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FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Wisconsin Rising
(60 min) (2014) by Sam Mayfield
This film documents the days, weeks and months when Wisconsinites fought back against power, authority and injustice. They were fighting back against newly elected Republican Governor Scott Walker's action stripping collective bargaining rights from public employees. This fight took place in the same period as the Arab spring, and workers in both struggles saw their common fight.
Discussion to follow.
An Injury To One Is An Injury To All
The Lessons of May Day 2015 and ILWU Local 10
On May 1, 2015 ILWU Local 10 called for a stop work meeting to protest the police terror and murders of African Americans, Latinos and other working people. Two thousand marched to demand justice and human rights. ILWU made history as the only union in the United States to not only to challenge the epidemic of police murders, but also to take action on the job.
This educational forum will look at why the ILWU Local 10 took this action and how their members have been affected by the increasing militarization of the police and repression in working class communities.
There will also be a screening of a new documentary about the ILWU Local 10's initiated action.
Henry Schmidt room is on the second floor of the smaller building at the location.
Join the discussion as Lamont Lilly, of Workers World Party Durham Branch talks about the fight against police terror and capitalism's need to have a police state. Lilly was recently in Baltimore People's Power Assembly during the rebellion there in response to the police murder of #Freddie Grey. He has been active in the struggle to free Liberty and Justice for Carlos Riley Jr. Lilly is an activist and an author, writing frequently for Workers.org newspaper, a contributing editor for Triangle Free Press, and also published in Truth-out.org. You can find him on Twitter @LamontLilly .
A Talk and Discussion with
Toby Blome
Code Pink activist
Please join East Bay and SF WILPF
Free, Refreshments, Handicapped Accessiblewww.wilpfEastBay.org
- student debt resistance
- organizing for public banking.
- advocating for Postal banking.
- ongoing study group
- helping out America's only non-profit check-cashing organization and fighting against usurious for-profit pay-day lenders and their ilk
- our famous Strike Debt radio program
- staging Debtors' Assemblies
- Reviewing our recent presentation on money and debt at the US Social Forum
- saving the Berkeley Post Office and stopping the Staples non-union takeover of good Post Office jobs
- and much more!
Strike Debt – Principles of Solidarity
Strike Debt is building a debt resistance movement. We believe that most individual debt is illegitimate and unjust. Most of us fall into debt because we are increasingly deprived of the means to acquire the basic necessities of life: health care, education, and housing. Because we are forced to go into debt simply in order to live, we think it is right and moral to resist it.
We also oppose debt because it is an instrument of exploitation and political domination. Debt is used to discipline us, deepen existing inequalities, and reinforce racial, gendered, and other social hierarchies. Every Strike Debt action is designed to weaken the institutions that seek to divide us and benefit from our division. As an alternative to this predatory system, Strike Debt advocates a just and sustainable economy, based on mutual aid, common goods, and public affluence.
Strike Debt is committed to the principles and tactics of political autonomy, direct democracy, direct action, creative openness, a culture of solidarity, and commitment to anti-oppressive language and conduct. We struggle for a world without racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and all forms of oppression.
Strike Debt holds that we are all debtors, whether or not we have personal loan agreements. Through the manipulation of sovereign and municipal debt, the costs of speculator-driven crises are passed on to all of us. Though different kinds of debt can affect the same household, they are all interconnected, and so all household debtors have a common interest in resisting.
Strike Debt engages in public education about the debt-system to counteract the self-serving myth that finance is too complicated for laypersons to understand. In particular, it urges direct action as a way of stopping the damage caused by the creditor class and their enablers among elected government officials. Direct action empowers those who participate in challenging the debt-system.
Strike Debt holds that we owe the financial institutions nothing, whereas, to our friends, families and communities, we owe everything. In pursuing a long-term strategy for national organizing around this principle, we pledge international solidarity with the growing global movement against debt and austerity.
Berkeley Repertory Theatre is proud to present Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education, The California Chapter, a special presentation created, written, and performed by playwright, actor, and educator Anna Deavere Smith. Directed by Obie Award-winner Leah C. Gardiner, this limited engagement opens Saturday, July 11 and runs through Sunday, August 2, 2015 in the Roda Theatre. Individual tickets start at $50 and are currently on sale to the general public. Tickets can be purchased by phone at (510) 647-2949 or online at berkeleyrep.org.
Smith garnered a National Humanities Medal from President Obama in 2012 and a MacArthur Award for her incisive and astounding theatrical investigations – from racial tension (Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992) to the deficiencies in our health care system in Let Me Down Easy. Now she turns her attention to the school-to-prison pipeline, which, by pushing children out of the classroom into the criminal justice system, has created a lost generation of youth from poor communities. In act one, Smith performs striking portraits culled from interviews she conducted with nearly 150 individuals in Northern California and elsewhere in the nation affected by the pipeline's devastating policies – capturing the dynamics of a rapidly shifting social issue through her trademark performance technique. She will be joined by Bay Area favorite, jazz musician Marcus Shelby.
In act two, Smith invites the audience to engage in dynamic conversations and be active agents to help dissolve the school-to-prison pipeline and inequities in the education system. With the compelling and inspiring Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education, The California Chapter, Smith believes that we all have the imagination, the wit, and the heart to make a difference.
"I'm pleased to present Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education, The California Chapter at Berkeley Rep," says Smith. "This is my coming home project. By that I mean that I come from teachers who in my generation gave their lives to changing the lives of young Baltimoreans through belief in the potential of public education. I feel that the Bay Area is the perfect place for conversations about the school-to-prison pipeline to start and possibly for solutions to emerge. I've had a long history with Berkeley Rep and the Bay Area where I have presented my work since the early 1980s."
Smith continues, "There's a lot of research being conducted and has been done about the relationship of early suspensions and how that perpetuates a cycle of incarceration. Though the focus of fixing racial inequity is currently focused on problems with urban policemen, as President Obama cautioned us, in the midst of riots in Baltimore, the problem is broader and deeper than that. I believe that we have a chance to reimagine and recreate a new war on poverty. Education is a crucial part of that. Through this special presentation I hope that we can build a model for art to be in direct connection to advocacy. We can bring people forward to ask not just what they think, but what they can do. I hope this process will help us understand more about our children, our teachers, our judges, and our criminal justice system."
To cultivate participation in the dialogue by as many voices as possible, Berkeley Rep is offering a wide array of ticket discounts including:
· 1,000 free community tickets are available by application to nonprofit, and government organizations serving populations impacted by the school-to-prison pipeline and indviduals for whom cost would be a barrier; details available at http://www.berkeleyrep.org/season/1415/9293.asp#tabbed-
"Mogi and I are in need of some help. I need to move at the end of July and I won't have enough to cover a deposit and last months rent for a new home. So, I'm throwing a Rent Party & Art Show."
Open Circle, first and foremost, is an opportunity to build community with one another. Secondly, it is a space to reflect and collaborate on strategies and actions to bring an end to these egregious crimes.
Please join us for the Potluck at 3:00 pm followed by the Open Circle at 3:30 pm. Please bring a dish or snacks to share!
~ Open circle will begin at 3:30 with a speaker. Then checkins and updates with the families affected by police violence
~ Reflection and dialogue on how we can help support them in their fight for justice.
~ Brief announcements for upcoming events.
~ Working groups: tbd
Solidarity is afoot so bring your ideas!
Notes from last meeting:
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets Sundays at 4 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheatre at 14th Street & Broadway, often on the steps of City Hall. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for more than three years! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally . Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.
At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.
General Assembly Standard Agenda
- Welcome & Introductions
- Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
- Announcements
- (Optional) Discussion Topic
Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.
Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (firstname.lastname@example.com)
Occupy Oakland Kitchen Committee: (email@example.com)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: email@example.com
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area
San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv
A Victory in the Fight to Save our Historic Post Offices
With members of the Committee to Save the Berkeley Post Office
The U.S. Postal Service, now headed by those favoring privatization, is closing and selling off many post offices listed on the National Register of Historic Places, reducing postal services and cutting public sector union jobs. Many of these historic post offices have murals and art created during the New Deal. The City of Berkeley, however, prevailed in federal court saving the historic post office building and setting a precedent for others. The case promises to save union jobs by requiring the USPS to follow the law. Come hear the story of how a spirited group of Berkeley residents set a national precedent.
Citizens to Save the Berkeley Post Office fought for their historic building and art for three years. They made the nation aware of the issue with articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
For information: firstname.lastname@example.com
or call 510-684-0414
Updates on our progress, organizing strategies and developing work plan to get Public Safety Oversight measure on the Nov 2016 ballot
The Oakland Livable Wage Assembly builds community and power among those who seek higher wages and better work life conditions for area workers.
We meet every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month at the SEIU Local 1000 union hall in downtown Oakland at 6:30 PM.
Our work together encompasses: (1) the concerns of precarious, contingent, and care workers; (2) current campaigns to improve wages for low-wage workers; and (3) efforts by unionized workers and unions to improve wages and quality of work life. We share stories and information in an egalitarian and participatory way to build relationships and build the movement.
We look forward to learning with you and making change for the better.
Please love and support one another. We have a duty to fight. We have a duty to win.
We discuss various monetary and debt-related topics. For our next meeting we will be reading articles about Greece, the recent referendum and its implications on the world monetary system, and Greece's prospects.
Check back for a list of suggested readings.
A good overview of how it all came to be in layman's terms.
The Politics of Debt Reading Group is affiliated with the Bay Area Public School and Strike Debt Bay Area.
For 3 years, the commercial development project that is slated to pave the southern 7 acres of the historic Gill Tract has been held off by a lawsuit. On June 16th, the courts ruled in favor of the UC, citing that their polluting, privatizing, pavement project breaks no state laws.
But we hold ourselves accountable to the laws of nature:
Did you know the neighborhood surrounding the Gill Tract already ranks in the top 2% nationwide for traffic congestion? Now imagine how many cars and diesel trucks the addition of a Sprouts grocery store would bring to the area. Did you know that same neighborhood ranks in the top 22% nationwide for asthma rates? Now imagine the air pollution and health implications of that traffic (approximately 6500 cars per day) on the community.
Join us Thursday, July 16th, one month after the court's mis-ruling, to take a stand and demonstrate refusal to accept the misuse of public land in utter disregard of environmental and public health. We will be gathering to take action at the proposed development site on the corner of Monroe & San Pablo, from 4-5pm.
Song and Story from Occupy
Rockin' Solidarity Labor Chorus presents a celebration of the Occupy movement, in song and story. The audience is invited to sing along: lyric sheets will be provided. Founded in 1999, the Labor Chorus helps keeps working-class culture alive, in four-part harmony. We will also have special guests.
- Door Time: 8:00 PM
- Restrictions: 18 & over
Under 21 must buy $5 non-alcoholic drink ticket at the door.
Come to the RPA Summer Picnic!
RPA will provide compostable paper ware, ice, some beverages, and charcoal for the grills from noon to 1:30, if conditions allow fires. Bring food to share. Please invite friends, family, neighbors.
We've reserved a shady picnic area at Miller Knox Regional Shoreline that's close to the parking lot and not far from the ADA-accessible children's play area and tot lot. The views are marvelous. The Golden State Model Railroad Museum is across the street, and their trains run on Sunday afternoons…
All of RPA's friends, members, and their families are most welcome.
The families of O'Shaine Evans, Kenneth Harding Jr. & James Rivera welcome you to celebrate the lives of their loved ones whose lives were stolen by police terror in the month of July, as well as the birthday of Nelson Mandela.
Some good eats are in the works. This is a Family friendly event. The day will be filled with activities, music, and fun.
South Park is just yards away from where O'Shaine was executed. We will have a Libation Ceremony there.
It is about 1 mile from Powell St. Bart Station. Carpooling is encouraged.
Looking forward to sharing in this Celebration of Life with you all.
Orientation: A call for volunteers for a child care collective.
Come to the new member orientation to learn more. Contact Sonia or email firstname.lastname@example.com for location details. Visit the website for more info about what it looks like to be a part of their volunteer collective.
Hey activists, childcare providers, and folks who want to build power and spend time with kids…
The Bay Area Childcare Collective (BACC) is looking for new members!
The BACC offers childcare resources to grassroots organizations composed of a lead by m/others who face multiple opressions, primarily by providing competent and politicized childcare to low/no income immigrant m/others and m/others of color. They're currently working with Causa Justa Just Cause, La Collectiva and LeftRoots.
If you want to:
-Support local grassroots organizing led by women and m/other of color
-Spend more time with kids
-Connect and build community with other folks who love working with kids
-Learn and share skills
Then BACC is a great fit for you!
We look forward to connecting with you!


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Review: Samsung Sunburst
Form Basics Extras Video Tour Wrap-Up Comments
Replying to: Seems... by muchdrama
Re: Seems...
Not at ALL... this phone is crap. Straight up. Why would you even comapre it to the EVO4g? I MIGHT say, hey people get the DROID or get the IPHONE4 if they dont want or need the EVO4G..... but no. If you dont want a flip phone, get this, but its tstill some crappy free phone.
- Re: Seems... by misschris

subset: commoncrawl


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Pat McMahon
Story time
I was doing a TV interview Sunday with one of the best-selling authors in the publishing world, Elizabeth Gilbert. You know her primarily from her enormous success with "Eat, Pray, Love."
But in preparing for our conversation, I was checking out this year's other literary hits, and something peculiar and encouraging is happening in the book world. No matter what the critics of American education are saying, young people are reading. They're not only reading, but they're buying.
Youth and "tween" books are all over the New York Times and USA Today listings.
John Green's "The Fault in Our Stars" -- not exactly summer vacation, romance on the beach stuff, since it's about a teenage cancer victim -- has been No. 1 for ages and on the charts of best-sellers for 114 weeks. Veronica Roth has her "Divergent" trilogy in the top five of all books sold in America. "The Lord of the Rings" books are huge.
Kids are reading long, complex books. And I think it began with "Harry Potter." Hogwarts really does create wizardry.
I'm Pat McMahon.


text: It's not about you: Lessons for Wine Critics Arthur Z. Przebinda September 9, 2009 FCG, Food & Conversation, Soap Box 10 Comments Iconic news anchor Walter Cronkite passed away this summer. Amongst the many praises and remembrances of his character and career, one thing stuck out -- he never made himself the story. Cronkite was a trusted conveyor of information, always heralded for his objectivity.


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Games I Played 2012: Episode 16- Fallout New Vegas
By D_Bones 1 Comments
So yeah totally realize that this is coming in a little late but it is really a result of all those things that interfere with your free time such as holiday vacation, a new semester at school and wanting to play the new games I have received rather than write about slightly older ones. You know what for once I am not going to reiterate why I wrote this series of blogs if you are interested (doubt it) you can check out one of my previous ones however I'll just say it comes as a result of game of the year list envy. Enough of all that hogwash and excuses though I want to talk about the last game I played of 2012. A game I sunk more hours into than I expected and a game I've been trying to tackle since 2010, Fallout: New Vegas.
My interest in Fallout comes from a friend of mine who has been pretty reliable recommending me gamer related stuff (including Giantbomb so thank him for these massive blogs ha ha, also he is Peter on the site if interested in stalking) however his one misstep was with Bioshock which he swore I would love. For no discernible reason except that I wasn't into the atmosphere (I know someone is like WHAT the atmosphere is awesome) and the plasmid/gun combo wasn't doing it for me either. Honestly I can't pin own exactly why I stopped playing Bioshock and normally I'm a dude who has like a 5 hour grace period for a game to hook me but after only an hour or two I decided I wasn't interested and called my friend and gave him shit ha ha. Back then I was broke and still traded games in and I was all you better redeem yourself and give me a real suggestion, he mentioned Fallout 3. Another winning suggestion. I had no knowledge of the series but quickly adapted to the huge setting and new mechanics (despite an early setback of being pissed off because on the first "go to the grocery store mission" a big group of Talon mercs were waiting for me and blew me apart ha ha). Soon enough I was scrounging the world for missions and more story to expand my Pip-Boy's info about the dilapidated place I now found myself in. A year or two after finishing the game I realized there was a trophy update for the game and went back through collecting the trophies for the pure enjoyment of it. This was even better because there were a few sidemissions I had missed which turned out to be some of my favourites. But anyway on to New Vegas.
I picked up New Vegas soon after it came out an amidst all of the hub ub about it being broken. While playing Fallout 3 I couldn't even remember it crashing that often (I imagine it did but with no serious harm one) so I figured the game would be a bit buggy, maybe a bit annoying but not enough to distract me from playing it. I was wrong. So the first time I played the game about 5 hours and found the game had made me reset 3 times already, I was super frustrated and had not been able to really immerse myself in the new world yet. Hearing about all the potential patches I said fuck it I'll wait and moved on to something else until then. I believe I waited a year and then gave the game another try. This time I played the game for 13 hours (I know because I still had these saves when I went to play this last time) and the game crashed eight times. These may sound like exaggerations but after the first time I actually counted to make sure I wasn't crazy. In my 13 hours with the game I wasn't having a ton of fun yet as I was constantly saving, fearful of losing progress. I want to reiterate that I rarely if ever walk away from games incomplete but I said fuck this shit again and moved on. Until the end of 2012 when I felt like playing an RPG, which I think had something to do with all the fallout (ha ha) following the release of Skyrim from the previous year. People went nuts about that game and I wanted to play a similar style so I looked in my backlog of games and said one last time or never again.
I realize I'm harping on the technical issues with this game a bit much, however, this is one of the only games (the other being Halo for PC, but that was my crap PC not the game itself) which was so buggy it actually effected my interest in playing it. About thirty minutes in I had my first crash (tried to drink while a "complete mission" tag was scrolling across the screen) and I inhaled and ploughed through it. I didn't count the number of crashes this time, mostly cause I didn't want to be so distracted by them as to lose my interest in the game again. And with the exception of one spot (going from a campsite across a big valley toward Red Rock) being completely broken, I'm serious tried to find a way around but the game crashed no matter which way I came at it. The game was eventually fine and I could sort of stop worrying about saving every ten minutes. But yeah sorry about that whole tangent but that was my initial experience and as you can see not a very positive one which was a shame because I was predisposed to liking this kind of game.
The main plot of the story was in some ways superior to that of Fallout 3 and from many people I have heard this is the strongest point of reference versus Fallout 3. I agree to a point and I liked the new faction interaction stuff at play in the game. However, I did feel as though the characters were weaker on the whole than in Fallout 3. There was no real charismatic force such as Three Dog, no companion who I liked as much as Fawkes (although Lily was super interesting) and no character as heartfelt and earnest as your dad from 3 (also Liam Neeson people c'mon). However, there were some people and moments which much be brought up as bringing some great highlights to the game. One of the most horrible things was when in my first ending playthrough with the NCR I disconnected Mr. House, his screams of "you should have killed me!" and the horror of what I had done to this guy made me go wow I'm a complete dick for no real reason. The Boomer society was also interesting as well as their overall "goal" of dropping bombs from the sky, and how the Brotherhood of Steel was shown as vulnerable and out of date with society when previously they had been simply the badasses in 3. The stuff about the individual endings of each main story faction were sort of meh, the "final boss" characters of the Generals were not really developed despite the whisperings about Lanius. The conclusions mostly were unsatisfying, and I know it is Fallout so there will not be happiness but they played out exactly as I guessed with the exception of House and Independent. I was like if Legion wins there will be awful brutality but everything will run and be prosperous, if NCR wins the little guy will be rolled over and their bureaucracy won't be efficient, yup that's about right. I think I preferred the more simplified ending of 3 where no you do not save the entire world but you do bring light to the territory by purifying the water.
Cutting through all the bullshit about bugs and endings I think my biggest gripe with the game is the forgettable sidequests in New Vegas. In Fallout 3 I can name some of my favourites off the top of my head, the vampire mission, the awesome tree people mission, the giant ant mission to a lesser extent etc. In New Vegas I can't recall quests of that calibre at all. If you are thinking hey that guy didn't look, I did I borrowed a guide and tried to find the best sidequests…there weren't any really. Thinking hard I can maybe say the cannibal hotel but that was sort of anti-climatic and maybe the bomb threat but once again was sort of whatever. I mean the Fallout games have hours and hours of missions to tear through but I was honestly expecting just a few gems in there to think about later and I was disappointed about the lack of them.
I've been bitching a lot but getting across my love for 3 and my disappointment in New Vegas must be stated, however, I wouldn't have played 80 hours of this game if I thought it was crap so I'll talk about what was cool. This includes looting corpses and finding awesome stuff, I actually loved a lot of the weapons in this game including the anti-material rifle (goodbye alpha deathclaw muhaha) the Q plasma rifle and (although from the OWB dlc) Jeb's plasma (I forget the exact name). VATS and causing random mayhem is still a blast, running around picking fights with mutated animals, ghouls and fucking Powder Gangers (seriously f those guys) is super enjoyable, looting them for goods for caps still great. This game almost had an excess of stuff so that I had a ton of money by the end of the game but it was still super satisfying.
One of my favourite parts of Fallout was still in play in New Vegas, that being of discovering vaults. I love going down into these godforsaken places and reading about what awful experiment when wrong (best in New Vegas being the plant vault and the political death vault). I must also say that probably my favourite piece of content I played from New Vegas was dlc. After asking you guys your opinion on the best NV dlc I went with Old World Blues and was delighted. The story, characters, voice acting, loot and comedy were all gold. I even loved the base they gave you and the silly personalities given to the objects in it (toaster and book chute made me lol). It is a FUCKING shame that the rest of the side quests weren't as great as this content and it makes me sad to think that there are people who will play NV and not this great piece of content, if you are on the fence don't be get this dlc now.
Alright this blog got huge so I'll move on to the trophy section. Um the trophy section wasn't great, had the typical do damage with each kind of weapon and other BS like heal with food which was tedious to get. I sort of wish they had more side quest trophies to encourage people to play more of their game but maybe they realized they weren't strong quests either. Overall not super hard just time consuming getting the different endings etc.
So there it is New Vegas is a game with some major issues but is still a Fallout game an if you loved 3 you should play this game if only to scratch that itch for looting goodness. My biggest gripes are with the poor side missions and the fact that this game was borderline broken for an extended period of time, I would've finished this game in 2010 if not for this fact. Thanks for reading if you managed to make it. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue this series into 2013 as people don't have time to read these gargantuan things. I'm thinking maybe make them shorter or cease this madness. Anyway so far in 2013 I've played XCOM and now am going through Playstation All Stars. We'll see if I feel like talking about em. Once again peace out renegades.


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Horse breeders have always put their faith in bloodlines when it comes to finding a winner – now they're putting science into their stud books
See gallery: "The not-so-natural history of horse evolution"
AND they're off! It's the 2.35 at the Curragh, county Kildare, on the first day of Ireland's flat racing season. In the nick of time I manage to place a €5 bet on Whip Rule, a 2-year-old colt. His odds don't bode well - 10/1 in a six-horse contest - but I still think I'm on to a winner. That's not because I've had a hot tip from a stable boy, but because I'm confident my horse is made of the right stuff for this race.
Genes are everything for thoroughbred racehorses. Yet although horse racing has grown into an international multibillion dollar industry, racehorse breeding still relies on the same tools as it has for ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.


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Hang Wire by Adam Christopher
Ted Hall is worried.
He's been sleepwalking, and his somnambulant travels appear to coincide
with murders by the notorious Hang Wire Killer.
Meanwhile, the
circus has come to town, but the Celtic dancers are taking their pagan
act a little too seriously, the manager of the Olde Worlde Funfair has
started talking to his vintage machines, and the new acrobat's frequent
absences are causing tension among the performers.
Out in the
city there are other new arrivals – immortals searching for an ancient
power – a primal evil which, if unopposed, could destroy the world!
Adam Christopher's books have received many praises by lot of different reviewers, I have always wanted to read one of his books to see whether it was true. So when I was presented with the chance to read his latest book, Hang Wire (luckily a stand-alone), out this February by Angry Robots, I couldn't say no. And I have to second the opinion of many other reviewers. Adam Christopher's books are that good! No wait... they are great!!
To be honest when I read the synopsis of the book I didn't really have a clue as to what would be told in Hang Wire. There are several leads that might steer you into one direction but when you start reading it first takes you to the past, 1906 and 1889, and there is pretty weird stuff going on in those times. Then the story opens up with our main protagonist Ted, in present day San Fransisco. I was like OK... lets just go with the flow. This doesn't mean that I hated the story this confusion was good. And these early events really payed off when I could relate them with the latter events of the books, it's like those time when you have those moments that the penny drops (don't know whether this is a correct saying but we have one in Dutch which I literally translated). Anyway back to Ted. He is celebrating his birthday at a Chinese restaurant and when he finished with fortune cookie, it opens with a literal bang, it explodes with something magical. Yes you read that correctly a fortune cookie! Soon after these events Ted starts to behave differently, having sleep walking episodes and more weird stuff going on. The events with the fortune cookie is just the beginning of a much grander and darker plot that has been set into motion.
Coinciding the the weird stuff that surround Ted's character are several dark and gruesome murders claimed by the Hand Wire Killer. These murders have only come to show after a new circus, The Olde Worlde Funfair has come to town, completed with an eccentric set of performers to say the least. This circus has all the types from tightrope acrobats to clowns and even Celtic Dancers. However one of the performers: High Wire, is frequently absent in his doings much to the annoyance of the other performers.
The storyline of Hang Wire is set up from multiple perspectives and mainly from the above mentioned characters: Ted and High Wire. Ted's storyline was one that I found very interesting after the events of the fortune cookie he is not feeling well, but tries to get the best out of his current life and tries to live it as best as possible. For the most part Ted you are kept pretty much in the dark about what is truly happening to Ted's character, his episodes of fainting are getting more and more frequent but what really is going on is only revealed later on, I did like reading about Ted a lot, he is this kind off nerdy guy and blogger and this totally reflects back in his attitude and his character. Next to Ted, High Wire makes up a majority of the story in Hang Wire, now perhaps you are guessing High Wire a tightrope artist, his absence and the Hang Wire Killer, well I am not going to say anything at all. Just that you will be utterly suprised by how his parts end. Similarly like Ted I enjoyed High Wire's story quite a lot, his parts never lost the pacing and when you look at all the perspectives that you follow in the book, also those of the Olde World Funfair manager Joel, or the Gods, yes I will get to that in a second, it's all very good and cool stuff to read. The pages for me just flew by, Adam Christopher has a way with creating a great natural flow and utterly fast pacing in Hang Wire. Be careful that you don't have any plans in the afternoon when you pick it up... you wont be able to put this book down.
Now Urban Fantasy. Hang Wire is classified as that. However. There aren't any vampire's or werewolves or any of that, but well yes there are Gods but even these aren't the standard ones. Adam Christopher shows his own interpretation of the popular UF genre. Ok so I promised the Gods, this was just brilliantly executed. It's not the almighty all powerful Gods that you have read before but the Gods have claimed bloodlines and lineages, and "godhood" if you can name it that, is passed on from generation to generation. Even in this you are kept pretty much in the dark about which characters are the immortal walking among the mortal, but when you find out how it actually works all the past dialogues and scenes and events all fall in to place.
But what about the action? When it goes down, it goes down full force! The start-up and middle parts of the story really focus on giving the reader one hint at a time about the history of several characters and help to make the present storyline makes sense. The first half did feature some action but only in snippets. Though this didn't take away that it wasn't good, more on the contrary it really helped to put up a great foundation for a cracking and full storm ending of the book. In the end there is just this perfect battle scene with the Gods and the other supernatural creature in Hang Wire, that brought me directly to the edge of my seat. I do have to remain very vague about everything else it would spoil just too much of the story. But with the incarnation of a warrior god and the god of the ocean, life and death, you know the action will be pretty tight! And with what Ted has become... well... (yes I know now you will be eager to pick it up! and so you should)
Hang Wire is a awesome read (and that's understating it by far), from the first pages I was hooked. Not only has Adam Christopher written a great story, it is also his writing style that readily pulled me in and never let me go. Despite what other people might have said about the coherency of the story I didn't have this problem at all, yes I have to admit the start was a bit weird, but it was good weird, I just abandoned the normal layout of a story and embraced the story as itself and it worked, later on you learn by bits of information handed to you what actually went down and how it did. All the later events and information was easily relatable to the earlier parts and slowly, like for me a good story has to, it all falls into place and for Hang Wire I can safely say expect the unexpected. There are a quite many twists and turns along the story and some pretty cool action. I am always very happy to see when authors take an existing genre or genres further and twist it into their own vision and leave their mark on it, this is exactly what Adam Christopher did with Hang Wire, this crime/thriller urban fantasy mash-up has all the good things of each genre going on without the usual tropes. Too bad Hang Wire is a standalone but I will definitely look forward to reading more of Adam Christopher's book in the future.