text:
NOTES FROM CANSCAIP MEETING September 14, 2016
SPEAKER: Anne Shone, Scholastic Canada
President: Sharon Jennings
Recording Secretary: Bev Katz Rosenbaum
PRESIDENT'S ANNOUNCEMENTS (Sharon Jennings)
ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR'S UPDATES (Helena Aalto)
Wed. Oct. 12 Joel Sutherland - Writing Non-Fiction
Wed. Nov. 9 Joyce Grant and Angela Misri - Author Websites & Social Media
Wed. Dec. 14 Ruth Ohi and Debbie Ohi - Seasonal Books
Wed. Jan. 11 Kat Mototsune - Diversity in Kids Publishing
GUEST SPEAKER: Anne Shone
Patricia Storms introduced our speaker for the evening, Scholastic Senior Editor Anne Shone, speaking on the topic 'Is Funny Worthy?'
Anne opened her talk by saying that obviously the answer to 'Is Funny Worthy?' is a resounding yes! Awards are nice, but editors are equally concerned about how the books connect with real live kids. On the same day Anne learned a book she'd worked on had been nominated for a big award, she got a text from a parent saying her son had shared a book she'd also worked on with his daycare class and they all loved it—both of those acknowledgments were thrilling! High quality books can also be books kids want to read, and a big goal of Anne's is to create lifelong readers.
Anne shared a childhood experience in which a teacher crossed out many of the books on Anne's 'Books I Read Over the Summer' list (including stories by Enid Blyton), and the teacher's note said, 'These don't count.' Even then, Anne said, she knew the teacher was wrong.
Funny books invite kids into the world of reading, which competes with TV and computers. Captain Underpants author Dave Pilkey is a strong advocate for kids and reading. Funny books also provide respite from the turmoil of childhood, can teach readers to look at things critically, and blast things open and get kids to look at things in new ways. Studies show that kids are more likely to read books that they choose themselves, and they often choose funny.
It takes great skill to get humour on the page and to get it right. Anne presented some Scholastic examples. What Is Peace? by Wallace Edwards is philosophical, but his sense of whimsy comes through, and he makes the inaccessible accessible, opening up an important conversation. Ruth Ohi's Fox and Squirrel: The Best Christmas Ever, never overtells, and her humour is deadpan. Patricia Storms' Never Let You Go has unexpected humour as well as sweetness, which makes it different from many other books about parents expressing love for their children. Both kids and parents need to love a book, and the humour must not be at the expense of the child.
Frieda Wishinsky's and Elizabeth MacLeod's Colossal Canada (non-fiction) has an energetic, fun tone. They added speech balloons and thought bubbles to photos that were a bit boring, and there are running gags throughout to engage the reader and make connections to the material. Stacey Matson's A Year in the Life of a Total and Complete Genius is about a kid who pushes everybody's buttons, drives everybody crazy, but underneath the humour is the tragedy of losing his mother. Emil Sher's Young Man With Camera doesn't feature a traditional happy ending, but the protagonist has a wicked sense of humour and a unique way of seeing the world, which mitigates the bleakness and leaves you with the feeling the kid will be okay. In Jennifer Mook-Sang's Speechless, the main character would have preferred to fly under the radar, but gets involved in a speech competition and learns that while he may fall on his face, he won't die. Ted Staunton's upcoming Bounced is a funny, touching detective story, with humour that comes mostly from the characters' smart dialogue.
Anne encouraged writers not just to add more jokes, but to become a better writer and write the stories that speak to you. She mentioned that she read an interview with one of Seth Myers' TV writers who said she became funnier when she started writing to please herself, not others.
Highlights from the Q&A that followed Anne's talk:
Notes from CANSCAIP Meeting on June 8, 2016
To give out-of-towners an opportunity to attend, CANSCAIP's Toronto meetings are occasionally held outside the city. Our meeting on June 8 was held at Durham College in Whitby, and many members from the area, including Oshawa, Ajax, Pickering, Kawartha Lakes, and Peterborough were there, along with some from Toronto and Burlington.
The meeting was preceded by a fixed-price dinner prepared by the culinary students at the college's Bistro 67 restaurant.
Kat Mototsune, the kids editor at James Lorimer Publishers, was scheduled to speak about diversity in publishing but cancelled due to illness. However, the topic was well-covered at the meeting with the attendees participating in a lively and wide-ranging discussion on defining and demystifying diversity. We'll arrange for Kat to speak at a future meeting in Toronto.
President Sharon Jennings hosted the meeting and co-recording secretary Saumiya Balasubramaniam took notes.
Member Announcements: New Books and Projects
Administrative Director's Announcements (Helena Aalto)
Discussion on Diversity in Publishing
The floor was then open to discussion on the topic of diversity. Among the issues discussed:
Sharon Jennings concluded the meeting by stating that we should all focus on good writing.
Edward Willett, author of over 50 books for young people including two acclaimed YA Fantasy series (Masks of Agyrima and Shards of Excalibur) will be giving a talk on Writing Young Adult Fantasy on May 30 at 1 pm CST.
You can watch in person at the Saskatchewan Writers Guild office in Regina, SK, or online at http://livestream.com/accounts/13896824 . The talk will be archived for three weeks afterwards on livestream.
Details are at https://skcanscaip.wordpress.com/2016/05/15/ed-willetts-online-workshop-may-30-2016/.
Find out more about Ed at http://edwardwillett.com/.
Thank you to the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild for sponsoring this talk with a Writing Group Grant!
Notes for Meeting May 11th, 2016
Recording Secretary : Anne Laurel Carter (www.annelaurelcarter.com)
Our Vice-President, Jennifer Maruno, chaired the meeting and began by welcoming visitors and new members.
New Creations:
Stepping Into Traffic, fiction by Karen Rankin for ages 13 + from Thistledown Press about a sixteen year old boy who plans to make good in his eighth foster home.
Helena Aalto announced that our PYI annual conference will be held Sat Nov 19th at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, downtown Toronto at Shuter & Victoria close to the subway and the Eaton's Centre.
Helena reminded us that CANSCAIP is providing some of the programming at the Canadian Writers' Summit at Harbourfront June 16th - 19th, 2016.
The deadline for the new Writing for Children competition for unpublished writers is July 31st, 2016.
Note: Our meeting location on June 8th only will be Durham College in Whitby (near Hwy 401). All are welcome at the dinner in the College with our speaker Kat Mototsune, the editor for children and teens at Lorimer Books.
Speakers Panel:
Jennifer Maruno introduced this evening's panel of speakers:
Don Aker from Nova Scotia (right), Karen Bass Alberta (centre), and Charis Cotter from Newfoundland (left). These authors were visiting Toronto for the as nominees for the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading Awards, and CANSCAIP President Sharon Jennings arranged for them all to come to our meeting.
Jennifer asked the panel the following questions:
1) Describe your writing environment and how long you actually write.
2) Where did your desire to write come from?
3) What advice do you have for a writer who's maybe experiencing the doldrums?
4) Describe the ideal publisher.
5) Do you ever say no to your editor?
6) Do you work with a critique group?
Don Aker
1) Don wishes he was more disciplined but thinks every successful writer needs a "wife" (or supportive spouse). He wrote his first 2 novels writing from 5 - 6:30 am before his children got up and then worked all day as a teacher. He tours (now that he's retired) and feels he has less time for writing. But when he's home, he's an early riser, has breakfast with his wife, goes for a walk on the beach and then works straight until 4 pm.
2) He became a writer because he didn't know how to teach writing and had to in the classroom. He went back to do his Masters and one of his courses was the Martha Vineyard 2 week Writers' Course where he had to face a blank page and create/write every day and read something at the end of the 2 weeks. The instructor told him his piece was publishable and he started writing and struggling WITH his students. Writing a story with the critiquing support of a class, he won the Atlantic Writing Competition and didn't look back.
3) Don quoted Phillip Pullman saying Plumbers don't get plumbers block, Writers don't get writers' block. It's a matter of putting one word down after another. Don remembers writing a novel about a young man coming to terms with his brother's suicide and feeling stuck about the scene where the boy found his dead brother. Sitting beside a woman on a plane, as usual he questioned her intensely and she told her story about seeing the towers come down in Manhattan and first reactions which were of shock. That conversation enabled him to write the scene: the boy would go and do something normal.
4) Don believes the most important quality is promotion. Harper Collins has had excellent editors who have helped him make the best book. They also helped him laugh at himself. Don suggests writing competitions are an excellent way to get exposure.
5) He had a book in 2012 he hated and asked the publisher to delay it. When he got a new editor, every suggestion she made was excellent and he trusted her and the book as a result was much better.
6) He had a critique group early in his career and liked it. He no longer does because he became too busy. His first reader is his wife whose opinion he respects.
Karen Bass
1) She has an office where she squirrels away to write a first draft. She feels she wastes her morning time on social media before settling down to work 2 - 10 pm. When she's doing research she has no schedule.
2) Karen was always an avid reader and when her daughter was four she went to work at the local library and took a writing course and got hooked.
3) Karen went through a crisis when there were medical emergencies in her family and had to set it aside. Karen thinks instead of trying to empty yourself on the page, go fill yourself up with reading or travelling or any kind of life experience.
4) Karen feels she has a great publisher, Pajama Press.
5) Karen feels they are mostly right although she has argued a historical fact when she knows she's right. She has hired a freelance editor.
6) Karen lives in a small community and has two trusted readers not a critique group.
Charis Cotter
1) She lives near the water 90 minutes from St. Johns and begins her day with a walk, thinking about the story. She often sits on her couch looking out over the water when she's not at her desk. She feels she's like a cat, getting tea, getting up, and finally settles down to a couple of hours in the morning, and couple in the afternoon 3-4 hours in a day. If she's editing a story she can spend longer.
2) Charis loved daydreaming as a child and put herself in her stories. As an adult she wrote her first novel for her nephew (which didn't get published). She worked freelance as an editor for publishers. It took her five years from her nonfiction books to make the switch to writing fiction.
3) Charis has recently thought about writers' block and her only advice is to persevere. If Charis is stuck she writes about anything, the weather, her family, anything. Keep at it.
4) Charis would like to be taken her out to expensive lunches, respect her ideas, listen, give her a great advance so she could live on it, they'd market and sell her books. Charis doesn't have an agent but uses Sally Keefe Cohen to negotiate her contracts.
5) Charis generally tries to trust her editors and consider their questions and suggestions although she will fight for something she feels strongly about.
6) Charis prefers to work on her own.
Award-winning author and professor of Children's Literature Beverley Brenna's presentation "Writing the World for Today's Kids: Diversity Essentials" is now available on YouTube!.
Beverley gave an overview of Canadian books that have characters with diverse abilities (all 134!) and provided 10 tips for writing about such characters. She also identified some gaps in topics in existing books, and read from some of her own work. Her website is http://www.beverleybrenna.com/ .
Thank you to the Saskatchewan Writers Guild for sponsoring this talk through a Writing Group Grant.
You can watch her presentation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWpcjzRstFw.
Notes for Meeting April 13th, 2016
Our president, Sharon Jennings, chaired the meeting and began by welcoming visitors and new members.
Stepping Into Traffic, fiction by Karen Rankin for ages 13 + from Thistledown Press. Book Launch is May 1st at 2pm in the Lillian H. Smith Library rotunda.
Shire Summer, fiction by Noelle Jack for middle grade readers from Archway Publishing. For Book Launch details check out: www.noellejackauthor.com
SCBWI members remember to vote for Crystal Kite Award. Voting ends April 14th at 5 pm.
A week of inspiration and feedback for your YA Novel
with Anne Laurel Carter
at the University of Toronto Summer Writing School
Mon-Fri July 11 -15, 9:30 am - 3:00 pm
Downtown Toronto Campus
Helena Alto announced that our PYI annual conference will be held Sat Nov 19th at the Li Ka Shing Institute, downtown Toronto at Shuter & Victoria.
Don Aker, Karen Bass and Charis Cotter will be visiting Toronto from Nova Scotia, Alberta and Newfoundland and part of a lively and informative panel discussion for our May meeting.
Catherine Rondina introduced our two talented speakers and siblings, Ann and David Powell. They formed Puppetmongers Theatre in1974 and have become internationally recognized and awarded for their decades of fine work.
Ann began their presentation by showing us a gift she received from her brother when she was eight: her first marionette (with useful instructions in the box). They both loved playing with the dog on strings, received more puppets as gifts, and began making their own. Their puppet creations and story-telling grew as they did and both Ann and David eventually graduated from OCAD.
David showed us the first marionette he made as a boy: a wolf made of cardboard covered in cloth whose body could slink and pounce and whose jaws opened wide to reveal a long red tongue.
They love to perform on stage, visibly moving their puppets in front of a clever background set designed and built by them to enhance the story they are telling. They took their first show, The Miller, to Iran and came home to create a story and puppets fitted with rods into the back or into the top of the head based on a style of puppets from that country. Puppet bodies were rag doll and of different sizes to denote social status. They used cranking movie boxes in which the audience viewed pictures painted on a scroll of paper that enhance the story.
Invited to festivals, they became more and more inspired by creative ideas they'd seen around the world in Object Theatre. They showed us numerous video clips of their past performances to illustrate how they used shadow puppets on the wall to show violence and puppets made from fabric, wood, bricks, whatever material and tradition they needed to enhance the telling of a particular story. Large and small puppets can show characters in the foreground or the background of the story setting.
Ann often uses ideas from fairy and folk tales to inspire her works. For both of them, the goal has been to tell stories to contemporary audiences in historical ways that spoke of a slower and more relaxed time.
They don't tend to sketch but see the puppets in their heads, then make them. They also don't start by writing out a script but use storyboards to visually help them tell the story, then create the puppets needed as characters. Then the puppets tell them what they will say. As puppeteers, they are on stage and part of the show. They visibly move the puppets' bodies and arms (which have no joints). David explained that he feels and directs the puppets' movements from his fingertips.
In the eighties (as now) when funding collapsed for their performances in schools, they diversified their work and began performing live in theatres. They continue to create and performed shows for adults, families, and children and offer workshops to other puppeteers and the general public called: Teach Your Puppet To Act.
Puppeteers often start their careers as children who discover the delight of acting out a story using puppets as their characters. Watching Ann and David perform and interact throughout their unique presentation gave us the magical sense that we were watching a brother and sister who were lucky, talented and creative enough to maintain a life-long enjoyment of playing and telling stories to each other as children.
Children's author and professor Beverley Brenna will give ten tips for writing about differently-abled kids. Her award-winning fiction portrays characters with exceptionalities and her perspectives call for titles that reflect contemporary kids with diverse abilities.
If you live in Regina, Saskatchewan, you can attend this talk live on Monday April 25, 2016 at 2 pm at the Saskatchewan Writers Guild office. If you aren't fortunate enough to live there, or if you can't come then, you can watch Bev's talk online live or for about two weeks afterwards.
For details, see https://skcanscaip.wordpress.com/2016/04/18/beverley-brenna/ .
Wednesday, March 9, 2015 7:00 PM
Minute Notes: Saumiya B.
Our president, Sharon Jennings, began by welcoming all present (and we were a big crowd) and recollecting how she started off her career with her first book published by Annick Press.
Past-president Karen Krossing shared key takeaways from her attendance at the international SCBWI conference attended by over 1200 members. Karen noted the following:
Jane Yolen – Spoke about the importance of re-invention and genre hopping.
William Joyce—This award-winning author/illustrator and filmmaker spoke on new media and how it is bringing democracy to storytelling.
The kid's division publisher's panel noted that the climate on kid's books is good, and the Indies are not going away. Trends are now on new media.
Gary D.Schmidt – author of Orbiting Jupiter talked about writing to express and engender empathy in a broken world.
Kathy Rondina extends her invitation to all to enroll for her course at George Brown in Creating Non-Fiction for Children.
Theo Heras then introduced Rick Wills who founded Annick Press in 1975 with Anne Millyard. Annick Press, which doesn't turn away from difficult themes, has been called a publisher built on kindness, warmth and compassion. Theo would add intelligence and innovation as well. She invited Rick to speak to us and let us know how he did it for 40 years.
Rick began with a quick history of Annick. He and Anne co-founded Annick with deep concerns that Canadian values and sensibilities were not being reflected in books. They began well with great reception and coverage on national news—until their volunteering accountant announced they were near bankruptcy. Rick had to learn a different sort of "books" to avoid disaster!
How is Annick unique?
It is an owner-managed publishing company. Rick looks out for good books, distinctive literature. Annick publishes 25 books per annum. Last year it received close to 90 awards and citations. Rick insists that Annick remain an editorially-driven company, but it is always changing. For Annick and most Canadian publishers, 66-67% of sales are to the US. He also said that books are becoming more focused on the visual; the present generation is processing more visually.
Rick is a little pessimistic about changes in the industry and publishing pressures. Right here in Ontario, Grade 3 and Grade 6 EQAO reading standards are dropping. Rick went on to highlight that what kids read doesn't matter as long as they read. Reading for pleasure is the key. 80% of students who met reading standards in grade 3 and grade 6 went on to pass grade 10 and were reading for fun for more than one hour.
Figures from the UK show that kids who read for fun are faring better in school.
Dr.Stephen Krasher's research in the field proves that kids who read fare better both academically and socially. They have more empathy, are informed voters, and are better at critical and analytical thinking.
Rick emphasized that initiatives such as The National Reading Campaign and events such as those supported by TD will help improve skills of good readers.
Oftentimes economic factors affect student outcomes, but reading books can even counteract the effects of poverty. Rick's biggest frustration is that society doesn't understand the phenomenal social good that comes out of reading.
Some problems that face publishers today:
E-books are not the answer according to Rick.
If authors and publishers can give the public powerful, relevant stories that connect, we can be part of the conversation about contemporary issues. Annick tries to do this and producing books about difficult subject and diversity is part of its identity.
For Authors
Rick then spoke of the importance of writing what you want to write about. He emphasized the importance of query letters. Even after you have convinced an editor, it will be used to sell the book to the sales team.
He said it is important for creators to know their competition, to check out other books. One thing he stresses is to never tell readers to think. As writers, we must help them to connect the dots.
Rick then went out to list some of Annick's key non-fiction titles, books that set out to change the conversation.
In closing, Rick emphasized Annick's collaboration with the Top Grade program, which Catherine Mitchell told us about at a previous CANSCAIP meeting. It is an initiative that helps to bring Canadian Books to Canadian kids. Rick believes educators need help in getting good books that connect to their curriculum. He also believes kids must be given choices.
Questions from The Audience
Q: What is the market like for YA Non-Fiction?
Rick said that the book needs to be very well done and ensure that subject matter ties in to curriculum. He also re-stated the importance of an impressive cover letter.
Q: A member from the audience alluded to Rick's mention of Dr.Stephen Krasher and highly recommended his book The Power of Reading.
Q: Kids are visual. Is Annick doing graphic novels?
With most graphic works they do, the writer is also the illustrator. Although they are expensive to produce, the market is growing.
Q: Does Annick do Middle Grade?
There is a healthy market, but publishers need a critical mass of Middle Grades to do well. They are focusing on YA in novels.
Q: From the 25 books published yearly by Annick, what percent comes from the slush pile?
It varies. There is no quota—just as it happens.
Q: How do illustrators approach Annick?
Send in samples to the Art Director, Sheryl Shapiro.
Theo thanked Rick and said (rightly so) that we were fortunate to have Rick speak to us. Join us in April for The Puppet Mongers and in May for a panel out-of-town guests here for The Forest of Reading awards.
CANSCAIP in partnership with The Writers' Union of Canada, is pleased to announce the winners and finalists of the 18th annual Writing for Children Competition.
A cash prize of $1,000 will be presented to two winners: for a Picture Book / Early Reader and for a Chapter Book / Middle Grade / Young Adult. Eight additional finalists have also been selected. CANSCAIP will submit the winning entries and the finalists to three Canadian children's book publishers for their consideration. Some of the previous finalists and winners of the Writing for Children Competition have had their entries published.
WINNER PICTURE BOOK / EARLY READER: Shelley Motz – Solomon's Football
A young Muslim boy is whisked away from Pakistan and plunked down in a Canadian suburb. His first tentative steps into this strange, new world are eased by his love of soccer. The daughter of a refugee, Shelley Motz writes about and works on immigration issues.
WINNER CHAPTER BOOK / MIDDLE GRADE / YOUNG ADULT: Rita Bailey – Rebel Moon
A teen boy fends for himself and tries to save his father from the gallows during Ontario's Rebellion of 1837. Rita Bailey is a teacher, and began Rebel Moon in a novel-writing class. She continues to take courses, attend conferences and work with a critiquing group.
Saumiya Balasubramaniam – When Grandma Wore a Baseball Cap
Loretta Garbutt – The Riding Lesson
Jodie Robulak – Piggies on Parade
Ann Severn Benedek – Fred No Matter What
Sylvia Chiang – Cross Ups
Kristen Ciccarelli – In the World to Come
Ruth Deakin-Nobes – The Gadget Meddler
Tanya Trafford – St. Govan's Chapel
CANSCAIP received close to 400 entries for the 2015 Writing for Children Competition. All the entries were evaluated by a group of first-round readers who selected entries that would proceed to second-round readers, who then selected entries to proceed to the final juries. The juries were comprised of bestselling authors Anne Laurel Carter, Ruth Ohi and Kathy Stinson (Picture Book / Early Reader Jury) and Barbara Greenwood, Susin Nielsen and Arthur Slade (Chapter Book / Middle Grade / Young Adult Jury). The first-round and second-round readers were: Karen Autio, Lena Coakley, Don Cummer, Aubrey Davis, Theo Heras, Susan Hughes, Sharon Jennings, Janet McNaughton, Jennifer Mook-Sang, Bev Rosenbaum, Valerie Sherrard, Jocelyn Shipley and Ted Staunton. CANSCAIP is grateful for the support and participation of these Members.
The 2016 Writing for Children Competition will be announced in April.
MEETING NOTES: Wednesday, February 10, 2016
President's Remarks
President Sharon Jennings welcomed a surprisingly large crowd to the blustery February meeting. She noted that many in attendance in January had mentioned how much they learned about estate planning for creators with lawyer Marian Hebb. This topic might be a future all day seminar.
Tonight, Sharon's 'monologue' (or 'rant' she intimated) was on the subject of writing letters to the editors of newspapers concerning the dismal lack of coverage for children's literature. Sharon read out a couple of her letters that The Toronto Star did print, and a couple that they did not. Two themes emerged: reviews claiming that a book for adults is breaking new ground, when in fact a Canadian children's book had already done so; and the Star's unwillingness (despite letters to the editor) to separate juvenile books into two lists – Canadian and international – as they do for adult titles. Sharon told us that when Member Lena Coakley's The World of Ink and Shadows was number one on the juvenile list, the Star chose a photo of a Wimpy Diary title to showcase.
An audience member suggested that the CANSCAIP office alert us to any such issues in order that we may inundate a newspaper with our letters.
Sharon asked any newcomers to introduce themselves, and we met several arts students from Seneca and Centennial, all keen to hear Gary Clement.
Rick Wilks of Annick Press will be our guest speaker.
New Creations by CANSCAIP Members
AUTHOR: Kate Blair
TITLE: Transferral
GENRE / AGE: YA - speculative fiction
PUBLISHER: Dancing Cat Books
SYNOPSIS: London, England, present day. This is the world as we know it, but with one key difference: medical science has found a way to remove diseases from the sick. The catch? They can only transfer the diseases into other living humans.
PROMOTION/LAUNCH: Signing at Indigo Oshawa at 2pm on February 28th. The Globe and Mail called it a 'solidly engaging debut' and it got 4/4 stars from the Canadian Review of Materials.
AUTHOR: Nadia L. Hohn
TITLE: Music
TITLE: Media
SYNOPSIS: Both books are part of the Sankofa Black Heritage Collection series. Sankofa is a contemporary literacy resource for all students in Grades 4 to 8. Sankofa is designed to help promote understanding of the African Canadian narrative during Black History Month and throughout the school year.
GENRE / READING AGE: Genre Non-fiction Multi-genre Music Grade 5 and Media Grade 6
PUBLISHER: Rubicon Publishing Inc.
LAUNCH/PROMOTION: Launched February 19th at the Reading For the Love of It Conference
AUTHOR: Nadia L. Hohn
TITLE: Malaika's Costume
GENRE / AGE: Picture book, age 3-9
PUBLISHER: Groundwood Books
SYNOPSIS: It's Carnival time. The first Carnival since Malaika's mother moved to Canada to find a good job and provide for Malaika and her grandmother. Her mother promised she would send money for a costume, but when the money doesn't arrive, will Malaika still be able to dance in the parade?
LAUNCH: March 5, 2016 2-4pm at A Different Booklist Bookstore
TOUR DATES: April 2, 2016 Albion Public Library (Toronto, ON), April 9, 2016 Knowledge Bookstore (Brampton, ON)
AUTHOR: Angela Misri
TITLE: No Matter How Improbable (book 3 in the Portia Adams Adventures)
GENRE / AGE: YA Mystery
PUBLISHER: Fierce Ink Books
SYNOPSIS: Being the newest consulting detective to hail from Baker Street proves to be too much for our young sleuth, so she heads to Italy on a case with royal implications. But on her triumphant return she finds everything has changed - her friends, her family and even her very purpose are thrown into question. Will Portia Adams lose her way, or follow the clues to her new place in the world?
LAUNCH/PROMOTION:Will be the featured book in my TD Canadian Children's Book Week tour 2016 as I travel to Manitoba!
Guest Speaker Gary Clement
Award-winning political cartoonist and children's illustrator/author Gary Clement gave an inspiring, entertaining and informative presentation on his work and career. Gary first discussed his 18 year and still-going-strong stint as a political cartoonist for The National Post, outlining the challenges of creating insightful and topical cartoons on a tight deadline. (He does five per week!) He gave us a sneak preview of the next day's cartoon, and mentioned that the U.S. Republican candidates are a cartoonist's dream come true.
For this audience, Gary focused on being a children's book illustrator and author, working mainly with publisher Groundwood Books. Gary has been illustrating children's books since 1991, starting with Get Growing by Candace Savage. He talked mainly about the three books The Great Poochini, which won the Governor General's Award for illustration in 1999, Oy Feh So? (written by Cary Fagan), and his newest book, Swimming, Swimming, which is based on the well-known camp song, and which the audience gleefully sang out loud.
We learned about Gary's creative process as well as the materials that he prefers to use when drawing and painting. Gary works in watercolour and inks with Speedball pen and ink, and he prefers to use Hot Press paper because there is less texture in the paper, and the art appears cleaner and smoother when printed. Gary also discussed the challenges of getting watercolours 'just right' when checking proofs for printing.
Gary also informed us that he has succeeded with his goal in life: to never feel that he has a 'job'!
720 Bathurst St, Suite 503, Toronto, ON, CANADA, M5S 2R4
416-515-1559 firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
AMD ships Stream chip and coding kit
'Close to Metal' more Bon Jovi than Iron Maiden?
AMD today attempted to liven up the world of scientific and engineering computing, launching its first Stream-branded GPU - a graphics chip designed to crunch non-graphical data - and a "thin hardware interface" to go with it dubbed 'Close to Metal' - a sort of Bon Jovi of the chip world.
Dubbed the AMD Stream Processor, the unit's a PCI Express add-in card containing 1GB of GDDR 3. AMD didn't say what GPU underpins Stream, but ATI's website suggests it's a Radeon X1900 or X1950. Certainly it has 48 pixel shaders and is clocked at 600MHz. The memory runs at 650MHz. Whatever GPU is on the card, the product costs around $2,600. It dissipates 165W, we understand.
Close to Metal (CTM) essentially provides coders with the APIs they'll need to access the Stream chip's pixel and vertex shaders to do run multiple, not necessarily graphics-centric calculations in parallel, along with more than two dozen commands to control the GPU.
AMD reckons CTM will deliver an eightfold performance gain over code that attempts to perform the same task using clever pixel and vertex shader programs written using 3D graphics APIs like OpenGL and DirectX.
CTM and the Stream chip are part of AMD's Torrenza programme - an open foundation for firms to connect co-processing hardware to the chip maker's CPUs.
Registered developers can download AMD's Stream- and CTM-related documentation for free at its ATI website. ®
Related reviews
Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX
ATI Radeon X1950 Pro
ATI Radeon X1950 XTX
ATI Radeon X1900 XT and XTX

subset: commoncrawl


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SEMI to Push for Collaboration, Industry Standards at DOE Solid State Lighting Manufacturing Workshop
Stan Myers, president and CEO of SEMI, will speak at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solid State Lighting Manufacturing Workshop on April 21–22, 2009 in Fairfax, Virginia. The objective of the presentation is to illustrate how the semiconductor industry's experience in achieving remarkable cost and performance improvements is directly applicable to the solid state lighting (SSL) industry. Through a dynamic, healthy supply chain— supported by industry standards, technology roadmaps and collaborative partnerships between suppliers and manufacturers— SSL can reach cost and performance parity with current lighting technologies, dramatically reducing global energy usage.
The Lighting Efficiency Coalition estimates that by adopting energy efficiency lighting technologies, consumers and businesses will save approximately $18 billion annually on electricity bills by 2016— while saving an amount of energy equivalent to the power generated by 30 nuclear power plants (at 1,000 megawatts) or up to 80 coal-burning power plants (at 500 MW). End demand for high brightness (HB) LEDs remained strong through 2008, with unit growth up 25%, to 48 billion while revenue grew to 11%, to $5.1 billion (Strategies Unlimited). And presuming the general economy picks up again in 2010, advanced LEDs should resume their 19% annual growth rate, to reach some $12.4 billion by 2013. Lighting remains about a $450 million small slice of the total HB LED market, but that is expected to rapidly escalate $1.5 billion by 2012, and surge once cost targets are reached.
During the past decade, the cost of LED devices has decreased by 10x, primarily due to enhancements in LED device efficiency and increases in drive current. As devices become more efficient, the cost per lumen scales. In the past decade, LED efficiency has improved approximately 20-fold and this has led to the 10-fold decrease in cost per lumen (Haitz's Law). Unfortunately, the DOE goal for 2015 requires an additional 10 to 20-fold decrease in costs while the theoretical maximum additional efficiency improvement is less than 2x. Additional cost savings must come from yield improvements, materials innovation, automation, and other manufacturing efficiencies.
The LED manufacturing process today is very similar to the semiconductor manufacturing processes in the mid-1970s. LED wafer sizes are 2–3 inch, process equipment tends to be custom made (internally modified by manufacturers), deposition processes are poorly controlled and linewidths are only a few microns. LED throughput is typically less than 50 wafers per hour with low yields. Since 1975, the semiconductor industry has made enormous strides in cost reduction, mostly through scaling, but also through manufacturing efficiencies that can be directly applied to LED manufacturing.
"LED efficiencies are approaching their theoretical limits and will lead to a further reduction in manufacturing costs by about 2x, whereas driver current increases (while maintaining high efficiencies) probably will bring another factor of about 2x," according to Andy Hawryluk, senior vice president and chief technical officer at Ultratech. "To achieve the desired 20x cost reductions, additional manufacturing cost reductions will need to come from a combination of larger wafers and more productive tools."
Stan Myers will discuss how the semiconductor supply chain helped deliver consistent and significant cost reductions, and how those same techniques have proven effective in the flat panel display and photovoltaic industries. These techniques include use of industry standards to reduce costs and spur innovation, and pre-competitive supply chain collaboration on technology roadmaps, technology targets and efficiency goals.
The DOE at the Solid-State Lighting Manufacturing Workshop will explore opportunities, goals, and methods for a potential new DOE manufacturing initiative designed to:
- Reduce the cost of LED products to competitive levels
- Ensure high product quality and consistent performance
- Accelerate introduction of organic LED products
- Encourage and strengthen U.S. manufacturing of solid-state lighting products
Topics include:
- Worldwide manufacturing status and future
- An investor's view of manufacturing options
- Today's supply chain
- Economics of SSL manufacture
- Materials and supply issues
- Equipment needs
To register for the workshop, click here.
For more information, contact; email@example.com
April 1, 2009


text:
Brett Favre has new job
Brett Favre has new job
Brett Favre's agent says the former NFL quarterback will be an assistant coach at a Mississippi high school this fall.
Bus Cook told The Associated Press Friday that Favre will work at Oak Grove High School this fall "to help out in some capacity, but I'm not sure exactly what his role will be."
The school is near Favre's home in Hattiesburg, Miss.
The Biloxi Sun-Herald reported that Favre is expected to be the offensive coordinator. Oak Grove head coach Nevil Barr told the AP he has talked about a possible role for Favre on the coaching staff, but a job title hasn't been defined. Favre has helped at Oak Grove in an unofficial capacity in previous years.
The three-time league MVP retired from the NFL in 2010.


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ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA -- I needed a passport picture so I went to my local Walgreens which I patronize all the time. The picture was taken and I sent it to the Department of State for processing. The picture looked good to me but not to them. I was sent a letter that it was unacceptable and to have it retaken. I returned to Walgreens to have the picture retaken.
They did it without charge but the picture was absolutely awful. I asked the individual if it could be retaken and she said no. From the expression of her face, any further discussion would have been useless. I am disappointed in their customer service and would never recommend the photo department for any reason. Go somewhere else to have your passport picture taken.
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA -- Walgreens store: 3163. I went to this store in order to have some of my pictures restored and unfortunately came across a rude employee in the photo department. This is by far the worst display of customer service that I have experienced with Walgreens or any other store I have ever visited. I was using the self-service computer and had asked her what I needed to do next in order to progress with my order. She started by telling me that I needed to scan the pictures and rudely kept pointing to the machine as if I was somehow supposed to know exactly where the scanner was hidden.
I asked her to show me instead of just pointing and she just kept repeating "there, there." I then realized that there was a drawer underneath the computer and opened it to scan the pictures. She then condescendingly stated "there you go" and advised me that I obviously had to scan the pictures in order to get them into the computer. After I scanned the pictures she then stood next to me and started rudely telling me how to operate the machine by saying "do this and do that" without explaining anything or making sure it was the way I wanted it.
During this, there was another customer asking her to show her where an item was located and had asked her to get it for her as she seemed to have an issue that made it hard for her to get around. I was amazed how the employee told her that she would not get it for her and told that it was only a arm's reach away and that the customer could easily get it herself. After this customer asked again and she would not do it, I took it upon myself to get the item for the customer.
Then the employee came back to my machine and just started hitting buttons as if to quickly finish my order and rush me out of the store. I then advised her that I no longer wanted her help and eventually was able to get the order correctly into the machine myself. After I complained to her manager she told me that I didn't need to get upset about it and began telling me how the previous customer had been in the store for multiple hours and was just trying to be a nuisance, I told her that there was no excuse for treating someone the way she did. She then told me that I didn't know what she was going through or what kind of life she had as if to argue with me further.
I advised her that this was none of my business and that no matter what; the customer should always come first. She then told me that she always treats every customer the same and would not be changing her ways anytime soon. She also stated that she had been there for a long time and no matter what, she would be there for a long time to come.
I told her that I was amazed that Walgreens would keep someone for so long if that is how she treated all of her customers and asked for my claim check so I could leave. She proceeded to continue as if she had not heard me and after 5 minutes of this she finally gave me my claim check. I will never go to this Walgreens again.
MAIDEN, NORTH CAROLINA -- I had gone to the Walgreens in Maiden NC and went to the photo lab with some pictures of my brother that was killed in a motor cycle accident. I had meant to have the pictures done in my home town but forgot to. When I got to Lincolnton where the funeral was going to be held my sister asked me if I brought the photos of him. I said, "Oh no I forgot to get them copied." With the funeral being the next day I was a little apprehensive on how I was going to get this done.
I looked up Walgreens in the address of the closest Walgreens which was in Maiden NC. I took the pictures there and the photo tech working the counter asked if she could help me. When she looked at my photos she told me that she couldn't print three of them because they were professional. My first thought was I drove to this store and they aren't going to print them. I was upset and asked to speak to someone. ** called for her head photo which was on lunch and she came out. I explained what was going on and she looked at the photos and explained that I needed a copyright from the photographer. I said, "Look I can't get this right now."
She asked me to wait just a few minutes and she would try to contact the photographers. She told ** to go ahead and scan the photos that I had so that if she was able to contact them I wouldn't have to wait even longer. She returned about five minutes later and told me that I would have to sign a waiver for a baby picture of him that she could not contact the photographer for. I waited about five minutes for the photos which she processed herself. Asked if I needed frames for them which I would have forgotten even put the pictures in the frames for me.
The photos were even better than the originals. ** made my hectic day a little easier to cope with. I applaud this photo lab for first following companies (not trying to make the easy buck) and also giving me that little extra customer service I needed. I apologized for her having to come off her break and she told me that was what she was there for to help customers and co-workers when they need it...
SUMMERVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA -- After work today I stopped at the neighborhood Walgreens to have a passport photo made as I am going to a country that requires a Visa. I work for the U.S. State Department. The young man who waited on me was a not very pleasant individual named **, who took my picture and told me a time that it would be ready. It was then 6:05 P.M. and he said it would be ready at 6:50 p.m., and he gave me a receipt to bring back which actually had 6:45 P.M. as the time.
When I returned at the appropriate time, he acted like he had never seen me, and I gave him my receipt and he did a quick search, then proceeded to tell me that someone had come in on line and requested about a hundred picture, and those were ahead of me and that my pictures would not be ready for at least another hour. I asked for the manager, and she was not concerned that Walgreens was losing a customer, so any of you State Department people who need passport photos, don't go to Walgreens because they don't care about customer service, and they are liars.
NORTH CAROLINA -- I'm not sure but I guess my store is weird. I love my job. Yeah there is ups and downs with management but they move them around so much it doesn't matter. At Walgreens I have an extra family, I work with my best friend and my boyfriend, both of which I met at WALGREENS! Well reunited sort of. But I felt that way before either of them worked there because everyone of the people I work/worked with I've held close to my heart.
At Walgreens I feel heard, if I suggest something they actually listen. I'm encouraged to work hard and praised for it. I've worked there for four years now and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I would recommend working at Walgreens (or at least mine) to anyone, and have! Have a great day, and be well.
They have continuous problems with their website (photo). Most of the problems are JavaScript related. Today (27 September 2011), on two separate occasions, I telephoned customer service and they indicated that they were aware of the problems, and that the tech person (singular) was working to resolve the issue. I was also told that I may experience problems if I use continue to use Firefox or Google Chrome.
On 19 September I also complained about the JavaScript errors in photo, and that I could not "checkout" when ordering prints. That complaint resulted in an email reply from someone named Sherre ** in customer service wherein she replied, "I apologize for the inconvenience. I have credited your account 20 Free 4x10 prints as thanks for your patience while our support team resolve this issue." It is rather obvious that Walgreens continues to be plagued with website issues... using Firefox Error Console, you can always find, "easy to correct errors" in JavaScripting that their "tech person" hasn't corrected, or doesn't know how to correct. Shame, shame...
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS -- Walgreens Location 410 W Cypress St. San Antonio, TX 78212. Don't Use Walgreens photo service if there is a female working the counter. She feels that she is the best judge on photos that you need written permission to print photos. (Probably lazy and trying to cut her work load.) They printed my photos before. (Same ones.) They may look professional but when the photographer is a friend and gives you the digital prints to do what you want. It's an insult to ask them to write a letter of permission. Liable? Why would they be liable for something I own. Going to CVS or HEB. They don't have a God complex.
HUNTINGTON PARK, CALIFORNIA -- So my boyfriend took our 2010 Halloween photos to get developed at Walgreens and when I popped in the CD to see the contents I was disturbingly shocked... it contained disturbing private photos of a pregnant woman (not giving birth, although the newborn was adorable) - they were obviously not mine. I really wish Walgreens could have done a better job with individual orders but now I'm scared with those images for life..
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA -- I order photos online and receive a receipt that the photos are ready for pick up. When I go there they are not ready and I am told to resend them and make another trip. This is the third incident. Someone in management needs to find a solution.
DALY CITY, CALIFORNIA -- On Friday, October 10, I had uploaded 25 images to the Walgreens photo website, and requested the prints be routed to my local Walgreens photo department. I presented the "free 25 photo with refill" coupon from a previous purchase. On Saturday, October 11th, I returned for my refilled ink cartridge and complementary photos. The clerk called the photo manager who stated that the images must be uploaded from a camera memory or photo CD in the store, only. Online images were (are) not allowed. I paid for my "free photos." Caveat Emptor.


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The UF linebacker probably cost himself some money with his second arrest.
The Back Nine comes at you after a great weekend that included pool time and plenty of golf watching. Also, I finally put everything away from The Bob. That in itself was a project.
10. Sometimes you want to take these student-athletes by the shoulders and just shake them. What Florida linebacker Antonio Morrison did to end up in trouble over the weekend made him a punchline around the nation because it seems too ridiculous that he was arrested for barking. But that's not why he was suspended for the first two games. He was suspended because he was out at 2:30 a.m. after already being in trouble once this summer. All kids make mistakes, but when you are at a high-profile place like Florida and you already have been arrested once, you shouldn't be out at 2:30 in the morning.
Especially when the coaches have told you that the rest of your summer had better be boring. I don't want to sound like an old man here, but if I was Antonio Morrison and the coaches read me the riot act and made it clear that I needed to stay out of trouble, well, I would stay out of trouble. Being out at that time at a place that has a track record for attracting the police is, as a former coach at Florida used to say, just dummy. Everyone I have talked to about Morrison said he is not a bad kid and hopefully he understands that no matter how ridiculous anybody thinks it is that he was arrested for barking at a police dog, he was arrested. He's costing himself future earnings because the NFL guys are going to see the arrests as a red flag. Maybe that will get his attention.
11. You know, every time I go to SEC Media Days, I leave there with a different feeling about one or two teams. Like I remember one year being convinced Vanderbilt was going to be in a bowl game after listening to their players and coach. (The Commodores went 3-8). And last year, I came away thinking LSU would win the national title. (Not even close). So maybe it's good that I didn't feel any differently after SEC Media Days than I did before it. I think Alabama is the team to beat. I think South Carolina will win the East. I think Florida might be better than it was a year ago but it may not show up in the record because of a brutal schedule. I think Texas A&M is going to lose two or three games. I think the loser of the Vandy-Ole Miss game is going to have a hard time recovering and won't end up in a bowl game. I think the Bama-A&M game might make Mark May's head explode. I think I can't wait for the season to get here.
12. Have you noticed that we haven't seen or heard a lot from Tim Tebow of late? It wasn't a condition of the Patriots signing him, but it's clear there is a plan that includes Tebow being under the radar instead of all over the news. It's probably just as well that he is being treated like a third-string quarterback instead of a rock star.
13. You were probably wondering when the Back Nine was going to get to the British Open. What a great Sunday it was to see my man Phil Mickelson win. I think you are either a Philly Mick guy or a Tiger Woods guy the way you were either a Jack Nicklaus guy or an Arnold Palmer guy back in the day. I'm a Phil guy and was rooting hard for him to win. The shot he hit on 17 was one of the greatest golf shots ever and his closing 66 has to be among the 10 best rounds ever because of the conditions. With five majors now, should we be asking whether Phil can catch Tiger instead of whether Tiger can catch Jack? Probably not, but if he had just won two of the six U.S. Opens where he finished second, it would be a compelling question. As it is, Mickelson is the second best player of his generation and I think he has at least two more majors in him.
14. The second biggest story was that Woods didn't win again and his streak of going winless in majors is now at 17 straight. I really thought this was the one he would win, especially when he was right there starting both Saturday and Sunday. But there is no question he is pressing. In the last two years, he is 23-over par on the weekends of majors. And does anyone else notice that when he fails to play well, he's always blaming the speed of the greens? Everyone is playing the same greens, aren't they?
15. A couple of TV/radio notes — baseball's All-Star game drew the second-worst ratings ever, but the ratings were actually up from a year ago (which was the worst ever). To be honest, I can't even tell you which team won. And the ESPYs had a drop in ratings again this year. I watched some of it, but without sound. It seemed better that way. Both the All-Star game and the ESPYs are good ideas that need retooling. Meanwhile, I heard that Sirius/XM is going to have Gene Chizik host some shows on its College Football Nation channel. I'm a fan of the channel, but I fear that we're going to see some accidents when drivers are put to sleep by the former Auburn coach.
16. Six college football players joined in on the federal lawsuit against the NCAA, and I have a feeling we are headed to a world where players receive a stipend of some sorts. I still don't get how they will do it. When Steve Spurrier talked about it at Media Days, I wanted to stand up and say, "What about Title IX?" Maybe someone smarter than me can explain how you are going to pay football and basketball players and not women's basketball players or women's softball players. And while Spurrier said the coaches could pay the players out of their own pockets, I wonder how a coach like Sean Kugler at UTEP ($280,000 salary) feels about that. I get where Spurrier is coming from — that college football and basketball bring in billions of dollars. But that money isn't just sitting in a vault collecting interest. It's being used to run championships and athletic departments.
17. The Tweet of the Week goes to Yahoo columnist Jeff Passan — "Funniest sentence ever typed? Might be: 'Morrison's defense was the dog barked first, according to a police report.' " Exactly.
18. So we were supposed to have Sirius/XM in our rental car, but it didn't work and I didn't bring anything else that we could play, so the trip to and from Hoover was filled with a lot of bad music and talk shows. One more reason it was great to be home. Try these downloads — "Second Chances" by Gregory Alan Isakov, "Mission Bells" by Matt Nathanson and for you old-timers "Build Me Up Buttercup" by The Foundations.
Contact Pat Dooley at 352-374-5053 or at firstname.lastname@example.com. And follow at Twitter.com/Pat_Dooley.


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Morrison & Foerster's China M&A practice combines senior PRC regulatory expertise with international deal execution capability. Our attorneys in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong have significant PRC-related cross-border M&A experience. The firm is recognized by a number of independent ranking organizations such as Chambers Asia, IFLR1000, Asia Pacific Legal 500, and Asialaw as a leading law firm for mergers and acquisitions in China and Hong Kong. As noted in the 2010 edition of IFLR 1000, Morrison Foerster "is definitely one of the top firms in this area."
Notable Matters
Chambers Global 2011Asia-Pacific: Corporate/M&A Hong Kong: Corporate/M&A
Chambers Asia 2011Asia-wide: Corporate/M&AChina: Corporate/M&A: High-end Capability: International Firms
IFLR1000 2012China: M&A Hong Kong: M&A
Legal 500 Asia-Pacific 2011-2012China: Corporate/M&A: Foreign FirmsHong Kong: Corporate (including M&A)
PLC Which lawyer? 2011China: Corporate/M&A: Cross-Border Advice
League Tables:
MergermarketAsia#12 Legal Advisers to Chinese M&A Ranked by Deal Count Q3 2009 MergerstatAsia#3 Asia Announced Deals - Asia Middle-Market Targets Ranked by Volume Q2 2009 #5 Asia Announced Deals - Asia Targets Ranked by Volume Q2 2009 #12 Asia Announced Deals - Asia Middle-Market Targets Ranked by Value Q2 2009 Bloomberg Global Legal M&AAsia#7 Hong Kong & China Announced Deals Ranked by Deal Count Q2 2009
Here is what they say about us:
"increasingly active throughout Greater China."(Chambers Global 2009)
Leading law firm for Corporate and M&A in China and Hong Kong(Chambers Asia 2011)
"Its international lawyers are supported by senior Chinese lawyers – they work together closely and seamlessly."(Chambers Asia 2011)
"Morrison & Foerster impressed clients who found them competent and [it] provided professional advice that exceeded expectations."(IFLR1000 2011)
"[With] a deep knowledge of PRC regulatory matters, the team is well placed to advise corporate clients on the intricacies of the Chinese market."(Chambers Asia 2010)
"Sources compliment the team's FDI and cross-border M&A work."(Chambers Global 2009)
Unsolicited e-mails and information sent to Morrison & Foerster will not be considered confidential, may be disclosed to others pursuant to our Privacy Policy, may not receive a response, and do not create an attorney-client relationship with Morrison & Foerster. If you are not already a client of Morrison & Foerster, do not include any confidential information in this message. Also, please note that our attorneys do not seek to practice law in any jurisdiction in which they are not properly authorized to do so.
©1996-2018 Morrison & Foerster LLP. All rights reserved.


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FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Like many who make their living in the commercial strip outside the gates of Fort Bragg, Mike Thomas is confident the $85 billion in automatic military spending cuts will hurt sales at his used car lot and rim shop.
The vast majority of his customers work on the base, and smaller paychecks means less money for the four-wheel drive Jeeps, chrome wheels and window-rattling sound systems that are his specialty.
While it remains too soon to measure the exact impact for small businesses that thrive on the civilians employed at the nation's largest military posts, owners already are bracing for the damage. Pentagon officials say the automatic budget cuts that took effect March 1 will result in one-day-a-week furloughs for 800,000 civilian employees across the U.S. starting next month, resulting in a 20 percent cut to their paychecks. Soldiers' salaries are exempt from the cuts.
About 14,500 of those are at Fort Bragg, the sprawling U.S. Army base outside Fayetteville, N.C., where the commanding general on Friday announced additional cuts that include the closure of a dining hall and selected recreation centers that serve soldiers and their families. About 38 percent of all economic activity in the surrounding county is tied directly to military spending, a total impact of about $5.5 billion a year.
Hand-painted signs at Auto Express, the shop about a half-mile from the base's main gates where Thomas is the general manager, offer special discounts and financing for U.S. Defense Department employees.
In addition to the budget cuts — known as sequestration — deadlock in Congress could trigger a full federal shutdown later this month. Thomas expects the cuts will have an impact on his business similar to the military buildup before the 2003 invasion in Iraq, when sales dropped by about half as Bragg's 82nd Airborne deployed overseas.
"Our business is about 90 percent military," he said. "This is a military town. It is going to affect us all. When there's a cut, people are scared to spend. I've yet to speak to anybody who thinks this is a good idea."
In Wichita Falls, Texas, beauty salon owner Angela Ward expects her customers from nearby Sheppard Air Force Base to start cutting back. The facility has about 1,200 civilian workers.
She already offers a 15 percent military discount and offers a $10 men's haircut each Tuesday. But Ward said she can't afford to lower prices further, although she knows folks will go without or cut back on luxury items and services first during tough economic times.
"They will stop coming in as much or won't have as much done at the salon in one visit," said Ward, the owner of Crazy Beautiful Salon. "And moms tell us, 'Take it shorter' for their boys because they can't afford to have it cut as often."
In addition to the employee furloughs, Pentagon officials are also weighing cuts to military contracts, training, construction and maintenance.
Alabama's Fort Rucker is the Army's primary base for training helicopter pilots. With 5,850 military personnel and another 6,328 contractors, the massive base is the economic hub for three cities outside its gates: Enterprise, Daleville and Ozark.
Susy Guzman said she already is seeing the effects of budget uncertainty reflected in fewer diners at Brasas Brazil, her family restaurant in Enterprise. The business is popular with military contractors who work as flight instructors, helicopter mechanics, maintenance workers and administrators.
"You can tell people are being cautious because there is uncertainty, they are wondering if their wallets are going to be affected," Guzman said. "It will be a snowball effect here ... first the smaller businesses, like restaurants, but then it just grows."
Guzman also owns Wings Aviation Products in nearby Daleville, a store that sells flight supplies, sunglasses and clothes to aviators and their families. She fears any cutback in flight training time could result in a downturn in revenue because nearly all the store's sales are linked to Army aviation.
Compounding her family's worries is the fact that Guzman's husband is a contract flight instructor who is facing the loss of nearly one month's salary a year.
"It hits us both ways, both from our businesses and our family income," she said.
There are those looking on the bright side, however. Slimmer government paychecks could send more people looking for quick cash to pawn shops and payday loan businesses.
At the Advance Till Payday cash advance store in Oak Grove, Ky., manger Judy Backlund gets a lot of her business from nearby Fort Campbell. The Army prohibits soldiers from using the short-term, high-interest loans, but she deals with plenty of civilians and contractors who work at the post.
Backlund said she's already getting calls from people who are worried about stretching their salaries if they are furloughed. Cash advance stores have been criticized for their high fees and interest rates, though the industry has said it's a necessary option for people who can't get a personal loan from traditional banks.
"It's not an answer to all your problems, but it's better than nothing," she said. "Most people are living paycheck to paycheck, and not much is going into savings."
One of her employees, 33-year-old Vanessa Nohelty, is the wife of a Fort Campbell soldier. Although military salaries are exempt from the budget cuts, Nohelty said the cuts could threaten many of the family programs and services on which spouses rely.
Nohelty said she is waiting to hear from the leaders at Fort Campbell about the effect on childcare, sports programs and counselors that help soldiers after they return from deployment.
"Are we going to get to keep all those programs?" she questioned. "Are they going to have as many counselors?"
Link Melley is the co-owner of Norfolk, Va.-based Freedom Furniture and Electronics, which operates 15 stores in military markets, including outside Fort Campbell. In business for 30 years, Melley said military customers account for 90 percent of the company's business. Many of his 220 employees are military spouses and veterans.
He said the anticipation of these budget cuts has led to a downturn in sales for more than a year. He worries he may have to reduce his staff.
"Typically when there is a deployment, the stress and anxiety is just at one base," he said. "This has been across the board, every service, every base in the country. ... I have never ever seen the anxiety level this high."
Beyond the immediate cuts, Melley said the uncertainty surrounding the constant political wrangling in Washington makes it hard to plan for the future.
"Frankly, we didn't expect sequestration to take place," Melley said. "The service members and their families have become the pawn, and Congress and the president need to get this figured out."
Hall reported from Oak Grove, Ky. Associated Press writers Angela K. Brown in Wichita Falls, Texas, and Jay Reeves in Montgomery, Ala., contributed to this report.
Follow Associated Press writer Michael Biesecker at twitter.com/mbieseck.


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Value of Libraries in the Internet Age
From Professionaltips
Revision as of 10:11, 15 September 2009 by ALALibRefSpecialist (Talk | contribs)
New Jersey Public Library Survey: Customer Survey of New Jersey Residents About Libraries (PDF) - Conducted June 2007
"Old Search Engine, the Library, Tries to Fit Into a Google World," by Katie Hafner. New York Times, June 21, 2004.
"Folks Are Flocking to the Library, a Cozy Place to Look for a Job: Books, Computers and Wi-Fi Are Free, But Staffs Are Stressed by Crowds, Cutbacks," by Jim Carlton. Wall Street Journal, Jan. 15, 2009.


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Ex-Islanders coach Al Arbour battling dementia
In an interview earlier this week, new Buffalo Sabres assistant coach Bryan Trottier told listeners that former New York Islanders coach Al Arbour is battling dementia.
The 81-year-old Arbour guided the Isles to four consecutive Stanley Cups in the 1980s. He compiled 782 career victories, which rank him second all-time to only Scotty Bowman.
"We love the man. Today, he's going through a little tough time with dementia," Trottier said on Buffalo's WGR radio. "We all love Al for all the great times we've had together and his leadership."
Trottier, also in the HOF, said Arbour was a father figure to many of his players.
In addition to his coaching acumen, Arbour was a solid player, too
He was part of four Stanley Cup winning teams as his junior and pro playing career spanned four decades.


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I have a triangle with base '2b' and height 'h' as shown in the attached figure (a). I would like to construct two different functions as shown in (b) and (c) keeping the height and base the same. Any hint will be of great help to me.
The best I can think of is to use vertices of your triangle to be the control points of a degree two beziur curve for each of the intended sides.
Have you found a satisfactory solution to your problem yet?
Forum Rules


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Lynsay Sands
The Hellion and the Highlander
Lynsay Sands
The Hellion and the Highlander
Release Date: 2/23/2010
Main description:
Only one man could set her heart ablaze . . .
Lady Averill Mortagne learned to control her fierce temper as a young girl. But if her father insists on parading her before one more English lord who looks askance at her flame-colored hair, she'll simply scream! Her only respite is the time she spends with Kade Stewart, the wounded Scot her brother brought home from the Crusades. Who could have imagined a Highland warrior would be the only gentleman around?
Lady Averill helped save his life, and for that Kade is truly grateful. She is also almost unbearably beautiful, but he could never subject such a sweet and gentle lady to the rough life of a Stewart laird's bride . . . or could he? When she braves an unexpected danger by his side, Averill will prove to Kade that her heart is as fiery as her hair . . . and that submitting to their scorching passion would be heaven indeed.
Short description/annotation:
"You can't help but fall in love with Lynsay Sands!"
Once again, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lynsay Sands displays another side of her extraordinary talent with The Hellion and the Highlander, a sensuous and wonderfully witty love story set in the breathtaking countryside of Scotland. The tremendously popular author of the Argeneau paranormal vampire romance series, Sands is equally adept at historical romance, as she demonstrates in her third Highland romp, perfect for fans of Julie Garwood, Jill Barnett, and Teresa Medieros—and a delightful companion to her own Devil of the Highlands and Taming the Highland Bride.


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By Casey Sullivan, Dan Levine and Sarah McBride
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Families of the three passengers who died when an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crashed in San Francisco this month have retained the prominent New York law firm Kreindler & Kreindler to represent them as legal maneuvering over liability and damages heats up.
Kreindler & Kreindler, which specializes in aviation law, made a name for itself representing victims in catastrophic air disasters, including the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Partner Jim Kreindler confirmed in an interview late Wednesday that he would handle the cases of the three Chinese teenagers who died, as well as 12 injury cases involving U.S., Chinese and Korean residents. He said he intends to file lawsuits in the coming weeks.
Dozens were seriously injured in the crash of Asiana Flight 214, which had 307 people aboard when it hit a seawall in front of the runway, lost its tail and caught fire after skidding to a halt.
Kreindler's clients include the family of Ye Meng Yuan, who survived the crash but died after being run over by a fire truck. Kreindler sent a letter to the San Francisco Fire Department on Wednesday requesting documents, videotapes, photographs and other evidence related to the department's response to the crash.
A spokesman for the San Francisco city attorney declined to comment on the law firm's request.
Meanwhile, South Korea-based Asiana is marshaling its own legal resources, hiring Frank Silane, a complex litigation specialist at the Los Angeles firm Condon & Forsyth.
Advising a team of about 70 airline employees, Silane helped Asiana coordinate payments for medical expenses, hotel rooms and car rental for the dazed survivors. In an interview last week, he called it a "humanitarian response."
Some plaintiff attorneys are warning passengers not to let Asiana's post-crash assistance go to their heads.
"My concern is that it's used as a PR opportunity to send the message that we're nice people, you can deal with us, and to start to lay the foundation that they don't need a lawyer," said Frank Pitre, a California attorney who represents two passengers. He said he has been contacted by about two dozen.
Silane declined to disclose how much Asiana has paid passengers in the aftermath of the crash. Plaintiff lawyers and one passenger contacted by Reuters say the airline has not yet proposed any formal legal settlements. At least one lawsuit has already been filed in the wake of the crash.
Asiana passenger Eugene Rah said Asiana paid for one week of car rental but not a second.
"I don't think they are doing anything aggressive," Rah said. "I think they are being cautious and careful."
Attorneys cannot contact victims until 45 days after a plane crash. A law requiring the waiting period was enacted in 1996, to prohibit lawyers from immediately descending on crash victims.
Following the Asiana crash, the National Transportation Safety Board circulated an email to plaintiff attorneys threatening a State Bar referral for any lawyers who acted too quickly.
The law doesn't prevent passengers from acting on their own to seek out attorneys, and many already have. As of last week, Asiana's Silane said he had been contacted by roughly seven attorneys who said they would sue in the near future.
"There is going to be a lot more," Silane said, "and we know that they have multiple passengers."
Once litigation gets underway, plaintiff attorneys expect the airline to move as many claims as possible out of U.S. courts, where judgments tend to be much higher.
To do that, lawyers said Asiana will likely argue that an international aviation treaty called the Montreal Convention disqualifies certain passengers from bringing a lawsuit in the United States. According to the treaty, only passengers who are permanent U.S. residents, purchased tickets in the United States, or were flying to the United States as a final destination may sue Asiana in the country.
It was not immediately clear how many passengers fell into those categories. The people onboard the flight included 141 Chinese passengers, 77 South Koreans and 64 Americans, according to an Asiana spokeswoman. The other passengers came from a variety of other countries, he said.
Under the treaty, Asiana is automatically liable for about $150,000 in damages per injured passenger, lawyers said. But passengers could recover more if they show the airline was at fault, they said.
If non-U.S. citizens can't sue Asiana in the United States, they could try to file lawsuits against third-party U.S.-based companies, such as Boeing, that may have contributed to the crash.
Kreindler said that his cases will largely target Boeing as the primary defendant.
A Boeing spokesman declined to comment on potential litigation.
At the time of the crash, an airport instrument landing system called glide path was out of service. That could make the airport a target for litigation, said lawyer Michael Danko, who is representing a separate group of crash victims.
Potential plaintiffs, such as Ye's family, must jump through hoops to successfully sue a government entity like the San Francisco Fire Department. To recover damages, they must show that the department didn't follow specific protocols.
Silane declined to comment on Asiana's legal strategy. The airline also declined to comment.
Asiana said it is covered by LIG Insurance, a Korean firm. Korean authorities have said the airline carries over $2 billion in coverage.
The NTSB, charged with investigating the crash, expects to issue its report in about a year.
(Reporting by Casey Sullivan in New York and Sarah McBride and Dan Levine in San Francisco.; Additional reporting by Gerry Shih.; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Stacey Joyce)


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Feds pin bull's-eye to 'Fast and Furious' whistleblowers
'They've been transferred, retaliated against, had their guns and badges stripped'
WASHINGTON – It was reported back in 2012 that members of Congress were alarmed that Obama administration officials had been threatening retaliation against the whistleblowers who exposed the government's decision to traffic weapons to Mexican drug cartels.
So concerned were they that Rep. Darrell Issa and Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley at that time asked the Department of Justice's internal investigator to identify and prosecute any retaliation.
Now Katie Pavlich, author of the New York Times bestseller "Fast and Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and the Shameless Cover-Up," news editor of Townhall.com and an expert on the Fast and Furious scandal, has reported the extensive attacks those employees have endured.
"They've been transferred, then been harassed, they've had their guns and badges stripped from them and placed at corner desks, and transferred to Washington D.C. at what they call the mothership" so the government can keep a better eye on them, Pavlich told WND.
Most shocking, she cites that the government "has actively worked with Media Matters to smear whistleblowers and their reputation," which Pavlich says is "illegal" and a "violation of the Whistleblower Protection Act."
Read Pavlich's comments about the government's false flag operation against gun dealers.
Since the exposure of the 2009 scandal over Fast and Furious whistleblowers have been essential to the revealing of information behind the actions and nature of the scandal. The scandal itself was revealed because of whistleblowers who revealed that they were being forced to traffic arms to drug dealers in Mexico.
Pavlich told WND earlier that the goal of the operation was to create a false flag situation that the Obama administration could use to lobby for more gun control.
Congressional alarm over retaliation was based on information obtained by Grassley and Issa over the course of their inquiries into the misbehavior. Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress over the issue, and members of Congress said, last year, "We just learned that ATF senior management placed two of the main whistleblowers who have testified before Congress about Fast and Furious under the supervision of someone who vowed to retaliate against them."
The members of Congress also cited a statement from Scot Thomasson, who at that time was in the Public Affairs Division for ATF, that made threats. "We need to get whatever dirt we can on these guys (whistleblowers) and take them down."
The attacks apparently followed.
"Whistleblowers under the Obama administration have seen their lives turned completely upside down," Pavlich told WND.
The Whistleblower Protection Act was supposed to protect whistleblowers and prevent retaliation, but Pavlich said that the Department of Justice has "completely changed the law" and how it is enforced.
She explained "because the DOJ disagrees with what the whistleblowers are saying, they are not going to protect them."
One example? John Dodson.
He was an outspoken ATF whistleblower who, according to Pavlich, "worked as part of ATF Phoenix Gunrunning Group VII, the group assigned to carry out the bulk of Fast and Furious. He was told for months to allow thousands of AK-47 style guns to walk into Mexico. He was instructed to watch straw purchasers illegally buy weapons, but not to arrest them."
As the mission progressed, Dodson began to challenge his superiors as to the ethical consequences of the operation and eventually became "vocal within ATF throughout 2010 about his concerns, and on March 3, 2011, he exposed Fast and Furious and its connection to Brian Terry's murder on national television to CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson."
Dodson was ruthlessly attacked by spokesmen in the ATF in letters sent to Grassley. They challenged his character, called him a "disgruntled employee."
"I call it the brass vs. the boots," Pavlich said. "You have the agents in the field doing very hard work, chasing down criminals in the streets. And then you have the guys in the offices who wear the fancy suits every day … who are the ones who are really trying to climb the government ladder and would do anything to get there."
See Pavlich's report:
Read Pavlich's "Fast and Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and the Shameless Cover-Up."
Pavlich earlier explained the operations were launched as "the government was creating a situation where they could blame law-abiding citizens, turn them into criminals and creat[e] this false problem that they could solve through gun regulation."
"This is a situation where they [the Obama administration] were willing to put public safety in danger, get thousands of people killed south of the border. The only reason we know about this is because [Border Patrol agent] Brian Terry was killed," she said.


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Equality with God
From Conservapedia
(Redirected from Equal with God)
Equality with God, long considered a blasphemous concept, is mentioned by Rev. Sun Myung Moon in terms of a subject-object relationship of true love. [1]
- The world of heart is the world where everyone is equal. The Kingdom of Heaven, which is the expansion of a family, is the world of brotherhood. [2]
- See also: redemption


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By Kaori Kaneko
TOKYO (Reuters) - Tensions flared between Japan and its Asian neighbors after a group of Japanese lawmakers visited a shrine seen by China and South Korea as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, and Chinese patrol vessels played cat-and-mouse with a flotilla of Japanese nationalists near disputed islands in the East China Sea.
Beijing protested over the voyage by 10 boats carrying about 80 Japanese activists into waters near the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.
"Regarding the Japanese right-wing activists' illegal entry into the waters of the Diaoyu islands that is causing trouble, the Chinese foreign ministry has lodged stern representations with Japan, and has strongly protested," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news conference.
Japan also protested at what it called an intrusion by eight Chinese patrol vessels into its waters near the uninhabited Japanese-controlled islands, which are near rich fishing grounds and potentially lucrative maritime gas fields.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, pressed in parliament to say how Japan would react to a Chinese attempt to land on the tiny islands, said it would be "natural to force them to leave".
But Tokyo appeared keen to avoid a clash between the nationalists' flotilla and the Chinese ships. Japan's Coast Guard, which had 13 vessels shadowing the boats, urged them to leave and escorted them away.
Last year members of the same group, "Ganbare Nippon" (Stand Firm! Japan), landed on one of the rocky islets and triggered anti-Japanese protests in China, where lingering resentment over Japan's wartime aggression has been rekindled in recent days.
China chastised Japan for Tuesday's visits by at least 168 lawmakers to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal along with Japan's war dead. The pilgrimage came after Abe made an offering and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso and two other ministers visited Yasukuni over the weekend.
Homage paid by leading Japanese politicians at the Tokyo shrine typically angers Japan's neighbors, who contend that it glorifies wartime aggression.
"Regardless of what method or what identity these Japanese leaders take in visiting Yasukuni Shrine, fundamentally it is intentionally denying Japan's militaristic invasionist history," Hua said.
"We urge Japan to be responsible to history, to be responsible to the people and take a responsible attitude to the future and take realistic actions to win the trust of the international community, stop causing harm to itself and stop isolationist measures."
Some Japanese experts said that, despite the latest tensions, the Asian rivals might avoid a re-run of the violent anti-Japanese protests last September that hurt economic ties between Asia's two biggest economies. Those protests were sparked when Japan's government bought the islands from a private owner.
"It may be things as usual. The mood will get worse but as time goes by, it may come back to more or less the same place," said Yoshihide Soeya, director of the Institute of East Asian Studies at Tokyo's Keio University. He noted China had reacted most strongly to Yasukuni visits in the past when they were made by premiers, foreign ministers or chief cabinet secretaries.
South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan's 1910-1945 colonization run deep, has canceled a trip to Japan by its foreign minister following the weekend shrine visits.
On Tuesday, a South Korean foreign ministry spokesman in Seoul said matters of history should be kept separate from efforts to cooperate over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
"It is helpful that the region's countries and the international community work together and pool their wisdom to solve this problem (of North Korea)," said Cho Tae-young. "But when it comes to history issues like the Yasukuni visit, our government takes a firm stance. That must not be mixed."
Conservatives in Japan argue they should be able to pay their respects to the nation's war dead in their own way.
"It is natural for lawmakers to worship at a shrine for people who died for the nation and every nation does this," Hidehisa Otsuji, a ruling Liberal Democrat Party (LDP) lawmaker who chairs the parliamentary group behind the visit, told a news conference. "I don't understand why we get a backlash."
The group typically visits the shrine during its annual spring and autumn festivals, although the delegation of lawmakers was unusually large this year.
Aso also shrugged off overseas rebukes. "I first visited Yasukuni on April 28, 1953 and often went there ever since," Aso, who doubles as finance minister, told reporters.
"I go there two or three times every year and it's not something that should be taken up now. There's a reaction from overseas? But that's their reaction and I don't think it will much affect Japan's diplomatic relations with other countries."
Abe has enjoyed sky-high popularity ratings of more than 70 percent since he took office in December and launched his "Abenomics" plan to boost growth and beat deflation with hyper-easy monetary policy, spending and structural reform.
The prime minister, who has said he regretted not visiting Yasukuni during his 2006-2007 term in office, has been walking a fine line between talking tough in the territorial row with China and leaving the door open for dialogue.
Voters want Abe to put priority on fixing the economy rather than other issues close to his heart, such as revising Japan's pacifist constitution, an opinion poll showed this week.
(Additional reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka and Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo, Ruairidh Villar in the East China Sea, Ju-min Park in Seoul and Sui-lee Wee in Beijing; Writing by Antoni Slodkowski and Linda Sieg; Editing by Alex Richardson)


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Clone Yourself – Camera v1.2.9 Apk – Yourself makes it easy and fun to multiply yourself in photographs, share with friends and have a laugh. Simply, the app will take images of you in different positions and combine them into one, crazy photograph. Clone Yourself camera makes hours of editing work into minutes of fun – it has never been this easy to clone yourself.
Updated: February 12, 2014
Current Version: 1.2.9
Requires Android: 2.3.3 and up
Category: Photography
Size: 22M
To get started, easily take multiple images of yourself – then, highlight yourself in each one. Clone Yourself will work its magic and combine multiple people into a single image – suddenly there are clones of you! Have your own twin, triplet or quadruplet and have all of your friends asking to 'clone me!'. It is fun, crazy and hilarious! Make funny poses or simply interact with your clones.
Clone Yourself is the first and only cloning tool available on the Google Play store – get it whilst it's hot! Select from a variety of great photo filters and save the photo to share on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! Clone Yourself is the best way to get a clone photo within minutes – without spending hours image editing. This intuitive application can provide hours of endless fun and is definitely a conversation starter!
- Clone yourself in images easily and fast: cloning has never been this fun!
- First and exclusive to Android!
- A work of art with minimal effort!
- Add vibrant photo filters to any 'cloned' image!
- Share to your favorite social networks
Free Download Clone Yourself – Camera 1.2.9


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