space, gear and all, forcibly removed from the rest of the world. Medicine is a lonely calling" (Idiopathic Medicine, 2010). In a blog for medical students, one student wrote, "Medicine is a lonely road and one which we all travel by ourselves. But if it makes you feel better, we're all lonely together." Another student wrote, "Friendships are temporary. Board scores are forever," and another, "Med school is a pressure cooker and exacerbates some people's worst fears/feelings about themselves." Another blog for the medical community further extrapolated loneliness in medical school (Being a Doctor: Is Loneliness escapable?, 2010):
It seems like loneliness is a topic that is constantly recurring on the minds of premeds and med students… and on this forum. Most of the doctors I know personally have related to me feelings of loneliness in med school (one of my friends, now a doctor, said she cried everyday secretly at HMS)… hopefully she's an exception.
Becoming a physician requires one to practice dedication, discipline, and personal sacrifice in an environment where getting ahead is driven by the survival instinct. This comes at a cost. Physicians are committing suicide at a rate of nearly 400 a year (Andrew, 2017). Burnout and its effects can be seen permeating the practice of medicine. As many as 70% of medical students report being bullied and abused, including sexual and physical abuse, from other residents and providers (Chen, 2012). In 2017, The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) annual medical school graduation questionnaire revealed that over 50% of 14,836 respondents noted at least sometimes a disconnect in faculty in what they are taught and experience about professional behavior/attitudes. This educational environment encourages competition and mistrust that leads to isolation.
One study suggested that lonely people look subconsciously for negativity. Social isolation can cause one's brain to be hypersensitive to perceived social threats (Layden et al., 2017). Further research by neuroscientists in positive emotions reveals that general health and resilience can be strengthened through the cultivation of positive emotions. Dr. Marsha Snyder, is a positive psychology proponent, author of Positive Health: Visioning Health and Thriving for Doctors and their Patients (2014), and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's (PENN) Master of Applied Positive Psychology program (MAPP). She explains that, in over the past 30 plus years, problem-based solutions have not worked to further understand and solve medical education's deficits. She proposes that medical education pursue a strengths-based approach to resolving the problem. The art and science of being and understanding what it takes to be a thriving self is key. Dr. Snyder explains if concepts such as emotional intelligence, listening skills, empathy, insight, resilience, behavior change, are not taught and actively understood, flourishing in this environment becomes difficult.
The science of positive psychology provides a lens into how relationships contribute to health and well-being. We now see that strong relationships are key to a healthy and flourishing life. Beginning in medical school, the fostering of social skills is essential to cultivating flourishing physicians. The downstream benefits can be happier and healthier patients, communities, and nations.


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Excerpt Four from 'A Life Lived Twice'
Angeline had taken on one of the local girls and she had made a good choice. Alicia was fast and careful, only needing the company of the radio to keep her amused. In the three hours that she worked, she got through more or less all the ironing from five large loads of washing. What was more, she folded the clothes beautifully and packed them neatly into bags so that, when Angeline returned at eleven thirty with more laundry, Alicia had done everything she had asked of her and more.
Adrian was booked in at summer school, so his mother took on more clients and made deliveries in the mornings, washing the next loads in the afternoons, ready for Alicia to iron, going out with a second delivery when she had finished.
At first, the girl came three times a week, just in the mornings, but soon she was there four full days a week, working flat out. The laundry room was large and light, with plenty of space for the extra business, but Angeline wanted to have sturdy shelves built to store the bags of laundry safely and neatly so she called in a neighbour and paid him to build some. She bought a new washing machine to add to the one she already had, choosing one that took almost twice as many kilos and which spun the clothes so well that they did not need to be hung out, but could be tumble dried for a few minutes and ironed straight away.
The mornings were the busiest time for Angeline; she got Adrian off to school and loaded the van for her deliveries. There was little time to spare, although she always made her clients feel as though she had all the time in the world to give them the best possible service. In the afternoons, as the machines whirred, she sometimes slept and sometimes did the mounting paperwork that came with the new business. This, she was good at. Then, she went out with her afternoon deliveries, making twice as many as the previous month, sometimes coming home with more than twenty envelopes containing various amounts of cash. She ran her affairs efficiently and profits were increasing. As a result, her savings account was growing fast.
On Wednesday mornings, Alicia had said she could not come and so Angeline made herself beautiful, loading the van with a few bags and setting out early, as soon as she had dropped her son off at his school.
'I will be here at midi, my darling. Work hard and do your lessons well,' she said.
Then, after making a few deliveries that would not wait until the afternoon, she would drive to the large house on the outskirts of the next village and pull off the road out of sight, taking two medium-sized bags to the door and knocking gently.
'You look beautiful! I have missed you! So much time to wait!' he said, as she skipped into the hall and teased him with her carefree attitude.
'I am busy. I have to work. I am not rich like you, and I need new shoes. Look at these! I would like to come with beautiful shoes to see you, but there are too many bills to pay and there is no money left for me,' she simpered.
And afterwards, when they had made love and he had told her he would do anything for her, he gave her money and she laughed, saying she could earn more in an hour, that she would not have time to come every week to see him. Then he would hand her his wallet and watch her dance down the steps, back to her husband and child, until the following Wednesday. And the next time, he would make more of a fuss of her – telling her that he loved her and could not be without her.
Angeline Roche was a businesswoman. She did not consider that she was being unfaithful to her husband, because she did not love Felix Dumas. His love making was quick and gentle, almost as though he made no effort at all to arrive at his pleasure. Then he would stare at her and say that she was beautiful and that he wished they could marry and move away to an island somewhere, where people would not know them and they could live a simple life. She would listen and think to herself that he was mad to believe she would go away with him, unless it were to live in a palace with servants and money to spend on the high life she desired. And, at the same time, she knew that he did not mean any of it, any more than she did. He was happy with the arrangement they had and so was she. Of course, now that the business was going so well and Guy had started at the hotel, there was plenty of money coming into her home and it would have been easy to put a halt to her affair. But she saw no harm in it and always thought of the fatness of her lover's wallet, as he handed it to her at the end of her visit. She never took all of the notes; the most she had taken in the past had been the two hundred euros for the van repair. Usually she had taken one hundred euros, estimating that there were always at least five hundred left. Now she took two hundred, sometimes three. She thought this was reasonable and supposed that he did too.
After she had showered and tidied her hair and make-up, Angeline left, never forgetting to take his laundry, pulling out onto the deserted country lane and sticking to the back roads, avoiding the village.
Adrian would come out and wave to her as he said goodbye to his friends and chattered like a bird, throwing his arms around her neck, kissing her and telling her about his day. Angeline rarely spoke to the other mothers, who, it was rumoured, thought her stuck up. Of course, they were envious of her success. She did not care. Let them stare. She had a few good friends in the village and that was all she needed. If the others wanted to gossip about her and stick knives in her back, it was of no consequence to her whatsoever.
At home, Angeline would get lunch and wait for her husband to come in from work. Wednesday afternoons were leisurely and she loved to watch Guy playing with their son, while she tidied away the dishes and straightened the kitchen. It occurred to her that it had been over three weeks since she had seen her husband with a cigarette in his mouth and, although she could not be sure, she thought that he might have stopped altogether. Certainly, when Adrian put a hand into his work jacket these days, there was nothing to steal.
She would not ask him about it so soon. It would be better to wait for him to tell her.


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Don't just stand there. Do something.
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text: Hospital News Monterey Park Leaders Help Boys and Girls Club Open New Gym Nov 18 On September 18, 2014, the West San Gabriel Valley Boys and Girls celebrated the grand opening of their new gym with a dedication ceremony. The updated gym was made possible through a grant that helped with repairs and upgrades. These improvements ... Read More Jen Valdez: Helping Children Smile Nov 18 Jen Valdez, a 20- year veteran registered nurse, and House Supervisor for Monterey Park Hospital, does more than provide medical care at our hospital; through Operation Smile, she helps change the lives of children and their families. Operation Smile ... Read More Recent News Monterey Park Hospital is featured in an Independent Film Jul 10 By J. Galindo Monterey Park Hospital would like to congratulate the cast and crew of The Algerian for not only being accepted to the popular Downtown Film Festival of Los Angeles, but for also being chosen as the Opening Night film on July 9, 2014. Monterey Park ... Read More Childbirth Classes Jan 29 By Jeanette Galindo If you are an expectant mother and are looking for Childbirth Classes, Monterey Park Hospital offers these classes, taught by a Certified Childbirth Educator. If you chose Monterey Park Hospital as your hospital of choice to deliver your baby, these ... Read More


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According to Intel, First Time Users Aren't Driving Netbook Sales
Fresh guidance from Intel suggests that while the netbook market is booming worldwide, first time computer buyers aren't driving the market. The company's statements reflect a significantly different understanding of the role netbooks are playing in the market than what Intel first envisioned. Originally, the Classmate PC, like the OLPC XO that preceded it, were intended explicitly for the developing world. In reality, however, netbooks are playing a supplementary role, even in markets where PC penetration is relatively low. "I don't think first-time buyers are going to buy netbooks," Intel executive vice president Sean Maloney said at a media event organized by the company. "The first time you buy something you want the real deal. It's consistent not just in China, but all around the world. If you're going to spend your hard-earned money for the first time, you're going to put a computer in your house."
Maloney's statements are undoubtedly colored by the fact that Intel wants first-time computer users to buy a "real" computer; the CPU manufacturer's gross margin on Atom products may be the same as its margin on desktop and mobile offerings in percentage terms, but the amount of real dollar revenue Intel receives per Atom sold is obviously much smaller. If anything, Maloney's statement seems too narrowly constructed. It's not hard to believe that the BRIC countries—Brazil, Russia, India, and China—are opting for full-powered systems as first purchases instead of netbooks, but there are hundreds of millions of people in less developed nations who will still want to get online as the capability is built out. Intel's own plans for Atom extend downward into MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices—the iPhone is probably the best example of a proto-MID device) and even cell phones. Longer term, there's no reason to expect that the developing world will follow the same adoption trends as the developed nations.
Given the expanding capabilities of cell phones (again, an area Intel has made noises about entering) and the increasing prevalence of cellular networks, it's downright likely that the first "real" computing device a number of future Internet users will own may be a mobile phone. With the netbook market only a year old, it seems premature to declare it established and set in stone.


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Scabs and kidnappers…
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
As the miners' strike of 1984 dragged on, the miners and their families were increasingly desperate, relying on donations of food from sympathisers and collecting wood for fuel. A group of miners from the Fife village of Newton of Wemyss secretly left one morning to make their way to Nottingham, where the pits had re-opened, worked by men who were considered traitors – scabs – by the men of the National Union of Mineworkers. That morning, Mick Prentice disappeared too, and it was assumed he had gone with the men to Nottingham. Now in 2007, his daughter has an urgent need to contact him but can find no trace, so she reports him as a missing person. Because of the length of time since he was last seen, Karen Pirie of the Cold Case Review Team takes on the investigation. But she'll soon be distracted by another cold case that has resurfaced.
Long ago, the daughter of local business magnate Sir Broderick Maclennan Grant was kidnapped with her baby son and held to ransom. The pay-off went wrong – Catherine, the daughter, was killed and no trace has ever been found of the child, Adam, nor were the kidnappers ever caught. Now an investigative journalist, Bel Richmond, has happened across something while on holiday in Italy that may provide the key to the mystery. Sir Brodie uses his considerable influence to have the case moved to the top of Karen's priority list…
When Val McDermid is on form, as she is here, there are few authors to touch her in terms of telling a great story. This series, by concentrating on cold cases, allows her to revisit aspects of Scotland's past and she does so with a deep understanding of the effect of events on the lives of the people caught up in them. The miners' strike was a major turning point for Scotland, and for Britain more widely, as the Prime Minister nicknamed the Iron Lady (Mrs Thatcher) and the most powerful union leader in the land nicknamed King Arthur (Arthur Scargill) met head on in a battle for supremacy: a battle in which, as always, the foot soldiers – the miners and their families – became little more than cannon fodder. McDermid doesn't delve deeply into the rights and wrongs of the dispute, but she shows with devastating clarity the impact the long-running strike had on mining communities, causing major hardship, testing old loyalties, straining marriages to their limits and dividing families, and leaving a legacy of bitterness that still lives on today.
She doesn't allow the story to get lost amid the background, however. Karen soon discovers that there's more to Mick's disappearance than first appears. As she interviews his wife, still bitter about the disgrace he brought on his family by scabbing, and then the various other people who knew him back then, Karen gradually unearths a very human story with elements of love and betrayal, selfishness and greed, tragedy and guilt.
The other story too, the kidnapping, is just as human. Sir Brodie loved his daughter, perhaps too much, wanting to control her life and objecting to her choices, both in boyfriends and in career. As obstinate as her father, Catherine showed no desire to compromise or yield, leaving her mother trying to be the peacemaker in the middle. Her death left Sir Brodie not only bereaved, but with no opportunity for the reconciliation they might have had if they had been given time. Now, although he has made a new life for himself, Sir Brodie is still driven to find the kidnappers and have revenge, legally or otherwise, and to find what happened to the child – he has never given up hope that his grandson may be alive. He doesn't have faith that the police will solve the crime after all this time, so he persuades the journalist, Bell, to investigate the Italian connection and, hoping for the scoop of a lifetime, she's only too happy to oblige.
The book skips about a lot between the various timelines and sometimes following Karen, sometimes Bel. But McDermid keeps total control, so that the reader never feels lost despite the complexities of plot and structure. It's a fairly lengthy book but never dips or drags – the settings and story hold the attention throughout, and the characterisation is excellent, done with some degree of sympathy for even the least likeable among them. Karen herself is one of the most enjoyable detectives on the contemporary crime scene, not perfect but not an angst-ridden maverick, professional and skilled at her job, but with a life outside work. Here she's working mostly with her long-term friend and now sergeant, Phil Parhatka, and there's a welcome lack of the tedious sexism storyline most crime writers seem to feel necessary whenever they have a female protagonist.
One of her best, in my opinion, and considering how good she is, that's saying a lot. Highly recommended.