text:
Shiver me timbers
R.L. Stine, author of the beloved "Goosebumps" series of creepy, crawly stories, is heading to "HorrorLand." The ghoulish theme park will be the springboard for 12 new tales, with Scholastic Books planning to release the first two next April.
The "HorrorLand" series will include new characters and revive some "Goosebumps" villains. Each story will stand on its own, but an overarching mystery will be threaded through the dozen books.
Stine's "Goosebumps" series has sold more than 300 million copies since it debuted in 1992. As part of its marketing push, Scholastic plans to reissue the books with new cover illustrations and launch specialized websites to complement each story.
— Kristina Lindgren5/18/07
Around the world in 42 days
Feeling hemmed in lately? Maybe you want to pick up a copy of the recently re-released classic by Frenchman Xavier de Maistre, "Journey Round My Room." It tells of the author's imaginary journeys during his house arrest for 42 days as a punishment for dueling while serving as an officer in the Piedmontese army.
Confined to his Turin quarters for six weeks, De Maistre (1763-1852) counts the 36 paces of the room's border and then starts exploring the items within it and examining their significance upon his life. He writes about lessons he's learned from his servant and his dog, frequent visitors. At times, he uses his armchair as a proto-Segway, tipping it backward, forward and sideways to help spur his imagination. Taking armchair travel to a new level, he comments upon the pictures on his walls, the view outside and just about anything else that comes to mind. And a lot comes to his mind. The book features echoes of Laurence Sterne's "Tristram Shandy," acccording to the publisher, Arion Press.
The book's run is limited to 300 numbered copies, with photographs of models of the room taken with a cellphone camera by architect Ross Anderson. An additional 30 copies come in a special boxed set, designed by Anderson, with the box evoking the apartment and portholes to peek inside representing the windows. Welcome to the examined life.
— Orli Low5/18/07
Celebrating Studs
Studs Terkel turns 95 today, and to honor him, the New Press has reissued "The Studs Terkel Reader: My American Century" (with a new foreword by Calvin Trillin), featuring selections from the many oral records that he has created during his career. His memoir, "Touch and Go," is scheduled to be published by the press in November.
That's not all, though. The publisher has also set up a Studs link where people can post tributes and read a variety of quirky entries about him and find unexpected features, including his favorite martini recipe or a link to buy red socks online like the ones Terkel wears. The New Press announced in its press materials that a skywriter was chartered to fly over Chicago at 11 a.m. today and write "Happy 95th B-Day Studs Terkel" above the city Terkel has called home since childhood.
— Nick Owchar5/16/07
No spoilers, pleaseScholasticAt the Leaky Cauldron, one of the preeminent Harry Potter websites, you can be assured of one thing about the forthcoming "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows": No leaks about the novel will be tolerated. The website has posted a strident warning that anyone sending on a spoiler could find themselves in legal hot water. So, if a copy of the book miraculously lands in your hands early, the message is clear: Keep it to yourself! That's also the message that J.K. Rowling herself has issued, .
— Nick Owchar5/15/07
Tour without end
Thriller writer J.A. Jance stopped by Book Review on Monday after delivering the keynote speech for this year's Festival of Women Authors. This sold-out event, hosted by UC Irvine, drew 500 readers to hear Jance, Cristina García, Carolina Aguilera-Garcia and other authors, as well as a panel on Nancy Drew.
Although Jance is successful enough to enjoy some perks -- a corporate jet, for instance, to make it easier to zip in and out of appearances -- she has no intention of relaxing any time soon. Even with a lucrative new deal with Touchstone, and with her 35th novel, "Justice Denied," about to be published, she says the lesson she's followed since her first books appeared in the mid-1980s is simple: One needs to always be out there, seeking new audiences.
"You can't stay in your rooms, like a hermit, and expect people to find your book," she says. "Even if I show up for a reading and I find only two people sitting in the room, it's worth it."
Some novelists shrink at the idea of continual promotion. But with publicity departments devoting most of their resources to only a hand-picked few titles each season, what choice do authors have?"Who knows my books better than myself?" Jance asks. "It makes sense that I should promote them. To anyone who doesn't want to do that, I have one thing to say: Stop your whining."
Jance has a few more events scheduled here and in Washington state over the next couple weeks; and then, she says, she'll finally take a break. For how long? Just until July, when the tour for her new book begins.
— Nick Owchar5/15/07
Down, but not out
The national slump in retail sales may have slammed bookstores too, but some independent sellers are seeing signs of hope.
"I'm really heartened," said Allison Hill, vice president and general manager of Vroman's Bookstore. "Eric Schlosser was here, and we had hundreds of schoolchildren who were dying to meet him."
Schlosser, author of the bestseller "Fast Food Nation," was on hand Friday to sign copies of "Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food," written with Charles Wilson and aimed at the teen and preteen audience. An even bigger draw for the Pasadena bookstore was the May 7 appearance of "Fight Club" author Chuck Palahniuk, who signed books until 2 a.m. the next morning for a crowd of 700 people who'd come to buy his latest, "Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey."
"Talk about author as rock star," Hill said of Palahniuk. "Some people had driven for six hours to wait in line all day and all night to get their book signed. The average age was 20 -- the demographic that people say aren't reading books. I heard people in line say to him, 'You got me reading.' "
Indeed, challenged by the author's website, several dozen people -- women and men -- turned out in wedding gowns to win a mystery prize. "He also gave out inflatable moose heads if you knew some of the trivia or characters from his books," Hill said.
Overall bookstore sales plummeted 6.8% in March, marking the third consecutive month of declines, according to Publisher's Weekly and the U.S. Census Bureau. Overall, sales for the first quarter of 2007 were down 4% to $4.19 billion.
At Dutton's Brentwood Books, owner Doug Dutton said sales have generally been flat, with only a few breakout books generating reader interest, including Walter Isaacson's "Einstein: His Life and Universe." Dutton said that hoped-for interest in former CIA Director George Tenet's book hasn't materialized but that "The Yiddish Policemen's Union," Michael Chabon's newest novel, "is as hot as it gets."
Sales at Vroman's were up in March, but Hill conceded that business has been relatively flat over the last year, thanks in part to the myriad options available today for people to get information and entertainment. The trick, Hill said, is to reach out to readers in new ways. Vroman's has a MySpace page and a blog. Inside the store, there is a section called "The Edge."
"If you have to ask what it is, you're outside the demographic," she said. "I still see hope that with these gestures, books will be reinvigorated and folded into this cultural shift."
— Kristina Lindgren5/14/07
Wanted: Extreme bibliophiles with deep pockets
Who says those wacky predictions in high school yearbooks don't amount to much? On the auction block: a copy of Ernest Hemingway's 1917 senior yearbook from Oak Park, Ill., which includes several photographic portraits of the young man, including one graced by the quote, "None are to be found more clever than Ernie." The yearbook is expected to fetch between $600 and $900 at a sale this Thursday by New York's Swann Galleries.Swann GalleriesOther items in the auction, which focuses on 19th and 20th century literature, include Mark Twain's signed copy of "The Life, Times and Scientific Labours of the Second Marquis of Worcester" by Henry Dircks (in case you've misplaced your own) as well as first editions by such literary luminaries as P.G. Wodehouse, Truman Capote and Kurt Vonnegut.
Also on offer: a set of Oscar Wilde-themed playing cards. (None, apparently, on the importance of being cleverer than Ernie.)
— Orli Low5/13/07
Extending the shelf-life of forgotten classics
Most publishers look for new talent;, but a few look for neglected ones -- and that author pool is considerable. New York Review Books, for example, has found a thriving niche by reissuing forgotten classics. In Southern California, the same has been done by Green Integer and its publisher, Douglas Messerli. Go to Green Integer's website, and you'll find reissues of books by Arthur Schnitzler, Knut Hamsun, Emile Zola, Yuri Olyesha and Paul Celan as well as more contemporary voices like Paul Vangelisti and Dennis Phillips. After looking at the entire catalog, you'll realize (if you hadn't already) that Penguin Classics may fill up a lot of shelves, but there are plenty of gaps in what it has to offer.
Consider Horace de Saint-Aubin (not to be confused with "Spinal Tap's" David St. Hubbins). Does Penguin offer any of Saint-Aubin's works? Don't bother looking. This month Green Integer published Saint-Aubin's "The Vicar's Passion" (672 pp., $14.95 paper), an early 19th century novel about a handsome young priest with plenty of secrets to hide -- including his love for his own sister (there's a twist to this, but you'll have to read it for yourself).
Few may recognize the author's name, but the cover reveals that this is an early novel by none other than Honoré de Balzac. There's much of the mature Balzac in this book (though he dismissed it himself as hack work): his fascination with social corruption, the desperation of people in love and how virtue usually goes unrewarded while vice gets all the laurels.
In an introductory note, Saint-Aubin explains that the unhappy young vicar died, leaving his lengthy testament in the hands of Saint-Aubin, a proud bachelor of arts, who takes credit for improving the text: "The bad things that you are going to find in it must be ascribed to the account of the dead man, and if there is any good in it, then please attribute it, I beg you, to this young holder of a bachelor of arts degree."
"The Vicar's Passion" might have been forgotten -- a true loss for any fan or serious student of the great French novelist. In fact, New York publishers declined to publish Edward Ford's translation, and then he contacted Green Integer, which quickly accepted it. Now, Ford writes in a preface, we can all "enjoy a lost classic whose day in the sun has finally arrived."
— Nick Owchar5/13/07
Oprah to the rescue...again
HarperCollins posted a gain in profit in the quarter ending March 30, Publishers Weekly reports, and thanks go once again to Oprah Winfrey.Winfrey's decision to select the paperback reissue of Sidney Poitier's 2000 autobiography, "The Measure of a Man," for her book club is largely credited by HarperCollins execs for the sudden jump in profit after two down quarters.
Oprah's Book Club started in 1996, and some pundits in publishing say it immediately challenged the refrain of industry execs that U.S. readership was dwindling and that fewer people appreciated good books. Winfrey came along and turned such authors as Wally Lamb and Brett Lott into household names; she even persuaded the general public to give Tolstoy and Faulkner a try. One thing you can safely assume: In the near future, Bertelsmann AG, the media corporation that owns Random House, will be celebrating like HarperCollins when Winfrey completes the discussion of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Road," her club's most recent selection.
— Nick Owchar5/09/07
Keeping up with the headlines
It's been less than four weeks since against three members of the Duke Lacrosse team who were accused of raping a black stripper last year.
Next month, Threshold Editions, a division of Simon & Schuster, will rush out "It's Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives It Shattered" by former Sports Illustrated editor Don Yaeger with Mike Pressler, head coach of the Duke Lacrosse team.
Advance copies of the book are already circulating, and it includes timelines, a "cast" list of all the parties involved in the scandal, as well as indignation on every page. To gauge the tone, just consider the opening of the chapter titled "Who is Mike Nifong?", which refers to the Durham County district attorney who sought to prosecute the accused players: "Senator Joseph McCarthy persecuted communists; Pharaoh Ramses II persecuted Hebrews; and District Attorny Mike Nifong, well .he persecuted traffic violators. Until, that is, he set his sights on Duke Lacrosse players."
Simon & Schuster launched Threshold Editions in 2006; the publisher's "imprint for conservative readers" has previously published books by Mary and Lynne Cheney and L. Paul Bremer.
— Nick Owchar5/08/07
The compassionate conservative
If you want a sense of just how far the conservative revolution has drifted, give some thought to the late Barry Goldwater. In 1964, as the GOP nominee for president, the U.S. senator from Arizona was vilified as a pro-nukes, pro-confrontation crackpot, a perception cemented by President Johnson's legendary "Daisy" campaign TV commercial, which lingers in the public imagination, although it aired only once. Yet 43 years later, Goldwater begins to look like a visionary, a man for whom conservatism had nothing to do with "values voters" but, rather, with government staying out of people's affairs. Late in his career, Goldwater ruffled many Reagan-era Republicans by opposing restrictions on abortion and gay rights; when the Rev. Jerry Falwell said Christians ought to oppose the nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor to the U.S. Supreme Court, Goldwater famously retorted, "I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass."Goldwater's perspective can be found in "The Conscience of a Conservative" (Princeton University Press: 144 pp., $14.95 paper). Originally published in 1960, and reprinted with a foreword by George F. Will and an afterword by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the book lays out, clearly and succinctly, his uncompromising views. Goldwater held freedom as the highest value in American society: freedom from law, freedom from government, freedom from anybody else's vision but your own. You can argue with him on the particulars, but there's something compelling about his quintessentially American notion of self-reliance, the idea that "[e]very man, for his individual good and for the good of the society, is responsible for his own development." This is the line where conservatism blurs into libertarianism, where the rights of the individual are affirmed over those of the state. These days, that's a radical concept — perhaps most of all among those who see themselves as Goldwater's political heirs.
— David L. Ulin5/04/07
Bachman's baaack...
Poor Richard Bachman. Twenty-two years after Stephen King killed him off with "cancer of the pseudonym," this fictional alter ego will not stay dead. In June, Scribner will publish "Blaze" (276 pp., $24), the sixth Bachman novel, and the first since 1996's "The Regulators." In a foreword, King calls the book "a trunk novel" — the kind that's been stashed away for many years. Originally written in the early 1970s, it is the work of a very young writer, a piece of gothic crime fiction that wears its influences (Horace McCoy, Edward Anderson, James M. Cain) on its sleeve.
Were King a less iconic figure, "Blaze" would probably have remained in its trunk. Yet, there's an undeniably charming quality to this youthful attempt to inhabit the soul of a dimwitted kidnapper, who is in over his head in a set of circumstances from which no good can come. The same is true of the decision to assume the Bachman pseudonym again, which comes off as the kind of nudge-nudge, wink-wink posture of a writer enjoying himself. This has been a hallmark of King's career, the notion that writing can, and should, be fun.
Of course, the author takes the illusion just so far; on the cover of "Blaze," the name Stephen King is in the biggest type. Indeed, the book concludes with the short story "Memory," which, an editorial note informs us, is the basis of King's next full-length novel, "Duma Key," due out in early 2008.
— David L. Ulin5/04/07
And...they're off!
The race is on between Little, Brown and Alfred A. Knopf. According to Editor & Publisher, both houses have moved up publication of forthcoming biographies of Hillary Clinton so that the books will appear on the same day.(AP)Last week, Knopf announced that Carl Bernstein's "A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton," originally scheduled for August, would appear June 19. This week, Little, Brown decided to go head- to- head with Knopf by scrapping its own August publication plans for "Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton" by Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr., both New York Times reporters. That book is now set to come out on June 19 as well.
Your move, Knopf.
— Nick Owchar5/03/07
Blurring the lines?
The publication date of Khaled Hosseini's "A Thousand Splendid Suns" (Riverhead, 372 pp., $25.95) may be three weeks away, but if you want a taste, you can visit Amazon.com. Yesterday, the online bookseller announced that it had cut a deal to offer readers an exclusive download previewing the novel, as well as a podcast interview with the author. "A Thousand Splendid Suns" is set in Hosseini's native Afghanistan, much like his first novel, "The Kite Runner," which became a publishing phenomenon when it appeared in 2003 -- a bestseller in hardcover and paperback with more than 4 million copies in print, and a staple of book clubs nationwide.The Hosseini deal is just the latest instance of Amazon.com reinventing itself in the face of a rapidly changing online culture. Already, the bookseller is offering a series called Amazon Shorts, featuring self-contained exclusive works in which writers like Jim Crace, Melissa Fay Greene and David McCullough explore some signature themes. (Go to the Amazon books page and scroll down the far left column to "More to Discover" to see the Amazon Shorts collection.)
Yet if all this makes for terrific marketing, it also raises tricky questions about the boundaries between publishers, booksellers and consumers. That's only heightened by Amazon's decision to release early copies of "A Thousand Splendid Suns" to its Top 100 Reviewers, "a collection of Amazon.com's leading customer reviewers, in order to share this book with new and previous fans of his work." Setting aside the idea of a select group of customers getting preferential treatment, it's discomforting to see readers treated like advance scouts in a publicity juggernaut. Who, exactly, is working whom here? And what does it say about how publishers and booksellers view their audience?
— David L. Ulin5/02/07
A gift outright
Since they left Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1972, Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney and his wife, Marie, a painter, have lived and worked in a cottage near Glanmore in the Wicklow Hills south of Dublin. On Saturday night, the couple returned the favor of local generosity by donating manuscripts and paintings to a local auction intended to raise money to convert an abandoned police station into an arts center for the nearby village of Ashford.Seamus Heaney (AFP)The poet donated eight items in all, but the evening's star attraction was a lot consisting of three handwritten working drafts and a holograph copy of Heaney's "Glanmore Sonnet VII," which he wrote shortly after moving into the area. Irish manuscript collector Liam O'Leary beat out an unidentified telephone bidder from Belfast and purchased the drafts for just under $37,000.
One of the event's organizers, Noel Keyes, told the Irish Times that Heaney "has a great sense of community about him. There are few others of his type who would donate documents as important as this. It's very generous."
— Tim Rutten4/30/07
California writers among 2007 Guggenheim Fellows
Among the recipients of this year's Guggenheim fellowships are several California fiction writers and poets: Oakland's Daniel Alarcón ("Lost City Radio"), now a visiting writer at Mills College; Christopher Buckley ("Sleepwalk") of UC Riverside; and Steve Erickson, a novelist ("Our Ecstatic Days") and instructor at California Institute of the Arts.
The 189 recipients were chosen from a pool of about 2,800 applicants, with the awards totaling $7.6 million. The press announcement states that selections were made based on recommendations from hundreds of expert advisors. Then, approval is given by the foundation's board of trustees. Six of the boards members are past recipients: Joel Conarroe, Joyce Carol Oates, Richard A. Rifkind, Charles Ryskamp, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, and Edward Hirsch.
For a complete list of recipients, click here.
— Nick Owchar4/30/07
"Húrin" takes a hit
As expected, J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Children of Húrin" is selling extremely well since its release last week. On Amazon's bestsellers list, for instance, the novel has been holding a solid second place only to orders of the final Harry Potter installment.
But that doesn't mean Tolkien's book is without its critics. Tolkien has always had them. Think back to Edmund Wilson's attack on Tolkien's work as "juvenile trash" in his 1956 piece "Oo, Those Awful Orcs" in the Nation.
Today, Wilson's mantle passes to the more good-natured shoulders of journalist John Crace, who fired a hilarious salvo at "Húrin" earlier this week in the Guardian's book section.
In the regular feature called "The Digested Read" -- in which a book is reduced to its bare essentials while some flavor of the original is given -- Crace jabs at Tolkien's arch dialogue and story line with the sort of humor that Wilson sorely lacked. Here, for instance, is how Crace boils down the role of the major character Turin:
" 'Forsooth,' he swore. 'Henceforth shall I remain a derivative Wagnerian hero and wander mindlessly through the realms of Middle-Earth on a quasi-symbolic quest and, Children of the Eldar, resolve only to talk in sentences of unspeakable leadenness, punctuated by manifold parentheses.' "
— Nick Owchar4/26/07
Homage to Halberstam
Since the death of David Halberstam in a Northern California car accident on Monday, the appreciations have flowed in. No one expected this tragedy -- who would? -- but many were ready with the right words. Newsweek's Jon Meacham wrote an eloquent tribute to a person he considered "always present at the creation, reporting, watching, thinking, and writing about the unfolding drama of what Henry Luce called the American Century." Meacham is joined by several other Newsweek writers in praising this chronicler's singular body of work, which includes "The Best and the Brightest" and "The Teammates."
National Public Radio's Scott Simon shows a similar admiration for Halberstam's many gifts as a writer, while Salon has posted a 1999 interview with Geoff Edgers after the publication of Halberstam's "Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made."
BusinessWeek, meanwhile, offers something truly special -- a recording of a speech Halberstam made two days before his death. Spencer Ante, BusinessWeek's computer editor, calls it a "wise and feisty speech" that Halberstam delivered at a conference for UC Berkeley's journalism graduate school. Hearing of the auto accident, Ante said, "I realized that this had been the last speech of Halberstam...and that the tape I made of his April 21 remarks now had historical significance."
— Nick Owchar4/25/07
Words, words, words
Now here's a sense of how far we've come: In the same mail delivery two books arrive that are distant cousins: "The First English Dictionary, 1604" (Bodleian Library: 154 pp., $25) and "The New American Heritage College Dictionary," 4th edition (Houghton Mifflin: 1,636 pp., $26.95), which has a password for downloading applications.
Robert Cawdrey, the author of that first dictionary, was a recalcitrant 16th century preacher whose lexicon arose from his realization that plain English -- not bookishness -- was crucial in the pulpit. At the time, English was straining and changing as foreign words flooded the language. So Cawdrey devoted himself to compiling a long list of "hard words...gathered for the benefit & helpe of Ladies, Gentlewomen, or any other vnskillful persons." He called it "A Table Alphabetical": no fancy flourishes of language, no literary examples of the sort Samuel Johnson later accomplished -- just the straight dope on meanings. Definitions are short, curt and sometimes a little salty for those workingmen in the congregation. A "eunuch" is certainly "gelded," but just in case that meaning was still too delicate, Cawdrey added: "wanting stones." You get the idea.
Cawdrey's spirit infuses the "New American Heritage Dictionary" -- it's still for the common man -- with the bonus of some online software. It's embarrassing to encounter a word you've never used before, like "edamame," and then stumbling on it as the waitress giggles. One of the best parts of this dictionary is the audio component, which is available after downloading eReference Suite using a passkey code included with purchase (if only the downloads were a little easier). A preface by Geoffrey Nunberg reminds us that the English language is still in flux (the dictionary includes some 7,500 new terms), though the sources are different from those in Cawdrey's day. Today, Nunberg says, "digital technologies have had a sweeping effect," which is why readers will find, for instance, the standard entry for "net" followed by "netizen" and "netiquette."
— Nick Owchar4/23/07
2007 Eisner Award comics nominees
If you haven't heard, the nominees run the gamut for this year's Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. It's especially pleasing to see Jeph Loeb, with Darwyn Cooke, in the running for Best Single issue for "Batman/The Spirit #1: Crime Convention." Loeb's a super-fine storyteller (Cooke's no slouch either).
The reality-based category includes Alison Bechdel's poignant memoir of her childhood, "Fun Home," as well as Brian Fies' stirring "Mom's Cancer." (Too bad Marisa Acocella Marchetto's "Cancer Vixen" and Miriam Engelberg's "Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person" didn't make the cut: Both of these are powerful titles about the cancer journey.)
For a complete list of nominees in all 29 categories, click here.
— Nick Owchar4/23/07
Where's the juice?
Is it our imagination or have books about sex gotten weightier, more academic and generally off-putting? Has there always been an inverse proportion between sexual marginalia and sensuality? Four new and upcoming titles form a pretty dour bunch, more like a group of disapproving matrons than lusty inquiries.
"Overexposed: Perverting Perversions" by Sylvère Lotringer (MIT Press) sports an inscrutable photo on the cover of a table and two chairs. A promisingly mysterious epigraph from "Lolita" reads: "I discovered there was an endless source of robust enjoyment in trifling with psychiatrists. . . . " Hmmm. Chapter titles such as "Arouse" and "Tease" start out in the right spirit but fizzle into "Bore," "Reject" and "Deter." There are no pictures -- just dense, relentless type.
"In Praise of the Whip: A Cultural History of Arousal" by Niklaus Largier (Zone Books) would make even the most committed French intellectual turn in his grave. The sexiest part of this 500-plus page book is the dedication: "For Karen." There are pictures, many of them medieval images involving little cherubs.
"The Inner Touch: Archaeology of a Sensation" by Daniel Heller-Roazen (Zone Books -- what's going on there? we ask ourselves) floats all too frequently into Latin but sports helpful chapter subheads such as: "Containing Aristotle's Doctrine of the Common Sense, the Master Faculty by Which Animals Sense That They Are Sensing." (Again, no pictures, but lovely snowy, soft, large margins on the pages.)
"Porn-ol-o-gy" by Ayn Carrillo-Gailey (Running Press) veers to the opposite, belly-button, giggly side of the asexual spectrum. The subtitle says it all (literally): "One Good Girl's Hilarious Misadventures as She Attempts to Understand: Strip Clubs, Adult Videos, Sex Toys, Internet Porn, Men's Magazines and Finally Learns to Relax, Since After All It's Just Sex." Oh dear, not exactly "Debbie Does Dallas." Four books in a single month do not necessarily a literary trend maketh, but readers might have cause to watch and worry.
— Susan Salter Reynolds4/22/2007
Me, Myself and I
"The Education of Henry Adams" (Massachusetts Historical Society: 500 pp., $34.95) is one of the oddest and most wonderful books in American literature -- a memoir, such as it is, of the eminent late-19th and early-20th century historian, who also happened to be the grandson of John Quincy Adams and the great-grandson of John Adams.
What makes the book so revelatory, however, is the way that, more than half a century before postmodernism, Adams deconstructs the autobiographical form. Writing in third person -- "Under the Shadow of the Boston State House," the book begins, "in the third house below Mount Vernon Place, February 16, 1838, a child was born, and christened later by his uncle...as Henry Brooks Adams" -- Adams tells not so much the story of his life as a fictional re-creation of it. He casts himself as a naif adrift in a world whose rapid changes have, paradoxically, rendered his traditional education obsolete.
The focus here is, to be sure, selective, but that's part of the point, for Adams has no intention of being comprehensive; among the areas he overlooks is his marriage, which ended with the suicide of his wife in 1885.
Adams originally issued "The Education" privately, in 1907; a general edition, cleaned up and modernized, was published after his death in 1918. It has become an American standard, winning a Pulitzer Prize and selected by the Modern Library as one of the hundred best nonfiction books of the 20th century. Now, to commemorate the book's 100th anniversary, a new version of the 1907 original has been released.
"Why would anyone re-edit a book that has satisfied its readers for a century?" editors Edward Chalfont and Conrad Edick Wright ask in an introduction. It's a good question, but their answer -- that they meant to restore the book to the way Adams intended it -- lacks the necessary Adamsian gloss.
No, if "The Education" is a book that opens up the territory of autobiography -- suggesting that there is little difference between life and myth -- let's apply the same standard to this restored edition and identify it, simply, as a labor of love.
— David L. Ulin4/22/2007
The view of a boss run amok
Is Sally Koslow's "Little Pink Slips" another novelistic treatment of a terrible boss, a la "Blind Submission" or "The Devil Wears Prada"? The novel doesn't officially arrive in bookstores until today, but there's been plenty of buzz about the storyline: a razor-thin roman a clef inspired by Rosie O'Donnell's plunge into the magazine biz a few years ago. Koslow was editor-in-chief of McCall's before O'Donnell arrived in 2000, ready to revamp the magazine -- complete with a name-change to Rosie -- and to take on O, The Oprah Magazine. The venture failed in 2003, and Rosie folded.
According to Publishers Weekly it's hard not to be reminded of O'Donnell by the character of Bebe Blake, a mouthy celebrity who runs amok at the venerable women's magazine Lady. Bebe has a wildly successful TV show and expects that Lady, renamed Bebe, will be a powerful rival to (wait for it) O.
Is Blake O'Donnell? Readers can decide for themselves. But in the meantime, here's a snarky description of the character, from the vantage point of an embattled editor named Magnolia Gold:"Bebe was wearing tight jeans -- Juicy Couture, Magnolia guessed, although she wasn't sure they were made in Bebe's size -- a V-neck Grateful Dead T-shirt that showed deep decolletage, and boots that looked compromised trying to support her. . . . "
— Nick Owchar4/19/07
Another day, another award
Last night, at New York's Columbia University, Philip Roth picked up the first Grizane Masters Award from the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America "in recognition of his merit as a writer and for introducing the work of Primo Levi to a wider American audience." This is the latest in a long string of awards for Roth -- who earlier this month took home the inaugural PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction -- but the first, one has to think, that honors his role as a reader, in addition to his acuity with the written word.
Certainly, no contemporary fiction writer could be more deserving. Not only does his career, which now spans half a century, offer a remarkably coherent vision of American life since the 1940s, but he has long been a champion of other writers -- Levi, as well as such novelists as Bruno Schulz, Tadeusz Borowski and Milan Kundera, who were first published in this country as part of the Roth-edited series "Writers From the Other Europe."
In his acceptance speech, Roth recalled meeting Levi in 1986, and quoted from a piece he wrote at the time: "It is not as surprising as one might initially think, that writers divide like the rest of mankind into two categories: those who listen to you and those who don't. Levi listens, and with his entire face. . . . It's no wonder that people are always telling him things and that everything is already faithfully recorded before it is written down."
— David L. Ulin4/18/07
The long and the short of it
Alice Munro's "Away From Her" (Vintage: 76 pp., $9 paper) is not a new book -- not really. Rather, it's a stand-alone edition of her 1999 short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain," retitled as a tie-in for the film that it inspired. According to a preface, director and screenwriter Sarah Polley read the story and couldn't shake it; the resulting movie, which stars Julie Christie and Olympia Dukakis, opens May 4.
Of course, Munro's is hardly the first short story to be repackaged and sold as a tie-in; in the last few years alone, Annie Proulx's "Brokeback Mountain" has appeared as a similar kind of mini-book, as has Philip K. Dick's "The Minority Report." Nor is "Away From Her" the only new movie to draw its inspiration from a piece of short fiction. Ray Lawrence's "Jindabyne," which opens a week before the Polley film, recasts Raymond Carver's exquisite "So Much Water So Close to Home."
As for what this means, well, either it's a renaissance for the short story or yet another indication that people in Hollywood can't read at length. Regardless, it's fascinating to see major publishers embrace a format that many smaller, independent presses have relied upon for decades; indeed, Carver's first book of fiction was a chapbook featuring a single story, "Put Yourself in My Shoes," published by Santa Barbara's Capra Press in 1974.
— David L. Ulin4/17/07
Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" Wins a Pulitzer
This afternoon in New York, Cormac McCarthy was named the winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his novel "The Road." McCarthy's book vaulted to the top of bestseller lists late last month when Oprah Winfrey picked it for her book club.
Add the Pulitzer to McCarthy's other recent successes -- a National Book Award nomination, the Oprah pick and movie plans for "The Road" as well as his previous novel, "No Country for Old Men" -- and you have a fascinating conundrum: an über-reclusive figure who can't seem to get out of the spotlight.
The Pulitzer fiction finalists also included Richard Powers' "The Echo Maker" and Alice McDermott's "After This," but it was McCarthy's story of the love between a father and son in a ravaged, end-of-days landscape that seems to have tapped into the zeitgeist in the most enduring way. Other 2007 Pulitzer honorees are Lawrence Wright for "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11" in general nonfiction; Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff for "The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation" in history; Natasha Trethewey's "Native Guard" in poetry; and, in biography, Debby Applegate for "The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher."
Ray Bradbury also received a special citation in recognition of his "distinguished, prolific and deeply influential career" as an "unmatched author" of science fiction and fantasy, the Pulitzer announcement said.
Click here to read our review of "The Road."
— Nick Owchar4/16/07
Second acts
Never let it be said that dying isn't a good career move. In wake of Kurt Vonnegut's death Wednesday night, sales of his books have skyrocketed at Amazon.com. As of Thursday afternoon, several of his books were in the online bookseller's Top 100, with "Slaughterhouse-Five" topping the list at No. 7 and even "God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian" — a slim and somewhat tenuous collection of radio monologues — coming in at No. 205. Vonnegut, of course, had a surprise bestseller in 2005 with his final book, "A Man Without a Country," an autobiographical pastiche in which he reflected on his life and times, concluding that "[l]ike my distinct betters Einstein and Twain, I now give up on people, too." It's hard to imagine that after all these years, there are so many readers who have yet to experience Vonnegut — or perhaps, it's just that people are buying second copies, new editions, books to give to friends. Either way, the fact that his work is selling in such volume may be the only consolation in the death of this American master, a writer who transformed the face of contemporary literature by reminding us that it ought to be, yes, fun to read.
— David L. Ulin4/15/07
He's not going to take it
Circulating on the Internet: The following excerpt, from Lee Iacocca's "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?" (Scribner, 274 pp., $25) — co-written with Catherine Whitney and in bookstores April 17 — suggests the extent to which political dissatisfaction has become a mainstream pursuit:
Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course." Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out! ...
I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. ... Why are we in this mess? How did we end up with this crowd in Washington? Well, we voted for them — or at least some of us did. But I'll tell you what we didn't do. We didn't agree to suspend the Constitution. We didn't agree to stop asking questions or demanding answers. Some of us are sick and tired of people who call free speech treason. Where I come from that's a dictatorship, not a democracy. Want to hear more? Iacocca will be speaking about his book at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on April 28.
— David L. Ulin4/15/07
The poet's voice
April is poetry month, and to celebrate, Alfred A. Knopf has released "The Knopf National Poetry Month Collection," a 60-minute CD featuring the work of David Young, J.D. McClatchy, Sharon Olds, Marge Piercy, Mark Strand and others from the imprint's roster.
Poetry readings can be a mixed affair. At their best, they're slices of heaven; at their worst, no amount of coffee will revive you from hearing a writer mumble through what is otherwise some pretty great stuff. Here, we get a bit of both worlds. It's nice to have preserved some of the 20th century's great voices — Frank O'Hara or James Merrill or Joan Didion (reciting stanzas from a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem that figured in "The Year of Magical Thinking"). Jack Gilbert's voice is a papery-thin whisper, like every line will be his last. Kevin Young's is strong and irreverent, as he describes a slick hustler: "His real home was six feet / beneath ground, he was just / up here renting breath / with the rest of us."
Yet at other times, these recordings aren't so successful: It's distracting to hear the voices of John Updike and Anne Carson, squeezed and tiny, recorded, inexplicably, over a telephone line. What, you wonder, were they thinking? And it distracts you from the marvelous words.
— Nick Owchar4/15/07
Fathers and sons
Everyone at HarperCollins UK and Houghton Mifflin has been very careful about not calling "The Children of Húrin" a new novel by J.R.R. Tolkien. Instead, they're billing it as "the first standalone tale of Middle-earth since 1977" because of the role Tolkien's son Christopher played in it.
Bits and pieces of the Húrin saga, considered one of the oldest stories in Tolkien's epic, are scattered throughout books like "The Silmarillion" and "The Book of Lost Tales."
But Tolkien's son decided it was time to weave those pieces together. "It has seemed to me," he explains in press materials, "for a long time that there was a good case for presenting my father's long version of the legend of 'The Children of Húrin' as an independent work." He stresses that he has tried to retain his father's words and story line completely, "if this could be done without distortion or invention, despite the unfinished state in which he left some parts of it."
If it were anyone but Christopher Tolkien saying this, that last bit would be worrisome. But if anyone can be trusted to speculate about J.R.R. Tolkien's narrative instincts, it is surely his son.
Of course, it's hard to say what the story line of "Húrin" is, since the publisher won't send us a copy — unless we promise not to talk about it before it arrives in bookstores Tuesday. One thing that can be gathered from the scattered bits of the legend is this: Some of the subject matter — secret identities, incest and suicide — is bleaker than anything in "The Hobbit" or "The Lord of the Rings."
Will "Húrin" deserve a place alongside those classics? It's unclear, but a very cool trailer (tolkien.hcp-uk.co.uk/thechildrenofhurin.aspx) gives us a taste of what to expect, thanks to illustrations by Alan Lee, which are also included in the new book.
— Nick Owchar4/15/07
A bug's life
In 1996, cartoonist Robert Crumb collaborated with David Zane Mairowitz on an illustrated biography of Franz Kafka that also featured comics adaptations of some of the iconic author's signature works. Now, Fantagraphics Books has reissued "Kafka" (176 pp., $14.95 paper) in a new edition, beginning with an account of the many ways that Kafka imagined his own death. Crumb and Kafka seem like an almost perfect aesthetic pairing, and if the artist's renderings are less consistently revealing than those of Peter Kuper — who has also translated Kafka's stories into comics form — it's exhilarating to see his interpretations of "A Hunger Artist" and "In the Penal Colony," as well as (in abbreviated form) "The Castle" and "The Trial." Yet equally impressive is Mairowitz's evocation of the author's life, a quagmire of despair and self-doubt, as fraught as anything in his fiction. As such, Mairowitz suggests, it is the ultimate irony that "[n]o writer of our time, and probably none since Shakespeare, has been so widely over-interpreted and pigeon-holed."
— David L. Ulin4/15/07


text:
SILC Showcase
Showcase May 2009: Processing figures and grounds in nonlinguistic events
- Details
- Category: Showcase
Share this article using our bitly.com url: http://bit.ly/1pwojC3
Processing figures and grounds in nonlinguistic events
Tilbe Göksun (advisor: Kathy Hirsh-Pasek) 4th year PhD student, Department of Psychology, Temple University
For the archival version of this research, and the preferred citation, see:
- Göksun, T., Hirsh-Pasek, K, Golinkoff, R. M., Imai, M., Konishi, H., & Okada, H. (2011). Who is crossing where?: Infants' discrimination of figures and grounds in events. Cognition, 121(2), 176-195. [DOI]
Relational terms (e.g., verbs and prepositions) are the cornerstone of language development, bringing together two distinct fields: linguistic theory and infants' event processing. To learn relational terms, infants initially perceive and conceptualize spatial components within events such as path and manner, and then uncover how their ambient language packages these spatial constructs. We propose that infants trade spaces as the language-general nonlinguistic constructs are gradually refined and tuned to the requirements of the particular native language (Göksun, Hirsh-Pasek, & Golinkoff, in press).
Previous research suggests that preverbal infants from different language environments possess a general set of spatial and event components (e.g., containment, support, degree of fit, path, manner, source, goal) that form bases for learning relational terms. Our studies offer a new area of research, exploring infants' processing of figures and grounds in dynamic events.
The figure in an event can follow any path or move from any source. The ground is a stationary setting with respect to a figure's movement. For example, in the sentence "John is walking across the street," John is the figure and the street is the ground. Importantly, languages encode figure and ground relations differently. Japanese ground-path verbs such as wataru "go across" or koeru "go over", incorporate constraints on the physical geometry of the ground along with the direction of motion. For example, wataru "go across" implies that there is both a starting point and a goal and the ground should be a flat extended surface. The typical grounds for wataru "go across" are railroad, road, or bridge. In contrast, when the ground does not contain a barrier between two sides (e.g., a tennis court, grassy field) the verb tooru "go through," rather than wataru "go across" is used (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. The grounds at the top panel (railroad track, street, road, and bridge) are encoded by the verb wataru "to cross" and grounds at the bottom panel (tennis court and grass) are not typically coded by the verb wataru "to cross," but encoded by the verb tooru "go through" in Japanese.
In a series of studies, we examined how English-reared infants differentiate figures (e.g., a man or a woman crossing a railroad) and grounds (e.g., crossing a railroad vs. crossing a tennis court) in dynamic events. Results indicated that infants notice changes in figures and grounds by 11 and 14 months of age, respectively. Notably, the same infants distinguish grounds better when the comparison is between a wataru "go across" (e.g., railroad) ground and a tooru "go through" ground (e.g., tennis court) according to Japanese (Göksun, Hirsh-Pasek, & Golinkoff, 2009). Thus, preverbal infants are sensitive to the subtle distinctions of grounds that are not lexicalized in English. In a control study, we tested a potential confound, the color of the ground, on infants' differentiation of these grounds. One might argue that the "greenness" of the grassy field or tennis court drew infants' attention to prefer looking at those sides at test trial. However, results replicated the original findings with colored scenes suggesting that color of the ground is not a strong perceptual cue for infants' discrimination of grounds.
Our current studies address two lines of inquiry. First, we attempt to tease apart the role of spatial and temporal interaction in these events. Do children process static scenes of the same dynamic events similarly? Relational term learning demands perceiving the spatial-temporal interaction inherent in dynamic events. Verbs, for example, can label a moment in time (as in kiss) or they unfold across time (as in run), or can represent the completion of a particular time frame (as in break). Eliminating the temporal aspect of an event might enhance or reduce children's ability to distinguish different figures and grounds.
Second, to test our hypothesis of trading spaces for figure-ground relations, we investigate how Japanese-reared infants from two age groups (14 and 20 months of age) differentiate grounds in the same nonlinguistic dynamic events. The comparison of these children to their English-reared counterparts will provide crucial information on how language exposure might influence the attention to language-specific distinctions in events.
- ♦ Göksun, T., Hirsh-Pasek, K, & Golinkoff, R. M. (in press). Trading Spaces: Carving up events for learning language. Perspectives on Psychological Science.
- ♦ Göksun, T., Hirsh-Pasek, K, & Golinkoff, R. M. (2009). Processing figures and grounds in dynamic and static events. In J. Chandlee, M. Franchini, S. Lord, & G. Rheiner (Eds.), Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, (pp. 199-210). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
In order to help our members better use the starting information that The Huddle provides, the intent of this page is to discuss perceived differences between The Start Bench List and Predictions and Projections . The players below were identified by multiple members. The two reports are written by two different people so differences are always possible, but at least this page should help you make up your mind about these players on your roster.
TUVEY: Floyd returns—healthy, evidently, after a couple full practices—as the No. 1 receiver for a quarterback on pace to set the NFL record for single-season passing yardage. Still no Gates, maybe no Naanee... just means that much more for Floyd. And while last week may have been an aberration for Champ, it also takes at least some of the fear of starting a WR1 against him. A Floyd/Rivers reunion is worth a starting spot in any self-respecting lineup, Bailey or no.
DOREY: I am not disagreeing so much as I am just always concerned with a player who has been out for four weeks being able to return and play at a high level while also being shadowed by Champ Bailey. While Bailey seemed mortal last week, the Broncos are not nearly as likely to jump out to a 35-0 lead and change the defensive formations and motivations for the rest of the game. I like Floyd coming back and I almost gave him a touchdown. I see more risk and the lower projection reflects that.
CONSENSUS: If you think that Floyd has no rust and that Bailey will play it softer in Denver, Floyd is a decent to good start. He has upside to be sure especially Gates a big question mark. He is a gamble pick this week.
TUVEY: Despite having an inaccurate, unreliable quarterback, Fitz is talented and targeted enough that he needs to be started every week. But while previously Anderson was throwing almost everything at Fitz, now he's actually throwing stuff near Breaston and Doucet as well—specifically, touchdowns. The Chefs haven't allowed double-digit fantasy points to a wideout at home since Week 1 in the rain, and with no QB Fitz is fighting an uphill battle to buck that trend. He's an S1 talent with a B quarterback and a tough matchup; when you add it up it works out to a low S2, and I rounded down. Great googly-moogly.
DOREY: Might as well dump Fitzgerald then because he's not going to find a new quarterback and opponents are going to load up against him every week. Four of his last five games ended with 93, 72, 107 and 91 yards. He had two scores in Tampa Bay. Sure, it is very easy to say why Fitz won't do well and yet he has been pretty good despite his reality. If you would bench Fitzgerald here, where are you planning on starting him?
CONSENSUS: Fitzgerald is a must start player unless he is facing a top secondary. If you do not consider him as such, you should not own him. He is one of the most talented players in the game and has been at least moderately effective despite his team situation..
TUVEY: Where David sees last week as an exception, I see it as Tom Brady and the Patriots figuring out how to work with what they've got. And that means Welker getting back near the numbers he was putting up last year—not S1 levels, at least not until Tate or Branch or somebody emerges as a consistent deep threat a la Moss (read: not likely), but solid S2 levels. Hey, not EVERY touchdown pass can go to the tight ends.
DOREY: Well, I already did give Welker a benefit of the doubt. If he gains 60 yards, it will be his second best game (next to last week) in the past month. He only has three games with more than 60 yards all season long and the first two came when Moss was on the team. Yeah, I am not buying that Welker is magically turning into his 2009 form because I do not think he possibly can this season. And the 60 yards is an optimistic projection.
CONSENSUS: When the Colts and Pats play, it often goes down differently than other games they have played and one player can have a big game on either side. But S2 would be saying that Welker is sort of stuck in the middle of your starters with not much upside or downside. The Colts have been very good at covering wideouts and who else are they going to focus on? Welker at 60 is a decent expectation.
TUVEY: I'm a Williams fan, and I maybe could have gone S2 on this one. But Freeman doesn't do big numbers—solid, but not big—and the Niners don't give up big numbers in San Fran; Brandon Lloyd's 169 and 1 came in the Niners' "home" game in London. So I came in on the low end of the ledger here. Looking over the existing S2s there are only a handful I'd bump him up over, but it's a thin S2 class this week anyway. Bottom line, Williams is a starter in most typical leagues.
DOREY: Hard to imagine you have a better starter than Williams but smaller leagues or shrewder owners could have that nice problem. Williams last three games on the road were against ATL (4-89, TD), ARI (4-105, TD) and CIN (7-99, TD). He really comes to life in road games. Five players have already surpassed the 80 projected yards and eight different ones have scored on them. Williams is about all the Buccaneers have so Freeman doesn't have to throw that much when it mostly goes straight to him.
CONSENSUS: A touchdown is always an "iffy" thing to happen so consider him as a solid S2 since John says he should have gone higher and David projects healthy yards.


text:
Thanks to SourceForge's Facebook timeline, I just discovered CorneliOS. From their blurb:
The CorneliOS WebOS is an easy-to-use and cross-browser "Web Desktop Environment", "Web Operating System" or "Web Office". It's also a powerful web application framework that can be used to build community platforms.
Here's a link to the CorneliOS web OS & application framework.


text:
5:00 pm
The Electric Company "The Junior Assistant" Francine wants to be on the next season of the "The Junior Assistant, " a reality show run by The Ronald, one of the most rich and famous people in the world. She must collaborate with Hector and The Electric Company to make six hundred cookies by five o'clock in order to prove she's worthy of being on the show. D
5:30 pm
Cyberchase "Digit's B-Day Surprise" The kids have a really cool plan for Digit's b-day-a surprise party! But in order to keep the secret, they pretend to forget his big day. Disappointed, Digit goes off on his own and runs into Hacker. The vexatious villain is only too happy to take advantage of the situation: If he can convince the dejected Digit that he is his one true friend, he can reprogram the cyboid to gain access to Motherboard! Meanwhile, the kids have a special gift made for their pal-a chocolate "Digit" sculpture. D
6:00 pm
It's Sew Easy "Setting The Perfect Table" Set the perfect table with easy ideas from our experts. The simplest additions make the most impact. You can fit any size table, any occasion, or color scheme and choose your favorite fabrics and trims. D
6:30 pm
Scheewe Art Workshop "Cascade Waterfalls" Beautiful streams surround the northwest country and cascading waterfalls that flow gracefully. Mountain ranges and lush trees provide a colorful backdrop for this natural beauty. With its many variations, this painting provides endless possibilities. D
7:00 pm
Joanne Weir's Cooking Confidence "Dinner Dance Or Swept Off My Feet" Joanne starts her class with a challenge, presenting her French student Pascal three variations on the classic French sauce aioli. Then they are both swept off their feet by Joanne's twist on the classic combination of chicken and salad. Recipes: Aioli and Variations, "Oven-Fried" Chicken Legs, and Butter Lettuce and Avocado with Lime Vinaigrette. D
7:30 pm
Martha Stewart's Cooking School "Dumplings" Dumplings are a mainstay in nearly every cuisine across the world. Watch as Martha makes three kinds of dumplings, shaping each according to tradition. She begins with two well-known Italian dumplings, gnocchi and gnudi, then shares her family recipe for Polish pierogi, which has been passed down through generations. D
8:00 pm
Ask This Old House "Maintaining Kitchen Appliances/Installing A Rain Gutter" Host Kevin O'Connor meets appliance repairman Richie Issacson to learn how to maintain kitchen appliances. Then, Kevin, along with landscape contractor Roger Cook, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey and general contractor Tom Silva, asks, "What Is It?" Afterward, Tom helps a homeowner install a rain gutter, downspout and rain barrel. D
8:30 pm
Rick Steves' Europe "Eastern Turkey" Rick experiences a Mount Ararat sunrise, visits Abraham's 4,000-year-old home town and tours one of the world's biggest dams.G
9:00 pm
Rudy Maxa's World "The Islands of Polynesia" French Polynesia's far-flung collection of about 130 islands range from lagoon-ringed islands with green volcanic spires to low, coral atolls with very little land, to heavily forested, rugged beauties. This is a place of dreams, a culturally rich, geologically fascinating group of islands surrounded by azure waters teeming with marine life, as lavish underwriter photography illustrates. D
9:30 pm
Lidia's Italy In America "USA: Italy's Crowd Pleasers" NULL
10:00 pm
Cook's Country from America's Test Kitchen "Simple Summer Supper" NULL
10:30 pm
Joanne Weir's Cooking Class "Provencal Roasted Lamb & White Bean Salad" Joanne shows her student Geoff how to cook a hearty one-pot main course and introduces him to new flavor combinations. Recipes: (1) POT ROASTED LEG OF LAMB WITH GARLIC AND OLIVES, (2) WHITE BEAN SALAD WITH PEPPERS, GOAT CHEESE AND MINT. Student: Student: Geoff Rubendall - Civil Engineer. D
11:00 pm
Pati's Mexican Table "Mexican Brunch" A Mexican brunch is the perfect way to ease into the weekend. This episode will look at what a late breakfast/early lunch in Mexico might look like and what recipes you can prepare in your own home. Those will include: Rabo de Mestiza: Poached Eggs in a Tomato and Poblano Rajas Sauce; Refried Beans and Cheese Chimichangas; Garibaldis: Vanilla Pound Cakes with Lime-Apricot Glaze and Sprinkles. D
11:30 pm
Rick Steves' Europe "Eastern Turkey" Rick experiences a Mount Ararat sunrise, visits Abraham's 4,000-year-old home town and tours one of the world's biggest dams.G


text:
by Kate Gilbert
Last February, I put on one of my favorite pairs of socks—one of the first pairs I ever made. They're a lovely toe-up design that I managed to squeak out of one precious hank of Lorna's Laces Lucky Stripe Shepherd Sock back when I lived in Paris, some ten years ago.
And that's when I found the holes. Four of them. Figuring them for goners, I sent a tweet saying that they were biting the dust, and I prepared to say goodbye.
Then the responses, urging me to darn them, started filling my feed.
Somehow I had absorbed the idea that socks with holes weren't worth saving. (Who said that you should drop the offending pair in the trash bin, saying "oh darn!" as you do?). The tweets suggested otherwise.
All advocated the procurement of a darning egg. A few suggested that I use a lightbulb for this purpose. ("Easy to find," they said. "It won't break," they assured.) As someone who gets the creeps just changing light bulbs (chalk it up to that squeaky metal rubbing noise and the possibility that it will shatter) there was no way that I was going to start poking at thin glass with a needle. So darning egg it was. But where to find one? I decided the most convenient option was to contact my woodturning father and give him a project. I asked him for a darning egg. A week later, he showed up at my house with four of them.
I had the egg, but what to do with it? Much searching of my knitting library and Google ensued. Via The Principles of Knitting, the revered June Hemmons Hiatt suggested reknitting and grafting the holey area. The web offered a variety of ideas: Use darning thread. Darn diagonally to the stitches. No, scratch that, darn vertically and horizontally. Weave it! Double the thread. Stabilize the stitches with sewing thread. Do it in a square. Do it in a circle. Make it pretty. Do it on the wrong side. No, do it on the right side!
So many options. Thankfully, I had enough holes in my socks to test most of them out. Care to follow along?
Tools of the Trade
Every project requires the right materials for the job and darning is no exception. Here's a list of what you'll need in your own darning adventures:
- Darning egg or mushroom (an incandescent light bulb—not for the faint of heart—or tennis ball will also do in a pinch)
- Knitting needles
- Sewing needle and thread
- Yarn of a similar weight (and color, if you like) to the item being darned.
- Tapestry needle
Method 1: Swiss Darning
If the fabric of your socks is simply thinning or the hole is small one (one or two stitches at most), the solution is pretty straightforward. Grab a length of yarn and duplicate stitch the area. The fancy name for this is Swiss darning.
Tools You'll Need: Darning egg, tapestry needle, yarn.
1. Put the sock on the darning egg. Starting two rows below and two stitches to the side of the hole or thin spot begin duplicate stitching.
2. Once you've progressed a few stitches into a stable area, go up one row and proceed in the other direction.
3. Continue doing this right through the thin areas and two rows beyond.
4. The finished Swiss darning patch.
PROS: Fast and easy, will keep small holes and thin spots from worsening, and will be invisible if you use the same yarn.
CONS: None that I've figured out so far.
Method 2: Stabilize With Sewing Thread and Graft on the Outside
I used this method, which is done vertically and horizontally, for an area where there were two holes near one another.
Tools You'll Need: Darning egg, tapestry needle, yarn, sewing needle, thread.
1. Put the sock on the darning egg and stabilize the area to be darned with sewing thread.
2. Use a tapestry needle to run the yarn horizontally across the holes, starting a few rows beneath and going a few stitches beyond on either side. Use the stitches as a guide.
3. Weave the yarn vertically through the yarn and sock.
4. Turn the sock inside out and pull out the stabilizing sewing thread.
The finished patch.
PROS: It looks nice and neat on the outside. I found that darning in the same direction as the stitches made it easy to keep the yarn spaced evenly and close enough together while keeping the shape of the sock correct. In retrospect I could have probably done without the stabilizing threads, but recommend them for larger or more complex holes.
CONS: Any lumpy bits left over from the edge of the hole are on the inside against the foot, but I think they will mash down pretty quickly with a little wear. If there are large flaps they can be cut off.
Method 3: Graft On the Inside
This method is done diagonally.
Tools You'll Need: Darning egg, tapestry needle, yarn.
1. Put the sock on the darning egg.
2. Beginning in the stable stitches around the hole, use a tapestry needle to thread the yarn back and forth.
3. Weave the yarn 90 degrees to the first stitches.
4. Ta-da! The finished patch.
PROS: It's smooth on the inside against the foot
CONS: It's not as neat looking on the outside. I found it more difficult to space the yarn evenly and get a look that I was happy with without the yarn to use as a guide for keeping the stitches going in the same direction as the yarn.
Method 4: Reknit and Graft
This last method is a little more labor intensive
Tools You'll Need: Darning egg, double-pointed knitting needles, yarn.
1. Pick up stitches a few rows below the hole.
2. Pick up the bars between the stitches a few stitches on either side of the hole.
3. Knit across the stitches on the first needle.
4. Knit the last stitch together with the first stitch on the left-side needle.
5. Turn. Slip your first stitch (this part is optional, I just preferred the look of it), and purl across the needle to the last stitch.
6. Purl the last stitch together with the first stitch on the right-side needle. Turn and slip your first stitch and repeat steps 3-6.
7. This is what it looks like halfway done.
8. When you have no more stitches left, cut the yarn and graft the live stitches to the sock.
The finished patch.
PROS: Looks nearly invisible if you use the same yarn.
CONS: The extra fabric is on the inside of the sock against the foot. Since the darn is worked in a square a more irregular shaped hole could end up with a lot of extra fabric around it. That said, this is clearly a spot that is subject to wear so the extra fabric is probably a good thing for reinforcement.
The upshot? I'm glad I didn't ditch the socks. Darning took some time and I'm still not entirely certain which method is best, but it felt good to take care of something I'd made. (Make do and mend and all that.) I also liked the sense of connection to all the knitters before me (my grandma included) who certainly would have taken the time to give their socks a second chance.
Editor's Note: Kate's dad, David Gilbert, makes the wooden darning eggs and mushrooms featured in the photos in his upstate New York workshop. They're all hand turned and absolutely awesome. You can order an egg or mushroom of your own (they make great gifts) here! Darning eggs and mushrooms are hand-crafted and supplies are limited.
Preventive Measures
Follow these tips to keep your socks in shape:


text:
Arsenal striker target David Villa will not be held against his wishes at Barcelona, according to the club's vice-president.
Josep Maria Bartomeu claims the Catalan giants want to keep the 86-cap Spain international at the Nou Camp in the summer, but would be willing to grant the former Valencia star a move away if he is 'uncomfortable'.
"The coaches hope he is here next season but we will not retain any player that is uncomfortable. In that case, we will talk to him to seek a solution," Bartomeu told BTV, according to talkSPORT.
Villa was heavily linked with a move to Arsenal in the January transfer window, and whilst a move to the Emirates Stadium failed to materialise, The Sun reported at the start of February that the 31-year-old remains keen on a £14million switch to north London.
And, with a transfer kitty reported to be in the region of £70million, Arsene Wenger certainly has the funds available should he wish to add the player to his Gunners squad at the end of the season.
Questions will have to be answered over the player's fitness before a move to Arsenal is conducted however, with the Blaugrana star unable to force his way back into Tito Vilanova's side on a regular basis after breaking his leg at the FIFA Club World Cup back in December 2011.
However, his experience and qualities are unquestioned, and he would certainly provide the Gunners with an extra attacking edge. Currently, Wenger only has Olivier Giroud at his disposal through the middle, with Theo Walcott and Lukas Podolski also filling in when required.


text:
Supermag Maxi One Color 66 Piece Set
Pictures And Projects For This Product (Some projects may require more pieces than are supplied in this package)
Supermag Maxi One Color 66 Piece Set is a magnetic construction toy for children of 3 years and up manufactured in Italy.
With its new larger rods, children can experience the flexibility and simplicity of magnetic building in total safety. Its magnetic components are easy to assemble, allowing children to use their imaginations in creating strong and solid objects and structures of any size, whether they are simple or complex. Best of all, Supermag Maxi is easy to take apart and rebuild, providing hours of pure entertainment and fun!
Supermag Maxi rods are unique because they come into 2 different lengths, which greatly increases the possibilities for construction and play. The key difference between Supermag and other magnetic construction toys is that Supermag Maxi lets you create diagonal supports, which cannot be made with most of the magnetic construction toys on the market. Also, thanks to the special shape of the rod's edges, up to 24 rods can be attached to a single sphere, allowing for an almost unlimited range of possible of angles. And more angles mean more ways to build!
Supermag Maxi encourages the development of children's manual skills, helps them develop mathematical and geometrical knowledge, an encourages their imagination and curiosity. The benefits are not limited to children since magnetic building also allows adults to improve spatial perception and expand their creative horizons. For individuals and group play, the magic of the magnetism provides ongoing fascinating for children and adults all around the world.
This set contains 66 pieces in a single color and metal spheres. The magnetic rods come in two different sizes for higher precision and greater play-value. Built structures are very stable and solid, yet very easy to take apart and rebuild, guaranteeing hours of creative play.


text:
Jaime Hernandez: The 1978-D Eisenhower Dollar seems to be the scarcest coin in high uncirculated condition from all the Eisenhower Dollars that were struck at the Denver Mint. Possibly fewer than 1,000 examples have survived in MS66 condition. In MS67 condition it is almost non-existent with the exception of one lone example that has been graded MS67 with none being finer.
© 1999-2018 Collectors Universe NASDAQ: CLCT


text:
Neoseeker : Videos : Walkthroughs : Boss #18 - Kaiser Dist XX (2/2)
Tales of the Abyss
- By Namco Bandai Games for 3DS, PS2
Boss #18 - Kaiser Dist XX (2/2)
Register as a member to subscribe comments.COMMENTS
You must be a member to post comments. Login or register to post what you think of this video!
Trailer Info
|From: Blaise9
|Aug 11, 2008
|Category: Walkthroughs


text:
posted by Thom Holwerda on Mon 18th Aug 2008 21:31 UTC, submitted by Tony DeYoung
With the SIGGRAPH OpenGL BOF now past, Nick Haemel from AMD has written a blog post about OpenGL 3 and the reasoning behind the choices made. "After testing an approach that would have a drastic effect on the API, requiring complete OpenGL application rewrites and not introducing any of the long awaited features modern GPUs are capable of [...] GL 3.0 takes two important steps to moving open standard graphics forward in a major way. The first is to provide core and ARB extension access to the new capabilities of hardware. The second is to create a roadmap that allows developers to see what parts of core specifications will be going away in the future, also providing the OpenGL ARB with a way to introduce new features faster."


text:
Advanced Search
You are not logged in.
Symthic Rules (23.06.2016)
Hey! If this is your first visit on symthic.com, also check out our weapon damage charts.
Currently we have charts for Battlefield 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Medal of Honor: Warfighter and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Renommee System 1.2.3 © 2009-2012 Packageforge
Forum Software: Burning Board®, developed by WoltLab® GmbH
© Design by Symthic.com
Remember me?


text:
Neoseeker : Videos : Walkthroughs : Dragon Ball Fusions Part 27 - TFS Plays
Dragon Ball Fusions
- By Ganbarion for 3DS
Dragon Ball Fusions Part 27 - TFS Plays
Register as a member to subscribe comments.COMMENTS
You must be a member to post comments. Login or register to post what you think of this video!
Trailer Info
|Apr 17, 2017
|Category: Walkthroughs


text:
Follow RFF News on your cell phone. Text follow rff to 40404 you will receive txt messages with RFF News
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
If they do go to New Orleans, wouldn't this give the Schroeder Family an unfair advantage? I assume the trip itinerary has been worked out before the final teams have been selected.
Page created in 0.108 seconds with 34 queries.


text:
I hear people talk about ebook readers and how they like or dislike them, but what I'm wondering is how many of those who dislike them have actually tried them under realistic, "comfy reading chair" conditions. Like, sitting in your favorite reading spot with a Kindle or whatnot in hand, and spending a goodly number of minutes reading a book you like. And "recently," since the devices change a lot. So, here's a poll about that... Feel free to discuss at length.
A followup question would be, what did you think of it?
Note that you need to log in to vote. The login buttons are up top right, like "Login with Facebook". (And if it doesn't return you right to this page, click the "View active topics" link and you'll see this one near the top.)


text:
News and Events: Press releases
Joint press release: Global experts call for lifelong learning as the cornerstone of development
Over the last two decades, access to education has increased with more than 50 million more children in school. Yet, 61 million children of primary-school age are still left out and many of them live in poor communities and impoverished neighbourhoods.
Inequalities limit education and learning opportunities for the most disadvantaged and excluded children, said Geeta Rao Gupta, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF. Girls, children with disabilities, children living in conflict zones, nomadic children and children forced to work to help their families make ends meet are among the key vulnerable groups, she added. We must place equity and inclusion front and centre in our post-2015 plans.
The gathering hosted by the Government of Senegal with support from the Governments of Canada and Germany and from the Hewlett Foundation was co-organized by UNICEF and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The conference is part of the global conversation to discuss development goals as the 2015 target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches.
"Education is not only a human right, it's also an enabler for realizing other rights. We know that education is key in reducing mortality and morbidity rates; eradicating poverty and hunger; strengthening resilience to natural hazards and ending abuse, violence and armed conflict," said Qian Tang, UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Education. "Strong national ownership and leadership is vital. Education must reflect and respect cultural diversity and be relevant to national development challenges."
In Dakar, the delegates unanimously agreed that education for all remains an unfinished agenda and recommended further commitment from the international community, with a stronger focus on equity and quality, to shape the global development agenda beyond the 2015 deadline.
The international event in Dakar follows online discussions on the UNs World We Want web platform and regional consultations about education with nearly 15,000 people involved around the world on the themes of equitable access to education, quality of learning, global citizenship, jobs and skills, governance and financing for education.
About UNESCO
UNESCO works to create the conditions for dialogue among civilizations, cultures and peoples, based upon respect for commonly shared values. The top priority is education, and UNESCO leads the global Education for All movement. It is funded by its 195 Member States and external partners and works in close collaboration with governments, development partners, civil society and the private sector. For more information, visit: www.unesco.org
Follow UNESCO on Twitter and Facebook
About UNICEF
UNICEF works in more than 190 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The worlds largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. For more information about UNICEF and its work, visit: www.unicef.org
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook
For further information and details, please contact:
Laurent Duvillier, UNICEF West and Central Africa, Tel: + 221 77 740 35 77, 221 77 637 66 04
Shimali Senanayake, UNICEF New York, Tel: + 1 917 265 4516
Anne Müller, UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa, Tel: + 221 77 826 01 54


text:
Stuff to grab:
- Rice Dream Frozen Dessert, Vanilla - If you want it to last the afternoon, you'll need at least a quart-sized container. This is wheat free and soy free, as well as being dairy free.
- Canned Pumpkin - I like using the organic brand I get from Whole Foods, but Libby's works too. Use about 2 cups or so, more if you really like pumpkin. Use the whole can if you bought the smaller size.
- Spices - Cinnamon, nutmeg and clove, all ground. I love Cinnamon and put a ton in,
- Salt - Just a dash to bring out the sweetness. I use iodized sea salt for the mineral content.
- Big metal spoon
- Large Seal-able plastic container
If you are not dairy free, you may substitute regular ice cream. Now, let's go have some fun!
If you find this informative or interesting, please follow this blog, post it to your facebook page or quote me in your own blog. Just be sure to link back to this site. You can also "Like" my fan page to get all the latest news from GFF!


text:
Safco's Impromptu Training Table is easy to set up and store, making it a great choice for your seminars and banquets. The 1" thick high-pressure laminate top and durable vinyl edge band stand up to heavy use in your school or business. When the training session is over, just fold the top down for simple nesting and storage. A 1 1/4" tubular steel base keeps your table from wobbling. Also comes with an attractive polycarbonate modesty panel. Move your table from room to room on the four casters; two casters are locking. Meets or exceeds ANSI/BIFMA standards. Assembly required.
Key Features
- 1" laminate top folds down for storage
- 2" casters (two locking) allow for easy transport
- Meets or exceeds ANSI/BIFMA standards
- GREENGUARD certified
- Top Material: 1" thick laminate
- Frame Material: 1 1/4", 12-gauge tubular steel
- Frame Finish: Powder-coat paint
- Casters: 2" casters (two locking)
- Width: 24"
- Length: 48"
- Height: 29"
- Warranty: Limited lifetime warranty on frame; 5-year warranty on top


text:
You are in Home C P Sutcliffe & Sons, Manchester
C P Sutcliffe & Sons, ManchesterBased in Manchester, this small company operated from c1885 to c1901. Their tiles were made for them by Maw and Co, who after the company's demise, continued to produce some of their designs.
Your Exploration Trail
Click one of the links below to revisit a topic.Home C P Sutcliffe & Sons, Manchester


text:
Sometimes you get up before dawn to bag a century before lunch, and sometimes the best roads are the least maintained; Trek's Domane SLR will revolutionize how you experience long days and rough roads, making your favorite rides even more memorable. Developed in close coordination with the cobbles-racing master, Fabian Cancellara, this long-range rocket offers a rear IsoSpeed system that allows you to adjust and dial in the compliance based on your terrain, riding style, and personal preference. Trek took endurance-oriented comfort further though, adding IsoSpeed to the front end by decoupling the steerer tube from the head tube, increasing compliance by 10%. Trek knew they had something special in Front IsoSpeed but the effect could be amplified with a new handlebar to address higher frequency vibration, so Bontrager responded with the IsoCore handlebar. Constructed with a continuous inner layer of a thermoplastic elastomer encased in OCLV carbon, the IsoCore handlebar reduces high-frequency vibration by 20%.
The Domane SLR Disc frameset is built with Trek's 600 series OCLV carbon, ensuring low weight and further enhancing the comfort of your ride. The BB90 bottom bracket directs all your power to the road so that you're as efficient as you are comfortable, while flat mount disc brake mount keep the weight down. It also incorporates hidden fender mounts for those epic Rule #9 days, a 3S chain keeper for confidence across rough roads, and DuoTrap S integration for sleek data transmission. The Ride Tuned seatmast further reduces weight, and the Domane Control Center houses the internal eTap battery just under the down tube water bottle cage.
|600 Series OCLV carbon, front/rear IsoSpeed decouplers, 142 x 12mm thru-axle
|Trek Domane carbon, tapered steerer, flat mount disc brake, 100 x 12mm thru-axle
|Integrated design, included
|Bottom Bracket
|Compatible with disc-brakes only
|Trek Ride-Tuned seatmast, requires Trek seatmast cap
* Subject to change without notice.Back to top
|Manufacturer's Part Number
|Vendor Number
|Matte Dnister Black/Viper Red / 50cm


text:
3:30 am
MotorWeek NULL
4:00 am
Sesame Street "Help-O-Bots" Telly, Rosita, and Elmo pretend to be robots to try and help Chris at Hooper's Store. Educational Objective: Cognitive Reasoning. D
5:00 am
Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood "Line Leader Daniel/Neighborhood Jobs" Line Leader Daniel: The children are getting new classroom jobs at school. Daniel really wants to be line leader! When he doesn't get the job he wanted, Daniel is disappointed. Soon he learns that all of the jobs are necessary to keep the classroom running smoothly. D
5:30 am
Martha Speaks "Stanley Saves The Day/Milo Goes for Gold" Stanley Saves the Day - Kenan Thompson guest stars as Truman's cousin, Stanley, who's obsession with watching movies tends to get on his cousin's nerves. When the gang spots two crooks at the Wagstaff City Hotel, Stanley's knowledge of heist movies may be the best tool they've got to prevent a robbery. Vocabulary: (E) athletic, burly, lanky, muscular, scrawny. D
6:00 am
NOVA "Mystery of Easter Island" Rapa Nui, the bleak speck of rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, known as Easter Island, has been a place of mystery since Europeans first arrived in 1722. How did ancient islanders build and move nearly 900 giant statues weighing up to 86 tons each. A NOVA team uses a 15-ton replica statue to test out controversial recent claims on how the statues might have been moved.G
7:00 am
Rick Steves' Europe "South Ireland: Waterford to the Ring of Kerry" As Rick travels the southern coast, he visits Waterford's crystal factory, the Kennedy family homestead, the Dunbrody famine ship, and Kinsale's star-shaped fortresses. Then he drives the Ring of Kerry.G
7:30 am
Smart Travels - Europe with Rudy Maxa "Berlin" Rudy leads the way through world-class cultural sites to feel the city's past and see the future. Then it is off to shop at KaDeWe department store.G
8:00 am
The Desert Speaks "Dying Traditions in a Mexican Pueblo" Host David Yetman takes a trip to the pueblos of the Sierra Madre, where traditions are slowly dying out as the big cities become more accessible to the population. After stopping to see a donkey-powered Pinole grinder made of stone, he heads to agrarian community of Sahuaripa to visit its talabarteria (a leather goods shop) and call upon the last remaining weaver of palm hats and baskets. D
8:30 am
Chef John Besh's New Orleans Quail Gumbo and Dewberry Streusel Pie. D
9:00 am
Lidia's Italy In America "St. Louis and Chicago Style Pizza" Lidia enjoys a New York slice of pizza and heads to Caputo's, a family-owned Italian grocery in Chicago. She teaches viewers how to make their own pizzas with her Deep Dish Pizza and St. Louis Pizza recipes. D
9:30 am
GardenSMART A beautiful Park in an unusual setting provides many great gardening lessons. A great gardener with great gardening advice. What's not to like. D
10:00 am
Christina "Italian Light" Think you can't lose weight and enjoy an Italian feast? Sophia Loren famously said she owed her great looks to pasta and olive oil. The natural deliciousness of Italian cuisine can help you achieve the body of your dreams with its great balance of carbs, protein and fat. And with delicious dishes like Penne fra Diavolo, dieting has never been so yummy. D
10:30 am
Cook's Country from America's Test Kitchen "Dessert On Bourbon Street" Test cook Julia Collin Davison shows host Christopher Kimball how to make the ultimate New Orleans Bourbon Bread Pudding. Then, equipment expert Adam Ried reveals his top picks for sugar shakers. Next, tasting expert Jack Bishop challenges Chris to a tasting of grits. D
11:00 am
Austin City Limits "Radiohead" The alt rock icon takes the stage as the band performs songs from its Grammy-nominated album The King of Limbs.G
12:00 pm
Sesame Street "Sock Chaos at the Laundromat" Chris is doing his laundry at the Sesame Street Laundromat. When he is folding his clothes, he discovers that a sock is missing. All socks come in pairs so he needs to find the matching sock. D
1:00 pm
Dinosaur Train "Arnie Rides The Flatcar/Old Reliable" Buddy, Tiny, and Mom visit their very large sauropod friend, Arnie Argentinosaurus, and his dad. Arnie has grown bigger since our kids have seen him and is now too big to ride on the Dinosaur Train anymore. Tiny and Buddy arrange with Mr. Conductor for Arnie to be the first big dinosaur to ride on the newest Dinosaur Train car - the flatbed car! Mr. Pteranodon and Mr. Lambeosaurus take all the kids to see a field of geysers - holes in the ground that hot water shoots out from! At the same time, Mrs. Pteranodon and Mrs. Lambeosaurus are relaxing nearby in soothing pools of warm water, called hot springs. D
1:30 pm
Peg + Cat "The Mega Mall Problem/The Cleopatra Problem" The Mega Mall Problem - The Mega Mall. Peg and Cat search the enormous Mega Mall for the teens so they can all enter the Zebra Guy dance contest. Primary Content: Attributes of objects; Secondary Content: Maps. D
2:00 pm
Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That! "Minnie Meerkat/Leaves" Minnie Meerkat - Sally and Nick are planning to camp out in the backyard, but there are some scary noises out there! Not to worry, The Cat's friend Minnie Meerkat can teach them all about camping safe. Off to Peekaboo Plains where a group of meerkats show them how they make their camp safe every night. Now Sally and Nick know what to do to feel safe in the backyard. D
2:30 pm
WordGirl "The Two-Brains Boogie/Field Day Fun with Robo-Tobey" The Two Brains Boogie - Dr. Two Brains is at it again-this time he's threatening to turn all the town's buildings into cheese. When he traps WordGirl outside the city limits she has to figure out how to stop his cheesy plan and get to the Boogie Oogie Oogie dance contest on time! Vocabulary Words: Shimmy, Indestructible. Field Day Fund with Robo-Tobey - Becky's really excited about the big field day competition at school. D
3:00 pm
Science Trek "Weather" Host Joan Cartan-Hansen discusses weather and climate with meteorologists Vin Crosby and Robyn Heffernan. She also takes students inside the National Weather Service office to see how meteorologists collect the data they need to predict the weather.G
3:30 pm
Rick Steves' Europe "Italy's Amalfi Coast" Rick visits the trendy resort of Positano on the Amalfi coastline, south of Naples. He also takes in the charms of Sorrento, the ancient Greek temples of Paestum, and the iridescent Blue Grotto beneath the Isle of Capri.G
4:00 pm
Grand Coulee Dam: American Experience Grand Coulee was more than a dam; it was a proclamation. In the wake of the Great Depression, America turned from private enterprise to public works - not simply to provide jobs, but to restore faith. The ultimate expression of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, Grand Coulee played a central role in transforming the Northwest; it was the largest hydroelectric power producing facility in the world when it was completed in March 1941.G
5:00 pm
PBS NewsHour NULL
6:00 pm
Globe Trekker "Globe Trekker Special: World War II in the Pacific" The Trekkers explore the epic events of World War II by visiting key locations in the Pacific, a region where great battles were fought and military history was made.G
7:00 pm
Outdoor Idaho "Rec Tech" Whether producing custom jet boats, some of the world's best-known knives, high-end fly fishing reels or calorie-packed and great-tasting energy bars, the people leading Idaho's recreation technology companies share one characteristic: They love Idaho's great outdoors. This episode features the adventurous men and women behind these innovations.G
7:30 pm
Dialogue "David Macaulay: Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference" Host Marcia Franklin talks with the creator of books that explain how architectural wonders such as pyramids and cathedrals were built.G
8:00 pm
Idaho Reports 2014 Co-hosts Melissa Davlin and Aaron Kunz are joined weekly by political analysts Betsy Russell and Jim Weatherby along with other news professionals to help provide a firsthand account of the week's events at the Idaho Legislature.G
9:00 pm
Capital to Capitol Historians Keith Petersen and Carole Simon-Smolinski help shed light on the conflict that erupted when Boise replaced Lewiston as Idaho's seat of government, and how decisions made 150 years ago still impact the present. The impetus for this 12-minute video segment was the construction in Lewiston of a replica of Idaho's first territorial Capitol, which was dedicated in Lewiston in July of 2013.G
9:13 pm
Capitol of Light Idaho's treasured Statehouse shines with light following its major refurbishing and upgrading of all utility systems, plus the addition of underground facilities. IdahoPTV has documented its return to splendor and the difficulties encountered along the way, while exploring the history of the People's House.G
10:00 pm
Globe Trekker "Globe Trekker Special: World War II in the Pacific" The Trekkers explore the epic events of World War II by visiting key locations in the Pacific, a region where great battles were fought and military history was made.G
11:00 pm
Outdoor Idaho "Rec Tech" Whether producing custom jet boats, some of the world's best-known knives, high-end fly fishing reels or calorie-packed and great-tasting energy bars, the people leading Idaho's recreation technology companies share one characteristic: They love Idaho's great outdoors. This episode features the adventurous men and women behind these innovations.G
11:30 pm
Dialogue "David Macaulay: Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference" Host Marcia Franklin talks with the creator of books that explain how architectural wonders such as pyramids and cathedrals were built.G


text:
Two days before her death, Whitney Houston gave what would be her final performance at a Hollywood nightclub, surrounded by friends and family.
The 48-year-old music legend was at the "Kelly Price & Friends Unplugged: For The Love Of R&B Grammy Party" at Tru Hollywood nightclub on Thursday, February 9. Kelly Price called Houston up on stage and the pair sang a duet of "Yes, Jesus Loves Me" before Houston blew kisses to the crowd and walked off stage.
"I invited a bunch of friends, Whitney Houston among them. ... All of my friends came out. They performed. They performed for free. It was an amazing night. My band was there. It ended up being an all-out jam session," Price told MTV News at a pre-Grammy brunch on Saturday morning. "I wasn't expecting Whitney to take the stage, but she came up. She got on the stage, and while I was talking to her, she grabbed the microphone and started singing. So that's kind of cool."
Houston arrived at the party in a Cadillac Escalade, two hours after it had begun, wearing a snug black cocktail dress.
Her daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, 18, attended the party and walked the red carpet with her mother.
Inside the club, Houston was said to be in good spirits and danced from her spot in the club's VIP area, according to People magazine.
Much was made of photos of Houston leaving the club, looking a bit disheveled, but Price believed her good friend was fine.
"I honestly don't know what all the craziness is about," Price told MTV at the time. "We partied so hard, we all looked a mess when we walked out of the club. But that's a good party. You sweat. You do that."
It was only a matter of hours before Houston was pronounced dead at age 48 at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California on Saturday, February 11, a day before the 2012 Grammy Awards.
Houston's body was found inside a bathtub in a room on the fourth floor of the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California, OnTheRedCarpet.com has learned.
Investigators for the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office worked on the scene to find the cause of her death as celebrities poured into the building for a pre-Grammy gala that Houston was supposed to attend. Producer Clive Davis, her mentor, dedicated the event to her (see photos). The Coroner's Office workers transferred Houston's body out of the building early on Sunday.
Police would not say if any drugs or alcohol were found in the room, but a source told OnTheRedCarpet.com's parent company KABC that a few prescription bottles were found in Houston's hotel room. The pop, soul and R&B singer had struggled with substance abuse for years. She relapsed and returned to rehab in May.
The coroner hopes to get an autopsy done on Sunday, but results will not be released until a toxicology report has been completed.
Houston was set to perform on Saturday at the Beverly Hilton at a pre-Grammy gala for producer Clive Davis, who discovered her. The event took place as scheduled. A crime lab bus was seen parked outside as guests gathered inside the building.
The Grammy ceremony's executive producer, Ken Ehrlich, told CNN that Sunday's Grammy Award ceremony will include a tribute to Houston that would be "appropriate to Whitney's memory."
"I've asked Jennifer Hudson to come and we're really at this moment talking about what she's going to do," he said, referring to an "American Idol" alum who was presented with a Grammy by Houston at the 2009 ceremony and whose long-ranging voice has been compared to the late singer's. Hudson also performed a tribute to Houston at the 2010 BET Honors in Washington in 2010.
"It's not going to be a full-blown tribute," Ehrlich said about the Grammys. "That's too early and it's too fresh at this moment. It's going to be something respectful to Whitney's memory. We've gone through the script and we've made a few changes it's still going to be a great music show. I think, knowing Whitney as I did ... she knew the importance of thrilling an audience and that's what we still plan to do tomorrow."


text:
Share this:
Get all the major supplies needed to make this project with the Icy Thank You Card Bundle Icy Thank You Card Set, or you can order them separately.
Thank You for Everything CardBy Susan Cobb
Designer Tip: Use a light touch when painting in tight areas of the stamped images with Smooch inks. The brush has a firm point that will cover tiny spaces easily.