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Lessons of Sharke
Megan has put up an excellent post about her experiences as a Shadow Clarke Award juror and, seeing as a couple of other things I've been working on appear to have stalled, I thought I'd add my own short rejoinder.
Firstly, my time as a Sharke juror included some of the best experiences that I have ever had writing about science fiction…
Over the years, I've written quite a few pieces about the state of online conversation about SF and while they've mostly been resoundingly downbeat, my experience as a Shadow Clarke juror gave lie to all of them. Suddenly, after years of intellectual isolation came a momentary outbreak of solidarity, comradeship, and the ability to have a meaningful conversation about books.
My only regret is that my regrettable lack of interest in the back end of the official Clarke shortlist meant that I couldn't really maintain the level of output that I felt the project deserved. I write about science fiction on a fairly regular basis but it had been a long time since I'd been a staff reviewer committed not only to finishing but also to reviewing a series of books. Evidently, my methods and tastes have now shifted to the point where I can no longer force myself to either read or write at the kind of length I felt the project required. To this day, I regret being unable to contribute more to the project and feel that I rather let the side down for not doing so.
There are some ongoing discussions about the possibility of another flotilla of Sharkes and I certainly hope that comes to pass as everyone who writes about science fiction online deserves to have the kinds of experiences I had as a Sharke. Thank you not only to Nina Allan but also to my fellow Sharkes for allowing me to have the kind of experience that I have always wanted from writing about stuff on the internet.
Secondly, while I revelled in the sense of shared purpose and togetherness I experienced during the project, I do wonder if the process might not be improved…
For starters, I think that writing an essay about each book on both the personal and official shortlists is a bit much. Aside from putting quite a lot of pressure on the jury to deliver content, it can also get a bit repetitive for readers who can wind up being subjected not only to endless essays about the same books, but also to endless essays about the same books making almost the exact same points over and over again. At best, this kind of repetition will result in readers 'tuning out'. At worse, it will feel like some kind of weird conspiracy.
I think the roundtable format took some of the weight out of the repetition but I am worried about that format resulting in group-think as people with unpopular opinions will inevitably wind up self-censoring and even if we people don't actively self-censor, the format does rather tend to narrow the focus of discussion to the point where you naturally end up talking within quite a limited cultural space. Experienced moderators and editors might be able to stop that happening but I wonder if a tweak in the format might not minimise the risk of group-think.
Rather than having people write individual essays about the books on the shortlist, might it not be better to adhere to the traditional method of shortlist reviewing, namely writing one long piece about all the books at the same time? If everyone were to write one long piece about the official shortlist and then move on to more in-depth roundtable discussions of individual books, people might feel more inclined to defend the line they took in their longer pieces. This would also give people the chance to go long or short on books and subjects that left them unevenly inspired. It would also set up the possibility of people changing their minds in discussion, which always makes for an entertaining read as far as I'm concerned.
Thirdly, I was encouraged by the nature of the pushback.
One of the reasons why I decided to take part in the project was that I believed – and still believe – that genre publishing is going through a period of aesthetic retrenchment. Look at the way that even established and award-winning authors are manacled to conventional forms and you'll find an industry that is desperately trying to consolidate existing readerships while desperately trying to make inroads into the profitable but aesthetically conservative YA and YA-adjacent markets. As a result of this period of retrenchment, genre publishing is producing less aesthetically ambitious works than it was five, ten, or fifteen years ago.
This period of aesthetic retrenchment has coincided with a catastrophic collapse in the range of tolerated discourse with regards to genre literature. Ten years ago, genre culture was home to a thriving blogosphere that encouraged a broad range of attitudes towards science fiction literature. Since then, that blogosphere has largely collapsed and a fan-centric ethic of honest self-expression has been replaced with an industry-centric ethic of enforced positivity.
I was happy to get involved in the Shadow Clarke project because I wanted to a) help challenge the presumed supremacy of genre publishing by broadening the discourse to include science fiction novels from outside that cultural sphere and b) show that it was possible for regular readers to engage with the literature of science fiction in public using not only the full range of their emotions but also their own ideas about what constitutes good writing and good science fiction.
Regardless of whether you want to provoke change in existing social structures or create new social spaces embodying different principles, you need to be able to show what you're about… if only to prove that alternatives to the status quo can exist. The Shadow Clarke project was by no means a flawless undertaking but I think it was successful not only in broadening the scope of genre discourse but also in demonstrating that ordinary readers can contribute more than simply hitting retweet and dutifully nominating their faves.
I expected both hostility and opposition because the Shadow Clarke project embodies a very different set of ideas about how we ought to engage with science fiction on the internet. Some might argue that those ideas and methods have always been present in genre culture but times change and cases must always be made anew. Looking back over the months I spent as a Sharke, I am proud of the writing we produced as a group; I think we championed books that would otherwise have been completely overlooked in genre circles and I think we provided dozens of articles that interrogate science fiction from a variety of nuanced and personal positions.
Hopefully, next year will bring another group of Sharkes… Ideally, every major award in the field will start casting its own shadow. Even if this was nothing more than the last gasp of a critical tradition that no longer has much of a place in genre culture, every fresh beginning requires a proof of concept and I think the Shadow Clarke jury provided exactly that.
I don't know where we're going tomorrow but today I stand, like Megan, SFatisfied at what I helped to produce.
Auto Focus (2002) – Made Free, Yet Everywhere in Chains
Paul Schrader is better known as a writer than a director. Having co-written most of Martin Scorsese's better-known films, his own directorial efforts have often left him stranded between two cinematic cultures; his themes are often two weird and downbeat for Hollywood and yet his style is too conventional for the aesthetes of Cannes. As a writer/director, the creative high point of his career remains the beautifully demented and heavily-stylised Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters.
Well-received at the time and since largely forgotten, Auto Focus is very much a companion piece to Schrader's best-known film: Like Mishima, Auto Focus is a biopic chronicling the rise and fall of a relatively obscure cultural figure. Like Mishima, Auto Focus uses cinematic style rather than narrative or dialogue to deliver its intellectual substance. Like Mishima, Auto Focus is about a man who is hollowed out and destroyed by his commitment to an unsustainable model of masculinity.
Future Interrupted — The Consequences of the Present
Interzone #271 has been a thing in the world for a little while now. Anyone with an interest in getting hold of it can do so via the TTA Press website, Smashwords or any other purveyor of quality eBooks with a search function and an ounce of sense.
This month's stories are a typically intriguing bunch:
- "The Rocket Farmer" by Julie C. Day
- "Gods in the Blood (of Those Who Rise)" by Tim Casson
- "If your Powers Fail you in a City Under Tin" by Michael Reid
- "Chubba Luna" by Eliot Fintushel
- "When I Close my Eyes" by Chris Barnham
- "Cryptic Female Choice" by Andy Dudak
As ever, the non-fiction is superb… Nina Allan writes about J. Robert Lennon's art house thriller Broken River and considers the state of the 'conversation' in genre culture. Nina quotes part of a conversation I had with her and my fellow Shadow Clarke jurors in which I (predictably) point out that genre books inevitably improve the second they are published by anyone but a genre publisher and after failing to write about most of this year's Clarke award shortlist, I absolutely stand by that assertion. In fact, this issue also includes an excellent review and interview with Allan by Maureen Kincaid Speller that contains an observation that perfectly articulates what I value not just in SF but in all art and culture:
"I love work that shimmers with a sense of the numinous, work that has something to say about the landscape and the time in which it was written. Above all, I admire deeply personal work that doesn't give much of a toss about fashionable trends, and thus illuminates all the more brightly our sense of where we are as individuals, and as a species."
Which is a great point at which to move onto this month's reprint. The column was written last year not long after the American election and is a look at what I still consider to be one of the best science fiction novels published in 2016. The novel in question is Carl Neville's Resolution Way from Repeater Books.
On Tuesday 8th of November 2016, Hilary Clinton failed to beat Donald Trump in the presidential election. As news of Trump's victory spread fear around the globe, people everywhere looked to the future and asked a question that lies at the heart of all great science fiction: What Next?
Literary science fiction's reluctance to answer this question is a result of its economic history. When the pulp magazine market began to collapse in the 1950s, genre fiction ended its strategic alliance with popular science. Faced with economic ruin, genre editors and writers began to shift the field's economic heartlands away from factual content and towards literary fiction. Building on ground broken during Cele Goldsmith's tenure at Amazing Stories, Michael Moorcock's New Worlds stressed the literary nature of contemporary genre writing while people like Judith Merril and Harlan Ellison shouted themselves hoarse confronting the entrenched assumptions of the American genre marketplace.
Nowhere is the call for economic reconfiguration more obvious than in J.G. Ballard's famous essay "Which Way to Inner Space?" First published as an editorial in New Worlds, Ballard calls for science fiction writers to stop producing space exploration stories and begin producing stories that use genre tropes to explore the workings of the human mind. One interesting thing about this oft-cited essay is that Ballard bases his call for aesthetic renewal on economic factors; according to Ballard, America's real-world space programme was proving to be so apocalyptically tedious that it was going to destroy the market for stories about spaceships. Another interesting thing about this oft-cited essay is that Ballard's analysis was completely without foundation. Ten years after Ballard wrote the essay, Star Wars turned escapist rocket ship stories into a cultural phenomenon while the New Wave broke and Feminist SF wound up seeking refuge behind the walls of academia.
Genre publishing has spent the last forty years accelerating away from anything that might be described as realism. When the rise of big-budget science fiction movies undermined the market for escapist science fiction stories, genre publishers turned to epic fantasy. When technology finally caught up and multinational corporations started putting huge fantasy worlds both online and onscreen, the market for epic fantasy contracted and so genre publishers shuffled closer to YA but Young Adult fiction already had its own imprints and so we are left with a hollowed-out literary culture where everything looks and reads like epic fantasy and nobody is allowed to find their own voice.
Given the extent of the commercial and cultural decline experienced by literary SF since genre publishers bet the farm on escapism, I wonder whether it might not be worth thinking about returning to the future. Not a future in which space admirals unleash righteous slaughter or grizzled psychopaths confront puissant magics in post-apocalyptic landscapes but a future in which we are confronted with the consequences of the present.
A recent example of how to approach the near-future is Carl Neville's debut novel Resolution Way. Resolution Way is set in a Britain that has been pulverised by wave after wave of punitive austerity. The book begins by introducing us to an ambitious middle-class journalist who stumbles across a beautifully-written piece by an author who disappeared before he was able to get any of his work published. Fuelled by a lethal cocktail of smart drugs and entitlement, the journalist uses social media to piece together the author's social networks and sets about badgering his surviving friends into handing over what is left of his literary estate. Right from the start, the journalist comes across as a duplicitous predator who wants nothing more than to pass the abandoned work off as his own but before we can settle into a nice comfortable hate-read, Neville switches viewpoints.
Much like Lavie Tidhar's superlative Central Station, Neville's book is less a conventional novel than a series of interlinking short-stories designed to show us a particular time and place from a variety of different perspectives. The journalist character provides us with a path into the Britain of tomorrow but most of the book's speculative heavy-lifting is done in images taken from the lives of ordinary people who are struggling to get by. Having begun the novel from the perspective of the 'haves', Neville proceeds to shuffle us back and forth between the perspectives of different 'have-nots' including single mothers who are hounded by loan shark-like council officers, aspiring musicians who are forced into indentured servitude when they fail to pay back their student loans, and local shopkeepers who are trapped on abandoned high streets by negative equity mortgages. Each of these futures is rendered in an affectless and under-punctuated prose that perfectly conveys Neville's vision of a socially and economically desolate future. The lives of the characters intersect at acute angles but so do the oppression and exploitation that is forced upon them by the system.
One of the really remarkable things about Resolution Way is the way that it shows the systemic nature of capitalist oppression. Neville crawls inside each character's skin and unveils the source of their pain and misery but every time we think the source of the oppression can be traced to a particular agency or person, Neville catapults us into the mind of that potential oppressor and forces us to empathise. In one vignette, we are asked to understand a council worker who smashes families and hurls people into prison because the only other option would be to lose their job and risk it being taken by someone who actually enjoys the power. In another scene, we are confronted by people working for a private letting company tasked with turning run-down Victorian seaside towns into venues for expensive steampunk-themed staycations. They understand that jacking up rents and forcing poor people out of town centres only serves to create social and economic problems but nobody cares and nobody listens.
Another remarkable thing about this novel is the way that Neville pushes the limits of empathy beyond those who are merely complicit in the exploitation of others. Having ignored the ambitious journalist for over a hundred pages, the book deposits us in the life of his equally ambitious middle-class wife. The journalist's wife paints a picture of a man who invested all of his being into the dream of becoming a successful novelist; well-schooled, well-connected, and well-disciplined, the man did everything that society asks of its cultural entrepreneurs only for his dreams to be smashed by accusations of plagiarism. Like many middle-class people, the journalist followed the rules and sacrificed his humanity but still this was not enough to save him from a system that treats everyone like fodder. Even the billionaire funding the journalist's quest turns out to be trapped on a treadmill, forced to run ever-faster lest he fall off the back and wind up being sucked down into penury. Some may benefit more from the system than others but its grinding inhumanity ultimately consumes us all.
Neville's vision of the future owes an acknowledged debt to that elaborated in Mark Fischer's superb essay Capitalist Realism: Tomorrow's Britain does not so much produce new things as slowly dismember and digest the remnants of the past as tycoons compete for ownership of teenaged mix-tapes and unpublished novels using money made from turning the welfare state into a torture chamber.
For decades now, science fiction has devoted itself to the task of providing people with a means of escape from their day-to-day lives. Fictional universes built in accordance with transparent moral imperatives and simple narrative logics might have turned some writers into household names but the genre as a whole is less wealthy and less visible than ever before. It is time for a change of direction… rather than helping us to escape the world, science fiction should start preparing us for whatever is coming next. Someone needs to.
REVIEW — A Quiet Passion (2016)
After a period of considerable silence on my part, FilmJuice have my review of Terence Davies' wonderful biopic of the American poet Emily Dickinson entitled A Quiet Passion.
It was interesting to find myself writing about Davies for the second time in five months after having spent a number of years bouncing off his films…
Whenever you acquire a passion for a particular cultural form, there is always a period in which you wind up feeling obliged to be a good citizen and, at the very least, experience the great canonical presences of the field. This gravitational pull can arise from social gatekeeping but even if you never experience a dude in a stained T-shirt snorting dismissively at your faves, you can still wind up being drawn into a cultural gravity well.
For example, once you acquire a passion for a particular cultural form, it is only natural to seek out respected commentators on that form and when those commentators all point towards the same cultural artefacts then it is quite hard to avoid engaging with those tastes and values. This is particularly obvious in the world of film criticism where an already limited range of canonical critics all tend to wind up writing about a limited range of canonical directors.
Davies is a director who sits at the bottom of quite a deep critical gravity well, which is to say that his work is respected by a lot of very respectable people and the amount of gravitational force he exerts on the culture around him means that there will always be some pressure to give his work another try, if only to try and work out what other people see in him.
I wrote about Davies' long-awaited Sunset Song back in April and found it sorely wanting. A Quiet Passion is very similar to Sunset Song in that it is also quite dark, emotionally controlled, and oppressively internal. However, while the aesthetics of Sunset Song seemed a questionable fit for the source material, those same aesthetics turned out to be a perfect fit for the life of Emily Dickinson:
A Quiet Passion reads a lot like a critique of contemporary liberalism: It begins as a light and fluffy comedy of manners in which brilliant young women drop truth bombs on stuffy 19th Century caricatures but the comedy of manners collapses into tragedy when it turns out that material reality is immune to your zesty one-liners and epic owns. What follows is an absolutely uncompromising vision of genius and depression rooted in the realities of 19th Century life. Indeed, while many of Dickinson's friends and family affect a form of world-weary cynicism, Dickinson expands those insights beyond the punchline and towards their logical conclusion in the realisation that society is built upon a series of monstrously unjust lies.
I went into the review-writing process rather unsure of my feelings on Davies and so I talk a bit about how I view Davies' career and I begin to elaborate a narrative about the aesthetics of British art house film that I may wind up returning to at some later point:
The root of the problem is that Davies is a director in the great tradition of British art house film. Indeed, while many of the art films to come out of continental Europe tend towards the abstract and novelistic, British art films tend to be theatrical and rooted in social realism. To put it another way, European art film is a house built by Andrei Tarkovsky and Jean-Luc Godard whereas British art house film owes considerably more to left-leaning social realists such as Alan Clark and Mike Leigh. Unfortunately for Davies and many directors like him, the 1990s saw the economic heartlands of prestige cinema shift a lot closer to the American middle-class and while the abstract tendencies of European art film survived the transition, the British art house tradition did not.
Thought Projectors 9
These pieces generally take a while to come together because I capture stuff as I discover it and then re-read it prior to sharing the link. This post involved more stuff captured than any previous link post but most of them were outdated and wrong by the time I got round to re-reading them.
The night of the general election, I went to see Stewart Lee performing in Tunbridge Wells. I visit Tunbridge Wells fairly regularly but it's a town I absolutely loathe… I loathe the fact that I always wind up being followed around department stores, I loathe the fact that it is surrounded by an enormous building site, and I loathe the fact that it is effectively nothing but street upon street of terrible over-priced shops. I hate Tunbridge Wells but I'm glad I was there on the night of the election as loads of people walked out around the time the exit polls were released to the public. Walking out of the performance, I heard a teenager enthusiastically chanting 'They've fucked it! They've fucked it!' but this was Tunbridge Wells… he could easily have been a Tory. Or, even worse… a Blairite.
We drove home through a thunderstorm and I refrained from looking at the exit poll until we got home. I didn't want to hope as I didn't want to be disappointed. I even waited for my wife to wake up in the morning before checking the actual results.
The reason I wound up binning so many captured pieces is that British politics seems to be undergoing a genuine sea-change. As in the late-1970s, the old order can no longer sustain itself and its servants have been too slow in updating the settlement. Just as Hilary Clinton found when she tried to get people excited about 'woke' neoliberalism, the wealthy and powerful have taken too much too fast and now a fresh settlement must be drafted lest the chaos and unpredictability consume us all.
For the last year or so, many people have been assuming that xeno-nationalist politicians from the hard right would be drafting this settlement but Trump appears to be governing like a typical Republican and the general election saw Theresa May's mandate disintegrate before her very eyes. The left was not in a position to move when the banks fell in 2007 but that is no longer true.
Every day seems to heap defeat and humiliation on the right. The charred and still-smoking ruins of Grenfell house are like something out of a novel; a metaphorical representation of the evils of austerity wrapped in incontrovertible evidence that the private sector simply cannot be trusted to care for the people of this country. The years of privatisation, outsourcing, neglect, and abandonment must now come to an end.
And a propos absolutely none of this, here are some of the photos I've taken since the last one of these…
REVIEW — Yoon Ha Lee's Ninefox Gambit (2015)
Having now finished reviewing the six books I nominated as part of my personal shortlist, I turn my attention to the books that made it onto the official Arthur C. Clarke Award short-list.
Yoon Ha Lee's debut novel Ninefox Gambit took me quite a long time to write about. My reluctance was in part due to the fact that I have been going back and forth on this novel since I first read it last year: On the one hand, the novel contains some interesting ideas and a bit of thematic heft. On the other side, the themes are poorly articulated and the book really doesn't work as a novel. The downsides were particularly difficult to articulate as I'm aware that my tolerance for 'core' SF has effectively disappeared and I doubt whether anyone could write a military science fiction novel that I'd enjoy. My piece about the book tries to thread the needle by explaining what didn't work for me whilst also making it clear where my preferences lies There's also quite a lot of discussion in the comments but I personally find them disappointingly regressive on a number of different levels.
The novel is set in a universe where the local laws of physics are determined by the shape of your social structures. As a result of this quirk in natural law, government has assumed a form that allows all kinds of futuristic technologies as long as everyone keeps behaving in a very specific way. Unsurprisingly, people keep wanting to live their own lives and so the government has little or no function beyond the violent suppression of dissent. Into this universe is born a mathematically gifted young woman who is sent off to put down an uprising with the help of a disembodied general who once butchered thousands of his own men: On the one hand, the book is a military space opera in which fleets of space ships use mathematical formulae to defeat each other. On the other hand, it's a psychodrama in which a loyal young officer is brought to rebel against her own tyrannical government. My problem with the novel is that, both in terms of action and drama, the novel tends to stop short of engaging with its own subject matter. Everything is kept at a safe emotional distance and so the book works neither as a drama, nor as a human drama:
Lee's tendency to use abstraction as a means of glossing over complex details also serves to undermine the novel's numerous action scenes as the need to inhabit Kel Cheris' morally-compromised worldview means that the novel is forever downplaying the suffering caused by her actions. Like the Cold War strategists who once took the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation, Kel Cheris views warfare as a series of abstract mathematical problems with right and wrong answers. While abstracting away from Cheris' skilful deployment of state violence does serve to retain the audience's sympathies, it also serves to deprive every action scene of both tension and consequence. It is often said that cyberpunk never caught on as a cinematic genre because so many of the books cut to someone sat in front of a computer typing. Now imagine a film that cuts to someone desperately solving equations and you'll begin to understand why so many of Ninefox Gambit's action sequences feel abstract and distant when they should be visceral and exciting.
In fairness to Lee, I'm not sure I would have enjoyed this book even if it had engaged with the horrors it depicts… At the end of the day, this is a novel about space Nazis coming to realise the error of their ways and I'm not sure whether my interest and my capacity for empathy actually extend that far. Particularly at a time when fascism seems to be on the rise on both sides of the Atlantic.
Back in June 1968, readers of Galaxy magazine were confronted by a pair of paid advertisements from groups of authors who either supported or opposed the Vietnam war. While the names of the writers who were supportive of the war will come as no surprise to those who are familiar with their fiction, it is interesting to note that 1960s genre culture was still fairly relaxed about the idea of the American government waging a brutal war of aggression against an impoverished country that had only just managed to free itself from colonial oppression and begun expressing its hard-won political agency. Six years after those adverts appeared, genre culture was in a position to produce works like Haldeman's The Forever War and Harrison's Centauri Device; works that recognised and took issue with the fascistic tendencies of military science fiction in particular and space opera in general.
Genre culture has never been a political mono-culture and while many readers recoiled from the genre's most fascistic story-forms, readers continued to yearn for books in which the world could be made a better place with a few well-placed artillery strikes. As time passed and the politics of genre culture continued to evolve, authors and publishers went in search ways to appeal to both sides of the political aisle at the same time.
The most commercially successful strategy turned out to be writing a series of novels that opens on a relatively ambiguous power fantasy that softens into a rather hand-wavy critique of imperialism over the course of several novels. I am tempted to refer to this strategy as the Scalzi Gambit in honour of his Old Man's War series but regardless of what we choose to call it, the strategy has proved remarkably effective as it has allowed genre culture to continue championing the kinds of novels that were already viewed as being a bit right wing over fifty years ago.
1970s science fiction deconstructed the space opera in the hope of breaking genre culture's addiction to reactionary story-forms. However, rather than provoking social change and unlocking creativity, the limited self-awareness that was born of America's reaction to the horrors of the Vietnam war appears to have been channelled into coming up with excuses for people to enjoy reading violently reactionary power fantasies. We have entered the age of the woke space opera where war crimes and mass slaughter are perfectly acceptable as long as they form part of a journey towards redemption and self-improvement.
Interzone #270 is now a thing in the world. Anyone with an interest in getting hold of it can do so via the TTA Press website, Smashwords or any other purveyor of quality eBooks with a search function and an ounce of sense. This being said, while you might prefer to have an eBook version of the magazine, I recommend getting a dead tree subscription as the magazine has never looked more beautiful than it does right at this moment.
This month's issue contains a number of interesting stories, each of them beautifully illustrated:
- "Rushford Recapitulation" by Christopher Mark Rose
- "Like You, I am a System" by Nathan Hillstrom
- "Dirty Code" by Wayne Simmons
- "Encyphered" by Jonathan L. Howard
- "The New Man" by Malcolm Devlin
- "Evangeline and the Forbidden Lighthouse" by Emily B. Cataneo
- "Memories of Fish" by Shauna O'Meara
As usual, in addition to the short fiction, this issue includes some excellent non-fiction:
Nina Allan's column draws from a similar well to a lot of the writing that has been done for the on-going Shadow Clarke award. Nina looks at how genre fiction developed a self-image that distinguished it quite sharply from what genre people often think of as mainstream fiction. However, while the idea this self-image may have been useful at a time when genre writing was completely different to the the output of mainstream publishing, that sense of cultural difference now seems to serve a very different purpose:
What the Shadow Clarke project has led me to ask most of all is whether the precepts of SF special pleading are now simply being used to lend critical weight to works that could not otherwise sustain it. Or, to put it another way, to excuse bad books.
II must admit to being somewhat torn on this particular issue as I think that, historically at least, science fiction is a literature with its own unique cultural history. Unlike many of the genre critics who defined thinking about genre during the late 2000s, early 2010s, I think that science fiction and fantasy are distinct traditions and that their rapprochement is a historical accident born of the fact that fantasy outsells science fiction by an order of magnitude and so genre publishing naturally tends to select science fiction novels that look more like fantasy.
I'm torn because while I like the idea of science fiction being its own distinct thing, I'm not actually all that interested by what that thing is currently producing. Gernsbackian fiction may have been radical back in the day but decades of creative stasis make science fiction's claims to uniqueness feel like nothing more than cultural conservatism. As the Shadow Clarke has moved from personal shortlists to the official shortlist, I am horrified by how much better science fiction seems to become the second it is published by anyone other than a genre publisher.
Nick Lowe's Mutant Popcorn column continues to feature some of the smartest writing about genre film. Lowe's day job is that of an academic with an interest in the development of narrative and so most of his columns involve quite lengthy meditations on the way that Hollywood's commercial reality is shaping and re-shaping our cultural attitudes to narrative. For years now, Lowe's been an unapologetic cheerleader for blockbuster film as he — quite rightly — identified contemporary Hollywood as a field of narrative experimentalism in much the same way as European film in the 1960s was a test bed for different forms of visual storytelling. Somewhat more sombre than in years past given that Hollywood appears to be getting more rather than less conservative, Lowe's columns are still an absolute goldmine for anyone who wants to understand the role of genre narratives in Western culture.
My column from this month is about diversity in genre culture and how success at the level of literary short-lists should not blind us to the extent of the problem at ground level. But you'll have to wait about six months to read that! In the meantime, here is a reprint of a column I wrote about Paul Cornell's Shadow Police series… a critique that I think has even more resonance now than when I first wrote it.


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I'm back in Image My side accounts are Rumba and Veruka
Yeah. Two years later and I'm uniced. Fancy that!
You know what?I wouldn't set foot in a fucked up country that can find someone who is so goddamn obviously innocent, to be guilty.20 years is a fucking long time for something you didn't do. 20 years is a fucking long time when you're only twenty seven years old.A jail in Bali is a long way from the Gold Coast.It's a fucking long time to miss growing up, having children, and so forth.Especially in a jail in a foreign country where a case can go to court that in Australia wouldn't have even made it to local court.Twenty years is too long for something. Fucking MURDERERS.. fucking CHILD ABUSERS get goddamn less than twenty years.A big thank you to a legal system that is truely fucked up.The men who bombed a nightclub and killed over two hundred people in this same country got penalities varying from life to execution.Life.It might as well be life, mightn't it?Twenty fucking years... when theres evidence staring you right in the face.You know what?I therefor announce my boycott on all products from Bali, and Indonesia. I would rather spend every cent I had than support such a fucked up desicion.Compassion and truth were missing from that courtroom today. But that's allright. Because in the end, everyone is judged. If not by some deity, by ones own soul.I hope the judges sleep very badly tonight. They should. The theft of innocent life and precious moments are on their hands.Flame all you want. I'm not even going to be in the country.

subset: commoncrawl


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With hustle and bustle returning to the Srinagar streets and other towns, the situation across Kashmir remained peaceful today. There was no report of any untoward incident from anywhere till filing of this report. There was no curfew anywhere in the valley. However adequate deployment was made in sensitive areas. Today also some Muharram processions were taken out in Budgam and Srinagar.
The roads were a buzz with constant increase in traffic in Srinagar city as well as in the towns across the valley. Shops were opened and huge number of vendors were on the streets.
The drive launched by the police to nab the miscreants and the people involved in the disruption of normal activities continued and during past 24 hours 52 more such persons have been arrested.


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Mozyk Ventures Limited has entered its sixteenth year of existence, while continuing to provide, as usual, its various brands of high quality security locks and screen netting and general products to its numerous customers in Nigeria and the West African sub-region.
The company also offers consultancy services to both organizations and individuals.
They are recruiting to fill the position of:
Residence in Olodi Apapa or its environs will be an advantage.To apply click here


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- This item is no longer available. Please click here to view other items in my store.
Usagi is such a handsome and charming little rabbit, he is sure to brighten any wall he ends up on. With his soft fur and gorgeous colours, he a total shoe in for the most handsome bunny award :)
He is also an Awesome alternative to chocolate as an Easter gift!
Usagi is an original water colour artwork done by West Australian artist Fiona McCallum. Printed onto high quality archival paper.
This print size is 16x24inches which is the closest standard frame size to A2, to make it easier for you to find a frame that suits.
Please note that computer screen colours are not 100% accurate. These prints are a very high quality and the colour is personally approved by myself, the artist.
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In a rare instance of workplace violence, a Home Depot employee shot another man in the leg Friday night at the chain store's southeast distribution center in Chatham County.
By Saturday afternoon, no arrests had yet been made but officers from the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department and investigators from the Chatham County District Attorney's office were continuing to look into the case, said Sgt. Mike Wilson.
The shooting occurred about 6:30 p.m. Friday night as some of the 500 employees at Home Depot's sprawling Import Distribution Center on Crossroads Parkway were arriving or leaving for work.
Twenty-four hours later, receiving dock worker Janis Morris and some other workers said they were still concerned about the shooting. But, Morris and others said, they were glad Home Depot had brought in counselors to talk to colleagues upset by the shooting. And they were glad that the company on Saturday beefed up security, adding at least two security guards to check ID badges at the entry gate.
Still, a 43-year-old warehouseman said he was afraid as he returned to work Saturday afternoon.
The man, who witnessed the shooting and would only identify himself as Mark, said he had heard the "pop" of the first shot on Friday, just after he parked his car. Then, Mark said, he ducked down in his car while a large gunman chased another large man through the parking lot and fired at least two more times as he ran.
"I was so scared. And I've been in the Army," said Mark who thought he was going to be shot, too. "A person goes to work - and it could be forever."
According to a police report, the shooting suspect was Home Depot employee Sean Pajotte , 35 of Savannah, who on Friday had argued twice with another man, ShaKim Brash., 38, of Savannah. Brash had threatened Pajotte and followed the Home Depot employee into the company parking lot, Sgt. Wilson said.
Then, near the warehouse, "the suspect (Pajotte) pulled a weapon" and shot the victim (Brash)."
Brash was treated for a gunshot wound at Memorial Health University Medical Center. Although police described Brash as the shooting "victim," Wilson also repeatedly called him "the aggressor" in this incident who had made threats and had mentioned a weapon.
After the shooting, a weapon was believed to have been found in Brash's car, Wilson said.
Also, Wilson noted, Pajotte "turned himself in after the shooting and cooperated fully" with investigators. Because of that cooperation, "no arrest has been made as yet," Wilson said but he expected a decision on charges by early next week.
Meanwhile, Home Depot officials declined to give details of the shooting but said they were cooperating with police.
"The company's concern is always for everyone's safety. We're reviewing the situation and following appropriate safety and security procedures," company spokesman Jerry Shields said. As for the shooting, "In the company's 26-year history, these types of incidents have been rare."
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text: Julie Bowen Stops By Fox and Friends to Discuss Motherhood, Real and Fake 2.91K Morgan Barry 10/07/10 02:35PM Filed to: Fox and Friends Fox and Friends Julie Bowen TV Video This morning, everybody's favorite TV mom appeared on Fox and Friends to add some sunshine to our day. Watch, as we get to hear about life behind the scenes while she tries her best to ignore Brian Kilmeade.[There was a video here]


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Go mobile with the 2017 Marketing and Enrollment Management Seminar app!
We strongly encourage you to download our mobile guide to enhance your experience at 2017 UPCEA Marketing and Enrollment Management Seminar. You'll be able to plan your day with a personalized schedule and browse exhibitors, maps and general show info. You can also evaluate sessions immediately following or during the session.
The app is compatible with iPhones, iPads, iPod Touches and Android devices. Windows Phone, Blackberry, and PC users can access the same information via our app website at https://guidebook.com/guide/102724/.
Download Guidebook on the Apple App Store or Android Marketplace, or visit guidebook.com/getit.
After the app downloads, open it and search for "UPCEA," then select "2017 UPCEA Marketing and Enrollment Management Seminar."
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Topic: POM Roasted Vegetable Salad (Read 1055 times)
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POM Roasted Vegetable Salad
September 02, 2007, 04:03:26 PM »
(NC)Time to table: 20 minutes prep, 20 minutes roasting
Makes 4 main dish servings
1/2 cup arils from 1 POM Wonderful Pomegranate
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 red bell pepper
1 carrot
1 parsnip
1 cup cherry tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
4 large Romaine lettuce leaves
2 oz. crumbled feta cheese
juice from 23 POM Wonderful Pomegranates* or 1 cup POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons honey
4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
4 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon fresh tarragon or 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
Garlic Croutons (optional)
4 slices sturdy bread
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove crushed garlic
1 tablespoon parmesan cheese
1. Score 1 fresh pomegranate and place in a bowl of water. Break open the pomegranate underwater to free the arils (seed sacs). The arils will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the membrane will float to the top. Sieve and put the arils in a separate bowl. Reserve 1/2 cup of the arils from fruit and set aside. (Refrigerate or freeze remaining arils for another use.)
2. Preheat oven to 425°F. Prepare fresh pomegranate juice.*
3. Chop all vegetables except lettuce leaves and arils into 2-inch pieces. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper; roast until al dente, approximately 20 minutes.
4. Mix in a blender or shake all dressing ingredients in an air-tight container until well blended. Heat dressing in a small saucepan and keep warm.
5. Place lettuce leaves on serving plates and divide the warm vegetables evenly among them; drizzle with 1 to 2 tablespoons of warm dressing.
6. Sprinkle with arils, feta cheese and garlic croutons.
Garlic Croutons:
1. Cut bread into 1-inch cubes.
2. Mix 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 clove crushed garlic.
3. Toss bread cubes with oil and garlic mixture.
4. Transfer to a baking sheet and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon parmesan cheese.
5. Toast at 425°F until brown, turning once.
* For 1 cup of juice, cut 23 POM Wonderful Pomegranates in half and juice them with a citrus reamer or juicer. Set the juice aside.
Nutrients Per Serving without Croutons (1 3/4 cups): 346 calories, 5g protein, 64g carbohydrate, 11g total fat (3g saturated), 13mg cholesterol, 541mg sodium, 5g dietary fiber, 368mcg vitamin A RE, 90mg vitamin C.
Nutrients Per Serving with Croutons (1 cup): 473 calories, 9g protein, 84g carbohydrate, 15g total fat (4g saturated), 14mg cholesterol, 751mg sodium, 7g dietary fiber, 370mcg vitamin A RE, 90mg vitamin C.
Credit: www.newscanada.com
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I have a few obsessions in life. Things that literally consume every waking moment of my thoughts at times. One such thing is human behaviour.
I don't know why, but for some reason I'm intensely curious and fascinated about why we do the things we do as human beings (or don't do).
In 2016 when I decided I wanted to be more consistent in my life and workout routine I worked at it diligently.
A few weeks in I decided to look back on my Track & Measure sheet (used to track my progress and consistency). I felt pretty proud at how far I had come over the last few weeks, and wanted to maintain this momentum.
I studied the first 30 days to identify why was it that after failing to stick with my workout for 21 years, for no more than 15 days, this time I was able to remain consistent at it.
What made this time so different than all the other countless times I had failed at being consistent?
Fast forward one year later, and though I do miss days from time to time when life gets hectic, I'm still pretty disciplined in this area of my life.
Recently, I've had other people reach out to me about wanting to know how they can stick with their fitness goals for one reason or another.
One person wanted to stick with it because they didn't want to be a burden in terms of health issues to their family. They started, was pretty impressive at sticking with it. However, after the first 30 days started slipping back into bad habits.
Another person told me they really want to stick with it for health reasons as well. Their reason was really compelling also, which was to be of good health and around to see their child grow up. Yet as much as that reason was significant, they procrastinated.
Another person wanted to stick to theirs because they knew that working out meant they could be more productive and effective in building their business and making an impact. Just as before, had a compelling reason, they started, but after the first 7 days slipped back into bad habits.
Naturally for me I realized the trend and became obsessed with figuring out why is it that all these people, who have compelling reasons for sticking with their fitness goals, didn't.
What are their thoughts and how are they feeling during the moments they stuck with it versus the moments they didn't.
Why is it that people say they really want something, but never stick with it?
Some don't even start.
Yet there are others who for better or worse, no matter what happens, has stuck with their fitness goals for years.
What separates the ones who stick with their fitness goals from those who don't?
Why you fail to stick with your fitness goals
From observation of others and through my own experience I've realized there are three key things that makes one stick with their fitness goals:
1. Am emotionally compelling reason
2. A consequence if they don't follow through
3. Setting the standard of what is expected of them
After several testing and retesting here's what I found.
Of the three the main reason why you may be struggling to remain consistent is because you haven't set the Standard & Expectation of what you are unwilling to compromise and settle for.
One of the things I realized that made the difference between now and before is this time around I set the standard of what I was going to hold myself accountable to, and committed to that standard no matter what.
The standard I had set was "I NEVER miss a day to be consistent with my workout routine. I get it done no matter what happens or how I feel, motivated or demotivated I GET IT DONE!"
Doing this removed any excuses or justification I may have had for why I couldn't get it done that day.
This isn't just with me, but with others that have stuck to their fitness goals as well.
They set a standard, and no matter what happened in their life refused to compromise that standard where their fitness goal was concerned.
By setting a standard, and refusing to compromise that standard, it closed off any possibility that may have allowed room for them to make excuses and justify why they couldn't get it done.
The ones who didn't stick with their fitness goals somewhere during the process allowed themselves to compromise on their standards.
Though both groups have compelling reasons to stick with it, both have consequences if they don't, I discovered what separates both groups are the standards they set for themselves.
One group is willing to compromise, the other group isn't, it's not even an option for them.
"To improve the quality of your life, improve the quality of your standards"- Tony Robbins
How compromising your standards affects you
If you really think about it I'm sure you can identify at least one area of your life that you are consistent in. An area that no matter what happens, good or bad, motivated or not, you show up and perform consistently without fail. It could be at your job, your business, as a parent, or in your personal life.
This is because from early on you set the standard of what to accept and what not to, what you will tolerate from yourself and what you will not.
Basically you held yourself to a higher standard and therefore perform as such. Whatever you tolerate is EXACTLY what you will get, whether from yourself or others.
So where your fitness goals are concerned you have tolerated making excuses and justifying why you can't get it done today.
Over time you have conditioned your brain to accept this lowered standard as normal.
You may not be aware of it on a conscious level, but every time you lower your standards and accept less than you know you are capable of or deserve, it also indirectly affects your self-image and self-esteem. This ultimately creates self-doubt, and hinders you from achieving your fitness goals.
How to Stick With Your Fitness Goals by Committing to your standard
It's not enough to set your Standard & Expectation, but you have to also create the Identity of Consistency by proving it to yourself with small victories.
What I means by the Identity of Consistency is to create the image of someone who is consistent in this area of your life.
The reason this is important is because what creates our behaviours, what determines what we do or don't do, whether by choice or not, is our Identity. In other words the person who we believe we are and capable of.
This is the step by step process to help you develop this identity, and stick with your fitness goals:
1. Develop your Standard & Expectation (S&E) statement
This is the verbal declaration you make to yourself about what your standard and expectation is and what you are unwilling to compromise where your fitness goals are concerned.
This is important because you need to interrupt the lowered standard that has been conditioned. Your mind needs to know what the new standard is so it begins to displace the old one (you can use mine above as a benchmark to create yours).
It's important to not only develop the statement, but also decide mentally to commit to the new standard you've set.
2. Make your verbal declaration out loud to yourself
It's important to actually say it out loud to yourself so that it registers mentally to interrupt the old standard.
If you simply think it but don't say it, then it won't be enough, you have to actually say it out your mouth (Say it with energy and determination; repeatedly if necessary until you FEEL empowered)
3. Take action
Now I'm going to go beyond simply taking action (that's pretty obvious). What I want to point is what to do when you DON'T feel like taking action.
It's easy to take action when you're pumped up, motivated and driven. When you're not what you need to do is repeat your verbal declaration to yourself again and move into action asap, whether you feel to or not.
What this does is start to further disrupt your old standard, and further cement the new one. Doing this by proving it to your subconscious not just through words, but through action.
It's conditioning your brain to accept the new standard as real, and prevents it from saying 'oh you're not serious, you're just talking as usual...I'm going to just ignore you'.
If you take action right after the declaration your brain will start to associate this new declaration with taking action, that you can trigger at will, thus creating your new Identity of Consistency.
4. Reaffirm the new standard by celebrating and congratulating yourself
Finally, you need to complete the process of cementing the new standard to create the new Identity.
The way to do this is celebrate and congratulate yourself after you have taken action and completed the routine. Repeat your verbal declaration, but in third person (kinda like that overzealous friend that's always SUPER positive).
So instead of saying "I NEVER…" you say "Amazing/awesome! You did it! You actually followed through and was consistent! You really never miss a day and are consistent!"
This creates positive feelings such as Feelings of Pride, Accomplishment, Satisfaction, Determination etc. that now creates a desire to want to do it again, so you can experience these positive emotions again.
Over time you now begin to move from a state of self-doubt to a state of empowerment and self confidence.
In order for this strategy to be effective you can't just follow through with it one time, or every now and then when you feel to. You basically have to do it EVERYTIME, EVERYDAY in order for the effect to finally take route in your mind.
This is how I was able to push pass my typical 15 days of consistency, and go all the way to 30 days and beyond without fail…but remember first it starts with setting your Standard & Expectation.
To help you stick with your fitness goals I'm putting together a free guide.
Enter your name and email in the form below to be placed on the list. As soon as it is finished you will be sent it via email.
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This will place you on the waiting list to receive the ebook
Fitness Motivation: The Myth That's Keeping You From Achieving Your Fitness Goals
How To Start Building Self Confidence In The First 7 Days Working Out
Why You Feel Unmotivated to Stick With Your Workout and Weight Loss Goals
7 Ways To Make Sticking With Your Fitness Goals Easier
11 Beliefs Keeping You From Achieving Your Workout and Weight Loss Goals


text:
'Lean' by Nina Kosonen
A fresh breeze that brings with it new ideas from the North. It comes from the peak of Europe, from Finnish Aalto University and from the works of 26 of its students on display at exhibition "Norther", in Zona Ventura Lambrate in Milan.
Aalto University exists only since 2010, from the fusion of 3 faculties in the city of Helsinki, and for Milan's Salone event it brought with it a representative selection of the future of Finnish design in various fields: furniture, ceramics, glass, textiles, fashion and apparel. The keywords? Simplicity in concepts and experimentation with construction techniques and traditional materials.
The sculptural "Lean" by Nina Kosonen is based on experiments on the structural resistance of a flexible chair, and is in solid wood, playing on the different dimensions of the components.
Like a clipper ship, "Du" by Mirella Abe captures lightness and freedom of movement with its fabric seat like an open sail inviting you to relax, while the wind blows at the stern of asymmetrical bench "Kiila" in Cor-ten steel, inspired by the shape of a sailing ship.
Natalia Baczynska Kimberley also uses wood to create the slender and slightly flexible shapes of "Perch", inspired by the games of shadows and light generated by the structure.
And finally for its playful sensibility, color and variation, we present "Sherpa", by Man Yau, a fun cake holder sustained by lively interchangeable wooden columns, and the experimental but practical "Avaa", designed by Nina Kosonen, a chair that can be folded in a way you've never seen before. Try it and see.
Photos via arts.aalto.fi
'Du' by Mirella Abe
'Kiila' by Noora Liesimaa
'Linja' by Matti Mikkilä
'Keno' by Noora Liesimaa
'Perch" by Natalia Baczynska Kimberley
'Avaa' by Nina Kosonen
'Sherpa' by Man Yau
'Maja' by Pekka Kuivamäki
'Bumpy' by Kristos Mavrostomos
'Dear' by Goeun Shin


text:
Office Design Workshop
Office design workshop is a 30 -40 minute briefing and workshop on the principles of designing for an office. The first half covers design aesthetics and principles, whilst the second session looks at some of the practical elements such as space requirements in an office, filing and storage, and flexibility of spaces, using examples from current projects to illustrate the changing face of open plan offices.
Workshop Topics -
- Office Design
- Vertical to horizontal
- Space footprint
- Storage space
- Sight Lines
- Block and Stack
- Acoustics
- Flexibility
If a workshop would be useful, please get in touch. Fusion are happy to run a workshop at your premises.


text:
YOUNGSTERS at a village primary school were delighted to show off their singing and dancing to celebrate the grand opening of their new dining hall.
Children from Greatham Primary School, in Greatham Village, performed in front of parents and staff to rapturous applause. Their efforts were all for the opening of the new dining hall which has been built onto the side of the school.
Previously the children ate meals, carried out PE lessons and worship assemblies all in the old hall inside the school.
But due to the efforts and vision of the former headteacher Julie Tyerman who wanted to have a hall solely for eating, building work on the new dining hall started in Easter and was completed just last week.
The current head teacher Nicola Dunn said: "The new dining hall had always been Mrs Tyerman's plan and her long-term vision. Basically we wanted to enhance the dining experience for the children and also to have a separate hall for PE and collective worship."
She added: "To celebrate we had a grand opening with the cutting of the ribbon to declare the hall officially open. The children entertained the parents, who had come for a look around, with singing and dancing. Everybody had a really good time and it was well-attended by parents."


text:
- Yield
- serves 4
- Coarse salt
- 1 pound spaghetti or linguine
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 medium cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes
- 10 anchovies, crushed
- 1 twenty-eight-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes, seeded, chopped, and strained, reserving juice
- 3 tablespoons capers, drained
- 1/2 cup kalamata olives(3 ounces), pitted and coarsely chopped
- 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt and pasta, and cook until pasta is al dente, about 12 minutes. Drain. 2. While pasta is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, red-pepper flakes, and anchovies. Cook, stirring, until aromatic, 1 to 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, reserved juice, capers, and olives. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, and cook, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. 3. Stir pasta into sauce. Cook, stirring, until sauce clings to pasta, about 2 minutes. Stir in parsley. Serve immediately.
Related Video
Nutritional Info
- Calories568
- Carbohydrates89 g(30%)
- Fat15 g(23%)
- Protein19 g(37%)
- Saturated Fat2 g(11%)
- Sodium684 mg(29%)
- Polyunsaturated Fat2 g
- Fiber5 g(20%)
- Monounsaturated Fat10 g
- Cholesterol9 mg(3%)


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text:
Wilbur Ross Has to Squint to See Bright Side
Wilbur Ross isn't optimistic. He says he's not totally pessimistic, but the financier is short on happy thoughts.
Over the course of an hour-long talk Wednesday afternoon at the Japan Society in New York, Mr. Ross voiced just about only one view that was in the not-totally-depressing camp. Stock markets, he says, "have priced in a very bearish scenario. Unless things get truly bad, the worst is probably over for the markets," he said.
However, that lonely note of positive thinking came with a long laundry list of caveats and things that might not go so well. For starters, "the worst is probably over" call depends on European officials successfully ring-fencing a likely Greece default off from the rest of Europe. It also depended on avoiding the collapse of any major European banks, said Mr. Ross, chairman of WL Ross & Co.


text:
A Cedar Weave being created by Ladysmith Secondary School students enrolled in the Language and Land Based Learning course is beginning to take shape in the foyer.
The artwork is being created with the help of Stz'uminus carver John Marston.
As part of the class taught by Bill Taylor and Mandy Jones, students are taking photos, writing, carving, weaving or participating through other forms of physical education – such as canoeing or walks in the forest as the weather permits.
The young minds will also have the opportunity to learn the traditional Coast Salish language, Hul'qumi'num, while meeting with Stz'uminus elders.
To read a story about the course click here.
Skip to the next and previous photo by typing j/k or ←/→.


text:
"Great experience with orthopaedics and children's..."
About: Warrington Hospital Warrington Hospital Warrington WA5 1QG
Posted via NHS Choices
My son was operated on today by a consultant in orthopaedics to correct a broken wrist that was not healing with good alignment. (Pesky rugby league injury) The consultant was so confident, transparent and assured in their conversations with me, that I felt completely at ease in terms of my son's care. It does help that they also operated on my partner's foot a couple of years earlier and did a great job then too, so I knew my boy was in very safe hands. What really impressed me though, was the care from the nursing staff. The ward sister on B10 and the student nurse assisting her were so kind and thoughtful. They really did make the whole experience so much more comfortable and were endlessly patient, despite our myriad daft questions. The ward sister was able to juggle my son's care and their responsibilities as a mentor to the student nurse with great skill and I'm sure that they are going to graduate to be a fab nurse. They have certainly got the patience and caring nature in abundance. Many thanks to all the medical staff for making today less of a nightmare than it promised to be. Kind Regards Cat & Joe Johnson
Response from Warrington Hospital 2 years ago
That's great to read Cat and Joe - thanks so much for your feedback on the care your son received which we'll pass on to the team. Hope it doesn't put him off rugby league for too long!
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text:
ARISE Sir Neil Lennon?
Celtic coach Danny McGrain has been in football long enough to know nothing should really shock him.
But the Hoops great still can't believe his Parkhead boss was overlooked for PFA Manager of the Year.
McGrain has nothing against winner Allan Johnston and the superb job he's done at Queen of the South.
But he believes Lenny should have been given a KNIGHTHOOD for his European achievements this season.
McGrain, 63, expects Lennon to be among the favourites for the Everton job after David Moyes joined Manchester United. And he is convinced the Celtic boss should get far more recognition.
He said: "I was disappointed for Lenny and I'm sure that he must have been disappointed not to get Manager of the Year from the PFA. It's not right.
"The guy at Queen of the South has done a great job. But if it had been any team in England who beat Barcelona in the Champions League, the manager would have got a knighthood for it.
"I've got to think to myself, 'Did this man get us to the last 16 of the Champions League?'. I've got to keep asking myself, 'Did I dream all of that?'.
"Lenny has something special — a burning desire.
"He's intelligent on cutting up teams and changing the team and so quick at making decisions. It might take two minutes or it might take five minutes but he'll change it."
The hunt for a successor to Moyes is now on, with Lennon joining the likes of Wigan boss Roberto Martinez in the thoughts of the Toffees board.
McGrain doesn't know if Lenny would be tempted by Merseyside — and says he has plenty still to achieve at Celtic.
He said: "Would Everton be a step up? There's no Champions League and I think Lenny wants to go further or as far as last year.
"Celtic are a big club, I know we're a big club in a small goldfish bowl. I just hope he doesn't go.
"Would he find it difficult to walk away? I think he would as he does enjoy it. Everton are not as big as Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham.
"Would he want to pursue these clubs or would he rather be at the top, winning the championship with Celtic?"
Whoever fills Moyes' shoes has a task — but McGrain backed his one-time understudy's Old Trafford appointment.
He said: "As a player at Celtic, Davie was alright! As a centre-half, he was good, but obviously not good enough for us to keep him long-term.
"He played right-back against Rangers one time when I was injured and we drew. He was up against Davie Cooper, who always gave me a hard time, but he did well. The fact Davie hasn't won anything with Everton won't matter.
"If it did, he wouldn't have got the job. It's the way Davie works that has got him the job. I think they are very similar in how they act.
"Sir Alex Ferguson has watched David and he's ticked a lot of boxes in terms of how he goes about his business."
McGrain was speaking as he launched the search for this year's Scottish football Hall of Fame inductees.
And he insists Lennon must be in the running after 13 years as player, coach and boss at Celts.
He said: "Neil was a very good player. He made what he did look as if it was easy to do. Lenny did a great job for Celtic under Martin O'Neill and I wouldn't be against him being in the Hall of Fame.
"He deserves to have his name up there — when you look at names like Maurice Johnston!
"But, yes, he's got to be in there. As has Eddie Gray. I think Steve Chalmers is another candidate, as are both Jimmy Millar and Ralph Brand."
Meanwhile, McGrain confirmed Celtic are looking at French trialist Steven Mouyokolo.
The former Hull and Wolves stopper, 26, is a free agent.
McGrain said: "Steven is here until the end of the week. He is tall, mobile and has a good physique, but he's not a Bobo Balde."


text: Federico Rosendo wrote: > >> If you only have one firewall on the server side and it permits outbound >> connections (NAT is OK), and the the client side has an open public >> address, the vpn or ssh port-forwarding should work - you just need the >> matching openvpn or sshd set up on the client. If there is more >> involved, you'll have to explain what makes a reverse vnc connection >> work for you. > > With VNC I only start the server on a LAN PC, and then specify the IP of the client (that is in listen mode) > and then the connection is established, simple. So the client is always at a known, open, public IP address? > We want to do the same with FreeNX, > but we can't find the option for example to says the server: "connects to that client" and the options in the client to define the listen mode, > In VNC reverse connection we didn't made any router or firewall configurations at server side. Les do you think than vpn or ssh port-forwarding is good for us without firewall configurations at server side ? Yes - there will just be additional steps to set up the connection since you can't just tell freenix itself to reverse the direction. For example, with ssh you'd have to first log in from the server to an sshd listening on the client, specifying Rport_number:localhost:22 as the forwarding on the command line. Then the user at the client end would configure his NX client to connect to 127.0.0.1 (localhost) on the port_number specified (anything currently unused should work) and the magic of ssh tunneling will let the client connect to the server. An openvpn vpn would be even easier to use, but needs a more complex setup where you add additional addresses and routing for the private connection - and then have full network access. It has its own mail list if you need help with that configuration. -- Les Mikesell lesmikesell at gmail.com


text:
Over the coming weeks, I will be featuring a series of built projects from across Toronto that were secured or funded through Section 37 of Ontario's Planning Act.
Section 37 enables the City to secure local community benefits from development applicants seeking an increase in height or density. Community benefits from Section 37 must accrue to the local neighbourhood impacted by a specific development. Through this process, a wide range of benefits can be achieved, including heritage preservation, public art, affordable housing, recreation centres, child care facilities, park improvements, space for non-profits, and streetscape improvements. Section 37 plays a vital role in the city building process by delivering tangible benefits in neighbourhoods across Toronto.
To learn more about Section 37, please take a moment to read this educational brochure that my team recently published.


text:
Go exploring among the strong field of FoodTech Product News exhibitors and their impressive innovations.
Fully 77 exciting new products and processes have been assessed and awarded stars on the basis of their innovation value. The most innovative of the new products, processes, etc. awarded three stars in FoodTech Product News will be nominated for the FoodTech Award, which will be presented for the ninth time this year. A maximum of ten of the nominated entrants will be shortlisted for the top prize: the FoodTech Award.
The winner of the 2016 FoodTech Award will be announced on the opening day of the trade fair – Tuesday, 1 November 2016 – and will receive not only the honour, the glory and a certificate, but also a cheque for DKK 50,000.


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|Professional Automotive Repair Technical Discussions for September 10, 2009
International Automotive Technicians' Network (iATN) - Members Only
|(Also Available: All, Asian, Chrysler, European, Ford, GM.)
|Vehicle Owners: If you are seeking an automotive repair professional to service your vehicle, visit the iATN Repair Shop Finder.
Open Help Requests for Ford
|Help Request
|1995 Ford mondeo 4.0L Stall VIN: PASSBWAS8D
hi there this mondeo stalls constantly was the iac valve carboned up but i put 5 scanners and code readers on this vehicle none could communicate with the vehicle wondering if other techs have had this sinario thanks bazza ps not a 4ltr and should be obd2 comp...
|1999 Ford Escort LX 2.0L Poor Idle Quality VIN: 1FAFP10POX
Customer complaint is it will intermittently run rough at idle. Very intermittently, as in it did it yesterday, and last time was 2 years ago. I suspect the IAC is sticking, but while checking it out i noticed the hose that goes from the brake booster check va...
|1999 Ford Expedition XLT 5.4L front end VIN: 1FMPU18L7X
Under hard acceleration after coming out of a turn hear a repetitive banging noise in right front. replaced u-joints in both drive shafts. While front shaft was out test drove and no sounds, so thinking its in the front axle/half shafts. Boots good differentia...
|2000 Ford Explorer XLT 5.0L No Start VIN: 1FMZU83P3Y
Hi enveryone and thanks for reading this! I have an Explorer here that cranks and wont start. It has no injector pulse or spark, Theft light flashes when trying to start. Customer states that theft light has alway been on and flashes when starting engine. Chec...
|2002 Ford Explorer XLT 4.6L compressor clutch VIN: 1FMZU64W82
Hi group,have this 02 explorer a/c clutch will not engage,a/c clutch relay is good,and gets activated when switch is turned on,I have no signal to clutch coil,a/c machine is being fixed,my low side shows 125 lbs.if I directly apply power and ground clutch kick...
|2004 Ford F-150 FX4 5.4L Mechanical VIN: XXXXXXXXXX
humming/whining noise while accelerating in all gears.makes noise in 2 wheel or 4 wheel drive does not change. spun on lift and can hear noise through transmission. shifts fine/fluid okay.. any common problems
|2004 Ford E-450 Super Duty 6.0L Valvetrain/Top End
Hi all, This question does not have a VIN as its a fleet repair question. We have a small fleet of 6.0 E450 minibuses, and a larger fleet of older 7.3L E450 minibuses. The 6.0's have fewer miles, our highest appx 173000 now. My question is : Are people experi...
|2005 Ford Ranger XLT 3.0L Stall VIN: 1FTYR14U55
About a month ago we replaced the fuel pump for a no start, a week ago it started after a long drive will die without warning. After pulling off the road, in about 5 to 10 minutes will start right up, then drive fine for several days or another long drive. Wit...
|2005 Ford Mustang GT 4.6L fan VIN: 1ZVHT82HX5
vehicle brought in for intermitant overheating, temp gauge needle has spun upside down. CHT temp on scanner reading at 121C/250F fan not opperating, check for power at fan, only have ground on both wires. i have one silly question, im guesing the fans are cont...
Fixes & Summaries for Ford
|1990 Ford Ranger S 2.9L No Start VIN: FTCR14T4LP
Thanks for all the help. He got this one fixed. He told me that he found a wire on the starter solenoid that was hooked up wrong. Put it the correct place and all is well. Sorry he did not say exactly which wire was hooked wrong. Thanks again for the help Stan...
|1994 Ford Explorer XL 4.0L MIL Lamp on VIN: 1FMDU34XXR
After an exhausting search I have found that this part no longer exsists. napa. dorman, carquest, wells, cardone, oem, ect. I found that this is a year specific. If any of you had perchaced this part recently, you got lucky that your parts warehouse had it on ... Trouble codes: 412 (cylinder id error).
|1994 Ford Explorer Sport 4.0L Excessive Emissions, RICH (BANKS 1&2) VIN: 1FMCU24X2R
Curtis from Texas says possible O2 sensors,Jimmy from Georgia says possible crossed O2 sensor wiring(checked out o.k.), Jim from Penn says check CTS. All were very good ideas, as were many others. Unfortunately I tried most of them. I`d like to check coolant t... Trouble codes: P0173 (rich exhaust bank 1 koer), P0137 (rich exhaust bank 2 koer).
|2004 Ford Expedition XLT 4.6L No Start VIN: 1FMPU16W54
Thanks to all who responded. The Central junction box was bad. $240.0 from from Ford.. I guess this is an issue on these trucks. Especially the 2003 model. Dave. Trouble codes: P0231, P0172, P0175.
|1998 Lincoln Navigator 5.4L hydraulics VIN: 5LMRU27L3W
We don't have a NGS tool here, as we only do limited domestic repair. We even tried another used HCU/elec ABS assy. A new or reman is not available. All 4 are doing the same thing. The pressure will release at either the ABS HCU output sides or at the cal...
|2004 Lincoln Aviator 4.6L No Start VIN: 5LMEU88H54
This vehicle would start after all connections to pcm were reconnected after completing a pinout test of wiring harness. No corrision was found at these connections but everything went back to normal on its own. All codes were cleared, test drive and numerous ... Trouble codes: U1262 (c1805-), C1805 (b2900-), B2900 (u1073-), U1073 (u1123-), U1123 (u1059-), U1059 (testing and results).


text:
Porsche Collection at New York Fashion Week
Porsche: Porsche known as the top rated and a very popular brand throughout the whole world. Porsche becomes a name of trends and must when we talk about real fashion after presentation in New York Fashion Week during the season of 2015.
Porsche designer collection 2015: Now he showcased his brilliant collection in for this year to make the year full of glam and modish. Creative director of the brand tried his best to include that charm again to the latest 2015 fall collection and he succeeded up to some extent.
Porsche collection 2015: Lets a have a look at this brilliant Fall collection 2015 presented by Porsche brand. The collection includes superb designs, stunning fall, brilliant cuts, and funky prints making the presentation look great and ostentatious. The shades selected to design these elements are black, pink, skin, off white, peach, black, , etc. Mostly skirts, maxis, gowns and dresses are represented in this latest collection.
Porsche collection at New York fashion week: He tried to add some creativity to the collection by making it in way unattached to the body and in a nice flow. These designs represent's some dresses having large collars, some having pointed shoulders and some dresses are flat and smart. Strapless shoulders and neck less dresses are also available in this collection.
Category: Designer Dresses


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Thinker Things Brand - hours and store locations
Map, Hours, Locations, Contacts
Thinker Things brand name online shopping information - All Thinker Things store or outlet locations in USA - total of 2 stores and outlet stores in database. Get information about hours, locations, contacts and find store on map. Users ratings and reviews for Thinker Things brand.
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2175 mile - Thinker Things in Solana Beach, California
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'Twitter's relationship with celebrity and the media is its biggest weakness' - Sean Parker
The former president of Facebook and Napster co-founder discussed the state of music streaming, social media, and why he thinks Uber's CEO would 'thrive as a wartime leader'
Sean Parker played a role in tearing down the music business as Napster co-founder, and then remaking it a decade later as a backer of Spotify Ltd. His latest venture, the Screening Room, sets its sights on the movie industry by offering antipiracy technology that could help studios offer new releases at home the same day they hit theaters, 'Variety' reported on March 9.
Parker sat down recently with Bloomberg Television's Emily Chang at his Los Angeles mansion to discuss his views on the entertainment industry, his "hacker-style philanthropy," and the future of social media. Parker, a onetime president of Facebook, said he's "way more eccentric, insecure, and reserved" than the character Justin Timberlake portrayed in The Social Network.
Still, he gave a pretty animated interview. Here's an excerpt:
When it comes to Taylor Swift, Adele, Coldplay, how does a company like Spotify get over this issue that artists don't want to give their music away for free?
I find it hard to believe that the artists you're mentioning don't want their music to be heard as widely as possible by as many people as possible. I would say their managers would like to extract every last penny from the product, which they, frankly, had no creative role in producing.
So you think this is Taylor Swift's manager speaking, not Taylor Swift?
It's very hard to tell when it's the artist speaking or when it's the manager speaking. I don't know what she really thinks. We haven't had a chance to sit down and talk about it.
I've talked to a lot of artists - whose managers are on a vendetta - who love streaming.
Whether it's Instagram or Oculus or WhatsApp or Messenger or Internet.org, what will be the next huge business for Facebook?
The interesting question for Facebook is: Is that Next Big Thing somewhere else entirely? Is it Google X, and life sciences, and contact lenses that measure glucose? Is it self- driving cars? Or is it going to be something that's very close to the home, the core of what Facebook is?
Do you think Facebook should move beyond the core?
Communication is the biggest market in the world.
Communication cannot be undervalued. So there are a lot of other communication paradigms, and there a lot of other ways of communicating that Facebook could enable. Does it make sense for Facebook to buy something like Snapchat? Does it make sense for Facebook to expand more into real-time communication?
Facebook Messenger is really no different from instant messaging, which we've had since the mid-1990s, or actually, going all the way back to IRC and the early internet.
Facebook is very good at understanding the core communication network apps that they should own.
And are there more of those out there?
Absolutely. There are enormous opportunities left in communication.
Do you think Twitter survives?
Twitter is a victim of their own success in so many ways.
They are a company that-had it not been for the media's infatuation with Twitter-Twitter never would have built an enormous user base. But that came at a cost. And the cost was the lack of deep, close-knit community between its users.
Twitter was never an accurate reflection of your real social network. It didn't have the same level of intimate interaction. I don't think Twitter would've existed had it not been for its relationship with celebrity and media. But at the same time, I think its relationship with celebrity and media is its biggest weakness.
You're longtime friends with Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Tell us about the Travis you know.
Travis hasn't changed at all. He's in some ways the perfect CEO of this company, because he feeds off of the conflict and the controversy.
He's very good at dealing with complex situations, where he's being attacked from all sides. He would thrive as a wartime leader.
You've committed $600m to the Sean Parker Foundation and advancing science. You're focusing on allergies, cancer. What do you think you can do differently from traditional venture capitalists?
Philanthropy can get ahead of venture capital. Venture capital, when it's done correctly, happens at a time when a business is ready for commercialisation. It's not there to fund basic science.
I think there's this middle ground where, for instance, if you're funding immunotherapy, you're going to take money away from existing labs and existing researchers that have been built up over time. And there's a hesitation there. The breakthroughs have happened very quickly.
But they've been driven by private philanthropy because governments have been too slow to recognize that a technology is ready for investment. (Bloomberg)
Indo Business


text:
Five things I'm looking forward to:
1. Obviously I am ecstatic to be moving into our house hopefully sometime this month. While it isn't going to be exactly how we thought it would be, I just can't wait to be in!
2. Decorating for the holidays - it's passed November 1st so that means holiday cups and christmas music! I may or may not be listening to the Christmas Pandora station as I type this! And if you're in the holiday spirit like me already, make sure you didn't miss yesterday's post!
3. The Justin Timberlake concert that I will be singing my lungs out and loosing my voice at in just 15 days!
4. Dan has Thanksgiving off which I am thrilled about! He has to switch shifts at work which was going to schedule him to work a 24 hour shift on Thanksgiving, but thankfully one of his coworkers was nice enough to switch with him so we get the day together! It's still up in the air whether we will be in our new house and if we will get to host, but I am crossing my fingers that it all comes together!
5. Did I mention our house?!?
Four things on my wish list:
source) I love this look and am really wanting to do something similar in our guest room so that
2. A neat metal cart to use as a bar cart like this one! I've scoured antique shops and daily looked at ebay and craigslist! If anyone knows of somewhere great to look that won't cost me a small fortune please help a girl out! (source) I really want to add this to our bonus room and with the rate my husband is collecting scotch I need somewhere to store it all!
3. A cozy plaid scarf! To me this just screams the holiday season! (source)
4. I want this to be my holiday tablescape! I love everything about it!! I'm hoping to host Thanksgiving dinner and maybe some dinner parties around Christmas and this would be the perfect look, although with how adorable it is I may just keep it looking this way for months! (source)
Three current obsessions:
1. Scandal - I had friends telling me to watch this show since it started and I started to watch the first episode a couple years ago, but started it again since we don't currently have cable and I'm hooked! If you're unsure where to find me when I'm not at work, it's most likely in front of my Netflix! If you haven't watched this year, do it! Even my husband is hooked!
2. Anything and everything related to our house (but I'm sure you already noticed that). Last week the wood floors were installed and the trim and doors were getting started! One big hold up is the road in front of our house, which they just finished getting all the water and sewer lines in place so hopefully the road will be on its way to being ready to be paved.
3. I've officially caught the Holiday Bug. Christmas music, holiday cups from Dutch Bros & Starbucks, holiday decorations in the stores, planning holiday parties & my birthday party . . . I'm in to ALL of it!!
Two things I need to get done:
1. Get over this annoying cold that I've had the last week and a half! My room currently looks like Target's cold and flu department threw up in it! I missed a day of work last week and have been dragging by the last week and a half (and I should have bought stock in kleenex) so I'm very ready to say goodbye to the congestion & coughing madness!
2. Start my Christmas shopping. Every year I tell myself to start earlier and earlier, but with moving in the middle of the holiday season, I know I'll be kicking myself if I don't get on it early! Plus I'm always ready to bring some Christmas cheer into my life! I've already got a few lists and ideas going and have even purchased a few things! (And you better believe I've already started my wish lists!)
One thing I'm loving this week:
My sweet husband and I celebrated 8 years together this passed Sunday! It was such a nice day filled with a yummy dinner and a short stay cation. It's hard to believe we've been together for nearly a third of my life (gosh I sound old when I put it that way). It was funny to sit at dinner and talk about where we thought we'd be 8 years ago and what stood out in our memories from the last 8 years! Like I wrote in my card to him, here's to 60 more!


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Collège Français Bilingue de Londres A GSG School
- Collège Français Bilingue de Londres
87 Holmes Road
- Head: François-Xavier Gabet
- E firstname.lastname@example.com
- W https://www.cfbl.org.uk/
- An independent school for boys and girls aged from 5 to 16.
- Boarding: No
- Local authority: Camden
- Pupils: 695
- Religion: Not Applicable
- Fees: £9,520 - £10,445 pa
- Review: View The Good Schools Guide Review
- Ofsted report: View the Ofsted report
What The Good Schools Guide says..
Parents are very pleased with the school, many jumping through hoops to secure places. The pupils work long hours – the additional English language means more hours than usual – so parents should be clear on this before they enrol their children. This is in addition to the homework load. Though extracurricular activities don't traditionally loom large on the French educational landscape, they do make a great effort at CFBL. More sports on tap here than is…
Parents are very pleased with the school, many jumping through hoops to secure places. The pupils work long hours – the additional English language means more hours than usual – so parents should be clear on this before they enrol their children. This is in addition to the homework load. Though extracurricular activities don't traditionally loom large on the French educational landscape, they do make a great effort at CFBL. More sports on tap here than is…
What the school says...
CFBL's education is based on bilingual and bi-cultural teaching methods accredited by the French ministère de l'Éducation nationale. CFBL is part of the AEFE, a French public institution working under the aegis of the French ministère des Affaires étrangères, which oversees a network of almost 500 schools worldwide.
CFBL can welcome, in its Victorian renovated school in Kentish Town, up to 700 francophone pupils from GSM (year 1) to 3ème (year 9).
The Collège Français Bilingue de Londres offers a bilingual and bicultural curriculum defined by the French ministère de l'Éducation nationale. In primary school, each class is taught half of the time by a French native teacher and the other half by an English native teacher. In secondary school, CFBL offers two streams: multilingual or intensified English. For both streams, various subjects are taught only in English. This curriculum prepares the pupils for their entry into the upper secondary section of a French Lycée or into the English education system.
CFBL aims to foster academic excellence, adapted to the needs of each individual but also promote their personal development and well-being by offering a wide choice of activities within the curriculum as well as extra-curricular activities in various fields. ...Read more
What the parents say...
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Other features
All-through school (for example 3-18 years). - An all-through school covers junior and senior education. It may start at 3 or 4, or later, and continue through to 16 or 18. Some all-through schools set exams at 11 or 13 that pupils must pass to move on.
What The Good Schools Guide says
Since 2011, François-Xavier Gabet (50s). He has degrees from University of Lille – in teaching French and French as a second language. Has taught in French schools in France, Saudi Arabia, USA and Australia and was a French language adviser to the US state of Louisiana. Set up the first bilingual French/English school in Melbourne (while also teaching at Monash University).
He was the ideal founding head for this newish London school and arrived a year before it opened – to plan every facet. Despite his traditional website photo, when we met him he was fashionably turned out in jeans, turtleneck jumper and blazer – looking more like a high-tech dot-com CEO on London's Silicon Roundabout than what one might expect of the head of a prestigious French school.
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