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Quite often, whenever people and groups want to remind fathers about the important role they play in their children's lives, there's a common phrase that keeps repeating: quality time.
It makes sense because we need dads embracing their roles, spending time with their kids, and making memories together. And time is one of the most important, basic commitments that a father makes. Quality time with your kids is a great goal.
At the same time, that term shouldn't give you the wrong idea as you try to be a good dad.
Here at NCF, we have found that most of the great dads we interact with—the dads who really get it when it comes to being there for their kids—are not talking about quality time. They know that it doesn't usually work to schedule quality time. Most often, quality time is unexpected—it just happens when you're practicing a sport, riding in the car or eating a meal together—investing quantity time in the relationship with your kids.
If you think about it, "quality time" is an adult concept; we want to get the most done in a given time period. But in relationships it adds an extra layer of pressure and expectations.
We know what dads do; maybe we've done it ourselves. We tell our children we wish we could spend more time with them. We wish we could play a game of Monopoly or ping-pong. We wish we could take them to the park and push them on the swing. But right now, we can't. Our schedules are just too tight. Then we try to make up for it by doing something special.
Usually, when dads talk about "quality time," it's like they're making an excuse. It's difficult for them to give their kids a lot of time, so with the time they do have, they want to make sure it's meaningful. And when kids hear that phrase, they could easily get the message that they aren't worth more than five or ten minutes of their dad's day.
It's like approaching your daughter and saying, "Okay, I have a few free minutes. Let's have a conversation and really connect." Sounds ridiculous, right? A better plan is to spend a lot of time with her; then you'll probably be available when those times arise. Those conversations often occur when a father and child are just "hanging out." And in either case, those moments can't happen unless we've built a strong relationship during the everyday, unstructured times during day-to-day life.
Think about "quality time" from your children's perspective.
To them, what time with you is not quality time? They don't make that distinction. Spending an hour shooting baskets, building a LEGO castle, or even working on a geometry homework assignment with your child may not seem like a big deal to you. But your kids cherish those moments.
There's a powerful example of this from history, found in two short diary entries describing the same day's events. Charles Adams, the son of President John Adams, wrote this:
"Went fishing with my son today—a day wasted."
The same day, his son Brook wrote this in his diary:
"Went fishing today with my father—the most wonderful day of my life."
Our children want to know that they're important enough for their fathers to commit time in their schedule and say, "It's just you and me." Even if it doesn't end up being what you might consider quality time, it still could be for your child.
There are no secret weapons here; it's just a matter of putting in the time. Once you're together, good things will happen. So read a book together. Play a game. Go for a walk or a bike ride. Do a puzzle. Include your kids in your projects and errands to the hardware store or supermarket. Let them help with some tasks and projects around the house. Chances are your child will have plenty of ideas for what you can do together.
To be clear: you can and should plan special events and activities with your children. But connecting with them is more about investing quantity time and making a quality effort by giving them your full attention as often as you can. Make the most of your opportunities to connect with them whether you're fishing or fixing dinner together, whether you're playing laser tag or playing Candyland for the tenth time that day. That's when the so-called "quality" moments are more likely to happen.
Dad, invest your time and energy to be the father your children need. That's a daddy's calling and privilege.
Action Points for Dads on the Journey
- Being a great dad starts with being there … showing up … getting involved. Find one more way to be involved in your children's lives this week.
- Keep being faithful in the everyday responsibilities that too often get taken for granted: going to work to provide for your family; helping with a project; tucking in before bed; fixing a meal; attending games and lessons, etc.
- Put more thought into making everyday activities more fun for your kids. A trip to the grocery store can become a treasure hunt; an everyday chore like doing dishes or setting the table can be more fun if you make up silly songs about the activity.
- Whenever your child is talking to you, make the effort to stop what you're doing, get down on her level, and really listen.
- Before you walk in the door after work, take a few minutes to gather yourself, release stress, and adjust your attitude. Be ready to focus fully on your kids.
- Start the habit of sending your child short, affirming texts at various times in the day.
Please share your thoughts. When have you found "quality time" moments with your kids in unexpected places? You can leave a comment on our Facebook page.


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Four Tet Album Premiere on SoundCloud
We're excited that Kieran aka Four Tet chose yours truly to premiere his new album There Is Love In You one week before its official release. The album is out next Monday, January 25 via Domino Records, click the album cover below for pre-orders.
Update: Four Tet made the album private again. The album is officially out now, so why not consult your trusted record dealer and get it :)
There Is Love In You by Four Tet

subset: commoncrawl


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- How to Care for a New Body Piercing
- Talking to a Loved One Battling Substance Abuse: Staying Positive Is Key
- RSV Vaccine Given in Pregnancy to Help Shield Newborns Receives Full U.S. Approval
- Many Americans Frustrated in Search for Low-Cost COVID Boosters
- In 22 U.S. States, More Than a Third of Adults Are Now Obese
- Kraft Cheese Slices Recalled Due to Plastic Wrap Choking Hazard
- Kids' ER Visits for Mental Health Crises Rise When School Term Begins
- Medicaid Reinstated for Nearly 500,000 Children and Families: CMS
- Newer Diabetes Meds Might Not Work as Well in Black Patients
- Vaping Raises a Teen's Odds of Developing Asthma
Diet Tied to Better Breathing in COPD Patients
People with certain chronic lung diseases might breathe a bit easier when their diets contain healthy foods like fruits and fish, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that among nearly 2,200 adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), those who ate fish, grapefruit, bananas and cheese tended to have better lung function and fewer symptoms than their counterparts who did not eat those foods.
COPD is an umbrella term for the progressive lung diseases emphysema and chronic bronchitis. In the United States, about 15 million people have COPD, and the disease is the third leading cause of death nationwide, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking is the leading cause of COPD.
It's not clear yet whether diet has direct effects on COPD patients' lungs. The new study, reported at the American Thoracic Society's annual meeting in San Diego, only shows an association between certain foods and better lung function.
That doesn't prove cause-and-effect, said lead researcher Corrine Hanson, who was scheduled to present the results on Wednesday.
And no one is saying bananas are the magic bullet against COPD, stressed Hanson, an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
But COPD patients who eat fruit, fish and dairy products might have a healthy, well-rounded diet, Hanson said. And it's "plausible," she said, that foods that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects could benefit COPD patients' lungs.
"It's probably the overall dietary pattern that matters," Hanson said.
That, in fact, is what some past research suggests, said Dr. Carlos Camargo, a professor at Harvard Medical School who was not involved in the new study.
In his own research, Camargo has found that people with diets high in fruits, vegetables, fiber-rich grains and fish are less likely to develop COPD compared to people who eat a lot of processed foods, red meat and sweets.
"We think that diet as a whole is important," Camargo said. He added, though, that to really prove that a healthy diet improves lung function, you'd have to do a clinical trial — where people with COPD would be randomly assigned to follow a particular eating plan or not.
"A trial like that is hard to do," Camargo noted. "But it can be done."
As an example, he cited the recent PREDIMED trial, which showed that the classic Mediterranean diet can cut the odds of heart attack and stroke in high-risk older adults.
"We should do something similar with COPD," Camargo said.
For the current study, Hanson's team used data from a larger project that followed COPD patients over three years. At eight different time points, the participants were asked whether they had eaten grapefruit, bananas, fish or cheese over the past 24 hours.
In general, people who had eaten any of those foods showed better lung function on standard tests, had a quicker walking pace, and tended to have lower levels of certain inflammatory indicators in the blood.
In some cases, the relationship was immediate, meaning people who ate a certain food did better on certain tests the next day. In other cases, the link was longer-term, meaning certain foods were tied to better lung function over time.
Hanson said it's possible that some foods, such as fruits and vegetables, have a short-term anti-inflammatory effect. But it's more likely that the individual foods in this study are signs of a higher-quality diet.
There's no good reason to suspect that eating a lot of cheese, for example, would boost lung function. But, Hanson said, cheese might be an indicator of people's intake of vitamin D, which, some evidence suggests, might help COPD patients breathe a bit easier.
"I think the take-away is that diet may be a modifiable factor for COPD patients," Hanson said. "When we think about diet and disease, we usually think about heart disease and diabetes. But people with lung disease should be thinking about diet, too."
Camargo agreed. "The lesson that's emerging is that foods like fruits, vegetables and fish may be beneficial for lung health," he said.
And if you're looking for a generally healthful way of eating, Camargo and Hanson pointed to the Mediterranean diet. It's rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish, beans and unsaturated "good" fats from sources such as olive oil and nuts. It's also low in processed foods, high-fat dairy and red meat.
Data and conclusions presented at meetings are typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
More information
The U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has more on COPD.
Source: HealthDay
Copyright © 2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.


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What do you give the eCommerce business that already has everything? A partnership with Trustpilot, of course!
Over the past 13 years, ID Wholesaler has grown to be the largest retailer of photo identification products worldwide. When they partnered with Trustpilot in 2015, Julie Kuepers, Senior Digital Marketing Specialist for ID Wholesaler, went straight to work to make the partnership as impactful for the business as possible. By leveraging their Trustpilot relationship and customer reviews, the business achieved massive boosts in landing page performance, increased engagement and performance metrics across their various web properties and marketing channels, and successfully utilized reviews to inspire the sales team and build a truly customer-centric team culture.
If your business is struggling to improve your website performance, mitigate high ad spend, engage a greater social following, or motivate employees, check out ID Wholesaler's case study below. Here's the steps their team took to achieve significant results:
Step 1: A/B test a TrustBox featuring customer reviews and ratings to improve their website's performance, specifically on key PPC landing pages
Recognizing that paid ads (Google, Bing, and Yahoo!) were a big part of their marketing strategy, ID Wholesaler sought to improve the landing page performance for their major ad campaigns.
Julie chose to implement the Carousel TrustBox on their landing pages. The Carousel (see below) may look humble – however, its performance was anything but.
After adding the Carousel to their email subscription landing page, ID Wholesaler saw a remarkable 63% increase in sign-ups, generating a 72% boost in revenue.
The second test they performed was adding the Carousel to their traditional lanyard landing page, leading to a massive 167% increase in transactions and a 164% boost in revenue.
Their third and most successful test was with their landing page for breakaway lanyards. The page was already performing quite well, but by adding the Carousel to the bottom of the page, ID Wholesaler enjoyed 130% more transactions and a whopping 315% boost in revenue.
Achieving these results did not require a significant website change, re-design, or content re-vamp. All ID Wholesaler did was add a TrustBox, featuring their verified Trustpilot reviews. The TrustBox widget, already fully dynamic and responsive, requires a mere copy and paste to implement. From there, the business saw massive improvements in sign-ups, conversions, and revenue.
Step 2: Strengthen their web properties and marketing channels with customer reviews and third-party validation
ID Wholesaler already had a strong B2B social media presence when they joined Trustpilot. Once they started receiving verified Trustpilot reviews, which were overwhelming positive, Julie knew these would make for great content to incorporate into their social media strategy.
Julie worked with Trustpilot designers to create a special Trustpilot badge to showcase alongside the reviews, adding third-party validation and increased authenticity to this content. (Editor's Note: social media badges are now widely available in the Marketing Assets section of the Trustpilot platform). The inclusion of the Trustpilot badge gave Julie's social posts a sizable boost in engagement. In addition, it clearly highlighted the organization's stellar 9.1 Trustpilot rating for all to see.
Coming off the success of their landing pages and social media strategy, ID Wholesaler began to include customer reviews and third-party validation in the form of Trustpilot branding on a much wider basis – on their business website homepage, in the left navigation panel on several of the site's interior pages, and within a number of their email campaigns.
They also qualified for the Google Seller Rating ad extension (see below) through their partnership with Trustpilot, adding additional authenticity to their PPC ads and improving the performance of this critical channel.
Socializing and displaying their Trustpilot rating lent their brand, already beloved, that extra level of verification and trust to better showcase ID Wholesaler's impressive customer engagement, excellent customer service, and high quality products.
Step 3: Inspire their sales team to perform at peak levels
The ID Wholesaler team knew that if reviews could encourage more prospective buyers to become customers, they could also inspire awesome performance internally. Now, ID Wholesaler not only leverages customer reviews to improve marketing performance and build a better brand, but also internally, to motivate and celebrate their amazing Sales teams.
The motivation board for The Warriors Sales Team at ID Wholesaler.
Every Friday morning, Julie sends each of the week's outstanding five-star Trustpilot reviews to the corresponding Sales Account Manager, cc'ing their Team Leader. Both the Vice President of Sales and the Director of Sales also receive these notifications, providing their own praise to the top-performing reps via email.
The Sales team loves receiving these inspiring notifications – these emails instill a ton of excitement on the Sales floor every time they go out.
In addition, Sales Account Managers regularly check their reviews on ID Wholesaler's "Customer Testimonials" page, ensuring that their service levels are high, and the feedback is good.
One Sales Team Leader, Beth Wenisch, regularly publishes the #1 customer review from her team on a dedicated bulletin board outside of her office, showcasing a screenshot of the review and the five-star rating. "Once I select the Customer Review of the Week, I send it out via email team-wide to further excite and engage the team and show them that it's about more than a sale. It's all about the customer," Beth remarked.
ID Wholesaler successfully implements a culture of reviews from the top down – making sure leadership commends and values reps who receive positive feedback, and ensuring the team members who receive praise are widely lauded around the office. By socializing their customer reviews amongst their teams, the entire organization is united behind their mission to provide incredible customer experience.
Trustpilot can help your business too. Sign up for a free account below.


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Power Grab Prompts New Unrest In Egypt
It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Jacki Lyden. Guy Raz is away.
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi stunned the nation by announcing an extraordinary set of new presidential powers Thursday that essentially nullifies judicial oversight. His critics say that for now, he has unchecked power.
We'll take a look at what this means for the democracy movement in Egypt in a minute. But first, let's get the latest from NPR's Leila Fadel, who's in Cairo. Hi there, Leila. Thanks for joining us.
LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: Hi. Thank you.
LYDEN: So explain exactly what happened this week, how President Morsi's decree affects Egypt's judiciary.
FADEL: Well, he basically nullified the judiciary. He basically said: Anything I decide stands and there's no way to challenge it in court. And on top of that, if you plan to challenge the body tasked with writing the constitution, that's also not allowed. If you plan to challenge the Shura Council, the elected upper house of parliament, that's also not allowed. Overall, he also just gave a catch-all decree that says: If I think anything threatens last year's revolution, I get to do whatever I deem necessary to deal with it. So it's quite frightening. A lot of his critics say, how are we supposed to deal with a man who is all powerful, who is the law in Egypt?
LYDEN: Yeah. Leila, what specific actions can judges - are judges in Egypt taking in response to this?
FADEL: Well, really, Morsi is facing a possible judicial rebellion. So today, there was a huge angry meeting of judges, what they call a judges assembly here in Cairo in the Supreme Court. And I'm just going to play a clip for you of Ashraf Zahran, one of those judges speaking there today.
ASHRAF ZAHRAN: (Foreign language spoken)
FADEL: He's saying Egypt did not deserve this from you, Mr. President. Go to him. Tell him that he has been unjust, and tell him that the rights of the martyrs do not come by wasting legitimacy. And basically, the judges are saying we're going to go on strike. So far, three courts in Alexandria and in the Delta region plan to completely suspend activity, and the Judges' Club is calling for a nationwide strike. This would effectively paralyze the judicial system, and they're hoping that this type of prospect will force Morsi to rescind the decrees.
LYDEN: So how's the Muslim Brotherhood reacting to this move? I mean, they had said that they were supporting democracy.
FADEL: Well, they say this exceptional measure, and as critics say, this undemocratic move, is needed to create a democracy in Egypt. They say that every time we take a step forward, these courts, these Mubarak era appointed judges stand in our way. We elected a parliament; they dissolved the powerful lower house that would issue legislation. We elected an constituent assembly; they dissolved the assembly because it's mostly Islamists.
They say we're tired of having to fight remnants of the old regime to get to political stability. So they say this is a temporary measure. Don't worry. Trust the president. He'll give the power back.
LYDEN: It doesn't seem to be having that effect. Aren't demonstrations being planned?
FADEL: You know, what's interesting is the country is just so polarized and so divided right now as the political establishment is along secular versus Islamist lines. And when we go out to these protests, it isn't that feeling of revolution in the street. It's a few thousand people. Most people didn't stay overnight despite calls for a declared sit-in. But in the future, they plan to strike more. Both sides are calling for huge mass protests on Tuesday, and judges are also calling for protests. Lawyers are calling for protests. And we'll just have to see if the country falls apart due to these decrees.
LYDEN: Well, Leila Fadel, thanks very much for giving us that report.
FADEL: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


text: At The Orlow Firm, our lawyers work hard to obtain the highest-possible compensation for every client. When we obtain five-, six- and seven-figure awards for our injured clients, we know we are delivering the legal service that our clients deserve. But perhaps our greatest satisfaction comes when we receive letters from previous clients thanking us for our diligent representation.


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A Place at the Table
50 million people in the U.S., one in four children don't know where their next meal is coming from, despite our having the means to provide nutritious, affordable food for all Americans. Directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush examine this issue through the lens of three people who are struggling with food insecurity: Barbie, a single Philadelphia mother who grew up in poverty and is trying to provide a better life for her two kids; Rosie, a Colorado fifth-grader who often has to depend on friends and neighbors to feed her and has trouble concentrating in school; and Tremonica, a Mississippi second-grader whose asthma and health issues are exacerbated by the largely empty calories her hardworking mother can afford. Their stories are interwoven with insights from experts including sociologist Janet Poppendieck, author Raj Patel and nutrition policy leader Marion Nestle; ordinary citizens like Pastor Bob Wilson and teachers Leslie Nichols and Odessa Cherry; and activists such as Dr. Mariana Chilton, Tom Colicchio and actor Jeff Bridges. Ultimately, A Place at the Table shows us how hunger poses serious economic, social and cultural implications for our nation, and that it could be solved once and for all, if the American public decides, as they have in the past, that making healthy food available and affordable is in the best interest of us all.
Starring Jeff Bridges, Jeff Bridges, Tom Colicchio
Director Kristi Jacobson, Lori Silverbush


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Merry Christmas from BlackDog
and Santa too!
How much longer until Christmas?
The images, games, and all the things you see on BlackDog, are copyrighted and owned by BlackDog.net. This work is not public domain and may NOT be used on your site, or anywhere else, for any purpose without first obtaining written permission from the owner of this site.
Reindeer BlackDog by Dean Bagley.


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The start of training camp allows us to confirm a variety of stories we essentially confirmed months ago.
That extends to Philly, where All-Pro blocker Evan Mathis has shown up for training camp despite his desire for a new deal that would pay him as one of the game's top guards, according to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Mathis told Philly Mag's Tim McManus that he briefly contemplated a holdout but decided that showing up and continuing to participate was the best course of action.
Like the 49ers, the Eagles haven't shown much interest in back-and-forth negotiations with holdouts -- one reason we saw Vernon Davismake his way to San Francisco's camp after crowing about a new deal all spring.
Mathis has started all but one game for Philly over the past three seasons and stood out last year as a lynchpin in Chip Kelly's athletic front five. He was a rock last season, but that hasn't changed the fact that players rarely hold the cards in these summertime contract-related tales.
The latest "Around The League Podcast" offers up team-by-team training camp previews of the NFC East and NFC West.


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Matthews book: O'Neill, Reagan bond
In all the ink that's been spilled about the friendship — both political and personal — between Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill during the 1980s, much has been made about how the two political opposites could put aside their party differences at the end of the day and enjoy a drink together.
MSNBC's "Hardball" host Chris Matthews's book, " Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked," which comes out Tuesday, goes a long way to explain Reagan and O'Neill's friendship but says that the heavily emphasized social component has been overstated (Matthews should know; he was an aide to O'Neill during this time).
"It wasn't about that," Matthews told POLITICO, although he says the two did genuinely like each other. In Matthews's book, former Reagan aide Max Friedersdorf recounts a scene from George Washington University Hospital following the assassination attempt on Reagan. O'Neill was one of the first people Reagan let visit him.
Friedersdorf said that when O'Neill entered Reagan's hospital room, "he nodded my way and walked over to the bed and grasped both the president's hands, and said, 'God bless you, Mr. President.' The president still seemed groggy … with lots of tubes and needles running in and out of his body. But when he saw Tip, he lit up and gave the speaker a big smile, and said, 'Thanks for coming, Tip.' Then, still holding one of the president's hands, the speaker got down on his knees and said he would like to offer a prayer for the president, choosing the 23rd Psalm."
"If that doesn't grab you," Matthews said, "you're not a human being. That stuff still gets to me."
Much of their political partnership was based less on friendship and more on smart gamesmanship, the kind that Matthews says is sorely lacking in today's Washington.
"There were rules in those days," Matthews said. "Tip would say, 'I'll cut a deal on Social Security if you let me focus on taxing the wealthier people.' There was always a deal. It's not that they always found common ground, it's that they each got something out of every deal. … A lot of times it was just getting something from the other guy."
"There was a tremendous respect for deadlines in those days. You had to get the budget resolution in the spring, then you had to get the appropriations bill done by Oct. 1. There wasn't this thing about brinkmanship. You had to get this stuff done. … There was a respect for each other and a respect for institutions."
The two also didn't suspect the worse of each other.
"Reagan was fond of Tip and completely believed that Tip wanted to help the little people. He just disagreed about how to do it."
And it was clear that each truly did represent their party in full.
"Reagan was his party. Tip was his party. It wasn't like [John] Boehner trying to deal with people who are a little different than him."
"Tip and the Gipper" is Matthews's seventh book and, while he says he was jolted into action to write it thanks to the overwhelming success of his last book about John F. Kennedy, he says this one has been in his mind for decades.
"All of these books are in your head long before you write them," Matthews said. "This moment was really my coming of age." It was also one of the more difficult chapters in Matthews's professional life.
"I love what I'm doing now because what I'm doing is so natural. But working for the speaker was tough. That was the toughest job I've ever had. … If you were working for Tip O'Neill, everything had to work out right. And if it didn't work out right, it was your fault. … He had no room for error."
As for his next book, Matthews might take a sharp turn away from politics.
"If I write another book, it'll be about growing up in an Irish neighborhood in Philadelphia," Matthews said. "I think people want books from where you come from. I think people like books that have that sense."


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Sony revealed on Thursday the extent to which the global economic downturn is hurting its business, as it slashed its annual sales forecast by US$15 billion, reversed a forecast profit to a loss and readied its domestic workforce for job cuts.
The company said sales are now expected to be ¥7.7 trillion (US$86 billion), a 14 percent cut from its previous forecast of ¥9 trillion, and net income will drop from an expected profit of ¥150 billion to a loss of the same amount.
Sony, which is a major exporter, has been hit by recession in many of its biggest markets, a tightening of consumer credit and the appreciation of the Japanese yen, which makes its products more expensive overseas and reduces the value of profits made overseas when they are brought back to Japan.
"We can and will navigate through this but it will not be easy," said Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony. Stringer hasn't appeared at a financial news conference since assuming the role of CEO almost four years ago so his attendance may say as much about the seriousness of the situation as the indicators he presented.
Demand for products has fallen in several major areas causing Sony to cut sales forecasts made three months earlier.
Sony now expects to sell 15 million Bravia TVs this year, down 1 million [m] on its previous forecast; CyberShot digital camera sales are predicted to be 21.5 million, a drop of 2.5 million on its last forecast and Vaio PC sales expectations have been reduced by a million units to 5.8 million. In the games sector Sony cut its PlayStation Portable sales forecast from 16 million to 15 million but left its PlayStation 3 target untouched at 10 million.
"Over the past quarter we have experienced a significant deterioration in the profitability of our core electronics business," said Stringer.
In answer to the dire market conditions Stringer reaffirmed plans to push the company and its products into the network era. Last year he said Sony would add network connectivity to 90 percent of its product categories by March 2011, but now the company will speed up some of that work.
"We will accelerate the transition of our televisions from being passive displays offering linear entertainment chosen by traditional gatekeepers to networked-entertainment centers offering rich content alternatives organized by consumers tastes and culled directly from the broadest and most open network in the world: the Internet," Stringer said.
He also pledged to reform Sony's product planning process in the hope of making the company once again a leader rather than a follower with "me-too" products.
"We will execute more quickly and move beyond our traditional impulse towards consensus," Stringer said.
Since he arrived at Sony in 2005 Stringer has battled what he calls "walled silos" that built up over years around many areas of the company and meant that different parts of Sony worked on their own. That sometimes led to a situation in which two parts of the company would come out with competing products.
Last year, for example, owners of network-linked Bravia TV sets were able to watch the movie "Hancock" before it reached the DVD and Blu-ray Disc market thanks to a partnership with Sony Pictures.
"The march towards innovation and integration must be faster," he said.
On Thursday Sony said it plans to standardize global hardware and software design and integrate some R&D operations while outsourcing some software development to India. It also said it would consolidate design and manufacturing of Bravia TVs in Japan and close a plant in central Japan. The factory closure will result in job losses but the company did not immediately say how many.
Last month Sony said it plans to cut 8,000 staff from its regular payroll and another 8,000 part-time workers as part of its plan to deal with the poor economic situation.


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Now that you have familiarized yourself with AppArmor, start selecting the applications to build profiles for. Programs that need profiling are those that mediate privilege. The following programs have access to resources that the person using the program does not have, so they grant the privilege to the user when used:
Programs that are run periodically by cron. Such programs read input from a variety of sources and can run with special privileges, sometimes with as much as root privilege. For example, cron can run /usr/sbin/logrotate daily to rotate, compress or even mail system logs. For instructions for finding these types of programs, refer to Section 1.3, Immunizing Cron Jobs.
Programs that can be invoked through a Web browser, including CGI Perl scripts, PHP pages, and more complex Web applications. For instructions for finding these types of programs, refer to Section 1.4.1, Immunizing Web Applications.
Programs (servers and clients) that have open network ports. User clients, such as mail clients and Web browsers mediate privilege. These programs run with the privilege to write to the user's home directory and they process input from potentially hostile remote sources, such as hostile Web sites and e-mailed malicious code. For instructions for finding these types of programs, refer to Section 1.4.2, Immunizing Network Agents.
Conversely, unprivileged programs do not need to be profiled. For instance, a shell script might invoke the cp program to copy a file. Because cp does not have its own profile, it inherits the profile of the parent shell script, so can copy any files that the parent shell script's profile can read and write.


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CHARLOTTE — Wells Fargo will lay off about 150 workers in the Charlotte area as the company's home mortgage refinancing business slows.
The cuts announced Wednesday come after the bank laid off more than 280 workers in Charlotte last month.
Rising interest rates have slowed home mortgage refinancing across the country.
Bank of America recently eliminated about 2,000 jobs across the country in its mortgage unit.
Wells Fargo spokeswoman Christine Shaw said the 150 workers were given 60-day notices Wednesday. Shaw said 48 workers in Raleigh were also given layoff notices.
"There's a need to continue to right-size that business," she said.
The bank will try to find other jobs for affected workers, she said.
"It's not a reflection on their performance. It's what we're seeing in the industry right now," Shaw said.
BB&T of Winston-Salem has largely been avoided the wave of mortgage-related layoffs, but that will change early next year, Chief Financial Officer Daryl Bible told investors Wednesday.
BB&T already has been doing a large-scale restructuring of its mortgage operations, Bible said.
He said the bank would start to "right-size our business" around the first half of 2014.


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common name: black flies
scientific name: Simulium spp. (Insecta: Diptera: Simuliidae)
Introduction - Distribution - Life Cycle and Description - Damage - Management - Selected References
Introduction (Back to Top)
Florida occasionally experiences outbreaks of black flies, though this is a rare occurrence, and these large populations are caused by rainfall extremes. Common names for this pest include black flies and turkey gnats, as well as a number of new names applied by Floridians which are not repeatable here. Because of the hump visible behind their head when viewed in profile, black flies are also called buffalo gnats. Like eye gnats, they fly around people's heads, occasionally getting into eyes and ears as well as crawling in the hair. Because most of the specimens collected to date have been identified as Simulium slossonae Dyar & Shannon, biological information given below will generally be for this species.
Figure 1. Adult black fly, Simulium slossonae Dyar & Shannon. Photograph by J. F. Butler, University of Florida.
Distribution (Back to Top)
Black flies are found in many parts of the US and Canada, including Florida. Populations in Florida normally are not present in numbers large enough to be noticed by humans. Simulium slossonae is found in Florida from Dade country north to Duval county, and west to Escambia county. In some areas it is present all year long. In South Carolina, population peaks have been recorded in late July, late September, and late October, but large numbers have been found in Florida between April and November. Overall, Florida has 18 different black fly species, the most common with populations present from August through July. Only female black flies feed on blood. Males feed mainly on nectar.
Black flies can occur in enormous numbers. Immature stages develop in oxygenated water sources, therefore adults are usually associated with slow moving streams, creeks, or rivers where the immature stages develop. Flowing water does not necessarily imply white water rapids, but water must be moving. Water in lakes and ponds that is not flowing is unsuitable for black fly development. Simulium slossonae prefers fairly small, slow moving streams with an average velocity of 1.5 ft per second. Water is often tea-colored, with ample vegetation, light shade, and a pH of 4.4 to 4.5. Simulium slossonae makes good use of temporary streams that flow seasonally.
Life Cycle and Description (Back to Top)
Adult black flies are small insects that measure 1 to 5 mm in length, and possess a shiny thorax (middle of the fly) that ranges in color from black to various shades of gray or yellow. Females deposit eggs, 200 to 800 per female, on vegetation just below the water surface. Larvae emerge from eggs and attach themselves to aquatic or emergent vegetation as well as rocks. They will be particularly abundant near culverts under roads, attached to plants trailing in the water. Most black fly larvae are filter feeders, with the larvae feeding on nutrients in the water as it flows by. Larvae pass through six stages before reaching the pupal stage. Pupae are encased in a silken cocoon attached to vegetation or other objects in the stream. Adults emerge from the pupal case through a slit and float to the surface on a bubble of air. Some species mate as soon as adults emerge. The length of the cycle from egg to adult is variable, depending on the black fly species and water temperature. The time interval for Simulium slossonae is estimated to be from three to four weeks. Large populations in April, 1998, continued as long as the high water caused streams to flow. Emerging adults live from two to three weeks, to as long as 85 days.
Figure 2. Eggs, pupae, and larvae of black fly, Simulium sp., on plant leaves in water. Photograph by J. F. Butler, University of Florida.
Figure 3. Cocoon of black fly, Simulium slossonae Dyar & Shannon, on grass leaf. Photograph by J. F. Butler, University of Florida.
Population size of Simulium slossonae seems to be limited more by competition with other black fly species and cessation of water flow than from increases in water temperature. However with many black fly species, high populations are regulated more by suitable water for the developing larvae than anything else. The high water levels in 1998 have produced the large numbers of flies seen. The reduction of pollution levels generally seen in rivers across the nation has also led to an increase in suitable water for more black fly production because they prefer nonpolluted water. With the high numbers seen this spring, we feel that the predominant species may be able to produce their first egg batch without first taking a blood meal (autogeny), a common practice seen for other blood feeding insects.
Figure 4. Black flies, Simulium slossonae Dyar & Shannon, on grass hanging in stream (Double Run Creek). Photograph by J. F. Butler, University of Florida.
Simulium slossonae adults may fly four to eight miles from breeding sites in search of hosts, then return after feeding to breed and lay eggs. In parts of Africa, adult female black flies may travel more than forty miles from aquatic breeding sites to find blood meals. So, the biting problem at a particular location may be generated at some distance away, even in Florida.
Damage (Back to Top)
Black flies have preferences for a wide range of individual host species. Adult females feed on the blood of humans, cattle, horses, sheep, goats, poultry, other livestock and wild mammals and birds. Each black fly species may prefer one type of host over another. The black fly common name sometimes indicates host specificity, for example the turkey gnat. Black flies are daytime biters preferring low wind conditions. They are not restricted to shaded or humid sites, and usually do not go indoors. They are attracted to hosts from a distance by smell, heat, and by sight. The female flies swarm around and crawl on the host preferring the head, hair, and ears as well as any skin that is exposed or that they can crawl onto. Simulium slossonae is primarily a bird feeder and probably preys on wild turkeys to some extent. It is the primary vector of the protozoan blood parasite, Leucocytozoon smithi, in Florida. This parasite is restricted only to birds, especially turkeys. Simulium slossonae will feed on domestic turkeys as well as chickens and other poultry. Several cases of chicken mortality attributed to black fly feeding were reported in Florida during the first three months of 1998.
Female black flies are blood feeders whose bites can itch and persist for several days. The flies bite by cutting into the skin and feeding on the pool of blood that forms in the hole they make. Anticoagulants injected into the feeding site by black flies can cause mild to severe allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. Strong reactions include fever, nausea and allergic dermatitis. Large black fly populations and strong bite reactions can be life threatening and have been reported to kill domestic animals. Black fly bites are very painful because of the hole that is cut in the skin, the anticoagulants and other materials that are injected, and the immunological differences between insect and hosts' tissues.
Figure 5. Black fly, Simulium sp., feeding on man. Photograph by J. F. Butler, University of Florida.
Some people are very attractive to black flies and have strong feeding reactions. Others appear to repel black flies and are bitten little if at all. Although Simulium slossonae is primarily a bird feeder, large swarms are attracted to people. Fortunately in Florida, most of the black flies attracted to people do not bite. Anyone showing strong allergic reactions should consult a physician for immediate treatment. Treatments for bites include antipruritic lotions or creams (Goddard 1993).
Management (Back to Top)
Control of black flies is difficult because of the number of potential breeding sites. However, satisfactory control has been attained in some states by treating streams with the natural product, Bacillus thuringiensis var. israeliensis (Bti). The breeding sites in streams as well as the potential migration from these sites by the adult female black fly limits the use of chemical pesticides to regulate populations. Breeding site treatments have been used in Africa, but generally have not proven effective. Treatment of breeding sites (streams, rivers, etc.) would involve techniques similar to those used by mosquito control districts for treatment of mosquito larvae in aquatic habitats. Fogging for black flies would have to be done during the day when these insects are actively feeding and when fogging is least effective. These techniques do not seem effective against black flies in the northeastern United States.
Black flies are small enough to pass through window screen or come indoors on or in the hair. They do, however, prefer to bite out of doors. Long sleeve shirts, long pants and fine screen netting over head help prevent feeding. Repellents containing "DEET" formulations are not very effective for prevention of black fly bites. Individuals wearing DEET may actually have more black flies attracted to them than individuals not wearing DEET. Our tests indicate that some protection is given by herbal-based treatments with an active ingredient of geraniol. Permethrin products designed specifically to repel ticks also work for black flies as a clothing treatment, but can only be applied to fabrics, such as hats and shirts, and not to skin. Because black flies feed only during the day, our best advice is to limit your exposure to black flies. If this is not possible, try the available repellents in the hope that one of them will be effective for you in protecting against the black flies' bites.
Selected References (Back to Top)
- Goddard J. 1993. Physicians Guide to Arthropods of Medical Importance. CRC Press. Boca Raton. pp. 124-5.
- Pinkovsky DD. 1976. The black flies of Florida and their involvement in the transmission of Leucocytozoon smithi to turkeys. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Florida, Gainesville.
- Pinkovsky DD, Butler JF. 1978. Black flies of Florida I. Geographic and seasonal distribution. Florida Entomologist 61: 257-267.
- Stone A, Snoddy EL. 1969. The black flies of Alabama (Diptera: Simuliidae). Auburn University Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 390.


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Last week, on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter, Nicole Kidman was all like, "I am the indie spirit, and that's where my art is, not with the big box office movies". So here she is, at Sundance this weekend, being "indie".
Everyone else is in parkas and Sorels and, well, this is about as indie (style) as it gets for Granny Freeze. I'm not sure she looks all that comfortable, either. Sundance is a small town that Los Angeles converts into a giant red carpet for 10 days every year -- they can't totally hide the rustic. It's not exactly how the godmother of Rupert Murdoch's children normally rolls.
Kidman is at Sundance for Stoker, scheduled for release in March. I've read a couple of reviews and so far, it seems decent, with most of the praise, not surprisingly, going to Mia Wasikowska's performance. She's amazing in every film. Definitely seeing this.


text: The Dumper Dogg insert turns any truck into a dump truck. This video is part of Cool Tools show hosted by Chris Grundy . SHOW DESCRIPTION :Did you know there's a device that lets you carry a sheet of plywood with one hand? How do you use your drill for cleaning ducts or snipping sheet metal? And just what does WD-40 stand for anyway? DIY Network's Cool Tools answers these and other questions offering an insider's look at the tools you may not yet know about. Innovative new products, funky gadgets, technological advancements and improvements to old stand-bys - we take you behind-the-scenes for a look at design, development, demonstrations and testing. Stay on top of the changing tools marketplace as you see new tools in action and get tips on how to use them. If it's cool, you'll see it on DIY's Cool Tools!


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President Barack Obama is using the IRS to silence employers unhappy about Obamacare. That's the hidden purpose behind the employer mandate delay announced on Feb. 10.
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The administration released 227 pages of mind-numbing regulations ridiculously billed as making "the compliance process simpler and easier" for employers. Hidden in the gobbledygook (on pages 125-126) is a requirement that employers sign a statement to the IRS — meaning under penalty of perjury — claiming they have not reduced the number of employees or cut hours to shield themselves from the costs of Obamacare.
The administration called it a mandate delay. Nonsense. The delay applies only to a miniscule fraction of midsize employers (50-99 full-time workers) who currently don't provide coverage. They're mostly in retail and hospitality, and they will be allowed to continue not offering it. Their workers (about 1.9 million) plus dependents will either stay uninsured or sign up with Obamacare. The administration is hoping for the latter.
But nine out of every 10 midsize employers already provide coverage, and for them, last Monday's announcement was about hush money, not delay. They are required to continue providing coverage, and worse, most will have to switch to the costlier Obamacare package of benefits because that's the only plan for sale. State insurance regulators and insurance companies have already said "no" to renewing noncompliant plans.
The only thing these employers get from last week's rule change is a "stop complaining" bribe. The Affordable Care Act says employers have to pay a whopping $3,000 each time a worker goes onto the Obama exchanges and gets a taxpayer-subsidized plan. Now the administration is offering to waive that penalty. Employers who want this deal must attest to the IRS that they haven't laid off workers or cut hours to squeeze under the 99-worker threshold.
Here's where Big Brother starts running your business. The IRS will forgive changes "because of the sale of a division, changes in the economic marketplace in which the employer operates, terminations of employment for poor performance, or other similar changes." It's none of Big Brother's business why you hire or fire.
The president wants employers to keep quiet before the 2014 election. In 2013, the headlines screamed about layoffs and reduced hours as CEOs and managers strategically maneuvered to minimize the cost of the employer mandate.
Astoundingly, in the first seven months of 2013, 77 percent of new hires were part-time. Obama rushed to stop the damaging news by announcing last July that he would delay the employer mandate until Jan. 1, 2015. Oops! That date is approaching.
Democrats running for re-election this fall are desperate to avoid similar headlines. This time, instead of the president offering employers a delay, he is offering most of them a bribe to keep quiet. Once employers swear they have not cut hours due to Obamacare, how can they speak out about the law's harm to their businesses?
The new rule criminalizes something Congress has not made a crime, and federal courts have said businesses can do. In 1934, Learned Hand, a federal court judge, observed in Gregory v. Helvering: "Anyone may so arrange his affairs that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which will best pay the Treasury; there is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes."
Deceit is the primary motive behind the newly announced regulation. On page 36, it states that although employers are distressed that the law defines 30 hours a week as a full-time job requiring insurance, nothing can be done because the statute expressly states 30 hours. What? Is this the only part of the statute the administration won't change by fiat?
Obama's rule writers are lying and laughing as they concoct these regulations. None of this is being done to redress legitimate concerns of business. Obama is enlarging the powers of the IRS to silence critics, whether it's the tea party or businesses struggling to stay in the black. Say goodbye to fair elections.


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OLIVA, FRÉDÉRIC-GUILLAUME (Frederick William), physician; b. c. 1749, probably of German origin; m. 30 Jan. 1782 Catherine Couillard Des Islets, and they had eight children; d. 31 July 1796 in Quebec City.
During the American revolutionary war Frédéric-Guillaume Oliva served as surgeon major in one of the regiments lent to Great Britain by the Duke of Brunswick and commanded by Friedrich Adolphus von Riedesel. Oliva's military experience, although grim, must have greatly assisted his professional development, since the German troops had their share of injuries and wounds as well as such diseases as scurvy, smallpox, and dysentery. After the war Oliva practised medicine in Saint-Thomas-de-Montmagny (Montmagny, Que.), but in 1792 he and his family moved to Quebec City, where he practised for the remainder of his life.
Oliva, like many of the German soldiers who settled in Quebec, was Roman Catholic. He was assimilated into Canadian, not English, society when he married the daughter of the co-seigneur of Rivière-du-Sud, Louis Couillard Des Islets. He joined many of his fellow citizens in signing the Loyal Declaration of 1794, which, written in response to the French revolution and against the "designing and wicked men" who would follow its example, extolled the British constitution and condemned those who were then ruling France.
Oliva seems to have been dedicated to the welfare of his patients, whatever their rank. He once requested the authorities to postpone the prison sentence given a farmer until the man had fully recovered from a severe attack of dysentery. As for his medical theories, known largely from the Mémoires of Philippe-Joseph Aubert* de Gaspé, they appear to have been based on a healthy scepticism about received medical opinion. Aubert de Gaspé, who was inoculated with smallpox by the doctor at the age of five, wrote that Oliva pioneered in the prescription of fresh air and daily exercise for those afflicted or inoculated with the disease, at a time when treatment usually consisted of heat and strong liquor. According to Aubert de Gaspé, Oliva once said during a smallpox epidemic, "How lucky are those unfortunates who fall ill in the country, close by a stream and under the shadow of the pine trees; ninety per cent of such will probably recover." Although many people thought him mad at the time, he used an ice bath in the cure of typhus, and it is said that he saved the life of his son, Frédéric-Godlip, in this way.
In 1788 Oliva was appointed to the first board of medical examiners for the District of Quebec, which together with a similar body at Montreal had been established by a licensing act passed that year. As an examiner he appears to have probed the more fundamental issues of medical treatment. We know, for example, that Pierre Fabre*, dit Laterrière, was asked by him, not to name surgical instruments, nor even to describe the circulation of the blood, but to explore the differences between the patient in the books and the patient in the bed. In 1795 Oliva, along with James Fisher*, John Mervin Nooth*, and George Longmore*, was examined by the House of Assembly on the problem of contagious diseases brought into the colony by ocean-going vessels. That year the assembly passed a statute enabling the governor to quarantine ships suspected of carrying disease.
Despite his many achievements, Oliva seems to have been a modest man. The condescension and boasting characteristic of the advertisements of European-trained physicians were entirely absent in the announcement opening his Quebec City practice, and for a doctor he had an attractive humility in the face of the healing power of nature. Aubert de Gaspé wrote that his death "was an irreparable loss for Quebec, where good doctors were very rare."
PAC, MG 24, L3, pp.5027–28; RG 4, B28, 47. P.[-J.] Aubert de Gaspé, Mémoires (Ottawa, 1866), 17–25. Bas-Canada, chambre d'Assemblée, Journaux, 1795. Max von Eelking, Memoirs, and letters and journals, of Major General Riedesel, during his residence in America, trans. W. I. Stone (2v., Albany, N.Y., 1868). Fabre, dit Laterrière, Mémoires (A. Garneau). Quebec Gazette, 10 Aug. 1786, 23 April 1789, 19 April, 14 June, 10 July 1794, 26 March 1795. Tanguay, Dictionnaire. Abbott, History of medicine, 41–49. M.-J. et G. Ahern, Notes pour l'hist. de la médecine, 217–23, 428–29. P.-G. Roy, "Biographies canadiennes," BRH, XXI (1915), 91–94.
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Cite This Article
F. Murray Greenwood, "OLIVA, FRÉDÉRIC-GUILLAUME," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 4, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed October 2, 2023, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/oliva_frederic_guillaume_4E.html.
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Friday, 18 November 2011
winter and winner
painting a possible rhyme of straining and dental a potential rhyme of kennel. As far as I know this is not found in any kind of British speech, and we think of it as an American or Australian characteristic.
The possible AmE pronunciation of continental as ˌkɑ̃ːʔn̩ˈẽnl̩ is quite strikingly different from the BrE ˌkɒntɪˈnentl̩.
Several qualifications are needed.
• In the kind of AmE I am referring to, winter may possibly have a nasalized tap, thus ˈwɪɾ̃ɚ, rather than the more deliberate plain nasal of winner ˈwɪnɚ. Trager and Smith (1951) refer to this as a 'flap-release short nasal', how accurately I am not sure. In any case, a distinction based solely on ɾ̃ vs. n cannot be very robust. I suspect that in reality for many Americans (and Australians) winter and winner can be, and often are, pronounced identically.
• I have the impression that the incidence of nt-reduction is subject to regional variation in the US. It seems more prevalent in the south and west, less so in the north-east. Is this so? Do Canadians ever do it? It is also probably subject to stylistic variation, with unreduced nt more careful and the reduced variant more casual. Has anyone ever investigated its sociolinguistic characteristics?
• The environments in which nt-reduction operates seem to be the same as those for t-voicing. In particular, it does not happen in the environment of a following stressed vowel, as in intend, contain, nor of a following unstressed but strong vowel as in intake; nor does it apply to ntr clusters, as in country. The t can be lost in centre/center but not in central.
• Some words may be special cases, In particular, I have the impression that ninety in AmE is often ˈnaɪndi rather than the expected ˈnaɪnti or ˈnaɪni. Does the same apply to seventy? Are there other exceptional cases?
• Special cases of a different kind are the handful of words in which a similar reduction is found in BrE, namely in London and some other kinds of popular English. For Brits who do this, the t can be lost from twenty and plenty, and from prevocalic went and want (as in went out, wanted), but not from words such as winter or painting.
This posting was triggered by my hearing an Australian golf commentator on TV referring to ðə ˌsevn̩ˈiːnθ the seventeenth (hole). This violates the constraint barring nt-reduction before a stressed vowel, and I suspect would not be possible in AmE.
Furthermore, I wonder whether Australian English has taken nt-reduction direct from AmE, rather than via some British source? And if so, is it the first instance of such a sound change?
37 comments:
I am American, and I say "sevendy" for "seventy". It must have something to do with the voicing of the previous consonant, because I keep the unvoiced 't' for fifty and sixty, but not twenty, thirty, forty, seventy, eighty, or ninety.ReplyDelete
I was going to suggest that nt->n reduction only occurs after stressed syllables (hence maintaining the t in 'carpenter' and 'seventy') but 'ninety' goes against this. Maybe it's by analogy with thirty, forty, seventy, eighty (but then why reduction in 'twenty'?). Or maybe it only occurs after certain vowels - e.g. it doesn't occur after the 'ai' in ninety. But off the top of my head I can't think of another word with that sequence of sounds...
I speak this kind of AmE, and I am a northeasterner. The distinction between winter and winner for me is flap vs. stop, and seems perfectly stable to me. Same story with dental and kennel: they certainly do not rhyme. However, painting has a true /t/ which appears to belong to the second syllable, though it may or may not be aspirated. This may have to do with the fact that -ing is not reduced (I have the Weak Vowel Merger) whereas -er and -al are.ReplyDelete
Seventy, ninety, eleventy (as in Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday) all have /d/ for me. *Tendy would be the same if it existed, so I think this is a property of the numerical suffix -ty. Seventeen, nineteen keep their aspirated /t/. However, twenty and plenty have only /n/ even in lento speech; pronouncing /t/ would be affected.
I'm British and have /d/ in "seventy" (but not in "ninety" or any of the others).ReplyDelete
"I wonder whether Australian English has taken nt-reduction direct from AmE, rather than via some British source" - it is of course very well possible that the Australians came up with this themselves, independently.ReplyDelete
As regards its spreading to British English, I have noticed this amongst younger people in cases involving the word "want":ReplyDelete
1 "Wanted" as [wɒnɪd ~ wɒnəd]
2 "Want to" as [wɒnuː]
There is also "twenty" as [tweni], which can be heard from old Brits as well. Perhaps it will spread here. The phoneme /t/ is changing rapidly.
I'm an American from the Midwest and like John Cowan I have /d/ in seventy, ninety and eleventy.ReplyDelete
Ed's remark might be valid even for some older Brits :ReplyDelete
Indeed, quite some time ago The Beatles already sang "I wanna hold your hand"...
Jérôme Poirrier
Grenoble, France
Ed, Jérôme: that's what I said (the last bullet point)! I even have a Powerpoint screen for one of my lectures setting this out. But I think it's lexically restricted to just these items.ReplyDelete
I'm an Australian, and I think it's worth reiterating that Australian English has flapped /t/ in the same positions as AmE. I've always assumed these are related.ReplyDelete
Dropping the /t/ in "seventeenth" (and similar forms) is, I think, optional but restricted to that range of numbers.
And I'm not aware of any difference between the n and nt; they're exactly identical to my ear. (However, /nt/ triggers [æ:] whereas /n/ does not in underlyingly intervocallic words.)
Oh by my first paragraph I meant to make that comment in relation to your curiosity about its origins. I think you'll find a common origin for both, so if you find t-flapping a British source of Australian English, then it's probably nt-flapping comes from the same source.ReplyDelete
Sorry, John. That was quite stupid of me. My memory's obviously getting quite short-term.ReplyDelete
Wanna and gonna are special cases, not general phonological reduction of -nt-. As is well known, a syntactic trace (a point from which underlyingly present material has been moved elsewhere in the sentence) between want and to blocks contraction: thus Why do you wanna leave is fine but *Who do you wanna leave is not.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous18 November 2011 at 16:00
10 and 90 have just an n sound.ReplyDelete
30, 40, 80 have a flap t.
50 & 60 have a t sound.
70 has a d sound (seventy rhymes with candy)
linguala: and 20?ReplyDelete
The only multiples of ten relevant in the current "nt" discussion are 20, 70, and 90.
- Anonymous18 November 2011 at 16:46
To answer one of your questions: Yes, we do it at least in Western Canada.ReplyDelete
As a native speaker of American English who grew up in the Chicago suburbs, I have for the numbers in questionReplyDelete
ten: /tɛn/
twenty: /ˈtwʌni/ (along with "plenty" /ˈplʌni/. "plentiful" is still /ˈplɛntəfəl/ though.)
thirty: /ˈθɜrdi/
forty: /ˈfɔrdi/
fifty: /ˈfɪfti/
sixty: /ˈsɪksti/
seventy: /ˈsɛvəndi/
eighty: /ˈeɪdi/
ninety: /ˈnaɪndi/
The assignment of the intervocalic flap to /d/ is somewhat arbitrary, but I feel that I internally keep the phonemic distinction between /t/ and /d/ in the relevant intervocalic flapping position enough in most words that I'm more likely to produce the allophonically shortened vowel that I have before all unvoiced consonants before a tap derived from underlying /t/ than from /d/ in most words, but not in the numbers under consideration.
I'm a speaker of a rhotic, moderately Eastern New England dialect in Massachusetts (with full intervocalic /t/ flapping), and I'm pretty sure that I reduce /nt/ a lot less than most North Americans do. I have it in "twenty" /ˈtwɛni/ and "plenty" /ˈplɛni/ (with "seventy" being /ˈsɛvən(d)i/ and "ninety" being /ˈnaɪndi/), in a few other words like "gentlemen", and after things like "want" and "isn't", but the elision of /t/ in most lexical words is pretty alien to me. I never say "winter", "dental" or "inter-" without a fully articulated [nt].ReplyDelete
@ rirelan: I'm from a place that's probably about a 5 hour drive away from you and the stressed vowel in twenty definitely isn't /ɛ/ for me either. I forgot to mention that before (not that it's particularly relevant to today's topic). It's something between /ʌ/ and /ʊ/ for me. Maybe it's /ʌ/, but the preceding /w/ gives it a different quality. I'm not sure about plenty though. I feel like sixty is /ˈsɪksdi/ for me, but I don't think it makes a difference in that environment, does it?ReplyDelete
I'd have to agree with Lazar here. I'm from the exact same location, Eastern Massachusetts, about 40 mins from Boston, and I feel the same way about all the words he just said. I was never sure if it was an accent thing or just me, but this seems to support the fact that it's related to where I live.ReplyDelete
I have /d/ in thirty, forty but not eighty, perhaps because eight provides the /t/.ReplyDelete
This reminds me of a song I heard (in AmE) in which "dentist" rhymed with "hygienist". As "hygienist" is /haɪˈdʒiːnɪst/ for me, this seemed especially weird (as did the song!).ReplyDelete
On a similar subject, I've just been listening to Coldplay's What If, where Chris Martin rhymes "maybe you'll get what you wanted" with "maybe you'll stumble upon it".ReplyDelete
What about "rt"? I find it difficult to differentiate (when speaking) "mortal" and "moral".ReplyDelete
I wonder if one reason it doesn't happen so much in the UK is that there are a lot dialects which already replace that 'nt' sound with a glottal stop.ReplyDelete
Replying to John Cowan's comment that "Who do you wanna leave?" is not fine. It doesn't work for me in written English, but in spoken English it's fine, as is "Who are you gonna leave?"ReplyDelete
As for the original topic, t-deletion, I once used inner as a prefix in place of intra-. They do, after all, mean basically the same thing. I got corrected. The issue, pointed out to me, was the inner sounds just like how inter- is sometimes pronounced. Thus the need to use intra- rather than turning inner into a combining form.
I have /d/ in stand-alone "ninety" but for compounds, eg 91, 92, 93, 90th, etc, I say them with the nasalized tap (North Jersey, Gen Y)ReplyDelete
Like Sil, I also find it very hard to distinguish between some realizations of "moral" (on the one hand) and "mortal" (on the other hand) in American English.ReplyDelete
Do British speakers feel the same, or is it just a problem of Sil's and mine? (Should I say "mine" or "me" here?)
The crucial difference in AmE is that "moral" has an approximant [ɹ], while "mortal" includes a tap similar to Spanish /r/ [ɾ]. We'd better have a discussion of AmE /rt/: watch this space.ReplyDelete
In BrE "moral" ˈmɒrəl and "mortal" ˈmɔːtl̩ are much more distinct from one another.
Unlike the other two commenters from Massachusetts, I definitely have nt-reduction in such words as "winter" and "inter-". I think following syllabic /l/ ("mental", "dental") disfavors nt-reduction for me, but I wouldn't be surprised if I do it in less-careful speech; and "gentlemen" is exceptional in having a high rate of nt-reduction. I have [d] in "ninety" and "seventy", but "seventy" can also be subject to reduction in fast speech.ReplyDelete
With regard to "Do Canadians ever do it?", nt-reduction is actually a stereotype of sorts for the Toronno accent.
The Tronno accent, surely.ReplyDelete
Would I be right in guessing that considerations of machismo are involved in ˌsevn̩ˈiːnθ not conforming to the constraint barring nt-reduction before a stressed vowel? Or in the no less startling ˌsevn̩ʔˈiːnθ in BrE for not conforming to a similar constraint? And now on the radio I hear kɑːˈʔuːn for 'cartoon'. I suppose anything is possible.
So John,
In your blog for 27 September 2011 "Details", you discuss the realization ˈdɪiʔɛ̈oz in your running coach's strong working-class south London accent, pointing out that in AmE t-voicing is blocked if the following vowel is unreduced and there is no word boundary, so that you get it in 'later' ˈleɪɾə(r) and 'my late uncle' maɪ ˈleɪɾ ˈʌŋkl̩, but not in 'latex' ˈleɪteks, or of course 'detail' ˈdiːteɪl. Never mind before primary stress as in 'cartoon'! I'm consumed with curiosity as to whether your coach can also do t-glottalling in 'cartoon'.
On that occasion I pointed out that in LPD3 the syllabification sometimes does the trick. In the entry for 'latex'
latex ˈleɪt eks latex|es ɪz əz
the syllabification explains the clipping of the vowel of the first syllable (?unnecessarily, especially for AmE) but not the blocking of the t-voicing in the second.
But the LPD3 syllabification ˈdiː teɪ ə l for 'detail' explains the American non-t-voicing but not the coach's glottal stop, for which you would need to recognize the syllabification ˈdiːt.eɪᵊl. But kɑːt. ˈuːn strikes me as the last straw.
When Paul Kerswill asked about 'aks' for 'ask' re "cockney then and now", 2 July 2010
I said the funny thing is that so many words with the same (or similar, e,g, 'wasp') synchronic structure have diachronically been so subject to this metathesis, and 'aks' is merely a celebrated survivor.
I now wonder whether that's the whole story: I find I have no glottalization anywhere in 'ask' or 'asking', but the usual variance in mɑːʔks vs ˈmɑːksɪst. If glottalization is so macho I'm sure ˈmɑːksɪst has to be ˈmɑːʔksɪst, but 'ask' and 'asking' can hardly be glottalized without metathesis to ɑːʔks and ˈɑːʔksɪŋ. So ɑːʔks may have been reborn out of pure machismo!
mallamb: I rather suspect he could do t-glottalling in "seventeenth", "cartoon" and "guitar". But not in "attack" or "detest". Mysterious.ReplyDelete
Ellen K.: I realize now that my example is a poor one, because it is semantically ambiguous. Who do you wanna leave? in the sense 'Who do you want to go away from?', i.e. Who do you wanna leave (t) (where (t) designates the trace, and refers to the same thing as who) is unexceptionable: it calls for an answer like I wanna leave George.ReplyDelete
My apologies if this explanation is over-terse.
But *Who do you wanna leave? in the sense 'Who do you want to go away from you?', where the answer would be I want George to leave, is impossible. The underlying form of this question is Who do you want (t) to leave, and the (t) blocks wanna-contraction there.
- Anonymous23 November 2011 at 03:07
I live in Toronto and grew up in Western Canada. The 'nt' reduction certainly occurs in this country, but I believe it is far less widespread here than in the US. On American television, for example, words like "gentle" with the reduction always strike me; I'd never say that without the aspirated [t], even in the most rapid and casual conversation. It seems particularly odd before a syllabified consonant like [l̩].ReplyDelete
I'm also not sure that the clichéd pronunciation of "Tronno" qualifies as the same phenomenon, since John explains that it doesn't occur before an unstressed but strong vowel. "Tonto" and "pronto" with the reduction are not anything I've ever heard in Canada. I think "Tronno" is therefore one-off of lazy delivery.
On a similar topic, I was watching a documentary about the Coca-Cola company, where every US businessman interviewed pronounced the word "bottler" as two syllables: [bat ̚lɚ], instead of the (near) three-syllable [bɑɾᵊlɚ] I would have expected. The latter is the only way I would imagine the word would be pronounced in this country.
How about "gentler", then?
nedecky: My impression was that most Torontonians have a schwa in the last syllable of "Toronto" most of the time.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous23 November 2011 at 14:34
Lukas: most Torontonians say [tɹɑnoʊ] or [təɹɑnoʊ]. When people make fun of this pronunciation, yes, you get something like [ʧɹãnə].ReplyDelete
- Anonymous24 November 2011 at 00:36
…same story with "Santa". Seems like this is another reduction that is prevalent in the States, but less so here.ReplyDelete


text:
Bradley David "Brad" Ausmus (pronounced /ˈɔːsməs/; born April 14, 1969, in New Haven, Connecticut) is a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He is a three-time Gold Glove Award winner (2001–02, 2006). He was also an All Star in 1999. He won the 2007 Darryl Kile Award "for integrity and courage," presented annually by local chapters of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) to players on the Astros and St. Louis Cardinals.
A five-time league-leader at catcher in fielding percentage, he has also led the league twice each in percentage caught stealing and in range factor, and once each in putouts and assists.


text:
High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure, or hypertension, can affect how your organs function. Although the disease directly increases your risk of heart attack and stroke, you may not have any symptoms or know that you have high blood pressure. This disease can slow you down, but we have the treatment options you need.


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"Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day."— Psalm 25:5
When the believer has begun with trembling feet to walk in the way of the Lord, he asks to be still led onward like a little child upheld by its parent's helping hand, and he craves to be further instructed in the alphabet of truth.
Experimental teaching is the burden of this prayer. David knew much, but he felt his ignorance, and desired to be still in the Lord's school: four times over in two verses he applies for a scholarship in the college of grace.
It were well for many professors if instead of following their own devices, and cutting out new paths of thought for themselves, they would enquire for the good old ways of God's own truth, and beseech the Holy Ghost to give them sanctified understandings and teachable spirits.
"For thou art the God of my salvation." The Three-One Jehovah is the Author and Perfecter of salvation to his people.
Reader, is he the God of your salvation? Do you find in the Father's election, in the Son's atonement, and in the Spirit's quickening, all the grounds of your eternal hopes? If so, you may use this as an argument for obtaining further blessings; if the Lord has ordained to save you, surely he will not refuse to instruct you in his ways.
It is a happy thing when we can address the Lord with the confidence which David here manifests, it gives us great power in prayer, and comfort in trial. "On thee do I wait all the day." Patience is the fair handmaid and daughter of faith; we cheerfully wait when we are certain that we shall not wait in vain.
It is our duty and our privilege to wait upon the Lord in service, in worship, in expectancy, in trust all the days of our life. Our faith will be tried faith, and if it be of the true kind, it will bear continued trial without yielding.
We shall not grow weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously he once waited for us.


text:
Those of you who work with me are familiar with my love of slang that is ten years past it's prime, for any of you who don't, that title is a great introduction.
Anyway, if you've reading this blog at all you know that Vail has gotten a pretty silly amount of snow the past week. And you also probably know that the lifts haven't been spinning in Eagle County for about 2 weeks now. However, there are other ways up the mountain. Last Saturday Amy graciously agreed to let me come in a little late, and I slapped my skins on my new A/T setup and went up Born Free. I stopped halfway to have a little picnic and take some pictures, then continued on my way up. The only other people I saw the whole way up were four lift ops guys doing maintenance on a tower. Once I hit Simba I tossed my skins in my pack and skied 10 inches of soft, slushy spring powder. One of the best runs I've taken all year. There are some pictures and afterthoughts below; they don't do justice to how sunny it really was.
The view from a Born Free picnic lunch.
My tracks coming down, with bonus foreground picture of how a foot of snow can turn road construction into an even bigger mess than it already was.
Some interesting facts that I learned from the skin:
1. Just because its cloudy in Edwards does not mean its going to be cloudy in Vail. Lesson learned: Wear sunscreen. I look like a damn lobster.
2. I am approximately 11 times slower going up the mountain than the Born Free Express lift. (8 mins vs 1 hr 45 mins)
3. Check your trail maps, and beware catwalks. They plow 'em when the season's done.
4. When skinning up, follow a snowmobile track. Its easier than breaking your own trail, wide enough for fat skis, and the runners pack down the snow enough that your poles don't sink in up to your wrists.
5. The Lift Maintenance guys don't think its funny when you stick you thumb out and ask for a lift as they cruise by on their snowmobiles, even if you think its hilarious.
– Gray


text:
GOOP Hand Cleaner (Many Sizes)
- 0
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|Item #
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|Hand Cleaner
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Original Goop - The one and only, original formula introduced in 1949, Non-toxic and biodegradable Goop Multi-Purpose Hand Cleaner has been a fixture in households all over America for generations. Goop was originally designed for mechanics to wash their hands without water. Now it is known for removing grease, ink, tar, blood… you name it, from almost anything. Goop saves you time and money in the workshop, laundry, on the road, in your car and anywhere you and the kids get into a mess.
Orange Goop - If you want the fantastic cleaning power of Goop with a fresh, orange scent… Orange Goop is for you. Non-toxic and biodegradable, like Original Goop, but offers an increased ability to remove inks and paint because of its citrus component.
Waterless – Then just wipe the Goop off with a towel or rag. Goop removes the grime and leaves your hands conditioned with lanolin and glycerin.
With Water – If water is available, rinse the Goop from you hands thoroughly and dry as usual. Some of the softening agents will remain on your hands for conditioning.
from colorfast washable clothing
When using Goop Gel or liquid on fabric or garments- Apply Goop directly to the spot or stain on the garment. Thoroughly rub the Goop into the fabric and let it sit for at least a half hour. Then wash the garment as you usually would.
For really tough stains – Apply liberal amounts of Goop to the stain then roll the garment up and let it sit overnight. Wrapping the treated garment in a plastic bag keeps the moisture in the Goop from evaporating and helps maximize the stain removing power. Then, wash as usual.
NOTE: Inspect the garment before drying. If the stain is not completely removed, Do Not Dry The Garment. Drying the garment, especially in a hot dryer, will lock in the stain. Apply more Goop to the stain and let it sit overnight,,,then wash again. Goop has been know to totally remove stains that other stain removers can't, or that just won't come out the first time Goop is used.


text:
From sad to happy in one day.
I guess this one looks kind of sad, but sometimes you're not always feeling your best, are you? Yesterday was a sad day, for me, so I liked this one for that.
I saw the Image version of ROCK'n'ROLL today. Had to approve the printing for the final binding thing to happen.
It looked beautiful.
It arrived early this morning from Canada, so it was just a great way to begin my day. I actually woke my brother up and showed him the comic book. If he was having any second thoughts about getting up early, they were instantly gone at that time.
Now I have to go back to my sketch book, and Ba has to get back to Casanova.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
From sad to happy in one day.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 5:45 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Look around.
I really like to create the background for my stories. It's fun to build the world, imagine the houses, the streets, the cars and everything else I might want to ad to it. I don't need to draw every little detail of it on every single panel, but I know it's there and I can choose what to show and what to hide.
As much as I can, I like to plan ahead, and do all this creating before I actually have to start on the pages.
Some panels are all about the detail. All about the background. Others might be about one gesture, and no background is needed. Balancing this is what creates a good page, and a good story.
I want to create words when I tell stories. I want the background to be as much a character as the people living in this world. Every place has a history and the way we portray this world let the reader know where they're going.
A want to create characters people will like to meet in real life, and so I want to create places people will like to go and visit.
And then be back again.
Today I received word that ROCK'n'ROLL will be in stores on December 7th. Our wait is almost over and soon we'll see what the impact, if any, our little comic book will have. But that's now the talk for next week. This week, it's all about reading.
I have three scripts on my hand. One that I want to draw but I'm not sure if I can, and another that I know I'll draw and I'm excited about it. And then there's the third one, which I don't want to draw, but I'll wait until I finish it to decide (even if, in my mind, once you think you won't do it, you won't no matter what).
And I'm expecting another script this week for some work for hire experience.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 1:33 PM 1 comments
Monday, November 28, 2005
Show your SFist.
Mimi, our beloved Ursula and Smoke and Guns editor, looking good.
The SFist finds out Smoke and Guns was written by a local, which means there's another batch of nice words on the net about the book, and about the art as well, even if I don't live, or never visited, San Francisco.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 7:26 PM
Out of character.
So, this is pretty much what it looks like when I'm creating a character. I make a bunch of drawings of him, and none look alike. This is the plague from the days when I did not know how to draw, this "unevenness" in my sketches. The problem of course is the fact I like it this way. It has this "drawn from life" quality, where you're always a hostage of your own state of mind and your emotions, hence never really knowing what will come out of your hands.
Or hand.
Left hand, to be exact.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 11:57 AM 0 comments
Friday, November 25, 2005
happy little fellow.
Here I am, stretching my artistic skills for the lovely undead. I have a friend who love zombies, and I immediately thought of him when I did this.
. . .
Ba is working on Casanova today. It looks good, but so far I'm the only one who can see it. I hear my villainous laugh echo on the distance as the puny little humans desire something only I can achieve.
And then I fall from my pedestal and go back to work.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 6:51 PM 1 comments
Thursday, November 24, 2005
The real Kelsie.
This is Kelsie, the lovely character of ROCK'n'ROLL, the one-shot coming out this month by Image Comics.
I created Kelsie in 1997. She was an homage to a Kelsie I knew that year who was the kid sister of a friend of mine, about 10 years old at the time. She lived in a very small town in Minnesota called La Crescent, just across the river from La Crosse (which was the nearest town with an airport). I actually created another character inspired by my friend, Annie, but in the story I told Kelsie and Annie weren't sisters at all.
As time went, we kind of lost touch, and the last I heard Annie (who was the Apple queen that year) went to college. She probably graduated already.
Now, my comic book is coming out in the United States and I remember I never told then they became characters of my stories.
Maybe I should track them down and let then know the good news.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 7:27 PM 1 comments
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Looking ahead.
So, the script I was writing began with a church bell. That's a very graphic way to start a story, if you ask me. I had the entire first page in my mind and I only had the sound of the bells written down.
Then, I wrote a page of dialogue and decided that was not the story I wanted to tell. The dialogue was not bad, neither was the beginning with the church, but that's the beginning of a story which I don't want to finish right now.
I think I might rush it. I want to do a story in a certain amount of time, and for that purpose I need the script as soon as possible, and for that I either have a great idea that's pretty much complete, or I will just ruin good beginnings with crap endings just to have a story.
"That story will have to wait." I concluded.
Then, later that night, I had another idea. It had a beginning, a middle and an end. It was visual, it had a lot of room for dialogue, and it dealt with a subject I wanted to address on the story: the future.
And the future became the present became now.
It looks promising.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 6:31 PM 0 comments
Monday, November 21, 2005
Today's dream.
I had another dream with Diana Schutz. Again, we were talking about the new Dark Horse book, and this time around we were talking about the cover I just did for it.
As most of my dreams about serious conversations regarding professional matters, it took place in a bar. We were all drinking heavily, and there was smoke on the air.
We were both very pleased with the cover, so I woke up with a smile on my face.
I was late for work, of course.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 11:56 AM 0 comments
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Red light means STOP.
Today, I'm writing a script. I should have finished it some months ago, but other things kept calling my attention and, when you see, all this time have passed and you've done nothing.
Well, you did a lot of things, actually, but not the script. And if there's no script, there's no story.
I keep telling myself that, after I finish the last touches on the projects I already finished (which still require so much attention after I'm done drawing it), I'll focus only on the writing.
Yeah, right.
The ideas keep coming, but I just don't seem to have the free time to sit for hours until I can organize and write everything down.
Maybe I should do it now, I often think, but then I remember I'm already skipping some work I should be doing (drawing) to write something here.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 6:04 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Pulsing in our veins.
Jennifer Contino loves rock 'n' roll, but then, who doesn't? It's such an international language of music, one that attracts the young and the bold. Just like comics, right?
Anyway, she did an inverview with me at the Pulse, to know more about our ROCK'n"ROLL one-shot being published by Image Comics this month. If you're not sure yet if you want this comic book, check out the new preview pages at the interview and get excited.
Get very excited.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 2:21 PM 1 comments
Monday, November 14, 2005
Self portrait.
I guess I can blame art school for that. All through history, artists have made portraits of themselves.
Then there's this very strong autobiographical tradition in brazilian comics, one that certainly influenced me while I was growing up. The fact that, at a very early age, the first characters my brother and I created were various versions of ourselves is a proof of that.
How much of yourself do you discover when you do a self portrait? What is the image you have of yourself? How much of it represents the image and how much, the personality?
Posted by Fábio Moon at 2:34 PM 2 comments
Friday, November 11, 2005
Girls in comics are sexy.
Hey, do you want to know more about woman in comics? Diana Schutz talks about her new anthology, Sexy Chix. You can check out some artwork from the female authors, and try to learn something about this very strange job of bringing the girls to the world of comics.
When I was doing my fanzines in college, I had a lot of girls reading it, because art school is full of girls. But the girls were also the ones who gave more feed back regarding the work, what they had liked and what didn't work for them. Maybe that made my work go to a more girly direction.
That, and the fact that I tell love stories.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 3:19 PM 0 comments
Progressions on Fell.
For those interested in the process of making comics, Ben Templesmith shows how he approaches the covers and the pages of Fell, his new comic book with Warren Ellis. And, as he is behind all the art, from pencil to color, it's a good example of how an artist leaves a lot of stuff out of the initial penciling to keep the work from getting too repetitive, and how it changes from one step to the next.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 12:19 PM 0 comments
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Sketching and warming up.
Sometimes, I miss the exchange of e-mails from Larry Young while I was doing Smoke and Guns. The fact that I did two thirds of the book in one month resulted in one very intense month, with two pages a day, e-mails late at night and some "behind the scenes" pencils I'd send him every now and then because I just had to share the progress of the book. I was so excited.
Compared to that month, I'm now sailing on very calm seas.
And today I missed the storm.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 4:58 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Sharp eye.
Augie De Blieck is checking what's coming out in January 2006 acording to the latest edition of PREVIEWS. And he caught something there.
I'm wondering how long it will take for others to do the same.
And then they'll start asking questions.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 5:50 PM
One week away.
Next week, our brazilian independent comic book will see a bigger release as it will be published by Image Comics. So here I am talking about it some more.
Artwork by Gabriel Ba. Click on the image for a bigger version.
Our brazilian version of the comic book was self published. We did a print run of a thousand. The fact that we sold out of it's initial print run in Brazil had already left all the creators involved happy, even if we were sad we didn't have the comic book in our hands anymore, but we know the size of our market and how our readers behave regarding independent publications, so we knew that it wouldn't be worth it for us to do a second printing of the book.
Out of that initial run, we brought a hundred comics in our trip to San Diego in 2004 to use as a "exotic" comic we made, and to use as a "portfolio". I can't tell you how much more impact our portfolio caused on every editor that looked at it. Much more than any other time we showed them our work. I believe that when you present a complete comic book, you can really see if your work can tell the story or not. It's there, ready, and there's no excuses.
Like all comics should be.
Artwork by Fabio Moon. Click on the image for a bigger version.
Take a look at these preview pages from ROCK'n'ROLL and see if you like it. And make sure to check your local comic book store next week when the comic hits the streets. If you're feeling bold, you can even leave some comments. I won't bite, you know?
Posted by Fábio Moon at 4:36 PM 1 comments
Monday, November 07, 2005
Does your face shows your heart?
The cover for the new book is moving forward. I sent Diana eleven sketches and she really liked one. It's the first time I had to send the cover ideas for approval, and I was wondering what would happen if none of my ideas were accepted. Maybe they would do a cover using images from the interior art. Maybe they would do a "designer's cover" with clever lettering and no art. And maybe they would just tell me to keep thinking.
But I really like the cover idea Diana chose. Now it's the same old thing all over again: making sure your finalized piece retains the energy it has when it was a doodle the size of your thumb.
The two cover ideas I'm showing she did not like. Or just felt were not the strongest ones. Either way, the were rejected for this particular book, which is not to say they would have been bad covers. Maybe someday I'll use them for a completely different book, or maybe for a monthly series, as they seem to carry the same idea and would work well month after month.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 11:41 AM 0 comments
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Thinking about my time at the saloon.
This year, I worked on Smoke and Guns and on a short story for the western anthology Gunned Down. I saw both printed at the same week, when I was in San Diego, and both turned out to be beautiful books.
My brother also worked on Gunned Down in a story 41 pages long.
Also, the western anthology has stories by Kako and Bruno D'Angelo, our partners in crime on ROCK'n'ROLL.
It's funny how we first did ROCK'n'ROLL as an independent comic book in Brazil, and it was picked up by Image Comics and is now being published in the US in two weeks. Gunned Down, on the other hand, was first published in the US, even with an all brazilian cast of artists, and just last month was published in Brazil.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 10:38 PM 1 comments
Sometimes, things go wrong.
Don't expect the ride to be perfect. You'll find a lot of bumps on the road, and you will fail more than once. Sometimes, it will be your fault. Sometimes, it won't. We always learn when we make mistakes, and we're probably going to do a lot of them, 'cause there's always so much to learn.
When we were drawing Roland - days of wrath, we tried to get "real" publishers to publish it. For two years, we went to conventions and talked to editors but, as much as they liked the artwork, it was not what they were looking for at the time.
Luckily for us, when the time came for us to self-publish the mini series, we won the Xeric Foundation Grant, and that helped a lot, but I can see from our initial sales that it wouldn't be worth it for a big publisher to publish us at that time.
And, at that time, the american market didn't have all this small press publishers that started out after, or at the same time, we published our first issue.
Maybe things would have happened differently.
But we learned a lot from our mistakes.
Nowadays, I see comics very differently from the way I used to. I say at lectures and panels that at first I was a big fan of comics, so I was trying to tell the stories I liked to read as a fan, but not the stories I wanted to tell as an artist. I actually remember saying to people that I wanted to draw WildC.A.T.S., and that it was such a great comic book (I'm talking about the early Jim Lee issues). I also remembered admitting to a friend when I started liking Mark Silvestri more than Jim Lee, and how strange it was to start to change the way I saw comics (even if it was, at that time, such a small change).
The type of stories I like to tell have nothing to do with the comics I read as a fan. The style I now finally have, which took years to come to me, is very different from the style I wanted to have when I was a fan. I blame going to college for my personal style, as I learned so much art history that I just had to put something of it in my drawings, so my style had to have all this history in it, and that went on a very different path than the one with the super powers.
I love telling stories, even more than I like drawing. The art, for me, is just part of something bigger. It's not just a pretty image, it's a sequence of choices, of moments, that tell a story of memories.
Memories we are about to acquire and that may not leave our minds after we're done with them.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 6:23 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Colorful world.
It's strange how, at first, we think color is very important for our comic book. Maybe it is, but I think it's very common to start thinking that good colors equal a lot of them.
All of them, if you can.
Then, you have your work with all those colors and you lose that impression you had when you did your black and white image, that notion of background, foreground, light and shadow, positive and negative. You had to make all this choices when you were making your black and white image, and then you made no choice at all while coloring it and just put all the colors you saw on your rainbow in every page.
What a mess.
Coloring, just like drawing, should primarily be about personal style, personal expression, and the choices you make so your work looks constantly yours.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 4:19 PM 1 comments