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T. David Gordon
Popologetics: Popular Culture in Christian Perspective, by Theodore Turnau. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2012, xviii + 346 pages, $19.99, paper.
The typical review of a book takes the book on its own terms and describes its basic content and contributions, and I would be happy to do so for Turnau's Popologetics. Others have undertaken such general reviews, and if I were to write one, it would be largely favorable, because I had so appreciated Turnau's articles in Christian Scholar's Review and Calvin Theological Journal,[1] and I also benefited significantly from this recent book. In the tradition of William Edgar, T. M. Moore, and Aaron Belz, Turnau has provided a volume that greatly assists believers who wish to learn about reality from the artistic products of unbelievers. Turnau's instructions on this point are extremely helpful and extremely judicious.
One part of the book, however, consists of a critique of other Christian approaches to the arts, and on this point I was not only unpersuaded; I was troubled that three "schools" or "approaches" to pop culture appear to have formed, whereas I would have preferred three "perspectives," or complementary approaches. I was especially disappointed in Turnau's critique of Ken Myers.[2] I found little in Turnau's critique of Myers that had not appeared already in William Edgar's review in the Westminster Theological Journal,[3] and each shares three problems (Turnau adds a fourth and a fifth):
1. Each appears to misunderstand Myers's reference to C. S. Lewis's distinction between the idea of "using" art and "experiencing" it, found in his An Experiment in Criticism.[4] Perhaps Myers should not have assumed people knew Lewis on this point, and perhaps he should have explained the matter further, but both Turnau and Edgar appear to think that Lewis/Myers object to any "using" of art; neither of them did. Rather, each described a fundamentally different approach to art-in-general (not to any specific work). Lewis would not have objected to "using" the singing of a hymn to rock a child to sleep; he only objected to those whose approach to art-in-general excluded the desire or ability to "experience" art.
2. Each claims that Myers's view is "elitist," without giving any compelling reason to find elitism objectionable from a theistic point of view. A plain reading of Philippians 4:8 would appear to commend elitism: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Especially in light of the fact that Myers quotes this passage, I would have preferred that at least one of them (if not both) engaged in an exegetical or theological argument with him. I am self-consciously elitist, vigorously and vocally so. If one definition of "elite" is "the best or most skilled members of a group," why wouldn't all humans aspire to be their best and most skilled? I realize that, in an egalitarian culture, the terms "elite" and "elitist" have become pejorative, but they need not be so, and especially not thoughtlessly. Plato seriously argued (in his Republic) that the wisest members of society should rule it; and I still have difficulty finding an error in his reasoning. So if one definition of "elitist" is "someone who believes in rule by an elite group," then Plato was an unquestionable elitist. If I am wrong, someone needs to explain to me why it is wrong to pursue (or approve) what is better and what is best. Further, in one of his essays, Myers actually argues that it is pop culture that is elitist; a very small group of people make the decisions about what they believe will be financially successful, and they impose these on the unsuspecting market: "For the most part, popular culture rarely comes from the people. It comes from elites more decisively than does high culture."[5]
3. Turnau does not appear to notice that Myers's view is formalistic; Myers engages the forms of particular aspects of pop art, and the sensibilities those forms encourage. Edgar does recognize the matter, but (naively?) seems to reject McLuhan/Postman/Myers outright: "Christians need to realize that the problem is not the medium, but the way it is used" (379). I will say more about why I regard this as naive below.
4. Turnau refers to his labeling the Myers view the "We're-Above-All-That" view and notes that some may object, to which he offers the following explanation: "I use these labels because they are easy to remember. They nicely sum up the attitudes of their proponents." (133n53). Well, this simply won't do at all, on two grounds. First, one is not entitled to misrepresent a viewpoint in the interests of mnemonics. Myers's approach is a formalist approach; he believes that certain forms of art have different capacities and potentials, and therefore (ordinarily) certain affects that differ from other forms. This view may be right or wrong, in part or whole, and is certainly a matter for public discussion. But it simply is not accurate to describe the view as "We're above all that." Myers's view is not a view about Myers; it is a view about pop culture, and it misrepresents the view to suggest that it says anything about the author. Further, how does Turnau know what Myers's attitude is? What he should describe is Myers's position, reasoning, or evidence, not his attitude. Those of us in the Westminster tradition observe that our Larger Catechism (q. 145) regards as a violation of the ninth commandment (among other things): "misconstructing intentions, words, and actions," and I would suggest that guessing about someone's intentions/attitudes virtually guarantees that one will occasionally misconstrue them.
5. Turnau simply misrepresents Myers by suggesting that Myers made a comprehensive claim where he only made a potential and qualified claim:
What Turnau says Myers said:
What Myers actually said:
"After all, popular songs, movies, and television shows 'are not capable of being enjoyed; their only power may be to titillate and distract.' Popular culture as a whole is clearly something that we are to grow up and out of." (109)
"Books, plays, films, painting, television, music, and sports can all be better appreciated once we approach them as we ought. Of course, we may find that some of the more popular songs or television programs or books are really not capable of being enjoyed; their only power may be to titillate and distract." (183, emphases mine)
I do not suggest that Turnau's misrepresentation is intentional; to the contrary, I believe he is simply a little tone-deaf to formalism. Some people seem to be simply resistant to the idea that certain artistic forms have certain strengths/weaknesses, certain competences/incompetences, certain assets/liabilities. Such people are very resistant to formalist criticism, because they wish to "redeem" every art-form equally.
Some who function in the redeem-the-culture paradigm appear to be ideologically unwilling to appreciate what it means that God made the created order materially, and that different materials have different properties. Myers and those like him do not ordinarily refer to "redeeming" creations but to "creating" creations; not to redeeming art but to creating art. The redeem-the-culture paradigm, by contrast, is defective, because even the redemptive paradigm in Scripture restores the created order (or aspects thereof) to their original created purpose and intention. That is, artistic activity is perfectly justifiable on a creationist paradigm; it does not need a redemptive paradigm. Humans, as Imago Dei, create analogously to God's creating, not analogously to God's redeeming. We do not need to "redeem" sonnets; we just need to write them. We do not need to "redeem" plays; we need to create them. We do not need to "redeem" novels; we need to write them. We would have created had we never fallen; as God's image, we would have made things that were "pleasing to the eye and good for food" (beautiful and practical, artist and artisan) just because God had done so and made us like him on a creaturely scale. So a Christian aesthetic is much better grounded (in my opinion) in creation than in redemption. And even a Christian criticism or critical theory (also in my opinion) is better grounded in creation than in redemption; the goal of criticism is to observe what is in a given artistic work, and a proper understanding of creation permits that adequately. If we observed a particular work of art, and if the artist who produced the work happens to have been an unbeliever, and if we learned something about reality from that artist, I suggest that the ordinary language for such an event is this: "I learned a good deal from that work of art."
The creationist paradigm of art tends to be formalist. It acknowledges and submits to God's created order, and acknowledges therefore the material properties of the various aspects of God's order as "good." These material properties are not "limiting" until/unless we attempt to make them do more than they are capable of doing. It is not "limiting" that the dolphin cannot fly or that the hawk cannot swim; this is simply a reflex of the material properties God gave them. God gave fins to one and feathers to the other. Similarly, the various material properties of the various human arts that have developed are not plenipotentiary. We can never make a dynamic/kinetic art out of statuary; but statuary is three-dimensional in a way that painting or film is not.[6] The material properties of a given art-form need not be thought of as limits; they may be thought of as potentials, and it is the human creator's duty to discover and explore these (divinely-given-in-creation) potentials. To deny the differing potentials of water color painting and oil painting is to deny the created, material difference between oil and water. God made both, as properties inherent in the material order, and the artist's duty is to do with each what can best be done with each.
Discovering and exploring the various material properties of various art-forms, however, necessarily makes one a formalist. The kazoo has different acoustic properties than does the pipe organ, for instance, and the kazoo cannot be "redeemed" to play Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor (nor would the organ ordinarily be as appropriate to play at a five-year-old's birthday party). The trumpet will not be able to do justice to the Brahms Cello Sonata No. 1, and the cello will not do justice to Clarke's Trumpet Voluntary. Nor do we need to "redeem" the one to do what its material properties do not permit it to do; we need merely understand their respective acoustic properties and respect their material distinctives.
If we return to the critique of Ken Myers, then, "redeemers" just do not appear to understand "creators." They appear unwilling to accept the material limits/potentials[7] that God has invested the created order with. Some art-forms have different creative potential than others. Commercial television, for example, cannot do some of the things film can do, because film is not interrupted by commercials every six minutes. Therefore, a skilled screenwriter can work with pacing, whereas a television-writer really cannot do much with the same (imagine writing a symphony that has interruptions every six minutes and you'll get the point). So one can write for television or one can write for film; but one cannot do everything with commercial television that one can do with film. Think of the languishing pace of so much of the film, "A River Runs through It," and imagine how frustrating it would be to watch the same film disrupted by commercial messages. Television cannot be "redeemed" to morph into film; it simply has different properties.
Listening to pop/rock music in the 1970s, we realized that commercial radio had similar limitations. Due to the demand for commercials every six to nine minutes, longer pieces were never aired on the radio, and we had to purchase LPs in order to hear things such as Traffic's "Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys." The very form of commercial radio limited the length of music that was composed for it (this has largely changed now, of course).
Ken Myers's critique of pop culture is a formalist critique, a critique that takes into consideration the forms of pop culture (not merely its content, and not merely the creator's intent to "redeem" the form), including those forms essential to commercial success. Such formalist critique may surely be augmented by other critiques (and Myers does acknowledge them), but the converse does not appear to be so. The Edgar/Turnau/redeem-culture approach does not appear to recognize the validity of the formalist critique, and it is therefore short-sighted. I regard it as almost breathtakingly naive that a pianist with the skill of Bill Edgar can say, "Christians need to realize that the problem is not the medium, but the way it is used." Edgar must surely realize that the vast literature of piano music cannot all be played on the harpsichord. Indeed the piano-forte was invented/developed precisely to avoid/evade the perceived dynamic limits of the harpsichord, to permit an expressiveness unattainable on the harpsichord. So the problem, in this case, is precisely the medium; the harpsichord simply cannot do some of what the piano can do.[8] Its limits/potentials simply differ, because the material properties (plucked strings v. hammered strings) of the two instruments differ. The world's most skilled harpsichordist simply cannot produce Debussy's Clare de Lune. Only if one rejects the material nature of created reality, or if one rejects that such material nature is "good," does one regard the varying potentials of varying materials as a limit to be overcome ("redeemed") rather than a potential to be explored.
At this moment, I perceive three "schools" of evangelical approaches to the arts (and especially to pop art), which I call "content analysis," "intent analysis," and "formal analysis." The first was/is largely concerned with the content of art, and was/is largely negative: too much violence, profanity, or sexuality. The second was/is largely concerned with the intent of the creator or viewer to perceive reality properly through the art-form; Turnau's book[9] is an excellent (and extremely helpful) guide to this approach. The third was/is largely concerned with addressing the formal properties[10] of a given art-form, and how this determines what can be done with that art-form. In my judgment each is legitimate, and each corresponds, roughly, to John M. Frame's tri-perspectivalism. Content criticism is normative; intent criticism is existential; and formal criticism is situational. From my point of view, then, each is legitimate, and each is necessary to a comprehensive critique. I have no interest in entering what I regard as a bit of a skirmish between the content-critics and the intent-critics, who appear to have little to do with one another. And I have no interest in saying which of the three types of analysis is better or more important, because I believe all three are important. Theodore Turnau, William Edgar, T. M. Moore, Aaron Belz, and many others, have ably demonstrated in their essays the keen insight into the human condition that can often be gleaned by the artistic endeavors of unbelieving artists; and I am genuinely grateful for their labors. Similarly, I join nearly all Christian parents in wishing that pop culture did not so frequently glorify violence, casual sex, and profanity. I also have gained much insight from formal analysts such as Ken Myers, who have aided me in learning to appreciate from any art-form what it is likely to do better or best. So I embrace and employ all three analyses, and only object when one or the other of those three appears unwilling to recognize the value of the other two.
[1] "Reflecting Theologically on Popular Culture as Meaningful: The Role of Sin, Grace, and General Revelation," Calvin Theological Journal 37 (2002): 270–96; and "Popular Cultural Worlds as Alternative Religions," Christian Scholars Review (Spring 2008): 323–45.
[2] All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes: Christians and Popular Culture (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1989).
[3] Westminster Theological Journal 53, no. 2 (Fall 1991): 377–80.
[4] C. S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism (London: Cambridge University Press, 1961).
[5] Myers, "Is 'Popular Culture' Either?", accessed at http://www.modernreformation.org/pub/mr/mr97/1997.01.JanFeb/mr9701.km.popular.ht
[6] And Frederic Remington, curiously and interestingly, created bronze statuary that "froze" kinetic activity. Using a non-kinetic form, he created fascinating sculpture of kinetic activity.
[7] I often say "limits/potentials" or "potentials/limits," because, for me, the two are merely two sides of a coin. Whatever an art's peculiar potential is "limits" it from doing what other art-forms can do better; but the converse is also true. Whatever "limits" an art-form from doing what another art-form does better becomes its distinctive potential, to be explored and appreciated. The car-chase scene in Steve McQueen's 1968 film "Bullitt," for example, reaches its potential in film projected in a theater. A novelist could not make one's stomach jump, and an iPhone's screen is simply too small. So film displayed on a large screen simply has different potential than novel or poem (and the converse is true).
[8] Though the potential runs better the other way. Murray Perahia's piano interpretation of the Bach Goldberg Variations for harpsichord is lovely.
[9] And his equally-stimulating earlier aforementioned articles in Calvin Theological Journal and Christian Scholars Review.
[10] These formal properties are themselves, of course, often determined by commercial considerations; and no analysis of pop culture is complete without considering the commercial interests that drive it.
T. David Gordon is a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America serving as Professor of Religion and Greek at Grove City College, Grove City, Pennsylvania. Ordained Servant Online, February 2013.
|© 2019 The Orthodox Presbyterian Church
Chaplains and Military Personnel


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2.2 patch is out. Lightwell gains.
Ego already ran down the list of goodness, so go read hers first. I'm going to write specifically of one spell – one in which I've been the minority for use, but which had some major changes that aren't all in the notes.
I speak, of course, of lightwell.
Prior to the patch, rank 4 lightwell was 2361 health over three ticks (6 seconds). That's an almost certain 787 health, and maybe (depending on interrupts) 1574 or 2361. In other words, you gave a superior healing potion, had a fair chance of them getting a Major healing potion, and sometimes — if they could stay unhurt for a full six seconds — got a Super healing potion.
With the patch, the lightwell gets healing bonuses applied. Which means my +1500 bonus makes each tick approximately 1287. Just a bit less than a a super healing potion's minimum per tick. When I get the gear I'm expecting and the raid buffs that shove me to approximately 2100 +heal, that's…
1487 per tick. One mana pot per tick, three ticks. All they have to do is NOT be in combat. hmmm.
And it gets better with the UNPUBLISHED change. This is the big one, boys and girls…
While buffed with Lightwell's renew, the player cannot get another lightwell buff.
No more bleeding the well.
Can it be improved more? Yes. But what's happened already is…
445 mana for five each bandages that do (for me) just under 4500 heals apiece that now can only be used one at a time (though heel and toe is available).
fwiw, I'd like to see the cooldown reduced – maybe to 4 minutes, even if the duration of the well were also reduced to, say, 2 minutes. But this change is good.
Is it useful? Yep, anywhere players use bandages – only faster and healing more.
Pardon me while I train my guildies…

subset: commoncrawl


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Fri, 30 April 2010
Steve Rathje wants to be congressman. Aaron Price produced a documentary, "Gas Odyssey"...and thinks natural gas is our nation's answer to future energy demands. Ed Failor worries about another conflict of interest case. Bob Vander Platts favors the Arizona immigration law. Issues
Direct download: mickelson-2010-04-30.mp3
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Blog Archives for tag South-Indian style chicken soup
Indian Chicken Soup Recipe –Tamilnadu Kozhi Soup
Though there will be elaborate plans in my kitchen like preparing Chicken pepper fry and Chicken Biriyani with the chicken bought from the market, the first thing that'll go on the stove to get ready is this Simple Chicken Soup recipe. Since this Chicken Soup can be made quickly and easily, I set it first thing on the stove while I do the preparation work for the pepper chicken fry or the Biryani. This way I need not keep the family waiting until the curry and the rice is done. Once the chicken soup gets ready everybody enjoys a bowl of hot-o-hot chicken soup. A bowlful of this hot and warming Chicken Soup gives me strength to execute my elaborate meal plan. Like most of my recipes, this Kozhi Soup (Chicken Soup) is also a family-taught recipe, very authentic! Best Chicken Soup can be prepared only with freshly cut… Continue reading »


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"Medice, cura te ipsum" should be the title of today's blog post. The Latin phrase translates to "Physician, heal thyself," as in: "You can't help others if you are not healthy yourself." I had an experience on Capitol Hill this past Wednesday which brought that old phrase and its meaning into clear focus.
From the time, about six weeks ago, when I was asked to attend the National MS Society's public policy conference, I had been avoiding the question of whether or not I would like a rented scooter to make my way around the Hill. "I'll think about that," "Let me get back to you," "Maybe, but I don't think so"… that type of answer was my retort. I'd been to this conference before and knew that it would be draining; but I just couldn't get past the idea of needing that much assistance.
You see, I knew that we had a lot of meetings — tightly-scheduled meetings — all over the Capitol campus. I know that the House and Senate buildings are a hike to transit. I understand that I'd be wearing "good" shoes which aren't the best for a Congressional trek. And… well, it is called "The Hill"! Still, I just couldn't get my head past that next step in dependence.
There, of course, is where I should have asked someone to slap me across the face in Skin Bracer fashion (remember the old, "Thanks. I needed that!"adverts?). I know better than to think of using an assistive device as "dependence"! I know that a mobility device affords, by definition, mobility! In fact, I've preached the very getting over it that I couldn't seem to get over.
In short, I had every intellectual reason in the world to accept the proffered scooter, but I just couldn't get my heart past the idea.
Physician, heal thyself!
A curious set of events, however, helped me with a bit of dosing which opened the "physician's" eyes…and my heart.
One member of our delegation (a great guy, from Alaska) had requested a scooter (even though he doesn't usually use one in his day-to-day life), but he had one meeting scheduled early in the morning — before the busses left our hotel for Congress. He would take a cab and I was asked to get his scooter to him later in the morning.
I got the scooter loaded into the bus, was dropped off in the ellipsis in front of the Capitol building and motored my way to a meeting with my Congressman's staff in the Rayburn building (here's a map if you'd like to follow my journey). I then made my way to the exact opposite corner of the Capitol campus to the Heart side of the Dickerson-Heart buildings, dropping the scooter with its reserved owner. I then had meetings in the Heart building, trekked to the corner of Capitol & F streets (off that map in the upper left corner) for lunch, then back across campus to the Longworth building, and finally the Cannon building.
Though we decided to cab from lunch to Longworth, traffic was stupid, so we let ourselves out and hiked a quarter of the distance.
I know for a fact, even though I brought a forearm crutch for its extra support over a cane, that I could not have fulfilled the rest of my day's obligations had I not enjoyed the use of the scooter for the first couple of legs. I was afforded an opportunity to test drive the experience and, with a few felonious incidences in and around the elevators, it all went very well.
I acknowledge that I have avoided the thought of such a big step for reasons too numerous to list, mention, or admit. I also acknowledge that I did so with avoidance which bordered on denial. I wanted to share the experience because of something I truly believe which is brought to my frontal lobe by our community every day: "A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others."
I have learned from this experience and hope that you might as well.
Wishing you and your family the best of health.
Don't forget that you can also follow me via my Life With MS Facebook page and on Twitter. Check out our bi-monthly blog I'm doing for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of the United Kingdom, A Yank's Life With MS, as well as our very special new monthly blog for the National MS Society.


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The global Shale Gas Hydraulic Fracturing Technology market will reach xxx Million USD in 2019 and CAGR xx% 2019-2024. The report begins from overview of Industry Chain structure, and describes industry environment, then analyses market size and forecast of Shale Gas Hydraulic Fracturing Technology by product, region and application, in addition, this report introduces market competition situation among the vendors and company profile, besides, market price analysis and value chain features are covered in this report.
Product Type Coverage (Market Size and Forecast, Major Company of Product Type etc.):
Plug and Perforation
Sliding Sleeve
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Chesapeake Energy
Rice Energy
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Anadarko Petroleum
Occidental Petroleum
Devon Energy
Marathon Oil
BHP Billiton
Yacimientos Petroleiferos Fiscales
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Electric Power
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Secondary Research Information is collected from a number of publicly available as well as paid databases. Public sources involve publications by different associations and governments, annual reports and statements of companies, white papers and research publications by recognized industry experts and renowned academia etc. Paid data sources include third party authentic industry databases.
Once data collection is done through secondary research, primary interviews are conducted with different stakeholders across the value chain like manufacturers, distributors, ingredient/input suppliers, end customers and other key opinion leaders of the industry. Primary research is used both to validate the data points obtained from secondary research and to fill in the data gaps after secondary research.
The market engineering phase involves analyzing the data collected, market breakdown and forecasting. Macroeconomic indicators and bottom-up and top-down approaches are used to arrive at a complete set of data points that give way to valuable qualitative and quantitative insights. Each data point is verified by the process of data triangulation to validate the numbers and arrive at close estimates.
The market engineered data is verified and validated by a number of experts, both in-house and external.
After the data is curated by the mentioned highly sophisticated process, the analysts begin to write the report. Garnering insights from data and forecasts, insights are drawn to visualize the entire ecosystem in a single report.
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Blanked by Kentucky, 5-0. To put the drop off from Kentucky to Georgia in perspective, all three of Ketucky's weekend starters would probably be our first starter. We drop precariously off after McLaughlin and Boling, both of whom are pitching well. The bats also go silent at terrible times, but we also only have two guys hitting above .300 in conference play. On the season, we are sitting at 10-19 (1-8). After we face Kennesaw State today, we have Missouri coming to town this weekend.
Missouri is our best chance


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This is by far one of my favorite goddess braided hairstyles ever. The goddess braids are laced together and the decorative lace continues all the way
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Bridal and occasion makeup; Gele tying, hair styling, Makeup training shool
A skin fade haircut is extremely popular, so if you crave individuality you have to do something to set yourself apart from the rest. Incorporating de
Goddess braids swirl in a pattern around her head to end in a swirled chignon at the bottom. Each of the lengths of the cornrows is curled and coiled
A design both intricate and simple accented by a polka-dot bow looks great on any age, but here it is designed with beautiful swirled roses for buns.
Large feed-in cornrows are accented by smaller, more intricate braids that follow along the curvature of the goddess braided style. This is a beautifu
The long double goddess braids are done underhand allowing for a different appearance to the braids. The length is cute without being too long or cumb
Edge up haircuts look solid in afros. This cut tapers low in the back and has a light fade around the temples. Combine that with some perfect edging a
THE CUT Long layers concentrated on the top and across the face, says Mendes's stylist Giannandrea. WHY IT'S HOT HERE It can look conservative or sexy
Mohawk hairstyles for black men offer a cool yet tough look for guys searching to change up their style. Although most modern black men's Mohaw
Gradient Colorful Ponytail High Temperature Synthetic Fiber Wig Hair Extensions Party 60cm. Type: Ponytail Color: Blonde+Pink+Purple, Material: High T
IAmIfeOluwa: Pink-Themed Flawless Makeover
Goddess braids accented with a color can create dozens of beautiful and unique designs. Here the highlights of gold are a beautiful, eye-drawing featu
There is a wide variety of goddess braids designed to lead up into a ponytail or a bun. The option to wear it either way is one of the best benefits o
This goddess braid hairstyle combines several well-loved styles and shows off the beginning of an interesting trend. The half-up style features a tren
Accent an afro-Mohawk with etched lines that highlight the curve of your skull. They will support the vibe of your overall look without distracting fr
This is a style designed to be sleek and beautiful and from root to tip it certainly is. The lace-up adornments on the goddess braids are incredible.
Different sized cornrows weave into a French roll in the back. The style leads up to a finished coil of braids on top of the crown of her head, a beau
These gorgeous box braids are dyed in the granny-chic silver gray hue, and the multiple strands make for a very lovely 'do. The plaits work best
The coppery red stands out beautifully against the black in her hair and the feed-in style is perfect. The size graduates beautifully to create steady
The high top fade is an awesome choice for those who like to have a little extra length on top. It also works very well for those who want to grow mas
This take on Lucy Ricardo's retro hairstyles can be done with or without adding extensions. The style is actually very simple to do if you have
All types of makeup and beauty makeovers, Gele artistry
Beautifully sculpted goddess braids are a combination of style and art. Here the cornrows are braided inward, with a consistent size and shape from be
When looking for a more work-appropriate fade haircut, it is best to opt for a mid-bald fade because it is less aggressive and more polished. A fade t
This style is fabulous, beautifully parted and detailed. The addition of the extension is perfectly weighted to accentuate the goddess braids without
These cornrows are typically known as straight-backs and have been a fall back staple for centuries. They are quicker and easier to do, but no less im
The box top and round high top hairstyles were a hit trend in the 90's, and they are making their way back on to the fashion scene! This is awesome fo
Here we have a set of detailed fishbone goddess braids on the side and tiny braids interspersed between the cornrows. The length is perfect, the size
High Taper Fade
Mohawk hairstyles for black men offer a cool yet tough look for guys searching to change up their style. Although most modern black men's Mohawk hairc
No need to choose just one length or cut, when you can combine everything you want into one show-stopping style. With a slick side part on one side an
Golden goddess braids are directed in a side-swept style. This particular design neatly pulls in the edges presenting a smoothed hairline that is noth
Bella Divas: Before and After Makeup Picture
A bald fade haircut creates dimension and relief in a hairstyle with a lot of sharp angles and precise curvy lines typical for a Caesar cut. The faded
A heavy gradient skin fade is essentially a type of haircut when the hair is allowed to gradually transition from very dark or thick to a slightly tap
Undercuts come in all shapes and sizes. No really. They can be totally smooth on the bottom, or have a fade. They can be a little ragged and unkempt,
Skin, Bald Fade
This triple layer fade is very dramatic but divinely handsome! The top of the head is kept very dark, the middle is kept low but visible and the nape
Comb Over Fade
A large swirled goddess braid leads into a voluminous textured ponytail. The laid edges swoop around beautifully to create a sleek overall. The style
High Top Fade 2
Goddess braids and buns are a beautiful combination that creates an elegant updo. The overall style is neat and clean, clearly artistic and beautifull
High Taper Fade 1
Dutch braids are not a new thing to anyone. My grandmother used to call them crocodile tails. Here the added hair creates an ombre effect from her bla
This haircut is evidence that a line up can be cool to try. Sorry, he didn't #wakeuplikethis. This style requires some blow dryer love and some expert
The larger goddess braids are no less dexterous, being wound around into several different designs. Here they wind and cross over each other to create
Afro Taper Fade 1
AVAILABLE FOR FIRST TIME CLIENTS!!! Discounted Offer valid Mon. thru Fri. only CALL TODAY! Complimentary Bonus! 60 minute massage treatment
Own a time piece that is a force to reckon with. Curren keeps accurate time,looks solid and fashionable on the wrist
These cornrowed goddess braids feature white hair and gold accents. The addition of the white extensions means she can enjoy the look without the dama
This is a beautiful updo of folded in and dangling braids with a base of underhanded cornrows fed with extensions. It is interesting and complex while
A light curve on the design of these goddess braids is accented by two golden braids near the center. The feed-in style of the cornrows helps the shap
Sweeping curves from different sized goddess braids lead into a sleek ponytail for another interesting take on goddess braid hairstyles. The sculpted
In keeping with the larger style of the larger goddess braids, the top knot is designed beautifully high. Sections of the braids are adorned with silv
These are the brightest and most colorful box braids we have seen so far, definitely meant for those who want to stand out in the crowd. Add in a whol
A shape up haircut (another common name for line up hair) is the opposite of messy. The sharp edges around the hairline and beard help to chisel facia
Crocodile tails, double Dutch braids and split braids have all shared the same design, but when they are done as goddess braids, the size is amped up
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These goddess braid styles offer an ultra defined hairline and long French braids that reach way down for beautiful length the braids can be wrapped a
For a line up haircut that isn't ordinary or basic, go for a faux hawk fade. Halfway between a taper and a temple fade, this hip style is an urban, mo
Los Angeles
An intricate and beautiful boho braid!
Elongating the face along with the knot on top of the head, the addition of white extensions to the hair with the black creates a cookies and cream co
Braided under hand and on a curve, this goddess braid hairstyle leads into an easily identifiable top knot with a very small braid as detail. The twis
Ogun state
It for any party
Size matters when it comes to braiding just as with many other things. Here the even growth of the braids is marked through the entire hairstyle, juxt
Box braids are an excellent protective style, ultimately versatile and gorgeous and here the combinations of blonde create a golden appearance to the
Goddess braids are known for an impressive size, weight and a myriad of designs. Here the goddess braided hairstyle is of cornrows that lead up to a v
The blending of colors and the consistency of the thickness of this halo braid is awe-inspiring. This is one goddess braid hairstyle that will look st
Goddess braids can be done on any length or thickness of hair thanks to the use of extensions, and here the use of brightly colored extensions only fu
The slight zigzag on the parts of the cornrows looks stunning, accented between by micro cornrows designed to follow the parts. The front of these cor
Afro Taper Fade
With a detailed, cared out undercut like this one, the addition of two ultra long goddess braid cornrows is a very cool sight. Cleverly this can be st
High Top Fade 1
Perfect parts abound in these feed-in cornrowed goddess braids. The addition of the white blonde streaks is lovely as they peek through the braids. Th
Goddess braided hairstyles do not only exist in smooth-laid textures leading up to braids. Goddess braids can also consist of textured hair, but in tr
A beautiful part organizes these goddess braids into a stunning set of swirled double Dutch braids. These cornrows are braided inward, allowing the br
Know how the new hair trends are all about the Gothic colors and strong style? The bold lips and bolder hair? This look brings all that into perspecti
Los Angeles
Radiant skin and a pop of color on the lips
The styles that can be done with goddess braids are so numerous that nearly anything you want can be done, but there is no lack of love for the minima
Fish-bone goddess braids feature smaller cornrows directed to turn into larger goddess braid cornrows. The smaller braids lend into the design of the
A low bun is a great style for work and play. The underhand direction that the cornrows are braided in offers a different perspective once the goddess
Appearing of a more demure nature, the mass of box braids here appears to have been pulled together to create a few large twists, thick and beautifull
Bright colors and goddess braids have gone hand in hand many different times with beautiful results. The addition of the richly pigmented hair beautif
A lot of goddess braided hairstyles curve around the head to create an interesting overall appearance. Here the updo is a bun in a beautiful copper-re
Goddess braids are known for being very large, but here they are shown next to incredibly small and intricate braids designed to accentuate the style.
Ogun state
For #wedding#birthday#naming ceremony
Adding in color with extensions is a great way to add extra flair to your goddess braids. As a protective style with the added color, you can be assur
A textured mid-bald fade is a go-to look for many black men, so put a cheeky spin on it with a design that mimics the waves within your cut. Instead o
Teeny tiny box braids, thin as can be, are given life with the masses of gold threading throughout, creating a rather jungle-themed style to the box b
The high ponytail can easily be turned into a gloriously sized bun, but the real eye-catching detail here is the micro cornrows that feed into the Gha
Smooth and sleek designed under-braided bun shows that even the largest goddess braids can be incredibly detailed as pictured here thanks to the close


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Download FLASHOUT 3D v1.4 APK Android
FLASHOUT 3D by Jujubee is the best racing experience for your mobile device!
Get into one of your ultra fast ships and join the competition! Use rockets and guns to fight your way to victory in all events and become the best racer in the whole galaxy!
With jaw-dropping graphics, stunning visuals and fast-paced racing action, FLASHOUT 3D brings a new level of fun to the table! It also features a unique interactive equalizer, that analyzes in-game music and accordingly determines, in real-time, what the visual effects look like!
But there's more! The game has some of the best and most accessible controls to allow you to focus on the pure action and an addicting Career Mode that will keep you busy and entertained for hours!
Dominate the grid in all events, master your skills, upgrade your ships, listen to the great tunes, unlock all circuits and get hooked by this most advanced, fun and exhilarating racing experience!
Features and highlights:
- Amazing 3D graphics!
- Full HD support!
- Great and unique electronic music!
- Addicting Career Mode!
- Highly-detailed and amazing racing circuits (New York, Beijing, Berlin and many more)!
- Dozens of challenging races!
- Upgradeable, super-fast ships!
- Precise, fun and awesome controls!
- Full accelerometer support!
- Many cool and useful bonuses!
- Deadly and destructive arsenal of weapons!
- Clever AI, adapting to your style of play!
- Interactive Equalizer – music affects graphics!
- Gorgeous visual effects!
- 6 control layouts!
- Vibrations (if supported by device)!
- Customizable graphics (low, medium, high)!
- TV Out support!
- Facebook and Twitter support!
What's in this version: (Updated : Mar 15, 2013)
- 1280×800 resolution bug fixed (Samsung Galaxy Note and similar)
Required Android O/S : 2.0.1+
Screenshots :
Download : 75Mb (APK+OBB)


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Washington DC Downtown Hotel - Classic, yet ModernExperience the culture of Washington DC or get down to business at the Comfort Inn Downtown DC/Convention Center. With its contemporary décor, our boutique hotel in downtown Washington, DC delivers classic American charm and international flair in the heart of our nation's capital. With personal service and travel inspired amenities, leisure and business travelers enjoy the perfect home and office in DC.
"Contemporary Spaces, Hot Breakfast, Free Wi-Fi and Classic Washington, DC Hospitality"


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Recent hacker attacks on U.S. media organizations thought to have originated in China are likely to have been motivated by a desire to uncover the sources of information embarrassing to leaders in Beijing, according to Chinese communications and security experts.
Last week, The New York Times newspaper accused hackers traced to China of "persistently" infiltrating its computer networks over the last four months, sparking an angry denial from Beijing.
The timing of the attacks came as the paper's journalists were researching several billion dollars' worth of assets it later reported were held secretly by relatives of outgoing premier Wen Jiabao.
The paper had hired a team of computer security experts to trace the hacker attacks and block any back doors through which they were gaining access to the system, it said.
"China wanted to know the source of the material on some of its wealthiest families," said Wu Fei, professor in the school of Journalism and Communication at Jinan University, who has just returned from several months' research in the U.S.
"While much of the information on the wealth belonging to families of Chinese leaders is in the public domain, it is only part of a vast ocean of data. So without pointers, it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack," Wu said.
"China's hackers wanted to find out what was known."
Second paper attacked
Soon after The New York Times made its announcement about the attack, The Wall Street Journal followed suit with similar revelations.
The paper said the hackers had targeted information regarding its reporting on China, and hadn't been directed at commercially valuable data or at confidential client details.
Wu said the report was in line with unofficial reports of attacks on the e-mail accounts of China-linked people in the U.S.
"When I was working in a U.S. think tank, people were saying that the e-mail account of the lead researcher engaged in China-related research was always being hacked," Wu said.
The Chinese government has repeatedly denied any involvement in hacker activities, saying it is opposed to them.
'Irresponsible' charges?
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said last week that the suggestion that China was involved in the hacker attacks on The New York Times was "irresponsible."
However, a U.S.-based Internet security expert surnamed Xia said Chinese hackers tend to use phishing attacks to gain access to remote computers.
"The hackers will pose as your friend and send you an e-mail which they say you have to open, so you open it, and then the problems start," Xia said.
"Defending against such attacks is directly connected to the level of security awareness on the part of an organization's employees," he said.
He said China's hackers have access to huge resources in terms of manpower and time. "Sometimes they will go through a target's friends, or even friends of friends, to pull the wool over their eyes," Xia said.
"Step by step, they get closer to their target."
Xia said he believes that hacker attacks originating in China are unlikely to be the work of individuals.
"That doesn't necessarily mean that this is happening on orders from the top, however," he said.
"There are plenty of low- to mid-ranking officials who might do something to win praise from their superiors."
Repeated attempts
According to a report to Congress last November by the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission, China continues to develop its capabilities in the cyber arena.
"U.S. industry and a range of government and military targets face repeated exploitation attempts by Chinese hackers as do international organizations and nongovernmental groups including Chinese dissident groups, activists, religious organizations, rights groups, and media institutions," the report said.
In August 2011, China rejected suggestions that it was behind a massive cyberspying initiative reported earlier that month by security firm McAfee.
McAfee said in a report titled "Operation Shady RAT" that hackers compromised computer security at more than 70 global organizations, including the U.N. and U.S. government bodies, sparking speculation that China was behind the attacks.
McAfee did not identify any country behind the hacking campaign, but its security experts had said in February last year that hackers working from China had targeted the computers of oil and gas companies in the U.S., Greece, Taiwan, and Kazakhstan.
The "coordinated, covert, and targeted" attacks began in November 2009, and the hackers succeeded in stealing sensitive information, it said.
Reported by Wen Jian for RFA's Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.


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Top 10 Texas vanity plates for 2013
My Plates has released its list of the top-selling vanity license plates sold in Texas in 2013.
Topping the list once again is Lone Star Black, which has been No. 1 for four consecutive years. According to My Plates, it's the fastest-selling license plate in the state's history. Over 46,000 have been sold in the past five years.
Interestingly enough, one of the biggest gains on the 2013 list is the custom Houston Texans license plate, complete with team's logo and colors. The Texans' plates came in No. 6 on the list.
"Some Dallas people balked, but overall in 2013, Houston Texans plates outsold Dallas Cowboys plates," said Kim Miller Drummond with My Plates.
Obviously, the Texans' past season wasn't necessarily deserving of the license plate love.
Other notables on the list were Texas A&M Aggies plates, the Come and Take It Flag, and Lone Star Pink, which was created for breast cancer awareness.
There is a specialty license plate for most everything and everyone in Texas, from blood donors, nurses, and pro-choicers to young lawyers and fans of Dr. Pepper.
Texans have purchased more than 173,000 My Plates since 2009, plugging $20.7 million into Texas' general revenue fund.
CarPro Approved
Meanwhile, personalized plates continue to be a big seller for the state.
Randy Elliston, the director of the Vehicle Titles & Registration Division, reminds Texans to be smart when deciding on what they want the world to see on the back of their vehicle.
Elliston said he tries to think of everyone on the roadway who might be offended before approving a plate. But, he wants Texans to exercise their creativity, too.
"The primary purpose is to register the vehicle and identify the owner, but we want people to also have fun and buy personalized plates," he says. "It is a great revenue generator for the state."
Some requests are shot down because of questions of decency. Elliston looks over these potential plates for content that could be objectionable or misleading. A board of directors applies the rules of what can and cannot become a license plate.
Curse words are a no-go for a Texas plate. References to sex acts, sexual body parts, and excretory functions and their byproducts are also prohibited. Hateful, derogatory references toward people or specific groups will be rejected, as will threats of violence or harm.
The driver's safety is another consideration.
"It goes both ways," says Elliston. "We try to not approve something that would invoke a negative reaction from a fellow driver."
Saying that you hate a rival sports team or a politician could incite road rage, Elliston said. And of course a misrepresentation of law enforcement or other governmental entities and their titles is prohibited.
"IM A COP" would more than likely not fly, even if you are a police officer.


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Less than 1 percent of the water on earth is available for human consumption. Water is a limited resource that we rely so heavily on and its use has tripled within the past 50 years. Therefore, we must be more conservative and figure out additional ways to acquire it, such as possibly recycling sewage water.
What measures are being taken in order to ensure we never run out of water? Water purification plants are being developed in order to purify wastewater from sewage. It is considered to be clean and safe, more so than water from our faucets and the bottles of water at the grocery store. However, at the locations where these purification plants are already being utilized, such as Santa Clara County in California, the public refuses to drink the final product.
The water is filtered in a highly advanced way that is able to remove pharmaceuticals, personal care products and pesticides. In areas that do not recycle wastewater, the water filled with the untreated medications, personal care products, etc. would otherwise go into our oceans, lakes and bays. However, that seems to be of less concern to the public. We may not directly consume the untreated water, but we do when we eat a fish fillet.
As the human population continues to grow and we continue to pollute our water sources, we must be more accepting of ways to obtain enough water to sustain ourselves. If we are not comfortable with making pure, fresh water from our sewage, then perhaps we should stop polluting our water in the first place but that seems highly unlikely. We are finding ways to take away the damage we are causing and utilizing our resources in an efficient manner; we just have to become more open minded.
Senior research analyst Eric Meliton of Frost & Sullivan states that in order for reclaimed wastewater to be a true solution to water shortage issues, "perception needs to be changed." Right now, the usage of these plants "depends on comfort level and need" of the public because of the psychological aspect that we are consuming what used to be wastewater is getting in the way. However, this purified water is safe and it is already being used in various parts of the world, including Singapore and the Middle East.
Reclaimed wastewater has the potential to solve issues concerning water shortages in drought-prone areas and mitigate water pollution. However, change seems to scare people the most. But as the human population continues to grow and climate change continues to cause frequent droughts, reclaimed water may one day be the norm.
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories
[display-posts category="ecowatch" posts_per_page="4″]
Stephanie Siemek is a freelance writer whose work can be found on Examiner.com.


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The concert documentary "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" earned $73 million. But what's far more troubling is that appears to have inspired imitators.
Katy Perry's camp is said to be in talks with Paramount, the studio behind "Never Say Never," about a similar documentary-style 3D concert film about the curvaceous pop tart, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Word is the footage has already been shot, and at this point it's just a matter of putting it together.
Musical snobbery aside, there is perhaps no pop star today better suited to a 3D concert film. Between the Candyland outfits, the fireworks and technicolor overload, Perry's whole show is tailor made for the big screen.
Concerts films historically have performed poorly, with none cracking $20 million until Hannah Montana's "Best of Both Worlds" raked in $65 million. Since then, "Michael Jackson's This Is It" scored $72 million, and Bieber now stands as the all-time champ.


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Notice Number: NOT-AI-10-034
Key Dates
Release Date: June 18, 2010
Issued by
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) (http://www.niaid.nih.gov)
The purpose of this Notice is to announce changes in PA-09-119 entitled for "Phased Innovation Award Program for AIDS Vaccine Research". January 7, 2011 will be the last receipt date for this FOA.
The new Expiration Date is: January 8, 2011
NOTE: All other aspects of this FOA remain unchanged.
For questions regarding this funding opportunity scientific/research (program
Please Contact:
Jon Warren, Ph.D
Division of AIDS (DAIDS)
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Room 5135, MSC-7628
6700B Rockledge Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892-7628
Telephone: (301) 402-0633
Fax: (301) 402-3684
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Weekly TOC for this Announcement
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices
Office of Extramural
Research (OER)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
9000 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, Maryland 20892
Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS)
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In Search of the Novel: Workshops
Workshop 1
Who Owns the Novel?
This workshop probes the living nature of the novel by illustrating how each reader makes a novel his or her own. It shows that the interpretation of a novel changes, depending upon the reader's culture, class, generation, sex, and personality.
Goals and Objectives
Upon completion of this workshop lesson teachers will be able to:
- Allow students to explore their own interpretations and ideas about the novels they read.
- Help students assume full possession of both the novels they are assigned to read and those they read by choice.
- Develop a lesson plan that addresses the question of ownership based on a novel they are currently teaching.
Participants Comments and Observations
Katherine Paterson: Its always a contract between writer and reader. I often say to children that its like squiggles on a page if you dont have a reader. Of course the reader without the black squiggles doesnt work either. Its always a joint project. One of the wonderful things about being a writer is that the reader completes your book, and the book is
going to be different for everyone who comes to it because they bring their own imagination, life experience, and emotions to the reading of it.
Leslie Marmon Silko: In some small way each reader owns the novel in her or his own personal way. And I often hesitate when I get calls from students or graduate students who want to ask me what did I mean? Or what does this mean in the novel? Or what is this supposed to mean? And I always say, Wait a minute! As soon as I finish a novel and the novel goes out into the world, its a part of that great river of language and literature, and it doesnt belong to me anymore. And my personal opinion about what I think it means, or even my intentions as a novelist, are not definitive. I can tell you what I thought I was doing or what I hoped to do, but language, the alchemy, the magic of what happens with narrative and with the resonance of languagethey are larger. They transcend any little limited hope that a novelist might have for any given interpretation. So I hesitate to say what I think or what I intended.
Ernest Gaines: It's whoever picks it up and reads it and likes it. I don't think the writer owns the novel and once he's written the novel, it is for the public after that. It's no longer my novel after I've written it. I have to go to something else and the novel is no longer mine.
Arthur Golden: I think a novel in a remarkable number of ways is analogous to a child. You know you raise a child knowing that the childs job is to leave you and thats what youre bargaining for and you really screw it up if you try to do it otherwise. That novel is going to leave you in the sense its going to become other peoples, if youre lucky that
is, and theyre going to have a relationship with it which will certainly be, not may be, will be, different from yours. But if you understand that from the start its all right, you know, thats what you hope for. And its interesting to me how many different kinds of comments I hear from people whove read my book, there are different things they respond to in the
book and sometimes they respond to the same things very differently not to a dramatic degree but to some degree and Im delighted when I hear those kinds of things.
Charles Taylor: The authors ownership stops at the moment he or she sends it out into the world. People sort of remake stories into what they will.
Milton Brasher-Cunningham: I think the ownership is collective. If I have a draft of a novel that I carry around in my bookbag with me that nobodys read yet, I own it right now. But as soon as I tell someone else the story, they own that, too, and I dont have control over that. Its like when you speak a word, it takes on a life of its own and you cant get it back. You can send some other words to chase it, but it owns itself. The story owns itself.
Sydney E. Onyeberechi: On the legal aspect of that question, the novel belongs to the author or the publisher, depending upon the contractual understanding made before the publication of the novel. Two, the novel, on the cultural level, belongs to the society that gives life to that novel. And, three, it belongs to the reading mankind and to the individual reader to do what he or she wills of that novel.


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|Sarah Jane Snyder Named Channel 7 Everyday Hero, November 16, 2007
The Channel 7 Everyday Hero Award Given to Sarah Jane Snyder
On the morning of Friday, November 16, 2007, Channel 7 News in Denver, Colorado awarded Sarah Jane Snyder, coordinator of the Longmont SeniorNet Learning Center, the 7 Every Day Hero Award. The Everyday Hero Award is given to Coloradans who initiate solutions, motivate others, represent or serve working families and work on a nonprofit basis.
Sarah Jane Snyder was recognized on behalf of her extensive work as the coordinator of a thriving SeniorNet Learning Center. Her fellow volunteers say that Sarah Jane keeps the SeniorNet Longmont Learning Center on track in a professional manner but at the same time making everyone feel at ease, including the volunteers and students. By going beyond the call of duty time and time again Sarah Jane is an excellent example of an Everyday Hero. Congratulations Sarah Jane on this outstanding recognition!
Read the article about the award on the Denver Channel 7 News site and click to view the video (a short advertisement plays first).


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This is the first in a series of posts about customer service, in all its various and glorious forms. Work-wise, it was my first love, and it's still near and dear to my heart.
Many successes and failures are made in an organization's most basic communications. I'm talking about what we now call Frequently Asked Questions, especially very frequently asked questions.
What questions come in by phone or email the most? Your hours, your location, program or product details?
Put that information on your website! Duh, right? But take a look at your site, is it really there?
Sites for companies with many locations often say, "Call for hours." Yes, it would be challenging and take time to keep that information up to date, but having countless employees picking up the phone countless times per day is a staggering waste of resources.
Maintaining program or product details is even more of a commitment, but the time savings and error prevention can be considerable, and if the information's accurate, employees can use the site as a resource, too.
Are you distributing printed materials with outdated information? Is there even someone responsible for that?
Recently I went to Las Vegas for work and reached the hotel at midnight to find a long, slow check-in line. I was eventually directed to elevator 1a. On the 4th floor I followed a sign that said Rooms 4020 – 4045 or some such, but reached a dead-end before my room, 4035. A nice security guard opened a fire door and walked me to my room. When asked, he pleasantly gave me incomprehensible instructions for next time, mentioning Starbuck's as a guide, "But not the Starbuck's downstairs, or the Starbuck's on the other side."
The next day, here's what I got: "Go to Elevator 2 through the casino." Elevator 2 turned out to be a bank of four elevators, each marked with a 1 for first floor. "The sign on the wall will say access to floors 6-15. Disregard that. In the elevator, press the button for 2 – there will be one – and get off on the 2nd floor. Go around the next corner to the other elevator. Take that to 4th floor. Follow the signs to your room." Voilà!
Building the so-and-so theater cut into the elevator shaft, she said. Fine. When was that, yesterday? No, four years ago. What about the Floors 6-15 sign nowhere near the theater? Even homeless people can get hold of cardboard and markers. Perhaps management vetoed handmade signs, because they'd be tacky? Oh, wait, it's a casino.
People make mistakes and things break, that's part of life. Wrong-elevator-woman, the room phone, the pop machine, I get that. But that hotel has over 4,400 rooms. How many guests are needlessly lost, aggravated, and wasting time day after day? How many employees?
If you know, please add a comment. I'll leave the light on for you.
Photo: Alan Levine flickr.com


text:
Little Bee
Chris Cleave's Little Bee is an astonishing and unforgettable story.
Little Bee, a young Nigerian refugee, has just been released from the British immigration detention center where she has been held under horrific conditions for the past two years, after narrowly escaping a traumatic fate in her homeland of Nigeria. Alone in a foreign country, without a family member, friend, or pound to call her own, she seeks out the only English person she knows. Sarah is a posh young mother and magazine editor with whom Little Bee shares a dark and tumultuous past.
They first met on a beach in Nigeria, where Sarah was vacationing with her husband, Andrew, in an effort to save their marriage after an affair, and their brief encounter has haunted each woman for two years. Now together, they face a disturbing past and an uncertain future with the help of Sarah's four-year-old son, Charlie, who refuses to take off his Batman costume. A sense of humor and an unflinching moral compass allow each woman, and the reader, to believe that even in the face of unspeakable odds, humanity can prevail.
"Utterly enthralling page-turner... Novelist Cleave does a brilliant job of making both characters not only believable but memorable.... These compelling voices grip the reader's heart and do not let go even after the book's hyper-tense final page. Little Bee is a harrowing and heartening marvel of a novel." —Seattle Post-Intelligencer
About the Author
Chris Cleave Chris Cleave is a columnist for The Guardian newspaper in London. His first novel, Incendiary, won the 2006 Somerset Maugham Award, was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, won the United States Book-of-the-Month Club's First Fiction Award, and won the Prix Special du Jury at the French Prix des Lecteurs 2007. His second novel, Little Bee, was shortlisted for the prestigious Costa Award for Best Novel. He lives in London with his wife and two children.
"Book clubs in search of the next Kite Runner need look no further than this astonishing, flawless novel about what happens when ordinary, mundane Western lives are thrown into stark contrast against the terrifying realities of war-torn Africa….Best-selling author Cleave (Incendiary) effortlessly moves between alternating viewpoints with lucid, poignant prose and the occasional lighter note. A tension-filled dramatic ending and plenty of moral dilemmas add up to a satisfying, emotional read." —Library Journal
"[Cleave's] second ensnaring, eviscerating novel charms the reader with ravishing descriptions, sly humor, and the poignant improvisations of Sarah's Batman-costumed young son, then launches devastating attacks in the form of Little Bee's elegantly phrased insights into the massive failure of compassion in the world of refugees. Cleave is a nerves-of-steel storyteller of stealthy power, and this is a novel as resplendent and menacing as life itself." —Booklist(starred Review)
"The publishers of Chris Cleave's new novel "don't want to spoil" the story by revealing too much about it, and there's good reason not to tell too much about the plot's pivot point. All you should know going in to Little Bee is that what happens on the beach is brutal, and that it braids the fates of a 16-year-old Nigerian orphan (who calls herself Little Bee) and a well-off British couple--journalists trying to repair their strained marriage with a free holiday--who should have stayed behind their resort's walls. The tide of that event carries Little Bee back to their world, which she claims she couldn't explain to the girls from her village because they'd have no context for its abundance and calm. But she shows us the infinite rifts in a globalized world, where any distance can be crossed in a day--with the right papers--and 'no one likes each other, but everyone likes U2.' Where you have to give up the safety you'd assumed as your birthright if you decide to save the girl gazing at you through razor wire, left to the wolves of a failing state." —Amazon Best of the Month, February 2009