text:
|PAGES: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 next»
Topic: "In Too Deep" [Note: Heavy strong language, heavy drug use, graphic sex scene]: Final chapter added; C&C please
Oct 14, 08 at 3:51pm ^"In Too Deep" [Note: Heavy strong language, heavy drug use, graphic sex scene]: Final chapter added; C&C please
Log in to remove this advertisement
In Too Deep
Chapter 1: "Real Monsters"
I wish I was the most beautiful girl in the *bleep*ing world so I could put a *bleep*ing bullet in my head. I scrawl these words onto my school folder, and watch as the hands on the clock on the wall slowly amble towards three thirty PM. At three thirty, I get to leave this pathetic sham of a bio-sphere – high school – and join my new world, a true world, the real world. With real people, not these *bleep*ing milk-fed shit-sheep moulded into feeble people form. Real people, with real jobs, real lives, not plastic Disney pop-up pictures fairytales like my school peers. Perhaps I would be called a bitter little emo kid, who thinks they hate their parents. Well, that is not me.
I, Paige Lancaster, do hate my parents. Traitors who never believed in me. My parents abandonned me in spirit, so I threw myself out to deny them that sick pleasure. I moved in with my second cousin, Lucinda, and took her surname to further distance myself from my parents. I may have their filthy conformist pig blood, but the whole world doesn't need to know it.
The half-past finally arrives, and the floodgates open. Barbie and Ken doll wannabes, blissfully chatting and walking together so ignorantly, not knowing how devoid of substance they are. I sling my backpack over my shoulder and I stalk off toward the dark green Lancer doubleparked in the teachers' carpark. Luci's leaning out of the window sucking on one of her beloved stuyvesant filter cigarettes. Sitting in the front passenger set is her boyfriend Vince, and her mates Felix and Seth sloped in the backseat.
I throw my bag in the boot and take the middle seat between the two boys. Felix lazily leans forward and turns up the stereo as Luci carelessly swings the car out of the parking area. The familiar lyrics blare out of the deep bassy speakers ...
We are, we are the shaken, we are the monsters, underneath your bed ...
I feel an affinity for the lyrics. I am shaken, and I am a monster, although I refuse to stay tucked away, like under a bed. But what of it? As Luci lights up another stuyve, Vince takes a swig from a bottle of midori that he procured from under the seat, and Seth stares through his greasy mane at the traffic while Felix twiddles with the car stereo, I know that I'm with my own kind. Misfits. Monsters. Monsters in the real world. Real Monsters.
Luci finally pulls into 13A Closeberry Court; residence of one Lucindar Lancaster, Vincent Winchelsea, Felix Rophel, and now myself; Paige Lancaster. These people are my new family, and this is my new home.
I head inside with the others and throw my bag into my bedroom of two weeks. There are clothes on the floor, the bed is unmade, and my desk is a mess. I don't care. My parents did though, and I smirk at the thought of their reaction. I head back out to the others, to see what tonight's plans will get us into.
|posts in thread
Oct 14, 08 at 6:50pm ^re: "In Too Deep" [15+ advised, language] : My first story here
An excellent start in my opinion, the swearing in there allows most people who would read things properly (not just glimpse at it and move on as some lazy buggers do as a general thing), to be able to tell the frustration Paige has against her parents, you can tell she is definately a teenager from her attitude (again the swearing) and the friends she hangs out with, I like the way Paige thinks her self a monster among the average people and I eagerly await part two, keep it up.
|posts in thread
Oct 15, 08 at 12:02pm ^re: "In Too Deep" [15+ advised, language] : My first story here
Part two coming right up ...
Chapter 2: "Sixteen"
The evening is dark and balmy, just the way everyone tends to prefer it. Because of the fair weather, they decide to drag a bunch of chairs and the sofa outside in the carport between 13A and 13B. We all have a few drinks, vodka, lemon and soda being the favoured drink of the day. A cloud of cigarette smoke hangs over our little gathering, and conversations fly thick and fast.
I hear Gabriel, one of the gay guys from 13B, debating with Felix.
"Mechanical Animals was by far Marilyn Manson's best album," he says defiantly.
"No way," argues Felix. "Antichrist Superstar any day of the week."
Meanwhile, Luci and Rowan discuss the local nightclub scene.
"Sick is such an overrated club." Luci tells Rowan, Gabriel's boyfriend.
"Yeah, but where else are decent bands going to play in this hole?" Rowan complains.
"What are you all whining about?" I say to them. "You can at least get into clubs!"
"I forgot you were still only sixteen!" Vince laughs. He's so drunk that he falls of his chair, still cackling madly.
"Yeah, when do you graduate?" Seth asks. Everyone murmurs in agreement of the question.
"About two years." I reply, poking my tongue out and rolling my eyes.
"That's *bleep*ed," says Syd, Felix's little brother who also lives at 13B. "'Though year eleven is the bludgiest. Wait til you get to year twelve ..." He trails off and shudders.
The conversation naturally progresses on, getting more and more ridiculous as everyone has more to drink. The ashtray begins to pile up with more little orange butts. I've had a little to drink myself and the voices start to blur around me, so reflect upon my own thoughts ... How my school peers would be so super jealous if they saw how cool my friends – my roommates – are, and if they could see what I do instead of hanging out with my stupid parents. In spite of myself, I can't help but think I am so much more awesome than everyone else at my school! I giggle at little, even the words in my head sound stupid. Although having observed Seth and Syd drunken headbutting competition, I decide to say the words out loud. Vince falls of his chair again, and Luci lets out a laugh so loud that she coughs her stuyve into her vodka.
"Oh my god!" Rowan exclaims. "You totally didn't say that!"
I grin bashfully, and he leans over and ruffles my hair. Gabe leans over and presses a thick handrolled cigarette in between my lips.
"Just go with it, drag until you feel it burn in the back of your throat," he urges.
I look around, everyone watching expectantly and eargerly. This is it. I can prove myself. I will prove myself. This is my chance to step up from being Luci's schoolgirl cousin to being one of them. I suck on the paper tube until I feel that burning sensation Gabe decribed. I exhale the thick grey white smoke and wait. I stifle a giggle. I start giggling uncontrollably. I just keep laughing and laughing and laughing. Everyone laughs with me ... or at me? Everything distorts ... objects grow and shrink, the walls inhale and exhale deeply, while the floor spins and blurs beneath my feet ... fade to black ...
|posts in thread
Oct 20, 08 at 10:56am ^re: "In Too Deep" [Note: Heavy strong language, heavy drug use, graphic sex scene]: Final chapter added; C&C please
Chapter 3: "James"
I wake up the next morning. My head feels light, and it's throbbing, my mouth is dry and my eyes sting as the mid-morning sun shoots a beam of searing golden light through the chink in my curtains. Mid-morning?!! I check my digital clock. 10:24. Bollocks. And today's a school day.
*bleep* it all, I'm late, I'm late, so what I think to myself. I throw on my school uniform and slope into the kitchen to find some Nurofen and berocca, where I see Luci getting ready for work.
"Yer runnin' bit late aren't you?" Luci mumbles, an unlit cigarette dangling from her mouth. "Man, that joint last night took you out like a *bleep*in' light ey."
"Yeah ..." I reply absently, gathering my books while waiting for my berocca to dissolve. Intro calculus, Cloudstreet, microeconomics ... Stupid subjects, irrelevant in the real world. But now's not the time to reflect upon the futility of public schooling. Now's the time to work on an excuse for being late for school.
"Hurry up and I'll give you a lift," shouts Luci, revving her engine. I dash outside and throw myself into the front passenger seat.
We drive down the streets in silence, and I take the time to reflect upon my cousin. Luci's my ultimate idol; she's training to be a piercer, and she always wears the most awesome clothes- today it's a lime green leopard print mini-dress and a pair of Demonia platform shoes. She's heavily pierced of course, but heavily scarred as well. Her parents were probably stupid and lame like mine too. I mean, I never cut myself, but my parents stifled my creativity as well. She can drink any of the guys under the table, and stuyves are like an extension of her own hand. Her green and black dreads frame her white face, and underneath her thick black glasses are grey and black lined eyes. She's so awesome.
"This is it?" Luci turns to me. We're outside North Street SHS, my school.
"Yeah, thanks for the lift!" I reply, and she turns around and drives off, tyres screeching.
I saunter up to the receptionist's office to get a yellow slip for being late. There's no-one in there, so I sit back in the cushy chairs and enjoy the aircon. Suddenly, the door bursts open.
Mr. Hoarse shoves a cocky looking blonde boy into the office.
"James, this needs to stop, TODAY!" Hoarsey shouts hollers at him. I guess that guy is James then. I pretend not to watch.
"They're aren't mine though, honest sir!" James says, mockingly, waving a pack of Benson and Hedges 8s in Hoarsey's face. The colour in the deputy principal's face turns to that of an overripe strawberry.
"FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST, YOU THINK THIS IS A JOKE, BOY?!! SMOKING CIGARETTES ON SCHOOL GROUNDS IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN!! YOU ARE SERIOUSLY IN IT THIS TIME VANDERSCAP!!" I watch as the big blue vein in his temple swells bigger and bigger. James gives a cheeky grin and bites his lip to stop himself laughing. He tosses the smokes on the receptionist's desk and pats the seething deputy on the shoulder.
"See you round sir, send the angry letter to the usual PO Box," he says jauntily, before strutting out of the office. Mr. Hoarse turns to me.
"And you? You're late?" he spits, scribbling out a yellow slip and throwing it at me. I make a hasty exit and head off the economics.
I take a seat at the back of the class, a desk down from James. I never knew he was in my class. I watch him for a bit as Mr. Ockering rambles on and on about a concept that I don't quite understand. Despite the performance in the office earlier, James concentrates on his work, not the rambling. I notice that he's a chapter ahead of us. As he reads, he keeps flicking that long blonde fringe out of his face. Kinda cute I think. The way he wears a white dress shirt instead of the school uniform, the skinny black jeans and the purple Doc Marten boots. Every so often, he pokes his tongue out to play with his lip ring. How did I miss him before?
Eventually, the hours passes and the bell rings. Lunchtime. I run up to James. And tap him on the shoulder. He twirls around, startled.
"Uh, can I help you?" he says. His voice is smooth, not husky or raspy like what I'll expect from a smoker.
"I saw you in economics today," I stammer. His hazel eyes glow even greener in the harsh sunlight, staring right into mine. "I was wondering if you could give me some tutoring." He flicks that fringe out of his face.
"K," he replies. "But first tip: stop paying attention in class, and work through the curriculum yourself. I've seen you there, trying to take in a work he's saying. Futile." He gives me a smug smirk. "But I will tutor you, if you really want me to ... see you this arvo here." He struts off again. I watch as he turns the corner and disappears into the crowds. The sheep. And I know he's something different. A wolf amongst sheep.
|posts in thread
Oct 26, 08 at 4:54am ^re: "In Too Deep" [Note: Heavy strong language, heavy drug use, graphic sex scene]: Final chapter added; C&C please
Chapter 4: "Pills"
When I go to meet James, he's already waiting there, a cigarette idly smouldering between his fingers. A couple of preppy year eight girls walk past and sarcastically cough and hack at the smoke. James flicks the still smouldering butt at them, and smirks at the small singe mark on one of the girl's skirts.
"C'mon, come back to mine, and I guess we'll uhh ... 'study'," he says, smirking again. We walk down to the bus stop, and I try to catch glance of him close up. Up close, he's not so cute anymore. He's kinda weedy, a skinny emo goth boy build. His face is more angular and pointed, with a slightly hooked nose, and the fringe rather ineffectively hides a sallow complexion dotted with blackheads that you could only see up close. That's the bensons work there I think to myself.
James stops outside a McMansion on Kitson Loop. It's a far cry from the units and duplexes round the lower end of town.
"Yeah, my parents are pretty loaded." James waves it off.
"If you don't like it, you should move out. I moved out of my parents' place." I say, trying to match his bravado. James lets out a snicker.
"Ha! And pass this up? Bullshit. My parents feel so bad about working so much that they'll buy me just about anything. Including a carton of these a fortnight." James waves a blue and gold ciggie packet in the air. Shot down. He beckons for me to come inside.
The house isn't what I expect. There's no family pictures, or any of that stupid sentimental shit. The house is decorated very modernly, with complimenting shades of beige and turquoise. *bleep*ing bourgeios. Stark contrast to the dopey lovey crap that my parents spread around their house.
James kicks open his door, to reveal a split level room. The walls of the lower half are adorned with posters of typical emo bands; My Chemical Romance, AFI, Aiden, I Am Ghost, and the odd HIM or Marilyn Manson banner. Designer clothes lie in a crumpled heap on the floor, some with the tags still left on. I admire his attitude toward the material shit that his parents force upon him.
"Come to the upper level," he calls out, halfway up the little stairway. "This is my private... santuary." His ubiquitous grin spreads across his face again. Without a second thought, I follow him.
I poke my head up into the loft and gasp.
It's a drug den.
The first thing I notice is the big ziplock bag filled with pills. James pulls out a smaller bag, with just one pill in it. He opens it up and chops the pill in half with a razor blade. He drops half of the pill into his mouth, and swallows. He smirks. I eye off the other half warily.
"It's just an eccy." James tells me reassuringly. And in the blink of an eye, without a second thought, I swallow it. I smirk back at him.
"That wasn't so hard," he says, grinning. "Now I have a proposition for you."
I just look at him. I can't stop smiling, and I feel restless.
"You see that bag? I'm selling those pills. It's too easy. Fifty bucks a pop. And you're going to help me."
"Where do you sell them?"
"At school. Kids love em. Gives em a wicked buzz. And don't say anything, this is how it works.
You get a normal looking notebook right? And you write in a random subject on the cover." He picks up an A5 notebook, with 'Science' scrawled on the cover in big black letters. "It looks like you're giving them study notes, see? Then you open it up, and tape in one of these." He sticky tapes in a tiny plastic bag with a single pill in the middle. "So no-one can see the actual pill there. Then they give you a notebook with fifty dollars back. They're 'returning' the notes that they borrowed last time. Get it?" I nod. "Good. Remember, they give you their book first. Always check for the right money before handing over the other one. The money has to be there in full. No I-owe-you's, no pay you back later, cash upfront only. No money, no eccy. Got it?" I nod vigourously. He chucks me about ten notebooks and an old phone.
"Only carry books that you know you're offloading on the day. The phone has a SIM number that a bunch of kids know. They'll text you for pills. They have to go through me before they go through you. Only give it to kids who ask for 'James's study notes', k?" I nod again.
"Got it. But why me? Why'd you choose me for this?" James smirks.
"Cos you're low key. I've been watching you. I was just waiting for an opportunity to meet you. No-one notices you, you kinda blend in. No-one would suspect you of selling pills." He sits back, smirking broader than ever.
"It's getting late, I'd better go." I reply, placing the books and the phone into my schoolbag.
"Thought you didn't live with your 'rents, no curfew?" James stares into me.
"I don't wanna miss the earlier bus." I reply, poking my tongue out, stepping out of the loft.
I run out of the house and down the street, mulling over what James said. No way do I blend into the crowd! I'm so different to them! I mean, I actually hang around with real goths, not the plastic emo barbie ones! He doesn't know anything! I think angrily.
My thoughts are stopped short by the bus pulling up. I step on, and look around. There's a boy up the back just staring at me. Freak. I shake my head and address the driver.
"One student to Reiding Street Station please."
"Dollar twenty."
I drop the money into the drivers hang and grab my ticket, taking a seat not to near the back seat. The creepy guy keeps staring at me. I ignore him, and the bus takes off down the road.
|posts in thread
Nov 2, 08 at 6:19am ^re: "In Too Deep" [Note: Language, mild drug use] : Chapter 4 added, comments wanted please!
Chapter 5: "Allender"
The next couple of days passed as usual, with one exception of course. The pills and the money. I never knew how many kids at the shitty school wanted to get high. Day in, day out, I got sent messages; "hey i need james study notes 4 this weekend plz", "hi my m8 wants me 2 get sum of james study notes 4 him", and so forth. Notebooks exchanged hands, and the money went straight into me and James's wallets. Too easy. I'd sell the pills, and give James half the profits. I was making $500 a week easily, and I could rake in up to $300 alone on a really good Friday, especially if there was a big party happening on the weekend.
It worked out well at home too. So as long as James got $25 per pill I sold, it meant that I could technically get them for $25 a pop. And naturally, I sold pills to Luci, Vince, and the rest of the gang for the discounted price. Sometimes they sold them onto other partygoers and clubbers at an inflated price, sometimes they took the pills themselves. Finally things were going my way. I had an income, and I was popular with people worth being popular with.
Every Monday I'd go to James's place to buy more pills to sell, and this Monday was no different.
"I scored some pot, you wanna get baked?" James asked one afternoon. So we went up into the loft, I tossed my weekly payment onto the little table he had, and he set up a bucket bong. He flicked his lighter and lit the cone. He removed the cone and quickly sucked in the think white steam, before exhaling heavily. He grinned dopily, losing some of his usual cheekiness. I did the same, trying not to choke on the vapour. I grin back at him.
"So when did you start taking pills?" I ask James.
"I knew this guy at school, he got some for me. He knew a bunch of guys. I needed something to keep me going, y'know? My parents kept sending me to psyches and all this bullshit cos they thought I wasn't coping with me being a teenager, while Dad was running for office and Mum was going back to work." He lights up a cigarette and drags deeply. "So yeah. Then I discovered that I tend to get very talkative when I'm on pills." I recalled how fast and eagerly he was talking when he set me up selling pills. "I used to take eccies before I went to see my shrink. It drove them insane, I'd just talk and talk and talk, about complete and utter bullshit. It was *bleep*ing brilliant. I started doing it all the time, like when I had to go and see Mr. Hoarse about something." He blows a mouthful of smoke into the air.
"Were you on pills the day I met you?"
"Nah. I've kinda laid off of em since I started selling more. Plus, you know, ice cream scoops to the brain." James lights another cone.
"I should get going, I got some lousy biology thesis to write." I start to climb out of the loft, and he chucks me a bag of pills. I stuff them in my bag, and dopily wander down the street.
I get to the bus stop just in time to see the old 672 chug down the road. Bollocks.
I go to check the time table in the stand to see when the next bus to Reid Street gets in, and notice that the creepy goth boy who stares me down every Monday is heading right for me. I start to walk away. I'm not interested.
I spin around and he's standing there before me. His chin length black hair falls gracefully into his deep dark eyes, which contrast dramatically with his clear pale skin. He's not too tall, nor short, with a lean frame. He has tiny spikes on the end of his snikebite piercings.
"I've been noticing you around this area an awful lot lately," he says smoothly. "You don't live here."
"How do you know?" I retort.
"It's quicker to get to Reid Street if you walk a little further in the opposite direction and around the corner, take the 623." I blushed. This guy isn't creepy, he's just a jerk.
"Plus everyone around here goes to Sterling College, not North Street Senior." I see that he's wearing the private school uniform. The white collar shirt and black dress pants seem suit him.
"My friend doesn't go to Sterling, and he lives here."
"Hmm ... James used to go to Sterling. I didn't know he was going to North Street now ..."
"How do you kn-" He cut me off.
"Anyway, what brings you to these parts?" He stares me down.
"James is my mate from school, and he's ..." I desperately search for an excuse. "Tutoring me."
The goth guy stares me down some more.
"Yeah ..."
The next bus pulls in. We both get on.
"One to Reid Street please ..." I murmur, dropping the change onto the edge of the driver's cab. I grab my ticket and lok for an empty seat. The goth guy puts his hand on my shoulder
"By the way Paige ..." I turn, startled. He knows my name, I think, half shocked, half flattered.
"My name is Allender."
|posts in thread
Nov 2, 08 at 10:18am ^re: "In Too Deep" [Note: Language, more drug use] : Chapter 5 added, please post C&C!
Wow, excellent read.
|posts in thread
Nov 2, 08 at 10:33am ^re: "In Too Deep" [Note: Language, more drug use] : Chapter 5 added, please post C&C!
Thank-you! I'm glad someone likes it, I've been jotting ideas for more plotlines, but the lack of comments has made me wonder if this is worth writing. So thanks!
|posts in thread
Nov 3, 08 at 5:30am ^re: "In Too Deep" [Note: Language, more drug use] : Chapter 5 added, please post C&C!
A love story intertwined in drug dealing... Amazing.
There is so many directions you could take it in....
You could add other drug dealers to the mix and test Paiges loyalty to James.
You could add in a police factor to rock the foundation of her life.
Thats why the drugdealing element is so enthralling. Cause when things go bad things go very very bad.
Somthing tells me a fraction of this comes from what you know.
|posts in thread
|Bale Fire
Nov 3, 08 at 8:35am ^re: "In Too Deep" [Note: Language, more drug use] : Chapter 5 added, please post C&C!
Very nice, love the whole gritty factor. Feel its kind of odd Paige hasn't made a move on James yet though.
Still I'm sure there's a lot of drama on the way.
|posts in thread
Nov 3, 08 at 9:42am ^re: "In Too Deep" [Note: Language, more drug use] : Chapter 5 added, please post C&C!
With the James/Paige love plotline, I contemplated that, but because he's a smoker his hair and skin's all horrible so she's shallow enough to not go after him because of that Teenagers, huh? I have another teen love plot on the way though.
BTW, thanks for all the encouragement, hopefully chapter 6 will be up tonight and 7 underway
|posts in thread
Nov 3, 08 at 11:40am ^re: "In Too Deep" [Note: Language, more drug use] : Chapter 5 added, please post C&C!
Chapter 6: "Party"
I walk onto the school grounds the next morning, the same as every day, and go to meet up with James before school starts. As I head up through the quad, two plastic little emo wannabe goth girls head up to me.
"Hi," says one of them. She has dark red hair halfway down her back, overdone mascara, and fishnet gloves on. Her friend has black hair pulled into two ponytails, black rubber bracelets all up her arms and a nose stud. *bleep*ing emo kids.
"What do you even want?" I sneer at them, getting ready to walk off. The girl with the nose stud blocks off my path.
"I'm Willow, and this is Raven," she says.
"We were wondering, if we could like, hang with you and junk," adds Raven.
"Cos like everyone around here is so lame, it could be super cool if we could hang around someone like you." Willow finishes.
*bleep*ing teeny-gothers, I think to myself. Though it could be fun taking on a couple of protégés.
"Fair enough." I tell them. "I guess it's better than two more plastic normals in this shit school."
The girls look pleased with themselves. The bell rings, and we head off to class.
I have economics, and sit up the back with James as always. And as always, we do our own thing instead of listening to Ockering ramble on about production curves, interspersed with rants about how wrong Karl Marx was, and how the collapse of the Soviet Union was about a century too late.
"Saw you with those two girls early this morning," whispers James.
"Yeah, they're ok. Kinda tryhards, but you know, could be fun training them up to be real goths."
"Whatever floats your boat. By the way, there's this massive kiddy party this weekend, they're desperate for eccies, so if you run out let me know, k? Serious dosh this weekend!"
I half-heartedly scribble down some notes for the rest of the period, copy some of James's, before heading out to recess. The rest of the day passes uneventfully, save for a massive punch-up at lunchtime and Derek Harding losing a molar, and before I know it, I'm back on the bus home.
I walk inside to be greeted with the familiar scent of stuyves, vodka, and midori. Luci's home early from work, but Vince is still out. Felix is home, and Seth and Syd are over too. I could hear Guitar Hero blasting down the street.
"I see the red door and I want to paint it black," the game blares from the speakers. Felix and Seth hit the buttons on the plastic controllers furiously, both determined to win. Syd takes a swig from a bottle of Smirnoff and punches the air in time with the music. Luci's at her computer, stuyve smouldering away, playing DotA.
"*bleep*ing hell Rowan!" Luci hollers out. I assume that Rowan's home next door, playing against her, and winning. Luci takes another nip of midori and waits for her character to come back to life. She spins the chair around to turn to me.
"How was school?"
"Eh, kid lost a tooth in a fight." I go to grab a double black from the fridge. Luci chuckles.
"*bleep*in' 'ell a tooth now? Christ, I remember when you'd get sent home if you got a blood nose or a black eye or summat, and now youse kids are *bleep*in' losing teeth!" She turns back to the game, only to find that Rowan's already won. I hear a "Yeah I win! Booyah!" from next door.
"Eh, I'll beat him next round," mutters Luci, lighting another stuyve. "Oi, Syd, you coming to Alex's open house this weekend?"
"*bleep* yeah!" Syd comes to life, slopping vodka down his front.
"Party?" I say. Maybe I can get in. Sure beats the shitty one I'd be supplying for.
"Yeah, it's pretty open, Alex is usually pretty good, he only calls the coppers when someone he hates rocks up," Felix tells me. I don't even know who Alex is, but it sure could be fun to throw Willow and Raven in the deep end.
"Hell yeah, you should come and get your first taste of an actual real party," laughs Luci, ruffling my hair.
I go into my room and chuck my bag down in the corner. I may as well go. I got nothing else on this weekend, and set about choosing an outfit.
As per usual, I head up the grassy quad before school,with Willow and Raven tagging along.
"You gotta smoke?" Willow asks Raven. Raven gets out half a packet of Pall Mall menthols. Whatever you can get when your that age I guess.
"Let's go smoke em at lunch!" Raven says enthusiastically.
"So, you girls got anything on this weekend?" I ask innocently.
"Mmm, we were like going to go to that party. I heard that Hamish Miller might be bringing some pills." Raven replies.
"Why do you want to know?" Willow asks.
"I gotta better party going on. It's open, so I can get you in easy. There's going to be plenty of booze, and I guarantee you that there will be pills," I boast.
"No way!" they both exclaim. The morning bell rings. I smirk at them and head off to class.
I catch up with James later and tell him about the Alex party.
"Forget it, I'm going to the kiddy party to spruik more pills, I got a little pot left, I'm going to chop it with some cheap tobacco and sell em off as joints. Plus all the lolly water I can drink," James brags.
"Suit yourself." I reply. I'm going to go and have some real fun, instead of chaperoning with James.
The days remaining until Saturday night blur into one unremarkable haze. But Saturday arrives, and we all head off to the party. I feel pretty awesome dressed up in a black strappy dress with buckles and zips, my face painted white and black, and wearing a pair of Luci's Demonia boots. Luci's dressed to impress in a pyschobilly minidress and corset, and a pair of boots as well.
The cab pulls into the address. It's a pretty standard house for this part of town- further down Reid Street, working class area, smallish house, big backyard. There's cars everywhere, a bonfire out the back. Luci and Vince head off to see some people they know. I wave to Gabe and Rowan, both dress in head to toe vinyl. They wink back at me, before making out again. This is so awesome. Raven and Willow look terrified.
That's when I see Allender.
"You made it then," he says, smirking a little.
"Luci told me about the party." I poke my tongue out at him.
"Still, you made it." He's looking rather dapper in a pinstripe Tripp shirt and a pair of black cargo pants. He's decorated his left eye to look like something out of A Clockwork Orange.
I walk inside the house, filled with smoke. There's a bucket in the laundry, and everyone's snorting lines in the dining room. There's a couple of guys deep in conversation in the living room, who stop talking and glare at me when I look at them. I turn away. Some guy and his girlfriend walk out of the hallway dazed and euphoric, track marks up his arm. Best avoid the bedrooms.
Outside, around the fire, everyone's drinking. Syd has his arms around Raven and Willow, who look more relaxed after a few drinks. I decide to keep an eye on Syd ... at least for a while. Until I get too intoxicated. Felix and Seth are both bonging beer. I watch as Seth promptly throws his up. Gross. Everyone's chanting for him to take five shots of Jagermeister now. I shake my head, and go and join in with the drinking.
I come to the next morning. I'm on the sofa in the living room of the part house. I see Luci, Vince, and Allender sitting next to me.
"Welcome back," chirps Luci. She seems immune to the hangover that everyone else has showing in their faces.
"Eurgh ... where are the girls?" I mumble.
"*bleep*ing hell, lightweights!! They were so out of it!" Vince laughs. "But they're ok. We told Syd that we'd press charges if he did anything to them. What are they, 12?"
"14 I think ..."
"Paige, have this." Luci hands me a Berroca drink and a fried bacon sandwich. "We're going to go and help Alex clean up." Luci bounces off outside, Vince winces and slopes off with her, wearing a pair of giant fly sunglasses.
I'm left alone with Allender.
"Why are you looking so healthy?" I grumble.
"I don't drink at parties." Allender replies. "I take care of people too drunk to take care of themselves. I called them both taxis. They'll be fine. Anyway, I must be off ... Although I want to meet up with you on Monday ... Meet me at the bus stop. It would be severely in your best interest to do so Paige." He kisses my hand like a gentleman. I feel it tingle all the way up my arm.
"Sure ..." I giggle like a schoolgirl.
He turns and leaves. Luci and Vince come back inside.
"C'mon Paige, our cab is here."
We get in the cab, and head back to Closeberry Court. My head is spinning, and it's not just the hangover.
|posts in thread
Nov 4, 08 at 12:21am ^re: "In Too Deep" [Note: Language, more drug use] : Chapter 6 added and it's a long one; please post C&C!
I love how there is a timelapse after the Jagermeister.
Sombody knows there shit.
|posts in thread
Nov 7, 08 at 11:24am ^re: "In Too Deep" [Note: Language, more drug use] : Chapter 6 added and it's a long one; please post C&C!
I do know my shit. This is may be a work of fiction, but various aspects are based on what I know from experience or other people's experience. Disclaimer: Any drug reactions depicted are based on those of my own and should not be taken for gospel! What works for me may not work for you!
Chapter 7: "Serious"
The bell rang in the middle of class. "All students are to call to the student hall immediately for an emergency assembly!"
My stupid classmates looked at each other blankly. Mr. Hoarse's voice blared over the PA again.
"There shall now be an emergency assembly in the student hall. All students are required to attend!"
We all walked down to the big old building next to the school, where there was usually formal presentations and graduations. If it was for a whole school assembly, this was prolly pretty big. I looked around for James, so I'd have someone to talk to during the boring rant that Hoarsey was likely to give. I couldn't see him anywhere. Oh well.
I took a seat toward the back. There was a massive display up front, a projection of one of a young male student, and some bouquets. A middle-aged couple – I guess his parents – looked teary eyed.
Oh here we go, I thought. Another student has gone and wrapped his parents car around a tree. Probably drunk, and without a license. And now we make him into a heroic martyr.
The actual principal of the school, Mr. Brunswick, took to the microphone. I rolled my eyes. Normally Mr. Hoarse does these things. I guess this kid was real popular.
"Today, we farewell one of out students. You may have known him. He was a student in the ninth grade, only 14. Today, we gather to say goodbye to Hamish Miller." Where do I know that name?
"Hamish was a happy and active member of our student boy, willing to help out his fellow student. His cheeky smile and love of sports made him one of the most well-liked of your peers." Brunswick paused. "Tragically, on Saturday night, Hamish took a risk. It was a risk that cost him his life."
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he went hooning around in daddy's car.
"Hamish took an ecstasy tablet."
I suddenly felt very queasy. I could feel the blood drain out of my face.
"Sadly, by the time the paramedics arrived, it was too late. Hamish had suffered a cardiac arrest."
Brunswick rambled some more about Hamish's life. I sat there, stunned. Then I remembered what Raven had told me ... "Hamish Miller might be bringing some pills." Eccies. Of course. I felt physically ill. Had Hamish bought them off of me? Or James? Or anybody? Brunswick's next words brought me back to Earth.
"Unfortunately, it is often tragedies like this which make us realise the dangers of drugs. Ecstasy is a dangerous and illegal drug. It is not safe. You never know what could be in it. And we urge all of you today to not let Hamish's death be in vain. Ecstasy kills." But it was his next words that struck fear deep into my heart.
"Ecstasy is illegal to possess or sell, and especially on school grounds. Disturbingly, we have substantial evidence that Hamish Miller had bought ecstasy off one of our own North Street Senior High School students. The student shall be dealt with accordingly."
At this point, I could hear a commotion outside I turned around and looked out of the back window. Two police officers had James handcuffed, and were dragging him away to the car. He was grinning like a maniac. He made eye contact with me through the window, winked and mouthed "Hi Paige!" He lifted up his tongue to reveal a small white pill. I smiled to myself. Oh what fun the police would have when they took him in for questioning!
There was a minute silence to remember Hamish. To plan my escape. I needed to ditch the eccies. I needed to go clean. I didn't want to be the top dealer at school. No way. James had killed a kid. This was it. Flee the sinking ship. James was the captain, he was going down, and no way was I going with him. *bleep* this shit.
The hall was dismissed. I grabbed my bag thought about running off. Where would I go? Allender! Of course, he'd know what to do. I'd just look into his beautiful eyes and the answers would be in their deep dark depths. I decided to lay low for the rest of the day. It worked. Three thirty finally came, and I went to the bus stop to meet Allender.
I waited and waited. Finally, at five thirty PM, he arrived.
"James got arrested!" I blurted out.
"Mmm, I gathered. I saw the cop cars around his house earlier. I'm guessing that he's going away for a long time judging by that stash." Allender said this such a casual air that I almost thought that everyone was overreacting.
"Shame really. That'll put a real kink in his father's plans."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well, his father's running for council re-election. And boy Vanderscap gets put away for, oh, let's call it a year in juvenile hall for that mother load of MDMA. He's up the proverbial shit creek." Allender smiled. "I knew this would happen sooner or later."
The bus pulled in.
"Two to Northern Heights Station please," said Allender. I was nervous. I'd never been all the way to Northern Heights Housing Estate before. It had the infamous reputation of being on of the dodgiest areas in town. And Allender was going there?
"Two forty," the bus driver said, putting the bus into gear. We took our seats and the bus took off.
"So you do know James then?"
"Yeah, he went to Sterling College until he got expelled for smoking on school grounds. I knew him well. In fact, I was the one who originally set him up to buy pills. He was having so much trouble dealing with his parents working 50 hour weeks and then going off on weekends, and he wanted something to mask his depression. So I scored him some ecstasy, just to brighten him up a little. I never would have dreamed that the two halves of his egotistical brain would get together and figure out that he could sell them. He had too much pride, too much bravado, to ever get away with it. And I'd watch him get high. Tragic stuff. It's probably a good thing that he got arrested, before he ended up OD'ing himself into a coma." Allender says this with a weary air. I guess he'd been there every time James had *bleep*ed up. I have so many questions to ask him- about James, about drugs, about how he knows me ...
"I suppose you want to know how I know so much about you then?" Allender asks, out of the blue.
"Well, yeah ... I never even said anything to you."
"I've been watching you, overheard you and James talking. I knew from day one that your name is Paige and that you're selling pills. Maybe if you were more careful, I wouldn't be taking you here."
The bus pulls into the station.
"End of the line," the bus driver says. "Northern Heights."
I step off the bus with Allender and look around. It's just like on the telly. I remember the bus station scenery from when that guy got stabbed in the kidney ... the chipped paint, the splintery benches, and bitchumen as far as the eye can see. The security office with it's barred door ... that was on telly as well, but it looks like the bus route map has been repaired; on the news, it was shown with a huge crack through the middle and covered in profane graffiti.
"C'mon," Allender mumbles, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. A couple of totally wasted derro guys come up to us.
"Ehh, youse got a shmoke?" the first one slurs, swaying a little. Allender hands him one, and one to his friend.
"Fanks mate," the other one replies drunkenly. He fumbles with his lighter, and Allender marches off.
"So, you live here or something?" I ask warily, trying to break the uneasy silence.
"I live up near James's place. My parents are overseas, volunteer work immunising kiddies in Africa or something. Real pillars of the community. They think I'm mature enough to hold down the fort. Which I guess I am. I sleep there when I have nowhere else to go. No, I just come here to visit ... friends." Allender keeps his pace, and I have to walk fast to keep up with him. I look around at the community.
Northern Heights used to be a public housing estate until it was sold by the government to a private developer. The developer realised that it was only marginally profitable, and the whole area fell into disarray. Now it's mostly inhabited by drug dealers, thieves who sell stolen goods, and other undesirables. I remember a house from the news, where a girl was raped and murdered. The house is still covered in tape, sectioned off by police.
Eventually we reach a house with a tall wire fence and a gate which is clumsily chained and padlocked shut. There's a number of cars in the carport and yard, some with tyre locks on them. The hinge on the gate is broken, and Allender pushes it open. He walk around the back, disregarding the "Beware of Dog" sign. Out on the back porch, a giant rottweiler snoozes in the sun. I freeze over. This dog was surely going to sick us!
"Hello Puppy," says Allender, patting the dog's giant black head. I guess that's its name. He gets up and stretches his head up, letting Allender scratch him under the chin. Puppy's tail wags furiously. The door bursts open. A gothic girl with a septum piercing and tattooed arms brushes her spiky black hair out of her pale face.
"Alright Allender," she says hoarsely. She's wearing a pair of giant black boots and a tight black minidress, and absolutely reeks of vodka and cigarettes, but seems perfectly sober. She leans down the the little fridge near the door and pulls out a Fairy Bomb drink.
"Who's yer friend here?"
"This is Paige. Paige, this is Tara."
Tara flicks her head up, presumably as a way of greeting. She rolls a cigarette and I peek at the packet; she smokes Stuyvesant tobacco.
"C'mon inside," she says. We all walk inside, the wire door slamming behind us.
She leads us into the living room. There's a bucket set up on the table in the middle of the room. Tara gestures around the room. There's a tall olive-skinned guy wearing a leather trench coat, with long unkempt black hair and both eyebrows pierced; a super skinny girl with short white dreadlocks pulled into a messy ponytail and cheek piercings, lazily draped across an armchair in a tatty grey singlet and a black denim miniskirt that shows off a surface bar under her navel; and finally, a super pale skeletal guy with long black dreads, and three spikes poking out from a little black goatee. Tara introduces them.
"This is Dmitry, Ivy, and Rik. Guys, this is Paige."
They all murmur hellos and Ivy even lifts her hand to wave. Rik seems to use tremendous effort to get up.
"You going on a smoke run?" Rik asks Tara. She stares down at him and sighs.
"K," she replies. "Who's in?" Everyone looks in their respective cigarette packets, and passes Tara their money.
"Take Paige with you," Rik says, looking straight at me. "Allender and I have business to discuss."
"Can I take the Commodore?" Tara asks hopefully. Rik sighs, and throws her a couple of keys, marked "Lane's Comm. 1AZY3B26."
I walk out to the back with Tara. She unlocks the clamp on the tyre, and gets in. I get into the passenger seat with her. She revs the engine and backs out at record speed. She's a more maniac driver than Luci! Tara makes conversation, something I wasn't expecting.
"So I hear that you know Luci Lancaster?"
"Yeah, she's my cousin, I live with her now."
"She still with Vince Winchelsea huh? Man, they were together all through high school and everything. I couldn't stay down to one guy like that, ey."
We pull into the Tescoles supermarket carpark, and make our way up to the shop. It's way up the other end.
"You smoke anything?"
"Uh, I don't really smoke ..."
We wait at the front counter before a little pleb checkout girl finally serves us. I read her namebadge - "Mel". Tara rattle off what seems to be a shopping list of smokes.
"Dunhill chilled, Peter Jackson original 20 pack, Benson classics, Marlboro reds ... no that one's up a little ..." Tara rolls her eyes. "A pouch of Stuyvesant tobacco, some Tally-ho papers, super-slim filters."
Mel puts all the cigarettes on the counter. Tara peers over the cabinet, looking at the supervisor behind the service counter.
"Umm, do you have some ID?" Mel asks. Tara looks at her in disgust.
"I beg your pardon?" Tara spits at the poor girl.
"I-I have to ask f-for ID if you l-lock under tw-wenty five," she stutters.
"I don't give a *bleep*! Get me your manager!" Tara barks. Mel scurries off around the corner, and another girl, a few years older comes around, massaging her temples in frustration.
"Sorry, how can I help- oh hey Tara!" the new girl exclaims.
"'Sup Abbey!" Tara grins. "Hope I didn't freak your little pleb out too much."
"Nah, I can't stand that little piss midget anyway," Abbey replies, putting the smokes through the till for us.
"Ah, I love tormenting your staff. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that we scored the coke for you." Tara lowers her voice.
"Ah," says Abbey, equally quiet. "I'll be round later then."
"Brilliant," replies Tara, her voice normal again. "Later."
We leave the supermarket and head back to the house.
When we walk back into the living room, there's an uneasy tension. Everyone's sitting up properly, not slouching around. Everyone's deadly serious.
"Sit," commands Rik. I obey. He stares into me, across the room.
"Now then, I believe that you are – were – rather chummy with a certain James Vanderstap. Are you aware that he had quite a debt owed to us?"
Now everyone's glaring at me. I can see what's coming. I want to run. I want to jump out of this seat and run and run and run. I want to wake up and hope this is all a dream. They're going to shoot me in cold blood. Set Puppy onto me. Rape and murder me like the other poor girl from the house around the corner.
"Now that he's going away for a while, it seems that you've inherited his debt. See, in the real world, we don't make mummy and daddy cough up. We go to their next in line. And that would be you. Do you know quite how much he owed?"
I shake my head. My mouth is so dry, I can't speak.
"Ballpark figure, about ten thousand dollars."
This isn't happening, this isn't happening, I silently think to myself. I feel on the verge of tears, but I'm too numb from shock.
"I'm not unreasonable, but I want my money. So you're going to work off his debt for me, get it?"
I nod vigourously.
"You will come here when I call for you to come here. Allender will let you know, and escort you here You can go now."
Allender and I walk outside, and back to the bus station. There's an awkward silence the whole way. Finally, I explode.
"You *bleep*ing ratted on me!" Allender looks taken aback.
"Excuse me?!" Tears start to stream down my cheeks.
"You told them everything. Now I have to work for them! I can't believe what a traitor you are! I wanted to get out of this, I can't take risking any trouble, and now I have to work for real drug dealers! AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU, YOU *bleep*ING TRAITOR!" Allender looks angry and hurt.
"For a start, you got yourself into this, not me. You were the one who blindly started working for James, and now you have to take the hit for his mistakes. Maybe you should be angry at him. Secondly, do you know what they would have down to you if I hadn't negotiated hard on your behalf? They would have shot you down like a dog. They would have found where you live and shot you, and everyone in your whole *bleep*ing house. You wouldn't be alive right now I hadn't gotten Rik to go so easy on you. And yeah, working your debt off is a damn *bleep*ing generous of him. So don't *bleep*ing call me a *bleep*ing traitor you stupid bitch. I did you a *bleep*ing favour. You got into dealing drugs, and you suffer the *bleep*ing consequences. Maybe you should have stayed with your parents and worked checkouts at Tescoles like a normal teenager." Allender strides off toward the bus station. "Good *bleep*ing bye, bitch."
I stand there for a moment, before slowly walking down to the station myself. I get on the next bus to Reid Street and take in the events of the day. A kid dies from a drug I might have sold him, James gets arrested, I get threatened by a drug dealer, and have probably driven away the only person who could possibly help me now. What a day. What a *bleep*ing day.
|posts in thread
Nov 8, 08 at 1:00am ^re: "In Too Deep" [Note: Language, more drug use] : Chapter 7 added and it's an even longer one; C&C please
That turn of events is never fun in the drug game...
How will Paige make it out of this one?
What happens when James figures out how many counts of Man Slaughter he just earned himself?
Will Paige get a gun?
I am just filled with questions!
p.s: This is the most fun I have ever had feinding pills.
|posts in thread
|[All dates in (PST) time]
|Threads List « Next Newest Next Oldest »
|PAGES: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 next»
Powered by neoforums v3.0.0
Copyright Neo Era Media, Inc. 1999-2016


text:
Can Professors Teach Open Source? | Opensource.com
Can Professors Teach Open Source?
At teachingopensource.org, we think so, and we wrote a book to help. The following excerpt comes from the Foreword of our new textbook, Practical Open Source Software Exploration, which is licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA-3.0. It's a book that works like an open source software project. In other words: patches welcome.
In March 2006, David A. Patterson wrote an article entitled "Computer science education in the 21st century." David A. Patterson was, at the time, the president of the Association for Computer Machinery, the world's largest educational and scientific computing society. In his article -- which, sadly, you cannot read unless you are an ACM member -- he advocated for fundamental changes to how computer science is taught. One of the changes for which he advocated: the inclusion of open source software development courses in the standard undergraduate computer science curriculum.
One might think that such a clarion call, made by someone of such obvious influence, would generate a groundswell of enthusiasm. When the president of the ACM proclaims that it is "time to teach open source development," the world of academia must certainly follow, yes?
It's a little more complicated than that.
We've spent a lot of time over the past few years talking to computer science professors. Mostly we've asked lots of questions -- actually, the same ones over and over.
- Do you use open source software in your classes? (Increasingly.)
- Are your students interested in open source? (Increasingly.)
- Do you or your students participate in open source software? (Rarely.)
- Do you teach open source development practices? (Almost never.)
For these last two, the follow-up question is, invariably, "why not?"
And the answer is, invariably, "because it's hard."
There are good reasons why professors don't teach the practice of open source. It's easy for open source advocates to explain away these reasons. At a certain point, though, one must accept the idea that most professors are well-intentioned, but bound by circumstances that make it frustratingly difficult to introduce students to open source development.
So why bother?
The answer is simple: the skills required to succeed in an open source software project are the exact same skills required to succeed in any large software project. The biggest difference is that, with just a bit of guidance, anyone can build their software skills in the open source world.
We hope that this textbook helps provide that guidance to a whole generation of students who want to learn how to become better software engineers, the open source way.
13 Comments
Boy, do I wish I had this guide when I was a freshman in college!! This is awesome. I do have a little nit, though... :)
4. Getting the Code, by Greg DeKoenigsberg and Mel Chua
5. Building the Code, by Greg DeKoenigsberg
6. Debugging the Code, by Greg DeKoenigsberg
7. Fixing the Code, by Jeff Sheltren
8. Explaining the Code: the Art of Documentation, by Karsten Wade
We need a chapter or chapters on open source design too, don't you think? ;-)
There's a FLOSS HCI workshop next week at ACM's CHI conference in Atlanta. I put together a case study (with tons of help from Mel :) ) on some of the issues and suggestions for designers in open source communities for it - do you think it could be a good start?
While it's a specific goal of the meta-work The Open Source Way to go beyond code, the Practical Open Source Software Exploration textbook has to start somewhere for a specific student audience. While many audiences are under-served, it is to me one of the saddest shames that people studying computer science aren't learning about participating in open source. That's why I was satisfied with the initial scope and release.
I come to this agreeing and having worked in similar circles with Máirín on getting open source projects to think beyond "code is king". As one of the editors of Practical Open Source Software Exploration, I know it won't be as easy to remix the current content for a non-coding audience. However, it can be done, and it should be done. In fact, I think the title itself lends room for inclusion of parts (groups of chapters) dealing with non-coding parts of FOSS projects.
Then it's fairly straightforward to identify a subset on the wiki and make different books based on the same content, for different audiences. The greater the quantity and quality of chapters in the pool, the more student audiences can be reached with the textbook.
A way to go from here would be:
- Create a new design-focused textbook landing page on the Teaching Open Source wiki.
- Create a table of contents for the first version of the book, looking to reuse existing chapters from the other book.
- Where the title of a chapter conflicts with the design focus, try to work with the upstream chapter author to fix this. For example, could we rename all the chapters to e.g. "Explaining the Source" for the documentation chapter? Does that make sense to a design audience?
- Where the chapter title doesn't work, just create a new container chapter and use the MediaWiki include mechanism to pull in content.
- Around here slot in the design-specific chapters we do have already, such as massaging the case study you reference.
- With that half-day or day's work we can get some percentage of the textbook already underway or nearly done, and have an idea of how much work there is to do.
- Start recruiting writers, then write the needed content.
If you like this idea, perhaps offer it as a challenge to Fedora Design Team and to other design communities you know. I volunteer to help with the MediaWiki wrangling, gardening, and understanding of the content for remixing. (It helps me in my goal to write a "how-to-remix this book" appendix.) We can do the conversion to DocBook and get the pretty Fedora branding (or whatever brand) in PDF, HTML, and Epub formats.
because open src is more like viral activity than anything start from architectural understanding
i mean if the professor is infected, then he can infect his student more easily
while actually, most of them are immune to open src
because it's hard to teach sth that only valid for several days/months
instead, only theories or even super old architectural understanding could lead to long term memory
that's why it's hard to bring open src to academia
maybe 30 yrs later.....when open src is proven moving objects
then we may have angular/circular development feels like some physics lessons
The vibrant dynamics of open source poses a problem to universities to include open source into the undergraduate course. The ever changing nature of open source require constant up-gradation, and hence is the major distraction of professors/tutors. Meanwhile, a general nature of human, to oppose change, also prevents the academics to go for it. Though there have been some progresses on this, mostly in developing countries where open source has been started to be believed as the only way to go. Even though it's a long way for open source to get included in the university.
but open src-ers already know how to join the community and develop....
seldom open src-ers were told to do sth...*x*
they just go to code and discuss PRO-ACTIVELY
they don't wait for a degree or master for doing anything
they are the REAL MEN (incl. WOMEN)
...because my first experience trying to get involved in an established, well-known open source project was so unpleasant, I didn't try again until five years later. It was that bad.
If I had a guide like this at the time.... I wouldn't have been so discouraged and lost all of that time!
that's "open src-ism" already
u may join by interest
or u may not join
or u may join by forking a project ... leads to your own interest
that's not a problem
that's the way it's going
just try to figure out how u interact with the community and how it feeds back
it does not fix or limit anything into a "box"
open src itself is like liquid
free-form and eventually reaches its well-form
when it breaks, it means it will go into another free-well-form
feels like water drops and leads to waves
that's part of modern viral marketing would like to intimate...
I think not only they can, but they should be teaching open source methods and practices. And I think they could be teaching within open source communities.
There are alot of soft skills involved in interacting with an open source community that are professional real-life skills. They can, as Honey suggests, tough it out and learn it on their own... But why can't we integrate this into formal education?
Graduates are often left to do this exact thing: after they leave school, they finally start developing the 'real' skills they need.
Bringing students into the wild of open source during their education can reap great benefits for them. They can find like-minds, make professional connections for work, make personal connections for support- and find their way in the world.
There are many are skills and abilities that can be developed, beyond the code.
Thanks for your response, it mirrors some of my thinking after reading Honey Mak's comments. Because of the wild and natural roots of open source software, many of the pioneers there have that hardy, do-it-yourself attitude that doesn't understand people who are not like that. Those of us who followed these first pioneers have an affinity for that attitude, yet that attitude can be a barrier to a sizeable portion of the population of potential contributors.
> They can, as Honey suggests, tough it out and learn it on their
> own... But why can't we integrate this into formal education?
Singling this point out because it's about something that has been on my mind for the last few years. My friend and colleague Mel Chua talks about "invisible segfaults" in community. Just as a bug in code might cause the software to silently break and quit, a bug in community interactions can cause that in an individual. Every time someone looks at a community with an eye to participate, and is repulsed either directly, indirecetly, because of an unintended barrier, by hitting an -ism (sexism, ageism, racism, newbieism, etc.), or just about anything, and if that person then goes away without anyone knowing why (or that they were even there and left), it's an invisible segfault.
Sadly, people seem wired to resist seeing, understanding, and changing the conditions that cause the community invisible segfault. Sexism is a good example of a tought problem, because it is more ingrained and less obvious to those being sexist than other discrimination, and many of us are sexist "without meaning it." In reality, it's about how we make people feel unwelcome by identifying and acting differently based on real or perceived differences between people. If I start talking in a fake/parody accent to mimic every person who comes to talk to me about my open source project, it is pretty clear that i) I'm not Robin Williams and it's not remotely funny, and ii) maybe I'm a bit racist or at least culturally clueless. But if I start talking to every woman or young/old person as if they don't understand technology, as if they are an object and not a person, as if they don't belong because they aren't one of the guys-like-me, people don't perceive that as inappropriate (not-Robin Williams) and sexist. Well, some people do, but just as many others don't, and they give the usual list of arguments.
It's an obligation of everyone to make our free and open world a welcoming and safe location for those who stop by. We'll find more of them stick around.
we have a BIG...super BIG open src community...feels like entire human population in the world...
"the world" in this case = open src community
but we have different people from different nations...
we have some values that we understood and universal
but we have some differences too
it's not necessary to integrate personal values deeply into project building...though that could be little bit tricky in words....
but it's free to fork...
it's great that if someone really leads the way...
but if not, then you will be your own lead...if you are tough enough...then you reach it...if you are not tough enough...that may find yourself actually not quite really interested in the topic...feels like the great Edison making the very 1st lamp?...today's open src development is way far easier...
open src just works like daily life....you will buy something from stall A...you will buy another thing from stall B...you won't just look for everything in one single place....
what open src brings is real freedom...you can make it commercial and stick with it...when someone doesn't like it...then just make another stuff...
if take this mechanism a little bit more optimistic, any open src activity is actually trying to bring a better world....unless just stealing from the src and never contributes...
because through open src development, actually a social model is being built as well...different circles for different topics, AND different specialists and different open src "schools" or triangular stepping stone model for "community career" building as well....
From my limited academic experience in the North West, I have come to three possible reasons why Open Source is not taught even though professionally the tools and skills will be a main stay in the graduates profession.
1) MS kick backs - Free or mostly free software to use. To me this is not a very good reason since MySql and Linux, etc. are all free as well. But I suspect part of the MS deal is that the schools needed software outside of the classroom training products are subsidized as well so long as the school uses MS products throughout without much other emphasis.
2) In my experience and especially in the state I live, many professionals that know and use Open Source professionally do not have four year degree's let alone masters. Universities do not want experienced professionals, they want academic professionals so they won't hire the ones with the knowledge.
3) Because of numbers 1 & 2, the only qualified professors that are/can be hired by the Universities are trained and experienced with MS based software only and have limited exposure/experience with Open Source software. Therefore, they do not know or feel comfortable enough teaching with or about Open Source outside of the traditional sound bites.
I realize I could be wrong and that my exposure to this is limited to one location and one institutions policies but I can't help but think there is some relevance and similarity beyond the one institution I attended.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
If you need immediate assistance, call 877-SSRNHelp (877 777 6435) in the United States, or +1 585 442 8170 outside of the United States, 8:30AM to 6:00PM U.S. Eastern, Monday - Friday.
intellectual property rights, cumulative innovation, persistent leadership, forward protection, non-obviousness requirement
Intellectual property rights, persistent leadership, cumulative innovation, preemption, forward protection, non-obviousness requirement, patent policy
patent policy, inequality, growth, nonhomothetic preferences
optimal patent strength, financial constraints, licensing, innovation
Patent Strength, Inequality, Hierarchical Preferences, Sector-Specific R&D
Intellectual property rights, income distribution, endogenous growth, nonhomothetic preferences
© 2016 Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Contact Us
This page was processed by apollobot1 in 0.156 seconds


text:
3 posts tagged with aka.
Displaying 1 through 3 of 3. Subscribe:
The dawn of an era, available and emulated in your browser to play.
A few months ago there was a list of links to classic video game emulators posted. Very recently, I'm pleased to report, those links all came true. The Internet Archive bespoke upon aforementioned consoles, computers, and mileposts on our way to the tech utopia of today, (seriously, where's my flying car?) and they asked us to do something: Imagine every computer that ever existed, literally, in your browser. And it was so. I have absolutely no affiliation with jscott, btw. Thought I should disclose that.
New Pygmy sounds: Orchéstre Baka Gbiné
Those adventurous listeners among you who've explored some of the further musical reaches of our little planet might have heard, somewhere along the line, some of the amazing polyphony and yodeling styles of the Baka or the Aka Pygmies. The bewitchingly complex rhythmic and melodic interplay we find in these traditional musics is spellbinding and utterly unique, of course, but what are, say, Baka Pygmy musicians doing these days that's a little more, well, *modern*? I thought you'd never ask! Orchéstre Baka Gbiné are doing this. [more inside]
"Where sex is work, sex may just work differently" & "the WEIRDest people in the world?"
When sex means reproduction, certain proclivities may simply not be part of cultural models of sexuality: "Barry and Bonnie Hewlett had been studying the Aka and Ngandu people of central Africa for many years before they began to specifically study the groups' sexuality... [T]he Hewletts conclude, "Homosexuality and masturbation are rare or nonexistent [in these two cultures], not because they are frowned upon or punished, but because they are not part of the cultural models of sexuality in either ethnic group."" [more inside]
Page: 1


text:
Last week I made homemade granola to gear up for back to school.
My husband loves to eat granola with milk in the morning, our son loves to snack on it and our daughter and I like to add it to our yogurt.
This is not a super crunchy granola. It is a toasted granola. The recipe uses oats which are high in fiber and a great source of copper, iron, zinc, selenium, magnesium, manganese and vitamin E.
We got tired of purchasing expensive granola at the store and decided to experiment with making our own. Which has saved us money over store-bought counterparts. Making your own granola will also help you to cut out partially hydrogenated soybean and/or peanut oils.
The granola stores well for two weeks in an airtight container in the cupboard. We keep a jar out for use and freeze the remaining amount and take it out as we need it. I couldn't tell you exactly how long it would keep in the freezer because it doesn't last more than a month in our home.
Homemade Granola Ingredients
1 Cup honey
7 Cups traditional or Steel Cut Oats
2 Cups whole almonds or any combination of nuts
Dried fruit
Can add sprinkle of cinnamon if desired
Homemade Granola Recipe
1.) Preheat oven 300 degree F
2.) Measure out all the dry ingredients except the dried fruit and place in a medium mixing bowl.
3.) Measure out 1 cup of honey in a microwave safe measuring cup. Heat the honey until it is runny.
4.) Pour the warm, runny honey over the dry ingredients. Stir the mixture together making sure the honey has covered all ingredients well.
5.) Place the mixture onto a baking sheet and place in oven.
6.) Stir the granola every 15 minutes. Check the granola at the one hour mark. The granola should be a toasted brown when it is done. The only true taste test you can perform to be sure that you have some crunch is to let the batch completely cool. Taste some when it has cooled down to make sure it's crunchy. Warm oats will not have a crunch. If they are not crunchy put them back in the oven and wait a little longer.
I have had batches that took as long as 45 minutes longer when it was humid out during the summer. The time really depends on your weather.
1.) You can add just about anything to this granola. Use the recipe as a base. Sunflower Kernels , pumpkin seeds and Flax Seed have all made their way into our granola at some point. Choose nuts you like.
2.) Add the dried fruit until after baking the granola. More often than not I will just have a separate bowl of dried fruits in the cupboard that people can reach for to add what they like to their bowl.
Storing Homemade Granola
1.) In any airtight jar or ziptop bag. The mixture stays well for two weeks.
2.) Freeze remaining granola and take out as needed. Again, our batches are consumed within a month. So, I know that the granola stays fresh that long. When you are ready to use the granola, remove from the freezer and place on counter venting the granola to be sure moisture does not condensate in jar or bag.
Hope you enjoy the recipe as much as our family does.


text:
Tyrone's Ronnie Garbinsky isn't used to losing. Not in the regular season, where he only lost his freshman year. Not throughout his career, as his 154-10 record would indicate.
The school's first four-time District 6 champion certainly wasn't accustomed to losing in the Southwest Regional Tournament, where he was a two-time winner.
He was denied his third by Burrell's Jeremy Landowski in the overtime tiebreaker of the 135-pound finals Saturday at the War Memorial, where he hadn't lost since Shady Side Academy's Geoff Alexander beat him in the 103-pound finals as a freshman.
Article Photos
Photo for the Mirror by Jim Butler
Ronnie Garbinsky was beaten by Burrell's Jeremy Landowski in Saturday's final.
But the loss to Landowski, whom he had handled pretty handily as a junior, might have been helpful. Garbinsky, a future pre-med major at Pitt, searched for a prescription to the loss, and what he came up with was a change in his offensive attack.
"In the past month or so, there's been a lot of pressure on me," he said. "I wrestled like I was scared to lose. I didn't go out there to dominate the match. I went out there and wrestled defensive. So, when I waited, Landowski, and even [Jeannette's Michael] DePalma [a 1-0 semifinal win] attacked me, and Landowski beat me.
"I'm going to have to go after people at states. It's my last year, and I have nothing to lose. After I lost, I realized I have to be the aggressor. You can't go out there and try to get by."
Fact Box
Garbinsky file
n He is a four-time District 6 champion and two-time Southwest Regional champ.
n He's 35-1 with 23 pins as a senior.
n He has a career record of 154-10.
Tyrone coach Blair Packer said he didn't think Garbinsky (35-1) was holding back, but he agrees with his new plan of attack.
"You can't get a lead and sit on it," Packer said. "I've told all three of our regional qualifiers [Garbinsky, Mark McMonagle, Dylan Weston] we don't wrestle well on the defense. We practice on going on the offense and going after the opponent."
Landowski set the tone early, taking Garbinsky down twice in the first period.
"He was a lot tougher on his feet than he was last year," Garbinsky said. "I wasn't getting any angles on my shots. I hung out in the ties, and I was flatfooted. He wrestled his match."
Packer said some of the problem from the neutral position was he was chasing Landowski, who was called for stalling twice in the first two periods.
"When you're chasing and moving forward, you're closing the gap for him," Packer said. "He's planted and ready to strike. He has to stop chasing and move from side to side. We'll work that out before states."
If he can't chase his opponent, then how is he to score points on his feet? For Garbinsky, the answer is to be physical, attacking not just with shots but wearing down his opponents in ties.
"I'm not working the head or being as physical as I should be," he said. "At regionals, I just wanted to win. That's now how I want to win. I have to keep after them for six minutes."
Garbinsky gained a reputation, especially last year, within District 6 for being a rugged, hard-nosed wrestler who would frustrate his opponents and irk opposing fans with his physical style.
"It's interesting. In the beginning, he didn't have much of a killer instinct," Packer said. "He became tough, hard-nosed and technically sound over the years. If you're a timid wrestler, you're going to be intimidated by him."
In the past, he's been able to solve any perceived flaws in the "cage" by working out and eliminating with A.J. Schopp, but the 2010 state champion spent his first year at Edinboro University winning open tournaments as he redshirts.
"It's been tougher without him here," Garbinsky said. "I have Dylan [Weston] and Mark [McMonagle], but I have to go out of my way for other practice partners. I go to the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club and Ken Chertow. I have to do a lot of extra work."
Garbinsky and Schopp would always be moving along in the championship rounds of postseason tournaments. That is, until the dreaded state semifinals, where Garbinsky has lost all three years.
Last year, he was tied, 3-3, late in the bout with Boiling Springs' eventual state champ Joe Spisak when Garbinsky took a chance and tried to hit a granby roll from the bottom position. Spisak caught him on his back for three points in the last 5 seconds to win, 6-3.
Bouncing back from state semifinal losses are the hardest for most wrestlers, particularly for Garbinsky, who placed fifth last year after taking fourth his first two years.
"Each year, they're tougher and tougher to take," Garbinsky said, "because I'm so close to reaching my goal. Once you lose, you're kind of heartbroken. I wrestled 45 minutes after I lost, and I didn't even care."
Will he get past the semifinals with his new aggressive style and make the finals for a possible rematch with Landowski?
"That loss may be the best thing that could have happened," Packer said. "If he's a champion, he'll use that to launch himself right to the state title."


text:
Crocheted and knitted works by Naomi Paul
Recycling and art had gathered from some time now and more and more artists try to make a statement by creating beautiful things from what other people considered useless and thrown away. There are entire galleries that combine recycling and artistic manifestations and now it seems that this way of expressing has appeared also in the furniture industry for masses.
Naomi Paul is a designer from London who created a collection based on materials that British considered junk. However, she doesn't use any thrown away material, but only the luxurious materials. Lots of her products are crochet and knitted works, inspired by traditional crafting techniques. She crated almost any kind of home accessories, starting with cushions, till chairs and pendants. All those are beautifully made by crocheting or knitting and the result is amazing because this type of crafting has a lot of meaning. Our grannies and ancestors used to crochet for their loved ones, so this gesture transmits love and caring.
More than this, any crochet item seems vintage and valuable because the process is a very long time one and also delicate, not anyone being able to do it. The items that Naomi Paul designed are very joyful colored so they make you feel happy. Considering crochet is a traditional art, those things can fit any classic room and the flashy colors make them fit even modern ones. I think the crochet chairs are my favorite ones because they seem more conventional and they don't shock at all.


text:
There's laughter, tears and thrills on the docket this week, starting off with an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's 'The Adjustment Bureau,' a science fiction love story about a man who just won't accept what the fates have in store for him. Next up is the fast-paced action-thriller 'Unknown,' with he-man Liam Neeson playing an American doctor who wakes up after a car accident and no longer fits into the world he thought he lived in. And, finally, don't forget 'Cedar Rapids,' a comedy that follows a mild-manner insurance salesman who gets caught up in ribald adventures at a convention in the BIG city. Read on.
'The Adjustment Bureau'
What It's About: Do we control our destiny, or do unseen forces manipulate us? Matt Damon stars in this thriller -- based on the short story 'Adjustment Team' by Philip K. Dick -- as a man who glimpses the future Fate has planned for him and tries to fight it. On the brink of winning a seat in the U.S. Senate, ambitious politician David Norris (Damon) meets beautiful ballet dancer Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt). But mysterious men conspire to keep the two apart. David learns he is up against the agents of Fate itself -- the men of The Adjustment Bureau -- who will do everything in their considerable power to prevent the two from being together.
It's Kinda Like: 'Dark City' meets 'The Book of Job'
What We Say: We've never met a Philip K. Dick story, novel or big-screen adaptation we didn't like -- but if we had to pick one to anchor the bottom of our list of faves, 'The Adjustment Bureau' would be it. Director George Nolfi just can't seem to put any oomph into the proceedings, and the film can't decide if it's a sci-fi thriller, a conspiracy mystery, a love story or a religious tract -- and given the ending that accedes to a higher power, maybe even He (or She) didn't know either. This one sounds better on paper than it plays.
• Extras: Deleted and extended scenes, featurettes, commentary; the Blu-ray adds "The Labyrinth of Doors: Interactive Map of New York" that allows viewers to use the Adjustment Bureau's network of portals to leap from location to location, triggering a short video in each place that offers a look behind the scenes or a scene from the film.
Rotten Tomatoes Reviews | Buy DVD | Save DVD to your Netflix queue
Watch an exclusive DVD clip:
What It's About: While on his way to a convention in Berlin, Dr. Martin Harris' (Liam Neeson) cab crashes and he awakens in the hospital to discover that his wife (January Jones) suddenly doesn't recognize him and, worse, another man (Aidan Quinn) has assumed his identity. Ignored by disbelieving authorities and hunted by mysterious assassins, he finds himself alone, tired and on the run. He joins up with an unlikely ally (Diane Kruger), and the pair plunge headlong into a deadly mystery that will force him to question his sanity, his identity, and just how far he's willing to go to uncover the truth.
It's Kinda Like: 'Taken' meets 'The Lady Vanishes' via 'Flightplan'
What We Say: Liam Neeson's career has always been a mixed bag. One day he's playing Darkman, the next Oskar Schindler. When he's not handling a light sabre as Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, he's brandishing a clip board in 'Kinsey.' Lately he's taken up residence as the big screen's elder statesman of action (he just hit 59), first in 'Taken' and now in 'Unknown.' This straight-ahead action-thriller by director Jaume Collet-Serra (who did the freaky thriller 'Orphan') is pushed along by Neeson's charisma and charm but starts to peter out after the plot twist is revealed in the film's last third. Still, we revel in Neeson's "dad-next-door-with-fists-of-steel" persona.
• Extras: Behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Rotten Tomatoes Reviews | Buy DVD | Save DVD to your Netflix queue
Watch an exclusive DVD clip:
'Cedar Rapids'
What It's About: Ed Helms (of 'The Office' and 'The Hangover' fame) plays naive Tim Lippe, a small-town mid-Western insurance agent who's never left his hometown, never stayed at a hotel, never had a hard-drink ... and he's never experienced anything like Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Sent to represent his company at the annual insurance convention, Tim is soon distracted by three convention veterans (John C. Reilly, Anne Heche and Isiah Whitlock Jr.) who show him the ropes and push his boundaries ... and lend him a hand when his innocence gets him into raunchy trouble.
It's Kinda Like: 'The Office' meets 'The Hangover'
What We Say: Helms is cutting a swathe for himself as kind of an everyman loser who eventually rises to the occasion and saves the day. Here he plays it to the hilt as an insurance salesman whose libido is just on the edge of bursting -- though he doesn't yet know it. On the one hand he's having an affair with his ex-elementary school teacher (Sigourney Weaver), on the other he marvels at the peanuts he's served on his airline flight. The film veers from sweetness and light to nasty bathroom humor with almost nothing in between -- but it all comes together as a kind of goofball Odyssey.
• Extras: Gag reel, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurette.
Rotten Tomatoes Reviews | Buy DVD | Save DVD to your Netflix queue
Watch a trailer:
Other New June 21 DVD Releases:
- 'Bending All the Rules': A serial dater, who always puts her love life behind her career, finally lands her lifetime dream -- her own photography exhibition -- but things get complicated when she finds herself being romantically pursued by two men. Stars Colleen Porch, David Gail, Bradley Cooper.
- 'Ceremony': An aspiring children's book author crashes his older ex's wedding in the hopes of winning her back before the nuptials are completed. Stars Uma Thurman, Lee Pace, Michael Angarano, Rebecca Mader, Reece Thompson.
- 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules': More schoolyard adventures with bully favorite Greg, Rowley and Greg's older brother, Rodrick. Stars Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Peyton List, Devon Bostick, Rachael Harris, Steve Zahn.
- 'The Eagle': A Roman soldier slashes his way through 2nd century Britain to restore the tarnished reputation of his father and find a golden emblem that disappeared with him and thousands of troops 20 years earlier. Stars Channing Tatum, Denis O'Hare, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland.
- 'Elektra Luxx': A recently retired adult film industry superstar (Carla Gugino) tries to make a go of the straight-life by teaching a community college sex education class aimed at housewives, but her past creeps up on her and thwarts her new plans.
- 'happythankyoumoreplease': A group of twentysomething New Yorkers struggle to figure out themselves, their lives and their loves. Stars Josh Radnor, Malin Akerman, Kate Mara.
- 'Playing House': In order to afford their dream house, a newly married couple invite their best friend to move in with them, but he brings along a stunning temptress who decides she likes what the newlyweds have and never wants to leave. Stars Mayra Leal, Sarah Prikryl, Craig Welbacher, Matt Lusk.
- 'To Live and Ride in LA': An exploration of the underground community of inked up bike riders in LA. The documentary examines fixed-gear bike culture and some of the biggest names in the underground movement.
Check out more June 21 DVD releases at OnVideo.
An accident victim (Liam Neeson) awakes and finds that his wife does not recognize him. Read More
Cedar Rapids
Three veteran attendees help a naive insurance agent (Ed Helms) cut loose at a convention. Read More
The Adjustment Bureau
A man (Matt Damon) battles the agents of Fate to be with the woman (Emily Blunt) he loves. Read More
categories Dvds, Movies, Blu-Ray Dvds


text:
World Bank, Mexico Release Report on Disaster Risks and Financial Resilience
16 June 2012: The Government of Mexico and the World Bank released a joint report on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) Summit convening in Los Cabos, Mexico, titled "Improving the Assessment of Disaster Risks to Strengthen Financial Resilience." The report outlines how the G20, the World Bank, and other international partners can cooperate with national and local authorities to address disaster and financial resilience risks.
The report highlights the essential role of information in decision-making, underscoring that countries' understanding of the risks they face is a key element of risk management. To guiding resilient development, it underscores the importance of identifying natural hazards, and understanding the potential impact of these hazards on people and assets.
According to the World Bank, rapid urbanization and changes in climate patterns will exacerbate the dramatic increase in disaster losses around the world.
Fifteen of the G20 members, as well as invited countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Turkey, the UK, and the US), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) submitted contributions to the publication. [World Bank Press Release] [Publication: Improving the Assessment of Disaster Risks to Strengthen Financial Resilience]


text:
COLUMBIA — State Sen. Robert Ford, issued his resignation letter moments ago from the South Carolina Senate.
Attached to the formal note was a sentence telling supporters that staying to fight would have been tough.
"If I was ten years younger, I would stay and fight. But at this point in my life, I feel this is the best decision for everyone concerned.
I am proud to have represented you in the legislature – but more importantly, I am honored to be considered your friend."
Ford resigned this morning as the Senate Ethics Committee was finishing up its review into his campaign spending.
Ford has held the Senate seat for 20 years and previously served on Charleston City Council. He did not attend the hearing today after spending last night in the hospital, his attorney William Runyon said.
Ford has cardiovascular problems, Runyon said.
The official letter touched on his health and his desire to work with others of different backgrounds.
"I sought to teach others about the struggles of my people," he said in the letter, "But I learned a great deal as well. One of my proudest moments was watching as the Confederate flag was lowered from the State House dome alongside my good friend, then-Sen. Glenn Mcconnell.
This action was achieved only by black and white working together to honor our shared history."
On Thursday, Ford began the fight for his political career when he faced allegations that he spent campaign funds on personal expenses, including purchases at adult stores.
Runyon said he expected more discussion on "expenses, checks and receipts" today.
Questions about the purchases at adult stores yesterday didn't surprise Runyon, he said, because he knew they were coming.
Ford said the purchases were gag gifts for campaign workers and the purchases were legal.
Runyon said Ford's problem is poor record keeping. "Nobody would accuse Robert Ford of having any kind of system," he said. "A lot of folks know how to serve the community but don't know how to keep their records straight."
His resignation will result in the Lowcountry's third high profile election in a year.
Filing for Ford's old Senate 42 seat could open on June 21 and close July 1, State Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire said.
Any primaries would be held on Aug. 13, and the special election itself would be held Oct. 1.
The black-majority seat contains portions of downtown Charleston, West Ashley and North Charleston.
Check back for updates at postandcourier.com. Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491 or on Twitter @dianeknich.


text:
is it possible?
Social Situations
General Gun Discussions
> is it possible?
October 1, 2010, 12:13 AM
that during the waiting periods the gun store owner if he wanted to, could shoot your gun before you if he wanted to without telling you. If I found out can he get in trouble?:mad:
If you enjoyed reading about "is it possible?" here in TheHighRoad.org archive, you'll LOVE our community. Come join
today for the full version!
October 1, 2010, 12:32 AM
Possible, yes. Plausible, no.
Could they get into trouble? No, They own the firearm. (your buying it from them and they haven't transferred it to you yet so legally in the eyes of the BATFE its still theirs regardless of if you've paid in full or not)
First off, why would they want to? They have access to a lot of firearms and if they deal in used firearms, they could shoot those all they wanted to without defacing the value. Not only that, but why would they risk loosing your business?
October 1, 2010, 12:36 AM
All guns are test fired by the manufacturer.
October 1, 2010, 12:38 AM
i know but what I mean is they take at the end of 1 saturday and put 300rds thru it and take it back to their shop
October 1, 2010, 09:07 AM
Seriously? If you are that suspicious of your FFL, find another dealer.
300 rounds isn't much for the record.
You should realize that no matter how sweet you may think your purchase is, your ffl has access to hundreds of firearms that are way more fun or nicer than what you are buying. So why would he want to risk future sales by test firing a pistol you purchased?
Lastly, depending on what you are buying...it may need a break-in of 500 rounds or so. If the dealer ran 300 rounds through it, I'd consider that a favor (if I knew about it)!
In all seriousness, it sounds like you are just being a wee bit too paranoid. Loosen up a bit and don't expect the worst from people you deal with. Normally I don't think of people as being overly paranoid...but you mentioned that you thought an FFL may be trying to intentionally sabotage your firearm in order to hurt you in another post. That's just a little over the top. I'm not chastising you, just offering some food for thought.
October 1, 2010, 09:08 AM
Let's just answer the question, ok?
Not terribly likely, but nothing's impossible. I'd have to have some incredibly conclusive evidence before I suspected them of doing something so off-the-wall -- AND I'd have to be able to discern what possible harm they'd caused me.
As already stated, the manufacturers test fire the guns before shipping and some of them don't clean them well (or at all) before boxing them up. If you see a bit of soot or powder residue, that's what I'd assume happened.
If you see heavy fouling, scratches/dings in the metal, wear marks, and other serious issues then something strange may be going on. But otherwise ... no.
October 1, 2010, 09:57 AM
Is it possible, yes.
There's a few CA FFL dealers that have done this.
Once people find out, they tell others to avoid using them.
Tim the student
October 1, 2010, 10:04 AM
that during the waiting periods the gun store owner if he wanted to, could shoot your gun before you if he wanted to without telling you.
Anything is possible. But I think that the likelihood of an FFL taking my gun out to the range for some fun is about as likely as my FFL sabotaging my gun, or attempting to steal my gun, or someone taking away my birthday.
October 1, 2010, 11:30 AM
So what if he deos? Any gun that can't handle being shot a few times really isn't that great now is it?
Even a SS target barrel isn't really going to get hurt unless he makes ammo out of Aid's or something.
October 1, 2010, 11:57 AM
So what if he deos? Any gun that can't handle being shot a few times really isn't that great now is it?
Even a SS target barrel isn't really going to get hurt unless he makes ammo out of Aid's or something.
So it's perfectly fine that you sign all the paperwork for a car, while you are sitting in the finance department, the car dealer decides to take the car out for a spin and do 20 donuts in a parking lot before giving the car back to you?
Also here in Houston, 300 rounds down a gun is consider a USED gun with a USED price tag. If I am buying a new gun, I would not have a SO WHAT attitude? So what he puts another 1000 rounds through it right? he's just testing my gun for me and charging a new gun price tag at the same time.
The point of the OP is that he signed for it, it's in processing, the ethical thing for the dealer is probably keep it in a safe.
October 1, 2010, 12:02 PM
It's possible. The most likely scenario is a FFL dealer with a range. I would be pretty irritated if I could prove it as a buyer of a specific firearm. Does it matter? It could. But if you are going to shoot the gun, I don't see any harm done. If you are collecting a gun, it would be a huge issue for me.
October 1, 2010, 12:27 PM
I wouldn't consider it ethical or a particularly NICE thing to do, either. I don't mean to brush off that action as acceptable. My point is that I'd need to be MIGHTY darned sure I had something more than an ufounded hunch before I accused anyone of something like that.
How do I KNOW?
What damage or wear can I point to as "proof?"
Some of us have mildly paranoid natures. That's not enough to toss around accusations.
October 1, 2010, 12:43 PM
Ethical? No. Unheard of? I've never known or even suspected a dealer of firing a new gun before selling it...whether or not it was under contract...without prior consent from the buyer. Used gun? Possible. Even likely. Given the available range, some dealers will test-fire a used gun to make sure it's serviceable before placing it in the display case.
October 1, 2010, 01:10 PM
that during the waiting periods the gun store owner if he wanted to, could shoot your gun before you if he wanted to without telling you. If I found out can he get in trouble?:mad:
You still have the option to refuse the gun at time of transfer. If it looks abused than ask 'em. If you don't trust their answer you shouldn't be shopping there anyway, cause they probably overcharged you. Guns bought off the shelf and looked at many times, have been handled rough already and sometimes, as in the case of slammin' a 1911 home on a empty chamber, the gun has suffered more abuse than being shot. I'm bettin' they ain't even looked at that firearm since they set it aside.
October 1, 2010, 01:58 PM
Okay, one scenario that I thought of was this: An at-home licensee, whose business really only amounts to transferring online sales to his state's resident customers. So he receives the NIB Silver Pigeon that you bought online, and he's read a lot about these guns and he just loves the way it looks and feels. He runs out to the range and dusts a box of clays with it before bringing it back to his house, cleans it up and calls you to tell you that it has arrived.
I'd be tempted to call him a thief in that situation.
October 1, 2010, 02:10 PM
If it's a problem, get your money back. Do business elsewhere.
October 1, 2010, 02:23 PM
I have a friend who has his ffl, and does transfers out of his house. His deal is that if he wants to try your gun he'll call, let you know, and arrange to meet you at our local shooting spot with gun and ammo. If you dont want to then no big deal.
October 1, 2010, 02:43 PM
Two questions.
Why would you think your FFL would do this?
If you think they would, why are you doing business with them?
Just as an aside, I would rather a FFL had tested a used gun before selling it...just to see that it works
October 1, 2010, 06:59 PM
No FFL dealer I know would even work the action on a new gun that was under contract. If he did and by some miracle he noticed something wasn't right, then he'd have liability for knowing of a defect and not telling the buyer about it. The boxed arms come in to the shop, the serial number is compared to the serial number on the box and the invoice, the box is taped shut and stays that way until the customer takes possession.
October 1, 2010, 07:11 PM
I totally agree with TexasGunbie
October 1, 2010, 07:13 PM
Ok. Ron, glad you came back. Is this a complete hypothetical situation? (i.e.: "Could it ever happen that...?") Or are you asking because you think your dealer might have done it?
October 1, 2010, 07:22 PM
If a dealer does this then he is actually guilty of fraud. To represent something as new, and sell it as new, knowing that that is a false representation and you rely on that representation then you have a cause of action against him. Sure there are a few more elements you would have to prove, but if it happens then the dealer is committing a crime.
October 2, 2010, 02:27 PM
There's a dealer in CA that also has a range on site. They'll will let YOU shoot it during the waiting period.
October 2, 2010, 02:46 PM
What is the status of the firearm during the waiting period? Have you paid for it and have receipt for the firearm? If he still owns it, then it's his. It doesn't seem like something you'd want to do to your customers since you'd almost certainly ruin yourself. If it is your gun, i.e. you paid for it and you have receipt saying so and the firearm is being held in trust during the waiting period, his use of the firearm would be trespass to chattel as far as property laws are concerned. If he's still the owner of the firearm, which it seems like he is since you can't own the firearm until after the waiting period. If he tries to deliver the firearm after having shot it while it was in trust then he's changed the object of the contract and you should be able to get your money back or a different gun under conversion since the gun you are being delivered is not the same gun as was bargained for. Basically, no, he can't shoot YOUR gun if that was what was bargained for. You bargained for a new XYZ Shooter of particular serial number and paid for a new XYZ Shooter of a particular serial number at a particular price, he agreed to sell you a new XYZ Shooter of the same particular serial number at the same particular price, but delivered a gently used XYZ Shooter. Although the serial number is the same and it is physically the same gun, the gun delivered is different in character to the one bargained for. So, no contract.
If you enjoyed reading about "is it possible?" here in TheHighRoad.org archive, you'll LOVE our community. Come join
today for the full version!
vBulletin® v3.8.6, Copyright ©2000-2016, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.