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This Christmas I am traveling. First to Little Rock then to Dallas. In both places to see friends I rarely see. This Christmas I am thankful for amazing friends who have seen me through one of the tougher years of my life and have stood by me despite the best and worst of myself.
There's nothing we can do about
The things we have to do without
There's nothing we can do about
The things we have to live without
The only way to feel again
Is let love in
This Christmas I am thankful that I finally understand (and am trying to live by) these lyrics. I'm letting friends in that I was holding at a distance. I'm flying to see friends I've loved from a distance. I'm growing closer to life-long friends and learning that it is okay for them to see me in the darkest days as well as those of mehr licht.
"When we ignore the body, we are more easily victimized by it."
This Christmas I am thankful for the realization, a year in making, that yes, we can be victimized by our bodies, but we are also able to win that battle by taking care of ourselves. Health-wise, this year has been a long, tough battle that I can say with certainty I am finally winning. This Christmas I am thankful for good health and even more thankful for the understanding of what that means in the bigger picture.
"Children are apt to live up to what you believe of them."
"Become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid."
This Christmas I am thankful for finally gaining an appreciation of the wisdom of the late Lady Bird Johnson. Children are indeed going to live up to what you believe of them--I pray to God I am living up to what some of those I admire believe I am capable of. I also know that in times of trial and tribulation, finding something you can immerse yourself in will be your safety and saving grace. I have become so wrapped up in the processing of the Stallings Collection over the past year that on days when nothing else is going right, there is that one thing I can dive into and shed away all my fears in the process. This Christmas I am thankful for the Stallings Collection, but even more thankful for the man who gave me this opportunity and the man who has served this state nobly.
Heap on more wood!--the wind is chill;
But let it whistle as it will,
We'll keep our Christmas merry still.
This Christmas I wish you all well.
(Quotes: Excerpt from "Let Love In" by the Goo Goo Dolls, quote from The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, quote of Lady Bird Johnson, quote from Marmion by Sir Walter Scott)
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
This Christmas
by Tara A. Rowe at 11:00 AM
2 comments :
- Julie Fanselow said...
Tara, I so hope you got to see the Clinton Library in Little Rock, as well as Central High there! I'm also glad that you got a break from blogging. Merry Christmas, and all the best for 2008.
- Tara A. Rowe said...
Thanks, Julie! I was able to see the Clinton Library (took somewhere around 100 pics), but didn't see Central High. In fact it didn't even occur to me that I should while I was in Little Rock...what was I thinking? I'll have a full report on my travels (I'm in Dallas now) when I return to Idaho. God bless and happy new year!
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A PC for every home" may not be such a distant possibility after all -- especially if you happen to be a MTNL customer!
The state-owned telecom major, in association with Chennai-based Novatium, is today launching its Rs 4,500 PC, which comes with the added benefit of an Internet connection for just a small monthly fee.
The computer, christened 'netPC', will be launched today in the capital by Communication and IT minister, A Raja.
While 'netPC' looks and feels like any other PC, it's essentially a no-frills device. Which means it lacks most of the common hardware found on a typical PC. It does not have a regular CPU or any storage device.
MTNL will connect the terminals to a centralised server in the locality, and will provide the PC with Internet access. All applications including consumers' data storage will be done by the server.
According to Novatium, the advantage of 'netPC' is that customers will not have to face the challenges that are associated with a regular PC.
Besides, they will retain the choice to use either Windows or Linux operating systems.
The Novatium Web site explains the concept of 'netPC' as: "netPC reaches one's home on a network cable just like a cable television service or Broadband. Metro ethernet deployments are quickly becoming a pervasive reality, and hence, instead of just Internet Broadband to one's home, one can ask for a complete desktop with inbuilt Internet access, educational packages, online games, chat, Web cam, productivity suites, and much more served on the Nova netPC."

subset: commoncrawl


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So Spike, did you really think I didn't know? You are an outright liar, and yes, you are fat and no, you are not so hot. Your delusions of grandeur are actually quite boring after the 3rd time you keep telling the same story.
I hope you get shingles and alopecia areata, that would definitely make you think twice about how great you are!
Feel free to reply, I don't care about it, I just want to put this out there.


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Back in December 2012 I took part in Online Educa Berlin, the largest global e-learning conference for the corporate, education and public service sectors.
One of the keynote speakers at the conference was the World Bank's Sr. ICT & Education Policy Specialist Michael Trucano.
I took the chance for a quick interview with him and asked a few question on the state of e-learning in the developing world.
I was particularly interested in learning more about Internet penetration in general, the use of mobile devices, namely tablets and phones, in education and what he sees as some of the more innovative approaches in different countries of the developing world when it comes to implementing ICT in education.
You can find Michael's blog on ICT use in Education here and follow him on Twitter @trucano.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download


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255 Kentlands Blvd
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
10am - 7pm
Th: 10am - 8pm
F: 10am - 7pm
S: 10am - 6pm
Su: 12pm - 5pm
A huge thank you to our friends at Whole Foods Market - Kentlands
for partnering with us to provide healthy eating options!
This is a great breakfast idea! Add extra veggies such as asparagus, carrots, sweet onion, and anything else you may have! Sweet potatoes provide gorgeous orange color and a boost of nutrition to this favorite brunch side dish. Make it spicy or mild to suit your tastes by adjusting the amount of jalapeño. Toss leftovers with baby arugula and sliced red onions for a satisfying salad the next day.


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Friday, September 24, 2010
Shove This In Your Ear (It's a Podcast)
You can do it here on the podcast player on the right. It's somewhere over there just look closely.
Or you can listen at our Podbean site, The Chirp Show. Click on the blue words, obviously. Although I did just have to explain it to you. What are you, stupid or something?
I think I gave up on Ray Rice too quick. OR DID I?
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Professor Football: Inside the Red Zone with Drew Brees, Sean Payton, and the New Orleans Saints
Some prologue first, beginning with San Francisco's defense. It's legitimate. The 49ers against the run are downright belittling. In 2009, they allowed only 3.6 yards per carry. This season, including the game against the Saints, they've allowed only 2.7 yards per carry. Running the ball against them can be difficult, is what you'd say if you wanted a nice smack to the forehead.
What makes San Francisco so great on defense is a combination of a bend-don't-break mentality, instilled by coaches Mike Singletary and Greg Manusky, and the players they put on the field.
Patrick Willis is the best linebacker in the game, and probably the most physically gifted one too. Anyone who saw his pregame chat with Jon Gruden was quickly alerted to how hard Willis studies tape and prepares for games as well.
Lining up around the game's best linebacker is a very good defensive corps. Takeo Spikes plays the other inside linebacker in the 3-4. He's not as young as spry as he once was (a knee contusion suffered during Monday night doesn't help), but he still manages to raise a ruckus against offenses. Justin Smith makes a ton of tackles from defensive end. Nate Clements has made a career out of being a solid cover corner who is excellent playing the run.
But the defense's anchor is Aubrayo Franklin. Like Pittsburgh's Casey Hampton, he's a shorter defensive linemen, but that's what makes him perfectly suited to play nosetackle. At 6'1'' and 317 pounds, it takes a lot to get under his pads and get him moving anywhere but where he wants to go.
Franklin was a hold out this training camp. To know exactly how much he's worth to the 49ers, just look at what they paid to get him playing again: $7 million. That's a lot to pay for a 30 year old linemen, and by paying it the 49ers are showing he's worth it.
Against the pass, San Francisco is slightly worse off. It doesn't make them terrible, they're just not as good as they are against the run. In Week 1 at Seattle, the Seahawks rushed for just 13 yards in the first half and still lead by eight via a combination of passes, playaction, and turnovers. They'd still finish the game averaging just 3.3 yards a rush though.
The first Seattle touchdown came on a playaction pass that turned into Matt Hasselbeck sprinting for the corner pylon. He got there and put the Seahawks up 7-6. It would be all they needed to win the game, but it was just part of what New Orleans needed.
In the third quarter, up 21-6, Seattle smashed their way to the 49ers' 3-yard line. Instead of trying to run the ball, they aired it out, trying to circumvent San Francisco's run defense. Two incompletions had them staring at 3rd-and-goal. Their next play looked like this (for clarity I'm not showing the defense, but check the video out to see how they line up):
Seattle has Matt Hasselbeck step back into Shotgun. The offense then uses a Bunch formation right while isolating Deion Branch wide left. Hasselbeck throws the fade into the corner of the endzone; Branch makes the catch and Seattle goes up 28-6. By now the Niners are cooked, but someone else is watching.
Cut to Monday night (first quarter), and the Saints have arrived in San Francisco's red zone. Already up 2-0 from the errant snap-turned-safety, New Orleans hands off to Pierre Thomas who goes for three yards to the 49ers' six. On second down, they line up in something resembling Seattle's red zone plan:
It looks similar to Seattle's iso play, but with a few wrinkles. The running back is moved to the other side, and more importantly, since it's Reggie Bush, he's running a choice route instead of a flare to the sideline. Finally, the tight end comes in to block.
What happens is that the 49ers react the exact same way they did against Seattle, but do a much better job of covering the iso receiver. During the play he (the lone receiver split wide) finds himself double covered, and Drew Brees checks down. In the video you can actually see Brees' eyes switch from the right receiver to Bush as he comes open.
The intention was to hit the fade in the endzone like the Seahawks did, but when he's covered Brees improvises. He sees Reggie Bush cut back inside, scorching Patrick Willis, and hits him in stride for the score. 9-0 Saints.
Now here comes the devious part.
In the third quarter, down 14-9, New Orleans found itself back in San Fran's red zone. Their game plan doesn't change much. Instead of trying to run the ball (they were on the three-yard line), they go right back into their Shotgun Bunch formation. Except now, Reggie Bush motions from his spot beside the quarterback and widens out past the iso receiver before the snap. After having been touched up by Bush last time, Patrick Willis follows him.
The iso receiver runs his usually route, as do two of the receivers in the bunch. David Thomas though, at tight end, hesitates like he's going to stay in and block, like he did last time. Then he chips off the defensive end and runs the same choice route Bush ran in the first quarter. This play though, it's all deliberate. Brees feints a little by looking to Bush and the iso receiver, but then turns and drills Thomas for the touchdown.
Sean Payton isn't a stupid guy. He knows all about the 49ers defense and what they do well. That's why he followed Seattle's lead and spread them out in the red zone. And, when the Saints tried to get tough with them and grind out a touchdown in the fourth quarter, Heath Evans got stuffed on the goal line. New Orleans realized why they'd avoided trying to run the ball in the first place.
Using what Seattle had shown them previously, the Saints found ways to score against San Francisco. It's a little look into the intricacies that win football games. Or, a very good coincidence.
Either way, Matt Cassell and the Kansas City Chiefs might want to think about copying this coincidence.
Fantasy Stock Market and Accompanying Recession: Week Two
-Me out of my league.
-Alex Smith. When he was at Utah with Urban Meyer, Smith was used to run the football consistently. If you watched any of Tim Tebow's starts at Florida, it had to remind you a little of Alex Smith with the Utes. Last night against New Orleans, Smith got mobile and it nearly won the game for San Francisco. Arguably, playing quarterback well is part being comfortable. In the pocket, or on the field. It doesn't matter. Smith looked twitchy early, but as he led the 49ers back from the brink, things looked promising. Even more important, for the two-point conversion, San Fran, instead of handing off to Frank Gore, who was KILLING it, chose to pass. With the game on the line, they told Alex Smith to come through. And he did. Hot snow is falling up.
-Jay Cutler. You don't have to like him, but you will respect him from now until he sulks once more. The Cowboys are good against the pass, both at rushing the passer and in the secondary. They diced up the Redskins' passing attack, the same one that made Houston look like garbage as Donovan McNabb put on a show. Cutler, despite running for his life and fighting off the urge to yell at small children, played excellently. With Mike Martz in charge, this team will throw the ball a lot and successfully. Get in on some of that sweet.
-Jason Snelling. Turner was hurt for a good chunk of last year and he's hurt now. Pick up Snelling and pray that a groin injury is just as uncomfortable as it sounds.
-Dustin Keller. Those that know me realize I'm slowly describing my team to you, but I swear this is an impartial pick. Braylon Edwards and his vitriol for institutions like M.A.D.D. may have him suspended. Not only that, but Keller is the real deal. The Jets promised he'd play a Dallas Clark type of role for them, and I believe it. They moved him into the slot at times and used Ben Hartsock at tight end when they planned on running.
-Michael Vick. The people who spout off the Kolb has played a single half of football as rationale for starting him are ignorant themselves. In the same breath that Kolb hasn't had time to prove himself, Vick has. He's played years of football at an elite level. Kevin Kolb can't say that about himself. That this incarnation of Vick has smartened up and been forced to do crazy things like "watch film" doesn't bode well for opponents.
-Jay Cutler. If you don't believe in the Chicago renaissance, now is the time to dump Sulky McInterception and call it a day. That nickname is patent pending.
-Josh Freeman. He's not as good as advertised, and neither are the Bucs. They've played two games against the Browns and the Panthers. Neither of those teams had a quarterback, and both of them have had a hard time stopping the pass. Tampa hasn't played a team that can rush the passer effectively, and Josh Freeman's sideburns aren't conducive to continued success.
-Shonn Greene. LaDainian Tomlinson wants to prove us all wrong. On Sunday, he looked capable of doing so. Rex Ryan just wants to win, so if Greene doesn't start contributing he'll see his carries slip away.
-Joseph Addai & Donald Brown. I don't know exactly how Indianapolis ran the ball so well, but I'm pretty sure they won't be able to do it again. When given the option of being beaten by the run or by the pass, most defenses would choose the latter.
-Mike Sims-Walker. The Human Hyphen had the best game of his career Sunday. His 10 catch, 105 yard, one touchdown, performance isn't likely to repeat itself. Maurice Jones-Drew hasn't been touching the ball nearly enough, and that's going to change because the Jags aren't stupid. Wait, is that Mike Tice on the sidelines? Er, just trust me on this one.
-A trade that saw Cedric Benson swapped for Reggie Bush and Dez Bryant. Bush's knee was wrecked last night, and Dez Bryant is still a No. 2 receiver. If we had a fantasy jail, you'd be sent there and forced to sleep in a cell that has only a queen-size bed and no HBO on the flatscreen. You monster.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
The Podcast, She Is Back
On this edition of The Chirp Show we go behind the scenes of our fantasy league, break down this week's games, and harbour unrequited hatred for Tyson Alualu. Listen to it here on the podcast player, or at http://thechirpshow.podbean.com/ where you can also subscribe to it on iTunes.
A fantasy article comes tomorrow.
Be afraid.
UPDATE: Yeah, or just listen to it here.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Professor Football: How To Beat The New York Jets
It's no secret that the Jets want to blitz teams. They mix up their personnel flagrantly and dare opponents to respond to their attack instead of attacking themselves. Pitching instead of catching, if Rex Ryan will permit me without cackling like a little kid. At times last night, they had but one defensive linemen in the game and blitzed with a variety of linebackers and defensive backs.
Baltimore won the game, but it was equal parts luck, circumstance, and skill. The refs were seemingly always in place to flag defensive holding and pass interference, and at times the Jets were willing to bail out the Ravens' offense. Kyle Wilson's defensive holding against a five yard waggle route (on 3rd-and-28!) comes to mind. Baltimore also had the resources at receiver to maroon one of their own on Revis Island and not lose their venom on offense. Revis could and did erase Derrick Mason all game, but Anquan Boldin picked up the slack and saved Baltimore on third down a few times.
For other teams though, they may not be afforded the same luxuries as Baltimore. Maybe the refs ease up and let the Jets play more physically in the defensive backfield. Or maybe they just don't have the firepower to survive on 3rd-and-long against New York. Baltimore is a Super Bowl fave and they won by a single point. If the Jets' offense had been something resembling competent it might have been a completely different ballgame.
So, how does Generic Team X beat someone like New York? Let's look at the Jets' objectives on defense:
STEP 3: EAT PRETZEL M&Ms
Though Rex Ryan plays guru, that's his defense when you reduce it to its basest parts. All the Jets want to do is to stop a team from running the ball on first and second down, produce a third-and-long, and then blitz quarterbacks so they'll make a mistake. How they stop the run is by using their speed and unique match-ups to confuse blockers and penetrate into opposing backfields.
Quick stats: The Jets allowed only 3.8 yards per rushing attempt last season. Also, the Jets' third-down defense allowed teams to convert only 31.5 percent of their tries. When you can stop the run and you have players like Darrelle Revis roaming your secondary, you're free to get after teams on passing downs.
The best way to negate the Jets' advantages is to get positive yards on first and second down. Teams that did so against New York beat them. It sounds like a given, you want to be gaining yards on any down hopefully, but the difference between 3rd-and-10 and 3rd-and-5 against New York is monumental.
Take Baltimore's offenses most successful drive of the night: a 9 play, 85 yard march at the beginning of the third quarter which resulted in a field goal.*
The Ravens take over on their own 8-yard line at 11:37 in the third. On first downs they get 3, 4, and 5 yards. On second, they get zero, 27, and 3 yards. They finish the drive kicking a field goal that turns out to be the game winner.
While on first down they experienced some success, Flacco still had to be bailed out by Anquan Boldin on third-and-long (resulting in a 38-yard reception) once after throwing an incompletion to him on a second down. Still, the Ravens mananged to ease their workload on third down by shortening getting positive yards on first and second.
How does a team get those positive yards early though?
Any offensive coordinator worth his salt can take what the defense gives him and run with it. What the Jets give any offense though is a healthful spoonful of blitzes and excellent man-to-man coverage. And, again, to make it easier on oneself against the blitz, you need to shorten the time and distance it takes a quarterback to release the ball or for a running back to reach the first down marker.
The Jets blitz package is essential to stopping opponents' running games. And, using their "Creep" nickel packages and unorthodox personnel they work in linebackers and defensive backs to slow down teams. But what those players add in speed, they lack in size, strength, and in the DB's case, experience playing the run at the line of scrimmage. So instead of just pounding the ball inside and accepting the Jets' blitzes, why not get outside and take the initiative?
At times the Ravens used an unbalanced offensive line, lining up their backside tackle on the playside and trying to create mismatches. But what really worked were quick hitting outside runs (NOT zone stretch plays. When they tried to work inside-out the flow of the Jets' D smothered them) that got the offensive linemen out and on the defensive backs being used to blitz. An example (Note: I'm drawing this from memory):
It's just a little quick toss that now puts an offensive guard onto an unsuspecting New York safety. A double team by the tight end and playside tackle to the inside linebacker cuts off pursuit and the fullback is man on man with whatever linebacker attempts to fill. The Jets, even though they've brought eight into the box, don't have the match-up they want and maybe more importantly, you've taken the initiative against a defense that seeks to control it. If the linebacker and safety switch sides, a 300-pound guard still presents a considerable roadblock. I drew that up on what I think is the base Jets formation, the playside defensive end could become another stand-up linebacker, but that would still favor a strong double team at the point of attack.
Ray Rice's longest run of the day was seven yards, coming off tackle. His second longest was six yards, on a toss similar to this one. The Jets' blitzes try to root quarterbacks and offenses within the box, so that gang-tackling and mistakes can occur. But by sealing the edge and getting outside, which is admittedly much easier than it sounds, a team can give itself a fighting chance against a lethal New York defense.
Other tactics that Baltimore used were bringing in their running backs to block and then having them leak out as receivers. Flacco would dump the ball off to McClain, McGahee, or Rice and it would act as a run essentially. Mix in some quick posts and off-tackle runs and you've managed to assert yourself against a tough defense. In the end though, execution trumps anything a defense can throw at you.
How do you beat the Jets? By making it easy for yourself on third down. How do you do that? By using safe, efficient, and quick-hitting plays that exploit New York's penchant for using different sorts of personnel groupings. Until next week, I'm Professor Football.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!: The Casualty Report
What did we learn today children?
You read and watch and inhale the offseason's offerings. You absorb opinion and speculate on players sight unseen. Then one Sunday all the talk is replaced with the genuine article. Motherfucking football, people. It is glorious and horrible at the same time, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
So what did we learn? What players leapt off the page of your greasy fingerprinted preview magazine? Here lies the Sunday casualty report.
Miami Dolphins 15
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17
Cleveland Browns 14- Despite having a broken thumb that had him tossing ducks in practice, Josh Freeman still hucked two TDs. Despite having spent an entire season being derided for throwing interceptions, Jake Delhomme still threw a pick that Ronde Barber returned back to Cleveland's 3-yard line.
Shrug and move along.
New England Patriots 38
Cincinnati Bengals 24- Tom Brady and Wes Welker proved that the laws of man just don't apply to them. Brady can crash his car into the peasants willy-nilly and escape unscathed. Welker can have his knee explode and then show up a few months later and catch two touchdowns. The Patriots (and accompanying dynastic implications) refuse to go quietly into the night, instead choosing to beat the shit out of Cincy in broad daylight.
Don't read too much into Cincy's air attack. They were behind from the get-go and had to air it out if they hoped to even force the Pats to break a sweat. That isn't the kind of football the Bengals will win if forced to play. Ochocinco's thunder=stolen.
Houston Texans 34
Indianapolis Colts 24- Arian Foster eviscerated the Colts' D for 231 yards rushing, ostensibly also yanking the AFC South torch from Indy's chubby fingers in the process. Or at least that will be the angle you'll be beaten to death with tomorrow. They'll bury you next to Peyton Manning's rotator cuff (57 pass attempts!).
Jacksonville Jaguars 24
Denver Broncos 17- They had to pause this one on account of lightning, but Zeus himself couldn't stop David Garrard from having himself a nice 3-touchdown day. Even the Greek God of Thunder couldn't force the Jaguar faithful to not pine for Tebow though.
Yep, that's Scrawn Football: A free hack theology class in every recap.
Pittsburgh Steelers 15
Atlanta Falcons 9- That the Steelers won this game is just proof that the system doesn't work. You're supposed to lose with Dennis Dixon you jerks. Why not just start Roethlisberger and hand him a bottle of Patron then?
Tennessee Titans 38
Oakland Raiders 13- Chris Johnson tore a strip off of Oakland, going for 142 yards in a blowout. The Titans are making the playoffs this year. It's still the same team that went 13-3 two years ago, except that Chris Johnson refuses to accept expectations. He just gets better and better. And now Vince Young is proving to be a competent pivot, which makes Tennessee just that much more dangerous. They'll make the postseason, the only question is whether Houston chokes once more, or if Indy can't shake off the Super Bowl hangover in time to contend.
New York Giants 31
Carolina Panthers 18- The G-men broke in their new stadium with a win, AND:
-Hakeem Nicks caught three touchdown passes.
-Kevin Boss got injured.
-Jonathan Stewart didn't do squat.
-Eli Manning didn't bleed once.
Chicago Bears 19
Detroit Lions 14- I'll let my furious comrade explain the outcome to you:
Arizona Cardinals 17
St. Louis Rams 13- A last-ditch toss into the endzone couldn't save the day for the Rams. Bradford was called on to make plays early and often in his debut, throwing 55 passes in the game. Unfortunately, you don't get points for boyish good looks and old-timey charm.
Green Bay Packers 27
Philadelphia Eagles 20- Kevin Kolb got a concussion. Stewart Bradley got a concussion. Ryan Grant hurt his leg, somewhere. Leonard Weaver managed to rip up his knee and disgust Eagles fans in one fell swoop. Michael Vick? Looked pretty good actually. He even ripped off a vintage Vick run-and-dive play that reminded viewers that he was once poised to do great things.
Seattle Seahawks 31
San Francisco 49ers 6- And then the world remembered why they had dismissed Alex Smith in the first place.
Washington Redskins 13
Dallas Cowboys 7- I bet a group of friends a million dollar the Cowboys wouldn't throw to Roy Williams on the last play of the game. To my chagrin, Romo floated a perfect pass that landed in Williams' arms in the back of the endzone. Touchdown. I owed a million dollars despite being a bum. Then, the hold was called and the play was stricken from the record. My fictional millions are safe once more.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
The Chirp Show Rides Again (Our Podcast)
Real football starts tomorrow. That means fantasy teams must be cared for, bets must be placed, and jokes must be written and cocked for cracking. To aid in this, here's The Chirp Show. It's our podcast and it has two lovely gentlemen being snarky and obvious at the same time. Quite a feat, I know. You can listen at our player on the side, or at our podcast's website: The Chirp Show.
You can also subscribe to the show on iTunes via Podbean, or find our RSS feed somewhere. Toodles.
Also, FOOTBALL.


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Saturday morning the group got a little bigger with the arrival of Trista, Kathy, Beatrice, Barb and Judy. Ann and Beth had both called with regrets due to illness so our group was complete.
I know that in the pictures which Dani took, it appeared that we were all business but there was still a lot of chatting going on while we stitched. Dani made terrific progress on Tour de Marque. Rebecca is now backstitching her wolves which we all agreed doesn't necessarily need to be done on everthing called for in the piece. Some of the stitching around the mouth just didn't look right and we all felt it looked better off without it.
Since cleaning is out of the question at this time, I'm off now to sit and stitch a bit before bed. Hope you're all having a great week.


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Mid-July. Vacation: started. I love this. No homework, no early morning bus rush, no lunches, no meal plans. I have been off for 3 days and my oven has been on for each one of them: raspberry peach turnovers, double chocolate raspberry muffins and now a fig tart with raspberry jam. There's definitely a theme here!
Raspberry season is in full swing and my shrubs are producing an abundance of fruit this year. Even with almost no water (it hasn't rained here in weeks) they are juicy, ripe, ruby jewels! They even had a little house guest, can you see him?
Figs are also in season. Oh! boy do I love figs! I love a nice fig and prosciutto salad, it's my favourite this time of year.
I bought a flat of figs and found this recipe that I had made with dried figs in winter one year. This time I used fresh figs and modified it a bit to modified it a bit to make it dairy free.
Fig and Almond Tart - adapted from the LCBO.
3 tbsp (45 mL) ground almonds
1 cup (250 mL) whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup (75 mL) vegan shortening sticks, cubed
9 to 10 figs, stemmed and cut in half - if they are small, you will need 15-16.
½ cup (125 mL) ground almonds
2 eggs
1/3 cup (75 mL) sugar
1 tbsp (15 mL) grated orange rind
½ tsp (2 mL) vanilla extract
¾ cup (250 mL) coconut milk (Open the can, pour into a small sauce pot and gently heat until uniform. Store the rest for later use.
1 cup raspberries
3 tbsp maple syrup
Juice of half an orange
1 tbsp cornstarch
1. Preheat oven to 400ºF (200ºC).
3. Reduce heat to 350ºF (180ºC).
4. Place figs on base of tart in a circular pattern. Whisk together almonds, eggs, sugar, orange rind, vanilla and coconut milk. Pour over figs.
5. Place in oven and bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until custard is set. Cool.
6. Heat raspberries and maple syrup in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. In a small bowl whisk orange juice and cornstarch together. When the raspberries have become liquid, whisk in
orange and cornstarch mixture. Stirring occasionally, let it come to a low boil and thicken. Strain it to remove the seeds (or not - but for the purpose of a glaze, I recommend it). Brush over figs.
|It turned out a bit redder then I expected but that's what raspberries are all about!
Serves 8


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On March 16, Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) reintroduced an important bill that aims to provide resources to combat sex trafficking of minors. The Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking and Victims Support Act (S.596) would provide funding for law enforcement training and for services for victims. The proposed legislation is the 2011 version of a bill that passed both houses of Congress with strong bipartisan support in December 2010, but did not become law because it was not passed in time to reconcile differences in the House and Senate versions before the end of the 111th Congress.
The legislation, if passed, would support and reinforce IOFA's work in several critical ways. As the actress Mira Sorvino pointed out in a speech that she gave in support of the bill,
it recognizes that minors involved in commercial sexual exploitation are, by definition, victims of trafficking, not criminals.
IOFA has taken a leadership role in the implementation of the Illinois Safe Children Act, which was signed into law in August 2010 and mirrors the proposed federal legislation in removing the criminal status of juvenile prostitution. As part of this effort, IOFA is advocating for the development of a coordinated service referral network that would link service providers and trafficking victims. IOFA also provides training to Illinois law enforcement on how to identify trafficking victims and handle cases of suspected trafficking. The legislation would tackle these issues on a national level by providing grants to fund similar efforts, as well as creating shelters for trafficking victims, at six sites across the country.
Despite these valuable provisions, however, more work is needed to draft policies that address the causes, not just the outcomes, of trafficking. In a statement introducing the bill, Sen. Wyden said of trafficking in the U.S.: "The reason that this crime has reached epidemic proportions is simple: the resources are not in place to help innocent victims escape from trafficking, nor to punish the violent, ruthless pimps who are trafficking them." This assessment of the problem reflects the bill's approach to trafficking, which is to focus on issues associated with existing trafficking cases. Service provision is of critical importance for current victims, but it does not prevent the creation of new victims. And while law enforcement training is essential, Wyden framed its primary purpose as enabling officers to work with victims to build strong criminal cases against traffickers. Wyden suggested that doing so would have a deterrent effect on traffickers who, he said, "have figured out that trafficking a person is a lot less risky, and just as profitable, as trafficking drugs." The bill's approach to the issue is thus to focus on existing instances of trafficking, rather than directly seeking to protect minors from becoming victims in the first place.
IOFA believes that it is necessary to go a step beyond this, taking a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to the problem of trafficking. We argue that trafficking can be effectively reduced by identifying youth who are vulnerable to exploitation and working to minimize those vulnerabilities. We're in the midst of researching and writing a report, "The State of the World's Vulnerable Youth," that will have much more information on the factors that contribute to vulnerability as well as suggestions on possible policy responses that take a preventative approach to trafficking.
So if you're interested in learning more about these issues, please check back in and read the report to be released in Summer 2011!
Charlotte Cahill
IOFA Resource Development & Policy Intern


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Posts Tagged 'python'
I've spent the last 4 days working on the problem of how to make a screenshot of a URL on a Linux server with no display. Furthermore, I need it to be programmatic, so I could call it from a web app when needed. Additionally, I wanted some architecture that could conceivably lend itself to threading in the future, so that we could scale the thing.
Essentially, all the solutions I found did this:
- Create a headless X server with something like Xvfb.
- Open some sort of browser on that in-memory X window.
- Screenshot the contents of that browser.
- Render that screenshot content out to some image format.
There are several ways to do this with names like html2image, khtml2png, webkit2png, etc. but they all had issues with either my platform or my need to not pay for it 🙂
That's when I found the work of Roland Tapken. His script and explanation were the solution I needed. It made nice screenshots, had the configuration options I needed (screen size, scaling image, destruction of X server, etc.). I thank him deeply for his work and his sharing it with the world.
The only problem off the bat was that it requires at least 2 packages that were not installed for me on Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy). In fact, they aren't available in the versions I needed until the most recent Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid). Those packages are libqt4-webkit and python-qt4. Even on Intrepid (at least on my slicehost slice), I needed to install these and their dependencies. You'll need to make sure to get libqt4-core as well. The libqt4-webkit didn't seem to require it according to aptitude.
I had a small problem with the script as far as passing arguments into the Xvfb server. For that reason, I'm sharing my version of the code. However, all kudos go to Roland. His blog post on this subject provides a nice overview of the thought process and rationale behind this code. If you'd like a little more on the how and why, check it out. He also provides a simpler version if you'd just like to test out the Qt WebKit stuff and see how it works.
In summary, to use this code:
- Read Roland's blog post.
- Install the necessary libraries: libqt4-core, libqt4-webkit, python-qt4, xvfb.
- Grab my code here. Change the extension to py.
- To run, use a command like this: python webkit2png.py -x -o cnn.png –debug http://www.cnn.com
If you have questions, comments, or code to add, please post in the comments or pingback this post. I will try to update once I have a good threading model built out around this functionality.
A long time ago, longer than I'd like to admit, I started on a freelance project. I can't say too much about what it does, but I would like share a bit about the development process I went through.
When I started the project, I was beginning to get back into web development after a couple of years away from the work during which I was teaching. So, I had some catching up to do and rusty skills needed to be dusted off and honed.
The project is somewhat ambitious with lots of GIS work and a little bit of social networking thrown in. It is a big project and means a lot to me, both financially and as a way to learn and really sharpen up my skills. It's been a pleasure to work on as it is finally coming around to fruition.
All that said, I jumped in with both feet and starting coding in PHP, with some bad habits such as HTML all over my PHP. I know enough CSS to be trouble, so there was lots of that, too. I was building with some eye toward a previous incarnation of the app, so there were some design decisions made then that we have long since abandoned.
Many months late, I produced a passable version. It didn't look like much, but it worked. When the fellow I was doing the work for asked me how scalable and maintainable it was, I had to do a lot of soul searching. I had become friends with this client and I knew deep inside that what I had built would work up to a point, but that it wasn't that extensible and I was unsure how some of the GIS bits would scale.
I owned up to some of what I saw as problems with what I had built. I was building something to be a an alpha/proof-of-concept when what the client wanted was a solid beta product. I had misunderstood and probably gotten in over my head.
It was then that my client and I had a heart-to-heart and decided we would start from scratch with a platform that was extensible, maintainable, and offered some niceties that no homegrown PHP app could easily do. That platform was Python/Django/PostgreSQL.
With PostgreSQL, we got the PostGIS libraries which overjoy me day in and day out. With Python, we got clean, maintainable code. With Django, we got a robust framework that makes it easy to add new features without massive rewrites. Django also gave us fantastic code/design separation and it was just plain fun to learn.
These great visions in mind, I set about to not only learn the Django framework, but to also learn Python. Luckily, my new full-time job was giving me plenty of PostgreSQL experience, though no PostGIS (yet!), as well as, giving me the ability to work with Django and Python on the new features we are building at work. So, I wasn't totally in over my head.
Every piece of the app that I write now is a pleasure to code. When I'm "done," I can hand over these neat, clean HTML templates to a designer to spruce up with little fear of confusion. The database access stuff, especially with GeoDjango in tow, has become a breeze. Everything I used to hate about web development has been made a tiny little bit of the work. The vast majority of my time is spent thinking about scalability and how the feature actually works rather than building another script to handle form post input. It has simply been a joy all the way around.
We are nearing the end of the application work on the new Django version of the app. There's lots more to do and lots of ideas for the next version. The difference between this Django version of the app and the PHP version is night and day. It might look similar from a UI perspective, but it is vastly fewer lines of code (not including Django itself), another developer could easily pick it up and improve on it or add to it, bugs are much, much easier to track down, and it was actually fun.
When all is said and done, I will, of course, point you to the app and will maybe do some more detailed comparisons between the two with some code. One thing to keep in mind is that the difference is not just between a PHP and Django app, but between the developer I was and the developer I am becoming. Sure, I'm no rock star, but I'm getting better at this every day.
I'd like to give a big thanks to my client for his faith and reassurance as I tackled this daunting task. A great client and an open, honest relationship go a long way. I've so far past any deadline we ever set on this project, but my client sees the vision and understands why we're doing what we're doing.


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Yes, this is channel 5 news in Medford, Oregon. I felt like I had to post this because this is memorable to me. Last term, I interned at this news station for quite a while. It was a great experience because I got to learn more about myself. I discovered that I truly did have a passion for broadcasting and journalism. This picture is special to me because this was taken on my first day of the internship. It felt so great so finally sit down in front of an actual LIVE broadcast. I got to see the behind the scenes work and how the news anchors read their prompters. It's also interesting how they talk in between off-air time and commercial breaks. The anchors in this picture are Nate and Christina. They both have contributed to my learning and experience at channel 5. I hope to continue this positive experience at another news station this summer!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Week 9: Visual Research
I have been so stressed over finals, projects, essays...what else could stress me out right now?! That's okay, I have this image to remind me that spring term 2010 is almost over with! It's crazy how far I have gotten this year! I still question myself if this is reality. Am I really in college now? Just about a year ago, I never thought I'd be out of high school and into the college world. It's almost been a year since I've been in college now! The even weirder thing about this situation is that I will be a senior next year! How did I do it? I worked my butt off I can tell you that! I guess those classes I took at a community college during high school finally paid off! So this image basically represents that situation. I am a huge fan of dogs, so not only is this picture cute, but it also reminds me that I am almost done! The dogs to me represent satisfaction, luck and energy. If I keep working harder each term, I will eventually get to the finish line!
Posted by Tina Nguyen at 10:58 AM No comments:
Week 9: Lab Assignment #9.
PLEASE SEE LAB ASSIGNMENT #8. The book assignment was our last assignment of the term. Enjoy! =).
Week 8: Personal Image
This week, I decided to post pictures of my dorm! The end of term is getting closer and I am starting to reflect on how much I will miss my hall and dorm! It was a great experience, and I believe living on campus connects you to so many people! If it wasn't for me living in the dorms, my social and academic life would not be the safe. Living on campus gives you the opportunity to get involved, meet new people, use many resources and overall broaden your university life. Hawthorne is the hall I am currently living in. It's sad to say good-bye to it. =(.
I love pink, which is why my R.A. [resident assistant] always makes a pink name tag for my door every term! =)
There's alot of explanation for why I have posted the following pictures. As you may already know, a couple of halls in Cascade were tagged with hate graffiti. So to support the residents/students of this incident, there are posters around the Cascade complex so spread the positivity in our environment. It's so beautiful to walk around with this type of energy. I hope everyone can take the time to really look, feel and engage themselves into these posters. We should never hate or judge someone, and nobody should feel uncomfortable with being themselves around campus.
Week 8: Visual Research
There are three things that I will always love in life: Pink, Lady Gaga, and Texas! However, dogs are always going to be a part of my interests as well! Now, I would never do anything like this to my dog, but I still think the color of this dog's fur is amazing! Wouldn't it be cool is dogs were genetically born with pink fur? When I think of dogs, they remind me of cuteness, luck and positive energy. Everytime I look at this image, it makes me smile and relaxes me. This is the type of image I would like to hang in my wall because it's so calm and joyful. It's just one of those images where you can stare at it for a long time without noticing anything else...and that image is this one to me.
Posted by Tina Nguyen at 10:56 AM No comments:
Week 8: Lab Assignment #8: Book
And so, those are my top 7 websites for college students...ranking from #7 of Twitter to #1 of Facebook. This is just my personal opinion and I hope to some extent, some college students will find this helpful! These are great resources to use for social-networking, essays, research, or various other uses for academic life or social life. As for the editing process, for each page I used the program InDesign, and I created a background, logo, image and a textbox. The words of the textboxes are from Wikipedia.
Posted by Tina Nguyen at 10:55 AM No comments:
Friday, May 14, 2010
Week 7: Personal Image
My favorite image of my blog posts! Before you think about what's going on in the image, let me first introduce you to my former brother-in-law, Richard Cranor. (Yes, he's the tall white man standing out in the picture with boxing gloves lol!) He's been with me through the good and the bad times. Rich never fails to make me personal advice to get my through my challenges and struggles. To be honest, nobody in my family cares about me as much as he does. I might even be closer to him than I am to anyone else in my family. Anyway, so you're probably wondering, "what the hell is going on in this image?" Well if you knew my brother-in-law, you would understand his ego and what is going on. Rich is a really fun and outgoing person. Rarely, you will ever see him caught up in negative thoughts or energy around him. He's one of the reasons why I think so positively in my life...he really is right. Positivity is the best medicine. The positive energy you create really does reflect how you view and experience life. So, back to this image. This image was taken when Rich was going through his cancer days. This is basically his "cancer-free" tiger-themed event. Notice how he still keeps his head up? From this image, you can tell that he wants to have fun and BOX up haha. However I believe the boxing gloves do symbolize something: fighting back cancer. It's sad, and I don't want to go too much in detail about this, but I believe that this image explains alot. While trying to keep up a positive attitude, Rich is boxing/fighting back that cancer! As for the Asian guys in the background...they look awfully scared! =/ Ehh, Rich tends to give that vibe to people from time to time. (Just kidding Rich!) Like I said, if you really get to know him...he's a chill and laid back man. To add a little bit of humor to this image, I had to add the "pow" and the "Oh no!" to the picture. I hope Rich enjoys seeing this when he reads this blog!
Posted by Tina Nguyen at 5:57 AM No comments:
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Phonte's Valentine's Day Play List - Entertainment & Culture - EBONY
Phonte's Valentine's Day Play ListThe Grammy-nominated musical renaissance man provides the soundtrack for love
It's Valentine's Day, a holiday that some greet with the enthusiasm of a spoiled kid on Christmas morning, while others go in to hiding until the 16th to ensure they aren't exposed to any parts of the flowers, cards and candy that signal the romantic celebration. It doesn't matter if you are single, spoken for or somewhere in between; today is the perfect time to nibble on some chocolate and listen to some seriously groovy romantic tunes.
Enter Phonte Coleman, the singer/emcee formerly of Little Brother, currently of The Foriegn Exchange and the dude riding high from the release of his critically-acclaimed debut solo album Charity Starts at Home. Tiggalo, as his momma'nem call him, has put together a list of his top-10 Valentine's Day jams to get you and your boo (or maybe just you) in the proper mood for today's love celebration. Enjoy!
A lesser known gem from The Good Reverend's 1972 "Let's Stay Together" LP. Sweet, simple goodness. And if your lady's name actually is Judy, then hey....
Elizabeth & The Catapult- "Right Next To You"
Singer-songwriter Elizabeth Ziman's sleepy-eyed ode to unconditional love. Perfect layup music.
One of my all-time favorite love songs of all-time in the history of all-time greatest love songs. Of all time.
The Foreign Exchange- "Take Off The Blues"
Ol' wannabe Gerald Levert meets Anthony Hamilton's scraggly beard lookin mofo... *cough*
The centerpiece of his latest album, "What Were You Hoping For?" is a sensually distorted love story told from the hunter's point of view. If this one doesn't help you uhh, 'hit' said target...just put your gun away.
Because what's Valentine's Day without it?
The Los Angeles-based bassist's sunny love song makes a heartfelt plea to his special lady: "Don't ever leave me alone. Without you, where would I be?"
If you believe in love and all that it can do for you, play this one for your lady and take her back to a time when y'all were both younger, thinner, and didn't have to schedule adult time around playdates, homework, and PTA meetings.
Sometimes you want to kiss your woman and hold her tight and tell her how she's the love and light of your world. But other times, you just want her to buss it wide open for a goon. Yin and yang.
Whitney Houston- "My Love Is Your Love"
One of the best cuts from latter-era Whitney; showcasing a more subtle vocal approach in contrast to the sweeping ballads that marked her career. It would take an eternity to break our love for you, Ms. Houston. Rest in peace.


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Examination of Witnesses (Questions 1-19)
1. Good afternoon, Ms Robinson. You are accompanied by Mr Clubb. We are very pleased to see you again. We have come upon this investigation because we were dealing with security of supply issues and we felt that there was an area related to consumption which should be addressed separately. It was self evident that, because of badly insulated houses, badly constructed houses and social disadvantage, a number of people were either using too much energy or not enough and certainly they were not using it effectively, so we felt it would be worthwhile looking at this and we are very pleased that you are able to join us this afternoon. We are here not so much to promote the need for something being done about fuel poverty, because we are conscious that a number of initiatives are taking place. The argument might well be advanced that too many are taking place, but your evidence suggests that the government's fuel poverty strategy is an excellent summary. It sounded a bit like the comments I used to write on essays, which were, "This is a good description but there is little analysis and little prescription." We wondered if that was a fair summation of your views on the matter?
(Ms Robinson) That sums it up quite well. We are absolutely delighted with the fuel poverty strategy. We think the objective, to take the most vulnerable people out of fuel poverty by 2010, is terrific, but what we are concerned about is whether it will be achieved with the existing policies and schemes. We are now something like 18 months into the fuel poverty strategy. I wonder how many people have been taken out of fuel poverty in these first 18 months. We only have eight and a half years to go. I suspect, with rising gas and electricity prices, we might find that fuel poverty has gone up. There is a lot of emphasisthe right emphasison the physical aspects of fuel poverty, energy saving measures and all of that, but on their own we do not believe that they are going to be enough to take people out of fuel poverty. There are other measures that are going to be needed as well as those. We need to track and monitor the effect when we reduce the level of fuel poverty as a result of that and learn from those experiences and continue to move the programme on in the light of what works best for different groups of people.
2. You are perhaps one of the tzars, the tzarina, in the Fuel Poverty Advisory Group. Do you think that you and your colleagues will be able to focus on the areas that need effective action or have you already got the impression this is just a talking shop?
(Ms Robinson) No. It is early days. There has only been one meeting so far. We have a very good chairman in Peter Lehmann and there is a pretty broad representation on that group. I am sure that the group is going to be looking, in a very open ended way, at all the options that we should be considering. I have had some private chats with Peter and I know he is of this mind. The real test is going to come when we come up with some recommendations that mean action by either the government or the regulator. At that point we will be able to make a judgment.
3. There is a bit of a problem with the government targets. We have had the 2010 target but we also have the government's acceptance of the Private Members' Bill, the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act. One sets a target of 2010; the other, 2015. Do you think there is any danger of them falling between the two stools?
(Ms Robinson) It is important to have a consistency in target. We have a view as to what kind of target might be the most effective but, as far as I am concerned, sitting where I am now, when we are talking about three or four million, there are a lot of vulnerable people in fuel poverty. I do not want to spend a lot of time talking about targets at the expense of getting on with the action. What I do think is important is, however we define the target for achievement, it is defined not by inputs like how many energy efficiency assessments there will be. It is defined by outputs, tracking the number of people taken out of fuel poverty.
4. Can we clear up what you consider to be fuel poverty? You have said that you are concerned that future official eradication of fuel poverty may mask continuing but unaddressed problems because of the definition the government is using. Does this concern relate to the inclusion of housing benefit in the calculation of available, expendable income? What definition would you prefer the government to use?
(Ms Robinson) Our preference would be to exclude housing costs, so we are talking about expendable income and a percentage of that.
Dr Kumar
5. In your submission to our Committee, you mentioned that ending disconnection in all its forms should be a fundamental commitment in the government's fuel poverty strategy. How would this as an idea work in practice and how much would it cost? Who is going to pay for it?
(Ms Robinson) I recognise that calling for all disconnections is not an easy thing because we are not just talking about company disconnections. There has been a deal of success in getting down company disconnections. What we are equally concerned about is self disconnections or disconnections by stealth because people cannot afford to keep the meter topped up. We ought to have disconnection of all kinds outlawed. That will put tremendous pressure on companies to do something about the prepayment meter problem. At the moment, with price controls having gone, the danger is that companies will just increase the tariff for people on prepayment meters to recoup all the costs of prepayment meters so the problem for people on prepayment meters is going to grow, which probably means more disconnection by stealth rather than less disconnection by stealth. What we are looking for are incentives to make companies address some of the issues that give rise to the need for prepayment meters in the first place. One of the ideas that we are floatingand it is only an idea; we have not thought through the depth and detailis the idea that we could have a social obligation, rather like the Renewable Obligation, where people will benefit who have done things like reduce the number of people on a prepayment meter, on debt and increase the number of people on the Priority Services Register. There are several key things that we could do to encourage good behaviour by having a social obligation. I have no idea what it will cost. In this area, we cannot say on the one hand, "Let's take people out of fuel poverty who cannot to pay for their fuel" and, on the other hand, say, "Never in any circumstances should there be any cross-subsidy." The two do not mix and we have to decide what is our prime objective. I think an element of cross-subsidy is perfectly justified.
6. Do you not see a danger in this strategy that you are suggesting? It is an invitation for individuals to run up bills in the future and there is even a serious danger of some form of criminal activity.
(Ms Robinson) Spencer has done quite a lot of work on this. We have to tackle the debt issue and find ways of avoiding people getting into debt in the first place. Companies themselves know quite a lot about bills and energy usage, and they should be in a position to act at a much earlier stage to prevent the debt occurring in the first place. Inevitably, there are always going to be people who get themselves into debt in rent arrears and other ways. Maybe there is more that can be done by using, for example, Fuel Direct when people are on benefit. We need to look at approaches to avoid people going into debt. One of the important things about the social obligation is, while we need the criteria there, it is around the number of people in debt, so there is again an incentive for people to work together to ensure that as few people as possible do fall into debt.
(Mr Clubb) Energywatch believes most people cannot pay if they get into debt rather than will not pay. If somebody is on a credit meter and they are falling behind with their payments, moving them to a prepayment meter means they are paying more for each unit of electricity. Plus, they are paying back a debt so they are much worse off. They are going to be much harder to bring out of fuel poverty. If we can prevent that happening through more accurate meter readings, through targeted energy efficiency and through using suppliers' information on usage and payment, we can spot these problems and work together on a variety of objectives so that we can outlaw disconnection.
Richard Burden
7. On a personal level, when there was the argument around the water industry about disconnection at a time when I was involved with it, suggesting that disconnections could be outlawed was greeted with a rather strange look and, "You cannot actually do this, can you?" Clearly you can but it does raise issues. Are you saying that you do want to outlaw disconnections?
(Ms Robinson) Yes.
8. It would follow from that that you outlaw prepayment meters altogether.
(Ms Robinson) Yes.
9. In some of your documents, at one level you seem to be saying you want to outlaw it and at another level you are saying that you want to narrow things like the tariffs and the discrimination against people on prepayment meters.
(Ms Robinson) There is not a conflict. It sounds like there is but, being realistic about this, you cannot outlaw prepayment meters and expect it to happen overnight. It is going to take some time. It would be totally unreasonable to expect companies to deliver this in a very short period. There has to be a reasonable period of implementation to do it and, in the meantime, we will be wanting companies to make real efforts to narrow that gap. One of the great things about appearing in front of you today is that we have been constantly revising and reviewing and thinking about our position on fuel poverty and, appearing today, we have put a lot of work into reviewing it and having a look at what matters. As far as I am concerned, in a sense, what has happened on water has almost been my personal inspiration because I do fundamentally believe that water, shelter and health care are fundamental rights and, if you do not have any of those, your health suffers as a result. I think it is unacceptable to ever put people in that situation.
10. Let us assume that you win on that. Disconnections are outlawed over a phased period and, in the meantime, the tariffs are narrowed and there is a social obligation of that kind you have talked about. There will still remain, albeit in a minority, wilful refusals to pay, which have remained an issue in the water industry. How would you go about tackling that and having to lower disconnections, because it seems to me that what has happened in water is an inspiration but there is still that issue.
(Ms Robinson) To be honest, I do not know the answer to that. It is not the only place where it happens. I used to work for a long time with benefits and we had a problem with benefit fraud. We took people to court and we were fining them and yet we could not leave them without benefits, because people do need money for food etc. There needs to be some sort of approach that makes sense. You cannot leave people without fuel and water or throw people out on the street. There has to be some basic safety net. If you get everything else right, hopefully all you are dealing with is a hard core of problems. The difference between that and where we are now is that we have a lot of people at the moment who are suffering and finding life very tough. Something can be done about that.
11. Would you support a duty to be imposed on suppliers to take customers facing potential disconnection through some sort of arbitration first?
(Ms Robinson) If you are taking people through some sort of arbitration, that means, at the end of the day, people can still be disconnected because what you are saying is that it is then in the hands of the arbitrator. We are going a bit further, saying there should be no circumstances where people are disconnected.
12. You would be against?
(Ms Robinson) Yes.
13. You said the Competition Act has the potential to require suppliers to increase prepayment meter prices to cost reflective levels if suppliers were charging at less than market rates to reflect social objectives. That is 2.3. Have you any evidence for this?
(Ms Robinson) No, not as yet. What we do know is that the whole of the legislation and the idea behind competition is to get an effective market place. It does not have attached to it, except tangentially, social outcomes. Effectively, when competition does work, it brings down prices. That is the theory but we have a problem anyway with competition for the most vulnerable people. Competition is not meant to produce social objectives. Here, we have to pay attention to social objectives. That is why the Utilities Act requires both the regulator and ourselves to have concern for people in rural communities, elderly people, disabled people and people who are chronically sick, quite rightly. It is why the minister can give social guidelines to Ofgem and it is part of the recognition that the market does not necessarily look after and protect the most vulnerable.
(Mr Clubb) With an ex-PES, removing price controls means that the prepayment cap of �15 no longer applies and the cost to serve is likely to be greater than that. We are probably seeing, in, for example, the London area, a London Electricity prepayment meter customer partly subsidised by other customers but having ended price controls that is no longer the case. That supplier could be accused of predatory pricing as it is a host supplier and perhaps it is charging prepayment meter customers less than the cost to serve rate. There may be issues there and we are just flagging it up as a possibility.
(Ms Robinson) I think it is terribly important to make this point: I agree with competition and I believe in markets. When they work well, they can only benefit consumers, but there have to be a number of things in place for consumers. What we are saying is, for some groups of people, this is not working well. For a fundamental service like energy, it is terribly important that competition is properly underpinned by regulation to protect the most vulnerable. A lot of our actions as Energywatch are designed to support and help competition be more effective.
14. How do you address the problem of people transferring debt? If they were to find that they were running up debts but that there was an alternative supplier who would enable them to pay less for their gas and electricity and if they were appropriately prudent they would then have extra resource to pay back the debt, how do you address that? There is an unwillingness to transfer debt. Members of Parliament know from experience with council houses that you cannot get a move if you have sold a debt on an existing property.
(Ms Robinson) That is exactly so and that is why we are concerned to see debt blocking removed. At the moment, a trial is going on on debt blocking. One of the things the trial is looking at is mechanisms for assigning debts so people can genuinely move. It is a major problem. I know, from wearing another hat and being a trustee of a credit card service, that once people get into debt they are really stuck in the most awful position. They lose their houses and have to rent accommodation. Their life choices are severely reduced. Wearing another hat, one of the things we tried to do with the building society is, when people have a record of repaying debt on a schedule, we let them be considered for a mortgage should they wish to buy a property, which I think is terribly important. People in debt do need extra help and support to get out of that position rather than getting further and further into debt.
15. In your submission you favour extending the gas network which you have said could deliver tens of thousands of people out of fuel poverty. Could you tell us how many tens of thousands would be assisted and how much it will cost us?
(Ms Robinson) I was hoping you would ask me this one because it is something I am red hot on. I was part of the DTI working group on extending the gas pipeline and that working group came up with a figure of 1.3 million people in fuel poverty who do not have access to a gas pipeline. That is a very big figure. It also came up with the proposition that two-thirds of the people who were in fuel poverty could be taken out of fuel poverty with access to gas, plus gas central heating systems put in etc. It does not make sense and it is too costly to extend the gas pipeline to everybody in remote, rural communities, but a lot of people live within a reasonable distance of an existing pipeline who could be helped. I am sorry that, despite DTI's best endeavours, �50 million of new money that they asked the Treasury for to pilot some of this initiative was not granted so I am keen to put a bit of pressure on to make sure we get the �50 million next time because potentially it can do a lot. The idea of having the �50 million plus some extra, targeted help to do something like gas central heating systems was to see if it would do what we were assuming it would do, which would be to take between 60,000 and 100,000 people out of fuel poverty. We know it has huge potential. We are not sure how much. Having a pilot and seeing what that can produce is a good way of demonstrating that and yet we have now lost another year and it takes us closer to 2010.
16. Have you any idea what the timescale would be if you wanted to implement this?
(Ms Robinson) This is my own, personal view, having talked to Transco. There is one fact I forgot to put in front of you and this is from Transco as well: the people who are not on the gas pipeline are paying something in the region of 40 per cent more for their energy, so you are talking about a huge difference in people's energy costs once they are on the gas pipeline. My own viewand DTI might kill me for thisis that half a million out of fuel poverty over the next, say, eight years, with a real will to do something about extending gas pipelines, is not unrealistic and that is quite a significant number.
17. You also say that you believe the government must act now to provide rural consumers with a greater choice. What other choices have you in mind?
(Ms Robinson) I think that is probably the biggest one, doing something about extending the gas pipeline. For those people who are in remote villages, who cannot take advantage of gas pipelines, there are other, more local solutions that might be better than what we have at the moment.
Mr Berry
18. Could we move on to income measures for dealing with fuel poverty? You rightly stressed the importance of income measures that focus on the need for fuel of consumers and you make the point that while there is a clear link between housing costs and housing benefits there is not a clear link at the moment between fuel prices and benefits. How would that work in practice?
(Ms Robinson) I am old enough to remember the supplementary benefits days when you had a fuel addition. I would not want to go down that route ever again. It is far too complicated. It messes up the benefit system etc. I think we need an explicit, regular check of the element that makes up the benefit that is reckoned to take care of fuel cost. I might be out of date by now but on income support, for example, there are extra payments if you are a disabled person or whatever. Those extra payments should also reflect the fact that you are likely to be at home; you cannot move around and your fuel costs are going to be higher as a result of being a disabled person. It may be that some of that is taken into account. All I am calling for at this stage is that that ought to be transparent and explicit.
19. Since you have invited me to comment on what you have said about people who are severely disabled and who clearly do have extra fuel costs because of their disability, you will know that there is a significant campaign at the moment to persuade government to introduce winter fuel payments for severely disabled people which currently is not successful. Are you saying you think there is a rationale for winter fuel payments for severely disabled people on the grounds that?
(Ms Robinson) I do. As a former chief executive of what used to be the Spastics Society, yes, I would not say anything else for that reason. They do spend a lot more on fuel. The fuel bills hit them very hard in the winter and they are people who already have lots of problems. If they are cold, they are likely to have increased problems. Their needs are probably as great as anybody's, if not greater than most. I am only sorry that I cannot lead that particular campaign because I would really put a lot into that.


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Scholarship Scheme 獎學金計劃
Students with outstanding performance in different areas are invited to apply for scholarship(s) in the form of fee reduction as well as subsidies for study enhancement. CSS offers the following scholarships:
School-organized Overseas Trip (current students only)
學校海外學習團 (只供在校生申請)
(Please click to open "Notes on Scholarship Scheme")
Scholarship Application 獎學金申請
Current as well as new students are invited to apply for Scholarship(s) for the following academic year, by the closing date is 1 June in the current academic year (except School-organized Overseas Trip and Progress Award).
明年獎學金已開始接受在校生及新生申請,截止日期為每年6月1日 (除「學校海外學習團」及「進步獎」外)。
- Both current and new students can apply for more than one scholarship.
- Please read "Notes on Scholarship Scheme" before applying.
- Download forms underneath.
- Submit all hardcopies including any supporting documents to the General Office.
Writable PDF form (can be submitted by email) 可書寫PDF申請表 (可透過電郵遞交)


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22. April 21, 2009 12:16 am Link
My published comment #22. April 21, 2009 12:16 am
Tamils vs. the LTTE
The LTTE anti-nationalist rebels, under the murderous Vellupalli Prabhakaran, have conducted terror for 50+ years, and they must now surrender to Sri Lanka forces. They must allow innocent Tamil civilians to leave the embattled area and not be held as human shields by the LTTE forces.
The LTTE do not represent Tamil interests. Tamils can live peacefully in Sri Lanka. They are a part of Sri Lanka,
The Sri Lanka Govt. must accord equal opportunity in jobs, housing, healthcare, education, to minority ethnic Tamils. The SL govt. cannot discriminate against this important and long suffering ethnic and linguistic minority.
The Sri Lanka Govt. was impolitic and deeply unfair to declare Sinhala as the national language. They could have easily given co-equal recognition to both Tamil and Sinhala. The SL govt erected language as a political barrier to keep Tamils from maintaining their distinct Tamil ethnicity and culture and more important, jobs and other economic and political opportunities.
ALL religions, ethnicities and languages must be equally respected by the SL govt. if Sri Lanka is to continue to prosper as a modern pluralistic sovereign nation-state. A strong, democratic, secular, pluralist Sri Lanka would contribute to the stability and solidarity of the South Asia region, which is under threat from extra-state terrorism (Taliban) as well as state-sponsored terror by US and US-led NATO on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
The damage done by centuries of British and Dutch colonialism can only be overturned by SL civil society involving all ethnic and religious groups holding their govt. accountable, to be more responsive to their needs, not letting govt. divide them by language and ethnicity, for political gain.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
NYTimes copyright
April 20, 2009, 6:36 pm
Endgame in Sri Lanka?
By Robert Mackey
April 21, 2009, 1:23 pm
Two Sri Lankas Struggle to Tell Their Tales
By Robert Mackey


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Thanks to a wonderful comment from swanpride, this piece has been revised and updated to address Peter and Gwen's crucial talk on the bleachers.
In its desperation to distance itself from Sam Raimi's classic trilogy, The Amazing Spider-Man radically changes the order and details of Peter Parker's origin story as much as it can. But, as a result of that restructuring, the actual lesson and message integral to Spider-Man's origin story gets lost. Peter never learns Uncle Ben's big lesson (though in this version it's attributed to Peter's missing father) and he spends the entirety of the movie without an ethos or proper motivation. Add to that some dodgy scripting and design around Peter himself and what you're left with is a dull, serviceable film with a horribly broken and unlikable character at its center.
Despite Andrew Garfield's best efforts, who his a charming and engaging actor, his Peter Parker does come off like a huge jerk for the entirety of the movie. Comic book Peter Parker (and Tobey Maguire's Peter, for that matter) is supposed to be a social outcast. He's an outsider. He's not mysterious and intriguing; he's a dork. There are a lot of different ways to play that (it's not limited to Maguire's 60s/retro style) but it's essential that at the start of his story Peter Parker is not cool, not liked, and yet totally likable for all of that. That's necessary so that when he does get his powers and abuse them for money and popularity, we, as the audience, can totally understand and relate to why. It also means that later on there's a difference between Peter Parker and Spider-Man. They both represents elements of his personality but they exist in discrete places in his life. The Amazing Spider-Man's Peter Parker is a super handsome, quiet loner with perfectly coiffed hair who also likes to skateboard and disregard the rules at school. If Peter Parker is a super cool wisecracker than what does that leave for Spider-Man?
Now, I totally see the thought process behind making Peter like this. "He can't be a complete dork like Maguire was. Make him one of those cool nerds. Kids like skateboarding, right? That's cool, make him do that. And give him an attitude, he can't be too nice or respectful. But to make sure he's still a nerd, just don't give him any friends and throw in a quick scene with a bully and that'll be good." They want this Peter Parker to appeal as much as possible to as many people as possible and studio execs don't think that somebody who's genuinely a dork appeals, so they make him as cool as they can while still calling him a loser. Instead of being a dork, this Peter Parker begins the story as a cool, handsome skater who doesn't care about the rules and authority. So where does that leave him to go when he first gets his powers? Well, he just continues being a jerk, messing with poor Rodrigo Guevara, bullying Flash Thompson (who, by the end of the movie, turns out to be a nicer guy than Peter), being weirdly aggressive towards much weaker and ill-equipped criminals, acting immature and petulant towards Captain Stacy, and much more.
"But," I hear you say, "it's okay if Peter is a jerk so long as Uncle Ben dies as a result of Pete's jerkiness and he learns his lesson and truly becomes Spider-Man." You'd think so, but that's not what happens in this movie. For starters, Peter never hears the words, "With great power comes great responsibility." Spider-Man's guiding ethos is never once mentioned. All that the movie gives Peter is one awkward scene where Uncle Ben tries to get the point across without using the words "great," "power," or "responsibility," and even this is attributed to Peter's father, which lessens Uncle Ben's importance in Peter's life (one of the biggest problems in the Amazing movies is totally undercutting Aunt May and Uncle Ben as Peter's moral center). Anyway, Peter lets a thief escape a robbery (because Pete was angry he couldn't afford a $2 bottle of chocolate milk) and, in mere seconds, the thief shoots and kills Uncle Ben. On its own merits, it's a poorly handled sequence that fails to elicit any of the heartbreak and emotion present in the Raimi version, but, in terms of story and Peter's character, it should be a turning point. But when Peter learns that he's partly responsible for Uncle Ben's death, it doesn't act as signifcant change for his character. Peter should realize the responsibility he now carries with his powers and decide to put them to use against crime so that nobody else has to feel the pain he feels at Uncle Ben's death. But instead he commits to using his powers for selfish reasons, this time embarking on quest for vengeance for Uncle Ben's killer (which is exactly the sort of thing Uncle Ben would be opposed to).
Even at this point in the movie, I think the filmmakers could have made Peter's origin still work. Peter is fighting crime purely for selfish reasons. All he wants is vengeance against Uncle Ben's killer. At this point in the story, Peter should somehow come to learn the error of his ways. He has to learn the lesson that these powers aren't to be used for personal gain. His powers, which allow him to do things no other human can do, force upon Peter a responsibility to help others. Peter can have his quest for vengeance (just like he briefly does in Raimi's Spider-Man) but it needs to end when he realizes that with great power comes great responsibility. The powers aren't for Peter, they're for the people of New York City.
So how does The Amazing Spider-Man end Peter's selfish and vengeful hunt for Uncle Ben's killer? Peter gets sidetracked with trying to stop The Lizard. Now, some people might say this is where Peter has learned his lesson. Captain Stacy has explained to Peter that Spider-Man isn't helping the city and that the masked vigilante is obviously just on a personal vendetta. Shortly after that, Peter takes on The Lizard on the bridge and saves some innocent people from tumbling into the river below.
So, lesson learned, right? Pete now realizes that he can't be Spider-Man just based on a personal vendetta, right? Not exactly. Talking with Gwen, Peter says that he has to continue fighting The Lizard or else more people will get hurt. He calls it his job now to stop The Lizard. Arguably, this is Peter accepting his responsibility, but the way the scene is played and the context surrounding the crucial bits of dialogue regarding The Lizard undercut what should be an important moment in Peter's transformation. Firstly, this is not a lesson learning scene. This is not where Peter realizes that with great power comes great responsibility and reaffirms his role as Spider-Man. Peter casually says to Gwen that fighting The Lizard is something he has to do. There's no lesson learned, there's no realization, there's only a continuation of what's come before, and since we never see Peter regret or condemn his vengeful hunt for Uncle Ben's killer, the movie tells us that the two (the personal vendetta and the new hunt for The Lizard) are the same. Even with this scene, we never see Peter accept his great responsibility. The movie doesn't distinguish between Pete's motivation for the personal vendetta and his quest for The Lizard, labelling them morally equivalent, and in doing so it deprives Peter of a moment where he accepts his responsibility and becomes Spider-Man.
This is reinforced by a small snippet of dialogue that comes right before The Lizard dialogue. Pete asks Gwen if she believes what the police say about him and she sides with Peter and says no. This, despite the fact that we know the police and Captain Stacy to be correct and that Spider-Man is a vigilante who's only operating because he has a personal vendetta. So our two heroes have stated their disagreement with what the police say about Spider-Man's previous actions (the personal vendetta) and then go on to reassert what he has to do next (take care of The Lizard), once again implying that they're equivalent. This scene could have been the movie's saving grace but by aligning the chase for The Lizard with Peter's personal vendetta and having both characters stand in opposition to the police (who are right about Spider-Man) it undercuts anything the scene could have said about Peter learning his lesson and accepting his responsibility.
The movie then turns around and gives a different motivation for Pete fighting The Lizard. After only encountering The Lizard once, Peter learns that The Lizard is actually Curt Connors and that it was only because of Peter's help that Connors was able to turn himself into The Lizard. Peter says that because he helped create The Lizard, it's now his responsibility to stop him. This is exactly, 100% wrong and is the exact opposite of what "great power, great responsibility" is all about.
It might seem like splitting hairs, but hear me out because I think that it's in this transition from personal vendetta to fighting The Lizard that this movie's Peter Parker could have learned that with great power comes great responsibility and fully assumed the role of Spider-Man. But he doesn't, and as a result The Amazing Spider-Man's Peter never truly learns what it means to be Spider-Man. He begins the movie as a too-cool-for-school jerk without Uncle Ben's great lesson and ends the movie as the exact same jerk except that at the end he has a snazzy costume and a cute girlfriend.
So let's break down the problem with Peter fighting The Lizard solely because he was responsible for creating him.
Based on Spider-Man's guiding principle, "with great power with great responsibility," Peter is not responsible for stopping The Lizard because he helped create him. Peter is responsible for stopping The Lizard because he is responsible for helping the people of New York City. Peter feels that he is responsible for stopping any and all crime that he can because he has a power that no one else has. With great power comes great responsibility. He's the one with the great power and so he's the one with the responsibility. His responsibility doesn't exist because he's personally at fault for Connors turning into The Lizard. Just like his responsibility to find the man that murdered Uncle Ben shouldn't be motivated by a personal desire for vengeance. Spider-Man's responsibility and sense of duty is omnipresent, regardless of where the foe, crime, or danger comes from.
Yet The Amazing Spider-Man implies, and Peter flat out says, that his responsibility in stopping The Lizard is derived from his helping in its creation. Not only does this completely destroy the point of "With great power comes great responsibility" but it also implies that Peter isn't responsible for fighting any wrongdoing besides the ones that he starts. And since, in this movie, Peter never fights crime other than to serve his own ends (finding Uncle Ben's killer and stopping a creature he helped create) that's exactly the message the movie ends with.
And that's not who Peter Parker is. That's not who Spider-Man is. At its very core, this movie screws up who Peter Parker and Spider-Man are. Fueled by guilt, Peter Parker entrusts himself with the responsibility of helping the people of NYC because of the amazing powers he's been granted. It's absolutely essential to his character that he learns that lesson and accepts that responsibility. But nowhere in Amazing Spider-Man does Peter ever accept the responsibility that his powers bring with them.
Peter Parker is the anchor from which everything else in a Spider-Man story hangs off of and The Amazing Spider-Man has an unlikable, broken, arrogant, bullying Peter Parker as its anchor who, worst of all, never learns that with great power comes great responsibility.
Despite the last thousand or so words, I don't actually hate The Amazing Spider-Man. It's broken at its center, it's rather dull and lacking in any sort of unique style or charisma, none of its action scenes stand out as uniquely engaging or interesting, a lot of its dialogue is awkward and stilted, the Spidey suit and The Lizard design are absolutely atrocious, the mystery surrounding Peter's parents is an obvious gimmick to make people think this movie is doing something different than Raimi's trilogy though the mystery is uninteresting and the movie mostly forgets about it halfway through, and it's just generally full of scenes that either totally miss their mark (like Uncle Ben's death), are embarrassing (like the cranes at the end), or are downright repugnant (Peter's final, horrible line about promises).
But I totally get why people like it; it's an easy movie to like. Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, and Denis Leary are engaging on screen and the whole thing clips along at a decent pace with some action every once in a while to spice up the proceedings. If you sit in front of it, shut your brain off, and assume that its hitting all the necessary beats a Spidey origin should, then it's not a painful watch. It's not a good movie, but its a painless experience.
Next on the docket: The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Can the (much more divisive) sequel fix the problems the original created? Can it feature an actual interesting villain? Can it just be more fun than the first? Most of all, can it make Peter Parker likable?


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This is a 9-day event. Earn exclusive items for completing each Job of the Las vegas Challenge. Jobs in each succeeding Chapter will reward you with more valuable items. You can get up to 3 exclusive items by completing Challenge Mission: Las vegas. Earn all 3 items to become more powerful.
REWARDSEarn 1 Skill Point every time a Job is completed.
You need Talonators to do Jobs. Collect Talonators from:All daily limit timers reset at 11.59 PM Pacific Daylight Time (GMT-7)
*Collect daily from Challenge Missions. Note: Talonator will not drop from Robbing in Mexico.
The more Jobs you complete, the higher the Job Heat Meter rises and the more difficult it is to evade the FBI. Manage your Job Heat Meter to a low level to dodge them and safely complete the Challenge Mission. The Heat Meter resets after 8 hours from the time you last did a Challenge Mission Job, so plan your Jobs accordingly to avoid getting caught.
You can collect Talonators from Challenge Missions once a day:
When Chapter 1 is available you can get a maximum of 20 Talonators per day.
When Chapter 2 is unlocked, you can get a maximum of 25 Talonators per day.
When Chapter 3 is unlocked, you can get a maximum of 30 Talonators per day.
Complete each Chapter to go to the next one. The next chapter has a countdown timer for it to be unlocked. The Jobs from the next chapter will only be available once unlocked and if the previous Chapter has been completed.
You can also earn Talonators from:
Ask friends to join your Crew and receive 5 Talonators for every Crew member added.
The crew slots reset each time a chapter is completed.
Hurry! Unfold each Chapter and unveil great rewards.


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The girls took turns holding up different colors to their face.
We are going to use those three colors to make tied dyed shirts after the Holidays. We will use those shirts as another troop shirt to wear on outings.
They were easy to make and fun to do. I think the girls could have a made a dozen more if we had the supplies.
They sang "Grandma got run over by a reindeer". Oh poor grandma!
These girls crack me up. They are so fun to be around and I always leave the meetings in a good mood.


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A few days after xmas, Haley and I flew to Spokane, rented a pickup truck and drove into Canada. We arrived at the airfield in Nelson, British Columbia around 2pm, organized our gear, squeezed into the helicopter and ascended into the hills. Barely 10 minutes later we were scurrying across the helipad through a frigid downdraft surrounded by winter at Baldface Lodge.
The next four days were my most memorable days on snow ever. We rode top-to-bottom untracked powder almost every single run and started 2013 in the best possible way I can imagine. Here are some pics:
|Our guides RC & DW were total pros in the mountains.
|in the cat
|on the way up, Kataoke was born...
|The CREW


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Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Wicked Wednesday
But good news reached me today. Two of the four ladies who played the little game to win a copy of Vampire Nocturne just receved them today. Dora DeGostino, and Nina D'Arcangela--both in New York State--notified me that their copies came. Dora stated on Twitter that she got her "Easter present! Vampire Nocturne (3rd install Sabrina Strong series) is now in my hot little hands. luv the cover!"
For Dora, this is the second book she's won. She's a great fan who has written great reviews on all my books. Funnily enough, she claims she is not a fan of vampire fiction. I get that from other people too. You need not really like vampire fiction to enjoy my books.
Vampire Nocturne is nearly a stand-alone book, in that many of the main characters who Sabrina will be interacting with are in another world. Plus it is a steampunk, or has steampunk themes, since this world she goes to is in the Victorian era.
I'm looking forward to some reactions/reviews on this book.
Meanwhile, I'm puzzled about one silly thing. And it is silly of me to even worry about it. You see I've been pinning up my business cards up in a local grocery store for the past few years. It usually will remain pinned up for weeks. Eventually someone takes it. My new ones are sort of cool. It says "Got Vampire" in a creepy font, and I've got all my info down below on eye-catching neon orange. If the card is gone, then I know someone might really be interested in the books--I hope. But lately, I think the last 4 weeks, I've put my card up and almost the next day it's gone. I'd put up another and in a day or two it would be gone again. Last week I put up two--together--and they were there for a few days. I came back to work and saw both cards were gone over the weekend. So I put up another card. This morning it was gone.
The reason I'm wondering about this is because people can be nasty and take something down they think is--oh, let's just say against their moral judgement? Having said that and with Easter coming up, I've decided to not re-pin my card again for a while. I'm hoping whoever it is taking my cards and probably throwing them away will quit coming in and taking them. I'm certain that there aren't that many people grabbing my card because they're going to buy my books. I really have never seen my cards just fly off the bulletin board like this before.
Well, before I leave I wanted to direct some of you to my Sabrina Strong Fan facebook page. If you are not already a "fan" or a member of this, you may request I add you. I would love to see some new "blood", if you will.
If you ARE a member I would love to hear from you more often. As a matter of fact I've got a little questionnair up. The question is how many books do you read in a year? I'll leave this up for about a week and see what sort of responses I get. I'll then post a new question. I'd love to hear from you, so don't be shy. it's just a simple question.
I hope you all have a wonderful Easter.
3 comments:
I imagine it could be someone who's easily offended and morally sanctimonious. Unfortunately there's no shortage of that in the world...ReplyDelete
Sorry to hear that. I've handed out my postcards to people who have handed them back to me. Wow! People just suck some times.ReplyDelete
I keep my expectations low when it comes to reading books. This year I've committed to reading 12. If I read more, Yay for me!
Hugs and chocolate,
Yes, William and I'm only guessing, but really for no sales to show, I'm suspicious when 6 cards fly off the board in a matter of 3-4 weeks. That's really nasty. How would they like it if I did something like that to them?ReplyDelete
Hey, Shelly I'm re-reading some, now. I hope to be able to get a few new ones this summer. Maybe. But yay for you!
Chocolate hugs back!
Chickens lay eggs, and so do Turtles
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