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The Expert View: Direct Line, Prudential and Greggs
Our daily round-up of analyst recommendations and commentary, featuring Mothercare and Diageo.
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Oriel warns Direct Line shares set to fall
Marcus Barnard, analyst at Oriel, has initiated coverage of newly spun off car insurance firm Direct Line (DLG.L) with a 'reduce' recommendation, warning the shares are likely to drop as former owner Royal Bank of Scotland disposes of its majority shareholding.
Barnard's initiation of coverage follows a meeting with the management, which he said provided a useful insight into the business model. 'We were impressed with the openness of the presentation, particularly in relation to segments where the business is not delivering and management's desire to improve the operational performance,' he said.
The presentation highlighted a number of initiatives to improve performance, including changes to pricing, claims and distribution, as well as expansion of the commercial and international divisions, Barnard said.
However, with RBS still holding almost 70% of the shares and being forced to sell these before the end of 2014, Barnard expects the shares to head south. 'We therefore discount our valuation to 175p as a medium term price target,' he said.
Shares in the group closed at 192p on Thursday, down 1p or 0.52%.
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Bernstein sees Prudential shares hitting £10
Edward Houghton, analyst at Bernstein Research, has reiterated his 'outperform' recommendation on financial services group Prudential (PRU.L), saying the shares justify their premium valuation.
Prudential has outperformed the FTSE 350 Life Index by 30% since 2008, Houghton noted, and it's one of the best performing UK life insurers in the year so far. He praised its combination of capital strength, strong cash generation and earnings growth, saying Prudential is the only UK company in its sector to offer all three.
Looking ahead, Houghton said a flotation of its US division looked a possibility, with at least some of the proceeds invested in Asia. However, this remains some way off, he said.
With this in mind, Houghton expects Prudential's share price to reach £10, but said he 'can't (yet) see how it can get beyond it'. 'We'd like to see Prudential setting out how it intends to create further substantive shareholder value beyond FY13,' he concluded.
Shares in the group closed at 864p on Thursday, up 2p or 0.23%.
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Canaccord downgrades Greggs, says 'step change' needed to halt decline
Wayne Brown, analyst at Canaccord, has downgraded Greggs (GRG.L) from 'hold' to 'sell', warning that limited pricing power and rising imput costs mean the ubiquitous bakery chain is set to struggle.
Year-to-date sales are down 2.6% on a like-for-like (LFL) basis, Brown said, a decline from a rise of just 0.6% in the same period a year ago. 'Combined with increasing input costs, we see downside pressure to an already less than 8% operating margin,' Brown added.
The analyst warned that although Greggs is making use of its cash reserves to target new markets, widen its product range and increase the rate of refurbishments, it may be too little, too late. 'For us to turn positive we need to see a step change to both the rate of shop closures and refurbishments delivering an improvement in core trading,' he said.
Rival high-street food sellers JD Wetherspoon, Marstons and Restaurant Group are all managing like-for-like rises in sales, Brown said, suggesting Greggs' woes may be company specific.
Shares in the group closed at 485.5p on Thursday, down 0.75p or 0.15%.
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Seymour Pierce sticks at 'sell' on Mothercare
Freddie George, analyst at Seymour Pierce, has reiterated his 'sell' recommendation on Mothercare (MTC.L) despite stronger UK sales, saying the clothing retailer is still fighting for relevance with a generation of mums used to the convenience of Amazon and the supermarkets.
The second-quarter update showed like-for-like UK sales up 0.3%, beating expectations, although total sales were down 7.5%, reflecting store closures. George noted that the introduction of a new range of clothing designed by Jools Oliver (wife of TV chef Jamie Oliver) will have lifted sales.
International sales were up 10.8%, just shy of the 11% analysts had pencilled in. The Asia Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa performed at the top end of expectations, but Europe remained a drag, the company said.
Overall, the results did little to change George's view of a company struggling to reach out to younger customers: 'We do not believe Mothercare is an easy fix and brand repositions tend to take longer than expected. It will be difficult to make Mothercare relevant again for the modern mother as it has strong competition from Amazon and the supermarkets. We maintain our Sell recommendation for the time being but will review our price target of 145p.'
Investors, however, were more impressed by the latest set of results. Shares in the group closed at 258p on Thursday, up 24.75p or 10.65%.
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JP Morgan warns over Diageo's weak Asian presence
Matthew Webb, analyst at JP Morgan, has warned Diageo (DGE.L) investors that lacklustre sales volumes in Asia highlight the drinks maker's weakness in this fast-growing market.
First-quarter group sales were up 5% year-on-year, which was in line with consensus estimates, although slightly shy of Webb's 6% forecast. However, sales in Asia rose just 2%, well below the analyst's forecast of 9%.
Diageo said the disappointing figure was a result of ongoing poor trading in South Korea, phasing of sales in duty free, and weak vodka sales in India. Webb said all three of these factors are Diageo-specific, so he's not worried about any potential read-across to rivals Pernod-Ricard or Remy.
'We believe that today's weak performance from Diageo's Asian business is a reminder that it does not share the high level of exposure to the most attractive Asian markets (China and India) enjoyed by Pernod-Ricard, which remains our preferred pick amongst the large-cap spirits stocks,' he said.
Webb reiterated his 'underweight' recommendation on the shares.
Shares in the group closed at £17.56 on Thursday, down 12p or 0.68%.


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Sponsored Links No. Have you a Bonsai tree ?
Sponsored Links No. Have you upgraded past a 3.55 CFW?
Yes. would you sacrifice your life for a Klondike bar?
No. Did you attend CES this year?
No Do you have PS Vita?
No Do you have a 3DS?
Yes Do you like ferrets?
Yes Do you play the Sims 3 on PC and have all the extras?
NO. do you own ps move?
Yes Have you went on vacation recently or want too?

subset: commoncrawl


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Mad Cows of Tokyo's Big Night Out
Our main flagship show has found a new home at The Hobgoblin in Roppongi. One of the biggest British style pubs in Tokyo. It's the perfect place to host the Big Night Out. The show lasts about 90 minutes and we have seasoned performers producing some of the best stand up comedy Tokyo has to offer.
And the best part is there's no cover charge. It's Tokyo's only free weekend comedy show.
The Hobgoblin has a wide ranging menu and a large selection of drinks so get yourself down there early and grab yourself a table and wait for the fun to start.
Address 東京都港区六本木3-16-33 青葉六本木ビル1F, 106-0032, Japan
Email email@example.com for any inquiries or if you have an act / 5 minute stand-up request! If you are interested in performing come to one of our open mic events or drop us an email.
Come and bring your friends, and their friends and their friends and… see you there!


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Beyond racism: lessons from the South on racial discrimination and prejudice
Seven lessons from the deep South on racism, racial discrimination, and prejudice.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Philadelphia, Miss.
How does a black man win the highest political office in this majority-white town, infamous for one of the vilest acts of racial violence in modern American history?
James Young knows precisely. The chatty, barrel-chested Pentecostal pastor and former town ambulance worker became the city's first black mayor last year, mainly by promising he wouldn't fix anybody's traffic tickets. But despite his well-known face and pro-business outlook, Mr. Young admits he still bears the burden of his race in the eyes of many townspeople.
So how did he overcome the racial odds? "My philosophy is that I refuse to stop the truck and get out to fight you," he says. "I'm going to keep moving forward."
Young's slim, 47-vote victory in this town of 8,000 is hardly proof that racial prejudice is dead in the South, never mind here, where a gang of white supremacists led by a preacher killed three civil rights workers in 1964, inspiring the iconic movie "Mississippi Burning." But as the rest of America – under its first black president, Barack Obama – still finds itself clashing regularly over the use of the N-word or hurling accusations of racism in politics and the workplace, Philadelphia is seen as an example of racial redemption. It's the outcome of what historian Joseph Crespino at Emory University in Atlanta calls "a unique laboratory of racial interaction that is specific to the South."
By virtue of paradox and complexity, the South is an evasive teacher, often too genteel and judicious to ballyhoo its advances. But the old Confederacy's wrenching emergence from separate water fountains to an international melting pot reveals a region comfortable with its contradictions and even its past, a place where common interests trump overt prejudice, and where many people see race as an undeniable fact of life not to be subverted, but appreciated.
"I think the one thing the South could teach the country about race is that it's a deeper problem than anybody realizes; it touches more nerves than anyone wants to acknowledge, but at the same time that racism and the racist heritage of America can be overcome," says Massachusetts-born historian Jason Sokol, author of "There Goes My Everything: White Southerners in the Age of Civil Rights, 1945-1975."
"Every day, in every way, you can see that the South can teach the country about what it's been able to do in our very lifetime," adds Pat Caddell, a Democratic pollster who was part of President Jimmy Carter's inner circle.
Lesson 1: Recognize how far we've come
In the 1960s, Birmingham, Ala., gave America images of white police siccing German shepherds on black youths, shocking photos that galvanized the nation. The clashes were followed by federal laws guaranteeing civil rights and voting rights, and the eventual flight of many whites out of Birmingham and into the suburbs.
Today, many of the same children who faced water cannons grew up to take over key city positions, including at various times the mayor's office.
The black middle class mingles easily with whites at restaurants in the upscale Five Points area, and transitional neighborhoods like Roebuck are gradually integrating. There is a sense of racial peace that comes, local blacks say, from a recognition of the past and a view toward a mutual, but not necessarily integrated, future.
Hard, brutal ground was covered for Birmingham to emerge as a destination on a Southern civil rights tourist trail. Now, in Kelly Park, locals like Barbara Anderson, whose parents rallied there to protest Martin Luther King's imprisonment, can walk through a cast-iron sculpture of attack dogs gnashing in perpetuity at passersby.
To Ms. Anderson, the dog sculpture is visceral and deeply symbolic of the South's transformation: "Things have gotten a lot better [between the races]. The first time I walked through it, I was afraid. But I got used to it."
Juan Perkins, one of the Birmingham "foot soldiers" who faced the water cannons in the 1960s, remembers as a boy seeing a black man hanging from a tree and, as a teenager, watching helplessly as white joy riders raped his childhood sweetheart in the back seat of a car. Today, Mr. Perkins says he sees a Southern society that has simply laid down its arms and gotten past very basic racial injustice.
"What it comes down to in the South is we're not mad at each other anymore," he says. "I think a lot of people got the civil rights movement wrong. Black people didn't necessarily want to be with whites; they just wanted to be able to go where whites went."
Yes, race still chafes at Southern society. It's still difficult for many blacks to resolve the slave heritage that turned into Jim Crow, and there are lingering concerns that the social and economic advancements blacks have achieved could still be lost. Yet the old scars, many blacks say, simply don't hurt anymore. Experts attribute the subsiding anger to a common culture and destiny that Southern whites and blacks have shared, for better and for worse, across many generations of connections.
"There's a common culture in the South that's really there, and in the North they don't have it nearly as much," says Thomas Pettigrew, a Southern-born sociologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Perkins sees it another way: Whites and blacks in the South are "enemies who live in harmony."
Lesson 2: Talk about race like a Southerner
Perkins's quote is a blunt assessment from a region known better for courtesy, restraint, and propriety in public conversation. Yet race is never an abstract in the South. "It's in every room," says Susan Glisson, director of the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.
In the United States, few things are as uncomfortable as talking about race in mixed-race company. Witness this summer, full of racial backbiting: The release of a Journolist online exchange where a liberal journalist mused about marginalizing conservative figures by labeling them racists. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the "tea party" movement trading barbs, with the NAACP even creating teapartytracker.org to ferret out evidence of racism. Public figures like actor Mel Gibson and Dr. Laura Schlessinger roiling racial debate by using the word "nigger." Conservative talk show host Glenn Beck calling Mr. Obama a "racist," and a video clip of a new Black Panther Party leader proclaiming, "You want freedom? You're gonna have to kill some crackers."
The most explosive incident of the summer involved Shirley Sherrod, a black US Department of Agriculture official who was forced to resign for an apparently racist viewpoint given at an NAACP awards dinner. The uproar placed in stark relief the conversational divide between North and South.
Ms. Sherrod's story was a typical Southern redemption tale, infused with Baptist proverb. Born in rural Georgia and affected deeply when authorities failed to indict anyone for the murder of her father, Sherrod admitted questioning the integrity of a "white farmer" in the 1980s – and withholding the "full force" of her farm office to help him.
"I thought [her] speech was very Southern," says Mr. Pettigrew, the sociologist. "She was telling about her rebirth, her rethinking about race, and what she had in common with that white fellow."
Contrast the quick national judgment of Sherrod (who was eventually offered reinstatement, but declined) with a recent experience David Hooker, a black community-builder, had visiting Oxford, Miss., another iconic civil rights town steeped in Confederate history. Mr. Hooker, who lives in Atlanta and teaches at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., stepped into the Ajax bar to order some food. A white Mississippian sitting at the bar said to no one in particular, but within Hooker's earshot, "I remember when they didn't let niggers in here."
Recounting the episode, Hooker says he replied, "That was crazy, wasn't it? I remember that, too."
Hooker adds: "He kind of looked at me, like, 'What do you mean? You're not going to be offended?' "
The two ended up having a 45-minute chat that spanned the election of Obama, the Ole Miss football team, and hopes for their kids. "He was asking to have a conversation about race – he just didn't quite know how," says Hooker. "The reason I could hear that as an invitation is because I constantly remind myself that hurt people hurt people – they're exposing you to a place of their own pain."
To be sure, public atonements like the Senate's 2005 apology for failing to pass antilynching laws, and even the Obama "beer summit" in 2009 between Harvard University historian Henry Louis Gates and the white Cambridge, Mass., police sergeant who arrested Mr. Gates at his own home, can be effective, "but they can't be surrogates for local conversation" like those that often happen among black and white Southerners, says Ms. Glisson.
"When we try to have national conversations about race we tend to throw everything into the mix from the Middle Passage to Jim Crow to Don Imus," she says. "There are so many complexities and nuances that you lose any real focus that can get you somewhere."
Still, the troubled race conversation – even though fueled these days by partisans on both sides, black and white, trying to score political points for a key midterm election – may not ultimately be a sign of a devolution of race relations, but examples of a country stumbling toward understanding.
"It's like muscle memory, where it takes time to practice and train your muscles to do the work they have to do," Glisson says. "We have to do the same thing with racial dialogue. When we first start it, we might offend somebody or get offended, but we can't leave the table. And so, in that way, I see a sign of maturity in these conversations in the South and even in some of these national conversations."


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Today is Valentine's Day! It's also the Black History Month and the day that HBO will premier the Loving Story, so I wanted to do something special for this day.
Inspired by two great posts from fellow blogueras, Latinaish and Unknown Mami, I decided to create a graphic for mixed families. Enjoy! :)


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Coordinating Items
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"Feeling Great!" Outfit for Dolls + Charm
Item# F0753
- A knit tank with a pretty scroll print
- Comfy exercise pants with an American Girl logo on the right leg
- A satin-elastic headband to keep her hair in place while she's on the go
- Two-tone sneakers with laces
- Includes a "Real" heart charm for the doll's charm-keeper necklace
was: $28
you save: $14
Sold Out
Please Note:
- No price adjustments on previous purchases, returns or exchanges, or orders in progress that have not yet shipped. We reserve the right to limit order and item quantities.
Unfortunately, the offer will not be extended if you are unable to order due to technical issues.
- Doll sold separately.
- Charm available only with outfit.
- Charm-keeper necklace sold separately with My American Girl doll.
Explore the world of My American Girl:
She's the doll you create—and bring to life online!
Care Instructions
Fabric care: Hand wash in cold water, line dry


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This is the only hand cream that works for my extremely dry skin. I pray they never discontinue it!!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No
I have repurchased this several times! I use it year-round, but especially during winter months when my skin is super dry. I work in a kitchen and my hands are always getting wet. The backs of my hands get dry, chapped, and very irritated during winter. This lotion heals and soothes everything. I buy the small purse-size bottle and apply it throughout the day. It has a nice, soft, moisturizer feel. It is not greasy or "slick" feeling at all, and it absorbs fairly quickly. Before bed, I slather on a generous amount. I always wake up with baby soft hands!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No
Lately as I'm getting older, I've been focusing on finding the very best hand cream and this is the closest I've got so far. My dermatologist has a bunch of samples as I leave the office - this was one of them. I've tried all kinds of lotions and I've decided, I don't care how they smell, I just want my hands to feel as soft and hydrated as possible. This was just under $5 at Walmart for a 2.7 oz size. Mine doesn't say "Plus" on it - it reads "Eucerin Intensive Repair Extra-Enriched Hand Creme". I also noticed a couple of the guys at the office have it on their desks - guys are so simple but they tend to find the right products. (I also use the Gillette Mach 3 razors BTW). I don't have super dry skin, but I think washing your hands a lot tends to dry them out. I'm also switching away from normal hand soaps and I'm only going to be purchasing soaps with lotion, aloe or some type of moisturizers in them. Soap in general is drying. With the latest research on anti-bacterial soaps being somewhat unhealthy, I'm completely steering clear of those. :)
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No
It is a good hand cream, however I am finding it quite pricey, just like other Eucerin products.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No
This is one of the best hand creams ever! I think everybody should get this, lol! Putting this hand cream on is like dipping your hands in a cool sea of moisture, it's that refreshing. Perfect relief for dryness. It also leaves a soft film on and doesn't dissipate into nothingness like so many other creams.
This little gem has been a steady in my bag and on my work desk for good reason- it just works, leaving my skin soft and moisturized. My only wishes are 1.) that we had the option of purchasing it in a larger container with a pump, and 2.) that Eucerin make more of these so that they aren't so hard to find. They sell out so quickly!
I tend to neglect my hands a lot and they end up looking old and dried out, and sometimes feel quite sore. This non-greasy cream transforms them overnight and restores a smooth and youthful appearance.
I've used & loved the Crabtree & Evelyn Gardener's Hand Therapy, but need to use it so often due to handwashing the price was becoming an issue. This Eucerin is a great, cheep, unscented non-greasy alternative. You can find it anywhere, just right size for purse. (I think new version I'm reviewing dropped the PLUS from labeling.)
This is magic in a tube! Way better than my previous HG hand cream, Norwegian formula. Two days of using this cream and my cracked cuticles showed obvious improvement, a benefit I didn't even expect to see from a hand cream. Dries fast enough for my impatience, but leaves an almost unnoticeable barrier(?) of sorts that you don't notice until you wash again. My hands never felt tight or dry, and I work in a lab wearing nitrile gloves and using harsh solvents daily. My hands see true abuse, but this product is unimposing and packs one hell of an effective punch. Why can't all my skincare products be this good?
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No
The bottle I have says Eucerin Intensive Repair Extra-Enriched Hand Creme but I think it is the same as this product, just the newer version? Whatever it is, it's awesome. I use it more on my cuticles than my nails. I always had HORRIBLE looking cuticles and nails. I've started giving myself weekly manicures at home and I use this on my cuticles and I swear, I could be one of those nail polish bloggers one day! My cuticles have never looked this good. HG!!
Also, CVS makes a knockoff of this and it's cheaper and just as good. WOOT!
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No


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quote:why don't you tell us what it's about jackass?
quote:You put your name and info and pick your college. You must use an official school email to sign up. Then it appears to be almost like a mix between twitter and Instagram but only of the people at your school.
quote:So my feed is just people at LSU
quote:frick YOU GUMBY
quote:You motherfricker.
quote:Trying to see if any of you ballers know what it's all about
quote:Its an app that costs money?


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WINDSOR-The #8 seeded Lake Region Rangers pulled off an upset that will not soon be forgotten, as they defeated #1 ranked Windsor 54-48. Next stop, Barre onThursday.
North Country freshman Callie Young won the Division I Skate Ski State Title in Craftsbury on Thursday.
JAYŌĆōThe North Country girls hockey team opened the 2015 postseason by hosting the Brattleboro Colonels at the Jay Peak Ice Haus on Wednesday night. Having not played a game in a week the girls were a little rusty in the opening period, but fro the final thirty minutes they picked up their tempo and came away with a 5-0 win to advance to the semifinals on Saturday night.
BARREŌĆōAfter trailing for the majority of the game, and looking like their season was going to come to an end, the Lake Region Lady Rangers reached deep within their souls, found that little something that makes top ranked teams special, and on the strength of Becky Doucet's lay-up with thirty seconds remaining, defeated the Lyndon Institute Vikings 45-43 to advance to Saturday afternoon's Division II girl's basketball championship game.


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Date: 1858
Description: Front cover of a guide book describing Bayfield and an account of a pleasure tour to Lake Superior. The title is surrounded by a decorative border with flo...
Date: 1871
Description: Asaph Whittlesey arrived in Ashland in 1854, one of the earliest of the settlers who hoped the area would grow and make their fortunes. He drew this map of...
Date: 1963 ca.
Description: Fishing net and boat dock on shoreline.
Date: 1930 ca.
Description: View from the dirt road of front of a one-story log building with a brick chimney. In the foreground are a chain link fence, gate, and shrubs. This buildin...
Date: date unknown
Description: Interior view of the Holy Family Church.
Date: 1932 ca.
Description: View of two wooden foot bridges in Memorial Park. In the background are the waters of Chequamegon Bay in Lake Superior. Picnic tables are among the trees....
Date: 1936 ca.
Description: Living room of a northern Wisconsin resort in southwestern Bayfield County, possibly Haagensen's Lodge on Middle Eau Claire Lake.
Date: 1931 ca.
Description: View across water of people standing on the shoreline and a dock. Two people are in a boat on the lake. Cooper Cottage is visible on land and another dock...
Description: Exterior view from street of Tom Rondeau's General grocery store.
Description: View of the E. Pike residence. The owner is thought to have been a relative of Robinson D. Pike (1838-1905), a lumber merchant and the founder of Bayfield...
Description: Photographic postcard of the rock formations on the shore of Stockton Island, one of the twenty-one islands comprising the Apostle Islands in Lake Superio...
Description: This map is a proposed plan for a town that was never built located in present day Bayfield county, showing street names and with numbered blocks and lots....
Date: 1938 ca.
Description: Cabins around Lyndale Bay of Upper Eau Claire Lake.
Date: 1880 ca.
Description: This copy of an 1834 map in the American Fur Company's papers held by the New-York Historical Society shows an outline of Chequamegon Bay and Madeline Isla...
Description: Exterior view of three men standing in front of a log cabin. A wagon sits nearby. A flag hangs off the porch, and oars are stored on the exterior cabin wal...
Date: 1906
Description: Lumber crew posed in front of a building at Ole Emerson's lumber camp.
Date: 1935 ca.
Description: Three boys stand together in Deep Lake with four boats pulled up on shore behind them. On shore three women sit on a bench outside the Red Arrow Resort.
Description: View from water of the dock and steep shoreline at Log Cabin Lodge on Lake Millicent. There are people and boats both on shore and on the dock.
Date: 1978-03-18
Description: In his shoe repair shop, a shoe repairman sews the edge of a man's shoe, with the tools of his trade surrounding him.
Description: Postcard of the Sentinel Rock geological formation on the southern point of Devil's Island, part of the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior.
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How much would a dormer cost if you needed to add it to an existing house? I am looking at this more from a visual aspect than from a practical or functional point of view.
It would probably cost more than I want to pay just to have this feature added to my house. I doubt that it would really increase the value of the house either, but it would be something I would enjoy looking at.


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11 results for "san antonio brennan"
Q&A: Texas DE signee Derick Roberson
Max OlsonDerick Roberson arrived on Texas' campus this month with every intention of becoming a difference-maker for the Longhorns in 2014. The 2014 ESPN 300 defensive end from San Antonio Brennan was the Longhorns' top-rated signee and committed on the spot ...
Blog | June 13, 2014 -
Video results for "san antonio brennan"
Derick Roberson
April 11, 2013
UA jersey tour: Derick Roberson
Gerry HamiltonESPN 300 defensive end Derick Roberson (San Antonio/Brennan High) was presented his honorary game jersey during the American Family Insurance Selection Tour for the 2014 Under Armour All-America High School Football Game on Sept. 19. The event was pa...
Blog | September 25, 2013 -
Father of UT pledge on strength of commit
William WilkersonTexas commitment Derick Roberson (San Antonio/Brennan), an ESPN 300 defensive end, has a way of keeping Longhorns fans on their toes. Roberson is pretty reserved when it comes to talking to the media, and even Texas' coaches at times, according to...
Blog | July 01, 2013 -
Colorado lands all-state Texas LB
Damon SaylesLinebacker Grant Watanabe (San Antonio/Brennan) is one of those players a defensive coach enjoys. After a junior season with 167 tackles, Watanabe made it quite clear that he can be a tackling machine for an FBS program. Wednesday evening, Watanabe c...
Blog | May 29, 2013 -
Q&A: Texas DE commit Derick Roberson
Max OlsonAfter missing the first three games of his junior season because of a suspension, Texas defensive end commit Derick Roberson (San Antonio/Brennan) is starting to shake off the rust. Roberson, whose suspension was because of an undisclosed violatio...
Blog | October 12, 2012 -
2014 DE Derick Roberson commits to Texas
William WilkersonThe Longhorns took a step toward replacing the potential loss of both starting defensive ends in 2012 with the commitment of 2014 edge rusher Derick Roberson (San Antonio/Brennan). Roberson wasted little time accepting the offer when it came Thu...
Blog | August 02, 2012 -
Video: Tony Brown UA ceremony
ESPN.comFive-star defensive back Tony Brown receives his Under Armour All-America Game jersey at a special ceremony at Brennan (San Antonio, Texas). Brown will play Jan. 2 in the Under Armour All-America Game in St. Petersburg, Fla....
Blog | September 20, 2013 -
Stat check: Longhorns 2014 commitments
William WilkersonHere is a look at how each one of Texas' 2014 commitments faired this week: • ESPN 300 defensive end Derick Roberson (San Antonio, Texas/Brennan), the No. 8 DE in the country, helped Brennan shut out San Antonio Holmes 52-0 on Friday. ...
Blog | September 02, 2013 -
2-star PG Azzinaro commits to Bucknell
Bucknell landed a verbal pledge from point guard John Azzinaro (San Antonio, Texas/Brennan H.S.) earlier this week, a source has confirmed to ESPN.com. The 5-foot-10 Azzinaro was garnering interest from Oregon State and Rice. He played with The Ma...
Blog | August 01, 2012 -
Norm Chow adds another
Tight end Ethan Watanabe (San Antonio, Texas/William J. Brennan) has verbally committed to Hawaii and head coach Norm Chow, the Hawaii News Now reports. Watanabe, who is currently on Hawaii's campus on an official visit, also had an offer from Uta...
Blog | January 21, 2012


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A powerful, blazingly honest, inspiring memoir: the story of a 1,100 mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe--and built her back up again.
Meets the fourth Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at Angel's Island Coffee. For more information please contact Julia Hendon at 256-881-0257 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
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RUNNERS HIGHBest Movie - Milan Intl FICTS Sports FestivalOutstanding Documentary - India Sports Movie FestivalWhen teenagers from one of the nation's toughest neighborhood in Oakland, Calif. sign up to train for a marathon, they begin the journey of a lifetime. Runners High is an intimate character driven documentary of struggle, courage, and hope. During a season filled with conflict and possibility, four of these teen bare their dreams, joys, tears and fears. As several stumble under pressure in emotionally charged moments, others realize the journey begins with the power and commitment to accept responsibility for their own futures. This film shows that no matter what happens next, one season of training to run 26.2 miles can change your life forever. Production Studio - Jacob Productions$ 19.95
STORM OVER EVERESTAs darkness fell on May 10, 1996, a fast-moving storm of unimaginable ferocity trapped three climbing teams high on the slopes of Mount Everest. The exhausted climbers were soon lost far from the safety of High Camp at 26,000 feet. World-renowned climber and filmmaker David Breashears, who aided the rescue efforts back in 1996, now returns to Everest to shed new light on the worst climbing tragedy in Everest's history. Featuring interviews with climbers and Sherpas about the events and the mountain.The DVD also contains a slide show that takes you behind the scenes with the filming and climbing teams.Production Studio - Working Title for Frontline$ 22.95
TOUCHING THE VOIDFrom Oscar winning director Kevin Macdonald comes a riveting true story of survival. After scaling the never before conquered 21,000 foot summit of Siula Grande in South America, mountain climbers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, face their greatest challenge yet: getting back down. After Simpson shatters his leg in an awful fall, and the friends are separated by a series of devastating mishaps, their individual journeys have to be seen to be believed. This is truly an astonishing look at the strength of the human will, and the obstacles we can overcome. The movie is narrated by Simpson and Yates, and uses actors to recreate the circumstances, so it plays as both a documentary and an action film. The DVD also contains ? " Making of Touching the Void " Featurette ? " Return to Siula Grande " Featurette ? " What Happened Next " Interview with Joe Simpson & Simon YatesProduction Studio - FilmFour$ 14.95
MIRACLE This is the inspiring story behind one of the greatest moments in sports history - the 1980 United States ice hockey team's triumphant Olympic victory against the Soviet Union. Filled with great hockey action and heart racing suspense, see how the dynamic and determined coach Herb Brooks turned twenty young men into a team that achieved something no one believed was possible.Production Studio - Walt Disney Pictures$ 9.25
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Page Not Found--veinglory
Thursday, September 04, 2008
A few of my favorite blogger-hosted posts are suddenly turning up 'Page not Found'. Like this one that was entitled 'NCP Authors and Artists'.
Excerpts from Madris De Pasture's yahoogroup rants can still be found on other blogs, but how long this is the case might depends on how craven other blog-hosts prove to be.
Edited to Add: For more information see: Told to Delete.
Blogger's position is "If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits...". Meaning "if you threaten us we will fold."


text: Add a trendy appearance to your home or office with furnishings from the Net Series collection by OFM. Featuring an ultra modern design and sleek structure, the collection is ideal for spaces of all sizes. Collection pieces are available in vibrant colors that complement many types of décor and the waterproof mesh and rust proof steel construction offers durability. .


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That's how Tom Dougherty sees it on Election Day Eve Day. He writes:
I predict the popular vote will be +4.3% and the Electoral College will be 285 to 253 based on a final voter affiliation spread of +1.9% favoring the Democrats.
D+1.9 is right in line with Rasmussen's D+2.0, and Rasmussen nailed it in 2008.
Tom's map looks like so.
I've seen this outcome so often, I've started calling it "The Smart Republican Money™." And I say that without sarcasm or irony or any of that. People who are better with numbers than I am, tend to gravitate towards this, exactly. Me, I'm still working with one or three wildcards, and will have final results for you early tomorrow AM.
15 Comments, 8 Threads
1. Neil
Isn't Rasmussen now showing R+6 for party ID? Or did I misunderstand that number? Not that I'm quite ready to believe that–it would require Democrats to stay home in droves.
Although I will say that last week in Oregon I saw fewer Obama signs and bumper stickers than I saw in previous months–which I'm also not sure I can really believe.
November 5, 2012 - 1:34 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Ras shows Rs up six in self-ID since 2008, the GOP's nadir. But he predicts an election day turnout of D+2.
November 5, 2012 - 1:36 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
Mr. Green,
Does this mean it was probably a bad idea to bet my house on the election?
Alias93November 5, 2012 - 1:48 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
Rasmussen party affiliation numbers:
October 2012, R=39.1%, D=33.3%, Other=27.5%, R-D = 5.8%
I'm not saying I understand it, but a nearly R+6% party affiliation is more like a 14% shift in ID from 2008. Which is awfully close to that 13% defection number that keeps popping up.
November 5, 2012 - 4:23 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
2. DavidC
Just for laughs, why does the Daily Beast see it so differently? http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/03/mitt-romney-s-delusions-of-victory.html
somebody is operating in an alternate universe, and I'm having trouble figuring out who.
November 5, 2012 - 2:00 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
I'm pretty sure that piece will earn Matt Lattimer the coveted Concern Troll of the Year trophy.
November 5, 2012 - 2:01 pm Link to this Comment | Reply-
I doubt it will take the award, afterall legions of concern trolls and returning prodigal son conservative pundits will have almost two months to write that winning entry. Of course the articles from the left on how Romney's landslide is really a longterm victory for the progressive movement will be even funnier.
November 5, 2012 - 2:41 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
I spent some time reading the message board for Obama contracts on Intrade. The consensus over there is that polls are polls–the top-line number is the correct number, and there's no reason not to trust the polls in Ohio and Pennsylvania that show turnout at D+11.
If Ohio goes for Romney, there's going to be some truly shocked people over there.
One astute commenter caught my attention, though: "I've never seen an election in which both sides were sure they were winning. No matter who wins, somebody's going to be awfully mad on Wednesday."
November 5, 2012 - 2:54 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
3. Timmaguire
I realize this is just cake icing, but I'd really like to see one of the states across the top go red. The left desperately needs some soul searching and reform (a liberal Tea Party) and while i think that's a longshot under any circumstances, it's impossible unless they lose one of what they think of as theirs.
November 5, 2012 - 2:24 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
4. Adobe_Walls
There's going to be stiff competion for dumbass in numerous catagorys after this election.
November 5, 2012 - 2:24 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
5. Marc Malone
This is a crazy map. WI is not tossup? PA isn't either? So, why, then, is the Obama campaign going to PA tomorrow? And MN is not light Blue?
Saw an interesting article a bit ago, but now I cannot find it again. It broke down IL, and It seems like Obama could actually lose IL, based on the view from the ground, and based on the declining percentage of the IL's from Cook Cty.
All these polls seem to be even more heavily weighted towards the Dems than before, just so they can make it seem like a horse race, rather than a blowout. All these Lucy's are gonna have some 'splainin' to do.
November 5, 2012 - 2:49 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
6. Jason B
Rassmussen is doing it's best to temper a Romney landslide, but with the internals of 15%+ independents breaking for Romney and no appreciable gender gap (between the candidates), it's hard not to see one. Also, Rassmussen is basically weighting the sample to *add* Democrats to the samples, because we don't have a good idea of just how much (or little) Obama's overall support has dwindled since 2008.
Currently Rassmussen is waffling between a D+3 and D+6 model (and still has Romney ahead). If Obama is losing 13% to his total top-line voter support from the last election, and the GOP is much more enthusiastic than they were in 2008, there's no way that the D+3 or D+6 holds up.
Bottom line? The election will fall between Gallup and Rassmussen's outlay. Romney should win, barring dirty tricks and late-breaking support for Obama that no one's tracked.
November 5, 2012 - 3:00 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
7. McGehee
On the one hand, I think that "smart Republican money" map is too timid.
On the other hand, any electoral vote over 270 is gravy.
On the gripping hand, I like gravy, and I hope to get lots of it.
November 5, 2012 - 3:36 pm Link to this Comment | Reply -
Again, if Pa goes Romney, the gig is up. Anecdotal evidence in my corner of Allegheny county bordering Westmoreland county is strong Romney support with little visible support for Obama. The collar counties around Philly still hold the key however. Was encouraged by the 20,000 plus rally in Berks county. Will be hunkering down with Irish whiskey tomorrow night.
November 5, 2012 - 3:55 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
Comments are closed.


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Selected for Publication!
Drawing Down the Moon has been selected for publication by the Kindle Scout team. It will appear sometime in 2015, hopefully sooner than later.
I want to give my most heartfelt thanks to everyone who clicked through to the Drawing Down the Moon page, nominated the book, twisted friends' arms to do the same, and used precious electrons and your more precious time to share my incessant posts about this. Your enthusiasm, along with God's grace, has launched this project and you'll soon get to see the fruits of your labors. And then it will be time to bug you for reviews!
It really is the last minute…
…to vote/recommend Drawing Down the Moon. Stragglers welcome.
Final Days for DDtM
We're down to the last two days of nominating Drawing Down the Moon through the Kindle Scout program. If you're the kind of person who likes to do things at the last minute… the last minute is here!
A Reading from Drawing Down the Moon
If you're sitting on the fence about nominating Drawing Down the Moon for the Kindle Scout program, here's a video of yours truly reading an excerpt from Chapter 6 – a bit I call the Doughnut Shop Scene. You can also read the first 5,000 words of the novel at the link above.
Enjoy! And don't forget, there are just a few more days remaining to recommend Drawing Down the Moon. So Click, Vote, and Share!
Hot and Trending
After just 12 hours, Drawing Down the Moon is now on Kindle Scout's Hot and Trending list. Let's keep the momentum going!
Where to vote (with a link that actually works this time): Drawing Down the Moon on Kindle Scout.
And here's a promotional video that explains a lot.
Real or Fake?
So I'm reading a Kindle sample of a novel and in the beginning pages a character is listening to a song on the radio. The singer's name is made up, the popular song being sung is made up, as are the equally unimpressive lyrics1. Then I find out that the singer got famous when she was on a TV program called Popstar! and, well, that along with some of the other problems I felt the book had, it kind of did me in for wanting to read the rest. I mean, why not just say American Idol?2
Why not indeed? I mean, doesn't Stephen King, who some people praise for his immersive style of writing, sometimes drown you in brand names – Louie sat in his La-Z-Boy recliner with a Budweiser and a bag of Doritos, and turned his Sony flatscreen on to ESPN, waiting to see the start of the Boston Red Sox game… I think King's point is to have people believe his creepy stuff could happen in the real world, so he throws in real world stuff in the name of verisimilitude. And it works for a lot of readers.3
On the other hand, you have writers who throw in fakes, and, well, I can't really explain why. Years ago I was really excited to start reading James A. Michener's Space, his novel about the U.S. space program. But early on it described a character going outside to look at the night sky "in the state of Fremont" – and my suspension of disbelief came crashing down like a house of cards. I mean, yeah, it's a novel, but it's a novel about NASA, it takes place in the United States and some of the other characters are real people, like Werhner Von Braun and Lyndon Johnson… then why make up a state fercryinoutloud? Why not just say Kansas or Nebraska or Iowa?
Now there are times when you definitely want to fake it. If you're an insider to history or popular culture and you want to vent your spleen on the subject from an insider's point of view, the roman a clef is the way to do it. Just change the names and everything is good to go. And if you want to keep your job, better fake your name, too – Anonymous is very popular among this set, and you can join novels like Primary Colors and Elimination Night4, along with all the attendant "who wrote it?" publicity.
Unfortunately, to me novels like that become a jokey guessing game with no real point. Everyone knows which Presidential candidate is really Bill Clinton, which recently rehabbed rock star grasping for relevance is really Stephen Tyler. if you're going to this, I have two pieces of advice: first, make sure you have a really good lawyer. Second, if you're going to fake the names, go all the way. Don't play the assonance game and make William Clinton into Wilson Fenton (Primary Colors makes him Jack Stanton). Doing that strikes me as being too cutesy and cloying. Make him Frank Stevens instead. And if you're going to have a cameo by an iconic figure, you have to be consistent and play it out 'till the end, changing his/er name, too. Just don't call him Rob Snopes.
In Science Fiction it's easier to get away with fakery. It doesn't matter if you're writing about things that sound different in the future because, well, things will sound different in the future. Except when they stay pretty much the same, as evidenced by the brand names that pop up in films like 2001 and Blade Runner.
Still, when you're in the future you need to play nice. While working on the Pembroke Hall novels, my editor asked me to change the way that I talked about Timex in the book. They were afraid the watchmakers would be offended by things and the lawyers would come out. I made the alteration because she had a point, it was an easy fix, and I didn't really have anything against the company or their products.
If you're writing Historical Fiction, then it's probably best not to fake it at all. Readers of Caleb Carr's The Alienist partly did so to watch how the characters interacted with a future President who at the time of the novel was Police Commissioner of New York City. They didn't want to guess which leader Theophilus Rosenfeld turned out to be. The trick to not faking it here is use the real person's character to enhance the goings-on – a recent episode of Downtown Abbey centered around a meeting with playboy Prince Edward, whose womanizing ways contributed to the plot in an ironic way.
So if you're going to be real, play nice and be consistent. And if you're going to fake it, well, go in all the way and don't be ridiculous about it.
That concludes my thoughts. This is Joe Clifford Faust, signing off from the state of Midlandia.
- But then, I'm at the age where most of the lyrics I hear on the radio are unimpressive.
- And I have problems with ALL these shows that grind out cookie cutter singers, but I'm not going there today.
- See, I can write about King and not say anything nasty!
- Which I always thought was a really lame fake name for American Idol. Popstar! is much better.
The Inside Thing
The human subconscious is an amazing thing. It can work on things for you while you're sleeping or watching Gilligan's Island1, it can plot solutions for you… studies have even shown that thinking about a physical activity has the same effect as actually practicing whatever it is you're working on, physical conditioning notwithstanding.
For a writer, this can reap amazing benefits. As you're working on a project, your subconscious can be thinking ahead for you. While you're busy with that spicy love scene in chapter 13, it's way ahead of you, making a list of bullet points for the shocking revelation in chapter 19. You may have even heard writers talk about this. When they do, they say things like, "It was so amazing! This character just sprang to life as if he had a life of his own! It was like I wasn't controlling him at all!"
Well , of course they were. It was just a different part of the brain doing the heavy lifting at that particular moment. Or, more to the point, another part of the brain had already done the heavy lifting, and by the time the conscious part of you that controls your fingers on the keyboard caught up with it, it already knew what to do.
[spoilers: A Death of Honor]
Seriously. The first time it happened to me, I was flabbergasted. I was deep into writing A Death of Honor. It was a scene where Payne confronts the man who is running the drug racket in the night club that is the focal point of his investigation. Payne explains in no uncertain terms just what the man's activities have loosed on the world, and he walks out of the room, leaving the man to stew in his own juices. I wrote his exit and my fingers paused above the keys of my Smith Corona2.
Then it happened. A little voice in the back of my head said, and then Payne hears a gunshot and he runs back into the room and this guy has put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
I said aloud, "No," because according to the outline on my desk, this character was supposed to live for another 200 pages, tying up some very loose threads as he did.
But the story will be so much better if you do it this way, the voice said. You're supposed to make it tough on your protagonist, and this will certainly do it. Don't worry about your outline. Just pull the trigger. You can fix things later.
I thought about what the voice was saying, and by golly, it was right. So I pulled the metaphorical trigger, and the rest was history. I finished the scene, and the next day's writing session was spent reworking the outline to plug the holes that the character's death left. I had to kill off a character who was supposed to be alive at the book's end on order to do it, but yeah, the book was certainly better for it. All because my subconscious blazed the trail for me.
Having worked with such an interesting creative partner for many more years, I have come to the conclusion that the subconscious operates not just on a plotting level, but on one that can effect the mechanics of the book itself.
I remember writing A Death of Honor and looking at the manuscript pages thinking, Hmmm, is it my imagination, or is this moving slowly? I thought about it a bit more and decided yes, the plot was where it needed to be. I began to picture the plot of Honor as a long tail in reverse, where the action was slow to build, and then suddenly reaches an exponential rate until things were happening so fast the reader wouldn't have the time to catch breath until it was over. That was pretty much the way the book turned out, and it's why I don't get upset if that book gets a review saying that the book starts off slow and plodding. It's supposed to be that way.
What is interesting is that I've realized this whole act of conceptualizing the structural parts of the book can be internalized, a kind of set-it-and-forget-it thing. After I had the chat with myself about the plot progression, I didn't worry about it, and the book turned out just the way I wanted in that respect.
I also did this with the Pembroke Hall novels. I originally saw (and who am I kidding, I still do) the project as one long novel that would be a rise and fall story, and that it would take a dark turn at the halfway point of the plot. This is just how the book turned out, and it's why I was hesitant when Bantam requested that it be split into two books. It meant one would be funny and satirical, and the other would be funny, satirical and unremittingly dark. A lot of the reviews of the second book, by readers of the first, bore this out, commenting on the shift in tone between the two. But hey, at the time I needed money more than I needed artistic integrity.
Currently, I have done set-and-forget on my latest project, the UFO Novel. As I was putting together the plot elements, I saw it playing out in four acts, and I knew it would take a lot of time to get the pieces in order. After much thought, I visualized the book as coming in between 250 – 300,000 words. The first part, which opens with a mysterious event and proceeds to introduce all of the main players, plays out over 45,000 words – the length of a novel3. The next two parts will be novels in themselves, 100k each, with the last act coming in at 10,000 or less. Yup, the book seems to be right on track. Nope, I'm not splitting it into two. Or three. (Self-publishing can give you the luxury of artistic integrity).
These are the kind of things that gave rise to tales of Muses in the days before reason, and it's fascinating to me that so much of the process can be analyzed and then internalized, turned over to another part of the brain that is operating in silent mode until it's time for it to pop up and take control of the fingers.
The big mystery is that I don't know how I cultivated any of this, so I can't tell you how to do it for yourself. But I know other writers do it, because I've heard them talk about the process. It's just another reason why aspiring writers need to apply posteriors to chairs and commence with the writing. And continue writing. And writing and writing and writing…
Because if you start building, it will surely come.
And when it does, it will bring amazing surprises with it.
1 Not much difference there.
2 The brand name of an archaic device once used for speedily putting text down on paper.
3 For perspective, NaNoWriMo asks that your finished product be 50,000 words.
Okay, that might be off-putting. Perhaps a better title would be recycling. Repurposing. Reusing. Renewing. Resuscitating.
But I like the word cannibalism because it brings to mind a survivalist mindset – They cannibalized the wrecked vehicles for parts and were able to get one working. Kind of that whole Flight of the Phoenix sort of thing.
I'm talking here of course about literary cannibalism. Not the kind where you ingest, say, something by Stephen King, and the parts that don't stay down are used for something of your own creation. No, I'm talking about where you take parts out of something you've already created and recycle, repurpose, resuscitate it for use in a new project. Yeah, self-cannibalism. Ewww.1
Part of this comes from the admonishment for writers that I make from time to time, namely never throw anything you write away. True, that novel you started and got 140 pages on before you realized it was, alas, misbegotten2 may never get finished and see the light of day, but there may be something in it – a character, a scene, technology, some bit of great writing – that would have a great life in a future project. You just never know what it might be until you get there.
For example, when I was writing The Company Man, I came to a scene where Andy Birch walked into a greasy spoon and started to chat up the waitress there. I stopped with my fingers on the keys, staring at the screen, and had an epiphany: I've already written this scene. And with that I dug out an old, dead pre-Desperate Measures3 unfinished manuscript provisionally titled Book of Dreams and there, 25 manuscript pages in, was the scene I needed. So I put the pages next to my computer and typed them in (the manuscript being from my typewriter days), changing the names on the fly, and there it was.
There are riskier forms of cannibalism. I once came to a point when writing the Pembroke Hall novels where I started to strip The Mushroom Shift for parts. It was an easy decision to make – at that point in the mid-1990s, Mushroom had exhausted the possibilities of where it could go. Editors were shaking their heads over what they could do with it, and my then-agent wasn't as enamored of the book as I was. It looked at the time like it was one of those novels that would forever remain in the closet under the bowling shoes, so I put it up on blocks and started taking out parts.
Fortunately, I didn't strip it completely. One of the conceits in Mushroom was two characters with the first name of Steve, both on the same shift. In the we-band-of-brothers mentality of law enforcement, they became one unit, the Steve Brothers. I pulled this out and translated it into Pembroke Hall-ese to show something similar – not the bonds of camaraderie, but how a bunch of creatives treat their own when left to their own devices. In a company where everyone is known only by their last name (and, occasionally, the department in which they work), two employees, Upchurch and Churchill, get branded as… ah, but you're already of me. This didn't cause a problem because nobody had read Mushroom, and at the time I thought nobody would. But now I've published it myself and run the risk. It's okay, though, because I'm confessing now… and because not that many people read the Pembroke Hall books.4 And speaking of that…
There is such a thing as cannibalizing yourself a bit too much. I'm thinking of John Irving, whom I discovered as a college student via that made-for-college-student novel, The World According to Garp. I loved the book at the time, and sought to familiarize myself with Irving's earlier work. I was disappointed to find that each one was the same combination of writers, wrestling, bears, unicycles, and motorcycles, all pillaged from Irving's personal life5, all of which made Garp so much fun, all of which now seemed so… derivative. It was like this for novel after novel, even into his first post-Garp book, The Hotel New Hampshire, and it felt to me like Irving had just recycled the same elements over and over and over until he hit the lottery.
Now I have to come clean and admit that I have done this myself. And I actually got caught at it. See, the Pembroke Hall novels rolled over and played dead on their release, so badly so that Ferman's Devils was taken out of print the same month that Boddekker's Demons was released. In the ensuing years when I was working on Drawing Down the Moon, it occurred to me that I needed to throw readers a curve about a character's sexual orientation. I knew I had done the same exact thing in the PH books, but I figured – hey, nobody has read them… I can get away with it.
Except I didn't. See, one of my first readers of Moon had gotten her hands on the PH novels and read them, and so it wasn't long before I got an email back from her on the former saying, "Do you have a 'thing' for lesbians? Just asking since one has featured in both novels (wink, wink)"6
Mousetrap, meet fingers.
All said, there's a fine line to tread when pillaging your literary past for parts. If you use them enough times they can become a trope, and then a cliche within your writing, like Irving's writer wrestler bears (although I think he has since left these behind), Dean Koontz's noble dogs, and Janet Evanovich's wrecked cars. And while some people might find these recurrences comforting signposts, I personally think it's lazy writing. But then, I'm not a bestselling writer. Take from that what you will.
Meantime, no more similarly named co-workers or surprise lesbians from me. At least, not until I hit the charts.
1 Now you know why I chose Stephen King as an example.
2 In my case, a little thing called Bellvue Seven, which withered and died between A Death of Honor and The Company Man.
3 Desperate Measures being the novel I wrote before A Death of Honor. The order of publication was, of course, different.
4 Outside of Russia, that is.
5 But we all do that, which is fodder for another essay.
6 Paraphrased to make more funny.
R.I.P. Tom Clancy
What to say about the passing of Tom Clancy?
Well, first, he was no Elmore Leonard, whose passing a few weeks ago was a huge loss. Leonard was a great stylist, a keen observer, and a master plotter. His stories were lean and mean until the end, and he had a knack for throwing unexpected events into his novels that you never saw coming, but made perfect sense when you looked at it in context of the story.
(I'm saying this now because I was in the throes of blogging apathy when Leonard died, and never gave him a proper sendoff in this forum.)
Clancy's work probably outsold Leonard's, but then he practically invented the genre of the technothriller. And if he didn't, one of my Facebook friends commented earlier, then he certainly made it a popular genre and refined it to the n-th degree.Unlike Leonard, Clancy got a little lazy in his later years. His success enabled him to purchase part ownership of the Baltimore Orioles, and I'm sure that took up much of his time. At one point he went seven years between releasing a novel, and when he did, astute readers noticed that it had been written as a collaboration with another author. All of the novels he has released since then have been in collaboration with one of three other writers. One of those, a title called Search and Destroy, was cancelled by Clancy's publisher prior to release. I always meant to put on what's left of my Journalist's Hat and try to find out why, but never did.
(I picked up on this before the book's release, and my original post about it, along with the ensuing series on Ghostwriting it inspired, has proven to be one of the top draws to this site.)
Chock the ghostwriters up to "old author's syndrome", wherein an aging author reaches the point that ideas are more plentiful than the time to write them, and so they get farmed out to a competent lesser-known writer who can match the spirit and style. This isn't a new thing – Arthur C. Clarke, Anne McCafferey, and Clive Cussler count among those who have done this, and if you look carefully at the new releases, you'll see others – even younger successful authors – doing this now.
Like all popular authors, Clancy also succumbed to King's Bloat – a publisher-inflicted disorder in which editors are too busy and/or scared to edit the work of an author who has become an 800 pound gorilla, and subsequent manuscripts suffer in quality as a result. I loved Executive Orders, but it could have lost some wordage and been even better. The last Clancy novel I tried to read was The Bear and the Dragon, and I felt it was such a mess that I never finished reading it (I can't say if Clancy's three ghostwriting collaborators put him into a Word Watchers program to take off some of that weight – I might have to pick up one of the newer ones to see). For me, the best of the pre-bloat Clancy came in The Cardinal of the Kremlin, in which Clancy proved that he could shuck aside a lot of the tech stuff and write what was basically a darn good spy novel.
So the industry that was Tom Clancy has left us, and there's nobody that I can see on the horizon that could take his place. Perhaps that's a good thing. And no, I'm not even going to try. I'm still struggling to become the first Joe Clifford Faust.
Construction Notice, and a Warning
Wow, it's been ten months since I did something other than post a book review on these virtual pages.
I know this because I've been going through deleting them.
See, I've been thinking about firing up the blogging muscles again, just because they've been neglected. And in looking the old place over, I saw that it needed a coat of paint and some spackling over the holes in the drywall. And there are boxes of stuff that haven't been touched in ages that need taken out to the trash.
The book reviews are one of those things, little things that were threatening to take over. Now if you were a fan of those, don't worry. There's now a link in the right column showing the last few books I've read, and there's also a link to my Goodreads author page on the list o' self-aggrandizing links. So they haven't been eliminated, just relocated… although for a long time the appearance of the reviews here has been a duplication of what I'd put first into Goodreads.
So yes, I'm cleaning up a bit and that will include catching you up on what I've been up to (for example, I'm 11 chapters into a new novel that hasn't even been mentioned here; all my SF novels are now available for listening on Audible.com, which I never mentioned after the fact; and shame on me for not doing a long obituary post for Elmore Leonard, a great writer and American treasure who passed away not too long ago… and I have had some interesting changes to my personal life, but meh…).
So now the warning part: As I was tracking down and zapping the book reviews here, I stumbled on something perfectly annoying – I had somehow missed tagging and categorizing 145 of these posts when I converted the site from Blogger to WordPress. So I need to go though and do that, preferably soon. The bad news is that if you have subscribed to this site through e-mail or RSS, this means that the system, which is inherently stupid, will notify you every time I hit the Update button. So once you start getting notices that make it look like I've suddenly become prolific, that's not the case. Unless someone at WP had improved the notification algorithm. I'm letting you know now because I don't want to be a pain, but this updating is something I really need to do. You have been warned.
So, that's it for now. More fun and frolic to follow, I think.


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Prayer Circles
Read Prayers. |
Yundah 7/30/2008 20:35 |
I think of you all and try to send you as much positive energy and love as I can. Blessed be and may the heavens keep you safe and help you heal. |
Merlock 7/30/2008 21:30 |
May God bless Joe and his family and work all for the best for them. Amen. |
Isa.26:3 7/30/2008 22:51 |
Lord Jesus I pray for Joe to be healed and made whole in Jesus Name. I pray for his family to be strenghten with your love to help them. In Jesus Name. Amen |
smitty57 7/30/2008 23:47 |
I pray this hour for Joe to our father God. I pray that God's love, compassion, mercy, grace and most of all healing hand come swiftly upon Joe. May he be healed with God guiding the hands of the doctors and nurses that care for him as the healing takes place. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen and Amen. |
Has problems James J 02/12/2008
My Uncle Dennis Worthington 02/12/2008
My marriage Kat Mounce 02/12/2008
A good friends mother, who has cancer everyone who needs prayer universal 02/12/2008
Pray for Michelle and Carlos N. 07/08/2008
"This prayer is to help us sell our home."
Pray for Donald H. 07/07/2008
"The love of my life has cancer."
Pray for Amanda B. 07/06/2008
"Please pray for my daughter and her unborn child."
Pray for Janice A. 07/05/2008
"One of my most favorite people in the whole world needs your prayers today. Please spread this and include Janice in your daily prayer."
Sign up to receive a daily feed of the prayer circles that need your prayers the most, delivered directly to your Beliefnet community profile. Sign up now! Not a member yet? Register here.


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Article brought to you by: Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)Jury reports it is hung on two counts in horrifying Gosnell trial
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
May 13th, 2013 Catholic Online (www.catholic.org) A judge has ordered a jury back into deliberations after they announced they were hung on two counts against Philadelphia abortionist, Kermit Gosnell. PHILADELPHIA, PA (Catholic Online) - The jury in the murder trial of Kermit Gosnell must return to deliberations and try harder to reach a verdict on two counts in the Gosnell trial. Gosnell is accused of murdering babies following their live birth in a house of horrors abortion clinic.Gosnell is also accused of third degree murder in the death of Karnamaya Mongar, 41, who died after being over -medicated during a second trimester abortion. Gosnell also faces an assortment of additional sundry charges related to other illegal practices within his clinic. Although the jury is hung on two counts, the situation suggests they have reached a verdict on the other counts. It is likely that if convicted, Gosnell, who is 72, will spend the rest of his life in prison. Although he is eligible for the death penalty, any such sentence would be largely symbolic given the slow pace in which executions are carried out in Pennsylvania. For his part, Gosnell has maintained his innocence, saying the babies he murdered were merely demonstrating reflexive actions. How this can be is difficult to fathom. At least one baby was described as trying to swim in a toilet. And if the children were born dead, when why the need to snip their spinal cords after birth? These questions likely lingered and Gosnell refused to answer them by refusing to take the stand in his defense. The defense, in fact, called no witnesses. A verdict in the trial could be announced at any time. Article brought to you by: Catholic Online (www.catholic.org) |


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InStyle Magazine Covers: 1996
January, Jennifer Aniston
We kicked off 1996 with the beautiful Jennifer Aniston on our January cover. The Friends megastar was hitting the big screen in She's the One. Off-screen, she was ready for a makeover. "Yeah, I know, everyone loves it," Aniston sighed, running a hand through her locks. "But I'm sick of (the coveted Rachel shag) and I don't know what do, chop it off or grow it long."
Read MoreLess


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Do you find there is a mental portion to running? For example, when I have a 25 km run planned I pump myself up for a few days before hand telling myself I can do it. Even if it's a 14 km run like today I still have myself pumped up for it as a 14 km run and that's that. Since I had planned to do a 14 km this morning I was sticking to it, because I wasn't pumping myself up for a 25+ km run. You do this too, right?! Just say yes;)
I was excited to go for this run because it's in the downtown and there is a great park at the end of the city that's quite popular with runners and dogs. You wouldn't believe all the adorable dogs I saw. You probably know I love seeing dogs out for walks because they always seem so happy and content. I saw one dog with about five sticks in his mouth, so cute.
Derp. Good thing for so many dogs because I just saw this on the park's website-
This was great training for me because the half marathon next month goes through this park. It had a hill called Tower Kill Hill Road and it's a very steep incline (as far as running goes) and I did it four different times to get some hill training in. I was kind of proud because I didn't see another runner on it, only happy dogs and me;) I incorporated steps into my run as well at the end of my run just because they were there.
Tower Hill Rd., about half way down. Darn it, it doesn't look evil in this picture. source |
I ended up doing the 14 km. It was certainly a quick run by any means, but I think the hill really slowed me down. I think hill training is important and it's bound to slow you down a bit.
I came back home and made the most delicious (Kenny approved!) protein pancakes. I'll share the recipe with you soon!
Do you find hills difficult during training?
Do you run with a dog? What kind?


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Frozen Perl 2009 is in charmingly frigid Minneapolis, MN on February 7th. The schedule has some goodies on it of interest, like Steven Lembark talking about dealing with large datasets, and JT Smith talking about distributing a stack to avoid dependency hell.
One thing I like about about YAPCs & workshops is that the talks are usually about pet projects. They tend to be less about big overarching ideas, and more about "Here's why my little baby of a package is great."
Also I'll be giving the keynote address, and if you know what I'm going to be talking about in it, please do let me know.
I'd also like to mention how much I love that on the Frozen Perl site (and all the other mongeurs.net sites) I can mark sessions that I'd like to attend in the schedule, and make my own little schedule, and then see what other people are going to be seeing as while. Very nicely done.


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Mineral Wells Area Chamber of Commerce
Mineral Wells is located in Palo Pinto and Parker counties just 45 miles west of Fort Worth, Texas. The area boasts excellent employment and business opportunities, and our stunning landscapes turn tourists into residents! The Mineral Wells Area Chamber of Commerce is comprised of over 400 members who work together to achieve business and community success. The Chamber also serves as a Convention and Visitors Bureau for Mineral Wells and Palo Pinto County. Whatever your endeavor, the Chamber is ready to help you succeed.
State of the Community: Laying a Foundation for Success
The 4th Annual State of the Community Luncheon will be on February 20, 2015. This year's speaker lineup will once again feature The Baker Development Team of Chad Patton and Laird Fairchild. They will come and give the community an update on their progress for the Baker Hotel project. We have not heard much from the team lately and hopefully they will have some great news to share in 2015 for a possible start date.
This year's line-up will also include Ken Choffel from HDR Engineering. Ken and his team have been working with the city to help recommend an alternative solution to our water issues. Ken will share some insight to the new developments on the Turkey Peak project as well as why the city has taken the present course of action.
Sponsorships are available immediately and tickets can be reserved at any time. Call the Chamber at (940) 325-2557 if you are interested in being a part of this marquee event in our community.
Sign Up for Leadership Mineral Wells Class 21
Do you want to make a difference in your community but don't know where to start? Leadership Mineral Wells is a great opportunity for individuals to get to know their community and learn how they can make a difference while building strong business and personal relationships. Highlighting monthly leadership skills helps individuals recognize their strengths and build on them. Day long field trips benefit class members by providing hands on insight on the business community. Nine themed leadership days include: team building, city, county and state government, small business, tourism and history, human needs and quality of life, education, Economic development and industry manufacturing and a graduation ceremony. For more information about how you can make a difference contact Marcelinda at email@example.com or 940-325-2557.


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After months of hype, hearsay and hesitation, BlackBerry finally came forward with the official launch of the BlackBerry 10 platform earlier this year. While the QWERTY-packing BlackBerry Q10 won't be available for a little while yet, the touchscreen-only BlackBerry Z10 is now available through a number of carriers around the world. For the purposes of this review, we got our hands on the Telus version in Canada, but it should be fundamentally the same as the Z10 sold by other wireless providers internationally.
Feature Overview and Unboxing
I already posted a BlackBerry Z10 unboxing video a couple of weeks ago, so this is just going to be a quick recap. The BlackBerry Z10 is, of course, powered by the new BlackBerry 10 operating system. It gets a 4.2-inch 335ppi touchscreen, dual core 1.5GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB storage, 8MP camera, 2MP front camera, and microSD expansion. It also gets both LTE and NFC, as well as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS.
On paper, the BlackBerry Z10 is quite competitive with the iPhone 5 and most higher end Android devices, except that its 4.2-inch screen is noticeably smaller than the much larger Android phones with their 4.7+ inch displays these days. BlackBerry World boasts about 70,000 apps for the Z10, many of which are ported over from their Android counterparts.
Hardware Impressions
The BlackBerry Z10 definitely feels very solid in the hands. I particularly like the rubbery back that provides a great grip. The profile is remarkably thin and I like how the front face is completely lacking in buttons, leaving a much sleeker overall appearance.
The volume controls are along the right side, which is fine, but the power button is in the middle of the top. What I found is that when I wanted to put the phone to sleep (by pressing the power button on top with my index finger), my thumb oftentimes pressed one of the volume buttons by accident. I'm wondering if this could be rectified by either shifting the power button to either side on top, or by placing it on the right side of the phone instead, relocating the volume buttons to the left side.
As I have grown accustomed to Android displays of 4.7-inches or bigger, getting back to the 4.2-inch display felt comparatively small. The overall form factor, in this way, is closer to the iPhone 5. The difference is that the word "BlackBerry" on the bottom is not a home button; it really doesn't serve any real purpose.
BlackBerry 10 Gestures and UI
People who are coming from legacy BlackBerry products may face some confusion with BlackBerry 10. There is no BlackBerry button, for example, nor is there is a hardware back button. Just about everything is done via gestures and many of these originate from off the screen, not unlike webOS. You get back to the home screen, for instance, by swiping up from off the bottom of the display (where the BlackBerry name is). You swipe in from the right side to access functions and swipe in from the top for certain contextual settings.
The UI isn't terrible, but there is a bit of a learning curve. One thing that BlackBerry 10 is still lacking, though, are home screen widgets. You only get a page where it displays your last eight apps in a widgetized kind of form, but you can't "pin" any of these to stay there forever. You can rearrange the apps in the app drawer, but that's not really the same thing.
And speaking of apps, there just aren't enough at the moment. The pre-installed YouTube "app" is simply a browser shortcut, for example. The native Twitter app, while functional, isn't nearly robust enough for power users. It doesn't support lists and your DMs are bundled together with your mentions in a single column. That's not good enough. The hope is that third-party developers will continue to adopt this platform and, in time, the app selection will improve.
BlackBerry Hub
Your real home is the BlackBerry Hub, which can be accessed by swiping up from the bottom and then toward the right. Alternatively, it is effectively the leftmost home screen. Here, all of your notifications are amalgamated into a single interface, including texts, emails, Facebook updates, Twitter, Foursquare and so on. There are several "tricks" and UI quirks here that you can use, but I feel there is still a lot that can be improved.
For instance, when you are within one of the notifications, there is no option to easily move to the next one. Instead, you have to hit back to get back to the list of notifications and then choose the next notification. It should be simpler and faster than that.
Camera and Video
The 8MP camera on the BlackBerry Z10 is decent, but it won't win any awards either. It seems to have a habit of overexposing, leaving some washed out elements, but this really depends on your lighting conditions. Here is a macro-esque shot that I took indoors under soft incandescent lighting.
Clarity and detail are good enough to get the job done most of the time. Much like the rest of BB10, the camera app has a bit of a learning curve. For instance, it's not tap-to-focus, as it is continually hunting for autofocus. It's tap for shutter, so you have to make sure the square is green before tapping the display. I uploaded a full 1080p HD video to YouTube, as well as more photo samples to Flickr if you want to see some more. They're all untouched and unedited, taken straight out of the phone.
I tried to be optimistic about the BlackBerry Z10. This was supposed to represent the rebirth of the company and a real push to, at the very least, be seen as a legitimate number three in the world of smartphones behind Android and iOS. The device has been able to attract some new users, to be sure, but we can already see that they're starting to run low on momentum.
BlackBerry 10, as a platform, is an overall improvement over previous versions and it's good to see that BlackBerry is prioritizing the development of third party apps. The phone itself is solid and it performs well, but it still feels incomplete compared to the more mature Android and iPhone offerings already on the market. It lacks a unique selling proposition that would make me want this instead of what Google, Samsung, HTC, Apple and others are giving us.
If BlackBerry manages to survive and if the Q10 gives them a little boost later this year, then I'm hoping that the BlackBerry Z11 and Q11 will be the real stars that the Z10 and Q10 should have been.
Mobilemag Score: 7/10
like apple :D
This phone is awesome! I've had it for a month and I can't put it down. This is by far the most advanced OS and far more advanced then IOS or Android. A lot of my friends have switched over to the Z10 from I phone and Samsung. Yes there is a learning curve to this "advanced" OS. If you're not that smart and a simpleton then stick to and I phone with its home button If you want the latest, greatest and most sophisticated operating system then Z10 is for you.
You won't need to wait for a Z11 – BlackBerry will be continuously updating the OS on the phone. A recent update improved the camera and battery life, just for starters.
The iPhone and Android phones weren't anywhere near as complete as the Z10 when they launched. BlackBerry 10 has enormous potential, and the phone is wonderfully useful already.
It has potential, but it's not there yet. I don't think it's really fair to compare the first-gen iPhone and Android devices to this, since RIM (now BlackBerry) isn't exactly new to the smartphone world. This is hardly a "virgin" effort on their part, though BB10 is quite different from its predecessors.
The code is all-new which is what really matters. The phone part is easy – the OS and ecosystem are not.
You could almost turn it around and say that BlackBerry was at a disadvantage when they created this phone. BlackBerry had to maintain all of its present capabilities (security etc.) while coming up with a completely new device. Apple and Google were starting from scratch. Anything that they did was "revolutionary" compared to what they had done before.
HTML5 makes apps obsolete.
Not until developers give the same kind of attention to mobile optimized web apps as they do with native apps. A good web-based Twitter client that supports multiple profiles would be great, for example. I use Hootsuite on desktop, but you need the app for mobile. Also silly things like photo filter apps aren't quite ready as mobile web apps yet.
I totally agree
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Bonnie Blomberg, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Microbiology & Immunology
Description of Research
Regulation of B cell function in aged mice: Dr. Blomberg's laboratory, in collaboration with Dr. Richard Riley in the department of Microbiology & Immunology, has shown decreased pre-B cell numbers and pre-B receptors in aged mice when compared with young mice (2-4 months of age). Aged mice, those greater or equal to about 80% of their full life span (22-24 months of age), have a poor immune response- one aspect of which is qualitatively poorer antibodies. They have found that the transcription factor, E47, a key regulator of B cells, is decreased in both aged bone marrow precursor B cells and splenic activated B cells. E47, also necessary for Ig class switch, is reduced in aged mice. The lab investigators, including Dr. Daniela Frasca, have begun to determine the molecular regulation of E47 in aged splenic B cells. This includes decreased mRNA stability of E47 via increased TTP (tristetraprolin) in aged stimulated mouse B cells. Their current studies will reveal the molecular and cellular causes of these defects in the aged humoral immune response and we, including a graduate student, Ana Marie Landin, are attempting to reverse these defects in genetically altered cells and mice.Regulation of B cell function in elderly humans: the last few years we have expanded the work we have done in mice to humans, where we have shown that the same "biomarkers" we have discovered for a challenged B cell response in aged mice, lower IgM to IgG class switch recombination (CSR), lower AID (activation induced cytidine deaminase), the enzyme necessary for CSR, and lower E47, the transcription factor we have shown is most relevant for decreased AID and CSR in aging, are also lower in aged (65 or over) humans. We (Dr. Daniela Frasca and Maria Romero) have recently begun to correlate these with a poorer antibody and B cell response to the influenza vaccine, and test for other contributors to this (e.g. inflammation or hormonal stress).
Quality of the Immune System in Breast Cancer Patients in Response to Psychosocial Intervention (Cognitive Behavioral Stress Management, CBSM): Another project in Dr. Blomberg's laboratory is clinical research with breast cancer patients. In collaboration with Drs. Michael Antoni, Suzanne Lechner and Charles Carver in the Department of Psychology, Dr. Blomberg and her lab colleagues, especially Alain Diaz, are measuring the status of various immune parameters in the patients in response to psychosocial intervention (e.g., group therapy, stress reduction). We have shown that intervention patients have an improved immune response as seen by the ability of their T cells to proliferate in response to an antigen-specific receptor stimulus (anti-CD3), as well as increase TH1 cytokine production resulting from T cell stimulation. Currently we are also measuring serum inflammatory cytokines (e.g. TNFa, IL-6, IL-1b) in response to CBSM. Inflammatory cytokines have been shown to have a negative prognosis for many cancers. Current/future studies will be directed toward determining cell types, e.g. B cells, macrophages involved in generating the inflammatory cytokines as well as possibly measuring the tumor-specific immune response of these patients. These studies are important to allow optimal immune response in cancer patients which will better detect/destroy residual cancer, and allow better patient survival.
- Biomarkers for poor B cell responses in aged (and younger) mice and humans have been identified: CSR, AID, E47
- Poor AID also correlates/predicts a poor response to the influenza vaccine
- Breast cancer patients show improved immune response after psychosocial intervention
Selected Cancer-Related Publications
- Swain SL, Blomberg BB. Immune senescence: new insights into defects but continued mystery of root causes. Curr Opin Immunol :,2013 Read more »
- Ratliff M, Alter S, Frasca D, Blomberg BB, Riley RL. In senescence,age-associated B cells secrete TNF? and inhibit survival of B-cell precursors*. Aging Cell 12:303-11,2013 Read more »
- Frasca D, Romero M, Diaz A, Alter-Wolf S, Ratliff M, Landin AM, Riley RL, Blomberg BB. A Molecular Mechanism for TNF-?-Mediated Downregulation of B Cell Responses. J Immunol 188:279-86,2012 Read more »
- Landin AM, Frasca D, Harrison P, Scallan M, Riley RL, Blomberg BB. E47 retroviral rescue of intrinsic B-cell defects in senescent mice. Aging Cell 10:327-37,2011 [JIF 7.148] Read more »


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March 5 2015 Latest news:
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Oh and another tip Chris, football is meant to be entertaining and exciting, yawn yawn yawn!
Saturday, February 09, 2013


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Covercraft Car Sun Shade Reviews great product Reviewed By felipe d (Mansfield, TX) Reviewed for a 2011 Chevy Camaro —9/29/2014 9:09 PM It's just awesome it fits perfect the quality it's great overall it's a great product thanks View More Reviews
Intro-Tech Automotive Windshield Sun Shade Reviews Shade saves on deodorant Reviewed By Chuck P (STUART, FL) Reviewed for a 2014 Chevy Camaro —7/29/2014 2:55 PM Use of the shade in West Palm Beach is mandatory. Works great! Helps keep the car cooler. And the pits drier. Great quality. Great product. View More Reviews
Intro-Tech Automotive Ultimate Reflector Car Sun Shade Reviews Sunshade fits like a tight shirt Reviewed By Robert L S (Princeton, IN) Reviewed for a 2013 Chevy Camaro —6/17/2013 10:25 PM Fits like a tight shirt no spaces anywhere. This is my fifth one I have. I really enjoy this product! View More Reviews


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Link Directory
The City of Joliet's official website. The City of Joliet is the fourth largest city in the state of Illinois, located just 45 miles southwest of Chicago's Loop. Home to over 147,433 residents, in addition to thriving businesses and attractions, the City of Joliet is easily accessible by rail, auto and bus transit. A perfect place to live, work and play, Joliet is constantly striving to promote growth and diversity.
The City of Joliet ordinances are posted on Municode.com.
Crime Stoppers is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to reducing crime in our own county. Through private citizens, the media and law enforcement we join together to stop criminal activity. Many crimes go unsolved because people who know about them are afraid to come forward. CRIME STOPPERS gives people a way to provide valuable information without giving their names. In return, those providing information leading to: An arrest and filing of criminal charges against a felony crime offender, or the apprehension of a felony fugitive can earn rewards up to $5,000.
The Department of Homeland Security has a vital mission: to secure the nation from the many threats we face. This requires the dedication of more than 240,000 employees in jobs that range from aviation and border security to emergency response, from cybersecurity analyst to chemical facility inspector. Our duties are wide-ranging, but our goal is clear - keeping America safe.
The mission of the Department of Justice is to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.
We can do more by working together, and DHS can be your partner. Every day, we're helping communities prevent terrorism and other violent crime locally. And we're getting more information, tools, and resources into the hands of local law enforcement, first responders, community groups, and citizens all across America.
This website is a one-stop national resource to learn about the crime of identity theft. It provides detailed information to help you deter, detect, and defend against identity theft. On this site, consumers can learn how to avoid identity theft – and learn what to do if their identity is stolen. Businesses can learn how to help their customers deal with identity theft, as well as how to prevent problems in the first place. Law enforcement can get resources and learn how to help victims of identity theft.
Created in 1983, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority is a state agency dedicated to improving the administration of criminal justice. The Authority brings together key leaders from the justice system and the public to identify critical issues facing the criminal justice system in Illinois, and to propose and evaluate policies, programs, and legislation that address those issues.
The primary responsibility of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) is to better prepare the State of Illinois for natural, manmade or technological disasters, hazards, or acts of terrorism.
Special Olympics Illinois is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization that raises funds through private means, such as donations and grants. Special Olympics Illinois is accredited by Special Olympics, Inc. which operates in all 50 states and in more than 180 countries. Illinois supports nearly 21,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities and more than 6,000 Young Athletes ages 2-7 with and without intellectual disabilities annually from communities throughout the state.
The Illinois State Police provides an online listing of sex offenders required to register in the State of Illinois. The database is updated daily and allows searching by name, city, county, zip code, compliance status, or any combination thereof.
"Move Over America" is the national effort to make drivers aware of "Move Over" laws, which require motorists to "Move Over" and change lanes to give safe clearance to law enforcement officers on roadsides. Equally important is the action of creating attention in those States where there is no such law at present.
The National Crime Prevention Council's mission is to be the nation's leader in helping people keep themselves, their families, and their communities safe from crime. To achieve this, NCPC produces tools that communities can use to learn crime prevention strategies, engage community members, and coordinate with local agencies.
The National Terrorism Advisory System, or NTAS, replaces the color-coded Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS). This new system will more effectively communicate information about terrorist threats by providing timely, detailed information to the public, government agencies, first responders, airports and other transportation hubs, and the private sector. It recognizes that Americans all share responsibility for the nation's security, and should always be aware of the heightened risk of terrorist attack in the United States and what they should do.
VINE (Victim Information and Notification Everyday) is a service through which victims of crime can use the telephone or Internet to search for information regarding their offender's custody status and register to receive telephone and e-mail notification when their offender's custody status changes.
The official website of Will County, Illinois. With 37 municipalities and 24 townships covering nearly 850 square miles, Will County offers fantastic business opportunities and a remarkable environment to all who live, work and play here.
The office of the Will County State's Attorney serves the people of Will County, Illinois with a population of just over 502,000. The county covers 849 square miles, is the 13th largest county in the state, and is the 2nd largest county of the 6-county Chicago metro region.