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NEW YORK (WKOW) -- New York City's Board of Heath is signaling support for the mayor's proposal to fight obesity by banning the sale of large sugary beverages at restaurants.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants thousands of eateries to serve high-calorie drinks in containers 16 ounces or smaller.
People would be free to buy a second round, but restaurants couldn't serve the 20-ounce cups popular at fast food eateries.
The health board voted unanimously Tuesday to begin a 90-day public comment period on the new rule. A formal vote on approval will come later, but several board members spoke strongly in favor of the plan.
A spokesman for the city's restaurant association says the rule would infringe on people's right to buy a legal product.
NEW YORK (WKOW) -- The proposal by New York City's mayor to ban large sugary drinks from eateries in the city is moving forward.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposal is scheduled to be formally submitted to the city's board of health Tuesday morning. The board is expected to hold a series of public hearings during a 90-day comment period.
The ban on drinks over 16 ounces would apply only to sweetened options that contain more than 25 calories per eight ounces. It would not apply to diet soda or any other calorie-free drink.
It's the first time a city has proposed such a ban, which Mayor Bloomberg says is necessary to combat the rise in obesity deaths.
A new poll says New Yorkers are divided on the ban, with about half saying the mayor has gone too far.
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To the editor:
Your article, "Seabrook reviews evacuation times" (Jan. 18), provides an excellent opportunity for a full public discussion about evacuation planning for the Seabrook nuclear power plant — let's begin!
Our hard-working emergency management officials cannot do their job if they are not notified of a radiological emergency by the Seabrook plant. During an April 17-19, 2012 exercise, the Seabrook plant failed to notify emergency management officials that an NRC-simulated radiological emergency test had occurred at the plant, according to an NRC violation announcement Aug. 17, 2012.
Who cares what NextEra says about too-good-to be-true evacuation times when the plant failed to notify emergency management officials of a simulated radiological release? If this had been a real radiological release, the plant would have placed area families at risk for a catastrophe.
In fact, the Seabrook plant admitted to the error. That's just great, but after 20 years the control room should be able to identify a radiological emergency. If the Seabrook plant fails to notify emergency management officials during a period of regulatory scrutiny such as during the relicensing process, can the plant be trusted to do so in a real emergency?
Since the Seabrook nuclear plant has clearly failed the most basic safety test — failure to identify a radiological release — the NRC must consider whether the plant can be safely operated at all.
Dwight and Karen Alger
for No More Fukushimas!

subset: commoncrawl


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Andrea, daughter of Bradford and Sue Ann Cannon, graduated from Idaho Falls High School in 2009. This summer she interned for Congressman Simpson of Idaho in Washington, D.C. Andrea will graduate December 2012 from Utah State University with degrees in political science and French.
Isaac, son of Joseph and Ann Allred, graduated from Viewmont High School in 2007. He served in the Taiwan Taichung Mission. Isaac will graduate December 2013 from Utah State University with degrees in physics and Asian studies.
Isaac and Andrea will reside in Logan and they like dance parties.


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The wait is over! Download the BeerAdvocate app on iTunes or Google Play now.
Get 12 issues / year of BeerAdvocate magazine for only $9.99!
Uprising - Iron Fist Brewing Company
Displayed for educational use only; do not reuse.
Ratings: 108 | Reviews: 30 | Display Reviews Only:
Reviews by BryanCDM:
3.75/5 rDev -3.6%
03-02-2014 16:45:12 | More by BryanCDM
More User Reviews:
North Carolina
3.86/5 rDev -0.8%
Pours into a large tulip glass a menacing looking burnt otange infused tea color with a billowing off white head atop,alot of chunkies and floaties.Alcohol and yeasty notes stand out mostly in the nose,some herbal/leafy hops linger as well,smells like a hot alcohol bomb.A full but mellow feel to the beer makes it go down pretty easily.Flavors of Belgian yeast,tropical fruits,and jet fuel although the jet fuel doesn't bite to overly hard.The hops are big and so is the yeast and alcohol,my first try of Iron Fist and I can see they don't play around.
08-15-2013 20:41:47 | More by oberon
4/5 rDev +2.8%
12-15-2013 03:35:08 | More by HeyYoMar
3.59/5 rDev -7.7%
This one is a hazy dark gold verging on amber with a soft whitish head between one and two fingers tall that holds itself together well and leaves nice, thick patches of lacing in good quantity.
The aroma displays both the Tripel and the IPA aspects, with a leafy and somewhat fruity hops bitterness alongside the sweet candi sugar-like notes and the clove, earthy and lightly spicy Belgian yeast notes. It's pretty well-integrated all in all on the nose. Alcohol is interestingly not too much of a factor.
The flavor gives much the same, but adds something the aroma conceals. There's a bit of a solvent-like or medicinal flavor underneath each sip that mars an otherwise good beer. As such, it also gives off a sort of misplaced sourness in the finish.
The feel is pretty good, a firm medium body holding it all together that could use a little more carbonation to provide a little more of both crispness and smoothness.
01-21-2013 21:52:15 | More by Brenden
4.25/5 rDev +9.3%
08-03-2014 16:02:56 | More by Tracy_A
4/5 rDev +2.8%
10-28-2013 03:31:34 | More by InfernoBoss
Alberta (Canada)
4/5 rDev +2.8%
750ml bottle, with a back label blurb that seems to contain just a wee bit too much winking self-congratulation, methinks. Anyway, time to dig in, and prepare for the onslaught to come.
This beer pours a hazy, medium copper amber colour, with four fat fingers of puffy, tightly foamy, and somewhat bubbly beige head, which leaves some splotchy, loosely webbed lace all around the glass as it slowly abates.
It smells of toasted pale malt, a bit of caramel/toffee sweetness, big apple, pear, and lesser citrus fruit - of the sugary canned variety - mildly acrid earthy yeast, musty florals, a muddled, sort of peppery spiciness, and an initially quiet, but now growing perfumed booziness. The taste is zesty orange rind and bitter leafy hops, acrid Belgian yeast - more metallic than funky - crackery, dry bready malt, bruised apples, soused sultana raisins, and further musty, slightly dank florals, just the kind to quickly pick up that lecherous, lurking, but somehow innocuous-seeming alcohol warming.
The bubbles are just a bit edgy, in a pent-up frothy sort of manner, the body a solid medium weight, and while not exactly smooth, the opposite hardly makes a case for itself either. It finishes off-dry, just, the now biscuity pale malt bearing the barbs of the still pushy yeast, lingering "Euro" hops, and more polite than I have any right to expect metallic booze quotient.
Well, at the very least, what we have here is a well-rendered Tripel, ABV not yet a consideration - reservedly malty, yeasty, and fruity when it deigns to be. As for the hops - they do indeed show up to the party, subsequently puke on the host, and then cry in exile in the extra upstairs bedroom for the rest of the evening - they made their dubious mark, and that's it. Anyways, in the end, this does seem to evoke a certain old-school brewing prowess, the malt, yeast, (fruit, maybe), and alcohol all played off well enough against one other.
05-31-2014 05:25:55 | More by biboergosum
4/5 rDev +2.8%
03-12-2014 04:04:59 | More by SoCalBeerIdiot
3.5/5 rDev -10%
On-tap at Little Bear - a 25cL pour served in a large tulip; brief review from notes:
Faintly cloudy burnt orange liquid with a beige half-finger of soft foam. Delicate lacing and good retention.
Spicy hop-oil aromatics - floral with winter fruit.
Moderately bitter, earthy, husky, and fruity flavor profile. The variety of flavors is good, but they are poorly integrated. Alcohol is well hidden throughout, there being additional body and flavor but no solvent-y notes in the nose or on the palate.
Lightly carbonated, creamy, and warming mouth-feel.
A decent ale, though it comes up lacking compared to the best examples of the style. Worth re-visiting in the bottle, as I find most Belgian styles better with bottle conditioning.
12-11-2012 17:11:36 | More by augustgarage
3.64/5 rDev -6.4%
Billed as a triple IPA. Poured from a 22 into a pint glass.
A- Dark amber with a decent head depending on the pour
S- Sweet malts. Where is the HOPS?
T- Roasted Malt. Sweetness of brown sugar.
M- Smooth and well rounded
O- Overall I get sweet malts. Even though it is high ABV, it isn't boozy.
05-25-2014 02:55:31 | More by PBRmeasap1980
New York
4/5 rDev +2.8%
12-26-2013 01:24:58 | More by Hopdaemon39
3.5/5 rDev -10%
11-12-2013 07:08:32 | More by Hardcore
New Jersey
5/5 rDev +28.5%
09-11-2013 01:53:32 | More by timjim1327
3.75/5 rDev -3.6%
06-11-2013 01:53:56 | More by Nage37
5/5 rDev +28.5%
12-12-2011 09:34:51 | More by penginpunk
3.5/5 rDev -10%
08-15-2013 02:33:36 | More by GRG1313
3.75/5 rDev -3.6%
01-18-2014 10:03:23 | More by jlisuk
3.25/5 rDev -16.5%
04-24-2014 03:31:36 | More by VeganUndead
Quebec (Canada)
2.86/5 rDev -26.5%
Bottle: Poured a deep orangey color ale with a medium size foamy head with light retention and minimal lacing. Aroma consists of citrus hops with quite a bit of residual sugar with light spicy notes. Taste is also dominated by citrus notes with light spicy yeast notes and an overly sweet aftertaste. Body is quite full with carbonation that is a bit too low for style and no apparent alcohol. Original concept of this beer appears interesting but lack of attenuation and overly sweet finish ruins it for me.
11-06-2013 20:50:03 | More by Phyl21ca
3.9/5 rDev +0.3%
Poured from the bottle into a Dogfish Head Ale glass.
Large. Just the first thing that come to mind is that giant thick head. Four fingers, supper thick and creamy, white tan and banana like yellow to it as well, it just wont quit. Body is a dull brown to red amber with some faint carbonation, but the head is the star as it looks like whip cream.
Nose is fascinating. Giant banana esters, tropical mushy fruit. Hints of vanilla. It's a god darn sundae not a beer I tell you. Spicy hop of spruce like pine action and sharp clove as well, with some of that Belgian candi sugar coming out as well. Quite impressive.
The palate has at first boozy heat. Then the flavors thick and rich overwhelm it. Creamy mouthfeel really exceptional on that, with the matching Belgian sweetness this screams dessert with it's vanilla hint of sweetness, and waffle cone and sundae creamy goodness. THen the hops kick in and everything you though gets turned upside down. Hinted just like from the nose, pine and spruce, huge dry bitterness on the finish. Lots of creamy character, but the hops surprise, even though you know it says tripel IPA on the bottle.
A real interesting creation, impressive. Not my ideal cup of tea, but can't knock that this is very unique and in a way a mad creation that I am sort of attracted to.
08-12-2013 23:40:38 | More by smakawhat
5/5 rDev +28.5%
12-26-2011 10:43:31 | More by jdmandel
3.98/5 rDev +2.3%
Poured into a Stone Brewery flute glass. Pours a slightly burnt orange amber with a thin head and light ring around the glass, no lacing. Very estery aroma of apple, pear and light stone fruit, bready and caramel malt, a bit boozy. Flavor follows with nice sweet mixed stone fruit and apple juice, caramel malt, grassy, slightly floral hops, Belgian yeast and spicing; warming with a bit of alcohol noticeable under the flavors. Medium bodied with light creaminess. A nice Belgian hybrid ale, exhibiting the intense fruitiness of triple IPAs with quite a bit of Belgian character. Not as intensely hopped as an IPA and leaning more towards a quadruple than a tripel (the label calls this a "tripel/IPA"; Belgian spicing is present but not as dominant as in a classic tripel). A powerful, but flavorful American take on a Belgian strong ale. I enjoyed it.
11-13-2013 04:08:33 | More by LiquidAmber
3.5/5 rDev -10%
02-17-2014 18:18:47 | More by kk73
2.5/5 rDev -35.7%
02-16-2014 18:10:25 | More by koakley
5/5 rDev +28.5%
04-06-2014 16:18:14 | More by Mattpratt13
Uprising from Iron Fist Brewing Company
87 out of 100 based on 108 ratings.


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Wt. 226.2 (Up due to added sodium or gym workout)
FBS 95 (Normal but Up. Exercise?)
ketones Trace to med.
Well. I made it through "hump day" clean. Day 5 seems to be a watershed day for me, so hopefully this means I am on my way to long term clean eating. I figure if I can make it through an emotional day like yesterday, I can make it through anything.
I am doing a sodium experiment that I explained in depth in the EMF thread. Phinney and Volek "The art and science of low carb living" recommend 5000mg of sodium from diet and bouillon or broth.
Today is the first Monday of the month, so super long day for me , but I am feeling good.


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Apartment homes include features for persons with disabilities required by the Federal Fair Housing Act.
Welcome to thoughtfully designed apartment homes at Avalon Venice on Rose. You will find one- and two-bedroom Venice apartments that offer you a whole new world of upscale living. All of our rentals boast features like a gas range stovetop with hood, recycled-content flooring, patios or balconies, courtyard and ocean views in some units, high ceilings and walk-in closets. You will also discover great facilities within the community such as a resident herb garden, bike storage and secure parking. The fantastic services and professional on-site staff make Avalon Venice on Rose a delightful place to live.
There is a lot to keep you entertained in Venice and greater Los Angeles. You can visit the famous Venice Skate Park or head to the beach for a relaxing swim in the ocean. You can also check out the Venice Boardwalk Area Murals and the Venice canals. There are plenty of shopping venues on the Venice Boardwalk that offer everything from sculptures and clothes to jewelry and furniture. If you are a night bird, you will enjoy live music, shows and art openings. In other words, there is always something to do in the glorious South Bay area!
If you decide on choosing a home at our Venice apartment community, you will also be privy to the Avalon Advantage. This special program offers exclusive assurances to residents such as flexible lease terms, online rent payment and an incredibly helpful national relocation program. Avalon offers a comfortable life for you and your family.
What are you waiting for? Click the Contact Us or Apply Now buttons below and discover the best Venice apartments in California today right now!


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What to do about pre-K now that voters shot down the measure to increase the county sales tax by a half-cent? Roughly half of the estimated $60 million raised from the new tax could have helped the Unified School District expand the program to help thousands of children.
Shelby County Commissioner Mike Ritz says he will have to go to option "B."
Option "B" is not pretty. It is a property tax. The tax could be $.30, maybe even higher. The money would go to the Unified School District but with strings attached. Commissioner Ritz believes he has the votes to get it done.
Pre-K instruction is widely accepted as a way to help children improve their learning skills at an early age.
"This is the game changer for our children in order to make sure that our children are ready for academic success," said Dr. Carolyn Harvey from Memphis Public Schools. "It must happen here and it must happen now."
It won't happen now, though. Not universal pre-K in the Unified School District.
Voters rejected a measure to increase the sales tax by half-cent to raise and estimated $60 million. Half of the money would have gone the Unified School District that made public commitments to expand pre-K.
That option is off the table.
"We are going to have to go back to the County Commission and look for the other source of revenue and that is going to be a proposed tax increase", says Billy Orgel, Unified School Board Chairman.
It won't be a sales tax increase but a property tax hike that Commissioner Ritz will propose.
The Unified School District could have to face a $60 million deficit if it enacts all the recommendations by the Transition Planning Commission, which included universal pre-K.
"The issue with $60 million is that it takes about $.40," Commissioner Ritz said. "When you get close to $.40, it then requires nine votes on the county commission. We don't have nine per the Shelby County Commission. I'm very confident that the county commission is going to require some commitments from the school board concerning pre-k to give them the money we have described."
Until the board acts, all education programs for the Unified School District are back on the chopping block. Included is reducing the plans to spend $3 million each year for five years, to add 2,500 news spaces for pre-K.
"You are going to have to go back and look at all your programs and I don't know if it's going to be good for all your students," Orgel said.
Education experts warn that without new funding the overburdened pre-K system will become even more crowded.
"We have 406 students on our wait list," Dr. Harvey said. "These are children who we have screened and they qualify but the spaces are not available."
Outgoing Memphis School Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash said federal funding may evaporate if Congress doesn't intervene.
Unless the county commission passes a property tax increase, universal pre-K may become the dream differed.
"We can't as board members say, or elected officials say, out of one side of our mouths that education is important and out of the other say, we are not willing to fund it and we are not willing to make tough choices to find it," Orgel said.
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|Women's Basketball » News
|» News » Schedule » Roster » Coaches » Statistics » Archive » Women's Basketball Camp
FGCU Women's Hoops Inks Trio to National Letters of Intent
FORT MYERS, Fla. - FGCU women's basketball head coach Karl Smesko announced that three players have signed National Letters of Intent to attend FGCU next fall and play for the 2008-09 Eagle basketball team.
The signees are 5-8 guard Kelsey Jacobson from Barnesville, Minn., 5-11 forward Kristina Mingos from Kansas City, Kan., and 5-11 forward Sandra Sormaz from Kovin, Serbia.
"This is a strong group," Smesko said. "They are all excellent students who are also bright basketball players. They all can play more than one position, and they all have good skills. If they arrive in shape and hit the weights, I expect all three will contribute a great deal next season."
Jacobson, averaged 16.8 points, 4.8 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 38.0% from behind the three-point line at Moorhead High School. Jacobson has scored 1,275 points in her first three years of high school. As a sophomore at Barnesville High School, Jacobson set the Minnesota state record for three-pointers in a season (111).
"Kelsey is known for her outstanding shooting," said Smesko. "She works hard to be a complete player. Kelsey's a player who isn't afraid to work. In fact, she enjoys it."
Mingos, who is a four-year varsity basketball letter-winner at Pembroke High School, has also earned varsity letters in both golf and track & field. Mingos is a three-time first-team All-State selection and has also led her team to two state championships.
"Kristina is an excellent wing," said Smesko. "She is a smart player who will fit perfectly in our system. She can handle the ball, shoot, cut, rebound – basically whatever you need her to do."
Sormaz, who plays for Colby Community College in Colby, Kan., is currently averaging 16.5 points and 3.8 rebounds for the Trojans. Sormaz is also shooting 45.1% from the field and 40.9% from behind the three-point line.
"Sormaz is a gifted offensive player," said Smesko. "She reads defense well and is a great shooter. She will be a tough match-up for opponents."
The Eagles will be back in action on Nov. 23 when they host Central Connecticut State in the second game of the FGCU Thanksgiving Classic at 7 p.m. in Alico Arena.


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Jordan Flight 23 Classic Toddler Shoes
The Jordan Flight 23 Classic Toddler Shoes offer all the key elements of basketball with a Jordan twist. Full grain leather upper combined with premium synthetics offer breathability to keep your feet comfortable. A velcro instep strap provides a snug, personalized fit, and a non-marking rubber outsole gives you superior traction.
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Academy Allergy
Welcome to Academy Allergy. We are committed to providing every patient with the highest quality of medical care by emphasizing excellence in all aspects of patient management.
Dr. David Patterson and his staff offer the professional medical care patients need and the personal attention they deserve. Dr. Patterson specializes in the comprehensive care of adults and children suffering from allergies, asthma, bronchitis, sinusitis and other respiratory problems.
We have Moved!
We are very excited to announce that Academy Allergy Asthma & Sinus has relocated. Our beautiful new suite, only 5 minutes north of our old building, will allow us to offer an improved patient experience.
Please remember to come to our new location in the Riverview Medical Arts Building at 14540 Prairie Lakes Boulevard North, suite 207, for appointments and shots beginning March 22, 2013.
Volunteers Needed For Asthma Study
Patients Ages 12 to Adult are needed for a clinical asthma study. Patients need to be on a daily asthma medication to qualify for the study. Free asthma medication and compensation will be provided for volunteers who qualify for the study.
For further information, please call the office at (317) 621-2455.


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STARmeterSEE RANK
Down 6,322 this week
Les Dennis (I)
Les Dennis was born on October 12, 1954 in Liverpool, England as Leslie Dennis Heseltine. He is an actor, known for English Express (1992), The Wright Stuff (2000) and Coronation Street (1960). He has been married to Claire Nicholson since November 23, 2009. They have one child. He was previously married to Amanda Holden and Lynne Heseltine. See full bio »
More at IMDbPro » Contact Info: View agent
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A 150-year old home set for demolition.
Somebody got the bright idea to drive a tank through it.
The company "Drive a tank," which is located just outside Kasota, was called in.
With the population of Kasota and surrounding communities watching, the old home got a new hallway, followed by a new rear exit.
The new owners plan to put a new home here...and this may be the quickest way to demolish a house. Of course it is also good publicity for the folks at "Drive a Tank".
If you go to "Drive a Tank", you get to run over a car, but not a house.


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With information from Kimbrell-Stern-
Lamar Clifton, 84, a native Albanian who served his community for many years as the Chief Executive of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce, died Tuesday.
His funeral service will at the First United Methodist Church on Friday at 2 PM. Visitation will be in Ford Hall at the church from 12:30 to 2 PM. Interment will follow at Crown Hill Cemetery with Military Honors.
In 1973, he served as the Executive Vice President of the Albany Chamber of Commerce. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. Naval Air Station closed, threatening the local economy. Working with community leaders, Lamar was successful in persuading Miller Brewing Company, Delco Remy, Tara Foods, and the U.S. Marine Corps Logistics Group, Philadelphia, to locate in Albany.
Additionally, Procter and Gamble and other companies expanded locally, reinvigorating the town he loved. He left the Chamber in early 1987, and joined First State Bank as Senior Vice President for Economic Development until his retirement in 1994.
He helped lead the effort to preserve the Radium Springs Casino, authoring the book, "Skywater, a Comprehensive History of Radium Springs" which was published by Morgan Murphy. He also wrote a history book, A First State Corporation Legacy.
Lamar is survived by his wife of 60 years, Evelyn.
Copyright 2013 WALB. All rights reserved.
P.O. Box 3130
Albany, GA 31706
(229) 446-1010
FCC Public File
(229) 446-4005
EEO Report
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Endless number of pages.
If you can use a Word Processor (like Microsoft Office for example), then you can add text and images, and as many pages as you like.
If you aren't confident enough to do that, then I can do all the pages for you.
Logo design:
You may already have a business logo, if so I can use that on the website, so all your paperwork, business signage, advertisements and website are all in the same theme.
If you don't have a business logo, depending on what you want, I will either put together a smart, free text based logo Design, or provide a more elaborate logo design.
Slide Show Banners:
This can be provided so that the different aspects of your business are shown off to their best.
Contact Forms:
This can be a real weakness in some website designs, which open your business up to masses of Spam emails and your website being broken into by unscrupulous people.
I use a specialist company to provide robust and yet flexible Contact Forms.
Eye catching videos:
Grab your customers attention by using professional videos.
I have the use of a professional TV cameraman who can put together very short, catchy videos at very affordable prices.
Professional email addresses:
I can setup your business email requirements.
I create an xml Sitemap and submit that to Google.


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Routes Sorted
L to R R to L Alpha
Brothers in Arms is yet another amazingly classic Freeway variation, starting off of 'sky crag ledge'. To approach climb the first pitch of Freeway through to the top of Daylight Crack. Belay here. Two options for the next pitch, a 5.10 follows the crack straight up, or go right to a bolt and some thin face moves at 10+. Either way about 12m of climbing brings you to a nice ledge on the edge of the steep, golden buttress. The line is the right most one from the ledge.
Start as for Freeway.
1.5 sets of gear from micro to #3 camalot. Bolterd anchors.


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ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - NBC broadcaster Bob Costas used his halftime segment on "Sunday Night Football" to advocate for gun control following this weekend's murder-suicide involving Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher, causing an immediate debate on social media.
In a segment about 90 seconds long, Costas paraphrased and quoted extensively from a piece by Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock.
After praising the column, Costas said: "In the coming days, Jovan Belcher's actions and their possible connection to football will be analyzed. Who knows? But here, wrote Jason Whitlock, is what I believe. If Jovan Belcher didn't possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today."
Belcher shot and killed Perkins, the mother of his 3-month-old daughter, on Saturday morning, then drove to Arrowhead Stadium and committed suicide in the parking lot of the team's practice facility.
The online reaction to Costas' segment was swift, with many people criticizing the broadcaster for expressing his personal views on a program meant for entertainment.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Costas uses halftime segment to advocate for gun control
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Let's talk about sex, baby. Let's talk about you and me. Well, let's not as we'll be here all day and there's a magazine to be read. But while I've got you, we can certainly talk about sex. More importantly, how people get sex these days. How sex is consumed, if you will. If you're my sort of age (mid 30s, thanks, we'll leave it at that) or older, you'll probably agree that everything's changed. Sex is, let's be honest, easy to get. It might not be with the person you want, but it's there. And that's reflected in the biggest ever sex survey that we've done. It makes for fascinating reading.
If you're younger than me, this sexual playing field may be all you've ever known – it may be that you can't imagine life without an app that can hook you up immediately. I find it fascinating hearing straight people talking about Tinder as though it's some kind of sexual liberation, when gay people have had their version for years (happy fifth birthday, Grindr!)
I also find the way gay men respond to 'dating' apps fascinating. "I've deleted Grindr and Scruff!" people will declare on Twitter. No-one cares. There's absolutely nothing wrong with using these apps, as long as you're playing safe and not cheating on anyone. It's just what people DO these days. Stop giving a damn about what anyone else may think. It doesn't make you 'better' or 'worse' for not having them, just get on with it. Unless, of course, you're one of those awful people that goes onto these apps to be rude to people, screenshot conversations and post them online with some kind of 'superiority'. Be nice, we're all there for the same reason. Talk about sex, baby.
Darren Scott


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PERU, IL. -- The body of a missing Peru woman was found Thursday morning.
Nancy Greening, 62, was reported missing April 19, after her vehicle was spotted by an air -photographer in flooded waters on Route 351.
Conservation Police from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources say Greening apparently drove around the road closed barricades on Route 351 and her vehicle got caught in the swift flood waters on the roadway.
Thursday, shortly before 10:30am , Conservation Police located Greening's body 70 yards downstream from her last known location.
Greening was pronounced dead at the scene.
Her death is under investigation.


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AS A SOPHOMORE IN 2013Appeared in 14 matches, drawing eight starts in central midfield ... Missed final three games through injury ... Drew first collegiate start vs. No. 12 Western Washington (9/7) ... Earned first collegiate point from an assist to cap 3-1 victory at Cal State L.A. (9/15) ... Played a season-high 72 minutes at Cal State Dominguez Hills (9/13) ... Twice produced a season-high three shots, vs. Humboldt State (9/27) and vs. Cal Poly Pomona (10/20).
AS A FRESHMAN IN 2012 Appeared in 14 matches off the bench ... Made collegiate debut in season opener vs. Central Washington (9/1), coming on for the final 18 minutes ... Played a season-high 39 minutes at Cal State San Bernardino (9/16) ... Credited with two shots on the year, both at Humboldt State (10/7).
CLUB Played for the San Diego Surf SC 93/94 Premier ... Earned Blues Cup (2011) and US Youth Soccer National League Region IV (West) championships (2009-12) ... Semifinalist in the San Diego Surf College Cup (2011), Far West Regional League, California South State Cup and 2009 Slammers Classic.
HIGH SCHOOL A 2012 graduate of The Preuss School UCSD in La Jolla ... All-Frontier League First Team all four years ... Frontier League Player of the Year as a junior ... Earned Tritons' Most Valuable Defense award for her sophomore through senior years ... Led the Tritons to four league titles.
PERSONAL Born May 27, 1994 in Hilo, Hawaii ... Parents are Luis Edwards and Maria Nilsson ... Has a younger sister named Anna who is a freshman at UCSD and a younger brother named Louie ... Majoring in human biology at Marshall College ... Upon graduation, plans to pursue a career in the medical field ... Loves going to concerts and enjoying the San Diego sunshine ... Cheers for the Oakland Raiders ... Favorite athlete is U.S. national team star Alex Morgan ... Favorite movies are Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Kill Bill: Vol. 2.


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Burris Laboratory School is unique in many ways, providing valuable teaching and learning experiences for Ball State Teachers College students, while steadfastly guiding each K-12 learner toward realization of his or her full potential.
Please visit our Back to School tab for information regarding registration, supply lists, and more!
Dawn Miller, Principal
Burris Laboratory School
Immediately Accepting Applications for up to 11 High School Juniors
Burris Laboratory School is accepting applications for up to 11 entering high school juniors for the upcoming 2014-2015 school year. The first day of school for students at Burris is Aug 13. All Burris Laboratory School transfer requirements will be followed. If more than 11 students apply, students will be selected for admittance by lottery to be held on the afternoon of Aug 8. To be considered in the lottery, applications must be received by noon, Friday, Aug 8. If by noon on Aug. 8 the school has received eleven or fewer applications, students will be admitted on a first come, first served basis.
To apply, please visit the Burris website, www.bsu.edu/burris. All applications must be submitted to Mrs. Dawn Miller, Principal, at email@example.com.
Please call the Burris Laboratory School main office at 285-1131 with questions.
2014-2015 Lottery Application
Copyright © 2014 Ball State University 2000 W. University Ave. Muncie, IN 47306800-382-8540 and 765-289-1241


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Long Island Rail Road riders will be paying more to ride the train beginning Friday.
According to the LIRR, most commuter rail tickets will increase between 8.19 percent and 9.31 percent, depending on ticket type and distance traveled. A complete list of new ticket prices are listed on the LIRR's website.
For local riders using Zone 9-- Huntington, Greenlawn or Northport--stations, the peak one-way ticket is $14.75. A monthly commuter ticket will go to $325.
Fares on New York City subways and buses will also increase on March 3, with a single subway ride rising to $2.50.
In addition, beginning on March 3, a $1 fee will be charged for each new MetroCard purchased at a commuter rail station, MetroCard vending machine or subway booth. To avoid this fee, riders are advised by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to retain used MetroCards and continue to refill them.


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Route Guide - iPhone / Android - Partners - Forum - Photos - Deals - What's New - School of Rock
This boulder was named when Dave Asscherick did the FA of Anomaly (V5) and he felt it was unlike anything else at Baldy. It's steep and hosts two very powerful problems, Sit Down and Be Counted (V8) and the Pugilist (V7) as well as Anomaly and a few easier lines.
Getting There
This boulder is on the northwest side of Baldy, I believe (going on Dan's directions). When you first reach Baldy, this boulder is just up and to the left, where it is tucked up against the main formation of Mt. Baldy. It is just uphill and south of the Melon Patch boulders. From the trail you will first see the slabby backside of the boulder, but go to the side facing Baldy and you will reach these excellent problems. Giving directions to boulders is hard.
Climbing Season
5 Total Routes
The Classics
Browse More Classics in The Anomaly Boulder
Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for The Anomaly Boulder:
Anomaly V5 6C Boulder
Featured Route For The Anomaly Boulder
Anomaly V5 6C SD : Mount Rushmore National Mem... : ... : The Anomaly Boulder
This awesome problem climbs the steep face to the left of Sit Down and Be Counted. It's the farthest left problem on the boulder. Start standing up matched in a good slot about shoulder height. Work your way up to a big, flat crystal/edge utilizing tiny crimps and body tension. Once you have the big crystal with your right hand, commit to the big cross-through and top out. One of Dave's finest contributions to Baldy (besides Seul Avec Dieux, Black Roughy, Scary Trees......)...[more] Browse More Classics in SD
Latest Regional Forum Messages
From Wyoming, Montana, Dakotas Go to Forum | What's New | Post New Topic


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Playtex Absolu Decorated Bra
- In Stock
1 review
- Delivery
- Next day delivery available
Playtex Absolu Decorated Bra
Innovative lightweight, underwired T-shirt bra that naturally rounds your bust without padding.Colours: Black, Ivory. 81% polyamide, 13% elastane, 6% cotton. Hand wash only.
Playtex Lace Bras (2 Pack)
This value pack of two lace bras from Playtex is great for everyday use. With firm cups in pretty lace, these bras offer fantastic shape and support.
These Playtex lace bras feature wider straps for extra support and adjusters at the front for easier use. These bras are available in a pack of one black and one white, or one white and one nude. You'll love the fit of these bras for easy everyday wear that keeps you comfortable throughout the day.
Wear these Playtex lace bras with maxi briefs for a smooth and confident silhouette.
Useful info:
- Lace bras by Playtex
- Value pack of two bras
- 'Cross Your Heart' design
- Available in sizes B-DD
Playtex Flower Lace Balconette Bra
- Low stock, selling fast
8 reviews
- Delivery
The sister style to Playtex's best selling flower lace bra in a pretty balconette shape. Featuring a feminine and attractive design with an all over floral lace and a bow to the front and on the straps. Made from a soft & non scratchy stretch lace material with underarm comfort cushions to prevent underwired digging in it is perfect for everyday wear.Colour: Black. 82% polyester, 11% elastane, 7% cotton. Hand wash only.
Playtex Affinity Flower Lace Bra
- Low stock, selling fast
100 reviews
- Delivery
Playtex Affinity Lace Bra
With a feminine and attractive design this Playtex Affinity lace bra gives you plenty of style and support. This gorgeous bra is great for adding that touch of luxury to your everyday underwear wardrobe.
With scalloped edging and a satin ribbon, this Playtex Affinity bra is beautifully detailed. This bra also features pretty embroidery to the cups. Comfort cushions at the end of each underwire prevent digging in, making this the perfect bra for all day wear. This Playtex bra lifts your look and gives you a beautiful shape and plenty of confidence.
Wear this Playtex Affinity lace bra with lace shorts or briefs for a femme fatale style.
Please note: Hand wash only.
Useful info:
- Affinity bra by Playtex
- Lace bra with underwired design
- Scalloped edge; satin ribbon
- Features embroidery to cups
- Comfort cushions to end of underwire
Playtex Tonique Contour Bra
- Low stock, selling fast
63 reviews
- Delivery
Playtex Tonique Contour Bra
With unique technology this Playtex bra really lifts your shape and gives you a gorgeous, feminine silhouette.
This Playtex bra features Flexi Support that gives you a natural shape while lending maximum support. This Playtex bra reshapes the bust line for a contoured, rounded and toned appearance. This bra features a moulded bottom cup and a tulle top cup for a feminine finish. This Playtex bra is designed for the ultimate in comfort.
Wear this Playtex Tonique Contour bra with lace briefs. Wear under a jersey top or tee for an instant fashion fix.
Useful info:
- Tonique Contour bra by Playtex
- Unique Flexi Support technology
- Gives a natural shape and support
- Gives a contoured tone shape
- Moulded bottom cup; tulle top cup


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March 30, 2012
In celebration of the 2012 Year of the Dragon, Drexel is hosting an exhibit dedicated to the dragon.
March 29, 2012
The School of Public Health, along with the College of Medicine, will recognize World Autism Awareness Day on Monday, April 2, this year by lighting up the Great Court in Main Building with blue lights as part of Autism Speaks' worldwide Light It Up Blue program. Faculty, staff and students are also encouraged to wear blue that day in honor of the program.
March 26, 2012
As Women's History Month comes to a close, Drexel's Dr. Ana Nuñez offers a few examples of why it's important to continue to look at women's health as a key component in a better society and in advanced medicine.
March 23, 2012
Drexel senior Nevena Bosnic is the Univerity's first student to be named a Carnegie Junior Fellow.
March 19, 2012
The Dragons host UMass in the NIT Quarterfinals on Tuesday night at the DAC at 7 p.m.
Senior Sarah Michelson is taking the opportunity to give back, not party, this spring break.
March 16, 2012
Thursday was a record-setting night for the Drexel women's basketball team, as they won their first-ever postseason game, advancing to the second round of the WNIT.
March 15, 2012
The Dragons will host Northern Iowa on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. in a game that can be seen live on ESPN.
March 12, 2012
Jasmin Sosa says she will return to the classroom on April 2 with some real-world experience that can't be duplicated by listening to a professor or reading a textbook.
President John A. Fry salutes the Drexel men's and women's basketball teams, and thanks the University community for its amazing support. Go Dragons!
Despite 27 victories the men's basketball team was snubbed by the NCAA selection committee on Sunday night. The Dragons will instead host Central Florida on Wednesday, March 14.
March 5, 2012
The Dragons will now await the NCAA Selection Committee's decision to find out if they will be playing in the NCAA Tournament or claiming their automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament.
Tonight in the Richmond Coliseum, the Drexel men's basketball team will face VCU in the finals of the CAA Championship game. The Dragons enter the game with a 19-game winning streak.
March 2, 2012
Drexel begins its quest for the CAA Saturday, March 3 at noon.
March 1, 2012
For the first time, Drexel faculty, students and staff joined forces to give a voice to these issues as well as benefit the community with proceeds.
Follow Drexel:
Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, 215-895-2000, © 2012, All Rights Reserved


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Based on 5 ratings. Rate it!
Haz does white tablecloth dining, Turkish-style. That doesn't mean it's expensive – quite the contrary: set menus & sub-£14 house wine ('a bargain in City terms') come highly recommended. Consistently very decent, with 'diligent' staff & rapid service, this group of bright & airy restaurants probably isn't well known outside of the Square Mile, but it is warmly regarded inside of it. A selection of hot & cold starters such as taramasalata (definitely not the neon-pink sort), imam biyaldi, feta & spinach börek or fried squid start proceedings nicely, before the main event – something from the charcoal grill such as lamb shish or chicken kofte. It's a posh kebab fix for City suits, if you will. Alternatively, try a gently spiced & stewed casserole or some simply grilled fish.
Are you the restaurant owner? Click here for Links & Logos
Travel to Haz Premier Place in style with London's leading minicab firm Addison Lee.Get a quote »


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Information contained on this page is provided by an independent third-party content provider. WorldNow and this Station make no warranties or representations in connection therewith. If you have any questions or comments about this page please contact email@example.com.
SOURCE Tencent
Soccer fans will enjoy access to a broad array of online video, games and interactive features to enhance their experience
BEIJING, June 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Tencent, China's leading online communications, social, and entertainment services company, has announced the launch of its World Cup Channel, a wide-ranging package of original video content and interactive products and features designed to give the millions of fans who watch the games a more exciting and participatory experience.
The Channel has now gone live with original video content, interactive products, and feature columns centered around the games. When the kick-off day arrives on June 12, Tencent users will have full access to a vast array of video content via a single channel including real-time reports about competitions, commentary from soccer experts and former players, and updates about what is happening on and off the field. Starting June 12, the World Cup Channel will feature eight original video sequences on the untold stories of celebrity soccer stars and their wives, debates between famous soccer experts and sports commentators, and interviews with established soccer coaches and players from national teams.
Between matches, the online audience can predict who they believe are the champions using World Cup Prediction, an interactive product developed by Tencent. With Tencent's Game Watching app, the audience can bet on game results together with their friends. Although participants cannot win prizes or real money, they can still have a great time by betting right and showing off their knowledge about soccer and the World Cup. After a match, betting results can be shared in the WeChat "Discover" circle where losers can seek encouragement and winners can show off their confidence and good luck. Everyone will be entertained.
Another World Cup Channel program, "Facing Superstars," will feature video interviews with soccer legends Neymar, Robinho, Casillas, Xavi, Ronaldo, and others who will offer their perspectives on the games and share their own greatest moments playing in previous World Cups. An array of other programs will offer real-time updates on the games, a 24-hour broadcast reviewing the games in fine detail, and "10 am/pm World Cup Tips," a news column that will announce game results and forecast highlights of the games taking place the following day for two prime-time hours every day.
"Everyone who is a soccer fan will find something that will captivate them on Tencent's World Cup Channel," said Yongzhi Wang, deputy editor-in-chief of QQ.com. "Our launch of the Channel tells the world that Tencent is fully ready to offer coverage of the World Cup. We have developed immersive HTML5-based products and entertaining video that will delight those following the event. Whether you are a long-time soccer lover or someone new to the game, Tencent's World Cup Channel will put you at the heart of the action and let you participate actively in the fun."
A team of 70 media -- journalists, online video program hosts, sports commentators, and special guests -- will head for 12 Brazilian locations where matches are taking place, including Rio de Janeiro, to conduct video interviews right on the scene to send exclusive first-hand information about the World Cup to Tencent's online audience. At the back-end, there is an even bigger content generation team of more than 500 people to cover the event uninterrupted 24 hours a day for 31 days. Tencent has started its World Cup coverage early, launching a feature column in April, Right on the Spot, sending news teams to cover World Cup teams' preparation and conducting face-to-face interviews with soccer stars throughout European participating countries.
As a world leader in mobile technology, Tencent will focus much of its World Cup coverage on information delivery via mobile terminals. Currently, a powerful media coverage matrix encompassing nearly all the mobile and PC platforms of Tencent has been formed including Tencent News + Video + WeChat + Mobile QQ + Microvideos + Game Watching + Microblogs + the Tencent website. The World Cup has never before seen such a diverse and wide-ranging online coverage matrix.
"Tencent has harnessed its many years of mobile experience to offer its audience the richest video and game-watching experience possible," said Yongzhi Wang, "We are fully confident that the 2014 World Cup will mark a new milestone for the Mobile World Cup: Tencent mobile technology will bring users a whole new experience when it comes to watching and participating in the game."
©2012 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved.


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Somerville, MA, United States | Member Since 2005
"Beautifully unsettling"
This short, smart existential novella is a gem. After the protagonist, Soren Johansson, a devout Mormon, dies of cancer, he finds himself in a room with four other people. There, an officious demon cheerfully informs everyone that they've all failed to follow the one true religion (which I won't spoil, but suffice to say, it's not one of the obvious candidates) and consigns them all to a variety of hells.
For the protagonist, hell is a bigger-than-the-known-universe library containing every possible book (including those whose contents are just random characters, i.e. the vast majority). And the only way out, according to a posted notice, is to find the book containing one's own life story. Hell does operate according to a few rules, which can't be broken. There are food dispensers, which give out any meal requested. Non-carried objects return to their place at the end of each day. People who die are returned to life.
At first, Soren does what most people would do: he explores, forms relationships, tests the rules, and discusses solutions to the shared predicament. But days, then months, then years pass. The denizens of the library form societies. Soren experiences wandering and loneliness. He falls in love. Then violent religious mania hits people, and hell really does become hell. So, he escapes to deeper levels, in search of both his lost lover and answers.
I won't give away what happens from there, but Peck does eventually make it clear that there's no easy way out. The author's wry sense of humor makes the haunting philosophical questions go down easy, but that won't stop them from swirling uncomfortably in your mind later. As I see it, this is a book about what faith really means. What happens if God utterly defies all our expectations? Would we still believe? Could we let go of our belief? And I don't think Peck is letting non-believers off the hook, either -- if we contemplate the hell of a purposeless reality, might it be better to have some ray of hope in a greater meaning, however slender?
Beautifully unsettling questions. I'm glad I spotted this one in an audible sale.
"Gritty, hard-boiled space action"
The first in this series, Altered Carbon, was all the rage a few years back. It was a gritty, hard-boiled detective story set in the 25th century, complete with pithy first person narration by sardonic tough guy male protagonist. The universe is a little reminiscent of the one in the movie Blade Runner, with powerful corporations that run everything and crime syndicates and rebel groups in the shadows. The most notable technological feature of this reality is the ability to back human consciousness up on a "cortical stack" implant, allowing people to "resleeve" in a new body if the old one gets excessively damaged. The implications of this made for some interesting twists, both in terms of plot and human themes.
In this novel, a loose sequel to Altered Carbon, Takeshi Kovacs has put aside the detective work and is back to his former trade of soldiering. He's serving as a mercenary on behalf of a corporate power battling rebel fanatics on a planet whose civilian populace is receiving the brunt of the misery and suffering. He's feeling about ready to jump ship on his contract when a pilot points Kovacs to a xenoarchaeologist in a prison camp, who knows something about a gateway leading to an ancient, derelict alien starship -- the find of the century. Can he put together a team to stake legal claim?
As with many sequels to hot first novels, the dazzle factor of the author's style and universe has worn off a little, and this reader notices the formula a little more. For those who liked the grit, hard-boiled cynicism, manga-like universe, over-the-top sex scenes, and action movie machismo of Altered Carbon, Broken Angels brings more of that, but the characters and plot are more familiar and forgettable. While the part surrounding the entering of the long-dead ghost ship, the high point of the book, has a cool eeriness similar to the opening of the movie Alien and its own horror to deliver about the fate of a superior civilization, the story leading up this point isn't hugely riveting. Yes, the sequences about locating a corporate backer (without being screwed over by the same), recruiting a squad of soldiers from the colorful personalities found in a pile of discarded cortical stacks, battling nanobots, and discovering what became of a previous expedition to the alien ship, were a pleasant audio distraction while I was doing yard work, a lot of other science fiction novels could have done as much. The war going on in the background had potential to be interesting, but wasn't fleshed out much -- I suspect it will come more into play in the next book.
All in all, this is a recommendation for those who loved Altered Carbon and want to go further into the Takeshi Kovacs universe, but other readers could probably take it or leave it. Audiobook reader Todd McLaren has a square-jawed voice that suits the hard-boiled nature of Morgan's prose well and keeps it from coming across as too self-serious, but his sultry-voiced women can be a little irritating. Particularly the "sassy black girl" voice.
"Puts a lot in perspective"
I can't remember the history of the Islamic world rating more than a few pages in my high school AP World History textbook. And those pages were about the things that related directly to the story of Europe and the Americas, kthxbye. Oh, and oil.
This book is an excellent corrective for the distorted, limited picture most Americans have of the Islamic sphere, revealing it as a complex and fascinating parallel universe that had developed largely apart from Europe. This culture rose to great heights while most Europeans still lived in ignorant medieval squalor, became fragmented by Mongol invasion and the politics of empire in successive centuries, and was finally encroached upon by the modern West in the 19th and 20th centuries, an encounter that it's still in turmoil from.
Tamim Ansary, an author and lecturer, turns a millenium plus into an informal, engaging narrative, as a good professor would. There's even some humor ("pointing his cannons at Parliament and blowing it up was just the shah's way of showing that he some objections to the new agreement"). Good historical narrative doesn't judge the past from a modern perspective, but illuminates it as a complex set of relationships that evolved over time. There are many terms here that I'd heard before and had a vague sense of the meaning of -- Sunni, Shia, Sufi, Assassin, caliphate, 12th Imam, vizier, harem, Mamluk, janissary, Safavid, Ottoman, Great Game, Raj -- but Ansary puts them all into their place.
Thus, it became easier for me to understand how Islam is often (without irony) called a "religion of peace", while also having a warrior aspect. During and following the prophet Muhammad's life, the faithful saw themselves as creating a new vision for society, founded on peace, justice, self-discipline, religious tolerance, and egalitarian brotherhood (even sisterhood) for the once fractious people of the Arabian peninsula and the Levant. Muslims saw God's favor as being demonstrated by their success at liberating the oppressed inhabitants of neighboring lands and God's disfavor as being shown through military loss -- which was to have far-reaching implications.
Ansary also helped me see how Islam's source ideas played out in attempts to codify them into a framework for daily life. Elaborate bodies of law developed and scholars saw a unity of reason and divine revelation, bringing about advances in science and mathematics, and re-introducing classical Greek logic to the world. Of course, these noble goals did not prevent the usual conflicts between higher thinking and human nature from taking root -- politics, greed, war, dynastic feuding, cultural chauvinism, overly conservative thinking -- and so Islam fragmented into different visions. Mystics, enlightened progressives, and traditionalists all found footholds in different parts the greater empires. Interesting stuff.
The latter chapters, which deal with the Muslim world's encounter with the West, are the most revealing. I'd never fully considered how the Protestant Reformation opened the door for a culture of individualism and mercantilism, but it did, and soon European traders and bankers were making inroads into stratified empires in Asia Minor, Persia, and India, making deals that that decadent rulers couldn't refuse and securing more and more privilege for themselves. Never underestimate the corrosive power of loans! While Muslim intellectuals and secularists came to see the future as lying in the kind of democratic, constitutional governments that the west had (as Turkey is today), a combination of cynical Western imperialism and rising fundamentalism among large, impoverished lower classes that saw their elites as selling out on God's instructions (with no pope-like figure to intermediate), poisoned this dream in many places. Obviously, terrorism can't be justified under any system that claims respect for the innocent, but the resentment and sense of a stolen destiny that boiled over into extremism (enabled by oil money) makes more sense to me now.
For people who enjoy history and know that there are different ways of telling it, depending on who's in the "center" of a narrative and who comes crashing in from outside during Act Three, I can't recommend this one highly enough.
"Smart, witty altered-consciousness thriller"
Afterparty was a pleasant discovery for me, comparable to recent Neal Stephenson or William Gibson, but less geeked-out than the former and a little snarkier than the latter.
The initial setting is a near-future Toronto. A former neuroscientist named Lyda is in a mental hospital, in the wake of a series of breakdowns. It's about a decade after her biotech startup discovered, while trying to cure schizophrenia, a drug that enables users to experience God. Well, in a manner of speaking. More specifically, Lyda and her colleagues overdosed on the drug and each now experiences a very convincing hallucination of a heavenly spirit companion. In Lyda's case, it's a moralizing winged angel named Doctor Gloria. In more controlled doses, the drug, nicknamed Numinous, makes people feel that they're in the presence of the divine.
It's not the only mind-altering custom drug in this future. There's now a whole subculture of print-it-at-home drug manufacture, to say nothing of what more serious organizations do with the tech. Some products have amusingly harmless effects, but some alter consciousness in disturbing ways, such as one that removes one character's natural empathy and turns him into a temporary sociopath.
When a peculiarly troubled teenage patient shows up in the clinic, it dawns on Lyda that Numinous, which her and her colleagues swore to keep secret, is now on the street, being distributed by a strange new "church". So, Lyda must check herself out of the hospital, evade monitoring systems, get across the border, and track down her former colleagues in the US. Her only allies are a sweetly unaware young man who thinks his consciousness resides in the aquarium toy hanging from his neck, and a crafty American ex-intelligence officer whose own mind has been scrambled by too much "focus" drug over her career. And a cat. And, of course, the amusingly huffy Doctor G, who remains invisible to everyone but Lyda.
This is definitely a smart book, asking meaningful philosophical questions about the nature of being and the implications of messing with our brains/minds. Or of messing with other people's. It's also a witty one, with cleverly written scenes, oddball characters, and a lot of snarky quips from Lyda. For example, when a drug dealer sells a seemingly effective gay-for-a-day "product" to some straight dudebros at a college frat party, she retorts, "product? Don't you mean placebo?" (Well, it made me laugh.)
The story, once it gets going, is interesting. There's also a backstory that emerges, concerning the tragic events that took place at Little Sprout (the startup) ten years ago, what became of Lyda's wife and fellow scientist, who took too much Numinous, how Lyda ended up in the mental hospital, and what happened to her daughter, who she had to give up for adoption. While Gregory doesn't posit a drastically altered future, I also enjoyed the creative, incidental little ideas that he drops in here and there, such as a plausible successor to smart phones. Like the plot of a good thriller, all the pieces come together in the end, but with some room for taking the characters and setup further, should he choose to.
If there are a few believability issues and the ending is a little predictable, it's a thriller with a brain and an eye on an approaching bend in the road ahead. And the core questions -- if there is a better us inside ourselves, should we try to access it by tampering with ourselves? Or should we not? Is "divine experience" more about the divine, or the experience? -- are ones that Gregory keeps hovering in our peripheral vision throughout the book, but admirably never tries to answer for us.
"Beautiful, melancholic literary fantasy"
Last Dragon falls into a space somewhere between straightforward genre fantasy and literary fiction, which is probably why not too many readers have noticed it. The bones of the plot have a lot in common with the former: there's a teenage girl, destined to become an Empress (which we know because she's writing an epistolary from her older years), who leaves her nomadic people to seek blood justice against her grandfather, who has murdered her family and most of the rest of her village, then fled. Along with her slightly-older uncle, who is now technically the village shaman, she travels over the mountains and enters the more civilized, darker-skinned country to the south.
As we might expect, the young Zhan will find companions on the road who have their own histories and purposes, learn about the wider world, discover that the truth is more complex than the one she began with, and get sucked into a war that comes back to her people. Not everyone's stories, when fully revealed, will be quite as they seem. Several of the main characters have an ambiguous quality to them.
Unlike a lot of fantasy, which tends to proceed in a linear way, Zhan's tale is expressed in semi-ordered, dreamlike fragments, concentrating less on genre tropes, and more on how humans reveal themselves in their interactions. There are betrayals and surprises that will emerge, some of which seem to be a product of the older Zhan's unreliable memory. There's a definite Gene Wolfe flavor -- if The Book of the New Sun spoke to you, this probably will, too (and if you hated The Shadow of the Torturer, you're not the audience for this book). The format can be a little confusing, but there were enough contextual hints for me to mostly keep track of the plot.
But, man, McDermott can write. I loved the sparse, delicate beauty of the prose, and the haunting imagery that fills the book. Camp fires made from an intoxicating weed that grows in the mountains. A language that considers a bird to be any creature that sings. Ancient dragons that onced imparted their preternatural wisdom to a nation, an order of paladin who sacrificed their own lives to maintain the great creatures, and black-skinned soldiers from the south, who brought an end to this order (and many others) with their musketry. Ants that crawl in the masonry of a great city, and come to play their own disquieting role. An old warrior, from a place where different tribes modify their bodies to pay homage to different animals, telling a blend of personal and tall tales from childhood, which include a moment where a storm drops fish from the sky on a column of captives. There's an ambiguity and bleakness to the main story, which ends unhappily for most in it, but it's told in such a lovely way, including Cori Samuels's English-accented audio narration.
Not everyone will like this book. If you prefer novels to have a clear plot resolution, with all the characters' motives fully revealed, you should probably look elsewhere. However, if you accept that books can be puzzles, with meanings that are hinted at through allegorical imagery and invocation of themes, Last Dragon is worthy of your time. While the novel sometimes loses itself in its own dreamlike gauziness and structural experimentation, and perhaps a few of the author's ideas and characters could have been developed a little more, it's an impressive first novel.
"Hot times in the nineteen-o's"
This is one of those books I had to read for class in high school, but which was somewhat wasted on me at the time. I didn't know enough about history and adult psychology to really appreciate Doctorow's portrait of the roiling, chaotic, ever unsatisfied nature of turn-of-the-20th century America, with its class struggles, expanding immigrant population, media celebrities and their sordid scandals, racism, squalor, and energetic search for something better.
This is a novel where the author's technique shines as much as his story or characters. Assuming an omniscient, godlike point of view that seems to pay homage to John Dos Passo's America Trilogy, Doctorow swoops above the day, taking in the events of the newspaper headlines, then zooming down into dining rooms, meeting halls, and bedrooms, for a closer look into his characters lives, then diving into their thoughts and emotions, before flying away again. This approach creates a sense of urgency and burgeoning unrest, not surprising in a novel written soon after the late 1960s.
The story blends history with the lives of a fictional middle-class white family in a New York City suburb, who are named only as Father, Mother, Younger Brother, and The Boy. The bourgeois Father owns a business that sells patriotic supplies, and joins Robert Peary on his expedition to the North Pole, which seems to mark an apex of Father's life. Younger Brother is a troubled young man who obsesses over an equally troubled young starlet, the real Evelyn Nesbit, and loses himself in designing fireworks, then in radicalism. When Mother takes in a young, unwed black women and her infant, the family becomes involved with a successful, cultured black pianist named Coalhouse Walker, who refuses to back down from his demands for redress after his car is vandalized by a racist fire chief. Things escalate, and the Family finds itself connected to a righteous terrorist, who acts out a fantasy that many blacks at the time probably had.
This central plot, though absorbing, is only an eye of the storm for the rest of the book. Doctorow spends as much time with other figures, fictional or historical, whose energies intersect and rise into the same sublime madness. An immigrant Jew living in the slums of New Yorks, who struggles after a better life for his daughter and is pulled towards a new industry. Anarchist labor organizer Emma Goldman, who gives a scathing critique of capitalist society and its moral hypocrisies. Plutocrat J.P. Morgan, who searches for higher purpose, now that he's achieved the pinnacle of success and found it wanting, and fellow capitalist Henry Ford, who gives a folksy comeuppance. Escapist artist Harry Houdini, who pushes back against his own inner emptiness with ever more dangerous and unreal stunts.
This is a brilliant book, swirling with color and energy, but also wit and insight into the psyche of America at a significant moment. There's a strong whiff of counterculture and the kind of creative, what-if reimagining of hidden moments of history that I enjoyed in Doctorow's Civil War novel The March. Readers who dislike the cinematic, somewhat fanciful staging of such scenes, or prefer a more conventional, grounded plot might not enjoy this book, but I'd recommend Ragtime to anyone who wants to better understand the US, or this time period in particular.
Doctorow, who obviously isn't a trained voice actor, narrates his own audiobook. The recording isn't of great quality, being a little muffled in places and making him sound like he has a cold. Still, I appreciated knowing that all the verbal emphasis in the reading was just as the author intended.
"Fate Inescapable"
This is a fun little anthology. All the pieces here revolve around the same premise: the idea that there's a machine that can predict a person's death from a blood sample, spitting out its answer on a small card. The machine sometimes words its oracular messages in an ambiguous or poetic way, but it's never wrong. If it predicts that you'll die by drowning, moving to the desert won't save you -- you'll just die in the shower or by choking on a drink. Perhaps, like Oedipus, you might even suffer the paradoxical fate of being doomed by your attempt to escape fate.
Naturally, there are a number of logical, philosophical, and moral implications that can arise from the premise, and the various authors get pretty creative in exploring them. How would you act if you knew your death? What if your friends or family knew? What if your government knew? A few pieces are set in the present day, but the genres of most of the others run the gamut from sci-fi to dystopian to fantasy to zombie horror to time travel to Sherlock Holmes. There's even a choose-your-own-adventure. The most interesting ones, for my money, tend to weave in some other issue.
The tone of the stories ranges a lot as well. Some are witty, some are serious, some dark, some absurd, some poignant, some melancholy, and some cryptic. Some feature better writing than others, but there was a good deal of talent and imagination on display. Similarly, the various audiobook readers range from competent-but-unremarkable to skilled. I particularly enjoyed the voices done by the guy who narrated the story told from the point of view of an orc.
In sum, a collection I could recommend to any adult who enjoys creative short fiction (I say "adult" because of some profanity and a few grown-up topics). I would note that this is the followup to any earlier anthology, called Machine of Death. I haven't read that one, but the grapevine (well, the Internet) says that this is the more inventive of the two.
"Colorful magic realist science fiction"
There aren't a lot of sci-fi/fantasy writers who use Africa as a primary setting, but Nnedi Okorafor is a noteworthy voice in this small subgenre. I enjoyed 2010's post-apocalypse coming-of-age, Who Fears Death, though I found the plot a little disjointed. Lagoon, her most recent work, shows her strengthening her skills as a writer and storyteller.
Here, when aliens come to set up a new home on Earth, they don't pick New York, London, or Tokyo, but land their ship in the ocean near Lagos, Nigeria, flooding the coast. Immediately, their technology, which is advanced to the point of near-magic, begins to wreak changes on the local marine life. For reasons that don't become clear until later, three people, strangers to each other, a marine biologist named Adaora, a popular Ghanaian rapper named Anthony, and a soldier named Agu, are attracted to the beach. A wave pulls them all into the water, and some time later, they return with a fourth individual, an ambassador from the aliens who has taken human form.
At this point, had the story been set in the US, the government would have swooped in, set up a tight military cordon and whisked away the visitor. But, this is Nigeria. Instead, Adaora conducts a few tests, footage ends up on the internet, and different parties, from a charlatan witch-hunting preacher to some enterprising kidnappers to a unit of trigger-happy soldiers, converge on the scene. Meanwhile, the strange events unleash religious fervor, rioting, and other chaos throughout Lagos. The aliens, like gods, can be benevolent in their way, but also seem to be judging humanity and are dangerous when provoked.
This definitely isn't conventional sci-fi. There are some strong mystical elements to the story, which lend it, at times, a magic realist flavor reminiscent of Salman Rushdie. The aliens, it seems, have awakened old spirits and powers lurking just beneath the skin of Lagos (including a man-eating road!). I very much enjoyed the colorful writing and the honesty about Nigeria's conflicted, multifaceted personality that emerged in the book's many short vignettes, each from the perspective of a different denizen of the city. Okorafor's creativity especially shines in the sequences devoted to animals changed by the aliens' energies. Audiobook narrators, Adjoa Andoh and Ben Onwukwe, who do an astonishing range of accents, demonstrate just how much the spoken-word experience can enhance a book.
It's not that there weren't annoyances, though. The central plot, which concerned the main characters' mission to get through the chaos to meet up with Nigeria's ailing president, gets a little tedious in its one-thing-after-another action overload. Also, the author over-relies on the device of having many of her characters coincidentally know other characters who are important to the story. And, as much as I loved the voice actors, some of their accent were incomprehensible to me. The pidgin English dialect was like listening to an amped-up Jar Jar Binks.
Still, the overall theme of human worthiness of redemption, in the face of our many abuses of nature and one other, resonated for me. Okorafor is one to keep an eye on. The same (well, ear) goes for Andoh and Onwukwe.
"Familiar but gripping epic fantasy"
There's virtually nothing in Anthony Ryan's Blood Song that fantasy readers haven't seen before. Vaguely European medieval world? Check. Protagonist with a special magical gift? Check. Walled-off academy wherein a young protagonist learns many diverse arts? Check. A set of religious/mystical Orders that safeguard the realm and its affairs? Barbarians in the north? Hidden secret Order? Check, check, check.
Yet, this is a confident, unapologetically traditional novel that will likely please fans of military and warrior epics. Ryan, to his credit, doesn't go in for a lot of world-building or the potential flab of multiple character perspectives. Other than the framing device of introducing the story from the perspective of a scribe from a southern empire, who interviews the now-legendary captive, Vaelin al Sorna, much of the narrative follows the experiences of the man himself. As we soon learn, Vaelin was left as a boy by his father at the gates of the Sixth Order, which trains warriors to serve the faith, a sort of medieval Army Ranger battalion.
Roughly the first third of the novel is taken up by Vaelin's training, an increasingly harsh series of lessons and tests. It's a little comparable to events in Patrick Rothfuss's popular The Name of the Wind, but this school is much more martial than university-like. It's stuff we've seen before, but I enjoyed watching Vaelin and his fellows grow in skill and maturity, with glimpses of the outside world and its issues, which occasionally intrude on their training.
Most good military fiction involves the hero learning, over many bloody battles, that the purity of the warrior's ethos doesn't always align with the slimy nature of realpolitik. This is true here. As he graduates from his final test, Vaelin finds himself falling into the favor of a manipulative, ambitious king, who sends him on sham missions against an insurgency of heretics in the north, then into actual set battles against the empire to the south, for reasons that sound worthy on paper but reek of the king's self-interest.
While the too-noble-for-this-war-too-dutiful-to-stop-fighting-it themes are familiar, Ryan does a great job with the savage crunch and clamor of battles, and capturing the many small details of a warrior's life and its hard disciplines. There's a bit of droll humor, too. There's even beauty in the writing, in the depiction of a primeval northern forest, or in a pod of orca whales pacing a ship. Fantasy can so easily crumble when modern sensibilities or glibness creep into it, but Ryan seems to recognize the importance of a believably mythic world, of keeping the basic themes simple and clear.
That said, there are weaknesses. The story suffers from a few cliches, and only a handful of characters are more than a sketch. The Princess, whose calculating nature makes it unclear whose side she's on, is interesting, but there wasn't very much to distinguish Vaelin's brothers-in-arms from one another. I was a little disappointed that the Faith, so central to what the Order does, was never explained in much detail, and that the magic-related side of the plot, while seemingly important to the larger series Ryan has in mind, felt a little shoehorned into the story.
Still, such issues are to be expected in a debut and I think much of the praise from readers is warranted. If this isn't quite the next Game of Thrones, it takes many ideas that worked well in that series and channels them into one hero and his reality. Audiobook narrator Steven Brand doesn't do a wide range of accents, but he has a confident, unpretentious voice that fits the text. While some readers have complained about grammar issues, they weren't evident to me in this format.
"A quietly intense trip into the meta"
I loved The Islanders and its mysterious alternate world, even if I didn't entirely get what the book was about. I'd read that the Dream Archipelago had its origins in Priest's earlier, 1981 novel, The Affirmation, so this seemed like a fitting next step into his catalog.
The novel is about a young man named Peter Sinclair, whose life has fallen apart after the death of his father, a romantic dissolution, and the loss of his job to a bad economy (there's a palpable sense of Thatcher-era British malaise). Peter sets out to find new inner peace by moving into an old house recently purchased by a family friend out in the country, and fixing it up for the man and his wife. While engaged in this, Peter decides to write a memoir of his life. Then, he decides to rewrite it, first changing a few details to be more to his liking, then going all the way into a fantasy world.
At this point, it becomes clear that Peter may not be well, and that some of what he's told us so far might not be so reliable. Then, the book switches gears, and we're reading about the life of another Peter Sinclair, who lives in the world of the Dream Archipelago, which is technologically similar to ours, but has entirely different geography and countries, and a few science fiction-y elements. We learn that the alternate Peter has won a lottery that grants him life extension treatment, requiring him to make a trip by sea into the Archipelago (which has politically distanced itself from the main continent because of an ongoing war there). But, there are some costs, such as total amnesia and a subsequent "rebirth".
Gradually, the two halves of the story begin to show some parallels, such as the romantic relationships with Gracia/Seri (in each world). Then they begin to reference each other, through the manuscript Peter is working on/carrying with him in each reality, then, ultimately, to merge. Readers have made comparisons to Murakami and other magic realist authors, but I was also reminded of Julian Barnes's excellent The Sense of an Ending, which was also very "English" in its sensibilities and also turned on the narrator's memory and understanding of events not being totally dependable.
This is a novel that invites different interpretations. On one level, it could simply be about a man's harrowing descent into mental illness, the fantasies in his head becoming as real as reality. On another, it could be about a misguided recovery of memory. But The Affirmation is also a Cloud Atlas-like work of literary experimentation, the creation-within-a-creation structure looping back on itself. If you enjoy having your mind blown, pay close attention to events in the last chapters. This is a book that invites a second read, once the final twist becomes clear.
While The Affirmation's "real world" story is a little depressing, with its references to suicide and psychological breakdown, I was pleased to return to the Dream Archipelago and learn more about its workings. Perhaps I should revisit the Islanders and see if this book has shed any new light on happenings in that one. I also look forward to reading Priest's story collection, The Dream Archipelago.
I don't have much to say on the audiobook, except that Michael Maloney reads with a quiet intensity that I thought was a perfect fit for Peter's voice.
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text: EMBELLISH each season with The Decorated Tree—holiday fantasy intertwined with the rich symbolism of nature. A time-honored Yuletide ritual has become a modern tradition any time of year. This large (12"x 12") 144-page, hardbound and dust-jacketed coffee table book contains the best of the blog's ( http://www.thedecoratedtree.blogspot.com ) informative stories. Accompanied by 183 inspiring full-color images, this book will become your decorating resource for every holiday, every year. (2012 Revised Edition)


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Coastguards suffer 'incredible' abuse from local storm watchers (From This is The West Country)
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Coastguards suffer 'incredible' abuse from local storm watchers
Updated 9:51am Wednesday 8th January 2014 in Cornwall
As huge waves crashed onto the coast of Cornwall over recent days, and crowds gathered to catch a glimpse of the dramatic scenes, some have been slammed for abusing the very people risking their lives to keep them safe.
Portreath Cliff Rescue Team have posted on their Facebook page that members of the team were out on the quays and car parks, together with the police, last night, warning the many hundreds of people of the dangers posed by the mountainous seas.
Despite the obvious danger, with huge seas crashing in through the darkness, depositing thousands of tonnes of water, rocks and sand with every wave over the seafront and harbour, the abuse that the emergency services suffered from the public was "incredible".
Adding: "More importantly, was that the majority of it came from local people directing their anger at the very persons who were trying to stop them walking into danger."
The behaviour has seen an outpouring of support for the Coastguards and emergency services on Facebook, with many saying how different the story would be if these same people needed to be rescued.
Mandy Francis said: "They are total idiots for ignoring warnings and not respecting the power and strength of the sea and should be ashamed of themselves for their behaviour and the abuse they gave you.
"Thank you for what you do to save lives, risking your own while doing so."
Paul Young said: "Dumbfounded at the response you received from the local people while you were giving them advice."
Sara Radford added: "When will people learn that yes it looks amazing but it's dangerous! The amount of people that are risking their lives, their kids lives, it's ridiculous."
Comments (4)
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4:23pm Tue 7 Jan 14
meerkats says...
4:53pm Tue 7 Jan 14
Gillian Zella Martin 09 says...
Respect should be applied not only for the sea but also for those that are trying to maintain safety for all.
10:35am Wed 8 Jan 14
BevHelston says...
3:20pm Thu 9 Jan 14
Matt Tonkins says...
Comments are closed on this article.


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Interior Designer
The Real Poop
If you've ever been captured by enemy forces and thrown into a bare cell where you are held as prisoner for months or years… you may be able to appreciate the importance of interior design. Your captivity might not have been so bad if you'd had a chaise lounge and a couple of brocaded throw pillows.
First, it's important to make the distinction between interior designers and interior decorators. Interior decorators, as the name implies, decorate a space. They fill it with furniture, vases, knick-knacks and more to create a desired look and feel. An interior designer may handle much of that stuff as well, but they are more concerned with the layout of the space itself. They may take out walls, replace ugly tiled countertops with snazzy granite ones, or try to add more natural lighting. You really have to have both sides of your brain working to be a good interior designer – you need to be able to form an artistic vision, as well as to possess the math and construction skills to make it a reality. You didn't think it was going to be easy becoming the next HGTV Design Star, did you?
We spend a lot of time in our homes – some more than others. Existing day in and day out in an aesthetically pleasing space works wonders on the psyche. Would you rather live in a dark, dank home with moldy wood and a suffocating, clustered feel, or in a home with an open, inviting layout, plenty of sunlight and a soft, sumptuous bed that seems to be calling to you? When you think about it this way, it shouldn't take you very long to feng shui your options.
Interior designers work with a homeowner or, in some cases, with an architect during the planning stages of a structure. They spend a lot of time considering the purpose of the space, who will be living in it, what elements are important to them and what changes will be attractive, reasonable, and cost-effective for the owner. A designer may envision a fabulous tube slide going from the second to the first floor, but if the space is owned by an elderly couple with bad backs, they may not hang onto their job for very long.
Many people are passionate about interior design these days. This much is evident from the slew of design shows that are continually popping up on television. Suddenly, everyone wants umbrella plants in their sunroom and checkered slipcovers over their futon.
What does this country's fascination with home design mean for you, potential interior designer of the future? It means dollar signs. You can make serious bank in this business; not only will you be making an impressive hourly rate, but you will also be the happy recipient of a number of kickbacks. You will be incentivized to sell your clients on this couch, or on that lighting fixture, because you will be rewarded financially by the company from which you are buying it. Most interior designers have very nice homes themselves, and it's not just because they know the best way to arrange kitchen furniture.
It should come as no surprise that there are more individuals after interior design jobs than there are positions to be filled. Because the career is so lucrative and attractive, competition is tough. You can rise above the riff-raff, however, if you study hard and learn your stuff backwards and forwards. Yep – there is studying to be done. It isn't like other artistic endeavors where you can just slap some paint on a canvas and then possibly make a killing at Sotheby's. You'll need to be familiar with all of the different design styles – Tuscan, nouveau, Tudor, western, and so on. You'll need to immerse yourself in architecture classes, construction classes, and maybe even a psychology course or two. It will help if you can understand what makes people happy, as it will be your job to do so.
If you obtain your design degree from a top school, and become an accredited member of ASID (American Society of Interior Designers), you will be well on your way to making a living in this profession. It is important to hone your skills at every opportunity – however, we don't recommend that you practice on your brother's room while he's away at college. He just isn't as into pastels as you think he is.