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Monday, October 12, 2009
The 3rd Sort-of-Annual Stupendously Ultimate First Paragraph Challenge
We've also had three finalists, Stuart Neville, Terry DeHart, and Victoria Schwab go on to be published/soon-to-be-published authors respectively.
In other words: NO PRESSURE.
(Bonus fun fact: I didn't actually call the inaugural first paragraph challenge "stupendously ultimate," it was actually "largely indispensable," which throws into doubt whether this could properly be called the "third sort-of-annual." We'll just agree to forget that part, hmm?)
Now then!
It is time. Time to test your paragraph against... other first paragraphs. Time to see if your sentences can wage successful word combat in order to defeat other sentences and emerge victorious on a field of battle.
Oh, and there are prizes. Let's start there.
The GRAND PRIZE STUPENDOUSLY ULTIMATE WINNER will receive....
1) Their choice of a partial critique, query critique, or phone consultation
2) A very-sought-after galley of THE SECRET YEAR by Jennifer Hubbard, which will be published by Viking in January:
3) A signed THE SECRET YEAR bookmark
4) The envy of their rivals
5) The pride of a job well done
6) I think you get the picture
The STUPENDOUSLY ULTIMATE FINALISTS will receive....
a) Query critiques
b) A signed THE SECRET YEAR bookmark (assuming you live in a place that is reached in a reasonably affordable fashion by the postal service no offense forraners)
c) Pride. Lots of pride.
On to the rules!!
I) This is a for-fun contest that I conduct in the free time. Rules may be adjusted without notice, as I see fit, in ways in which you might find capricious, arbitrary, and in a possibly not fully comprehensible fashion. Complainants will be sent to the Magister, and trust me, you don't want to get sent to the Magister (who's been watching True Blood? This guy)
II) Ya hear? Angst = prohibited.
III) Please post the first paragraph of any work-in-progress in the comments section of THIS POST. Do not e-mail me your submission. The deadline for entry is THURSDAY 4pm Pacific time, at which point entries will be closed. Finalists will be announced on Friday, at which time you will exercise your democratic rights to choose a stupendously ultimate winner.
IV) You may enter once, once you may enter, and enter once you may.
V) Spreading word about the contest is strongly encouraged.
VI) I will be sole judge. Unless I chicken out.
VII) I am not imposing a word count on the paragraphs. However, a paragraph that is overly long may lose points in the judge's eyes. Use your own discretion.
VIII) Please remember that the paragraph needs to be a paragraph, not multiple paragraphs masquerading as one paragraph.
That is all.
And now I shall retreat to my stupendously ultimate bunker.
UPDATE: CONTEST IS CLOSED!! Thank you so much to everyone who entered.
2650 comments:«Oldest ‹Older 2601 – 2650 of 2650 Newer› Newest»
- Christina said...
Let me tell you what kind of guy my husband was. A week after our honeymoon we were moving into our new house and everything was still a mess. He came in at nine thirty at night and said he was hungry. I said, "Darling I can't get to anything right now. Just have a bowl of cereal." And the look he gave me. I could have said, "I'm an alien from the planet Zepton, sent here in a space pod to inhabit the body of a human female," and the look he would have given me was exactly the look he gave me just then. Cereal for dinner? But that's a breakfast food. So anyway, that's the kinda guy he was.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:09 PM
- up so many floating bells down said...
Night was no respite for Lone Wilder. Sleep never came until the early hours of morning when the streetlight slipping through the narrow slit window of his basement room turned into the thin grey light of predawn. It was not for lack of trying. Each night he laid his head down on the barely nonexistent mattress of the cot that served as his bed and pulled the thin, tatty blanket up to his chin. Each night he felt exhausted. Each night he closed his eyes. But then the dreams would begin---dreams that did not even wait for him to fall asleep.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:12 PM
The mouse squeaked when Adam put it in the machine. I wrapped my arms around my stomach and concentrated on not puking. Calm down, I thought. Take a deep breath. But sucking air past the lump in my throat felt enough like swallowing crushed glass to make me forget the whole breathing thing, at least for a while.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:13 PM
- Susan R. Mills said...
I took a step backward as he stumbled toward me. His breath smelled like my great aunt Ruby's ashtray when it hadn't been dumped in weeks. His bloodshot eyes were vacant and dark--so dark that it was impossible to tell where the pupil ended and the chocolate brown began.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:15 PM
- Jennifer K. Sights said...
"Elena, can I see you in my office?"
"Sure, Sarge. What's up?" I followed Sergeant Gerald Lancaster - call him Jerry - down the hall and into his office where he closed the door. "Uh oh, did I screw up?" My mind raced as I tried to think of what I could have done wrong.
"No, calm down. You're not in trouble. Have a seat." I sat down, wondering what was going on. Usually when Sergeant Lancaster called people into his office and closed the door it was bad news. He seemed to be thinking of how to say whatever it was he wanted to say to me. He was a man of few words, a fact made more interesting by his night job as a teacher at the community college. I always thought teachers talked a lot, but not Jerry.
Jerry stood from behind his desk and extended his arm, as if to shake my hand. "Congratulations Detective Ronen. You've just received a promotion."
I was too shocked to return the handshake. "But, I've only been here six months. Don't I have to do my time, work my way through the ranks and all that? Protocol or whatnot?" I didn't know exactly what it took to become a detective. I was just happy to have a job.
"Screw protocol. I have a case I want you on, and this is the only way to do it, so here we are. So what do you say?"
- October 15, 2009 at 6:15 PM
- Jenn's Scribbles said...
Note to Self: Wear Long Pants In Police Cars. I slid forward, legs sticky and sweaty as I pulled them away from the warm vinyl seat. "Where are we going?" Steel grey eyes met mine in the rear-view mirror, but didn't respond. "Are you taking me home?" Silence. I glanced out the window. A shooting star flickered over a passing truck. I started to make a wish, but remembered Joel Spenser saying if stars are just burning balls of gas, we should be able to make a wish on a fart. That earned him a two-page report on the difference between flatulence and the gas of a burning star. I didn't make a wish.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:16 PM
- Kickup said...
The familiar signal echoed through the roof; three crisp knocks in rapid succession. It was nearly four in the morning, during that block of time the ancient Chinese soothsayers claimed was the time of the moon, that *yin* time of sensitivity, the time when the human soul can most easily be viewed.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:18 PM
She got her first black eye when she was ten. Her first knife wound at fourteen. At sixteen she inked her torso with a multi-colored tattoo of two hummingbirds selfishly feeding from an budding apple tree. Symbolic really, when she considered who was buried ten feet from the apple tree on her grandfather's property. Her first kill.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:19 PM
Ari flopped herself onto her bed, turning her sore cheek away from the covers. She'd never been struck before, and the shock of having her father slap her across the face to quiet her had almost been more painful than the blow itself. Admittedly, she'd pushed him as far as he could go. Their latest argument surpassed anything they'd had up until now. She cringed remembering everything she'd said, or screamed at him, rather. Her father's face had gone from pink to red to plum purple and near the end he didn't even appear to be breathing.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:23 PM
- Ludmila said...
Sitting behind the desk, foot twitching impatiently, Colonel Roy Mustang watched the minute hand on the clock move slower and slower as the day progressed. He had no idea that in just a few minutes he would wish he could return to this peaceful and somewhat boring routine of signing papers and writing directives. Summer's heat, noticeable even in an early morning, crawled in a heady shimmering haze through the open window into his office. The lazy 11 o-clock tiredness settled on his shoulders as Roy put down his pen to stretch luxuriously, pushing the unfinished stack of paperwork into the farthest corner of the desk. Days like this were brought onto Earth by the vengeful gods to torment people with the irresistible longing for a nap in a cooling shadow of the trees in a nearby park. Maybe, if he pretends to have business in the Archives, Roy could escape his secretary's ever watchful eye and get a half-hour break before the blaze of an afternoon makes the outside warmth into the scorching inferno that would be hot enough to melt the soles of the military issued boots. Smiling, Mustang stood up from his desk and having retrieved his gloves from the top drawer, started for the door. Even before he opened it, he heard the commotion and a loud chorus of cheering voices of his usually quiet subordinates. What was going on to rally them up like this?
- October 15, 2009 at 6:26 PM
- Erin said...
The armed guards hustled their unbound prisoner through secret passageways and up narrow stone stairways before finally emerging in a secluded courtyard. They motioned for the man to walk ahead alone and he nodded, straightening his tall frame with dignity. He wasn't sure how far to go, but stopped after twelve paces, waited a few seconds, then turned to see if he was following their orders correctly. They were gone. As he scanned the courtyard for signs of life, debating whether to stay or escape, the king and two of his daughters quietly stepped out of the shadows.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:26 PM
- Pamela Ross said...
"Come on, Izzy!" my cousin Josh begged. "Do something stupid!"
It was hard to do something stupid with a soggy piece of matzoh and thirteen people shushing you to be quiet. Passover seder meals are not the time or place to be belching and throwing tiny pieces of gefilte fish across a crowded dining room table. But Cousin Josh was begging me. Me, one of the only girls in the world Josh spoke to without calling a name like Woof or Barf Face. I, Isabelle Ashley Mason, had my goofy cousin Josh wrapped around my little fingers and I loved it.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:28 PM
Bianca shivered. Horizontal and naked were words that should bring certain images to mind. Not floating five feet in the air staring down at a warm raspberry bubblebath with no frigging idea how to get back into the tub before she turned blue.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:29 PM
Detective Markus Troval drove down the Los Angeles suburban street knowing he was heading toward blood. Turning a corner he could see the red and blue flashing lights of the police cruisers, the strobes creating a strange light show in the thick fog that had rolled in earlier that evening. A yawn escaped him as he parked his car. It was 3:30 in the morning and as rough as it was to be up and moving at this hour he couldn't blame anyone but himself. It was his standing orders that he be called, no matter the time, if another Painter killing occurred.
From Richard B.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:29 PM
- Jacqueline Corcoran said...
I woke to screaming. My head ached from too many tequila shots. Okay, I remembered that much. Dry grass crackled underneath me. Lying on the ground outside-- oh my, an all-time low.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:30 PM
- Kate said...
I submit this report at the request of Deputy Director Clay over my own objection. The incident in question was a personal matter. Dr. Scovil attacked me only as a result of his medical condition. We maintain a productive working relationship and agree the success of our investigation is paramount.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:32 PM
- zellarelli said...
Onstage, the King of Fools rode out on his pantomime horse, waving his sword and holding his head so high that Violet, sitting in the audience, looked toward the sky, wondering if the renegade swan from the lily pool had escaped again. It had developed a bad habit of dive-bombing hats—especially the elaborately feathered ones. Swans are unfriendly creatures on their best days and this one, unaffectionately called Filthy Tom by the garden staff, attacked whatever body, be it man or beast, came within scope of it's beady black eyes. Luckily, Filthy Tom was acutely nearsighted. Unluckily, he had some kind of homing instinct for feathered hats. Despite several unfortunate incidents, the nobles still insisted on wearing them. Fashion stops for no swan.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:32 PM
- Robin said...
A black beetle, the size of a coin, scuttled across the path. Del altered his step so that the bug would not end up crunched underneath his boot. Let this one have a chance at another day. He was in a generous spirit.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:32 PM
- CMP IMAGES said...
I looked down, my bruised arm hanging limp. "I thought I told you to stay still you little bitch!" he yelled, waving the bottle at me. He took another empty swig, let out a groan and fell onto my bed. The bottle hit the floor hard piercing my reality, then rolled to meet my feet. The air, like me, had become stagnant. I waited, not knowing if he had truly passed out or if he was just pretending in a ruse to get me back near him. I wanted to yell, scream, run, anything, but then nothing. A salty blood taste filled my mouth. Chilled air crept up the back of my legs as I sought my exit, "'till never," I said.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:34 PM
- Sally Clements said...
The scream of a peregrine falcon distracted Claire for a moment, and she looked up into the clear blue cloudless sky to watch it drop towards its prey. She held her breath it folded back its wings to plunge towards the smaller bird. A flurry of white feathers and it was all over, and the dove escaped over the city's ramparts to freedom. It was early, she wouldn't have to start cooking lunch for hours yet, so she leant against the warm stone watching the people bustle around in the market outside Mdina's walls. She could make out the familiar figure of her mother, tall and slender, her white blonde hair catching the light as she bought fish, adding it to the stack of produce that Michael was putting into the van. Faro Restaurant was written across it's side in the dark navy writing that matched the restaurant's awning.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:34 PM
- Karen H. said...
My mother still manages to leave behind many bad things, not because she means too, but because she is just plain crazy. I've been told not to use the word crazy because there are actual medical reasons why her brain does not work properly. I know I'm only eleven, but if I ever order a 12-slice toaster off the Home Shopping Network and then start hearing voices, you can definitely call me what you like and I won't mind because it will be the truth. Crazy.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:35 PM
- James said...
Rivel Chase had been running for fifteen years; hiding in the embrace of whores and booze, trying not to think about the past. Today was different. Rivel walked quickly to the plaza. Early morning sun filtered into the empty streets of Corvin; the salt tang of sea air mingled with the crisp sent of autumn. Today would make it all worth it.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:38 PM
- BILLRUPERT8 said...
The counselor asked me what my interests are. I told her I liked writing - or that I was an okay writer, I guess - and she suggested I start a journal. She said it could be about anything really, but I should try to write it like it was about Chase or to Chase or some shit like that. I dunno, it sounded kinda weird and I really didn't see much good in dwelling on it. Then later that day, my dad suggested we go down to the beach house to relax - or 'reflect', I guess is how he put it - but I wasn't really keen on doing that either. It was like no one understood. When something bad happens, especially if you're a kid, everyone starts treating you like you're made of fuckin' glass. I didn't want time off school. I didn't want any journals or any beach house or anything special at all. I just wanted everything to be normal. But it only took a day to see I didn't even know what normal was any more. Normal has left the fucking building.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:38 PM
For a glorious second, I thought nothing was going to happen. Then the lights went out. Screams surrounded us. Annoti whooped (yes, in a positive way, the nutcase) and Mr Bent kept droning about the Millennium Bug for a full five seconds before he even noticed.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:39 PM
- Cindy said...
The warmth of day vanished with remarkable speed, thrusting the desert under a bone-chilling shroud of twilight. Murky shadows crept across the rocky ridge, and Jackson Neale, cautious now after four bloody years of war, slipped deeper into the concealing darkness. His body tensed with a caution that defined survival. Slowly, his hand lowered to his gun belt and calm assurance settled over him when his fingers folded around the worn, wooden grip of the well-oiled Colt. He could count on one hand the people he'd befriended on the trek westward from Virginia, and knew with absolute certainty that the man riding into his camp tonight wasn't one of them. Only a fool entered without hailing first, yet this brazen bastard displayed a boldness that truly amazed him.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:42 PM
- mirlacca said...
The buckskin mare three back in the pack train slipped in the driving rain, went to her knees, and in the scramble to get back to her feet went over the edge of the cliff. Kian Adri-nes counted the rest of the animals and cursed quietly—the buckskin had been carrying a good half of the Emperor's gifts, all of the jewels and his spare poison kit. He could always do without the poisons, but the jewels were irreplaceable, the bribes meant to smooth the way of his mission. Six miles to go, and the rain was turning to sleet. The only good thing about this trail was that it was impossible to get lost, even in the dark. The only way to go was straight up the mountain.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:43 PM
- Megan said...
"Remember how I told you my teacher hates me?" Alex said. "He does. Don't give me that look. He's totally got it in for me. He's on my case all the time and I just really wanted to get back at him."
- October 15, 2009 at 6:44 PM
- pchan96 said...
She did not like me from the very beginning. The moment I stepped into my aunt's house I knew, – this sweet looking relative of mine hates my guts. Oh, no, she was not rude or cold to me. She pulled me into a strained hug and put a dry kiss on my flushed cheek. Then she glanced at my dad and said, "She looks exactly like her mother!" and I knew that somehow this was not a compliment.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:44 PM
Ada is my sister. They call her a Sea Witch. She calls me bossy.
Well, she never really calls me anything. She's deaf, so she doesn't talk. Our mother was terrified she would lose her, so Ada has always worn bells and charms around her skirts. It's the first thing I can ever remember; the constant tinkle that is my older sister. If I can't see her I can hear her, and I can hear her behind me now as we climb the rocks and tree roots that grow down the cliff face.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:46 PM
- John said...
Nobody owns land in Mongolia. You can leave the cities and towns and drive across the country, going anywhere you please, and encounter no fences. 2.8 million people live in a country three times the size of California with a full third of the population in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar. The rest are scattered across the steppe, mountains, hills, deserts and plains, living in small towns and in yurts spread across the countryside. Traditionally a land of herders, you can still find families living off of their flocks of animals. True to the practice of moving to where the grass is good, there are no boundaries or proper 'owners' of the land. The whole country is still a 'commons,' yet to be parceled off, fenced in and cleared of people.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:46 PM
The cells are built along the outer rim of the orbital station, because that's where the centripetal gravity is toughest on you: good for storage, machinery and scoundrels. The upside is, some cells, like mine, have an honest to goodness porthole, measly palm-sized thing that it is; you can gauge time from the slow drift of the starfield, and reflect upon either the vacuity of the infinite or the size of the synthetic steak you'll get yourself once out, your choice. The downside, it turns out, is that you are way outside the populated segments, and easily forgotten in case of an unplanned emergency evacuation. I have a hunch this may not be my day.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:47 PM
- Dana said...
I turned the volume up to max to hear the female news anchor, whose voice was pitched just under hysteria. She tried valiantly to remain professional, however, her shirt was buttoned wrong and her mic wire was showing. She reported that the overwhelmed UCLA Medical Center was the latest hospital to begin turning away patients with the incurable flu symptoms. I felt the blood run out of my face as I watched helicopter footage of the swelling mob outside the hospital. Suddenly, the signal blinked out and a screen full of colored bars appeared. Cheerful elevator music played and the words "We'll be back soon!" ran across the bottom of the screen and I couldn't help but wonder, would they?
- October 15, 2009 at 6:47 PM
- SJDuvall said...
The air was thick with the perfume of gunpowder and blood, and the soldiers below on the battlefield were left with a metallic tang in their mouths. The three angels could not taste or smell like the humans, but they could sense the slightest discomfort in others. That sense was not neglected that sweltering august afternoon.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:49 PM
- Chellesie B. Dancer said...
Her eyes glowed with the heat of her passion, her breasts rising and falling as her heartbeat quickened in anticipation. He watched eagerly as she leaned closer, her fervor melting that sly smile into open-mouthed longing. She bent her head, then ever so slowly, her lips closed around it and she was there. Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment in rapture, savoring the taste, the smell, the sensations in her mouth. Reluctantly, she finally had to swallow. Then she opened her eyes for the next forkful of lobster. He looked away, annoyed at his erection.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:51 PM
I knew that people hated me for who I was. Well, "hated" perhaps is too strong a word. I was not hated, per se. "Despised" might be the better word for it. Either way, I was, simply put, not well liked. People thought that I was proud because I would rather spend my time reading than in the company of others, and they thought me arrogant because I rarely spoke to them outside of answering their questions on Amethyrian history (in the rare instances that they actually had any)—and as succinctly as possible, by the way, because, apparently, I would start to bore them if I went on too long.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:52 PM
- Christine Castigliano said...
Yolanda climbed over the broken-down fence and ran across the frozen fields out to the sycamore at the edge of MacGroder's farm. She longed to climb into the arms of the old tree as she'd always done before, to get away from Mama, to dream, or to hide in a book. If only she hadn't seen that boy's face staring back at her in the mirror that morning before the dawn. If it wasn't for that, she wouldn't have to run past the sycamore tree and up toward George's Mountain. This time, she had to tell somebody.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:52 PM
- Adorable Cullens said...
It had been two months, three days and 15 hours since Sophie had heard from Michael Nariovski Gray. And as the hands of the clock crept toward noon while she sat in the National Central Bureau of Interpol in Washington, DC, it didn't look like that was going to change any time soon. The wary, pinched look on the face of the agent who finally entered the room, dossier in hand, was not encouraging either. But Sophie was used to hopeless situations. Ten years of working in the midst of the world's most appalling refugee camps does that to a person.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:53 PM
- JohnO said...
Chandra stood waiting for the show, trying to ignore all the red flags. First, every alt-weekly in Los Angeles wanted to have the band's children, a sure sign they were overhyped. Second was the crowd, drunken kids from Greek Row shouting and texting each other—the Pabst drinkers of music, she thought. Third was the way the lead singer shambled on stage like he was doped on cough syrup, or something out of a bong. Still, there was hope. Maybe they were introverts, whose genius only showed up on stage. Maybe their music would transport her to a better place, preferably one that didn't smell like the crowd (too much melon body spray, and not enough deodorant). After all, this was why she scouted bands, to find the rough-cut gems. But as the band's first notes thundered through the club, her hope succumbed to an assault of power chords, noise so punishing her phone went off like a car alarm in her pants.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:53 PM
- Rogue Novelist said...
A DEAD body to me is just that, a corpse, a lifeless animal decomposing. How it gets that way is what troubles me.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:54 PM
- Tricia said...
How could a simple hospital stay go so wrong? Maybe I died on the operating table and now I'm in hell.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:54 PM
- Maureen said...
You flail your arms, but they don't see you. You scream, but the water rushes past your lips, drowning any noise. Your legs are not kicking though you think they are. In seventeen seconds you will succumb. When your family scatters your ashes over this water, you will find it insulting, but finally realize it didn't have to be this way.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:55 PM
- atsalem said...
Papa used to walk through the graveyard on his way home from school. He'd go through the gate, past Mr. Henry's sarcophagus at the top of the hill, and straight down the path by Mrs. Thompson's headstone. Folks called it morbid for a child, but Grandma says the dead don't do as much harm as the living. She says that after she lost my granddaddy in the war, she didn't have anything except her boy and nothing would touch him if she could help it. So every afternoon, Grandma watched from my room until Papa passed through the churchyard. She'd have had his hide if he ever touched one of the tombstones, but he wasn't ever like Franklin Ford, who pitched snowballs at the angel over Mrs. Johnston's grave. Mrs. Johnston might have wailed and rolled about, Grandma says, but it wasn't on account of Papa. He knew how to behave in a cemetery.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:55 PM
- Suzanne said...
In early June, 1982, the same day "Lawn Chair Larry" soared over Long Beach using weather balloons, twelve year old Mary Pratt lay sleeping in her toyless, sparsely decorated room with a view of the Hollywood sign. Coming down from a parentally induced heroin high, she was dreaming of Lumumba. Not the martyred African leader, but the old black Labrador retriever who was her constant companion until last year, when he died.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:55 PM
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:56 PM
- Emilia said...
With THREE minutes to spare! This has got to be a record.
At this rooftop eruption of pop music and unlimited secret booze, I am a plus one.
It's amazing Olivia hasn't seen me and asked me to leave yet. Either she's too busy playing Barbie Hosts a Grad Party, or she's just stopped caring. I'm guessing the second, since there's no way she hasn't seen me sulking in the lounge area for the past two hours.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:57 PM
- mizJen said...
The gusty chill was unusual for the middle of February in southern California. I felt silly swapping out my jeans for the white skirt and white sweater ensemble. The romantic mood I had woken up with was now an afterthought as a puff caught my eye. As I stood in the middle of the school quad, my chin raised as my eyes went to the sky. A few million white puffs began their descent to the cement floor. I felt my eyelashes catch moisture as I realized it was snowing. As I stood in awe of this climate miracle, I selfishly gave into a rising fear of blending into the background once again.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:57 PM
Vampires make great sparring partners. It's true. If you can find one that trusts you enough. The problem is that most vamps are hopelessly paranoid about anyone who isn't a vamp. They seem to think that we all have it out for them. Therefore they tend to be rather reluctant about letting anyone near them with anything that might hurt them. I know, vamps are supposed to be super tough and all that. It's sort of true, they are hard to kill, no doubt about that. Short of complete decapitation, they can survive just about anything. They also can heal any non-lethal injury, but not instantaneously like they show in all the movies. It still takes some time. If you beat the snot out of them, you can take your time about finding a sharp sword to finish them off, because they're not going anywhere fast. Hence, the reluctance I run into when I want to spar.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:57 PM
- M said...
My name is not Mara Dyer, but my lawyer told me I had to choose something. A pseudonym. A nom de plume, for all of us studying for the SATs. I know that having a fake name is strange but trust me, it's the most normal thing about my life right now. Even telling you this much isn't good for my case. But without my big mouth, no one would know that a seventeen-year-old who likes Death Cab for Cutie was responsible for the murders. No one would know that somewhere out there is a B student with a body count. And it's important that you know, so you're not next.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:57 PM
Jake Hillary was his degenerate brother's keeper. Standing in the darkened hallway outside Daniel's door, he raised his fist and pounded against the solid wood, rattling the door in its frame. His muscles tensed in anticipation of delivering a sound thrashing.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:57 PM
- Ama said...
Phoebe heard her mother's frenzied sobbing well before she rounded the corner of her tree-lined street. The sound--jagged breathing and a low, mournful wail--vibrated in her ears, pulling her into the choking anxiety. With still a few blocks to go before she reached home, she ran with hurried breath. Hearing her mother so clearly was a nerve-jarring reminder to Phoebe that her quirk was back.
- October 15, 2009 at 6:58 PM


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Results 1 to 4 of 4
Thread: compound bow basics
- Join Date
- Dec 2007
- Posts
- 1
compound bow basics
Hi all,
I'm coming back to archery, from about 20 yrs of not shooting. My dad taught me to shoot a recurve as a teenager, with a bow he got from service in the Marine Corps. All I remember about archery back then was the bow, the arrows, and the target.
Now, I look at target compound bow shooting, and read about Peep sights, whiskers, biskets, stabilizers...??? man, is it confusing!!!
Based on my size (5'7", 67" arm span), I bought myself a decent Browning Micro Midas combo set (40#). It comes with a Glo sight, Posse arrow rest, and some micro bullet arrows. I'm predicting that I'll be upgrading the sight and rest, as well as adding other accessories.
Questions I have for you guys:
1. Based on my 26" draw length, how long should my arrows be?
2. What is a basic "list" of accessories for my bow, ie. sights, rests, silencers, stabilizers, etc..??? Can you explain what all these things are? I am a gadget freak, and I am really interested in high-tech stuff!
3. I am only target shooting... do I need all of these accessories?
4. Is there a websight I can go to, that explains all the details of compound bows?
5. I've never shot with a release. Should I consider it?
6. Can I just go to a website that can sell me a basic target arrow with field tips, without having to specify all the details?
7. Hows does one adjust the draw weight? Draw length? Any special tools needed?
to 3DShoots!
Click the link, and then read the technical articles. There's a lot of great info there.
I'm no expert...
I'm no expert.. but here we go...
Take an arrow and draw your bow with it nocked, have someone mark the arorw an inch or so in front of the rest. This is how long your arrows should be. With a 26" draw, I would guess that they'd be in the 27" range.
Sight - What you aim with.
Rest - What the arrow sits on.
Highly Suggested...
Peep Sight - A small plastic ring that goes IN the string and allows you to look through the string to your sight. The idea is that you are looking through the same point everytime you draw your bow.
Stabilizer - Reduces shock and recoil and helps to keep the bow from "jumpiing" in your hand after you release.
String Loop - A small rope loop on your string that your release attaches to. Saves wear on your string and helps to forgive any hand torque.
Release - Wrist or handheld device that allows you to shoot the bow by pulling a trigger.
For target shooting, all of these are good ideas, but not necessary. The only thing that you really do not need with target shooting is the sound eliminating devices (String Leeches, etc)
As for a release... It is generally accepted that they are better, easier and more accurate. Plus they are not THAT expensive.
Hope that helps some!
The Browning is a great little bow and you should have a blast with it...
As for your questions...
1.Your arrow should roughly be 1/2" - 1" past your rest at full draw...you can draw the bow and have someone take a rough measurement...
2. & 3. You can start slow You have a rest and sight on the bow so all you need is a target...
If you go with a bag target it will last almost forever with feildpoints...
4. What are you looking for? tuning tips...Apple archery has some good articles...I'll look around and see what I can find
5.I like a release...You can buy an inexpensive one and decide for yourself...
6.You can order arrows from the online store here...even call Chris and tell him about your setup and he can sell you what you need...
7.With the browning you don't need any special tools to work on it...all you need to know is in the owners manual if you don't have the manual you can email Browning and get one...
Keep us posted...and ask all the questions you need to...
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Tom Zart
God's Presence & Difficulties - Poem by Tom Zart
The presence of God is not a mystery
When we surrender our soul to His will.
He sees us as His children of faith
And is willing to forgive and fulfill.
He shoulders our troubles and gives us peace
Flowers, songs, stars, wind, soil and oceans.
We learn that prayer is His power of love
As we struggle to maintain our emotions.
We may get lonely but we're never alone
For God knows and feels our woes.
He is our Lord, Savior and Master
And has traveled every road we chose.
He knows we'll falter, hesitate and weaken
Though He loves us enough to always show.
He whispers His words of grace and compliance
As the consequences of evil gather and grow.
David, Moses, Jonah, Samson, Peter and Jesus
We're aware that God was their divine guide.
They changed the future of Christians forever
With the power of Divinity at their side.
Conviction is our emotional union wit God
As we weather the storms of man and Earth.
Thank God for His amazing grace and love
Which helps us reveal our goodness and worth.
By God's Poet
Tom Zart
Most Published Poet
On The Web!
Tom's 758 Poems Are Free To Share!
Topic(s) of this poem: faith
Comments about God's Presence & Difficulties by Tom Zart
Lorraine Margueritte Gasrel Black (8/15/2014 4:12:00 PM)
very nice poem about Faith..I enjoyed the flow and rhyme..good work and may god bless you.. (Report) Reply
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A Christmas Gift To You: The Full 'Santa Claus vs. the Martians' #1 Comic
Benito Cereno, James Harren and Ed Brisson's Santa Claus vs. The Martians is a book I've been looking forward to ever since it was first announced. In fact, I even interviewed Santa Claus himself (along with Cereno) about it back in September! Unfortunately, while the series was scheduled to hit the stands this month, delays in production added a few weeks to the book's release date, and so Image made the decision to delay it until next Christmas.
But if there's one thing that we here at ComicsAlliance have learned from a lifetime of reading and watching holiday specials, it's that this is a time of year when anything is possible! And in a bona fide Christmas Miracle, Cereno has decided to put the entirety of the first issue (lettered but uncolored) online for free. And just to make sure his present gets to as many readers as possible, he's allowed us to run the entire comic here at CA as a special present to our readers.
Page 1
1.2: "Karate Chop Washington" isn't just an awesome sounding toy, it's a reference to Black Ninja/White Ninja, a story that Cereno wrote for the print collection of The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, where the eponymous doctor confronts a baadasssss blaxploitation hero in the vein of Dolemite and Black Belt Jones. Suffice to say that while he's tough, he's no Santa Claus.
1.3: The kid here is recounting a list of actual legends about Santa Claus — or at least, the different legends that would become wrapped up in Santa over the past 1600 years. According to Cereno, Santa being "King of the Pirates" comes from the fact that St. Nicholas of Myra is the patron saint of both sailors and thieves; sailors because he was one himself before he became a bishop, and thieves because after he died, his body was stolen and taken to Italy, where it remains today. Admittedly, that's a pretty dodgy reasson for becoming the patron saint of thieves, but saints being, you know, saints, there weren't a lot out there commiting acts of larceny to begin with.
"He beat up a guy who once said somethig wrong about God" refers to Nicholas reportedly slapping Arius for heresy at The First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD over whether Jesus was the son of God or God Himself given mortal form. Seriously. Slapped him right in the face.
"He handcuffed the devil and made him his slaves" refers to St. Nicholas having, as Cereno puts it, "a number of devilish companions, including Klaubauf, Ruklas, Bartel, Hans Muff, the original version of Zwarte Piet, and others. They are all the bad cop to St Nicholas' good cop, and represent a triumph of Christianity over native pagan religions."
1.4: Despite it being everything I want in the world, Santa Claus has not fought Dracula… yet. This line refers to a project Cereno's been working on for years with frequent collaborator (and occasional ComicsAlliance contributor) Nate Bellegarde called (as you might expect) Santa Claus vs. Dracula.
3.1: The "stern saint" that Santa Refers to is both another reference to his days as Nicholas of Myra (see above, re: slapping), but also to early legends of St. Nicholas, who was just as quick with the switch as he was with the gifts. As Cereno says, "He carried around a birch rod with which to hit children who didn't know their prayers. A lot of that got transferred to his companions later, but that was definitely him at first." By the late Victorian era, when this issue takes place, Father Christmas was much less uptight, as we'll soon see.
3.2: The carolers are singing the last verse of "Here We Come A-Wassailing." Cereno chose these lines specifically because they were the ones that Walt Kelly often quoted in the Christmastime Pogo strips.
3.4: For those of you who always wondered what the deal was with that one verse in "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" where the carolers demand figgy pudding, here's what Cereno has to say about the tradition:
Benito Cereno: Wassailing pre-dates modern caroling. It involves singing in hopes of receiving food, drink or some other gift in return. Older Christmas traditions have people going door to door demanding stuff, performing things in "exchange." It would be like someone breaking into your house, doing a bad play, and then asking for a sandwich. But by the time of this story, the singing was a little tamer and probably sounded okay, but these wassailers are still looking for something in exchange.
4.1: Santa's reference to himself as "the Lord of Misrule" refers to Father Christmas being way more of a party animal than he was previously — or would become, for that matter:
Benito Cereno: The wassailing of the orchard that we see on the next page is a practice that continues even today. People in apple country put toast soaked in wassail (the beverage) in the trees to appease fertility spirits in hopes of a bountiful harvest. The poems and songs from that scene (i.e., panel 4) are traditional. There's a wassail king and queen and people drink wassail and put toast in trees and wear costumes and shoot guns.
The form we see Santa in here is that of Father Christmas, who, prior to the 20th century, was pretty different from both St Nicholas and Santa Claus. He was in charge of getting crunk at Christmas, which makes more sense when you realize how rowdy Christmas revelry actually used to be. Like I said, people breaking into houses, spontaneous theater, horrible bands playing on street corners, etc. Father Christmas was in charge of all that. As such, he was more a figure of fertility than the chaste saint, and a lot of what he does in this issue reflects that idea.
By which he means "walking around with his robe open and no shirt on."
4.2: For those of you who want to re-enact this scene at home, you can make your own wassail! Just warm up some apple cider and add sugar, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg, then drop in some chopped apples or oranges! Add in a bit of brandy if you feel like it (kids, get your parents' permission!) and serve with toast. It's fun and traditional!
5.2: The buxom Wassail Queen is not to be confused with Mrs. Claus, whose own shapely shadow was seen back on page 2. Traditionally, the Wassail Queen was a local who was probably picked by the same standards that we still use today to name Miss Grits in my native South Carolina.
5.3: The never-ending drinking horn is both a reference to the cornucopia/horn of plenty (which, in pop cultural terms, was passed to Dickens' Ghost of Christmas Present, along with the mistletoe crown and chest-revealing robe) and to the myth in which Utgard-Loki challenges Thor to drink from a horn that actually contains the entire ocean.
8.6: Father Christmas's "Gods above!" isn't a typo, it's a nod to the fact that a good half of the things we think of as being characteristic of Santa Claus come from Pagan religions — specifically Norse mythology. We'll see more of that shortly.
9.2: And here we have the Martians. Specifically, it's a Martian tripod as described by H.G. Wells (and later, Orson Welles) in War of the Worlds, and if it looks familiar, there's a good reason: Wells' description was the inspiration for how the Martians have been depicted in dozens of movies and comics, including League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Marvel's Killraven in the '70s — and more recently in Secret Avengers and Captain America. Also, "KREERANK" is Martian for "'sup fools."
11.6: "Spieltoe" is the name of Santa Claus's donkey in Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey, one of the lesser-known stop-motion Christmas specials produced in 1977 by Rankin-Bass, the same studio that did Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, among others.
Benito Cereno: In France, Pere Noel's donkey's name is Gui, which means mistletoe, but this story isn't in France. Father Christmas is associated with all sorts of animals, including donkeys, horses, goats, reindeer and more. I chose a donkey because he'll be riding a horse later.
13.3: "A basket full of people on one's back" is, of course, Krampus's preferred method of dragging wicked children off to Hell.
13.5: "As wax melts before the fire" is a quote from Psalm 68:2, but it — and much of what Father Christmas says to the martian– is drawn from an actual Catholic exorcism.
14.2: This is the Heat-Ray, the fearsome weapons of the Martians in War of the Worlds.
15.1: Father Christmas's line about sifting people as wheat is from the Bible, specifically Luke 22:31, where Jesus says it to Simon (who later becomes Peter). This is another bit of the exorcism liturgy, but it also has some interesting significance to St. Nicholas.
One of the miracles for which Nicholas was canonized involves him sailing into port with some sailors and demanding that they allow him to take some of their wheat for the needy. They groused about it, as they were going to get docked when it came time to weigh the shipment, but lo and behold, they had the same amount of wheat they set sail with, despite Nicholas taking enough to plant two years worth of harvests.
15.4: "Waes thu hael" is the Old English root of the word "wassail," a greeting translating as "be you hale/healthy."
15.6: "Drinc hail" is the response, meaning (as you might expect) "drink well."
17.4: Father Christmas's dialogue here and in the next panel are also drawn from Psalm 68. Not that you'd know it from all the talk of burning enemies and scattering them before God, but it's actually a chapter about how great it is to sing songs.
19.4: "The man I once was," is once again St. Nicholas, specifically referring to one of his (typically) gruesome adventures from his time sailing around the 4th century. During a famine, a butcher had abducted three children, chopped them up, and stuffed them in a barrel to cure so that he could sell them to the starving populace as jerky. Nicholas, being a saint and all, not only discovered the man's crime, but reassembled the dismembered bodies and brought them back to life, thus becoming the patron saint of children.
A similar legend also led St. Nicholas to become the patron saint of prostitutes. During yet another famine (times were hard in St. Nick's day, it seems), a man was so hard up that he was considering turning his three daughters out on the street — imperiled children often coming in sets of three. In order to preserve their virtue, Nicholas dropped three small bags of gold down the man's chimney, where they landed in the stockings the girls had hung up over the fire to dry. Think about that one on Christmas morning.
19.7: Here's Cereno's translation of Father Christmas's prayer here:
"Holy God, to whom belong everything, heaven, earth, sky and sea…"
"May you order that he rise again, and may you listen to those crying out to you."
Benito Cereno: That Latin, by the way, is taken from a medieval miracle play that dramatizes that story about the murdered boys.
20.3: Despite making cusses, this kid is apparently Nice enough that he got exactly what he wished for on Page 3: He gets to see Father Christmas.
21.2: While the mention of France is just logical based on the first land-mass you'd hit if you hightailed it out of England to avoid being fried by Martians, the discussion of oranges and Spain actually has a lot to do with Santa History. Oranges have been popular gifts at Christmas for literal centuries, because over time, the three bags of gold that St. Nicholas was depicted with from the story of the three would-be prostitutes became misinterpreted by the public as what they appeared to be in paintings: Oranges! Thus, St. Nicholas giving out bags of gold to keep three girls from having to turn on the red light became Father Christmas giving out oranges. It even added a wrinkle to the tradition that persists even today among the dutch that Santa sails in from Spain, as that's where oranges came from in Europe.
24.3: It might seem odd for a Christian saint like Nicholas to be telling a kid legends of the Norse gods, but again, as Benito says, much of what Father Christmas represented came not from Christianity, but from Norse mythology: Reindeer, elves, flying through the sky on Yule and putting presents in kids' shoes are all things originally cribbed from Odin. He's even done it in Marvel comics, and if they're not the authority on the Asgardians, who is?
25.3: If there's one thing I recognize from 28 years of watching the Charlie Brown special, it's when I'm seeing someone give a speech about the True Meaning of Christmas, and that's exactly what we have here.
Benito Cereno: Yeah, basically. But (spoilers) every issue of the mini-series is going to feature the "true meaning of Christmas." All different, all equally true.
26.3: And at last, the moment that was a foregone conclusion from the moment Wells' Martians showed up and started terrorizing the populace: They get driven off by Earth's surprisingly Christmasy germs!
And that's the end of the first issue of Santa Claus vs. The Martians! Once again, a special thanks to Benito Cereno for not only allowing us to run the story, but for helping out with the annotations as well. If you'd like to see larger versions of the pages (without the commentary cluttering things up between them), check out his website, and when the series shows up in Previews again next year, check it out!


text:
McCash for Kids is Tonight
How can you help send Magic Valley kids back to school with the supplies they need? Grab a Big Mac today starting at 5pm.
Hundreds of Magic Valley children struggle with being able to afford school supplies. You can help by eating at any Twin Falls or Buhl McDonald's on August 14th between 5p and 8p. The more we eat, the more money McDonald's will donate to South Central Community Action Partnership.


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Browse By Person: Wu, Sean
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Jump to: Journal Article
Number of items: 6.
Journal Article
Wu, Sean (2016) Corporate governance and bankruptcy risk. Journal of Accounting Auditing and Finance, 31(2), pp. 163-202.
Darrat, Ali, Gilley, Otis, Li, Bin, & Wu, Sean (2011) Revisiting the risk/return relations in the Asian Pacific markets: New evidence from alternative models. Journal of Business Research, 64(2), pp. 199-206.
Li, Bin, Su, Jen Je, & Wu, Sean (2011) Risk and returns in the Asian Pacific markets: The MIDAS approach. The European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences, 2011(30), pp. 76-83.
Li, Bin, Qiu, Judy, & Wu, Yanhui (2010) Momentum and seasonality in Chinese stock markets. Journal of Money Investment and Banking, pp. 24-36.
Wu, Sean, Gaunt, Clive, & Gray, Stephen (2010) A comparison of alternative bankruptcy prediction models. Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, 6(1), pp. 34-45.
Darrat, Ali, Gilley, Otis, Wu, Sean, & Zhong, Maosen (2010) On the Chinese B-share price discount puzzle: Some new evidence. Journal of Business Research, 63(8), pp. 895-902.


text: I'm dealing with an issue (probably a common one) on a pond I didn't build. The homeowner says one section of his pond liner gets pushed up when it rains heavily. I can see why. The pond was basically built on top of a massive rock that forms a bowl of sorts. The pond builder has told the homeowner to install a 4" drain from the base of the skimmer to a point in the yard that is below the lowest level of the entire pond. I don't see how this will necessarily help since the bottom of the pond will be a good 12" to 16" below the base of the skimmer (the skimmer is resting on part of the rock). In my mind, the weight of the water would have to push the water collecting under the liner over to the drain at the skimmer base. I'm thinking of suggesting to the homeowner that he drain the pond so that a pipe can be situated under the liner to its lowest point (where the most water would collect) and let the weight of the pond water force the water that is collecting under the liner into the pipe and force it out to a point in the yard where the level is lower than the lowest level in the pond. This won't be easy but I feel it is a better solution than simply putting a pipe at the skimmer. If anyone is still reading this and understands my poor excuse for explaining a situation, I would appreciate some feedback. Thanks!


text:
Over & Over Again
Do you use MS Outlook's calendar feature? Do you have some appointments (such as weekly staff meetings or daily deadlines) that you repeatedly enter into your calendar?
Outlook can make the repetitive entries for you. To set an appointment as a recurring one, you should first open the appointment.
Now go to the Actions menu, Recurrence choice.
When the Appointment Recurrence window opens, you'll have a few decisions to make.
At the top you'll need to enter information pertaining to the time of the appointment.
Below that there's the Recurrence Pattern section. On the left choose how often the appointment should be entered into your calendar. As you make this choice, you'll notice that the right side changes. That's because each pattern will require different information in order for Outlook to manage things properly. Once you've chosen between daily, weekly, monthly or yearly recurrence, be sure to complete the information needed to the right.
At the bottom of the window you'll need to choose when to start including the appointment and when to stop including it (if ever).
Once you make all your choices, click the OK button.
You'll be returned to the appointment window. When you Save and Close this window, your appointment will be repeated throughout your calendar just as you requested.
Need to stop the recurrence of the appointment? No problem!
If you return to the Appointment Recurrence window (open the appointment, Action menu, Recurrence choice), you'll find a button labeled Remove Recurrence. Click it and work your way back out to the calendar, saving as you go.
Poof! Appointments all gone!
No more entering those appointments over and over again.
~ April


text:
LOS ANGELES (AP) Lionsgate and Marvel studios have signed interim deals with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said Thursday.
The deals followed separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as United Artists, The Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.
The guild said such agreements confirm it's possible for writers to be compensated fairly and for companies to operate profitably.
Lionsgate's new projects include Sylvester Stallone's Rambo sequel, Saw 5 and the TV show Mad Men.
Upcoming comic-book film projects from Marvel Studios, a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment Inc., include Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.
The writers guild, on strike since Nov. 5, is in informal talks with studio bosses to reach a contract agreement and end the costly 11-week walkout that has idled much of the entertainment industry.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Conversation guidelines: USA TODAY welcomes your thoughts, stories and information related to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers across the map.


text:
MIT researchers: US needs single agency to protect electric grid from cyberattacks
06.12.2011 | 15:15Responsibility for cybersecurity of the US electric grid should be consolidated in one agency, rather than spread out among the various agencies and groups that oversee the grid, recommends researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
A single agency would be better able to strengthen cybersecurity, instead of the myriad federal, state, and local entities that are currently tasked with protecting parts of that grid, the researchers argued in their report on the future of the US electric grid.
"The current regulatory framework, largely established in the 1930s, is mismatched to today's grid", said Richard Schmalensee, one of the authors of the report. Today's regulatory structure is "highly unlikely [to] give us the grid of the future – a grid that by 2030 will support a range of new technologies and consumer services that will be essential for a strong and competitive U.S. economy", he added.
Increased data communications throughout the electric grid will introduce new cybersecurity risks and challenges, to both local and wide-scale grid systems, the report said.
Examples of cybersecurity risks include: loss of grid control resulting in disruption of electricity supply over a wide area can occur as a result of errors or tampering with data communication among control equipment and central offices; consumer-level problems ranging from incorrect billing to interruption in electric service can be introduced via smart meter tampering; commuting disruptions for electric vehicle operators can occur if recharging stations have been modified to incorrectly charge batteries; and data confidentiality breaches can provide information for identity theft, corporate espionage, physical security threats, and terrorist activities.
The report recommended that the Department of Homeland Security be designated as the lead agency to coordinate the cybersecurity activities of the various federal, state, and local agencies, as well as the private sector.
"Once a lead agency has been designated, it should take all necessary steps to ensure that it has appropriate expertise by working with relevant federal agencies, [the North American Electric Reliability Corporation], state [public utility commissions], public power authorities, and such expert organizations as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and [the Electric Power Research Institute]", the report concluded.
Source Infosecurity
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text:
British all the way: Queen Elizabeth Cruise Review by Vivienne Windle
Overall Member Rating
British all the way
Destination: Canada & New England
Embarkation: Southampton
A number of passengers liked to complain, but I could not understand what they could possibly have to moan about. They referred to the old days on the QEII and the Queen Mary, but I had to wonder if it was a case of looking at the past through rose tinted spectacles.
We had attended a number of lectures on skyscrapers by Seth Gopin, who had slides of arriving in New York on the Queen Mary 2. This encouraged us to get up early to see the arrival in New York, which was magical, as we went past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, with a commentary by one of the other guest speakers.
The final Port of Call was supposed to be Sydney, but ended up being changed to Corner Brook because Sydney was full of cruise ships. The people of Corner Brook were very friendly and welcoming, offering us free luggage labels and lapel pins, and a shuttle bus (school bus) to the shops. We walked the Corner Brook Stream trail, which was created by the paper company when it put in the pipe to extract the water for their factory, next to the dock. When the QE arrived it blew its horn, and the paper factory replied with its own factory horn. There was a cafe on the hill above the dock with free wifi, and this seemed to be a popular place. There was another walk up to Captain Cook's lookout and a museum, but we didn't visit them, as we were a bit tired by the time we finished the walk. (This is included because Corner Brook is not on the list of ports of cal)
I would highly recommend the Queen Elizabeth, and particularly enjoyed the theatre company, the resident dancers, the food, and the service. I would recommend this cruise to people who enjoy ballroom dancing, access to a large supply of good reading, interesting lectures and good quality entertainment. I would not recommend it to people who like loud noise, lots of bingo and rowdy entertainment, or for families with children (although there was provision for children on board if there had been any).
The only thing that spoiled it for me was the constant moaning by some of the other passengers, but I think they were in a minority. Less
Published 10/12/11
Cabin review: BC5167 Balcony
Excellent cabin, plenty of storage, comfortable beds. Near enough to the lift, at rear of ship, easy to access Lido restaurant to get tea and snacks.Read All Balcony (BC) Reviews >>
Port and Shore Excursions
Read Cruise Critic's Queen Elizabeth Review >>
An overall great cruise
Exceeded expectations
Great itinerary, so so food
First of many cruises with Cun...
Cunard Brand Not What It Used ...
The Baltic never fails to impr...
Nice cruise on Queen Mary 2
First of many cruises with Cun...
Cunard Brand Not What It Used ...
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Five senior education students from Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) were selected by education faculty to attend the March 18-19 Teachers of Promise Foundation Institute in Richmond, Virginia. The annual event ... read more about Five pre-service 'Teachers of Promise' recognized from Eastern Mennonite University
Erin Nafziger
EMU "Honors" 53 Incoming Students
Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) will welcome in 53 incoming students to the honors program, the largest class in the program's history. In addition, two incoming students, Hannah Chappell-Dick, a senior ... read more about EMU "Honors" 53 Incoming Students


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Friday, May 18, 2012
Digital learning and acceleration
6 comments:
I am also excited about the potential for meeting the needs of gifted or high ability learners using blended learning. I have to say that I am also a bit amused that the movement towards incorporating digital learning into the general classroom environment is causing such a stir - when schools and teachers have been turning to online learning options for gifted learners for years -often setting them loose on a program without a guide or mentor to keep them motivated and on track. Ah well. At least we are moving in the right direction.
I'm not from the USA so I appreciate things are different but why would pupils not be bale to start Algebra mid way through a year without the technology? I'm not against the technology per se but good teaching and assessment would allow the same thing to happen regardless of technology.
I am curious how this will work out on a large scale. My children did some distance learning math through Stanford's EPGY program (one took Honors Algebra 1, the other took their 6th grade math curriculum this year).
I was quite pleased initially, and of course loved the idea that you go at your own pace, can cruise through sections that are a breeze for you, get extra practice where that isn't the case, etc. Son finished the algebra course in about 4 months, just doing about 4 weekly sessions of 30 minutes per day, and aced the final exam, which seemed rigorous. I was delighted.
HOWEVER. He finished the course back in January, and hasn't started the next course yet. And I recently discovered that the retention is not there. Of course, it would be better I'm sure, if he had continued using these skills on a regular basis. But I still absolutely believe that his retention would have been MUCH higher if taught by a human. I think the computer learning can all seem a little monotonous and blend in together. It is not memorable. Whereas, I will never forget certain things my favorite math teachers did to get us to learn things.
While I was initially thrilled, I am definitely beginning to question if this is really a great way to learn.
I hope others have better experiences!
I think what's missing in the electronic learning is the process of discovery. A human teacher can take kids through the process of learning a concept, gauge the response and determine if the kids are "getting it" or need more hints.
I find with my homeschooler, that electronic learning mastery is high initially- as if there are puzzles or roadblocks to be passed, but as anonymous said, retention over time is poor. So, we use the electronic teacher first, then reinforce and relearn via human interaction, stressing the fundamentals. Then retention is no longer a problem.
Another problem with electronic learning is that you have to guess what the program wants from you. What combination of words or symbols is the "right answer"? It's horrible for creative thinkers who simply get frustrated with the idea of thinking and instead put their efforts into guessing the game.
I imagine that electronic learning will evolve over time until it is better than a human, but at this point, I want my kids to have human interaction in a group environment where there is discussion and debate.
- Laura Vanderkam said...
Re the human component to learning...ideally with digital learning you get that too. That's why many people talk about "blended learning." At the Rocketship schools, for instance, kids get 2 hours per day, total in the learning lab doing basic skills on the computer, adaptive learning style. Then the other 4 hours of instructional time are spent with a teacher, doing discovery learning projects, going over fundamentals, etc. The teacher is armed with data on the kids to make this more efficient.
Same "anonymous" again.
Sure, the ideal might comprise a perfect balance of both the computer & human teaching, but that is much harder to actually realize. In particular, this is not likely with the gifted. In your example of the gifted child cruising right into the next algebra course when they are ready, that means they are going forward alone. So the teacher will not be teaching the concepts. The child will be learning from the computer program (perhaps something like EPGY). My point is that I do not think that is a memorable way to learn. I think the computer is fine for basic practice (ie math facts for elementary students, etc), although I don't even see a huge advantage over worksheets except saving some small amount of labor in grading the worksheets. But when you start relying on the software to teach the children, you are losing that human component.
I really worry for the gifted that this may appear to be a great way to teach them. Shove them off in a computer lab to learn from the computer at their own pace. Anyway, to me the computer can be useful for practice, but NOT as much for teaching.


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Obtained by crossing the Bicane and Hamburg Muscatel grapes, Italia (Muscat) is certainly one of the most popular varieties of table grapes in the world due to its appearance and flavor, as well as its hardiness in withstanding handling and shipping. Italia grapes have large, consistent fruit with a lovely golden-yellow color, and a delicate, pleasant musky flavor.
Grapes are ideal as luncheon dessert, snack, wine and cheese complement or garnish.
Garnish a breakfast plate of waffles or pancakes with grapes dipped in cinnamon sugar.
Freeze grapes and serve as a dessert.
To frost grapes, beat an egg white until frothy, dip grapes in beaten egg white, then roll in granulated sugar. Place on a wire rack to dry - about 13 to 20 minutes.
To peel grapes, start at the stem end and separate the skin from the pulp using a knife or fingernail. For easy skin removal, dip grapes in boiling water for 30 seconds, then place in cold water.
Grapes are one of the most recognizable of all fruits - and the oldest cultivated plant - throughout the world. Compared to many other fruits, grapes do not continue to ripen after they have been harvested. Grapes can be found in three basic colors - green (called yellow in Italy and sometimes known as white in the United States), red or ruby and blue-black. There are hundreds of varieties in production around the world, with each variety boasting its own distinct color, taste, texture and history. The Italia (Muscat) grape is derived from a variety of the Hamburg Muscatel.
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NYON, Switzerland (AP) -- The unstable job security of a football manager is highlighted in a report released by UEFA on Thursday that showed the average top-division European club changes its head coach almost once a year.
The clubs made an average of 2.7 coaching changes in the three seasons from 2011-13, the European governing body said in its licensing benchmarking report.
Coaches in top-flight Greek clubs lasted an average of four months in that period. Of Europe's top leagues, Spanish teams changed coaches every 11 months and English sides every two years.
"Everyone involved in football wants to win," UEFA secretary general Gianni Infantino said in the foreword of the report, "but when we look at the last three years of club football and see almost 2,000 head coach changes and combined club losses of more than 4 billion euros ($5.5 billion), it is clear that the football family needs more stability, less short-term thinking and better financial sustainability."
June is the most common month for a coach to lose his job, followed by May and December.
Player wages at top-flight teams increased 59 percent from 2007-12 while club revenues grew by 42 percent in the same period.


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| ELECTIONS 2000/ White House
Analysis: Litigation May Prolong Process Into 2001
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 19, 2000; Page A1
A welter of legal possibilities combined with hardening political lines could throw the presidential contest into the new year, experts in both parties warned yesterday. Some observers said they feared a chaotic situation that could deprive the eventual winner of the legitimacy needed to govern.
Whatever the outcome of tomorrow's hearing in the Florida Supreme Court, lawyers for both Vice President Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush see possibilities for further litigation that could delay the awarding of Florida's crucial 25 electoral votes. Leaders of the Florida Legislature are eyeing a possible intervention, and the dispute could come before Congress in January-just two weeks before Inauguration Day-in a challenge to the state's electoral votes.
"It's a very scary thought," Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) said yesterday, "but I'm getting a sneaky feeling in my gut that Congress may get involved in it. If impeachment was difficult, this would be far worse."
Vin Weber, a former GOP representative from Minnesota, said, "I have become an extreme pessimist. I've wondered in the last day or two if we haven't crossed an important point where it's too late for anybody to step back. I'm afraid we're committed to a course of action that will do a lot of damage to the system."
Others in both parties hold out hope that the Florida Supreme Court will resolve the situation and that its verdict will be accepted by both Gore and Bush. But all indications yesterday were that Gore strategists are interpreting public patience with the 11-day-old impasse as an indication that the recounting of votes can continue at least until the Dec. 12 deadline for selecting Florida's 25 presidential electors.
In an afternoon press conference, Bush supporters used the strongest language heard so far to impugn the legitimacy of the continued Florida recounts. Montana Gov. Marc Racicot (R), speaking at a briefing arranged by Bush's aides in Austin, said Gore was pursuing "win-at-any-cost" tactics that the American people would never accept as fair.
South Dakota Gov. William J. Janklow (R) told reporters at a meeting of the Republican Governors Association in Florida that "they [the Democrats] are going to steal the election. . . . When it gets stolen from us, we ought to know it."
Alarm was growing among neutral observers of the political scene. The University of Wisconsin's Charles O. Jones, said, "With every passing day . . . it's developing into a greater threat to governing this country. The positions are hardening."
Others took a less alarmist view. Former New Hampshire senator Warren Rudman, a Republican, said, "Most people think it should have been settled by now, but they're not really outraged. Once the count is over-however the Florida court says it should be conducted-either of the candidates who tried to go beyond that would be on thin ice. People don't want the legislature or Congress to mess around with it."
Merle Black of Emory University said he looked to the certification of the Florida winner-originally scheduled for yesterday but delayed by order of the state supreme court-as the event that will pressure the loser to withdraw. "The country is so evenly divided, it is yearning for a resolution. . . . At that moment, the loser [who fails to withdraw] becomes a poor loser," he said.
But Weber, who has close ties to leaders in the Democratic Party as well as the GOP, said, "Both parties are so polarized, I don't think anyone could even suggest to the standard-bearer that he should back off. . . . I think we're doomed to play this out to the bitter end."
As Chris Lehane, a Gore spokesman, said, "There are as many roads out of this as there are to leave Dupont Circle." A survey of participants in the ongoing battle and outside experts identified the possible roles of five major institutional players.
The Florida Supreme Court
The seven justices of the state's highest court, all appointed during the terms of Democratic governors, placed themselves in the center of the controversy on Friday when they held up the certification of the winner, scheduled for Saturday, and ordered the recounts to continue in the counties where they had begun.
The rival candidates' lawyers are filing their briefs over the weekend and oral arguments are slated for Monday afternoon.
Legal authorities outlined three possible verdicts. First, the court could order that the manual counts under way in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties continue and that the results be included in the totals certified as the official Florida returns. That would amount to a complete legal victory for Gore.
Or, legal observers say, the court could issue a "wait-and-see" verdict, which says the hand counts should continue but defers until later a decision-either by the court or the secretary of state-as to whether they should be included in the certification. Another version of "wait-and-see" would be permission for the secretary of state to certify on the basis of current returns, subject to possible revision with the later counts. That would not be wholly satisfactory to either side, but would keep both of them in the game.
Third, analysts predict, the court could uphold the decision Friday by Leon County Circuit Judge Terry P. Lewis to permit Secretary of State Katherine Harris to carry out her stated intention of certifying the Florida results on the basis of the machine recount and overseas absentees, which put Bush some 936 votes ahead. Lewis's opinion that Harris had exercised her administrative discretion properly under Florida law was stayed temporarily by the Supreme Court. Were that court now to endorse Lewis's ruling, it would be a complete legal victory for Bush.
While either the first or last of these decisions might seem to be final, lawyers who have studied the case say the litigation may not be over. The losing candidate could formally contest the certification in the Florida courts on grounds that the vote count he preferred-machines, in Bush's case or manual in Gore's-showed him with the larger number of votes. The contest suit could also be filed by the losing side when the wait-and-see verdict eventually produces a ruling that candidate does not accept.
In addition, a half-dozen other suits challenging either the format of Palm Beach's "butterfly" ballot, procedures for distributing and accepting absentee ballots and other issues are still working their way through the state court system.
The Secretary of State
Harris, an elected Republican official who served as co-chairman of Bush's Florida campaign, has been bold in asserting her right and obligation under Florida law to certify the election results on the normal timetable, unless barred by the Supreme Court. Bush's lawyers assert in their brief that the court, as part of the judicial branch, has no right to substitute its judgment for that of the executive branch official charged with administration of the election. Some Republicans have suggested that she could defy the court but the Bush campaign has not urged her to do that. Outside lawyers say Harris could not ignore a final ruling by the Supreme Court any more than she could defy the temporary order delaying the vote-certification she had planned for Saturday.
The Florida Legislature
Both the state senate and the house of representatives have Republican majorities, with the GOP controlling the upper chamber by 10 votes and the lower by 34.
The same federal law that sets Dec. 12 as the day for appointment of electors based on the state's certified vote results, and Dec. 18 as the day for them to meet in the state capital and cast their votes provides that if the electors have not been chosen by the deadline, they "may be appointed on a subsequent day in such manner as the legislature of such state may direct."
Some lawyers regard that language as a relic of the era when legislatures were empowered to elect the two senators from each state and suggest that it would be, as one said, "a travesty" for Republican legislators in effect to pick the next president.
But Florida's Speaker-elect Thomas Feeney (R) told The Washington Post he believed it was the Supreme Court that was usurping authority from Harris, questioning "whether it has any role whatsoever."
In another interview on Saturday, Feeney, who will be sworn in Tuesday when the Legislature has its organizational meeting, said the law gives the Legislature "the power, authority and responsibility to intervene" if the results of the election are not clear. And he said he is prepared to see it "play a role should it become necessary."
The Federal Courts
Bush's lawyers have taken the controversy into the federal courts, with a lawsuit seeking to stop the manual recounts on grounds that they violate the "equal protection" clause of the Constitution's 14th Amendment because they are taking place only in Democratically controlled counties. A district court judge refused to issue the requested injunction, and on Friday the full bench of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals said state courts "have the primary authority" to handle election law disputes and declined to intervene at this point. But it invited the rivals to come back at a later stage of the litigation.
Some lawyers say that the federal courts are reluctant to intervene in voting cases where no racial discrimination is alleged, but the avenue of appeal remains open.
The newly elected House and Senate have a constitutional duty to count the electoral votes when the two chambers convene at the beginning of January. The normally routine joint session ceremony, at which Gore would preside as president of the Senate if custom is followed, is scheduled for Jan. 5. It is possible it would not be routine.
The statute outlining the electoral-count procedure provides that objection from one senator and one representative to the electoral vote reported from any state is sufficient to interrupt the roll-call. Each chamber then debates the validity of the certification for two hours and votes on accepting or rejecting it.
They must concur in their judgment. Republicans have a provisional nine-vote majority in the House and the Senate will be either 51-49 Republican or tied, depending on the result of the Washington State race, where Republican Sen. Slade Gorton (R) has been holding a narrow lead.
If the Florida electoral votes were challenged and if Gorton were seated, and if every senator and representative voted for his party nominee, Bush would have an advantage. But some members might be under pressure to support the candidate who carried their own constituency. There are other unsettled issues. If the Senate were tied, would Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), the possible winner of the vice presidency, be allowed to vote on his own case? Would Gore be allowed to cast a tie-breaking vote?
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the committee's ranking minority member, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), have ordered up research on these issues, and House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) has done the same thing.
Among the other issues in dispute is the question of whether 270 electoral votes are needed for election-the majority of all electors-or simply a majority of those whose credentials have been certified by the states and accepted by Congress. If Florida's 25 electoral votes were excluded for any reason, Gore would lead Bush 267 to 246, assuming no states are changed by recounts.
Hatch believes that would throw the presidential election into the House, where each state casts a single vote, based on the majority of votes in its delegation. Republicans will control 28 state delegations in the next Congress, enough to elect Bush if party lines hold. But Leahy thinks Gore would be declared the winner by getting the majority of electoral votes from 49 states and the District of Columbia.
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Navani Reyes
Goodbye Solo
When Senegalese taxi driver Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane) picks up elderly William (Red West) in Winston-Salem, N.C., the older man hires him for another trip in two weeks. But as they continue to talk, Solo realizes that William plans to kill himself at that time. Befriending his depressed passenger, Solo tries to convince him to change his mind, and an unlikely friendship develops between the two men in this moving indie drama.


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***No one is saying either side was completely justified.***
***Avengers supporters realize Iron Man was responsible for creating the Phoenix 5.***
***Cyclops supporters do not justify the damage Cyclops caused as he dark phoenix.***
***Both sides were being pigheaded at the beginning.***
***Cyclops supporters realize Cyclops shot first."***
***Cyclops supporters know Hope had help from Scarlet Witch in giving the mutants there powers back.***
***Avengers supporters that Cyclops was ultimately correct about mutants returning (even if they disagree that he deserves credit).***
Simple Textarea makes my posts look jumbled up, please pardon the headache.