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By Victoria Noya, a Venezuelan 3rd year International Development student, currently studying abroad in East Asia.
On December 2015 many Venezuelans gained new hope and optimism for their country, as the Opposition party secured three fifths of seats at the National Assembly, the legislative branch of Venezuela's government. This was arguably a democratic victory that countered the government's long standing authoritarian behaviour. However, as many expected, that optimism was short-lived. The Supreme Court, which abides by every whim and fancy of the central government, would go on to prohibit the legislature from naming a handful of members of the electoral council. Nevertheless, since the Venezuelan government has been playing a hybrid regime of authoritarian action with democratic facade and discourse, it came as a huge surprise when on March 29th, under the pretence of the National Assembly's "contempt", the Supreme Court decided to usurp the National Assembly[1], ruling that all the National Assembly's powers would go to the Supreme Court. This has been interpreted by many as a "self-inflicted coup d'état"[2], since what was once a political body that kept the authoritarian regime in check, would no longer continue to do so.
For about 15 years Venezuelans have been living under a de facto dictatorship. At least in the sense that all democratic activity is in some way either restricted or influenced by the government. For example, freedom of speech, a right that goes hand in hand with democracy. Although the government has never spoken against it, it just so happened that throughout the past 15 years, news agencies that are anti-Chavez have been bought up one by one, by entities with Chavista agendas. This type of corruption seeps into essentially every industry that Venezuela has left. Additionally, it is the vox populi that elections are rigged. The subtlety of the government's totalitarianism was key to establishing Venezuela's government as a hybrid regime, and it allowed the president and his party to legitimately remain in power. March 29th wouldn't be the first time the Supreme Court had abused its power, but it would be the first time that their grasp for power was so blunt.
Since March 29th, many peaceful protests led by the opposition have turned violent, an occurrence that for the past couple of years, is no longer unusual. The blunt decision sparked outrage, since Venezuelans have never actively, perhaps not even knowingly, supported the government's authoritarianism. This is why the interpretation of "self-inflicted coup d'etat" isn't quite accurate, it's more like the government was being honest about what they are: an authoritarian dictatorship. Whether it be because of international or internal pressure, President Maduro later urged the Supreme Court to reverse their decision[3], which only means that the government is back to being dishonest, and that nothing is going to change in the future.
Before I go on, it is important to expand where Venezuela finds itself now. With the progression of Chavez's presidency, so grew a new political ideology: Chavismo. This populist anti-US ideology gained much popularity among the lower classes, who were told that the government would support them and that their hardships were at the hand of the upper classes as well as US "imperialism". This repeated discourse over more than 15 years created a social divide that had never existed before. The divide is exemplified in political elections, where Chavistas are extremely loyal to Chavez and his legacy, and society is divided by an intense hostility between die-hard Chavistas and Opposition followers. After Chavez's death, his legacy remained. The government has targeted the passionate loyalty of Chavistas to ensure power, which means that even under Maduro, a widely unpopular president, Chavistas are unlikely to turn to the Opposition. Insanely high crime rates add to the heightened tensions and fear that has become part of Venezuelan's daily life, to the point that all new cars being bought are bulletproof – that is, if there even are cars to sell and enough money to buy them, given that inflation is at 800%[4]. Venezuela's chaotic wasteland of an economy depends on oil exports. The 2014 drop in oil prices had a drastic effect on the economy, but only because decades of high oil revenue with mass deprivatization and virtually no investment in industry or infrastructure, meant the country was not equipped to deal with a sudden drop in government revenue. Today, shortages and scarcity has become the norm in Venezuela: there is no food and no medicine, and prolonged water and electricity cuts are more likely than not. Protests are a regular occurrence, most often for food and medicine shortages, and most recently expressing their disappointment at the Supreme Court.
Given the state of Venezuela today, it is easy to see why the Supreme Court chose to solidify the government's power. The government likely felt they were losing their grasp on the country due to the economic and social turmoil it faces. That being said, I fear that President Maduro's demand that the Supreme Court reverse its decision means that any change in the social or political sphere of the country is very unlikely. Firstly, the Venezuelan people may interpret the National Assembly's regained control as a victory, even though it is not. While the National Assembly was and is able to keep the central government in check to some extent, the Supreme Court and central government have always had more power and could play the National Assembly like a chessboard. Secondly, since it was President Maduro who publicly stated his disapproval of the Supreme Court's actions, the "blame" is shifted from the central government to the Supreme Court, thus shedding the government in a false democratic light, and solidifying its popularity among voters. Furthermore, banning the leader of the Opposition[5], Henrique Capriles, from candidacy in the upcoming 2018 elections is the same behaviour displayed by the central government since the Opposition began gaining recognition, long before Chavez's passing. It is with a heavy heart that I give a pessimistic prediction of Venezuela's future, regardless of any external factor, the core problem is the central government's reluctance to give up power no matter the cost to society.
[1] The Economist, Venezuela leaps towards dictatorship, March 2017
[2] Luis Almagro, secretary-general of OAS, The Economist March 2017
[3] The Economist, The Venezuelan Government's Abortive Power Grab, April 2017
[4] Reuters, CNBC, Venezuela 2016 inflation hits 800 percent, GDP shrinks 19 percent: Document, Jan 2017
[5] Ulmer and Ellsworth, Leading Venezuela Opposition figure barred from office 15 years, April 2017


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Tolkien's immortal epic, sold in both one-volume format and three-volume format, has been the reading delight of several generations of fantasy fans since its publication in the 1950's. The author, an Oxford professor, made full use of his expertise and love for ancient myths and languages in this richly-detailed masterpiece, which tells the story of the War of the Ring, pitting the seemingly insignificant hobbit, Frodo Baggins, against the fearsome, evil Sauron.
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
This is a mesmerizing, although horrifying and sobering look at what the world would be like if books were declared illegal, and burned when found in anyone's possession. The main character, a 'fireman', comes to realize just how special books are, and begins a journey of discovery from which he will never turn back.
The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
Asimov's declining Galactic Empire is the background for the founding of a special colony that will bring together all of humanity's knowledge throughout the centuries, as well as its aesthetic achievements. Hari Seldon, a leader in the field of psychohistory, is the founder of this unusual colony, which reminds me of Castalia, the fictional intellectual province so central to Herman Hesse's masterpiece, Magister Ludi , also known as The Glass Bead Game.
Animal Farm, by George Orwell
A brilliant satirist, Orwell here creates a humorous, although chilling look at the development of a totalitarian regime. At the beginning of 'the revolution', the motto is "all animals are equal". By the time the dictatorship, obviously based on communism, is in place, the motto has changed to "all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others".
I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
In this collection of related stories, Asimov brings to life his uique conception of robotic technology, with his highly original "Three Laws of Robotics". These tales reflect his preoccupation with the latent dangers of artificial intelligence for human beings.
Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
The clash of cultures, especially religious beliefs, is portrayed in this novel. The Martian in question is really a human, born and raised on Mars, and brought to Earth as a young adult. Valentine Michael Smith is a mystic whose particular brand of off-world religion will transform the culture of Earth. The title refers to Exodus 2:22.
Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
For centuries, the Dragonriders of Pern have staved off planetwide disaster due to the fall of Thread, which falls like rain, but destroys everything it comes in contact with. Now, the Red Star is approaching the planet, and there are very few riders left. Lessa, a lowly kitchen servant, meets a queen dragon, and realizes what her true destiny is.
A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
After civilization is nearly wiped out in a nuclear war, the Monks of the Order of St. Leibowitz the Engineer became the custodians of pre-war knowledge. Through long centuries, they endured. And then history began to repeat itself... This is a masterpiece of irony and even humor, which presents a staple of human nature, the repetition of historic cycles, with wit and style.
The Once and Future King, by T.H. White
This modern retelling of the Arthurian tales sparkles with humor and vivid characterization. It follows the life of King Arthur from his boyhood as brother to Kay, who calls him "The Wart", to his coronation as king of England, the establishing of the Round Table, and the adventures of the Holy Grail.
The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
This collecion of eerie, mesmerizing tales cover the years of the colonization of Mars. They are poignant, reminiscent of smalltown Americana, and yet, strangely alien. Some of the stories are weirdly humorous, but they all share an atmosphere of past nostalgia mixed with the reality of a new world, in the future.
There's also a printable version of the complete list, which you can access HERE.
For more details about each of the books that made the list, just go to the original post, and click on the book images. Enjoy!!

subset: commoncrawl


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Will Securing Our Borders Solve the Problem?
Is start the key word here? Or can we secure our borders and then drop the issue?
To bring some perspective we can take a look at the Immigration Problems in Europe at the article linked to in this post.
This blog discusses long-term implications of the very high level of immigration, both legal and illegal, from Mexico. This is a place for rational, well-thought discussion on some very real issues. Opposing viewpoints are welcome and wanted. This is a very politically sensitive subject, thus I am moderating the blog. I won't edit content of comments, but I will reject any hate-filled, racist postings.
One often-said comment is that
We are indeed a nation that was started by immigrants. One example (of many) was the inflow of the Irish. Irish immigration reached its peak in 1840, when Irish immigrant concentrations reached as high as 15-25% by county. (Source).
People who were already in
To answer this, I would point to two things: 1) the intensity of this ongoing wave of immigrants from Mexico is immensely greater, and 2) the economic landscape of the country has changed since those older days.
The population density of Mexican immigrants is going to be a lot bigger than the 15-25% peak reached by Irish immigrants. Today Hispanics are 35% of
For my second point in the comparison with previous immigration waves I would comment that when the Irish came in big numbers in the 1800s,
Today is a very different situation.
I have also heard it said that the high number of Mexican immigrants in
I'm not so sure about that. I used to live in
Unlike the America of the early 1800s, our country is not uncharted territory.
The answer to that question is partly (not entirely) that the rest of us will partially subsidize their life with welfare programs and state services. Maybe this sounds like the same arguments that were used in older times, but consider a few things.
(Most of these statistics were sourced from a Report by the Dallas FED Bank and the Center for Immigration Studies)
In 1999, the average federal income tax payment by households headed by Mexican immigrants was $2,156, less than one third of the $7,255 average tax contribution made by native households.
In summary, the mass migration of uneducated, unskilled workers from Mexico is going to create a very real and significant drain on the American economy.
In summary, the mass migration of uneducated, unskilled workers from Mexico is going to create a very real and significant drain on the American economy.
I would also argue that legalizing their employment with a "guest worker program" is not going to miraculously create millions of new jobs, therefore it will not solve the problem. Rather, I believe it will enormously encourage and accelerate the mass migration of impoverished Mexicans into USA, making the problem substantially worse.
I also believe the "vision" of Congress and the President behind this "guest worker program" has a lot more to do with winning over Hispanic voters than it does with the needs of our country. Democrats and Republican are always trying to gain power by targeting demographics in the electorate. This is one more scheme that will be at great expense to our nation.


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We've had a run of good weather the past 4-5 days and Kris and I launched the dinghy last night with Jared and Nathalie to take advantage of the longer daylight, after-work time and a warm day.
I was first off work, so launched the boat and only had to wait about fifteen minutes before the rest of the crew showed. For the most part it was nice to sit and watch the sailing club races and feel the warm breeze. A couple of kids were fishing, lending the whole thing a bucolic, Huck Finn air, but occasionally the launch would experience a swarm of power boats and things transitioned quickly from Life on the Mississippi, to a night in da club.
The wake boats were out in force, with stereos blasting. A young couple wandered down and stood near me for a while, obviously looking for a ride with friends. I was able to overhear them making a call on their mobile and then a boat slid up with the hip-hop blasting. As the boat operator and the guy on the dock tried to converse with each other it apparently didn't occur to anyone involved to turn the stereo down.
That was about all I could follow, except for the lyrics, which involved a recurring line about being from Miami.
So, time to get jiggy wid it.
On this night, I had two experiences with the jib that reinforced my slowly (very, very slowly) growing knowledge about boat handling. The main turns me into the wind and the jib wants to fall off. When we left the dock I wasn't clear enough to my crew on when to unfurl the jib. As we were falling off with the main, Kris unfurled sooner than I would have liked and we started turning right back into the dock. Without much problem and only a little bit of banging on the dock bumpers, we were able to fall off and do a loop through the launching bay.
The wind was excellent, blowing 8-10 knots upriver (from the North), and the sailing club was having their Monday evening racing session. We headed upwind, downriver, toward them, making four big tacks before falling off and goosewinging it upriver.
As we passed the midriver buoy, Nathalie commented on the floating homes near Oaks Park, something about what it might be like living there. We were set up for a broad reach that would pass us right along the row of homes, so I offered to cruise past them.
We were starting to get the feel for the wind this evening and everybody had their controls in hand as we smartly turned to port, dropped the centerboard halfway and quickly picked up speed across the river.
We were passing within about thirty feet of the houses when the boat started to feel as though it were losing power, or at least making way more leeway than I thought it should.
Sure enough, we were pushed right up on the third house in the row, which of course was the only one with objects sticking out over the water. Pretty quickly, our shrouds were hung up in the plastic poles the homeowner had deployed to hold their jetskis. And just as quickly, a cranky-looking old woman was out on her upper deck staring daggers at us. I wondered why she looked at us with such purpose, when out of her thin-lipped grimace popped, "Do you know how to sail?"
It wasn't so much a question, as an accusation. I answered quickly and lightly, "Well, we're learning!" And then I had the crew furl the jib and hold us off from banging on the dock.
The woman said a few more rude things, which I don't recall and finally came down and pulled the plastic rod out of it's mount, setting us free.
With the jib put away, the main turned us into the wind and we were able to overcome, what I then realized was a strong eddy that pushes right into the homes at this point.
Kris made a very direct comment to the woman, along the lines of, "You could show a little understanding." I think she was irritated that, even though three of us had apologized and nothing was damaged, this woman was absolutely and unrepentantly grumpy.
I guess she's got the right to be, but I also sort of wondered why so early in the season, and how's she going to feel after a whole summer of wake boats roaring by, blasting L'il Wayne and dropping off bikini'ed young ladies to pee on her deck ...
We managed to stay out of trouble for the next half-hour or so, making runs upriver and down and speculating on whether the old biddy was going to be able to return to Dr. Phil uninterrupted after her run-in with the novice sailors.
We've adopted 'Do you know how to sail?' and I'm sure it will be with us for years to come, with many opportunities to toss it out for our own entertainment.
Storm over NY Harbor
13 hours ago


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Beach Sandies featuring liquid sand mini nail lacquers from the Brazil Collection by OPI. I think these liquid sands polishes are only available in the minis for the Brazil Collection. I'm not entirely sound on that one. The box has only four mini lacquers of 3.75mL(1/8 FL Oz.) each. I would say this box ranges from $12 to $19 (CAD). I purchased it for $14 myself at a salon, but I have seen them go up to $18 something, which is super expensive!
First, from left to right, we have Samba-dy Loves Purple, which is a vivid magenta violet. I'm Brazil Nuts Over You is the neon pink shade. Next, is What's a Little Rain Forest? which is a vibrant sky blue colour. And lastly, your highly pigmented sunshine yellow; You're So Flippy Floppy.
Now these textured nail polishes are as fun as the names they were given! These are featured with two coats on my nails, and which the box implies for "optimum textured finish." They are all so highly vivid, with the exception of the yellow sandie being a tiny bit more translucent. I figure you will need at least 3-4 coats to really cover your nail bed.
They all have tiny accommodating glitter particles that shine nicely. The finish is textured, but not too heavy on the nails. I tend to find a lot of these textured polishes feel heavier than regular polishes when applied, but these mini sandies actually feel a lot more comfortable. When dried, the sparkle lasts, and the textures are consistently a lot more smooth than expected. I would definitely say these are more wearable for casual and fun looks.
These polishes really hit their mark. Whatever OPI has done with the liquid sands formula for these minis, I don't care; I want more!
Thanks for checking in with these swatches. If you liked it, please share. Did you grab these too??


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This past Sunday hubby got to celebrate his first official Father's Day as daddy! (Last year he sorta did, as we broke the news to our families that we were expecting).
It was also Baby Dedication day at our church too, so we were able to get Jay dedicated.
It was a very long day for all of us - we got up early as we had to be at church early. Then we went out for Father's Day lunch with hubby's dad, mom and younger sis (our treat). We took a bit of a nap in the afternoon before heading over to my parent's house for Father's Day cookout. Then we watched the Game of Thrones season finale, with Jay passing out for the night very early!
All in all, it was a fun day though!
We got hubby several gifts - from Jay he got a cute little card, a picture frame (that I let Jay pick out for daddy) with hubby's favorite photo of Jay so he can put it on his desk at one of his jobs, and the Adam Sandler movie "Big Daddy." From me I gave him a funny card, "Tron Legacy" on Blu-Ray and a Black&Decker cordless drill with a pack of drill bits.
I'd say he had a pretty good 1st Father's Day!


text: Spas Get the Vegas Treatment Relaxation is another of Sin City's pricey pastimes By Becky Dalzell, Newser User Posted Mar 26, 2008 1:50 PM CDT 0 comments Comments The Bellagio built one of the Strip's first spas, in 1999. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) View 2 more images (Newser) – Las Vegas' go-big-or-go-home attitude runs from its slots to its spas, which now rival the Dead Sea as the world's favored soaking grounds, W reports. But what separates Sin City from Baden-Baden is the de-emphasis on escaping it all: At these luxury bathhouses, seeing and being seen is equally important as the relaxing bit. The capital of excess entered the luxury-spa market in 1999 with the opening of the Venetian's 73-treatment-room facility; today, the Strip's hotels wage a silk-pillow fight for the most opulent—and social—spa amenities. Mandalay Bay's Bathhouse boasts a 20-foot Jacuzzi and oversize hot tubs. The Palms and Caesar's Palace boast coed Turkish baths and saunas, respectively. View 2 more images


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Weekly Readings with Kwas
About This Show
Every week a new selection of readings from the Old Testament and New Testament are read for you. Hear the beauty of the Truth in God's Words. Listen to the current week's readings before worship services or share it with someone you know who cannot attend church services. Available on Podomatic, iTunes and Stitcher. Please share this podcast with friends and family!Read more »


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This blog is a sister blog to "Broadbanned Revolution – fight the philterphiles that be."
The intention of this blog is to have one post for each fallacy in the Australian Mandatory ISP filtering debate. Sometimes the argument will be put forth directly in the blog, but in other cases, I will simply link to the best expositions of the fallacies in other places.
I encourage everyone to submit their favourite fallacies as comments to this entry or the individual fallacy entries and I'll write them up.
I make no apologies for the fact that this blog has an explicit anti-filtering agenda, but proponents of the filter are welcome to propose their own fallacies that they believe the anti-filtering camp is guilty of. I reserve the right to present the fallacy in the light that I see it, but others are welcome to point out where I am wrong in comments.
I reserve the right, in advance, to alter any post I write. Where I do this in a way that invalidates someone's criticism of the previous position (as noted in an existing comment), I will try to take care to note that, but feel free to call me on "unfair" edits.
The list of fallacies (to be) discussed can be found in here.
I invite everyone who encounters fallacies in the wild to report them here and ideally write a rebuttal that will be referenced along side a description of the fallacy itself.
I regard this blog as a work of progress. It will remain a work in progress until such time as Australian society discovers more mature ways to deal with the flames of moral panic. A fire hose, anyone?


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The adventure starts on New Years Day, with a drunken Sipero urinating into the fountain in the Town Square, shaking himself clean, then stumbling into Calliso and dragging him into the bar. While a crowd forms outside, Sipero, unable to function on his own, uses Mage's Hand to bring a drink to his mouth, knocking into pretty much everyone sitting at the bar, including a very burly woman named Carl (his first offense). On cue, a bard named Alice enters the scene out of boredom and due to financial frustrations, where is disgusted to find herself caught in the middle of what appears to be a minor bar fight.
After insulting Carl and spilling his drink on her, Sipero is beaten, in one fell blow, by the woman into what appears to be a coma. He is escorted out of the bar by the bartender, Joseph Zia. Joseph has also asked the two most reasonable-looking customers, the monk Zatch and bard Alice, to do something about Sipero's unconscious body as the fight winds down.
Zatch attempts to resuscitate Sipero, but when met with failure, he and Alice decide to try to take him to the Hutunge Medical Center in order to see if a professional could help. Unable to carry Sipero on their own, Zatch and Alice turn in desperation to a bemused Callisto for help… he refuses to help in any way whatsoever (and also refuses to inform Zatch of his girly-girl name). Offended, this apparently initiates a gentlemen's duel, a.k.a. fist fight. Joseph sends them outside, leaving Alice to decide what to do with Sipero.
After Calliso has been ripped a new one and taught his damn place, the three (Zatch, Callisto, and Alice) carry Sipero to the hospital and leave him there overnight with the skilled hands of Nurse Valaphia. (the gutter—get your mind out of it)
The next morning, Alice returns to Valaphia to check on Sipero, and Valaphia informs her that when using Mage's Hand to drink "some strange moonshine", Sipero has somehow managed to curse himself and has a month to live unless he drinks tea made from a special golden specimen of the otherwise common Silverfish Blossom, which can only be found growing near the Iapapa Shrine in Blackwood… and the only person in the city who can truly be trusted to successfully craft such tea is either Pelenor Midnus (the head of the Mage's Academy and Sipero's adopted father), or Joseph, in a pinch. "Sipero is, however, otherwise fine!" Relieved to have pawned this information off on someone else, Valaphia makes haste to tend to other patients as Sipero has sufficiently creeped her out with his unsuccessful sexual advances.
A hysterical Alice tries to tell Sipero of the trouble he's gotten himself into (she is met with failure; he only manages to make out "something about a flower" and the fact that he needs some tea). Exasperated, Alice tries to remember the faces of the others who were involved in the events of the day before, and makes her way to the monastery to seek Zatch's help.
After being convinced by the head of the monastery, Master Zook, Zatch decides to pledge to save Sipero's life and receives the monk's financial blessing. During this time, Sipero seems to be wandering around the Plaza in a daze, trying to find the bard girl who seemed to be trying so hard to tell him something… and runs into her and Zatch near the monestary.
Conveniently, Callisto is buying fish when they encounter him outside of the monastery. Suspicious, he asks what they want when they approach him, and the party demands his help in "some kind of quest", which Alice is still having a hard time discussing and of which Sipero is still blissfully unaware. Shocking everyone, the usually obstinate Callisto agrees to help… apparently out of interest in finding out exactly how Sipero managed to curse himself.
After more introductions and preparations have been made, the adventurers head out of Hutungwe, towards Blackwood. Sipero and Callisto trade spells as they head out, and by nightfall, the group has arrives at the Ladwidge Bridge on the Silverfish River. Here, they make camp for the night. Zatch uses his fisherman-monk-ly skills to catch some fish for the party, and goes off to train in the woods with Sipero. By punching trees.
When in the woods, Zatch hears some sounds and spots three halfling rogues in the woods… after a great show of the wizards terrifying the tiny thieves into a stupor by casting magic missiles all over the place and throwing sparks everywhere and whatnot, Zatch officially chases them off by punching a hole through one of their faces. First battle: successful!


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High-Tea Session with my Multiply friends
At the entrance of the Ritz-Carlton hotel
I took this photo at the entrance as the 2 hotel staffs opened the door for me.
Can see Marina Bay Sands from here.
Chihuly Lounge is named after a famed American glass artist Dale Chihuly. The yellow sculptural glassworks were done by him. You can find another of his glasswork collection in Singapore at the Resort World.
As you entered the louge, you will find the dessert bar on the left side. By the way, strangely there is no reception counter here. When I reached here at around 2.30pm, the lounge was quite empty. However, "Greenhouse" at the opposite side was already swarming with guests.
Table Setting
As there were 7 of us, we were assigned to the sofa seats next to the glass window. The sofa was comfy but the table was too low for us.
Milk, Heart-shaped Sugar and Lemon
Honey too...
Pretty teapots
I ordered Granny's Garden, a type of fruit tea.
My friend ordered Iced Passionfruit Tea and she told us that the ice were actually frozen tea. I ordered this as well after I was almost done with my pot of hot tea.
Salmon in tomato buns... Yummy!
The desserts.....
"Watermelon" cakes. Nice to look at but non of us tried this because we got a feeling that it will be too sweet for us. We tried most of the other desserts and they were all very sweet which we all didn't really like.
This was one of the very few desserts that we liked.
Tick-Tock... Tick-Tock
Not sure why they put this photo but it spoiled our appetite... Haha...
The chef didn't know that music bars should have 5 lines... Nah.. I am not particular about this. The taste is more important.
Towards the end of our tea-session, a male waiter served us a tray of vodka.
Me and Hazel
Group photo
- Weekend Afternoon Tea buffet from 2:30 - 5 p.m., available on Saturday and Sunday
- $46++ per adult (inclusive of free-flow of freshly brewed and decaffeinated coffee and a selection of teas)


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Star Wars: KOTOR Cheats :
This cheat for Star Wars: KOTOR [X-BOX] has been posted at 26 Jun 2009 by pokemonmasterjustin and is called "Double-bladed W". If cheat is usable don't forgot thumbs up pokemonmasterjustin and share this with your freinds. And most important we have 4 other cheats for Star Wars: KOTOR, look them as soon as possible!
Glitch - Double-bladed W
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Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
Be the first MLive.com user to add photos or videos of E M K Enterprises Tax and Notary
Since 2009, E M K Enterprises Tax And Notary has been providing Notary Publics from Clinton Township.
Emk Enterprises Tax and Notary can be found at Carlbro St 35116. The following is offered: Taxes. The entry is present with us since Sep 9, 2010 and was last updated on Nov 14, 2013. In Clinton Township there are 14 other Taxes. An overview can be found here.


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After 4 years of talking about it, dreaming about it, bugging my hubby about it... I GOT MY TATTOO!! The pain wasn't nearly as bad as I anticipated... more like an annoyance... I can honestly say I went to the BEST artist around! The 1st session was 3 hours long and I'd have to say I did pretty darn well... The 2nd session was 4 1/2 hours long... Again I did fabulous for the first 3 hours but by the time that 4th hour rolled around- FEEEEWWWWWYYYYY, I wanted to punch someone!! Jake (the tattoo guy) asked me "Do you want to do the background shading?" I looked at him and said "Heck NO!! I want to get the heck outta here!" My arm felt like it was going to fall off!! Even Jeremy said "Babe, I can't believe you sat for that long!" Lemme tell you, we have about an hour left to do and I will be done for a while!!
Monday, February 2, 2009
My New Addition...
Posted by Erin Aden at 7:28 PM 0 comments
Monday, January 26, 2009
Not A Virgin Anymore...
Okay, it's official- I am no longer a Blogging Virgin!!! (Thanks to my good friend Lauren) I think it was back in probably Octoberish that Lauren said "Erin, you've got to start blogging! Forget this Myspace stuff and blog!!" Well, I just got the hang of this Myspace stuff then I went to the "darkside" as Lauren calls it and joined Facebook and I just hadn't made a blog... So here it is my first official blog! Now if only I had time to start scrapping... Hmmm.... ;)
Posted by Erin Aden at 9:55 PM 1 comments
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Seems I feel like It's getting so far and fast and I'm getting left behind.
Ever felt a dream when you keep running after something and it keeps getting further and further? I'm feeling that way at the moment. No release of creative brain juices.
My poor dog must be suffering. I haven't gone crazy with the outfits at the moment. My impending show is getting nearer and nearer. Life. Wait up!


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1 1/2 packages graham crackers
5 tablespoons butter (melted)
2 teaspoons sugar
3 x 8oz packages cream cheese (room temperature)
2 tablespoons flour
Pinch salt
3/4 cup sugar
14 peanut butter cups
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 large eggs
- Preheat oven to 375F
- In a food processor pulse graham crackers to a fine crumb. Add melted butter and sugar and pulse to combine. Place in a pie dish and press down in the middle and up the sides to form the crust. Bake the crust for 5-7 minutes until golden.
- Reduce oven to 300F. Place 8 peanut butter cups in a food processor and pulse to medium/small pieces.
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, flour, and pinch of salt on medium speed for about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides and add add sugar and mix to combine. Scrape down the sides and add the peanut butter cup pieces and vanilla. Mix until just combined. Add the eggs and mix until just combined (don't over mix or it will puff up too much and is more likely to crack).
- Pour the mixture into the graham cracker crust. Place 6 whole peanut butter cups in a circle on the top of the cream cheese mixture.
- Put it in the middle of the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until slightly jiggly like jello.
- Let cool at room temperature and enjoy!


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Friday, September 19, 2008
Welcome 2 New Staff Members at the Chancellor Hotel
We are happy to welcome Alex from Belarus to our Chancellor Hotel Family. He is working as a server in Luques Cafe
We also welcome Nathaniel (Nat) to the front desk. He was working with Enterprise Car Rental at the San Francisco International Airport and is now giving the Hotel Business a try.
Welcome and thank you!
Posted by Wes Tyler GM at 4:02 PM
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Gilead's diplomatic mission to Randolph last week failed to secure the northern border of the Gilead, as the convoy was attacked shortly after its arrival and before establishing any sort of dialogue. But the Gilead was still able to profit from the journey with only minimal damages and injuries, said Joe Tobiason, GDC Vice-chair and head of the mission.
"We had decided beforehand that if we couldn't establish at least a non-aggression pact, then we would head through Randolph to the Snowsville General Store to see if procuring more weapons and ammo would be possible," said Tobiason. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to establish any sort of relations with the people in Randolph, because somebody started shooting at us before we could do anything more than ask who was in charge.
"We were able to determine two important things, though," Tobiason added. "First, our people and our equipment can stand up to a hell of an onslaught, and second, it seems that Randolph is being run by gang-bangers from Boston."
The information about the gangs having taken over Randolph was provided by two sentries, whose capture provided valuable information to the convoy prior to its entering town.
How events unfolded
The convoy, consisting of five armored and heavily-armed trucks (as described in Issue #7, June 10), set out from Gilead at approximately 8 a.m. on Tuesday, June 11, heading north on Route 12 toward Randolph. During their long-range patrol into Randolph a few days earlier, on June 8, Rich Bennington and Stanley Lyon had seen two sentries posted near the Clara Martin House on Route 12, so the Gilead Convoy stopped at the Central Supplies parking lot, well out of sight of any sentries in or around the vicinity of the Clara Martin House or Gifford Medical Center, and sent Bennington and Lyon ahead on foot.
Lyon and Bennington approached the Clara Martin Center from the back, catching the sentries by surprise and immobilizing them before they were able to raise an alarm. "Each of them had an automatic weapon and a pressurized gas horn – one of those things used at games to signal half-time and stuff like that," said Lyon.
The captives confirmed that they were from Boston, and specifically that they were from two rival gangs – Magnolia and Academy – that had set up in Randolph and were running the town jointly in an uneasy truce. "They also said there are a few members from other Boston gangs that were in town, but none of them had enough people to establish a power-base on their own," said Bennington. "They were mentioning that there were people from gangs called Humboldt, D-Boys, T-Wolves, 1850, and others. No idea what any of that means, but for our purposes it means they're pretty fractured and uncoordinated."
Having disabled the gangs' only sentry system, Bennington and Lyon left the two tied up in an abandoned house and made their way back to the waiting convoy, which then proceeded into Randolph armed with the new information provided by the sentries. The five trucks slowly rolled into town, and encountered no people until the first truck in the convoy reached the railroad tracks, at which point two armed men emerged from one of the storefronts in the Block Building and stood in the street, just past the three corpses nailed to the asphalt (as described in Issue #7, June 10).
Although the two armed men were not pointing their weapons at the convoy, the fact that they were standing directly in its path was a clear message that the trucks were not to pass. "That's when I decided it was time to defuse the situation, if we could," said Tobiason, who was sitting in the passenger side of the lead truck. "So I opened my door and stood on the running board to lean out, with both hands showing, and said hello."
Tobiason said his intention was to soften the effect of the heavily armored trucks by showing a willingness to be vulnerable and to discuss matters. "I told them we were from down the road a ways, and we wanted to talk about how we might establish neighborly relations," said Tobiason.
"I could have told Joe exactly what was going to happen," said Martha Arceneaux, a GDC member and former social worker who was stationed in the bed of the lead truck. "When I saw him lean out and heard him talking to those guys, I was pretty scared for him. These gang-bangers generally have known nothing but intense competition and violence for most of their lives, and this new world of scarce resources and even scarcer law enforcement is only going to harden their resolve to take what they can."
The two armed men in the road laughed at Tobiason's invitation to talk, and countered with an offer of their own: "Tell you what, old man. You mothafu***s get out of your fu***n' trucks and walk home, and we won't bleed you."
Arceneaux said that as the threat was made, she saw several upper-floor windows on the east side of the street opened by people with firearms. "I quietly told Joe that we had a lot of muzzles pointing at us, and that pretty much ended the conversation with the guys in the street," she said.
Tobiason said he glanced briefly at the additional armed people making their appearances at the windows, and decided to end the diplomatic effort. "I thanked them for their time and apologized for bothering them, and then got back in the cab and closed the door really quickly," said Tobiason. "That's when they started shooting."
The armed members of the Gilead convoy had been told that they must not shoot until they heard a specific signal – three honks of the lead truck's horn – in order to avoid a panicked shot that would unnecessarily set off a conflict. Under the circumstances, however, the second truck gave the signal because James Nash, who was riding in the passenger seat of that vehicle, was hit by several pellets from a shotgun blast that occurred in the first volley of fire from the gang members. "I saw Jim jerk toward me and curse and I knew he had been hit," said Eric Quinton, who was driving the second truck, "so I just gave the signal and we started moving forward."
Tobiason said he was surprised he heard the signal from another vehicle, but was about to give the order anyway. Once the shooting started, the convoy started moving forward, keeping within 10 feet of each other, as they had been training to do. "Ten feet might sound like a lot of space between vehicles," said Quinton, "but when you're in a pickup truck with more than half your windshield blocked by roofing steel, you feel like you're constantly about to ram the truck in front of you."
Bennington explained that there were two primary reasons for staying close. "First, we had to make sure we remained formed as a single unit to concentrate our firepower," he said. "If we got split apart, we would have been far more vulnerable and less effective as a fighting force. And second, we had to protect our radiators as much as possible, since we hardened only the lead truck's grill against small arms fire."
The convoy rolled north on Main Street, taking fire from ground-level shooters as well as second- and third-story shooters. Despite the fusillade directed against it, the convoy's armor functioned as it was intended, protecting the shooters in the truck beds as well as in the cabs. Two of the trucks suffered flat tires, although only one of them was caused by bullets. The other was caused when rolling over the three corpses that were nailed to the street; one of the railroad spikes that had been used to secure the bodies punctured a tire as the convoy made its escape.
Firearms from Snowsville
The convoy's secondary mission was to secure additional ammunition, firearms and supplies at the Snowsville General Store, if possible. According to Tobiason, the rationale was twofold. First, he said, whether or not the Randolph diplomacy was successful, additional firearms and ammo could only be helpful. And second, the mission organizers figured that if there was a shootout in Randolph, it would be impractical to attempt turning the entire convoy to head in the opposite direction while taking fire the entire time. "We figured it would be better to run the gauntlet once, catch our breath and reconfigure our strategy if possible, and then run it again to get back home if we had to," said Bennington.
After leaving Randolph and coming to an open area of Route 12, the convoy stopped to assess damage and make quick repairs. The tires were changed and EMT Jennifer Godin examined Nash's injuries from the shotgun blast, which were relatively minor and not in need of immediate treatment except with an antibacterial spray and bandages.
At the Snowsville General Store, the convoy saw that it had indeed been broken into, but by no means emptied of useful goods. "All the handguns were gone, but we found a few long guns, and several recurve bows, arrows, and lots of ammo – at least as much as we took from the sports store in Randolph several weeks ago," said Don Brewer, the GDC's Treasurer and Resource Coordinator, after the convoy had returned home. "I would estimate that our ammo supply will last five or six years at least. Maybe a little less if we have a hot war with the Randolph people."
The convoy also secured more winter clothes and equipment, including boots, gloves, overalls, vests, hats and more.
As they consumed a quick meal at the Snowsville store, the convoy discussed the plan for returning through Randolph to get to the Gilead. Brief consideration was given to using I-89 to bypass Randolph entirely, but this strategy was dismissed due to the uncertainty regarding the highway's safety, especially given that news from passersby over the past several weeks has indicated that major highways were patrolled by Raiders who preyed on travelers. It was determined that the convoy would head back into Randolph, but bypass most of Main Street by turning up Pleasant Street, which runs parallel to Main Street (see map, this page) and turns into Beanville Road, which subsequently joins with Route 12 well beyond Randolph.
The alternate plan, in case Pleasant Street was somehow blocked, was to run Main Street again, "with all guns blazing," as Tobiason put it.
As it turned out, the dangerous alternate plan was required, and it was even more dangerous than anticipated. "As we drove into town, we saw that they had blocked off Pleasant Street, so Main Street was pretty much our only option," said Tobiason. "But after we had passed the blockade at Pleasant Street and had nowhere to go but straight ahead, they rolled out a couple of cars from Salisbury Street, just before the railroad tracks, and blocked our way through."
Bennington speculates that the Gilead convoy's first trip through Main Street was a wake-up call for the Randolph Occupation Force (as he has since dubbed them). "I think up to this time, they had only faced two- or three-car convoys of people who were far from home and unprepared for confrontation," he said. "We represented something entirely different, and they adapted quickly. Very quickly. And what's even more disturbing is that they seemed to know we'd try to come back through."
With two vehicles parked across the convoy's only way out of the shooting gallery of Main Street, it had no recourse but to resort to brute force. "I wanted to shout back to the trucks behind me to speed up with me, but there's no way they would have heard me over all the shooting," said Julie Blackwell, driver of the lead truck. "So I had no choice – I sped up so I could ram one of those cars out of our way and clear a path for us."
Quinton, driving the second truck, saw the lead truck pull away and accelerated to catch up, but the third truck didn't react as quickly. "It seems like our truck was taking a huge amount of fire, and I was trying to fire my handgun out the slit in the armor while driving at the same time," said the third truck's driver Robert Jamison, husband of GDC member Chelsea Graff. I looked away from the truck in front of me for a second, and when I looked back, there was a fifty-foot gap between us."
That's when his truck took damage to its radiator. "Steam started pouring out the front as I accelerated to catch up to the others," Jamison said.
The lead truck rammed one of the cars out of the convoy's path and all five trucks were able to make it through the gap, but the truck that took damage to its engine was faltering by the time the convoy was climbing the hill toward Gifford Medical Center. The fourth truck in the convoy drove up against the damaged truck's back end and helped push it up the hill until the convoy came parallel with the Shaw's Supermarket parking lot.
"We stopped the convoy and set up a perimeter while Eric [Quinton] hooked up a tow line so that the dead truck could be pulled home," said Tobiason. "Nobody came at us from Randolph, although we did see a few people staring at us from the windows of the Shaw's."
During the repair stop it was discovered that 18 year-old Wayne Knight had been shot during the second run through Main Street. "He had been struck by a bullet that broke his left collarbone and lodged in his trapezius muscle, between his neck and shoulder," Godin reported, after the convoy had returned to the Gilead and she had performed rudimentary surgery to remove the bullet and set the bone. "He'll be out of commission for a few weeks, but he should be fine."
The remainder of the mission was uneventful, and Quinton is working to repair damage to the trucks and devise ways to harden them against such damage in the future.


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Japan Interviews
Regge Life discusses his work
Regge Life's film Doubles: Japan and America's Intercultural Children was screened at the Kansai International Film Festival.
Regge Life is an award-winner director: four CINE Golden Eagles, a Sony Innovator of 1991, and he has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy for work on Sesame Street.
Regge Life is in addition the founder and director of the Global Film Network.
C. Ogawa
Toyota Designer Simon Humphries working at the world's most successful auto company
Simon Humphries has been in Japan a long time, since 1988, and has worked as a designer for Sony as well as Toyota. What makes him a bit special is the fact that he's the only Western regular employee at Toyota's headquarters in Toyota-shi near Nagoya, out of some 700 designers there.
And while he is quick to downplay this uniqueness, he's not been afraid to capitalize on it, to the benefit of both himself and Toyota.
Now in his lateish 30s, he is currently responsible for Design Strategy for both the Toyota and Lexus brands.
Richard Donovan
Pink Box - an interview with author Joan Sinclair
Read an interview with Joan Sinclair, author and photographer of Pink Box. Joan Sinclair feminist, journalist, lawyer, photographer, and former English teacher talks about her work on Japan's ubiquitous sex industry, Pink Box: Inside Japan's Sex Clubs.
In Japan the archetypes for sex clubs come from manga; the aesthetics are similar to manga, the heroes reflect adult manga. These kinds of clubs in a way adhere to cultural norms, but they are more a sanctioned playground where men can be boys, can break the rules while still sticking within the norms of Japanese society.
David Mitchell author of Cloud Atlas
Booker Prize-nominated author David Mitchell moved to Hiroshima in his mid-twenties, where he decided to get serious about his career as an author.
Not surprisingly, Japan has had a profound impact on his work, and his first two novels - Ghostwritten (1999) and Number 9 Dream (2001) - feature a deluded cult member hiding in Okinawa, a juvenile jazz-buff finding romance in Tokyo, and a mind-bending trip into the capital's seedy underbelly.
Joe Sinclair
Kabuki Star Ebizo Ichikawa XI
Dressed in the black robes of a wandering samurai, Ebizo Ichikawa XI struts out to the centre of the stage and turns towards the auditorium, hands on hips. His face, legs and hands are still plastered in white makeup. But he has taken off his wig.
He calls out an order and the lights dim, sending the river, flowers and bushes into darkness. But beneath the spotlight, the twenty-eight year old, kabuki's new superstar is glowing.
The dress rehearsal went well, but there are details to finalise and Ebizo is not yet satisfied. The lighting, the set, the performances, must all be perfect for tomorrow's first night.
Joe Sinclair
Japanese Tattoo Salon: Chopsticks
It is estimated that about 15% of the American population, and no less than 36% of those between 25 and 29, sport at least one tattoo. America being America, that is a fairly reliable indicator of how popular getting a tattoo is anywhere in the world at the moment. Japan, with its own venerable tradition of tattooing, is no exception.
However the way that tattooing developed in Japan means that until very recently it was something that stigmatized and alienated the wearer, perhaps even more than in the West.
Apparently tattooing began in the 17th century in Japan as a reaction against laws that sought to lock society into a rigid class structure by prescribing and proscribing certain ways of behaving, eating, dressing, and styling oneself.
David Stormer
Film Director John Foster talks about Kyoto Nocturnes
JapanVisitor.com recently spoke with photographer and filmmaker John Foster. His film "Kyoto Nocturnes, Part 1: Elegant Slaughter" played at the Kansai International Film Festival. The film is, in the words of KyotoNoir, about a "psychotic yakuza boss [that] hires an alluring American hit woman to end a gang war in the geisha district of Japan's ancient capital." Originally from New York, Foster first came to Japan in the early 1990s and takes about the experience of being a foreign filmmaker in Japan.
C. Ogawa
"Moving, Moving": Photographer Barbara Flatten
A vivid, yet ephemeral red-skirted pair of legs - only just identifiable as such - swirling astride a chaotic cityscape. This was my first encounter with the work of Tokyo-based German photographer, Barbara Flatten. It was May, 2007, at the fourth of the Naked Tokyo events in Roppongi. This depiction of ghostly flamboyance haunting an impersonal urban clutter kept me in front of the giant photograph for minutes. There was a mysteriousness about this rainbow-toned, unpindownable movement - not only in this particular photo, but in all of Flatten's other works, too.
David Stormer
Gay Bar Owner "Take-san"
The owner of a gay bar in Tokyo's Ni-chome district, Take [pronounced ta-kay]-san, has operated Usagi since 2006. Until then he was associated with GB, a long-running Ni-Chome institution, where he was a barman. He talks about coming out, running a gay bar in Shinjuku and the changing nature of Japan's gay scene.
This interview was later withdrawn at the request of interviewee
David Stormer
Kenichi Iwamoto - Translator for Trey Hillman and Tsuyoshi Shinjo
Self-confessed baseball fanatic Kenichi Iwamoto went to college in the US to try his luck in life after a junior high school injury ruled him out playing the game at a high level. Iwamoto eventually became the translator for Tsuyoshi Shinjo at the New York Mets and Trey Hillman in Japan, when the American managed the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.
Andrea Marcus
Calligraphy & Suiboku Master, Ransui
Satoshi "Ransui" Yakata is a young Japanese calligraphy and watercolor master active in Tokyo, Japan, and with a broad international portfolio. The watercolor painting he specializes in is known as suiboku: a traditional style that, like calligraphy itself, originated in China. I got to know Ransui (his professional name) in 2006 when, eager to try calligraphy, I was introduced to him through a friend. Ever cheerful, and with a maturity beyond his years, he inspired me both with his buoyancy of spirit and consummate skill with the brush.
David Stormer
Kyoto Buraku Liberation League (BLL)'s Shigeki Yasuda
Kyoto is home to eleven recognized Dowa areas. These are the neighborhoods in which the Burakumin live. These people are the historical outcastes of Japan whose ancestors performed unclean work - often work with corpses or animal skins - and were restricted to living in certain areas of the city and throughout Japan. From the late 1960's until 2002, residents of officially recognized Buraku areas received affirmative action benefits from both the national and local governments.
C. Ogawa
James Heisig
James Heisig is Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Letters and Permanent Research Fellow of the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture at Nanzan University, Nagoya, Japan. Professor Heisig is best known for his Remembering the Kanji and Remembering the Kana books, which have now been published in English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and Dutch, with the Hungarian and Italian translations currently being prepared. He has also recently published similar books for students of Chinese, Remembering Traditional Hanzi and Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
David White
Interviews: 1 | 2


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7th Grade was definitely an interesting year for me. I saw The Fast and the Furious in the theater SEVEN TIMES! After the first showing, I had to do chores around the house to earn money so I could keep going to the theater to see it. My parents thought I was wasting my money on this and every time they dropped me off at the movie theater, they would ask me before I got out of the car "Now, are you sure you want to see this movie again?" Yes. I was SO sure.
Little did they know, this movie was shaping my future. Or, so I had hoped.
In 7th Grade, I thought that Sarah = Car Mechanic.
Can't you see it? I totally can. Still!
Well, my plans didn't really pan out the way I had hoped. One weekend when my grandparents were visiting, they asked the question "what do you want to be when you grow up?" I confidently told them that I was going to be a car mechanic. They were mortified. I think my grandma may have lost a bit of her soul that day. Her granddaughter a CAR MECHANIC?
Well... for some reason, I ended up not being a car mechanic. I've lost most of my car knowledge, but I still know how to put the blue window stuff in the hole that is labeled very clearly with a front window sign. THAT, I can do!
With that said, Fast and the Furious 5 came out this weekend. I'm totally going. In... 2 hours! I've still got it in me.


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|Holly (headed home) and Sky (still around)
|Miriam, Mike, Neil, Inge and Clarke (mostly gone)
|John and Kathy
|Our bike tour group; most have left to go home or elsewhere
Before I close, I just want to shout out to the friends that are still around, the ones that are near and dear to us. We probably don't see you enough, but we're sure glad you're here. To those that have moved on, we still love you, and can't wait to meet again.


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Thursday, January 01, 2009
Pulse SPRING FLING Contest!!
Happy New Year!!
I'm so excited to post about this new contest not only because we have some great prizes, but also because I get to share this contest with two awesome Pulse authors who are also releasing new books this season, Elizabeth Scott (SOMETHING, MAYBE) and Lisa Schroeder (FAR FROM YOU).
It's so easy to enter. Just follow the instructions in the graphic. And feel free to grab the photo and post it in your own blog.
Just in case you can't see the image, here's the contest info:
Pulse Spring Fling Contest!
Grand prize: One signed copy each of Far From You, Fade, and Something, Maybe along with a phone call from your choice of one of the three featured authors
Second prize: A box full of Pulse books
Third prize: Your choice of a signed copy of any one of the featured author's backlist titles
To enter, simply send an email to email@example.com with the words Pulse Spring Fling! in the subject line and answer the question, "Who is your favorite fictional couple?" in the body of the email.
One entry per person, US residents only. Contest begins January 1, 2009 and ends February 14, 2009. Winners will be announced Monday, March 2nd, with prizes delivered mid-March.
Also, if you like to write, S&S and I are having an essay contest as well with another great prize. See my website, http://lisamcmann.com for details.
12 comments:
- Charlotte said...
I shall enter! I am so looking forward to Fade, as I one of the Cybils Panelists who just shortlisted Wake! Congratulations!
- Thursday, January 01, 2009
- Lisa McMann said...
Hey Charlotte! Thanks for the Cybils shortlist -- that's awesome!
- Thursday, January 01, 2009
- shelburns said...
Thanks for the news about the contest. I have entered already! Congrats on Wake being named to the Cybils shortlist!
- Thursday, January 01, 2009
I think this is a really great contest, but I have one question. Do we have to have already overcome the obstacle or can it be an ongoing process/journey that you are on?
- Sunday, January 04, 2009
- Lisa McMann said...
litescape93 -- I think you are referring to the Fund Your Dreams contest.
I'll leave that up to you -- if you have an ongoing obstacle but you have made progress on overcoming it, that seems like it would work.
- Sunday, January 04, 2009
Yes, sorry. Okay. Thanks:)
- Monday, January 05, 2009
hi, are we supposed to choose one fictional couple from the three books or from any books we like
- Tuesday, January 06, 2009
- Lisa McMann said...
Anonymous -- any fictional couple in any books you like. Have fun!
- Tuesday, January 06, 2009
- katarinas mama said...
Love the concept...so hard to choose...just one fictional couple...hmmm...tension filled relationship...snarky dialogue...banter...overcoming major life obstacles...all musts.
Okay, done, I've decided.
- Wednesday, January 07, 2009
- Lula! said...
Wow, you have a blog. Which is fabulous, because I just finished Wake a few nights ago...read it all in one sitting, loved every single world, and blogged about it myself...today.
And now my blog readers will begin stalking you...be prepared. You've been warned. We are a friendly sort--just very rabid about good books.
- Thursday, January 08, 2009
- Lisa McMann said...
Hello Lula, thanks for the plug on your blog and I hope your pruney bathtub wrinkles have smoothed out. Welcome to you and your minions! Hope you enter the Pulse Spring Fling Contest!
- Thursday, January 08, 2009
- kathy55439 said...
Far From You looks good
- Wednesday, January 21, 2009


text:
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
15 comments:
- Martina said...
I linked up your blog to mine and have given you a most wonderful blog award. :) See my blog to grab it for yourself.
- July 24, 2009 at 2:20 PM
- ~aj~ said...
I don't know how I missed this post MONTHS ago! Beautiful pictures of beautiful kids, Mandalynn!
- September 11, 2009 at 9:20 PM
- ~aj~ said...
It's me again.
Just coming over to say I miss your blogging!
That's all. :)
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NYI HOST KIDS' OPENING NIGHTby Staff Writer / New York Islanders
On Saturday, October 21 kids rule the Nassau Coliseum as the Islanders host Kids' Opening Night. Here are just some of the treats the franchise has in store for its young fans when the Islanders take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes:
- Children 14 and under are invited to come down to the Coliseum ice after Saturday night's game and take a shot on goal! Islanders defensemen Chris Campoli and Joel Bouchard will be on hand to sign autographs.
- The NYI Kids Zone will debut in the Coliseum Plaza at 4 pm. The Zone features a giant Islanders slide, slapshot booth, DJ, face painting and much, much more!
- Sparky, Stinger, Stormy, Sabretooth, Wildwing and many other NHL mascots will be on hand to take part in the evening's festivities.
- The first 5000 fans 14 and under will receive a drawstring backpack courtesy of Davis Vision.
Fans have two great options for tickets. You can purchase a Family Fun-Pack for only $125. It includes 4 tickets, 4 Islanders caps and one $10 Dave & Busters Power Card voucher. Call 1.800.882.4753 now!
Or you can take advantage of the Islanders' new offer of free tickets for kids for all games through November 30. Fans purchasing one full price ticket at the Nassau Coliseum box office will receive a complimentary ticket for a child 14 and under.
To take advantage of this offer, tickets must be ordered at the Nassau Coliseum box office. Tickets can be purchased in advance. The Coliseum box office is open 9:30 am 4:45 pm on non-game days and is open at night on game days. Get your complimentary kids tickets today!!!


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The Great White North
Today, the Minnesota Timberwolves signed Andrei Kirilenko to a two-year, $20 million dollar contract and thus achieved what many had long seen coming: one of the absolute whitest lineups in the NBA in a long, long time. Sure, last season their three best players were white guys (Ricky Rubio (who counts—come on, now), Kevin Love, and Nikola Pekovic), but they also had Michael Beasley, Wesley Johnson, Martell Webster, and Anthony Randolph. With signs pointing to them being more or less done dealing now, they've exchanged those players (plus Brad Miller, Darko Milicic, and the 18th pick in this past draft) for Chase Budinger, Greg Stiemsma, Brandon Roy, Dante Cunningham, Andrei Kirilenko, and Alexey Shved.
Now before you jump down my throat, I don't mean they traded them straight up. There were lots of steps that brought the Timberwolves to this roster, but basically, they've exchanged the production of the outgoing players for the production of the incoming players. And yes, they got a whole lot whiter. But here's the thing: they also got a whole lot better, and at each stage of this offseason, they always made the smart basketball move based on what was available.
Let's start at the beginning. The moves a team makes can't be considered in a vacuum, but must rather take into account what the team needs and the Wolves' two greatest needs were on the wing and at the center position. The production from the rotation of Johnson/Ellington/Webster/Beasley at the 2 and 3 was so generally awful that when Rubio was healthy, Adelman started point guard Luke Ridnour at shooting guard. And with the emergence of Nikola Pekovic as a legitimate starting center and the consigning of Darko Milicic to the shadows, it was clear that the team was going to need more size up front.
The first move came when the 18th pick in the draft was traded to Houston for Chase Budinger. This ended up being Terrence Jones. At the time, there had been talk about Kevin Martin coming from the Rockets, and it seemed initially like Budinger was a big step down from Martin, but in hindsight, it's a solid move. Thanks to Eric Maroun and his analysis of draft picks we can see that the average expected win shares per 48 for an 18th pick in the draft is .062. For his career, Budinger is averaging .101 WS/48. Is it possible Jones (or someone else who was available at 18) becomes a great player? Completely. But Budinger addresses the Wolves' woeful three-point shooting on the perimeter (a career .363 3-point shooter, plus shot .402 last season) and, moreover, he's a known quantity: a solid player off the bench who's played for Adelman before.
The next move was signing Brandon Roy to a two-year, $10 million contract. Clearly, there are more question marks on Roy than the Riddler, but the contract is insured in case Roy's knees really aren't up to snuff. If they're not, the Wolves can get out of it and if he's simply not good, the contract is over in a short time. But if Roy can provide half of what he was capable of in his prime, that's a value-add for the Wolves simply because of how atrocious their production was from the 2 last season.
Alexey Shved is also something of an unknown quantity, but again, his ceiling seems high while his floor seems low. His biggest problem appears to be his slight frame and the fact that he hasn't played in the NBA yet. If he plays up to expectations, he will work fantastically well next to Rubio and if not, could he be any worse than bringing Wayne Ellington off the bench?
Speaking of Ellington, the signings of Roy and Shved made him redundant, and so he was shipped off to Memphis in exchange for power forward Dante Cunningham, who gives them another big body off the bench. And speaking of big bodies, they lured Greg Stiemsma away from the Celtics to back up Pekovic at the center position. Between him and the other option they pursued, Jordan Hill, it's pretty much a toss-up. Hill comes off better offensively (13.2 pts per 36 versus 7.6 points per 36 for Stiemsma), but Stiemsma was much better defensively, posting a fantastic defensive rating of 90. If Milicic did anything, it was block shots, which Stiemsma is also good at (4.0 blocks per 36). Pekovic is great offensively and great on the offensive boards, so a big thing the Wolves needed was defense in the middle and Stiemsma addresses that issue.
And so we come to the Kirilenko signing. The Wolves lost out in their pursuit of Portland's Nicolas Batum. Simply put, the Blazers had complete control over whether Batum was leaving or not and they kept him. In the meantime, the Timberwolves forced them to pay him a lot of money based on the hope that he develops into something like an All-Star. By the time Portland matched, it was a win-win for the Wolves: they either got their guy or made another team in their division shell out for him. With Courtney Lee off the table to the Celtics and Ronnie Brewer gone to the Knicks, the Timberwolves' options were dwindling. But with Kirilenko they get a player who was once a borderline All-Star and who has been tremendously consistent throughout his career (he only once had a PER below 15—the league average—once in his career). He's also a jack-of-all-trades player who can defend, shoot, and block on a team that has a lot of specialists—Rubio passes incredibly but shoots below average; Love shoots the three well and rebounds, but doesn't defend very well.
The move for Kirilenko is also good because of the deal itself. Giving a two-year deal with a player option for the second year means that if things don't work out, Kirilenko either walks or becomes a valuable trade asset as an expiring deal in the $10 million range. The alternative would have meant trying to get a younger, lesser player like Brandon Rush or Dominic McGuire for less money but perhaps more years, making the contract itself less valuable as a chip.
So in this offseason the Wolves have generally gotten not just a good player, but a player that fits well with what they need. But of course, that's just my opinion. Let's look at the numbers for some support.
*To explain two anomalies here, I'll point out that I'm using Brad Miller's career WS/48 even though his WS/48 last year was just a little more than a third of that and he's retiring because I'm also using Brandon Roy's career WS/48 even though his was about half that his final season. Basically, if you eliminate them both completely from this calculation it's a bigger hit on the incoming Timberwolves than the outgoing when it's pretty clear that Roy will contribute more on the floor this year than Miller ever will again.
So if you take the average WS/48 of the outgoing players, you get .063. Do the same for the incoming players and you get .137. In a lot of ways, that's really all she wrote. This team wasn't designed to be white—it was designed to be better than last year's team, plus more capable of becoming a better team going forward. Because three years out—coincidentally the time when Love will have to make a decision about staying or going—the Wolves are only committed to Love, Rubio, Williams, and Barea. The color of the players is secondary to the fact that judging by win shares, the Wolves just made their rotation roughly twice as good.
—Steve McPherson


text:
After three months, cropped haired Feidna is now famous again. The fire goddess had taken back throne of being a Devereaux girl, after Lele dropped out. The media is abuzz with Feidna's success with the help of Devereaux. At Leo's apartment, Leo is shock that Lele is moving out from Eros' place. He asks if it is necessary when they are already living together, and isn't that good. Lele says that Eros is already feeling well so there is no need for her to take care of him. Lele also says that she misses Leo. Flustered Leo asks if she is concerned about his feelings. He admits that is right, when he just learned of it, he is like shock = 'Heavens, my best friend and the guy I really love, together!!' But then, there is a voice in his heart that said 'do you want it to become like Leo X Eros, how can one look at that kind of scene. Leo tearfully curses and cries that kind of scene can't be looked at. In his heart, he imagined all sorts of possible [BL and other] Eros' scenarios but they ended up no good ever since Lele appeared. "So, you are my really liked, best friend. With you by his side, I can be at ease." Holding hands, Leo tells her that if she wants to live together with Eros, he [Leo] will definitely be happy so there's no need for her to have any apprehensions. Shaking her head, Lele says no, she actually would really want to stay by Eros' side but he didn't tell her to stay so.. Leo is shock that Eros didn't say it. Aghast, Leo says that isn't right, after getting along for some months, Eros obviously enjoys her company so there is no reason.. With a sad smile, Lele says that she thinks Eros has not totally opened up his heart to her. She thinks that there are still some things about him that she doesn't know. Leo then realizes something. He asks her could it be that Eros found out that she gave up her job for him [Eros] and that is why he is angry at her, because lately, Feidna has been in the news. Aghast, Lele says that Taylor did remove the outside disturbances like television and telephone during Eros' recovery. Eros himself also closed his cellphone so that he won't be disturbed so could it be that..
At the magazine stand, Eros has read in the magazine about Feidna working with Devereaux. He goes back to his apartment to find Feidna waiting for him outside. After Feidna stands up, they look at each other's eyes and she hugs him. She tells him that she misses him so much. Without any reaction, Eros congratulates her for her success and asks if she is okay. Crying, Feidna says that he obviously knew that she isn't okay and he is really bad for not answering her message and calls. She calls him a liar for saying that only she needs him, he will forever be at her side, and forever protect her. She tearfully tells him that while she is covered with bruises caused by that jerk, he [Eros] is dating [/going steady] with some other girl. Eros asks if she came to see him. She tells him that when she has nowhere else to go, the first thing that she'll think of is him, but that hostess came out of his house and suddenly exerts some authority[/dominion]. She tells him that she sent him a lot of messages. "Could it be that you didn't get to see it?" Eros is speechlessly tense. Somewhat smiling, Feidna says that it turns out to be true. Standing in front of them, Lele says that it is true, she was the one who deleted all of the messages. "Sorry about that. It seems that relationship between the two of you, isn't that simple, like some ex-lovers.." Eros [and/or] Feidna looks surprised. Lele asks if she can go to his house and get the rest of her clothes. The two watch Lele go in. After 10 minutes, irked and flustered Lele goes out again with her huge bag. She glares at sweatdropping Eros as she passes by them. Then, Eros quickly grabs the handle of her bag. Lele shouts what's his problem. Eros says that they have to talk. He tells Feidna to go inside his house first. While Eros is pulling Lele away, Lele is protesting and shouting for him to let her go. Feidna looks flustered. Soon, Eros is already carrying Lele on his shoulder. Lele is crying for him to let her go and where he is going. Eros exclaims that they are going to her house for he doesn't want to lose control and beat her up in the streets. As they pass by Leo who is going to wash some clothes, Eros tells him to step aside for a moment. Lele is screaming for Leo to save her. Inside, Eros throws Lele on the sofa chair. The two glare at each other. Lele starts emoting what Feidna said 'You liar! You said that only I need you, you'll forever be at my side, you'll forever protect me'. With folded arms, Lele sarcastically apologizes that she didn't know that he made a promise to quickly run to Feidna.
Sweatdropping, Eros quietly looks at her. Lele thinks that the one who still stands in the most important place of his heart is still Feidna so he didn't tell her to stay when she said that she is moving out of his house. Teary-eyed, Lele looks away from him. Eros tells her that about that thing, he'll tell her about it later on but first, explain to him what this is about. He holds the magazine about Feidna. He asks her what this is about Feidna taking her throne as Devereaux girl. He had called up Nick and it was confirmed to him that she refused this big opportunity with Devereaux. Lele starts calling Nick a traitor. Chibi Nick says that he is also forced [to tell]. Eros shouts for her not to change the topic. Eros asks her if she gave up her work for him. Blushing Lele denies it by saying that she is tired from work so she wants to rest and has he forgotten how much she hated him before. Serious Eros tells her not to lie to him. "Answer me truthfully! Love or your [future] prospects [/career], which is more important?" Pouting Lele looks at him. Then, she shouts that his health is more important for there will still be work opportunities later on, and she won't lose her job just because of that. Eros tells her that during that time even without her, he would be a bit hard up but he won't die. But then, she might not be able to find someone like Devereaux who can push her up as a model. He asks her if her ambition is just that small and just because of love, she would give up on her dream. He also asks her if she actually didn't think of the future, and she is just following her mother's footsteps. He tells her if that is so, then she is truly mediocre that makes him lose appetite. Lele is surprised by that. Teary-eyed, she asks him why he said that. Clenching her fist and bowing down, Lele says, so..for him, her feelings has no meaning [/importance].
Eros grabs her hand and calls her an idiot. "Look at me! Right now, I really like you that I like you to death, but there is also a possibility that tomorrow, I'll dump you! Understand? In this world, there is no one who can be more dependable, other than yourself! I am asking you to please take good care of yourself!" Lele thinks that Eros has seen through her weakness. The current her actually only thinks of attaching herself to his side, and it is alright even if there is no 'herself'. But then, he is also right, what is her dream. Is it only to become a model just like her mother? And then, what.. Somewhat sober, Lele asks him what she ought to do right now. Eros tells her to get the quickest flight back to Paris and once again, get Devereaux to pay attention to her. Lele exclaims if he wants her to fight up front against Feidna. Eros flicks her forehead and tells her not to be petty. He exclaims if she thinks that in this whole fashion world, there are only her and Feidna. He starts to lecture her that on stage, they forever need very remarkable people to support them. Superior models have their own brilliance. "You only have to make Devereaux know your worth! That doesn't necessarily [/definitely would] threaten Feidna's existence. *points at her* If you don't go, don't come see me again, from here on!" Then, Eros slams the door on the way out. Leo asks Lele what happened, what they are quarreling about. He starts to pacify crying Lele who shouts that the silver-eyed monster is a scoundrel. Then, Eros looks thoughtful while standing outside the door. He returns to his apartment to find Feidna waiting for him inside. Gesturing to a vase filled with roses, Feidna tells Eros that Lele had left a mark in this house. "Did you really let her live together with you?" Emotionless Eros says yes. She asks, "And things about yourself that you won't tell me.. you have also told her everything?" Eros says yes. Flustered and teary-eyed, Feidna asks, "So.. this time around, I really should let you go..?" Without any hesitation, Eros once again says, "Yes." Next chapter will be out in Taiwan on March 5th. Blurb for the next chapter: "After struggling, Lele finally flew back to Paris to meet up with Devereaux! Glenn gave her a difficult problem that it is necessary for her to get through it, before he would consider collaborating with her again.."


text:
The equinox, especially the autumnal equinox, is a time to seek balance, and that's exactly what I intend to do this year. What I need to do. It's always struck me as funny -- really sort of counter intuitive -- that our busiest season, whether it's with work, school, social calendars, etc is a time when the earth is putting itself to bed and allowing itself to rest. Why don't we do the same? I'm pretty good at taking care of myself physically, but it's become clear these past few months that I also need to practice better self care when it comes to my mental well-being. I need to take the time.
I recently wrote about the idea of "taking time" for work, and someone left a comment that really stuck with me. Basically, it boils down to: Devote an hour each day to your own personal wellness. It's such a simple idea, but one that easily gets lost in the fray. "Wellness" can mean anything, really, that you do for yourself, reading, working out, volunteering ... whatever. Unfortunately it's an idea that has been a bit lost to me lately. On this (almost) equally balanced day I'm making the resolution to seek balance in my life this season.