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Hello you.
Now, you know me. I rarely ask for anything in return. Except this one time.
You see, some months back I offered ABOVE HIS STATION ebook completely free for a week via the Amazon Kindle Marketplace, with the sole intention of getting the book out there, and getting people to read it and – with any luck – generating some very healthy sales off the back of it.
But whereas the ebook was download over 1000+ times, both here in the UK and in the United States, Italy and France, the number of actual reviews that it generated were less than what I had hoped for.
For an author (especially a self-published one like me) a review is like currency. Amazon and Goodreads are the main stages, and people do pay a lot of notice to how many stars a book has got. I do it myself. Especially if I am buying a book by an author that I am unfamiliar with. A book might be cheap to buy, but I'm interested in what people who have actually read it think about it.
I always read the reviews for my books (as I've got a bit more experienced as an author thankfully the reviews have become more favourable!) but not because I want to pat myself on the back, but because I am interested in what people think about my books. Why should I just write something that I love and release it into the world and then not give a shit what happens to it afterwards? I have nurtured that idea since its inception. I have fed it and clothed it, I have shaped it into the book that it is today – in short, I care about it – and I care that other people care about it too.
So, now that BEFORE HIS TIME has been released (and it's only £1.96 so it's a bargain!) I would like to reach out to all of those 1000+ people that have read ABOVE HIS STATION yet not got around to leaving a review yet, I would be very grateful if you could go to Amazon, or Goodreads or on your own blogs or wherever and just pen your thoughts to give other people something to go on.
By the way, a big thank you to everyone who has left a review (Goodreads/Amazon/Blog/Wherever). Some have been very very positive and flattering, and i am glad that there are people out there who share my sense of humour. I especially love it when a reviewer picks up on something that is intentionally in the book for a reason (you'd be amazed the amount of people that were able to pick up on what I was doing in the Cornelius Quaint books ie; not many).
So how about it……….a free book for an honest review?
Not too much to ask, is it?
And on that score…………….if anyone would like a free ebook copy of either ABOVE HIS STATION or the sequel BEFORE HIS TIME, then by all means drop me a line at email@example.com and I will swing it your way double-quick!


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What is the Pt England way?.
What the key words to the Pt England way?.
The Pt England way is it kind All so stop think and do.
The Pt England way is being Kind to each and other. All so helping them out, And showing the new people were to go and what to do. student can do that by doing the right thing, We all follows the Pt England way because the Pt England way help us with what to do and what not to do. So all way follow the Pt England way not just at school all so at home or any other places.
all so stop think and do be for you do something that can help you a lots.
Be for you do something stop think and do is all way in you can do it any time you like or any time you want to. Stop think and do is the best thing to help you with anything. If you do the right thing like stop think and do
if you need help with anything at any time can always be right for you so do the right thing and all way use stop think and do when you need help with anything.
Being the right place is good thing for the Pt England way. At the right time Being the right place can be save for you and if you won't be in the right place or at the right time. Like when you are at the beach at 9:00 pm by yourself sometime kid or adult get kill by someone that who kill people.So being the right place at the right time is the save way where people can be.
Being the role model is all so good for the Pt England way. Being the role model meant that being the leader of all thing like showing the people what you can do. What you believing that is good thing for the people that are from the Pt England school.

subset: commoncrawl


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Oregon is on track to become the second state to allow "peer-to-peer" car sharing when legislation that removes some insurance-related roadblocks takes effect Jan. 1.
The new law bars insurers from dropping policyholders who use sharing services that allow vehicle owners to rent out their cars to strangers when they're not behind the wheel.
Laws in most states allow insurance providers to cancel the policies of customers who use or rent out vehicles for commercial purposes.
Proponents say car sharing gives renters an inexpensive way to get around and helps owners offset some of the high costs of vehicle maintenance.
Americans pay about $8,500 a year to own and operate a midsized sedan, according to a survey released in April by AAA.
Under the Oregon legislation, the service companies that broker deals between owners and renters must provide at least three times the amount of liability coverage required for private motorists under state law. And owners will not be liable for damage done while the car is being driven by a renter.
Companies such as Getaround and RelayRides have been operating in California since a similar law took effect last year in that state.
Vehicle "renters" or "borrowers" pay as little as $5 an hour to drive a vehicle, although costs rise to $15 an hour or more for luxury and sports cars, according to service companies.
Convenience is a major part of the attraction, with most rentals carried out online. Owners are paid by the service, minus fees, and are not liable for damage done by other drivers.
Renters often use key cards or smart phones to access vehicles and, because coverage is already in place, there is no need for them to carry private proof of auto insurance or other paperwork.


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President Pranab Mukherjee rejected mercy petitions in two more cases in the last week of May, bringing the total number of mercy pleas rejected by him to 30. This comes just weeks before Mukherjee's term as head of State ends.
The cases involved the 2012 rape and murder of a four-year-old girl in Indore by three men, and the 2007 gangrape and murder of a techie in Pune by a taxi driver and his friend, The Times of India reported.
Babu alias Ketan, Jitendra alias Jitu and Devendra alias Sunny were found guilty in the 2012 Indore case, while Purushottam Dasharath Borate and Pradeep Yashvant Kokade were convicted in the 2007 Pune case.
These rejections come just months after the president in January commuted the death sentences of four convicts to life imprisonment, in the Bara massacre case. The convicts were Krishna Mochi, Nanhe Lal Mochi, Bir Kuer Paswan, and Dharmendra Singh alias Dharu Singh.
The official website of the president's secretariat says that there are no more mercy petitions pending before Mukherjee.
The 30 petitions rejected by Mukherjee include those of 2008 Mumbai terror attack convict Ajmal Kasab, 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, and those by Simon, Gnanaprakash, Madaiah and Bilavandran — associates of the notorious Indian brigand Veerappan.
The number of mercy petitions rejected by Mukherjee stand in sharp contrast to that of his recent predecessors. Pratibha Patil granted clemency to 34 convicts during her tenure while rejecting three pleas, including the assassins of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi — Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan.
APJ Abdul Kalam rejected one petition, left 14 pending and granted clemency in one case. He disposed of only two cases, rejecting the mercy petition of Dhananjoy Chatterjee, accused of raping and murdering a teenager.
The election for the next president will take place in July 2017.
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Updated Date: Jun 17, 2017 10:07:48 IST


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Changing society is not a particularly easy thing to do. Sometimes you come along and people are just in the mood for change. There's something that's going which is so big and so unpopular that everyone's got a sense that the world's broken. All you have to do then is just show them how. But usually you've got to do more than have catchy slogans and the perfect pictures. Usually you've got to present the thinking and studying you've done to people (because, make no mistake, even when it's "easier" you've got this). And how can you do that if you're always getting distracted by other issues? "What about..."
There is another way of looking at things, though. And that's to say if you don't consider everything then you end up with bad outcomes. A lot of American centred discussions of gender inequality will bring up the CDC's definition of rape. That was changed some years ago to reflect feminist advocacy for change. Unfortunately, what happened is that most male rape victims don't count as rape victims under the new definition: the concept of raping is different when the victim is male or female. Even worse, because the definition was changed, there is far less impetus to change it again because a lot of people, metaphorically, went home, job done. (See pg. 13, column 2, bottom of page.)
I'm not sure how they arrived at their definitions, but you can imagine that their thinking was more marginal than it could have been. And by marginal, I use it in the statistical sense. We might have a joint distribution for two random variables M and F, but we can obtain marginal distributions from this by integrating M or F out. In other words, the marginal distribution describes the behaviour of a random variable when only considering that random variable. This is often sensible. It is also often not sensible.
This brings me to the following headline: "It's 2018. Could we please stop sanctifying men for doing basic parenting." This is the kind of article that would probably not be published were it about women and written by a man. And if it was published it'd be couched quite differently. It's a thing, if you're confused, that women get to comment without question on men in ways that are now seen as downright odd if men do it. What particular insight into masculinity does a woman have over a man? Who knows, but lots of women write those. But to write about femininity as a man? Yeah... you don't really see this. (The fact is the rhetorical question I just posed is idiotic; the problem is not women writing about too many things but men writing about too few.) Anyway, my point is that a man probably wouldn't also forget that "Dads are babysitters" is a Thing. They'd never let such a headline be written.
(Hell, The Spinoff manages to write this headline a week removed from this headline: "Where are all the baby changing rooms for dads?" Notice also that this article was written by a woman... as I said, that rhetorical question is idiotic.)
Headlines are problematic. I've said before that they set the tone for what's going to be read... they're a vital piece of the contextual puzzle (and we know it is a puzzle). But they're also all that a lot of people will read. That's not a bad thing. It's a big world out there and a lot of stuff happens. Thus, bad headlines are a bad articles. And sometimes the bad headline is made even worse because it's not even accurate. In this case, it is, sadly, accurate.
It's an incredibly naive article. It ignores vital contextual information like the changing facilities infrastructure and wants to have it both ways with other contextual information. Take this point:
Articles like this, no matter how well-intentioned, do no favours for anyone.
The jumping off point always seems to be that a woman's place is in the home, either as a full time stay-at-home mum or, at the very least, as the primary caregiver of the children.There's a saying that no is statement can make an ought statement. That's not an entirely unproblematic idea but it's the inverse what's happening here. Cuming wants the ought (that these are non-notable) to be the is, but the reason why the jumping off point is that "a woman's place is in the home" is because that's the reality of what people think... it's why there's a cottage industry of sorts built against the "dads are baysitters" corollary. But you'd only look at this way by asking yourself "What about the women?"
The problem here is not women staying at home. It's not women being not seen as the breadwinner. It's nothing about women.
The problem is that fatherhood is not an attendant assumption about men, when it should be. It's this. And that's a pretty old film now. (Although, of course, it's more similar to babysitting, but ECE isn't babysitting either, and plays heavily into their unfamiliarity but even so.)
Cuming's approach also makes her ambitions worse. The idea she's putting about is that these new stories hurt everyone. Well, sure, they do make the mundane extraordinary. But when you put them in context what it also says is, "Look, men can do this stuff." And if we think about Daddy Day Care again, we're either meant to laugh at them for being so useless at the start... or if we're nodding along saying, "That's so true" we're meant to evolve with the characters in the film so that next time we watch it we're laughing at them at the start.
And finally, this type of sycophantic fetishism of dads just being parents needs to stop BECAUSE IT IS PISSING MUMS OFF.Not even hiding her motives... this article is a classic illustration of What Aboutism.
Unless it's a story about Chris Hemsworth moving to a really hot climate and he has to walk his kids and his dog every morning along the beach with shirt off while making sandwiches for lunch and being spoon-fed muesli by his male nanny, Chris Evans.This is an article in need of some self-awareness in a bad way. You definitely can write an article about how "Mummy Bloggers" are a Thing and "Daddy Blogging" is a miracle, but this isn't the way to do it. We don't once see a consideration of the other perspective... it's framed entirely from this what aboutist point of view. I don't want to say that's too wrapped up in her own emotional reaction because, you know, this, but it's too wrapped up in her own emotional response. Let me quote the following line on "hot history":
Whenever contemporary historians go at each other's throats over differences of opinion on current history, their more serene colleagues often offer the following consoling reflection. To their minds, contemporary history is history in which many parties still have a stake because individuals and groups are generally attached to the image presented of them. And where different interests are involved, conflicts of interest are never far removed. Consequently, a calm and detached approach to the past requires severing the direct link with it, which in turn only happens with the passage ofEmphasis Mine.
time. Temporal distance is in this view a necessary condition of scholarly distance;' hot history must first 'cool off' in the archives for a generation or two before it can be warmed up on paper in an adequate way by historians. For Clio's owl, too, only flies at dusk. (Chris Lorenz, "Beyond Good and Evil? The German Empire of 1871 and Modern German Historiography", Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Oct., 1995), pg. 729)
Notice also that Lorenz doesn't appear to buy into this point of view... it's just something he's talking about. Indeed, the idea of Hot History above isn't non-problematic. But the hands off approach, mental distancing, is something that is good and useful... depending on your purpose. But even if your purpose is otherwise, writing out your emotional reaction isn't beyond question. Allow me to quote the following at you:
The Link-Up organisations, which work so closely with traumatised individuals, would perhaps respond to the issues raised by stating 'yes, these things are true, Peter, but why talk about them? Let's help our clients to achieve as much as it's possible both in terms of family relations and identity. It doesn't matter about the larger picture.' ( Peter Read (2002) "Clio or Janus? Historians and the stolen generations", Australian Historical Studies, 33:118, pg. 60)Emphasis mine.
In other words, just because it's true and authentic you're not free from the responsibility of what your output does. And yes that's a terrifying statement to make. But that's a fear that should be held in mind every time anyone sits down to write. We cannot escape that we're not islands. We're not even island chains. (That's an About a Boy reference.)
To be honest, Cuming's article could probably be published safely with only one alteration... some sort of disclaimer or qualifying remark or opposing article being linked to. But, as is, why was it written? What does it do? Does it understand what its backdrop actually is? Because it's not Mummy Bloggers. It's that there is no such Thing as Daddy Blogging... although, let's be real, there is it just has no cultural capital, which is why the capital T.


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text: Home / American Flag Red/White/Navy Wool Throw American Flag Red/White/Navy Wool Throw Regular price $ 200.00 $ 200.00 Sale 1 / 4 Free shipping on orders over $200 Size Throw 50" x 72" Size Throw 50" x 72" Color flag-throw-red-white-navy Color flag-throw-red-white-navy Throw 50" x 72" / flag-throw-red-white-navy Add to Bag Sku: BTAHRD1994 This modern take on our Iconic American Flag throw, is made from our finest Merino wool and woven on our jacquard loom. Share Share on Facebook Tweet Tweet on Twitter Pin it Pin on Pinterest Technical Specifications Technical Specifications Origin All of our products are proudly designed and crafted at our mill in Faribault, MN USA. Size Throw 50" x 72" 2.875 lbs Materials & Care Dry Clean or Hand Wash 85% Wool / 15% Cotton Made in the USA


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Xiaomi Mi Home Ad Shows Wide Range of Products in a Futuristic Galaxy Year 112899 AD
by Dec 22, 2016 7:04 pm2
Xiaomi has released a new promotional video that not only advertises its new products but also its physical retail location that is dubbed as Mi Home.
Xiaomi Mi Home Ad
The promotional video has a futuristic touch as it is set in Galaxy Year 1128992 AD. It shows that the company has invited World Order Humanoids from another time to visit their Mi Home. Just to let you know, World Order is a famous Japanese band who are known for their choreographed robotic performances.
It shows the reaction of humanoids who handle the various Xiaomi products that are packed with tech breakthroughs. Well, what are the futuristic devices in the video?
The Xiaomi Mi Note 2, Mi Mix concept phone, Mi Band 2, Mi VR headset, Mi Scooter, Mi TV, and Mi Notebook Air are some of the things that can be seen handled by the humanoids.
Why has Xiaomi released such a video? We are not sure, but it certainly tells that Xiaomi is not just a smartphone manufacturing company and makes a wide range of devices.
Related: Official Photos of The Xiaomi Smart Electric Scooter
Just as Xiaomi has millions of satisfied customers on earth, in the same way, the humanoids can be seen happily walking out of Mi Home with futuristic tech devices to their world.
Have you purchased any of the futuristic Xiaomi devices?


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"Urgent" doesn't do the situation justice. With 135 brave defenders under siege by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's Mexican army at the Alamo, a convention of Texans met at Washington-on-the-Brazos and declared the independence of Texas from Mexico. The Texas Declaration of Independence was produced--literally--overnight:
When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted; and so far from being a guarantee for the enjoyment of those inestimable and inalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression . . . .
. . . We, therefore, the delegates, with plenary powers, of the people of Texas, in solemn convention assembled, appealing to a candid world for the necessities of our condition, do hereby resolve and DECLARE that our political connection with the Mexican nation has forever ended; and that the people of Texas do now constitute a FREE, SOVEREIGN and INDEPENDENT RE-PUBLIC, and are fully invested with all the rights and attributes which properly belong to the independent nations . . . .
Happy Birthday, Texas.
And many more ....


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Fuel derivative loses shave Carnival's second quarter net profit to $379 million
- Written by Kari Reinikainen
Carnival Corporation & plc, the world's largest cruise shipping company, has reported a fall in second quarter net profit, mainly on losses on fuel derivatives, while operating profit and revenues both increased.
The company made a net profit of $379 million in three months to the end of May compared to $605 million in the same period a year earlier. Operating profit increased to $500 million from $478 million and revenues increased to $3.95 billion from $3.71 billion.
Losses on fuel derivatives amounted to $53 million in the review period, while a year earlier they had produced a gain of $171 million.
Earnings per share came to $0.52 compared to $0.31 in three months to 31 May last year and against the company's own forecast at its first quarter interim report of adjusted earnings per share in the range of $0.43 to $0.47.
Arnold Donald group president and CEO said in a statement:, "Strong execution drove significant operational improvements, which more than offset the substantial drag from fuel and currency, leading to another second quarter adjusted earnings record."
"It was reinforcing to see over five percent improvement in cruise ticket prices, affirming our efforts to increase demand by building positive word of mouth through the delivery of exceptional guest experiences as well as our innovative marketing and public relations programmes," he stated.


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Harry Potter and the Thread of Appreciation!
cubster posted a topic in The Book ClubHere we discuss all things Harry Potter related. I'll move our other posts in here soon inshaAllah. ^Because everybody died? HP 7 was tedious when they were camping but the rest of it I loved. I won't say I enjoyed all the killings, Fred is by far my favourite character but she killed specific people for specific reasons. Very well thought out. I hated the end though, that epilogue thingy. It made me want to barf. It spoiled the whole thing for me and whenever I re-read I leave it out.


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Villa Karolína Rooms
All rooms are equipped with a private bathroom and massage shower, hairdryer, in-room safe, minibar, satellite TV, telephone, and wireless internet access. The suite consists of a bathroom with bubble tub, toilet, hairdryer, separate bedroom, and living room (equipment is the same as for double rooms). All rooms can have an extra bed or cot.
The pension is non-smoking and allows pets.
The pension also offers a range of sports and relaxation facilities free of charge, including billiards, darts, table tennis, fitness, solarium, Roman baths, whirlpool, and sauna.


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Bene Diction recently discussed the state of spirituality in Canada. "God Bless America" is indeed a very beautiful song, but I think in recent years, some nationalistic sentiment has creeped into the phrase.
Shortly after 9/11 (or 11/9, depending on where you live), the members of Congress that sang for the press were singing mostly for the healing of the country. However, as time progressed, the use of the phrase by President Bush and friends has definitely changed from idealism to nationalism.
To borrow another American phrase, I think "One Nation Under God" should become "One People Under God."
The United States was created with the loftiest goal I can think of. It was designed to be a Christian nation, but the Christian founding fathers, in their wisdom, designed our core legal document to prevent the suppression of other religions.
This is exactly how God treats humanity: he provides us His way, the only way, but He loves us so much that He gives us the freedom to choose a different way.
I think we humans can learn a lot from Him.


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Title: Bulletstorm (Xbox360)
Rating: 18
Release Date: 24th February, 2011
Developers: People Can Fly
Publishers: Epic Games
Genre: First person shooter
Ever since, we put down that first armed zombie with a pump action shotgun on a remote Martian base overrun by the demonic forces of Hell, it was proven that the act of virtual redemptive violence was a wholly gratifying experience as well as a lucrative new genre. Now, nearly fifteen years after the release of Doom, where Halo and Call of Duty have popularized the first person shooter upon the consoles, 2011 is shaping up to be the year of the shooter with no less than 10 major titles being released across the various platforms. Among the list we have a lot of sequels, returning heroes like, Crysis 2, Killzone 3 and Duke Nukem Forever (we'll believe it when we see it…). We also have the inevitable monoliths to be released in Q4, a rumoured remake of the first Halo and of course Modern Warfare 3 which is probably destined to snatch its billion dollar share of the market with little competition. It is a crowded market to say the least, and although we may stand back and appreciate the history of the FPS genre from its humble beginnings on the PC through to its dominance upon the consoles there has always been the nagging feeling that no matter how many titles we have played, no matter what their setting or style they all essentially boil down to the same concept. Have gun, will travel through the valley of the shadow of death and stuff. Bulletstorm is one of the first new shooters of the year, and whilst the concept is essentially the same, it is implemented with a unique and clever new twist. A literal boot in the ass of the shooter genre, that is as refreshing to play as it is enjoyable.
Bulletstorm takes place in the far flung space faring future, where humanity is in the grips of a civil war, kind of like Firefly. There are the evil confederates, rusty juddering space crafts and a fair few one liners. The game places you within the boots of Grayson Hunt, an exiled space pirate with a penchant for booze and an inventive use of bad language (usually involving the word 'dick' and any other common noun you want). After a jump into hyperspace, Grayson's ship miraculously comes across the Ulysees, a large space ship belonging to the story's villain General Sarrano, who effectively serves as Grayson's white whale, somebody he and his squad have a certain bone to pick. In typical drunken pirate fashion, Grayson has at the massive spacecraft, unleashing an insane kamikaze attack which leads to both ships crash landing upon the nearby planet of Stygia. Unfortunately, the planet is inhabited by warring gangs of psychopaths, man eating plants and Godzilla sized monsters and so begins an epic revenge/redemption quest chock full of grand vistas of civilization in ruin and magnificent set pieces, as Grayson and his motley squad of space pirates attempt to get off world ASAP.
The 'epic' trailer... don't worry the game doesn't take itself this seriously...
The story is merely a vessel of course. The main meat of Bulletstorm is its inventive approach to combat. Early on in the game you are given an energy leash that effectively serves as a grading system for your combat, awarding you with points via a vast array of skill shots. Not content with lining up headshots via red dot sights as you ruthlessly and efficiently gun your way through the enemies of the Western world, Bulletstorm wants you to be creative in your murder. Sure you can shoot a guys head off, but you're so used to shooting people in the head, why not shoot him in the throat for a 'gag-reflex' skill shot? Or how about a couple of bullets to the balls? And as he drops to the floor screaming whilst clutching his severed manhood, why not kick him in the head for a 'mercy' skill shot, or alternatively, why not discharge an entire clip into his posterior for the 'rear-entry' skillshot for a sweet +100 points? When faced with a sizable wave of oncoming enemies, you could utilize that strategically placed gun turret over yonder to grind them all into mincemeat. Or alternatively you could set them on fire with secondary revolver shot, and then utilize your energy whip to launch them all into the air, and then use your flail gun to wrap two grenades upon an unlucky soul and then detonate it, exploding him and his surrounding friends and making it rain crimson mush and glorious pointage.
Yes, Bulletstorm is that kind of game, the kind of game that relishes gleefully in the old ultra violence, but I'm happy to report it's the good kind of ultra violence, that highly unreal sense of cartoon slaughter rather than the unsettling masochistic treatment of violence as seen in any of the torture sequences in Black Ops. The sheer inventive creativity and sheer speed of the game's combat maintains the entertainment throughout the entire course of the game. As a result, although the levels will come across as familiar, you rarely feel that sense of grind throughout the campaign. You reach the point in which merely putting your targets down for a measly +10pts just feels inherently wrong. You feel obliged to give each one of these goons a proper send off before they go to virtual Hell. Points will of course allow you to buy ammunition and further upgrades for your weapons and leash, opening up new more complex skill shots to perform. There are over one hundred skill shots to perform and on my first play through I managed to complete 75% of them. Rest assured some will take a certain amount of dedication and concentration to pull off.
As well as the leash and the mighty boot, Bulletstorm has a modest arsenal comprising of seven weapons. Each has a different strategy to effective use and each has a charged secondary fire. You have your standard issue assault rifle of course, that spits out bullets with trustworthy accuracy and a devastating secondary fire that fires all bullets at once to vaporize your foes. You get a quadruple barrel shotgun, which literally throws enemies backward or blows them in half. There are two types of grenade launcher, the flail gun serving as a remote mine launcher whilst the cannonball allows you to bounce off shots and explode them at will. The only weapon which perhaps doesn't work as well is the obligatory sniper rifle. Every time the weapon is fired you take control of the bullet and glide it on home. You can press 'B' to skip this and fire the shot normally but it just feels at odds with the in your face combat that defines the rest of the game. There are sections of course which call specifically for the sniper rifle and in my opinion it breaks the flow of the game. It is far more fun kicking hapless goons into razor sharp cacti or turning them into smart bombs.
|You can do better than that...
Bulletstorm contains elements of many different shooters, a mongrelish monster composed from the genetics of the well known thorough breds of the genre. The excessive point scoring and colourful wasteland artistry feels similar to Gearbox's Borderlands, whilst the boot melee kick is quintessential Duke Nukem. Developed by People Can Fly, it feels very similar in tone to their previous over the top shooter, Painkiller (a title that once lived in obscurity until a particularly favourable review from Yahtzee Croshaw led to an explosion of interest on Steam). The game has also been produced under the watchful gaze of Cliff Bleszinski and the people at Epic Games, the stable that reared Unreal Tournament and Gears of War.
Bulletstorm feels very much like a first person version of Gears of War. Built with the unreal engine, the combat is schlocky and satisfying, the vistas are grand and beautiful. The game knows how to do monsters and there is a similar kind of bromance between Grayson and Ishi as there is between Marcus and Dom. Though there are no chainsaw bayonets there is a gun that fires drills, which when used properly will grant you the all important 'drilldo' skillshot.The aesthetics of both game worlds and the character designs feel largely one and the same. Delta squad came first, whilst Grayson's Dead Echo squad come next. Foxtrot Squad will come in the next Cliffy-B game. Thankfully, Bulletstorm is a lot more colourful than the greys and browns of Gears of War. The planet of Stygia and the city of Elysium is basically Tatooine crossed with Las Vegas, a ruined monument to tourist extravagance baking under the rays of twin suns.
Unfortunately, it also shares many of the game's faults, namely in the story department. The game has a perfectly functional story, it can be very funny in places, especially in the earlier parts of the game which includes several sly digs at the genre's conventions. Part of the additional enjoyment of the game came through this aspect, even though the game is knowingly linear in the traditional ways of the shooter. Forcing you through areas, to flick a switch that will open up a new area where a team mate will clear some debris and so on and so forth. It is a similar dynamic to Wes Craven's Scream, knowledgeable of all the clichés of the genre whilst still pursuing them regardless to great effect. Having said that, the story begins to fall apart towards the end, where the characters begin to have serious conversations about the extent of their revenge and their moral well being. Y'know the old morality question about killing many for the greater good of the millions, how can I sleep at night, what about the sanctity of my soul? Etc... You really neglect all these warrior questions once you've kicked a heavy in the backside and shot hot led down his exposed ass crack laughing as he dies in a cloud of his own fiery flatulence. Y'know? Just saying. Whilst I do think games should take story and narrative more seriously, probably not in the case with this game.
Having said that, I did like the characters in general, particularly Grayson, even if the game is unsure of how to depict him, either as a crude drunk or a noble hero in exile. His accompanying friend Ishi, who is haphazardly turned into a cyborg to avert his own demise is quite well done, as the character struggles to keep a grip on his humanity against an overpowering computer logic AI with hilarious consequences. But essentially he is the voice in your ear reminding you of where you are going and what you should be doing. There is also the addition of a female character, Trishka, a spunky warrior heroine who would literally rip your head off if you implied she was full of spunk. She's basically a fiery tempered man hating stereotype, the kind we have seen in many other games and movies. Luckily, she doesn't fall for any of the protagonists but is basically just another gun. She also has the worst line in the game that basically defines her character, you'll know it when you hear it. Incidentally, if Epic Games really wanted to appeal to all the lady gamers out there (they do exist apparently) then surely they would have made her a playable character, thereby giving women the ability to shoot men in the nuts! I mean, do they not realise how cathartic that would be for female gamers? It may even soften the problems between man and woman? Just a revolutionary thought, y'know? Regardless, whether or not you'll give a damn about Bulletstorm's story will probably depend on whether the death of Maria in Gears of War 2 affected you on any deep emotional level (apart from laughter).
Aside from the main campaign, Bulletstorm has echoes mode, a score based collection of the game's best levels in which you are tasked with getting as high a score as you can. It is in this mode that Bulletstorm is at its best and provides the game with prolonged replayabity. The secret to success is moving through the level as fast as you can whilst gaining as many skill shots as you can. You have to keep your shots varied should you want to maximize your score. If you are so way inclined, you will begin learning every aspect of the levels, thinking mathematically on how you can best boost your score. This is what makes Bulletstorm brilliant, of course, the game may masquerade in the guise of a story about a drunken space pirate but behind all the gore and obscenely named skill shots is a depth that other shooters just can't compete against.
|The premise is simple, slide kick goon into cactus.
Having said that, I did like the characters in general, particularly Grayson, even if the game is unsure of how to depict him, either as a crude drunk or a noble hero in exile. His accompanying friend Ishi, who is haphazardly turned into a cyborg to avert his own demise is quite well done, as the character struggles to keep a grip on his humanity against an overpowering computer logic AI with hilarious consequences. But essentially he is the voice in your ear reminding you of where you are going and what you should be doing. There is also the addition of a female character, Trishka, a spunky warrior heroine who would literally rip your head off if you implied she was full of spunk. She's basically a fiery tempered man hating stereotype, the kind we have seen in many other games and movies. Luckily, she doesn't fall for any of the protagonists but is basically just another gun. She also has the worst line in the game that basically defines her character, you'll know it when you hear it. Incidentally, if Epic Games really wanted to appeal to all the lady gamers out there (they do exist apparently) then surely they would have made her a playable character, thereby giving women the ability to shoot men in the nuts! I mean, do they not realise how cathartic that would be for female gamers? It may even soften the problems between man and woman? Just a revolutionary thought, y'know? Regardless, whether or not you'll give a damn about Bulletstorm's story will probably depend on whether the death of Maria in Gears of War 2 affected you on any deep emotional level (apart from laughter).
|The 'guys' (from left Ishi, Trishka and Grayson)
The only real problem with Echoes mode is that your score is rated by three stars which is actually very easy to attain. Conceivably it is not unheard of to double the three star score or perhaps go even further. For the more skillful and dedicated players who reach well over 20,000 points, the game doesn't has much in the way of reward save for a lucrative position upon those all important leader boards. The weapon set for each level is also limited to the weapons you had in the campaign. The first level for example only allows you to use the assault rifle, denying you access to all the other weapons which you are hungry to use. Nothing that can't be fixed by a patch of course… Just sayin'.
The game also offers multiplayer in the form of 'Anarchy' mode, though instead of being competitive the focus is on four player co-op. Confined to small to medium sized arenas, your team must together accumulate a predetermined amount of points to go on through to the next level. You will get bonus points for working together and will be called to dispatch enemies in a particular way to gain a bonus. These instances can often see the difference between success or failure, so it helps if all four of you are well co-ordinated. The game does offer matchmaking, but it is best played with friends or at least a company that communicates together. If just one of your player's goes rogue, the entire team will be stuck on the same level for rounds and rounds. On the whole however, as far as co-op modes go it compensates the main game really well, adding an extra dimension to difficulty in the way Spec Ops did for Modern Warfare 2. Time will tell whether Anarchy mode it is as successful as Gears of War's Horde mode or Halo's firefight.
Bulletstorm has been marketed as a colourful alternative to all the realistic modern warfare clones that are in vogue at the moment and for the most part it does feel like a breath of fresh air when compared to its competitors. With that said, Bulletstorm only goes and sets itself within that other popular style of FPS, the sci-fi shooter starring a cast of manly space marines as they fight their way off an alien planet. In this regard, Bulletstorm is nothing you've never seen before, but the open ended fast paced combat is immensely entertaining and gratifying to pull off and will almost certainly have you coming back for more. There is a lot of room for improvement, which will no doubt be handled in the inevitable sequel. As it stands, Bulletstorm puts the game back into the shooter genre. Suffice it to say, as you cower for cover, dodging grenades in Call of Duty you will miss the errant thrill of slide kicking into your enemies whilst sending them flying into a fan via a single shotgun blast.
The game devs talk about gun porn... Its not sick honest...


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|Widget of Change is another widget for Yahoo Widgets. By means of the given widget you will be able to read new records from Change something web site everyday. On this web site you will find a lot of funny psychological exercises that you will find interesting. The widget has a pleasant design and is easy to use.
Author: Seth Gunderson


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Welcome back. If you're visiting from So Suzy Stamps, you'll know that I was chosen by Suzy herself to be a guest designer! :) So happy!
As a school teacher, I know how loved apples are. They represent growth, wisdom, and I guess a way to keep pesky people away! LOL!
|Click image for larger version.
I stamped the Basket of Apples image and had my buddy, Scan-N-Cut, cut it out. I wanted it to take center stage, so I popped it up on dimensionals. I used the Apple Branch image to be the background, and then topped off the entire center panel with the Apple a Day sentiment before surrounding it with some blue Copic (to emulate the sky).
Here's a close-up of the cute apple basket:
|Click image for larger version.
In case you didn't know...
Please come back next Saturday, December 17, when I offer my final project created for Suzy!
Supplies Used:
Stamps: Apple a Day, Basket of Apples, Apple Branch (all So Suzy Stamps)
Paper: New Leaf Pattern, Stamper's Select, Classic Kraft (all PTI)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: Copics; Scan-N-Cut (Brother)
Thanks for visiting!


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Dehydrated Hiker San Juan Loop Trail
Written by Steve Bryant
Some RMRU missions are fairly long the search for Mark Vasquez in the Soboba Hills many years ago lasted nearly a week. Other missions are short this is one of them. Saturday RMRU was on training about trails and road heads in the Cleveland National Forest an area in the Santa Ana Mountains shared by Riverside, Orange and San Diego Counties. RMRUs primary search and rescue area in these mountains is the San Mateo Wilderness. The areas includes the Tenaja Falls, a pretty cascade (in a wet year, anyway) at the end of a short hike, but also an area of algae-covered rocks which are very slippery we have had to recover the bodies of people who slipped on these rocks and drowned in the pools at the bottom. Fishermans Camp is also a popular destination in the San Mateo Wilderness; it is by San Mateo Creek a relatively short distance in from the road. We have had lost hikers in this area get turned around and end up in Camp Pendleton; rumor has it that this is a dangerous thing to do because of unexploded ordnance. A map of this area can be found by searching for San Mateo Wilderness Map on the web.
I had come early to the training, and decided to reconnoiter a road which shows on maps as going from Decker Canyon to the South Main Divide road. This route led to many dead ends in private land. I finally ran into a resident who told me that the road had been closed. So instead of being early, I was now late to meet the rest of RMRU at the Candy Store on the Ortega Highway (which runs from Lake Elsinore to San Juan Capistrano). So I decided to drive the South Main Divide from Hwy 74 to the Tenaja Trailhead near Clinton Keith Road to familiarize myself with the area, mark all the trailheads on my GPS unit, and presumably run into the rest of RMRU. I got to the trailhead, but still hadnt run into the rest of RMRU, so I turned around and was going back to the Ortega Hwy on the South Main Divide when I did run into the rest of RMRU. They were going to finish driving the South Main Divide, then go back to the Candy Store via Hwy 74. I continued back to the Candy Store on the South Main Divide, double checking my GPS points and taking mileages between trailheads.
I arrived back at the Candy Store about noon and started waiting for the rest of RMRU. I backed into a parking space at the trailhead parking lot across from the Candy Store, opened the back of my pickup, and rested in the shade of my camper shell. Due to the heat, about every half-hour, I would go get an ice cream bar from the Candy Store. I noticed a woman with two elementary-school age children and a dog in a car next to me; they were apparently waiting for someone to finish a hike. Eventually, the woman drove away. Then, perhaps 10-15 minutes after she drove back, she walked up to me and said that her husband was with his mother (I think it was his mother) a little ways down the trail. The mother couldnt hike anymore, and did I know what to do. This was close to 1:30 PM, about the hottest part of the day. I told the woman that I was with Mountain Rescue, and that she should send someone to the Candy Store to call the Fire Department (about 3 miles away) while I got dressed to help. She said that her mother-in-law was almost to the parking lot, and she soon found out that the Candy Store would call 911 if she wished (cell service is practically non-existent at this location). I quickly put on my daypack, orange shirt, and hiking shoes, and went to help.
From the edge of the parking lot, I could see that the hiker in distress, Cathy Karstens, was sitting on a cooler under a tree, talking with her son, and that it didnt seem to be a medical emergency. I went down, talked to Cathy, who was fully conscious, sitting up without help, and apparently suffering from moderate heat exhaustion, but not heat stroke. Cathys son and I were able to pretty much carry Cathy back to the parking lot, the car was driven over, and we helped her into the car. I recommended that they take her to the Fire Station up the road for a more thorough evaluation. After they left, I paced the distance to where Cathy had been 76 yards. (911 was not called, though I was ready to have that done immediately if Cathy had been in worse circumstances)
About 2 PM, the rest of RMRU arrived at the Candy Store, where we ate lunch. We saw Cathys daughter-in-law at the store; she said that the Fire Department had given Cathy some half-strength electrolyte drink, and that Cathy was OK. Another successful training and mission for RMRU!
RMRU team members present: Steve Bryant.


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CrimsonCast Ep 504 - IU Football 2017 Season Predictions
August 30, 2017
Time to get on the record for the 2017 year. Scott and Galen go game-by-game through the schedule, giving score predictions for each one, and talking about the challenges and opportunities that IU football faces this summer. Is Galen too bullish on IU's ability to answer the questions in the running and blocking games? Is Scott too paranoid about picking IU to win road games in the conference? Do both of us have IU making it to a bowl game? These and other questions answered, on this episode of CrimsonCast.


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As you travel toward Tibet, you see mile posts with the distance from Shanghai, but we think you'll be more interested in the distances from Grimshaw (Canada not Scotland) that Cal has been keeping for us since the beginning of the trip.
N 36.24.23 E 94.53.39 Altitude 2780 meters 9265 km from Grimshaw
The question In everybody's mind was "would we be allowed to enter this province/autonomous region/country?" The Calypso family met our Tibetan guide, Tsewang, in Golmud and with permits in hand and positive thoughts we started the journey south. We passed the first checkpoint just outside of town with no problems but a few km south we encountered road repairs (done by hand by crews of women and men) and two major military convoys - one coming from Lhasa and the other heading in our direction. Interesting fact - even the military trucks are decorated with ribbons and bows. It was slow going through the construction and our first bush camp was still north of Tibet.
|donkeys not deer
|Jason making a concession to the temperatures
by wearing a jumper with his flip flops and shorts
(Lorri learning Brit/Aussie expressions)
|Beautiful night skies at this altitude
N 44.51.34 E 92.56.44 Altitude 4570 meters 9480 km from Grimshaw (altitude and animals)
We were all feeling the effects of altitude sickness - headaches, breathlessness, and nausea as well as a restless sleep. But we packed up camp and continued our journey along the Tibetan plateau. The land is starkly beautiful We've seen a bunch of interesting animals, too, as the road travels through very unpopulated highlands. Wild Tibetan donkeys (pretty brown colour and we mistook them for deer till we enlarged the photos), Himalayan deer and antelope, and cute little rodent things that we named Gregory (gerbil sized) and Henry (small rabbit sized) until our Tibetan guide realized what we were doing and said that Gregory was a Himalayan mole and Henry was a pica. I think we are entertaining him! And there are yaks everywhere (many decorated with prayer flags) - but they are domestic, apparently there are only a few wild ones and they stay at higher altitudes and away from people. Lou and Cal, with the occasional contribution from Nico, continue to see new birds. There were black redstarts, brown cheeked buntings, Himalayan griffons (who win the prize for coolest name), brown headed gulls, hoopies and a whole cast of others who remain nameless.
Mid morning saw us stopping at the "welcome to Tibet" archway for a photo op. The police check a few km down the road took five hours while passports were checked and higher authorities were consulted. It makes you realize how unusual it is for a western group to travel overland into Tibet. While our guide spent the time in the office, we had lunch, did some pre-dinner prep, played a bit of basketball, entertained the locals and participated in a number of photo ops with officials and passing motorists. Permission was finally granted to continue, and after a quick supper and a very enthusiastic "woo hoo" Calypso and her family were officially welcomed to Tibet.
|Looks like an album cover.
Tsewang, Steve, Cal, Jason,Dave, Bruce, Keith, Alicia
|Teresa, Lou, Tina, Mikkel, Jordan and Mel
|Setting up camp as dusk is falling.
Mikkel and Dave on the roof.
|The iphone version, just the silouette
|Sunset at almost 5000 meters
|Nico's wee tent for the ladies was hastily taken down
in the wee hours as the mother of all storms was
sending lightening and winds to entertain us.
N 32.44.48 E 91.52.27 Altitude 4963 meters 9735 km from Grimshaw (more altitude and a birthday)
Getting up in the dark to start a long drive to Lhasa, everybody worked to help each other pack up camp with conversations about the lightening storm that had passed through, the gorgeous sunset and who was dealing with what altitude symptoms. It was a quiet group that hit the truck, but some magic fairies (led by Mark our truck wallah) had found the breath to blow up balloons for Lorri's birthday. Lunch, and birthday cake, were had at a police check that included friendly yak, curious Gregories and the ever present visiting dog.
|Checking out an accident that happened as we passed it
|Yurts and prayer flags
Set up just like a pow wow circle in Northern Alberta
N 39.39.20 E 91.07.50 Altitude 3677 meters 10089 km from Grimshaw (Lhasa, Buddhism and retail therapy)
After two looong driving days and high altitude bush camps we made it to the Yak hotel in Lhasa. Not a sleepy isolated Tibetan town by any means. The old town (and we are in it) comprises 4% of the city. The rest is bustling Chinese city like the others we have seen. Great comfortable beds, excellent wifi, included breakfast one of the best on our trip (real bacon) and a lovely restaurant next door. We are here for four nights, so lots of time to check out the sights.
|Prayer flags on the roof of our hotel
|Two ladies visiting
Traditional dresses and lovely hats
|Mixing the old and the new.
Hill trbesman with traditional hair and beads (coral, turquoise and/or amber) and western shirt and hat
Top on the list of things to do was to visit the Jokang monastery, one of two UNESCO sites in Lhasa. Built in the 8th century, damaged and rebuilt numerous times over the centuries (most recently following the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s), our guide, Tsewang, used the tour to help us see the intertwining of history, politics and religion for the Tibetan people. Bruce put it so well (thanks Bruce for letting me paraphrase your words) that for us westerners, religion is something that we put on or take off at our convenience. For Tibetans, however, their religion defines their every action.
|These aren't the snow lions (aka Gregories) you will see at the Jokang temple
1. When you go to the Jokang monastery, look up at the rafter poles around the second floor, or look down into the courtyard from the second floor. Every monastery has snow lions for good luck, but these ones are individually carved by some unknown artist. Like gargoyles in mediaeval European churches, these are all different, and it seems like a whole field of Gregories peering at you!
2. The Potalo palace has all sorts of restored glitz, but watch for the cabinet with hundreds of Buddha statues. Some of them are more than 1000 years old and all of them were carefully hidden by local people to protect them from destruction during the Cultural Revolution.
3. Sera monastery is absolutely worth a visit. The ride on the local bus there and back is prime people watching. It's noted for healing cranky babies and adults with mental illness - when we went through, a smiling monk insisted we needed blessing so we all left with black smudges on our noses!
|The smudgy nose crew
|Sera Monastery dogs
|Potala Palace from the People's Square
|The ugly frowny figures, sometimes with flames
are "protectors" aka good guys
Lhasa wasn't all monasteries, it was also a great place to stroll the old town and people watch. The markets satisfied everybody's retail therapy needs. And it was hard to decide whether to eat Tibetan, Chinese, or fast food fusion (the word Dico's comes to mind).
|Bandian - traditional married woman's apron.
This is hand woven and hand dyed pure wool
not the mass produced cotton or polyester for everyday
|If I could have figured out how to get this home...
Yak skull artwork
|Prayer flags
|The Buddha's eyes
and beads that might be bodhy (sacred fig trees growing around monasteries)
but they are hand strung in Shigatze by the monastery, because I watched them being finished.
The purse is made in Nepal
|Coffee break for the street cleaner
N 28.54.43 E89.36.19 altitude 4037 meters 10208 km from Grimshaw
(Gyantsi, another birthday and a stunning conclusion to the Calypso World Cup Football Pool)
Next, it was off down the Friendship Highway. To get to Gyantsi, we drove narrow twisting roads through beautiful mountains. You could tell we were on the tourist track now, with busloads of Chinese tourists as fascinated by our little group as by the mountain scenery. And at each stop there were enterprising nomads showing off their animals or offering to sell trinkets.
|5 yuan for a photo.
This lady was using a drop spindle to spin wool as she was minding her cows
|Lou checking out a "bow"
(baby cow)
|Alicia taking a photo of Lorri
taking her 5 yuan photo
|Nico and Bruce
|Prayer flags on
Of course there was another monastery. Watch for the very ugly/flaming Buddah figures- they are actually protectors, not bad guys. Also, take a walk toward the river and walk the back road. You can get some great photos of the monastery and the fort above it. Imagine, before the Cultural Revolution, that all the empty ground was full of buildings.
|This fort figures in the great game.
T and T had time for a T (tattoo, that is). But the big social event was Wayne's birthday held at the Gyantsi Kitchen. It was a three white scarf set of birthday wishes and a good time had.
Before we left Gyantsi, we had one more important celebration. Starting in Kyrgyzstan and continuing through China and into Tibet, the Calypso family eagerly followed the World Cup Football. Each morning, our truck wallah, Mark, would post scores. Some of us were more excited to find out what were the categories of the day, some of us cared about our points. There were even an enterprising few who figured out how and where to watch the games live. But like all good things, it came to an end on the truck before leaving Gyantsi. Despite a last minute battle with Steve, Cal managed to hold onto his last place position and be crowned Chumpion. Top place and Champion of the World was never in doubt as Luke, with his excellent skills at playing the odds, had led from the beginning. But Jordan and Jason had been quietly creeping up the ranks. In the end, though, Jordan managed to outstrip the competition to become honored runner up.
N 29.16.23 E 88.53.04 altitude 3815 meters 10187 km from Grimshaw (Shigatze in the rain)
We were in Shigatze for three days to get permits to visit Mt. Everest base camp. Or maybe it was to get permission to travel to the Nepal border. Despite the frequent rain showers, we all managed to find something to do. For some, it was a chance to do a bit more retail therapy, for which Bruce gains the distinction of getting the most spectacular bit of jewelry (to go with the equally lovely ring in Lhasa). Some took advantage of China Post to send their treasures onward, while others found space in luggage. One last monastery, this one the home of the Pachem lama, even though he lives in Beijing. By this time, our guide Tsewang had gotten a feel for the group and was a bit more open on telling the slightly less politically correct but more interesting bits. Like the rumor about monks being bribed with tv in their cells, and... Interesting fact, the kora (pilgrim's walk) is up into the hill and is a great way to people watch, check out animals and see over the old town as you walk back into the market.
|Everywhere in Tibet you would find fabric or painted designs along the roof line.
It is to remind people of their nomadic past.
Many great quilty ideas.
|Old not yet retouched designs
a bit of rebellion here.
any time you see snow lions in clouds in Tibet, it is referring to independence.
the old paintings had their own elegance
|Local sheep helping to eat the offerings of grain
The messages on the rocks were carved/painted and carried to the mountain
|Taking photos of tourists taking photos
|And a local goat
N 28.34.10 E 87.05.06 altitude 4359 meters (Somewhere near Mt Everest)
It was another long day driving, including a most interesting several hours being part of a major "truck got stuck" incident. Apparently this section gets washed out every spring and then repaired every summer. What made it worse was that the rain we had had in Shigatze had been three days of snow - which brings home how high we are and how brief summer is on the Tibetan plateau. Hint from Lorri - check out Corb Lund's video "The Truck Got Stuck"" to get the feel for the situation. We pulled into the national park with just enough daylight to pitch tents and eat a "home cooked Chinese meal" courtesy of our Chinese guide, Daniel, and cook group one.
|Cow with decorations
|And here he is! Long telephoto from about 50 km away
|The best part was the mini bus with hill tribes people.
They all got out, figured out how to attach a rope and started pulling.
Ladies as well as men. It takes a community...
N 28.10.10 E 86.50.25 altitude 4991 meters (Everest Base Camp - we made it!!)
We started our day getting tickets to the base camp where we had a perfect early morning view of Mt. Qomolangma himself (for Tibetans, the mountain is definitely a he). Then we started up the road to the tent village we would stay in for the night. Up, up, up then down, down, down as we moved from one valley to the next. Great scenery, local nomads and their animals. Finally just after lunch, we arrived at the tent village where tourists must stay. Vastly overcrowded and under serviced, but the Calypso family made the best of the situation (and used our well practiced bush wee skills), because for some of us this was the highlight of the trip.
|Everest is the middle peak, some is being a little shy
(cloud covered)
It's only a 3 - 4 km walk and less than 200 meter elevation gain but at this altitude, that still means lots of stopping to catch our breath. Some of us chose to enjoy the view from the tents, some of us went up and down fairly quickly (content to see the arch, snap a photo or two) but a few hardy souls communed with the mountain most of the afternoon. Although the mountain had been exceedingly shy and cloud covered all day, later in the evening the clouds lifted giving great views. Interesting fact, the river that is flowing from Everest is a tributary of the Yellow River.
|Behind that cloud is Mt. Qomolangma himself
Thanks to the weather gods for sending the rains when we were in Shigatze and the blue skies when we visited Everest.
N 28.21.28 E 86.03.44 altitude 4215 meters (Moving down. All things must end - last bush camp and a final Calypso adventure)
Next morning, out the way we came then south on the Friendship Highway. Still the stark mountain passes but we were dropping in altitude. We started to see cows instead of yaks and some vegetation. The streams we crossed are flowing in our direction. The crew and our guides started to talk about finding a really nice spot for our last bush camp. Ever. And perhaps a bit of a party. A lovely green spot by a river was found. Unfortunately, Calypso had other ideas and got stuck up to her front axel in the mud (repeat "the Truck got Stuck" if you wish). After hours of digging determination and a lot of creative "truck unstuck" solutions, we turned in with prayers that tomorrow would be a better day. And it was. With sand mats, rocks in the right places, and an audience of the local nomads, Calypso inched her way back onto the road and we were off toward the Nepal border town of Zangmu.
N 27.59.18 E 85.58.56 altitude 2190 meters 10392 km from Grimshaw
Yes, we dropped more than 2000 meters on our journey today through lush rain forest Zangmu is a one street border town clinging to the side of the mountain We'll leave the next part of the story (and how beautiful the rainy side of the Himalayas is) to Nepal. Here's one last picture to give you a hint.


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Its officially engagement season! I've recieved dozens of orders for monograms this week from couples preparing for their spring weddings. Gail, a bride from Australia, contacted me with a request for my Entwined letters monogram with her teal and purple colors the date written european style. I really love the way this one turned out!
If you'd like to see another version of this monogram I created. Go here.


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At Zero Point: Discourse, Culture, and Satire in Restoration England
The cloth edition is currently being discounted by 50% as part of our holiday sale. Use code FHOL or FSNO at checkout to receive sale prices.
At Zero Point presents an entirely new way of looking at Restoration culture, discourse, and satire. The book locates a rupture in English culture and epistemology not at the end of the eighteenth century (when it occurred in France) but at the end of the seventeenth century. Rose Zimbardo's hypothesis is based on Hans Blumenberg's concept of "zero point"—the moment when an epistemology collapses under the weight of questions it has itself raised and simultaneously a new epistemology begins to construct itself. Zimbardo demonstrates that the Restoration marked both the collapse of the Renaissance order and the birth of modernism (with its new conceptions of self, nation, gender, language, logic, subjectivity, and reality). Using satire as the site for her investigation, Zimbardo examines works by Rochester, Oldham, Wycherley, and the early Swift for examples of Restoration deconstructive satire that, she argues, measure the collapse of Renaissance epistemology. Constructive satire, as exemplified in works by Dryden, has at its discursive center the "I" from which all order arises to be projected to the external world. No other book treats Restoration culture or satire in this way.
Rose A. Zimbardo is SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Emerita whose previous books include A Mirror to Nature: Transformations in Drama and Aesthetics, 1660-1732.
Zimbardo invites readers to examine concepts of gender, nation, self, and language in the literature of the Restoration period and be persuaded that its satire is both deconstructive and constructive. -- Choice
Stimulating and persuasive. -- In-Between
Effectively challenges easy assumptions of the referentiality of Restoration satire and drama and stresses the literary context. -- Journal of English and Germanic Philology
Only rarely does such a radical reexamination of culture occur, and Zimbardo's At Zero Point brings new insights into both Renaissance and Restoration scholarship. -- Rocky Mountain Review
Zimbardo's point is that we, like Wycherley's generation, are at zero point, caught between a 'deconstructive' period—the 1960s, with their attack on 'the strangling social fictions of the establishment'—and a reactionary one—the 1990s, era of 'the new holy nationalism, conservatism, and racism.' -- Seventeenth-Century News
An important and provocative book, with rewarding turns to authorship, gender, and nationalism. -- Studies in English Literature
One of the most ambitious books this year. . . . Stimulating and innovative, bringing an interesting mix of neglected and canonical texts to our attention. -- Year's Work in English Studies


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If you missed it:
The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater
Miami Beach, FL
Thu, May 13, 2010 08:00 PM
ILAA 5 star is $395. 4 star is $195. American Express Preferred Seating cardmembers only presale starts this Friday at 10:00 a.m. Strangely, I can't find anything that says when the ILAA general sale is.
As for regular tickets, everything is GA. Tickets are $81 with the Amex presale Friday at 10 a.m. and general sale Friday 4/16 at 10:00 a.m.
I've never been to anything GA that has regular rows and seats other than the movies. The venue seems to do this kind of set up regularly, and presumably there is some benefit to them in doing it, although I can't figure out what it is. No matter, I'll be happy with whatever seat I end up with, and since my fight doesn't get in till late Thursday afternoon, I couldn't wait in line if I wanted to.
In related news, Jared posted on Ning this morning in a thread that has since been deleted that there will not be a Danny party this year.
I'm curious what other cruisers are planning to do on May 13. Are you attending the show? Skipping it to have an early night? Skipping it to have your own party? Post in the comments and please vote in the poll!
Update: So far, it looks like about half the cruisers are planning to skip this show. From the comments and Twitter replies, the reasons seem to be:
- Already had plans for that night
- Already have tickets for one or more spring shows
- Already maxed out cruise budget
- Don't want to spend time in line for GA
- Lack of tiered pricing (i.e., same price whether you climb into the pit or sit in the back row of the balcony)


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Chicago, Winter, 1891
Rachel is in danger. She s seen too much.
She creeps along the cement walls through the dank underbelly of the asylum. She d never planned to leave her quiet farm life, never thought she d find a place in the city, never imagined she d be in the kind of danger that would have her cowering in Dunning s cold, labyrinthine basement.
Jenny has finally found her place. After a childhood of abuse, she has friends, a real job, and her only wish is to give her adopted son the kind of life she never had.
A life of stability, without the risk and uncertainty of a father.
But when Jeremy, Rachel s brother, stumbles into their warehouse, asking for help to find his missing sister, Jenny s carefully constructed life begins to crumble.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Soul's Prisoner, go HERE.
My Thoughts:
This book is the second in the Portraits of Grace series and I have to admit that I was a little lost at first because I haven't read the first book, but I soon caught up with who was who and then everything seemed to make more sense. So, you could read this book as a stand alone but I'd really recommend reading the first one before you read this one.
This book is full of intrigue with a touch of romance woven throughout the story. It has a darker, almost Gothic, tone that really works. The author did such an amazing job describing everything that I could almost feel the cold and the fear down in that basement with Rachel. Definitely a page turner.
I'm looking forward to reading more in this series.


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- cnadmin2Asked on April 19, 2017 at 11:21 AM
We received emails with only partial information and we are trying to see if we can retrieve the submissions that were submitted before we upgraded our monthly package.Page URL:
- JotForm SupportWelvinAnswered on April 19, 2017 at 01:08 PM
If some of the fields are empty, that means users has never filled those before submitting the form. In most cases, this is because the field is set as optional, not required. If you want the fields to be mandatory, set each as required in the field settings.
I would also suggest viewing your submissions page to see the list of submitted data: https://www.jotform.com/help/269-How-to-view-Submissions. There are issues wherein the email is missing some fields, but they are available on the submissions page. In this case, the fields are not being added in the email. We mostly suggest re-creating the template to fix the problem.


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24 air intakes, entirely Italian manufactured, a great fit. These are the main characteristics of KASK's new entry level helmet. Features include an expanded polystyrene shell that optimizes crash impacts, and 24 large air vents, arranged to optimize aerodynamics.
"IN MOLDING" SYSTEM: the innovative construction that guarantees the maximum safety level thanks to its polycarbonate shell and rear part.


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|EU, China Have 'Much to Lose' in Trade War
The latest tit-for-tat EU-China trade disputes could signal worse to come but both sides have a lot to lose if things get out of hand and harm the much-needed economic growth they seek.
In May alone, the two have locked horns over solar panels, steel tubes and telecom equipment, sparking fears of a trade war between two of the world's biggest trading partners.
Analysts said the increase in tensions could simply reflect the fact that both are feeling the pressure from a sharp economic slowdown.
China grew at its slowest pace in 13 years in 2012 while the EU economy, sapped by the debt crisis and soaring unemployment, is mired in a record-long recession.
The professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said the main loser in any trade war would "certainly be the EU, EU consumers and EU industry, not China. The EU is recovering and definitely needs the support of the global market because the EU, like China, is an economy that depends a lot on foreign demand." The stakes are enormous. EU exports to China totaled US$212 billion last year, with imports of US$334 billion, making theirs one of the biggest trading relationships in the world.
China "does not want a trade war," Chinese commerce ministry spokesman said late last week after the EU threatened an anti-subsidy probe into telecom imports. "We hope the EU will not take actions that do no good to either side."
Brussels was careful too in announcing the telecom probe, highlighting it as a "decision in principle" taken pending "negotiations towards an amicable solution with the Chinese authorities."
Europe's top trade official for the first time late Friday officially cited Chinese mobile telecom equipment makers Huawei and ZTE Corp. for violating anti-dumping and anti-subsidy guidelines.
European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said he was prepared to launch a formal investigation into anti-competitive behavior by these Shenzhen-based companies in order to protect a "strategic" sector of Europe's economy.
Huawei and ZTE are dumping their products on the European market,Cheap capital for these Chinese companies "creates a distorted playing field and that is what this is about," De Gucht said, referring to Huawei and ZTE, respectively the world's No. 2 and No. 5 telecom equipment makers.
Huawei denied it had broken any rules. "In Europe and in all markets, Huawei always plays fair and we win business and trust from our customers through our innovative technology and quality service, rather than via pricing or subsidies," the company said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters.
ZTE has also in the past denied benefiting from illegal State support.
German minister: EU move 'grave mistake'
GERMAN Economy Minister said the European Commission made a "grave mistake" by agreeing to impose punitive import duties on solar panels from China and urged the commission to work to prevent the eruption of a trade conflict.
He said China already warned that duties on solar panels would harm bilateral trade. "That shows: punitive import duties are the wrong instrument."
Roesler told the Sunday newspaper that the German Government has repeatedly warned of the consequences of punitive import duties against China's solar industry. Germany is one of the world's leading export nations.
"The German industry is very concerned and quite rightly," Roesler said. "I expect the commission to do everything to prevent a trade conflict. The commission has to seek a resolution with negotiations and dialogue instead of threats."
Germany's BDI industry association warned over the weekend about negative consequences for Germany's export-oriented industry of the commission's move to impose average import duties of 47 percent on solar panels from China.
The opinions expressed do not constitute investment advice and specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
Published on our website on May 21, 2013


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When: 2009-08-12
Collection location: Akademgorodok, Novosibirsk, Russia [Click for map]
Who: Tatiana Bulyonkova (ressaure)
Very large and bright-red Fly Agarics fruiting in an abandoned Picea obovata nursery. These specimens are much larger and brighter than those growing in the surrounding native mixed birch (Betula pendula) and aspen (Populus tremula) forest.
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And I second Debbie's enthusiasm for your input here MO. Thanks!
Hehe, this is one of the cases when Russia is an uncomfortable term to define a territory – too big! A. phalloides grows in some other parts of Russia and is a feared mushroom with a common name бледная поганка (бледная means pale, a deceptive epithet leading many people to believe that it's white and not green, and поганка [po'ganka] denotes any kind of "bad" mushroom, поганый is an adjective meaning filthy, unclean, repulsive; the word is etymologically related to "pagan"). Haven't seen A. verna or A. virosa here either, but in European parts of Russia both seem to be very common. We have a lot of A. pantherina here, though, and probably other species – I'm eager to find out which!
It's just that it hasn't been registered in South-Western Siberia up until now, at least not in official registries, probably because it's not too fond or our broad-leaved trees. As I already mentioned, they're mostly birch and aspen, with only a few isolated relic oak groves in SW Siberia, and obviously A. phalloides hasn't yet been found there; the mushrooms from observation #33928 grew in a "model biotope" planted oak grove in the Central Siberian Botanical Gardens)
Since muscaria color is affected by both sun and rain, a protected environment would make for splendid specimens like yours! And good to hear that even in far away Russia, gals are suffering for their art…;)
I know that muscaria has traveled to many different countries on pine roots, but of course you already have native muscaria. guess it depends upon where those pines in your plantation originated!
YOU have introduced phalloides? So it is not native to Russia? I didn't know that. Do you just have white destroying angels of various types? Any other colored amatoxin-containing amanitas in your area? So great to get first hand reports from Russia!
I have a feeling they might turn out to be the same species as the more modest ones under birch (siberian firs, Picea obovata, occur naturally in our region in the broad sense, just not in the direct vicinities of where I live – it's mostly swampy steppe mixed with aspen&birch groves here and some relic pine forests along ancient glacial riverbeds).
I think that the dark thorny thicket those overgrown firs have turned into is simply a very favorable environment for A. muscaria, hence the color and size. Those firs protect their mushroom treasures well – after taking these pictures I looked as if I'd been in a fight with a bobcat :D Still it was worth it! (adding another trophy picture).
As for A. phalloides, it's been a well-mannered guest here so far, fruiting very discreetly on a single 10×10 m spot under planted oaks, and oaks are a rarity here anyway.
at least you have a non-deadly (and quite beautiful) introduced amanita in YOUR country! here in CA, we are stuck and covered with introduced AND invasive phalloides!
Created: 2010-02-25 05:40:33 CST (-0600)
Last modified: 2010-10-02 08:47:40 CDT (-0500)
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[Fshare]Faery Legends of Avalon – PROPHET
Được đăng vào: 10, Th11, 2014 |
Điểm: 1/10
(1 phiếu bầu)
Posted under English, Game Hành Động, Game phiêu lưu | Huy Xuân Nguyễn
Description: Faery: Legends of Avalon is a big role playing game packed with a very distinctive ambience and graphic style. Create your character, embark in a great adventure and discover the fantastic world of Avalon!
You will have to understand why this magic world is dying, and save the kingdom from certain disappearance. In a thrilling adventure where your choices will shape the story, develop your character, his abilities and special powers, as well as his equipment through the victorious battles and accomplished quests!
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Numerous dangers await you and the battles against some of the creatures and monsters of the game promise to be formidable. Gain power and experience, and assure the support of friendly companions you will meet through your journey. Carefully select who will fight at your side, and live the incredible experience of being accompanied by a dragon, a troll, fairies and other fantastic creatures!
Gorgeous graphics packed in a unique atmosphere.
Explore mythical and magical places, meet plenty of colourful characters.
Battle in turn-based fights, in the pure style of classic RPGs
Develop your character through victory: choose new spells, skills, and find new equipment/
Recruit charismatic companions to help you in your quest!
Hình ảnh trong game:
Nền: PC
Yêu cầu hệ thống
OS: Windows Xp Sp3/Windows Vista Sp1/Windows 7
Processor: Amd/Intel Dual-Core 2 Ghz
Memory: 2048 MB RAM
Graphics: 256 Mb 100% Directx 9 And Shaders 3.0 Compatible, Ati Radeon Hd 3850/Nvidia Geforce 8800 Or Higher
Hard Drive: 1 GB available space
Sound Card: DIRECTX 9 COMPATIBLE
Download game [Fshare.vn/1link]
Download game [4share/1link]
Password: kactusgames.org
Torrent download
Tài khoản Vip Fshare, 4share, megashare, upfile
Nếu bạn gặp trường hợp này . Hãy đợi 5 giây rồi bấm để tải game
Các hướng dẫn nên biết: Hướng dẫn download với Torrent, Một số lỗi thường gặp khi cài game và cách khắc phục, Kết nối các file bằng HjSplit, Sử dụng ổ đĩa ảo, Hướng dẫn sử dụng file nén, Và các hỗ trợ khác...


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2018 | 2019 Entertainment Book
The 2018 | 2019 Entertainment™ Book is now available to order!
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- Entertainment™ Book – offers are redeemed via Entertainment™ Gold cards and vouchers
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Order today to help us continue providing our life-changing services to Queenslanders in need. We receive 20% profit from every membership sold, so not only will your suppawt give you access to incredible deals and discounts but you will also be making a real difference!
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They were models and aspiring actresses. One was a flight attendant. Another was a masseuse.
Thirteen women who say Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted them over the years have agreed to testify against him in the only criminal case stemming from the allegations.
Prosecutors say the women's experiences show that Cosby is a serial offender and that the one case he's charged in - an alleged assault at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004 - is part of a pattern of abuse dating to the 1960s.
One starlet said she lost consciousness after Cosby poured her a few glasses of Champagne and woke up naked and sore. Another said she felt woozy and had blurred vision after he insisted she take a couple of pills.
A judge hasn't said if he'll allow the women to take the stand.
If he does, their testimony could widen the scope of 79-year-old Cosby's trial, slated for June, into a close examination of his treatment of women over the last six decades _ from his time as a fledgling comedian to his worldwide fame as a TV sitcom star dubbed 'America's Dad.'
Cosby's criminal case involves a single encounter with former Temple University employee Andrea Constand, who told police he gave her three unmarked pills and then molested her as she drifted in and out of consciousness.
Prosecutors said they reviewed accusations made by 50 women and found 13 who said they were also drugged or intoxicated by Cosby before he molested them. Many of those women came forward last year as Pennsylvania authorities were deciding whether to reopen the Constand case.
One of the prospective witnesses, then an aspiring actress, said Cosby assaulted her at a home near Reno, Nevada, in 1984 after telling her agent and her parents that he wanted to mentor her.
Cosby's lawyers say they'll oppose any testimony from other accusers.
They suggest he's a wealthy target for the many women he's met during decades as an A-list celebrity.
Defence lawyer Angela Agrusa told reporters that the accusers have been paraded before the media by lawyer Gloria Allred and others without their accounts of abuse being investigated.
"We have seen a barrage of new accusers claiming, `Me, too,'"Agrusa said.
Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt brought race into the equation, saying Allred and others have trampled on Cosby's civil rights.


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This is the cheesecake recipe that my mom has always made. It's my absolute favorite cheesecake ever.
- 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
- 1/3 cup butter flavored Crisco, melted
- 3 (8oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup dairy sour cream
- Preheat oven to 350 F. For crust, combine crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar and melted Crisco. Press firmly in bottom and up side of ungreased 9-inch pan. Set aside.
- For filling, beat cream cheese in large bowl at low speed until just smooth.
- Gradually add remaining sugar and vanilla.
- Beat in eggs one at a time.
- Blend in sour cream.
- Carefully pour into prepared pan and bake for 60-70 minutes.
- Turn oven off and open door slightly, leaving cheesecake in oven for another hour.
- Chill at least four hours, or overnight.


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The Huffington Post has a great news article on a 7 year old who was concerned about Pokemon Go players getting injured whilst playing.
He has created a hand drawn series of reflective badges to keep players safe if they are out in the dark.
He is selling them from 50 cents (US) upwards, depending on size.
What a great idea!


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Saturday, October 14, 2017
Book Review: 'Now I See You' by Nicole C. Kear
Nicole Kear was just nineteen when a Park Avenue physician told her that she had retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative disease that would eventually lead to partial blindness. Kear admits that after receiving this depressing diagnosis, she denied the truth and behaved recklessly, immaturely, and impulsively, deciding to "live boldly, like there was no tomorrow."
It is agonizing to observe Kear's emotional and physical torment. For years, she keeps her condition hidden from all but her closest friends and relatives. It is difficult not to cringe at the terrible decisions she makes and the foolish risks that she takes. On the other hand, we empathize with this funny, self-deprecating, and ambitious young woman. How does someone on the cusp of adulthood face a bleak future with equanimity? Nicole wants to become an actress, fall in love, marry, and have babies. Will she be able to retain her independence--get a job, drive a car, and take care of children? Who will provide a roadmap to guide her down this difficult path?
Kear's determination keeps her from losing hope; one cannot help but applaud someone who, like Dylan Thomas, rages against the dying of the light. Nicole is stubborn and intensely private, but she finally realizes that there is no shame in seeking support from professionals, friends, and family. Ultimately, she taps into a bountiful supply of courage and resilience that she never realized she had. "Now I See You" is a bittersweet, darkly humorous, profane, and candid memoir that will make you laugh and cry at the same time.
Editor's note: This review was written by Eleanor Bukowsky and has been reposted with permission. Like what you read? Subscribe to the SFRB's free daily email notice so you can be up-to-date on our latest articles. Scroll up this page to the sign-up field on your right
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The Key Elements of Great Houses
Why Hire An Expert To Remodel Your Kitchen And Bathroom
When we live in a house there are times when we need to create more space while we are interested in installing new appliances or when we look to upgrade an existing one. One of the most challenging exercises to most non-experts is kitchen and bathroom remodeling as there are different activities that are involved. Any mistake, when one is remodeling a house, will not only leave the house owner counting financial loses but will also leave the whole family exposed to danger. We hereby analyze some of the pitfalls of remodeling a house when you aren't an expert.
As mentioned earlier them main parts that are targeted when remodeling a house are the bathrooms and the kitchens which involve a lot of plumbing and thus may prove to be problematic to individuals lacking plumbing skills. When one is not familiar with hooking up pipes or rerouting them the whole remodeling process may turn to be a disaster. When one encounters such a challenge, they are likely to leave the remodeling exercise incomplete as they lack a way to work it out. When one stall they will have to find an expert who will only increase the cost of the project and for one to avoid wasting time, effort and resource it is advisable that they hire an expert from the start to handle the project.
In do-it-yourself projects one may lack the necessary equipment they need to remodel the house and when one hires one and mishandle it they may injure themselves. While one does not budget for such accidents, when they happen one will have to seek for medical help adding to the remodeling cost. With regard to the cost, one may also miscalculate the cost of the project and thus stall the project at some point. One may also not have the knowledge on the quality of pipes, tiles, and lumber to purchase when they are seeking to remodel the house which will lead to wrong buys and thus a loss to the homeowner. However, one can bank on the expertise advice from the kitchen and bathroom experts on what quality and quantity of items to purchase as they have the experience having handled other remodeling projects.
House remodeling also calls for experts as the installation of the new appliances demands for numerous electricity hookups in the kitchen and when one is not an expert they are likely to put a foot wrong with the wiring. Low-quality wires or poor installation of the wiring systems can cause fire thus the need to involve experts. In the case of wrong plumbing, the leaking pipes may lead to wet and slippery surfaces which may lead to slip-and-fall accidents leaving one with injuries and medical bills to settle.
The Best Advice About Homes I've Ever Written


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So in school, i get frees.
Usually, when I'm not motivated, i take it as an opportunity to take advantage of the school's photoshop.
And that's exactly what i did this afternoon with the SuperPrincess shots of Emily.
Re-vamped, re-edited, re-beautified.
Ah lovely.
Let me know what edits you like the best :) Also, anyone who reads this blog can comment, so even if you don't have a blogger account, please leave me some love.
It would be much appreciated :)
Have a beauty full weekend.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Hidden treasures {Part Three..}
Posted by Katherine Schultz at 5:13 PM
4 comments:
Hi KatherineReplyDelete
Thanks for stopping by my blog and your lovely comment. Your images are fantastic and in this post I love the middle pic. I love the warmth of all three xx
- Lisa HarrisonMarch 5, 2010 at 5:41 PM
The first one.ReplyDelete
Love it. Something about the 'off' black and white.
They are all fantastic though.
- AnonymousMarch 5, 2010 at 6:02 PM
Your blog is looking so beautiful. I love all three of the photos, I'm not sure i could choose :)ReplyDelete
These are all beautiful how could I possibly pick one! If you twist my arm I'd probably pick the second one but ask me again tomorrow and I might change my mind :) I'm off for a wee peek through the rest of your blog now :)ReplyDelete
Any comments are more than welcome and greatly appreciated. If you wish to chat further, email me here: email@example.com
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"I'd like to extend my deepest sympathies to the family of Michael Brown. As I've said in the past, I know that regardless of the circumstances, they experienced the loss of a loved one to violence, and I know that the pain that accompanies such a loss knows no bounds."
Before the minute was up, St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch turned his attention from empty platitudes to social media. For the next two minutes and 24 seconds, he issued what would be the first of many attempts to dismiss and discredit witness testimony and media reports, and all who mourned and mourn the death of Michael Brown.
McCulloch has been soundly and rightly eviscerated for Monday's press conference, so I won't belabor the point. What has been less talked about is that what Bob McCulloch did in those opening three minutes is played out on a national stage each and every day. Confronted by systemic trauma, and a level of grief that is generations in the making, we offer perfunctory expressions of sympathy, and ask for silence in return. Just as we are not treated equally in life, we are not treated equally in death.
Between 2005-2012, nearly two black men a week were killed by white policemen in the US, according to a report by USA Today: a statistic that's likely dwarfed by reality, given that we have no federal database on the number of deadly police shootings, and accurate numbers are consequently hard to come by. A study by Pro-Publica found that young black males were 21 times more likely to be shot dead by police than their white counterparts. On Sunday, a 12-year-old African American boy was shot in the stomach and killed, when Cleveland police mistook his toy gun for a real one.
Among those who've lived through loss, the experience of having a friend or colleague express quick words of sympathy before immediately changing the subject is one that is all too familiar. To families and entire communities left in a perpetual cycle of compounded grief, we offer platitudes and sympathy: empty words designed to fill the silence, before we change the subject.
That ours is a nation that is profoundly uncomfortable with grief and death is hardly news. But the roots of what's happening in Ferguson, and our failure to acknowledge the pounding grief that is, for many people of color in America, part of a daily reality, lay somewhere else entirely.
I spend a lot of time thinking about and talking about and writing about loss, and I work with and alongside many others who are doing the same. I can say with some confidence that vulnerability is newly in vogue, and that conversations about death and dying are opening up as never before. Yet those efforts -- our efforts -- too often ignore a central fact: we cannot talk about poverty, race, systems-failure, or opportunity in America without talking about grief. And we cannot talk about grief without talking about those for whom grief is the product, not of one loss or of several losses, but of countless losses, born out daily in the streets and sustained over generations. The story of Mike Brown, and the decision of a grand jury not to indict the police officer who shot him, demands we ask whose deaths and whose grief we choose to take seriously.
I understand how easy it is to stay silent on the subject, to believe it is better to say nothing at all. I do not know what it is to be met with distrust each time I step into an elevator, or a clothing store. I do not know what it is to raise a child whose safety on the streets is at constant risk due to the color of his skin. I do know what it is to experience the combination of acute pain and overwhelming numbness that so often accompanies loss. But I do not know what it is like to live with that combination day in and day out, as each loss compounds in the wake of chronic, complex, and collective trauma.
But I do know that the minute we begin to "other" each other, to think that because we don't know what to say, it is better to say nothing at all, we deny each other a voice and a chance to be seen and to be heard. I do know that such silences become yet another way of silencing each other, of ignoring systemic abuses, of perpetuating the status quo.
There are no words that will give Leslie McSpadden her son back. But her grief can be witnessed. We can acknowledge the raw, visceral anguish of a mother, whose unarmed son was shot "six or seven times," in McCulloch's words, and we can do so without averting our gaze. And we can sit with the collective rage and historic grief erupting on the streets of Ferguson and cities across the country, without changing the subject.