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The United States hasn't been serious about the violence in Mexico because it would hurt our own government and corporate economic interests. Decades of putting our heads in the sand and a refusal to use a combination of diplomacy and economic sanctions to pressure the Mexican government to fight corruption and reign in their drug cartels, have all contributed to the anarchy and violence that is spilling over the border into our own country. Instead, we pushed fair trade and our corporations built manufacturing plants. "Fair" trade and human rights don't generally go hand-in-hand.
Let's close our manufacturing plants in Mexico. The Mexican government cannot protect the maquiladoras who work in them - over 470 women and girls have been killed in Juarez, Mexico. Over 100 journalists have been killed by drug cartel people, some of the victims thrown to the lions...literally. Over 1,600 people, including US journalists and citizens, were kidnapped and killed just last year. The corrupt government of Mexico can't and won't control its criminals and allows them to act with impunity, because the criminals also include the police, military and government officials, themselves. At the end of this post, please read the more detailed information on the inexplicable arrest of over 45 women in San Salvador Atenco, Mexico. Many of them were tortured and repeatedly raped by their arresting officers and held for over a week without bail. The government has purposefully refused to pursue any investigation of these arrests, rapes, tortures, and detentions since they occurred in May, 2006.
The United States government should recommend that all US corporations and non-profits discontinue all operations and pull their employees out of Mexico for their safety. We can use the production jobs to increase our own GDP and humanitarian assistance here in our own country during own rough fiscal times, anyway. Our country should refuse to send any aid or assistance to Mexico until the government pursues the prosecution and detention of all guilty parties involved in the drug cartels, violence and human rights violations in their country. This should help motivate the Mexican government to actually do something significant about the violence. We should be doing something to protect American citizens in border towns on our side of the border, as well. Our reporters and government should also be telling American citizens the truth about the extremely high levels of violence being perpetrated right on our doorstep!
Check out some of the interesting first-hand accounts of life in Juarez, Mexico and across from it in El Paso, Texas, USA on this CNN blog:
Information of the women of Atenco, Mexico, plus a request to write a politely-worded letter to Mexico's Attorney General demanding justice for these victims of human rights violations:
I just learned that an 18-year-old girl, a cousin of a collegue, was murdered by drug cartel members a week ago in Chihuahua, Mexico; she was an innocent bystander. My collegue has stated she would absolutely not travel to Mexico at this time because of the extent of the violence, much of which is not publicized north of the border to United States citizens. This violence includes grenades being thrown into crowds, as well as kidnappings for ransom. If you're thinking of traveling to Mexico, please think twice.
Homegrown menu expansion
2 hours ago

subset: commoncrawl


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June 13, 1933-Dec. 7, 2012
On Friday evening, Dec. 7, 2012, Betty "B.J." Johnson, 79, was taken by the Heavenly angels to be with our Lord, while surrounded by her family.
Funeral services will be held Monday, Dec. 10, 2012, at 7 p.m. in the chapel of Seymour Funeral Home with the Rev. Dann Patrick officiating. Interment will be held Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, at 11 a.m. at Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.
Betty was a godly woman who loved the Lord and her family and set an example for her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren that will lead them all their lives.
Betty was born in Dillon, S.C. on June 13, 1933, to the late Wade Hampton Cook and Bessie Mae Page Cook. She was married to the late Joseph McCloud Johnson. Betty attended Faith Free Will Baptist Church. She was a caring, loving parent and grandparent whose primary goal was the happiness and security of her family. An avid sports fan, Betty could often be found watching or supporting her children and grandchildren.
Betty is survived by her children, Joe Johnson and wife, Jean, of Goldsboro, Bessie Roberts and husband, Donald, of Louisiana, Zandra Johnson and husband, Gary, of Goldsboro, Wade Johnson and wife, Shelda, of Goldsboro, Greg Johnson and wife, Phyllis, of Goldsboro and Dawn Johnson; her grandchildren, Donald Roberts, Jennifer Johnson, Matthew Roberts, Courtney Roberts, Ty Johnson, Taylor Johnson, Gregory Johnson and Lauren Johnson; and four great-grandchildren.
Flowers are welcome or memorials may be made to the Meals On Wheels Program, 601 E. Royall Ave.,Goldsboro, NC 27530.
The family will receive friends Monday, Dec. 10, 2012, following the service at Seymour Funeral Home and other times at the home of Greg and Phyllis Johnson, 404 Plantation Road.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.seymourfuneralhome.com.
Published in Obituaries on December 9, 2012 9:16 AM


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Friday, August 27, 2010
Corsets, Clock Gears, and Cleopatra
Though mainly associated with the Victorian era, there is no question aspects of the Steampunk culture have been influenced by ancient Egypt. In the entertainment field Steampunk belly dancing is on the rise. Since the top Steampunk Band, Abney Park incorporated belly dancing into its live shows, many of these dancers have been inspired to go steampunk adding googles, corsets and pantaloons to their costumes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqM9sCLIi_g In the area of interior design, Nethercraft offers an incredible collection of fabulous Egyptian walls http://www.nethercraft.com/prod_tomb.html. The Egyptian- Steampunk movement has even invaded fashion with Costume Designer, Iris Bainum-Houle's collection, clearly influenced by both the garments of ancient Egypt and Victorian England. http://tinyurl.com/26dvuxo The latest cross genre of romance, Steampunk, has also shown Egyptian influence.
One thing that stands out in Steampunk/Romances are fresh, settings and alternate history. Steampunk/Romances are usually set in Victorian England, especially London, some are in the Old West in the same time period, and As Timeless As Stone takes place in 1830 Paris, France. But As Timeless As Stone is also an example of Egyptian/Steampunk.
In Steampunk/Romances one of the main characters is usually a scientist and In As Timeless As Stone my hero is an Egyptologist. He's also the assistant of Jean François Champollion, the man best known for deciphering the Rosetta Stone. Working for Jean Francois Champollion, the conservator of the Egyptian collection at the Louvre, Ricard uncovers a room full of artifacts Napoleon Bonaparte brought back from his Egyptian campaign and expedition. They have been hidden away from the English all this time.
This is the part of my story where magic and science combine as it does in most Steampunk/Romances. As Ricard examines these artifacts, he uncovers an ancient Egyptian statue with the head broken off. When he sets the head back in place and uses his linguistic skills to read the incantation she holds in her stone fingers, the statue comes to life. A gorgeous flesh and blood woman appears where a stone image stood just moments before. This is my heroine Seshat, who in peril for her life turned herself to stone thousands of years before.
Another big part of Steampunk/Romances are the wonderful Victorian fashions. But in As Timeless As Stone, Seshat is not impressed with layers of confining clothing. As an Egyptian priestess it is a taboo for her to wear anything made from animals, such as wool, and this comes into play when the couturier is garbing her in the latest Parisian gowns.
I hope you'll give the Egyptian and Victorian influences of my Steampunk/ Erotica/ Romance, As Timeless As Stone, a try and let it sweep you away to another place and time for a fun adventure.
Here is a short excerpt of As Timeless As Stone:
Ricard stepped back as his gaze devoured the entire woman, though stiff and lifeless. The stone looked like lush, sun-warmed skin. Her oval face was dark and delicate, with full, rosy lips. He admired her long lithe body, clad in a sheer, white, sleeveless dress, held up only by two delicate linen shoulder straps. He longed to roam his fingers and lips over her high perched breast and the thin waist which flared into curved hips and lithe thighs. Then, down to her pretty legs and her slender feet garbed in white papyrus sandals, of the station she depicted, an Egyptian priestess of the Middle Kingdom. He drank in her beauty, then he noticed the ornament lying in the valley between her breasts, a thick ankh of gold hung from a chain. His fingers absently tried to grab hold of the necklace but it was only part of the statue, no matter how real it seemed.
"What is this?" He looked at the plaque in the statue's stone hands, held beneath the ankh. The last hieroglyphic depicted the symbol for life, an ankh, held up to the woman's nose. Ricard read it silently, sounding it out, Nce xarp wt pwwne Ab etoot abrem... Toujo Abrem etoot pwwne ab... xarp wt au ai ankh qe, and translated it under his breath. "God Horus, as you turned my flesh to stone... God Horus, save me, make me whole...change my stone to flesh...give me the nose breath of life, once more."
The room vibrated and an unnatural wind swirled within. Ricard's hair stood on end, but he could not tear his eyes away from the statue. He grabbed the ankh, and this time it gave way, lifting from the statue's chest. The curiosity that drove him as a scientist, as an Egyptologist, caught hold and as strange as this all seemed, he felt he had come this far, he had to see it through. Laying the ankh against the statue's small nose, Ricard acted out the last hieroglyphic on the plaque.
He shuddered at the sound of a gush of breath. A flash of light struck inside the room. The shock knocked the breath out of him. The statue moved, but she wasn't stone anymore.
Jean François gasped and stepped back.
Ricard couldn't move. It's a living, breathing woman. He dropped the ankh and it fell against her chest, which now rose and fell with heaving breaths. Ricard managed to step back on shaky legs. He gaped at her, unable to think or speak.
The priestess shrieked. Her brown eyes glowed with anger. "Come near me you Hyksos cobra, and you will die!" she warned in Old Egyptian.
Timeless as Stone is available in the Amazon kindle store, Barnes and Nobles online for the nook, Fictionwise, All Romance Ebooks, and most online book stores. Please drop by Maeve Alpin's official website http://MaeveAlpin.com
16 comments:
- Fran Lee said...
Sounds like a winner!
- August 27, 2010 at 4:44 AM
- Paris said...
What an interesting genre and your story sounds wonderful!
- August 27, 2010 at 6:49 AM
- Linda Kage said...
I had no idea what steampunk was until someone said it was like the movies Wild, Wild West and the new Sherlock Holmes. After hearing that, I've been wanting to read a steampunk romance.
And now I know where to find one. Thanks.
- August 27, 2010 at 9:52 AM
- Katalina Leon said...
Maeve your book sounds stunning! I love steampunk.
XXOO Kat
- August 27, 2010 at 10:00 AM
I didn't know there were Egyptian steampunk novels, though I admit that the genre is very new to me.
You book sounds fantastic and the writing is so rich. I have no doubt the story is a winner.
- August 27, 2010 at 12:50 PM
- Maeve Alpin said...
Thank you so much, Fran, I appreciate the kind words. Thank you for posting.
- August 27, 2010 at 12:53 PM
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- August 27, 2010 at 1:23 PM
- Maeve Alpin said...
Thank you so much Paris,for your interest in Steampunk/Romance and my story, As Timeless As Stone. I appreciate it.
- August 27, 2010 at 1:26 PM
- Maeve Alpin said...
Dear Linda,
Thank you so much for your comment,I appreciate that so much. I think the movie and TV show Wild, Wild West has introduced more people to Steampunk than anything else. I am so glad you heard about the genre and have such an interest in it.
- August 27, 2010 at 1:31 PM
- Maeve Alpin said...
Dear Kat,
Thank you so much, I appreciate the kind words. I'm always glad to meet someone who loves steampunk. Thanks so much for posting.
- August 27, 2010 at 2:29 PM
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- August 27, 2010 at 2:41 PM
- Maeve Alpin said...
Dear Mary,
Thank you so much for your comment and your kind words, it's readers like you that make writing so worthwhile. To be honest, many people don't know there're Egyptian steampunk novels, you're not alone at all. That is one of the main reasons I wrote this little guest blog post. I always love to find people who are new to the Steampunk genre as it shows how much the popularity of the genre is growing.Most steampunk fiction does not have Egyptian influence but some do, in fact one of the Steampunk/fiction classics is The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers. To be honest Steampunk/Romance is a new cross genre and I haven't read any other Steampunk/Romance with Egyptian influence though there may be some others that I missed.
If anyone knows of some, please let me know. I'd love to read them.
August 27, 2010 2:41 PM
- August 27, 2010 at 2:42 PM
- jean hart stewart said...
bradneLoved the excerpt but can you define steampunk for me? I have the general idea but that's all....Jean
- August 27, 2010 at 3:40 PM
- Maeve Alpin said...
Thank you so much for you kind words. I know you are very busy writing and I'm so glad you dropped by. Steampunk is Historical/Sci-fi, similar to what the early Sci-fi masters wrote such as H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. It's basically based on the idea of the Industrial Revolution and the Technological Revolution occurring at the same time. The old TV show and more current movie, The Wild Wild West is an excellent example of Steampunk. It has also gone beyond the genre to a type of life style with Steampunk gadgets¸even cars, steampunk art, steampunk music, and steampunk clothing.
- August 27, 2010 at 3:55 PM
- Tina Donahue said...
Interesting blog. I've seen that old TV series "Wild, Wild West" on TV and never realized it was steampunk.
Your book sounds awesome, Maeve!!
- August 29, 2010 at 8:06 AM
- jean hart stewart said...
Thanks for your explanation,Maeve ...Love to learn...Jean
- August 29, 2010 at 1:11 PM


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President Bush, in an interview on CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer on 2006-09-20, suggested that, from the perspective of history, the current bloody violence in Iraq will "look like just a comma." I've heard a fair bit of chatter about the comment, but Thursday night's Daily Show with Jon Stewart was the first time I've seen the actual video clip. I noticed something that I haven't heard commented on in the press, that Jon Stewart let slide by, and that's missing from the rush transcript posted on CNN's web site. Here is Bush's actual quote:
Yes, you see it on TV. And that's the — that's the power of an enemy that is willing to kill innocent people. But there is also an unbelievable will and resiliency by the Iraqi people.Sounds like a Freudian slip to me, given the reports that Bush has asked for action plans for a ground invasion of Iran in the quite likely event that a massive aerial bombardment is inadequate to destroy their nuclear programs (nuclear weapons, nuclear power, or both). I don't by any means want to detract from the inhuman insensitivity of what Bush meant to say, but it's worth noting what he actually did say.
Twelve million people voted last December. Admittedly, it seems like a decade ago. I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iran, Iraq, it will look like just a comma, because there is — my point is, there is a strong will for democracy.
Technorati tags: Bush, CNN, Wolf Blitzer, Situation Room, Iraq War, Iran, History, Comma Comment, Politics


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When I was young I was very shy. I never expressed my own opinion and I rarely spoke up in a group. I did however have a strong penchant for non-conforming. I liked things that others thought were crazy and I didn't care what others thought about it. I enjoyed being different and I always looked for clothes, books, and music that was definitely not mainstream (hello! I have pink hair at 39 years old!)
When I was in college I started developing my own voice, but it wasn't until I was about 22 years old that I developed the ability to express what I really thought. I had a friend named Angie who brought me out of the shell that was Sheri into a woman who could express her mind and give you her opinions. I became comfortable enough with who I was that I could let people know. This strained a relationship that I had, but it was in need to straining.
Starting in high school I had a friend I was close to. She was pretty, popular and vivacious. Everyone loved her. She grew up in a home that was very strict and protective. She rebelled. We remained friends through college and got our first apartment together. We lived together for 4 years. She was horrible to me. Even though she was younger than me she spoke down to me. She never touched the house, I cleaned everything including her awfully messy bedroom. I did most of her laundry. Her boyfriend basically lived with us, ate our food, used our toiletries and never paid one red cent. When he was working she had various other friends who would "stay over". Everyone raved on how gorgeous she was. I never thought she was pretty. I saw the ugly side of her. She was selfish and mean and disloyal. She lied and manipulated to get what she wanted from who she wanted. As I look back on that time of my life I am embarrassed that I took all that for so long.
I think it was like I was living in domestic abuse situation (to a much lesser extent). I couldn't really see it for what it was until we parted ways. Her sister moved in with me and I was horrified at the things she told me. It turns out all along that all the immoral and hateful things she was doing she was telling the stories to her family as if I was doing them. I truly feel it was a way to cleanse her conscience of her activities. I was sickened. It only took about a month for her sister to learn the truth.
This cemented me into a person who was unafraid to tell people what I think. I have no tact. If I think something it comes out of my mouth. I think this helped me be a better advocate for Dustin. I was able to not only express his needs, but make people understand what we are dealing with. I am able to tell the schools that what they are planning is not going to work. I am able to tell the public that my child is different. I am able to deal with stares and gawking with truth. I am able to speak out against the evils of drinking while pregnant. I have a voice. I have found a platform, it is finding my child's needs and trying to assure there are fewer like him.
This leads me to today. Well, not so much today, as lately. Lately, I have been finding myself at war with my initial response to things. I find someone posting something that trips my trigger and my initial response is "Oh, give me a break!" and yet I find myself tempering my response. I am learning to think about what others may be experiencing first. I am learning that not everything we write is all inclusive to our home experiences. I don't always know the whole story when we read a venting blog post. I don't always know their backstory and their experiences that made them who they are today. I have found myself becoming . . . wait for it . . . nicer!
I am not sure if it is age, or just growth that has made me less cynical and less quick to respond, but whatever it is, I like it. I think it has a lot to do with education. You blogging friends have educated me that not only am I not alone on this journey of raising special kiddos, but I don't know it all. I have found myself giving others the benefit of the doubt far more often than I used to. I am also realizing that it makes me a happier and way more pleasant person. I like that person so, thank you.
What is your blogging experience, has it changed you? How?
Week Recap: The 7 of us
42 minutes ago


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Browse our whisky database by region and country. Whiskies are produced throughout the world and each region brings it own distinctive tastes, styles and production techniques.
Cu Bocan | Highland Park | Jameson | Shelter Point | Tullibardine | Wyoming
Highland Park 1970 Vintage
Single Malt - Scotland - 48.00% 9 A slow, learned intellectual of a malt. If you are going to put out a 40yo, here's the benchmark.
Highland Park 40 Years Old
- Scotland - 48.30% 9 A stunningly great whisky. One of the finest I've had for a considerable time.
Highland Park 1973
Single Malt - Scotland - 50.60% 8 Sheer classiness and head and shoulders above the rest for me.
Talisker 25 Years Old
Single Malt - Scotland - 54.20% 8 Anenticing combination of sweet and warm.AnHebridean welcome dram. Would also workas a wakeup call. Very more-ish.
Talisker 25 Years Old
Single Malt - Scotland - 45.80% 9 A drop in strength from the Special Release expressions but a massive upping in complexity. An instant classic.
Adelphi Highland Park 17 Years Old, Cask 2903
Single Malt - Scotland - 55.30% 9 That dance might have been led by Fred Astaire. The great all-rounder in lean and energetic mood. Makes it look easy. Try it with a late-night movie.
Douglas Laing Highland Park 16 Years Old
Single Malt - Scotland - 50.00% 8 For the end of the evening. Of considerable complexity and will require several attempts before it's cracked. Not for everyone.
MacPhail's Collection Highland Park 30 Years Old
Single Malt - Scotland - 43.00% 8 More robust and less sophisticated than the distillery bottlings.
Scott's Selection Highland Park 20 Years Old 1981
Single Malt - Scotland - 48.50% 8 What a great dram! Complex and beaming. I like it better neat.
Signatory Highland Park 1988
Single Malt - Scotland - 46.00% 8 A lovely whisky. A sweetish bottling. More complex and elegant than the 'official' 12 Years Old, but not quite as expressive as the 18.
Talisker 25 Years Old
Single Malt - Scotland - 56.90% 8 Bold, subtle, sweet yet smoky. Class.
Talisker 1981 30 Years Old
Single Malt - Scotland - 57.30% 8 The best so far in this series of 30yo Taliskers but to be nit-picky about it just a little more activity from the cask would have elevated it still further.
Talisker 30 Years Old Special Release 2007
- Scotland - 50.70% 8 A well balanced and rich fellow. Water adds more layers .A beautiful aromatic voyage.
The Arran Malt 4 Years Old, 1997 Single Cask Sherry Butt
Single Malt - Scotland - 56.30% 8 Keep this for Christmas and drink it with the pudding.
Lombard Highland Park 1989
Single Malt - Scotland - 50.00% 8 Very slow, long, flavour development. Gets up to speed at the very end.


text: I do not know if my wii is 3.2U, or 3.4U. It's one of the two, it is the firmware the original Twilight Hack ran off of. I need to install cIOS14 or 15 so I can use USBLoaders correctly and have newer games run. Is there anything special I need to do to install above said? I saw some thread with this one user having problems with 14 and 3.4 but I have no idea if that applies to me.


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Weird War Tales v1 #122, 1982 - An old sailor recounts his days as a midshipman aboard a British destroyer. His tale turns fantastical as a futuristic ship engages them. Don Newton's artwork is largely adequate, with much of his effort put into the opening panel. Set in a peaceful bay in the South Pacific, the scene is more detailed than subsequent pages. Sal Trapani, whose style differs from Newton, nonetheless does an admirable job with the inks. Other artists in this issue include Ruben Yandoc, Romeo Tanghal and Howard Chaykin. This is number 2 of 2 Weird War Tales issues with Newton art and/or covers.
- - - - - - - - - -
"Showing the Flag" Newton story pencils (Sal Trapani inks) 8 pages = ***
|Don Newton
Home / Newton / Weird War
>this issue >Newton >Weird War Tales


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More than 15.000 visits and 150 official readers. You guys are insaane!
Thank you so much.
This makes me feel even more guilty for not posting. Shame on me!
But there will be coming some outfit pictures this week, I promise.
What kind of posts do you want to see more? Outfit picture posts, artsy-fartsy picture posts or some editorial pictures/designer report stuff?
Tell me, because I really want to keep my beloved readers satisfied haha.


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faust's libraryby Douglas Messerli
Gerhart Hauptmann and Hans Kyser (scenario), F. W. Murnau (director) Faust / 1926
Despite Faust's healing powers, his deep knowledge of alchemy, and even his prayers, the dead continue to be delivered up to his door. Suddenly doubting his own ability and, more importantly, dismissing all the knowledge he has received from his books, Faust determines to burn his library, first the books on alchemy and ultimately the Bible itself—an act so appalling that it alone seems almost to call up the Devil, as the fire flips the page to reveal the method to conjure him up, a frightful prophesy of the Nazi book burnings to come.
More like the Devil's deal with Joe Boyd in the American musical Damn Yankees than Faust's pact with Mephisto in Goethe, Murnau's Mephisto first offers Faust a 24-hour bargain, in which time Faust uses his power for the betterment of his people. But when they discover that he cannot face a cross, they attempt to stone him, and Faust has, one might suggest, little choice but to continue his pact, demanding a younger self.
Most discussants agree that this part of the film is the weakest, due, in part, to the bland acting talents of the neophyte actor Camilla Horn. If she is not stellar, however, she certainly suffices to represent the kind of simplicity after which Faust now lusts. And the wonderful scenes with her bawdy, rum-toting aunt, Marthe Schwerdtlein (played by the veteran actress, Yvette Guilbert), later to be seduced by Mephisto himself, are worth our attention.
When Faust leaves Gretchen, moreover, with a child and no source of survival, Horn's surreal-like attempts to protect her baby in a snow-storm by buying it, if overacted, are sufficiently moving. It is the child's death which leads to the community's demand that she be burned at the stake, Faust returning to her, again as an old man whom she miraculously recognizes and demonstrates her love, saving her—and Faust's souls.
It may represent little consolation, as Roger Ebert argues, that as both burn upon the pyre the archangel proclaims this couple are saved, but this is, after all, not so much a real presentation of a human Faust and Gretchen as of doll-like figures representing them. As Ebert himself suggests, it is the very melodramatic and over-staged elements of Murnau's work which make it so visually powerful. This is myth at its most elemental presentation, a legend in which we viscerally comprehend that the abandonment of reason and knowledge can only end in sacrificing life itself.


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Residents and workers in Willesden Green are concerned about proposed regeneration in the area - a place for news, discussion and action
Thursday, 31 January 2013
GT comment on 'suspicious' surge in support for their development
Monday, 28 January 2013
Willesden Wassail shows our Town Square at its best
Thursday, 24 January 2013
Galliford Try the soft soap on land grab
|Thanks to James Thurber
In response to our 'land grab' story below Linden Homes released the following statement:
+++STOP PRESS: Galliford Try Statement in response to recent land acquisition claim'This claim is completely misleading - Galliford Try is not receiving or acquiring any further land from Brent Council.
Kate Spence has issued the following rejoinder:
We were asked by officers, just before Christmas, to resubmit drawings for the planning application. Those revised drawings show an amended red line around the development site which reflects the fact that Galliford Try will be undertaking significant landscaping improvements to the area around the Cultural Centre, including a section of Grange Road, to the benefit of the local community. Consultees have been informed of this change in line with statutory planning procedure.'
The original area of the WGCC site allocated for WGCC works and attendant housing scheme was clearly defined by an edged and cross-hatched area on Plan A and presented to an Exec committee in Jan 2012.
The brief from Brent Council to the tendering developers and the agreement signed with Galliford Try required the provision of an improved public realm WITHIN the constraints of this hatched area. The brief required parking spaces for 8 cars, 2 library vans and cycle parking. It also required good out door amenity for children and teens. There was never an agreement that the boundaries of the site could be expanded in order to provide these essential requirements.
Currently the play provision for younger children on the site is 50 sq m of safe, fenced play ground. The land at the end of Grange Road is a safe, calm pedestrianised highway giving the benefit of uncluttered and neutral space facilitating cohesion to the High Road. This is now to be cluttered by cycle parking and pavement play interventions which should have been accommodated within the agreed site leaving a calm area at the High Road end of Grange Road.We would welcome an improved public realm. There is nothing that the adjacencies of a cycle route, pavement play interventions and reduced pedestrian highway offer as an improvement to the stretch of land at the end of Grange Road.If there had been a smaller area of land made available for housing, then there would have been sufficient space to include these essential requirements within the agreed red boundary. There should also be provision for 8 parking spaces on the site.The brief was written to protect public interest. Surely, Brent Council cannot approve a scheme that so clearly deviates from the agreed contract and their own brief.
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Formal challenge issued on validity of Willesden Green planning application
This is the text of an email sent by Philip Grant to Chris Walker, Brent's Assistant Director Planning and Development, on 23 January 2013:-
Further to my email yesterday, forwarding a copy of an email I had sent to Andy Bates, I am writing to formally question the validity of planning application 12/2924 (made in the name of Galliford Try Plc) for the proposed redevelopment of Willesden Green Library Centre.
This application was received by Brent Planning Service on 2 November 2012, and validated on the same day, even though it took until 15 November to load all of the supporting documents onto your website. At some later stage, however, one of your Planning Officers either realised, or had brought to their attention by a comment made in respect of the application, that this application, as it stood, was not a valid one.
Having reviewed the Department of Communities and Local Government document "Guidance on Information Requirements and Validation" via the Planning Portal website, I can see why this application, as submitted, was not valid.
- Paragraph 40 makes clear that among 'the information required to make a valid planning application' is the 'mandatory national information requirements specified in the GDPO.'
- Para. 44 says: 'The GDPO requires applicants to submit "a plan which identifies the land to which the application relates". This is interpreted as a location plan and a site plan.'
- Para. 46 states: 'The application site should be edged clearly with a red line. It should include all land necessary to carry out the proposed development – for example, land required for access to the site from a public highway, visibility splays, landscaping, car parking and open areas around buildings.'
The site plan originally submitted failed to include all of the land necessary to carry out the proposed development, because it did not, among other things, include land in Grange Road on which development forming an integral part of the application proposals would be carried out.
Having discovered that an application which had been treated as valid was in fact invalid, it appears that the applicant was invited by one of your Planning Officers to "correct" the site plan. As Andy Bates explained to me in his email of 21 January:
'I am happy to confirm that ... the revised plans amended the red line to include all the land that forms the application site. Previously, the northern end of Grange Road was shown as being the subject of future highway works that formed part of the development site, but not within the red line. Planning Officers requested that this site plan be corrected and it was on this basis that the new batch of plans was submitted.'
As a result, revised plans were submitted, including site plans with a new red line site boundary, just before Christmas 2012, with the revised site plans uploaded onto your website on 24 December 2012. This revised application must therefore be treated as replacing the invalid application of 2 November 2012.
The question now shifts to whether this revised application is valid. On the technical grounds that the revised site plan now 'includes all land necessary to carry out the proposed development', it would appear to be valid, but my email yesterday to Andy Bates highlighted a further point. For ease of reference, I will repeat the main points of my argument on this aspect of the "site plan".
The site plan showing the site available to the proposed development partner for the Willesden Green Library Centre redevelopment was shown as plan A at Appendix 1 of the report by Andrew Donald, Director of Regeneration and Major Projects, to Brent's Executive on 16 January 2012. In that report, Mr Donald made specific reference to the red line site boundary, as follows:
4.18 Following the Executive approval of February 2011 the Council also reviewed the red line site boundary of the site. In order to maximise viability it was decided to incorporate Chambers Lane - the land marked crossed hatched black on plan C at Appendix 1 - within the WGLC site, as shown edged black in the plan A at Appendix 1. In February 2011 the Executive had previously authorised the Assistant Director of Regeneration & Major Projects (Property & Assets) to dispose of the land at Chambers Lane Willesden Green shown crossed edged black on plan C at Appendix 1 with vacant possession by way of auction.
4.19 In June 2011, having defined the site and the Council's requirements for the cultural centre, a tender process was followed in accordance with the HCA DPP Framework procurement procedures, a framework which the HCA has set up already under the EU procurement rules.
This extract confirms that the "defined" site marked by the red line (as edged and cross hatched in black on Plan A) was the redevelopment site on offer to the developer. Brent Executive's decision on this point (from item 5, Willesden Green Redevelopment Project, of the minutes of their meeting on 16 January 2012) is recorded as:
'that the Director of Regeneration and Major Projects in consultation with Director of Legal & Procurement be authorised to award and enter into a Development Agreement with Galliford Try Plc in respect of the Willesden Green Library Centre site as shown crossed hatched black in the plan A at Appendix 1; such agreement to provide for the acquisition of the land as shown edged blue and green in the plan B at Appendix 1 and the development of a new cultural centre within the land as shown edged orange in the plan B at Appendix 1.'
You will note that the Executive only authorised an agreement with Galliford Try Plc 'in respect of the Willesden Green Library Centre site as shown cross hatched black in the plan A at Appendix 1'. The original site plan submitted for this application on 2 November 2012 did show a red line boundary which matched that approved by Brent's Executive.
I am not aware of any further authority given by Brent's Executive to allow the red boundary line to be altered in order to enlarge the site. What appears to have happened is that Galliford Try Plc and Brent's Regeneration Department have failed to fit all of the "Council Works" required by their Development Agreement onto the 2170 square metres of the 7795 sqm Willesden Green Library Centre site which was allocated as the land for those works. In order to "deliver" those works, they have moved some of the proposed facilities onto public highway land at the north end of Grange Road, outside of the site boundary.
Although the "correction" to the red site boundary line contained in the revised plans brings all of the proposed development within the red line on the site plan, that site plan does not show the site boundary as put forward by the Director of Regeneration and Major Projects, agreed by Brent's Executive, and set out in the Development Agreement. I would submit that the revised application of around 24 December 2012, which replaced the invalid application of 2 November 2012, is itself invalid, because it purports to show a site boundary which is not the actual site boundary.
I will forward a copy of this email to Joe Kwateng, at Democratic Services, so that he can consider whether this is a valid application which should go forward to Planning Committee. I will also ask him to consider whether, if it is valid, it can go before that Committee on Wednesday 13 February, as Public Notice of the revised application will not be published in the local press until tomorrow, 24 January 2013, so that the extended Public Consultation Period will not end until 14 February 2013.
Posted by Martin Francis at 21:20 9 comments: Links to this post
Labels: boundary. Grange Road, Brent Council, challenge. validity, Galliford Try, Keep Willesden Green, Linden Homes, Philip Grant, Planning Application, Planning Committee, Willesden Library Regeneration
Tuesday, 22 January 2013
Town Square is heart of Willesden Wassail
Willesden High Road shops were blessed and sang to by more than 100 residents as part of an ancient ritual, which returned to Willesden Green this weekend.
The Willesden Wassail saw residents joined by a team of spoken word artists as they marched down High Road to honour their local food providers on Sunday.
Wassailing is a tradition dating back to pre-Christian times in which a group of people sang a traditional winter song to their weather-beaten apple trees in order to encourage a good harvest for the year ahead.
The modern event, which takes place every year, sees residents do the same but for their local high street food providers.
Rachel Rose-Reid, who organised the event, expressed the importance of keeping to the tradition.
She said::
Small acts of kindness and appreciation can make a lot of difference, there's always a good reaction from shopkeepers and we always stop at a new shops as well.
I've learned so much from shopping there, these are the people who create a local community so it's important to recognise them.
The festival then moves onto the town square outside Willesden Library where residents decorate the trees that line the area.
The square is currently subject of a bid by campaign group Keep Willesden Green who want it to be given Town Square public status.
Ms Rose-Reid added:
The square is at the heart of our area and in big cities there are fewer and fewer community spaces.It's at the heart of the Wassail and it's incredible to have a space where we can do this sort of thing.
Posted by Martin Francis at 08:33 No comments: Links to this post
Labels: Brent Council, Town Square, Wassail, Willesden High Road
Saturday, 19 January 2013
Brent Council gives more Willesden land away to developers
Martin Redston writes:
Brent Council have made a last minute decision to give away yet further Conservation Area High Road space to facilitate private housing development and assist Galliford Try in maximising profit.
We should object to the inadequate children's play area, cycle parking/ cycle route, outreach/ library lorry parking (and reversing) and parent and child parking bay, all of which are to be squeezed in together in the Grange Road strip. This is not a well considered plan. There will also be a considerable impact on privacy of residents in Grange Road, houses 1-15.
The area agreed by Brent Council in Jan 2012, as developable land, has been the subject of recent campaigns as residents believe, amongst other concerns, that the Town Square Conservation area in front of the 1980's library should not be used at all to facilitate private housing development. Yet again, this is a cynical 'land grab' by the developer in collusion with Brent Council who have fiddled development guidelines in order to generate funds.
The Planning Application shows development in the area at the High Road end of Grange Road but these proposals were outside the agreed boundary of the Application. The brief was for the scheme to include good play space and cycle parking within the hatched area defined in Jan '12. Instead of requesting that the plans are revised by Galliford Try, the Council has simply revised the boundary and given away the last scrap of Town Square to the private property developer.
Posted by Martin Francis at 16:04 1 comment: Links to this post
Labels: Brent Council, children's play area, Galliford Try, Grange Road, Martin Redston, Willesden Conservation Area, Willesden Green Library Centre Redevelopment, Willesden High Road
Friday, 18 January 2013
Willesden Green planning application delayed further - more time for your comments
The details for application 12/2924 on the Brent Planning website have been amended today, and now state:
This application was advertised on 24/01/2013 for the following reason:
Departure & affecting conservation area.This case will be decided no earlier than 14/02/2013
It appears that, despite issuing a consultation letter on 27 December 2012 advising of the "Revised Proposal" it had received with a changed site boundary line, the Planning Service did not place a newspaper advertisement or on-site notices about it. This will now be advertised next week, with the consequence that the revised public consultation period will end on Thursday 14 February. This is the day after the Planning Committee meeting on 13 February, so that the planning application cannot now be considered until March 2013 at the earliest, and residents are free to carry on submitting comments.
There has been a further development on the Brent Planning website, with a whole batch of new "Revised Documents", mainly plans including detailed landscape plans for the Grange Road part of the enlarged site, attached to the planning application 12/2924 page. The conservation area consent application is also affected, with public consultation period also now extended until 14 February. Although no new application documents have been added to the 12/2925 page on the website yet, there is a copy of a new site notice
There has been a further development on the Brent Planning website, with a whole batch of new "Revised Documents", mainly plans including detailed landscape plans for the Grange Road part of the enlarged site, attached to the planning application 12/2924 page. The conservation area consent application is also affected, with public consultation period also now extended until 14 February. Although no new application documents have been added to the 12/2925 page on the website yet, there is a copy of a new site notice
Thursday, 17 January 2013
Mystery of Brent Council support for WGLC planning application solved!
Philip Grant writes:-
Around Christmas time, a mysterious item was added to the comments section for the Willesden Green Library Centre application (ref. 12/2924) on the Brent Planning website:
> 05/12/2012 - Brent Council , Town Hall , Forty Lane , Wembly , HA9 9HD . Support.
As Brent is, in reality, a joint applicant with Galliford Try Plc in this application, and also the Local Planning Authority, which needs to be seen to consider all planning applications fairly on proper planning grounds, this was a little worrying. I wrote straight away to the Planning Officer, Andy Bates, with the request
'Please let me know, and make this information publicly available, who on behalf of Brent Council, and in what capacity, has submitted the Council's support for this application.'
I eventually received the following reply from Andy Bates on 16 January:
'In terms of the point about the specific letter of support to which you refer, I have been able to ascertain what has happened. The correspondence has come from Ward Councillor Lesley Jones and her address has been entered as the Town Hall. It is this information that has been entered onto our database and which appears in the public view that interested parties can see. I am currently asking my colleagues in Technical Support to have a look at the way that the information is displayed in this particular case and I apologise it has taken as long as it has to clarify this particular point.'
So, the mystery has been solved, and it was all a mix-up by someone within the Planning and Development Department who did not know the difference between Brent Council and an individual Councillor. On the same day, the Brent Council entry above was deleted from the "View Comments" section of the Planning website, and replaced with:
Consultee comments:
> Cllr Lesley Jones , Member for Willesden Green Ward , Members Room , Brent Town Hall.
> Cllr Lesley Jones , Member for Willesden Green Ward , Members Room , Brent Town Hall.
As a local Councillor, Lesley Jones counts as a "Statutory Consultee", but her actual comments were not posted on the Planning website as they were sent by email. Luckily, when I called in at the Brent House One Stop Shop to look at some other planning documents on this application, a copy of her email was in the box. Brent's adopted Statement of Community Involvement says that representations received on planning matters will be published and made available, both online and at key locations, so that they can be read and considered by those who have also submitted comments and all other interested parties. I took a copy of the email, and this is available below, for any interested party to read and consider.
I wrote to Lesley Jones and suggested that she might want to publish hew views on her Council 'blog' ,as she had not yet shared them with her constituents, before they are made public elsewhere,
I have received a reply from Cllr. Lesley Jones stating that she has now put her planning application submission on her blog. She says:
'Could have put it on before but I get behind with updating my blog. Prefer to spend most time on case work for residents and following through with planning and conversion breaches in the ward. Believe me, I do a lot!'
Thursday, 10 January 2013
Press letter on Willesden Town Square battle
Zadie Smith attacks loss of Willesden Green public square as 'cultural vandalism'
The Evening Standard reports today that local author Zadie Smith has stepped ino the debate about the Willesden Town Square application:
A council that closed half its libraries wants to demolish another to make way for new homes, then rebuild it on a cherished public square.
Brent residents are fighting plans to build 100 flats on part of the Willesden Green Library Centre site and erect a "cultural centre" on land in front.
Author Zadie Smith, who grew up in the borough, attacked the scheme as "cultural vandalism" and said the square is one of the few public places where locals can meet for free.
In the New York Review of Books, she wrote about visiting the square when it hosted a French market, saying people were "simply standing around in the sunshine, like some kind of community".
Protesters claim the plan will result in the loss of a community "breathing space" where local events are held. They have applied for the land to be recognised as a town square. A public inquiry will be held next month.
Martin Redston, leading the campaign, said: "The public square is essential as one of the last pieces of open space in Willesden Green. It is sunny, but sheltered by a lovely old plane tree and looks out on to the 1894 heritage of the old library. It is a place where shoppers and workers can rest, pause and reflect. It is a safe place where parents can let their kids play without straying into main roads."
Brent, which closed six of its 12 libraries despite residents' protests, plans to give part of the existing library site to developers in return for them funding the new building, and said it was an "innovative opportunity" to get a new facility without direct investment.
Willesden Green consultation failure has led to wrong scheme
Thursday, 3 January 2013
Willesden Green Library Centre – some New Year thoughts
Philip Grant has asked me to post this article:-
If Brent's Regeneration Department had got their way, Willesden Green Library Centre would now be an empty building site, and the 10,000 local people who used its former building every week would be making do with small temporary facilities spread across the borough. The thousands of local residents who signed petitions, and the hundreds who have put in a lot of time and effort to fight the proposals, have ensured that this has not happened yet, and that even if the Cultural Centre plans go ahead, the 1894 library building will be retained.
We can look back on 2012 with some satisfaction, but as we look forward to 2013 the key battles will come in the next few weeks. In order for the Cultural Centre scheme to go ahead, Brent's Regeneration Department and Galliford Try Plc have three hurdles to overcome. I hope that these notes, and your own ideas and comments resulting from them, will help us to understand what needs to be done in order, hopefully, to see the scheme fall flat on its face.
1. The Town or Village Green application
The Public Inquiry on Martin Redston's application to have the public square in front of the Library Centre registered as a Town or Village Green will begin on Monday 11 February. In my view, the square could meet all of the legal tests necessary for registration, and current chances of success are around 50/50, but it is up to the Applicant to produce the evidence necessary to prove his case. That is why Martin needs witness statements from as many people living within the Willesden Green area (the "neighbourhood within a locality" on which the application is based) by Monday 14 January at the latest, giving evidence which shows that they have used the square for leisure activities during the period from 1991 until May 2012 (or for whatever part of that period they have done so). It is very important that only genuine information and details are given, and that no one "invents" evidence thinking that this will help. Any statement which the objectors can show to be false, or the Inspector conducting the Public Inquiry considers likely to be false, will undermine Martin's case by raising doubts about the validity of all his evidence.
Anyone is welcome to attend the Inquiry (from 10am each day in Space 2 on the first floor of the Library Centre – via the lift opposite the BAR Gallery). I hope that any supporters of the application will treat the proceedings with respect, as any placards or noisy demonstration would probably do more harm than good. From what we saw at the preliminary hearing, the Inspector appears likely to handle the Inquiry properly, and to consider the evidence and arguments of both sides fairly before reaching a conclusion. He hopes to produce his report and recommendation by the end of February. If he decides that the case for registration has not been sufficiently proved, I cannot see any point in trying to pursue this application any further. If he recommends that the square should be registered, Brent Council are not obliged to accept his recommendation, and could just sit on his report without taking any action on it. In that case it will be necessary to campaign publicly to shame Brent into registering this open space as a Town or Village Green, because it is only actual registration which protects the land from being built over.
2. Planning Application ref. 12/2924
Brent's Planning Committee is likely to consider this application at its meeting on Wednesday 13 February at 7pm. The Planning Committee are not "the enemy". They are independent of Brent's Executive, and have a duty to decide applications on proper planning grounds and in accordance with Brent's stated planning policies (unless material considerations indicate otherwise). There is a reasonable chance that they will reject the application, if the defects of the application are put before them.
Many of us will want to be there, and anyone who has commented on the application should receive notification of the meeting from Brent Planning Service. People should attend as individuals, carrying their notification; this is not the occasion for crowd action, placards or anything that could justify officials at the Town Hall barring the public from the meeting. We need to respect the committee proceedings, so that our views as well as those of the applicant and the Planning Officer receive a fair hearing.
The Planning Officer's report and recommendation will be very important. It should be available to view online, as part of the meeting agenda documents, about a week beforehand. It will be a long and detailed report, and it needs to be studied very carefully. All of the points showing that planning policies have not, or not fully, been complied with need to be noted and referred to in objectors submissions to the committee, and any points where we disagree with the report over whether a planning policy is satisfied also need to be identified and brought to the committee's attention. I think it would be a good idea if an individual or small team began listing these planning policy points now (from objections and comments already submitted), so that the list is ready to check against the Planning Officer's report and be available to the KWG representatives who will speak as objectors at the meeting.
It is likely that a maximum of only three members of the public will be allowed to speak at the Planning Committee meeting, and probably for only two minutes each (one may be allowed three minutes). It is probably safe to assume that only two objectors will be allowed to speak, and to identify who would be the best two (with one "in reserve") to speak clearly, concisely and confidently as to why, on proper planning grounds, the application should be rejected. Those two should notify the committee's Democratic Services Officer, Joe Kwateng, at: email@example.com that they wish to speak as objectors as soon as possible after the date for hearing of the application is confirmed, with the "reserve" sending an application as soon as those two requests to speak have been acknowledged. [I will not be putting myself forward as a speaker, as I think local people from Willesden Green would carry more weight – I will do what I can to ensure that several procedural matters are dealt with properly, including that of Cllr. Ann John as a member of the committee].
As indicated above, the key points to get across are why the application should be rejected on planning grounds. It might be best for one speaker to deal with the housing part of the application, and one to deal with the Cultural Centre points. They will need to work together to see who will have room in their two (or three) minutes to also include the planning policy failures on consultation, the fact that unlike the Civic Centre, WGLC is not in a regeneration area but in a district centre whose suburban character is meant to be protected under Brent's own policy CP17, and the points arising from part of the site being in a conservation area (with the rest within that area's "setting"). It will be a tall order to get everything into such a short time, by with careful preparation I think it can be done.
It will not be possible for the Planning Committee to grant full planning permission to this application at their meeting. If they are "minded to accept" the application, it will have to wait while the linked conservation area consent application is referred to the Secretary of State (see below). If the Planning Officer's report recommends granting planning permission, the committee will not be able to reject the application at their meeting – they will have to record that they are "minded to refuse" the application, set out their grounds for this view, and then adjourn hearing of it to a later meeting. The only way that the application can be refused outright at the meeting is if the Planning Officer recommends refusal and they are satisfied that he is correct to do so. We do not yet know the recommendation will be (or whether, exceptionally in the particular circumstances of this case, there will be no recommendation) but the more proper planning grounds for refusing the application we can draw to the Planning Committee's attention at the meeting, the better for our case.
3. Conservation Area Consent Application ref. 12/2925
This application cannot be decided by Brent's Planning Committee, as despite its attempt to hide behind Galliford Try as the "sole applicant", Brent is legally the joint applicant, at least as far as the proposed Cultural Centre is concerned. The conservation area consent application will only be considered by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (or the planning advisors which recommend what decision he should make) if Brent's Planning Committee are "minded to accept" the planning application.
Brent's Planning Service will have to submit all of the documents in respect of this application, including all of the objections and comments made on it, for consideration. There is nothing further that we can do to influence the outcome, and there will be no public hearing. The usual time for such consideration before a decision is given is, apparently, between 16 and 20 weeks, but can occasionally exceed six months in a complicated case. If the decision is to grant the application, this would then allow Brent's Planning Committee to grant full planning consent.
Because the two applications have been combined in a single form and set of documents, it is difficult to work out what the conservation area consent application part of it actually consists of. When I managed to do so, in order to submit my detailed comments, I discovered that it is a total mess! The application form seeks permission for the partial demolition of just the southern extension of the 1894 library building, confirming this in its proposed demolition plans and Town Planning Statement, then puts forward plans for work involving the complete demolition of all internal walls and floors within the locally listed building. This and other contradictions in the documents, together with a failure to actually consider the tests which the application needs to pass before it could be accepted, means that the Secretary of State would have little option but to reject it.
Brent's Regeneration Department are aware of my detailed comments on this conservation area consent application, and if they have any sense, they and Galliford Try will withdraw it and submit a fresh application in place of 12/2925. This would mean another public notice, providing a further 21 days to consider, comment on or object to their consent application. If they press ahead with the existing application, they may well trip over this hurdle, even IF they manage to clear the first two. That is a big "IF", and something which is far from certain as long as we organise and prepare properly the cases in favour of the Town and Village Green and against the planning application.
Posted by Martin Francis at 11:50 No comments: Links to this post
Labels: Brent Council, Galliford Try, Keep Willesden Green, Martin Redston, Phillip Grant, Planning Application, Planning Committee, Willesden Green Library, Willesden Town Square
Tuesday, 1 January 2013
Galliford Try grab more Willesden land
Kate Spence writes:
The site plan below shows land to be assigned for development by a partnering developer in Willesden Greeen as agreed by the Executive Committee in February 2012. This plan was drawn up in order to define the land made available in order to deliver a new Cultural Centre at zero cost. The contracted developer, Galliford Try agreed to provide a new Centre that would add cultural benefit to the area, the public realm was to be enhanced and at the same time Council offices would be provided to provide a South of Borough presence for Brent Council. In order to deliver the project at zero cost, a master plan was agreed by Regeneration Team and the developer to provide private housing to fund the project.
I note from Andy Bates' letter of 27th December that, almost one year on, there is now further land required for disposal to Galliford Try in order that proposed new Planning Application 12/2924 & 12/2925 can meet Planning Regulations. There has been no question of the rear line of the Cultural Centre being adjusted to allow for public provision as this would decrease the space available for private housing and therefore reduce developer profit.
The developer has also not shown any willingness to reduce profit and include a basement to house archive and museum allowing better provision for public amenity. Instead it has been agreed, behind closed doors, that yet more Public High Road, Conservation Area open space should be assigned to Galliford Try for development purposes.
In the proposed plans the developer has failed to make space for adequate on-site car parking provision, they are also unable to deliver cycle parking. I can see that the proposed plans for Grange Road include cycle parking and therefore a cycle route.
Currently the Grange Road area is enjoyed as a safe pedestrianised walkway. Will the inclusion of a cycle route and parking enhance this area and do the proposed children's pavement interventions really sit safely alongside the cycle access? This appears to be yet another ill-conceived plan which does not offer public benefit and will not enhance the area.
Has the post-contractual decision to give over yet further public land to achieve a large housing development with small Cultural Centre been formally authorised by the Executive?
Clearly the allocated site was insufficient for the proposed public facility along side the private housing and therefore yet more public land has been assigned without consultation in order to achieve a positive outcome for the applications ref 12/2924 and 12/ 2925.
The goal posts seem to have moved in order to facilitate an untenable application and the basis on which the WGCC and housing contract was signed with Galliford Try has been adjusted in order to make the unacceptable plans viable. This alteration has been agreed by a Council who claim to be impartial in their assessment of the scheme.
I do hope that when the scheme is presented to the Planning Committee that there will be a more objective approach and the developers requirement for additional public land in order to meet their objectives, will be highlighted in the Planning officers report to the Committee.
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text:
, COTONOU, May 15 – Benin's President Thomas Boni Yayi has pardoned a prominent businessman and his alleged accomplices who were accused of conspiring to poison him and preparing a coup.
Boni Yayi said in a televised address on Wednesday evening that he had pardoned his one-time ally Patrice Talon and everyone implicated in the alleged plot in October 2012 by switching his medication for poison.
Talon fled the tiny west African nation where he was already facing corruption accusations and had been fighting extradition from France, where he was arrested in December 2012.
In December last year, a French appeal court refused to grant his extradition, ruling that he could not be sent home because it was not clear that an arrest warrant for him was still valid.
Six people, including the president's niece and his personal physician, were being held in custody in Benin on suspicion of involvement.
Boni Yayi ordered the release of those being held in custody in Benin and said he "guaranteed to everyone the freedom of movement both in our country and the rest of the world".
"I call on every Benin citizen to turn the page once and for all on this affair and work together to resolve the problems which we all face on a daily basis. This affair should be put behind us," he added.


text:
Now that we've visited the moon a few times, nobody is talking about setting up a moonbase. Everybody seems to want to move on to colonizing Mars. But you know what? Venus is a lot closer.
Earth's orbit is 93,000,000 miles from the sun. Mars' orbit is 141,600,000 miles from the sun. The closest Mars and Earth can get is about 48,600,000 miles, while the furthest away they get is 234,600,000. Venus is 67,000,000 miles from the sun, so the closest Earth gets to it is 26,000,000, and the furthest away Venus gets is 160,000,000. So yes, it's about half the distance to get to Venus as it is to get to Mars.
Why is nobody clamoring to colonize Venus?
At first glance, Venus does not seem very welcoming. Oh, sure, it has about the same amount of gravity as Earth, but that's the only thing that might be called 'welcoming'. Its atmosphere is carbon dioxide and nitrogen, with clouds of sulfuric acid droplets. There may be trace amounts of H2O and HO in the atmosphere, but don't expect to go outside without a space suit. The corrosive atmosphere is so dense, no probe that landed on Venus lasted longer than a couple hours. If the acid doesn't get you, the pressure will. That pressure is the same as being 1.5 miles deep in the ocean. And that's assuming you don't land in a volcano, because the surface is highly volcanic.
The atmosphere is the cause of runaway greenhouse effect, and the surface of Venus is about 900°F. Venus rotates backwards, so the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, but it rotates so slowly, a 'day' (single rotation) on Venus is 243 Earth days, while it only takes 225 Earth days to complete a circuit around the sun. That would take some getting used to. And despite Venus' slow rotation, the top lay of clouds whip around it in about 4 Earth days, at speeds of 225 (or more) miles an hour.
Ready to make it your home yet?
There are people considering how it could be done. They don't see a colony on Venus' surface, however; they envision an enclosed 'station' that floats 30 miles above Venus' surface, where the pressure is about the same as sea level on Earth. The temperature would be about 160°F, but that would be relatively easy to deal with. And being below that top layer of clouds, it might be pushed around the globe, but not at hurricane speeds.
That doesn't sound so bad. Maybe they could devise a way to grow plants on the outside walls to change some of the carbon dioxide into oxygen. If enough of that happened, the greenhouse effect could start to calm down, the temperature might lower, and those racing high-level winds would slow down. Who knows, maybe it would be possible to establish a base on Venus' surface... in a few millennia.
Ready to ship out yet? Or are you waiting for the ship to Europa?


text:
In the early 1970s, Bill Stevenson and some friends hung fliers around Olympia announcing they planned to form a bike club.
The first meeting was in the basement of his home on North Street and he was surprised by the turnout.
"It was right at that beginning of the bike boom, but we were all shocked when 100 people showed up," Stevenson said. "Luckily, I had a full basement and was not living in a tiny house."
The bike club was up and going, and in 1977 the Capital Bicycle Club officially became a nonprofit.
The 40th anniversary of that occasion is this year, but no celebration is planned. Instead, the club is doing what made it successful over the decades.
It is adapting.
"Every few years you have to adapt," said Stevenson, the club's president. "Usually a problem presents itself and you have to figure out how to deal with it.
"I think this is one of those years."
The club has 500 members, more than any other South Sound club unless you count the massive Seattle-based Cascade Bicycle Club. Cascade, co-founded by friends of Stevenson in 1970, is the nation's largest bike club and continues to broaden its reach into the South Sound area.
Each year, the Olympia club stages one of the South Sound's largest bike rides, the Two-County Double Metric. The ride offers four routes, the longest of which is 200 kilometers and travels the quiet back roads of Thurston and Lewis counties.
Every few years you have to adapt. Usually a problem presents itself and you have to figure out how to deal with it. I think this is one of those years.
Bill Stevenson, Capital Bicycle Club president
It's this tradition where the club is doing its adapting this year.
Traditionally held in June, the ride is moving to Aug. 27.
It's a bold move. Not only is it now on one of the final weekends of summer, but it is 1½ months after the state's most popular ride, the Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic.
Held the last weekend of June in recent years, the Two-County billed itself as the last big tune-up ride for the 200-mile STP. Most years about 400 riders showed, many there for precisely that reason.
But the ride conflicted with other bike events. Last year, Pierce County Parks' Tour de Pierce and Cascade's now-defunct Red-Bell 100 were the same weekend. So was the Black Hills Triathlon in Lacey.
"There are only so many bicycle-related events in Thurston County, and it just seemed like we could pick a date that didn't conflict," Stevenson said.
Two-County's turnout didn't seem to be impacted by the triathlon or the other events, Stevenson said, but "It just seemed like bad manners."
Cascade calls a meeting of all state bike clubs each fall to coordinate ride schedules for the next year. Capital Bicycle Club noticed a dearth of late-August rides and was eager to fill the void.
"It's a time when the weather is most likely to be good," Stevenson said.
And what about giving up that prime pre-STP spot?
"We thought, we've been a warm-up for STP for so long, maybe we should be a beneficiary," Stevenson said. "People are getting into August with some good fitness levels and maybe not having any place to use them."
The Two-County took a big leap forward last year when Providence Regional Cancer System signed on as a sponsor. The sponsorship could impact Thurston County riding beyond Capital's top ride.
In past years, Capital staged a second event ride. Stevenson said two rides and other club responsibilities overextended club members.
But Providence brings with it a corps of employees who volunteer at the Two-County's six rest stops. This much-needed help relieved enough club members that Stevenson said adding a second ride is a realistic possibility.
"It's something we will consider," he said.
Help from their sponsor also frees up club members to add a new perk for this year's rider.
This year, the club will have members lead groups on the longer three routes. The club hopes this will appeal to people who are nervous about getting lost, don't have somebody with whom to ride or people who may have the fitness level for a long ride but lack skills such as the ability to change a flat tire.
It's a little change, but when you're reinventing yourself, even little changes sometimes prove to be a big deal.
Craig Hill: 253-597-8497, email@example.com, @AdventureGuys
Two-County Double Metric
When: Aug. 27.
Where: The courses will start in Lacey with the longer routes visiting Thurston and Lewis counties.
Routes: 20, 50, 100 and 200 kilometers.
Information: Some ride details have yet to be finalized. capitalbicycleclub.org/2County


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The calendar has turned and it is fall at last. (And it's still raining....)
Asters, and similar flowers, are taking the stage here in upstate NY. Here is a nice clump, blooming among some goldenrod near a restaurant parking lot in Vestal, NY.
Remember, you don't have to live in the country to enjoy wildflowers. Wildflowers are everywhere, there for your enjoyment.
Here is a picture of her purple asters. These look to be a different variety than mine - the petals in her seem to be thinner and more "bent".
My guest has also, recently, started to see pink asters - not just the purple ones we are used to.
This picture, which is from this weekend, shows the ripe berries of maple-leaf viburnum.
And finally, this stunning picture from earlier in the year shows these witch-hobble viburnum in the red berry stage. I love the shadows on this picture.
What is your favorite wild flower or plant of autumn? (or, if you are in the Southern Hemisphere - spring?)
Join me daily as I blog about life in upstate New York,photography, flowers, gardening, travel, caregiving, a brother in law with autism, the importance of chocolate in a well lived life, or anything else on my mind.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Wildflower Wednesday - The Flowers of Fall
Posted by bookworm at 7:25 PM
Labels: asters, wildflowers
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Archive for the 'Tech' Category
Using 3D printing to make labequipment for DIY biology
January 1, 2010 Leave a comment
What do you get when you combine 3D printing and a DIY bio enthusiaist?
Behold the "Dremelfuge"
It is able to stably spin standard microcentrifuge tubes at ca 5000-20000 g. And the dremel can go up to 50000 g, but he broke his tubes.
This creation was made by Cathal Garvey, it might look simple but the cost of buying lab equipment for "ordinary people" certainly justifies it.
Categories: Tech


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HARTFORD — — After losing the last two national championship games and a core of veteran players, it was assumed Notre Dame might take a year, like maybe this year, to catch its breath. You know, rebuild, reload and eventually rebound.
While that seemed logical, there was a fundamental problem with the assumption. Notre Dame did not agree with it.
Not only did the Fighting Irish rebuild and reload, they rebounded stronger than ever, completing the regular season at 28-1, on a 23-game winning streak and perfect in the Big East Conference (16-0) for the first time.


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4 Av 5777
The US State Department says the Arabs are attacking Jews in Israel because they lack hope. An Israeli pundit said the same thing in a recent interview.
Let me assure everyone reading here that there is absolutely no hope for Arab aspirations in Eretz Yisrael. Of course, those Western-minded Arab sympathizers are thinking hope for an independent, democratic state where they will be masters of their own fate - an end to "occupation." But, those who understand the enemy know that it is the hope of pushing every last Jew in Eretz Yisrael into the sea (or under the ground) that drives them. And in this regard, there is no hope for them.
There is no hope of Jewish annihilation that will ever come to fruition. There is no hope that our enemies' plans will succeed in driving us off our land. Because they are not fighting the Jews, they are fighting Almighty G-d!
No, there is no hope for them.


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Its wonder, unbelievable real virus attacked on a cell, researchers from Princeton University spot the event, particle sized virus tired to infect a mobile, and it's amazing. They released a video
A virus like particle moving at high speed around the cell until it encounters a cell, it shows a show like a rubber ball, it bounce and skid on the surface again and again, it takes Nano second to complete the process and enter into the cell's interior space and spoil the cell.
We know virus attacks on human, animals and trees, now we are suffering from non-curable diseases by virus like cancer, aids, Hepatitis, dengue and etc. there is no medicines some of the virus diseases.
Right now researchers invented curing methods to cells by virus attacks. Laughing news it is, but true the news.
|all screenshot images credited MovieS6
The real virus attack video captured by Haw Yang and Kevin Welsher scientists from the Princeton University. Kevin Welsher told viruses and Nano-particles are very small and fast to move, to capture the event is very hard and critical, but they capture and invent unbelievable news.
These scientists used 2 cameras 1 is captured virus particle and second is cell and current surrounding environment of the cell.
Any how people attacked by another new viruses, be careful. Thank you.


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Meditation on HairA school of fish enters the dark cove races for pulsing cocoons. Live scripts of intricate twists and turns. You ponder the origin of arrows. Eyes of strangers swim the dark waterfall of your hair. Time erodes you into the ambience of hyacinth. You read yourself from cover to cover. A single fish survives, decoded to form a new universe. Your hair never reaches your ankles, its length cannot exceed the lifespan of a single hair. You arrange tea leaves into patterns of Cygnus and Orion, dream of slender men in a starlit forest metamorphosing into swans that glow in flight into a liquid sky. You are a room that grows with its occupant tapping your insides with tiny feet and fists. You are a room filled with iridescent echoes. Nascent shoots bristle on the horizon. The drummer squeezes through the tunnel to dry, airy light. Time erodes you. Hummingbirds flee. A glistening in the mirror: needles of white hair. The roots within your head discuss your change. Finally, you enter a lake of indigo stars. Your hair continues to grow beneath the earth until your body dissolves in fossils' exhalations.
Wang comments on her poem:
I had long hair when I was a little girl, until my mother cut it very short when lice were found in it. The lice were blamed on the other girls I played with, who lived in the countryside and worked more and washed less than I did. I was very fond of these girls, because they liked me, in spite of my love of books. I was envious that they got to keep their hair long, lice or not, and I was forced to keep my hair very short.
When I went away to college, thousands of miles away, and at the age of sixteen, I finally got to choose my own hair length. This did not sink in for almost a year. After that, I never cut my hair.
My hair grew longer and longer, and then it seemed to have stayed more or less the same length. Sometimes, people asked my permission to touch my hair for good luck. Most of the time, people ask me how long I have been growing my hair. I got tired of this question, and the unwanted attention of strangers when I traveled alone. This poem was written to answer some of the questions I was asked. This poem was also triggered by a poem in Li-Young Lee's first poetry book, Rose.
Broadside Series - Contents


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Lecturer in Moving Image for BA (Hons) Marine and Natural History Photography
Falmouth University - Institute of Photography
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To see more employment opportunities with Falmouth University, please click here.
Perhaps you were looking for something totally different? In that case, it might be best start a new job search from our Home Page. You might also find our Site Map useful too.


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Stamp imprint size: 1.6 inch/40 mm in diameter.Over 10,000 impressions before refilling ink.Made from engraved rubber and mounted to a beautiful plastic handle.
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When checking out, please leave stamp information in "note to seller " including stamp words and ink color.
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We drove in silence behind a motorboat being towed by a black pickup. I thought of his remarks about matter and being, those long nights on the deck, half smashed, he and I, transcendence, paroxysm, the end of human consciousness. It seemed so much dead echo now. Point omega. A million years away. The omega point has narrowed, here and now, to the point of a knife as it enters a body. All the man's grand themes funneled down the local grief, one body, out there somewhere, or not.
I realized while thinking about this review that I've read more DeLillo books than any other author since the Fifty Books Project started. It seems strange now that I disliked DeLillo's abstracted, distant prose and stylized dialog, but there it is. Now, I consider him one of my favorite authors even though I've disliked about as many of his books as I've liked. DeLillo, at the best of times, is only marginally interested in plot. Libra is the only book of his I've read that's even slightly plot-driven, and even his characters, as enigmatic and interesting as they can be, generally aren't the driving force in his books. Instead, it seems to me, liking or disliking DeLillo as an author comes down to appreciating his primary themes—the disconnection of the modern man and the difficulty or impossibility of reconnecting, the absurdity of everyday life, the vapidity of consumerism, etc—and his prose. DeLillo is, hands down, one the best stylists I've ever read and it's that quality that makes even his mediocre novels, like The Body Artist, interesting to me.
Point Omega, his most recent book, certainly falls closer to The Body Artist than Libra. It reads almost like two novellas, one nested inside the other, with no clear connection between the two. In the first, titled Anonymity, an unidentified man stands in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and watches a display called 24 Hour Psycho. This exhibit, which actually exists in real life, consists of a projection screen, viewable from both sides, playing Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, slowed down so it plays through once every 24 hours. The man visits the exhibit every day and marvels at how changing the presentation changes the entire feel of the film, making each moment as banal as the last. In the second, postmodern documentarian Jim Finley travels to the middle of the California desert to film ex-Iraq War consultant Richard Elster. Things are uneventful until Elster's daughter Jessica shows up, sent by her mother in an attempt to end her relationship with the mysterious Dennis. Circumstances change, however, when Jessica disappears, leaving behind all her possessions and sapping both Jim's will to make the film and Elster's will to live. The books ends by completing the story in the first section, such as it is: the unnamed man meets a mysterious woman, they discuss the film, and then leave. The only connection between the two stories is the exhibit itself—while trying to convince him to participate in his film, Jim takes Elster to see 24 Hour Psycho.
Man, this book was abstract. Jessica's disappearance is the closest thing to a plot development in the entire novel, and even it occurs only during the last 20 pages of the second section and is barely explained at all. We (and Jim and Elster) never discover what happened. Possibilities are thrown out—lost in the woods, suicide, elopement with Dennis—but no evidence is given to weight one over the other. Much like The Body Artist, virtually all conclusions that can be drawn are equally valid, not that DeLillo had ever been particularly didactic. The themes are right there in the title and the excerpt above: the omega point is a term that describes the maximum level of complexity toward wich the universe seems to be evolving, but DeLillo seems to say that focusing on the advancement toward complexity isn't as significant as the little moments—hence the fascination with Psycho when it's broken down into its simplest bits, and the de-emphasis on creating the documentary once Jessica disappears. These ideas are hardly seamless, but on the whole, it makes sense to me. At a little over 100 pages, Point Omega is never particularly dull, thanks to DeLillo's language, but it's as stripped down as DeLillo gets, and sometimes feels a little unnecessary. At his best, DeLillo revels in complexity. I'd like to see him heading back in that direction.


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Finally got my AVM30 back with the "Gennum GF9350 VXP Digital Image Processor." In addition to this I also got the ARC installed. This is very cool, as it measures the room and automatically corrects the output.
I removed my old pictures and posted some updated photos.
I'm also working on a new template for my Marantz remote. I think it's pretty cool, but it is taking a long time to complete. I'll post pictures of some of the screens that are completed so far.


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Thursday, October 22, 2009
Pencerah mata
Guess what i found at aranam's blog?
Haaaaish rindu la pulak!!!
Haaaaish rindu la pulak!!!
4 comments:
- Uncle Lee said...
Hello Justiffa, I was at PakMat's pondok noticed your callsign and as busybody is in my resume, I busybody over.
Love your header gambar.
You have a pleasant weekend and keep a song in your heart, best regards, Lee.
- October 24, 2009 at 1:36 AM
hey, i know those two!!!
- October 24, 2009 at 10:09 PM
- Justiffa said...
Uncle Lee - its good la to busy the body.. keeps us on our toes!! :) and TQ for the compliment, u're always the gentleman Uncle Lee :D
Take care & best regards.
- October 26, 2009 at 12:36 PM
- Justiffa said...
DS - mesti la kenal...teman seperiuk & sepinggan kan heheheh (among other things) ;D
- October 26, 2009 at 12:38 PM
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text: (WMC-TV) – While you were sleeping, protests were forming on the Ole Miss campus in Oxford, Mississippi. According to Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones, university police were first notified of the demonstrations when 30 to 40 students gathered at the union. Within the next 20 minutes, the group had grown to more than 400 students. Word of the protests snowballed on social networking sites overnight. Photos were posted all over Twitter, and a video was even uploaded to YouTube.


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By Zach Zaborny
Big 12 Campus Correspondent
Carson Coffman already had plenty of which to be proud.
He quarterbacked his high school team to two state championships. His father Paul played at Kansas State and had a successful NFL career. His older brother Chase was a record-setting tight end at Missouri.
Heading into the 2009 season, Coffman was the presumptive starting quarterback. But even before coach Bill Snyder named him the starter before the season opener, Coffman accomplished one of his goals: His teammates elected him team captain.
"Coming into spring, we wrote down some of our goals, and one of my goals was just to work hard and earn the respect of my teammates," said the junior from Peculiar, Mo. "I think I did that. And (my teammates) electing me captain, shows that I did that. I'm really excited to take on this leadership role and lead the team this year."
Coffman being elected as a team captain made for one proud papa.
"I'm proud of his character more than his football accomplishments, because he is a leader," Paul Coffman said. "He has been elected captain of K-State, which, for somebody that's never been a starter ... I mean, that's quite an accomplishment, to have your teammates support you when you haven't even started a game."
"He's a winner, he's a leader, and he does whatever it takes to help his team be the best that they can be. I think K-State is going to return to a bowl game again, and you are just going to see a guy that's going to quietly lead them to a winning season."
Coffman is a first-year starter but he has been preparing for this season his entire life.
For someone who has never started a college game before, Coffman has been well prepared for this moment for his entire life. He comes from a family where football isn't just a sport; it's the family profession.
His father Paul played for the Wildcats from 1975-77 and then had an 11-year NFL career with Green Bay, Kansas City, and Minnesota. Paul Coffman was a three-time Pro Bowl selection and while with the Packers played along former Kansas State quarterback Lynn Dickey. In 1994, Paul Coffman was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame.
Playing at his father's alma mater is special to Carson.
"Whenever I got the opportunity to come here, I was really excited to follow in my Dad's footsteps," Carson said. "I think he (my Dad), was pretty excited that I got to come to K-State and just follow in
his footsteps."
The Carson family is, if nothing else, athletic. In addition to Chase's exploits with the Tigers, Camille Coffman is a freshman volleyball player at Wyoming. And younger brother Cameron is a junior quarterback at Raymore-Peculiar (Mo.) High School where he is following in his brother's footsteps.
Sibling rivalries can become heated when the spirit of competition is added to the mix.
"I can remember times where Chase and I would just be out on the basketball court for hours," Carson said. "And I'd be so mad that I couldn't beat him. And I mean, we both played (my younger brother) Cameron. I'm sure he felt the same way (about losing).
"I just think that really made us a very competitive family. Just being all athletes, I think that made us very competitive, and we really all have a desire to win."
Carson spent his freshman season at Kansas State as a redshirt. The following two seasons, he was the backup to quarterback Josh Freeman. When Freeman skipped his senior season to enter the NFL Draft, that opened the door for Coffman to become the Wildcats' starter this season.
Coffman, who considers Freeman his best friend, believes that everything worked out for the best for the two quarterbacks.
"I just think that God has an awesome plan for both Josh and me," Coffman said "Obviously Josh is living out his dream right now, playing in the NFL, getting drafted by the Bucs. I'm really excited for him, and I'm sure he's really excited for me that I get to come in and be the starter at K-State. "
With is older brother and his best friend in the NFL, Coffman admits that one of his career goals is to join them.
"Me, Chase, and Josh, that's been our goal and our dream," he said. Now, getting closer and closer to it, it's starting to become a reality, and I mean for them (Chase and Josh), it is already. But I think that's definitely my goal to play in the NFL.
"I'm really always thinking about football. Just any decision in life or anything, is based on football and I mean, it's just a game that I love."


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CTU NEWS: Channing Tatum's Birthday Gift Fabulous Fan Wallpapers, Backgrounds, and MySpace Layout Graphics
Below you can view and download the graphics I created with all of the pictures and Channing-inspired graphics that I received from CTU readers for Channing's birthday gift. Everyone feel free to use them for wallpapers, backgrounds, MySpace layout graphics, and anything else you want. And remember, I will post Channing's actual birthday gift graphic next week on his birthday. Enjoy!


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Native Trails
July 4, 2011
Feel like you've stepped into the French countryside with Native Trails's Bordeaux wall mount vanity. Part of the Vintner's collection, the piece is handcrafted from French and domestic oak wine barrels. To create each custom piece, the barrel is disassembled, cut down to the ideal size, reassembled and then sanded to prep it for a multistep finishing process. Residuals from the winemaking process are removed by wire brushing, and two custom blend waxes are applied to seal and protect for daily use. The vanity is available with a matching mirror that features the original barrel maker's stamp from which it was made.


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Title: Tyrell
Author: Coe Booth
Rating: C+
This month, School Library Journal did a cover story on Street Lit; since I had never really read anything in this genre, I scanned their recommended list and decided to read Coe Booth's Tyrell.
Tyrell is the story of a teenage boy growing up homeless with this mother and younger brother on the streets of New York. With his father in prison, Tyrell must step up and be the man of the family. Although his mother wants him to sell drugs to earn money for the family, Tyrell, instead, decided to DJ a massive party. While Tyrell works to organize this party (mostly through illegal doings), he must also work to balance his love interests and family needs.
The Good: I'm sure many urban teens would have an easy time relating to Tyrell's situation; I'm also sure that many non-urban teens would love this story merely for the "coolness" factor (probably in the same way that gangsta' rap is so popular in suburban American.) I also liked the fact that the author made the main character rather strong; although he has definite flaws, his continued effort to support his younger brother and his complete refusal to partake in drug dealing served to make him a somewhat unlikely hero.
The Bad: Anyone in a library where harsh language, poor grammar, and/or graphic situations could be a problem will probably want to stay away from this book. I also had a little bit of a problem with the book's portrayal of domestic abuse; although brief, it's almost as though the main character thinks it's a husband's responsibility to keep his wife in her place. Finally, although the book does provide an good view into the mind of young urban American, for the most part the actual plot is extremely weak.
aka YA Literature
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Labels: Book Review, Coe Booth, School Library Journal, Street lit, Tyrell, Urban Lit
1 comment:
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- November 9, 2009 at 6:17 AM
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By: Robison Wells
Pub. Date: October 4, 2011
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 356
Source: Netgalley
Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Academy would be the ticket out of his dead-end life.
He was wrong.
Now he's trapped in a school that's surrounded by a razor-wire fence. A school where video cameras monitor his every move.
Where there are no adults. Where the kids have split into groups in order to survive.
Where breaking the rules equals death.
But when Benson stumbles upon the school's real secret, he realizes that playing by the rules could spell a fate worse than death, and that escape—his only real hope for survival—may be impossible.
Variant is about foster kid Bensen (love that name!), who receives a scholarship to the prestigious Maxfield Academy. He believes that attending the school is finally the break that he needed his entire life. He is sick of being moved from home to home and wants a real life and a real education. But Maxfield Academy isn't like other schools. There are no teachers, no homework and no adults! In place of that are wire-fences and security cameras. Once you get into Maxfield, there is no getting out!
The "students" are split between three different gangs. Each fitting into their assigned roles. Complaints are not made out loud because that could lead to a kind of punishment that nobody wants. The students do the cooking, cleaning, and teaching and every single student has a chip on a piece of jewelry that can not be taken off under any circumstance.
Bensen never knows who to trust and the author keeps us guessing throughout the very end. The cliffhanger also leaves the reader wanting and needing book two NOW!
I enjoyed Bensen's character. He was so strong-willed and brave. He wasn't willing to sit back and allow this to happen to him. He was going to break all the rules and do whatever it took to escape.
Aspects of Variant reminded me a lot of Lord of the Flies. What happens to children when there are no adults supervising them? How do they handle this situation? I hated LOTF when I read it in HS, so I was pleasantly surprised on how much I enjoyed Variant.
If you are looking for a suspense story, then Variant is the book for you. I am eagerly awaiting book two!