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This section will contain information about my stories.
|Will Dangerfield Adventures
In Snatchers we first meet William Reginald Dangerfield, a disaffected 13-year-old who is about to run away from his home in Birkenhead. Will's intention is to set out for the bright lights of London, but he suffers a minor diversion: a thousand years forward in time and to the Proxima Centauri system, to be precise. Here he is inducted into the Interstellar Defence Corps, where he is to be trained as a Field Operative in their Temporal Reclamation Unit: A Snatcher. The human race is in peril, from threats without and within, and Will must do his part in saving us all.
|Following the events in Snatchers, Will continues his training. The Stalkers, the Snatchers' nemesis, have a plan. In order to save the future, they're going to wreck the past. Following their return from a visit to dazzling twenty-ninth century High Earth, Will and his comrades find history drastically changed and are forced to follow a desperate course of action, seeking help in the distant past of Earth and on the home planet of our allies, the mysterious, reptilian Wizzards.


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//Corset: vintage //Pants: BCBG MAXAZRIA //Heels: Zara //Bag: Chanel
Call me nerd, but I L O V E history. Reading, watching, breathing it.
Black and white movies, biographies from ancient Chinese emperors, 1800's politics, Russian revolution. That's me.
My love for old times goes to fashion, too.
I have found it a bit difficult to find good vintage stores in Mexico, as in Europe you can spot one almost at every corner. It's like please Sir, that piece of unwashed polyester crap from H&M you're asking 600 pesos for is not vintage.But as they say, keep looking and you'll get there. Think I've now found my hot spot. Or what do you say about my gorgeous pre loved designer piece corset? Sure, it was about 3 times my size when I found it, but after a visit to the tailor's, she is just perfect.

subset: commoncrawl


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Dilshan retires from Test cricket
October 09, 2013 - Updated 1933 PKT
From Web Edition
123 0 0 0
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's former skipper and opening batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan is to retire from Test cricket but will remain available for shorter versions of the game, the country's cricket board said Wednesday.
Dilshan, who will be 37 on Monday, is due to hold a make a formal announcement at a press conference on Thursday, Sri Lanka Cricket spokesman Rajith Fernando told AFP.
"He is retiring from Test cricket but will be available to play in one-day matches," Fernando said.
The aggressive right-hander began his Test career in November 1999 playing against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo and the last of his 87 appearances came against Bangladesh at Colombo in March.
He scored 5,492 Test runs, including 16 centuries, with a batting average of 40.98. He is the sixth highest Test run scorer in Sri Lanka's history.
He also took 39 wickets with his off-spin at an average of 43.87.
Dilshan has been a key factor in Sri Lanka's rise to the top of the rankings in Twenty20 cricket, smashing an unbeaten 74 off 51 balls in his last match -- a six-wicket win over South Africa at Hambantota in August. (AFP)


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A single wave on the shore is
connected to the deepest parts of the ocean. People are connected to
their ancestors who fought to survive, and many of whom traveled to
other lands for a better life. Guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg combines
these thoughts for Wave Upon Wave (New For Now Music, 2014).


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January 26, 2018
It was a very nice day in July 2017 so I decided to goof off and ride around. I didn't have any plan. After driving around aimlessly I came to the Village of Big Falls in northwestern Waupaca County. I would later learn there is a place called Little Falls just about a mile to the southeast. Little Falls is really just a place name. It belongs to the Town of Wyoming
It is a very small community of 57 in 2015. The Little Wolf River flows through the northeast portion of the village. It's fun being in small rural areas like this.
Frankly, I had not prepared for the trip at all. I completely missed the Big Falls to the northeast of the town. Massively embarrassing. I would go back today but it's snow, so I'll wait until spring.
I hate to do this, but since I did not take a photo of the falls, I'll show one I took from the internet. It's just below the spillway that forms Big Falls Pond.
The Little Wolf River rises near Galloway in Marathon County and converges into the Wolf River in eastern Waupaca County. It is said to be a high quality trout stream flowing through a northern mesic hardwood forest. It is supposed to be a tame river for paddlers, and also great for angling, swimming and tubing.
There is a boat landing, picnic areas, a fishing dock, and a park in the southeastern part of the village and one in the northeastern part, giving you access to the dam and the river.
The village prides itself in the Annual Corn Roast held at this part in August.
A.W. Whitcomb erected a sawmill in this village and used the water from the river for power. In 1890, the land was platted and the settlement became the Village of Big Falls. In 1923, Big Falls was incorporated. Today it is one of the smallest incorporated villages in the US. The early forests were logged and lumber and shingles were milled here. A granite quarry was located below the dam. At one time there were 500 villagers.
As an aside, Whitcomb set up a sawmill in the Township of Wittenberg as well, sometime between 1887-1901. It became a thriving community but today only a sign with some photos marks the spot.
It was lunch time so I looked for a place. Big Falls, a town of 57, I had two places from which to choose for a sandwich and a beer: JR's Bar and Grill and the Big Falls Tavern Food & Spirits.
For no particular reason, I chose the Big Falls Tavern.
I had a terrific cheeseburger here and some good conversation at the bar. As is always the case in rural areas of Wisconsin, people are wonderful.
After lunch, I drove around town a bit. It doesn't take long!
This is the only store I saw in town, the Big Falls Mill and Office. It is one of the last feed mills in the area. In addition to feed, it sells, among other things, shavings for chicken coops, fall food plot seed, fertilizer and lime and it makes its own chicken layer feed.
As you can see, this building was once a bank. However it has been completely renovated into a spacious single-family home, about 1,300 sq ft. It is my understanding it was sold in April 2017.
A private home cross the street from Big Falls Tavern! That sounds like a nice idea!
And of course you cannot run a village without a Village Hall. Big Falls is incorporated.
Now, about a mile to the southeast, again on the Little Wolf River, is Little Falls which is part of the Town of Wyoming. You first take CH G south out of Big Falls, then a left on CH C and then fairly soon a left on Little Falls Road.
The first thing you see on the right is a fabulous baseball diamond, covered seats and all. It was such a beautiful day, and there was a game underway, so I stopped for a bit to watch. I felt like I was in the "Field of Dreams."
This is the R.A. Radies Memorial Ballpark. Two people are parked under a beautiful tree to watch the game. Mr. Radies has passed away, but he was the one to start the ball park and put up a bar there as well. But there wee re plenty of people sitting in the stands, some of which are covered, some not.
This is a photo of a batter from the visiting Tilleda White Sox from Tilleda Falls, Wisconsin playing against the Little Falls Loggers. I have cropped this photo but I searched all over the original and could not find the ball. He is clearly halfway through his swing, so I am guessing the ball has just hit the catcher's mit, but I'm not sure.
I found this all very interesting. Both teams are part of the Badger Amateur Baseball Association (BABA). In turn, BABA is part of the Wisconsin Amateur Baseball Organization, which consists of multiple leagues from around the state.
BABA was formed in April 1946. Leopolis defeated New London in the first championship series of 1946. Little Falls won it in 1992, 1996 and 1997, 2000, 2006 and 2007. So this is no fooling' around. These guys are serious.
In 2017, the Loggers played in the BABA Grand Championship series and made it to the semi-finals, having defeated Bowler and Tigerton. The win against Tigerton gave the Loggers the Western Division Championship. But they lost to the Birnamwood Kings 2-1 in the semi-finals, Birnamwood went on to play in the championship game against the Waupaca Lakemen and Waupaca won, 5-1.
I'd like to return to the Radies family given that the Little Falls Loggers' home field is the R.A, Radies Memorial Field. If you were to look up the family you would find a lot of Radies in the region. R.A. and his wife had eight kids, one of whom is William, the current president of the Radies Corp. It is also involved in general farms, primary crop. Its address is here at Little Falls Road, considered to be in the city of Marion to the northeast. You can see its operation to the right side of the photo.
This is a look at its facilities. Radies Corp. primarily operates in the Logging Camps and Contractors business / industry within the Lumber and Wood Products, Except Furniture sector. This organization has been operating for approximately 55 years.
The Radies Corp. has been operating for 55 years and is engaged in manufacturing operations at this location.
Little Falls Resort and Tavern
She was also very active in Little Falls Logger baseball. My guess is many in the family are so engaged as well. If I learned anything during this visit, other than preparing myself better, I have learned you never know what you're going to find in Little Falls, Wisconsin, or likely any other small town either.
So here by the Little Wolf River we have a Blue Peacock. I waited for the lad to open up his feathers, but I guess he didn't like my face or something.
Little Falls is not really a falls, but a rapids. There is a very nice pedestrian walkway or footbridge across it making for a nice walk into the woods.
As I was leaving town on CH E south, I noticed this neat lighthouse on the side of the road. It was dedicated to R.A. Radies and his wife Joyce.
Traveling farther south, I spotted this quaint log house in a beautiful setting.


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Route Name: Kanegakubo-sawa (金ヶ窪沢)
Mountain: Mitsutōge (1785m, 三ツ峠山)
Map sheet: 31 [Yama-to-kougen-chizu (山と高原地図) series]
Time: 2-3 hours
Grade: WI3
Getting there:
If travelling by car from Tokyo (東京), take the Chuō Expressway to Ōtsuki (大月), and then turn left in the direction of Kawaguchiko (河口湖). From Kawaguchiko you need to cross the bridge over the lake and follow route 137 until you reach the right turn onto the Misaka-michi road just before the entrance to a 3km tunnel through the mountain. This mountain road winds up towards Mitsutōge, until you reach the Mitsutōge-tozanguchi (三ツ峠登山口) at a sharp hairpin bend. There is space for about 6 cars down there, and you can find more parking up at the toilet block a few minutes further on at the Mitsutōge trailhead and the entrance to Kanegakubo-sawa (金ヶ窪沢).
If you have parked at the hairpin bend, you need to follow the hiking signpost for Mitsutōge and walk up the road for another 5-10 minutes until you reach a car park and toilet block.
Turn right at the toilet block:
Take a right turn just after the toilet block, signposted to Mitsutōge, and walk up the road for another 20 minutes. After several zig-zags the road will straighten out for a bit, and you will see a fork in the river on your left, and a concrete dam. You need to descend to the river here and step across it, and continue into the left fork, which is Kanegakubo-sawa.
The first frozen waterfall you'll find is on a concrete dam, and if it's not in good condition you can walk up around it on the right.
From here you enter the sawa proper, and the next icefall is basically a walk up.
After a couple of hundred metres you'll arrive at the main icefalls. The ice spans the full width of the sawa, with plenty of room for multiple parties to climb at the same time. The entire thing can be climbed in a single pitch of about 50m if you stick to the middle or right side. If you want to climb the left side though, there are a couple of convenient anchors available at trees, from which the ice can then be top-roped using a 50m rope.
Climbing the second pitch to the top:
At the top of the icefall:
Most groups just come for the ice itself, and after they've climbed it they rappel down and walk back out to the car, but make sure you have two 50m ropes if that is your plan. For a more aesthetic end to your day, however, continue up the sawa from the top of the ice, and the summit can be reached in about 1.5 hours.
At first you will be climbing short easy ice steps, and then things level out and you may find yourselves breaking trail.
After about 30 minutes you'll pass a junction with another branch to the right, but you should stick to the main sawa in the left fork. Another 15 minutes later you can head off to the right up a forested slope, and 20 minutes of effort will bring you out on the hiking trail next to the Mitsutōge-sanso (三ツ峠山荘) hut on the shoulder of Mitsutōge.
From the hut there are great views across the left end of the famous Mitsutōge rock face. The true summit can be reached from here in about 10 minutes.
To get back to your car, simply walk down the hiking trail for about 45 minutes.
If the ice is in good condition, this is an excellent day out from Tokyo; beautiful climbing at a stress-free grade, and one of the more satisfying ways to reach the summit of Mitsutōge. The views from the summit in winter are quite simply outstanding!


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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30625096925909987542019-01-25T04:33:12.655-06:00Sarahlynn's Reading and Writing BlogHerein lie my my thoughts as I read, write, parent, read some more, think about editing, then take a nap. I used to work in publishing; now I stay home with my children. Late at night, when everyone else sleeps, I write. My website: SarahlynnLester.comSarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-68111210984708858022018-05-29T20:58:00.001-05:002018-05-29T20:58:19.700-05:00Publishing that First BookJ. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was rejected by twelve publishers, the story goes.

Ouch. How wrong they were, we think.

But were they?

Common publishing practice recommends querying agents and editors by sending a 250-word letter introducing the novel (like back cover copy--the intent is to entice, not to give away the ending) and the first chapter. I have no idea what Rowling's query letter looked like. Writing engaging query letters is a different skill from writing good novels.

The world Rowling built in the Harry Potter books is wonderful, amazing, magical. That's really hard to demonstrate in 250 words. And that first chapter . . .

#

My eldest daughter is 14 years old. She has Down syndrome and isn't an especially strong reader. As we're heading to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter later this summer, Ellie is reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone aloud to me. This is a laborious process for both of us. We stop after every paragraph to discuss and make sure she's "getting" it.

I've read Chapter One at least four times before, but never like this. And I've gotta be honest--it breaks all the rules. It's sloooooooow. It's really more of a prologue than a first chapter. We start with a not-very-interesting minor character (Vernon Dursley) and follow him through an entire day. I get why Rowling starts this way. She's introducing the world of magic through the eyes of someone very much outside that world.

 For a fast reader, someone already invested in the story, or someone willing to give a book longer than one chapter to get interesting, this works great. But let's be honest. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone really picks up in Diagon Alley. That's Chapter 5.

So if publishers were wrong to reject Harry Potter (and financially, obviously, they were) it's perhaps because of the early decision model as much as any individual business decision. It's a tricky thing to allow for a potential break-out success that breaks the rules. Sarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-52938804101496476062014-08-17T20:11:00.000-05:002014-08-17T20:11:34.396-05:00Following ThroughThese days, authors often talk about how fun writing is. I read dust jackets and learn that, for many authors, writing is about spending time with their imaginary friends, more like play than work. After reading quite a few authors talk about their processes in this way, I began to despair. Writing is hard, sometimes tedious work for me; does this mean that I am not real writer? A few years ago, I stumbled upon Nick Hornby's description of his frustrating writing process. For him writing can be horrible, irritating, grim, and dull. Relief!

Today I stumbled upon another writing process gem. I'm reading Lessons from the Life of Alice Herz-Sommer, the World's Oldest Living Holocaust Survivor: A century of wisdom by Caroline Stoessinger. As a child, Alice was friends with Franz Kafka. "Alice would beg him to tell her the stories over and over again. But she always wanted to know the ending - and that he could not answer. He simply could not complete his work. Later on, he would write, 'I am familiar with indecision, there's nothing I know so well, but whenever something summons me, I fall flat, worn out by half-hearted inclinations and hesitations over a thousand earlier trivialities.'"

Aha! Another glimpse of my truth. Sarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-38607672202543670702014-06-11T23:45:00.001-05:002014-06-11T23:45:21.107-05:00Hope

"All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it's just not that good. It's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you." - Ira Glass

"I love this quote. In fact, I've shared it on social media before. The idea of the gap is really helpful because it's hopeful. It tells you that you have good taste--which is a prerequisite for making good art. Thus, the very fact you're making crap art but you know it's crap gives you a hint that you can someday make good art. I love that. Usually, this time is really frustrating for a young artist, because all she makes is crap. And, of course, we've all seen artists who don't have good taste; they believe everything they make is wonderful, and that poorly trained taste keeps them from improving past a certain point. I was lucky to get early encouragement, where other people thought what I was doing was better than I thought it was. I also was lucky to hunt down some people who made a living writing who told me frankly, Kid, you can do this." - Brent Weeks

Oh, hello, hope. It's lovely to see you 'round these parts again. Lovely. Sarahlynnhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-23556273192055668882014-02-28T17:45:00.000-06:002015-02-11T14:48:30.445-06:00Three Is Greater Than Two"Three is greater than two," I say apologetically when people ask me about my writing. In other words: I'm not writing. I . . . underestimated . . . the difference it would make in my life to move to three children from two. Misunderestimated. I love being a mom and I am besotted with these unique, amazing little (not so little!) people I'm getting to raise. But I've yet to find space for myself in all the physical, temporal, and mental chaos of my life, so I'm not writing.

That's true and also incomplete. I can write anecdotes and passionate arguments on Facebook all day. But I'm not writing creatively. The difference between a Facebook post and a blog post highlights the other reason I'm not writing. The Big reason. The Real Reason. A Facebook update can be quick, funny, incomplete, utterly lacking in context. It can simply be a picture. It can be a short conversation. It's a snapshot of a moment. The way I blog, on the other hand, tends to be to collect anecdotes for a few hours or days or weeks or years, then assemble them into something that makes a sort of narrative or point, even if it's a very short or simple one. Blogging - let alone writing memoir or fiction - requires perspective for me.

Perspective and some sort of connection to emotion. But emotion is painful, y'all. I feel like I barely get through my days doing the things that I need to do. Children dressed and off to their appropriate places with their appropriate things (snacks, water bottles, lunches, signed permission forms, money for this that and everything else, dance gear, gymnastics apparal, instruments, music, themed hats). Weekly schedules created and maintained. Meals planned, shopped for, and prepared. I've given up on cleaning up altogether. Committees worked. Summers planned down to the minute. These classes, these camps, these vacations, these meals, these structured free times. We don't do so well with unstructured time.

And as for me, I find a sense of accomplishment in managing and balancing all of this. I call it My Life. I also have something to pour into the space where I used to keep writing and dealing with emotions and exercising and tidying my house and whatnot. That something is food. I look forward to what I get to eat next. Predictable results, etc. But doing My Life and then eating and reading or watching TV or playing Nintendo or whatever else I do after the children are in bed and before I turn into a pumpkin (more committees) - in the space I used to use for writing or running or both (in addition to reading - there's always reading, for better and for worse) all of that allows me to mute my feelings.

And muting my feelings is a relief. As a teenager I felt so much, so acutely, it was unbearable. I filled notebooks with scrawls of rage and pain, pages warped by tears. Becoming an adult - and this happened gradually in my early-to-mid-twenties - was a relief. I could feel it happening. I sought it out. I called it perspective, I called it a mature ability to organize my thoughts logically, to present arguments rationally, to exist in a world with lots of pointy edges.

When I'm feeling a lot of pain, I can distract myself with TV or books or games or busyness and try to think about the pain as little as possible until a skin forms over the gaping wound, until I can examine it from afar without pressing too hard on the tender spot. This is a coping mechanism, and it works - to an extent - but it's not conducive to good writing because to write, I have to feel. I'm not sure I even remember how to turn that back on, anymore.

It's not that anything so bad has ever happened to me. I've lived a pretty charmed life. But it's cumulative, you know? I was a kid, and I was hurt by things I'd shrug off, now. I've had friend drama (and loss), relationship drama (and loss), family drama (and loss). I have a child with disabilities. She's great, but it's a lot to manage, sometimes. I have children, and that really is sort of like letting your heart walk around out in the world unprotected. I lost my dad too soon. It's easier to just . . . mute that a little. Let the skin grow closed, just a thin layer, so that light gets through but not too much. A manageable amount. That's how I'm living my life these days: in manageable amounts. Later, I'm sure, there will be more writing.

Sarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-71552874889738534042014-01-16T20:19:00.001-06:002014-01-16T20:19:25.343-06:00Radio SilenceHello, fellow readers! I blogged regularly from 2004 to 2011 (here and elsewhere) and then sporadically for another year or so after that. But lately . . . not so much. I'm still reading and writing, but I've fallen out of the habit of blogging-for-fun. I post my book reviews at Goodreads and my cute kid anecdotes on Facebook. I imagine that I'll be back here regularly again someday, perhaps when Child #3 starts preschool in the fall and I free up a bit more creative bandwidth from endlessly hilarious games of make believe. Until then, thanks for stopping by and happy reading!Sarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-73540807814004895222012-03-07T16:04:00.001-06:002012-03-07T16:04:48.462-06:00Gentleman's Agreement by Laura Zametkin Hobson

Have you read Gentleman's Agreement by Laura Zametkin Hobson No? Well, you should read it! Everyone should read it! Once upon a time, lots of people did - it spent five months at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List after it published in 1947 - but it has since fallen out of favor. I'd never heard of it until a friend picked it for our book club's February selection, spurring probably the best discussion we've ever had.

The novel's current lack of visibility might be due in part to its Amazon blurb: The plot of GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT concerns the experiences of a young Gentile writer who poses as a Jew in order to secure material on anti-Semitism for a series of magazine articles. A thesis novel concerning the social and economic aspects of anti-Semitism in American life.

No, really, it's good! I wrote all over my copy of the book, and then typed up my notes. And, yet, it was fun.

It's a quick read, easy, but not shallow (except a little right at the end). And it's non-threatening, too, for a book with such a point. The main character is an ally (not prone to some of the major prejudices of his day) which casts the reader into the same role and allows us to hear hard truths and appreciate them while thinking ourselves exempt or hidden.

This is one of those books that has stuck with me and I find myself using some of its figures of speech in my everyday life weeks after completing the read. Flick, tap.

The novel is about a California-based widower and writer who gets a job with a major weekly magazine in New York City and relocates his family. The first people he meets are his new editor - who gives him the assignment of writing a series on antisemitism - and the editor's niece - who inspired the idea for the assignment and becomes the love interest/second main character. The writer gets the idea that in order to write convincingly and interestingly about antisemitism, he must experience it first-hand. So he introduces himself to everyone he meets as a Jew and undergoes a rapid transformation.

The novel deals not only with antisemitism but also with other forms of prejudice, including racism and sexism. I especially enjoyed some of the nascent feminism, as the author gently drew us along with contemporary lines like, "I'm having people over tonight. A couple of girls and people." How great is that? The role of women's work in the running of a household provides an interesting background, as do the the characters' remarks about "womanish softness" of thought and "a vague resentment that it's a man's world."

But the parts that really stuck with me were about antisemitism and are equally relevant today, with our own various -isms. Prejudice comes in little "flicks" and "taps." "Rarely was the circumstance so arranged that you could fight back." "They gave you at once the wound and the burden of proper behavior toward it." There's a lot of discussion about "the complacence of essentially decent people about prejudice" and the question of whether it's gauche or required to make a scene and speak out against prejudice whenever you encounter it (even if it's at a formal dinner party with an important client).

All this unfolds as part of a love story between the writer and his editor's niece. She inspired the assignment and is passionately antisemitic . . . but perhaps she
has a different understanding of what antisemitism is and means and how best to respond. What brought the couple together eventually drives a wedge between them.

If you read - or have read - this one, please let me know; I'd love to discuss it with you! And if it doesn't sound like something you're willing to read, the novel inspired a movie by the same name, starring Gregory Peck.

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Sarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-52803642824921600912012-01-04T00:20:00.001-06:002012-01-04T00:20:10.388-06:00Beowulf on the Beach: What to Love and What to Skip in Literature's 50 Greatest Hits by Jack Murnighan

It took me more than two years to read this book, but don't let that scare you away. I think you should read it, too!

I loved this book. I didn't agree with the author about everything, but I did agree with him about a lot of things and I loved his passion for literature alongside his irreverent take towards it. This month, for Barrie Summy's Book Review Club, I'm discussing Beowulf on the Beach: What to Love and What to Skip in Literature's 50 Greatest Hits by Jack Murnighan.

Murnighan "has a Ph.D. in medieval and renaissance literature from Duke University. He is the author of The Naughty Bits and Classic Nasty and has written for Esquire, Glamour, and Nerve. He lives in New York City and teaches creative nonfiction at the University of the Arts."

I don't hold all that against him, though. He writes like a hip professor who really really wants to pass along not the IMPORTANT SYMBOLISM or CRITICAL HISTORICAL CONTEXT of classic literature but rather a love of reading great books along with an understanding of how to read "tough" books and why the effort is worthwhile.

The publisher's blurb:
Did anyone tell you that Anna Karenina is a beach read, that Dickens is hilarious, that the Iliad's battle scenes rival Hollywood's for gore, or that Joyce is at his best when he's talking about booze, sex, or organ meats?

Writer and professor Jack Murnighan says it's time to give literature another look, but this time you'll enjoy yourself. With a little help, you'll see just how great the great books are: how they can make you laugh, moisten your eyes, turn you on, and leave you awestruck and deeply moved. Beowulf on the Beach is your field guide–erudite, witty, and fun-loving–for helping you read and relish fifty of the biggest (and most skipped) classics of all time. For each book, Murnighan reveals how to get the most out of your reading and provides a crib sheet that includes the Buzz, the Best Line, What's Sexy, and What to Skip.

I found that if I tried to read the book straight through, the chapters and various classics began to bleed together. So I used it as my palate cleanser, reading a chapter or two between other books as I finished them.

And now I intend to start all over, using Beowulf on the Beach as a to-do list to fill in the gaps in my reading of the classics. I'm especially loving the "what to skip" bits, some of which confirm that a book that's supposed to be "great" but I have no interest in might not actually be so wonderful after all. (Murnighan has a theory that people like sets of three and sometimes an author or books is tossed in with two other, far greater works to make a complete set.)

My favorite part of the book is that Murnighan is so completely un-snobby about literature. He tells you everything you need to know about each book in order not to embarrass yourself at a literary cocktail party. And he also tells you what questions to ask to poke holes in the blowhard who quotes famous lines from books he probably hasn't read.

(Fourth Monday Book Club, this book is why we're reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude this month. I hear it's "the greatest novel of our era." And who can resist that?)

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Sarahlynnhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-30364971099577479952011-12-07T01:15:00.001-06:002011-12-07T01:15:03.004-06:00Ghost Story by Jim ButcherHey! This here's Barrie Summy's monthly book review club.

For next month my book club is reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. And that was my choice. But there's another reader inside me, too. And that reader likes to read fun books that are quick and consumable and exciting and pulpy and fun. Also, did I mention, fun?

That reader discovered Harry Dresden a few years ago. What's not to love? In Jim Butcher's contemporary urban fantasy series, Chicago looks much as it does today. Except that, in the Yellow Pages, there's a single listing for a "Professional Wizard." That's Harry Dresden, and he's an old-school private investigator who solves problems with little help from modern technology (electronics don't do so well around magic).

The novels might start like classic noir detective stories but soon the missing artifact or other de rigueur case turns out to have an occult twist. To sum up the awesomeness here, so far we have:
1) Funny series novels set in Chicago
2) Classic mystery set-up
3) Magic.

What's not to love? That's harder to put my finger on. But I found that I don't want to read two Dresden novels back-to-back. Butcher's voice grates on me after that and little . . . flaws? stylistic choices? character idiosyncrasies? . . . in the writing begin to call attention to themselves and draw me out of the story.

So I read the books one-at-a-time, with space between, because I really like to enjoy each one. These stories have it all: wizards, magical politics, faeries, goblins, trolls, zombies, vampires, werewolves, angels, priests, fighting, battles, war, romance, you name it and it's probably somewhere in this world. As an added bonus, the main characters are geeks.

Another benefit to the slow-read approach is that I didn't catch up to the author for a long time.

But when I finished Ghost Story (Book 13, naturally) last week, I was stuck. The next novel isn't due until next summer! And only one per year after that! Alas.

If the above description captures your interest, let me underscore that/reassure you in two ways: Butcher's writing improves as the series progresses, and the novels are better than the short-lived Sci Fi Channel series loosely based on the books.

If you've tried just one or two of the novels but haven't gotten hooked, I'd recommend perseverance. I was shocked - shocked! - at what happened in Changes (Book 12). It sent me scrambling for Side Jobs, an anthology of short stories and a novelette set between various novels in the series, as well as a novella set immediately after Changes. Then I rushed right into Ghost Story, which left me hanging deliciously.

I'm looking forward to book 14 - and it's worth noting that the author does have a planned story arc for the entire series, including an ending - but I think the first 11 novels, fun as they were, were worth reading as prelude alone for all the changes in books 12 and 13.

Recommended light holiday reading.

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Sarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-61910629138547113252011-06-14T00:12:00.001-05:002011-06-14T00:12:49.113-05:00Simple GiftsI used to have this idea about writing a novel called Simple Gifts about a child with special needs. I can't imagine writing that book, now or ever. Because the more I learn, the more it becomes apparent to me that there's nothing at all "simple" about a child with special needs.

Sarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-46114363240510600932011-06-01T00:44:00.001-05:002011-06-01T00:58:02.853-05:00Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

Every time I hear or see Sarah Vowell - as a contributor on NPR's This American Life or as a guest on The Daily Show - I want to read one of her books. But picking up a nonfiction book about American history is not my first inclination when I'm looking for a fun read.

This month I took the plunge into Vowell's Assassination Vacation. What better book for the beginning of vacation season? The book follows Vowell's road trips to sites associated with the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley.

Despite my reluctance to read history, I fully expected to love this book.

And I did enjoy it quite a bit.

The two reasons I didn't love the book as much as I expected to: in the prologue Vowell (quoting a friend) used the word "retarded" twice as a pejorative having nothing to do with people with intellectual disabilities. Yes, I'm hypersensitive about this issue. But it jarred me out of the (otherwise hilarious) narrative and got us off on the wrong foot.

A deeper "problem" with the book is Vowell's disjointed, stream-of-consciousness style. I love it and my brain often works the same way. But I found the plot (such as it is) hard to follow sometimes. Tangent split off from tangent and I dutifully followed Vowell's breadcrumb trail but in my sleep deprived state - I have a newborn baby! - I had a hard time finding my way back to the main narrative. (Are you picturing the birds of sleeplessness devouring bread crumbs? Because I am.)

Not being intimately familiar with all the characters (the assassins, their families, people near the Presidents at the time of the attacks, etc.) I occasionally had to stop and reorient myself. Wait. Who are we talking about again? And how does this relate?

But I am so so glad I read the book. I learned a ton - painlessly - and I took away something even more valuable. As an ignorant American (alas) I have little sense of historical time. I know that our nation's history is relatively short but thinking, "The Civil War was 150 years ago," didn't really mean much to me. That is, until I saw it this way:

Robert Todd Lincoln - the President's son - was an adult with an established career when his father was murdered. He was still practicing law when my grandparents were born. In fact he didn't die until they were adults. Wow, these are all current events when I think about it that way. And I didn't realize how recently we held public hangings in this country.

To sum up: Sarah Vowell is hilarious and it's worth the time to read or listen to her work whereever you find it. This is a good, interesting, and educational read. Vowell is passionate about American History - she considers it her religion - and she shares her excitement in a way that's quite infectious.

One additional caveat. Vowell wrote this book during the Iraq War and President G.W. Bush's second term. Assassination Vacation is very much a product of its own place in history; Vowell ties in current events and politics with the historical narratives, and she is very much a liberal.

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Sarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-29409794814443843642011-04-28T01:01:00.000-05:002011-06-01T01:01:38.740-05:00Not Writing, Still BusyWriting every day is important to me and it's not something I'm doing at present. The urge is still there. I abandon my bed, driven from potential (and much-needed!) sleep by the need to write. Ideas buzz around in my head, eager to be let out.

Then I sit at my computer and hear: the baby waking, an older child requesting assistance (or attention), the pug needing to go outside, my email inbox pinging and pinging and pinging, or just my carpets crying for merciful attention from the vacuum cleaner.

I jot down my thoughts in outline form, hoping to get back to "flesh them out" later. This process satisfies the urge to write but rarely (never) produces anything worth sharing.

Indeed, this is less than half the post it was intended to be. But Ada needs water for her paintbrush and lunch isn't putting itself on the table.

Looking back over our Picasa site for the last month, it appears that I haven't just been on a "babymoon." I did have a baby a month ago and he's rather the center of everything right now. (And rightly so!)

But I've also written a bunch of thank you notes, read several books, gone to book club twice, toured a local Frank Lloyd Wright house, assisted in homework-related projects, hosted lots of company, gone to church and related meetings (several), attended a reunion event, put together a Seder and Easter, taken the dog and child to the vet and pediatrician, respectively, and coordinated the first annual Paul invitational marathon and supported my husband's running in general. Not too shabby.

From Ellie's nonfiction writing project "How To Make Cornbread for Chili:"
  Sarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-59742691394486139592011-04-09T00:58:00.000-05:002011-06-01T00:59:34.097-05:00Permission to Change (Seasons)My apologies for the erratic weather we've had so far this year. I recently realized that it's all my fault.

See, in December a friend gave me a novel called Snow by Turkish author Orhan Pamuk. As I read it in fits and starts, it took me a really really long time to finish. But I'm finally done! And so now the snow can stop and spring can commence in earnest.

You're welcome.

As for why it took me so long to finish this book, well, that's all me I suppose. I kept flipping back to the front cover to verify that the seal on the front proclaiming, "Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature!" was still there and not just something I dreamed.

Later, I'd turn the book over and peruse the blurbs again. "One of the best books of the year" according to just about everyone from The New York Times Book Review to The Economist. Rave reviews from truly impressive people.

Repeatedly I read the jacket copy. "Slyly comic." Also, "humor," "wicked grin," etc.

I was excited to read this fabulous book, which came so highly recommended and is set in Turkey. (My in-laws lived in Turkey for years and my husband was actually born there; they returned to the states when his sister was ready for elementary school.)

But I just didn't get it. I didn't engage with the story, I didn't connect with the characters, and I felt frustrated by the pace. (The first day seemed to me like it must have been at least 48 hours long. Is Ka really in his late 30's as it appears? If so, how come the 17+ year age difference between close sisters Ipek and Kadife is never discussed?) I utterly missed the humor.

Obviously, this is all on me since apparently everyone else who's read Snow loved it. But I spent the first 200 pages trying to figure out why the author gave most of the unrelated main characters the same last name (Bey). Then I figured it must be a subtle comment on the provincial nature of Turkish society (the cerebral humor I'd been missing?). By page 300 I'd realized that "Bey" must be a sort of honorific (and it is). Some of my confusion might indeed have been cultural. I certainly feel like an uncultured ignoramus for my utter failure to appreciate this highly acclaimed novel.

But I finished it, and now it's spring!Sarahlynnhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-86225862841711467582011-04-05T23:22:00.001-05:002011-04-05T23:22:56.749-05:00Rope 'Em! by Stacy Nyikos

I love participating in Barrie Summy's Book Review Club, and I get especially excited when she asks for a volunteer to review a children's picture book. The last one I reviewed was An Apple Pie for Dinner, which is still a favorite of both my girls. So when Barrie asked if anyone was interested in reviewing a picture book by another member of the Book Review Club, Stacy Nyikos, I jumped at the chance. And I am very, very glad the author sent me a copy!

At first I was concerned. Amazon.com suggests the book for 9-12 year-olds, which seemed a bit old for a picture book. Would my 7- and 4-year olds enjoy the story or would it be too much for them?

As I started reading, I remained concerned. A lot of the book - which is hilarious, incidentally - is an extended pun I doubt my 4-year-old understood. It's a Western. Set underwater. At the "OK Coral." On every page I felt like there were at least two jokes I needed to explain in order for my children to "get" the story.

But I held off and just read the story, instead. And then I read it again. And again. And, later, again. When my Ada's preschool class started a unit on the ocean I allowed her to take the book with her to school to share with her friends. (Ada has a thing for the ocean and another current favorite picture book of both of my girls is a western: Susan Middleton Elya's Cowboy Jose.)

I'm probably underestimating my kids. I bet they do get the humor in a bull shark chasing cowfish. And what's not to love about a sea horse who's a champion herder?

I'm still not sure exactly what my girls like about this book. They can't quite articulate why it's so great, but they certainly ask for it at bedtime again and again. They love to hate the shark. They sympathize with the heros. And my preschooler is a big fan of the TEAMWORK message that ends the story and dovetails nicely with a concept emphasized at her school.

The writing is clever, and with all the puns there's plenty for 9-12 year-olds (and adults) to enjoy. But the story also works on a simpler level for younger children. There's not too much text on the page, and Bret Conover's illustrations are worth the journey through the book all by themselves.

I can tell you what I like about the book, but for a children's picture book I think the highest praise is when a child requests the book over and over. And that's certainly happening at our house. Cowboy José had to go back to the library yesterday, but we still have Rope 'Em and I know we'll read it again tomorrow!

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Sarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-54606937105883143872011-03-26T01:10:00.000-05:002011-06-01T01:12:16.685-05:00Anouncing. . .Theodore James
Born 3/25/11
Weight: 7 pounds, 13 ounces
Length: 22 inches

Mom and baby are doing great.

Sarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-82907507171263133882011-03-17T01:04:00.000-05:002011-06-01T01:05:12.273-05:00Where I WorkI have a corner office, but this isn't as glamorous as it sounds. For one thing, it's in a corner of my living room. For another, it's a bit drafty there near all the windows. And, possibly related to the draftiness, when it pours rain occasionally my to-be-filed pile gets completely soaked.

But the view and the light are lovely. Plus, I get to work in my pajamas and the commute can't be beat.

 Sarahlynnhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-16665505767717781482011-02-02T01:42:00.001-06:002011-02-02T10:10:44.776-06:00The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

This month for Barrie Summy's Book Review Club I'm discussing The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. My sister gave this novel to my husband a few years ago, insisting that he had to read it. He didn't. Eventually, I did. Now he has, too, and my book club was supposed to discuss it tonight. We didn't. In fact, we didn't even meet because of the thick sheet of ice dusted with new-fallen snow blanketing our corner of the Midwest.

So rather than discussing The Sparrow with friends over food and wine at my house (visual enjoyment only, in my case with the wine) instead I'm sitting in my pajamas - which I've been in for 24 hours straight - on my couch in my warm, clean house, writing about the book.

Some of the women in my book club don't read a lot of science fiction, so I tried to sell them on the idea of this book. "I'd like to suggest something speculative, if you're up for a bit of a journey. The genre for this one I'd call literary sci fi, though it's fairly near future and not too far out there." If we amend "literary sci fi" to "literary Jesuit sci fi," does that pique your interest?

The idea is this: when new lands and people are discovered, one of the first groups to get there, every time, have been the Jesuits. Why should space be any different?

I also linked to a reading group guide and this review:
"In clean, effortless prose and with captivating flashes of wit, Russell creates memorable characters who navigate a world of exciting ideas and disturbing moral issues without ever losing their humanity or humor. Both heartbreaking and triumphant, and rich in literary pleasures great and small, The Sparrow is a powerful and haunting book. It is a magical novel, as literate as The Name of the Rose, as farsighted as The Handmaid's Tale and as readable as The Thorn Birds."

to prove that the book is absolutely appropriate for a serious book club read.

Not that we only take on serious reads. After all, this group has read Twilight and Just Do It: How One Couple Turned Off the TV and Turned On Their Sex Lives for 101 Days (No Excuses!). But mostly we do read upmarket fiction, the kinds of new novels that come with discussion questions printed on the last pages and require long waits at the library.

Back to The Sparrow. It's a smart book, meaning that it's a book about smart people who don't try to pretend not to be smart. I like that. The characters aren't pretentious, they're just interested in learning stuff. And it's a book that pulls off that amazing storytelling trick of describing something horrific and then making it understandable and a lot harder to judge than you'd assume.

I'm generally not a fan of books that jump around in time, but this book is told in alternating chapters from the "present" (near future) and the future (slightly further near future). This structure works well for the novel because both time lines proceed chronologically and eventually meet. Needing to know how we could possibly get there from here drives the story.

I don't want to give too much away, especially since I went on to read the sequel (Children of God) which picks up where The Sparrow leaves off and almost feels like Part II of the same book. So I will close with this: The characters from Russell's novel felt real to me, and I wish that I knew some of them. The situations felt perfectly plausible - no mean feat in speculative fiction. The moral questions felt absolutely current and relevant and important. I love talking about this book with people (which is why I twisted arms to get my husband and one of my book clubs to read it).

Have you read it? What did you think?

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Sarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-56077858679877210992011-01-25T01:06:00.000-06:002011-06-01T01:07:01.587-05:00Mom JeansI'm thinking of a new book idea along the lines of "You Might Be a Redneck." Mine would be You Might Be a Mom and would have sections like, "You Know You're an At-Home Mom When..." "You Know You're a Work-at-Home Mom When..." and "You Know You're a Mom of Multiples When..."

Today's entry:

You know you're a stay-at-home mom when you save getting "dressed up" in blue jeans for special occasions like going out for coffee with girlfriends.

The leggings I wore all day today (before shimmying into sexy maternity jeans) are very comfortable and would have been just fine . . . if they weren't simultaneously too baggy everywhere and yet too short to meet up with my socks. Alas. None of those features (the fact that they're leggings and I no longer have "long" shirts, the fact that they're too big, the fact that they're too short) disqualifies them from being part of my regular pants rotation.

In fact, I put them right back on when I returned home from book club.Sarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-80762433706360905522011-01-10T01:07:00.000-06:002011-06-01T01:09:05.488-05:00CinemaSince television has been on hiatus since before Thanksgiving, and since I'm dealing with a case of post-holiday malaise (or at least ennui) I've been watching movies.

In the first three nights of 2011 Paul and I watched:

Spellbound (documentary about the National Spelling Bee)

Outsourced (indie comedy about a guy sent to India to train his replacement)

Twilight (yes, that Twilight).

Here's how I sold it to Paul.

Look, there were some things about the book that weren't so great. But I bet they don't plague the movie nearly as much. Here's the premise: it's set on the Olympic peninsula (which we love) in and near towns we've visited. There are lots of scenes hiking in the woods, up the mountains, and on the beach. (I've already piqued his interest.)

There's a "family" of vampires living there, and since they choose to hunt animals rather than people they can stick around in one place for longer without attracting uncomfortable notice. The "father" is a doctor and the five "kids" are in high school. When it becomes obvious that they're not aging normally, they'll move somewhere else where it's cloudy most of the year and start over as high school students again.

There's also an Indian reservation nearby and according to tribal legend they're descended from wolves and are ancient enemies with the vampires so there's some territorialism going on in addition to the rest of the vampires trying to pass as humans stuff. (It turns out that it wasn't the details here that caught Paul's attention, but rather the simple fact that there is any back story at all, something other than a flaky teen love story about romanticized vampires.)

Three big criticisms of the book are: vampires, teens, and bad writing/flat characters. The first two aren't really problems for us. (Hello, Buffy!) and the third was probably addressed by the screenwriter. Simply by virtue of having faces, the characters will be more real than in the book. We'll know what Edward looks like, not just that he's "perfect." Bella will most likely have some personality and actually interact with the world around her. And, best of all, there will be far less repetition than in the novel.

(He was actually interested in watching the movie at this point and voluntarily sat down on the couch without his laptop.)

Paul's comments: it wasn't bad. There was a lot of teen angst, not very much happened, and it needed a lot more editing. Some of the scenes really dragged and I didn't like the decision to have a narrator. But the premise was pretty good and interesting. If it hadn't been All About Bella, it could have been a good fantasy series.

My thoughts: Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. Also, the movie was structured better than the book. Almost from the very beginning we're aware of a foreign threat in town, killing people. In the novel, we meet the main antagonists, what, 2/3 or 3/4 of the way through? They fixed that plotting problem for the movie. The book was much more stream of consciousness/flow of the school year/life experienced along with the main character. The movie had a narrative arc and seemed, well, plotted.

As a writer it was fun to look at the differences between the book (to which I listened on iPod during a road trip) and the movie, to try to pick out what worked, what didn't, and why.

I can't say that I'm now a Twilight fan. For a good teen love story, show me Juno any time! But I did add New Moon and Eclipse to my Netflix queue.Sarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-9514332922329634522011-01-05T00:34:00.001-06:002011-01-05T00:34:23.051-06:00Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog

My parents have been married for over 40 years and they're still very happy together. But my mother once confessed to me that she fears she married my father under false pretenses. It started like this. When she was a sophomore in college my mother took a train to visit her older brother at seminary in Chicago. Her brother didn't have a car, so he asked his buddy to take him to go pick up his sister at Union Station.

From there my parents' relationship progressed mainly through letters. My father, a graduate student in his mid-twenties, enjoyed chess and philosophical debates. My mother, still at that time a teenager, wanted to impress him. So she worked hard on her letters and studied up on her philosophy. But considering the nature of things - Do universals exist, or only singular things? - is not a true interest of my mother's.

Fast forward, then, to last year when a woman in my book club began reading Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog. She enjoyed the novel very much and felt inspired to tackle several classics she'd missed along the way, including Anna Karenina. This caught my interest, because I was - and still am - reading Jack Murnighan's Beowulf at the Beach: What to love and What to Skip in Literature's 50 Greatest Hits. I too have been inspired to go back and pick up a few classics for fun.

But I needed a bit more motivation before launching into Tolstoy, to I eagerly borrowed The Elegance of the Hedgehog. (Some of the characters in the novel are big fans of 19th century Russian literature.) Unfortunately, I got to Murnighan's chapter on Flaubert's Madame Bovary at the same time I was beginning Hedgehog. I've read Madame Bovary at least twice, and I detest it. I'd rather shove toothpicks under my fingernails than read it again; the sensation is much the same. And this is how Murnighan starts his chapter on Flaubert:

"If you were to read them in quick succession, paying attention mostly to the plot (and nodding off now and then mid-sentence), you might not be able to tell Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina apart."

Enthusiasm for tackling Tolstoy: dashed.

But the premise of The Elegance of the Hedgehog grabbed me from the beginning so I persisted. A middle-aged French concierge pretends to be much less intelligent and cultured than she is to avoid notice from the tenants in her building. One of those tenants, an extremely bright and precocious 12-year-old girl, has decided that she doesn't ever want to be like the stupid grown-ups around her and is considering suicide. The story progresses through their journal entries. And I can't tell you how it ends, because I still have 50 pages left to read. (No spoilers, please!)

This is a very good novel, and an enjoyable read. Especially if you enjoy philosophy. I'm hesitant to talk too much about the language and writing, because I'm reading an English translation (the original is in French). And, frankly, I'm more like my mother in this way than I am like my father: lengthy philosophical debates are not my thing. I realize I've been sort of skimming for a few paragraphs, waiting for the plot to pick up again. Then I force myself to go back, reread slowly, and pay attention.

"Oh, you're reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog," my mother observed. "I did not enjoy that book. Too much philosophical pondering for me."

"I enjoyed it," my father replied mildly. "For pretty much the exact reasons your mother did not."

Barbery does not talk down to children, and she really gets that kids can understand a lot more than we give them credit for. I found 12-year-old Paloma pretty believable. In Beowulf at the Beach, on the other hand, Murnighan repeatedly insists that we ruin literature for people by forcing it onto high school kids who can't possibly understand it. Au contraire. In high school I read a lot of philosophy (and classical novels, too: Dickens, Austen, the Brontes, and so forth) and I loved it all, even when I hated it. I did understand Kant and Machiavelli and Marx and Descartes and Plato. In fact, I read and understood and pondered and cared so much more then than I do now, when my mind is full of more pressing concerns like remembering to change the ceiling fans from their summer to winter settings. I'm no longer willing to work so hard to pull meaning from the text.

So. Can't talk about the ending, can't talk about the writing, can't talk about the philosophy, and yet I've written a terribly long review anyway. I'll conclude with this:

The Elegance of the Hedgehog is a novel about people who like discussing literature and philosophy. But even if you haven't read Tolstoy and don't enjoy pondering the existence of universality, it's still a good story. And it's a book about smart people hiding their intelligence to avoid notice but eventually recognizing each other and making connections despite the barriers imposed by class, station, age, and race. And that is the story I loved to read.

This review is part of the January meeting of Barrie Summy's Book Review Club. More reviews here:

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Sarahlynnhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-37844920745272916672010-12-01T09:12:00.001-06:002010-12-01T09:12:54.729-06:00Burning Kansas by Sara Paretsky

This month for Barrie Summy's Book Review Club I'm writing about Sara Paretsky's Bleeding Kansas.

I have a bit of a thing for V.I. Warshawski, and to tell the truth I have a bit of a thing for her creator, Sara Paretsky, too. I'm a member of Sisters in Crime, a group Paretsky founded, and I've heard her speak in person. All of this increased my admiration for Paretsky and her work.

So when I heard that she had written a new novel - not a mystery and not starring Warshawski - I was intrigued. Especially because it's set in Kansas. Hey, I lived in Kansas for 11 years. Now she really had my attention. (Paretsky grew up in Kansas, too.)

So I bought the book for my dad (also a Paretsky/Warshawski fan) as a thank you gift for driving to Inconvenient, Illinois to pick up my girls' new bike and saving us $150 in shipping costs.

Naturally, I read the book before gifting it. What, you don't do that? Oh. Well, I do. Just as naturally, he already owned the book and had really enjoyed it.

Which is good, because I was sort of "meh" about it. Paretsky is a wonderful writer. I just had trouble connecting with any of the characters in this novel, by which I mean that I didn't really like anybody. Perhaps I was in a crabby mood that week. But by page 200 I was caught up enough in the story that I barely minded that I didn't care very much about the characters. Parts of the novel read a bit heavy, like a massive information dump. Fortunately, the history was pretty interesting and I enjoyed it. (Reading Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson prepped me by giving me background on the anti-slavery politics of Civil War-era Kansas.)

So, to conclude: if you like history, you might check this out. If you're interested in pioneers and settlers and the history of slavery in our country, you might find this interesting. If you'd like a picture of non-cookie-cutter politics in America's heartland today, you might check this out. But if you're a Paretsky/Warshawski fan looking for the sort of hard-boiled Chicago P.I. page turner we're both used to, well, you won't really find that here.

(Note: this novel was new in 2008. I'm a little behind. And the Amazon reviews are humorously mixed.)

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Sarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-63528739013239812102010-11-30T09:13:00.000-06:002010-12-01T09:14:11.266-06:00Wheel of TimeIf I were going to review Towers of Midnight - which I'm not - this is what I'd say:

Sanderson continues to do a very good job with the imposing task he was given.

It's a good book, a compelling read, a solid installment in the series.

It's nice to see the characters finally maturing, accomplishing things, working together, and getting along.

However, there's perhaps a bit too much of that. I like it, but it seems a bit too pat to me. Jordan didn't write characters standing around camp fires singing Lean On Me very often. His characters were frequently unreasonable. And these are still his characters . . . still, we had to work toward the ending eventually and this is satisfying.

Sanderson is working very quickly and effectively, keeping up with his own projects while making deadlines on The Wheel of Time stuff too. But . . . his prose lacks a little something that Jordan's had. I like the way Sanderson brings pieces together, ties up loose ends, and gets things done. I don't mind an occasional typo. But the split infinitives and clunky grammar wore on me in this book, especially when an educated person was speaking in an otherwise rather highbrow fashion. Minor complaint but not insignificant, to me.

Finally, I'd rather laugh with Mat than at him, wish the author had dialed that back a bit.

But all that's if I were going to review the book. And I'm not going to do that.Sarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-3587389438546975142010-11-10T09:15:00.000-06:002010-12-01T09:17:13.572-06:00Writers WriteHere is the sentence I worked on - in my head - for an hour last night while awake with a sick child.

"As it turned out, Tuesday morning's breakfast buffet at the Sugar Maple B&B was far more deadly than usual, though it took quite a while for anyone to notice."

I'm still waffling about the first bit and keep taking it out then putting it back in. They're unnecessary words. So they should go. But I like the tone and voice they suggest.

Obviously I tend toward verbosity.Sarahlynnhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-71960731038369401282010-09-02T09:16:00.000-05:002010-12-01T09:16:43.439-06:00Reading and CookingOver the past week or two I've read:

Like mother, like daughter!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

March by by Geraldine Brooks

The Heretic's Daughter by by Kathleen Kent

Sanctuary of Outcasts by by Neil White

Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher

probably a couple more I've forgotten,

like Case Histories by Kate Atkinson,

and gotten ahead on my Newsweeks.

This one, too.

One of Ellie's all time favorite dishes is pearled couscous and she's always thrilled to help prepare it. Also served with this meal: Greek salad, spanakopita, and roasted chicken and potatoes seasoned with basil and rosemary. (I didn't make the spanakopita from scratch; that would have cut too far into my reading time!)Sarahlynnhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-8173695771551636262010-09-01T00:48:00.001-05:002010-09-01T00:48:18.163-05:00The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

This week for Barrie Summy's Book Review Club I've chosen The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

"Sarahlynn - See what you think? Carol"

Perhaps every other book club in America has read this novel sometime in the past two years, but neither of mine did. I'd never heard the title until my mother-in-law passed the paperback to me. We're both avid readers, but our tastes don't always overlap (hooray Diana Gabaldon!) so I wasn't sure what to expect. And I waited about a year before picking it up.

Then I really really enjoyed it.

As a fledgling writer who never seems to get quite as much writing accomplished as I set out to do, I was touched by the author's story. Mary Ann Shaffer wrote for years and years and years, probably her whole life. She belonged to writer's groups and researched and wrote diligently. But she never finished a book to her satisfaction until this one, which she sold when she was 74 years old. She died before the final requested rewrite, and her niece - also an author - finished the project. Both of their names appear on the cover.

But I read all that later, after I'd finished the book and needed to know more about who wrote it. The book itself - the story, the writing, the characters, the style - grabbed me and made me not want to finish.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a novel told in letters between an immediately post-World-War-II English author and her friends. Right off the bat, this is not a subject that causes my breath to quicken (except, perhaps, in hasty retreat).

But the main character, Juliet Ashton, has a voice I simply adored. I want to be her friend. I want her to be alive and real today so that I can be her pen pal. I'll even learn to respond to letters, I promise!

The novel tells the story of the German occupation of the British Channel Islands (between England and France) during the Second World War. No, but really. The history just provides fascinating snippets scattered along the way of the real stories, all of which were far more personal. Individual growth, relationship building, priority setting, and even a mystery.

I have no idea how Shaffer and Barrows managed to write about such sad, indescribably painful, terrible things without making light of them but while still keeping a bright, funny tone to the novel. That feat alone was masterful. While some of the letters were extremely hard to read, I always ended up laughing somewhere along the way. And since there are no chapters, just a series of letters, naturally I read straight through to the end. It's a quick read.

Carol, I enjoyed this one very much; thank you for encouraging me to read it!

--Sarahlynn

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Sarahlynnhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062509692590998754.post-10760442614808345012010-07-15T23:27:00.001-05:002010-07-15T23:27:30.994-05:00Fun Site

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Sarahlynnhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
1. The 'Tinder fear' is real.
Walking into a bar and scouting the room for 'matches' is a familiar problem when you go out.
2. Actually bumping into someone you've matched with at a bar.
What will your friends say? You told them you'd deleted it months ago and you were totally not prepared for this face-to-face encounter.
3. Leaving your phone out is a nightmare
Leaving your phone out when you're at work, at a bar, at dinner or even on a date is a nightmare scenario. You do not want your friends/colleagues/family seeing the 'you've got a new match' notification. That would be mortifying.
4. Your non-single friends wanting to 'have a go' on Tinder.
Then stitching you up and swiping right on all the creeps. Yeah, thanks guys.
5. Admit it
You've got pins and needles in your thumb before from all the swiping.
6. Wondering if you'll ever meet anyone decent on there.
You've been on dates, you've got over 100 matches, you've tried sprucing up your profile yet here you are on Friday night alone with your finger hovering over the app icon yet again…
7.…The app you've deleted and downloaded again about three times now
Each time swearing that you were 'done' with Tinder for good. No, really guys this time I really mean it. Or not.
8. You've contemplated just saving a standard response in your notes
Saying, 'Hi I'm good thanks, you? I work at … My hobbies include…' because it's inevitable you'll be asked that with every new match. That, or a hilariously witty (read: cringe-inducing) chat up line.
9. The chat up lines.
Original they may be, but you wonder how people actually bring themselves to use them. Though you may have laughed once or twice. Secretly.
10. Gearing yourself up for yet another date
…and yet another disappointment.
11. Your match doesn't look like their pics
Yes, it's funny how he forgot to mention he was 5'2" anywhere in all of our messages. Or how she's put on 2 stone since the photos were taken in her profile.
12. Vowing to give up dating for a month.
13. OK a week. Yes, let's not be too hasty now.
Plus that new match looks pretty dreamy!
14. Your friends assume every notification on your phone is from Tinder.
Admittedly, it is or your new Tinder flame Whatsap-ing you, but still. You'd rather they had a little faith in you having a life.
15. But…
Though that's a tad difficult when you spend roughly over an hour on there every time you go on it.
16. Your boss catching you swiping at work.
More than once. Oops!
17. You're so addicted…
That swiping when you're sitting on the toilet is now a routine
18. Your phone should be taken off you when you've had one too many drinks
because you've decided to drunkenly message to your last 12 matches. 'Hey! What are you up to tonight?', or sometimes worse. Oh dear.
19. Totally not believing yourself when you tell your friends 'it's just a bit of fun'.
You've definitely already pictured cosy nights in on the sofa with your new beau – who probably won't last more than three dates in reality.
20. But you just can't bring yourself to get rid of it for good
because let's face it: it's a major ego boost, it can be fun, you've discovered at least five new bars that you'd totally visit again, how else could you find a date in your PJs?!
Oh, Tinder. We love you really!


text:
Yaniv Shabo, Partner
Yaniv practices primarily in the areas of media and telecommunications, real estate and litigation. As part of his practice, Yaniv provides legal advice to major public and private corporations and institutions in all aspects of their activities, including specifically tenders, intellectual property, contracts and other commercial matters. He received an LL.B. in 2009 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he was awarded the Ruth and David Bauer Award for Academic Achievement. He joined Ephraim Abramson & Co. in 2009 after completing his internship with the firm, and is a Partner in the firm from 2017.
Admitted: Israel (2009)
Languages: Hebrew and English
Email: email@example.com
Practice Areas: Media and Telecommunications, Commercial/Real Estate, Litigation.


text:
Tool Lending Program
The heart of the ToolBank is our tool lending program. Qualifying partner organizations have year-round access to our inventory of tools and equipment for a nominal fee. ToolBank tools are only available to organizations whose work benefits our shared community. Examples of the types of organizations we empower are:
- Nonprofit/Charitable/Tax exempt organizations
- Schools and PTAs/PTOs
- Neighborhood associations
- Faith-based groups
- Civic organizations
- Government agencies
ToolBank tools are inexpensive, convenient, and fully functional, maximizing our partners' financial and human resources by empowering them to increase community engagement and achieve their most ambitious community goals.
How It Works
- Become a ToolBank Member Agency: First time borrowers must complete our brief online membership application before they can borrow tools. There is no membership fee. This process captures documentation of their not-for-profit status and creates a user account in our online tool ordering system.
- Submit a Tool Order: Agency logs in to their ToolBank account and submits a tool order online.
- Pick Up Tools: Agency picks up their tool order at the ToolBank at their scheduled pickup time. ToolBank staff and volunteers have already prepared the order in advance and help the agency load tools and equipment into their vehicle. ToolBank staff provides agency with usage and care guidelines and an itemized receipt.
- Return Tools: After the completion of the project, the agency returns borrowed tools at the scheduled return time. ToolBank staff and volunteers assist agency in unloading tools and check tools back into inventory.
Fee Structure
Agencies are required to pay a tool handling fee to borrow ToolBank tools and equipment.
Tool Handling Fee = 3% of the retail value of each tool borrowed x # of weeks borrowed
For example, an agency borrows 30 rakes for 1 week. Rakes are valued in our tool ordering system at $15.13 each. The tool handling fee for 1 rake is $0.4539 per week. The total tool handling fee is $13.62 for 30 rakes.
$13.62 = 15.13 x 0.03 x 30 x 1
In addition to tool handling fees, agencies may also incur late fees, replacement fees or cleaning fees – all of which are easily avoidable. To learn more about our fees and other policies specific to our tool lending program, check out our Tools & Fees page.


text:
By Md. Moshfaqur Rahman
Losing crops is very common with food and other things in a natural disaster. This age, we are all facing this; so why not use the disaster as option. I choose flood to turn it to option. Flood supports surface recharge with vegetation and many other factors. If we coordinate this with management then it becomes valuable. There are two types of flood, regular and flash flood. My test scenario will be Bangladesh, because of the geophysical position – introduce with other tech & solutions. Also if any foundations and research groups want to work, my platform can help.
Key Words: Flood, management, tech solution and turning to option
Flood is a common hydrological event with lots of aspects, so narrowing it to just a disaster is not the way we should look. Recent flood events in England and USA, 2015 are for controlling the river with structural solutions; that invites real estate & other investment next to river overflows with disaster-flood. We need to use river bank because of overcrowded people in this globe. Bangladesh here is over populated; land needs to be reserved for agriculture, but often can't due to urbanization, erosion and dryness. Representation of modern world; here we create but embrace vulnerability.
Now think to use flood as a market a try to become less vulnerable with option from market system; a system we all inhabit and rely on. Flood disaster management is just a response based approach – so people suffer more. Also NGOs format is for a rapid touch with relief products. But can't support in long term; meanwhile those people have skills but never get market access to sell it. This dynamics hurts too those economies, even richest ones fall down.
Meanwhile floods can be forecast globally with remote sensing products from NASA.gov; there is lots of potential free to access sources. This is a tech solution; yet not introduced. Here many options will enhance for tech solution that big investors can work. This will be a living with environment and use it on purpose. It will create a market; then a disaster turns into a market.
Flash and regular Flood
Hydrologically they both have similarity and dissimilarity; most of those are very much classic academic debate. Can say eggs and chickens for our purpose; my interest is getting chicken fried and egg omelet. The tech solution is fading for academic debate – this needs to be put in place and market tested. This way further academic debate can be avoided; in market academicians don't work, nor do NGOs and Humanitarian organs. This keeps opening the market for applied science products & solutions.
There are many applied science products like remote sensing, applied seismology and many others that can be introduced. Also the third world is not a proper user of agrometric products; there is a backlash there. These regions remain poor for not using these products. Also rich countries have no option but to donate, another hamper for own economy. Market centric attitudes can overcome this.
To read entire article, click here
About the Author
Md. Moshfaqur Rahman, from Bangladesh, has interest in corporate, government & emerging technologies. He has Bachelor & Masters degrees in Social Sciences – major Political Science – and is a regular writer on public policy. He is owner of Freelance Researcher in Social Sciences, a small company enlisted to the American Geophysics Union and United Nations. Working to create market for applied science products in third world. Arunima Appt. F#C3, 36/7/B, Shahalibag (Dhankhetermor), Mirpur-1, Dhaka-1216, Bangladesh. Email: [email protected]; mob: +8801817622273.Public profileat http://bd.linkedin.com/pub/moshfaqur-rahman/31/70a/877


text:
The Study was established in January 1972 as a Nursery School in Golf Links. Its Founder Director, Mrs. Hemant Pasrich, brought Canadian expertise and the Froebel method of teaching to India after teaching in Canada for more than half a decade.
Mrs. Pasrich taught Jr. and Middle school level at The Study in Canada and was later inspired to start a school of her own in India.
Association with The Study, Montreal has been sustained over the years as they have invited Mrs. Pasrich back to teach for short periods.


text:
- edited description
assigned issue to
Incorrect key caused by OTP-Sharp base32 encoding problem. (Key Must be Uppercase?)
I was having trouble getting KeeOtp to match what Google Authenticator was saying. Additionally when entering the key using the configuration form, it kept getting changed to all 7's when I would later go back to look at the key. After downloading the OTP-Sharp package and comparing what it was showing with Authenticator and looking at the key it was generating, I noticed that it was using an all uppercase key. Out of a whim, I changed my google 2 step key into uppercase and put it in KeeOtp, and this seemed to make everything sync.
If indeed it needs to be all uppercase, the program should change that for you, as Google presents the key in lowercase on their 2-step page.
Comments (13)
The base32 decoder does generate an all uppercase output, but it accepts lowercase input. It will change it to uppercase for re-display and re-encoding from the original value, but that doesn't change the value. Base32 treats uppercase and lowercase the same. I tried to re-produce this problem by putting lowercase values in. While it did change the key to uppercase, it generated the same number either way. I couldn't get it to change the key to all 7's at least not simply by entering lowercase keys. 7 is the last value in the base32 character set. I am wondering if this is some kind of overflow in the base32 decoding.
There is a subtle bug in the encoding of base32 (but not decoding).
This has to do with edge cases (like 7's). I am betting that the key was put in correctly (Case isn't an issue), edited and improperly re-encoded, then the improperly encoded key was saved in the KeePass DB resulting in an incorrect code. I am looking into the encoding bug now.
- changed status to on hold
A bug with this issue will be added to the OTP-Sharp library (where the bug lives). This bug will be resolved when the problem in the underlying library is fixed.
- marked as blocker
This issue will be resolved in the OTP-Sharp bug.
- changed status to open
- changed title to Incorrect key caused by OTP-Sharp base32 encoding problem. (Key Must be Uppercase?)
- marked as trivial
Porting the base32 implementation in the Google Authenticator android app to C# yields the same results as the base32 implementation that is currently in OTP-Sharp. This may not be a bug. Downgrading the priority.
- changed status to invalid
The base32 encoding problem turned out to be a wild goose chase caused by an incorrect assumption. The uppercase/lowercase problem that was reported wasn't able to be reproduced.
- Log in to comment


text:
The average person has had little experience dealing with trust and often has many questions on becoming a trustee for the first time.
Through our experience in helping people administer trusts, we have found that many individuals have unreasonable expectations concerning the way revocable trust operate following a death. It is true that a revocable trust in many cases drastically reduces the costs and delays involved in passing on assets at death. A revocable trust accomplishes this feat by avoiding probate.
However, even without a probate, many administrative chores have to be completed, e.g., legal documents prepared, tax returns filed, and other matters addressed that take time and cost money.
What's important?
The trustee will require a trusted attorney to help administer the trust. By hiring our firm, you will remove the stress, confusion and mitigate mistakes commonly made by those that do not hire an attorney.
What is the process for a successor trustee following the detail of the trustor under a revocable living trust?
1. It is very important that you read and understand the terms of the trust and contact any named co-trustees.
2. You will need to give written notice of the living trust to trust beneficiaries, the descent's heirs at law and contingent heirs.
3. Organize a preliminary inventory of the trust assets with estimated values.
4. Organize meetings with legal, financial, real estate or tax professionals. You will need to get an accurate valuation on the assets, making sure that all assets are properly titled in the trust.
5. Organize and collet death benefits, prepare and file tax returns, pay bills and prepare a final accounting statement.
6. And finally, distribute trust assets according to the terms of the trust
Special Circumstances
There is also a popular misconception that the existence of a revocable trust avoids all possibility of court involvement. This is true (in part) only if all of the Settlor's assets were properly funded into the revocable trust. For example, if assets held outside the trust exceed $150,000 in gross value, a probate will be required for those assets in order for you, as Trustee, to collect those assets and add them to the trust.
Moreover, if at any time a beneficiary of the Trust believes that the Trustee has acted improperly or without regard for the beneficiary's interests, the beneficiary may file a petition with the court to force the Trustee to make a full report and account or to redress an alleged breach of trust, including removal of the Trustee or surcharge against the Trustee.
Finally, circumstances may arise in which there are questions about whether the Trustee should or should not take certain actions (e.g., selling a business interest or real property, commencing litigation). In such cases, it may be advisable for the Trustee to petition the court for instructions whether to proceed in a certain way. The beneficiaries will be given notice of the hearing and will be given a copy of the petition that describes the proposed action. The matter will then be addressed in open court, and the beneficiaries will have an opportunity to appear in court and be heard. By obtaining an order from the court in this manner, the Trustee may be able to cut off the beneficiary's right to complain about the particular action if her or she fails to appear in court. Such a petition provides protection for the Trustee if there is a fear that the Trustee's decision will be second-guessed by a beneficiary. Also, if relations between the Trustee and the beneficiaries are hostile, it may be advisable for the Trustee to seek court approval of the Trustee's accounts to minimize potential arguments with the beneficiaries.
Please call today to schedule a free consultation


text:
Home » NFL - Super Bowls
IMPORTANT! Once you have found which
framing option you like please
select it below before you click buy.
Also select the size before submitting it.
Look above to see which frame and mat you wish to choose.
If you have a dial up and it is taking too long to process or you are having loading errors you should click Here
Super Bowl 46 -XLVI- 2012 - Celebration.
SP_NFL_075 This panoramic photo taken at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana on February 5, 2012 after New York's victory over New England. New York Giants 21 vs. New England Patriots 17. These panoramic photographs are each individually signed by the photographer. This is a photograph printed on photographic paper and thus shows a great deal of detail not seen here. 9.5 inches tall by 36 inches long.
Examples of the quality of our photographs can be seen here. At LaPayne Photography, we give you quality and strive for your satisfaction. Price: $69.00
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text:
I'm a part of a big competition on Fashiolista and I need your "heart" to be the winner! Please vote me by clicking here and add a heart on my picture! One of you guys will have the chance to fly to NY during the Fashion Week! Don't lose the oportunity!!! Thank you so much :) xx
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Monday, 20 August 2012
Love Me To NY
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The Incentive for Tax Planning
The Incentive for Tax Planning
Journal of Accounting and Economics.
2011, Vol. 53, Issue 1–2, Pages 391-411
We use a proprietary data set with detailed executive compensation information to examine the relationship between the incentives of the tax director and GAAP and cash effective tax rates, the book-tax gap, and measures of tax aggressiveness. We find that the incentive compensation of the tax director exhibits a strong negative relationship with the GAAP effective tax rate, but little relationship with the other tax attributes. We interpret these results as indicating that tax directors are provided with incentives to reduce the level of tax expense reported in the financial statements.


text:
(guest post by Mellissa Flores)
When Kim first introduces the subject of her herd helping with their therapy, what is their reaction?
Some people come wanting to do the horses and for people that don't, even if we are just going to sit and talk, we still do so at the barn. And generally, if they have an interest or they are intrigued, then we'll go from there.
I really don't demand or try to get people to do that. But sometimes if they are working on an issue, I say, "you know, would you consider trying this with a horse?" if I think it would be appropriate.
~ Kim Cardeccia, M.A., L.P.C.
Would you say yes to a helpful healing horse?


text:
By BlueBirdWings - / Tuesday 6 March 2012 07:20 / Canada
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Top comments
By brewmasterg | 34
...Why were you approaching a kiss with your mouth open? Are you a lamprey?
KeyboardWarrior | 10
If he wasn't trained to help, or he panicked and didn't know what to do, the best he could've done is slap her back or call someone. However, if you were alone I'm sure you wouldn't call the ambulance as soon as somebody starts choking, so that explains why he wouldn't call.
KeyboardWarrior | 10
Oh 18 beat me to it. Sorry for stealing your spotlight!
comedybreak | 20
Anyone else think it would be funnier if she was allergic to fruit ?
ifoundalaska | 11
Slapping her on the back would only lodge it further down in her throat.
MerrikBarbarian | 9
47 is correct 17. Never ever slap someone who is choking on the back. If they are still breathing all slapping them on the back does is make them inhale sharply, lodging the item further in their throat. So long as the person is breathing ok, leave them be. If breathing becomes labored, use the himlech maneuver to help them cough it out. If they lose consciousness call 911
waswashere | 0
I hate to be the ass that asks, but what is a kool fruit?
_Oblivion_ | 12
Well by the description it sounds like a tasty fruit snack
22- they are fruits that are kool.
widdizzles | 0
Really 34? I sooooo did not know that
icecreamdriveby | 5
Kool Fruits are like the fruit flavoured mentos, only in little balls.. I'm not sure if its just an Australian candy..
42- maybe I wasn't talking to you?
42- maybe I wasn't talking to you.
ifoundalaska | 11
Probably not 44- op appears to be Canadian. Those do sound delicious.
MissLizWolf | 8
I'm Aussie and I've never heard of them...
icecreamdriveby | 5
They're made by Allens, which I'm pretty sure is an Australian company
iamyummylicious | 14
By brewmasterg | 34
...Why were you approaching a kiss with your mouth open? Are you a lamprey?
angeljewlz | 7
*googles lamprey*
angeljewlz | 7
Now I wish I hadn't... Almost lost my breakfast when I saw a picture of "lamprey disease"
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text:
The decision to sell gold comes back to haunt Britisch Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The Telegraph writes:
The decision to sell the gold – taken by Mr Brown when he was Chancellor – is regarded as one of the Treasury's worst financial mistakes and has cost taxpayers almost £7 billion.
Mr Brown and the Treasury have repeatedly refused to disclose information about the gold sale amid allegations that warnings were ignored.
Following a series of freedom of information requests from The Daily Telegraph over the past four years, the Information Commissioner has ordered the Treasury to release some details. The Treasury must publish the information demanded within 35 calendar days – by the end of April.
The sale is expected to be become a major election issue, casting light on Mr Brown's decisions while at the Treasury.
Last night, George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, demanded that the information was published immediately. "Gordon Brown's decision to sell off our gold reserves at the bottom of the market cost the British taxpayer billions of pounds," he said. "It was one of the worst economic judgements ever made by a chancellor.
This 'worst economic judgement' ever made by a chancellor is also know as Brown's bottom. The issues has been around for some time but is discussed today on Jesse's Café Américaine and on Zero Hedge. I appreciate both blogs and am an avid reader of their posts, which I think are mostly exceptional. I also do think that this issue needs to be investigated fully.
However, I am concerned about the timing of this bubbling up now. I am not a fan of Gordon Brown's, but I think their might also a smear campaign be going on here. If you can hit Brown shortly before the general election you will also hit Labour, and you are sure to hand victory to the Tories. It would be sad to see, if it were to turn out that widely read and respected bloggers let themselves be instrumentalised.
Depending on your personal preferences you will either appreciate if Labour were to lose the election or you will not. I am not British, so I don't vote there, however my heart is with true (not new) Labour.


text:
A laundry room is available 24-hours a day on the ground or first floor of each residence hall cluster, academic affinity, special interest and College-owned undergraduate society or Greek letter organization house.
The cost is $1.25 to wash and $1.25 to dry and can be paid for with quarters and/or Dartmouth Card. Click here for washing machine and dryer instructions and other laundry tips. (LINK NOT WORKING)
Last Updated: 11/9/16