text:
How to Create Your Own Social Media Icons using Picmonkey
All you need is a good set of Social Icon Sillhouette images (which I will direct you to :) and a little Picmonkey know-how.
at the start of the code and at the end of the code before saving. This will center it in your side bar. Drag the gadget box to wherever you want your social icons to appear!
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190 Responses to "How to Create Your Own Social Media Icons using Picmonkey"
I know what I will be doing this evening now! Thanks for the fab tutorial!
Great job!
Um, you had me until the "time out." Then I got scared and confused. Good thing you did mine before you quit :) If I do ever want to change though, I know the perfect place to get some great tutorials ;)
LOL Aimee…I was the thinking the exact same thing…thank goodness Ashton did mine before stopping:-)
Whaaat?! Oh I am so doing this right now! Great Tutorial.
Girl you make it sound so super easy!!! I know if I sit down and work on it, I could do it. Oh wait I don't need to because awesome you did such a great job already on mine! But when the time comes to change…you have the best and easiest to follow tutorials!!!
This is great information. Thank you!
Thanks Ashton! You rock. I love all that you did for me, but I know I'll get the "itch" soon (you know the one, where you want to change everything :) so this will be great. The mapping, is that how you put your icons in your header? Because I've been wondering about that. SO cool!
Wow. It has taken me 10 DAYS to respond to this comment!!! Sorry :/ But, YES. That's exactly how I did my header. I LOVE that site. Honestly, it does give some trouble every once in a while, but I honestly think the results are worth the occasional hassle.
I have been wanting to do this, but didn't know how. Thanks so much for the tutorial!!!
Ok, so seriously I will need you address, to send you a box of cookies because this ROCKS! I can't thank you enough for your tutorials! I love it!! xoxo
Thank you so much for this tutorial, I will be doing this to make sure all of my button match. If I can request another tutorial I would to be able to do my custom menu bar but really have no idea how. I would love to see something like that in the near future.
Thank you so much
Thanks for the suggestion! Look for it in the next few weeks :)
Thank you! Thank you! Thank YOU! I've been attempting this for a couple weeks now, and now I finally can cross that off my blog to-do list!
It's as if you've read my mind…just yesterday at our Mother's Day BBQ I was asking my stepmother if she knew how to put multiple links onto one image. You're my hero, THANK YOU!
It's funny, I spent MONTHS wishing I "had that kind of technology." And then one day I just thought, why don't I just google it? Just to see. And I literally googled "I want to put multiple images on one image and use different links." IS there a more ridiculous search than that?? Anyway, found image-maps through that search, so I guess it works!
Thank you sooo much! This may be old news to some, but I have coveted custom designed social media tabs for so long. I'm implementing this!
I did it! I did it! You are da bomb!!!!
That is so helpful, thanks! I would love for you to share this (and any other creations) at Pin It and Win It Wednesday @ http://www.cheapcraftymama.com– where you can win free ad-space on my blog!
Such a great tutorial. That image maps site is great!
Oh wow! This is great! Thanks so much! Haven't used PicMonkey yet and hadn't heard of image-maps
Visiting from HoH
I love image-maps! Highly recommend. Sometimes the site gives me a little bit of trouble and I have to start over— but honestly, it's worth the hassle. It's an awesome service for free!
Great tutorial, but I cant figure out how to link up my email, any suggestions?
Ok, so if you want to provide a link to your actual email address, you'll want the URL for that link to be: mailto:email@example.com
OR, you can link it to a standalone page, and embed a contact form on that page using 1-2-3 contact (you'll have to google that, I can't remember their URL).
Hope that helps!
Thank you so much!
oh wow…just noticed this linked up to our party and was looking for awhile on how to do this. Everything I came across seemed so confusing. This is great! I ended up having a friend send me the ones I have now, but I still have no idea how to group them. I am terrible at this stuff! I will make sure to share this…you rock!
Great tutorial! Would you consider linking it up at my Pinworthy Projects Party? I hope to see you there!
This is a great tutorial! Thank you so much! I have been trying to figure out social media icons forever!
Glad to help!
Wow! I have been wanting to do this for a long time and now I can thanks to you! I'd love for you to link up to our Finished Friday blog party.
what a great tutorial – I wish I hadn't already paid a web designer:( you have all the tips I would have needed.
Well, they did an awesome job because your blog looks fabulous :)
Seriously, this was so easy. I spent much more time getting it how I liked it in picmonkey than actually getting it all linked up and on my blog. Come check out my new buttons.
You did such a great job! I LOVE it! Makes me want to redo mine :)
This is at the very top of my to do list this week! What a great tutorial! Can't wait to get to this!!!
Found this site thru a google search, and it's great. Thanks!!!!
I am so jazzed I found you! I know what I will be doing on my lunch break! THANKS so much for sharing!
New Follower!
Jen @ f5
Great info! Thanks! Just pinned it!
First of all I LOVE THIS! And am so thankful that I found it….BUT I NEED SOME HELP! I have put the center codes at the front and end of my html code, but it is still not to the left margin. Does it need to say something about the left?
I would love for you to stop by and look at the issue I'm having and see if you have any tips on how to fix it. I will leave it up (even though it is messed up for a bit) so hopefully you can stop by and help me!
Please email me: email@example.com
Nevermind I figured it out! Thanks for all the help !
Great! What was the problem? Did you have to change the width of your sidebar a little? That was my only guess, and I actually haven't even taken a look yet– I just got around to looking at my comments this morning!
This tutorial was amazing and awesome and easy! Thank you so much for sharing. :)
This is great! Thanks for the tutorial! If there is one request I could make it's how to add the box at the bottom of your posts as to where you've linked up to. I just can't seem to get that to work for me!!
OK, I just finished following your tutorial. It is AWESOME…thank you!!! I have one little problem. My finished product is too wide, even though I looked up the width on my blog layout (320 px). Would you take a look and let me know if you have a solution? Thanks again, Ashton! :0)
….and just when I thought I was going to walk away from the computer, lol! This tutorial is EXACTLY what I have been looking for! Thanks so much!
Mrs. Dwyer's A+ Firsties
I have a question that is probably ridiculously simple but how do I figure out what the link is for my rss feed? Thanks! I can't wait to update my blog layout!
I have been looking for this for ages
That's for the fabulous tutorial!!!!!
oops, I meant Thanks!!!!
Thank you – Thank you – Thank you! Perfect timing. I am new to blogging and still getting my site all set up. I was just thinking about attempting my own icon designs on Picmonkey, this post will be so helpful. :)
I just tried to paste this to my page and it says it contains illegal charachters! can you help? thanks!
I got the same error! Let me know if you figure it out, thanks!
Hi! Can you walk me through exactly what you pasted to where? Like– were you able to successfully generate the code from Image-Maps? And then were you pasting it into a blogger gadget box?
Love it, thanks! I have been learning quite a bit – and learning to do it all on my own!
Thanks for the tutorial! I love picmonkey and now with you help I know how to make my own images!!
Thanks so much for this tutorial it was so easy and now my social media buttons are unique and professional looking Kxx
Thanks so much! This was just what I needed!
this is Awesome!! I just made mine! I have one question though, I am using the Mail picture and trying to link it to my email and I keep putting in my email address and it's not working? Do I have to use the Send email I tried it several times several different ways and it wont work %-(
Thanks for the tutorial!!! Used it to create social media icons and credited to you on my blog. :)
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Thank you thank you! My blog looks a million times better, and you made it really easy. If I could hug you, I would! justpeachy-darling.blogspot.com
I love you so much for this! And all of your tutorials! I used your tutorials to make my social media icons, to make a white blank photo, how to use image maps to link urls, and customized my horizontal navbar… all thanks to you! Seriously seriously thank you. I have tried googling help to no success and your tutorials are very easy to understand, and always easy on the eyes too. You're the best :)
Awesome tutorial, just completed it for my blog and had to say thanks!!!
You are an ANGEL! The tutorial was fabulous and even I was able to follow it and just made some cute little social icon buttons! They need a little 'tweeking' but so much better than the clutter I had! Thank you so much! I'll be doing a blog post when I can,singing your praises :)
I LOVE YOU. thank you thank you thank you thank you thaaaaannnnkkkk youuuuuu!
I just wanted to say thank you soooooo much for this post! This morning I had no idea how to do this and by this afternoon i have a full set of working custom media buttons that i made! you rock!!
I am so glad that I found you! I have been needing to revamp my social icons, but had no idea how I did them to begin with ;). Your tute was super helpful! Thank you! Please feel free to swing on by and check it out!
Amazing work dear……
Thank you so much for this! This is amazing!! I just have one question. How to I make the social icons button white? Thanks again! Youre a genius!
I just found your blog via Google & I am SO glad I found it! I'll be back later to fancy up my blog "all on my own" thanks to you!!!
that was a lot of work! see for yourself and let me know if I can make any adjustments. i guess it's set in stone!
I have been trying to find a simple way to do this (one without learning lots of code!)for ages! Thank You!
I finally got around to following this tutorial– THANK YOU! I am jumping into social media a bit late in the game but your tutorial has me going in the right direction.
Many thanks!
Thank you so much. I have been trying to figure this out forever. You just helped me redesign my entire blog. I have one question – can you tell me how you got your recent posts to configure like that. I have the widget from blogger and I can only have it in my side bar. I just want the thumbnail like you have and to have it in the same location. Any help would be very appreciated. I am now a follower of your awesome blog.
Thank you SOOOOOO MUCH for this tutorial!!!!! This will be Such a great help when I design our social media icons!!
Thanks again!
You just made me feel really, really smart! Thank you so much for this great tutorial!!! :)
Thank you so much for this tutorial! Everything worked for me the only slight problem is that when I put it onto my blog (WordPress) there is a little grey boarder that surrounds it. Not sure if this is normal or if I did something wrong? Any help would be great. Thanks!
Hi, Ashton
Just wanted to say thank-you for this tutorial. I walked my way through split screen of your blog and split screen of image-maps. I had already loaded my pic onto picasa after I tweeked it in photoshop elements 9.0 but, found picmonkey to be very useful for the future. I was not sure how to get the URL address then I right clicked on my photo when it was in picasa then went to properties and the location was right there. I just did letters than the squares and linked up my urls to each letter, then copied the html added to my blog and tada, it was beautiful. Can't tell you how many times I have come across a blog and thought, man how can I get my links going across and not down, without taking to much space up. And you walked me through it. Yeah, I feel so proud of myself. I also made my own button and banner and my blog keeps getting better like a fine wine. Thanks again, oh and stop by to see how it turned out. Christina http://www.creativetizzy.blogspotcom
HIII! Mine is saying "untitled image map" underneath and that's ugly. lol
Ok, the good news is: easy fix. The bad news is: sort of a time consuming fix :P
You need to re-map the image, but before you finish and grab your code, look in the right hand column on the mapping page. There will be a check box that says "show text links." Make sure that is UNCHECKED and you won't have any problems :)
This is the best tutorial I've found! Thanks for being so descriptive.. but when I get through all of the steps at to the end, it appears on my page as a little photo bucket box that says "This is no longer supported by the site"
Okay My bad.. it actually says "Photo has been removed by the user" I dont know what that means? Thanks again for your awesome advice/ help :)
Did you host the image yourself? Or did you let image maps host the image for you (uploaded the image from your computer?
This is AMAZING! Thank you so much for posting this! It's helped me finally figure out how to create my own social icons!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!
OMG you are amazing, followed your directions and it worked perfectly. I am now a follower:)
this is great-you've given me a project for today :) thank you!
Wow. Nice.
THANK YOU for this guide! Love all your tutorials. Just finished adding my new icons to my blog.
Oh my goodness, you are a godsend!! I just followed this tutorial and it worked! So happy!!! Thank you ever so much for taking the time to write this post.
Brilliant!!!!! Thanks so much. :)
OMG! Thanks so much! I found this through blogcon and it was so simple to follow. I have no blog design experience and I was able to get it to work with minimal issues. I have wordpress so finding where to put the code was a bit tricky, but I figured it out. Thanks SO much for sharing your wisdom with all of us newbies.
Hey! Any idea where we can find the outline of the Instragam Icon?
Yaaaay! This is such a great post – I just make some awesome buttons for my blog. Thank you so much!
URL contains illegal characters??? I go through everything exactly as you said but then I get this messge when I try to ad my own Gadget URL on my Blog??? PLease help! This was such a great tutorial and I really want to get it working.
Many Thanks
Hi Ashton,
Thank you so much for your reply. So I've re tried the entire thing several time and was meticulous with the details however i just can seem to get it working?Darn, I'm so dissapointed I can't simply figure this out. Any chance you'd be able to lend me a hand :)
Many thanks
Hey Ashton,
You told me to e-mail you back so you could take a look at my link problem. I've seriously tried it so many times since then, thinking I would be able to sort it out myself but it still continues to only work the first time and then shows an error or unauthorized message after that :( Would you send me an e-mail at email@example.com when you get a chance and let me know where I can message you the info.
Thanks again!!!
WOW This is amazing – thanks for these tutorials.
Thank you so much for posting this tutorial it was very helpful! I'm currently "re-vamping" my blog and now have awesome social media icons because of this post! Do you happen to know where I can get an Instagram silhouette? I've googled it, to no avail….
Awesome tutorial! it worked like a charm. I used picmonkey for the first time and coding for the first time! thanks! my navigation bar image on the blog is super blurry, but in picmonkey and picasa it's fine. What could be the issue?
hmmm… png or jpg seem to be really poor quality. and it seems nothing fits right either. lots more trial and error. If you have any other ideas, I am more than willing to try them. Thanks again!
*cries* Thank you sooooooo much! I thought for sure I could do this, but I couldn't figure out how to get the right "fonts" for each social media website. I also didn't know how to map the image outside of FrontPage, which I don't own anymore. This is a HUGE help!!!
I love your website and all the fabulous how-to's! I just started blogging a few months ago and I'm trying to give my blog a face-lift. Your site will definitely help me there. I love your blog design…can you tell me if it's a specific WordPress theme that you've used? I noticed a very similar design on portuguesegirlcooks.com and I'd like to do something similar. Thank you!
Hi. This is a great tutorial, thank you! I'm in the middle of using it right now…but for the email social media icon, how do I link my email to that part of the image since it's not a url? I was doing so well up until that point.
What is the process for a 'mail to' link? LIke I have the interest and instagram set up, but I'm not sure how to make it bring up my email when people click the envelope??
I luv U! Your tutorials are so helpful and user friendly! I just did this one and feel proud of my self for it. Couple questions… is it necessary to host the html other than on your own blog (in case you lose it later)? I want to do some fun stuff like your scalloped side detail on your blog and your custom background – got any tutorials coming for those?
Thanks again!
Thank you so much for this post!!! You are the best !! I can't believe I did this on my own, but your post made it so easy!! Amazing! Thank you!
Hey ashton thanks for the tutorial. one quick question when doing the nav bar, for some reason I can't see the HTML code to put before and after for it too center. It's just showing up as blanks spaces in your post. Could you let me know what the code is. Thanks so much :D
I can't see the code to center it either; can anyone tell me what it is?
What do I do to set up my social icon links to open up in a new tab or webpage?
Would you happen to know where else I might be able to get the silhouettes? as the site links is under construction.
Thank you
Rachel, I found some fun ones HERE: http://www.carrieloves.com/2012/12/free-social-media-icons-updated/
i'm also looking for the silhouettes… the link below looks like it's actually for icons that are already created….
searching, but not finding something like the link included in the tutorial so far!
Most amazing, thank you. If this "old dog" can follow your directions, ANYBODY should be able to! Thanks!
Thank you – thank you – thank you! Decided I had procrastinated long enough on fixing a mess I made of the nav-bar, googled, and voila! yours was the only one that made sense. Thanks so very much!!
Hey, that link is broken for the social media sillhouttes. I found the updated link, if you want it :)
Hi, Ashton! Thank you so much for your tutorials on blogging! I am a newbie and I think I have been on you blog now for at least 2 hours!! lol, I have one thing I am unsure of before trying this. You say to add at the start of the code, and at the end of the code. Not really sure what you mean. Are you actually typing "at the start of the code" in the HTML box before pasting?
My question is about the tag you said to add to the front and back of the html code to get it to be centered? it isn't showing up on your blog post, and i think that i need it to make my stuff work! Help!
By the way.. this is the most helpful thing i have ever found online! You are awesome!
hello! I love the tutorial! Also, love the font as I am typing this in haha! just one question… the blog design network silhouettes are not available anymore :( do you recommend any others?
What's the code for the "Follow by RSS" link? I got FB, Pinterest & email all sorted out but can't figure out that one. This tutorial is great and I'll post when I get it all figured out. Thank you!! :)
I think I figured it out. Would love to have you come see. I used your tutorial to make my header AND nav bar! Is there a way to make my Header smaller & center it? I can make it smaller in PicMonkey but it automatically anchors on the left. It's blurry when it's stretched this big but that's better for my OCD than having it off center. ;)
Hello there!
I wanted to take a minute and thank you for posting these instructions! I just created social buttons for my blog using your instructions. I am new to the whole blogging thing and have been working on making my blog prettier and more user friendly! I have got long way to go though.. :p
Thank you once again though!
Did you create your "My Favorite Posts" and "Reader's Favorites" in the sidebar using Image Map Tool, or was that a plug-in?
Thanks! Cheers.
Your tutorials are so great! :-) I am your newest follower as of now!
I just did this on Thursday I am curious if I did it wrong because I selected image upload from my computer instead of from a URL. Was that wrong? I am in the process of making a header, I saw on the comments I can add my icons to that as well? I like the position of them better at the top. This has been so helpful to a newbie!
I just put my icons up today. I followed your instructions but made my own icons from scratch. I love them!
Holy cow!!! Thank you so much!!! Love the result and it was so easy!
Thanks to you, my blog is starting to look great. Thank you for the easy to follow directions!
Thank you so much for this!
Thanks for the very helpful tutorial. I use Picmonkey a lot but have never come across Image-Maps.com. Definitely worth looking into for social icons and perhaps even banner creation.
Ashton, this tutorial is so helpful! I kept wondering how people made all the gorgeous free social media icons around the web, and this made it simple for me to create them in my own colors and style. Thanks a lot for the clear, easy to follow guide. Can't wait to check out more of your posts.
Thank you so much for this post! Was so useful when I was creating my own little icons! Thanks again, so useful!
Katie <3
Thank you so much for this tutorial! I just have one quick question…Is there a way to get rid of the ugly rectangles shape that appears on the mouse over of the links?
Thank you so much for the tutorial! You can see the result on my site (www.apestaartje.net)!
This was so helpful. Your detailed explanations were great. Thank you so much! :-)
What a fantastic tutorial! I just made a bunch of Social Networking buttons for my blog in no time at all!
THANK YOU a million times over!!! I am so excited about my new social media buttons. They are gorgeous! Seriously, thank you so much for this tutorial. You are a lifesaver.
hi, thank you so much for this tutorial, your explanations are really clear, cant wait to try this for my blog…
Thank you So much for this tutorial! I have been struggling for a month with finding and using my social media icons. I think I am going to go back and fix a lot of things using your site! Thanks!
How do you center it in the side bar? I couldn't see that in your blog post!
Also, unrelated question I have been searching for the answer to forever! My CSS codes I enter never work or remotely move anything. Any ideas for a solution to this? Thanks again!
Thank you so much for writing this post! It is so helpful!
Fabulous tutorial! I'm not very computer graphics savvy, but I was able to make my icons from this :-)
i think you have just saved my life
Thank you! Easiest directions yet! http://www.handandtheheart.com
Brilliant Tutorial! I'm not great with website type things but found this so easy to do! Thanks :)
OMG Thank you so much! You have no idea how great of a help this was to me!
This is amazing! I just tried this and upload it to my blog. Thank you for sharing!
This was so easy and a huge help! Thanks so much!
This is a great tutorial but I'm having problems, my google+ and Facebook links don't work. Has this ever happened before?
I have actually fixed it now! lol! just a little tip for everyone, you can't copy and paste stuff into the website unless you use keyboard shortcuts.
Copy: cmd+c
Paste: cmd+v
hope this helps x
Love your tutorials, but have a problem with this one: image maps isn't working anymore like in your screenshot. The layout has totally changed and when I map a button it just becomes one color instead of a button with an icon on it:/
Hi this is great thank you just having a little bit of trouble finding out what to put at the beginning and end of the code to make it centre on the sidebar?
Thanks :")
Thank you SO much!! I have been wanting to do this for ages but had no idea how. Your tutorial is the best. Thank you.
I know this is an old post, but it's a gold mine! HUGE thanks, cause I totally did it! :D
Thank you very much for this tutorial.
I used Adobe Illustrator to create the photo with the icons that I looked for on Google. Some links in this post don't work any more.
The image mapper does work. It looks different now, but the functionality is the same.
Warning: I'm only 13 years old and have absolutely no clue what I'm doing. None. Nada.
So…I tried to use this website on an image that I created using PicMonkey aaaaaaand….has the website changed in the past two years since you've posted this? (This is a possibility.) Or am I doing something wrong? (A much more probable possibility.)
Because when I tried to map my image using the url (that I got after uploading the image to Dropbox), and it took me to the page where I could map my image, I just got a white screen. And I could right-click in the white screen and add where I wanted the image to link to, but I couldn't see my image while I was mapping it. (I probably explained this very badly.)
Sorry I'm sooooo late commenting, but if you even still use this blog, could you tell me what I'm doing wrong? Or…at least sort of try to with the small amount of information I gave you? Because I'm really confused. Thanks!
Thank you so much! I have no coding/minimal computer experience, and I just successfully followed this tutorial in about 15-20 minutes. So very helpful to the person who has no idea what she's doing. :)
I appreciate the tutorial. I never thought about doing this before coming across this post. Now, I designed social media icons for 4 different sites. :)
You do not understand how helpful this post is! Thank you thank you! Will be doing this tomorrow :) xxx
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text:
An incoming tide of bigger vessels ferrying more containers in and out of Charleston Harbor helped push revenue higher for the State Ports Authority.
Bulk up
Containerized goods make up most of the State Ports Authority's business, but the agency also handles cargo that's too large or unwieldy to fit neatly or efficiently into a metal box.
The Port of Georgetown handled 59,731 of "break-bulk" items in July, a nearly 70% increase from the same month last year. Its top commodities are cement, petroleum coke and steel.
In Charleston, the SPA loaded and off loaded 51,375 tons of noncontainerized cargo, a nearly 4% gain from July 2012. Shipments of steel, wire rod and other items at the Union Pier Terminal triggered the biggest gains, the agency said.
The maritime agency said Tuesday that operating revenue totaled $140.49 million for its fiscal year that ended June 30. That was up 7 percent from the previous 12 months but 3 percent short of expectations set by the board of directors.
The agency also reported $12.72 million in operating earnings, or a net gain of $5.45 million from the previous fiscal year.
Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the SPA, said earnings remain a key factor for the agency, which is in the midst of a billion-dollar spending program that includes the construction of a new shipping terminal in North Charleston and improvements at existing terminals over the next decade.
"Given our aggressive capital investments over the next several years, it is essential to maintain a solid financial position and a steady stream of funds toward these important projects," Newsome said.
The SPA previously reported that its Charleston-area operations handled the equivalent of about 1.56 million 20-foot-long containers in its last fiscal year, up 9 percent.
A total of 1,839 ships tied up at the agency's docks last fiscal year for a net a gain of 94, or 5 percent.
The container volume growth was aided by new routes to areas such as Australia and New Zealand.
Hamburg Sud last year moved its only call at the Port of Savannah to Charleston to serve those countries.
On Tuesday, SPA officials also reported that the new fiscal year is already off to a strong start. Port of Charleston handled the equivalent of 136,159 20-foot containers last month, its strongest July since 2008.
Newsome also said the agency is making progress on the SPA's "inland port" in Greer, despite roughly 60 days of rain. The first rubber-tired gantry crane arrived at the 100-acre intermodal site on Monday. The Upstate terminal will house three gantry cranes, which will be used to stack shipping containers.
Newsome said the rail-served inland port is scheduled to open in mid-October. Originally, it was to open in early September.
Reach Tyrone Richardson at 937-5550 and follow him on Twitter @tyrichardsonPC.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Recent graduates of Piedmont Technical College's associate degree nursing program at the Lex Walters Campus-Greenwood were recognized in a pinning ceremony in May.
A team of four representing Piedmont Rural Telephone Company captured the 19th Industry Cup at the 21st annual Piedmont Technical College Foundation Golf Classic. Fran Wiley, executive director of the Piedmont Technical College Foundation and tournament coordinator, right, presented the trophy to the winning foursome. Beating out more than 14 other teams, the winners were, from left to right, Robert E. Byrd, Randy Odom, Corey Crowley and James Gambrell.
Piedmont Technical College is taking the lead once again. Beginning in the fall of 2013, the college will be offering a precision metrology certificate at the new Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CAM) in Laurens.
The certificate will be the only training curriculum of its kind in South Carolina.
At Piedmont Technical College's recent spring commencement exercises, outstanding students from each of the college's seven supporting counties were honored for academic achievement.
Young people looking for something different, fun and exciting to do this summer will find several options available on Piedmont Technical College's Greenwood campus. Two special career-oriented camps in automotive and engineering technology will be offered as well as a variety of interest-based camps.
The James Medford Family Event Center at Piedmont Technical College was the setting for the culmination of many dreams for the more than 300 Piedmont Technical College graduates who took center stage in two commencement ceremonies.
Dr. Ray Brooks, president, welcomed graduates, family and guests to celebrate the accomplishments of the graduates.
Piedmont Technical College will be moving forward with the second phase of the Center for Advanced Manufacturing in Laurens County in fall 2013.
Since opening in May 2012, the Center has been used extensively by businesses in the county to train new and existing employees.
Piedmont Technical College will be holding two spring commencement exercises on May 9.
Piedmont Technical College is providing more tools to help students complete a degree and enter the workforce. Through the Journey grant program, Piedmont Tech is introducing Career Coach.
"Career Coach is a tool to use with new and continuing students to assist them in deciding on a major as well as seeing what careers are available in our geographical area," said Renee Carruth, director of Journey - Title III Grant. "The question most students ask is, when I graduate in two years, will I be able to find employment."
At Piedmont Technical College's 39th annual Student Awards and Recognition Program, president Dr. Ray Brooks applauded the achievements of more than 75 student leaders. The ceremony attracted students, faculty, staff, friends and family members.


text:
By GRANT SCHULTE
Associated Press
LINCOLN, Nebraska (AP) -- Just as pressure was building on President Barack Obama to make a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline that would carry oil from Canada to refineries in Texas, the project ran into another obstacle after a judge in Nebraska overturned a state law approving the pipeline.
The legal fight over the pipeline will continue for at least several more months after the judge's ruling Wednesday, which was a victory for pipeline opponents, including environmentalists who say Keystone XL would carry "dirty oil" that contributes to global warming and Nebraska ranchers and farmers who fear it could hurt their water supply.
TransCanada Corp.'s pipeline is critical in Canada's efforts to export its growing oil sands production. It would carry 830,000 barrels of oil daily from Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries. Supporters say it will create thousands of jobs and move the U.S. toward North American energy independence.
The other states along the pipeline's route -- Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas -- have already approved their segments. Oil is already flowing through the Oklahoma-to-Texas segment.
TransCanada officials have said passing through Nebraska is the most direct, practical way to transport the oil. And rerouting the pipeline would bring new states into the mix and would lead to further expensive delays.
At issue in Wednesday's ruling was a 2012 law that allowed Gov. Dave Heineman to approve the route through Nebraska. The governor's approval gave Calgary-based TransCanada the power to use eminent domain on landowners who deny the company access to their property. Three landowners filed a lawsuit saying the decision should have been made by the Public Service Commission.
Lancaster County Judge Stephanie Stacy agreed.
Attorney General Jon Bruning's office plans to appeal the ruling to the Nebraska Supreme Court.
A spokesman for pipeline developer TransCanada said company officials were disappointed and disagreed with the decision. The company planned to review the ruling before deciding how to proceed.
"TransCanada continues to believe strongly in Keystone XL and the benefits it would provide to Americans -- thousands of jobs and a secure supply of crude oil from a trusted neighbor in Canada," said spokesman Shawn Howard.
Daniel J. Weiss, senior fellow and director of climate strategy with left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress, said Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry will probably wait until Nebraska has legally approved the pipeline route before making any decision on whether to give federal approval to the pipeline.
"This court decision provides more uncertainty for pipeline proponents, and more time to organize for pipeline opponents," Weiss said.
The decision on a federal permit for the northern leg of the route still rests with Obama, five years after backers first asked his administration for approval.
Obama blocked the Keystone XL pipeline in January 2012, saying he did not have enough time for a fair review before a looming deadline forced on him by congressional Republicans. But late last month, the U.S. State Department released an environmental analysis that raised no major environmental objections to the $7 billion pipeline, though opponents disagree.
U.S. State Department spokesman Douglas Frantz said officials were aware of the Nebraska ruling but would not comment because the case was ongoing.
It's not the first time Nebraska has been an obstacle in TransCanada's efforts to complete the pipeline.
An earlier proposed route drew fierce opposition because landowners said it would threaten the Nebraska Sandhills, a region of grass-covered dunes used as ranchland. That prompted the state Legislature to pass a law in 2012 giving Gov. Dave Heineman the authority to approve the route. The new one he approved goes around an area designated as the Sandhills, although opponents insist it still traverses the delicate soil.
Randy Thompson, a Nebraska rancher and a leading plaintiff in the lawsuit, became involved in the dispute after he was notified that the original Keystone XL route would have crossed his parents' 400-acre farm in Merrick County. He said he doesn't think TransCanada should be able to force landowners to sign pipeline contracts using eminent domain.
Associated Press writers Josh Funk in Omaha, Neb., Rob Gillies in Toronto and Matthew Daly in Washington contributed to this report.


text:
PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP -- Free ultrasound screenings will be offered Saturday for a potentially deadly health condition that few people know about -- abdominal aortic aneurysm.
A coalition of doctors, nurses and ultrasound practitioners hope to raise awareness about the condition, which is the third leading cause of sudden death in men older than 60.
An abdominal aortic aneurysm is a balloon-like bulge that forms in the body's main artery. More than a million people have these aneurysms, but in most cases, there are no symptoms, according to the Find the AAAnswers Coalition. If the aneurysm bursts, the survival rate is only 10 to 25 percent.
Advance registration is required for the screening. It will be offered at the Kmart Pharmacy at North Kent Mall.
Free ultrasound screenings for abdominal aortic aneurysm
When: 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday
Where: Kmart Pharmacy, North Kent Mall
To register: Call 866-371-3592. Advance registration required.
Connect: findtheaaanswers.org
Abdominal aneurysms are more common in men than women, and in people older than 60, said Dr. Ash Mansour, a vascular surgeon with Spectrum Health Medical Group. Risk factors include smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a family history of the disease.
If an aneurysm is detected in a screening, the options differ depending on the size of the aneurysm.
If the bulge in the artery is three times its normal size -- 5.5 centimeters for men -- a doctor would discuss repairing it surgically, Mansour said.
If the aneurysm is smaller than 5.5 centimeters, doctors likely would monitor it. Mansour said the doctor also would look at ways to reduce patients' risk factors -- by lowering cholesterol levels, treating high blood pressure and advising them to stop smoking.
Those interested in the screening but unable to attend should discuss the test with their family doctor, Mansour said. Medicare coverage for the screening is available to at-risk patients' at their first Medicare physical, he said.
E-mail Sue Thoms: email@example.com


text:
Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Mormon migration from Nebraska to Salt Lake City, Utah, members of the Woodinville Third Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will conduct a community service project at Daniels Creek Park July 19th. The park requires cleaning, bridge building and other work to make it usable. The community is welcome to join. Bring a shovel, rake, wheelbarrow or weed cutter. Work will begin at 9 a.m.
Daniels Creek Park is located on Woodinville-Duvall Road near 182nd Avenue N.E.


text:
U.K. Classrooms Using Grand Theft Auto as Learning Tool
A Merseyside workshop aims to teach kids the difference between right and wrong using GTA and other examples of violent behavior.
Students in the U.K. county of Merseyside are learning about violence from a product all-too-familiar to gamers: Grand Theft Auto. The BBC reports on the Merseyside Police Department and a charity group called Support After Murder and Manslaughter (SAMM), who've organized a program at local schools to teach 10 and 11-year-old children about the difference between right and wrong -- and, likewise, the distinction between real and unreal.
SAMM calls the workshops "Get Real," and they use everything from Grand Theft Auto screenshots to Itchy and Scratchy clips from The Simpsons to educate kids about good and bad behavior. These images are mixed with flashcards featuring real-life photos of intoxicated adults and arguing parents, and the students are asked to differentiate between the good, the bad, the real, and the unreal.
"Almost any media can be edited to be educational and if the material already attracts children's interest, it can have a greater impact on them," explained a Liverpool City Council spokesperson. "This may well be depicting knife-using car thieves as the selfish morons that they are -- which of course we would welcome."
According to Gaynor Bell, parent of two violently killed children and co-founder of SAMM, kids are at risk of being desensitized to violence by games like Grand Theft Auto. "They are shown a picture of a man rolling over a car and you can clearly see it has a machine gun," she said in the BBC story. "It's basically telling them that it's not real life, but in these games they do look real."
See Also
Location of the Next Grand Theft Auto Game Hinted at in Manual
Comments (24)
very interesting, useing gta as a tool for DARE???Posted: Apr 15, 2010 12:00AM PST by spooky_aldridge
I see the use with younger kids. Pretty intense i bet with parents & kids attending this workshop together. In my neck of the woods the common program is called DARE, and it's trying to teach kids about that negative behavoir & drugs. But who understand this crazy world today anyways.
hope this doesn't bite them in the assPosted: Apr 11, 2010 12:00AM PST by DrainDeimo
To me it just seems that some tries to find the worst in video game. Even when trying to do good. Let say one of these kids get into a fight.
A simple fight like the little one have. When it all done the parents will ask why'd you do it. Without thinking and wanting a easy way out they will say.
"I saw it while Mr. (or Ms.) Teacher was showing GTA in class and fighting looked fun. All of the teachers & parents will eat it right up.
Some of you guys are way to sensitive.Posted: Apr 10, 2010 12:00AM PST by Eddi_Spaghetti
Personally I think this is a good idea. They aren't just showing pictures of GTA and saying it's evil. They're making sure kids can associate real action and consequences vs. something they do in a game or see in a show.
raptor228Posted: Apr 10, 2010 12:00AM PST by afr0samura187
Its not like we are having a job interview, its the freaking internet theres porn all over it. but my bad i was a little pissed off cause some of my teachers say games are the main problem but really they need to look at the classroom and see if the child was being bullied or his dad is a drunk. you may think im a child with ADD but for real its not like im going to be RESPECTIVE on a website fulled of retarded punks so STFU
afr0samura187Posted: Apr 10, 2010 12:00AM PST by Raptor228
Your saying that the basis of this article has a mental health issue? Also, if someone if born in the "ghetto" they will become a "ghetto punk"? Seriously, I understand your only 13 but theres something called "think before you speak" which also applies to typing. I understand your argument and agree with your main point but atleast try not to make yourself look like some little american kid with ADD.
Some of you guys are too sensitive.Posted: Apr 10, 2010 12:00AM PST by Eddi_Spaghetti
They aren't saying video games are innately evil. They're just saying if kids are going to be exposed to this stuff early on, we might as well teach them about actions and consequences as portrayed in media vs. the real world. Sure, maybe a kid isn't going to get his hands on a shotgun and take out his kindergarten class but using media to teach kids about life perspective is a great idea. If they're going to be watching TV all day, why not use some of those images for a productive cause?
InterestingPosted: Apr 10, 2010 12:00AM PST by Arcade_Wiz
I'm currently taking a "Games & Literature" class at my college and Vice City is one of the games we're required to play.
wowPosted: Apr 10, 2010 12:00AM PST by afr0samura187
As a 13 year old i find this retarded I KNOW ThE DIFFRENCE BETWEEN GOOD AND BAD ITS NOT LIKE WE ARE JUST GOING TO WAKE UP ONE DAY AND SHOOT SOMEONE, WE USE THIS AS A GET AWAY FROM REAL LIFE, games are not the problem its usualy problems at SCHOOL AND AT HOME if a child was born into the ghetto he will be a GHETTO PUNK. If a child is bullied at school he will most likely think of killing that person who bullied him. IT MATTERS ON WHO IS HIS PARENTS AND WHERE HE WAS BORN so shut up ninjamunkey01 you critic, the parent probably teaches his\her child whats wrong and right and thinks the child is mature enough.
ya seriously.....Posted: Apr 10, 2010 12:00AM PST by day_one
if the kid is 10-11 years old and he or she dosent already know that commiting cold blodded murded is WRONG,well then I'm not sure showing them SCREEN SHOTS from GTA and itchy and scratchy is going to help them all that much.
What is wrong with this world when we have to teach people,even young kids that killing other human beings is not acceptable behavior.God help the human race.
good idea but gonna be bad newsPosted: Apr 10, 2010 12:00AM PST by KHfanboy01
While i think its good a school thinks of it more than a hooker killing sim but i know some parnet(s) is going to complain about this. I would like to see if they simple do killing is bad or will really be creative in their teaching with it
I think its a good ideaPosted: Apr 10, 2010 12:00AM PST by ninjamunkey01
The problem is though that many parents out there to nothing to teach their kids. The children that get into trouble and commit these crimes when they are older are the ones who's parents just dont care.
I had a couple parents buy GTA4 for a child which must have been 12-13. Nothing I could do to stop it. I tried asking if they were sure if they wanted to buy it, as from experience i knew the game really wasnt suitable for children and they get incredibly annoyed at you and say how "they know whats best for their kids"
Youd think such thick people didnt exist, but apparently exposing your kids to mass murder, getting drunk (the game has probably contributed its fair share to making 14 year old kids want to get people buying them alcohol) and going to strip clubs...
Youve got to wonder what the parents are thinking... Well to be honest they are probably not thinking at all. So someone needs to look after the kids and if anyones trying to do that, like this organisation then Im all for it.
whats really sad....Posted: Apr 09, 2010 12:00AM PST by antisocialable
Most people CAN distinguish between TV and reality - but some people honestly can't. There are people who write to actors referring to them by their "on screen" character name and bad mouthing them for being the villain in whatever TV show they were watching. And I'd say it's not too far a stretch to think that some younger people could have the same affliction with videogames. Before you start sharpening your pitchforks and lighting your torches hear me out:
I have been playing videogames for over 20 years and have played ALL of the GTA's and Halo's and other M rated games. I am not going to pin this on the entertainment industry or even society. I am a father of 6 with one child that is mildly autistic and I make damn sure my kids understand the difference between entertainment and reality. When one of the kids tries to re-enact something from a movie or TV show or even a videogame I tell them the place for that is on TV and not to be done in real life as there are real consequences for their actions. Such as them hurting themselves or others and potentially getting into trouble with the law. I believe as a parent this is my responsibility - Not the governments'. If I wait till Big Brother gets involved it'll be too little too late as they'll already be in juvey hall or worse!
A lot of times.Posted: Apr 09, 2010 12:00AM PST by SamuraiTerry
teachers see students more so than the parents. I think a lot of this stuff is already a given. Children have been able to tell the difference between reality and fantasy ever since Jerry blew up Tom with a stick of dynamite, or when Wile E. Coyote was smashed by a giant bolder. Children that can't tell the difference between the two 99.9% of the time have social and mental issues.
Uh-huhPosted: Apr 09, 2010 12:00AM PST by BoozeZombie
Yeah, if kids think games are real, you've got bigger problems than violence, that problem you'd be looking to solve would then be called "stupid".
"Shooting people is wrong, mmmkay?"Posted: Apr 09, 2010 12:00AM PST by SBT
I'm in agreement that it's the parents' job to teach kids right and wrong. I'm also in agreement that they don't always do so.
On the surface this sounds like a forward-looking use of technology and media for teaching purposes. I'm not seeing any "video games are teh devil!!11" angle either. But then again, if any 10-11 year old kids don't already know that shooting people and stealing cars is wrong, a. that's sad and b. I'm skeptical that this will help.
To those crying for parental responsibility:Posted: Apr 09, 2010 12:00AM PST by jaspertine
Isn't it a bit of a leap of faith to assume that the parents themselves understand the difference between real and pretend? After all, non-gamers not being able to tell the difference between fantasy gun violence in games and their horrifying real-world counterpart is the reason violent games are constantly under fire in the first place.
@TenAkuma,Posted: Apr 09, 2010 12:00AM PST by SamuraiTerry
As a public educator I agree.
LOLPosted: Apr 09, 2010 12:00AM PST by mrmarioman
i would´ve gone for fallout 3..imo the wasteland is much better than liberty city to educate children..
Lame.Posted: Apr 09, 2010 12:00AM PST by MooseyMcMan
Schools are supposed to teach kids things like math and science. The parents are supposed to teach them stuff like right and wrong. Lazy parents...
Thats great but..Posted: Apr 09, 2010 12:00AM PST by ActivisionStoleMy360
Where are these kids PARENTS! I really get sick of this crap where the schools feel as if they HAVE to teach these kids the difference between right and wrong, and real/unreal. This is THE JOB OF THE PARENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!! This issue just really gets under my skin I suppose (if you can't tell) and then governments and groups will push off the parental responsibility to game/movies/TV.
I am sorry for my rant but I really feel this way, as much as the media should be responsible, NONE of that stuff that is being used is INTEND FOR CHILDREN! Exposing them to this stuff so early could have a TON of different consequences, and while I do think the gesture is noble it is perhaps misplaced. Perhaps this seminar should be for the parents! teaching them to be more involved with what their kids do, and what they are exposed to, the risks and even giving them talking points to have with their kids about this type of thing (parental training in teaching good/bad and real/unreal), just my thoughts.
I've used this for school beforePosted: Apr 09, 2010 12:00AM PST by Epic Greenman
Used number four on an essay about the American dream.
Uh Oh,Posted: Apr 09, 2010 12:00AM PST by SamuraiTerry
I think Gamemaster is going to have an aneurysm.


text:
Lessons from the Bean
It wasn't difficult to spot Gene Edelman in a crowd. He would be the one in a seersucker jacket, plaid pants and polka dotted shirt with a beanie on his head, topped with a propeller.
That was just Bean Counter, plain and simple on one hand, but complex in every sense of the word.
While the 70-year-old educator-turned gadfly didn't offer many lessons for a person who would want to make the cover of GQ, his life naturally presented a text book study on civic concern that should be emulated.
Lesson One
Be who you are. There are enough phonies out there who pretend to be more than they are, and more than they have the capacity to be. Why not simply slap a beanie on your head, smile, speak clearly and tell those who are elected to lead and serve exactly what's on your mind. It really shouldn't matter whether you have a doctorate degree or a GED. You are a citizen and that's the only credential you need to hold officials accountable.
Lesson Two
Never allow your passion for the education of others to fade away. The fact that you left the classroom as a full-time teacher more than 10 years ago shouldn't matter when you are called to be an educator. You don't have to punch a clock to encourage young people to read, engage their minds with mathematical equations or think about preparing for what lies ahead in their lives.
Lesson Three
Reading is important. Words and numbers. They all are important, especially when they are contained in public documents such as audits, budget, contract proposals. Public officials should always read to avoid being blind sided by the small print. Just to make certain that public officials read, citizens have every right to request the same documents given to school board members, commissioners and council members. Get them in your hands. Read. Do the math. Ask questions. It's as simple as school.
Lesson Four
Persistence. When you know you are right, you have no reason to back down. Continue to make your point. Continue to raise your voice until someone with common sense listens.
Bean Counter, Gene Edelman, may you rest in peace.


text:
To be more accurate you should use an infrared thermometer pointed into the windings. If temperature rises by no more than 20ºC above ambient then it should be OK.
In most installations the motor will stay relatively cool in flight, however this is dependent on having proper cooling.
NOTE: this only applies to motors which are identical apart from the wind. Higher Kv can also be achieved by reducing the number of magnets, but this does not reduce the winding resistance. Such motors are designed to run more efficiently at higher rpm, but cannot handle as much current as you might expect.
The ultimate limits are temperature and rpm. If the motor gets too hot then the windings may burn, or the magnets loose strength (raising Kv and causing excessive current flow). If it over-speeds then the bearings may fail, or the rotor could fly apart.
Electric motor power values are meaningless if they are not supported with the appropriate back-up data.
The high claims we see are not incorrect. But they relate to conditions which would cause overheat in a brief time [often undefined].
My attempt at a more-comprehensive explanation is here:
For the motor described, when fitted with the ideal prop, the w/g are 2.9 and the wattmeter reads 113w. For other loadings [same motor] the w/g vary over the range of 1.9 to 7.9, and the wattmeter readings vary between 10w and 407w.
For long time, I and used East excel which is based on the same principle.
and I have another with more parameters in where one chooses voltage and watts per gram.
Yellow and Pink is entry data.
Green and Blue are results.
Thanks to everyone who has responded.
I need some time now to absorb all this and have a think about it.
I have learned a few new things, especially the 3 watts per gram rule of thumb.
I was blissfully unaware of this guideline.
Also thankful for the guidance on maximum useful rpm for a given Kv.
Hadn't really thought about this before, but can see how it makes perfect sense.
Also wasn't aware how much diameter matters more than pitch though this matches with testing I've done over the years.
The guidance on spredsheets and graphs will take a bit longer to digest, but points to why people consider this subject a black art - nothing is simple!
I also have to put all this new information against my experiences over the last 5 years or so with brushless motors which has been far from disastrous. Indeed, although I have destroyed many an ESC (more of a problem if you fly waterplanes as I do), I find it hard to remember burning out a motor, even when using them above the recommended limits.
Initially, at least, it seems harsh to ignore suppliers power recommendations but I guess I've been doing this in practice by testing before use, using progressively increasing prop size.
So thanks again and I'll try and put as much of this to use as I can.
PS Peterangus - I note your avatar is a seaplane and you live in Blackpool. Have we met, perhaps at an Ullswater or Winderemere waterplane event?
PPS Bruce Abbott - Thanks for formatting your answers to match the three questions asked. This is the most helpful type of response in the short term, requiring less research than some of the other formats of response although, of course, all are valid and appreciated.
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text:
Art of Noise
A dancer lifts her leg and an electronic symphony pours out. At a certain point, the floor sings with every footstep. Later, the audience wanders through a Coney Islandesque installation replete with video games and shooting galleries while a conductor stands onstage and orchestrates the noise.
A celebration of restless media, this week's free, four-day Interactive Arts Festival sponsored by Columbia University isn't easy to pin down. That's because almost all of the performances are giant acts of translation: bodies rigged with sensors feed data into samplers that score soundtracks that are interpreted, on the fly, into images. Then back again, for kicks. You might try to call the shows "dance," "theater" or "multimedia chamber opera," as one bills itself. (Well, maybe not that.) But no term quite captures their search for improvisational grace in spite of all the technology. They're more like experiments in an art all their own: software jazz.
The festival, organized by Columbia's Computer Music Center, is three evening "concerts" and a day of demos and seminars on the hardware. The first program, which runs Tuesday and Wednesday nights, explores the body as musical instrument. Thursday night's show, the boldest of the three, features a "networked performance" called "Lemma 2" (created by mixing sound and images in real time from Columbia's Miller Theatre and an Intel Conference Center in Hillsboro, Oregon) and the previously mentioned "Coney Island," a gaming environment developed by researchers at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at Urbana-Champaign. The festival concludes Friday with a jazz-rock-and-shoe- heel concert at the Kitchen.
"The festival represents a big new thrust toward dealing with new interfaces," says Brad Garton, the head of the Computer Music Center. Garton sees these artists as beta-testers of more seamless connections to the technology. For him, that future interface is in sound. "Just as computer graphics became the big research field in the '80s, we're seeing the potential for music and auditory tech as the next big thing," he says. Robin Bargar, one of the creators of "Coney Island," concurs: "One of the most important projects for the next century is to find sounds that correspond to the integrity of the human body, so that we can live with these machines."
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Columbia has its own project for the next century: to reinvent itself as a hotbed for multimedia. "Columbia has a bit of a nasty reputation [because of] that whole Uptown/Downtown thing," says Garton. "And my sympathies lie Downtown. I used to play with John Zorn a bit. We want to show that Uptown is changing. And we want to open our arms to the cool stuff going on Downtown."
Like Troika Ranch, one of the city's most professional "dance/music/theater/interactive technology" companies. In addition to Columbia's confab, Troika Ranch debuts its own show, "Vera's Body," this week at the Joyce SoHo. The group calls its work "slash arts" "a search for the chaotic area where these four forms mix." Coming off a monthlong residency at the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey, Troika has produced a work much more technologically transparent than the troupe's usual fare (and Columbia's festival). "We wanted to get back to an emotional storytelling," says Dawn Stoppiello, the troupe's choreographer. But the effects should be, as usual, impressive: a dancer passes through an invisible beam of laser light, generating musical phrases every time. "She plays it like a guitar string," says Troika's tech guru and composer, Mark Coniglio. "She plays it like air."
Columbia University Interactive Arts Festival, April 6 to 9, www.music.columbia.edu/fest99/ or 212-854-9267. Troika Ranch (art.net/Studios/Performance/Dance/Troika_Ranch/) at the Joyce SoHo, April 9 to 11; call 334-7479 for tickets.
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text:
Mercyhurst men's club hockey team to play at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena
The Mercyhurst men's club hockey team will take on Duquesne Saturday at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena as part of a partnership with the Lake Erie Monsters-- Cleveland's AHL team.
The Lakers will face the Dukes at 3:30 p.m., preceding the Monsters' match with the Abbotsford Heat at 7:30 p.m. Fans who purchase tickets for the Mercyhurst-Duquesne game will receive a free ticket to the Monsters' game.
For more information, contact David Aitken of the Monsters directly at (216) 420-2519.
-- from staff reports


text:
Star Tracks: Monday, May 16, 2016 42 years, 2,191 covers and 55,436 stories from PEOPLE magazine's history for you to enjoy
Latest News!
- Gwyneth Paltrow Celebrates Her 44th Birthday in a Sexy Bikini, Proves She Gets Better with Age
- Read the Cover Story: Brad & Angelina Split After 12 Years: It's Over
- Princess Kate Goes for Off-the-Rack Black and White Look as She and Prince William Highlight Mental Health on Last Day in Canada
- Purr-fect! Grumpy Cat Makes History in Broadway's Cats
- Thandie Newton and Evan Rachel Wood Defend Sexual Violence in Westworld
People Top 5
LAST UPDATE: Tuesday February 10, 2015 01:10PM EST
PEOPLE Top 5 are the most-viewed stories on the site over the past three days, updated every 60 minutes
- September 30, 2002
- Vol. 58
- No. 14
Picks and Pans Main: Tube
Talking With...
One of his three children calls him "the dumbest man that ever lived." His wife says he behaves like a 9-year-old. Yes, Paul Hennessy of 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter is yet another TV father who doesn't know best. But he's played by John Ritter, and ABC apparently figures that gives us reason enough to watch.
A quarter-century after he began romping through Three's Company—then considered racy—Ritter gives his all in this new but familiar sitcom as a middle-aged newspaper columnist who is shocked to discover that his 16-year-old daughter Bridget (Kaley Cuoco) wears thong underwear.
"While the boys flock to the Barbie-like Bridget—and her father sternly warns them to be perfect gentlemen—sister Kerry (Amy Davidson), 15, only pretends to be too smart to care about her relative unpopularity. Dad's so busy misunderstanding his daughters that he doesn't take time to ask why his 13-year-old son Rory (Martin Spanjers) habitually hides in the girls' closet. Paul's wife, Cate (Katey Sagal from Married...with Children), who recently returned to work as a nurse, seems to enjoy his parental ineptitude.
A lot of this material may be hackneyed, but Ritter puts it over with energy and a slathering of shtick. It's simple, really: Like him, like the show.
Bottom Line: Ritter rules routine roost
NBC (Tuesdays, 8 p.m. ET)
If I say this new series copies a movie, don't make the logical mistake of thinking it's the 1979 comedy The In-Laws. I'm talking about a picture that wasn't as good—the 2000 hit Meet the Parents.
Parents was the obvious inspiration for NBC's tacky summer reality series Meet My Folks. Now the network strip-mines the same territory in this sitcom, which premieres Sept. 24 with two episodes. Young marrieds Matt (Elon Gold) and Alex (Bonnie Somerville) move in with her parents, Victor (Dennis Farina) and Marlene (Jean Smart), even though Victor is a jerk. Does this sound harshly oversimplified? You won't think so after seeing the pilot, in which the father-in-law immediately starts scowling and snarling to show he's a Robert De Niro-style intimidator. The able Farina might be able to make this work if he were given some funny lines, but the writers seem to think hostility is a howl in itself.
Bottom Line: Stay out
CBS (Mondays, 10 p.m. ET)
Show of the Week
As a spinoff from TV's highest-rated drama, the Las Vegas-set CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, this new series is widely seen as a likely hit. The taut and stylish pilot, airing Sept. 23, only serves to confirm that prospect.
I say this even though I didn't buy the exposition establishing that Horatio (David Caruso) supplanted Megan (Kim Delaney) as head of the Miami-Dade police forensics unit while she took extra time off to mourn her late husband. Caruso and Delaney skillfully convey the tension between their characters, regardless of its origin. Besides, you'll forget quibbles about the back story when the team locks onto the case of a corporate plane that crashed in the Everglades, raising questions of foul play and cooked books. The evidence analysis piques our curiosity, and Caruso shows he hasn't lost the quiet intensity viewers discovered nine years ago on NYPD Blue. This time he should stick with the program.
Bottom Line: Fine in the sunshine
WB (Thursdays, 8:30 p.m. ET)
When two new shows have the same premise—present-day guy transported to the '80s to relive his adolescence—there's something to be said for arriving first. This series is set to premiere Sept. 19, eight days before ABC's That Was Then, and it comes off as a standard high school sitcom save for the time-travel twist.
Joel Larsen (newcomer Penn Badgley) is a high school freshman who knows he was 34 when an electric shock threw him back 20 years. (He constantly reminds us of his self-awareness through voice-over narration.) This time around maybe he can bond with his loudmouth dad (Michael Milhoan), stand up to that bullying jock, attract that unattainable blonde who shakes her hair in slo-mo. Badgley is engaging as a teen who's smarter—or at least more experienced—than he lets on, but the writers seem to think we'll laugh if they simply tick off '80s pop-culture references.
Bottom Line: Won't bear much repetition
UPN (Tuesdays, 9 p.m. ET)
Somebody's seeing dead people again. In the spirit of The Sixth Sense, this dark new drama centers on private eye Frank Taylor (Matthew Fox from Party of Five), an ex-cop who finds himself with one foot on "the other side" after suffering a near-fatal stab wound. Though Frank manages to slay his assailant, the psycho now haunts him. That's not a good thing, but other ghosts provide the detective with important crime-solving assistance. The Sept. 24 pilot is effectively atmospheric if unrelievedly grim. However the script pounds home the point that Frank feels guilty for failing to prevent the abduction of his little boy, who may be signaling from the realm of the departed.
Bottom Line: Some scares, no subtlety
FOX (Fridays, 9 p.m. ET)
A man awakens naked and glistening on a deserted island. He falls through a hole into the sea, swims who knows how far and gets picked up by some Cambodian fishermen. "You speak Khmer?" he is asked. To his surprise and theirs, the answer is yes.
The Sept. 20 premiere jumps off to an intriguing start, and John Doe only grows better when the protagonist opens his eyes in Seattle and finds he's blessed with awesomely encyclopedic knowledge—but not a clue as to his own identity. A dazzling scene has him holding forth in the public library, answering almost every question the patrons can toss at him.
Where does Doe go from there? Regrettably, to the Seattle Police Department. After feeling a strange connection to a missing girl mentioned on TV, he helps the cops investigate her abduction. Bad career move. Instead of using his brain power at the highest levels of science or government, he'll apparently be playing sleuth on the local level week after week. He also lands a gig as a pianist in a bar after an impromptu rendition of "My Funny Valentine." "You sure can bang those ivories," says the owner (William Forsythe). But what a waste of potential.
Bottom Line: Clever concept but lacks ambition
Sunday, Sept. 29 ALIAS ABC (9 p.m. ET) Sydney's mother (Lena Olin) surfaces in the second season opener of the spy vs. spy drama.
Monday, Sept. 30 STILL STANDING CBS (9:30 p.m. ET) It's the first time out for a sitcom starring Jami Gertz and Mark Addy as working-class parents.
Tuesday, Oct. 1 JUDGING AMY CBS (10 p.m. ET) Maxine (Tyne Daly) has business in daughter Amy's court as the series starts its fourth season.
Wednesday, Oct. 2 DAWSON'S CREEK WB (8 p.m. ET) Jack Osbourne (you know, Ozzy's lad) plays himself in the two-hour season premiere.
Thursday, Oct. 3 WILL & GRACE NBC (9 p.m. ET) Hey, wanna play Six Degrees? Jack stalks Kevin Bacon and becomes his personal assistant.
Friday, Oct. 4 PROVIDENCE NBC (8 p.m. ET) Syd gets a tough new boss and a marriage proposal in an eventful season premiere.
Saturday, Oct. 5 THEY SHOOT DIVAS, DON'T THEY? VH1 (9 p.m. ET) Jennifer Beals stars in this TV movie about a killer who worms her way into a rock star's retinue.
Donny Osmond
Taking over hosting responsibilities for the 29-year-old game show Pyramid this month has Donny Osmond feeling his age. "One day they were playing one of my songs in the studio," he recalls. "And this kid looked at me and said, 'Wow, I didn't know you could sing!'"
Fortunately the syndicated show also brings back fond memories for the former teen idol, who turned the wholesomely telegenic Osmonds into a quintet in the '60s and topped the charts as a solo artist in the early '70s with hits like "Go Away Little Girl" and "Puppy Love." "I used to play [Pyramid] with my brothers when we were stuck on the bus on tour," says Osmond, 44, who now lives in Provo, Utah, with wife Debbie, 43, and their five sons. The singer, whose new CD is due in November, would like to have his singing siblings come on the show as celebrity guests but says it's been an uphill battle so far. "I put in a call to Marie, but I don't know if she'll do it," he says. "She wants to be sure that she'll win!"
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text: Joining seasonal colorways like Wolf Grey/Electric Green, Bright Crimson and Squadron Blue is a brand new "Night Factor" edition of the Lunar Flyknit Chukka from Nike Sportswear. Reminiscent of one of the multicolored colorways of the HTM Flyknit Trainer+ that dropped back in the fall of 2012, this mid-top version of the kicks incorporates a combination of blue and Volt throughout its knit upper while black accents hit the tongue, laces and Swoosh branding. Finished with a speckled Lunarlon sole unit, the "Night Factor" chukka is now available via Switzerland's Titolo.


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Eduardo Medina is out of jail less than 24 hours after he allegedly drove drunk and caused an accident that killed a man, troopers said.
The 45-year-old man was charged with drunken driving after a crash in south Orange County that killed a 57-year-old St. Cloud man Saturday, police said. Medina was charged with driving under the influence manslaughter, and vehicular homicide.
He posted bond Saturday night and ran out of the jail with his head covered.
Click here to watch the report.
Medina was driving down John Young Parkway around 2 a.m. when he failed to stop at a red light at the Deerfield Boulevard intersection, police said. Medina rear-ended a 2009 Kia Spectra, which went spinning into two other cars that were stopped at the light.
The driver of the Kia was killed. The people in the other cars were not injured, police said.
Florida Highway Patrol troopers have not released the victim's name.
John Smith, the sales manager at Buff It Car Center, said surveillance cameras at his car wash captured a car speeding down the road just as the crash happened.


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Because life is about living
77/7 Sukhumvit 8, Sukhumvit Road
Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Although located in the center of the city, Citadines Sukhumvit 8 Bangkok is nestled in a tranquil residential area, providing comfortable accommodation in the centre of downtown Sukhumvit area. It is conveniently located - close to major offices, business centres, hospitals, parks, shopping malls, restaurants and schools - thus perfect for both business and leisure travellers. Enjoy easy access to the Nana Skytrain Station with our complimentary tuk-tuk service to get you around Bangkok efficiently. Our complimentary tuk-tuk transport service to Nana skytrain station also offers guests fast and easy access to the rest of Bangkok. Vibrant colours and bold interiors highlight the property's modern yet sophisticated style, appealing to young professionals and expats.
Citadines Sukhumvit 8 Bangkok offers accommodations ranging from stylish studios to spacious two-bedroom deluxe layout. Each of the 130 residences is modern, well-planned and comfortable. Vibrant colours and bold interiors emphasize the contemporary design and fashionable atmosphere. To accommodate your stay, a fully-equipped kitchen, separate bedroom and lounge area, sliding television, complimentary Wi-Fi internet access (high-speed internet service is available at an additional charge) is included in every residence and in public areas. Other facilities include the fitness corner, outdoor pool, and a well-equipped business corner to fulfill your everyday needs.
Living at Citadines Sukhumvit 8 Bangkok puts you in the centre of the city action. The Phloen Chit Centre, Q House Phloen Chit, Wave Place Building, Pacific Place, Times Square, British Embassy, and Bumrungrad Hospital are nearby. It is also within walking distance to Foodland Supermarket and Villa Market and is only a few minutes away from Robinson Department Store and the Emporium Shopping Centre and the new chic Emquartier Shopping Centre for enthusiastic shoppers. There are many cosmopolitan restaurants, trendy eateries and small markets that line the streets. Not to be left out is the world-class nightlife with everything from the traditional to the trendy and fashionable clubs and pubs. The Nana Skytrain station is a moment away, making it easy to experience the energy of Bangkok from the stylish comfort of an urban residence.
With the bustle of the streets outside, enjoy the privacy and exclusivity of this modern serviced residence. Relax in the pool, de-stress at the fitness corner or get some extra work done at the Business Corner with wireless internet access. The reception operates 24/7 and there is even a complimentary tuk-tuk service to the Nana Skytrain Station. The modern atmosphere and interiors, the services and facilities, and the stylish layout are designed for your comfort during a visit to the unique city of Bangkok.


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Tuesday night my wife asked me if I had checked out the weather report before heading up to Whiteface Mountain, near Lake Placid, in New York's Adirondack region.
I explained to her that the weather didn't matter because I was committed to the trip and would make the best of whatever Mother Nature would throw my way.
Good thing I didn't let the weather reports discourage me or I would have missed out on two great days at Whiteface, home of the 1980 Winter Olympics alpine events.
Whiteface held a media day on Wednesday and organizers confessed that with the warm December weather, they were concerned that they wouldn't have much of an on-snow experience to showcase.
Our group of scribes and mountain hosts piled into the Cloudsplitter Gondola cabins for a ride to top of Little Whiteface with low expectations for the journey back down. Instead, we found ourselves making turns upon some wonderfully soft snow.
We headed down Excelsior, a long, winding intermediate (blue) trail which has always been one of my favorites, and then made a few runs on Victoria, a steeper blue run covered in soft forgiving bumps.
If Victoria doesn't ring a bell, it's because it's the new official name for Lower Cloudspin, which was part of the 1980 Men's Down Hill course. Locals have always called it Victoria.
After skiing myself silly, I made plans to meet up on Thursday with mountain host and Pompton Lakes, N.J. native Ron Konowitz, who has made a name for himself as a backcountry Adirondack skier (more on that later).
Ron, who is wise like my wife, did check the weather report and said we could expect high winds and rain. Unlike my wife, we weren't going to let the weather discourage us.
I guess most of the world thinks like my wife, because there were only about two dozen people on the mountain in the morning. The rest of the world missed another day of fabulous soft snow. The gondola wasn't running because of the wind, but the high-speed Facelift got us about two thirds of the way up Little Whiteface.
After lunch Ron and I hooked up with ski school director Ed Kreil, who got his ski teaching start at Vernon Valley (now Mountain Creek) in Vernon, N.J. during the 1970s.
The three of us and two snowboarders had the mountain to ourselves in the afternoon. It wasn't a pretty, with spots of brown dirt peeking through the snow, but the snow was additive and we skied until the lifts closed.
The weather report is predicting colder, snow-making temperatures, so for those who believe in such things get the boards ready.


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49 posts tagged with Writing and author.
Displaying 1 through 49 of 49. Subscribe:
"It's fierce, an' it's wild..."
RIP Barry Hines, author of A Kestrel for a Knave that was adapted into the British film classic Kes. He also wrote the screenplay for Threads. [more inside]
Dear Friends
Elena Ferrante, the author of the Neapolitan Novels, discusses how she shapes her stories, her characters, and her decision to remain out of the public eye
"I think it's about authenticity,"
Don't Judge A Book By Its Author by Aminatta Forna [The Guardian]
'I have never met a writer who wishes to be described as a female writer, gay writer, black writer, Asian writer or African writer' … Aminatta Forna on her frustration at the book world's obsession with labels and identity.
An enthusiastic public reading journal.....
When Science Fiction Grew Up
How renegade sci-fi writers of the 1960s paved the way for today's blending of literary and genre fiction [more inside]
'the jingle allegedly contained a grammatical error.'
Why Academic Writing Stinks, by Steven Pinker
The curse of knowledge is a major reason that good scholars write bad prose. It simply doesn't occur to them that their readers don't know what they know—that those readers haven't mastered the patois or can't divine the missing steps that seem too obvious to mention or have no way to visualize an event that to the writer is as clear as day. And so they don't bother to explain the jargon or spell out the logic or supply the necessary detail. Obviously, scholars cannot avoid technical terms altogether. But a surprising amount of jargon can simply be banished, and no one will be the worse for it.Pinker's new book, a style guide, The Sense of the Style, has ten grammar rules it's OK to break (sometimes). He talks to Edge on Writing in the 21st Century, which includes the occasional fMRI.
Peter Matthiessen
Peter Matthiessen's Homegoing. "He is the only writer ever to win the National Book Award for nonfiction and fiction, but it's not just the writing: Born into the East Coast establishment, Matthiessen ran from it, and in the running became a novelist, a C.I.A. agent, a founder of The Paris Review, author of more than 30 books, a naturalist, an activist and a master in one of the most respected lineages in Zen. As early as 1978, he was already being referred to, in a review in The New York Times, as a 'throwback,' because he has always seemed to be of a different, earlier era, with universal, spiritual and essentially timeless concerns." Peter Matthiessen, Lyrical Writer and Naturalist, Is Dead at 86.
A brother in trouble.
A brother in trouble. Author John Niven reflects on the suicide of his brother.
"Publishing is tremendously susceptible to the availability heuristic"
What Is the Business of Literature?
Publishing is a word that, like the book, is almost but not quite a proxy for the "business of literature." Current accounts of publishing have the industry about as imperiled as the book, and the presumption is that if we lose publishing, we lose good books. Yet what we have right now is a system that produces great literature in spite of itself. We have come to believe that the taste-making, genius-discerning editorial activity attached to the selection, packaging, printing, and distribution of books to retailers is central to the value of literature. We believe it protects us from the shameful indulgence of too many books by insisting on a rigorous, abstemious diet. Critiques of publishing often focus on its corporate or capitalist nature, arguing that the profit motive retards decisions that would otherwise be based on pure literary merit. But capitalism per se and the market forces that both animate and pre-suppose it aren't the problem. They are, in fact, what brought literature and the author into being.[more inside]
Sweet Valley High Ghostwriters
In an essay in the Kenyon Review, former Sweet Valley High ghostwriter Amy Boesky, now an Associate Professor of English at Boston College, writes about her experience ghostwriting, how she got started, why she kept ghostwriting while also pursuing her Ph.D., and why she eventually stopped. Interviews with other Sweet Valley ghostwriters are here, here, and here.
Highlighting forgotten, neglected, abandoned, forsaken, unrecognized, unacknowledged, overshadowed, out-of-fashion, under-translated writers.
Joseph McElroy's "Women and Men"
[Joseph] McElroy's sense of original and authentic contemporaneity makes him the most important novelist now writing in America, the artist who has most consistently combined the mastering capabilities of systems perspectives and an art of excess. Women and Men is the capstone of his career and, I believe, the most significant American novel published since Gravity's Rainbow. - Tom LeClair [more inside]
Steal My Book!
Steal My Book! Why I'm abetting a rogue translation of my novel. This is the story of how author Peter Mountford discovered that his novel A Young Man's Guide to Late Capitalism was being translated for an unauthorized e-book version, and why he decided to help the struggling Russian-language translator. Audio interview with Mountford on CBC Radio's Q.
A Chat With Jon Ronson
But I couldn't do it. I spent three months and I just couldn't do it. And the reason was because I kept on meeting people who worked in the credit industry and they were really boring. I couldn't make them light up the page. And, as I said in The Psychopath Test, if you want to get away with wielding true malevolent power, be boring. Journalists hate writing about boring people, because we want to look good, you know?A Chat With Writer Jon Ronson [more inside]
This will sell us another 25,000 copies for sure.
Tomorrow is the end of Banned Books Week. It's been 30 years. The American Library Association has a list of frequently challenged books. [more inside]
Creative Director Starts Drinking Heavily
"The bookful blockhead ignorantly read" - Alexander Pope
A Short History Of Book Reviewing's Long Decline: 'By the time of the first quote "book-review," criticism had been in circulation for centuries—long enough for writers to know how it can sting. Understandably, then, the critic's skepticism of an artist's genius has invariably existed alongside the artist's doubt over the critic's judgment.' [more inside]
"No one but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money"
Tim Parks has two interesting articles at the NYRB: Does Money Make Us Write Better? and Does Copyright Matter?
"Very good, sir. Should I lay out your crazy adventure garb?"
What If Other Authors Had Written The Lord Of The Rings?...Wilde, Wodehouse, and more.
"I suppose the first thing I should do is apologize for the billions of dead."
A famously reclusive writer, John Swartzwelder is responsible for many of The Simpson's iconic episodes. He stopped writing for the show in '04 and began to self-publish a series of increasingly absurd Sci-Fi Detective novels.
"...for the next tour, I'll either be calm and collected or nervous with a dangerously out-of-control boner."
Janet Flanner
Janet Flanner began her career at The New Yorker composing evocative and cogent dispatches from Europe, writing nearly seven hundred Letters from Paris under the nom de plume Genêt, from 1925 to 1975. In between these, she contributed Profiles, Reporter at Large dispatches, and other Letters from around the globe. In a Postscript published after she died, in 1978, editor-in-chief William Shawn wrote of his prolific correspondent: "Her eye never became jaded, her ardor for what was new and alive never diminished, and her language remained restless. She was a stylist who devoted her style, bedazzling and heady in itself, to the subtle task of conveying the spirit of a subtle people." [more inside]
Diary of an Author: Woke up. Googled self.
William Wallace Cook, seeking to help mechanize the art of novel writing, came up with the 1462 possible plots for all stories. He then devised the Plotto system, whereby an author need only consult the book of plots to construct the next best seller.
"The long sentence opens the very doors that a short sentence simply slams shut."
"Your sentences are so long," [L.A.Times] The point of the long and winding sentence - Pico Iyer's essay on why he's made the conscious decision to write longer sentences.
End of An Era?
A couple of commentators present conflicting arguments about whether the golden age of tech blogging is over.
"The blonde hadn't showed. She was smarter than I thought. I went outside to poison myself, with cigarettes and whisky."
Reader, I marinated it. [independent.co.uk] What if Virginia Woolf, Geoffrey Chaucer or Raymond Chandler had turned their talents to food writing? Mark Crick imagines the contents of the celebrity cookbooks of yesteryear.
Lee Tandy Schwartzman's "Crippled Detectives"
As much as any book I know, Crippled Detectives transcribes the dream state, not just in its flights of fancy and logic-jumping juxtapositions, but in the mutating narrative tactics, the topsy-turvy focus (the climax is over in a flash, whereas digressions distend to marvelous effect), and especially the inconsistent point of view... I forgot to mention that Lee Tandy Schwartzman was all of seven years old when she wrote it.
"It's harder than you think to write a sentence that doesn't say anything." The quest to find and understand the author of In Sara, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were Men and Women. "Includes full-length album (by Robert Ashley) and PDF of Wolgamot's magnum opus." (Via)
Just Write It!
Fans of George RR Martin's "The Song of Ice and Fire" series are eagerly awaiting "A Dance With Dragons", the next book. This anticipation has led to hostility from some fans as to Martin's work ethic and the manner in which he spends his personal time.
The Book That Tried To Kill Me
Who owns Kafka?
An ongoing trial in Tel Aviv is set to determine who will have stewardship of several boxes of Kafka's original writings, including primary drafts of his published works, currently stored in Zurich and Tel Aviv.
take this content and shove it, I ain't workin' here no more
"The mark of a real writer is that she cares deeply about literary joinery, about keeping the lines of her prose plumb. That's what makes writers writers: to them, prose isn't just some Platonic vessel for serving up content; they care about words. Any chief product officer who says "quality online does not equal craftsmanship" is channeling the utilitarian gospel of the managerial class, an instrumentalist vision of journalism that presumes writing, online, is just a turkey baster for injecting content into the user's brain." Mark Dery, on writing for the web.
I think it's immoral, I know it's illegal, and it makes me want to barf.
Fan Fiction and Moral Conundrums : Diana Gabaldon, author of the bestselling Outlander book series, takes on the legal and moral issues of fan fiction. She's got a lot of people to convince.
How To Write Badly Well
You have a great idea for a novel and it's almost November, so you think now is the time to get cracking. You've decided that hiring a ghostwriter is too easy, but you don't have 100 days to write your novel and the snowflake method seems too frilly. Snowflakes, those delicate little monsters that papered your car when you were stranded on the road in Minnesota. A single snowflake is beautiful, but millions make an avalanche. You were cold, so cold, yet you survived. You're not sure if you have time to read a book on what not to do (UK edition), and the search results are daunting. Forget all that, because you already know how to write, right? Embrace your awesome, magnificent, spellbinding abilities, go forward but never back, ever spinning, shake the rain off your bedspread, and now that you have brewed a delicious pot of steamy, hot, life-giving coffee, you can learn how to write badly well. [via mefi projects] [more inside]
Djuna Barnes
Djuna Barnes (12 June, 1892 – 18 June, 1982) was an American writer who played an important part in the development of 20th century English language modernist writing and was one of the key figures in 1920s and 30s bohemian Paris after filling a similar role in the Greenwich Village of the teens. Her novel Nightwood became a cult work of modern fiction, helped by an introduction by T. S. Eliot. It stands out today for its portrayal of lesbian themes and its distinctive writing style. - Wikipedia [more inside]
What are you reading, charming writer?
What are writers reading? An eclectic mix of authors answer the perennial question. [more inside]
John Updike has died.
"The fact that I was a girl never damaged my ambitions to be a pope or an emperor..."
The Willa Cather Archive is an incredible resource provided by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, including biographies, letters, photos, and even full (often annotated) text of much of her writing, including scholarly editions of two of her greatest (and most famous) works, My Antonia and O Pioneers. About the archive.
Rapid Offensive Unit Xenophobe will no doubt be pleased
Edinburgh author Iain M. Banks, creator of the post capitalist space faring society The Culture and it's oddly named ships, has long been the UKs top science fiction writer, but has never had more than a toehold in the US (in part through lack of availability, in part due to lack of promotion and in part due to some pretty awful covers. That could change: Matter, his latest, has been heavily promoted in the US and sports a cover nearly identical to the UK edition. This week Orbit are releasing US editions of the two earliest Culture novels, with the third following in July, which could mean a complete release of all the novels in the US in order. [more inside]
The nastiest divorce/custody/dead baby stories you're ever likely to run across
Here's the background of one of the nastiest divorce/custody/dead baby stories you're ever likely to run across. Alan Rodgers is a horror writer. This is his wikipedia entry, and this is his blog/forum at sff.net. He was originally married to Amy Stout, and together they had three children, two girls and a boy. After he tried to kill Amy Stout, she left him and married -- Me, Dan Moran. I'm the handsome dude in the eyepatch, if you click through to my profile. Together Alan and Amy #2 had a baby: Anthony Rodgers. Who died under interesting circumstances. A tragedy, I believe Alan Rodgers has called it, and by "tragedy" I suspect he means, "Thank God I wasn't prosecuted for negligent homicide." Or worse.
the diamonds in the self-published rough
POD-dy Mouth - a blog reviewing the best of print-on-demand (self-published) books: "finding needles, discarding hay". Also with commentary on the industry itself, and great snark (1, 2). Take her quiz: can you spot the POD excerpts from the traditionally published? (Answers here.)
Stanislaw Lem: 1921-2006
Stanislaw Lem: 1921-2006. Polish science-fiction giant Stanislaw Lem died this morning. He was 84. Though Lem was not as well known as Asimov or Heinlein or the other "Masters", he was just as important to the genre. Lem was not a fan of traditonal science-fiction, and in his work tried to approach futuristic themes from a more humanistic, almost psychological, perspective. (And his books are funny!) His best-known work, Solaris, was twice made into a film, most recently in 2002. [Woefully out-of-date official site.]
What Makes A Writer A Writer?
So You Think You Might Be A Writer? Just because you write? An astute essay by Joseph Epstein poses the uncomfortable question: are you weird enough? There's something very unnatural and unhealthy about writing (as opposed to reading, for instance) - but what is it? [Via Arts and Letters Daily.]
Janet Frame dies at 79
Janet Frame, New Zealand writer, is dead at 79. More information about her life, here, and obituary notice here. Nominated for the Nobel Prize for Fiction last year, I had hoped she might yet win. RIP.
A sad day for lovers of good writing. In addition to Stephen Jay Gould, historian Walter Lord has died. (NYT, blah blah) Lord's 1955 book A Night to Remember arguably touched off the modern world's fascination with the Titanic, and his 1957 Day of Infamy is an exciting account of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Monday is the last day to declare your intention to write a 50,000-word novel during National Novel Writing Month (Nov. 1-30). "Dubious fiction writers from all nations are invited to participate," says organizer Chris Baty. So far, around 3,000 writers have pledged to bring 150 million new words into the world.
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Best team riders Mike Schitzhofer and Sam Medysky take us to the beautiful, warm blue waters of the Turks and Caicos for some solid freestyle action. Off-the-beaten path by boat, flat lagoons, wind and turquoise as far as the eye can see. What could be better?
Tagged with: best kiteboarding Featured kite provo Mike Schitzhofer sam medysky turks and caicos Turquoise


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Cardinal Timothy Dolan returns to Wisconsin to give a speech Thursday night.
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