text:
I've written before that, from an unfavorable perspective, the western backpacker in the developing world can be viewed as "slumming," visiting relatively poorer countries in order to witness/experience poverty and primitive conditions (see post of 11.19). I certainly would not generally agree with such criticism–the developing world has so much more to offer, in terms of history, and beauty, and the values of a more traditional world–but in at least one sense it is true: Backpacking, either traveling long-distance or hiking/camping with a backpack, is, for me, partly about deprivation.
Back in college, reading the Rule of Benedict in my medieval Latin class or the Life of St. Anthony for my senior paper in Ancient Studies, I used to daydream that I would have made a good monk. (A friend recently told me that such an attitude "belies a competitive streak incompatible with good monk-hood.") I am unlikely to give up my present life to become a novice, but I do believe that, especially back in a time in which people had relatively fewer career and lifestyle choices, being a monk would have offered the combination of a disciplined daily routine and ample time to think that I would have found satisfying. Part of my inclination toward that mode of living is something of an ascetic streak. As much as I love to indulge myself–who doesn't–I also believe that it's important to temper pleasure with abstinence, to maintain the supremacy of the mind over physicality, to enforce self control over bodily needs and wants, to exert oneself at times when one prefers not to, to go without.
It is partly this ascetic streak that I believe backpacking gratifies. To a "professional class" person living in a big city in the developed world today, there are so many comforts at our fingertips. We have the choice of eating and drinking whatever we want, products flown in from around the world and prepared according to an encyclopedia of styles. We have unlimited amounts of hot and cold water and electricity, and soft fabrics and cushions for our linens, upholstery and clothes. To get from place to place is a matter of hopping in some sort of vehicle, with limited walking, and elevators and escalators eliminate the need to climb stairs. We never have to lift anything heavy–there is usually a machine or someone else around to do that. If there is anything we need, we can simply buy it, at any of a number of stores. For work, we fly business class and stay in five-star hotels. What greater (temporary) antidote to all of this, all of this softness, than backpacking? On the road, we're forced to lug around heavy bags, day after day. We take twelve-hour-long share taxi rides, squeezed four in the back passenger seat, and sleep outside Milano Centrale. We walk for hours a day, carrying still heavy daypacks, and frequently miss meals or have very little choice of food. We're so used to having most anything we want; now, the things in our backpacks (see post of 12.05) are effectively everything we own, all that we have access to. Damaged shoes? It's slippers until we can find another pair that will do. Damaged recharger for the camera battery? No photos for no telling how long.
But this aspect of backpacking is not just about mortifying the flesh–it is about discovering what it is we really need, in order to live a rich and fulfilling life, and what is superfluous; it is a way to remind ourselves that so many things in our world back home are really just distractions, things we shouldn't value highly or let get in the way, from the sorts of interactions and experiences that really matter, that are so much more valuable. It is also a test of what our bodies can endure, how much discomfort is surprisingly tolerable as long as we don't let it get to us psychologically; bodily pleasure is, generally, relative. I know all of this may sound phony, given that I enjoy the luxury to travel for so long and mostly with all the modern conveniences, but it is heartfelt.
I have been forced to think about this because we just got back from a four day camel trek to see the Saharan scenery outside Chinguetti. How to convey to you the basic conditions on the trek? We paid roughly USD 16 per person per day, including not only our camels, but our guide and meals. And, we learned on our first day that it's called a camel "trek" for a reason–most of the traveling is actually done by foot, not on the camels, because the camels cannot negotiate steep dunes with people on their backs, and naturally our route stayed mainly on the most picturesque high dunes. So there we were, in the Sahara, walking up and down mountains of sand, following our guide and three camels. We would break for lunch cooked over an open fire–pasta with tomato sauce and a can of sardines–and then continue again, trudging up and down the dunes, until we stopped for dinner cooked over an open fire–pasta with tomato sauce and a can of sardines–and sleep, in our sleeping bags under the starry sky.
All the water we had was that which we had on us or could draw from oases–enough for drinking and cooking but certainly not bathing. All the food we had was that which we brought with us–there was nowhere for extra provisions. Fortunately we had some cloud cover, to keep down the heat and the glare of the sun, but we also feared rain–believe it or not, there has been rain in Chinguetti–given that we had no cover.
It's almost absurd–why do we tourists do this to ourselves? Whether in India, or Egypt, or here–why go on these multi-day camel trips? We say that it's to see the dunes, or to achieve a sense of solitude, but really it is as much about deprivation. However temporarily, it is about living in a way that allows us to recognize the essentials of life and really appreciate the simplest pleasures. A can of sardines, perfectly edible anywhere, becomes delicious in the desert; a simple cup of tea, so refreshing and renewing. Your limbs sink into a state of blissful comfort when it's time for a break, the weight of your head off of your shoulders such a relief when you lie down. The freshness of the evening, as it sets in when you're about to sleep, feels as good as any blast of air conditioning in the hottest of summer. Unmolested by the frenetic stimuli of city life, your mind reaches a state of relaxation such that most everything seems carefree, enjoyable, and even funny. You laugh spontaneously. It feels like, if you spent just a few more weeks in the desert, with the newfound clarity of your mind you could solve not only all of the problems in your life but all of the mysteries of the universe. Your senses become heightened, and so many things become, taken in isolation, so lavish, so curious, so beautiful. The cool sand, a few inches below the surface heated by the sun, that your bare foot digs into. The movement of the camels' lips as they pluck food from the branches of the thorny trees.
Sunlight cast against the sharp reliefs of your own footprint, against the ripples of the dunes
The wonder of an oasis, palm trees objects of luxuriant beauty and shade
But the hardship does get to you. Even with a mere three and a half days of deprivation, I started looking forward to my first bottle of cold soda, and my first night back in a bed, when I got back to town. I was reminded not only that there are many things that I do not need, but that that there are many things that I enjoy and take for granted. I thought about all the choices of food I normally have, and the special traits and qualities of each one that make it so pleasurable. I imagined myself drinking all sorts of beverages, each one tastier and more refreshing than the water we had on hand. I was in a delightfully lighthearted mood, and knew that it was a result of being out in the desert, but still wished to be back in town. And, in the afternoon of day four, we were back in Chinguetti.
And so you get back, but your mind goes back to the desert…
As we surround ourselves with worldly things, and become ever caught up in the complexities of modern living, how do we return ourselves, at least in spirit, to the state of the desert, to the state of the trail, to the state of the wandering road? How do we maintain perspective? Is it enough to go backpacking a couple times a year? Is meditation the solution? Or should we incorporate deprivation into our daily lives? Back home, a concerted effort to reduce our worldly possessions might result in the disposal of only an ugly old coffee mug or a book that I've read and didn't like. But now, a year away from it all, it all seems expendable. Why can we do without it for a year but not the rest of our lives? Is it even possible to achieve the desert frame of mind, such power of perception, in our everyday settings? These are all questions that merit so much more of our consideration than we usually accord. And, as we gradually approach the end of our year's journey, they become more and more essential.


text:
Okay, so we kind of just skipped to the end of the clearing of ogres from FOrt Rannick. Shane has dealt with that in the Campaign Journal.
What would the PCs intentions be here?
Days spent clearing the place, making it ready for occupation?
Burying the dead?
A quick day scouting for treasures?
Staying on in the Fort?
Returning to Turtleback Ferry (or even further away)?
1. Direction (as above)?
2. If you get individual downtime, what would your PC be doing? (The PHB p187 has some good pointers/ideas in this regard).
(Remember the weather is turning cold. First snows have fallen, and in fact there has been perpetual rain in the region and it is even worse to the north. In fact, to the north, the skies have taken on a dark, blood-muddied water sort of appearance. Clouds writhe ominously and torrential rain seems to be falling. Locals, inc the rangers before they died (as can be relayed by Novak) have been worried about the amount of rain, fearing it could bust the dam of Skull's Crossing).
"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." – Harry S. Truman

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Broadcasters' Turn to Worry About FCC
The cable industry felt the full force of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's authority in 2007.
He has knocked cable rates and invoked cable's market power, and tried to push it to offer a la carte programming.
Now, it may be broadcasters' turn for some of the chairman's tough love. The recent new media-ownership rule revision did not go far enough for broadcasters' liking. Years of talk about deregulation ultimately led only to a "modest" modification of the cross-ownership ban, affecting only the top 20 markets, instead of a complete lifting of the ban. In addition, broadcasters now also face the broad potential for license renewal reregulation—a prospect which is more than they bargained for.
Raycom Media President Paul McTear, who heads a coalition of small-market TV stations that include ones owned by Belo, Fisher, Freedom and LIN TV, last week said the decision failed to take into account the "harm" the limited ruling had on smaller stations.
A broadcast executive who asked not to be identified added: "Not only did we get screwed on getting any meaningful reform, we've gone backward." While he said broadcasters will go on being "healthy companies that will continue to generate shareholder returns," he said the FCC, by not expanding the ability of small-market stations to form more duopolies, appeared to be less concerned with the vitality of the business than with its mere survival. Another broadcaster said Martin was relegating broadcasters to "second-class status" among other media.
The worst may be yet to come. With the FCC's proposal of a major overhaul to TV stations' license renewal requirements, broadcasters fear the government could decide what type of local programming TV stations have to run, or, for example, how much time radio should spend playing songs by local artists. Some broadcasters and communications attorneys are comparing the Martin FCC to the regulatory days of the 1970s.
And though it has little chance of passage, consolidation critic Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) has introduced a bill that would toughen license renewal standards and cut the license term from eight years to three.
In introducing his proposal to loosen the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rules, Martin had said that after listening to a broad collection of consolidation critics at town meetings held nationwide, he determined that allowing companies to acquire more radio and TV stations in smaller markets was not in the public interest. Martin has a raft of proposals about broadcast localism that the National Association of Broadcasters says could potentially have "grave consequences."
But if he is to take a regulatory tack toward the broadcast medium, Martin will almost certainly have to employ the "strange bedfellows" majority of teaming with the commission's two Democrats. That's also the tack he took two weeks ago when he imposed a cap on how big cable operators can become. The two Democrats on the commission voted with him; the two Republicans voted against him.
Communications attorneys who may have to deal with the FCC were not about to talk on the record. But one veteran communications attorney says of the localism proposals: "It looks like the commission is proposing that regulation go back to where things were in the '70s and '80s, complete with ascertainment and the old main studio rules. That was a time when someone described the FCC as the last of the New Deal Dinosaurs."
In broadcasters' favor is that the FCC, in its Dec. 18 vote on the localism initiatives, didn't make any rules but instead indicated what it might do, shadows that won't necessarily remain unaltered by the future. "Any such proposals would need to go through the rulemaking process," says the attorney, "a process that, if the past is prologue, will take years."
That was one of the reasons why the localism initiatives were not a slam dunk for Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps, who has long called for more community input and a tougher license renewal policy. He says that while the cross-ownership change was an order, the localism item was simply a proposal, and that he is skeptical about how fervently the FCC would pursue those regulatory initiatives now that the majority had gotten what it wanted, "which was to loosen newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership."
But that veteran attorney isn't convinced. "The current commissioners have virtually no experience with the old rules, particularly the ascertainment rules," he says, "and probably don't realize how arcane and outmoded those rules have become." They were scrapped in the 1980s under the theory that the marketplace was sufficiently vibrant and competitive that a broadcaster would provide programming of local interest because if it didn't, it wouldn't attract enough interested viewers to pay the bills.
Asked why it wasn't a reasonable thing to ask the community to weigh in on what local programming broadcasters should air, one broadcast executive who asked not to be identified had a ready answer: "If you could really ask the public what they want, they would say: 'Give me more sex, give me more violence.' Do we really get to find out what the public wants, or are we supposed to find out what Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein want? The elites love the notion of ascertainment."
An FCC staffer says the localism proposals include mandates on the types and amount of local programming provided, with a license renewal potentially in the balance. The FCC wonders whether the network contracts with affiliates prevent stations from exercising local control, and whether it should create rules that strengthen a station's ability to pre-empt network content.
The NAB, in an e-mail obtained by B&C, urged members prior to the Dec. 18 meeting to call or meet with the commissioners about the proposals.
At least one commissioner is up to speed on the "arcane and outmoded" aspects of ascertainment, which require broadcasters to meet regularly with community groups to "ascertain" what local issues they think the station should be covering.
"The localism proposals in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking appear to be heavily re-regulatory," says Commissioner Robert McDowell, a Republican. "I am concerned we may reinstate old regulations that the commission previously eliminated as unnecessary given marketplace dynamics."
For example, he says, in the proposed rulemaking, "We tentatively conclude that the commission should require stations to convene permanent advisory boards made up of community officials and leaders to help the licensees ascertain the programming needs of the community. While seeking advice from community groups is a helpful idea, and one that many stations have voluntarily adopted, I have concerns about the government requiring them to do so while also micromanaging how they are run."
McDowell is also worried about programming guidelines: "This is only a small step away from content regulation. We risk treading on the First Amendment rights of broadcasters to make editorial choices regarding what programming serves the needs of their communities."
The television industry's top news stories, analysis and blogs of the day.
Thank you for signing up to Broadcasting & Cable. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.


text:
The Night of My Life
December 14, 2016
My mom told me we had somewhere to be, that I needed to be ready. So I did, I dressed myself and said goodbye to my friends and walked out the door. My mom turned on my favorite singer in the car, making my ears dance in joy. I didn't think much of it; I dressed nicely as my mom asked, prepared for extremely hot weather. Where ever our destination was going to be, it was taking awfully awhile to be "going to a picnic." Earlier I had asked my dad if he knew where I was going and he gave me a broad 'no.' My mom finally arrived to the place we needed to be, and outside the parking lot was a person wearing a yellow jacket and an orange stick, waving my mom into a parking spot. I raised an eyebrow as I looked around the parking lot seeing loads of teenage girls wearing nice clothes and loads of make-up. They looked like nice as if they were meeting someone special.
I pulled myself out of the car, letting my feet touch the ground, the heat immediately hitting my face. My mom waved me in the front of the building named, ´The Mann Center.' I looked at the sign, not paying attention to my mom talking to the lady on the other side of the glass barrier. I looked around, still curious on where we were and why. I found my feet walking to a huge line of girls, making me extremely more confused on where we were at. My mom pulled out of her phone and turned it to me with a huge grin on her face and said, "Guess who you're seeing? Shawn Mendes.." I blinked at her and felt a huge smile across my face. I've never felt happier to see someone in my life. I let out a few tears of joy and screamed happily. We made our way to the long line of girls with their mothers fanning themselves off from the unbearable heat. "Platinum! Anybody with platinum front of the line!" Platinum? My mom grabbed my arm and pulled me to the front of the line. I raised an eyebrow as I stood in the front of the line calmly and silently, questions coming to my mind. A lady handed us a VIP band and sent us to a room. I followed closely behind, beyond confused.
The room had decorations of Shawn's items and past guitars. It seemed almost like a mini museum. Still confused, I followed my mom and a security guard behind a curtain. "Whenever you are ready," the man spoke and pointed behind the curtain. I stepped behind the curtain and there he was… Stepping forward, I felt like I was going to cry once again. He smiled and hugged me tight, "Hi! What's your name?" he asked with one of the most trustful smiles.
"My name is Laura.." I went on and ranted and the real Shawn Mendes watched in awe. It was absolutely amazing. Don't even bother to get me started on the concert. After the very very heart whelming meet and greet, we went to the stadium and sat in the very first row closest to the stage and waited. Very front and center we sat. I still didn't know why we were sitting so close; I heard chatter from people around that the concert started at 7 and it was only 4. I patiently sat next to my mom as I checked my phone and scanned through the pictures and videos I took with him. I heard faint screams throughout the crowd until the screams became loud enough to look up. When I raised my head, I saw Shawn walk out with his guitar and a bright smile. I rose to my feet and got ready to enjoy the surprise soundcheck.
After the soundcheck, my night went by in a flash. I sang each song proudly and watched in amazement, seeing Shawn in front of me, directly in front of me. Sometimes I let out a few tears, but that was alright because the music reminded me of everything I've ever sang to. August 16th was truly, the night of my life.


text:
Vendor Risk Management Market 2019 Trends Estimates High Demand by 2026
The Global Vendor Risk Management market report considers the present scenario of the market and its market dynamics for the period 2019-2026. It covers a detailed overview of various market growth enablers, restraints, and trends. The study includes both the demand and supply sides of the market. It also profiles and analyzes the leading companies and several other prominent companies operating in the Vendor Risk Management market. It evaluates the historical performance and the current status of this market for a detailed understanding, emphasizing especially on the dynamics of the demand and supply of market.
The Market research report 2019 on global Vendor Risk Management Market primarily highlights market standing and forecast, categorizes the world Vendor Risk Management market size (value & volume) by makers, type, application, and region. It in addition executes the great study of value, current Vendor Risk Management Market geographical area, technology, and demand-supply.
Global Vendor Risk Management Market was valued at USD 3.62 Billion in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 10.7 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 14.5% from 2019 to 2026.
Get | Download Sample Copy @ https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/download-sample/?rid=8937&utm_source=FP24&utm_medium=PK
The Major Key Players in the Market are as follows:
LexisNexis Group, Inc., BWise B.V., LogicManager, Inc., MetricStream, Inc., Relational Security Corporation (Rsam), IBM Corporation, LockPath, Inc., and Genpact Limited
Detailed overview of the parent market, Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volumes and value, changing market dynamics in the industry are included in this report. It offers recent industry trends and developments, competitive structure and neutral perspective on market performance. The research study represents all major geographical regions and sub-regions in the world and concentrates on product sales, value, market size and growth opportunities in these regions.
Vendor Risk Management Market provides strategy of mergers and executions to enhance their Market share and product assortment. The main goal of Vendor Risk Management Market report is to provide a clear picture and a better understanding of the market. The Market is largely fragmented and the vast majority of the players functioning in the global Vendor Risk Management market are taking steps to raise their market footprint, by concentrating on product diversification and development, therefore making them seizes a larger share of the market.
Global Vendor Risk Management Market Geographic Scope
- North America
o U.S.
o Canada
o Mexico
- Europe
o Germany
o UK
o France
o Rest of Europe
- Asia Pacific
o China
o Japan
o India
o Rest of Asia Pacific
- Latin America
o Brazil
- Rest of the World
Avail The Discount @ https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/ask-for-discount/?rid=8937&utm_source=FP24&utm_medium=PK
Besides this, the report analyzes factors affecting market from both Vendor Risk Management demand and supply side and further evaluates market dynamics effecting the market during the forecast period that is future trend such as financial records of the leading companies operating in the global Vendor Risk Management market, present market trends, historical statistics, and insights from industry experts. Using reliable and precise analytical tools such as SWOT analysis, the Vendor Risk Management report studies the strengths and weaknesses of the leading companies. To measure the market size, the report has profiled key players of the industry.
Table Of Content
1 Introduction Of The Global Vendor Risk Management
2 Executive Summary
3 Research Methodology Of Verified Market Intelligence
4 The Global Vendor Risk Management Outlook
5 The Global Vendor Risk Management , By Systems
6 The Global Vendor Risk Management , By Service
7 The Global Vendor Risk Management , By Verticals
8 The Global Vendor Risk Management , By Applications
9 The Global Vendor Risk Management , By Geography
10 The Global Vendor Risk Management Competitive Landscape
Reasons to Purchase this Report
- Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the market based on segmentation involving both economic as well as non-economic factors
• Provision of market value (USD Billion) data for each segment and sub-segment
• Indicates the region and segment that is expected to witness the fastest growth as well as to dominate the market
• Analysis by geography highlighting the consumption of the product/service in the region as well as indicating the factors that are affecting the market within each region
• Competitive landscape which incorporates the market ranking of the major players, along with new service/product launches, partnerships, business expansions and acquisitions in the past five years of companies profiled
• Extensive company profiles comprising of company overview, company insights, product benchmarking and SWOT analysis for the major market players
• The current as well as future market outlook of the industry with respect to recent developments (which involve growth opportunities and drivers as well as challenges and restraints of both emerging as well as developed regions
• Includes an in-depth analysis of the market of various perspectives through Porter's five forces analysis
• Provides insight into the market through Value Chain
• Market dynamics scenario, along with growth opportunities of the market in the years to come
• 6-month post sales analyst support
Complete Report is Available @ https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/product/vendor-risk-management-market/?utm_source=FP24&utm_medium=PK
About Us:
Verified Market Research' has been providing Research Reports, with up to date information, and in-depth analysis, for several years now, to individuals and companies alike that are looking for accurate Research Data. Our aim is to save your Time and Resources, providing you with the required Research Data, so you can only concentrate on Progress and Growth. Our Data includes research from various industries, along with all necessary statistics like Market Trends, or Forecasts from reliable sources.
Contact Us:
Mr. Edwyne Fernandes
Call: +1 (650) 781 4080
Email: [email protected]


text:
It's cold in here.
I want to dance,
Bare it all.
I want to dance round the pagan fire of encyclopedic knowledge.
So, I hack at the trees,
Swinging from their branches,
Pulling their bows down to the earth,
Sweeping away the snow with their wild pines,
I pine for you.
It's cold in here.
I want to dance,
Bare it all.
I tear the pages from the Britannica
And crumple them into little balls and toss them in to land midst the logs.
I strike the match,
Inhale the sulphur and it stings the insides of my nostrils.
I burn the French Congo.
I Burn the Grand Teton Mountains
I break down barriers of Geopolitik
Set fire to the waters of the Great Barrier Reef
It all goes up in flame.
Thick black smoke fills my lungs as the thousands of words and symbols and people and places all made possible by Mr. Gutenberg ignite, curl in on themselves, burst into a crackling flame and disintegrate into nothingness. Johan, himself, is not spared.
I burn habeas corpus and the willing of your body to mine.
I burn Halcyon and hope for days of peace and tranquility to be granted by the Gods.
The embers of the charred pages burn, but the wood doesn't catch fire no matter how much I poke and prod. No matter how I feed the cravings the heat of the burning pages is always quick and intense, yet the fire still dies. The kinetic ashes settle back into potential waiting patiently to bring forth a new light.
I strike another match and swallow the flame.
I am the furnace that will stoke the scorched ashes into a passionate blazing inferno.
Slowly, I inhale
The fire burns more brilliantly
Ever more so.
It's warm in here,
I still want to dance,
Bare it all


text:
Episode 35: Viles, Vitality, and Virgules
This week's episode features three poems by two authors: "As Snow" by Pam Matz and "Solu-Medrol" and "Words" by Michael Levan. Pam Matz reads poems to get some real news and writes poems to find out what she means. The previous sentence is almost true….
This week's episode features three poems by two authors: "As Snow" by Pam Matz and "Solu-Medrol" and "Words" by Michael Levan.
Pam Matz reads poems to get some real news and writes poems to find out what she means. The previous sentence is almost true. She's spent most of her working life moving words around, as a typist, editor, librarian, and writer. She has a pet rabbit, who is bossy and silent.
We started off our conversation with "As Snow," a poem about death, dying, and possibly dementia. A poignant account of what we read as an instance of mother-daughter interaction, Matz brought into discussion the impact of death on the survivor and how losing someone close can make us hyper-aware of our own mortality. Images and ideas of snow, cliffs, and death are well-woven elements in this piece and part of what left us anxious to give our votes.
Michael Levan, unlike previous Slush Pile-r Frank Scozzari, didn't finish the John Muir Trail because 30 miles into the trek with his future wife, he sprained his MCL. He's a diehard Clevelander who couldn't bear going to school the day after Earnest Byner's fumble versus the Denver Broncos in 1988, which is why he made sure to attend the first major Cleveland sports championship celebration last summer along with 1.3 million other fans. This past Easter night, he and his wife welcomed their third child, Odette, who along with Atticus and Dahlia, have made their world complete, no matter how difficult the pregnancies were.
We move on to discuss the work of Michael Levan, "Solu Medrol" and "Words," which also affects reflection on life, death, and dealing with illness. Levan's structural choices for his writing lead us to ask what certain decisions might do – or undo – for the effect of our words. Can form distract from the intent? Can interruptions in pace lead the reader astray? Either way, Levan has a way of sustaining the sentimentality in his writing and making the speaker's thoughts clear.
Tune in for the results! Let us know what you think about this episode, these poems, and virgules in poetry on Twitter and Facebook with #ScallopsAndVirgules!
Present at the Editorial Table
Kathleen Volk Miller
Tim Fitts
Sharee DeVose
Marion Wrenn
Jason Schneiderman
Engineering Producer:
Joe Zang
Pam Matz
As Snow
for P.M., 1920-2007
Until the end, which was sudden
you were dying a long time
and because I'd been casting my mind
toward yours for years
I was afraid I would go with you
slide over the cliff
being tied to you
I haven't yet arranged for the plaque
next to the pathway under the birches
I think you would say
you will when you're ready
trying to avoid any sting
of worry or impatience
since you died, I forgive others
keep the anger banked
whenever I came to the nursing home
at noon, I saw the man
who proposed marriage to his friend
after her diagnosis
he'd be rubbing ointment on her lips
feeding her lunch
her face straining open-mouthed
his pants ragged at the cuff
he'd be telling her the story that always began
you were a little girl in East Texas
you'd know—what's the Yiddish word
for someone like him?
I could tell you about
the rough wall you built
the stones you gathered
one by one
stopping at roadsides
for a shape, a color
basket-of-gold and lobelia
trailing from crevices
years ago
I couldn't tell you
whether you and your last man
a kind man
ever slept in the same bed
snow falling again
in its own time
snow falling from the branches
that had held it
Michael Levan
The man can only find words / to help his wife; he is unaccomplished / in so many ways that are useful to the world. / And sometimes he can't even do that, but here,maybe, are these words / that stand for his hopes for her, for them, for the boy, / and the boy's sibling who may come still. Here are these flowers / that stand for the medicine meant to renew her / appetite, to keep her from sickness's wither. He can't stand it, / but of course he does. Everything must have meaning, / each thing must stand for something if only / he'd take the time to see it all answered.
He says to the delivery man, / Thank you for the beautiful vials you've brought her; she'll take / a few dozen more, however many gets her to see / the end of all this, which is the only time to make it mean. /He is willing to go down on his knees / before who might have insights and answers,who might / take what's burning the man inside and quench it. / This is the woman he loves. This is the way / he knows to love her.
Michael Levan
As the man falls into sleep, he thinks of all the words / he was told to never use in his writing. Words too big or too abstract / to mean anything specific to the reader, words with baggage, words / that have become cliché. He remembers a professor arguing for the impossibility of soul / to appear in a poem, except for that Zagajewski one /(and maybe a half-dozen others, off the top of his head). / The man believes he understands the reasoning, / though he doesn't know how much he believes it. / He thinks of how his days with her are broken / into pain and sadness and anger and, yet,/ love too, love most, love in spite and because of this sickness. / How it drives everything he does for her, / and how it hurts him when his effort fails her, / how it's the last word on his mind before sleep comes, / and the first he must struggle to find when he wakes again / and again for her all through the night.


text:
My husband came upstairs the other day and said,
"Adrian just typed out Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin without looking at anything with those words on it."
These are two of his favorite movies and he accesses them on his computer by sight reading them. So I wasn't shocked to hear he'd used them. But then I thought about it.
He typed them without looking at anything else and spelled them correctly.
First, this means that not only can he learn to sight read words – he can learn to reproduce them. And if he can reproduce them, he can learn to use them. There's a whole lot of hope in that statement and if you're not the parent of a non-verbal child you may have missed it.
While being able to use programmed vocabulary is great, it still limits what he can say. The ultimate goal is to teach him to read and write so he can type his own spontaneous, unique messages – to be able to say what ever he wants to say, whenever he wants to say it.
So what did we do next? I opened Adrian's keyboard page on his Dynavox V. And he began typing…
Lune? I couldn't figure out what he meant. He thought for a second, went into his 'time for' page and looked there, then when back to the keyboard screen and typed…
He could have just hit the lunch button but he didn't. He typed it. Could it be that he really recognizes the power of all those letters? This is one exciting development 🙂


text: FYI: It's usually good to CC the package maintainer when a build fails for non-trivial reasons. At first glance it seems the SSH package was released when version 0.3 of the ASN package was current. The ASN package is now on version 0.5 - so you can either add that constraint into the SSH package and try again or fix the SSH package to work with ASN 0.5 and send in a patch if that proves to be the case. Cheers, Thomas P.S. It does appear that the ASN changes break this, but when I add the version constraint I see that SSH implicitly uses FlexibleInstances, which must be made explicit in GHC 7 via a LANGUAGE pragma or equivalent. On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 11:58 AM, Loïc Maury <lmaury at gmail.com> wrote: > Hello, > > I try to install the ssh package with cabal, but > unfortunately that doesn't work, I have this error : > > src/SSH/Crypto.hs:70:16: > Couldn't match expected type `Data.ASN1.Types.ASN1t' with actual type > `ASN1ConstructionType' > > I'am on Debian with ghc-7.0.1 > > I don't know how I can resolve this issue ? > > Thank you for help > > Loïc > > _______________________________________________ > Haskell-Cafe mailing list > Haskell-Cafe at haskell.org > http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell-cafe > >


text:
The Keys – "I Don't Wanna Cry" (1981)
Although I'm usually mildly allergic to skinny-tie songs, I liked this. And the more I played it the more I liked it. (I've played it five times now – in a row.) And I like the lyrics, too. There are only two things I wasn't keen on:
1) The melody in the verse has an octave jump (e.g., at 0:08: "…our last GOOD night…") that I find a little disconcerting. I sounds a little like a yelp instead of being part of a natural and flowing melody. It's a very minor thing, and doesn't stop me from enjoying the song, but it's just slightly jarring;
2) One of the song's recurring riffs has a passing note that made me screw up my face the first couple of times I heard it. (One example is at 1:21.) I'm used to it now, but I thought it just a tad sour in amongst the rest of the song.
But I like this song a little more every time I play it. (I think I've already said that.)
The Tonettes – "Oh What A Baby" (1958)
A thoroughly enjoyable 50's song. These are the kind of songs I love grabbing a guitar and playing along to. I laughed out loud when I first heard that guitar chord at 0:05. It sounded more like a child squealing (or a bird squawking) than a guitar. Now that I'm listening to the rest of the song, I'm thinking that this may be a novelty song, considering the fabulously nonsensical background singing (what are they singing?). But besides – or maybe because of – the thoroughly cryptic lyrics (apart from the occasional "baby", I don't understand anything they're singing), the song is a great bit of 50's fun. And I love that guitar solo (at 1:10) – it sounds like the guitarist is doing his or her best to imitate a train whistle. Great stuff.
The Soul Survivors – "Expressway To Your Heart" (1967)
What an odd song. It starts off as a Motown/Funk hybrid (love the beat and that bass), but then the funky music comes to an abrupt stop to make way for a sort of soul ballad (at 0:29) as the singer pours his heart out. I sort of enjoyed "Expressway To Your Heart" but it sounded 'bitty' to me: bits of different songs and styles were grafted on to each other, but the whole thing didn't sound cohesive. Consequently, I liked some bits of it, but not other bits. Another odd thing for me is that I thought the song was way too short. I was surprised when it faded out. I thought the song was going to keep going, but it faded out at the strangest moment (at what I thought was going to be the middle section, where the singers were expanding on their woes). I wouldn't have minded it going on for much longer. I've heard the song a few times now (three), and each time I'm surprised and mildly disappointed when the song fades out. Ah, well.
The Chips – "Rubber Biscuit" (1956)
Now, this must be a novelty song from the 50's. The words here are even more nonsensical than the ones in The Tonettes' song. The main lyrics are actually gibberish. This song is silly. And I liked it. I didn't love it, though, because of the verses staying on the one chord which was way too monotonous for me. And I winced at the bad harmony singing at the end of the song (1:58-2:02). Still, it's a fun song.
Bonus instrumental:
The Doobie Brothers – "Slack Key Soquel Rag" (1975)
Very nice guitar playing. I could go on and on about the various aspects of the guitar work, but it would waste my time and yours. However, I do want to point out the excellent guitar harmonics at the end of the track. They're marvellous – as is the guitar playing everywhere else in the rest of the track. By the way, and this won't be of interest to anyone, but I've always like The Doobie Brothers (I've had Best Of The Doobies for years and love it), and I have to admit that my all-time favourite driving song is "Listen To The Music". If ever I'm cruising down a highway with the wind in my hair, "Listen To The Music" is the perfect song to listen to.