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We foreign journalists in Beijing have received our beige baseball caps emblazoned with the English words: "Press Center of 18th National Congress of CPC." (CPC means the Communist Party of China.) We have also been given by our Chinese press handlers backpacks with stickers that indicate they may have cost more than $60, along with instructions noting in English that "the straps of both sides top and bottom are used for bring map, umbrella and mats, water bottle, keys, ice ax." Does this mean that those of us signed up to cover the Chinese Communist Party's 18th National Congress, in which China's new leaders will be named, will have a need for a map and ice ax?
We presume not. But, then again, we don't know for sure. Three days before a once-a-decade leadership transition is set to begin in a country boasting the world's second largest economy, we have almost no idea about what's actually going to happen. True, the general proceeding of events — and even the soon-to-be head honcho in China — seems clear. More than 2,000 handpicked delegates (representing China's 82.6 million Communist Party members) will gather in Beijing's Great Hall of the People from Nov. 8 to select the 200 or so members of the Central Committee who will, at least in theory, pick the roughly 25 members of the elite Politburo and, more crucially, the clique of powerful individuals in the Standing Committee that rules China. (A lone woman is considered a long shot for the Standing Committee, which is expected to include either seven or nine men.)
(MORE: Behind the Story: TIME's Hannah Beech Discusses China's Next Leader, Xi Jinping)
The Standing Committee is headed by the General Secretary of the Communist Party. Current party chief Hu Jintao is expected to relinquish his position to Xi Jinping by the time the Party Congress wraps up, making the latter the most important man in China. Xi is expected to eventually assume two other positions — President and chairman of the Central Military Commission — but it is the Communist post that is by far the most important because in China power flows from the party.
Calls for Xi to reform the party have gathered force in recent months, even as China has profited from a decade of economic expansion under Hu's tenure. Despite initial hopes that Hu would preside over a period of political liberalizations, rule of law and anticorruption efforts have suffered during his decade in power. Over the weekend, Hu Deping, the liberal son of a reformist former Communist Party chief who is unrelated to Hu Jintao, wrote an op-ed in a Beijing-based economic newspaper, warning: "Reform cannot be abandoned, promises cannot be discarded."
In order to welcome its new leaders, Beijing looks spiffy. Security vehicles have multiplied across town, as the usual cavalcade of street-snack sellers have mysteriously disappeared. In a much-mocked move, various aerially inclined matters — ranging from balloons and remote-controlled toy airplanes to trained pigeons — have been banned from city skies. Taxi drivers with manually operated rear windows in their cabs have been ordered to disable their handles, lest passengers flutter antigovernment leaflets out the back.
(MORE: Big Brotherhood)
Yet even as these outlandish edicts were being issued, power broking was occurring behind closed doors — not that the public was privy to most of it. On Nov. 4, according to China's state newswire Xinhua, the current Central Committee held its last meeting. What happened? Well, here's Xinhua's scintillating take, based on a released communiqué: "The plenary session comprehensively analyzed the current situation and task, deeply discussed several important issues concerning developing the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics under the new situation and pushing forward the new grand project of the Party building, making full preparation for the convention of the 18th CPC National Congress." Oh, and also, the two new vice chairmen were appointed to the Central Military Commission, sparking a frenzy of martial analysis among some of the 1,000 or so foreign journalists who have applied to cover the 18th Party Congress.
It's remarkable that so little is known about what will actually happen during the upcoming conclave. A Service Guide for Journalists notes helpfully that Western-style snacks will be served in the press center, but there is no real detail about actual events. As of Monday afternoon, an online guide to the upcoming Party Congress had listed only two events directly related to the communist gathering: a cocktail party for journalists on Nov. 6 and a press conference the day after. Like most press conferences in China, it's certain Wednesday's event will be a scripted one in which random journalists won't be allowed to fling questions at the 18th Party Congress spokesperson.
Even the date when the congress will end is not clear, although many people suspect it will be Nov. 15. "We have no detailed information of the schedule of the 18th Party Congress," Yue Xiaosong, an official at the 18th Party Congress Press Center, told TIME on Monday. "I don't know the date when the congress will finish." Yue's only suggestion to TIME was that we should look at previous Party Congress schedules as a general guideline. But he quickly cautioned that we shouldn't draw too many conclusions from the past. "It will depend on how well the 18th Party Congress goes," he said, when pressed on just when the confab will end. No details were provided on what he meant by the meeting going "well." A TIME colleague suggests the wording on the cap in the press swag bag should be changed to: "Somebody I Know Went to the 18th Party Congress, and All I Got Was This Stupid Hat."
—With reporting by Chengcheng Jiang / Beijing


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Hannah Gastonguay, holding her baby Rahab, is followed by her husband Sean and the couple's 3-year-old daughter Ardith, as they disembark in the port city of San Antonio, Chile, Friday, Aug. 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Las Ultimas Noticias)
by Greg Moore
Associated Press Writer
PHOENIX (AP) — A northern Arizona family that was lost at sea for weeks in an ill-fated attempt to leave the U.S. over what they consider government interference in religion will fly back home Sunday.
Hannah Gastonguay, 26, said Saturday that she and her husband "decided to take a leap of faith and see where God led us" when they took their two small children and her father-in-law and set sail from San Diego for the tiny island nation of Kiribati in May.
But just weeks into their journey, the Gastonguays hit a series of storms that damaged their small boat, leaving them adrift for weeks, unable to make progress. They were eventually picked up by a Venezuelan fishing vessel, transferred to a Japanese cargo ship and taken to Chile where they are resting in a hotel in the port city of San Antonio.
Their flights home were arranged by U.S. Embassy officials, Gastonguay said. The U.S. State Department was not immediately available for comment.
The months-long journey has been "pretty exciting" and "little scary at certain points," Gastonguay told The Associated Press by telephone.
She said they wanted to go to Kiribati because "we didn't want to go anywhere big." She said they understood the island to be "one of the least developed countries in the world."
Kiribati is a group of islands just off the equator and the international date line about halfway between Hawaii and Australia. The total population is just over 100,000 people of primarily Micronesian descent.
Hannah Gastonguay said her family was fed up with government control in the U.S. As Christians they don't believe in "abortion, homosexuality, in the state-controlled church," she said.
U.S. "churches aren't their own," Gastonguay said, suggesting that government regulation interfered with religious independence.
Among other differences, she said they had a problem with being "forced to pay these taxes that pay for abortions we don't agree with."
The Gastonguays weren't members of any church, and Hannah Gastonguay said their faith came from reading the Bible and through prayer.
"The Bible is pretty clear," she said.
The family moved in November from Ash Fork, Ariz., to San Diego, where they lived on their boat as they prepared to set sail. She said she gave birth to the couple's 8-month-old girl on the boat, which was docked in a slip at the time.
In May, Hannah, her 30-year-old husband Sean, his father Mike, and the couple's daughters, 3-year-old Ardith and baby Rahab set off. They wouldn't touch land again for 91 days, she said.
She said at first, "We were cruising."
But within a couple of weeks "when we came out there, storm, storm, storm."
The boat had taken a beating, and they decided to set course for the Marquesas Islands. Instead, they found themselves in a "twilight zone," taking more and more damage, leaving them unable to make progress.
They could have used a sail called a genoa, she said, but they risked snapping off the mast and losing their radio and ability to communicate.
They had been on the ocean for about two months and were low on supplies. They were out of food and were down to "some juice and some honey." She said they were able to catch fish, but they didn't see any boats.
Still, we "didn't feel like we were going to die or anything. We believed God would see us through," she said.
At one point a fishing ship came into contact with them but left without providing assistance. A Canadian cargo ship came along and offered supplies, but when they pulled up alongside it, the vessels bumped and the smaller ship sustained even more damage.
They were getting hit by "squall after, squall, after squall."
"We were in the thick of it, but we prayed," she said. "Being out on that boat, I just knew I was going to see some miracles."
They watched the surrounding storms disperse, and "next thing you know the sun is out. It's amazing."
Eventually, their boat was spotted by a helicopter that had taken off from a nearby Venezuelan fishing vessel, which ended up saving them.
"The captain said, 'Do you know where you're at? You're in the middle of nowhere,'" she said.
They were on the Venezuelan ship for about five days before transferring to the Japanese cargo ship, where they were for nearly three weeks before landing in Chile on Friday. The Chilean newspaper Las Ultimas Noticias reported the story of their arrival.
"They were looking for a kind of adventure; they wanted to live on a Polynesian island but they didn't have sufficient expertise to navigate adequately," police prefect Jose Luis Lopez, who took the family's statement at San Antonio, told the newspaper.
Sean Gastonguay's brother Jimmy, who lives in Arizona, said he had provided a description of the family's vessel to the U.S. Coast Guard and exchanged emails with them once they were picked up by the first boat.
"There was some concern, but we were hoping for the best, and they eventually popped up," he said. He was able to keep track of the family with the help of the Coast Guard as they were transferred from ship to ship.
"We're all happy. We have good peace of mind now," he said.
Hannah Gastonguay said the family will now "go back to Arizona" and "come up with a new plan."
Associated Press writer Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, N.M., contributed to this report.

subset: commoncrawl


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DALLAS (AP) -- Florists and chocolate-makers are working around the clock in the run-up to Valentine's Day.
In Dallas, chocolatier Andrea Pedraza, who loves designer high heels, molded her pedestrian passion into chocolate form. Her most well-known creations are chocolate pumps done in the style of Christian Louboutin shoes.
Prices for the pumps range from $30 to $55, but more if you fill the heel with more chocolates.
Pedraza says men buy the chocolate pumps the most, so she keeps extras on hand for last-minute shoppers.
Watch the video here: https://bit.ly/U8WWkt


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Welcome to members new and old! Please post a few lines to introduce yourself to all other members!
It would be great if people would make their first post their introduction. It's only polite, after all :-)
All the best,
Welcome to members new and old! Please post a few lines to introduce yourself to all other members!
It would be great if people would make their first post their introduction. It's only polite, after all :-)
All the best,
Hi all,
Eric Forsythe from Belfast. Been training a few years now..
Website looks great and look forward to opportunities for learning from posts, podcasts, articles and conversing with people.
All the best,
I've been on the old site for a number of years now, but never seemed to get around to introducing myself, so here goes:
My name's Lee. I'm in my early forties (I've reached the age of becoming increasingly vague about the actual number, you understand) and have trained in karate since my mid-twenties. I dabbled with judo at school, but not with any passion. I started at a Shotokan club, simply because it was near my home. Having nothing to compare it with it took me a little while to start to wonder if I'd made a good choice. Seeing one of the instructors 'ageing' his belt with a pair of scissors, by scraping the blade down the edges to fray it, was my first clue. An argument between the two instructors as to the proper sequence of a particular kata, which was resolved by one of them bringing out a book to prove his point, was my next (and last).
I left and joined another Shotokan club a little further away and stayed with it until the instructor closed it down for not being profitable enough. Shopping around I found another club (Wado Ryu this time) in the same leisure centre. I found the style more to my tastes (shorter, more natural (for me, anyway) stances and far fewer kata to learn) and worked my way through to Shodan.
At some point during my brown belt years I came across an article in Martial Arts Illustrated by one I Abernethy which made me question what I was doing and how I was doing it. Hitherto the only applications that I'd been shown for kata techniques were dubious at best (defences against karate-style attacks ) and apocryphal at worst ('Sensei A N Other said it was a defence against so-and-so attack'). Although I enjoyed learning and practicing Wado's Ohyo and Kihon Gumite drills I began to wonder just how pragmatic they were and if my time could be better spent on other things.
Nearly two years ago I thanked my instructor for all that he had given me and set up my own club, Halifax Jissen Karate-Do, and have never looked back. Along with Mark Bonner we have created our own syllabus which we believe gives our students good, solid and most importantly pragmatic techniques and skills for their self-protection.
We deliberately didn't include a style in the club's name as we didn't want to be pigeon-holed and limited in our training. Although our core style is Wado we look to other styles and arts for workable techniques. Our club is very much self-protection orientated and we look to the likes of Peter Consterdine, Geoff Thompson, Al Peasland, Lee Morrison and others for inspiration.
G'Day from Down Under!
My real name is Nigel and I live, work and play in Western Australia. I have been training for 20 years and am currently a Godan. I run my own school and teach a Shotokan based Karate, Japanese Ju Jitsu and Okinawan Matayoshi Kobudo. I hope I find enought time to contribut here ( I already am on a few other forums and contribute heavily on those - just gotta find the time!)
I was on the old forum as Haze. Been training in Goju / Okinawan Karate on and off since 1987. The last 3yrs or so I have been looking at / for a more practical side of things.
Good to be here - and nice looking site.
I'm David from Merseyside, I've been invloved in close quarter combat training for 20+ years, the last 10 of which have been instructing, hosting training programs and running the modern combatives group.
We've just had our annual group get together and it was a blast.
Hope to be able to contribute to the new site.
Hi All
I was on the old forum (not as much as I would have liked) and have re joined to be here. The new site looks great and can not wait to surf around. Have been training for the last 20 years off and on, steadily for the past 12 +. Great to have a community like this to interact with. Looking forward to the new ideas, podcasts, posts etc.
My name is Oliver Thornton, have been training in wado ryu for approx 12 years now, as well as 4 years WTF Tae kwon do before that. Last year I started my own club, practicing traditional wado mixed with a bit of practical applications and some of the sport aspect. Makes for a good combination, although I want to develop my practical side of things.
All in all, here to learn from everybody, as well as possibly giving some advice if needed!
My name is Cheryl Boivin and I live in Calgary, Alberta Canada. I started karate 10 years ago and have never left, I am currently working on grading to Shodan in shindo.
Everyone have a great day.
Fantastic website, nice and easy to navigate.
Heres a a little bit of info about me. Im 32 and have been practicing karate since the age of 13, i currently hold the grade of sandan. I was graded to sandan by our cheif instructor Mr Charles Mack, who himself lived and trained in Japan under the, then, Head of the JKA , sensei Nakayama.
For the last 8 years ive been really interested in the bunkai of kata, ive always believed there must be more to kata than the unrealistic applications that are often seen. Since reading books and watching dvds from people such Mr Abernethy, Patrick Mccarthy etc, i realised there was more out there, realistic applications that do work. . Now im just hooked. The more i research the more i enjoy it. Big thanks goes out to Mr Abernethy for producing such great dvds.
I'm new to the forum. I'm not training at the moment but I'm hoping to get back into it soon. My main style was Goju but I've also done some Shotokan and Wado. I've only been training for about 5 years so I'm a relative newbie to MA.
Im 20 and have been doing Karate (Shotokan-based) for the last ten years. Help out teaching my instructor as well as having my own club (whereby my instructor helps me). These clubs are with the MSKF (Midland Shotokan Karate Federation).
I have dabbled in other styles of karate and martial arts, virtually covering most areas. Most self-study is from videos and books of BJJ, and Geoff Thompsons Self-Protection.
My name's Mark. Along with Lee Richardson I run Halifax Jissen Karate. For my own personal Combative Karate I base my own system exclusivly around Naihanchi, which we also study in depth as a group. The work of Lee Morrison is also a major influence, along with Peter Consterdine,Geoff Thomson and Al Peasland, however the greatest influence has been Iains Bunkai Jutsu
Hello All
My name is John Homerstone, I have been training since 1972 predominately in karate but also Judo, Aikido, Jujitsu, Hung Gar and Southern White Crane Kung Fu amongst others
I am here to learn from your guys and maybe give you some "food for thought" as well. My interests at the moment are in Okinawan White Crane Kata and Bunkai. Particularly the Kata Hakutsuru Ichi and Ni, Paipuren, Tensho, Nipaipo and Kumemura Hakutsuru
See you on the forums
my name is Alan. I've been training in shotokan for six years and managed to reach shodan. Definatly in the over 40's plodding along club. Recently started jujitsu so that I could learn and experience locking, throwing and escape techniques.
My username is my old nickname from work.
All the best for the new website and forum.
Alan Pope
My name is Andy and i'm from chelmsley wood in Birmingham. I've been training in Wado Ryu for 17yrs and am currently a second dan. Hopefully be getting my third next year. I'm hoping to open up my own Karate classes in the near furture so any advice people can give me would be great. I'm sure i'll be posting a lot of questions about training methods as soon as my new classes start.
Hope to speak to you all soon.
My name is Matt Sylvester. I started Taekwondo in April 1991 and started learning pressure points in November 1995 with Prof Clark of the Ao Denkou Kai. Since then I have done a number of martial arts including Boxing, Fiore De Libieri, Kenpo, Shunryu Kemp, Shotokan Karate, WTF Taekwondo, Lee Sansum's FAST, Jim Wagner's RBPP, and a bit of BJJ, JKD Grappling and Sambo.
I was Technical Consultant and Contributor for Combat Magazine, TKD & Korean Martial Arts Magazine, Fighters Only Magazine and Traditional Karate Magazine for over a year before I moved on to writing my first book 'Practical Taekwondo: Back to the Roots', (https://sites.google.com/site/pmapublishing/buy-the-book) pressure testing my martial arts and myself as a Door Supervisor.
Hi. i'm Richard Overill, based in Essex UK. I started training in Shotokan karate-do at the tender age of 46. 14 years on I'm training in Yoseikan karate-jutsu & kobudo. I've also been fortunate to have had the opportunity to train in Cantonese Wing Chun in Hong Kong, northern shaolin gongfu in Henan Province, and Shuri-te lineage karate on Okinawa during the past 4 years.
Tony Bell in sunny Wales here. Iain the sites looking crackin' - nice one! ...plus I reckon you must be sitting glued to your monitor, that was the quickest approval response in I don't know how long
Quick bit about me as we're here on intro's: been into all things martial since five years old which means I'm "only" 11 years behind Mr Dave T (50 years on the mat yesterday, now that's not bad going eh?) Started with Judo, moved onto a bit of Shotokan then Wado (suited my short legs better) whilst still at the Judo. Various military combatives followed before getting seriously into traditional Jujitsu. Still felt some things didn't quite "get there" so after a further decade of intense study founded Nyojitsu Combat this year. In my spare time I'm also "master assessor" level within the SDF UK (now incorporated into ASMAA) teaching pure (self) defence systems and concepts.
Life's what you make it!
Hello everyone,
I am in my early 30's and train mainly in TKD, at the time of writing I am a 3rd Kup (red tag) student. I also dabble in combat jujutsu. Therefore, I still have a lot to learn! My TKD instructor is very knowledgable on realistic pattern applications so I am developing an interest in this aspect of the martial arts. I am very enthusiastic about the martial arts and I am constantly reading interesting articles, books and surfing martial arts websites. I feel that so much top quality information is available to martial artists today.
I imagine (being a novice in comparison to the more seasoned martial artists already commenting) that I am going to be more of a "lurker" on these boards but I will chip in now and again if I feel that I have something to contribute or share. I look forward to learning from you all.
Thank you :)
Hi folks, I am returning to Shotokan after a lay off enforced by a heart attack and bypass. Not far from 50 now, am looking forward to training and learning for shodan grade - was preparing for this when my heart gave out .
Away from karate I am a GP and have persuaded some of my patients and their kids to join me at the karate club (TSKAGB).
Am looking forward to learning more about martial arts through this site as well as tips for improving my teaching and training.
Hi I am Andrew Paxton
I ask for my usual name of Superjock but got stuck with Jock Never mind Jock will do.
Started training in shotokan in Scottish borders in 1983 after a few years I moved to Hexham in Northumberland where I trained with a well known sensei there for a few years. It was at this stage I was introduced to Gojuryu and instantly took to it. Why? Because I was crap at competition and goju was more real at the time. (Things have changed for the better in other styles over the years thanks to the likes of Ian, Harry Cook, Patrick McCarthy and Vince Morris to name a few).
I moved to NZ 10 years ago and struggled hard to find a karate club that interested me (I tried a few styles) most were either sporting or kyusho magic bullet type stuff. Don't get me wrong kyusho has it's place but.........................so after 8 years training in my garage hitting things I need a training partner so I started my own wee club. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Daidokan-Karate-Club/149024661796910
We do things a wee bit different to the 'normal' run of the mill karate club...........but it's probably not that far removed from what you guys in here are doing. Anyway I've prattled on enough see you guys in the forums.
Andrew Paxton
Hi All,
My name's Nick Holden, and I'm based in South-East France, on the outskirts of a city called Grenoble, where I teach English to French adults.
I've been on the forum for a while now, not really posting a huge amount, but soaking up everything I can learn from you highly knowledgeable folk out there!
I started Shotokan Karate in 1990, graded to 1st Kyu, and then ended up spending a large number of years either training by myself, due to working constraints or being at University, or training in Ju-Jitsu or Aikido due to a knee injury. Moved to France in 2003, joined a Shotokan club over here and trained with them for a few years, then moved to a different area so had to leave this particular club. However, now I have found a Shito-Ryu club, so I have started training with them and am looking forward to discovering a new style. I was really looking for something along the lines of Iain's teachings, but I don't think it has reached as far as France yet, so I will have to take what I can get.
Outside the Dojo, I like weight-training, Mountain-biking and Running, so like to keep active as much as possible.
Look forward to sharing with you all.
Hi All,
Look forward to the new site bedding in - if you don't know me I train and teach Okinawan Seito Matsumura Shorin Ryu Karate & Kobudo in Sussex, I have been training now 25 years and I try and have a balance between realism and the traditon.
Look forward to speaking with you all.
Hey ya!
My name is Mark Ridler, I live in the West Midlands at have been studying Shukokai Karate for the last 12 years with the Shukokai Karate Association.
I've attended a few of Iain's seminar's and was booked to attend the now cancelled Premier Karate Course in October that Iain was going to be teaching on.
I've also trained in Chow Gar Kung Fu, Tai-Jutsu and a little Shotokan Karate.
I'm a mad biker and enjoy long distance challenges and think nothing of heading to Whitby for breakfast (300 mile round trip) blatant plug alert! And run my own website at www.RigsVille.org.uk
Hello! All:
My name is Lee Norris. I started training in Goju in1962 in Japan.Came home 1964 ,opened 1st karate dojo in Orlando. Closed in 1971 due to job transfer. Took number of years off in 70's to work on mental end of martial arts.Moved to Gainesville,Florida in 1971 .Build private dojo at home in1984.Have trained continuous since then.I train 5days a week 3hours a night. Karate not about about rank ,but knowledge and application. Have really enjoyed Sensei Abernethy site. Have presently been sidelined doing battle with cancer but hope to find self defense that works. I'm a student of martial arts and try to be the best one can be at 70 years of age. Thanks again for GREAT SITE.
I'm back. LOL, I've been formally training in Asian Martial arts since 1999. I study Wado karate as taught by Tatsuo Suzuki (WIKF) and Takamura ha shindo yoshin ryu (koryu sogo bujutsu) I have also have studied wrestling boxing and European sword fighting. I have had karate training in Japan, Portugal, Puerto Rico, and all over the USA. I have a Masters degree in Sports Performance and injury prevention. I have been a personal trainer/athletic trainer since 2001. Along with my traditional karate and old school jujutsu studying I am also a coach for our karate competition team. I teach physical education at a local college (Cardio kickboxing, Self-Defense Karate, and Pilates, both credit and non-credit courses) along with teaching at our dojo. i had a 6 month break in training in fall 2000 spring 2001 where I went through cancer treatment. After my surgery before my treatment started I went back for one class then was out until the spring with treatment. in 2004 my nephew got cancer and i dropped everything to help my sister out 1,350 miles away in Jackson Hole Wyoming. I trained with an affiliate school in Utah while I helped my family out in Wyoming. I have competed in 2 WIKF world championships the 2005 in Dallas Texas and 2008 in Braga Portugal. i plan on competing in the 2011 WIKF world championships in Dallas Texas.
Hi Everyone
Names' Lee have been training since I was 11, firstly in Wado-Ryu now in Shito-Ryu Shukokai. 3yrs ago I left my job in a crisp factory to teach karate full time. Its the hardest thing I have ever done, and it's the best thing I have ever done! Have been involved with Iain for a while now, have also completed Geoff's Masterclass and currently working with Al Peasland. My karate clubs are called Shushokan which means 'effort and result are one,' or a more budo translation of 'to master the way you must become the way.'
Hope to be more involved on this fantastic new site!
Hi! I'm Mathieu and I'm from Belgium.
I've been into karate since being 10 years old (regretably with many lengthy pauses). I began with Wado-Ryu as a kid, then switched to Shotokan, then to Shito-Ryu... Now, after a rather lengthy time away from karate, I returned to Shito-Ryu a few years ago and am preparing my shodan test.
About a year ago I came across books and DVDs by people like Iain Abernethy or Lawrence Kane and this completely changed my vision of karate (for the better). Now, I plan to go further this way and hopefully I will be able to attend the bunkai jutsu seminar in Idar Oberstein so I can put to practice the theory I picked up!
Hi all,
Nice to be here. I'm a martial arts practioner in the middle of the US. I practice strictly for self-defence... I'm not much into the trophy thing. I am teaching a few friends and family members Hapki Kong Soo Do and La Canne at the present time.
Brian Jones
Hi to all,
I have been training for 16 years in traditional Shotokan Karate and am a 2nd Dan graded by Hanshi Shiro Asano, 9th Dan SKIEF.
I train at least three times a week at a purpose built dojo. My Sensei is a 6th Dan and is a full time instructor.
I have followed Ian's website for a couple of years now and enjoy his articles and podcasts. Congratulations on the new look site Ian, its excellent.


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Can the digital age save the Cherokee language? The halls of Facebook, Google and texting
Susan Gathers was kicked back in the student union one afternoon, her thumbs poised over her smart phone, simultaneously bantering with friends while texting — sometimes even texting the same person she was talking to.
This impressive skill to seamlessly dialogue in multiple mediums at once is nothing new for "Generation Next-ers" like Gathers. But unlike the typical truncated words and vowel-less abbreviations that permeate normal text-speak, her screen was filled with Cherokee syllables as she pushed send.
"What is … wait … oh, I get it. Ha-ha-ha-ha," Venice Mason laughed from across the table after sorting out the Cherokee message Gathers sent her.
A mobile app that makes texting in the Cherokee language possible has become indispensible for Western Carolina University students majoring in Cherokee studies.
"I want to be fluent," said Gather, a 23-year-old senior. "This is helping me reach that goal."
Related Items
A small group of students — some Cherokee, some not — have formed a Native American Club on campus. One of their hobbies is practicing Cherokee, something they can now do in the modern digital mediums of their generation, be it texting or even Facebook.
"That is how we are going to speak to each other in the future even more than we know," said Cara Forbes, a freshman and president of WCU's Native American Club.
Rapidly firing incomplete sentences on cell phones might not look or feel like the same Cherokee language spoken by fluent elders, but it's a critical juncture in the race to pass the torch to the next generation of speakers. Putting the language at the fingertips of youth in a format they know means the language is being used in daily life and interactions — which is ultimately the test of a language's survival.
"Language is something that happens in social interactions between people who hold that language in their minds," said Hartwell Francis, the director of WCU's Cherokee language program. "They are not thinking about how they are interacting; they are simply interacting through the language."
Cherokee language proponents have collaborated with Google to launch a Cherokee language interface and Cherokee language version of GMail. One click of the mouse can switch the language settings to Cherokee for web searches and composing email messages.
The possibilities are vast. Whether it's Cherokee YouTube videos or skyping with native Cherokee speakers, getting the language into new popular mediums could make the difference in the language surviving or dying down the road.
The digital age of the Internet has its pitfalls, however.
"What does having this information available on the Internet mean to Cherokee speakers, Cherokee language learners and the Cherokee community?" Francis posed during a talk last month at WCU on Cherokee language in the digital age.
But like any subject you search on the web, some is pure junk. Francis has spent untold hours sifting through Cherokee language websites, and sadly, most are little more than clearinghouses with the Cherokee equivalent of English words — often the same lists borrowed and replicated.
"You have essentially useless, overproduced word lists that are potentially incorrect, often a list of colors or an alphabet," Francis said.
Francis fears the plethora of these sites could give language proponents a false sense of security.
"You can see how limited it is," Francis said, pulling up one such site, where you type in the English word and it spits out the Cherokee syllabic pronunciation for its equivalent. "Language is words being put together in a meaningful context. It puts a severe bottleneck in your language learning if you have to type in word by word."
Still, part of Cherokee language revitalization is simply to capture words before they are lost. A beginner can piece together the Cherokee words for "my tooth hurts," but the actual word for a toothache? That's something only native speakers, who grew up in a language-rich environment with fluent parents speaking Cherokee daily, might actually know.
Despite its downsides, the Internet may be a last line of defense for those struggling to keep the Cherokee language alive after generations of suppression. The Cherokee language is hanging on by a thread today, with a dwindling number of fluent speakers in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, most of them older.
"If you are trying to eliminate a culture — a culture being the way that a group of people commonly think about things and interpret things amongst themselves so they can function as a group — the best way to eliminate that culture is to circumvent their way of interpreting the world," said Tom Belt, a native Cherokee speaker and Cherokee language professor at WCU.
In other words, take away their language. The United States government tried to eradicate American Indian languages a century ago. Children were forced into boarding schools where they were harshly punished for speaking their own language. Native languages were labeled vulgar, dirty, crude — so Cherokee people stopped speaking their own language publicly, and stopped passing it on.
"The way people accessed a language was in their own homes and nowhere else. Among family members they may speak it in the yard or down the road from their house but nowhere else," Belt said. "Access to that language simply becomes more and more limited."
The internet and digital age could help change that.
"The more we make this available, the more people can access it again," Belt said. "Whatever way we can make it accessible for people to learn, not only are we revitalizing the historical property of a language, but we are invigorating a culture."
If kids can text in Cherokee, that means the language isn't solely surviving in a textbook but is actually being used in real human interactions — even if the medium is a screen.
"It becomes the way people think again. It becomes the way things are brought up, the way a group of people function," Belt said.
Digital language apps and tools catering to today's tech-savvy generation have come a long way, but much of the potential is still untapped. Francis would like to see a mobile game in Cherokee.
"Some kind of intrinsically interesting adventure game or a button mashing game — that will be one of the ways people learn the language," Francis said.
A recent project involved kids doing a Cherokee language version of the movie "Night at the Museum."
"They took something they loved and re-enacted it in their own language. It raises the prestige of the language, and it also gives you those language interaction examples you might be missing," Francis said.
Cherokee language proponents have begun recording native speakers reading stories, and then paired the MP3 audio files with PDF's of the written Cherokee syllabary.
One hurdle, however, is that today's native speakers — the keepers of the language so to speak — are mostly elderly. They don't know how to use computers.
Some of the students in the Cherokee cultural club at WCU have stepped in to bridge that divide, helping create translated versions of children's books in Cherokee using computer software. Native speakers write out the Cherokee translation for children's books by hand, and the students use their computer skills to overlay the Cherokee words with the pictures from the book to make a new Cherokee language version.
The books in turn are augmenting the library of the New Kituwah Language Academy, a Cherokee language immersion school for children from birth through fifth grade on the Cherokee reservation. The elite school where only Cherokee is spoken is ground zero in the effort to raise the next generation of fluent speakers. But the lack of books in the Cherokee language is a challenge for the teachers.
The biggest hurdle, however, lies ahead. Will the students keep using the language once they hit middle school and leave the cocoon of the immersion language classroom?
"The problem is maintaining that when they graduate from the fifth grade. That's where this new media comes in. They are going to need the new and fresh ways of interacting," Francis said.
Facebooking, Googling and texting in Cherokee could be key.


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So much for compromise.
A total of 43 Catholic educational, charitable and other entities filed a dozen lawsuits in federal court around the nation Monday, charging that the Obama Administration's rule requiring coverage of birth control in most health insurance plans violates their religious freedom.
Among the plaintiffs in the suits are the University of Notre Dame and the Catholic University of America, as well as the Archdioceses of New York, Washington, Dallas, St. Louis and Pittsburgh.
They join several other, mostly smaller entities that have sued over the requirements for no-cost coverage of regular birth control, sterilization and so-called morning after emergency contraceptives. Because one of the ways those drugs may work is by preventing the implantation of a fertilized egg into a woman's uterus, Catholics believe they can cause a very early abortion, even though they are classified by the Food and Drug Administration as contraceptives.
President Obama tried to defuse the controversy over the requirement back in February, after religious groups complained that the exemption from the requirement, which applied effectively only to actual houses of worship and groups that employ only members of a specific faith, was too narrow.
The president's proposal was not to expand the exemption, but to allow religious universities and charities to have their health insurers offer the coverage instead.
"The result will be that religious organizations won't have to pay for these services, and no religious institution will have to provide these services directly," Obama said. "But women who work at these institutions will have access to free contraceptive services, just like other women, and they'll no longer have to pay hundreds of dollars a year that could go towards paying the rent or buying groceries."
The president's Catholic allies were pleased, as were some of those who had been complaining. Even the president of Notre Dame, Father John Jenkins, called the announcement "a welcome step toward recognizing the freedom of religious institutions to abide by the principles that define their respective missions."
But over time, discussions over how to make it work appear to have broken down.
Even taking the actual benefits out of the hands of the religious organization "does not solve our moral dilemma," said Catholic University President John Garvey in a
statement. Garvey noted that, "The only change the 'accommodation' offers is that the insurance company, rather than the University, would notify subscribers that the policy covers the mandated services." But the students and employees would still have to pay for "objectionable" prescriptions and services.
The Obama Administration declined comment on the suits, citing a policy of silence with regard to ongoing litigation.
But Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, which is among the groups most strongly backing the requirement for contraceptive coverage, said, "It is unbelievable that in the year 2012 we have to fight for access to birth control."
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Donna of Spatulas, Corkscrews & Suitcases chose Real Butterscotch Pudding on page 386 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.
I made 1/2 the recipe, omitted the scotch, and doubled the vanilla.
I made it by hand with lots of whisking, and it was pretty easy. Dorie suggests using a food processor but a few people had difficulties with this technique in our last pudding adventure. I double sifted the cornstarch and salt before adding it to the egg mixture to make sure it was smooth.
Topped with a scoop of whipped cream, this is a nice dessert! You can really taste the lightly caramelized light brown sugar mixture.
And the best news this week? Santa came to visit my librarian friend, Shannon and her husband Mike! Introducing Katherine Louise! She arrived December 21 and weighed almost 9 pounds!
Happy Hanukkah! Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! May you have a wonderful time with your friends and family this holiday season.
And check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers to see their butterscotch creations!


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10ST542-C: Serpentine Coin 10mm - 15-16" Strand
Serpentine and Lizardite are both apt names for this stone due to the reptilian appearance of its surface. More translucent examples of serpentine are very often marketed as a faux jade, a few common names for serpentine "jade" are new jade, yellow jade and Afghan jade. Serpentine is a very good looking and versatile stone all on its own and has no need to be marketed as anything other than serpentine. Serpentine is a waxy silicate of magnesium, and is less dense than the true jade it is often substituted for.


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Mr. Speaker, as co-chairman of the Helsinki Commission and the sponsor of the Belarus Democracy Act, I remain deeply concerned about the violations of human rights occurring every day in Lukashenka's Belarus.
During a recent news conference, the autocratic Belarusian leader expressed confidence in his victory in the presidential election scheduled for next year, rhetorically asking why should he be rigging this election. Given his intensified assault on civil society, his dismal human rights record, and penchant for rigged elections, Mr. Lukashenka's statements ring hollow. Yet, Lukashenka's actions against democratic forces, non-governmental organizations and the independent media belie his stated confidence regarding electoral victory.
Last week, the lower chamber of Lukashenka's pocket parliament passed a law endorsing tougher new penalties for activities "directed against people and public security," a proposal submitted to the parliament only days before passage. These changes to the Criminal Code increase penalties for participation in organizations that were liquidated or warned to stop their pro-democratic activities, or for the training and other preparations for unauthorized demonstrations or other civic actions.
Mr. Speaker, to cite just one of the draconian provisions, the Code now gives authorities the leeway to jail an individual for up to 2 years for "providing a foreign country, a foreign or international organization with patently false information about the political, economic, social, military, and international situation of the Republic of Belarus." Putting aside the matter of such a provision violating free speech norms, if the past is any guide, it is clear who would be the arbiter of what constitutes "false information." There can be no doubt that the law aims to stifle the democratic opposition, and the head of the KGB (yes, in Belarus it is still called the KGB) himself recently admitted that the reasons for the law is to discourage street protests during the upcoming presidential race.
This law, while particularly blatant, is part and parcel of other actions designed to strengthen the regime's control and deny the Belarusian people any alternative voices as the presidential election campaign unfolds. Last month, a new law further controlling political parties came into force. A recent Council of Ministers decree clamps down on organizations that conduct public opinion polls. A Lukashenka decree further discriminates against independent trade unions, stipulating that only trade unions belonging to the pro-governmental federation are granted the right to premises at no cost. Yet another decree considerably limits students' opportunities to travel abroad.
Meanwhile, opposition activists are routinely beaten up or detained. Just last week, for instance, Ales Kalita was detained and at the hands of the police suffered a dislocated arm for merely distributing the independent newspaper "Narodna Volya." Viktor Syritsya, a lecturer at Baranavichi College was fired for organizing a meeting of students with presidential opposition candidate Alexander Milinkevich. Belarusian State Economic University in Minsk expelled fourth-year student Tatsyana Khoma because she took a brief trip to France, where she was elected to the executive committee of the Brussels-based National Unions of Students in Europe (ESIB), an umbrella organization of 44 national student unions from 34 countries. The police beat activist Mikita Sasim. They detained youth activists Yauhen Afnagel and others. Other repressive actions include frequent arrests of activists of democratic youth movements such as ZUBR, a ban on worship by some religious congregations and other repressive actions against selected religious minorities, and continued harassment of members of the Union of Poles in Belarus.
Moreover, there is an emerging pattern of the regime putting obstacles in the way of Mr. Milinkevich. Recently, a public meeting he held in Borbuisk was disrupted by the authorities, with participants being told by the authorities to go home and threatened with tax inspections. During a press conference, the electricity in the room was cut off, as well as a "hot-line" phone with town residents.
Especially egregious has been the regime's intensification of the war against the already repressed and struggling independent media. Newspaper closures, suspensions, threats, and exorbitant and absurd libel fines, pressures on advertisers and other forms of harassment have become routine. Outright police confiscations of independent newspapers are also not uncommon. A seemingly more subtle tactic, implemented just a few weeks ago, involved the decision by Belarus' monopoly state postal service to stop delivery to subscribers of a dozen private periodicals. Meanwhile, the suspicious murder in 2004 of journalist Veronika Charkasova has not been resolved. Authorities have refused to open a criminal investigation into journalist Vasil Hrodnikau's death. Lukashenka himself recently admitted to Russian journalists that his regime applies very serious pressure on the media, somewhat incongruously adding that "this does not mean I am crushing them."
Mr. Speaker, what I have cited is by no means an exhaustive list of abuses perpetrated by the Lukashenka regime, merely a sampling of the types of repressive actions employed on a daily basis by Europe's last dictator. As Helsinki Commission Co-Chair, I will continue to monitor closely and speak out forcefully regarding these and other violations of Belarus' freely undertaken OSCE commitments. I urge the Bush Administration to step up efforts to break the Lukashenka regime's near monopoly over the country's information space and provide timely assistance to pro-democracy forces in Belarus.
It is clear that Mr. Lukashenka and his minions are laying the groundwork for yet another un-free and unfair election–similar to the 2001 presidential elections and the 2000 and 2004 parliamentary elections–that will fall far short of OSCE standards. Lukashenka is once again showing that, despite his confident rhetoric, he fears his own people and profoundly fails to respect their dignity as citizens and as human beings.


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The U.S. performance on the global stage has looked a little rocky in the past few weeks.
The Obama administration had to let Russia take a lead in managing the security challenge in Syria. The United States was also embarrassed when allies like Germany, France and Brazil reacted angrily to the news that the National Security Agency had monitored their leaders' communications.
Finally, the government shutdown and the congressional fight over the debt ceiling prompted critical comments about U.S. political dysfunction.
"There is no doubt the reputation, prestige, and allure of the United States has taken a hit," says Moises Naim of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
In the past, the United States has been accustomed to lecturing other countries on how to be more democratic or run their economies more efficiently.
But when the International Monetary Fund met in Washington earlier this month, it was the U.S. on the hot seat. The prevailing view among the finance officials in attendance was that Washington was threatening the whole global economy by flirting with default on its debts. Appearing on NBC's Meet the Press in the midst of the debt crisis, IMF Director Christine Lagarde took a scolding tone:
"If there is that lack of certainty, that lack of trust in the U.S. signature," she said, "it would mean massive disruption the world over."
Even after the debt ceiling fight was resolved, concerns about U.S. global leadership lingered. Perhaps the U.S. government from here on will be unable to deliver on treaty and trade commitments. Global rivals like China might pull ahead.
Some commentators suggested that by engaging in brinksmanship, the Tea Party Republicans in Congress had weakened the U.S. position in the world.
Conservative columnist Marc Thiessen has criticized some elements of the Tea Party movement for "isolationist" views and their willingness to disengage the United States from its global responsibilities.
Thiessen, however, sympathizes with those Republicans who were willing to use the debt ceiling fight to extract political concessions from the White House, and he downplays its effect on U.S. global standing.
"I don't think quite frankly that there's been any lasting damage from this standoff," he says. Thiessen thinks a more serious challenge to U.S. prestige came when Syria used chemical weapons and President Obama did not respond militarily, as he had threatened to.
"Every adversary we have — from al-Qaida to Hamas, potentially China, to North Korea, to Iran — looked at Syria and said, 'This president drew a line in the sand and didn't enforce it. Why do we have to worry about him?' " Thiessen argues. "They're not making those calculations because of the budget standoff."
Of course, a big reason Obama seemed to back down on his Syria "red line" was that he didn't have support from Congress to follow through on his threat of taking military action. It was another instance of a divided government making it more difficult for a president to take a bold stand in the world.
Such cases hurt the United States, says Naim, but political dysfunction hurts other countries, as well.
"Democracies around the world have become Italian," says Naim. "World political systems are becoming more and more like that of Italy. [They have] gridlock and inaction and very small groups that have the ability to block initiatives of the majority. That's becoming a common pattern around the world."
Naim, a former minister of industry and trade in Venezuela, lays out numerous examples of that pattern in his book The End of Power.
A similar argument comes from Thomas Wright, a fellow in the Managing Global Order project at the Brookings Institution.
"All countries have problems," Wright says. "The question is, how do those problems stack up relative to each other? I think America's problems are more solvable than [those of] many other countries."
China is dealing with major environmental contamination and high-level political infighting. Russia is struggling with corruption and crime. Economic recovery is proceeding far more slowly in Europe than in the United States. America is hardly alone in being embarrassed on the global stage.
In some areas, like energy, the United States is actually a rising power.
"The underlying trend lines are very good for the United States," says Wright. "There is lots of positive news on the horizon. The U.S. should not think of itself as a declining power, because that will just lead to a counterproductive foreign policy and a counterproductive economic policy."
Still, even if it is true that other countries are just as hamstrung as the United States, the news is disturbing. Naim sees a general trend of governments not taking politically difficult steps for the sake of the broader world. Trade agreements and global treaties may get harder to negotiate.
"We have a lot of problems that require countries to collaborate," Naim says. "At the same time, the capacity of countries to work together has become either stagnant or is declining. And the reason is, because they don't have a lot of power at home, there are compromises that they simply cannot make. "
So the United States finds itself in a weaker position globally. But what's worse is that everyone else may be in that position as well, meaning the world has become less manageable.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Sunday, January 1, 2012
Vintage Mystery Challenge 2012 Progress Site
All right, folks--2012 is here! Let the challenge begin! I am setting up this post as the place to track everyone's progress on the Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge and also to link reviews, if you review the books you read. There will be two linkys--one for reviews and one for a wrap-up post. If you do not have a blog, please submit a final tally of books read in a comment below. I will accept updates through January 6, 2013.
Please enter your review links below. For Name Display, please use the following format as an example:
Bev@My Reader's Block (Book Title and Author)
Please enter your wrap-up post below:
Example: Bev@My Reader's Block (Wrap-up)
62 comments:
- TomCat said...
Well, I finished my first read of the Vintage Mystery Challenge of this year and it was a clever locked room mystery that gave a nod and a wink to John Dickson Carr, Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle. Corsari's books, ranging from psychological novels to detective stories, were translated in many different languages – so this one might be available to some of you.
Full review of: Willy Corsari's Voetstappen op de trap (Footsteps on the Stairs, 1937). - January 4, 2012 at 12:40 PM
- Sharon said...
Well I finished my first book for 2012 and it was for The Vintage Mystery challenge. Link is done. Happy New Year!
- January 5, 2012 at 11:20 AM
- Ryan said...
I got my first reviw posted. The Great Mistake by Mary Roberts Rinehart. I will count it towards my Golden Age Girls challenge.
http://wordsmithonia.blogspot.com/2012/01/great-mistake-by-mary-roberts-rinehart.html - January 6, 2012 at 10:31 PM
- J F Norris said...
I'm off on my three part challenge! For the next two months it's Perilous Policeman. Link is up for my review of THE CASE OF THE BEAUTIFUL BODY.
- January 7, 2012 at 10:24 AM
- Yvette said...
Okay, I've got my first entry up on the blog: DEAD MAN'S WATCH by G.D.H. and M. Cole.
It qualifies for Lethal Locations.
The book is written by a husband and wife duo so I'm not sure I can use it for my other two themes.
Link is done. - January 9, 2012 at 10:36 AM
- Bev Hankins said...
Just for the record...the images connected to the links are a bit of a surprise for me. I don't remember choosing that as part of my Linky thingy....
- January 10, 2012 at 9:22 PM
- Cat said...
Have added link for first challenge book completed for Lethal Locations. Five Red Herrings by Dorothy Sayers.
- January 11, 2012 at 3:53 PM
- Carol said...
My first review is up, of "The Lighthearted Quest" by Ann Bridge. Recommended, with some reservations.
- January 11, 2012 at 5:44 PM
- Yvette said...
But you still want us doing the linky thing - right?
Anyway, just posted my second book for the challenge.
It qualifies for Lethal Locations and Cherchez L'Homme. :) - January 13, 2012 at 12:41 PM
- Bev Hankins said...
Yes, I do want you to use the Linky if at all possible. I hoped to save myself hunting through over a hundred comments (like I did last year)....
- January 14, 2012 at 7:36 PM
- Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) said...
Hi Bev, just posted my first one ofthe Challenge LANDSCAPE WITH DEAD DONS - I really loved it, thanks so much it was a splendid gift and a great way to start 2012 - I didn't quite get the linky thing right, but I will next time!
Sergio - January 15, 2012 at 4:43 AM
- Sharon said...
My second on is in... :)
- January 15, 2012 at 5:18 PM
My first challenge entry in the Deadly Decades section is my "pre-1900" entry: Doyle's "A Study in Scarlet," the book that introduced Sherlock Holmes to the world (not to mention Dr. Watson). I've linked the review in the linky section above - please let me know if I did it right!
- January 16, 2012 at 2:02 PM
- Eibhlin said...
The images in the linky thingy is a happy suprise! I've just posted my link to my first, Wilkie Collins' "The Woman in White", which was super. I might not have read it except for this challenge, so thanks for that! (Deadly Decades, pre-1900's).
- January 22, 2012 at 12:19 PM
- Yvette said...
Posted by fourth one today, Bev. DEATH IN KASHMIR by M.M. Kaye.
Golden Age Girls and Lethal Locations. - January 23, 2012 at 5:21 PM
- Darrell said...
Added my first review for "cherchez le homme". Sherwood King's "Between Murders".
- January 23, 2012 at 5:44 PM
- Birdie said...
Ooof, sorry I didn't do the name thing right. It's been a bit of a crazy time lately, and we all know I ain't right to begin with :)
- January 23, 2012 at 8:54 PM
- Darrell said...
Just posted my first "golden age girls" review.
- January 24, 2012 at 3:23 PM
- Carol said...
I've just put up my review of Pamela Branch's LION IN THE CELLAR. Branch is one of the authors I selected for my "Persons of Interest" theme.
- January 26, 2012 at 6:21 PM
- LesBlatt said...
My third decade for the Deadly Decades theme is Edgar Wallace's 1917 thriller, "The Secret House." It's sheer fun, with the action moving so fast the reader doesn't have time to realize how far-fetched the story is. Full review at ClassicMysteries.
- January 30, 2012 at 1:16 PM
- Les Blatt said...
Week four, and the roaring 20s. This week's entry: "The Mysterious Affair at Styles," by Agatha Christie, first published in 1920. It was her first novel and the first to feature Hercule Poirot. Full review at Classic Mysteries.
- February 6, 2012 at 3:16 PM
- TomCat said...
I just posted a review of an engrossing historical mystery, set during the Rangaku in Japan, with a clever inverted plot at its core.
Full review of Bertus Aafjes' Een lampion voor een blinde (A Lantern for the Blind). - February 9, 2012 at 3:57 AM
- Eibhlin said...
I've just posted the links to my second and third read for the challenge. Going great!
- February 13, 2012 at 3:06 PM
- Carol said...
I've added the link for my review of "An Oxford Tragedy" by J.C. Masterman.
- February 14, 2012 at 10:38 AM
The link I provided earlier (#61) goes only to the book cover. I've added the correct link to the review at #64.
- February 15, 2012 at 10:27 AM
- Les Blatt said...
For the "Deadly Decade" of the 1940s this week, I offer a review of Elizabeth Daly's "Any Shape or Form." It's a classic puzzle-plot type of mystery and one of Daly's best (she was said to be Agatha Christie's favorite American author). It's #69 above, or at Classic Mysteries.
- February 20, 2012 at 1:28 PM
- Carol said...
My review of WHO KILLED THE CURATE? by Joan Coggins is up at #70 above. Goodness, there are going to be lots of links when we're through with this challenge.
- February 20, 2012 at 4:35 PM
- Bev Hankins said...
@Carol: I know! It would have been a much more compact and tidier list if I hadn't mysteriously programmed the thing to ask for a thumbnail picture. I don't know how that happened and I haven't been able to undo it. I figure at this point we'll just have to go with it....I don't want to lose anybody's entry.
- February 20, 2012 at 8:57 PM
- Ryan said...
Bev, I have a question. Would a book like The Floating Admiral count for my short story challenge. It's one novel, but each chapter is written by a different author (13 authors in all).
- February 21, 2012 at 1:17 AM
- Cat said...
Have added my latest review - The Grand Babylon Hotel by Arnold Bennett. Theme - Location
- February 21, 2012 at 7:54 PM
- Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) said...
Hi Bev - just added my review of TH White DARKNESS AT PEMBERLEY, another excellent Golden Age mystery set at Cambridge University.
Thanks for looking after us.
Sergio - February 24, 2012 at 4:11 AM
- Bev Hankins said...
@Ryan: As long as it fit a theme and is pre-1960, then, yes, it may count.
- February 26, 2012 at 9:36 AM
- Les Blatt said...
My post for the "deadly decade" of the 1950s is Patricia Moyes' "Dead Men Don't Ski," from 1959. The novel introduces the delightful Chief Inspector Henry Tibbett. It takes place at a remote ski lodge at the top of "the longest chair-lift in Europe." Full review at Classic Mysteries".
(What's wrong with the links above? Mine keep getting shortened to something unreadable!) - February 27, 2012 at 12:23 PM
- Bev Hankins said...
Les: I don't know what's wrong with it. I tried early on to fix it (before there were so many links and it was easier to know if I lost one and what it was). I never wanted the thumbnail pictures and have no idea why that option got tacked on. I envisioned a much cleaner list. At this point I'm afraid to mess with it--I don't want to lose anybody's review.
- February 29, 2012 at 2:59 PM
- Carol said...
I just posted my review of "Murder at Shots Hall/Green December Grows the Graveyard by Maureen Sarsfield, as #84. Yes, I realize I misspelled murder in the title. Long day.
- March 2, 2012 at 6:29 PM
- SharonW said...
Okay, my first Vintage Mystery review is up - Rex Stout's The Red Box, an early Nero Wolfe. (This is part of my "Murderous Miscellany" - A Year of Death, 8 books published in 1937.
- March 7, 2012 at 11:35 PM
- Les Blatt said...
For my eighth and last post for the "deadly decades" section, here's a review of Cyril Hare's "Suicide Excepted," a late Golden-Age (1939) mystery. The death of an elderly man is ruled a suicide - but the insurance company won't pay if the death was suicide, so his family sets out to prove it was murder. You'll find a review, with a link to a detailed podcast review, at Classic Mysteries.
- March 8, 2012 at 8:14 PM
- Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) said...
Just added the first in my Golden Girls part of the challenege with WHY SHOOT A BUTLER by Georgette Heyer
- March 9, 2012 at 3:38 AM
- SharonW said...
Another two reviews - The Hand in the Glove, by Rex Stout and A Holiday for Murder by Agatha Christie.
- March 19, 2012 at 5:46 PM
- TomCat said...
I reviewed Theo Joekes' short story collection, Klavertje moord (Four-Leaf Murder).
- March 24, 2012 at 2:34 PM
- SharonW said...
Another Agatha Christie - Cards on the Table. There were four killers in the room, playing bridge together. But which one stabbed Mr. Shaitana?
- March 27, 2012 at 10:49 PM
- SharonW said...
And now for a little John Dickson Carr - The Burning Court. Was the body stolen out of the bricked-up family crypt - or did the corpse get up and walk away on his own?
- April 1, 2012 at 9:25 PM
- Jeff Flugel said...
Late to the party, but first review posted in the challenge: COME AWAY, DEATH by Gladys Mitchell. A very interesting read, by a rather forgotten and overlooked Golden Age Grande Dame.
- April 2, 2012 at 11:33 AM
- SharonW said...
And another one! Patricia Wentworth's Dead or Alive. Everybody tells Meg O'Hara her husband has been dead for a year. Why won't she believe them?
- April 3, 2012 at 9:57 AM
- SharonW said...
Perry Mason strikes again! And a good thing, because it sure looks as if somebody has it in for would-be actress Evelyn Bagby, the Restless Redhead.
- April 6, 2012 at 12:52 PM
- TomCat said...
Today, I review a detective/thriller from the hands of a writer who earned with his words a nomination for a Nobel Prize. As a matter of fact, this book was his first success as a writer and penned four additional mysteries before moving on
to loftier, more sophisticated climes. Oh well...
Here's the full review of Een linkerbeen gezocht (Wanted: A Left Leg, 1935) by Jan de Hartog (writing as "F.R. Eckmar"). - April 8, 2012 at 1:40 PM
- Cat said...
Sorry Bev - entered my latest review into the wrong link - the wrap up posts. Please ignore or remove if you can.
- April 15, 2012 at 7:17 PM
- SharonW said...
Whoops - I have a problem; I reviewed two books in one post, and the link system won't let me report them both (since it detects a duplicate URL.) Oh well -
The Problem of the Green Capsule: several people watched carefully while Marcus Chesney was poisoned. Not one of them interfered, and when the police questioned them later not one of them was quite sure what had just happened!
Nine - and Death Makes Ten: It's dangerous enough crossing the Atlantic during World War II. Your ship might be blown up and sunk at any moment! But on the Edwardic, the handful of passengers also has to worry about a killer whose fingerprints don't match a single person on board. - April 16, 2012 at 2:47 PM
- WutheringWillow @ A Paperback Life said...
Hi Bev! I am halfway through my challenge. I have competed one vintage theme, Deadly Decades, of my target of two vintage themes. Now on to the next eight from the theme Golden Age Girls.
- April 20, 2012 at 11:57 PM
- WutheringWillow @ A Paperback Life said...
Oh that should read 'completed', not 'competed'. :-)
- April 20, 2012 at 11:58 PM
- SharonW said...
Poor Miss Arundell is dead - but everybody tells Poirot she died of perfectly natural causes. And when she fell down the stairs a few weeks before she died, that was the dog's fault. Besides, she recovered from the fall. Why can't Hercule Poirot leave this absolutely completely perfectly natural death alone?
- April 23, 2012 at 11:23 PM
- neer said...
Somehow the images of the books are not showing up now. The two books recently submitted are: The Eight of Swords by J.D. Carr and The Double Traitor by E.P. Oppenheim.
- June 25, 2012 at 5:38 AM
- TracyK said...
Just posted two links to reviews (Fer-de-Lance and With a Bare Bodkin). Tried to post a third (An English Murder, also by Cyril Hare), but I reviewed it in the same post as With a Bare Bodkin and it would not take the same link twice. It doesn't matter, I am not doing this for a prize and I may have more than the eight for that category anyway. Just thought I would note that. If I include that mystery in another post somewhere, maybe I will use that link. Glad I am catching up on this challenge, a bit.
- July 22, 2012 at 4:25 PM
- WutheringWillow @ A Paperback Life said...
I have completed the challenge! I had chosen two categories, a total of 16 books. I have linked up my completion post. Thank you Bev for hosting this wonderful challenge! :-)
- August 12, 2012 at 3:41 AM
- neer said...
Hi Bev
Completed the challenge! As last year, had great fun this year too. I've linked-up the wrap-up post. Thank You for hosting this challenge and looking forward to next year's edition of it.
Thanks once again. - September 13, 2012 at 12:32 PM
- Ryan said...
I just posted my wrap up post.
- December 24, 2012 at 8:21 AM
- TracyK said...
Just posted my wrap up post and linked it here. Out of 80 books I read this year, 16 were vintage mysteries. Glad I joined in on this challenge.
- December 26, 2012 at 4:52 PM
- Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) said...
Just posted my final review - thanks very much for hosting Bev, it's been pretty amazing. Have a great 2013.
- December 31, 2012 at 11:03 AM
Is a closing post required? Could I reiterate the joining post, updated? I try to limit 'biz' on my blog. Well: I'm thrilled to show you my last "Deadly Decades" entries! I ran out of time for more but chose what I think is the toughest and did succeeded! :) Happy new year to all! ~Carolyn~
- December 31, 2012 at 2:41 PM
- Bev Hankins said...
@Carolyn (cmriedel): a link to your updated joining post showing everything complete will be fine. Congratulations!
- January 1, 2013 at 5:50 PM
Very nice to accommodate that. I decided my vintage post is long. I'd listed all your options. I made up a combo closure I hope everyone enjoys.
In case my blog doesn't send you notifications, I nod to you in this one! :) http://cmriedel.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/eclectic-person-and-reader/ - January 2, 2013 at 1:39 PM
- Debbie Rodgers @Exurbanis said...
2012 Wrap-up - not sure where to leave this link:
http://www.exurbanis.com/archives/8315 - January 2, 2013 at 6:29 PM


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