text:
by Veronica Roth
Character Analysis
Just the Facts: Christina
Christina is Tris's first friend really, which is pretty sad if you think about her spending sixteen years without one. Christina's a transfer from Candor, so she tells the truth all the time, which is a nice quality in a friend or an enemy. If she doesn't like you, she'll tell you straight up because, as she explains, "We try to be pretty honest about our feelings in Candor" (9.24).
But Christina doesn't wander around just dropping knowledge on people, which would get old really quickly. She's got more dimensions than being just a straight shooter. In fact, when Tris is all sore from a fight, Christina gets her breakfast and helps her get dressed. That selfless act prompts Tris to think that "Maybe there is some Abnegation in everyone" (11.11). Christina may be born Candor, and she may choose Dauntless, but Christina is a good friend who wants to help Tris through these problems. Hey, that sounds like a bit of Amity, too…
Why Christina?
Christina is useful to Tris as a friend, but she's useful to us as—can you guess?—a foil for Tris. As a member of Abnegation, Tris never got to have a pet or makeup or choose her clothes—all things that Christina has some experience with. And Christina is willing to share her experience with Tris, giving her a classic 80s-movie style makeover (8.81-91).
Christina's may be way smart and way tough—just look at the scene where she dangles over the edge of the chasm to prove her bravery to Eric if you want proof of that (9.72-102)—but she's also a little more stereotypically girly than Tris, especially when she needs to talk about kissing Will. As she asks Tris, "Can you be a girl for a few seconds?" (28.179). Yeah, she's stereotyping what it means to be a girl, but it does point out a little difference between their interests and experience: Christina (makeup and guns) and Tris (guns and more guns and looking in a mirror four times a year).
But even though Christina and Tris had different upbringings, they share a lot of the same feelings and thoughts. Neither of them stayed in their original factions, and both of them have secrets they want to hold on to. When Christina says that "I try to be honest, but some things you just don't want people to know" (28.201), we know that Tris agrees since she just rattled off all of her terrible secrets, like the whole being Divergent thing.


text:
For the latest information on Hurricane Gustav, visit the WTOK Online Hurricane Center.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Rapidly growing Hurricane Gustav headed for a collision with impoverished Haiti on Tuesday, driving many people off the potholed streets of the capital, but bringing few other outward signs of preparation.
The storm was also on track to slice along the south coast of Cuba during the week - possibly growing into a perilous Category 3 hurricane with 115 mph winds by the weekend, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Forecasters said the hurricane's maximum sustained winds were near 90 mph Tuesday morning, with higher gusts. They said it could become a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 96 mph or higher before hitting Haiti.
Forecasts suggested that Gustav's eye might pass near the capital of Port-au-Prince, home to nearly 3 million people.
A light rain fell on Port-au-Prince as the sun rose on an overcast Tuesday. The city's rough streets, often bustling with commerce at the crack of dawn, were largely empty as merchants took refuge.
"The government orders the population to take precautions because this storm will bring a lot of rain," Interior Minister Paul Antonine Bien-Aime told Radio Ginen in an interview repeated several times early Tuesday.
American Airlines canceled all flights in and out of Port-au-Prince.
Preparations for the storm appeared to be minimal and in the hurricane-prone southwestern city of Les Cayes, smack in the hurricane's path, at least some people without access to television or satellite images said they doubted a storm was even approaching.
"There's no rain and wind, the sky is clear, cars are traveling everywhere. I don't think there's a hurricane," Marc Andre, a 22-year-old motorcycle taxi driver, said over his cell phone.
Yet Haitians are accustomed to the power of such blasts. Flooding caused by storms and hurricanes killed more than 100 people in Haiti and scores in the Dominican Republic last year. In 2004, Tropical Storm Jeanne killed some 3,000 people in the Haitian city of Gonaives alone.
The hurricane was centered about 75 miles south-southeast of Port-au-Prince and was moving toward the northwest at near 9 mph.
On Monday, Carnival Cruise Lines diverted one of its ships from Montego Bay, Jamaica, to a Mexican port to avoid the storm, company spokesman Vance Gulliksen said. Other cruise lines said they were closely tracking its path.
In Jamaica, officials alerted shelters to prepare for possible evacuations during the storm that is forecast to pass near the island Wednesday.
The commander of the Guantanamo military base in Cuba, where the U.S. holds about 265 men, many suspected of belonging to al-Qaida or the Taliban, ordered U.S. military personnel to prepare for a hit.
Vulnerable to high winds are dozens of tents pitched on an abandoned runway where those attending war-crimes trials for alleged terrorists are housed. No hearings are scheduled this week.
Army Maj. Richard Morehouse, a spokesman for detention operations at the base, told The Associated Press that the lockups housing detainees "are capable of withstanding hurricane-force winds and rain."
Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Fay killed 23 people on the island of Hispaniola shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Nearly all were due to flooded rivers.
Meanwhile, the remnants of Fay brought heavy rain and winds from Georgia to Louisiana. Floridians were still mopping up floodwaters from a storm that stuck around for a week and made a historic four landfalls, dumping more than 30 inches of rain along the central Atlantic coast.
The National Weather Service said the vestiges of Fay would deluge northern Georgia, with 3 inches to 5 inches of rain expected in the Atlanta area and up to 8 inches in northeast Georgia. In Alabama, flash flood and tornado warnings were posted.
In Mexico, Tropical Depression Julio continued to weaken as it dumped rain on the central Baja California peninsula and the upper Gulf of California.
The National Hurricane Center said Julio was about 110 miles (180 kilometers) north-northwest of Santa Rosalia, Mexico, with sustained winds of about 30 mph.
For the latest information on Hurricane Gustav, visit the WTOK Online Hurricane Center.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Top Definition
A hate word used to refer to religious people. Usually refers to Christians. Commonly used on radical feminist and far left-wing websites and blogs.
Death to all godbags!
作者 fait accompli 2006年4月07日
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
Derogatory name for fundamentalist Christian, a play on "douche bag".
Do you believe that fucking god-bag spends his weekends protesting in front of the Woman's Health Center!
作者 KaiserKen 2008年12月07日


text:
- Report: #1005454
Report - Rebuttal - Arbitrate
Complaint Review: AVON
AVONInternet United States of America
AVON rips people off, and needs to be stopped! Internet
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One day I had recieved a phone call from AVON's collection agency, informing me I owed X amount of dollars and if I didn't pay it that day, then they were going to take me to court, so they told me that either I or my lawyer needed to contact them by 5 o'clock...so I contacted the lady at the agency and she told me that AVON would be wiling to settle for $98.00 and that would pay my account fully off. So I gave her my credit card number and paid it, and in return, I asked for a letter or email of confirmation, confirming that my account was paid off. Which by the way, i never recieved an email or letter stating that my account was paid off. All the proof I have is the bank statement.
Not even a week later, I was contacted once more by their collections agency, this time by someone completely different. Well, when I had initially "paid" my account off, I had written down the name of the rep that I had spoke with, along with the extension number, phone number etc. The new person contacting me, informed me that i still owed $114.00 and that I need to pay that immediately or legal action would be taken. I told him who i had talked to the week before, and he informed me that the rep I had spoke with was previously no longer with their company.
And i said "Well, that's unfortunate...however they were with your company at the time and that was what i was told, so I think you should honor that.". The new rep told me he would look into it and investigate it and would give me a call back, but if I needed to get in touch with him here's where I needed to call and his extension, so on and so forth. Well, needless to say I never got a hold of him again and still to this day i've no recieved a phone call from the collection agency. This has been almost two years ago.
I gave AVON a call today and they informed me that since they passed my account on to their collection agency, they were unable to pull up any information on my account. I spoke to two different people, and i will admit I got pretty hot headed with the second person i talked to, and told them it must be nice to milk and cheat people for all the money they can, and that they needed to get a new collection agency because theirs sucked.
All I want to do, is pay my bill off (If i still owe them something), and be done with them. I leave them alone, they leave me alone. My biggest fear is that they'll come back at me in like 14 years and say "Oh, well, you also owe us 25% interest, on top of what you owed AVON"....what's the solution here? Can anyone help me?
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 01/29/2013 11:13 AM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/AVON/internet/AVON-rips-people-off-and-needs-to-be-stopped-Internet-1005454. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
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text:
SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C. — Gray Baird passed away July 18, 1995, in Surfside Beach.
Gray was born June 23, 1914, in Caribou, Maine, the son of Newcome and Rose Baird. He was employed at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard as a machinist.
Gray enjoyed swimming and was a sports enthusiast.
He is survived by his daughter, Janice Darling of Shapleigh, Maine, as well as several great-grandchildren.
He was predeceased by a son, Robert, and daughter, Patricia.
Gray's wife, Myrtle, died Monday, Dec. 31, 2012, and his wishes were to have a service when she passed away.
SERVICES: The funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 5, at the Farrell Funeral Home, 684 State St., Portsmouth.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) recently
launched a 3-year project to study ways to better incorporate educational
outcomes assessment into the residency review process. The long-term goal
of the project is to develop accreditation procedures that take into account
not only whether residency programs provide residents with adequate opportunities
to learn but also whether a program's residents actually develop into competent
patient care providers and professionals. The ACGME believes that this project
will lead to better ways to measure the quality of graduate medical education.
The ACGME is responsible for evaluating the quality of the 7619 residency
programs in the United States and Puerto Rico. The ACGME delegates accrediting
authority to 27 Residency Review Committees. The Residency Review Committees
conduct the evaluations within their specialty and/or subspecialties. Traditionally,
accreditation reviews have focused on process and structure variables, such
as availability of facilities and equipment, number of faculty, conferences
held, and rotations offered. This project will look into changing the reviews
to put more emphasis on outcomes.
For outcomes assessment to be truly useful, we must first determine
precisely what should be learned and measured as educational outcomes. The
changes in our nation's health system have created the need to examine whether
what residents are learning during residency is sufficient to provide care
in an environment where some stakeholders advocate evidence-based, cost-effective,
patient-centered care as a new standard. As part of its project, the ACGME
will consider the emerging needs of our health system and will identify the
general competencies that should be better developed during residency training
to address those needs. The ACGME will also continue to ensure that residents
receive specialty-specific knowledge and skills. Among the general competencies
we are examining are knowledge, skills, and attitudes pertaining to medical
informatics, professionalism, evidence-based decision making, medical ethics,
interpersonal communication, teamwork, continuous quality improvement, and
practice management in diverse health systems and settings.
Outcomes assessment will be most valuable if the results provide evidence
that residents have attained essential patient care and related professional
competencies and if the results offer feedback that will help improve the
performance of individual residents and residency programs. Currently, the
only outcome measure used by most Residency Review Committees to judge the
quality of a residency program is residents' aggregate performance on certification
board examinations, and the most commonly used method of assessing clinical
skills during training is global ratings on categories of clinical performance,
both of which fall short in one or more ways. For example, board examinations
test clinical knowledge and cognitive skills but not clinical performance.
Global ratings assess clinical performance but provide no specific feedback
to improve performance.
The ACGME project will attempt to identify other assessment methods
to supplement those currently used. Among the methods to be examined are ratings
tied to specific patient encounters, ratings of patient satisfaction, objective-structured
clinical examinations, graduates' perceptions of the adequacy of their education,
and possibly, practice patterns.
As the ACGME proceeds with its study, we will be seeking input from
different groups. We want to gather resident physicians' perceptions regarding
competencies they will need in the future, the effectiveness of current educational
practices for inculcating competencies, the effectiveness of assessment tools
for evaluating learning and providing useful feedback, and how best to use
outcomes data to improve the quality of residency education. We will gather
residents' input on these issues through short surveys and discussion forums
conducted with selected participants in residency programs and professional
We look forward to obtaining your viewpoints.
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text:
Now that shes here I'm so stressed and unhappy. This morning I actually wondered what it would be like if I died. Hello obvious warning sign. I felt great until I started back on the pill
Since then my hormones have been awful and I just cry every day and am so depressed.
I'm going to call my Dr and see if I can get back on meds. I cant feel like this anymore. I just feel like such a failure.
I would love to hear some encouragement...


text:
Order Reprints
Journal: Molecules, 2011
Volume: 16
Number: 8601
Article: The Protective Effects of Silymarin against Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity and Hepatotoxicity in Rats
Authors: Aleksandar Rašković, Nebojša Stilinović, Jovanka Kolarović, Velibor Vasović, Saša Vukmirović and Momir Mikov
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text:
MIAMI -- The president was on the stage. The president of Stanford, that is: John Hennessy. He was joined by Condoleezza Rice, the former U.S. secretary of state who now teaches at the school.
Across the platform, which had been erected on the field of Sun Life Stadium for the Orange Bowl trophy presentation, was football coach Jim Harbaugh.
And behind him? Several dozen of the happiest football players you've ever seen.
"That was a blast," said fullback Owen Marecic. "An absolute blast."
Yes, but a lot of Luck was also involved. A whole lot of Luck.
Stanford won the Orange Bowl game here Monday night by the dominant score of 40-12 over Virginia Tech. And more than half of those 40 points were produced by the right arm of Andrew Luck, the Cardinal quarterback who threw four touchdown passes and solidified his standing as the presumptive No. 1 pick in the NFL draft -- that is, unless he decides to stay in school and complete his eligibility.
In fact, you wondered if Hennessy and Rice might make a personal plea to Luck with the idea of persuading him to stick around on campus. Rice said she would defer.
"I think Andrew has his parents and his good judgment," Rice said with a smile. "I'll leave it to him. He's a wonderful young man and a wonderful example of what a college athlete can be."
Virginia Tech had no comment.
Stanford may not be the best college team in the country, although you wouldn't count out its chances to beat Oregon or Auburn -- the two teams meeting in next week's national championship -- if the game were played on a neutral field. However, in the third quarter Monday, with all due respect to Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton of Auburn, Luck proved he is the best college quarterback on earth.
In the first half, he had hardly been perfect. Before the kickoff, when Harbaugh was asked to describe Luck's personality, the coach chose an interesting comparison: "He's like a dolphin -- you know, it's really smart but always having fun."
In the first two quarters, that quote was quite appropriate -- because Luck seemed to be floundering and swimming in the first half. He was sacked once, just the seventh time all season that had occurred. Luck also threw a rare interception.
Finally, in the most preposterous development, Luck was backed up in his own end zone and threw a pass that was somehow batted back into the hands of Stanford offensive tackle Derek Hall behind the goal line. It counted as a safety.
In typical dolphinesque style, though, Luck didn't get angry. He got amused.
"I thought it was good athletic instincts by Derek," Luck said with a chuckle, "but just at the wrong time. Football can be a very funny game. The ball bounces in funny ways. You've just got to go with it and there's no point in getting emotionally hijacked over it."
That quote -- and that attitude -- explains why the pro scouts love Luck so much. The response to the safety came to mind early in the second half when once more, Stanford was backed up on its own 3-yard line. This time, Luck led the Cardinal on a 97-yard touchdown drive. In just two plays. The second was a 41-yard touchdown pass to tight end Coby Fleener.
"I think we got a lot of confidence after that two-play drive," Luck said. "At that point we knew our stuff was working, that we could go out there and play and it would be tough to stop us."
On the first three offensive drives of the second half, Luck completed eight of nine passes for 162 yards on three drives that led to three touchdowns.
My goodness. To see better Stanford football than this, you had to be at least 71 years old. Because with a 12-1 record, it is the school's best since the undefeated 1940 team.
The game plan Monday, though, was both complicated and simple. The complicated part was the way that Harbaugh and his coaches fiddled with their formations to try to fool defenders and get them going in the wrong direction. The simple part was that once Stanford began gashing the right side of Virginia Tech's defensive line with power blasts and counter plays, it allowed Luck to fake handoffs and find wide-open pass catchers.
"It worked out well for us," Fleener said.
Not only that, but Stanford accomplished all this against a defensive unit that is traditionally vaunted for its prowess in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Cardinal's 40 points were the most allowed by Virginia Tech since early in the 2007 season -- a span of 52 games.
Naturally, much attention afterward was focused not just on Luck's future but also on the plans of Harbaugh, who is being pursued as a head coach by several pro teams and reportedly by the University of Michigan, his alma mater. Neither Luck nor Harbaugh was eager to talk about any of it.
"I don't want to make an impulsive decision," Luck said after the game about his pro prospects. "I'll enjoy this as long as I can."
Then he joked: "I think there are a lot of worse decisions you might have to make in life."
Harbaugh all but bristled when the topic was brought up in a postgame interview session: "Give me a break. You know, have some respect for the game. It's about the performance tonight of these players and I love them. Let's talk about them. It's all about now."
OK, so here is the "now" report: Stanford may never see the likes of this again. A blast indeed.
Contact Mark Purdy at firstname.lastname@example.com or 408-920-5092.


text:
Will state follow Detroit into peril?
As we take a look at the grim economic situation that has caused Detroit to file for public bankruptcy, we believe a significant contributor was the underfunding of Detroit's pension program over the years. Pension funding and retiree benefits are, in many instances, the largest portion of a given municipality's or state's budget. Underfunding this part of any budget puts at jeopardy the solvency of the respective governing body and the economic health of the city or state under its purview.
Connecticut could face a similar situation. Although we have the appropriate funding levels for our defined-benefit pension program for the current 50,000 employees and 50,000 retirees, we don't have an equivalent funding mechanism for other post-employment benefits.
Read more of this story and more!
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text:
MAR 21, 2014 - New York Times
A Must Read - Share
The court was unmoved by defense lawyers' arguments that poverty was the reason the men assaulted a call-center worker.
Editor's Picks
Hey you have no friends!!! Get to work and start inviting friends to help build your Comunitee. Click Here to invite friends.
© 2011 Comunitee, Inc.


text:
- Report: #736235
Report - Rebuttal - Arbitrate
Complaint Review: pc care 247
pc care 247Internet United States of America
pc care 247 Bullying, Scare Tactics, Unreliable, Scam Artists Internet
Ripoff Report
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on the Internet.
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Click here now..
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Fix it the right way.
Corporate Advocacy Program™
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 06/02/2011 09:27 PM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/pc-care-247/internet/pc-care-247-Bullying-Scare-Tactics-Unreliable-Scam-Artists-Internet-736235. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
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text:
|Movie Name
|Viewing Progress
|Run Length
|Hot Tub Time Machine
|99 min
Hot Tub Time Machine: What Color Is Mi
- Fecha al aire:
- HOT TUB TIME MACHINE follows a group of best friends who've become bored with their adult lives: Adam (John Cusack) has been dumped by his girlfriend; Lou (Rob Corddry) is a party guy who can't find the party; Nick's (Craig Robinson) wife controls his every move; and video game-obsessed Jacob (Clark Duke) won't leave his basement. After a crazy night of drinking in a ski resort hot tub, the men wake up, heads pounding, in the year 1986. This is their chance to kick some past and change their futures, one will find a new love life, one will learn to stand up for himself with the ladies, one will find his mojo, and one will make sure he still exists!
Also Available Online MásEsconder
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text:
We Wear the Mask
by Paul Laurence Dunbar
We Wear the Mask Introduction
In A Nutshell
Times were tough in America during the turn of the century (before the days of Netflix and Slurpees). Lots of changes were occurring, and many folks had a difficult time coming to terms with them. Black Americans in particular found themselves caught in a culture that appeared somewhat better than it had been before and during the Civil War. But the fact of the matter was: things just weren't so peachy.
Paul Lawrence Dunbar's poem, first published in Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896), is a reaction to the racial climate of the late nineteenth century. He talks about hypocrisy, deception, and the fact that black Americans often resorted to seeming content with their social circumstances. But behind all that seeming, though, is just a bunch of lies trying to cover up the fact that they were feeling pretty rotten and unable to talk about their feelings in an honest way.
So what we get in "We Wear the Mask" is a lyrical exploration of all that pretending and the truth that hides behind it. And since the truth is a rather painful one, we get the sense that all of those masks aren't doing such a great job of covering things up.
By now you're probably thinking that Dunbar's work is going to leave you feeling really angry or really sad. But there's a silver lining to this poem, as difficult as it may be to find. Dunbar was one of the first to create a more objective perspective of what was going on in American culture. In other words, he kind of took a step back and looked at things in a less personal, less emotional way, making "We Wear the Mask" applicable to all sorts of people and circumstances. By doing that, he opened up the world of poetic interpretation in a much more universal way. And we at Shmoop (along with many other folks) thank him for that.
Why Should I Care?
Paul Lawrence Dunbar is considered to be the first major black poet in America. He helped pave the way for the artists of the Harlem Renaissance that came later in the 1920s. And more importantly, he was one of the few African Americans of his time speaking honestly about the hypocrisy he saw around him.
All of that took a lot of guts, since it was pretty dangerous back then for black Americans to speak out about white supremacy and social injustices. Those guts became a major inspiration, not just for the artists that came after him, but also for folks in America (both black and white) who needed a good dose of reality.
So, as you read "We Wear the Mask," consider not only the courage that came with writing it but also the message that we can still apply to today's culture. After all, it's not like somebody suddenly waved a magic wand and made all of the prejudices and hypocrisies of the world disappeared. These kinds of problems are still around today, and if folks don't speak up about them, none of us can really expect to see them change, right?


text:
Once a month, we get together to have drinks, chat, network, and geek
out with fellow information architects, librarians, usability experts,
user experience designers, and other like-minded user-centered
professionals and students. It's open to anyone, so bring a friend --
especially those in other local organizations! The format will be
casual, but all are encouraged to bring something to discuss -- recent
work, an interesting topic, or even your resume. This event is
organized by the Pacific Northwest chapter of the American Society for
Information Science & Technology.
This month, we'll be meeting at The District Lounge at Hotel Deca in
the University District, as the Elysian Pub will be closed on January
What: Seattle Monthly Information Architecture Meetup
When: Thursday, January 10, 7-10 PM
Where: The District Lounge at Hotel Deca, 4507 Brooklyn Ave NE Seattle, WA 98105
See you there!
Aaron Louie
User Experience Architect, ZAAZ
Chair, ASIS&T Pacific Northwest Chapter


text:
Continue reading 'What is Vans fall/winter 2010 OTW Collection!'
Continue reading 'What is the BAPE Spring 2010 Look Book featuring Kanye West!'
"I only make records when I feel I have something to say. I'm not interested in releasing music just for the sake of selling something. Sade is not a brand." – Sade Adu
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As your professional dry cleaner, we specialize in caring for your suede and leather garments. After inspecting each garment thoroughly before cleaning, we pre-treat any soiled areas or special stains. Our skilled staff treat colors and dyes very carefully, spraying areas with special conditioners to keep your suede and leather garments looking bright and fresh. If you care for your suede and leather garments using the tips on (the fabricare page under Leather & Suede page), we can help you keep your leather and suede garments looking fresh and beautiful for many years.
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text:
Today's comic brought to you by the pursuit of knowledge (and the lack of something good on TV). FYI all of the questions were from today's episode of Jeopardy!
My new minicomics are now up for sale at the Etsy shop!
Bygone/Obsolete (a flip comic) contains a short western called Bygone, as well as my sci-fi story, Obsolete.
Fourty-Five Fat Birds is a mini collecting the first 45 Fat Bird strips!
Have a look-see and maybe grab one or two!
You can also read Bygone in its entirety over here.
I will be half-tabling at Canzine on Sunday, October 20th!
I'll have my Werebears minicomics, a Fat Bird mini, and a new flip mini with my new Sci-Fi tale, Obsolete, and my almost finished cowboy short comic, Bygone.
Fellow TO comics buddies Keith Mclean and Kelly Bastow will be there along with so many other folks it's gonna be pretty great. Look at this awesome poster:
The fine folks at The Scope used my illustration for the cover of the summer issue!
Be sure to pick one up if you're in the St. John's area during July and August.
My entry for the Strip Search Elimination Home Edition! Here's my 90 minute take on creation + morality.
I painted this birdhouse from the dollar store for an upcoming fundraiser at Eastern Edge Gallery, Primp My Nest (which I originally read as pimp my nest).
The paint job is inspired by the old Fisher Price toy house.
The auction and party take place on Sunday, June 9th, 8:00 to 11pm at Eastern Edge Gallery, 72 Harbour Drive, St. John's, NL.
Hi! I've got some new paintings headed for the Leyton Gallery for their new show, Celebration of Colour.
It's also the gallery's 10th Anniversary! The opening is on Saturday, May 11th from 12 to 5 and runs until June 16th.
There will also be work from Philippa Jones, John Green, Mike Pittman, Bonnie Leyton, Malin Enstrom, Peter Jackson, John MacCallum, Jonathan O'Dea, Andrea Pottyondy, Anita Singh, and Louise Sutton.
And here's a little review from The Telegram.
The finalists have been announced in the "Evolution of Abe Sapien" art contest at Multiversity Comcis, so I can post up my entry now. I had so much fun drawing something like this. I was glad to come up with an idea in the first place. Click for a better look!


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Grandparents and Autism Education
In recognition of National Grandparents Day, on September 11th Autism Speaks is celebrating the grandparent connection in families affected by autism. During the month of September, we are asking grandparents to share your experiences, so that other grandparents across the country can benefit from your knowledge and the road you have traveled.
How did you educate yourself about autism? Did you find any books particularly helpful? How about websites? A community group or agency? What can you recommend to other grandparents to help them get up-to-date and be well informed?
Countdown to CARA: On to the Senate!
September 7 was an important day for the nation's autism community as Congress began the effort to renew the landmark 2006 Combating Autism Act. By unanimous voice vote, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee moved S.1094, a bill which would renew the act for another three years, out of committee and on to the full Senate for a floor vote. While an important step, the HELP vote was just the first of several that Congress will need to complete by September 30 when the law expires.
To keep up the momentum, it is important that advocates urge those U.S. Senators who have yet to cosponsor S.1094, the Combating Autism Reauthorization Act (CARA), to do so immediately. Nearly a third of the Senate has signed on to the bill, including five new cosponsors this week, but we need more. Visit our CARA Action Center to learn how.
Getting the bill voted out of the HELP committee required that a quorum of 12 Senators were in attendance. An intensive grassroots efforts by Autism Speaks through the Labor Day weekend helped ensure that 14 members attended and all voted to approve the bill for consideration by the full Senate. When that vote will occur is uncertain.
In the U.S. House of Representatives, the CARA bill (HR.2005) similarly must first move out of the Energy & Commerce Committee before it can go to a full vote on the House floor. But before the committee acts, it must receive confirmation from Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), as the House Majority Leader, that he will allow the bill to go to a floor vote. Autism Speaks has launched a radio ad campaign in Rep. Cantor's home district (Richmond-Harrisonburg) encouraging him to support CARA. Leader Cantor was a co-sponsor of the 2006 CAA, serves on the Congressional Autism Caucus and has attended Walk Now for Autism Speaks events in the past.
The original 2006 act authorized nearly $1 billion of federal spending through 2011 on biomedical and treatment research on autism. CARA would continue funding at current levels, authorizing $693 million over the next three years, without adding to the federal debt. The 2006 law was critical by establishing autism as a national health priority. Federal funding was increased by virtue of the 2006 law, leading to significant advances in the understanding of autism. The CAA required the federal government to develop a strategic plan to expand and better coordinate the nation's support for persons with autism and their families. Important research findings have resulted, critical studies are underway and promising new interventions have been developed for children with autism, helping them to lead more independent lives, thereby reducing the need for publicly funded special education and social services.
Once a final bill is voted out of Congress, it goes to President Obama who has promised to sign a reauthorization bill this year. ALL of these steps must be completed by September 30 when the original act expires. To track the progress of the CARA legislation, visit the CARA home page at Autism Votes.
Countdown to CARA: Step One on Sept. 7
With just a month to go, time is running short for Congress to renew the landmark Combating Autism Act of 2006. A critical first step arrives Wednesday September 7 when the U.S. Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee takes up S.1094, the Combating Autism Reauthorization Act of 2011(CARA.)
It is essential that a sufficient number of committee members attend the September 7 meeting and then vote to send the CARA bill on to the full Senate for a floor vote. Visit our CARA Champions page here to:
1) find out if your Senator is a member of the HELP Committee
2) make sure they have RSVP'd to attend this critical hearing and
3) find out how to encourage them to RSVP if they have not.
Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives must also vote its version of the CARA bill (HR.2005) out of the Energy & Commerce Committee and on to a floor vote. Once these steps are taken, the House and the Senate must agree on a final version of the CARA bill before it can be sent to President Obama for his signature. This is a lot of work! And it all has to get done by September 30!
Why is this so important? The enactment of the Combating Autism Act (CAA) in 2006 was an historic moment for our community as it has guided the federal government's response to the staggering rise in autism across the United States. Because of the CAA, Congress was able to invest nearly $1 billion in federal resources through 2011 on biomedical and treatment research on autism. The law required the federal government to develop a strategic plan to expand and better coordinate the nation's support for persons with autism and their families. Important research findings have resulted and critical studies are underway. Promising new interventions are making a difference in our children's lives. For more CAA success stories, click here.
The CARA bill is sponsored in the Senate (S.1094) by Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Michael Enzi (R-WY,) and in the U.S. House of Representatives (HR.2005) by Congressmen Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Mike Doyle (D-PA.) CARA would continue the work started under the CAA for another three years and authorize Congress to dedicate another $693 million exclusively to autism research and treatment. To date, 23 other Senators and 61 House members have signed on as cosponsors, and President Obama has promised to sign a reauthorization bill this year.
Visit our CARA Action Center to find if your Senators and Representative are cosponsors. If they are not cosponsors, find out how you can get them to sign on.
Since the original Combating Autism Act was approved in 2006 with near-unanimous support in Congress and signed into law by then President George W. Bush, the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) has risen to 1 in 110 American children – including 1 in 70 boys. An estimated 1.5 million individuals in the U.S. are affected by autism, and government statistics suggest the prevalence rate is increasing 10-17 percent annually. America clearly must step up its response to autism. The responsibility lies with Congress and the answer is passing CARA.
SPECIAL NEEDS LIFE QUALITY COACHING: A New Support for Families
This is a guest post by Dr. Krysti DeZonia, a founding member of TERI (Training, Education, and Research Institute) and the CEO of the International Association for Life Quality.
Let's start with a basic fact: Parents with kids who have autism need more help.
We simply aren't able to access the degree of support we need in order to help our children, and ourselves, lead happy and fulfilling lives. We are stressed, tired, and looking for answers that don't seem to be available to us. It is, without question, time for a new model of family support.
We think we have at least part of the answer: Special Needs Life Quality Coaching.
For the uninformed, a Life Coach is someone who is trained to help you meet goals that you have been unable to attain without some help. A Life Coach will assist you in designing an action plan to change careers, recharge your love life, or earn your first million. They hang with you until you reach your goals.
After 30 years, when looking for a way to formalize our support for parents and expand it worldwide, Life Coaches came immediately to mind. Upon further research, we found—to our great surprise—that no one is providing specific training to people so they can serve families whose children have special needs. We closed this gap by designing, and offering, online Special Needs Life Quality Coach training.
Given that this is a completely new career path, we were uncertain whether our idea would, in reality, meet the unmet needs of families and individuals with autism and other special needs. We also weren't sure who would be interested in taking the class and in starting a private practice in this field. Here's what we have learned.
Almost every family we talk with is interested in having access to a Special Needs Life Quality coach. There isn't a need for too much explanation—they get it.
Our class is offered online and designed for working people, so anyone living anywhere can take it. The hours are flexible, and the class gives students opportunities to have direct experience with families and their children or adults as well as with their local service delivery system. By the end of the 16-week course, they have learned valuable coaching skills, have forms and other tools for documenting their progress, and are able to access follow-up support when they need it.
We also weren't sure who would take our classes. We have found that our students come from all walks of life, but are primarily professionals who already have a private practice and want to extend it (financial planners, attorneys, psychologists, etc.), educators, and parents or other family members. These are all people who see an unmet need and are anxious to fill it.
How hard has it been for coaches to find families who want their services? Not hard. One of our coaches, Ben, had 16 interested clients after he posted a notice on a local autism forum—way more people than he could handle. He specializes in helping individuals with autism develop social circles that will, hopefully, grow into friendships. He's having great success so far.
Our dream is that the help of a Special Needs Life Quality Coach will soon be as available to families and individuals with autism as is speech or occupational therapy. Spread the word.
If you want to learn more about Special Needs Life Quality Coaching classes or services, go to www.teriinc.org/ialq or call 760-721-1706.
Dr. Krysti DeZonia is a founding member of TERI (Training, Education, and Research Institute-www.teriinc.org) and is the CEO of the International Association for Life Quality. You can follow her blog at www.QandAwithDrK.com.
What makes a community a good place to live?
Simple conversation often provides our organization with valuable insight into the lives of our families, their triumphs, struggles, issues impacting their lives and helps us understand how to better serve the autism community's needs. That's why we took the conversation one step forward and conducted Autism Speaks' very first online "Community Survey." Designed as a "conversation starter," the survey explored why their community is, or is not, a good place to live if you have autism. We asked if they were happy with the availability of services in their community, and specifically explored access to medical and clinical care including diagnosis, therapeutic services, educational services in public and private schools, inclusive or adaptive recreation and respite for families and caregivers.
We wanted to hear from all corners of the country, from people with autism, their parents, siblings, clinicians, therapists and anyone else with perspective on this issue — and the response could not have been better. Almost 1500 people engaged in the survey which was open for a three week period and more than 800 members of the autism community in the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia completed the survey. Thanks to everyone's input, we came away with a wealth of opinions, personal experiences and information that has allowed us to identify the best communities to live in if you have autism. More importantly we heard what characteristics are valued by our families that make a community livable. We encourage everyone take a look at the rankings, which were just announced today, and see if your community made the list. We also want to know your thoughts on the issues presented in the survey to keep this vital conversation moving forward and in the public spotlight. To view the results of the Autism Speaks Community Survey, please click here.
In Their Own Words – Public vs. Private School Debate: Do the Math
This "In Their Own Words," is written by Glen Finland. She is the author of "Next Stop," a memoir about raising her autistic son to adulthood and learning to let go.
Last year my autistic adult son David wrapped up twenty years of education, ten of them spent in private school, the other half in public school. And, hindsight being 20-20, here's what educating a high functioning autistic son like David taught me. It's simple mathematics: Send your kid to public school and keep your money in your wallet. You're going to need it for what happens next—because what happens next is the rest of his life.
Parents of a young adult with special needs face an unending management of another person's life over the decades ahead: housing, transportation, insurance, clothing, food, job coaching, medical expenses, and, of course, quality of life expenses like entertainment, vacations, and even pets. Think of how far the tuition fee of a single year of private school could go toward taking care of some of these expenses down the road. Now multiply that figure by twenty. The numbers will tell you if it's a wise investment.
In public school with a good IEP, the services are free. They should be; you've already paid for them with your taxes. Your child will also learn in less of an isolated bubble—and yes—be forced to toughen up a bit by facing the real world struggles of life in the quicker moving mainstream. Don't expect runaway success there. In fact, be prepared for regular bouts of failure. But no matter how painful the lesson, down the road your child will be that much better equipped for the the daily slights he's sure to incur—those careless, casual assaults on his spirit that he will face simply for being differently abled.
For example, it has come to my attention that my 23-year old son is now a heavy tipper. These days he drives a 54-mile roundtrip each day to his job as a custodian at a federal office building outside the nation's capital. He's a good driver, but when he stops off for coffee along the way, he might pull out a $20 bill to pay for a single cup of java, then walk away. His generosity is not because he's got such deep pockets; it's because he wants to avoid the impossible math involved in the exchange and, even more, the eye contact that goes along with it. Whose pocket that leftover chunk of change ends up in is totally dependent upon the scruples of the particular cashier. It took me months to figure out where all his change was going and how to remedy the situation with a few five dollar bills, but these are the kind of real world surprises that continue to sneak up on us every day. This reminds me to be careful about who I allow to "keep the change" when it comes to planning ahead for my son's future.
You know, it's true what mothers have always said about the time with our children: "The days go by like years, and the years go by like days." So go ahead and let your child ride the big yellow public school bus for now. It'll do him no harm. And that way he can count on your really being there for him once school lets out for good.
"In Their Own Words" is a series within the Autism Speaks blog which shares the voices of people who have autism, as well as their loved ones. If you have a story you wish to share about your personal experience with autism, please send it to email@example.com. Autism Speaks reserves the right to edit contributions for space, style and content. Because of the volume of submissions, not all can be published on the site.


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The industrial sector consists of manufacturing, construction, mining, agriculture, and forestry organizations. Energy used by this sector to transport products to market or inputs to the organizations is included in the transportation sector.
Using an equivalent measure of million British thermal units (Btu), the graph below compares the prices of fuel. The prices are also in nominal dollars to provide a better comparison. In 2013, the highest price was for lubricants at $69.42 per million Btu. The price of petroleum products in the 'other petroleum' category was $32.31 (see definition in next paragraph), motor gasoline was $28.85, kerosene was $26.68, diesel fuel was $24.93, electricity was $21.81, propane was $20.82, asphalt and road oil was $10.27, natural gas was $4.55, wood and waste was $1.84, and coal was $1.80. There were no consumption, prices, or expenditures reported for residual fuel.
Other petroleum products include sixteen (16) separate products, all of which are assigned to the industrial sector. The sixteen products are: aviation gasoline blending components; crude oil; motor gasoline blending components; natural gasoline, including isopentane; pentanes plus; petrochemical feedstocks, naphtha; petrochemical feedstocks, other oils; petrochemical feedstocks, still gas; petroleum coke; plant condensate; special naphthas; still gas; unfinished oils; unfractionated streams; waxes; and miscellaneous. Miscellaneous products vary from inexpensive (absorption oils similar to kerosene) to very expensive (hydraulic fluids) products. The greater part of the miscellaneous product line consists of finished petrochemicals, especially the aromatic hydrocarbons: benzene, toluene, and the xylenes.
The price for ethanol is not tracked, and there are no direct fuel costs for hydroelectric, geothermal, wind, photovoltaic, or solar thermal energy, so no prices were reported.


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Interdisciplinary. Community. Advocacy. Humor.
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Jewelry/Metals/Enameling (JME) program at Kent State University is pleased to announce that we are now accepting applications for Fall 2016. This is an exciting time for Kent State JME as we have recently moved into our BRAND NEW studios in the NEW Center for the Visual Arts.…Continue
Hi Demi,
I just walked in the door and wanted to let you know that I had a wonderful time with you and the other graduates. It was a really rewarding experience for me and I am so glad that you all asked me to come. Love the image of you looking through a glass form--strong image. I will check out your blog too. Miss you guys already and looking forward to seeing you at SNAG.


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Links to Zinc: Nutrition Expert Finds Tie Between Trace Mineral, Birth Weights
When Dr. Yasmin Neggers began her latest study of how zinc levels in expectant mothers affect birth weight – a key factor in infant mortality – she hoped for a significant outcome.
Imagine her and her associates' surprise upon finding that low blood zinc levels in expectant mothers increased the risk of low birth weight by approximately eight times.
These results may be significant for states like Alabama where infant mortality rates are above the national average. Some of this state's counties have infant mortality rates higher than that of some third-world countries where residents' overall health status is poor.
Zinc, a trace mineral found naturally in the body, was known to aid in cell development and growth. Higher levels of zinc are promoted by a healthy, balanced diet including meats, dairy and whole grains. However, there was little research that directly linked zinc to specific growth outcomes, and scientists are still debating the healthy levels of trace elements needed in the human body.
"At the time that I began working on my dissertation, research on zinc was just emerging yet no one knew for sure how essential it was for humans," says Neggers, professor of human nutrition and hospitality management at The University of Alabama. "The link between zinc and cell growth was in the news, some research was already done that implied zinc was maybe linked to low birth weight, and I knew that low birth weight in Alabama was a big problem."
The Problem
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, a baby has low birth weight when he or she weighs less than 2,500 grams or 5 pounds, 8 ounces. One in 14 babies born in the U.S. is affected, and Alabama is above the national rate with about one in ten cases. Those numbers have not significantly declined in Alabama since the mid-1980s, especially among African-American women and women of low-income backgrounds.
Low birth weight babies are at increased risk for serious health problems, including underdeveloped lungs and death. While recent advances in newborn medical care have greatly reduced the number of low birth weight deaths, a small percentage of survivors develop mental retardation, learning problems, cerebral palsy, and vision and hearing loss.
So Neggers began searching, in partnership with Drs. Robert Goldenberg and William Andrews of the University of Alabama at Birmingham department of obstetrics and gynecology, for a tangible link between the cell-building trace mineral and birth weight.
The Research
The research conducted by Neggers and her UAB associates came following a series of previous studies the UA College of Human Environmental Sciences faculty member had conducted. In the latest effort, the researchers focused on the populations that seemed most affected by low birth weight.
"Women of low socio-economic status are more likely to have lower levels of zinc intake and zinc blood levels," says Neggers. "Also, it is unclear why, but African-Americans tend to have lower birth weights than Caucasians. So, we looked in populations where low birth weight was more common and low intake of zinc might also be common."
The participants of the study were expectant mothers visiting the women's health clinic at UAB. They came from the Black Belt of Alabama and the areas around UAB.
"The women visiting that clinic were from low-income backgrounds and had no other healthcare. This made following our subjects convenient since they attended this clinic throughout pregnancy," says Neggers.
In previous work, Neggers found a correlation between blood zinc levels and birth weight while analyzing blood taken from women throughout pregnancy. The latest results not only supported the original assumption, but extended it.
"We separated the blood zinc levels into four quartiles, lowest to highest. We were surprised to find that after adjusting for other factors associated with low birth weight, women having low blood zinc levels, compared to women with normal zinc levels, were eight times more likely to give birth to low birth weight babies. We expected that maybe the prevalence of low birth weight would be somewhat higher, but not eight times," says Neggers. "We became more interested since low birth weight is a major predictor of infant mortality."
For the current study, Neggers and her associates conducted a clinical trial to find if supplementing zinc affects birth weight.
"It was a double blind trial. We gave 30 mg of supplemental zinc to indigent women. The groups were randomized with the only variable being one group got minerals and vitamins, and the other group got minerals and vitamins, plus a zinc supplement. We then followed them for nine months, each woman returning to the clinic four times throughout pregnancy. We measured their blood levels and dietary intake, and kept account of whatever else they were doing," says Neggers. "We found that there were significant differences in their birth weight."
All other factors in both groups – including age, race, socio-economic status and dietary zinc levels – were the same. The only difference in the groups was the addition of a zinc supplement. The group that received the zinc supplement gave birth to babies 150 grams (about 5.3 ounces) heavier than the babies of the group not receiving the supplement.
"That difference may not seem like a lot, but having low birth weight is weighing less than 2,500 grams (5 pounds, 8 ounces)," says Neggers. "For small infants, 150 grams really make a difference. We also found, interestingly, that thinner women with low blood zinc levels who took the zinc supplement had a better result – up to 250 grams increase in the baby's weight. A 10 percent increase is very good."
The Next Step
Fortunately, it has become standard practice in the U.S. to advise expectant mothers of the importance in taking prenatal vitamins. Neggers says taking the vitamins and minerals recommended by a doctor will adequately cover the needed dosage to encourage healthier birth weights. However, not everyone has access, whether those limitations involve finances, insurance coverage or lack of knowledge.
"This research is of most importance to those Alabama counties and other countries where zinc intake is low to begin with and women are not given multivitamins during pregnancy," says Neggers. "But if you are at high risk of having low zinc levels due to a factor like poor diet, then taking a supplement is very important."


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About the Book
"[Lehane has] emerged from the whodunit ghetto as a broader and more substantial talent....When it comes to keeping readers exactly where he wants them, Mr. Lehane offers a bravura demonstration of how it's done."
—New York Times
Moonlight Mile is the first Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro suspense novel in more than a decade from the acclaimed, New York Times bestselling master of the new noir, Dennis Lehane. An explosive tale of vengeance and redemption—the brilliant sequel to Gone, Baby, Gone—Moonlight Mile returns Lehane's unforgettable and deeply human detective duo to the mean streets of blue collar Boston to investigate the second disappearance of Amanda McCready, now sixteen years old. After his remarkable success with Mystic River, Shutter Island, and The Given Day, the celebrated author whom the Washington Post praises as, "one of those brave new detective stylists who is not afraid of fooling around with the genre's traditions," returns to his roots—and the result, as always, is electrifying.
Amanda McCready was four years old when she vanished from her blue-collar Boston neighborhood. Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro risked everything to find her, only to orchestrate her return to a neglectful mother and broken home. Twelve years later, Amanda, now sixteen, is gone again.
Still haunted by their consciences, Kenzie and Gennaro must now revisit the nightmare that once tore them apart. Following the trail of a lost teenager into a world of identity thieves, methamphetamine dealers, and Russian gangsters, they once again put everything that matters to them on the line in pursuit of an answer to a troubling question: Is it possible to do the right thing and still be dead wrong?
Educator and Librarian Resources
Product Details
- Imprint: William Morrow Paperbacks
- On Sale: 04/10/2012
- Trimsize: 5.313 in (w) x 8 in (h) x 0.757 in (d)
- Pages: 336
- List Price: 14.99 USD
- BISAC1: FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General


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Half-Circle Six Ranches has been producing quality "Ranch Raised Dorpers" for over 15 years now. Let us help you get started raising Dorper sheep. With a flock of over 800 head of fullblood and commercial Dorper and White Dorper sheep we have sheep to fit any operation. We are experienced exporters and can arrange shipping for your Dorpers as well as offer consulting services once they arrive at your farm.
In addition to Dorper sheep we also offer trophy exotic hunting and consulting services for those wanting to start their own game ranch. We have been in the Exotic Game business for over 20 years and can offer our experience in the way of consulting services and exotic game sales to stock new game ranches.


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- Guide Rail, 304.8mm L, 36.8 mm W, 10.2 mm H Guide Rail,304.8mm L,36.8 mm W,10.2 mm H
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Think Tank Volume 1, one of the most intelligent comics on the market today, hits stores with the force of a two ton nuclear blast this week!
If you have been reading comics, but reading them in a cave, and have not heard of a little book called Think Tank, you have missed out on a master stroke conducted by co-creator/writer Matt Hawkins and co-creator/artist Rahsan Ekedal that injects a measure of intelligence and social commentary in comics that is missing quite a bit in modern graphic fiction.
The is the story of brilliant scientist, David Loren, who is conscripted by the government to design only the finest weapons of war. Yet, what happens when the moral divide cracks, and David decides that making weapons is no longer his cup of tea? Think Tank becomes a technology driven stealth adventure, as taut and realistic as any thriller on T.V. Excellent story crafted by Matt Hawkins and beautiful black, white, and gray art work by Rahsan Ekedal only engender a feeling of excitement when reading, and it has been the most fun comic on the shelves when it comes to reality based and scientifically researched graphic fiction.
The first trade paperback features an introduction by Larry Marder, a complete cover gallery, and "Science Class", and introspective look on a lot of scientific and military technology and terminology, as well as character dossiers. And don't forget, the first four issues of this thrilling foray into both military and scientific dramatics!
Think Tank Volume One is on sale at Amazon for 9.49 (a great deal) and directly from Top Cow Productions, as well as at comic shops and on comiXology. I highly recommend you check it out, and cannot wait to get my copy in the mail! Reading this collected edition may leave you wanting that issue five sooner than you "Think". As an added bonus, check out Top Cow's Think Tank video below! Ready to order now? Please use our Amazon link as part of the proceeds goto supporting comichype.com. Thanks!


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Once upon a time, Robin Hobb and I were having lunch.
We've known one another for many years now. She is one of the sweetest women I know and that, coupled with being a damn fine writer, has always made her one of my favorite people. We were talking about our upcoming projects. The conversation went something like this:
"I have a story," Robin said in all earnestness. "I'm not sure I should write it though. And that's all I'm going to say on that."
I grinned at her and let it be. I would never press a friend to reveal their innermost secrets. A few years later, in 2012, she expanded on that initial discussion: "Clearly, for some time, my publishers have wanted me to write a continuation of the Fitz and Fool story . It was my hope to work on such a story slowly, carefully and very privately. For years. Because if I do it badly or hastily, I will have ended my career."
That is a real concern for writers when working in the worlds they are best known for. But with the above video, it is clear to see Robin has decided to take that risk and the first book, The Fool's Assassin, has gotten to the point where she wants to talk about it—if only to announce it formally.
I decided to ask her a few questions, just to tease readers.
Here they are:
Shawn Speakman: THE FOOL'S ASSASSIN is the title of the first book in a new Fitz & Fool trilogy. What prompted you to return to their world?
Shawn Speakman: Did you find it easy to return to Fitz?
Shawn Speakman: When can readers expect THE FOOL'S ASSASSIN in stores?
UPDATE: The Fool's Assassin now has a tentative release date of August 2014!
There you have it. From one of the best writers working right now. The Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb will be published… sometime…
It's coming though.
Can't wait!
Shawn Speakman is the author of The Dark Thorn, an urban/epic fantasy hybrid novel bestselling author Terry Brooks calls, "a fine tale by a talented writer."
He is also editor and contributor of Unfettered, a fantasy anthology featuring some of the best writers in the genre. When Shawn isn't lying for a living, he runs The Signed Page and Grim Oak Press.


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ShakeCast References and Acknowledgements
- Fraser, W. A., D. J. Wald, and K-W. Lin (2007). Using ShakeMaps and ShakeCast to Prioritize Post-Earthquake Dam Inspections, Proceedings of the Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics Conference IV, Sacramento, CA.
- Lin, K.W., and Wald, D.J., 2008, ShakeCast manual: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2008Ł1158, 90 p.
- Wald, David J, and K. Lin (2007). USGS ShakeCast- Automating, Simplifying, and Improving the Use of ShakeMap for Post-Earthquake Decision Making , U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2007-3086, 6 pages.
- Wald, David J., K. Lin, K. Porter, and L. Turner (2008). ShakeCast: Automating and Improving the Use of ShakeMap for Post-Earthquake Decision-Making and Response, Earthquake Spectra, in review.
- Wald, D. J., B. C. Worden, V. Quitoriano, and K. L. Pankow (2005). ShakeMap Manual: Users Guide, Technical Manual, and Software Guide, USGS Open File Report, 131 pp.
- Wald, D. J., K. Lin, B. Worden, and L. Turner (2006). ShakeCast: Facilitating the Use of ShakeMap for Post-Earthquake Decision-Making and Response within Caltrans and other Critical Lifeline Communities, September 2006, Proceedings of the Fifth National Seismic Conference on Bridges & Highways, San Francisco
USGS contracted with Gatekeeper Systems, Inc., Pasadena, to help develop the prototype ShakeCast system (Version 1.0). Early funding for ShakeCast was provided by the USGS and the American Lifelines Alliance (ALA), and it is now supported by the USGS under the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS). Ongoing development is done in-house, with PHP consulting from Hungry Mind, Inc, in Boulder. Motivation and support for the development of ShakeCast (Version 2) was provided by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) under the guidance of Loren Turner.


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By Lori Newman, Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston Public AffairsDecember 14, 2012
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO -- Thirteen years ago, two young Soldiers met during combat medic training at Fort Sam Houston. More than a decade later, they returned for a very different reason.
Army Sgts. Ed and Karen Matayka are currently at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston because Ed is undergoing treatment at the Center for the Intrepid for injuries he received in Afghanistan.
Both Ed and Karen are medics with the Vermont National Guard's 186th Brigade Support Battalion.
The couple was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010, when the armored vehicle Ed was riding in struck a roadside bomb.
"I was on the same base that Ed was, but they didn't notify me right away because his injuries were so severe that they didn't expect him to survive his first surgery," Karen said. "They waited until five hours later to come get me, and tell me what had happened."
Both of Matayka's feet were blown off, he suffered multiple fractures in his back and a severe head injury.
"Ed was so unstable when he was wounded that they had a hard time getting him back stateside," Karen said quietly, remembering their long journey and how far they have come.
The trip took four days with Karen by his side. Their first stop was Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for a day and a half. Then he was transferred to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. because of his severe brain injury.
"We were at Bethesda for three months while he recovered," Karen said. "Half of that time he was in a coma."
"I would always hold on to the smallest little thing," she said thinking back to when Ed was in the beginning stages of his recovery process.
"When Ed was in the coma he was on a ventilator. I would check to see what rate they had him breathing at. Then I would check his actual physical rate. He was always over breathing the ventilator, so I knew he was breathing on his own," Karen said.
"That tiny piece of information gave me hope to know he was going to get better.
"The first two weeks were touch-and-go. Then we started to notice little pieces of Ed emerging from the coma. His personality was coming through even though he was just laying there," Karen said.
The doctor's tried to get Ed's spinal fractures to heal naturally, but he wasn't getting enough nutrients while he was in the coma, so he ended up having spinal fusion surgery three months after his injury.
Following the spinal surgery, Ed went to Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Va. for six months for his brain injury rehabilitation.
"We met with his primary care doctor toward the end of his rehab there," she said.
The doctor told the couple that he didn't think Ed would ever walk again.
"We fought really hard to get him sent to another rehab facility," Karen said.
The Mataykas then went to the Boston VA Hospital where Ed underwent spinal cord injury rehabilitation and received prosthetics.
"When Ed started walking they asked us where we wanted to go," Karen said. "We requested to come to San Antonio, because of the CFI, knowing that it's the best rehab facility in the country."
"Karen has been just an absolute godsend," Ed said, explaining that they spend almost every waking moment together, "more than any couple should," he laughs.
"Our relationship has gotten a hell of a lot stronger. That's because of changes in my own personality and changes we have had to make to accommodate the curveball that life has dealt us at this point."
The couple has been here since August 2011 and plans to make San Antonio their home.
When their unit returned home from deployment, the couple traveled to Vermont to greet them.
"There were plenty of hugs," Karen said, laughing. "They were all surprised at how well Ed was doing."
"My wife is still a motherly figure to the guys that were deployed with us," Ed said.
These days the Mataykas spend their spare time driving around San Antonio getting lost, going out to eat or visiting with other wounded warriors and their families at the Warrior and Family Support Center.
"We just laugh at ourselves all the time. We have fun together," she said smiling about their adventures.
While Ed concentrates on continuing his rehabilitation, Karen is busy preparing for the birth of twins.
"I want to make sure we have two happy and healthy babies," Ed said. "Once that's all done and they grow up a little bit, we will start volunteering around the community. We really want to give back, because we love the military."
"The big goal for us is kids. We have always wanted kids," Karen said. "Then the next big thing is getting a house that is suitable for our needs."


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A city can be much more than a simple backdrop to a tale, as shown by Toronto writer Craig Davidson in his Giller-nominated novel Cataract City.
His latest work takes place in a gritty Niagara Falls and focuses on childhood friends who, as adults, see their paths diverge to opposite ends of the law.
In the book, Davidson is "grappling with their evolving friendship and what it means to be two friends going on into adulthood and living in a city that holds its occupants pretty fiercely in its grip," he tells CBC News.
As the annual Giller Prize gala approaches, CBC News presents a chat with each finalist. The 2013 nominees are:
- Going Home Again - Dennis Bock (Toronto)
- Hellgoing - Lynn Coady (Edmonton)
- Cataract City - Craig Davidson (Toronto)
- Caught - Lisa Moore (St. John's)
- The Crooked Maid - Dan Vyleta (Edmonton)
"I've always been interested in the dynamics of a city or a town and the hold it asserts on its residents."
Davidson had a glorious debut as an author: his first short story collection, Rust and Bone, was a finalist for the 2006 Danuta Gleed Literary Award and stories from the collection were adapted into a play and then a film by French auteur Jacques Audiard. He subsequently wrote two novels, The Fighter and Sarah Court.
In the attached video, Davidson talks to CBC's Alice Hopton about seeing himself as a dark horse writer, exploring the changing nature of friendship and letting go of childhood.
The winner of the 2013 Giller Prize will be announced in Toronto the evening of Nov. 5, during a televised gala airing on CBC-TV.
To encourage thoughtful and respectful conversations, first and last names will appear with each submission to CBC/Radio-Canada's online communities (except in children and youth-oriented communities). Pseudonyms will no longer be permitted.
By submitting a comment, you accept that CBC has the right to reproduce and publish that comment in whole or in part, in any manner CBC chooses. Please note that CBC does not endorse the opinions expressed in comments. Comments on this story are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. Comments are welcome while open. We reserve the right to close comments at any time.
Note: The CBC does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comments, you acknowledge that CBC has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Please note that comments are moderated and published according to our submission guidelines.


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Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A Description
Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A is a Windows worm that attempts to compromise the infected PC's security to grant criminals control over it, in a fashion identical to that of a stereotypical backdoor Trojan. Even with Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A seemingly replaced by Worm:VBS/Dunihi.A, an upgrade to it with additional command support, Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A still is a major security risk for any computer compromised by Worm:VBS/Dunihi.A, with the potential for installing other threatening software or allowing criminals to access sensitive information. Anti-malware solutions should be engaged for removing Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A whenever it's necessary, and malware researchers particularly encourage scanning any removable devices that may be compromised by Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A for the purposes of self-distribution onto new systems.
The Ways Jenxcus Puts a Jinx on Your Computer
Along with its heir apparent, Worm:VBS/Dunihi.A, Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A is part of a rise in Visual Basic-based worms targeting Latin American countries with attempts to compromise PCs. Early attacks were targeted at specific institutions, although Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A (also referenced as VBS_JENXCUS) now appears to be distributed with less discrimination than previously, and may affect casual PC users. Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A's choice of Visual Basic as a coding language makes Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A an unlikely threat for non-Windows computers, although malware experts find that most versions of Windows may be compromised through Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A.
Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A only includes support for a scant handful of commands, but these functions are sufficiently broad that they still possess great potential for harming your PC.
- Creating a backdoor that lets criminals access your computer, potentially to steal information, install other threats or recruit your PC into an illegal botnet.
- Duplicating itself on removable devices such as USB drives. Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A duplicates itself by creating risky LNK files that take the place of various native files on the device, with the latter hidden (by adding the 'System' flag, which makes the affected file invisible on default Windows settings).
Deworming a PC that's Had a Brush with Old Malware
Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A doesn't have as many attack features at its command as many other worms, including its apparent successor, Worm:VBS/Dunihi.A. Nonetheless, any kind of backdoor vulnerability is a high-level PC security issue that should be remedied as soon as possible. While malware researchers continue to recommend using dedicated anti-malware tools for removing worms like Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A, any anti-malware system scans in use also should cover removable devices that could be compromised by Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A's LNK files.
Symptoms of Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A's presence primarily are limited to the changes Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A makes to the aforementioned removable devices. Files that don't perform their intended functions, show unusual date stamps or are accompanied by unrecognized new files (such as a randomly-named VBScript file) are some of the most obvious signatures. However, backdoor attacks often don't show symptoms of their presence, even while they dismantle your PC's security wholesale.
Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A Automatic Detection Tool (Recommended)
Is your PC infected with Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A? To safely & quickly detect Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A we highly recommend you run the malware scanner listed below.
Download SpyHunter's* Malware Scanner to detect Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A What happens if Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A does not let you open SpyHunter or blocks the Internet?
Technical Details
File System Modifications
Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.
- The following files were created in the system:
# File Name Detection Count 1 %APPDATA%\ COOL.vbs 2,190 2 %APPDATA%\ iso.vbs 2,035 3 %TEMP%\ IntroOfuscado.vbs 1,960 4 %APPDATA%\ Microsoft\ Windows\ Start Menu\ Programs\ Startup\ SYstemi.exe 1,356 5 %APPDATA%\ aiasfacoafiasksf.vbs 1,333 6 %TEMP%\ DragonBound.vbs 1,211 7 %APPDATA%\ java.vbs 974 8 %TEMP%\ ybogunuqhp.vbs 934 9 %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\ h.vbs 925 10 %APPDATA%\ aiaksfacoiaksjasof.vbs 892 11 %TEMP% and [startup folder]njq8.vbs N/A 12 %TEMP% and [startup folder]Servieca.vbs N/A 13 %TEMP% and [startup folder]\Serviecs.vbs N/A
More files
Registry Modifications
Tutorial: To edit and delete registry entries manually, read the tutorial on how to remove malicious registry entries.
Tip & Warning: Editing and removing the wrong registry keys can severely damage your PC, so remember to backup your Windows Registry! To optimize your Windows Registry and speed up your PC, download RegHunter's registry cleaner.
Tip & Warning: Editing and removing the wrong registry keys can severely damage your PC, so remember to backup your Windows Registry! To optimize your Windows Registry and speed up your PC, download RegHunter's registry cleaner.
- The following newly produced Registry Values are:
HKEY..\..\{Value}HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "
" = "[malware folder and file name]"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Serviecs.vbs" = "%Temp%\Serviecs.vbs"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run " " = "[malware folder and file name]"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Serviecs.vbs" = "%Temp%\Serviecs.vbs"
Posted: May 24, 2013 | By SpywareRemove
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Threat Metric
The Threat Meter is a malware assessment that SpywareRemove.com's research team is able to give every identifiable malware threat. Our Threat Meter includes several criteria based off of specific malware threats to value their severity, reach and volume. The Threat Meter is able to give you a numerical breakdown of each threat's initial Threat Level, Detection Count, Volume Count, Trend Path and Percentage Impact. The overall ranking of each threat in the Threat Meter is a basic breakdown of how all threats are ranked within our own extensive malware database. The scoring for each specific malware threat can be easily compared to other emerging threats to draw a contrast in its particular severity. The Threat Meter is a useful tool in the endeavor of seeking a solution to remove a threat or pursue additional analytical research for all types of computer users.
The following fields listed on the Threat Meter containing a specific value, are explained in detail below:
Threat Level: The threat level scale goes from 1 to 10 where 10 is the highest level of severity and 1 is the lowest level of severity. Each specific level is relative to the threat's consistent assessed behaviors collected from SpyHunter's risk assessment model.
Detection Count: The collective number of confirmed and suspected cases of a particular malware threat. The detection count is calculated from infected PCs retrieved from diagnostic and scan log reports generated by SpyHunter.
Volume Count: Similar to the detection count, the Volume Count is specifically based on the number of confirmed and suspected threats infecting systems on a daily basis. High volume counts usually represent a popular threat but may or may not have infected a large number of systems. High detection count threats could lay dormant and have a low volume count. Criteria for Volume Count is relative to a daily detection count.
Trend Path: The Trend Path, utilizing an up arrow, down arrow or equal symbol, represents the level of recent movement of a particular threat. Up arrows represent an increase, down arrows represent a decline and the equal symbol represent no change to a threat's recent movement.
% Impact (Last 7 Days): This demonstrates a 7-day period change in the frequency of a malware threat infecting PCs. The percentage impact correlates directly to the current Trend Path to determine a rise or decline in the percentage.
Home Malware ProgramsWorms Worm:VBS/Jenxcus.A


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Finn mac Cool
Interview with Finn mac Cool
Finn mac Cool: Good morning, everyone. My name's Finn mac Cool and you're listening to "Irish in the Morning" on WILD AM radio.
Today's show is all about… me! We're going to have all my old friends and enemies calling in to chat about the legend that is Finn mac Cool, warrior of the Fianna.
Our first caller is my first wife, Sadb. Hey, baby, what's shakin'?
Sadb: Hey, Finny. How's my favorite warrior prince?
Finn: I'm good, I'm good. So, for those who don't know out there, tell everyone how we met and fell in love.
Sadb: Well, when I was a teen, I was turned into a deer by an evil Druid. It was a real challenge to stay alive and not get torn apart by hunting dogs or eaten by a wild animal.
One day, I was being chased by a pair of dogs that looked particularly vicious. Little did I know that they were smarty-pants pups who were actually once humans themselves! They were born as Finn's cousins, but got turned into dogs and became his hunting hounds. They were about to catch me, but they realized that we had something in common—they figured out I wasn't a real deer. Finn figured it out, too, and I was transformed back into a woman. Then we fell in love, got married, and I popped out our son, Oisin.
Finn: Pretty romantic, huh? I owe my cousin-dogs a lot of credit for that one.
Sadb: Yeah, you do. Eventually, I turned back into a deer—those blasted Druid spells!
Finn: I kept searching and searching for her, but could only find our son, Oisin. I kept her memory alive with our enDEERing kid. Get it? Endeering?
Okay, next up, we have my ex-best friend, Diarmaid.
Diarmaid: How's it going, man? I'm calling in from the Otherworld here, but I'm sure you know that… considering it's your fault I'm here!
Finn: Whoa, whoa, whoa! Not so fast, pal. If you hadn't stolen my fiancée from me in the first place, none of this would have even happened and we'd still be playing hurley together every Saturday morning.
I'm in a generous mood today, though, so I'll let you tell your side of the story first.
Diarmaid: [sarcastically] Thanks. For those of you out there who aren't familiar with my story, my name's Diarmaid and I was a warrior of the Fianna. Finn and I were best friends, but it's not my fault that he got engaged to a real hottie. Grainne was gorgeous—she still is, by the way—and Finn was getting up there in years. The only reason Grainne was going to marry him was because he was a famous fighter and her father, the High King, wanted Finn as an ally.
I knew I could be just as good a warrior as Finn, given a chance, so I took my shot with Grainne. She fell in love with me as soon as she saw how buff I was and what a sportsman I was. When I scored three goals in hurley against Finn, who could barely even keep up, I had her.
Finn: Whoa! We have Grainne on Line 2. Grainne, is that you?
Grainne: It sure is. I can't believe I still have to defend myself to you and everyone else after all this time. You were old and ugly and Diarmaid was young and hot. What's to understand?
Diarmaid: Besides, it's not like I just ran away with her willy-nilly. I did have a crisis of conscience of sorts. I didn't hook up with her right away or something. It took a lot of convincing for me to finally run away with her.
Grainne: Yeah. And you seem to have been the only one with the problem, Finn. I mean, my dad would have liked us to have gotten married, but the rest of the Fianna didn't seem to care much that Diarmaid and I eloped. Even Oisin, your son, wasn't mad.
Finn: You have no right to go there, Grainne! You were supposed to be my wife, the mother of my children. Instead, you went and ran off with the first guy who flashed his six-pack at you. You're no better than evil Queen Medb of Connacht!
Grainne: I can't say I even mind being compared to her. She was a powerful woman who wanted to take her destiny into her own hands. There are worse things I could be called.
Diarmaid: So, we ran away. Big deal. You didn't have to come chase us down like deer—oops! [laughs] Besides, you hunted me down and killed me, Finn! What kind of friend does that?
Finn: What kind of friend steals his friend's fiancée? You were lucky I even let you get that far. So I had access to healing waters, but didn't use them to save you. Big whoop.
Grainne: Everyone says that I mourned Diarmaid for about five minutes after that, then went to live with you, Finn. I'm leaving it up to the listeners to decide, though. What woman would go and marry her ex who killed the love of her life?
Finn: That's all we have for today, folks. Thanks so much to Sadb for calling in and thanks not-so-much for Diarmaid and Grainne's chit-chat. Next time, we'll be interviewing Cúchulainn, hero of Ulster. Thanks for listening!


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Customers Hang up on Qwest's Termination Fee, File Suit
Hey LBers, want to get out of your broadband Internet subscription, but don't want to pay the early-termination fee? If so, you might pay attention to a lawsuit filed earlier today in Seattle federal court. Two former customers of Qwest Communications have filed a putative class-action lawsuit against Qwest, seeking to end early-termination fees for Internet subscribers.
Click here for the WSJ story, from Andrew LaVallee; here for the complaint. Qwest declined to comment on the suit.
In recent months, customers have fought similar charges for early termination of cellphone contracts with wireless carriers. The suit filed today is one of the first challenges to the practice of early-termination fees as it applies to broadband services.
As far as complaints go, this one ain't a bad read. Robin Vernon and Rory Durkin were each charged $200 when they canceled their high-speed Internet service, even though they allege they hadn't signed contracts to that effect. According to the complaint, Vernon was told that her husband signed a contract, which Qwest couldn't provide a copy of. In another call, a customer-service rep said she agreed to the contract terms over the phone, but no recording was available. When Vernon pressed the issue, the customer-service rep told her "You'll be sorry" and hung up on her.
The other plaintiff, Rory Durkin, canceled service because his computer broke down. He changed his mind when told of the fee, effectively paying for Internet service even though he didn't have a computer to access it. Months later, when he attempted to cancel it again, he was told that he'd agreed to a fresh two-year commitment when he rescinded his first cancellation.
Qwest markets its "price-for-life" broadband plans as requiring a two-year agreement, but customers don't sign a contract, said Michael Lieder, one of the firms representing the plaintiffs. The fee applies regardless of when they cancel service during those two years, he said.


text:
The 14U Elmhurst Emeralds, (Illinois) are looking for 2 experienced travel players who are
dedicated, driven, and determined
to become better players.
We have professional hitting and pitching instructors on staff.
If you are looking to have a competitive summer to prepare yourself for the next level contact
David Wojcik at firstname.lastname@example.com
ACTIVE is the leader in online event registrations from 5k running races and marathons to softball leagues and local events. ACTIVE also makes it easy to learn and prepare for all the things you love to do with expert resources, training plans and fitness calculators.


text:
Spring Hill College Golf Course Christmas Food Drive to support 15 Place
Wed, 12/05/2007 (All day)
MOBILE – The Spring Hill College Golf Course is conducting its annual food drive for the "15 Place" homeless shelter in Mobile.
Customers will receive discounts on golf and pro shop merchandise with donations of non-perishable food items brought to the golf course between now and Christmas. Monetary donations will also be accepted.
For more information, call (251) 380-4655.


text:
"This is both a physical and mental challenge," said Margaret Arteme, fourth grade Kelly Elementary teacher. "We will take the top three winners and they will go onto the next round. The winner's team will receive immunity."
Sound a little like reality TV show "Survivor"? Summer school began for Kelly Elementary last Tuesday as the program took on a "Survivor" theme and classes transformed into tribes.
From the "Think-a-lottas" to the "Learn-a-bunchas," 14 tribes (two for each grade) comprise the summer school program this year, and Kelly Elementary Principal Fara Jones said so far the kids are loving it.
"Our tribal council is a little different (than the TV show)," Jones said. "Instead of kicking someone off, we're emphasizing being a team and being honest and caring."
For example, at last week's tribal council, each student's name written on piece of paper was put into a vase. The children drew a name and had to write a compliment about that person. Then the students went around the circle and shared what they wrote about their person.
"The kids loved it," Jones said. "They were smiling so big when we left the council."
Tribal councils take place in a dark classroom decorated to look as though the students are really on an island. The "Survivor" logo is projected on the wall with a "camp fire" burning with (unlit) tiki torches all around and the "Survivor" theme softly playing in the background.
"I like learning about everybody else (in tribal council)," admitted fourth grader Stephanie Kerr, adding she learned one of her classmates had been to the Bahamas.
Third, fourth and fifth grades participate in the 20-minute tribal councils in the morning and tribal competitions in the afternoon on Mondays. On Tuesdays, kindergarten through second grades have their challenges.
"Every week we go to tribal council and do this activity," explained fourth grader Sarah Turley during her tribe's Monday challenge.
Challenge winners receive an immunity idol to hang on their classroom door all week, Jones said.
While there aren't any Johnny Fairplays and Boston Robs as in the real TV show, students will be found demonstrating some of the positive characteristics of fan favorite Rupert.
"They really are excited and can relate to it. It's really something the students get," said Laura Kern, whose fifth grade class chose "The Alphas" as their tribal name because they've been studying ancient Greece.
Students aren't the only ones with "Survivor" fever. Teachers are getting into the theme as well. Rooms are decorated with tiki torches and jungle-like recreations of the Amazon.
For many school districts, summer school is the time to incorporate more enrichment learning.
"It's things we don't have time to do during the regular school year," Jones said.
Summer school lesson plans are focused mainly on math this year, but other lessons are covered in science, social studies, geography and language arts, Jones pointed out.
"A lot of the teachers are spending each week learning about a different place, mostly where 'Survivor' shows took place like Australia, Africa and Pearl Islands," Jones said. "And the students are learning about that with geography, and they're learning about cultures and social studies."
Attendance is also wonderful this year, Jones noted.
"We had 170 students enrolled in the elementary summer school last year and this year we have 310 students enrolled," Jones said.
Students are coming from other schools like Oran, New Hamburg, St. Denis Catholic School and Chaffee.
"They're really trying to work together, and it's helping build team spirit," Jones said about the students.
So which do the students prefer -- summer school or regular school?
"Hurricane Fever" tribe members Kerr and Turley, said they favor the island of summer school over the regular school year.
Kerr said there's a lot more activities in summer school than in regular school.
And Turley, who's attended summer school in previous years, said this year there was really a theme the students could have fun with.
"Summer school is a lot more fun and shorter," Turley said.
Looks like the tribe has spoken.


text:
A man was shot and killed in Gallup.Police say in front of his family as they ate lunch at Mcdonalds.
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