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CRS: RADIO FREE IRAQ AND RADIO FREE IRAN: BACKGROUND, LEGISLATION, AND POLICY ISSUES FOR CONGRESS, January 7, 1999
From WikiLeaks
About this CRS report
This document was obtained by Wikileaks from the United States Congressional Research Service.
The CRS is a Congressional "think tank" with a staff of around 700. Reports are commissioned by members of Congress on topics relevant to current political events. Despite CRS costs to the tax payer of over $100M a year, its electronic archives are, as a matter of policy, not made available to the public.
Individual members of Congress will release specific CRS reports if they believe it to assist them politically, but CRS archives as a whole are firewalled from public access.
This report was obtained by Wikileaks staff from CRS computers accessible only from Congressional offices.
For other CRS information see: Congressional Research Service.
For press enquiries, consult our media kit.
If you have other confidential material let us know!.
For previous editions of this report, try OpenCRS.
Wikileaks release: February 2, 2009
Publisher: United States Congressional Research Service
Title: RADIO FREE IRAQ AND RADIO FREE IRAN: BACKGROUND, LEGISLATION, AND POLICY ISSUES FOR CONGRESS
CRS report number: 98-539
Author(s): Susan B. Epstein, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division
Date: January 7, 1999
- Abstract
- In early 1998 after recurring conflicts with the Iraqi government on weapons sites inspections, Congress debated various nonmilitary actions to support removing Saddam Hussein from power. On May 1, 1998 the President signed the supplemental appropriation (H.R. 3579, P.L. 105-174) which provides funding for a new surrogate broadcasting service--Radio Free Iraq. This report tracks legislation and issues pertaining to these surrogate services.
- Download


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The example of house entrance pediment pictured above is from the town of Buzau in south east Romania, from the period when the Little Paris style (what I call the c19th French and other western historicist styles interpreted in a provincial manner in Romania) was in vogue throughout the whole country. The finish is a bit crude, but charming, the assembly truing to emulate the entrance of a Corinthian order temple. I like the monogram of the owner flanked by the year of construction of the house, at the beginning of the La Belle Époque period.
If you would like to find out more about the Little Paris style and how it imprinted the architectural character of Bucharest, I organise a special tour on that theme this coming Saturday, details here: https://historo.wordpress.com/2012/03/21/walking-tour-saturday-24-march-bucharest-as-the-little-paris-of-the-balkans/

subset: commoncrawl


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You've been a digital pack rat, collecting music, photo, and video files over the years. Now, you want to access your media from the comfort of your living-room couch, so you can view it on the wide-screen HDTV at the center of your home theater. Whether you want to kick back and relax to the strains of Stravinsky, or relive your vacation through photos and videos, the media-centric storage devices we've found will help you get files off the drive and onto your TV or stereo.
Most of the units we spotlight here are network-attached storage (NAS) boxes with features that make them especially media-friendly. Two are hard drives onto which you load media via USB and then attach to your TV as you would a DVD player or DVR (a little like the Popcorn Hour A-110).
Over the Network
The most elegant way to share audio, photo, and video files between your PC and your television is to use the NAS together with what's generally referred to as a Digital Media Adapter (DMA, also referred to as Digital Media Receiver). The DMA connects to your TV via HDMI, composite, or component video outputs; and it connects to your network via ethernet or wireless. Once on the network, it can stream media from your network hard drive–assuming the NAS box has a UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) media server embedded (most do). Many network storage boxes, including three models reviewed here, are certified by the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)–an extra layer of certainty that your networked devices will talk to one another. (You can also use a video game console connected to your television, such as the Sony PlayStation 3 or the Microsoft Xbox 360, to stream the media from a NAS to your TV.)
To complete the circuit, you'll need a router, preferably one equipped with wireless N (currently the fastest wireless technology available) and wired gigabit ethernet (common to all but one of the networkable boxes we tried). In our hands-on tests, gigabit ethernet provided a smoother playback experience with high-definition content.
Standard 10/100 ethernet and wireless N both provided a suitable streaming experience for music and photos. However, in our testing with 720p and 1080p video through two different 10/100 routers, we often experienced long delays before the video playback commenced; sometimes, we experienced stuttering once the playback began.
In contrast, 480p video generally played smoothly. When we switched to a wired gigabit connection, playback was smooth as could be, and we experienced virtually no playback delays.
Before you start shopping for the extra equipment you need to use a NAS with your TV, double-check to make sure the devices you're considering are DMAs, not Windows Media Extenders. With a DMA, you don't need a PC to act as your intermediary between your content and your TV. Windows Media Extenders are literally an extension of your PC, letting you stream content from your PC by displaying and controlling Windows Vista Media Center through your television.
Alas, while DMAs provide clients that stream media from PCs, many Windows Media Extenders won't communicate with UPnP servers on a NAS box or with your PC–which is why we recommend that you go with a straight-up DMA.
NAS boxes with UPnP media servers, such as the models highlighted here, also offer other media-centric features like an iTunes server; simply store your songs on the drive, and the iTunes server will create a shared iTunes library that shows up automatically under the Shared heading of the iTunes navigation panel on your PC-or via your DMA. This little trick saves you the hassle of adding songs to every iteration of iTunes on your network. (For more on NAS units, see our latest Top 10 Network-Attached Storage Devices chart.)
Stand-Alone Alternatives
A few hard drives make it easier to access your media from your TV without using a network as a conduit. The advantage of this approach is that you don't have to hassle with wireless connections or string network cables throughout your home.
Not included here but worth noting is LaCie's slickly designed LaCinema Black Max. This box, not yet shipping at the time of this writing, can record video to its 1TB hard disk and output directly to your television.
Already have a hard drive that you want to hook up to your TV? Seagate's FreeAgent Home Theater dock and Western Digital's WD TV each work with any drive, connect directly to your television and simplify finding and displaying audio, video, and pictures stored on any hard drive.
Here are links to reviews of all the drives we tested for this roundup, in order of their rating.
Network-Attached Storage Drives:
Western Digital My Book World Edition 1TB
Linksys by Cisco Media Hub NMH410
Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive
ZyXel Central Digital Media Library NSA-220 Plus
Stand-Alone Media Drives (not rated):
Iogear Portable Media Server Player GMD2025U120


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Marysville Visitor Information Centre
Nestled in the foothills of Melbourne's closest alpine resort are the villages of Marysville, Buxton, Taggerty and Narbethong. Located only 90 minutes drive from Melbourne in the picturesque Yarra Valley, Marysville and surrounds is an ideal destination for lovers of nature and the outdoors. The choices are plentiful, each allowing new memories to be made and new adventures to be shared. A place to leave you feeling connected to the natural surrounds, the people and one another.


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I recently had the privilege of giving a presentation on what games are, how they've grown to a serious medium and the potential of what games can bring to different forms of communication to a group of proffessionals in the health industry. The wonderful Ricki Sickenger from Sonat Consulting followed me to talk about the process of gamification. My main focus through the presentation was on gaming systems. True – the graphics within the industry have become "almost real" and truly beautiful but so has the system/game design. And I wanted to emphasize on this to point out that game developers should be involved early on in development processes and not brought in in the end with a simple note of "gamify this within 2 weeks". At least I think I did – but this may also be the conclusion from the wonderful conversation we had after.
It gave me an opportunity to dip into some health games and I'm absolutely smitten with Re-mission 2 by HopeLab! I love this project! They put game developers together with kids who are going through cancer treatments to make games that are absolutely joyful and so much fun. The games helped kids visualize what their bodies are going through and understand what all the painful treatments were fighting. I love this idea! First of all just using kids that are already going through this to help create games must be such a great program in itself. Second of all – the games are gleefully great! They made me giggle.
I wanna do something like this in Norway! Who's with me and where do we start?


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from the NY Times, Pagan Kennedy (no, not a typo)
"The first line of my obituary is going to mention the smiley face," says Scott Fahlman, who would rather be remembered for his research into artificial intelligence. But like it or not, Fahlman has become famous for three keystrokes. In 1982, as a young professor at Carnegie Mellon University, he realized the need for a symbol to temper the bickering that plagued online forums. The Internet was just a baby then, and yet already flame wars raged. Fahlman decided that a smiley face could be useful as a "joke marker" (as he called it) to take the sting out of mocking statements or pranks. And so he hunted around the keyboard for a way to make the face. "But what do you use for eyes?" he wondered. Once he found the colon, the rest was easy. He dashed his suggestion off to friends. "I didn't even proofread the message," he says.
The emoticon — perhaps one of the first online memes — spread to other campuses, hitching a ride in e-mails. And as the Web expanded in the '90s, so, too, did the colon-hyphen-parenthesis. "Wherever the Internet went, the smiley face was there within weeks," Fahlman says. The symbol has endured because it's a quick way to soothe hurt feelings or express joy. But Fahlman still hears complaints that it is a hallmark of lazy writing. His critics tend to raise questions like "Would Shakespeare have used a smiley face?" Yes, Fahlman says, if Shakespeare were around today, thumb-tapping a screed "about parking at the Globe Theater, he might say something intemperate. And then he might think twice about it and want to use an emoticon."
Tyler Schnoebelen, who has a Ph.D. in linguistics, analyzed millions of Twitter messages to understand how people use emoticons.
You found that about 10 percent of the tweets in your sample had emoticons in them. Why so many?
In a full paragraph, you might be able to express how you're feeling. But it becomes harder in a tweet, where you only have a few words.
What is the difference between people who use 🙂 and people who use 🙂 ?
The people who use 🙂 follow a younger set of celebrities. They swear more, and they use spellings like "sooooo" and "loooove."
What about 😉 ? Is it a flirt?
Yes, we can assume that. It tends to appear near words like "horny," "attractive," "hot" and "dirty." It doesn't occur near words like "pleasant" or "irritated." The world of 😉 is sexy.
Do you use emoticons?
Actually, yes, I've become a connoisseur of them. I love the :))) — it's like saying "I'm soooooooo happy." But I don't personally use that emoticon, because to me it looks like someone with multiple chins. And over the last year, I've been using the 😉 a lot.
So now that you've finished this research on the emoticon, you're ;)-ing a lot?
Yes, now I do more flirting.
Western-style emoticons often read from left to right, as "sideways faces." Japanese thumb-typists, meanwhile, have invented their own system.
m(_ _)m
Bowing down in apology
Wearing headphones
more …
o(`ω´ )o
Very Upset


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By David Williams
Adjust font size:
(CNN) -- In the peak of cold and flu season, many Americans may want to hide at their desks to avoid those hacking and sneezing co-workers. But health experts say that could be the very place that makes them sick.
A study by the University of Arizona in 2002 found the typical worker's desk has hundreds of times more bacteria per square inch than an office toilet seat. If that's not disturbing enough, desks, phones and other private surfaces are also prime habitats for the viruses that cause colds and flu.
Bacteria, single-celled organisms, can cause strep throat, pneumonia and other conditions. They can be treated with antibiotics. However, viruses, which are smaller than bacteria, cause colds and flu and cannot be treated with antibiotics.
Dr. Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona, counted bacteria on workplace surfaces for a study sponsored by The Clorox Co., makers of Clorox bleach.
Office toilet seats had 49 germs per square inch, he found. But desktops had almost 21,000 germs per square inch. Phones were worse -- more than 25,000 germs per square inch.
Desks, phones, computer keyboards and mice are key germ transfer points because people touch them so often, Gerba said, adding that coughing and sneezing can leave behind "a minefield of viruses" that can live on a surface for up to three days. But health experts say that simple office hygiene can reduce infection risks dramatically.
"We know that 80 percent of the infections you get are transmitted through the environment," Gerba said.
Bacteria cafeteria
Wiping down work areas with disinfectant wipes every day reduces bacteria significantly, Gerba said.
But at many offices, custodians don't touch people's desks to avoid accidental misplacement or loss of important documents.
"Nobody ever cleans a desktop until they start sticking to it, from what we've found," he said. "A lot of people eat and slop on their desks all the time so it basically turns into a bacteria cafeteria during the day, and that's one of the reasons you get a lot on your desktops."
Roslyn Stone, chairwoman of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Workplace Flu Prevention Group, had another low-tech recommendation -- washing your hands.
"Soap and hot water for 18 to 20 seconds as frequently as you can remember to do it is going to be your single most effective prevention tip this season," she said.
Stone also urged people not to go to work if they're sick to avoid spreading the disease to their co-workers.
However, she acknowledged that it can be hard to stay home since the peak flu months are December and January -- the busiest time of year for retailers and a time when many workers have either used all their sick time or are rationing it to last through the New Year.
Lori Rosen, a workplace analyst with CCH Incorporated, recommended that companies put together guidelines to tell their employees when to stay home and when it is OK to come to work.
"Sometimes people don't know, and even though they know when they should keep their kids home from school, they don't know that about themselves because they think, 'Well, I'm an adult I can deal with it differently,' but in fact it probably isn't," she said.
Stone said a basic guideline would be for workers to stay home until they are free of symptoms -- fever, sore throat, nausea or diarrhea -- for at least 24 hours.
Flu costs
Workers in the United States miss an average of 1.5 days per year because of the flu and that could cost businesses $20 billion in lost productivity this year, said Harvard University health economist David Cutler.
He said the shortage of vaccine could make the problem larger than most years.
"There's this hero thing that people think 'If I can get myself dressed in some manner and drag myself -- even if somebody has to drive me -- to the office, I'll go in,'" Rosen said.
Dr. Ron Goetzel, director of the Cornell Institute for Health and Productivity Studies, said that this sort of "presenteeism" puts other workers at risk and also hurts companies' bottom lines.
"The employer is paying you to come in and work," he said " and ... you're suffering from a condition that knocks off two out of 8 hours of the day. In a sense the employer is paying you for a full day of work but you're only delivering 75 percent of that."
Desks, phones, keyboards and mice are key germ transfer points because people touch them so often.


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%COMMENT{ attributes
}% anywhere in a TWiki topic. %COMMENT% is also legal.
The following attributes are recognised
|This is the name of the template to use for this comment. Comment templates are defined in a TWiki template - see Customisation, below. If this attribute is not defined, the type is whatever is defined by COMMENTPLUGIN_DEFAULT_TYPE, either in this topic or in your WebPreferences. By default this is 'below'.
|Name of the topic to add the comment to. Defaults to the current topic.
|Regular expression specifying the comment location in the target topic. Read carefully below!
| For compatability with older versions only, synonymous with
|Set to "on" to disable change notification for target topics
| Set to "on" to disable the automatic form that encloses your comment block - remember to insert
<FORM> tags yourself!
%COMMENT supports several ways to specify where a comment should be inserted in the target topic. This is referred to as the location of the comment.
%COMMENT tag
%COMMENT tag itself. For example:
%COMMENT{type="below"}%will add comments in the current topic, directly below the
%COMMENT tag.
target attribute may specify a web, and may also specify an anchor within the target topic; for example,
%COMMENT{type="above" target="%MAINWEB%.PersonalRemarks#InsertHere"}%This uses a standard TWiki in-topic anchor as the insertion location. See TextFormattingRules for more about TWiki anchors.
location parameter. The target topic is searched for the regular expression, and the comment inserted relative to the string that the search matched. For example,
%COMMENT{type="above" location="Flights of Fancy"}%will place comments above the first occurence of the string
Flights of Fancy in the current topic.
Warning of course, if a user's comment contains the string "Flights of Fancy" they may and up changing the location for the next comment! Also, if you use a tag in the location, then you've just inserted another tag in the page that contains the
%COMMENT! So be very careful how you specify the RE for
location. Note that the RE is matched using perl "multiple line" mode, so ^ and $ match the start of a line and the end of a line respectively.
I look forward to someone leveraging this feature to create - for example - threaded conversations using
If you specify an anchor and a
location, the anchor will be ignored.
|Template type
|Comments, signed and dated (server time), added at top of the topic (the anchor is ignored)
|Comments, signed and dated (server time), added at end of the target topic (the anchor is ignored)
| Comments, signed and dated (server time), added immediately before the target anchor, or the
%COMMENT if no anchor is specified
| Comments, signed and dated (server time), added immediately below the target anchor, or the
%COMMENT if no anchor is specified
|Wiki thread mode comment, signed and dated (server time)
|Comments, signed and dated (server time), formatted as an HTML table row, added below the anchor (which must be in an HTML <table>)
|Comments, signed and dated (server time), formatted as an HTML table row, added above the anchor (which must be in an HTML <table>)
PROMPT:mytype and
OUTPUT:mytype respectively. See
comments.tmpl in the templates directory for examples.
The plugin picks up these template definitions from a standard TWiki template file,
templates/comments.tmpl. This allows different templates to be defined for different TWiki skins. By default, this template includes the topic CommentsTemplate, which contains all the shipped standard templates and in turn includes TWiki.UserCommentsTemplate. This allows for several levels of customisation:
comments.tmpl to include a different topic (this customisation will be lost next time you upgrade, though).
%TMPL:INCLUDE to include other files of templates.
PROMPT template
PROMPT template defines the contents of an HTML form that is used to capture the comment. This form invokes the comment generator when submitted. Parameters to the comment generator are defined using standard HTML input fields, such as
textarea and
select. The user enters values for these parameters, and these are then available when the
OUTPUT template is expanded, in the form of
Only the input fields of the form need be defined. The plugin automatically generates the
>form< and
>:/form< tags, unless you specify
noform="on", in which case you have to provide them yourself. Note that you must define a "submit" button if you want the form to work!
If an attribute is given to the
%COMMENT tag that is not one of the standard attributes, then that attribute is taken as the name of a parameter to be expanded in the
PROMPT template. Expressions in the template of the form
% (e.g.
%button|Push me%) are expanded to the values given in the
%COMMENT. For example, if the
PROMPT template 'example' contains:
<textarea rows=%rows|3% cols="%cols|50%" value="%tval|Rubbish%">and the %COMMENT tag is:
%COMMENT{type="example" cols="75"}%then the template will be expanded as
<textarea rows="3" cols="75" value="Rubbish">As well as support for all the usual TWiki variables in templates, the following special variables are supported in the
PROMPT definition:
|A helpful generated message, either a lock message or a reminder to refresh.
|Set to 'disabled' when you cannot comment (e.g. in preview mode).
OUTPUT template
OUTPUT template defines the format for the text that actually gets embedded into the topic. All the usual TWiki variables are available in the
PROMPT definition, but note that they get expanded when the comment is inserted in the text, so time, date and username will refer to the time and date when the comment was made and the user who made it.
There are also four position tags that are used to indicate where the comment should be placed, relative to the
location defined in the
%COMMENT tag:
|If present, comments will be inserted at the top of the topic i.e. before any other text
|If present, comments will be inserted at the end of the topic i.e. after all existing text
| If present, comments will be inserted immediately before the
%COMMENT% tag
| If present, comments will be inserted immediately after the
%COMMENT% tag
All the usual TWikiVariables that can be used in a topic template can also be used in an
OUTPUT template. See TWikiVariables for details.
CommentPlugin_installer to automatically check and install other modules that this module depends on. You can also do this step manually. Dependencies: None
configure in your TWiki installation, and enable the plugin in the {Plugins} section.
|Plugin Author:
|TWiki:Main.DavidWeller, TWiki:Main.PeterMasiar, TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie http://www.c-dot.co.uk
|Change History:
|Please refer to the TWiki Subversion repository for a complete change history of this plugin.
|Perl Version:
|>= 5.6.1
|Plugin Home:


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NEWARK, N.J. – Two cast members of 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey' face the reality of new charges in federal court.
Joe and Teresa Giudice (JOO'-dys) are scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Newark on one count of bank fraud and one count of loan application fraud.
Authorities allege the couple prepared a mortgage loan application stating that Teresa Giudice worked as a real estate agent and made $15,000 a month. In reality, authorities say she was not employed.
Their lawyers say they'll plead not guilty.
The couple pleaded not guilty in July to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, bank fraud, making false statements on loan applications and bankruptcy fraud.
Joe Giudice also was accused of failing to file tax returns from 2004 to 2008.


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Ind. law banning Planned Parenthood funding invalidated
- Indiana barred Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funds because it offers abortions
- Judge issued temporary injunction a month after bill was signed
- Planned Parenthood has won similar legal battles in Arizona%2C Kansas%2C N.C. and Tennessee
INDIANAPOLIS -- A federal judge has closed the door on an Indiana law that would have prevented Medicaid recipients from accessing health care services at Planned Parenthood clinics.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt made permanent Tuesday a preliminary injunction that halted implementation of the 2011 law.
The judge's action came one day after the filing of an agreement between the state and Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky that acknowledged the state cannot violate Medicaid's "freedom of choice" provision.
The settlement strikes down key provisions of a 2011 law that, at the time, made Indiana the first state in the nation to bar Planned Parenthood from receiving federal money because it offers abortions.
"This is a huge step forward, with the state conceding that they no longer have any recourse," Betty Cockrum, Planned Parenthood's president and CEO, said in a statement.
"It's yet another positive development in our efforts to ensure that our patients' access to lifesaving, preventive care such as Pap tests, breast and testicular exams, birth control and STD testing and treatment remains protected."
Planned Parenthood annually provides care to more than 80,000 men and women in Indiana and Kentucky, according to the statement, including about 9,000 enrolled in Indiana's Medicaid program.
"Although the legal challenge and the state's administrative appeal are at an end," Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said in a statement issued by his office, "it was important and necessary to defend the policy decision of the people's elected representatives in the legislature that Medicaid dollars should not indirectly subsidize the payroll and overhead expenses of abortion providers."
Under the contested law, those Medicaid patients would have been barred from obtaining preventive and other health care services at Planned Parenthood centers, and health care providers who perform abortions would have been penalized, despite not using federal money for those procedures.
Ken Falk, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, applauded the judge's decision. The ACLU joined Planned Parenthood in the two-year legal fight.
"We are extremely happy that the federal law protecting the rights of patients to choose their health care providers has been upheld so that thousands of Hoosiers can continue to receive necessary medical care," Falk said in a statement.
In a statement released late Tuesday, Indiana Right to Life spokeswoman Becky Rogness said, "The news of this agreement is not surprising, but it is disappointing. Planned Parenthood, the state's largest abortion provider, will continue to receive funds through the Medicaid program, effectively freeing up other monies to expand and support its abortion business."
The ACLU of Indiana, Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Planned Parenthood Federation of America initially challenged the law in 2011.
A month after then-Gov. Mitch Daniels signed the law, Pratt issued a temporary injunction stopping it from taking effect.
Since 2011, Planned Parenthood has won legal battles against defunding its services in Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina and Tennessee.


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Ian Hugh Myddlton Anderson was born in 1953 & died 02-Feb-2011!
Voices of Liberty: Interview with Ian Anderson, 1991 from Sean Gabb on Vimeo.
Ian Anderson's support for The Skelton Group is also worthy of note and was long term as has been Nigel Farage MEP UKIP & EFD, Tom Wise MEP UKIP & Ford Open Prison and other similar luminaries of UKIP.
I had contacts from Ian Anderson over almost 20 years, though I never shared his extremist views and founded my views on a revulsion of The EUropean Union scam and Patriotism, I found him to be willing to provide information where he could and he was always polite, though somewhat primly, in his dealings with me.
I now know that the last time I spoke with him was in fact in about the last week of his active life – I phoned to see if I could be of ANY help having heard of his plight with what I had been told was a brain tumour. We spoke for a few minutes but although I have run a casual cancer help line since I started down this cancer trail in the late 1990s he was clearly very angry at his plight but still robustly fighting the disease.
Ian's career is well documented at CLICK HERE and it is clear that even within extremist politics he met with mixed reactions of respect and vitriolic hatred.
Ian Anderson's funeral took place on 15-Feb-2011 bringing to an end his controversial life at only 57.


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Hey Stampers,
Today I want to show you how I made a set of adorable invitations for my holiday catalog launch party using the Candy Cane Lane suite. They're mini, they're magical…they're too cute for words! Yep, the little critters you can make with the Cookie Cutter Christmas punch have totally stolen the show this year, so I just knew I needed them on my launch party invitations.
I started by pairing the coordinating Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Paper with one of the characters from the Cookie Cutter Christmas stamp set and then added matching cardstock. My card bases are cut from Whisper White thick cardstock at 4.25×8.5 inches (creating a card that's 4.25 inches square) and scored at the midline. I cut my designer series paper to 4 inches square and sized my cardstock to provide a frame of an eighth of an inch. For this card, I used Crumb Cake cardstock and Early Espresso ink on the reindeer.
For the background on my circle, I used a stamp from the Presents and Pinecones set and Real Red ink. You could also use designer series paper here if you wanted to, but I like the added support of the Whisper White thick cardstock behind my reindeer.
I adhered the designer series paper and cardstock together before adding my stitched edge ribbon (or baker's twine). I mounted my background to the folded cardstock base and then I used dimensionals to adhere the framelit circle in the center of my card.
I added my reindeer to the center of my circle with Fast Fuse and then stamped, punched, and adhered my sentiment for a finished card. That's it!
I've included all of the products that I used to make the full set of invitations below. Please leave a comment or send me a message if you have questions. If you're inspired to make something after reading this post, I'd love to see it!
Happy Stamping!


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Society of Imaginary Friends presents:
"Into The Forest" Soiree: Meg Lee Chin + Keiko Kitamura + I Am Her + Kosmic Troubadour + Math Jones
Kabaret @ Karamel Restaurant, The Chocolate Factory 2, 4 Coburg Road, Wood Green, London, N22 6UJ, England
Friday 2nd February 2018, 7.30pm – free event – information here
After a few events which were perhaps a little more predictable than we'd've hoped, this month's Society Of Imaginary Friends-hosted concert moves up a gear with the involvement of "two goddesses of Earth and Heaven". Purple twilight time:
"We take the path that leads down from the fell, over the style, over a stream and into the heart of the forest. At first it seems completely lifeless in the wood, all of its creatures hibernating deep in the ground; but as our eyes become adjusted to the dusky dark and senses atuned to its music..the rustle of a robin in the dried leaves, a squirrel's staccato, a falling pine cone. Suddenly we are in a clearing of softest moss – a place of refuge and rest, where a clear spring rises and sunlight dances. Welcome to our "Into the Forest" Soiree."
A mid-'90s Pigface member (and the former frontwoman for female noise band Crunch), industrial pop/darkwave/hip hop songstress and hands-on producer Meg Lee Chin is a prime example of longstanding female creativity and independence. Having rattled cages and excited commentators with her turn on Pigface's 'Nutopia', she then spearheaded contemporary home-studio recording with her 1999 solo album 'Piece and Love' and went on to found pro-audio community Gearslutz. Although released music has been sporadic for the last couple of decades, Meg's kept her reputation as a fascinating, brilliant performer and composer and as an outspoken, sometimes contrary blogger. SOIF, in turn, have a reputation for coaxing people's slumbering performance talents out of semi-retirement: if Meg's risen to the occasion in response, this ought to be pretty exciting.
Also on hand – and in delightful contrast – is Keiko Kitamura: known for activities ranging from replaying Japanese court music to Jah Wobble's Nippon Dub Ensemble, is a leading international koto player (in particular, the 17-string bass version) as well as a singer and shamisen player. Expect a mixture of tradition and originality.
The rest of the appropriately quirky SOIF bill is filled out by eccentric rainbow keyboard warrior The Kosmic Troubadour, poet/dramatist Math Jones (with a sheaf of forest poems) and Soiree regular I Am Her, a.k.a. ex-Rosa Mota singer Julie D. Riley (who also, with fellow Rosacian Sacha Galvagna, makes up transatlantic transcontinental electropop minimalists Crown Estate). As ever, the Society themselves are performing, presenting (presumably) art-pop forest ballads to take in with the Karamel vegan feast that's part and parcel of a SOIF event. This time, you get an appropriately woody wild forest mushroom soup, a mushroom and root vegetable pizza and some Black Forest gateau…
* * * * * * * *
Here's news on one of the several fundraisers for London alt.culture radio station Resonance FM, helping it to keep up its mission of broadcasting the wild and wonderful across the Smoke's airwaves and around the world online. Even setting aside the calibre of the night's performers, it's pretty much worth going along for that reason alone.
Resonance FM presents:
Peter Blegvad Trio with Bob Drake
Café Oto, 18-22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London, E8 3DL, England
Friday 9th February 2018, 7.30pm – information here and here
I've always had a lot of admiration for Peter Blegvad – not only for the owlish wit of his songs (including his skill as palindromist and wordplayer) and the enviable polymathic breadth of skills which means he's also a fine experimental cartoonist, audio dramatist and commentator. It's also because anyone who can get himself sacked from '70s avant/oppositional prog gods Henry Cow by outrightly twitting their seriousness at the height of their brow-furrowing Maoist phase (and apparently by writing a lyric about a woman chucking raisins at a skeleton) is a man who knows something about whistling in the face of sternness.
Well, perhaps I shouldn't make too much of this. For one thing, despite (and because of) Henry Cow's high-flying, generally admirable idealism, spending time there seems to have been argumentative for everyone (in particular during the period in which almost every potential action appeared to have its cripping counter-bourgeois condemnation, during which a man of Peter's wayward questioning wit and self-declared flippancy would have stuck out like a slammable thumb in the way of a door). Once out of the mothership, though, it was evidently easier to be familial. Showing up most artistic spats and internal rock band feuds for the pique and piffle that they are, all of the ex-Cow-ers grew up (and grew past their arguments) to become a mutually supportive bunch. Threading in and out of each other's concerts and solo careers, they rapidly learned to welcome and celebrate the diversity of their collective interests and ideas, and they've stayed that way.
Proving this yet again, whenever the Peter Blegvad Trio comes back together it reunites Peter with two regular Cowfriends: John Greaves (bassist and longtime ally both during and after Cowdays, from the 'Kew.Rhone.' project onwards) and Chris Cutler (drummer and owner of the eclectic and honourable post-Cow record label ReR Megacorp which, since 1988, has released four widely-spaced Blegvad albums – 'Downtime', 'Just Woke Up', 'Hangman's Hill' and last year's 'Go Figure'). Thirty-seven years of on/off playing together has resulted in a relaxed, gently telepathic connection: not a mysterious communion, nor an alliance of breakneck musical stuntwork, but an easy, comfortable instinct for what's required to frame the song and no more. As for Peter himself, if you're unfamiliar with his work it's best to think of someone with one foot in the sardonic-wit songworld of Loudon P. Wainwright, Leon Rosselson, Richard Thompson and Kinky Friedman, and the other in the counterflow rock camp which the Cow shared with (among others) Faust and Pere Ubu.
And that brings me to the second point – ultimately, it's really pretty misleading to define Peter by the lineaments of Henry Cow, art-prog or Rock In Opposition. Granted, he's spent quite a bit of time paddling away in those areas (in addition to 'Kew.Rhone' and the Cow work, there's been Slapp Happy, Faust and The Lodge, as well as swing-by dates with The Golden Palominos and Art Bears). Yet if you put him firmly in the driving seat on his own, what you get isn't hyperliterate trickery, but intelligent, light-touch, surprisingly roots-rocking songs with a smart economy of tale-telling and reflection.
He's still got a yen for throwing up a thesis and exploring it (this is, after all, a man who once explored the roots and fears of the European Union via a teasing, erudite and baffling lyrical mirror-maze of classical borrowings), but more often than not he'll now use a folk or country-folk form to do so, or pick a nuanced idea to polish in a few simple strokes: something a child could pick up on but which an adult might savour. From some angles you could even confuse him (via that nasal, tuneful, breathy bark of a voice) with a more relaxed Mike Scott in acoustic mode, or even with Mark Knopfler in a moment of sardonic humanism. Although neither of them would have written a love ballad as sparse and sorrowful as Shirt And Comb, honed a metaphysical gag like Something Else (Is Working Harder) or tweaked, explored and upended a common cultural assumption the way Peter does on Gold.
One of the contributors to 'Go Figure' (along with Karen Mantler) was the delightful Bob Drake – the erstwhile Thinking Plague and 5uu's mainstay turned offbeat producer and solo artist. For more of my rambles on him, take a look over here. The long and the short about him, though, is that he's a multi-instrumentalist and hedge-bard with broad and rambling ideas about just how far you can stretch and mutate an open-ended thought or song, who now regularly heads out for solo voice-and-guitar gigs (often performing, for reasons both flippant and serious, in a lovely white bear-dog suit). Like Peter Blegvad, Bob's got a liking for complexity and warm perverse wit; but what you take away from his shows is literal shaggy-doggery: peculiar sung tales both finished and unfinished about strange mammals, haunted houses, odd habits, monster-movie scenarios and twisted eldritch dimensions.
When I originally posted this, I was under the impression that Bob was playing a solo Oto support slot, but it now appears that he's actually beefing up the Trio to a quartet, with or without the animal suit. If you still want to see Bob in solo mode, however, you could set aside some time the previous evening for another Resonance FM fundraiser: Club Integral's annual Resonance tin-shaker, being held south of the river at IKLEKTIK on Thursday 8th.
Offering "thirteen minute sets from thirteen acts", this features a wealth of music-and/or-noise-makers from the Integral playlists: improv pranksters Glowering Figs, audiovisual sculptress Franziska Lantz, ARCO composer Neil Luck, mixed-ability folk internationalists the No Frills Band, Found Drowned/Four Seasons Television guitar manipulator James O'Sullivan, sound designer/Howlround member Robin The Fog, Bob and Roberta Smith (a.ka. artist/advocate/utopian Patrick Brill) playing with his own "musical intervention" project The Apathy Band, restlessly morphing New Wave survivors Spizz, and whoever St Moritz, Two Horns, Robert Storey, Strayaway Child, Swordfish and King/Cornetto happen to be. Plus Bob – who was hoping to balance his thirteen-minute time limit with the playing of thirteen one-minute songs, but has apparently opted to settle for eleven.
(If Bob's wily, he'll also strap a few tentacles onto that fur-suit and go up and do a bit of busking by Camden Lock, staking out the London Lovecraft Festival that's also taking place that week…)
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Baba Yaga's Hut presents:
Evil Blizzard + Nasty Little Lonely
The Underworld, 174 Camden High Street, Camden Town, London, NW1 0NE, England
Wednesday 10th February 2018, 6.00pm – information here and here
Filling in a three-cornered gap between Public Image Ltd, Poisoned Electrick Head and The Residents, hilariously distressing Preston lords of misrule Evil Blizzard are bringing their act south in order to launch their 'Fast Forward Rewind' single (from upcoming third album 'The Worst Show On Earth'). Their gigs are part banging art-punk party and part horror-comedy masked ball, featuring four cranky and disparate bass guitarists; a singing, chanting drummer; and a pair of in-house stage invaders in the shape of a dancing money-chucking pig and a man running wild with a mop.
The assorted masks (hilarious and creepy) and the threatening mannequin/orc lunges may make it all look like an Auton's cheese-dream or a riot in a Black Lodge dollhouse, but underneath the screaming horse-laughs are a rattling good party band. Over the years, they've won over many a psychedelic or underground festival audience and even their own musical heroes (with Killing Joke, Hawkwind and PiL having invited them on for support slots).
Also playing are stomping industrial post-punk duo Nasty Little Lonely, who provide a bandsaw-guitar set of "post apocalyptic decadence, discarded trappings of consumerism gone awry, alienation and small furry creatures with very sharp teeth." They might possibly be tempted to dance afterwards if you encourage them enough.


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Greetings, Readers!
Welcome to the blog Girl Meets Formosa, which recounts my travel adventures as a young American writer spending one year in Taiwan (Formosa) to learn about how my grandfather Thomas Liao (Liao Wen-Yi) changed the face of Taiwanese history. This blog details my unfolding search for information and identity, as I reconstruct the story of my family–from Taiwan to New York and back again–in the book I'm working on called In Search of Formosa.
In the blog, you'll find posts on the research, fun pictures, and see what it's like to live in Taipei as an American writer with Taiwanese roots. You can also learn more about my book project in "The Book" page, more about my background as a writer in "The Girl," and more about Taiwan in "Formosa." Eventually, this will be the basis of a website for the book In Search of Formosa, and right now, you can read tidbits of the research and adventures in the posts from my year as a 2010-2011 Taiwan Fulbright Research Fellow.
Here's a brief taste of what brought me to Taiwan:
Nearly 50 years ago, my grandfather Thomas was in political exile, running for his life and campaigning for change in his homeland of Formosa. He was named Chairman of the Taiwan Democratic Independence Party, the primary opposition movement to the Nationalist Party that ruled Taiwan with martial law. At the same time, he was arrested in Tokyo for speaking out against Chiang Kai-Shek, and sentenced to deportation to Taiwan, which meant certain death.
Meanwhile, my grandmother Anna was staying in British Hong Kong, a safe haven from the political turmoil in Taiwan. With four young children and little money, she was powerless to help her husband, return to her husband's family in southern Taiwan, or stay in Hong Kong indefinitely. Anna had grown up in New York City's Chinatown, and wanted her children to be American citizens.
With her husband's life hanging in jeopardy, Anna raised money selling prescription drugs on the black market to bring her kids to America. Meanwhile, Thomas was able to broker a deal for himself: instead of death at the hands of the KMT in Taiwan, Thomas was allowed to remain under house arrest in Japan. There, he continued to rally support for his political cause. When Anna raised enough money, she brought her children to America to be raised as New Yorkers.
And never spoke of her husband or Taiwan again.
30 years later, my father Richard received a plane ticket and an offer to go meet his long lost father in Taipei. Having grown up telling everyone that his father was dead, he approached this long-delayed reunion with trepidation and ambivalence. In Taiwan in 1979, he met Thomas, his father by blood but not by experience, and a host of relatives, who referred to my father, his mother and siblings as the "lost family" who had gone to America. But my father only learned a few sketchy details of his father's political activities, and of his parents' adventures in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
In 2007, I began a search to discover the rest of the story. That search has taken me to visit my father's siblings, hear their recollections of early life in Taiwan during and after World War II, and their memories of my grandmother Anna, a courageous survivor of an orphaned childhood, a war, and a battle for the lives of herself and her children. Now I go Taiwan to learn about the life of my grandfather Thomas, a larger-than life historical figure whose actions directly shaped the lives of my family: the Liaos. My grandmother, father, and I all went in search of Formosa, and my book is a family memoir about what happened to each of us on that journey.


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Research Overview
This is an exciting time in the search for effective treatments for DIPG. DIPG is the deadliest form of pediatric brain cancer and the prognosis for a child diagnosed with DIPG today is no better than it was 40 years ago. But these statistics miss an important part of the DIPG story. The past few years have seen a dramatic increase in our understanding of DIPG tumors, and doctors and researchers have begun to identify possible ways to treat the disease. While it is still too soon to claim that a cure is imminent, many doctors are optimistic that effective treatments will be found in the next 5 to 10 years, if not sooner.
We have broken down the current research into three basic categories.
- Basic Research. Basic research focuses on gaining knowledge about the disease, including how it develops and progresses, and the molecular changes that distinguish the cancer cells from the surrounding normal tissue. This research is so important because doctors and researchers cannot know how best to treat a disease until they understand the biology underlying it.
- Translational Research. Translational research is where the knowledge gained from basic research is transformed into the development of new treatments. This research is considered pre-clinical testing because the testing is not done on humans. Instead, it typically involves applying potential treatments to cells in petri dishes or to animal models of the disease to see if the treatment can successfully kill tumor cells.
- Clinical Trials. Clinical trials involve testing potential new treatments (that show promise during pre-clinical testing) on human subjects. These trials are designed to test both the safety and the efficacy of the new drug.
Click on any topic to see the recent developments in that area of research.


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Being in the hospital is no fun, but often, the experience is made worse by the behavior of others in the hospital. It's bad enough recovering from surgery or waiting for test results without having to hear someone in the hallway barking on their cell phones. I've had a few family members go through overnight and extended hospital stays over the past year, and asked them about what they wish was different about the experience (you know, besides being in the hospital in the first place).
- Don't touch things: If you're visiting someone who is in a hospital bed, likely they're surrounded by a ton of things that are beeping and plugged in and possibly connected to the patient. Don't touch them. They do important things.
- Don't linger unless the patient has asked you to: If you're close family it's easier to justify hanging out in the hospital room to keep the patient company, but socializing takes a lot of effort, especially when you're sick. Come in, check on what they need, chat for a bit, but don't stay all day unless you talk about it.
- Do not bring your entire family to hang out: Nowadays, at least in America, staying in the hospital usually means you have a roommate, so a lot of standard roommate etiquette applies. However, lots of people seem to forget how to have a roommate. One of the biggest complaints I've heard from friends who have stayed in hospitals is their roommate's entire family will be there all the time, making noise, taking up space, and in general forgetting that there's another patient in the room. Even if you're fine with your entire family being around, your roommate probably isn't, so be considerate.
- Be quiet: The main thing about hospitals is that they tend to be places for rest and healing. So respect that by making sure you're not speaking on your cell phone too loudly in hallways, watching TV during regular bedtime hours, or carrying loud conversations a foot away from your roommate's bed.
- Don't argue with doctors: Ok, this is a hard one, because there is certainly an issue with doctors not listening to patients, or misdiagnosing them, or thinking that Black patients don't feel pain. Also many American hospitals are extremely taxed/understaffed and as such getting and maintaining a doctor's attention can be hard. That said, there are a lot of patients in hospitals, and doctors have a lot of training in how to prioritize their needs. It's a stressful place for everyone, and getting angry generally won't help anybody. If you have an issue, by all means bring it up, but try to judge whether it's informed by your actual treatment or just your unhappiness at being in a hospital in the first place.


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In Study, Texting Lifts Crash Risk by Large Margin
The first study of drivers texting inside their vehicles shows that the risk sharply exceeds previous estimates based on laboratory research — and far surpasses the dangers of other driving distractions.
The new study, which entailed outfitting the cabs of long-haul trucks with video cameras over 18 months, found that when the drivers texted, their collision risk was 23 times greater than when not texting.
The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, which compiled the research and plans to release its findings on Tuesday, also measured the time drivers took their eyes from the road to send or receive texts.
In the moments before a crash or near crash, drivers typically spent nearly five seconds looking at their devices — enough time at typical highway speeds to cover more than the length of a football field.
Even though trucks take longer to stop and are less maneuverable than cars, the findings generally applied to all drivers, who tend to exhibit the same behaviors as the more than 100 truckers studied, the researchers said. Truckers, they said, do not appear to text more or less than typical car drivers, but they said the study did not compare use patterns that way.
Compared with other sources of driver distraction, "texting is in its own universe of risk," said Rich Hanowski, who oversaw the study at the institute.
Mr. Hanowski said the texting analysis was financed by $300,000 from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which has the mission of improving safety in trucks and buses. More broadly, the research yielding the results represent a significant logistical undertaking.
The overall cost was $6 million to equip the trucks with video cameras and track them for three million miles as they hauled furniture, frozen foods and other goods across the country.
The final analysis of the data is undergoing peer review before formal publication.
Tom Dingus, director of the Virginia Tech institute, one of the world's largest vehicle safety research organizations, said the study's message was clear.
"You should never do this," he said of texting while driving. "It should be illegal."
Thirty-six states do not ban texting while driving; 14 do, including Alaska, California, Louisiana and New Jersey. New York legislators have sent a bill to Gov. David A. Paterson. But legislators in some states have rejected such rules, and elected officials say they need more data to determine whether to ban the activity.
One difficulty in measuring crashes caused by texting drivers — and by drivers talking on phones — is that many police agencies do not collect this data or have not compiled long-term studies. Texting also is a relatively new phenomenon.
The issue has drawn attention after several recent highly publicized crashes caused by texting drivers, including an episode in May involving a trolley car driver in Boston who crashed while texting his girlfriend.
Over all, texting has soared. In December, phone users in the United States sent 110 billion messages, a tenfold increase in just three years, according to the cellular phone industry's trade group, CTIA.
The results of the Virginia Tech study are buttressed by new laboratory research from the University of Utah. In a study over the last 18 months, college students using a sophisticated driving simulator showed an eight times greater crash risk when texting than when not texting.
That study, which is undergoing peer review and has been submitted for publication in The Journal for Human Factors, also found that drivers took their eyes off the road for around five seconds when texting.
David Strayer, a professor who co-wrote the University of Utah report, offered two explanations for the simulator's showing lower risks than the Virginia study. Trucks are tougher to maneuver and stop, he noted, and the college students in his study might be somewhat better at multitasking.
But the differences in the studies are not the point, Mr. Strayer said. "You're off the charts in both cases," he added. "It's crazy to be doing it."
At Virginia Tech, researchers said they focused on texting among truckers simply because the trucking study was relatively new and thus better reflected the explosive growth of texting. But another new study from the organization is focusing on texting among so-called light-vehicle drivers, specifically teenagers.
Preliminary results from that study show risk levels for texters roughly comparable to those of the truck drivers. The formal results of the light-vehicle study should be available later this year. By comparison, several field and laboratory studies show that drivers talking on cellphones are four times more likely to cause a crash than other drivers. And a previous Virginia institute study videotaping car drivers found that they were three times more likely to crash or come close to a crash when dialing a phone and 1.3 times more likely when talking on it.
Researchers focused on distracted driving disagree about whether to place greater value on the results of such a so-called naturalistic study or laboratory studies, which allow the scientists to recreate conditions and measure individual drivers against themselves.
But, in the case of texting, laboratory and real-world researchers say the results are significant — from both scientific methodologies, texting represents a much greater risk to drivers than other distractions.
A new poll shows that many drivers know the risks of texting while driving — and do it anyway. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety plans on Tuesday to publish polling data that show that 87 percent of people consider drivers texting or e-mailing to pose a "very serious" safety threat (roughly equal to the 90 percent who consider drunken drivers a threat).
Of the 2,501 drivers surveyed this spring, 95 percent said that texting was unacceptable behavior. Yet 21 percent of drivers said they had recently texted or e-mailed while driving.
About half of drivers 16 to 24 said they had texted while driving, compared with 22 percent of drivers 35 to 44.
"It's convenient," said Robert Smith, 22, a recent college graduate in Windham, Me. He says he regularly texts and drives even though he recognizes that it is a serious risk. He would rather text, he said, than take time on a phone call.
"I put the phone on top of the steering wheel and text with both thumbs," he said, adding that he often has exchanges of 10 messages or more. Sometimes, "I'll look up and realize there's a car sitting there and swerve around it."
Mr. Smith, who was not part of the AAA survey, said he was surprised by the findings in the new research about texting.
"I'm pretty sure that someday it's going to come back to bite me," he said of his behavior.


text: Mike, Mike Davis wrote: > Maybe I'm just too dense to understand. But, you've basically labelled > Greg's post as spam. Yes, I did. Telling me about a new white paper and about something that I cannot know but I really should does fit my definition of spam. It was borderline, I recognized that, and in retrospect I should have sent a private email to Greg. But I still believe it was not appropriate. > You've called their metric nonsense. You've No, I did not. I called the marketing fluff around it nonsense. I have been doing HPC communications long enough to know about message rate. I also know that saying that the message rate is the most important metric does not make sense. I would love to be shown wrong, though. > criticized the published number they used that came from your company's > product. For what? For what ? To assess the technical merit of the white paper ? The number they used are either obsolete or just plain wrong. The method they use do not prove anything about the message rate being the important metric in all of the benchmarks. I explained why I believed that message rate is not an important metric. I gave numbers that I know are correct. I am not doing the claim here, the charge of the proof is not on my side. > You've provided no new data.No reference to new data. When asked for a > head to head test, you defer because in Europe such "marketing" (I don't > necessarily consider benchmarks marketing) is not allowed. And, you've Didn't you read my long post ? I think I provided enough technical data to back my argument. Was I asked for a head to head test ? I didn't see that in Kevin's post, but I don't mind doing tests. I don't have a Myri-10G cluster available publicly with MX-1.2, but I can run any test someone send me (with consideration for my time). You will have to trust me though, and you should never do that. I don't defer, despite being French. I just stated that *I* would not do comparative marketing (and a white paper is a marketing material) because I don't believe a vendor can do a fair comparison. It's the rational in the market place in Europe for this good reason. I let this responsibility to the academic world. They have written many papers on that subject, and most of them include MX-10G results. Look at the upcoming EuroPVMMPI or Cluster conference for example. I would never believe the comparative results from another vendor. > used far more bandwidth than Greg's orignal post which you critcized as > spam. Yes, I did. That's always the case in this situation. But please note that it was, I hope, technically valid and maybe, just maybe, quality content :-) Patrick -- Patrick Geoffray Myricom, Inc. http://www.myri.com


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It took the British, with their sophisticated, droll sense of humor to find anything funny about the outbreak of the American Civil War. Yet more than anyone else, Great Britain legitimately could take a small degree of pleasure in Spring 1861 at the mounting misery of their former North American colonies. The Americans had fought them to a costly standstill in two wars, and even in peace never missed an opportunity to twist the lion's tail. So from the British perspective in the early 1860s, the Americans had it coming.
So it is not surprising that in its May 18, 1861 issue the British satirical magazine, Punch, decided to make fun at the Americans and their civil war. Yet in doing so, and likely intentionally, they provided a bit of perceptive insight about the relationship between the nascent conflict and slavery. The medium of their jab was a cartoon entitled, "'Caesar Imperator!" or, The American Gladiators" (see the illustration immediately below).
Source: http://www.arthist.umn.edu/aict/Tennielweb/punch/610518.html
On the left side is a gladiator obviously representing the North, and the southern gladiator on the right bears more than a passing resemblance to Confederate President Jefferson Davis. But of greatest interest to Civil War Emancipation is the audience in the cartoon, peopled exclusively by African Americans, presumably slaves. The symbolism of their presence is multifaceted. No doubt, the cartoon's artist was poking fun at assertions then being made on both sides that the conflict was not about slavery, by having the slaves looming over the gladiatorial combat. The artist clearly suggests the slaves are at the heart of the conflict given their great interest in its result. But that is not the end of the symbolism. One particular slave is seated up high on a throne of cotton bales, much like the emperor once presided over the Roman Coliseum. The artist seems to be suggesting that the slaves held the balance of power in the American Civil War, much as the Roman emperor once could decide the outcome of gladiators' battles. Hence, Punch seems to be saying that although they were spectators to the developing conflict in Spring 1861, that sooner or later American slaves would decide the war's outcome. Pretty cheeky but very insightful for Spring 1861–but sometimes it takes an insightful outsider to penetrate camouflaged motives and reveal a truth that insiders for a variety of reasons are not ready to admit. Truly, "'Caesar Imperator!" or, The American Gladiators" is a picture worth more than a thousand words, as the slave themselves soon would start to demonstrate.


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- This event has passed.
Book Your Birthday Party!
February 13, 2022 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm$192.50
Birthday Party Information
Parties are $175 (plus tax) for up to 8 painters. You may add up to an additional 8 painters for $20 each. We allow a maximum of 20 in the room. While 4 non-painters are included in the price, additional non-painters are $5 each. You should plan for this to be a "drop-off" party.
The party is an hour and a half long, and the first hour includes arrival time, instruction, painting and cleanup. The last half hour is for you to have refreshments. Any snacks must be self-contained, and drinks must be as well.
Projects can include painting pottery plates, bowls, or critters. Pottery must be fired in the kiln and will be ready for the birthday parents to pick up and distribute 1-2 weeks after the party.
Party times are:
Friday 3:30-5
Saturday 10:30-12, 1-2:30, 3:30-5
Sunday 1-2:30, 3:30-5
Reservations are taken on-line and the payment for the party package is due when you make your reservation. This is non-refundable, but we will work to reschedule your party if needed.
You are being charged for the basic party ($175+tax) and any additional guests will be charged the day of the party. This price does not include gratuities. Please do not plan to bring any extra decorations. Contact us if you have any questions prior to booking your party.


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Set in a smoggy/syphilitic 1977 Los Angeles, director/screenwriter Shane Black's comic noir caper flick revels in just how damned ugly the Me Decade was. Film has a tendency to romanticize an era or to toy cutely with a period's quirky extremes. Black time travels without commentary. The characters in this film aren't living in a Smithsonian exhibit. They are simply living. Or attempting to live.
Beyond the flawless set decoration and precise costume design, Black is aided and abetted by the sparks that fly when you throw the unlikeliest of co-stars together: Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. Glowering gravitas meets wicked whimsy.
That said, the awkwardly delicious alchemy these two titans demonstrated on the talk show circuit promoting the film isn't as evident onscreen as one might expect. Perhaps surprisingly, Crowe ends up garnering more laughs because he is always so. darn. grounded. He's funny simply because he's not trying to be. Gosling indulges cartoonish impulses a few too many times, not trusting the comedy of situational contrast to do the heavy lifting. (Gosling has yet to outgrow the "isn't it just a riot to see a handsome adult man let loose an ear-piercing community theatre shriek when he's scared?" tic. Be careful, Ryan, for that way rests Johnny Depp's sputtering career.)
Regardless, Crowe and Gosling are pretty freaking adorable together, and the whole enterprise plays like a pilot episode of a vintage TV-series that never got picked up. The plot is, well, kind of a meandering mess … just like a grainy 1970s TV crime drama. I kept waiting for Jaclyn Smith or Gavin MacLeod to show up as a "very special guest star." (We do get a Lynda Carter shout out, though.) There are double- and triple-crosses aplenty as a porn actress (literally) crashes through a family's living room, and her death starts a spiraling series of murders and other sordid shenanigans. Oh, and there is intrigue about the auto industry and catalytic converters and how in the world Kim Basinger's character managed to have Botox before the procedure was ever invented.
Gosling, as private eye Holland March, and Crowe, as hired muscle Jackson Healy, initially find themselves at cross purposes (with Gosling's pretty mug on the receiving end of Crowe's brass knuckles). Grudgingly, the duo partner up as the violence mounts and their befuddlement grows. A big part of the movie's charm is that Crowe and Gosling gleefully portray characters whose detective skills are as suspect as their collective intelligence, with Holland's precocious daughter Holly March (portrayed by a captivating Angourie Rice) serving as a wise-beyond-her-years Nancy Drew to Gosling/Crowe's dim bulb Hardy Boys.
Rice's performance is dynamite with a sharp feminist subtext. As the "grown up" characters find themselves derailed by patriarchy run amuck (porn, corrupt manufacturing, prostitution, the Oil Crisis … the 70s at its worst), Rice's Holly is clear-eyed, vigilant, incisive, defying the limitations and stereotypes society seeks to impose. "Don't say, 'And stuff.' Just say there are whores here," Gosling intones at one point, attempting to correct his daughter's grammar and missing the misogynist irony in his declaration. The look in Rice's eye reveals that her character does not lose the irony.
Holly is always ten steps ahead of her father and, without Holly's continual intervention, the titular Nice Guys would still be attempting to solve the film's mystery well into the late 1980s. Or they'd be dead.
I'm hoping this feminist dynamic is intentional on Black's part, a storyteller whose filmography (from Lethal Weapon to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang through Iron Man 3) typically co-opts and reinvents B-movie formula, inverting its clichés as satiric critique of our baser instincts. I suspect this is by design, the film's random (gratuitous?) naked porn stars notwithstanding.
With The Nice Guys, Black is trying to have his cake and eat it too. And he succeeds. Mostly. In a larger sense, Black is using the indulgent myopia of the 1970s as a reflection of how little we have changed as a nation. Basinger, plays a Department of Justice operative (in a bit of meta-casting, referencing her earlier – better – work in both L.A. Confidential and 8 Mile) whose definition of "justice" is protecting the (then) fat cats in the Detroit auto industry. In the final act, she delivers the film's punch line: "What's good for Detroit is good for America." Even as today's Detroit reinvents itself as a hipster paradise of urban farming, artisanal soaps, and craft cocktails, the lesson in Basinger's remark remains prescient. An America that lives for itself and only itself will quickly find itself trapped in yesteryear's polyester leisure suit.
Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking here (print and digital). In addition to online ordering at Amazon or from the publisher Open Books, the first book is currently is being carried by Bookbound, Common Language Bookstore, and Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room in Ann Arbor, Michigan and by Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, Michigan. My mom Susie Duncan Sexton's Secrets of an Old Typewriter series is also available on Amazon and at Bookbound and Common Language.


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Why Barack Obama Chose To Betray Christians By Supporting Gay Marriage
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There are always going to be people who are willing to callously put children and families at risk for the sake of radical fads like gay marriage and they're going to use every argument in the book to justify it. Fortunately for people who care about the country, Christianity is absolutely incompatible with gay marriage and time and time again, when the people have been given an opportunity to vote, Americans who take their Christian faith seriously have voted it down. Some people think that won't be the case forever. They think that Christians will turn out to be on the wrong side of history on this issue. Maybe so. But, the sort of people who support gay marriage have been saying that Christianity is on its way out and on the wrong side of history for 2000 years now and Christianity is still standing, while most of them are dead and gone.
That brings us to Barack Obama, who has moved on from persecuting the Catholic Church to opposing Christians on gay marriage.
What's his thinking on finally admitting his true position on gay marriage?
Well, there are probably a number of factors that play into it.
#1) Poll numbers for gay marriage have been slowly, but steadily improving over the years and Gallup shows that adults oppose gay marriage by only 50-48. That was probably the biggest factor in moving Obama's switch, but keep in mind that you're talking adults, not likely voters, who tend to skew 6-7 points more towards the right. In other words, in the voting booth, the numbers would probably look more like 57-41, than 50-48.
#2) Getting beyond that, you have to look at Obama's strategy for 2012. This is a "turn out the base" election for him. He needs liberals, young voters, and black Americans to show up big for him in November. Gay marriage is popular with liberals and young voters who've been duped by propaganda they've been fed about the issue in the public schools. Black voters tend to be much more split on gay marriage and it's not a small issue to them either, but Obama is taking them for granted and assuming they're going to vote for him no matter what because he's black. He's probably right about that.
#3) Which voter block is going to be most turned off by this decision? White Christian voters who are already leaning heavily against Obama anyway. This is sort of an acknowledgment that those people aren't voting for Obama anyway, so screw them.
#4) Obama's fund raising has been lagging a bit and this will undoubtedly put more money in his pocket. In fact, according to Buzzfeed, gay liberals are a surprisingly important part of Obama's fundraising machine,
Already, gay donors, mostly men, reportedly constitute 1 in 6 of Obama's top fundraisers known as bundlers. And in the first 90 minutes after the news broke Wednesday, the campaign received $1 million in spontaneous contributions, a Democrat told BuzzFeed.
"This is beyond unifying – it's electrifying," said Eugene Sepulveda, a former top bundler who withdrew to take a non-political job early this year. "This man stands for right, despite the political consequences."
And for a class of disillusioned progressive mega-donors, many of them gay, the completion of Obama's "evolution" is an invitation reason to return.
"I think the people who were disappointed by the president's failure to support marriage quality will now have that barrier removed for them," said Jeff Soref, a longtime Democratic activist in the gay community.
#5) Last but not least, Mitt Romney is no Rick Santorum. Obama may believe that Mitt will be unable to effectively use this issue to convince conservative Christians to show up and vote for him in November. Actually, however, this presents Romney with an outstanding opportunity to use this as a wedge issue that will help him in key states, bring evangelical Christians to his banner, and lift his numbers in Southern states like Virginia and North Carolina.
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When opportunity knocks, sometimes super cute things await. Such was the case when Uncommon Goods asked if I'd be interested in sampling goods from their baby gift collection. Since my friend Madelyn announced she is expecting her first baby in January, the timing was perfect. I couldn't resist, and chose these gnomes. I knew they'd be cute, but I had no idea they'd be so well-made.
Both the onesie/hat set and the blanket are made of recycled fibers. If you think recycled implies a lesser quality, you would be mistaken. These were flawless in every way. The fibers are super soft and snuggly, the colors are vibrant, and the gnomes scored a solid 10 on the cuteness meter.
Here's what I learned (and what I love) about Uncommon Goods:
1. Founded in 1999, they are headquartered in New York City in the old Brooklyn Army Terminal. I know where I'm going the next time I visit NYC.
2. They are committed to supporting artists & designers; half of what they sell is handmade and most of their products are created right here in the USA. As a home crafter, I appreciate this more than I can express.
3. Approximately one-third of their products are made from recycled and/or upcycled materials. As an avid recycler, I love and support this.
4. They have B Corp status, which means they use the power of business to solve social and environmental issues. That B seal also means they meet rigorous standards on issues like wage levels, environmental impact, and giving back to the community. A company with a heart? You betcha.
Even if you don't buy into the mission, you would be a fool to miss out on the quality and variety of products offered. Even The Complete Package, my beloved husband, gasped aloud "Wow…that blanket feels amazing. It's so NICE!" Who says men don't notice such things? He's all mine, ladies.
What I love most is how they pulled it all together – great design, recycled materials, handmade products with a high level of craftsmanship, and made in America. Seriously amazing. All of it.
Somewhere in southern California is a wee baby who will someday be swaddled and soothed by these sweet, cuddly gnomes. And somewhere in Houston is a blogger who is appreciative of the folks at Uncommon Goods and their commitment to quality, creativity, and community and who, just for a second or three, contemplated keeping that snuggly blanket for herself. (Hint: it's me.)
Disclaimer: Uncommon Goods offered to ship products from their selection of Baby Gifts and/or Personalized Gifts. I chose the gnome items from the baby collection, which were sent at no cost to me. I was not compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own. Readers know I only share items I love and feel strongly about, and these sweet gifts certainly fit that bill. -jeanne


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I had planned on posting this on Monday, but got hit with the plague (sore throat, headache, snuffly nose, and coughing fits ranging from "dainty" to "old hag"). I've been sipping tea and trying my best not to overdose on cough drops, if that's even a thing, in the hopes to bounce back enough to actually enjoy my day off.
I'm currently snuggled up in a blanket with a White Thyme Basil candle, and sipping on a white peach jasmine cup of tea. I've been thinking for a while now about the new year and reflecting on 2017 as it comes to a close. 2017 was a good year for me. I don't mean that I didn't have difficult moments, but that all together, the year was pretty wonderful.
I married my best friend in April in a wedding that was beyond beautiful and more than I could have asked for. I traveled, worked as a photographer in West Virginia, read a ton of new books, moved to Upper Peninsula Michigan (about a billion miles from family), and started a whole new job. Time has really flown. And the blog! The blog has been up and running for a year. It's something I'm very proud of.
SO! Now it's 2018 and there's a whole new year spread out in front of me. Talk about potential! I've been working on a list of goals for the past week, being careful not to promise more than I can deliver, but also things that will push me a little. I've never liked the phrase "New Years Resolutions" because that sounds like if you fail, then you're done for. Instead I like "New Years Goals". It makes room for mistakes and screw ups and failures. And as a human living on planet earth, I can say this with absolute certainty: I make mistakes and screw up and fail. All the time. BUT. I also love and laugh and try again. I give myself room to try again and forgive myself when I forget to do the dishes, or watch Netflix when I should be doing yoga.
So, ringing 2018 in, I bring you my New Years Goals:
Personal Goals
- Do yoga regularly in the mornings. I've been doing some in the mornings before work, and I've noticed it helps me stay focused and to have a better attitude throughout the day.
- Read at least one book per month. I read 13 books in 2017 and 7 of them were in the summer. I want to consistently be reading, and especially to finish the insanely long book I've been reading since July (the whole thing is so long that it's the equivalent of 26 regular sized novels, but in the end still only counts as one book…)
- Take a food photography class online and practice! I love cooking, and I love sharing my recipes on the blog and with friends. But presentation is important too, and I want to learn how to better frame my photos and how to make things look pretty on a plate.
- Keep my kitchen cleaner. I'm very bad about this. And I don't like it. 'Nuff said.
- Stay more organized with a bullet journal. I love lists, but usually I have them on seventy million random scraps of paper. I want to try and keep them all together in one collected place. I already am pretty great about meal planning, so the bullet journal is also another way to keep all the things together.
- Go for more walks (both you and Miracle need the exercise). Poor doggo needs more exercise, and though it's hard to want to go outside when it's -8 outside, it's still healthy to get up and go OUT THERE. Even if it's only a quick sprint to the mailbox and back.
- Continue sending handwritten letters. This is something I started this summer (read more about it here and here), and kind of let myself stop writing after moving to MI. I really love writing letters and getting letters back. Makes it more personal somehow.
- Get better at flossing consistently. Ugh. I hate flossing. But its something my mother ingrained into my head as important. So yeah.
- Write 2 short stories per month. I used to write short stories all the time, and for some reason let it slip through the cracks.
- Be more aware of outfit choices (AKA don't be such a frump!) It's very easy for me to just dress like a slob when I'm at home, and even when going to work (since I'm in a back room and never get seen). ALSO, cold weather is not an excuse not to try.
Blogging Goals
- Blog at least twice a week. I've been doing this since November, and I'm not always consistent. Yet I know that I want to post consistently on the blog, so HERE WE GO!
- Plan ahead on blog posts. I can proudly say that this is a continuation of what I've already been doing since October. I have a little planner that has all my posts planned out in it, so I can stay up to date, and also have a plan of what I want to write about.
- Review at least one product per month on Hannarchy. I LOVE REVIEWING PRODUCTS. I am a firm believer in promoting products that I believe in. If there's something I love to death, why not promote it and support the creator/designer/ business that makes my favorite things! Thus my "Friday Favorites" posts. These will feature more and more products I love (check out this post as an example).
- Design at least one new piece of merch per month. I design things for myself all the time, but would love to leave them here on the blog as free downloadable content for my loyal fans!
- Become more engaged in the blogging community. I've started interacting with some really cool blogging groups through facebook, including Blogs in Bloom which was created by Emma from The Emma Edit. Staying connected with other bloggers is so cool, and I've loved being part of it so far.
Well, that's what I've got. I hope you all will hold me to it, and help me stay focused on the goals I've set for myself. Good luck in the new year everyone, and remember when you're planning your goals for 2018, give yourself time to get into your new habits, and help each other stick to them. Talk to you all soon!


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Looking Up column: Catching stars on the horizon
I had most of the sky before me; a canopy of stars visible from my so-called deck observatory on the back of my house. So what grabbed my attention? A couple of little patches of sky straight ahead of me on the horizon, peeking between the tree line in the back of the neighbor's field.
No craning of the neck this time!
Some of you may be graced with a clear, wide-open sky where you can pan the flat horizon all the way around in a circle. You must be living in the middle of a Midwestern ranch, on a mountain top or on a houseboat out at sea! Of course, a lot more people in rural areas are fortunate to have a really low view in the sky in at least one direction, or more than one.
Dodging trees, hills and buildings can be a challenge.
On the other hand, seeing the stars, planets and moon among the tree branches, when empty of leaves, can be very picturesque as one takes an evening stroll.
From the convenience of my backyard deck, I was thrilled to gaze with binoculars at those small gaps. I saw stars!
What was thrilling was looking due south at night, I was seeing a hint of far southern constellations, ones that never fully rise above my horizon at my latitude. These stars are wrapped in an air of mystery, an enticing invitation to want to head far south, the farther the better, as I round the Earth and see the southern stars slide higher and higher in my sky. There is a whole region of sky anyone of us above (or below) the equator can never see.
Using my star atlas, I identified those low stars in the wood line gaps as the brighter stars of the constellation Vela the Sail.
There's a good chance you northerners (like me) know very little, or maybe nothing, of Vela the Sail!
On trips to Florida and Haiti, I have had chances to see stars of the Southern Cross; Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to our Sun; and a few other constellations and notable stars I can't see at home. Yet, way below the equator, such wonders as Octans the Octant, Dorado the Swordfish, Mensa the Fly and Telescopium the Telescope await being traced and enjoyed. Folks Downunder may feel the same mystique about the Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Cassiopeia and Camelopardalis the Giraffe, far northern star patterns hidden from them.
Note, our view low to the horizon also means we are looking through a thicker layer of atmosphere. Just like the sun is dimmer and redder at sunset/sunrise, the stars are dimmed at night along the horizon. Light pollution from populated areas past the horizon can create a bright glow low in the sky.
There is also an interesting aspect of the low stars near the horizon. Thanks to the Earth's atmosphere acting like a lens, the starlight is refracted, and appears a little higher in the sky than it would if we had no air (like on the moon). That means starlight right below our flat horizon is bent and comes into view! Refraction also makes the setting and rising sun and moon distorted.
The atmosphere is most turbulent at low angles, causing a star to "twinkle" and cause poor telescopic views of planets just rising or setting.
Knowing your latitude, with the help of a good star chart you can find the limit of how far down the sky you can see from your home.
Meanwhile, enjoy brilliant Venus in the evening western sky. New moon is on April 22.
Keep looking up at the sky!
Peter Becker is managing editor at The News Eagle in Hawley, Pennsylvania. Notes are welcome at firstname.lastname@example.com. Please mention in what newspaper or website you read this column.


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When you first see this carte-de-visite from the early 1860s, you might get the feeling that something isn't quite right. That's because the four men in the photo are wearing clothes from a different era. I'm not sure, but I think they're dressed in styles from the period of the American Revolution, almost a century earlier. Were they professional actors?
The photo was taken at the studio of Daniel K. Prescott and Edwin P. Gage in Hartford, Connecticut. The Connecticut Historical Society says the two photographers were in partnership under the name Prescott & Gage from about 1861 until 1865. Those were the years of the Civil War. From August 1864 to August 1866, the U.S. Congress collected a tax on photographs to generate funds for the war. This photo has no revenue stamp on the back, so it was almost certainly made before August 1, 1864.
It does have an unusual inscription:
Found Aug. 9th 1889 on Market St. between 8th & 9th
St Louis, MO
Someone whose initials were W.M.J. found (bought?) the photo in St. Louis, Missouri, some 25-28 years after it was taken. St. Louis is 1,078 miles (1,734 km) from Hartford, Connecticut.
When I look at these men, the musical HAMILTON comes to mind, even though I've only seen a few clips from it. Do you think they were professional actors?


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Let the food fights begin! LVL 1 "hacker" or "maker" space is a member-based creative science space. It is a space where people can gather to use equipment otherwise unavailable to them, network, find out about classes and more. You can go there to work on your own projects or get involved in other people's projects pertaining to creativity, software, engineering and experiments of several types.
Over the past weekend, the group hosted a 24 hour "Hack-A-Thon" where teams had 24 hours to build, test, and use devices that would fling food. The teams could only bring in $150 worth of supplies or less and had to use parts from the "bone-yard", a room in the warehouse that is full of discarded computers, parts, and electronics.
I missed the building portion of the 24 hours but was able to attend the face-off, where the devices were used and results measured. There was a "Muff Cannon" that was perhaps the most decorated cannon. It had "Hello Kitty" duct tape on it and was painted. It fired muffins and did pretty well on distance. Other entries included a waffle flinger, a taco cannon, a shot-shooter, a martini cannon, and a bow that shot arrows with liquid nitrogen ice cream on the end of them, and a huge bunch of balloons carrying a house with a cupcake inside. (Who knew liquid nitrogen is so easy to come by?)
The winner? The martini cannon shot its missile from the back of the alley near Shelby Street, all the way down the block and across Clay street into the alley on the other side. It blew the other entries away on distance, but first place was a tie between liquid nitrogen ice cream by Ben Hibben and Joseph Clagg and the shot shooter by Aaron VerDow. The shot-shooter allowed VerDow to place a shot of Jager on the device and step away from it. He then hit a foot pedal, launching the shot towards him, which he caught in his mug of beer for an "Irish Car Bomb" cocktail. Second place went to Team Muff Cannon. Specifications for judging were distance, taste, appearance, and ingenuity.
"Pat McCarthy had a martini shooter that has potential applications for a long range military ranger," said Brad Luyster, who organized the Hack-A-Thon.
You can learn more at the LVL 1 web site. They also have an open meeting at 8 pm on Tuesday nights that is free to attend. You can take tours, meet makers, find people to join your projects, enjoy the potluck food, and get the rundown on everything going on at the building located at 814 E Broadway. It looks like a boarded up ghost town from the front, but it's pretty lively when you approach from the alley in the back.
Photos by Jessica Lynn


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Eli Weisel at Buchenwald
Slave laborers in Buchenwald are liberated by the American Army in April, 1945. They survived in spite of miserable conditions: overcrowding, lack of food, hard labor, and psychological torture. Eli Weisel appears as the last full face on the second bunk from the bottom.
Courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives.
A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust
Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology,
College of Education, University of South Florida © 1997-2013.


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Listen to The Jellyman escapes (from the Sherry Trifle) by The Todalie Stories on #SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/todalie/the-jellyman-escapes-from-the-sherry-trifle
Category: Kids and Family
The "Bogey" man… A tiny tale of envy!
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-nfxyb-b64d6c A tiny tale of envy...listen on!
Cecil Snail goes on holidays
CelticCon in Portlaoise
CelticCon@Dunamaise 2019 Saturday, 1 June 2019 from 11:00-18:00 Dunamaise Arts CentreChurch Street, Port Laoise Co Laois Enjoy a host of fun, interactive and exciting attractions. Comic Village, Artist Alley, Geek Market, Craft Stalls, Gaming Zone, Exhibitor and Artist Expo Area. Artist Showcase, Cosplay Contest, and More! CelticCon@Dunamaise will bring some of this country's finest Comic … Continue reading CelticCon in Portlaoise
Onwards and upwards
Hi all, Now that the podcast of Layliana's Tale, the first story in The Todalie Stories series is complete, we would like to thank everyone who listened, subscribed and hopefully enjoyed the audiodrama. The podcast of Layliana's tale is an abridged version of the upcoming printed copy of the book which will have gorgeous illustrations … Continue reading Onwards and upwards
A squishy tale of a little squashed snail
Hi Todalie fans, this is the first in a series of tiny tales from James and Susan Blennerhassett, creators of The Todalie Stories series. We hope you enjoy it. Please subscribe to our podcast thetodaliestories on iTunes, Spotify, Podbean, Google podcasts etc. to hear this and of course Layliana's Tale, the first audiodrama for kids of … Continue reading A squishy tale of a little squashed snail
Tiny Tales from The Todalie Stories
Hi Todalie ( and Humphrey) fans, Now that the podcast of our first Audiodrama for kids big and small is complete, we hope you all have been enjoying the drama and the music so far, and we would like to share some short stories with you over the next couple of months before we embark … Continue reading Tiny Tales from The Todalie Stories


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State elevator inspectors were at Fenway Park Saturday, trying to determine how a 22-year-old woman fell two stories down an elevator shaft late Friday night.
The victim was with other people when she fell from the fourth floor and landed on top of the elevator car, which was stopped on the second floor, Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said.
Reached by phone Saturday night, relatives of the victim, Lizzy Scotland of Brigantine, N.J., thanked the public for their concern and asked for prayers and privacy while they focus on her recovery. Scotland's name was first reported by WBZ-TV.
Authorities received a call reporting the fall at 11:17 p.m., after the Red Sox game had ended. The plunge knocked the victim unconscious, McDonald said, and she was not responsive when firefighters arrived to extricate her.
She was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in serious condition. The hospital said Saturday afternoon that it could not give an update on her condition.
"It remains to be seen how she went through the doors on the fourth floor," MacDonald said. "We don't know if both doors opened, or one door opened, or if the bottom of the door gave way and she fell through that spot. We're looking at all the equipment."
In a brief statement released Saturday afternoon, the Red Sox acknowledged the woman suffered "serious injuries," and said team personnel had worked alongside first responders Friday to help her. A spokeswoman also said in an e-mail that the remaining elevators in the park were inspected before Saturday night's game as a precaution.
The team, whose principal owner, John Henry, also owns The Boston Globe, declined further comment, citing the ongoing investigation and its wish to respect the family of the injured woman.
Terrel Harris, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Board of Elevator Regulations, said he was not aware of any safety concerns about other elevators in the park.
"That elevator has been taken out of service, and it will remain closed until DPS completes an inspection," Harris said, noting that investigators will also comb through maintenance records. "Their priority is handling the scene right now and ensuring the safety of everybody in the park."
To rescue the victim, firefighters shut off power, then climbed through a hatch in the roof of the elevator car with paramedics, MacDonald said. They carried her on a flexible plastic stretcher.
MacDonald did not know who her companions were.
The rescue went smoothly in part, he said, because firefighters on the department's technical rescue team routinely train in a mock elevator shaft, and because firefighters work closely with Fenway Park officials to familiarize themselves with the layout of the stadium.
A Boston Police Department spokeswoman said detectives had investigated the fall and believed it was an accident.
"Right now, it's not a criminal investigation," Officer Neva Coakley said.
Dan Adams can be reached at email@example.com. Find him on Twitter @DanielAdams86.


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Strictly speaking, this is not directly related to WebGL, or specific implementations.
However, I'd expect the issue that I'm seeing to affect a significant amount of applications using WebGL, so posting it here seems like a good idea.
In my application, I'm experiencing "acceptable" frame rates. Even when turning anti-aliasing off, Firefox 4.0 seems to be significantly faster than Chrome 11/12, but I'll see how things develop with future Chrome builds.
A more serious problem I've observed is the following.
In my application, the user can rotate a model using the mouse. This seems to be a fairly common scenario in 3D visualization. The actual application is not vertex/fragment limited - as mentioned, FPS is in the "comfortable zone".
This is a huge difference though between Chrome and Firefox.
In Firefox, rotating the model with the mouse is
a) responsive: there is no noticeable lag between moving the mouse, and seeing the model rotate
b) smooth: it seems that every frame, the model rotates a few degrees/pixels, further improving the "interactive experience"
In contrast, in Google Chrome:
a) there seems to be a delay of a few hundred milliseconds before the mouse move event is actually dispatched to my code. When moving the mouse left/right, this gives the experience as if the model is attached to the mouse by a string of rubber. There is a small, but very noticeable delay before the model "follows" the movement of the user
2) mouse move events seem to be "aggregated"/"collected", and only fired every 10/20 frames or so. In effect, the application seems to receive 6 mouse move events per seconds in Chrome, while in Firefox the same event is fired for every frame. This causes a distinct "choppiness" when moving/rotating models on screen with the mouse.
In my application, the WebGL/Canvas3D viewport typically covers the whole browser window, which perhaps exposes these slowdowns more than a smaller viewport would.
Then again, running the exact same code in Firefox does not exhibit any of the issues.
The typical target hardware I'm using is low end: 2010 Mac Mini with NVidia 940M.
However, I'm experiencing the same across a range of Intel/NVidia GPUs, on Windows 7 as well as Windows XP.
Most online WebGL demos using a large viewport and using the mouse to rotate a large model show this issue as well, which to me confirms that the issue is not in my code. For example, the Google "Body Browser" demo clearly shows the difference between Chrome and Firefox 4.
Am I the only seeing this? Is this a known side-effect of the Chrome multi-process model? Perhaps Chrome "optimizes" page responsiveness by "batching" mouse events before dispatching?
Comments welcome…