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Hopkins, Ellen. Identical. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2008. 565 pages. Tr. $15.34, ISBN: 978-1-41695-005-9
Plot: Kaeleigh and Raeanne are identical twins with some serious problems at home. Their father, an important district court judge, has been left alone while their mother is off campaigning for political office. Kaeleigh becomes his focus, and she is the subject of his unwanted, often twisted, affection. Raeanne is witness to her father's strange behavior, and she feels neglected as he completely ignores her. The girls are falling into terrible habits in order to cope with their loneliness and emotional pain; Kaeleigh begins cutting herself, bingeing and purging while Raeanne abuses drugs, alcohol, and falls into dangerous sexual behaviors. The behaviors are their ways to cope and control their situation, but they understand that they are only making things worse for them. Their alcoholic, abusive father is a menacing figure throughout the book. Both girls career toward an inevitable breakdown that is going to reveal even more bizarre truths.
Critical Evaluation: A gripping yet difficult book. Hopkins uses the free verse style that has become her trademark to hallucinogenic effect in this book to capture the oceanic depths of the girls' pain and confusion. The darkness of this book is so intense that it can be extremely painful to read, but the characters pull readers through. Because they feel so real, and because they are expressing their feelings about what they are doing and they are so aware that these are destructive coping mechanisms, readers will care about what happens to them. Raeanne feels more fleshed out as a character than Kaeleigh, perhaps because the latter is focused on gaining approval and Raeanne acts out in more visceral ways. The fact that the two are hiding their secrets and that the family, from the outside, makes the way that they deal with their problems believable. Raeanne's increasingly more outward behavior threatens to topple the image of the perfect family that the parents have worked so hard to keep up. The secrets become the festering wound of the family – the only way to heal them would be to expose them, a dangerous gambit for the girls. With this book Hopkins proves herself to be the master of hypnotic fiction about kids in peril. Her trick? She creates characters that jump off the page.
Reader's Annotation:
Author bio: After being adopted by older parents, Ellen Hopkins grew up in Palm Springs and the Santa Ynez Valley, in California. She went to U.C., Santa Barbara, studying journalism, until she dropped out to raise a family and start a business. The marriage fell apart and she closed the business when she met her new husband. She began a writing career after that new start.
She has three biological children, and she has adopted Orion, her grandson. Hopkins' book, Crank, was inspired by watching her own daughter in the throes of her addiction to crystal methamphetamine, a drug which ripped her daughter's life apart. There were two follow-up books in the series, Glass and Fallout. Hopkins' specializes in writing about kids in trouble – drugs, self-mutilation, abuse – from their perspective, all in a her signature verse poetry style, which gives her work an immediate, occasionally hallucinogenic feeling.
Genre: Realistic fiction.
Curriculum Ties: Health, Psychology
Booktalking Ideas: As with Impulse, focus on the characters and their distinct voices. Read a section aloud.
Focus on the idea of a dysfunctional family that looks perfect to outsiders.
Note that the end is a shocking, but don't give away anything about the ending.
Reading Level/Interest Age: 9th grade and up
Challenge Response: Ellen Hopkins books have been challenged frequently. Listen carefully to the challenge. Emphasize that this is a book about healing and getting over problems. Cite the positive reviews. Keep a file of positive reviews on hand and know the content of the book well. Note that the book is on the ALA's list of "Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers."
Why Included: Teens really love these books and they talk about them a lot. They are especially good for kids who don't like to read.


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Saturday, October 26, 2013
picking up the pieces
[[You may open your eyes now, Koen.]]
Okay, so I opened one eye. Still couldn't see anything.
"Dave? Wouldja mind letting go of my head?"
"Oh yeah...sorry Boss."
It 's desolate as always down in this crater next to New Babbage that everybody knows about but is afraid to even talk about. Because they don't want whatever happened down here to happen up there. But I think it just did.
"No more flames, that's a good sign. Is it safe? I'm feelin' a little woozy. How much oxygen we got left with all of us..."
[[Not enough. Scanning. Atmosphere is safe.]]
A big rush of air, hot and dry like the Wastelands. Thank Bast! Let me tell ya I don't think any of these kids have ever taken a bath in their lives!
[[Scanning life forms. All accounted for...except two.]]
Whoa! Was that a shot of anger I felt coming out of him? Ash is always the cool calm and collected one, at least in front of strangers.
[[I must investigate. Severing connection.]]
[[Rephrasing. Disconnecting. I will seal the wound. Please stretch out your paw.]]
Yeah, the fur on my arm was pretty soaked. Luckily my fur was the same color as my OW SHIT THAT HURTS blood. And there he goes floating off to reconnect with his body. His soul chip must have been fused into that thing.
"Boss! Is that Ryan down there?"
In a flash I'm four-pawin' it down there. I don't know how it happened, but Ryan was STILL frozen under thick ice and holding that Doctor Brain dude over his head like he's gonna throw it down!
"Now this? This doesn't make any sense!"
"The energy shield for my armor is integrated into my escape unit."
Everybody jumped back. That has Cold Dead Hans' voice! He's still in that jar!
"I was able to use it to protect this carrier instead of the one of I built. If only I set to protect from internal explosions..."
"Yeah well you won't be so smug when that ice melts off! And that's gonna happen fast. You stay there. I gotta check up on my Dad."
He was cursin' somethin' at me but I didn't give a shit. There's the blown up armor thing up ahead. Gettin' closer.
"Don't touch that puddle, kids. I think that was the pink girl..."
"Mister Koen's Dad? Is you still livin'?" I heard crunching sounds.
Oh. Freakin'. BAST.
I think I'm gonna be sick. He's burnt to a crisp...hunched over...
"Kira...Sprog? Pea?"
I perked an ear. There's breathin'. Two people breathin'!"
"Sorry Dad let me just...lift you off here..."
He wasn't so badly burned on his front. His gas mask was still on. The girls have some blisters and singed eyebrows but...they're alive!
"Well done."
"HEY! This ain't the time for jokes! That was my..." I looked up. Yep, it was Him.
"No pun intended, child."
"Hey Boss, who's da guy wit' da wings?"
"He's...he's my Grandpa. You guys try ant tie down Ryan again and get that jerk in the jar. Me and the big guy gotta talk."
They high-tailed it out. They never seen a demon before.
"Yagi and Darien are gone? Is this how you planned it?"
"They are unfortunate casualties of war. But their sacrifice was not..."
I got pushed aside. HARD. I'm lookin' up and Ash is back in his body and he's lifting BW up by his throat!
"Ethical parameters overloaded! Moral compass shattered! FATAL ERROR!"
Oh NO...
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
But this is something else. The Crater is filling up with huge flakes of snow wadding up into blankets on the ground. I'm not hopping over sharp gravel anymore but my paws are digging into biting snow to keep from slipping into whatever hazards are still out here. I swear it's colder than Dad's freezer, and getting dark and colder still. We're going to die out here unless...
There. something glowing. Yes, I can make out the circle under the snow. It's Ash's power circle...thing. I have to dive my arm in, almost crushing my face against the snow. My fingers getting so numb I can't tell if they're still connected. Should I even be OW!
It's an electrical jolt jumping from my fingers up my arm and rattling my spine. I feel the hair on my neck standing straight up as I pull back, covering my eyes from this all this blinding green!
Wait...I'm feeling warm. I can still see the snow dumping down but none of it's landing on me. I look down and the snow's melting away. No, not melting. Evaporating. The ground's dry already!
We've practiced this for the sandstorms.
"SHELLLLTERRRRR!!!" I shout over and over while I hold the ring up high.
The kids pour in from all directions, crowding around me and still shivering. Most of them have frostbite. Hopefully not the kind you don't recover from.
I call a sound off. Everybody accounted for except Blue and Sprog. And Ryan.
"Did anybody catch that brain thing?" Silence. "Alright, we gotta find the others. Anybody know which way...?"
I felt the ring tugging hard.
"Okay! Moving huddle! THIS WAY!"
I don't know how the girls are gonna hang on or we even should be saving Ryan. But we don't leave our buddies behind.
"Is you gonna say some rhymin' words and make glowy stuff, Chief?" one of the kids asked me as he PULLED ON MY GODDAMN TAIL to follow me up an icy slope.
"What, me? No. I'm no hero. Just a survivor like the rest of us." I looked back and squinted at him. The ring was stuck to my hand so I shook my finger at him with the other. "And if you pull on my tail again I'll..."
"Chief? You're floatin'!"
And damned if I wasn't.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
the wager
Neobrokrug was cordial enough whenever he showed up. But if you ever asked for help with something that wasn't rent related he usually talked right past you. It's not that he's cruel. He just doesn't care about organics. I think he's just not programmed to care. Or maybe that part of him got lost. Or maybe there was another robot built by whoever built him to care for the survivors and he broke down. Doesn't really matter at this point. I just know he's got no heartstrings to tug.
I tiptoed over the daisy chain of junk that looked like it fell out the back of an airship shipping rejects from a mad scientist's fire sale.
"Um. Hi Mr. Neobrokrug."
"Hello Koen!"
His voice was...nice, but creepy. Too nice for the hell he managed. He didn't look at me. He was too busy tapping on a broken pane of glass. I think they called them "App-tablets" or something. I peered over his shoulder. It looked like he was magnifying on the robot dude with the bad haircut. Kind of an X-ray...something in his chest, pulsing blue.
"Is that a reactor core?"
"Yes, cold fusion. You know people will spend centuries trying to build it. One day they will and they'll learn the way this fellow will. With a cataclysmic explosion."
Aw Bast. He's way too casual about this.
"Well y'know...New Babbage won't mesh too well with the rest of this place."
"I wouldn't say that. We have more than enough room...more than enough room..."
Did I mention he was creepy? I had to keep my spine straight just talking to him.
"So there's no chance of disconnecting his core before it explodes?'
"It is possible..."
"I could!"
"I have gone through a lot of trouble to get ready."
I rolled my eyes.
"Look...Neo...can I call you Neo?"
"Do you know what will happen if you phase New Babbage into the Wastelands? You're going to have survivors, right?"
"Of course."
"And there's going to be Sparks in there, I guarantee it."
"Steampunks. Mad scientists. Gifted engineers. Maybe even the Clockwinder."
"And I haven't even mentioned the Bolsheviks and the Church of the Builder and Cult of Dagon..."
"Rule #48: No summoning of beings from the outer planes..."
I edged closer as he leaned over to twist some dials on a half-melted block of plastic.
"And do you know what steampunks do when they lose everything? They start over. They'll drink cactus-juice tea from broken china and throw formal balls in tattered gowns like nothing ever happened. And one thing about steampunk culture...it's infectious. People start being NICE to each other, at least in public. No more people fighting each other for scrap that you bury in the sand in random places for us to find. You're gonna need a new distribution model."
"That...will take some minor adjustments..."
"And with the Sparks? They'll just take the scrap and build more stuff. And I'm not talking nailguns here. Unless it's to build a Tesla tower. And then everything else to run off of the Tesla tower."
"I won't allow that."
"They'll keep trying. They won't just survive. They'll rebuild. With their manners and their technology they'll bring something we still don't have."
"You have everything you need here. You just need to find it."
"They'll bring civilization."
Neo's tablet thing sputtered with sparks and he dropped it from his free hand.
"This won't be the Wastelands anymore. It'll be New New Babbage. Not your Museum to the Folly of Mankind or whatever you want this to be. This won't be your limbo anymore. This will be a place..."
He turned his head and looked straight at me. Mismatched robotic eyes clouded by the exhaust seeping out from under his helmet.
"You are welcome to try."
"How much time...?"
"Two hours at most."
They rushed up and lined in formation. Just like I taught them to. I watched enough of that militia across from the slough (mulisha they call it) to learn a bit about keeping a unit together. Two of the kids in the back were carrying Ryan.
"Say Neo, is that a hover-board?"
"It is an antigravity conveyance. I used it to carry..."
"Thanks!" I jumped on and kicked the switch on the engine. The back of it started glowing as I fought to keep balance.
"You two in the back? See that hill down there? Meet me there. The rest of you, knock that big thing down. Pry it open if you can. If you open it don't smash anything. Just pull stuff out. Lay it on the ground. Hopefully my Dad can defuse it in time. EVERYBODY MOVE!"
I've never seen a bunch of kids look so fierce. I plowed way ahead of them on the board. Just as I got close enough for them to see me they both started running!
Sunday, August 4, 2013
the stakes
"WE'RE THE SPIDERS! YOU'RE THE FLIES!" they shouted as they laughed and chased me from the scorching desert into the shadowy ravine.
I was running on all fours, bounding from one wall of the narrow fissure to the other trying to dodge the nail gun. I felt one slam into my shoulder and knock off the metal bowl I was wearing for armor. I spun and arched my back as the crunch of boots sprinting through sand and grit grew louder. A couple of Spider gangers trotted in, blocking my exit. One of them had clammy yellow skin. A ghoul. He was carrying a stick with a sharp bird beak wrapped at one end as a weapon. The other one had his face wrapped up, but I'm sure he was human. That was the bastard with the nailgun. I shoved my paws into the loose dry dirt and pulled out the rusty machete I hid there last night.
"Oh clever manimal he is!" taunted the ghoul. "Y'claws ain't enough? I got me own!" That was true. Even in this mutated form I still didn't grow claws. Not that they'd come close to being as nasty as those bony bloody fingers the ghoul was stretching. Ghoul-boy flicked his tongue like a snake. "Let's have at it then!"
I let out a deep roar that echoed through the ravine. That's when the rest of the kids pushed themselves out of the nooks and crannies in this rocky passageway. They were all the same dry red clay color from their camouflage. The three kid gangs were always chasing each other off, but we had a common threat. So I was able to get them all to hid in one place, and armed to the teeth.
"We're onto you!" I pointed at the two Spiders. "Luring kids into your parlor or whatever you call it with a trail of candy! You! You're a ghoul...I'm not judging you for WHAT you eat. But when you don't gnaw on people your own size...you're gonna PAY. But YOU!" I pointed at the guy with the nail gun. "Corwin is it? Corey? Doesn't even matter because you...and your undead buddy right here...are officially SCRAPPED!"
Bleue and her NPAKs - the older kids - laid in with the missiles. Crossbows, nailguns, and I think I even heard some gunpowder. Those two bastards dropped pretty fast. Once they ran out of ammo then Kira...I mean...Kira junior...just call her Sprog... and her Runts moved in with their spiky clubs to make sure they weren't playing dead. Finally the youngest contingent...Pea and her Sand Brats...moved in with their knives and cleavers. I looked away for this part.
That's when I heard the scream.
"Mistah Koen! Mistah Koen!" I was still getting used to being called Mister. But in the Wastelands when you're sixteen you're practically middle-aged.
"The ghoul bit Ryan!"
I rushed over. The two spiders were...well, out of commission. But Ryan...shit, he's just this little blond boy with bad teeth, kinda Russian accent. Always hyper, But now he was lyin' still. Bad sign. I started wiping down my blade.
"I'm sorry kid, but we're gonna have to ampu...tate...?"
The bite was on his neck. That wasn't gonna work. And he was already getting jaundiced.
"Aw crap...no no no not you Ryan not YOU..."
I've gotten used to a lot of crap in the Wastelands. Humans eating each other. A robotic landlord named Neobrokrug that didn't care if you lived or died. A robot ice cream truck that still gave out ice cream. But the ghouls still scared the shit outta me. I knew a couple that didn't attack living folks on sight, but still it's a horrible way to exist.
"Pea?" I asked. "He's gonna turn. He's one of yours...if you guys wanna put him out of his misery you better..."
And that's when the ground started to shake. Boulders started falling into the ravine. We were blinded by a cloud of dirt and sand.
But of course that's not what happened. We all huddled together crying and screaming. Well I wasn't crying and screaming. Well it was so noisy it was hard to tell... By the time got the grit out of my eyes I could see the sunrise. Wait...we're in a damn ravine...where the HELL is the sun coming from? Hmm, the end of the ravine opened up. What is this, a crater?
"Mistah Koen? I think that's Neo..."
I'll be damned if it wasn't. Imagine a skinny robot made of junkyard scrap, with a fake plywood cube over one hand and a dented army helmet. That's Neobrokrug. You never saw the guy unless he was collecting rent, smacking someone down for illegal weapons or...
Remember how I said this place was an ashcan for destroyed cities? Somewhere in time a city is on the brink of annihilation. It's Neo's job to rescue...well maybe preserve is a better word...a good chunk of it before disaster wipes it off the map. He was surrounded by cobbled-together machinery that looked even dicier than him. Bleue pulled out her binoculars and peered down the crater.
"Koen. You really need to see this." She passed the binocs to me.
"The girl in the pink dress?" Bast, she was dressed like one of my dad's clockwork dolls.
"To the right of her."
Some kinda flashing light...it was a battle. Some giant robot with scraggly beard and hat like a Jaegermonster...and a guy in a soldier's uniform fighting him. Aether saber....medic's belt...aether goggles...mustache...
"Holy crap that's my DAD!"
I lowered the binocs, trying to make sense of what I just saw. Were we back in the Steamlands? No, this was an overlap. A huge chunk of the Steamlands was on its way to us. Everybody knew about the Caldon remnant. That was one of the first regions that made up this hellhole. Finally enough of the dust cleared that I could make out the outline of the city on the horizon.
Saturday, June 29, 2013
I've been trapped here in the desert for almost a month now. I'm not sure where or when this place is. Nobody here does. It's a bunch of ruins all jumbled together. Caledonian, Aztec, Suffugium, 20th century America, dinosaur bones...I think this place is one cosmic ash heap where memories of fallen empires go.
Blazing hot in the day, freezing at night. I've never been so hungry. Even a New Babbage rat sounds good to me now. You wouldn't believe what passes for food out here. Still trying to find any scrap sturdy enough to make into a weapon.
But at least I'm not alone. There are kind folks. Other kids. Some I even recognize.
Kira's here. She must have reincarnated. There's a shack down in the slough where I caught her scent. Everyone here knows her, but I keep missing her. She must be scavenging on the other side of the desert when I'm out. I will find her. I will...
Wren's here. She says she ran out out fuel and woke up centuries later after someone repaired her. Gotta admire your handiwork, Doc.
I teamed up with this girl named Bleue. We're meeting at Kira's and forming a tribe. NPAK Runts I think we're calling it. Pooling our resources. Protecting ourselves.
Did the Regent set me up on purpose to get me off his time machine? I don't know. I hope someone finds this message. Back to the hunt.
Monday, June 17, 2013
a first chance at a second impression
"It is not your fault, Koen. I pushed you too hard. Unlike Ash and myself I should have allotted you time for food and sleep."
I savored the last spoonful of caviar and placed the glass back on the silver tray my Companion was holding beside me.
"She's right, you know..." I cast a glance at the brown-haired boy in the butler's outfit, who earnestly nodded in agreement.
"And I wouldn't have taken it..." he grumbled as he wearily punched a line of holes with his can opener. "So we launched too early...did we prevent the chain reaction?"
I looked away while she removed her metallic shell and put on one of the Doc's lab uniforms from the cabinet I didn't rip open."We did absorb the initial shockwave. In fact...the chain reaction was much stronger than we had anticipated. Had we attempted to launch on schedule we may well have disintegrated."
"What about the rest of the blast?"
"Shunted forward in time to the same spot...in 1908. The authorities will have several years of preparation to evacuate the area."
"If we get back to warn them!"
I stood up and leaned down to address my young Companion.
"I don't expect too much trouble from these guests, Brian. But fetch my galvanic staff just in case."
"Yes Sir!" And off he scurried with the tray. I refocused my attention on the hologram.
"Why aren't you still in the power core, Qli?"
"Something is wrong. We seem to be...stuck."
"Stuck? Did we land somewhere?"
"Not quite...more accurately I would say we are contained inside another time machine."
"Oh crap...we hit a TARDIS?"
Brian passed my staff, and with it I rapped on the outside of large plate that had been hastily welded to their vehicle. "I'm afraid you did!" I shouted. "You've materialized in the middle of my library!"
"Oh Bast! We're sorry! Ummm I guess we need your help in getting unstuck?"
With a tap of my staff the welding dissolved and the plate fell with a crash on the carpet. I used the staff as leverage to hop over the jagged tear in their orb. I adjusted the ruffles in my collar as took a closer look at their machinery.
"Oh yes...classic Mason galvanic tesseraction principles. Unrefined yet functional. That's the advantage to something this simple, you see. Far less factors to what can go wrong... Unless you try something like jump-starting it with a geothermal explosion, of course..."
"Koen? Isn't that the same staff you used to close the Demon Wasp portal?"
"Astute as always, Qlippothic. Oh my apologies, I don't think we've been formally introduced. My name is also Koen. But you may call me the Regent."
"NO NO NO this isn't possible! You looked like an old ME! Now you look like a white tiger with green eyes in a pastel fop suit?"
I huffed in disapproval. "The strain of shifting my Earth into a dimension that wasn't collapsing was too much for that old body, so I regenerated. This shouldn't surprise you. And seriously, the whole chimney-sweep look you've got going now is just embarrassing!"
"NO! NO [expletive deleted] WAY! I'm not going to look like that! You dress dorkier than our DAD and I didn't think that was even POSSIBLE! Prove it! Prove you're the Regent I met in Seraph City!"
"You have seventeen stitches on your left ankle from Wren's bear-trap."
He slunk back to the floor in resignation. "Crap...crap..." He reached in his pocket for a small device and began typing furiously.
I called out into the library. "Brian? Two servings of catnip please..."
He glared back up at me. "YOU POSTED ON MY BLOG?"
"OUR BLOG, young man!"
Saturday, June 15, 2013
another fine mess
We launched a major assault on Baba Yaga's Siberian base. Oh you shoulda seen it. Hell the snowstorm was so heavy I barely saw it myself. But I sure heard it. And felt it with each explosion. Qlippothic and Ash were crushing robot huts right and left. Bloodwing and Zavael were counterspelling like crazy and generally unleashing cosmic whoopass on undead witches. The Jagers were shooting anything that moved and stomping on them when they were done just to make sure. Those glowing Digital Knight guys that Ash rescued from that other Grid were buzzing around slicing robots with their frisbee-things.
No, I'm not on medication. This really happened. This is pretty standard as far as Mason adventures go. You must be new here?
Well anyway, I was in my inframask suit darting around slashing mummified witches and robot tentacles. Eventually we ran out of things to smash and we generally agreed that we won. The only problem was that the witches set their reactor to self destruct. Instead of panicking like I normally do, I figured out away to hook the reactor up to Qli's galvanic tesseractor and reconfigure the chamber as a time machine, using that explosion to start the engine instead of leaving a huge crater in the middle of Mother Russia.
The Knights knew circuitry like the backs of their hands (which had circuitry on them actually, so it makes sense) and helped us rewire everything. Xavael cast a spell called SEAMLESS ARMOUR which usually is used on SUITS of armor, but he said he heard it got cast on a leaky boat once so he figured it would work on a time machine. And Doc Mason as usual was directing everything from the safety of the New Babbage Consulate.
"Is everything ready?" he asked from a staticky screen perched over my shoulder while I was spotwelding.
"Yes! We double-checked and triple-checked!" I snapped back.
"As a point of testing I've dilated the time in the immediate vicinity to give us the equivalent of days of preparations instead of the actual hours we had left," stated Qli from inside the tube where she was plugging cables into the joints of her brass armor.
"Yeah, it works great. But unlike you Qli some of us need to eat and sleep once every few days!"
"It's quite normal for you to feel cranky in your present state..." interrupted Doc. "Blah blah blah cans of tuna in the lower cabinet..."
FINALLY! I ripped off my goggles and jumped down and started tugging on the cabinet until it blew open with a shower of sparks. Doc started yelling at me as I reached for the fire extinguisher. Ash looked up from where he was riveting the bulkhead as the whole chamber started shaking. "I believe that was the wrong cabinet."
"Is Doc cursing at me in Russian now?"
"No." Qli answered. "You've launched us into hypertime! The feedback through Doctor Mason's connection he sent him into a backwards loop."
"Yeesh. He's gonna tan my..."
Another huge explosion. I wrapped my arms around a support strut as everything that wasn't nailed down got sucked through a hole in the wall where Ash was still hanging on. One of the other cabinets burst open. I saw the cans of tuna spinning in mid-air, hurtling towards the infinite void. I leaped...
"NO!" Screamed Qli as I hit a sliding sheet of metal with full force.
"What happened?" I asked as I waited for the room to stop spinning.
"Ash covered the rupture from the outside and hung on long enough to spot-weld it before he..."
"Before he what? Where...where is he?"
"He is lost." Qli placed a can of tuna on the floor beside me as I curled into a ball. I grabbed and hurled it across the room. I was too busy yowling.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Awful awful cornerback for the green bay packers from 1978-1984. Continually made the team year after year even though he blew goat nuts. Made Ahmad Carrol look like Deion Sanders. When you saw an opposing wide reciever run into the endzone on an 80 yard touchdown untouched, you would see Estus then enter your TV screen 3 seconds later. Voted "Worst Packer of All Time" by those who were cursed to have witnessed his play.
"Hey, how did the Packers lose that game?"
"Oh, Estus Hood got burned for 3 Tds in the 4th Quarter"
"Oh, Estus Hood got burned for 3 Tds in the 4th Quarter"
by Jameslegs August 31, 2011
buy the domain for your recipe blog


text:
Rueckholz Hotels
Search for hotels in Rueckholz
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Where to stay in Rueckholz
Rueckholz overviewWhatever your interests are, Rueckholz has something for you. Though there might not be many well-known attractions to visit in Rueckholz, you don't need to go far to find places to visit like Alpspitzbahn Gondola and Falkenstein Castle. In the surrounding area, you won't want to miss out on seeing Breitenberg Cable Car and Breitenbergbahn.
Where to stay in RueckholzA welcoming city for all, Rueckholz has a variety of hotels to choose from. You can shop as many as 518 deals for Rueckholz accommodations on Hotels.com, some with discounts of up to 42%. Our room prices start at 21 USD per night and here's a breakdown of hotels by star rating in Rueckholz as well as in the surrounding area:
- • 14 5-star hotels from 96 USD per night
- • 56 4-star hotels from 66 USD per night
- • 52 3-star hotels from 56 USD per night
- • 5 2-star hotels from 21 USD per night
How to get to RueckholzFly into Memmingen (FMM-Allgaeu), 27.1 mi (43.6 km) from central Rueckholz.
What to see around RueckholzHere are some recommended places to see in the surrounding area:
- • Alpspitzbahn Gondola (3.9 mi/6.2 km from the city center)
- • Falkenstein Castle (6.6 mi/10.6 km from the city center)
- • Breitenberg Cable Car (6.7 mi/10.9 km from the city center)
- • Breitenbergbahn (6.8 mi/10.9 km from the city center)
- • Jungholz Ski Resort (7.8 mi/12.5 km from the city center)
When to visit RueckholzDo you want to know the ideal time of year to visit? Here's a list of the seasonal weather norms to help with trip planning:
Seasonal temperature averages
- • January-March: 48°F day, 26°F night
- • April-June: 68°F day, 36°F night
- • July-September: 71°F day, 48°F night
- • October-December: 59°F day, 29°F night
- • January-March: 0.16 inches
- • April-June: 0.31 inches
- • July-September: 0.39 inches
- • October-December: 0.16 inches


text:
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Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Under Fire For Comments About Trans Women
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Topic: Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Under Fire For Comments About Trans Women (Read 5419 times)
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Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Under Fire For Comments About Trans Women
March 12, 2017, 12:20:36 PM »
Chimamanda Adichie Just Said Trans Women Are Not Real Women
Feminist author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has found herself at the center of a controversy over gender identity after comments she made about transgender women during an interview, which can be viewed in the clip above, recently went viral.
Speaking earlier this week with the U.K.s Channel 4, Adichie, who is promoting her new book Dear Ijeawele Or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, said, When people talk about, Are trans women women? my feeling is trans women are trans women.
Her argument appears to stem from her idea that because many trans women have been assigned and raised male from birth until whatever point they decided to transition, she believes the male privilege they may have received fundamentally sets their experiences apart from those of cisgender women.
I think the whole problem of gender in the world is about our experiences, she said. Its not about how we wear our hair or whether we have a vagina or a penis. Its about the way the world treats us, and I think if youve lived in the world as a man with the privileges that the world accords to men and then sort of change gender, its difficult for me to accept that then we can equate your experience with the experience of a woman who has lived from the beginning as a woman and who has not been accorded those privileges that men are.
While she did also add that she supports transgender peoples existence, saying they should be allowed to be, she ultimately asserts that their experiences should not be conflated with womens experiences.
I dont think its a good thing to talk about womens issues being exactly the same as the issues of trans women because I dont think thats true, she said.
Adichie, who is perhaps best known for her critically and commercially acclaimed book Americanah and a guest spot on Beyoncés track Flawless, was almost immediately called out on Twitter for her comments.
Posts: 518
Re: Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Under Fire For Comments About Trans Women
Reply #1 on:
March 21, 2017, 09:09:54 PM »
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on transgender row: 'I have nothing to apologise for'
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the Nigerian novelist and feminist, has condemned a language orthodoxy on the political left after she endured a vitriolic backlash over comments about transgender women.
The author of Half of a Yellow Sun plunged into a row about identity politics when she suggested in an interview last week that the experiences of transgender women, who she said are born with the privileges the world accords to men, are distinct from those of women born female. She was criticised for implying that trans women are not real women.
But Adichie defended her comments during a public appearance in Washington on Monday night. This is fundamentally about language orthodoxy, she told a sellout event organised by the bookshop Politics & Prose. Theres a part of me that resists this sort of thing because I dont think its helpful to insist that unless you want to use the exact language I want you to use, I will not listen to what youre saying.
From the very beginning, I think its been quite clear that theres no way I could possibly say that trans women are not women. Its the sort of thing to me thats obvious, so I start from that obvious premise. Of course they are women but in talking about feminism and gender and all of that, its important for us to acknowledge the differences in experence of gender. Thats really what my point is.
The controversy erupted after a Channel 4 interview broadcast on 10 March in which Adichie argued gender is about experiences, not anatomy, and a person who has lived as a man with the privileges according by society to men before transitioning has experiences that cannot be equated with those of someone born female. In the face of a number of angry responses, Adichie followed up with a Facebook post on 12 March but described it as a clarification rather than an apology.
I didnt apologise because I dont think I have anything to apologise for, she said on Monday. Whats interesting to me is this is in many ways about language and I think it also illustrates the less pleasant aspects of the American left, that there sometimes is a kind of language orthodoxy that youre supposed to participate in, and when you dont theres a kind of backlash that gets very personal and very hostile and very closed to debate.
Had I said, a cis woman is a cis woman, and a trans woman is a trans woman, I dont think I would get all the crap that Im getting, but thats actually really what I was saying.
But because cis is not a part of my vocabulary it just isnt it really becomes about language and the reason I find that troubling is to insist that you have to speak in a certain way and use certain expressions, otherwise we cannot have a conversation, can close up debate. And if we cant have conversations, we cant have progress.
Adichie distanced herself from academic feminism and said her new book, Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, is careful to avoid jargon. I dont really partake in that kind of language orthodoxy and theres a part of me that really resists it. So I resist to be coopted into it.
A campaigner for LGBTQ rights in Nigeria, Adichie is a star of the progressive left and not accustomed to finding herself on the receiving end of its ire. She said: It was unpleasant, and I think it was unpleasant not because of the sort of criticism and vitriol and hostility which Im used to, because I think if you make the choice to label yourself feminist publicly it just comes with the baggage but in this case it came from my tribe, my tribe being women who believe in equality.
But really, my position remains: I think gender is about what we experience, gender is about how the world treats us, and I think a lot of the outrage and anger comes from the idea that in order to be inclusive, we sometimes have to deny difference. I think that because human difference for so long, in all its various forms, has been the root of so much oppression, sometimes theres the impulse to say lets deny the difference, as though by wishing away the difference we can then wish away the oppression.
This echoes over-optimistic claims of a post-racial society, the award-winning author continued. In some ways its like the idea of colour-blindness, which is, I think, just a really hollow idea that if we say we dont see colour, then somehow all the oppressions will disappear. Thats not the case
I think there were people who felt I was somehow making a point about the Oppression Olympics: you havent suffered enough. Its not at all that. Its simply to see that if we can acknowledge there are differences, then we can better honestly talk about things.
Adichie gave violence against transgender women, reproductive rights, participation in sport and the debate around same-sex schools as examples where such acknowledgement would broaden the feminist conversation. She insisted that she has always stood up for the rights of trans women and would continue to do so.
During a question and answer session, Adichie was asked about issues of intersectionality, the overlap of social identities such as race, gender and sexuality. She remained sceptical: Speaking of language, even the word intersectionality comes from a certain kind of academic discourse that sometimes I dont know what it means.
Feminism was a useful word to rally around despite understandable reservations, she added. I think the history of western feminism is one that is fraught with racism, and I think its important to acknowledge that, and at the same time to say that feminism is not the western invention, that my great-grandmother in what is now south-western Nigeria is feminist
I think white women need to wake up and say, Not all women are white, three times in front of the mirror.
Posts: 23
Re: Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Under Fire For Comments About Trans Women
Reply #2 on:
April 14, 2017, 07:05:26 PM »
Interesting topic! these are the conversations that we need to have....I honestly do not think that she is disregarding or devalorising trans women, she does acknowledge them and they are included in the feminist school of thought and arena......quite too often in our attempts to be inclusive or even live up to the feminist utopia we completely ignore that everyone's situation is different; different experiences, class, race, access to resources that influence and shape our everyday spaces, and these are factors that need to be considered.....i do not see this as an insult to trans women or any measure of transphobia at all because i believe acknowledgment of these differences can open discussion to the oppressive limitations and pressure placed on trans women in living up to the realities definitive of their transformation. Whilst there are genuine questions around what exactly is a "real woman" and that term perpetuates the limitations of gender as a social constructwe cannot deny the experiences associated with it as it exists as being irrelevant or secondary and in no way it was meant to put demarcations on what constitutes a man or a woman but more so a question of how does one identify with and claim a struggle that they never were apart of? These two groups do not move through the world in identical ways and the socialization that we encounter is different and that is the reality .......this conversation transcends gender and sexuality but can be broadly acknowledged in the political sphere when we talk about nationalism.....it is not sustainable and in as much as we'd like to paint the illusion that we are all one, again the question remains how are these differences and realities exist factored in? it simply cannot be excluded from any discourse when assessing and moving forward .....acknowledgement of it is necessary and in the same breathe acceptance of these differences are fundamental.....As Audre Lorde beautifully posits "It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences."
Iniko Ujaama
Posts: 533
Re: Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Under Fire For Comments About Trans Women
Reply #3 on:
April 14, 2017, 09:18:43 PM »
I don't think she is wrong in pointing out a difference here between the experiences. In the West with its very narrow and stringent ideas of gender and the general sexist attitudes, I can see how it would be difficult for someone with ambiguities about how they see themselves gender-wise. Also being so male-centric and privileging a kind of macho kind of masculinity I could see how it could be tough for a male navigating male dominated space seeing themselves and behaving more feminine. But that person still has a choice in how they identify. The difficulties they face are a result and subset of the wider anti-female attitudes within the society.
Running down females for not accepting your assignment as a woman does nothing to address the general male privilege within the society and rides heavily on it.
Posts: 27
Re: Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Under Fire For Comments About Trans Women
Reply #4 on:
July 02, 2017, 04:31:19 AM »
Disclaimer:I have no idea about feminist thought.
To me this is a manifestation of a world whereby expression of a differing opinion is no longer met with critical thought but with bullying by labelling someone with some sought of 'phobia'. It is insidious and a way of silencing dissenting voices.
You can be called by whatever pronoun and present to the world the physical traits characteristic of a gender however being male/female isn't just a look it is learnt behaviours that teach you how to interface with your world based on cultural experiences... therefore it is an exercise in futility to say that 'cis' women and their experiences can be obtained under the surgeon's scalpel. It is a fact not an opinion and shouting to the top of your lungs about phobias won't change that. It isn't an indication of how one will treat them nor whether one will deny their process.
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To subside any of your needs to view created artwork while I'm on my short few day hiatus, I've posted a few projects I completed in late December which inspired my Project Art-A-Day.
(I hope this some-what makes up for yesterday, today, and tomorrow?)
This first set of images I worked on as Christmas presents for my nieces and nephews (on my husband's side). I Photoshopped (and incorporated Illustrator) to collage for a unique print for each child. I tried mainly to use fabric textures as a basis for my images.
Next, I used Photoshop and Illustrator, again, to create a one-of-a-kind movie cover for my brother-in-law, Clark.
And lastly, I used photoshop to create a personalized In/Out board for my mom, who is a Radiation Therapist. The patients adore her, and when she's not at work, they always ask where she is-- so a temporary In/Out post-it was placed up by the other staff. I decided she needed a more permanent, fun board. I used foam core to create the pieces, and my husband helped drill and attach her rotating arm.


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Posted by Town Secretary's Office on Dec 15, 2016
Tags: Community, Government, Town News, Transparency, Volunteer
At the December 13, 2016 Council meeting, the Town Council appointed the following individuals to the Ethics Review Commission:
Cory Williamson, an eight-year resident of Trophy Club. Cory wants to help serve and protect Trophy Club and see Trophy Club thrive in the best way possible for all current and future residents.
David DeHaven has decided it is now time to take a step into local politics. David grew up in Trophy Club, moved away, and moved back seventeen years ago.
Jared King wants to contribute to his community and offer a commitment for continued success of Trophy Club. Jared has lived in Trophy Club for six years.
Another long-term resident, seventeen years, Reece Bautista (alternate member) wants to give back to Trophy Club by making sure we have an oversight process and board in place to ensure that Trophy Club is beyond reproach.
Brandon Blake (alternate member), a seven-year resident, brings a fair and unbiased attitude and his willingness to work with others on the Commission.
We are excited to have Cory, David, Jared, Brandon, and Reece as part of the Trophy Club volunteer team!


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KBA: Cortina Waterless Offset Fast Gaining Ground
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Press release from the issuing companyJanuary 20, 2004 -- The sale of a 48pp KBA Cortina to Dutch printing house Rodi Rotatiedruk in Broek op Langedijk at IfraExpo 2003 in Leipzig was followed at the end of the year by two more orders for similar versions from Freiburger Druck in the city of the same name in Germany, and from a Benelux media group (details to follow). For KBA, this mounting interest in waterless newspaper offset vindicates the single-minded determination with which it has been pursuing the development of this process in collaboration with manufacturers of inks, plates and paper. Alongside potential cost efficiencies the investment decisions were driven by a need for a more standardised and ecological production tool. Badische Zeitung in Freiburg The 80,000cph Cortina press line for Freiburger Druck will comprise two 48pp sections and have a maximum capacity of 96 full-colour broadsheet pages in the Berliner format. The press is slated to come on stream in early 2006 and will take over the entire production from three conventional presses. The company's title daily, the Badische Zeitung (BZ), which first hit the streets in 1946, has won a string of awards for its editorial work and layout. Its circulation of 180,000 copies in 17 local editions is read by some 412,000 people. Other inhouse products the Cortina will print are two Sunday titles, Der Sonntag in Freiburg (circulation 177,000) and Der Sonntag im Dreiland (85,000-plus), a number of frees (total weekly circulation 550,000) and various other titles, supplements, semi-commercials and directories. Freiburger Druck, which employs around 150 people, is part of the Badisches Pressehaus media group whose activities, alongside newspapers, embrace e-commerce, information technology and the Internet. It also operates a customer service centre, Telefonteam Baden, and in 2000 set up a private postal service, arriva gmbh briefe & service, which delivers over half a million letters a month for more than 1,800 customers. Cost and Competitive Benefits "We opted for the Cortina after carrying out a cost comparison to find the best type of press for our specific needs," explained publisher and joint managing director Wolfgang Poppen. "With so many split editions in our schedule we were looking to enhance immediacy by cutting makeready and start-up times to the bone. Waterless offset has the added advantage of reducing paper waste as well, which is a major cost issue. And it's popular with advertisers because it delivers a consistently high print quality in full-colour production. This, plus the ability to print a 60l/cm (150lpi) screen, will enable us to raise our competitive profile in a cut-throat market environment." The Cortina for Freiburg will have a 470mm (18½") cut-off and a maximum web width of 1,260mm (49½"). It will be erected in a new press hall at the company's existing site and will comprise six minitowers with automatic plate changing, blanket washing and central ink pumping. The substructure press will be configured with six Pastomat RC reelstands for a maximum reel diameter of 1,500mm (59"), nine turner bars, two folder superstructures with two formers apiece, cut-off register controls and two 2:5:5-ratio KF 5 jaw folders. Optional extras include a skip slitter, third former and ribbon and section stitchers. Provision has also been made for an additional 48pp section at a later date. The press will be controlled from an EAE console featuring a job scheduling and planning program, embedded in the workflow between a copy planning system supplied by ppi and the Ferag mailroom.
Industry News
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3MC International Conference 2016
As part of an ongoing effort to promote quality in multi-population surveys and to raise the level of methodological expertise in various applied fields of comparative survey research, the Second International Conference on Survey Methods in Multinational, Multiregional and Multicultural Contexts (3MC 2016) will be held July 25 - 29, 2016 in Chicago.
This conference will bring together researchers and survey practitioners concerned with survey methodology and practice in comparative contexts. It will provide a unique opportunity to discuss and present research that contributes to our understanding of survey needs and methods in multicultural, multinational, and multilingual contexts. Conference contributions will help document current best practices and stimulate new ideas for further research and development.
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skadam's ambigrams
After reading Dan Brown's 'Angels and Demons' I developed a keen interest in ambigrams. I hope you will have as much fun looking at my ambigrams as I have making them. (hint: you have to look at these upside-down to get the full effect; just don't hurt yourself)


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The Bard goes digital as independent director John Farrell brings William Shakespeare's +Richard the Second to the screen for the first time ever while simultaneously upping the creative ante by telling the digital video-shot tale in modern dress. Even in modern times Shakespeare's tale of political intrigue and a reckless king who loses it all still resonates powerfully, and with a cast that includes such emerging talents as Frank O'Donnell, Katina Delejade, Matte Osian, and Tom Turbiville, this film shows just how timeless the enduring playwright's words truly are.
Add this movie to your queue to receive more information about
William Shakespeare's Richard the Second and we will let you know when it becomes available.


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Cowboys vs. Lions Point Spread: Monday Night Football
Two division leaders will go head to head in what will be one of the most exciting games of the season. The Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys are the stars of Monday Night Football at AT&T Stadium this week and Sports Interaction's NFL odds have the Cowboys listed as -7 favorites. The Lions broke their […]
The post Cowboys vs. Lions Point Spread: Monday Night Football appeared first on Sports Interaction Blog.
Read more at the SportsInteraction Blog!


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Our deepest congratulations to Wolfgang Rihm for being awarded the Robert Schumann Prize for Poetry and Music. The ceremony was held on 6 November at the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz.
After Eleonore Büning gave a speech in honour of the composer, his works Harzreise im Winter, Sehnsucht und Nachtgesang and 3 Sonette von Michaelangelo were performed by baritone Hans Christoph Begemann and pianist Thomas Seyboldt.
Thanks to Sebastian Solte of bastille musique for taking and sending us the photos.


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Welcome to the Simple Homestead blog hop!We are so glad that you have stopped by for a visit! We encourage you to look through some of the great posts shared by our readers and then take the time to read those that interest you. If you are adding to our list, thank you for sharing your homesteading, homemaking, and homeschooling posts with us. It's so much fun to read your hints, tips, and happenings. We hope you have fun exploring all the great ideas everyone has shared with us.
Anniversary Giveaway
This week we are celebrating the Simple Homestead blog hop's second anniversary! As some of you may remember, we began as the Homemaker Hop, then two years ago we morphed into the Simple Homestead blog hop. In honor of this celebration, we are thrilled to be co-hosting a giveaway this week along with Michelle of SoulyRested.com.
Today's blog hop happens to be extra SWEET because we're giving away not only a jar of all-natural maple sugar, fresh from a small New England farm (courtesy of Michelle at SoulyRested.com), but also an amazing, beautiful, $39.95-value book to help you in your own sugar making efforts: The Sugarmaker's Companion (affiliate link) by Michael Farrell (courtesy of Chelsea Green Publishers).
For mouth-watering ideas of ways you'll be dying to use maple sugar, as well as her Top Ten Reasons that maple sugar is the best sweetener you could ever use, Michelle has put together info, lists, recipes, and more on her post this week, over on SoulyRested.com.
For instance, did you know that maple sugar has fewer calories than white sugar, AND is loaded with antioxidants? (Those are just two of the ten reasons why maple sugar is the best sweetener you'll ever use; you can read the other eight reasons on Michelle's post.)
To read Michelle's review of The Sugarmaker's Companion: An Integrated Approach to Producing Syrup from Maple, Birch, and Walnut Trees (affiliate link) along with her 5 top reasons you might want to make sure you have your own copy of this fabulous book, head over here.
But whatever you do, make sure you enter in the box below for your own chance to win this SWEET giveaway! Then scroll down to the Simple Homestead blog hop.
Meet Our Great Co-hosts
Sandra at Clearwater Farm - Facebook - Pinterest - Instagram
Dash at Bloom Where You're Planted - Facebook - Instagram
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Featured Posts
Each week we'll feature the most-viewed post from last week's hop. Each host also features her own picks from the posts linked the previous week. Visit each of our blogs to see if you were featured this week.
Installing a Shade Sail
from Just Measuring Up
I wonder if we could do this in the goat pen? The big old shade tree
in the corner of their pen fell down in a storm last year, and they really need more
shade than they have now. Hmmmm...........
Tips on Growing Cabbage
Please stop by to congratulate the featured bloggers this week.
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- Please note: Posts that don't follow these few little guidelines will be deleted.


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Word on Bill...
is recovering well and had this to say..."I'm on the mend, and out of the hospital...
I've posted a short tale of the excitement on my myspace page, if anyone's inclined to read it: http://www.myspace.com/bldzr
mostly I just want to tell everyone here that I'm doing well now, resting in Portland for a couple weeks before heading home to Brooklyn, and that I am eternally grateful for the outpouring of love and compassion that I've been shown in the last week. If this fucking stupid thing had to happen to me, I'm glad it happened here, where I have so many generous friends. And I thank Jeebus that my saintly girlfriend Brie was here to help me recover. She makes the blessed virgin look like a street whore. Without her I'd still be in the hospital.
Total account of injuries:
1 separated sternum
3 broken ribs
1 severed artery (left mammary....heheheheh, mammary)
1 collapsed lung, left
3 liters blood loss
1 KICKASS scar that barely misses my "Axles of Evil Bike Polo" chest tattoo
I'm planning on using the downtime to edit footage for the upcoming West Side Invite Doctumentary, which has footage of the whole god damn thing. Can't wait for the movie!!!!
lastly... I'm retired from Bike Polo. Time to be a coach. Can't think of a thing I'm better at than yelling at folk from the sideline.
Again, Thanks for all your thoughts, visits, and good wishes. I owe you all my life."
Glad to hear your better Bill.


text: On Sat, Mar 2, 2013 at 1:12 PM, Grant <emailgrant at gmail.com> wrote: > Do you ignore these entries in the global error.log? Looking over my > log, this message is logged for all types of strange requests. Lately > I'm getting a fair number of requests like this: > > http://www.example.com/page.html?id='A=string > > "page" changes but is always a valid page. "string" is 9 characters > long and doesn't change. > > Is there anything to watch out for with this? > I'm seeing this as well, but I'm getting this error: Malformed session identifier: 'A=0gkd9LaF3QhmE I'm seeing the same string from multiple ip addresses. And then later, I'll see a different string start coming in from multiple ip addresses. 28-Feb: 'A=0gkd9LaF3QhmE 01-Mar: 'A=0XmLmm3PwDpRw 02-Mar: 'A=0XmLmm3PwDpRw (the first time I saw the error was on Feb. 28.) I'm seeing another error as well (this one started earlier, and it is also continuing): Malformed session identifier: CmKVrLodHYgb"' The string will change, but it always ends in a double quote followed by a single quote. My first thought was that it might be related to this: https://isc.sans.edu/diary/SSHD+rootkit+in+the+wild/15229 But, I really have no idea what they are trying to do, but it does seem suspicious... Dan -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://www.icdevgroup.org/pipermail/interchange-users/attachments/20130302/578ce80a/attachment.html>


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Lincoln program
"An Evening With Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln" will be presented by Max and Donna Daniels at 2 p.m. at Pekin Public Library, 301 S. Fourth St. Admission is free.
On this date
In 1758, English Admiral Horatio Nelson was born in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk.
In 1789, the U.S. War Department established a regular army with a strength of several hundred men.
In 1829, London's reorganized police force, which became known as Scotland Yard, went on duty.
In 1902, Broadway impresario David Belasco reopened the Republic Theatre under his own name.
In 1918, Allied forces began their decisive breakthrough of the Hindenburg Line during World War I.
In 1938, British, French, German and Italian leaders concluded the Munich Agreement, which was aimed at appeasing Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.
In 1963, the second session of the Second Vatican Council opened.
In 1979, Pope John Paul II began the first papal visit to Ireland as he arrived for a three-day tour.
In 1982, Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide claimed the first of seven victims in the Chicago area. (To date, the case remains unsolved.)
In 1988, the space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., marking America's return to manned space flight following the Challenger disaster.


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As in life...
Granny you can imagine has been busy... Beaches have been visited and swum from, ditto swimming-pools, cute children in Canarian dress singing and dancing Canarian songs have been viewed, as have white tigers - magnificent - along with performing parrots and sealions. Icecreams and pizzas have been eaten - also chilli con octopus - visiting goddaughter is a much more eclectic eater than visiting - eldest - granddaughter. Granny is half on holiday, half heavily at work. Every now and then as she drives her little hire car round the island she sweats at the thought she has the lives of two family jewels in her steering-wheel encumbered hands. For that reason only she will sigh with relief when the red-headed girls take off tomorrow... otherwise she will miss them like crazy.
Beloved is taking them rock-pooling today and cooking a meal with them, using food from the garden... no, not the kid, don't worry.
Meantime new and premature great-niece in Australia is doing very well and Big Brother is nearing - very close to - his end. The phone goes - emails fly - Granny's pleasure is tinged with deep sadness. But isn't it always like that? No need to quote the Bible. Then as now it's just the same, always has been, always will be. Us beasts may live longer than Billy the Kid is likely to, but we too are mortal.


text: The Optical Society of America (OSA) and the American Institute of Physics (AIP) are jointly developing TV news segments on advances in optics and photonics. The program, "Discoveries and Breakthroughs Inside Science" (DBIS), is designed to help raise awareness of the role of basic science in technological advances that impact everyday life. Geared toward the general public, segments run on local TV stations nationwide. "Creative approaches in packaging and delivering science news has helped improved the image and interest in science," said Elizabeth Rogan, OSA's executive director. "DBIS is a well-tested product that serves many different markets and communities, and TV programming allows us to demonstrate the wonders and importance of optics in a visually compelling way." The DBIS news crew digs up stories on optics and photonics research nearing application and works directly with lead researchers with on-camera interviews and video shoots. The package is distributed via satellite to more than 60 subscribing TV stations nationwide, which air the spots as time permits. Segments have featured a bioreactor that cleans up carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel exhaust via hybrid solar lighting and a an elastic light-sensitive material that could be used to capture multicolored fingerprints. Segments are posted at www.osa.org/news/DBIS. Copies are available on CD or DVD (free to OSA members).


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everything's fuckin' perfect: i'm deeply in love, i am deeply loved, i've brilliant friends, i got a nice flat, i've a job and get payed every month, i can afford my little luxury. but i don't fit in.
everytime someone tells me "you're stunning", "what you do is awesome", or "you're pretty" i can only take it as a lie. not a mean one, though. a kind one, to spirit me, to make me happy, to calm me down. but nevertheless a lie. the reason? i feel ugly. uglier than the ugliest person on earth. i am the most ugliest of them all.
i define myself by my body and weight. every kilo less makes me "better", allows me a little more to accept and believe what others say, accept and believe it's true what they say - and not a lie. now i am fat, now i hate myself, now i can't believe that anyone else can love me while i am disgusted by my appearance.
deep inside i know that my body image might be distorted. that my definition of "beautiful" probably doesn't fit everyone else's. but i also know that i cannot become happy with how and what i currently am.
48 would be awesome for a start. i remember weighing 48 kilos. i looked "ok". not gorgeous, still chubby, but not as fat as now. 45 would be the next step. the last time i weighed 45 kilos was when i was 14, i guess; 17 years ago. final goal would be 42. the number must appear flawless on the scale. 40 might look even better. or 39. fuck, 39. i am fantasizing. stop. i'd never make it to 39. utopistic. but 48. 45. 42. that might work. it must work.


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The Republican nominee Donald Trump has made outstanding progress in the polls, based on reports released by the latest national ABC News/Washington post, Trump has overtaken Hillary Clinton. The Republican nominee has a lead over the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton; this is because of Trumps 46 percent lead in the number of likely voters compared to Hillary Clinton who has a 45 percent of likely voters in the coming election. The Republican nominee has made unimaginable progress by overtaking the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton who was leading the polls nine days ago, with twelve points.
This comes after the Republican nominee had been accused of numerous charges by around eleven women who all had different accusations against the Republican nominee, some accused the Republican nominee of Sexual assault from groping to kissing. The Republican nominee Donald Trump came under very many allegations and accusations all revolving around inappropriately handling women. As if that's not enough, The Republican nominee also faced several charges regarding the issue of tax evasion. All the while, the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was having a good time as she made her pursuit to the White House; despite the numerous accusations made against the Republican nominee, Trump is leading the polls, that is just awesome.
The race to the White House is gradually tightening, this comes after the Democratic nominee came under scrutiny by the FBI. This started on Friday when James Corney wrote a revelation to the congress. The revelation indicated that the Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton's emails had been discovered from her secret server. This rendered a huge blow to Clinton's campaign. This might be the result of the Democratic nominee's campaign losing ground as the race to the White House gets demanding.
Shortly after the daily tracking poll launched; about one week after that, the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was leading with one point and now the race the White House has taken a different turn, Clinton is now behind in the race. Per the voter's enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton, the metrics had reached an all-time high on the 22nd of October but unfortunately the same metrics have drastically dropped with voters being enthusiastic about the Republican nominee Donald Trump. Trump has an 8-point lead compared to the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the Voter's enthusiasm; Trump top's the metrics with a 53 percent of the voters saying that they are enthusiastic about voting for the Republican nominee Donald Trump while a minor 45 percent says the same for the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. It's funny how the Democratic nominee had a 52 percent lead over the Republican nominee who back then had a 49 percent; the scenario has drastically changed. The Republican nominee Donald Trump has a lead nationally considering the poll's margin of error per the ABC pollster's.


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Suhani Si Ek Ladki 16th February 2016 Written Episode Update
Suhani Si Ek Ladki 16th February 2016 Written Episode, Written Update on TellyUpdates.com
The Episode starts with Menka asking Anuj for valentines day gift. Anuj gifts her something she needs the most. Saurabh jokes did he gift brain to Menka. Anuj gifts her dictionary and she gets annoyed. The man asks them to come for pic. Bhavna takes pic with Golu and Sharad. Suhani waits for Yuvraaj. Someone keeps new balloon in the red balloons in Suhani's room with open me message on it. The balloon has poisonous gas. Suhani asks Bhavna to take pic with Sharad. Sharad and Bhavna take pic. Menka insists Anuj to come.
Barbie comes there, wearing a beautiful red gown. Everyone smile seeing her. Pratima asks her to come. Suhani compliments Barbie. Yuvraaj messages Suhani and asks her to come to bedroom. Barbie asks Suhani to go, she will be glad. Suhani goes. Dadi stops Suhani and
Suhani and Yuvraaj head for room. She asks did you really plan a surprise. He says yes. Ramesh tells Yuvraaj that Dadi is calling him. Yuvraaj asks Suhani not to go inside room, as he has to see surprised reaction on her face. She says fine, come soon. He agrees and leaves. Suhani stands outside the room.
Dadi tells Yuvraaj that she did what he wanted, and asks him to talk to Saurabh to think about having a child. Suhani waits to see the surprise. Snoopi comes there. Suhani asks who gifted him valentines heart and says Yuvraaj is also giving me surprise. Snoopi closes the door and Suhani smiles seeing the surprise. She says Yuvraaj became smart to surprise me with my balloons. She sees the open me balloon and shows snoopi. She says I can't wait, lets see whats in this. She bursts the balloon. She asks Snoopi not to see and sends him outside, asking him to call Yuvraaj here. She shuts the door and says when Yuvraaj comes, I will surprise him by opening the door. She coughs and says from where is this smoke coming. She says maybe there was something wrong, and opens fan. She goes to open the door and falls down. Yuvraaj tells Dadi that I can't do this to interfere in personal life, family should be planned when you are prepared, you can't take this decision alone. Snoopi comes to Yuvraaj and barks a lot. Yuvraaj asks whats wrong. Snoopi takes him to the room. Sharad and Yuvraaj ask what happened, Suhani was here. Yuvraaj finds the door locked and knocks. Sharad and Yuvraaj call out Suhani.
Sharad says Snoopi is worried, it means something happened. Yuvraaj says we shall break the door. They try breaking the door. Sharad says what to do now. They try to open the windows. Yuvraaj also coughs. Sharad says there is something wrong, its stinking. Yuvraaj sends him to get some tools to open door. Snoopi shows window to Yuvraaj. Yuvraaj gets a vase and breaks the window glass. He sees Suhani lying on the ground and coughs by the poisonous gas. He shouts Suhani.
Dadi asks Bhavna about Sharad and Yuvraaj, they are getting late for photo. Bhavna says I will just see and come. Sharad goes to storeroom, and someone takes the poisonous gas cylinder from there. Yuvraaj reaches Suhani covering himself, and opens the door. He checks Suhani. Snoopi comes there as well. Yuvraaj asks Sharad to call doctor. Bhavna comes there and asks what happened to Suhani. Doctor checks Suhani.
Doctor says it was poisonous gas, how did it come in your home. Dadi says don't know. Doctor says Suhani will take time to get well, once she gets conscious, we have to check the side effects of the gas on her body, we can't say anything now, we will take her blood sample, get her to hospital once she gets conscious. Dadi says I love my bahu a lot, make her fine. Sharad says we will catch that person soon. Nurse asks them to go out, and let Suhani rest.
Soumya complains to Lalita about Radhe, its bad to misbehave with ladies at our parlor, he should be ashamed. Rakhi comes home angrily and tells Lalita that the kirana guy's son misbehaved with me. Lalita asks Soumya how did you know this will happen. Soumya says we have to bear what we do with others, and goes. Rakhi says Soumya is against Radhe. Lalita asks Rakhi to keep quiet.
Yuvraaj says I don't know how that poisonous gas came in our room, Suhani got those balloons from storeroom. Saurabh asks who filled air in it. Yuvraaj says not me, Barbie did it. Dadi goes to talk to Barbie. Snoopi barks and takes Sharad to Suhani's room. Someone replaces the balloon tag. Sharad goes to the room and does not see anyone. Sharad gets the balloon piece.
Yuvraaj says I don't know giving surprises, and see what happened now, I can't bear your silence, get back now. Suhani gets conscious. He smiles.
Update Credit to: Amena


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Nearly a year ago, at Microsoft's 2012 Build conference Nokia had their own little announcement for developers. It was there that Nokia announced their Premium Developer Program and the Nokia Ad Exchange (NAX). Today, one of those is still around, while the other has faded into history. Nokia has transitioned from directly managing NAX and developers will now work directly with Inneractive to monetize their games and apps. Details below.
NAX was a new and free way for developers to quickly and easily monetize their apps using in-app advertising. It was based on a partnership with (and powered by) Inneractive. NAX provided access to top ad networks using a single SDK for Windows Phone developers. It was different from Inneractive by being cross-platform (Windows Phone, Series 40, Symbian, iOS, Blackberry, and Android), had ad optimization in over 120 ad networks, and offered revenue payments in over 200 countries.
It had its fans in the development community, but unfortunately won't exist going forward. Developers using NAX received an email earlier today stating that Nokia would be transition users over to Inneractive as the Nokia Ad Exchange is no more. Sure enough, if you go the Nokia Ad Exchange website you'll see the same message.
For developers, nothing really changes it appears. All your NAX assets, including app IDs, analytics, and campaigns can be accessed in Inneractive. You'll even be using your NAX credentials to log-in. It's recommended by Nokia that developers work with Inneractive going forward to monetize their apps and games, but Nokia will still provide support via email during the transition.
Any of our developers out there use NAX?
Source: Nokia Ad Exchange
Thanks for the tip Kris S!


text: Visitors enter the museum, which is located at 1937 Spam Blvd., through a wall o' Spam, a display of nearly 3,500 cans of the pork luncheon meat. A sign by the wall helpfully notes that if you manage to restrict yourself to eating only one can of Spam a day, the contents of the wall could feed you for 10 years. Since Spam has a shelf life of several years, this isn't as far-fetched as it may sound. —Michelle Delio —A Tribute to Spam, the Meat (Wired)


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I was made aware of using "jigsaws" as an effective active learning strategy at a Preparing Future Faculty class I took at the University of Minnesota (my alma mater). The jigsaw is a collaborative learning activity where students learn a topic of interest by splitting the task. The topic or class module is split amongst students, so that a set of students are responsible for a particular sub-topic. The students are expected to read, and study the sub-topic at sufficient depth so as to call themselves as experts of the particular topic. During class students first convene in expert groups, discuss the sub-topic amongst themselves. After strengthening their ideas about the particular topic students are asked to gather in mixed groups such that every group has at least one experts from all the sub-topics. Collectively each mixed group talk about the entire topic, discussing and learning from others.
I have tested this activity in two classes that I have been instructor for, and have found sufficient enthusiasm amongst the student population to pursue it next time as well. I introduced students to five multiple sequence alignment algorithms in a bioinformatics class taught at University of Minnesota, and five clustering algorithms in a data mining class taught at George Mason University. The main advantage foreseen was that students gained information about five different methods by reading only one of the research papers. Here is an example of this activity for the clustering algorithms.
The author of this post, Huzefa Rangwala is an assistant professor Computer Science Department, George Mason University.


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Addiction is like disease, able to cripple your body and mind. The only difference is that, with addiction, you have a choice in the matter, and you can either let it consume your life or decide to fight back. It isn't an easy battle, and you may fall many times before you walk away for good, but it just might save your life. Nobody understands this lifelong struggle better than John Aaron, author and illustrator of the new book Romancing the Smoke: Reflections of a Nicotine Addict.
Unlike many books about nicotine addiction, Romancing the Smoke isn't meant for telling smokers how to quit. Aaron's darkly humorous memoir about his 40-year addiction is raw and honest, with illustrations done by the author himself. The memoir also delves into the history of the tobacco industry, its disturbingly effective marketing, and suggests non-traditional practices for a smoke-free lifestyle, such as laughter, yoga, and transcendental meditation (TM).


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I am hoping you all are having a great weekend! There is still have plenty of time get your entries into all my challenges for this week. I'm sure the bloggers who I featured would appreciate your comments too.
Here is my entry for this week's Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge with the topic of Shadow. ENJOY. Have a great weekend everyone.
Sunday – Odd Ball Photo Challenge: February 6, 2017
You still have until tomorrow to join in on this week's COB challenge. There is never a theme to COB challenge. Odd Ball's are those great photos that you take which really don't seem to fit into a common category.
Featured Bloggers
- Silku soju ljubim II
- Stuff and What If …
- The Life of a 40 Something
- Geriatri'x' Fotogallery
- Mama Comier
Monday – Share Your World – February 6, 2017
See how everyone answered this week's questions.
- Regarding your fridge, is it organized or a mess inside?
- Do you prefer your food separated or mixed together?
- Do you prefer reading coffee table books (picture), biographies, fiction, non-fiction, educational?
- Close your eyes. Listen to your body. What part of your body is seeking attention? What is it telling you?
Tuesday – Fun Foto Challenge: Crawling or Flying
There are still a couple days to get your entries in for the CCFC topic.
Featured Bloggers
- f-stopmama
- LivingTheQLife
- Christine's Blog
- The Mexi Movie
- CitySonnet
- MyGuiltyPleasures
- The Showers of Blessing
- Mick E Talbot Poems
Next Tuesday's topic will be Things that Look like Faces.
Wednesday – Cee's Which Way Challenge – February 8, 2017
This challenge is all about capturing the roads, walks, trails, rails, steps, etc. we move from one place to another on. You can walk on them, climb them, drive them, ride on them, as long as the specific way is visible. Any angle of a bridge is acceptable as are any signs.
There are still a few days to get your entries in for the CWW topic.
Featured Bloggers
Thursday – Cee's Black and White Photo Challenge: Glass
There are still a few days to get your entries in for the CB&K topic.
Featured Bloggers
- Doodles Collections
- The Bouquet
- StreetsOfNuremberg.com
- auf Motivsuche
- SoulCaptures
- Nick Watkins Photography
- Ohm Sweet Ohm
- What Rhymes with Stanza?
- Sweet Music
Next week's theme will have a new post for with the topic is Perspective.
Here is my entry for this week's Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge with the topic of Shadow.
Qi (energy) hugs


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Digitally drawn Shoe Clip Art. Ideal for scrapbooking, cards, invitations...
You will receive 5 Zipped Folders containing:
7 digitally drawn shoe designs each with a transparent background in PNG format and the same 7 shoe designs as JPEG files, for you to arrange in your own designs. 300dpi
Each image measures approximately 3-4 inches at widest point.
Files may be available in other formats. Please ask and if I can I will.
For Personal/Small Business Use
PERSONAL or SMALL BUSINESS USE includes:
Use on a personal website (ie a personal blog)
Non profit making uses such as printing out for scrapbooking, card making etc
Small business use (Etsy shops, home based businesses etc) - incorporating items into cards and other goods for sale. Use on websites (credit for artwork is required).
Use by non profit making groups (schools, girl guides etc) for fundraising activities, creating items for sale.
You may NOT:
- Resell any of my drawings in digital format or printed out as is.
- Share for free or otherwise redistribute my work.
- Use for large scale sales (over 500 items).
- Use images on Redbubble, Spreadshirt or any other Print on Demand service.
For Commercial use please contact me to purchase an extended licence.
COMMERCIAL USE includes:
You may use items without credit.
Use of images to create items for sale (over 500 items).
You may NOT:
- Resell any of my drawings in digital format or printed out as is.
- Share for free or otherwise redistribute my work.
- Use images on Redbubble, Spreadshirt or any other Print on Demand service.
This is a digital download and no physical product will be shipped.
Your files will be available to download once payment is confirmed.
Just contact me within: 14 days of delivery
Ship items back to me within: 30 days of delivery
But please contact me if you have any problems with your order.
Because of the nature of these items, unless they arrive damaged or defective, I can't accept returns for:
Buyers are responsible for return shipping costs. If the item is not returned in its original condition, the buyer is responsible for any loss in value.


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Yes, companies like Tesla and other car companies should be allowed to sell directly to consumers, because consumers are capable of making good choices. Consumers do not need the government to hold their hand and decide what is good for them. Funny that it is freedom-loving Texas that has banned Tesla.
Tesla should be allowed to sell directly to the consumers. It should be up to them and them alone if they want to sell directly to the consumer. It might be easier for them to profit if they do not do this but this should be a decision for the company.
As a consumer, I love to look at car lots, they're fun to drive through and see what is available. The buying process is something I absolutely hate. The sales people are pushy and the credit options are poor and generally forced upon the buyer. I believe companies should be allowed to sell directly over the Internet. As a consumer, I would be far more interested in purchasing a car this way, than in the traditional manner.
In a true free market, car sellers like Tesla should be free to sell their car directly to consumers. They must abide by the same safety standards as other vehicle manufactures, so there is no reason they shouldn't be allow to market their merchandise in the way they feel is best for their business model.


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According to my studies quick weight loss idea is never going to be a good solution for any weight loser. Whatever your ambitions are please read this article of mine at hubpages.
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Iconic writer John Updike dead at age 76 – TODAY: Book news – MSNBC.com.
John Updike was full of wisdom and helped me understand so much of the subtle logic of life that makes it so confusing for those of us who can see clearly.
Below is a collection of his greatest quotes. I will paraphrase one thing he said that I can't remember word for word and can't find anywhere, but have thought about all my life. It goes something like this:
The old world around us is always dying and going away. A new world that we don't know is always being born forming all around us. And because we only know the old world and not the new, we feel like we are losing something, not realizing that we are gaining just as much.
Here are other quotes from John Updike:
- We do survive every moment, after all, except the last one.
- America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.
- We take our bearings, daily, from others. To be sane is, to a great extent, to be sociable.
- Most of American life consists of driving somewhere and then returning home, wondering why the hell you went.
- Customs and convictions change; respectable people are the last to know, or to admit, the change, and the ones most offended by fresh reflections of the facts in the mirror of art.
- I love my government not least for the extent to which it leaves me alone.
- Religion enables us to ignore nothingness and get on with the jobs of life.


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We're well versed in government relations. Now you are too.
Whether it's Federal, state or local, city councils, county courts or board and commissions, government relations and how you work and play with them is a different world all together. For small and start up businesses that need help with government relations, it can be especially challenging without the right support. Clements Legal bring years of government experience and counseling to our clients. We'll also be there to help with representation on administrative and regulatory proceedings as they happen.
Business Incentives
Negotiating State and Local Incentives for Startup and Small Businesses
Insurance Regulation
Utility Regulation
Research, Drafting, and Lobbying Resources
Public Disclosure Law and Regulations
Municipal Bonds
Federal, State, and Local Government
Local Government Representation
Licensing and Registration
Freedom of Information Act Issues and Advice