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Anne Rice
Anne O'brien Rice has a bit of a history here at The Cult. Since lost in the great Drupal transfer of the aughts, the incident in question exists solely as hearsay and conjecture, bandied about the hallowed halls of the forum like some sort of literary urban legend. As the story goes, Ms. Rice didn't take too kindly to comments made about her work by some keyboard critic and decided to open up a can of whup ass. Since there is no record of the event, it begs the question- if a bestselling author raises a stink and nothing exists to prove it, did it ever actually happen? Only longtime Culties know for sure, and even their recollection has grown fuzzy over time.
Shedding some light on this bit of Cult folklore was one the main reasons I pursued this interview, and it was not an endeavor I undertook lightly. I went into it with a fair amount of trepidation, as Rice's reputation for not backing down from a fight preceded her. In fact, the outspoken author has been courting controversy like it was a debutante for over forty years. So color me surprised, because the Anne Rice I spoke to turned out to be so god-damned nice that I actually felt guilty about my irreverent review of her memoir and the religious flame war it incited.
And speaking of religion, did I mention Rice recently renounced Christianity and her affiliation with the Catholic Church? The outspoken Catholic turned atheist turned Catholic turned religious detractor has come full circle and then some in her ongoing quest for theological truth. She also has a new book coming out. Of Love And Evil, the second novel in the Songs of the Seraphim series, descends from heaven via Knopf on Tuesday, November 30th. We discussed all this and more as I tried to get a handle on the enigmatic personality that is Anne Rice.
JOSHUA CHAPLINSKY: You have a bit of a history here at ChuckPalahniuk.net that I'd like to address and get out of the way. You confronted some of your detractors on our forums a few years back, I don't know if you remember...
ANNE RICE: No, I don't. What was it about?
JC: To be honest, I'm not 100% sure, because the posts were lost in some website upgrades, which is why I was asking. What I've heard is, much like you did on Amazon.com, you were confronting people who were criticizing your work.
AR: I really don't remember. What was the name of the website at the time?
JC: ChuckPalaniuk.net. It's the official website of "Fight Club" author Chuck Palahniuk.
AR: No, I'm sorry, I don't have any memory of it at all.
JC: Well let me ask you this, then. What compels you to confront your detractors?
AR: When?
JC: Specifically on Amazon.com, in the customer reviews for your books.
AR: The reviews that appeared at that time, they've all been taken down by Amazon, so there's no record of what actually happened. But at the time, there were quite a few reviews that prompted me to make the statement that I made. I felt that they were abusive and weren't legitimate reviews, and they were removed. So I removed my statement too, and no record really exists now of what that situation was.
[Savvy internet users should have no problem finding documentation of said incident]
JC: Do you feel very protective of your work and characters?
AR: Yes and no. I'm used to being criticized and used to controversy. That's been going on for forty years. I certainly do try to protect my characters from misunderstandings, but there's nothing you can really do about detractors. You can speak up and state your piece, but people have a right to not like you. They have a right to criticize you and a right to attack you.
JC: Do you ever regret reacting in a defensive manner?
AR: Not at all. I received a great many emails from other people who had been deeply hurt on Amazon by unconscionable attacks and they supported me very much in what I did. They said they were afraid to speak out themselves and they were very glad that somebody did. So I certainly don't regret it. I don't really regret too much of anything. I have many times said and done controversial things and I move on.
JC: You definitely seem to have embraced the tools of the information age to communicate not only with your detractors, but with your fans as well. How has the internet changed your relationship with them over the years? Is it more than just a tool for promotion?
AR: Oh, certainly it's more than just a tool for promotion. It's infinitely more than that. I think before the internet I only saw my readers when I did signings. I would get the chance to talk to a reader for maybe thirty seconds- a minute or two at the most. Of course mail did come, and I did make an effort to read the mail, but really those were years of relative isolation. I was aware of my readers, but I really didn't have the kind of interaction with them that email makes possible.
I didn't get a public email, or any email, really, until about 2003. That's when I began to sort of go into the internet age. I began to look at sites like Amazon directly and I began to email people and answer emails, and it was wonderful. I found out a lot more about my readers- who they were and what they thought. It gave me a much broader picture of what the response to a book really was. I mean, it can take a very long time to find out how a book has been received. In the years before the internet it was very easy to put too much emphasis on a remark made by one or two people. You'd have the sales figures, but so many things go into the sales figures. They have to do with competition in the market place, they have to do with how well the publisher publicizes the book. But the internet really made me aware of the audience that existed for various books and how they felt about those books. So I love it. I spend every morning answering emails from all over the world. I also have a Facebook page with about 147,000 people on it, and we discuss things all the time.
JC: Let's talk about the new novel. At the end of "Of Love And Evil", Toby goes to confession and re-consecrates his life as a Catholic, much like you did a decade ago. Was the writing of this novel completed before your recent denouncement of Catholicism?
AR: Yes, it was, but I think the reason Toby does that in the book is a little different from the reasons I did it. Toby realizes that even though he's seen angels and talked with angels and traveled through time and been a witness to miracles, that he's still a human being. And he still has human doubts and a human need to belong with other humans. The novel is really about that, about the consequences of what he's done as a human being amongst other human beings, including Leona, his old girlfriend, and Little Toby, his son. And whether or not there are going to be consequences with regard to his activities as a government assassin. I think I was reflecting on the fact that no matter how strong a conversion you have, there will be times when you will be afraid and you will have doubts. This is part of the human condition. Even if you talk with angels, you will still be a human being and you will still want the companionship of another human being and you will still want sex with another human being. And Toby is confronting all these things- it's the aftermath of the conversion that he's facing.
JC: How does his experience differ from yours?
AR: He's still in the process of wanting to belong to the Roman Catholic church. I have, after twelve years, actually moved away from wanting to belong to organized religion.
JC: How will that affect the future of the series? Will this be reflected in the writing?
AR: Probably so, because my novels always reflect whatever I'm obsessed with. They are always about the questions I have- about right and wrong, how to live, what salvation is. That's in all my books, from "Interview With The Vampire" to the present time. So I imagine that yes, they will reflect that. I mean, clearly in these novels, angels are real. That's part of the framework of these novels. So he's dealing with something that I have never dealt with. I've never seen an angel. I've never seen a vampire, either. So my books are not going to be directly autobiographical, but they will certainly reflect my concerns.
JC: When Toby writes the account of his adventure, he writes, "Who would not have lied to save Jews in our own time from genocide at the hands of the 3rd Reich?" which is a good question. Why wouldn't God and the angels charge Toby to save all the Jews, as opposed to one or two?
AR: You know, that is something that I'd like to deal with in future novels. I think there's gonna come a point where he will say that very thing- why is it you send me on these missions, yet the world is filled with horrors? In "Memnoch The Devil," that was a big question. What is the nature of God and what is the nature of the devil and why is there human suffering and horror everywhere? I've never resolved those issues- I don't think anybody ever really does- and that will come up again. I think that's a very legitimate question.
JC: Your views on the subject at the time you wrote "Memnoch," have they changed?
AR: The questions haven't changed, but the views have changed. I do believe in God and I don't see God the way I did in "Memnoch." I don't see him as an indifferent or cold being. I believe in a loving god and a god who takes care of us in his own way, but I think I still have a lot of questions about the human condition. I wrote that book as an atheist, as somebody who wasn't willing to commit to a belief in God, but now I do believe in God and I'm a much more optimistic person. When I did experience my conversion I saw, for whatever it was worth, the possibility of a god in which all the answers were there. I could at least envision the possibility that all human suffering had a purpose. I didn't feel that when I wrote "Memnoch."
JC: You wrote this book at a time when you were still a member of the Catholic faith. What compelled you to write about the mistreatment of Jews during the Renaissance at the hands of the Catholic church?
AR: I've always been fascinated with the history of the Jews. I've written two novels about Jesus in which he's a Jew living in a Jewish family, with tremendous attention to portraying the Jewish community accurately- the friendly and kind Rabbis, the friendly and kind Pharisees. So I've been interested for a long time in Jesus as a Jew and Christianity as a mutation of Judaism. I love the way the Jews survive in period after period despite being persecuted. And I was in love with the idea that Toby would be sent by the angels without any explanation to rescue Jews who had prayed to God for help. I wanted to present the idea that God is a loving god that takes care of everyone, especially the Jews- well, I wouldn't even say especially. Let's just say he takes care of everyone. Theoretically, within the construct of the novel, God is sending angels to take care of all kinds of people who are praying. Toby could have adventures in a Muslim village, he could go to ancient Egypt- there's just no telling, you know?
I think too many people today don't know the real history of the Jews and their interactions with Christians. When I'm writing something like "Of Love and Evil," what's fascinating to me is not just the horrors of the persecution Jews underwent. I'm also fascinated by the fact that the Pope had a Jewish physician, and that Jewish physicians could require Christians to indemnify them against lawsuits. To me, that is amazing. Jews and Christians have lived together in complex ways that people today don't realize. As one Jewish writer said, the whole history of the Jews is not just one of relentless persecution. There's a whole lot more to it. Like in "Angel Time," when I was dealing with the middle ages in England, I was fascinated by the fact that many Christians were going to Jewish scholars to study Hebrew, so that they could better understand the Jewish background of Christianity. There were Jews that lived in Oxford and taught in Oxford. History would erase all that. History would just tell us the horrible things. I love showing all the nuances of the situation.
JC: Are the new age arguments Ankanoc uses to test Toby's faith doubts you yourself have dealt with?
AR: Definitely. I've read a very compelling author, Robert K. Monroe, [a book called] "Journeys Out of Body." Everything Ankanoc was saying comports with Robert Monroe and people who travel out of body and feel they have dealt with spirits out of body and different dimensions and so forth. I meant to give a fairly solid argument there.
JC: What was the reaction from your fans like when you decided to write religious themed novels?
AR: There was a lot of rejection. But there were other people who said, we'll be happy with anything your write. And then I got a whole bunch of new readers, that are Christian readers, and people who are not necessarily Christians, but have only read the "Christ The Lord" novels and the "Angel Time" novels. They don't like vampires and are not interested in Gothic horror. So I tapped into a new readership. I'd say I have at least three or four readerships. But there was definitely one readership that was very angry. And of course a lot of people today just have very negative feelings about Christians. They're not necessarily goths or vampire lovers, but they just don't like Christians; they're very suspicious of them. So I got a lot of negative feedback.
JC: Will you be writing any more novels on the life of Christ?
AR: I want very much to continue the series, but it's very difficult to write about the public life of Jesus without getting into terrible theological controversy. The first two novels are about his private life, and they're very biblically correct and they're certainly reflective of Catholic theology. They were very well received by a lot of Protestants and Catholics, and they got a better shake than my earlier work had gotten. Better reviews than I'd ever gotten. But at the same time, there was still controversy. Why did you interpret the Bible this way instead of that way? And when you get into the public life of Christ, where I am now with the series, you can really get into a lot of hot water. And I haven't figured out a way to do it. I could present the scenes with Christ that I really love and think are important, but other people have entirely different ideas about what he said and what he meant and what he did and what we are to do in response. Any novelist or filmmaker who deals with Jesus is always dealing with his or her own interpretation of Jesus. That's clear. But at least you want try to be responsible to the tradition and to some objective idea of what Jesus taught. I had such a bad experience the last few years with Christians that I don't know how to do it.
JC: Are you afraid of the controversy? Because you haven't shied away from confrontation it in the past.
AR: It's not so much I'm afraid of it, it's that I have no appetite for it. I'm tired of fighting with Christians; I really don't want to do it anymore. My goal in writing the novels was pretty simple. It was to take everything I believed about Jesus traditionally and say, yes, you can make a living, breathing character from this person in a novel that would be biblical correct. You can have angels sing at his birth, have his mother be a virgin- you can do all that and you can make a real fiction out of it. And I had really hoped that that would be a great thing. That people would think, wow, I never thought about Jesus before, but now I can see why people believe this. I had all those ideas and to a large extent, that worked. How do I keep making that work? I don't quite know.
JC: I read that there were plans for a film version of "Christ The Lord: Out of Egypt." Is that still happening?
AR: No. Well, actually, there are new plans. Those [original] plans did go south; that plan fell apart and it was very disappointing. There is some new interest in it, but unfortunately nothing is really concrete yet. There is a wonderful director and producer who is very interested, so I'm hopeful.
JC: Can you tell us who that is?
AR: No, that would be a violation. You can't do that before something is signed and done in Hollywood.
JC: Who, in your mind, would be the ideal person to play Jesus in an adaptation of Anne Rice's novels about Christ?
AR: Well, for the man Jesus, I have always wanted Johnny Depp. I think he would be exactly the person to radiate the goodness and gentleness of Jesus. I think he would be extraordinary. But there are other people who could do it. There's a great English actor, Richard Armitage, that I think would be wonderful as Jesus. There are quite a few young British actors who I think could do it, but that's just who springs to mind right now. I don't think Johnny Depp wants to do it, but I don't know, maybe he would. It would be wonderful to me if he did. You know who else could do it, is the same person who played him for Mel Gibson, James Caviezel. But I don't think he would want to play Jesus again.
JC: What do you think about past cinematic attempts at Christ's life? Specifically controversial ones like "The Last Temptation of Christ" and Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ?"
AR: Actually, I liked both those movies very much. I was an atheist when I watched "The Last Temptation of Christ," and I thought it was a beautiful movie. It made me think of Christ and made me want to go back to him. I thought it was very inspiring and I was deeply moved by it. I certainly was not outraged by that movie, and later when I converted and did go back, I still loved that movie. I mean, to me art should be complex and challenging. I'm not a puritan.
"The Passion of The Christ," I loved also. Mel Gibson went to the extremes of really portraying a first century execution the way it would have taken place. It's biblically correct, and I thought it was magnificent. I thought James Caviezel was great, that he exactly combined a traditional Semitic Jesus- dark hair, dark eyes, dark skin- with the Jesus of devotion that so many of us know. It's not a flawless movie, no movie is, but I thought it was wonderful. And I certainly didn't agree with all the people criticizing it for its violence. My God, you see more violence on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit every night. Heaven's sake, it's so hypocritical for people to jump on that movie because of the violence. I mean, we watch war movies, we watch westerns, we watch movies about serial killers who torture people. And then they jump on that movie because it was violent? Come on. That's a double standard. You can be violent about everything else, but you can't make a movie about Jesus and have it be violent?
JC: How do you feel about the criticism over the film's depiction of the Jews, being someone who is very interested in their history?
AR: They were right to criticize that part. Mel Gibson could have done a better job, and I wish he had. But that was a small part of the movie and, to do him justice, he was working with the Gospels, and that's the picture one can infer from the Gospels. Could he have bent over backwards to balance that picture, to present it a different way, to mingle sympathetic Jews with hostile Jews? Yes, he could have. Unfortunately he didn't, and people were upset. I myself, I did not see it as anti-semitic- the man's dealing with the Gospels, presenting what they said. We can't really rewrite the Gospels. We can say they are anti-semitic, yes, but we can't rewrite them.
JC: In light of Mel Gibson's current problems, is that the kind of Christian you are trying to distance yourself from, having renounced Catholicism?
AR: Not me. We're all human beings. I don't care too much about people's private lives. I care about the art they make. I don't know that I would have liked living around Tolstoy or Hemingway. What matters to me is the short stories and the novels they wrote. Mel's movies are much more important to me than anything he does personally. Those are his problems. I don't see going around getting sanctimonious over what somebody says when they're drunk. I was a terrible drunk up until 1979, and if someone had tapes and pictures of me drunk, screaming at people, it would ruin my life, too.
JC: Your memoir, "Called Out of Darkness," feels like a love letter to the rites and ritual of Catholicism. Do you still see the beauty in it, now that you've moved away from organized religion? How do you feel about that book now?
AR: The book certainly was part of the process, for me, of moving away. I had to confront what I believed in the book. I had to dig deep, and toward the end of the book you can see me moving away. I talk about the confusing aspects of being a Catholic. Yes, I still love the ritual and I still love the beauty, and I think it's one of the most powerful things the Catholic Church has to offer people, but my social and theological concerns became so great, that that entire experience was poisoned. I couldn't keep going just for the beauty of the mass and the beauty of the Eucharist. I had too many deep, theological questions and concerns. Twelve years of study led me to some surprising, stunning conclusions about the whole endeavor.
JC: When you had your conversion, you said you were going to be writing for Christ from then on. Does that mean you have left the world of the vampires completely behind?
AR: Well, I think one can write vampire novels that are for God; I don't think that in itself is necessarily impossible. I don't want to write them anymore because the vampire, for me, was a real metaphor for my atheistic self. All the vampire novels I wrote reflected my feeling of being lost in the darkness. So, no, I don't want to go back.
And also, I wrote twelve of them. I mean, enough already. I did it and did it and did it. I didn't have any more to say. I haven't thought of one single story with Lestat in the last ten years. He's alive to me, and I think of all the things he did and I think he's out there roaming around, but I don't have any more stories for him. How many times can I go through it? I want to write about different things now. I want to write about angels and immortals who don't have to kill somebody. I felt like I did the best I could with the theme.
JC: Did you ever consider combining the world of Jesus and the angels with that of Lestat and the Vampires, or is that too silly?
AR: No, I can't do that. I don't believe vampires exist. I can't combine them because I do believe angels exist and I do believe in God and I can't really bring those surreal, fictional vampires into anything profound about Jesus or God. Not now. I did it with "Memnoch," but I was an atheist. Now I'm going in a different direction and I have to keep writing as a believer, with that optimism.
JC: In the past you've written erotica under a couple different pen names. These books were written before your re-consecration to Christ.
AR: Haha, they certainly were.
JC: Is the overt sexuality and sado-masochistic subject matter in those books something that conflicts with your current spirituality or beliefs?
AR: You know, that's an interesting question. I really do believe that sex is good and that religion should leave sex alone. You know, Christianity has never really been about sex, but Christians in the last few hundred years have made it about sex. They're really obsessing over it in the 21st century. At one point they backed off from the stars. They backed off and said, Ok, maybe Galileo is right, we won't imprison any astronomers any more. We'll leave the stars to the scientists. And the Catholic church hasn't come out and condemned the guy who discovered DNA or the fossil record- they tried all that and it failed. So I wish they would do the same thing with sex. I wish that they'd say, OK, sexual behavior has to do with ethics and psychology and we were wrong to think that we have to rule how people behave sexually.
So in a way, I am the same person I was when I wrote those books, because I believe sex is good, and I believe people have a right to fantasy. There is a value to putting your fantasies down on paper, and being able to go to those fantasies in a safe place. I was never recommending that people do those things literally.
JC: So you don't disassociate yourself from those works?
AR: No, never. I don't list them on my website, and I have sort of complex reasons for that. I'm not sure that I want to advocate or publicize pornography, and those books are pornography. I think it is too easily misunderstood and I prefer to focus on my other works, but they're out there under my name, and I do answer emails about them.
JC: Are there any more memoirs in your future, considering your changing religious beliefs?
AR: I do feel a pressure to write about that, but I'm not ready. It's going to take a while for me to figure out. I would like to write a record of the conclusions I came to. I'm still very concerned with religion and what it does, and I post a lot about it on Facebook. I think there is a memoir there about why I moved away and what I found to be theologically correct, but I'm not ready. I'm not a natural non-fiction writer. It's hard for me. It's easier for me to make up a world and talk about these things in novels.
JC: What are you working on next?
AR: Right now I'm writing a book about immortals on the planet who have survived since the time of ancient Atlantis. It's a novel I'm writing for fun and I'm finally going to be able to do my idea of what the fall of Atlantis was like. It's something I've wanted to do for years. I've always been in love with the whole idea of Atlantis and I've never been happy with the way anyone has dealt with it. These immortals are not vampires, they are a different kind of immortal and I want to write about them in the 21st century and the problems they have in our time. I'm very interested in that- the origins of life on earth, aliens having visited the planet. I really want to make this a big juicy novel about all that stuff.
JC: Is that something you actually consider the possibility of? Aliens?
AR: Oh, yeah. I haven't been convinced that there's any proof of it, but I think it's a possibility. Dr. Crik, who discovered DNA, he believed that DNA had come here from another planet. He didn't think there had been sufficient time on earth to develop life and DNA. That, to me, was a sobering fact. I think he called it directed panspermia, the idea that DNA had come here- and you don't have to believe aliens brought DNA, you can believe it came on a comet or a meteor. So I'm kind of fascinated by all that and I love to read speculative books by people like Colin Wilson and Graham Hancock. The writings of Edgar Cayce, Madame Blavatsky- all of the people who talk about the origin of life on earth. I don't necessarily believe one person, but I'm really loving the idea of doing my novel about it.
ANNE RICE on FACEBOOK
The Cult reviews Called Out Of Darkness
Joshua Chaplinsky has also written for Twitch. He was a guitarist in the band SpeedSpeedSpeed and alternately maintains/neglects his own blog at thejamminjabber.


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BOSTON, Mass. -- Eastern Connecticut State University's pitching carried the day, as pitchers Molly Rathbun and Kassondra Silva each combined to shut out the Beacons in both ends of the team's Little East Conference doubleheader at the UMass Boston Softball Field. The third ranked Warriors (23-1, 6-0) won the first game 6-0 behind a one-hitter from Rathbun, before beating the Beacons (13-11, 1-5) 7-0 in the second game.
Senior shortstop Sue Killilea (Abington, Mass.) was the lone Beacon to record multiple hits in the doubleheader. She broke up Rathbun's no-hit bid in the top of the seventh of the first game with a triple to center field, before knocking out two singles in the second game. The Beacons managed just eight baserunners on the day.
In the first game, Rathbun was dominant, striking out 17 of the 22 batters she faced and allowed just the lone hit to Killilea. She also added two hits in five trips to the plate. Sophomore shortstop Megan Godwin was the offensive star for the Warriors, with a perfect 4-for-4 day with three RBI and a run scored.
In the circle for the Beacons, senior Kara Willis (Burrillville, R.I.) allowed six earned runs in seven innings while striking out three.
UMass Boston was within striking distance for the first several innings, as Willis kept the Warriors scoreless in the first and then allowed jut a single run in the next four innings. But the Beacons could do get anything going against Rathbun who struck out 10 of the first 12 UMass Boston hitters.
Godwin put the game away in the seventh with a two-run homer to left-field that gave the Warriors a 6-0 lead.
But with the Beacons facing a no-hitter in the seventh, Killilea fell behind 1-2 before blasting a deep fly ball to center field. Center fielder Mattie Brett twisted and turned and failed to come up with the ball as it hit the bottom of the fencing and Killilea raced into third base standing up. The next three Beacons failed to drive her in, as Rathbun was able to retire the next three batters in order to earn the win.
In the second game, UMass Boston connected showed some signs of offensive spark, but were unable to get anything going against Silva who moved to 7-0. The junior struck out three and allowed just five hits and two walks over seven innings. She also chipped in offensively with a 2-for-4 day with three RBI.
For the Beacons, Killilea recorded two hits for the team, while senior Maria Nasta (Andover, Mass.) chipped in with a hit and a walk. Erika Vecchiet (Pequannock, N.J.) and Lauren Perra (Taunton, Mass.) also added hits for the Beacons.
Freshmen pitcher Michelle Zullo (Everett, Mass.) earned just her second loss in her last eight starts, by alowing seven runs, four earned, over seven innings. Zullo gave up just seven hits, but walked four against one strikeout.
The teams were scoreless for the first two frames, before ECSU scratched across a run in the top of the third. Godwin walked and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, before coming in to score on a hard-hit single by Rathbun.
UMass Boston challenged with a scoring threat in the bottom of the inning, when senior Jaci Goodwin (Melrose, Mass.) walked and advanced to third on a single from Nasta with one out. After Nasta advanced to second on a groundout from Amanda Perry (Worcester, Mass.), Hemstock sent a flare towards the right side but the Warriors second baseman tracked it down to end the inning.
Eastern Connecticut posted three unearned runs in the fourth inning off of two Beacon errors, and extended the lead to 5-0 in the sixth when Silva drove in Mattie Brett with a single. They Warriors finished the scoring on a two RBI single from Silva to earn a 7-0 lead.
UMass Boston put together a rally in the bottom of the seventh, but it unfortunately fell just short. With Perra on first and two outs, Lisa Polsonetti (Revere, Mass.) struck out on a pitch in the dirt, but dashed down to first base before the catcher could throw her out. Killilea then hit a grounder down to second base and beat the throw, as the second baseman fell to her knees. Unfortunately the Warriors managed to close out the final frame and secure the sweep with the game's final out, a groundout to short.
The Beacons will be back in action on Wednesday when they host Keene State College at 3:30 p.m. in a Little East Conference doubleheader.

subset: commoncrawl


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Possible Duplicate:
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If I'm quoting something someone said and the quote does not have a question mark, but I want to end the sentence with a question mark, would it be
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Are you sure she said "Spicy"?


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This morning on NPR's "Morning Edition," I heard a very interesting interview between Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep and Newsweek correspondent Jonathan Alter, regarding the death yesterday of Elizabeth Edwards. Mr. Alter, himself a cancer survivor, recalled to NPR his interactions with Ms. Edwards during this interview. A portion of that interview conveyed some news I hadn't heard regarding Ms. Edwards, her reaction to her cancer and her attitude toward faith as a factor in dealing or not dealing with that cancer:
Jonathan Alter: What struck me in that interview shortly after her recurrence was her brutal honesty, which I think the rest of the world came into contact with in later years.
Steve Inskeep: What do you mean?
Jonathan Alter: Especially struck by how honest she was on the issue of faith, which most presidential candidates and their spouses have – are required almost by the world we live in that – to talk with great sincerity about their religious faith and what Elizabeth said on that particular occasion was that she couldn't see how she could believe in a god who would blow her 16-year-old son off the road and kill him in an auto accident in 1996 and that any god who could do that was a god that she was not going to be praying to to cure her cancer because if he wouldn't save her son, he wasn't going to save her. And that was just reflective of the degree of honesty that she achieved after she had this horrible life experience.
Frankly, I find this to be rather extraordinary: that a person in high political visibility is willing to dismiss the supposed efficacy of faith and not shrink away from the glare of the public eye in doing so.
Whether Elizabeth Edwards was an atheist or agnostic is less the issue here than is her willingness to say what she means, to play her cards face-up on an issue such as this, when the expectation as Mr. Alter mentions is for faith and belief in god to be the Alpha and Omega of their approach.
Brava, Elizabeth.
Views: 169
You've heard, of course, that the Westboro Baptist Church is planning to picket her funeral?
My local atheist group is part of the counter-protest, yeah. Looks like we've got 20-something people going, and then there will be other groups, too. Some sort of quiet, respectful, human-buffer strategy or something.
Kudos for that - Lay it on THICK!!!
Are you going to mock them like a couple of previous protests did?
I wasn't able to make it, and I wasn't in on the planning of the event, anyway. What you're thinking of is probably the Comic Con counter-protest. There won't be anything like that going on. The last thing you want to do is add to the chaos. I don't know the specific game plan, but it'll be nothing boisterous.
Yeah, I've heard. That dipshit isn't about religion or god or even gays. Fred Phelps is an attention whore, and he'll do what he can to garner any he can and be as outrageous as he can in the process. That he now wants to bring his bullshit to a noted woman's funeral only tells me there is no depth of depravity he will not sink to.
I'm not a great one for endorsing violence ... but were his hair to get parted with a 30-06 round, I wouldn't shed tear one.
I think there are a lot more Atheist / Agnostics in Government than they are willing to admit because they know it will be the end of their political career. I would not mind some role in politics in the future. I am a Socialist Atheist. Not likely to happen, unless I lie about my religious beliefs, or lack of.
We all know Hillary Clinton is at least Agnostic, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Barack Obama. Pete Stark actually is an Atheist. I assume nearly everyone knows here that he came out a couple years ago as an Atheist. I would not be too shocked if Senator Bernie Sanders was an Atheist.
Yeah, we've got one or two out-of-the-closet atheists on the federal level, but for the most part, it's not a good idea to be out. You can only get away with it in the most liberal states.
And I would aruge, only in the House. You could not do it as a Senator - state wide.
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WWS for the healpriest
Using stats for the healpriest is trickier, not least because (as stated numerous times in numerous places) healing is a quality instead of quantity issue. Still, we can use the stats to our benefit. As with the shadowpriest version, I'm going to assume you've read the relevant prerequisite posts.
The really frustrating news is that there isn't a baseline, and there isn't a 'perfect situation'. Instead, we have to do this in tiny chunks of "what is", and then see if it could be better. That said, we CAN do things that give us useful numbers. And the first of these is to avoid (initially) raids. Whether it's heroic or not, use a 5-man instance for your starting point. Actually, use several. And the next 'harder than the dps' task to remember is: remember your pencil and paper. Or, if you've added one, a note-book addon (one that lets you make quick notes during the instance and save them for later review). At a minimum you want to note which player was your tank (and preferably some detail – spec and gear and impression of tanking skill.) You should also make a quick note if someone dies – or if you wipe – of impressions. (DPSer ignoring aggro? Multiple adds?) Oh – a really important note: were you spamming heals desperately trying to keep up, or were you dancing with the 5SR. And about what point (percent of total health or percent down) were you starting a heal on your tank – the others if you can, but the tank is important. Yes, impressions is enough because we're going to try to extract tiny bits of useful information. Now, we've got a combat log for a five-man (maybe hellfire ramparts) and we've got our notes, it's time to see what tidbits we can glean from the stats.
Whoops, one more thing. Get the tank's health. Now if you forgot it (as I led you to do just now – grin) you have a backup. Go to Warcraft's armory and get the tank's armory page, and get the health from there.
Now load up your combat log and open the stats, it's time to dig for minutia.
Let's start from screen one – full report: charts. Click on the heals tab. What does your overheals rate look like? Is it less than 10%? Less than 20 or 25%? More than 40%? Check your notes right now — were you chainhealing the tank all the time? Here's our first stop. If you were NOT chain-healing the tank but your overall overheal rate was in excess of 15%, you were being inefficient with your healing. If you WERE chainhealing the tank, the magic number is… it depends. Certainly if you were over 50%, probably if you were over 35% for the whole run – though there are exceptional circumstances. We'll be coming back to this, but it's a solid start point and data point to keep in mind.
Now review the same number for all the splits. Again, check your notes. If you were chain-healing, a higher overheal is no big deal. Likewise if you were trying to keep heals in opportunities – say, casting constant renews just before fears from Ambassador Hellmaw. Remember that the issue is quality, and there are very few hard-and-fast rules of "good" healing beyond "nobody died".
Speaking of "nobody died"… if you DID have someone die, it's time to do a bit of crawling. Go back to the full report, charts. For each player, click on their name. Note that just before the first chart – the last part of the data line – is "deaths" with a clickable time. When you click on the time you see the last few seconds of log that involves them. Here's what you're getting ready to do. You're seeing how fast they died, and you're going to look at what you were doing for the five to ten seconds prior to and overlapping their death. In more detail…
Look at the last few seconds, and see (and note – back to pencil and paper) how much damage they took and how fast it hit them. Look to see if you cast any heals on them in the midst of their dying – and what heal you cast. Then jump to the same time mark in YOUR log and see what you were doing – were you running in fear (remember to look fifteen seconds upwind), were you trying to heal someone else… ? Maybe you were out of range? (This will show up on your log, though it won't tell you who you were targeting.) Note this for every, single, death. And now look at them all for patterns.
For the non-tanks, were you slow or late? Were you busy? Were you consistently out of range? A little more digging – what do you remember (or have noted) on your tank — were you keeping him topped, and COULD YOU have paused toss a shield and renew on someone else without losing the tank? We'll get to that in a moment.
If it was the tank… why? Were you busy healing someone else and took too long? Was it essentially unpreventable – a one-two smash that did more damage than the tank had health? (A double – or triple – crit from some bosses will do this). What you're looking for is NOT self-condemnation, but a 'if this happens again, what could I have done differently to make it better – to have had fewer deaths on my watch?') With that thought in mind, it's time to jump to some details. Click on YOUR name and let's get started – full report, split, it doesn't matter as they're all going to be useful.
WWS will tell you your HPS. I think that's pretty worthless, myself, but if you were chainhealing it might give you a useful planning number. What IS going to be useful is the first table – heals. You can see how many of what heal you cast, and for each heal what the average heal was and what your overheal rate was. Another frustration time – if you're mixing lower and higher level casts of the same spell, it's going to combine them – WWS won't differentiate between GH2 and GH7 (for example). Assuming that is NOT your problem, you have another useful piece of information… Overheals by spell.
Now again, your notes are critical for remembering circumstances. For example, if you were chaincasting GH on the tank, overheals are to be expected. Likewise, if you were fighting a mob with a regular and severe AoE, it's possible you may have chosen to tap everyone with a renew before returning to the tank – which is why it's showing significant overheal rates. But there are other things to ask. As in…
If you're showing over half your heals as flash, ask yourself why. There can be excellent reasons for it, but if you were running about 15% overheal on a tank, doing 2000-2500 healing on a tank with 12,000 health (remember you got his health?), you were wasting an awful lot of mana — most of the time, of course. Most of the time, if a chaincast flash doing less than 15% the tank's health is keeping the tank topped (I'll do those numbers in a minute), then you had PLENTY of time to dance with the 5SR – or take a quick heal to the rest of the party as the case may be. I promised to run those numbers. If your average is 2250 and you're overhealing 15%, then you were 'only' using 85% of the 2250 or about 1900 healing. 1900 is about 15.8% of the tank's total health, meaning you started the heal as your tank reached 85%. Trust me, it's likely that you could have delayed and been able to watch the whole group AND have more mana by waiting to, well, even to 70% and casting greater heals. With, as always, caveats — if the tank's constantly plunging then keeping up the heals may be the difference between life and wipe. (Still, in this case I'd chain greater heals just because they're more mana efficient, meaning I'd last longer.)
Look at how often you cast what spells. Look lower to see who GOT your heals. In fact, take a quick switch to the "who heals whom" choice of "browse" to see what percentage of your heals went to which player.
What are you picking at these numbers to find? Did you use spells when you could have waited – and did you wait too long (or watch the wrong player)? Were you using mana intensive spells when you could have used a more efficient spell? Look at the times you healed the players other than the tank – did you hit everyone in sequence with a flash or renew (and so could have used a prayer of healing instead)?
Overheal in and of itself is a 'so what' issue. overheals when you had the opportunity to use reduced level spells – or other spells, or wait a couple of seconds with relative safety – are something to wonder about. Constant use of a mana-intensive spell may suggest the opportunity to use something else. And… if you specced for something, are you using it? If you specced for the lightwell did you cast it? Was there need for a Circle of Healing, and if so did you cast it? (probably not in a 5-man, but…) Did you use a binding heal, and on review was there opportunity?
These are the reasons you're looking at the stats. The raw numbers (beyond deaths) are, well, they dont' tell you enough of what you need to know, and give you false leads at the same time. But in combination with your battle notes AND the sequence logs, they may help you better identify what to use when so as to do more healing for longer times.
Have fun.
4 Responses to "WWS for the healpriest"
Phew… and they say healers have an easy job. Again, a very comprehensive write-up, although more difficult to follow through. If I am the only healer, I rarely find the time to take notes in an instance 😉 Often I find that the best information comes from talking with fellow healers – that is, if there are other healers. In any case, these are great tips if you try to find out what's wrong, thank you!
[…] – Healpriest – raids In the previous post, I told you to use a 5-man instance to do your analysis because it was "simpler." (As […]
Very GG – Yesterday was my first time in Sethekk and I figured I may have been doing some things wrong (with the first & second tank). But after reading this and analyzing my gameplay, I realize I was right on cue ^_^ Thx Much
[…] view, Priestly Endeavours (one of my favourite Priest blogs) has a first look at WWS along with WWS for holy priests (which I think should help other healing classes […]


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A knowledge management study was undertaken in the IUCN Asia Region to review the knowledge management needs and practices to help deliver the Asia Region Programme. A full report and action plan have been developed based on the surveys undertaken in October – November 2010.
The knowledge management study was undertaken by Rod Abson, Knowledge Management Officer in the Science and Knowledge Management Unit of IUCN from the 25th of October to 12th of November 2010, as part of a comprehensive review of IUCN's knowledge management needs and practices.
The overview questions being addressed by the mission were:
• What are the knowledge management needs to deliver the Asia Region programme?
• How can the knowledge management practices be targeted to deliver the information and knowledge in a format and time effectively for programme and project managers?
The report is based on:
• 30 staff interviewed directly, and 4 staff who completed the survey online (totalling 9 countries from: Bangladesh, China, India, Laos, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam);
• A field trip to Sri Lanka for the Mangroves for the Future Regional Steering Committee meeting, associated meetings and field trip to the Mangroves of Maduganga Estuary, and meeting with the Ecosystems and Livelihoods Group office in Colombo;
• A field trip to Northern Thailand, near Chiang Rai, to observe field sites under the Landscapes and Livelihoods Strategy around Doi Mae Salom.
A series of recommendations focusing on People, Processes and Technology were developed as a result of the study and are being implemented through an Asia Region Programme Knowledge Management Action Plan drawing on diverse components of IUCN throughout the Asia Region and globally. Click here for the full report .


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River exhibition marks special focus on water during World Environment Day in Jordan
Pollution and water exploitation of the Zarqa River in Jordan has come to a point where urgent restoration action is needed. "Past, Present & Future Perspective" is the theme of the Zarqa River Photo Exhibition that was inaugurated on 3 June 2007 on the occasion of World Environment Day in the Jordanian capital, Amman. The aim is not only to draw attention to water quality deterioration but its effect on community health, livelihoods and agriculture in this already dry and vulnerable region.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) through its West Asia, Central Asia & North Africa (WESCANA) Regional Office in partnership with the Jordanian Ministry of Environment took the lead in organizing this event, which is funded by the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Jordan, as part of their mutual cooperation in the field of Zarqa River Restoration.
From awareness to action, the Jordanian Minister of Environment HE Eng. Khaled Al Irani and IUCN WESCANA Regional Director, Dr. Odeh Al-Jayyousi reinforced the inauguration ceremony by signing a memorandum of understanding on the Zarqa River restoration process.
"This restoration of the river project is a long-term initiative which will take up to 10-15 years. We need strategic partners like IUCN and other donors to help us make this dream come true," Minister of Environment HE Eng. Khaled Al Irani said in his speech.
From the Royal Netherlands Embassy, HE Mr. H. Gajus Scheltema commended the Jordanian authorities on their decision to work on an integrated approach to solve the Zarqa River Pollution. Alluding to the river Rhine in Europe, the Dutch Ambassador said "It once was one of the most polluted rivers in the world and now, thanks to an integrated approach, is a very clean river".
"This exhibition is about reconstructive restoration of the past. We see conversion between past, present and future, and we believe that he who can construct images and draw, can influence the world," Dr. Odeh Al Jayyousi, IUCN WESCANA Regional Director said.
The proposed three year strategy for river restoration will be split up into several phases. Immediate pilot restoration activities will show people how progress can be achieved and what the benefits from a healthy river are. Economic progress from restoration will arise, touching on the agricultural, recreational and tourism sectors. Under phases two and three, the entire river and its ecosystems will be restored, estimated over a period of 10-15 years.
Exhibition photos were taken by the talented Jordanian photographer Dana Khreis who not only focused on the pollution of the river, but also took stunning photos of the beautiful plants and flowers growing alongside the river.
Dutch photographer Taco Anema's work is also exhibited with photos from "Tales of Water", a multimedia project that was launched last year during the World Water Forum in Mexico. This event also marked the start of Water for Schools; an international campaign to provide schools with safe water and sanitation facilities whilst focusing on education and long-term sustainable solutions. Taco Anema's main focus during the project was water and children; the way children live in and with this precious resource around the world.
As a side activity IUCN WESCANA organized a school art competition where children were given the chance to draw their future vision of the Zarqa River after being rehabilitated. Two schools contributed to this competition and three winners from each school were chosen and received prizes and certificates of appreciation by the Minister during the inauguration ceremony.
The Zarqa River is the third largest in Jordan. The deterioration of the groundwater quality in Zarqa basin is due to infiltration of wastewater to a level that is unsuitable for irrigation. With the high population growth and high demand for natural resources, especially water, the exploitation of natural resources of the Basin are reaching an irreversible state unless a strategic management plan is implemented in the coming decades. The current degradation of the environmental situation within the basin area has also undermined the quality of life of residential communities in the area.
Notes to editors
For more information or to set up interviews, please contact:
Rania Faouri, Communications Officer, IUCN WESCANA Regional Office Tel: +962 6 5680322 Fax: 00962 6 5680355, [email protected] Web: West Asia/ Middle East (WAME)
For more information on Water for Schools Project or Tales of Water, please contact:
Claire Warmenbol, IUCN Water Programme Communications Officer Mob: +41 79 404 1973, [email protected]
Tales of Water video will be broadcast tonight June 5th on the occasion of the World Environment Day on Beeaty Satellite Channel http://www.beeaty.tv/
About the World Conservation Union (IUCN)
Created in 1948, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) brings together 83 States, 110 government agencies, 800 plus NGOs, and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries in a unique worldwide partnership. The Union's mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.
The Union is the world's largest environmental knowledge network and has helped over 75 countries to prepare and implement national conservation and biodiversity strategies. The Union is a multicultural, multilingual organization with 1,000 staff located in 62 countries. Its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland.
More information can be found at www.iucn.org


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Tea party hero Rand Paul is warning that scientific advancements could allow the government to practice eugenics.
The Republican senator from Kentucky joined Republican Ken Cuccinelli's campaign for Virginia governor during a stop Monday at Liberty University, the Christian college founded by Jerry Falwell.
Paul says a swab inside a cheek or a prenatal test could predict an individual's potential based on DNA. He says that might allow government to "select out the imperfect among us" through abortion.
Some states ran eugenics programs that sterilized those considered defective in the 1900s, though all were abandoned by the 1970s after scientists discredited the idea.
Meanwhile, former President Bill Clinton joined Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe on the road for a second day in what is shaping up to be a campaign that will be decided by the furthest flanks of both parties.


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New York, May 17, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of online editor Jean-Claude Kavumbagu of Net Press on Monday but still questions the original charges placed against him. The High Court dropped charges of treason on May 13 but sentenced Kavumbagu to eight months in prison and a fine of 100,000 Burundian francs (US$80) for publishing "information that discredits the state and economy," according to defense lawyer Gabriel Sinarinzi. Authorities released Kavumbagu on Monday since he had already spent 10 months at Mpimba Prison in the capital, Bujumbura.
"While we are very relieved to hear Kavumbagu was finally released, there were no grounds to hold him in preventive detention in the first place," said CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes. "Authorities must end criminal prosecutions against press offenses and allow critical reporting without resorting to intimidation tactics."
Authorities detained Kavumbagu on July 17, 2010, and charged him with treason for an opinion piece that questioned whether the state security forces could defend the country if attacked by a terrorist threat. Kavumbagu had published the article on July 12, 2010, one day after Somali insurgents Al-Shabaab hit neighboring Kampala, Uganda, in a terrorist bomb attack. Treason charges are, however, only applicable during times of war, Sinarinzi told CPJ.
The prosecution also placed Kavumbagu in preventive detention, a ruling that can only be applied if the accused had jumped bail before. Five consecutive governments have arrested Kavumabgu for his critical reporting, he told CPJ, and in none of these cases has the online journalist been condemned or posed a flight risk.
Despite spending his longest period under detention at Mpimba Prison, a facility designed for 800 inmates but houses 3,500, Kavumbagu plans to start work again at Net Press next week. "Right now, though, I am just happy to be back with my family, playing with my children," he told CPJ.


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Oops: Ticketmaster Mixup Sells Out Obama Inaugural Ball
(WASHINGTON) — An inadvertent early sale of tickets to events surrounding President Obama's second inauguration means some would-be attendees won't get their chance to see the occasion.
Public sales for the inaugural ball at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and the day's parade were scheduled to be released Monday morning on Ticketmaster. But in an email to waiting buyers released by the vendor Monday, Ticketmaster admitted that sales inadvertently went up Sunday, a day early.
The mix-up was spurred when an email alert system for hopeful buyers misfired, directing recipients to Ticketmaster's sales site to complete their purchase.
A representative for Ticketmaster said the company was contractually bound not to discuss specifics of sales by its client, the President's Inaugural Committee. In a written statement the company said regardless of the timing error, tickets were always sold "on a first come first serve basis."
"While an e-mail indicating that Inaugural event tickets were available was sent earlier than planned, tickets to Inaugural events were sold per usual Ticketmaster process on a first come first serve basis. Everyone who purchased tickets for the Inaugural Ball and the Inaugural parade will receive their tickets," it reads.
"We understand the disappointment people feel if they were unable to obtain tickets, but like all other popular events, demand was much greater than supply," the statement reads. "Ticketmaster and PIC will continue to work closely to ensure everyone receives the latest ticketing information."
The end result was a massive rush on the tickets, completely selling out at least one event — the inaugural ball — before its intended sale time.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio


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text: Welcome to Bridgman Pottery, handmade porcelain and stoneware pottery created to add joy and beauty to your daily life. Look around, enjoy your visit. Care to join our mailing list? Please sign up below for periodic newsletters and events. I never sell or use your information, and you can opt out at any time. Thanks!


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MAC VIVAGLAM Ariana Grande./
MAC just announced their VIVAGLAM spokesperson for 2016 and it is good girl/ bad girl pop sensation Ariana Grande.
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text:
I have been doing karate for around four years. Here is the story of how I became an expert at karate:
One day, my mom asked me if I wanted to do karate. At that point, I was only four years old. Before I started karate, my mom and I had been walking in and looking at kids do karate. Then I took a free trial class. I really liked it so I kept on going.
My sensei's were sensei Tom and sensei Andy. I really liked sensei Tom because he really tried hard to teach you karate and he only played games if we were doing our best. I learned that the #1 rule in karate is always try your best. I liked sensei Andy because if we did good for about 20 minutes we would be able to play games for 25 minutes.
I went to karate with my friends: Kelly, Ethan, Deven, Dylan and Wyatt. Deven and I are the only ones who still go to karate. One day, I went to karate with my friend Dylan and there was a new sensei named sensei Trever. I was sad that sensei Tom and sensei Andy left but now I am happy that sensei Trever came. Also, sensei Romel came. He quit after about a year because he is on someTV shows. Along the way, my senseis Eric, Brandon and Leandro joined the dojo. Now after 4 years, I just got my 2nd brown belt. At my dojo, the belt order goes: white, yellow, orange, blue, purple, green, 1st red, 2nd red, 3rd red, 1st brown, 2nd brown, 3rd brown, black, 2nd black.