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Cape Town Tour Guide – Cape Town Day Tours & Safaris
Our professional Cape Town tour guide is available for tours in and around Cape Town and specialises in the most popular tours in the Cape, which are:
- Cape Point tour
- Cape Winelands
- Aquila Game Reserve (Big Five)
- Great White Shark Cage Diving
The guide is knowledgeable about the area, and is a certified Cape Town tour guide. If you would prefer a driver, not a tour guide, then please make use of our chauffeur services.
Please note: This is a pre-paid service and may only be secured by credit card!!
All vehicles are fitted with satellite tracking systems and the latest satellite navigation. We will accommodate groups and/or individuals. Services are only relevant to Western Cape.
Contact us for a quotation: email@example.com
Cape Peninsula day tour
Cape Point with its spectacular views is located east of the Cape of Good Hope and is the South Western tip of the African continent and the mythical meeting place of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.
The Cape Point tour takes us through the beautiful Atlantic Seaboard along the rugged coastline past geographic landmarks of Lions Head and The Twelve Apostles mountain range. We stop here for photographs en-route.
We proceed to Hout Bay with an optional boat trip to Seal Island. We continue through the 9 kilometre spectacular Chapmans Peak drive and enjoy the beautiful view of the ocean on the winding road to Cape Point Nature Reserve. Once there look out for sightings of zebra, eland, ostriches and Chacma Baboons.
At Cape Point, you have an option of either walking or taking a funicular ride to the upper lighthouse.
Upon return we then stop for lunch at Boulders Beach, here we have an opportunity to view the endangered African Penguins. We wind our way back along the East coast through Simonstown, headquarters of the South African navy.If time allows, a visit to the world famous Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.
All entrance fees and lunches: for clients account.
You will be accompanied by a qualified Tour Guide / Driver.
Contact us for a quotation: firstname.lastname@example.com
Cape Winelands day tour (and wine tasting)
Embark on a leisurely day tour of the Cape Winelands, the biggest wine region in South Africa with stops in Stellenbosch and Franshhoek.
Waterford, the iconic wine estate offers a wonderful experience of chocolate pairing with your wines. Franschhoek offers a wide variety of boutique winerieswhich produce many prestigious award winning wines.
Enjoy a series of wine tastings at three to four different vineyards or take a pleasurable tram ride into the vineyards.
Along the way, you will experience spectacular scenery including stunning mountain views and some incredible examples of Cape Dutch and Victorian architecture.
Enjoy a leisurely lunch which will be on a beautiful wine estate in Franschhoek offering unforgettable views of the surrounding mountains.
After lunch, take a walk through the many boutique shops in Franschhoek including their famous handmade chocolate.
All wine tasting and lunches will be for your account.
You will be accompanied by a qualified Tour Guide / Driver.
Contact us for a quotation: firstname.lastname@example.com
Great White Shark Cage Diving
Get your adrenalin pumping with a shark cage diving trip where you will be closer than ever before to one of nature's most astonishing creatures.
Each cage diving trip usually runs for approximately four and half hours.
*Exact times vary due to seasons, tides, sea and weather conditions, number of daily trips, shark activities, etc. The final 24 hour weather and sea report will be reviewed on the day prior to the dive and the trip time schedule and subsequent transport pick-times will be advised via e-mail on the day before the dive.
Please note: Cape Town to Gansbaai will be a 2.5 hour trip each way.
Cabs will make the booking and client will be liable for payment on arrival in Gansbaai.
- Pick up form your hotel -time to advised by your Tour Guide
- Arrival at White Shark Diving Company, Gansbaai
- Breakfast/lunch and a briefing on safety and what to expect during the trip
- Boat ride to the dive site (approximately 15-20 minutes)
- Cage is dropped at the dive site and guests are allocated diving gear
- Guests take consecutive turns in the 8-man floating cage for an up close and personal experience with the Great Whites
- When not in the cage, guests can enjoy onboard refreshments and sightings of the White Sharks and other sea life from the viewing deck on the boat
- Anchor is lifted and the skipper heads back to the dock
Contact us for a quotation: firstname.lastname@example.com
Aquila Big 5 Game Reserve Safari
Aquila Game Reserve is recognized as a major Cape Town tourist attraction and is Malaria Free.
You will be collected by your tour guide from your hotel at agreed time for the two hour drive to the Game Reserve.
Aquila Private Game Reserve has gone to extensive efforts and expense to source and re-introduce wildlife into the Cape region. Great emphasis is placed on a wildlife conservation educational experience. Aquila offers visitors a complimentary educational introduction to cheetahs. Cheetahs are captive bred and strictly controlled in the interest of cheetah survival worldwide.
After lunch the game drive departs at 1.30pm & finishes at 4.30pm. The safari is led by an experienced guide who will share exciting inside stories: facts about your surroundings, rousing your inner wild side.
The Cape Town safari day tour includes a buffet lunch, and cool off dips at one of two breathtaking swimming pools. All safaris are in an open 4 x 4 safari vehicle.
All entrance fees and lunches: for clients account.
- 11h45 – Welcome drinks at Aquila
- 12h15 – 13h15 – Buffet lunch served in the African boma restaurant
- 13h30 – Game Drive in 4X4 safari vehicle with ranger guide,
- Visit to ARC (Aquila Rehabilitation & Conservation centre).
- 16h30 – Depart for Cape Town
Contact us for a quotation: firstname.lastname@example.com
Customer Testimonials of tours:
N G Ross USA
Hi Richard. Thank you for a trip of a lifetime. We cannot imagine a more perfect introduction to Cape Town and all it has to offer. You gave such amazing thought to planning activities that each of us —including our two very active boys would enjoy. Our utmost appreciation for your endless and tireless efforts!
L Abell
Richard made our trip perfect, he was a wonderful guide – full of knowledge, kindness and flexibility. He planned ideal days for us. We will request him when we return and ask all our friends to use him.
J Wolston
Richard did a great job — he was knowledgeably, flexible and gave us a wonderful 3 days in Cape Town. We will definitely recommend him.
S Madian
"Richard our guide was an absolute pleasure, well beyond our highest expectations" We very much appreciated your efforts to fully maximize our time in Cape Town……so many lovely sights and wonderful memories.
H Fisher Texas
Richard Martin –- very personable and thoughtful — tailored our tour to our interests.
D Chuckovich Idah USA
Richard was very professional and we connected very quickly. He was extremely knowledgeable and made everything for us very interesting. He exceeded our expectations by far. We will definitely recommend him to our friends and we will definitely be back.

subset: commoncrawl


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|Written by
|Victor Alstef, Wim van den Hurk and Jorg Bryant
"De Ballade van de Vlinder" (The Ballad of the Butterfly) was written and composed by Victor Alstef, Wim van den Hurk and Jorg Bryant. It's not clear if all three wrote this song together, but it was mentioned that way on the very first album on which the song appeared.
The song was performed by Erik J. Meijer who performed Pino at the time.
Audio releases
- Hou Je Vast (1982)
- Sesamstraat en Melkweg (1992)
- Dieren (1998)
- De Vier Jaargetijden - Liedjes (2003)
- Purk's Favorietjes (2006)
- Dierendingen (2006)


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Pruning Trees
You can be fined up to $10,000 if you illegally remove or cut down a tree.
Are you wondering if that tree you see can be pruned? You might need a permit first. Whether or not you need a tree cutting permit before pruning a tree depends on whose property the tree is on and what kind of tree it is.
Use COSMOS to find out if the tree is on city property, your property, or your neighbour's property.
Trees on City Property
Trees on City property, including trees in your neighbourhood and along boulevards, are pruned and maintained by City arborists on a schedule. The cutting of City trees on city property is regulated by the City's bylaw to protect trees. Do not prune trees on City property.
Contact Parks at 604-501-5050 to find out about pruning City trees on the boulevard near your home.
Trees on Your Property
You need a Tree Cutting Permit to prune your tree if your tree is a:
- Significant Tree - a tree that has been placed on Schedule B of the Tree Protection Bylaw as being significant as deemed or approved by Council
- Heritage Tree - a tree that has been nominated by the Heritage Advisory Committee and approved by Council
You do not need a Tree Cutting Permit if your tree is:
- Not a Significant or Heritage Tree
Pruning a significant tree without a permit could see you fined up to $10,000.
Topping a tree is not a permitted practice in the City of Surrey.
Trees on Your Neighbour's Property
You are within your rights to trim back branches on neighbouring trees to the property line as long as they are pruned to industry standards and do not damage, kill or make the tree hazardous.
Any arrangements made regarding carrying out the work or payment is a civil matter that needs to be worked out between neighbours. The City is not able to get involved in these matters.
How to Prune a Tree
Do Not Top Your Trees
Topping is harmful to trees and is not a permitted practice on protected trees within the City of Surrey. Other names for topping are heading, tipping, hat-racking or rounding over. When you top a tree, you are removing a large amount of branches and leaves and are cutting the food supply from the tree. The tree goes into shock and quickly sprouts shoots to grow leaves so it won't starve. This stress often weakens the tree, increasing the chance of insect infestation, disease infection or even death.
If you feel your tree is too large or a risk for your property, contact an arborist for alternatives to topping.
Read more about the dangers of topping your trees.
Hiring an Arborist to Prune Your Trees
To ensure your tree is pruned properly, hire an ISA (International Society of Arboriculture) certified arborist to do the pruning for you. The City of Surrey has put together a list of ISA certified arborists that work in the Surrey area. You are not required to hire someone from this list, however, the arborists listed are familiar with Surrey's bylaws and will ensure that the pruning they do on your trees is in accordance with those bylaws.
When looking for your own arborist, it is important to ask if the person is ISA certified, has insurance, and are familiar with the City's bylaws.
Large Branch & Woody Plant Material Removal
For assistance in removing large branches and woody plant material from your property, there are branch chipping services available for Surrey Residents.
Service details:
- Cost: $25 per 1.5 meteres x 1.5 meters (5ft x 5 ft) pile (length of branches does not matter)
- Branch Diameter: less than 20 centimetres (8") in diameter
- No stumps are permitted
Please contact 604-591-4340 for further information.
Pruning Trees Yourself
If you wish to prune your trees yourself, your pruning must meet arboricultural standards. Learn about proper pruning techniques.


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Maersk ceases Iran operations to 'protect reputation'
Maersk Line, the world's biggest shipping company, has stopped calling at Iranian ports as a result of sanctions against the country.
The company said it was not prepared to risk the reputational damage associated with dealing with Iran.
It said it had ceased operations for the "foreseeable future".
The US and European Union have imposed sanctions due the country's nuclear programme, which Iran says is for energy needs and not nuclear weapons.
Frozen out
"Maersk Line has ceased to call in Iran," a spokesperson for the group said.
"This is a pragmatic decision based on an assessment of balancing the benefits of doing limited business in Iran against the risk of damaging business opportunities elsewhere, particularly the US."
The firm went on to say its main business with the country was transporting food and other goods to the people of Iran, and it regretted no longer being able to do so.
"Maersk Line will maintain a dormant business entity in Iran and will look to resume business should the sanctions regime be eased," the spokesperson concluded.
The sanctions imposed in Iran have targeted the country's banking sector, which has been effectively frozen out of the global banking system, and include a ban on the trade of Iranian oil.
As a result of the sanctions, the Iranian rial has plummeted in value against other international currencies.


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Wandering Heart | Art Print
$ 5.00
This product is currently sold out.
Our art prints are the perfect piece to hang in your home to encourage you daily. They can also be used as a powerful tool to start a conversation with anyone who comments about your print. Grab one, or grab a few because they are inspiring, encouraging and beautiful.
This is an INSTANT DOWNLOAD, no physical product is included.
Download includes these sizes:
1 JPG 8"x10"
1 JPG 11"x14"
1 JPG 16"x20"
1 JPG 18"x24"
1. At Framebridge; We have partnered with Framebridge to offer a framed print option. Purchase your print, visit Framebridge.com, select your frame, upload your digital file and Framebridge will print, frame and deliver it to your door ready to hang!
2. At home; We recommend printing on a thicker card stock weight paper. Most home printers will only print 8"x10' sizes. Please check to make sure your printer can accommodate the size print you have purchased. If you want a larger size we recommend using one of the resources below.
3. At a local print shop; Take the file to a local print shop like Staples, Kinkos or Costco. Select a thicker card stock weight for best results.
4. At an online service; You can upload your file to an online resource like Snapfish or Artifact Uprising and have the print delivered to your door!
The colors of the print may be slightly different to what you see here, depending on your monitor and printer.
This purchase is for personal use only. © Artwork is copyright of Scarlet & Gold.


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Product Details
About this item
- Menu includes handcrafted pizza
- Card can be used in Tampa & St. Pete locations only
Prior to opening Bavaro's founder, Dan Bavaro, traveled to Italy to learn firsthand the art of Neapolitan pizza making from 3rd generation Neapolitan family bakers. Bavaro's menu is focused around a stunning imported wood-fired brick oven hand crafted and brought over from Naples.
From every seat in the restaurant you can hear the crackling of the logs and watch the flames flicker with blazing heat encompassing every handcrafted pizza. Featuring Neapolitan pizza, homemade pasta, antipasti, and classic homemade desserts Bavaro's has become a well-loved authentic culinary experience famous throughout the Southeast. From the beginning, local patrons constantly requested Bavaro's gourmet sauces for home use.
After a catering event was canceled in 2010 leaving the restaurant with 20 gallons of pasta sauce, Dan Bavaro decided to bottle the sauce and sell it at local markets to attract more patrons to the restaurant. Fast-forward to today and Bavaro's line of gourmet Italian products are now sold in stores.
Policies & plans
- Authentic Neapolitan pizza and homemade pasta
- Great gift idea for family, friends, or coworkers


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Friday, December 04, 2015
UK: University Islamic Society students 'make death threats' as they disrupt controversial blasphemy lecture by human rights activist
Radical Muslim students made death threats while interrupting a lecture on blasphemy by a prominent human rights activist, it was claimed today.
Maryam Namazie, who fled Iran's repressive regime and now campaigns against Islamic extremism, was speaking at the Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society of Goldsmiths in London.
However, the event on Monday night was disrupted by students from the university's Islamic Society - which claimed that it would 'violate their safe space' because of Ms Namazie's outspoken views.
One student switched off the projector after the speaker showed a cartoon of Muhammad, while a member of the audience claimed that an activist pointed his fingers at his head in the shape of a gun and said 'boom' in a bid to intimidate him.
The Islamic Society spoke out in advance of the talk - titled 'Apostasy, blasphemy and free expression in the age of ISIS' - insisting Ms Namazie should not be allowed to speak because of her 'bigoted views'.
They pointed to a number of controversial comments she has made in the past, including describing the veil as a symbol of 'far-Right Islamism' and calling the niqab a 'bin bag'.
The president of the society wrote to the Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society saying: 'We feel having her present will be a violation to our safe space, a policy which Goldsmiths SU adheres to strictly, and my society feels that all she will do is incite hatred and bigotry.'
When the lecture went ahead and planned, a number of Islamic Society activists attended and tried to disrupt Ms Namazie - even switching off her PowerPoint when she showed a 'Jesus and Mo' cartoon which depicts the Prophet alongside Christ, according to theLondon Student.
Speaking after the event, Ms Namazie said: 'After my talk began, ISOC "brothers" started coming into the room, repeatedly banging the door, falling on the floor, heckling me, playing on their phones, shouting out, and creating a climate of intimidation in order to try and prevent me from speaking.
'I continued speaking as loudly as I could. They repeatedly walked back and forth in front of me.
'In the midst of my talk, one of the ISOC Islamists switched off my PowerPoint and left. The university security had to intervene and remain in the room as I continued my talk.'
She added that a number of Muslim women stayed to listen to her talk and engage in debate with her, then apologised for the disruption caused by the other students.
'Freedom of expression and the right to criticise and leave Islam without fear and intimidation is a basic human right,' Ms Namazie concluded.
'We have a responsibility to fight for these universal values at British universities and also across the globe.'
One member of the audience, lecturer and journalist Reza Moradi, said that while he was comforting a distressed young woman one of the protesters made a gesture which implied he was threatening to shoot him.
'I was asking this guy to be quiet - he took his hand and held it to his head like a gun,' Mr Moradi told MailOnline. 'He passed towards me and he made the noise "boom" - it was very intimidating.'
In a statement, the Islamic Society accused the atheist group of 'harassment' and called Ms Namazie a 'vile Islamophobe', denying that any of its members issued death threats.
The society said: 'Muslim students who attended the event were shocked and horrified by statements made by Namazie, and peacefully expressed their dissent to the disrespectful cartoons shown of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
'These students were subsequently made subject to unnecessary bullying, abuse and violence by the ASH society and security staff. Some students were even forcibly removed from the event.'
A spokesman for the university said: 'Goldsmiths, University of London supports freedom of speech. The university follows a set of regulations to help ensure that freedom of speech within the law is secured for members, students and employees of the university and for visiting speakers.'
Goldsmiths Islamic Society has previously hosted a number of radical speakers including Moazzam Begg of Cage, the charity which described ISIS terrorist 'Jihadi John' as a 'beautiful, kind man'.
Another recent Goldsmiths speaker was Hamza Tzortzis, who says that non-Muslims 'should be killed' if they ever fight against Muslims and once proclaimed: 'We as Muslims reject the idea of freedom of speech.'
The university's student union previously ran into controversy when its diversity officer, Bahar Mustafa, banned white male students from a meeting and tweeted '#killallwhitemen'.
Ms Namazie, 49, is a leading secularist and member of the 'ex-Muslim' movement which campaigns to give Muslims the freedom to leave their faith without reprisals.
In October, she was banned from speaking at Warwick University because students union officials feared that Muslims might 'feel intimidated or discriminated against', although the ban was lifted after a public outcry.
This Student Was Threatened for Her Conservative Views. University administration uninterested -- critical instead
We've reported quite a bit on the disastrous state of free speech on college campuses. For the most part, we've seen students begging administrators to protect them from anything that might be the slightest bit controversial, be it a Confederate flag or a Dora the Explorer Halloween costume. For the most part, the outrage has been administrators either joining with these students in the war on speech, or going to outrageous lengths to accommodate them. Until now.
Recently, an Ohio State student began receiving threats for a pro life piece she authored in the campus paper. When she attempted to report the threats to administrators, she got more than she bargained for:
All Madison Gesiotto wanted to do when she met with the dean of her law school was report a threat prompted by a newspaper column she wrote pointing out the high abortion rate in the black community.
She assumed the meeting would last 10 minutes. Instead, she said, she was there for about an hour as three deans at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law critiqued her on what they saw as problems with her Oct. 23 column in The Washington Times, "The number one killer of black Americans."
"This is my freedom of speech, but they kept going on and on about how, 'This is a flawed article, it's not a good legal piece, it's not a good journalistic piece, either,'" Ms. Gesiotto recalled. "They asked me to explain to them why I would put that [line] in, what that means, and how I should have followed that up by saying other things to support these black women."
A second-year law student who writes the Millennial Mindset column for The Washington Times online opinion pages, Ms. Gesiotto said she tried repeatedly to steer the conversation back to the threat made against her, but that the deans appeared to "blow it off."
"I'm a very tough person. I very rarely get upset or sensitive about things," said Ms. Gesiotto. "But I was crying in that meeting for about 30 minutes, I was so shocked. I've never been in a situation with people I respected and looked up to and felt so violated."
Ms. Gesiotto knew that many of her peers at the law school would disagree with the column. She expected to take some flak. What she didn't expect, she said, was having administrators show less interest in her safety than in tearing apart a column entirely unrelated to her coursework.
This is a new low for campus culture, but the message is clear. The most reasonable conservative opinions are not to be tolerated, and the most loony liberal hallucinations will be coddled and encouraged. Which begs the question: why bother going to college anymore?
Too Few Students Passed Algebra? There's Math for That
Oh, the joys of a state-run education. Here's the problem facing the education czars in New York, in the words of The New York Times: "If the percentage of students passing the Algebra I exam falls to 63 percent from 72 percent, and the passing grade is scheduled to increase by 14 points in coming years, should the test be made easier?"
See, in an effort to boost the ability for New York students to handle higher education (thanks, Common Core), the State Board of Regents announced it was going to make its Algebra tests more difficult. Success in educating the future generation, right? Problem was, students were getting the same kind of education.
So now, the brightest educational minds in New York decided that to prepare the students for college, the state has to dumb down the test so more students can pass. Still, the root problem — the state's poor ability to educate — continues unchanged. And we wonder how college students have become so stunted as to demand "safe spaces" from thoughts — philosophies, let alone the facts — they find uncomfortable.
Behind the 'white student unions' springing up at Australian universities
SO-CALLED white student unions are springing up at universities across Australia, charged with supporting and defending the interests of white students who they say are becoming marginalised from on-campus life and political debate.
At least seven unofficial unions have formed at rapid speed in the past week, claiming to represent students of European descent at the University of Queensland, the University of Southern Queensland, the University of Technology, Sydney, Macquarie University, Western Sydney University, the University of NSW and the University of Western Australia.
However, there are allegations that the movement is in fact an elaborate attempt to troll universities and the media, by the likes of users of online bulletin boards 4chan and 8chan.
If it is a hoax, it is a pretty sophisticated one, with members reaching out to news.com.au to share their views on the need to "advance our interests as white students".
The proliferation of white student unions follows a similar trend in the US, where groups have built considerable support on social media and many intend to establish an on-campus presence in the new year. However, this has also been dismissed as a hoax.
Australian universities have distanced themselves from these unofficial groups, which are copping backlash on social media by fellow students and others who accuse them of white supremacy and racism. Responses to the groups on social media have ranged from "be proud of your heritage!" to "f*** off Nazis".
Others have responded with utter incredulity: "This page is satire, right?" one person asked.
But the students behind the unions deny white pride is akin to racism, and argue they have as legitimate a place in university life as any other student group.
The White Students Union at the Western Sydney University, which formed over the weekend and is already "into the double digits" of members, is "not out to antagonise anyone", according its spokesman.
The spokesman, who approached news.com.au to write a story, said he was a 24-year-old journalism student and gave us his name, but we have chosen not to publish it because we could not verify it.
He said the group, which will seek formal registration with the university in 2016 and already has a six-person committee, was designed to "advance our interests as white students and promote a safe space where we can come together as a community and organise".
"We're a genuine group, we're not doing it to troll anyone," he told news.com.au.
"If you roll up to any university these days you'll have gay safe spaces, Muslim safe spaces: in the last four or five years it's become very politically correct.
"That's great. I'm as PC as they come. We're staying within the narrative. All we want is equality."
He said he was "absolutely" expecting a backlash, but wanted to "test the boundaries of what they're willing to acknowledge".
"We just thought, why not? Everyone else is doing it, why can't we do it? Anecdotally we have a lot of support from the ethnic students," he said.
"Our main antagonists are actually the older, white academics. These people say they're all about equality. The academics try to build this narrative that nobody supports this stuff, but it's happening. We're just using that language ourselves."
Despite the hoax claims, universities are taking the rise of these unions seriously.
In a statement, a spokesman for Western Sydney University said the group was not an official or authorised student group, adding: "The university prides itself on the diversity of its university community and condemns any action that seeks to undermine this."
The University of Technology, Sydney, and Macquarie University both said white student unions formed by their students were not official and did not reflect the views of the universities or the majority of their students.
In the "About" section of the Facebook page for the UTS White Student Union, it says the group was "advancing the rights for the people of European descent" and "anyone from any background can join".
A spokeswoman for Macquarie University said it had publicly contacted the administrators of the page yesterday, requesting that they remove the campus image and refrain from referring to themselves as "a student organisation at Macquarie University".
"We understand this page is likely to be part of a wider hoax, stemming from North America, nevertheless we are continuing our investigations into the origin of this page," the spokeswoman told news.com.au.
A spokeswoman for the University of NSW said a Facebook page for the UNSW White Student Union was "in no way related" to UNSW or its student groups. "The university will be asking Facebook to delete the page," the spokeswoman said.
The University of Queensland went so far as to condemn the University of Queensland White Student Union, which was formed last Tuesday, as a "racist web hoax".
On its Facebook page, which has 378 likes, the University of Queensland White Student Union group rails against university overcrowding and "rich international students" outbidding white Australian students for rental housing and casual work.
"We're forced to put up with an overcrowded campus that hosts thousands more students than it was ever designed for. Not enough parking, not enough toilets, not enough computers, not enough study spaces," a post dated November 24 reads.
"We're forced to do group work with internationals who can't speak English, we carry the load and do all the work while our marks are dragged down.
"We're forced to put up with the anti-social behaviour of a particular group of students who treat study spaces as social spaces and constantly attempt to 'reserve' public resources such as computers. Enough is enough."
The founders of the UQ group asked not to be identified but said they represented white students "who've had their voices silenced by political correctness".
"Individual people can be bullied into submission but as a group we can't be silenced," the group told news.com.au
"Political correctness and free speech are issues that are becoming more and more important."
The group said existing student organisations were "obsessed with catering to minorities" and they planned to establish their own society on campus in 2016.
"We're very clear on our position that white people have every right to organise themselves and act collectively to further their mutual interests," they said.
"We don't think whites are inherently 'superior' and definitely don't think they should 'rule over' anybody else.
"We think the ideas and issues we're raising have become more relevant to students as a new strain of political correctness has swept across the Western word over the past few years promoting ideas like 'white privilege'. There are all these nasty ideas around now that white people, particularly white men, are always 'privileged' regardless of their background and personal circumstances and that if they suffer hardship they deserve it, and that white people are the cause of everything that's wrong in the world."
News.com.au asked the spokesman to prove that he was a legitimate student at the university, but he said he thought it was in his best interests to "maintain anonymity" due to death threats the group had received.
Third-year University of Western Australia student Michael (who did not wish to reveal his last name) said he founded the UWA White Student Association on the weekend.
He said ensuring all students and staff spoke fluent English, making sure "the full breadth of white, European holidays and festivities" were celebrated on campus, getting racist attacks on white students recognised as racism, and having the recently dumped European studies major reinstated were among the issues his group intended to lobby for.
"Our basic aims are to represent the interests of white students on campus, as well as do our bit to reverse what we view as the rapid decline of Western civilisation, caused by mass immigration resulting in a clash of values, and the decline of family values," Michael told news.com.au.
A spokesman for UWA said the university did not endorse "behaviours and actions which are deemed to be racially and culturally intolerant or offensive".
"UWA has a strong track record on promoting cultural and religious diversity and the university is committed to produce graduates who are intellectually and emotionally comfortable with difference," the spokesman said.
In response to accusations of racism, Michael says he and the group were not racists and "we never will be". "Supporting white students doesn't imply hatred of other races, it's not a logical accusation," he said. "We would be happy to work with other ethnic clubs to fulfil mutual goals.
"(Groups that represent ethnic minority groups) are nothing new, and we don't have an issue with them. What is new is the increasing difficulty white students face in expressing their views, identity, or culture on campus without being shouted down and labelled.
"White students are not a minority, but they are currently being treated worse than most minorities, if they break rank with the left-wing multicultural orthodoxy that is hellbent of persecuting expression of whiteness."
On its Facebook page, the UWA White Student Association points out that the university already has a Singapore Students Association and an African Student Union, among other groups, so it was "about time white students organised and started working together".
The emergence of white student unions at universities in the US, including Berkeley and Harvard, have been suggested to be a response to a wave of recent anti-racism protests. One such union at the University of Illinois sprung up hours after a black solidarity event was held on campus. Others, however, have been revealed as hoaxes.
Dr Peter Gale from the David Unaipon College of Indigenous Education at the University of South Australia told news.com.au the parallel emergence of such groups in Australia was not the first time mainstream society has attempted to redress what many perceived to be "reverse racism".
He said it was "not unrelated" to our current political climate.
"We can go back to the late 1990s with the rise of Pauline Hanson and the One Nation Party where there was a backlash from groups within mainstream Australia who even claimed there was reverse racism," he said.
"Then we had an intensification of what I term as a politics of fear following September 11 so discourse around reverse racism increased following that.
"And unfortunately there's a perception problem where many people don't recognise the ongoing inequalities and difficulties that many minority groups within Western countries generally are still experiencing, which contributes to a level of resentment when we have affirmative action programs for those seeking to address disadvantage that's been experienced by some groups.
"So where we may have a scholarship program for indigenous students, or we may have programs that seek to enhance the experience of international students on campus, and that's perceived at discrimination, it's very disappointing when people take that position."
Dr Gale said it was also disappointing some people who were part of mainstream Australia didn't "have an appreciation for the privileged position" of being at university.
"They certainly don't have the experience of many minority groups that have had to overcome many difficulties and inequalities to get to a privileged position of being able to study at a tertiary level," he said.
"There are many groups within Australian society where there is an ongoing inequality in terms of the participation rates in just getting to university. There's still an ongoing inequality for indigenous people in accessing university.
"We need far more of an emphasis on improving relations between groups within society rather than responses that are going to create further divisions.
"I'd be concerned that there's an emphasis on what are the benefits for one particular group over another particular group. we should be working together to enhance interculturalism rather than further separation and segregation between groups."
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text: Protesters dressed as Guantanamo Bay prisoners take part in an anti-war demonstration [Reuters] It's multiple-choice time. Which of the following do you least associate with the word "victim"? A. Someone held without charge in an illegal prison. B. Someone held without charge in an illegal prison despite being cleared for release. C. Someone tortured and held without charge in an illegal prison despite being cleared for release. D. The prison guard. If you chose "D", the United States Southern Command (Southcom) has a bone to pick with you. Take a look at its 2015 posture statement, which includes a short section on everyone's favourite American penal colony: Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The statement was presented in March to the Senate Armed Services Committee by Marine Corps Commander General John F Kelly, who railed against "fabricated accusations of inhumane treatment and abuse" of Guantanamo inmates. Talk to Al Jazeera - Michael Lehnert: 'Close Guantanamo' According to Kelly, "The only people not treated humanely or having their human rights protected are the guards, especially our female and minority ones, who find themselves in a challenging environment where they regularly confront verbal and physical abuse … by many detainees." 'Rectal feeding' and rape Never mind that the extensive maltreatment of detainees in Guantanamo and elsewhere was recently confirmed by none other than the US Senate itself, in its 6,000-plus page report on CIA torture. Of course, the torture-heavy itineraries of the CIA and friends had been documented long before the appearance of the mostly classified report. Operations ranged from your run-of-the-mill waterboarding sessions to more creative punishments involving Sesame Street songs. Several current Guantanamo Bay prisoners were previously subjected, at undisclosed locations, to "rectal feeding" - a process that has been likened to rape. And the analogy, it seems, applies even to force-feeding methods that don't involve the anus, such as those that have now been institutionalised at Guantanamo. Consider the description of "forced artificial feeding" provided by the late Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in his seminal work on Soviet labour camps, "The Gulag Archipelago". The practice "has much in common with rape", he writes, entailing as it does a "violation of the victim's will: 'It's not going to be the way you want it, but the way I want it; lie down and submit'." Looking back over the highlights of the war on terror, one might quite reasonably assume that 'Humiliate thine enemy' is an official American battle mantra. The modern gulag In Southcom's view, ramming tubes down people's esophagi via their nostrils constitutes an example of the military's "dignified, humane, and lawful care and treatment of detainees" at Guantanamo. But there's a reason Guantanamo defence attorney David Nevin has denounced the facility as a "gulag torture centre". After all, what more concise description is there for a far-off network of secretive prison camps where a government tries to cover up its crimes with more crimes? In the modern gulag, sexual submission is a bit of a recurring literary theme; in July 2013, media outlets tripped over themselves to report that "Guantanamo's Secret Camp Loves 'Shades of Grey' Series" and "Guantanamo prisoners clamour for 'Fifty Shades of Grey'". This supposed revelation about the reading preferences of the "high-value detainees" interned at the clandestine Camp 7 complex was courtesy of US Congressman Jim Moran (D-Va.), who shared his anthropological findings with The Huffington Post following an excursion to the base. The Miami Herald's indefatigable Carol Rosenberg, however, pointed out that the series in question is "prohibited" at the detention centre library, and phoned Moran to "ask … whether members of the US military were perhaps playing a practical joke on him". Fifty shades of Orientalism Moran stuck by his discovery, arguing that the alleged Fifty Shades obsession "demystifies" the detainees and "exposes them for who they actually are" - ie "not exactly holy warriors". Actually, forcible demystification says a lot about the people who practise it, and about the US establishment's reliance on Orientalist reductionism to explain - and thereby assert control over - the "Other". Looking back over the highlights of the war on terror, one might quite reasonably assume that "Humiliate thine enemy" is an official American battle mantra. Abu Ghraib comes to mind, as do much subtler scenarios. Last year, Rosenberg described an experiment at Guantanamo in which female troops were assigned to positions requiring physical contact with detainees: "When one captive … refused to be touched by a female soldier, the military called in a special unit to move him using the detention centre's tackle-and-shackle technique." But the beauty of gender-based humiliation is that it can be done under the pretence of advancing gender equality, a concept that is - so the western narrative goes - flatly rejected by the Muslim world. Enter our civilising bombs. Only problem is, we don't treat women that well ourselves. And co-ed, equal-opportunity mass murder by the armed forces doesn't make the business any nobler. 'Recurring ugliness' The New York Times' Thomas Friedman has written with glee about the "mind-bending experience" accorded the POWs at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, which Friedman - seasoned Orientalist that he is -was able to perceive just by looking at them. The alleged mental shake-up was the result of the POWs having gone from "living, as James Michener put it, 'in this cruel land of recurring ugliness, where only men were seen', and then suddenly being guarded by a woman with blond locks spilling out from under her helmet and an M16 hanging from her side". Given that the blond-locked warrior-goddess is still being objectified in Friedman's supposedly enlightened discourse - and her femininity effectively weaponised - it appears some other folks might need their minds bent, as well. Meanwhile, Southcom can argue until it's blue in the face that the fundamental victims at Guantanamo are female and minority guards who are allegedly subject to abuse by detainees. But this self-righteous profession of concern ignores a number of inconvenient truths, not least the epidemic of rape in the US military. It seems there might be better locations to start a war on discrimination and harassment than an illegal offshore detention facility that shouldn't exist in the first place. Belen Fernandez is the author of The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work, published by Verso. She is a contributing editor at Jacobin Magazine. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy. SOURCE: Al Jazeera ABOUT THE AUTHOR Belen FernandezBelen Fernandez is the author of The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work, published by Verso. She is a contributing editor at Jacobin Magazine. @ MariaBelen_Fdez War & Conflict Human Rights Middle East Barack Obama Guantanamo Bay


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Seattle Magazine Gushes Over Burien In New Article
Seattle Magazine just posted a very positive feature story on Burien (complete with photo essay), with mentions of The Tin Room, Australian Pie Company, Elliott Bay Brewery, The Mark and many more.
Here's an excerpt:
Forget the South King County Jokes; Why You Should Head to Burien
Just south of Seattle, nestled between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Puget Sound, is Burien, one of the area's oldest, longest-established communities. Any town with a 100-plus-year history is apt to have tales to tell, and Burien does: It languished for decades after Southcenter Mall, built in nearby Tukwila in the late '60s, lured shoppers away and forced local business owners to close their doors. Several years ago, though, a trickle of new establishments set up shop in the historic shopping district of Burien along SW 152nd Street and ushered in a fresh generation of merchants and restaurateurs. Now, this friendly destination burg brims with charming boutiques and eateries, with more to come: a $200 million town square, which, when completed in 2010, will offer more stores and restaurants as well as a grassy, 1-acre park, library and city hall.Â
Full story here.


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After hearing about Typography being the next project, I started coming up with ideas to incorporate vector into the idea of it. Many hours passed before i came up with the idea of using Night as the main idea of my typography piece. The piece will have the word Night with the G written with the crescent of the moon as well as a space shuttle forming the inlines of the G. Here is the piece I have made for my vector typography piece.
Concentration Update
Leave a Reply.
Kevin Koko
Bacon lover, Crookshanks. Burma.


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A thief who struck while subject to a suspended jail term was sentenced to prison – but left court before he could be taken into custody.
Burnley magistrates were told how Shaun Kevin Lally was seen on CCTV stealing meat worth £24 from Tesco in the town centre.
Lally (32), who had run down the escalator and away from the store, owned up when questioned by police and said he was going to sell the joint for cash to buy drugs.
The defendant, who has 70 offences on his record, 34 of them for theft, had been given 12 weeks in prison, suspended for a year, last October and was in breach of the order.
He at first claimed he knew nothing about the suspended term.
Lally, of Reed Street, Burnley, admitted theft, last December 4th. The defendant was given a total of 16 weeks in jail, but left court.
His solicitor, Mr David Lawson said he had had a nomadic lifestyle and had been sofa surfing.
Mr Lawson told the hearing Lally had reading and writing difficulties and a previous history of drug addiction.
The solicitor continued: "His benefits had been stopped after he missed an appointment.
"He is now with Inspire ( the drug treatment service ) and receives 60mls of methadone."


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+4 021 326 16 71 | firstname.lastname@example.com
Locul 1 in Topul National al Firmelor realizat de Camera de Comert si Industrie a Romaniei, editia 2016, Fabricarea de articole de imbracaminte pentru lucru
Field of use:
High visibility protective clothing used to ensure visibility in any conditions of luminosity by daylight and during night when car lights are used. Electrostatic dissipative protective clothing and against superficial mechanic aggression, when being used as a part of a system completely bond to the ground in order to avoid electric discharge which might cause a fire. Effective protection against bad weather (rainfall, fog and ground humidity).
Characteristics: polyester, antistatic thread, 210 g/sqm
Available colours: orange
All content of this website (text, photos, videos) is protected by Copyright Law. No material may be reproduced or copied without written agreement of SC Matei Conf Grup SRL.


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Filmmaker James Cameron and Scripps invite you to build your own marine exploration vehicles!
Sep 26, 2013
Filmmaker James Cameron and longtime Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego development engineer Kevin Hardy were part of the team that enabled Cameron to visit the deepest point the world's oceans in 2012. Now they have teamed up again to bring students a fun way to learn about engineering and physics. All it takes are a few simple steps and some household items.
Follow the steps to build your own submersible crafts in this activity illustrated by artist Tanya Young.
This story appears in explorations now, Scripps Institution of Oceanography's award-winning ocean and earth science magazine. Sign up to receive our free monthly story roundup.


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Adobe Premiere video inside text
Learn how to composite video inside a text layer within Adobe Premiere. In this example, I'll composite some animated fire inside of a text layer.
This lessons covers the following fundementals:
- Using the Set Matte Effect
- Applying a Glow to an Alpha Matte
It's easy to fill a title with video using Adobe Premiere.
Let's create a title that has fire inside of it.
First, edit a clip to an empty sequence.
Then edit a title on top of that clip segment within a sequence.
Then place the clip that you want to put inside the title onto video track 3.
Once that's done, navigate over to the project pane, and click on the effects tab.
Twirl down the disclosure triangle for the video effects category, and then the channel category.
Look for the set matte effect and drag it onto the clip you've placed on video track 3.
Navigate to the source window, and click on the effect controls tab.
Within the Set Matte Parameter, change the layer from Video 3 to Video 2.
So now, you should have the fire inside the text layer.
Okay, to make the title stand out, let's apply a glow to it.
Navigate back to the effects tab within the project pane, and twirl down the disclosure triangle for the stylize category.
Find the alpha glow effect and drag it onto the clip segment on Video track 3.
Okay, the default color of the glow will be yellow, so to change that, navigate back up to the effect controls, and click on the start color.
In this example, I will change the glow start color to white.
This will help separate the text layer from the background layer.
Okay, it's that easy.
For other great tips like this, or to enroll in an Adobe Premiere video editing course, visit GeniusDV.com
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Watch "Cuisine of the Desert: Foraging for Cholla Buds".
Creativity is an alchemy—a process of transforming something of this earth, through the magic of vision, intent, poetry or technics into something seen, used, or understood in a totally new way.
We, the creative alchemists of flordemayoarts.com—inspired by the beauty of the Southwestern landscape, its amazing plants, deep knowledge of its land-based Native Peoples, and its rich history—honor this land through many media.
Our mission is to express appreciation of the desert Southwest and to teach skills and joys of desert inhabitation.
Watercolorist Martha Ames Burgess, "Flor de Mayo", has come to art as a special way to appreciate and understand Nature and history...
Virginia Wade Ames—designer, watercolorist, and pastellist—has studied drawing and painting at the Corcoran School of art, Washington, D.C., studied silkscreen printing with Lou Stovall and Krystina Maryk...
Follow this link to learn more about the Artists of Flor de Mayo Arts.
Our watercolors, pastels, collages express our sense of place on many scales. We invite you to view our online Art Gallery and see how our artwork may speak to you.
You can purchase some of our Originals, Prints (Giclee, or matted miniatures - some framed) and Notecards.
Be sure to check size of artworks under their detailed descriptions when ordering.
Our herbal creations translate the strong gifts and survival skills of desert plants into easy-to-use healing hydrosols, oils, and teas—herbal blessings to soothe the stresses of modern lifestyles.
Hydrosols are distilled floral waters—pure water with micro-beads of essential oils dispersed throughout. Each hydrosol is made in a still with plant material harvested fresh to retrieve the maximum amount of aromatic volatile oils.
Click to learn more about our herbal products or to place an online order.
Via flordemayoarts.com you also have access to a taste of the desert's healthful bounty with purchase of cultivated heirloom foods or wildcrafted dried desert foods.
Currently available products are native tepary beans, Tom's Mix, and Chia seed.
Desert Plant Workshops: some might call them primitive skills—we call them timeless technologies which every citizen of the desert should know. Throughout the seasons we schedule outdoor hands-on workshops to share knowledge of the desert shared with us by Native elders. We guide you in sustainable harvesting of desert foods and traditional medicines, then through culinary alchemy, into the joy and good health they provide.
Events Calendar: find out what venues you may see our shows, find our products at farmers' markets, or enjoy demonstrations or tastings.
Some places where you can find works by Flor de Mayo:
Click to see more links.
Our website uses PayPal for processing online payments. Transactions are encripted for security. We accept all major credit cards, e-checks, or you can pay directly from a PayPal account.
To purchase artwork, desert foods and herbals, follow the links above. Be sure to check size of artworks under their detailed descriptions. Shipping and handling charge noted with each item will be added. Arizona tax is computed on the item total.


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We observed all three states of matter when we watched the life cycle of our snowman. I saw this great idea over at The Frugal Teacher, and it was a huge hit! The kids were so excited when they met our special visitor.
We made observations, measured, and collected our data all day.
You know how the story ends. It is not a happy ending, until...my super scientist came to the conclusion that our new friend will always be floating among us - as a gas!
After observing the three states of matter, we investigated how matter changes with a snow lab. We talked about physical changes and chemical changes, and then we did some exploring with instasnow


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Roseate Tern Fact Sheet
Roseate Tern
Sterna dougallii
New York Status: Endangered
Federal Status: Endangered
The roseate tern is a graceful bird, 14 to 17 inches (36-43 cm) long, with a wingspan of about 30 inches (76 cm). It resembles the common tern. Its back and upper wings are a light pearly-grey, while its underparts are white. The tip of the white tail extends well beyond its wing tips when the bird is at rest. In the summer it has a black cap, nape and bill. Juveniles have prominent dark "V" s on the feathers of the back. The flight of this bird is distinctive, with rapid, shallow wingbeats of equal emphasis on the upstroke and downstroke. Its call is a rasping "z-aa-p" or a soft, two-syllabled "chivy." Roseate terns feed primarily on American sand lance, a small marine fish.
Life History
Roseate terns arrive on the breeding grounds in late April or early May and begin nesting one month later. In New York, roseate terns are always found nesting with common terns. The nest may be only a depression in sand, shell or gravel, and may be lined with bits of grass and other debris. It is usually placed in dense grass clumps, or even under boulders or rip-rap. Both adults incubate the eggs for about 23 days, and the young fledge in 22- 29 days. One brood per season is typical, although two broods are sometimes produced. Migration begins in late summer. One banded individual from Great Gull Island, New York was 9 years old when recovered.
Distribution and Habitat
A marine coastal species, the roseate tern breeds. along the coasts of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans on salt marsh islands and beaches with sparse vegetation. In eastern North America, it breeds. from the Canadian Maritime Provinces south to Long Island, although formerly the breeding range extended to Virginia.
In New York, this species breeds only at a few Long Island colonies. The largest colony, more than 1,000 pairs, is located at Great Gull Island off eastern Long Island.
During the 1870's and 1880's, the roseate tern was in serious danger of extirpation from its range in the northeastern U. S. due to hunting for the millinery trade. Protection since 1918 under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act allowed this tern to recover in the 1920's and 1930's.
Threats to roseate tern populations include vegetational changes on the breeding areas, competition with gulls for suitable nesting areas, and predation. The increased presence of humans has contributed to higher predation rates. Predators such as raccoons find tern nests when they are attracted to the garbage left behind by careless beach users.
The roseate tern population is estimated to have fallen by 75% since the 1930's. Recent survey data indicates that 87% of the birds in New York nest in only one colony at Great Gull Island.
Management and Research Needs.
Status and distribution of roseate tern populations is monitored annually by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in cooperation with the American Museum of Natural History, The Nature Conservancy and other researchers. A critical research need is to better understand the species' wintering habits and survival. One of the highest priorities in the Recovery Plan prepared by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service is to extend the species range by restoring some of the historic breeding areas. A recent success in New York was the nesting of roseate terns and 60 pairs of common terns on Gardiners Point Island in 1995. This site supported no terns when habitat management began in 1990.
Additional References
Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin and D. Wheye. 1988. The Birders' Handbook. Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York.
Farrand, J., Jr. 1983. The Audubon Society Master Guide to Birding. Vol. 2: Gulls to Dippers. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. pp. 90-92.
Nisbet, I. C. T. 1992. A closer look: Roseate Tern. Birding. October issue.
Peterson, D. M. 1988. Roseate tern sterna dougallii. Pages 176-177 in R. F. Andrle and J. R. Carroll, Eds., The Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Terres, J. R. 1980. The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. p.470.
Drawing by Karen L. Allaben-Confer


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|WHAT IS THIS? The CMU Daily - to which you are subscribed. Unsubscribe information is at the end.
NOTE: Make sure you 'enable images' to see this e-bulletin properly. CLICK HERE to read this online.
As previously reported, it's not entirely clear what caused the over-crowding at the festival which, after five years being staged at holiday parks, was run at East London's new Pleasure Gardens complex this year. But shortly after midnight on the first day of the event, police recommended a shutdown to avoid putting festival-goers in danger.
There are various theories doing the rounds as to what went wrong. Some reckon that there were problems with the CrowdSurge ticketing system the festival used (either problems with the scanning of tickets, or maybe that it was easy for users to replicate other festival-goers' barcodes before the event, causing confusion once gates opened). Others have speculated that the site, certainly as it was set up, just wasn't able to accommodate the festival's 15,000 capacity, and relied on nearly half of the event's audience standing outside of performance areas, which may work at a holiday park festival, but not at a city-based event of this kind.
Either way, in its third statement since the premature shutdown of this year's festival, Bloc organisers said they would welcome input from ticket-buyers as they investigate what happened on Friday. The statement read: "We wanted to reiterate that we have launched an investigation into the events of Friday night. To that end we have opened an email address to which we would like you to submit any information you think may be relevant. We are keen to hear from you so we can build the most accurate picture and report of what happened. As ever, you guys are at the heart of what we do so please drop us a line with any comments on email@example.com".
Stressing again that the safety of audience members is always the number one concern, and how with that in mind organisers still believe the shut-down was the right decision in the circumstances, the statement did add an apology to those who attended the event, saying: "We would also like to make it clear that we are deeply sorry for all of the frustration and disappointment this situation has caused all of you. No one is more gutted about it than us".
Information on refunds is expected in due course.
As previously reported, Brahney went missing after attending the first of the band's three homecoming shows at Heaton Park in Manchester last month. Last seen by his friends after the concert at about 11.30pm on 29 Jun, Brahney left the group he was with to return to the park after realising he had lost his mobile phone.
Tens of thousands of people joined the search to find Brahney, both on and offline, after The Stone Roses appealed for information relating to his disappearance. Following yesterday's news, the band issued a second statement expressing their condolences, saying: "We'd like to extend our sincerest condolences to Christopher's family and friends. Our thoughts are with them at this incredibly sad time. Ian, John, Mani and Reni".
A post-mortem is due to take place today.
As previously reported, New Zealand prosecutors working on behalf of the US authorities have hit a number of setbacks in court as the Americans try to extradite Dotcom and three other former MegaUpload executives. The courts have ruled that the warrant used to search Dotcom's New Zealand home back in January, as the US authorities were in the process of shutting down the MegaUpload website, was the wrong sort, rendering the raid illegal.
A judge also ruled that New Zealand authorities should not have let US investigators take copies of data seized during that raid back to the States, and that the American authorities should make available to Dotcom's defence team all the evidence they have against the MegaUpload founder in their criminal case against him before any extradition hearing takes place.
Although none of these issues should directly affect America's case for extraditing Dotcom, they have caused delays, not least because of reports New Zealand prosecutors plan to appeal some or all of the rulings that have gone against them so far. All of which made the August date for an extradition hearing wholly unrealistic.
Dotcom reckons that all these events in court so far ultimately go in his favour, and weaken the US government's case against the MegaUpload company and its management, but he was critical yesterday of the delay it has caused to his extradition hearing, presumably keen to have the matter resolved once and for all, even if there is a risk of it meaning he might be taken to the US where, if found guilty of the charges made against him, he could face jail time.
He tweeted yesterday: "Extradition hearing delayed til March. Dirty delay tactics by the US. They destroyed my business. Took all my assets. Time does the rest".
Meanwhile one of Dotcom's legal team, William Akel, told Reuters: "You obviously want the extradition case to go ahead as soon as you can, but you have to put up with the inevitable. It was inevitable that the hearing for August was going to be vacated because we have two existing cases in the High Court".
As previously reported, the video featuring the former N-Dubz singer surfaced online in March, via a website selling the six minute recording for $5.99 a download. However, the video was quickly taken offline after lawyers for the 'X-Factor' judge gained a court order against the London company operating the website that was distributing the footage.
Although, when rumours of a sex tape first surfaced last year Contostavlos's legal reps issued a statement saying that the video was "100% fake", after the actual recording went online Tulisa issued a statement of her own via YouTube admitting that it was real, adding that it was Edwards who had filmed it, and who had probably uploaded it too.
Constavlos then launched a lawsuit against Edwards and a number of other defendants. The singer's ex initially denied responsibility, claiming that making such a video publicly available was "ungentlemanly". However, according to The Telegraph, at a hearing yesterday his lawyer read out a statement saying: ''Mr Edwards has admitted responsibility for publication of the video, apologised for it, and promised not to do it again".
A further hearing is due to take place this Thursday, at which Contostavlos' lawyers will confirm to Judge Michael Tugendhat details of a settlement with Edwards.
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Paul Reidy from Bathgate in West Lothin is accused of running a fraudulent scheme from February this year selling fake tickets to the Scottish music festival. He somehow persuaded three people to part with £300 each for VIP tickets to the event, which they believed would get them access to a VIP area at the festival.
To be fair, unlike the worrying number of ticket fraudsters online these days, who just never send out any tickets, or who supply fakes via the mail, Reidy does seem to have gone the extra distance, by dressing up as security guard at the event to smuggle his misled ticket buyers onto the festival's site.
It's not clear quite how far he got in that pursuit, but clearly the scam was identified by festival officials, leading to Reidy's arrest. Already on bail for other offences, Reidy was granted bail again yesterday providing he makes no effort to contact his unwitting customers. Reidy pleaded not guilty to the charges made against him, and will go on trial at Perth Sheriff Court in October.
It wasn't the only counterfeit ticket scam linked to T In The Park this year, and two other men were arrested accused of selling fake wristbands. Meanwhile in London hundreds of fans were reportedly turned away from Live Nation's Wireless Festival this weekend, also having been sold fake tickets, seemingly via websites like Gumtree and eBay. Reps for both T In The Park and Wireless have advised music fans to only ever buy tickets from official outlets in the future.
Meanwhile, anyone who bought fake tickets to this weekend's Wireless has been asked to contact the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau throughits website www.nfib.police.uk.
Back in 2002, MC Run told fans: "We can't perform anymore. Nobody wants to see Run-DMC without Jay. Run-DMC is officially retired. I cannot get out in front of my fans with a new DJ. Some rock bands can replace the drummer [but] I don't know any other way but to be the three original members. That's all I can say. We are retired".
However, if these reports are correct, it seems that the duo have had a change of heart. A source told AllHipHop: "Run-DMC is definitely back together, and it's a great day for hip hop".
The band write: "That's it then, it's the end. With neither a whimper, a bang or a reunion. 30 years of ideas and melodies, endless meetings and European tours, press releases, singalong choruses and Dada sound poetry, finally at an end".
Adding that it is hard to fully explain why they have called it a day, they noted: "We felt we'd got to a point where what we did as a band - and specifically the writing, recording, touring cycle - wasn't doing justice to what Chumbawamba set out to do in the first place".
Prince's manager Kiran Sharma told CMU: "We are pleased to announce that Prince and Universal have reached a mutual agreement in terminating their long standing publishing deal. It is an exciting opportunity for Prince to consider fresh and new ideas for all his music".
Says one of those wonderful sources to the Daily Star: "Adele loves performing but she doesn't feel comfortable being such a high-profile celebrity. It all got a bit much for her last year and she wants to take a bit of time out of the fame game to be a normal mum. The last thing she wants is for her kid to become a celebrity baby or media commodity. Being a good mum is a lot more important to her than selling records and she's made it clear her priorities have changed now she's pregnant".
Said source added: "She doesn't want to be travelling the world touring or promoting when she can be at home. Although she's already started masterminding the third album, the chances of fans getting to hear it any time soon are slim to non-existent".
Meanwhile Wilson has told reporters: "We've exchanged a couple of emails about the next album. I am concentrating on writing as many songs as I can for her. I am building some tracks".
Speaking about the album, Broderick told CMU: "I have recently been experimenting at home with a microphone and a laptop, recording and uploading new songs for free online, each one alongside a photo and some words, and open to comments from the outside world. Robert (Erased Tapes label founder) then got behind all the songs, which gave me the courage to finish the music for this release".
He continued: "These songs are best viewed as a collection of lyrical and vocal experiments. Of course the instruments and the music are important, but this album is held together by a dialogue of voices. Conversations with myself and with others. Several tracks contain lyrical contributions from friends and strangers, made possible with the help of the internet".
Watch the trailer for the album here
And here's the tracklist:
Inside Out There
The band have also given more of a taste of what the album, entitled 'Lonerism', will sound like via a free download of album track 'Apocalypse Dreams'.
Tour dates:
30 Oct: London, Brixton Academy
FESTIBELLY, Lymington, Hampshire, 25-26 Aug: Festibelly has announced that its headliners will be Willy Moon on Saturday and Gold Panda on Sunday. Across the weekend they will also be joined by the newly announced likes of Rob Da Bank, The Ragga Twins, Bastille, Clock Opera, Man Like Me, Labyrinth Ear and Fossil Collective. www.festibelly.com
ICELAND AIRWAVES, various venues, Reykjavik, Iceland, 31 Oct - 4 Nov: There were already quite a lot of acts announced to play Iceland Airwaves, but there's always room for more. Especially when new announcees include THEESatisfaction, Kwes and Ghostpoet. Also new on the bill are Swans, Mo Kenney, The Barr Brothers, Moss, Thee Attacks, HAM, Hermigervill, Berndsen, My Bubba & Mi Ojba Rasta, Sudden Weather Change, Cheek Mountain Thief, Thorunn Antonia, Elín Ey and Eldar Ásgeir Trausti. www.icelandairwaves.is
KENDAL CALLING, Lowther Deer Park, Hackthorpe, East Cumbria, 27-29 Jul: Now sold out but still adding acts to its line-up at a rapid rate, Kendal Calling has announced over 100 new additions, including The Lightning Seeds, Redlight, Sound Of Guns, BEAK>, Karima Francis, Jenny O, Admiral Fallow and Hatcham Social. www.kendalcalling.co.uk
NOZSTOCK, Bromyard, Herefordshire, 27-29 Jul: New on the bill for this year's Nozstock are Bass Clef, Psymmetrix, Asmilon, Monad, Stumbeleine, Brocksteady, Prymedia, Tmez and Larsey. They join a line-up which also includes The Futureheads, Dreadzone, The Proclaimers, The Correspondents, Willy Moon and Son Of Dave. www.nozstock.com
SECRETSUNDAZE GO BANG!, London Pleasure Gardens, Royal Victoria Docks, London, 26 Aug: This one day mini-fest put together by the folks behind Secretsundaze and due to take place at the London Pleasure Gardens has added Motor City Drum Ensemble and DVS1 to a line-up featuring Matthew Herbert, Four Tet, Levon Vincent, Sven Weisemann and Ben UFO, among others. www.facebook.com/events/366258953427231/
In a statement, manager Steve Sexton said: "It is with huge regret and sadness that we have to announce that we are closing down. We will shut our doors at 6pm on Sunday 29 Jul after 46 years of being a record shop in Brighton Square. What we have always strived to do is to stock the best range of music at the best prices for our customers - sadly that is not enough for us to stay open".
"We are closing because we can't make it add up any more. We are a business that has been decimated by downloads (both legal and illegal), VAT avoidance by the big online retailers, a double dip recession, and the decline of the high street. Our lease has ended and we have nowhere to go".
"We would like to give heartfelt thanks to all our customers over the years, and hope that we have managed to provide you with some special and great music throughout this time. That's why we have been here - as place to obtain, hear, find out about, discuss all types of the weird and wonderful world of music, to be a social hub for a musical city, a place where future bands are born, where record labels are started, where local bands can stock their first release, where you can get tickets for gigs, where there's something playing on the shop stereo that might be your new favourite band. Sadly, in 2012, this is just not financially viable".
According to Reuters, a new bill to be published on Wednesday will propose new rules to force collecting societies to distribute monies it collects from media owners, digital service providers and the live, clubbing and retail industries more quickly to its members, ie songwriters and publishers, and to force rights organisations to be more transparent about its fee structures.
Other measures in the bill will cover that favourite topic when European Union types consider collecting societies, moves to make more rights organisations licence more services on a multi-territory basis, something the EU has been pushing for in the collecting society space for years, with limited success (though arguably those societies and rights owners offering multi-territory solutions are more motivated by commercial potential than placating European regulators). The new draft reportedly offers songwriters to option to opt out of the collective licensing system where pan-European deals are not offered by their society.
Although welcomed by some songwriter groups - Kelvin Smits from artists' lobby group Younison told Reuters: "It is time that the money collected in our name reaches the rightful author in a timely manner instead of being spent on marble car parks" - many collecting societies are likely to resist further regulation. The draft law reportedly positions some of the measures as being necessary to combat piracy, which seems dubious, though certainly some and possibly all rights organisations could do with some reform. Though, to be fair, most people agree the UK's PRS For Music is among those societies that offers its members a pretty good deal.
Muir told CMU: "Throughout his tenure at Universal Music Group, Jens has proven himself to be an innovative and pragmatic executive with the essential hands-on-experience and skill set to oversee this key area of our global business. We're delighted to recognise his achievement with this well-deserved promotion".
Needless to say, talk of the web publisher buying Spin has led to speculation the 27 year old music magazine, that has been boosting its online operations of late, might cease to be a print title, with some predicting the September/October edition may be the last, after which Spin would become an online-only publication.
According to The Sun, Lloyd-Webber has revealed: "I am writing with Gary Barlow again. I've come up with the tune this time and he's already emailed me with lyrics this morning. It hasn't got a title yet. Gary's going to be down in Majorca this summer and so will I, so we'll get together and something will come out of it".
So, Barlow and Lloyd-Webber want to bother the charts again together. Isn't this the sort of thing the European Union was created to prevent? I mean, let's remember what happened when Lloyd-Webber teamed up with Timmy Mallet to have a go at pop music (or was that an urban myth, I can never remember).


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Tuesday, 1 April 2014
Easter Applique Bunting
21 comments:
- Anonymous1 April 2014 at 18:58
I love your raw edge applique! It was very wet here for most of the day, but it has cleared up now.ReplyDelete
So pretty xx (getting fed up of this greyness really need some sunshine :-) )ReplyDelete
I love your sneak peeks of your bunintg. The daffodils are lovely. I had to laugh as I saw the eggs in the picture and went and read it as raw egg applique until I did a double take and read it properly!ReplyDelete
Hugs Mrs A.Replies
very pretty bunting - love the daffodil!Delete
Your bunting is a welcome blast of colour on yet another miserable foggy, grey day. I hope the sunshine in the south starts heading our way soon :)ReplyDelete
Sew adorable! I love all the colors! Sew very cheerful.ReplyDelete
He is risen indeed!
Hugs and happy highways,
This is very lovely and such a welcome shot of colour.ReplyDelete
The bunting is beautiful:) Great details:)ReplyDelete
Aww this is gorgeous!! It will look so cheery hanging up for Easter :)ReplyDelete
We're down south and we've had miserable weather for a few days too :/ x
Your free hand stitching is very impressive!ReplyDelete
The bunting looks great - those daffodils look like they could bring a little sunshine to the north east they are so vibrant!ReplyDelete
Have a great crafting week,
So lovely - and I'm glad you've got the cross in there, too, amongst the pretties. Have a great week xxReplyDelete
That looks lovely. At first glance I thought you were making Easter napkins, but now I see they are bunting. I love the look of the raw edge applique, and wish it is something I could master.ReplyDelete
Your bunting looks gorgeous. I think it's a really unique idea.ReplyDelete
Ali xx
The bunting is lovely, and so nice to see the cross feature.ReplyDelete
I love the photos with the chocolate eggs in the background - I wouldn't have the willpower to leave them there ;) I love your applique, especially the daffodils.ReplyDelete
Beautiful idea, I love the daffodils my favourite flower at this time of the year xReplyDelete
I love the freestyle stitching. I've tried doing it myself a couple of times but have issues getting the embroidery loop under the foot of my sewing machine. Would love to know how you did your bunting!ReplyDelete
If you don't want to go down the whole freestyle route, which often needs a hoop and the lowering of the feed dogs, try just reducing your stitch length, leaving the feed dogs up and using an open toe foot. It takes a bit longer but you have much more control and the results are identical.ReplyDelete


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FireFighter Robot
This advanced project allows a user to control a fire fighter robot equipped with water tank and gun remotely wirelessly for extinguishing fires. For this purposes the system uses an Rf remote for remote operation along with rf receive based microcontroller circuit for operating the robotic vehicle and water pump. The rf based remote transfers users commands through rf signals which are received by the receiver circuit. The receiver circuit now decodes the data commands sent. It then forwards it to the microcontroller. Now the microcontroller processes these instructions and then instructions the vehicle motors to run the vehicle in desired directions. It also operates the water pump motor and pump direction motor to spray water based on users commands. This allows the user to operate the robot and put off the fire by standing at a safe distance. The robot operates within a 8 meter range of the remote.


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Secret Window (2004)
Mort Rainey, a successful author, is passing through a hard period in his life. After catching his wife sleeping with another man, they separate and he moves away from the city to somewhere in the country. One day a man appears at his door, presenting himself as John Shooter, and accuses Mort of copying a story from him. Although Mort believes things can be solved once he shows Shooter the original version, which had appeared two years before Shooter's version, written in 1997, while Rainey's was published in early 1995. He can't seem to be able to get an original copy in the time limit set by Shooter. Strange things then start happening that prevent him from receiving the needed original, and Mort tries to find out who Shooter really is and if he is responsible for the things that have been happening.
Directed by: David Koepp
The cast includes: Johnny Depp (Mort Rainey), John Turturro (John Shooter), Maria Bello (Amy Rainey), Timothy Hutton (Ted Milner), Charles Dutton (Ken Karsch)
Also known as: Secret Window, Secret Garden (USA) (working title)
MPAA rating: , Running time: 96 minutes
Presented in: Color
Related titles: Dark Half, The (1993)
Related categories: Horror, Stephen King


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Supplies: Stamps: clear set Inkadinkado? Ink: crumb cake Paper: Neenah white and Basic Grey Accessories: Lawn Fawn twine, Martha Stewart flourish border punch, Spellbinders leaf die cut.
I made this for the featured stamper over at SCS. I just have a minute to post, so this is short and sweet. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!


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Nickelodeon Australia has named Bridget the Goddess by Monkeystack the winner of its Land a Pilot! project, held at the SPAA Conference 2007 that took place on the continent's Gold Coast this week.
The contest saw a total of seven finalists each pitch a five-minute program proposal, during the Ready Steady Pitch section of the annual conference. According to Nick Oz, the winning entry handily met the 'heart + fart + smart' criteria it's been looking for in animation projects. Monkeystack will now receive a US$20,000 contribution from Nick that will go towards moving the project into the piloting stage.
Nickelodeon's Land a Pilot! Project was a new feature at the annual SPAA Conference, hosted by the association for the independent film and TV industry in Australia. The contest was open to all registered SPAA delegates, who could then submit a concept outline and key design to Nickelodeon for consideration.


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Contact: Paula Valentine, 631-687-4759
This Saturday, the National Park Service (NPS) celebrates the 96th anniversary of its establishment on August 25, 1916. You can join the celebration by visiting one of your local national parks and joining a special ranger-guided tour or program. Fire Island National Seashore (which was added to the National Park System on September 11, 1964) is offering a variety of programs this weekend and into the fall.
"We have regularly scheduled canoe tours at Watch Hill and Sunken Forest tours at Sailors Haven to help you get to know the natural resources preserved and protected in this national park," said Fire Island's Chief of Interpretation Kathy Krause. "Our Junior Ranger: Path to Discovery program this Saturday at 2:00 p.m. at Sailors Haven and at Watch Hill focuses on maritime history, and we're offering a 1½-hour maritime history tour at 4:00 p.m. at the Fire Island Lighthouse this Saturday. The Secrets of the Seashore program will be held at the Wilderness Visitor Center this Saturday at 10:30 a.m.," added Krause. A wide variety of programs is planned each year to appeal to many interests and to represent the broad diversity of park resources. Of course, you may always just visit your local national park for a stroll on the beach, a swim at a lifeguard-protected beach, or a tour of a nationally significant historic site, like the William Floyd Estate (home of one of New York's four signers of the Decalaration of Independence) or the Fire Island Lighthouse (which now displays the rare, original first-order Fresnel lens that was installed at the top of this lighthouse from 1858-1933).
See "What's Happening This Week" for a complete list of programs at Fire Island National Seashore. An expanded Calendar of Events is also available on line.
For More Information:
- Learn more about the NPS Birthday
- Happy Birthday NPS: Share your own story with the National Park Foundation


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Monday, July 11, 2011
You Say Potato, Your Character Says Potahto...
Last week we talked about your core voice—that part of your voice that is uniquely you and flavors everything you do. Whether you are a Red Rose potato, a Russet, a Yukon Gold, or a yam.
Today I want to talk about the more conscious aspects of voice: story voice and how one's voice can shift from book to book, and then creating characters' voices, which you can have many of in any given story. Essentially, what you're going to make out of that potato.
Some authors' voices remain fairly constant throughout everything they write. Often that consistent voice is a large part of their appeal. Alice Hoffman, Jenny Crusie, and Meg Cabot are some that immediately come to mind.
Then other authors create unique, individual voices for each of their stories so that you might not realize they'd been written by the same person. Jane Yolen, Tamora Pierce, Suzanne Collins, K. A. Applegate, Garth Nix.
If you're the former, then the story voice and author voice remain fairly constant and you don't have to wrestle with the idea of different voices for different stories. However, as I mentioned last week, voice confounded me for a long time because of this need to tell wildly different stories. Until I stumbled upon the idea that story voice is which aspect of your author voice you're focusing on.
The thing is, we all have many aspects to our personality: funny sides, serious sides, dark sides, places where our deepest fears lay. To me, it makes perfect sense that our body of work will cover more than one side of ourselves, thus different flavors of stories.
However, while we might vary in whether we want to focus on humor or seriousness or hope or despair, WHAT makes us laugh or cry or hope or despair is part of the essence of who we are and that will very likely remain constant throughout the body of our work.
Whether it is center stage or backdrop is the variable.
If you are writing a scary story, you will be drawing on what frightens you, the terrifying moments you've experienced, your nightmares.
If you are writing a humorous or light-hearted story, you will probably draw on what parts of life you find absurd or ironic. A romance would focus on how you define love.
My teen assassins in medieval France book that comes out next spring uses a wildly different voice than either the Theodosia books or the Beastologist books. Not just older, but a wildly, completely different voice. And yet I still feel that it is very much my voice. But it is my seventeen-year-old voice versus my eleven-year-old voice. My coming-of-age voice rather than my still-firmly-rooted-in-childhood voice.
Another other big component of the story voice is the set of emotional truths and thematic issues you are exploring. They will greatly dictate the tone and feel of your book.
It is also my voice as seen through a medieval lens and worldview rather than an Edwardian one—two time periods with distinctly different flavors and sensibilities. The medieval world was obsessed with finding a path to grace and assuring a place in heaven, while Edwardians were just stepping out of a dark, somber, restrictive Victorian society and embracing a lighter side. Not to mention the beginning advent of modern technologies. If I'm doing my job in developing my characters, the flavor of those different times comes through.
Which segues rather nicely into finding your character's voice
This is probably the most conscious aspect of voice, adjusting your voice to convey a specific, fictional character. It's the part where you climb into the character's skin.
One thing I need to understand in order to make my characters breathe on the page is what piece of me is in that character. What of my own core emotional truths does this character have? This is usually the key for me to an authentic character voice.
The truth is, pieces of ourselves show up in all our work. I have been surprised many times by unplanned pieces of me that show up on the page, usually spotted long after the book went to print and I acquired some distance from the story. Since this happens even when we don't intend it to, we might as well consciously choose which parts we include and let them do some of the heavy lifting for us.
But how do we consciously develop our characters' voice?
Well, if voice is an author's core emotional truths and personal wisdom, combined with their use of language, then to evoke a real-seeming, authentic character we need to understand their emotional truths, personal wisdom, and use of language. And while some of ourselves will be in them, they will in large part be wildly different from us, not unlike how kids have some of their parents in them, but are also their own unique selves.
This is where backstory comes in. Not because it belongs in the story—it doesn't! Only the very littlest bit you can get away with. But the author needs all that backstory in order to understand what emotional truths and personal wisdom our character has acquired throughout their lives.
We need to know his formative experiences, emotional scars and wounds, hopes and fears, what sort of environment he's grown up in, all those things go into creating our character. In order to get him to live on the page, he has to have a fully developed life of his own in order for us to be able to nail his worldview and, therefore, his voice.
I'm not suggesting we have to account for every moment of his life before he shows up on page one, but definitely the big emotional events that have shaped him.
Personally, I don't find those character worksheets that ask what color his hair and eyes are, and what pets and hobbies and habits he has, all that helpful. What I need to understand is WHY my character has a ferret for a pet and WHY he has a constant tic under his left eye and WHY collecting boogers is his favorite—only?—hobby.
I often joke about not knowing what color my character's eyes are because I'm too busy looking through them, not at them.
A key to getting this strong character voice is using deep point of view, going deep into the character's head so that it is HIS perspective that colors the story.
But how do we get deep inside our character's head?
For me it's usually character journaling—creating a "journal" written by my character in which he confesses and contemplates his deepest thoughts. Almost like a therapy session. I'll often do a "therapy session" with the character on how he feels about the plot point that is about to occur in the story--that's where I find his emotional juice.
Whenever a story feels flat to me or has flat spots, I ask what is the core emotion the hero is experiencing in this scene? And why? Then, more importantly, have I managed to get it on the page?
If not, I dive back into the character's psyche and try again.
This post is already beyond ridiculously long, so I've posted a sample worksheet/questionnaire behind the cut.
Okay, just to clarify, I don't answer each of these questions for each of my characters, but this is a list of things I look at when I'm trying to develop their backstory so that I can capture their personality on the page.
Gender - not that you don't already know what gender your character is, but be sure you really consider how gender affects worldview. Boys walking into a situation have very different reactions and notice different things than girls do. Frex, in middle school, a boy walking into the cafeteria on the first day of school might be wondering who is going to trash can him or who he could beat up if he had to. A girl, however, might be looking for who seems the friendliest or which social cliques to approach/avoid.
Family's social status/income level - because poverty greatly affects worldview
Any ethnic background or influences
Family dynamics? Parents married, divorced, single? Siblings? Birth order?
What sort of student is the character? How popular are they at school?
Who is his best friend? Who is their worst enemy?
Do they have any hobbies? If so, how did they come to those hobbies? Why are they important? What do they illustrate about his character?
Are they athletic? Good at sports? If so, which ones. If not, how does that affect their life?
What is the character's most treasured possession?
Do they have any superstitions?
What is their general attitude toward life? Optimist? Pessimist? What went into forming that attitude?
What are they afraid of?
What are his hopes and dreams? Both immediate and long term.
What does he long for?
Is there anything he feels guilty about?
What is he ashamed of? Proud of?
What is his relationship with technology? Do they have four TVs? No computer? A cell phone at age 10? An email account? (in historical or fantasy novels, this question is a whopper as it encompasses the other world you're building into your story.)
What are his character strengths?
What are his character flaws? What gets him in trouble the most often? What is he most embarrassed about?
Does he have any physical weaknesses? Uncoordinated, asthma, small for his age, etc.
13 comments:
- Kenda said...
Very thorough--and helpful--discussion on voice, and the distinction between a writer's core voice and the character's voice. Thanks :-) And as for your thoughts on character information sheets, I especially like: "I often joke about not knowing what color my character's eyes are because I'm too busy looking through them, not at them." Classic!
- July 11, 2011 at 6:04 AM
- Adele Richards said...
(thank you)
- July 11, 2011 at 6:31 AM
- storyqueen said...
I am going to try the journal today. I am confused by why my character reacted in a certain way and I feel like she is keeping some pretty important secrets from me...ME! The author! she better spill pretty soon or the book is gonna be lame.
Thanks for this post.
- July 11, 2011 at 8:14 AM
- 1000th.monkey said...
Awesome, awesome post. You put a *feeling*, a vague sense of how things worked, into clear, easily understandable words.
- July 11, 2011 at 8:27 AM
- R.L. LaFevers said...
So glad it was helpful, Kenda!
Adele, you are so welcome!
Shelley, I swear by the journaling method. The cool thing is, oftentimes I end up being able to use a lot of what I put in the journal in the actual book, but my subconscious needs the non-pressure of thinking it's just a journal entry. :-)
1000th monkey, so glad I was able to articulate things in an understandable way. Trust me, that is not always the case! :-)
- July 11, 2011 at 11:21 AM
- CT said...
Thank you so much! This is brilliant, and so what I needed. Am attempting to craft a first novel for early YA (Junior high age) and have been feeling less than knowledgeable on character development. Your post helps tremendously!! Looking forward to your fall novel!
- July 12, 2011 at 5:08 AM
- Becky Levine said...
Thanks, Robin. This is what I needed to remind me about figuring out my antagonist, actually--I do know that part of her is me, but somehow I'm not letting that part loose yet. Maybe because it IDs me as part bad guy?! :) I've been thinking I need to write a few not-to-use scenes in her point of view, and this is pushing me toward that even more.
- July 12, 2011 at 9:09 AM
- Ramona said...
Love the character journal concept. The WHY focus is the key, isn't it?
Excellent post, very helpful and thought-provoking.
- July 12, 2011 at 9:21 AM
- Susan Taylor Brown said...
Excellent post, Robin. I find the same sort of thing happens for me (as your journal) when I write letters to my characters and have them write back to me. Their voices start to emerge in the process and often surprising me.
- July 12, 2011 at 2:30 PM
- M Pax said...
I hadn't thought of this, although I've written different stories with different sides of my voice. Now I have something to try to shake things up ... consciously. Thanks. :)
- July 12, 2011 at 2:36 PM
- Robin L said...
Thanks, CT! I love it when the timing works out like that.
Becky, I think that is one of the hard parts about writing--that sense that we are going to show what aspects of ourselves are antagonist-worthy. And I think scenes that are written just to explore our characters are such a great tool!
Ramona, WHY is one of my favorite questions, right after WHAT IF?
Oo Susan! Letters to and from the characters are a terrific idea! I'll keep that in my back pocket for when journaling doesn't produce the desired results.
M Pax, good luck with shaking things up! Important to do in our creative pursuits!
- July 12, 2011 at 8:18 PM
- cherie said...
Excellent post! And so thorough and informative. Lots of good points to think about here. :)
- July 15, 2011 at 10:29 AM
- Kimberly Lynn said...
You are wonderful, Robin. Thank you!
- July 18, 2011 at 10:31 AM