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USGS Finds Elevated Levels of Arsenic, Radon, Methane in Some Private Wells in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania
Tests of 75 private drinking water wells in Lycoming County, in north-central Pennsylvania, found water from most of the sampled wells contained concentrations of radon that exceeded a proposed, nonbinding health standard for drinking water. Smaller percentages of the wells contained concentrations of arsenic or methane that exceed existing drinking water standards.
Read More Here.
Radon Testing Could Mean Difference Between Life and Death
Watch this news segment.
It's a cheap home test that could end up saving you and your family - a radon test. According to state health departments, Nebraska has very high incidents of radon in homes; Adams and Buffalo Counties having some of the highest concentrations.
News Five's Anthony Pura shows us how an inexpensive test can save you and your family.
It may be seeping into your home - high amounts of radon gas and you don't even know it.
"You can't see it, taste it, and smell it, so every house is suitable to radon," said Dick Hansen, Top to Bottom Home Inspection.
It's the second leading cause of lung cancer, right behind cigarettes.
"It's a long term issue. It might take 20 years before you can get lung cancer," Hansen said.
Radon Testing: Lung Cancer Survivor Encourages Iowans to Test Homes
Watch this news segment.
This month the Iowa Department of Public Health is reminding Iowans to test their home for radon. The poisonous gas affects more households in Iowa than any other state in the country.
Gail Orcutt of Pleasant Hill was diagnosed with lung cancer last spring and had to have her left lung removed. When she was home recovering, she came across an article about lung cancer in non-smokers.
"It was all about radon. So we tested our house. It came back higher than it should be," she said.
The life-long non smoker, then discovered her home of 18 years had unsafe radon levels. Now she's working to encourage more Iowans to test their homes for radon.
Why Your Home is More at Risk for Radon
DENVER - It is the leading cause of lung cancer for non-smokers: radon. And the gas is more likely to be found in Colorado than in many other parts of the country.
"Colorado is a highly mineralized state," Warren Smith of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) said. "So uranium occurs naturally in our soil and as it breaks down, it can become radon gas, which can percolate up to the soil and collect in your home."
Three years ago, siblings 12-year-old Christina and 11-year-old Eric Bear had never even heard of the dangers of radon. Now, after winning two state poster contests, they are expert educators trying to spread the word.
"We don't think many people know about radon. That's why we're trying to do the awareness project," Eric said.
The children travel across the state and have created their own website: www.radondetecttoprotect.info.
Winter is the Time to Test for Radon
NEVADA - Elevated levels of radon have been found in 37 percent of the Carson City homes that have been tested, said Susan Howe, program director for the Nevada Radon Education Program through the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.
Howe was in Carson City this past week to request that the board of supervisors declare January National Radon Action Month.
Howe said that the radon percentage is even higher — 56 percent — in the 89703 zip code, and nearly 43 percent in the 89702 area. In the 89706 neighborhoods, which include a portion of Lyon County, the percentage was nearly 22 percent, and in 89701, it was more than 26 percent. In 89705, which is mostly Douglas County, it was nearly 20 percent.
Radon levels are measured in picoCuries per liter, or pCi/L. Most households testing positive in Carson City were in the 0-20 range, some were up to 50, but one home in the 89701 zip code area measured levels of over 100.
Univ. of Nevada Cooperative Extension Contest: Test Your Home for Radon
January is National Radon Action Month and the Nevada Radon Education Program at University of Nevada Cooperative Extension (UNCE) is sponsoring a "Test Your Home for Radon and Win Contest" for residents of Douglas, Carson City and Washoe counties.
The "Test Your Home for Radon and Win Contest" will provide two Carson City, Douglas or Washoe county homeowners with a $1,500 credit towards the installation of a radon mitigation system.
"We hope the contest encourages more homeowners to test their homes for radon," said Susan Howe, Nevada Radon Education Program director. "We're adding the incentive of winning two $1,500 credits toward two radon mitigation systems to increase awareness of the importance of mitigating homes with elevated radon levels."
Radon Test Results in Wisconsin Area Raise Red Flags
The results of radon testing in the Fox Valley are in — and it's not good news, especially in the Neenah-Menasha area.
The latest testing data compiled by the state Department of Health Services suggests nearly half the homes in Winnebago, Outagamie, Waupaca and Calumet counties contain radon concentrations surpassing the federal safety standard.
The readings reported in homes in Winnebago and Waupaca counties were off the charts, registering radon concentrations some 60 times higher than what the EPA deems safe.
David Daniels, the owner of Radon Specialists of Wisconsin in Neenah, knows that some residents question the prevalence of radon contamination in and near their homes. But he said that should not deter them from testing radon levels in their homes, using inexpensive and widely available radon test kits.
Radon Revisited
Sam Schneiderman, broker owner of Great Boston Home Team (our Monday guy) looks again at what to do about radon testing.
Last week, I mentioned a story about a radon inspection dispute that ended in court. The buyer wanted to cancel the purchase due to high radon results, but the seller refused to return the buyer's deposit because the radon test was not performed to EPA standards.
Our vigilant readers reviewed EPA protocols and noted that a radon test done in an unfinished area does not meet EPA guidelines. A spirited discussion about the proper way to test for radon ensued, ending with sesw writing: "Surely you must be able to find an expert who can settle this matter. Otherwise, we are left to fend for ourselves on such a matter." Good point.
New test ID's Smokers prone to lung cancer
NBC and some other news outlets have a story about finding early 'precancerous' lung cells that can potentailly be turned back to normal with an over the counter medication. One issue not discussed is that some scientists believe that lung cancer in non-smokers (and maybe from radon) may be a different diease and we don't know if this will work for the non-smoking group as well.
Web URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/ns/nightly_news


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subset: commoncrawl


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Q: Do Michael's coupons work on sewing machines?
A:Yes, Michael's will take some competitor's coupons, including ones from Read More
Q: Where can I find a coupon for singer sewing machines?
A:The company web site! . skep. 42 months ago. Read More
Q: Where can I get coupons for Kenmore Sewing Machine.?
A:Kenmore Computerized Sewing Machine with 110 Stitch Functions - 19110. Overview - Compare prices - Reviews. Kenmore Computerized Sewing Machine with 110 Stitch ... Read More
Q: What about Repair Sewing Machine coupons and coupon codes?
A:repairsewingmachine.com Coupon codes or simply numerics or alphabate strings that you enter in the promotional code box at checkout page of repairsewingmachine.... Read More
Q: How to Sew a Coupon Organizer.
A:1. Cut two 8-by-8-inch squares of fabric. Cut another set of fabric squares: one 8-by-7-inch square and one 8-by-4-inch square of fabric. You should have four s... Read More


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Last Updated on 23 Jan. 2013, Company: Cyberarms Limited
Cyberarms IDDS enhances Security by denying access to intruders on the network level. Cyberarms provides a pro-active Intrusion Detection and Defense System (IDDS). It's pro-active, because it not only logs, but also reacts to intrusion attempts. Once a "bad guy" is recognized, he won't have access to any of your systems protected by Cyberarms IDDS. Don't give a second chance to hackers!


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Photo Calendar Creator is convenient, easy-to-use photo calendar software for creating beautiful photo calendars for any year or month. Just choose the format and layout, add some photos, and prepare to be wowed! The program includes a huge selection of high-quality calendar templates. Add your own events and other special events. A personal calendar isn't just a great gift for friends and family, it's a way of advertising your business too!
I absolutely love the calendars I made with Photo Calendar Creator. I'd like to thank you again for your hard work and inspiration you put into your design templates. I will recommend you to all of my friends. High fives to you!
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I just installed your calendar maker and should say that I am really impressed how easy it is to create promotional photo calendars that look professional and nice. I am happy with the software and recommend it without hesitation!
Alfred Rochon, France
Photo Calendar Creator - Video Demos and Tutorials
Take a video tour of Photo Calendar Creator to get a glimpse of the editing and design features offered by the software. In this step-by-step video lesson, we show how to create a personalized wall calendar and a booklet calendar with your own photographs.
Need more tutorials, or want to see some calendar design ideas? You'll surely find something of interest below.
- How to Make Your Own Calendar for 2016
- 12 Creative Calendar Designs for 2016
- How to Design a Professional Quality Calendar
- How to Make a Desk Calendar with Your Photos
- How to Design Your Own Planner
- Making a Birthday Calendar With Pictures
- How to Make a Perpetual Birthday Calendar
- How to Create a School Calendar to Print
- Creating a Printable Calendar for Kids
- 2015 Calendar Templates - Best Calendar Design Ideas of the Year!
- How to Make Your Own Photo Calendar
- How to Make Your Own Planner
- Beautiful Photo Calendar Samples for 2014
- 15 Cool Calendar Designs for 2013
- New Calendar Designs for 2013
- How to Make a Personalized Desk Calendar
- Make Your Own Printable Calendar
- How to Make a Calendar with Your Photographs


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The news of breakup of the loved up couple "Taylor swift and Calvin Harris "is still dominating the media. In this era of counterfeited and derivative compositions, a musician couple as talented and famous as Taylor and Harris was highly admired. It was earlier noted while the break up was initiated by the world's number one Dj, Calvin Harris, there was no animosity between them regarding the break up. Neither of them cheated and they parted away amicably. The musician couple dated for 15 months before ending it citing lack of spark in their relationship. The newly single star swift took this low time of hers to surprise a couple by attending their marriage. The singer surprised everyone by taking such measure.
Photos were posted on the social media, and her fans got to know that Taylor attended this ceremony at the brant beach Yact club in New Jersey. The star overwhelmed the couple by posing with them in their wedding photos and also performed "Blank space" on the Piano. Taylor posted photos of the ceremony writing "Congratulations Max and Kenya!!" on the Instragram. Taylor wore a Rubin Singer cocktail dress on the ceremony. The surprise took another level when her Ex-Boyfriend Calvin Harris liked the photo on the instragram.
The friends and the family members of the couple took social media to reveal the lovely surprise .Many of the friends and family members of the couple posted their excitement on the social media. A family member wrote on the twitter "So Taylor swift showed up to my cousins wedding… #Surprised," a different guest wrote on this incident, "REMEMBER WHEN TAYLOR SWIFT CRASHED MY SISTER'S WEDDING." And yes, all caps were absolutely necessary.
According to the guest of the event, Taylor mitigated the initial enthusiasm of the invited peoples with the help of groom's sister. It was informed that Max and his wife took marriage vow in the hospital so that his mom won't have to miss out the biggest day of his life. Later his mom and Max danced on the Blank Space number on the wedding event.


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Cabin Fever: How To Survive Snow Daysby Kuhrich on Thursday, February 18, 2016
Early Spring Cleaning
I know, I know I hate it too but it can be the difference between a productive day or a day of watching old X-Files on Netflix. When I decide to clean up to avoid feeling too cooped up I start by straightening and organizing small projects such as books or clothing. I will also go through pieces of clothing and small furniture or housewares to see if there is anything I would like to donate to a local thrift shop. It helps my home stay clear and organized and it helps me feel accomplished even though I have been in my PJs all day. If you need something a bit more intense I suggest cleaning your floors. You do not have to get on your hands and knees but just sweeping can make a world of difference in how the room looks.
A Little DIY
Doing small projects around the house can help you get excited about being in your home and can inspire you to create more and make your home even cozier. There are plenty of small DIY projects you can find on the Internet or in your grandmother's old craft book (Who knows? You may find a gem!). My favorite project to do at home when I'm trying to shoo cabin fever away is create rice heating packs for the home or for gifts. Rice packs are easy to make and can ease sore muscles or the achy feeling when you are experiencing flu symptoms. If you want to give it a try, you will need about a cup and a half of dry rice, half a yard of fabric, thread, and patience. I like to fold one wrong side out and sew the two open ends together while leaving one open. Then I will place the rice in the bag with a few teaspoons of lavender flowers and finishing sewing the last edge.
Culinary Experimentation
Now is the perfect time to work on that recipe that you've been dying to try. It can also be a wonderful excuse to have the kids help you in the kitchen. I enjoy working in the kitchen during a snow day because it often makes a wonderful dinner (and sometimes lunch the next day) and cleans the kitchen at the same time. If you have little ones you can always bake cookies and then sweep and clean dishes while you wait for the delicious morsels to bake.
If all else fails, cozy up with a cup of tea and a good book. Snow days are the weather's way to tell us to slow down and enjoy the people that share your home.


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Get Involved
Saturday, October 7 - 9:00 am to 1:00 pm
Emmanuel Christian High School
4607 Laskey Road, Toledo, OH 43623
Who should attend? Anyone interested in volunteering at The Daughter Project. Also, anyone who wants to learn more about sex trafficking, how to fight against it and how to help survivors.


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Multigrid method for cylindrical coordinate system
Hello Friends, I am developing poisson solver (3D) by using the multigrid method, the main doubt is i am using the cylindrical coordinate system, every where in the literature and in the books, all are explaining about the multigrid methods for cartessian and for cube shape domain,,mine is cylindrical shap domain, i am not getting how to apply restriction and prolongation for my domain,, i am kindly requesting you to help me
thankyou for ur sparing of time
Re: Multigrid method for cylindrical coordinate sy
for the restriction and prolongation, you can use weighted ones which depends on finite difference or finite element, etc.
I am using cylindrical coordinates for my jet simulation, by the way, my own is axisymmetric version.
You can look at my website for the jet simulation with multigrid method.
Re: Multigrid method for cylindrical coordinate sy
Hi J.Kim, thankyou for ur help,
I tryed with all restriction and prolongation techniques, it is working fine for cartessian grids but it is giving the problem with cylindrical grids, my doubt is around the axis of the round jet , my cells are becoming very close , due to this i am getting the problem,, since from one months i am struggling with this problem, if u dont mind, can u please send ur subroutines for restriction and prolongation only,, so that i will verify my code.
once again thankyou very much for ur attention for me..
Re: Multigrid method for cylindrical coordinate sy
I have two types of restriction and prolongation routines which are written in C language.
One is cell centered finite difference version for the velocity field, and the other is cell cornered finite element version for the pressure.
Which one do you want?
Re: Multigrid method for cylindrical coordinate sy
Hi Thankyou very much for your reply, I need cell centered finite difference version,
thankyou for ur help..
Re: Multigrid method for cylindrical coordinate sy
Hi Thankyou for ur reply, I need cell centered FD version,
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"High rate pvp server 1000 x no need nobl quest max enchant +20 atribute to lvl 9 ingame"
Top site lists are a simple, but powerful system for exposing your site to millions. If accepted into our exclusive network this is a great opportunity to grow your site.
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4,154 Top Site Lists
246,179 Members
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315,939,861 Total Votes
553,162,806 Total Hits


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Traditional Wood Mantel Shelves
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Both gel fireplaces and electric fireplaces are a viable alternative to traditional gas or wood. Neither requires venting, a flue or a chimney, meaning you can put them just about anywhere inside or outside your home to generate ambiance and heat. So what's the difference and which is better for you?
Whichever way you go, both gel fireplaces and electric fireplaces are a more sustainable alternative to wood or gas, so you can't go wrong!


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We're looking forward to this new tablet because Motorola has been rolling out great products lately.
Motorola is reportedly working on a new Moto tablet, according to Android Police. Once you enter this mode (it's not on by default), you can pin apps to the navigation bar, thus being able to quickly go from one to another without having to invoke the multitasking menu.
If Motorola Android tablet will materialize with pro features, it is safe to assume that it will come with a stylus accessory.
Motorola rumored to be working on a new Android tablet that will focus on productivity. The tablet is said to have a "premium look and feel", but most of its specs are unknown.
May is for mental health awareness
A growing number of mental health providers are considering closing their doors or curtailing services because of lack of funding. An important goal of Mental Health Awareness Month is to dispel myths to help end stigma. "Mental illness makes people violent".
From there, they will be able to tap on an icon to immediately switch to that app.
To close the side-by-side apps, you long-press the app icon and drag it upwards. However, it was later spotted by 9To5Google that the feature, or some of its behavior, may have been pulled from Lenovo's Yoga Book laptop-tablet hybrid that was released past year. This is to note that the Productivity Mode can be switched on and off. based on user's requirement. The screenshot also reveals that the tablet is going to be powered by Android. The last time Motorola made a tablet was back in December 2011 with the Droid Xyboard running Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Since then, no tablet has been introduced by Motorola or Lenovo. Numerous Z2 Play's other features are expected to be changed from last year's model, though.
Though Productivity Mode isn't something you'll find on an ordinary Android tablet, this isn't the first time we've seen it - Lenovo included it with the Yoga Book, an Android laptop. The screen shot Android Police received from its source also suggests that the Moto tablet will have a dedicated app drawer button, which would make users' lives a lot easier.


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Welcome to Bridgeworks, LLC
Bridgeworks focuses primarily on the production and management of publications in Tokyo. We create books, magazines, websites, e-books, and iPhone/iPad e-publishing apps.
Company Overview
Started in 2005, with the vision to create a "bridge" between publishing companies and creators, Bridgeworks has developed an extensive set of personal and commercial links, knowledge, and skills in the publishing business. Bridgeworks' flagship projects feature million-plus sold copies bestseller books in Japan, including books like "How to Use the Best of your Brain for Learning" (Nou Wo Ikasu Benkyohou), and Japanese/English bilingual magazines like "Worksight", published by Kokuyo.
About the Company's name
The name Bridgeworks signifies the process of building durable and productive business relationships between companies and creators, customers, and subscribers by means of our publishing projects. Through our original and creative work we aim to become the chosen production partner for all new issues published in Japan.
Company Name
Bridgeworks, LLC
May 15, 2006
Main Activities
Planning, production and edition of magazines, books, websites, etc.
Consulting for publishing and branding.
Developing apps for iPhone/iPad.
Shima BLDG.401, 2-14-37 Yotsuya, Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-0004, Japan
Founder, President & COO
Daisuke Ando
Founder & CEO
Atsushi Watanabe


text: Award winning collections inspired by modern romance with touches of color. Rich draping in a wide array of dreamy fabrics accented with distinct details make Sincerity so unique. An assortment of silhouettes from tea lengths and high lows to mermaids and ball gowns are represented. The inspiration behind the "Sincerity Bride" revolves around soft romantic personal details that make a bride feel unique on her wedding day.


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Giuseppe Zanotti Strass Black Sandals
Listed by Lindsay T.
Size: US 8.5 Regular (M, B)
Price: $213.00
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Strass Black Sandals
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- Scuff on soles
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Size 38.5 with a gorgeous diamond-shaped accent made from strass crystals set in gold metal base. The strass accent is attached to a T-strap covered with black velvet. The insole is a golden hue material and is surrounded with black velvet trim and punctuated with a wooden heel. Shoebox and dustbag are not included. Wear on bottoms of stiletto heels due to normal use.
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- More Information
The 79cm case is the largest case available to the Funshine collection. Offering an un-expanded packing capacity of 99.5L, this case will cater for even the largest of loads. Perfect for a longer holiday or ideal for the whole family to use, this case offers 4 spinner wheels which enable a multi-directional manoeuvrability making this case very easy to move around.
- 3 Year limited global warranty
- Fixed 3-digit combination lock
- Cross packing straps in an accent colour to the base compartment
- Mesh divider pad helps to create organised packing
- Front pocket
- Top and side padded carry handles
- 4 multi-directional spinner wheels
- Wheel handle with American Tourister branding
- Expandable
- Available in a range of colours
- Weighs just 3.9kg
- Constructed from 100D + 400D Polyester – Gives an interesting mix and texture of materials
- 66cm expandable suitcase also available from the American Tourister Funshine
- Weights & Sizes
Weights & Sizes
Capacity 99.5L Weight 3.9000 Dimensions 79cm x 46cm x 31cm
- Review
Feefo Reviews - Average 100% (2 reviews)
Date Score Customer Comment Our Response 04-Dec-2016 Product:
Excellent 30-Aug-2016 Product:
Not the easiest to push using all 4 wheels. But spacious and good quality. Read more reviews on Feefo
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American Tourister Funshine 2 Wheel Upright Cabin Case - 55cm
Regular Price: £55.00
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American Tourister Funshine 4 Wheel Spinner Cabin Case - 55cm
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American Tourister Funshine 4 Wheel Spinner Case - 66cm
Regular Price: £69.00
Special Price £54.51


text:
"Believers and unbelievers have strong views about what happens when you die. For centuries, Christians have believed that their destiny after death is heaven: a spiritual place where they -- along with a myriad of angels, -- sing praises to God for eternity. But is it possible that Christians may have gotten that part of their faith badly wrong"
"Wright points to films like the romantic comedy "Four Weddings and a Funeral" where, in the absence of a clear grasp of what happens when you die, people invent ideas about the afterlife that are not in scripture.
"I think we have allowed ourselves to drift in what we say about the dead," Wright said."There are a lot of funeral services sadly which go that route these days, [where] death is nothing at all, I've just slipped away into the next room and so on. Anyone who's grieved and anyone who's worked with anyone who's grieved knows that it's a lie. Death is a monster, death is horrible."
"In a radical departure from traditional belief, Wright says that Christians are not ultimately destined for a spiritual place called heaven. He says that at the end of time as we know it, God will literally remake our physical bodies and return us to a newly restored planet."
"Heaven is important but it's not our final destination," he explained. "If you want to say that when someone dies they go to heaven, fine. But that's only a temporary holding pattern that is life after death. And what I'm much more interested in, or the New Testament is much more interested in, is what I've called life after life after death."
"But this interpretation is the exact opposite of what many American Christians believe. The hugely successful Left Behind series of movies and books is an apocalyptic vision of the end of the world -- a view shared by many evangelicals. According to those who believe it, the end of the world will start with the so-called "rapture," when all Christians will be taken up to heaven in one momentous swoop. The earth then enters a period of cataclysmic wars until it eventually disintegrates, in a final chapter of fire. Wright says that is more mythical than Biblical."
"It's a myth," Wright said. "It is an attempt to make sense of some bits of the New Testament. It was always the literature of the dispossessed ... it's now become the literature of the rich masses in parts of America."


text: Precognitive Telepathy is a version of Telepathy in which the user can receive thoughts before they are thought up by the subject. One with this ability uses the same energy that precognitive psychics use, but instead of seeing the future, the user receives thoughts from nearly any subject. Not to mention, this ability can even affect perspicuous minds, because it can receive the thoughts before the perspicuous superhuman knows that the thought will occur (and the subject's mind doesn't keep future thoughts from being read).


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Chorizo Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole
posted in: Recipes | 0
This is a story about my amazing husband. Wait, you thought it was a breakfast recipe? It is, it is. I'll get to that part. Anyway, now that we have a preschooler and a newborn, mornings can get a bit … Continued


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Kids' Club
The Kids' Club welcomes children from 4 to 12 years old. It is free and opened in the morning from the 25th of May until the 4th of September.
In July and August it is open every morning from 10 am until noon, except Fridays. During the low season the Kids' Club is opened 2 to 5 days a week.
Teens Club
Some activities are exclusive for 12-16 years old, in high season.
During a weekly meeting, the program will be established according to the wishes of the teens.
In July and August, campsite La Garangeoire offers football-training meetings for children from 5 to 16 years old. These meetings are every day from 10 am to 12:00 except Fridays.
Price of 1 meeting: 5 €
10 meeting-Card, which can be used by several children of the same family: 45 €
The Childcare ("Garderie") of la Garangeoire is a free evening service for parents wishing to have a private dinner in the Garangeoire restaurant. Children aged 3 to 10 years old can play quiet games, watch DVDs, colouring, reading or story telling.
Open 4 evenings a week during the high season.
In June July and August a mini-disco is organised every week.
At La Garangeoire, the playground is not just a playground, it's a PLAY AREA!
Enjoy our: slides, decks, turnstiles, swings, sandpits, trampolines ...
A fenced area is available for children from 6 to 36 months: the "ferme animée" is a place for toddlers to play and experimentation. Equipped with a flexible shock-absorbing floor, farm animals theme decorations and it allows them to play safely.
Bouncy castle
In the "garden" behind the restaurant and bar, the bouncy castle of La Garangeoire is accessible in the afternoon from May 5...
Game room
The games room is the meeting place to play billiards, table football, pinball and arcade games. It is open all season.


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Barbarians are savage and untamed villains. They are often cruel, dangerous and bloodthirsty with a desire to rule by force alone. Although stereotypically strong, they don't have to be strong to qualify. Basically, a barbarian fills the role of a semi-feral being intelligent enough that they still retain some humanity but are still ruled mainly by base instincts such as war and aggression.
A barbarian can also be a rude, violent and sanguinary individual. In some cultures, they are known as "ogres" (a reference to the mythical monster of the same name).
Another common trait of a barbarian is strong anti-intellectual sentiment, though this is not a universal trait as some barbarians can be intelligent, even cunning.
In other words, Barbarians do not listen to reason whenever heroes say they should.
|Give me more blood! Let it shower more Dragon's blood!
|~ Acnologia going berserk


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Your Rating:
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14 total votes
#79 highest rated PC sports game (#960 on PC, #2557 overall)
100% of 6 total votes
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69% of 16 total votes
To rate games, you need to be logged in to GameFAQs. Please log in or register to continue.
If you're stuck in Championship Manager Season 99/00, ask your fellow GameFAQs members for help.


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Schatzi Lord Model
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Please follow and check out my recent work on Instagram: BMJ_Photography
thanx for stopping by
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Arts & Culture
Arts & Culture
The 50th anniversary pairing of Chicago the band and Jelmar's Tarn-X worth trumpeting
Some things just naturally go together. more
Aug 1, 2017
NYC band kicks off Kidzapalooza
Lard Dog & The Band of Shy! looking to bring leader's Chicago ties full circle. more
Aug 1, 2017
'Luzia' an illuminating, enchanting voyage to Mexico
Got wanderlust? Try Cirque du Soleil's 38th original production. more
Jul 28, 2017
Get wordy at The American Writers Museum
A 10-snapshot photo tour more
Jul 18, 2017
Where to dance in the streets every day of the week
Time to cut a rug. more
Jul 17, 2017
3 local Chicagoland events celebrate spoken word
For the love of words. more
Jul 14, 2017
A trio of ways the Harris Theater puts cultural fun in the limelight
Open the curtain on family fun for your crew. more
Jul 11, 2017
Cirque Italia puts a unique twist on the traditional circus
Experience the intimate family show. more
Jun 30, 2017
Events and exhibits that bring the wow factor
July's creative forecast? Brilliant. more
Jun 27, 2017
Get inspired at a trio of cool art fairs this summer
Get your creative juices flowing. more
Jun 20, 2017
Our House: Rethinking Home in a Changing Climate
Discover how scientists face the challenges of climate change. more
Aug 23, 2017
Specimens: Unlocking the Secrets of Life
See some of the most amazing objects in The Field. more
Aug 23, 2017
Science + You
Features a child-sized laboratory that kids can explore. more
Aug 23, 2017


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Well, I'm joining in the showing off of recent swag! Just today, I picked up my orders of the Metroid Prime Trilogy, which is a compilation of all 3 Metroid Prime games. One of my copies is a little extra special though. It has been signed by the game's developers!
That is actually a see-through container around the actual box. Here it is when removed.
Here is the inside.
And yes, Chris, this one is yours 😉


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Antarctica is a pretty bizarre place; it is home to the coldest region on Earth but it's also our largest desert.
Narration provided by JaM Advertising New Mexico www.tasteofjam.com
Until 2012 Antarctica's Lake Vostok was quarantined from the world for 15million years, thanks to a four kilometre layer of surface ice. If you're on Google Earth you're probably using it either to find your own house or track down a bizarre object no-one else has discovered. Another famous Antarctic mystery is the frozen Pyramid, which some people believe to have been constructed by a race of ancient Antarcticans. Was Antarctica once a habitable place where a hidden race of humans existed in previously undiscovered cities? Antarctica was the last large region on Earth to be discovered and settled by human beings, with its first recorded sighting attributed to a Russian expedition in 1820, and the first confirmed landing in 1895.
Video credit to Strange Mysteries YouTube channel


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Abigail Kremm
Only The Wind - Poem by Abigail Kremm
Is it really the wind?
Do you seriously believe that's it?
Yes, I hear the whistle of it blowing past my ears;
Throwing back my hair from my face.
I see it moving the trees, their branches violently tossing back and forth.
I sense their struggle, holding tight, refusing to let go.
But is it really the wind?
Is the invisible force just a swiftly moving chilled air?
Maybe there's more.
Maybe it's alive;
Alive with spirit, restless, angered, and revenge seeking.
They're the ones screaming in your ear from their painful suffering,
Telling you their stories.
Times they've failed, times they've been led astray, times they've been abandoned, these things of the past that torture them deepest.
Maybe it's them who knock on your window.
They move the branches; they pull them, push them, with taps, clicks, slaps, and chilling screeches as they slide against the glass.
Trying everything to find their way in to slither across the floor and hide in corners, beneath furniture, behind doors, and under your bed.
They won't jump out at you or cast shadows on the walls or possess you in your sleep.
Instead they hide behind thick silence.
They dim the lights and make the world darker.
They release tension in the air creating nervousness.
You feel shivers down your back as they scan you head to toe.
Have you ever felt like you were being watched,
Like there was something or someone there you couldn't see?
Have you ever been too afraid to turn your back on a dark room,
And you jump into your bed from a distance in case something might grab you and pull you under?
They are more then the wind.
They're the nightmares; the darkest horrors come to life, the things you run from to save your soul.
They are fear.
Do these demons, living in the wind, live in other forces of the earth?
Do they live in the gray shadows, the rumbling storm clouds above, the ragging waters, the pitch blackness of night, or even the vicious pull of gravity?
What if these demons, dreaded and deadly, lived somewhere you'd least expect it?
A place you would never guess and you wish not to.
What if they lived in you?
Their stories are your stories, their sorrow and fear are yours, so are the burdens that haunt and control them.
They follow you everywhere.
Corrupting your dreams, changing your own thoughts, moving your hands and feet to places you don't want to go.
As you walk down the street, they grab at your ankles, climb up your back, and pull you to the places where you've failed.
They want to remind you.
They want to tear you down again.
And what if you could see other people's demons?
The things that bring them down, break them, destroy them from the inside out?
Would you look at them different?
After all, the demons live in all of us.
Control us and use us.
But they aren't just there; you create them.
You make your spirits with stories of torture and pain.
You can leave them to the shadows, to the dark, to anything around you where you can cast them.
Sometimes you hold them inside, thinking you'll forget and they'll go away.
They will never go away.
But who knows.
It's probably just the wind.
Comments about Only The Wind by Abigail Kremm
Ramesh Rai (10/13/2013 4:05:00 AM)
wind can b compared with ups nd downs of life, certainly a great job (Report) Reply
Elena Sandu (9/20/2013 9:28:00 PM)
Wow! What a deep poem! A fine observer, patient taking time to feel, than search and question anything will see. Connected with self it seems to be until the wind will make the scene. Yes.True. Imo, the wind could be more than we may think and anybody could find little demons within. My question is: would we give them a friendly treat? IThe more we fight the bigger their chance of win. If with love peace and kindness I'll treat my little demons they may help me to find a harmony within... (Report) Reply
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Love Ferrante? Discover the Next Italian Sensation
2017 books by Italian authors that can scratch your Ferrante itch.
2017 books by Italian authors that can scratch your Ferrante itch.
Are some books better appreciated in the blush of youth or with the wisdom of age?
I want these author podcasts for Christmas, only these author podcasts will do.
The destruction of Elena Ferrante's anonymity was bad journalism...but it was also inevitable.
A response to all those think pieces berating readers for wondering who Elena Ferrante really is.
Spring has truly sprung here in Richmond, Virginia, so I'm doing a lot of Sitting on Stoops With Cold Hard ...
Ferrante, Lahiri, and Wharton: three authors making Italian lit news in recent days.
Do you put off reading popular books or series? Is it worth diving in while the frenzy is going or waiting?


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USD/JPY Extends Gains
USD/JPY is trading at 104.16, up 0.91
The pair has extended the session gains as overseas traders prepare to wind down trading for the week. Market chatter about Bank of Japan monetary policy and global money flows is making the rounds.
Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is scheduled report Wage Growth data Sunday at 8:00 p.m. ET. Japan's Nikkei Services PMI (purchasing managers survey) is due out Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Posted-In: Japanese Yen USD/JPY yenFutures Forex Markets
© 2017 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.


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Comfortable, cosy & quiet self catering holiday cottages, with Visit Scotland Quality Assurance ratings, in Dumfries and Galloway, South-West Scotland. Close to the picturesque safe beach at Sandyhills on the Colvend coast, where you can enjoy Galloway's famous dark skies and abundant wildlife from the comfort of your own balcony.
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In Sanskrit the word eka means 'one', 'single'; pada means 'foot' and sira means 'head'. The name of this asana can be translated as 'the single foot head pose'. It is so called because one foot is placed behind the head in the final position.
This asana is also called eka pada sirshasana where the word sirsha means the same as sira, that is head.
It may not seem like a forward bending asana from the point of view of the final body position. However, instead of bending the trunk forward onto one leg, the one leg is pulled backwards behind the trunk; this reallv amounts to the same thing. Because the benefits of this asana are essentially the same as many other forward bending asanas, we have classified it accordingly.
Do not force any stage, particularly the last.
Stage 1: starting position
Sit on the floor with the two legs straight in front of the body.
Bend the left leg slightly.
Hold the left foot with the right hand, the fingers placed in the region of the ankle, the palm in contact with the outside of the foot.
Wrap the fingers of the left hand around the left leg slightly above the ankle; the left arm should be positioned so that the elbow lies between the thigh and the lower leg.
This is the starting position.
Stage 2: raising the leg
Raise the left leg using the two arms and hands.
As you raise the leg bend the trunk forwards and twist slightly to the right.
Try to place the left leg on top of the left shoulder.
Do not strain.
Proceed to stage 3 if you can place your leg on your shoulder.
Stage 3: attaining the final pose
Release the grip of the left hand.
Place the left arm under the left thigh so that the hand points towards the buttocks.
Raise the left leg higher by using the right arm and by pushing the left thigh to the back with the left arm.
Do not strain.
Try to place the left foot behind the head at the nape of the neck.
This should be achieved by bending the head forwards under the calf muscle which then rests on the shoulder.
If you are feeling comfortable, place your hands together in front of the chest.
Try to straighten the spine and hold the head upright.
This is the final pose.
Breathe slowly and deeply.
Close the eyes.
Stay in the final pose for as long as is comfortable.
Then slowly release the left leg and return to the starting position.
Repeat the same procedure with the right leg.
Breathing and awareness
Normal breathing while moving the body into the final pose. Breathe deeply and slowly in the final pose. Be aware of breathing in the final pose.
Restrictions, duration, time of practice and counterpose
These details are as for koormasana.
Eka pada sirasana compresses each side of the abdomen in turn. This gives the internal organs a thorough massage and is very useful for removing constipation and stimulating peristalsis. For fullest benefits you should raise the right leg first so that the massage is applied in the same order as the movement of faeces.
Practice of this asana applies a powerful massage to the sexual organs, helping to improve their efficiency and remove malfunctions.
When done regularly, eka pada sirasana has been found useful in improving the blood circulation in the legs and relieving varicose veins.


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Dodge Repair Questions? Ask a Mechanic for Answers ASAP
Why did you replace the starter in the first place? Same problem, just clicks?
Do you have a voltmeter? If so, place it on the battery and get a reading on dc volts. It should be 12 volts. Now turn the key to start and press in the clutch and read the voltmeter now. It has to remain above 9.6 volts. Does it?
You said you have a good power source. How did you confirm this?
Is the engine seized?
Ok, you said you checked the voltage. Where did you check the voltage at and what was the voltage? Just because you can pop the clutch doesn't mean anything about the starting system, all you would need is ignition.
You are correct, I apologize. Yes the motor isn't seized, that's good. You obviously have enough battery. The starter is new and voltage is obviously reaching the starter solenoid, hence the clicking, so that leads me to believe that the problem has to do with either battery cable. I am sure the positive battery cable is tight on the starter since you just installed the starter and the battery connections must also be tight. That leaves a loose negative battery connection on the block or frame or a bad cable itself. Let me ask you this, does either cable get hot to the touch after trying to crank the engine over with the starter for say like 10 seconds or so? If so, you may want to suspect that cable of being bad.
Normally t's rust that ruins a battery cable. Most of the time you can see it, if you take a razor and cut the insulation at the end of each battery cable end at the battery. Cut the insulation about 2-3 inches longwise, and then peel open the insulation and look for any green discoloration on the copper wire strands. If so, replace that entire cable cause chances are it ran the entire length of that cable ruining it.
Was it the cable?


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7th > November > 2002 Archive
Veritas acquires Storage Reporter
Veritas Software today bought NTP Software's Storage Reporter for an undisclosed sum.
109-bit Elliptic Curve Cryptography knocked over with brute force
Academics yesterday scooped a $10,000 prize after using a distributed computing network to decrypt a message scrambled using an 109-bit implementation of Elliptic Curve Cryptography.
Terra Lycos hits Q3 target
Spanish Internet media company Terra Lycos - which includes operations such as the Lycos portal, RagingBull.com, Tripod.com and Wired.com - says it has met Q3 revenue targets for the business.
HP edges IBM and eclipses Sun in SSL benchmark
Its Round 94 of the battle of the benchmarketing press releases, with HP yesterday trumpeting its recently introduced HP Server rp5405 outperforms comparable Unix servers from IBM and Sun in secure transaction benchmark tests.


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The Balance of Corruption (Better name to come soon)
The story, basic gameplay mechanics and stuff is completely up to you. Basically, you have some kind of "Corruption" bar. All throughout the game it is slowly filling up. Once it is full, you lose the game.There is absolutely no way to reverse the filling of the corruption bar. This is an important part of the design.However, it fills up so slowly that you could easily complete the game without it even reaching halfway (or something like that).The tricky part is, the game will be EXTREMELY HARD. In fact, impossible, as it is so far.
So, how do you do it?
When the corruption bar reaches certain points, it mutates you to make you more powerful. Maybe it gives you wings? A better way of attacking; Better armour; Makes you more agile; Makes you bigger/smaller; Just make sure that none of the mutations have any negative side-effects. You must make the player want to raise the corruption.The game should be possible to win at full mutation from the very start (obviously without the full-corruption lose condition). ie: There shouldn't be any stages that can only be completed if your corruption is below a certain point. The idea here is that you are encouraging the player to make themself more corrupted. The problem being that they have to balance their level of corruption with the time required to finish the game.
So, how do they raise their corruption?
Well, there should be two ways. Firstly, simply pressing a button to (temporarily) increase the speed of corruption. Secondly, there should be special abilities that instantly increase corruption. Maybe a heal action, maybe a speed increase, maybe an explosion, lasers, fire, magic etc. Anything that is good for repeated use throughout the game, but not neccessary to complete any stages! These are just for convenience. Player should not be forced to use them if they don't want to. Of course, because of the difficulty of the game, they will have to.
Final Notes on Balancing and Design.
You can do whatever you like, as long as it keeps to a few principles:
- It must be possible to pass any level at any stage of mutation.
- Special abilities must not be needed to win. It doesn't mean that it can't be humanly impossible to win without them, it just has to be hard.
- The above rules can be ignored if the parts accessed are not neccessary to complete the game. You can have bonus zones that can only be accessed by certain abilities/mutations.
- An extremely good player shouldn't be able to win the game without their corruption reaching at least 3/4 (or whatever you want that number to be).
And some recommendations: The game will be more fun if the player has to make a careful decision whether to raise their corruption to pass an area, hoping that they will reach the end of the game before their corruption hits 100%, or whether they should leave it and risk dying as a result of being too weak to get through whatever stage.
The increase of corruption must be greater than just linear (polynomial or exponential). If it is linear, the player can just increase the corruption earlier if they know they'll need it later anyway, with no negative effects.


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NHS Grampian
This newsletter is one of the ways in which we try and share information with you about health services and about how to be healthier. Our focus is very much on the people of Grampian and how you can, and do, influence healthcare in your area.
We hope you enjoy reading this newsletter. We would like you to tell us your opinions about the content and if there are any articles you would like to see in future editions. You can also contact us to receive a copy of NHS News directly into your e-mail inbox. You can contact us at:
E-mail: email@example.com
Tel: 01224 558098
Post: 'Freepost, NHS Grampian' (no stamp required)
Autumn 2016 (pdf)
Spring 2016 (pdf)


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Goldon Left Wing Cymbal 33955
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Red Tails is a character in Mixels Fanon Wiki, along with Black Tails (which Black Tails is Red Tails' brother). And Red Tails is a duelist, he started dueling since Dark Sonic became a duelist. He can beat Tails Doll in a duel! Red Tails has a cooler car than Flain's. He is friends with Sonic.EXE, Tails, Tails Doll, Sonic, Knuckles, etc.
- Can move things with his mind
- Can turn into a werefox
- Thunder Slash
- Electrical Ray
- Thunderbolt Strike
- Rock music
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Mixels Fanon Wiki Description
Red Tails is a duelist in Mixels-Yu-Gi-Oh. And is part of the "Number Hunting Team".
Yu-Gi-Oh Opponent(s)/Outcomes
Zazz (WIN)


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Meghan McCain Vows to Keep Tweeting Despite Last Week's Controversy; We Were All So Worried
Ladies and gentlemen, the world will go on. Meghan McCain has promised to keep her Twitter account up and tweeting.
Last week, McCain drew criticism from some of her Twitter followers over a picture she posted that showed the world what it may not have already known -- Meggie-Poo has got some happenin' boobs.
However, since McCain hasn't seemed to decide whether she wants to be a serious politico or the nation's newest celebutard who hangs out with reality TV floozy Tia Tequilla, the erotic pic raised some eyebrows -- and probably a little somethin', somethin' extra among Republicans.
McCain writes in her blog, Daily Beast, that she has learned so much from being called a slut on Twitter.
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"It's not easy to be called a slut. But I'm not giving up my Twitter just yet -- I'm just going to be more judicious in how I use it. At the end of the day, I am a work in progress. I am not perfect and have never given anyone the assumption that I am. I turn 25 next week, and I am still adjusting to the glare of the spotlight and making mistakes," she writes.
Wait, no more cleavage shots, and she's gonna keep flappin' her gums? This is a disaster.
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text: Synthetic Biology at the Cell-Material Interface: from Redox Biology to Environmental Science. The research in our lab draws on concepts, principles, and methods from science and engineering to elucidate and manipulate the functions of proteins and cells. Our expertise in biochemistry and protein engineering allows us to study living systems by taking advantage of classical methods for biochemical inquiry and developing and applying novel biotechnologies to support these investigations. Research projects fall into two major areas. Half of the group uses redox synthetic biology to study the electron transfer mediated by small protein electron carriers. These studies are motivated by our interest in understanding what controls the proportion of electrons that are transferred between different metabolic pathways with a long-term goal of deriving maps for electron flux in cells. We are working to build synthetic electron transfer pathways and cell-electronic devices (bioelectronics) to assist with fundamental studies and enable the creation of useful new technologies. The other half of the group is focused on environmental synthetic biology. The objective of this research is to create cellular programs that can be used in soil incubation studies to study how land use strategies and changes in a soil matrix (e.g., biochar amendment) influence dynamic behaviors such as greenhouse gas production and the development of plant-microbe symbiosis. To facilitate studies in soils, we are developing new outputs for genetic circuits (gas reporters) that provide information on dynamic cellular processes in hard-to-image settings.


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Category Archives: reading
How To Do Thumbsucking Properly
I was doubtful when my TNW colleague Mike Horton recommended that I take an online writing class with Onestory.com. This online literary magazine publishes just one short story per issue, but it also runs writing seminars. In the end, I decided to sign up, on the grounds that any outfit that could help Mike Horton to write better would have no trouble at all moving me up a step or twenty.
I'm an old fart, I admit it, and I hate computers. Participating in the course meant using something called PowerSchool Learning, a program like the online Blackboard now used in colleges. I don't understand that either. In fact, I was given my own personal assistant at the Blackboard training session when my curses began to be audible to the group. The geek kept piously telling me that I didn't need to have anything explained in advance; "it's intuitive." Yeah? Well, the PowerSchool Learning Welcome page ends with, "Good luck!"
But lo and behold! I could do it. What's more, I figured out what it is about living in cyberspace that makes me nervous. It turned out to be exactly the problem I need to surmount in order to write the book I'm stuck on.
The first web page that came up was an essay by the teacher (Hannah Tinti, whose novel The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley was the text for the course.) Within it were links to books and articles elsewhere online. Those pages sent you to other pages, with more links, to pages with more links.
To use again a quotation I overuse: Ceci ne pas un manuel scolaire. The "textbook" for this course is not one you can finish, because it's a meta-text. The internet is like the universe: finite but unbounded. If a particular chain of links peters out, another will ultimately be found to circle around behind the dead end and bring you to every- and anything else. It's all experimentation and openness. That's why the internet makes me so uncomfortable. How do you know if you got the right answer?
There isn't one, of course, if what you are doing is writing a novel.
That's why I found the first of the three sessions, "Beginnings" so inspiring. Tinti sent us to an account of Lynda Barry's book on how to stimulate creativity, Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor. Barry is a visual artist. Her book is based on a class she taught, "The Unthinkable Mind — a wonderfully unusual interdisciplinary course exploring the biological function of the arts and the psychological mechanisms of the creative impulse by blending cognitive science, visual art, and writing."
I thought, "I don't have time for this. Too much." Wrong. Barry wants us to journal, but not to write reams of deep reflection. Her template journal page looks like this:
Just be there, so that you actually notice what you are doing, seeing and hearing. Then, no matter how crude your doodles, let your own interpretation of some part thereof appear on the page.
Tinti insists that just this kind of focus on individual things, events, and memories, along with a determination to bring just one such item to vivid life in a single scene, can bring a book into being. With examples from her novel, she convinced me she was right. For once, an author answered, clearly and in detail, that tired old panel question, Tell us about your process.
But best of all, Tinti doesn't claim that it's easy if you just use some technique. The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley took Tinti seven years to write – hooray! Answering a student's question on her experience of writing the book, she began, "A few years in,…" Also, she had a proposal I really liked:
I feel like there should be a secret signal for any writer who has worked on a book for more than five years. Then, whenever someone corners us at a party and asks how the writing is going, we can salute each other silently from across the room.
Suggestions for the signal, readers? I vote for thumbsucking.
Now I'm ready to move on to Lesson Two on dogging one's way through the middle, with "research" thrown in. I'll get back to you on how that goes.
Decline and Fall
I was thinking the other day about the dying institution of marriage. The mystery I'm writing involves an inheritance which, in turn, hangs on the outdated concept of legitimacy.
Mind you, I'm all for dropping any stigma (if any remains) on being born "out of wedlock." But honestly, older people, if you had been asked in your youth what major changes might occur in your lifetime, would you have predicted indifference to the presence or absence of marriage vows? Of substituting "if it works out" for "till death do us part"?
Anyway, I sat down and tried to come up with other dying institutions that I had thought would live forever. Lo and behold, nearly every one that occurred to me involved reading and writing — one of the core complexes of life for likely readers of this blog.
I had occasion to write something down for one of my grandsons not long ago. He frowned at the note – I thought my handwriting was the problem. I got no farther than, "Oh, sorry, that word's….," when he rushed to reassure me. "Oh, it's okay, Grandma. I can read cursive script." He can't write it, though. The schools now teach printing, not writing, because who writes anything longer than a grocery list anymore?
Letters (in the sense of correspondence) no longer exist. Their factual content is now transmitted through email. Their creative, imaginative, playful and literary qualities are just gone. (Worse: their playful qualities are have shrunk and hardened into emoticons created by some wretch chained in an office cubicle.) Email is to letter-writing as tweeting is to thinking.
Now that apps have homogenized all forms of information transfer, "writing down" is no longer a distinct activity with defined functions in society. Do our grandchildren get the point of "The Typewriter," the famous piece of music that duplicates the rhythm of typewriter keys, the ding of the bell at the end of the carriage and the slam of the carriage return? This tune, without comment, once conveyed "composition" or "news reporting." (Click the link to hear the Vienna Philharmonic play it, with percussionist Martin Breinschmid on the typewriter.)
Editors are as the dodo. I am still unpublished, but I hear by the grapevine that publishers no longer employ such people. Or if they do, the evidence has vanished from much of what is published. My blogging colleague Eleanor Ingbretson recently read a mystery involving that nasty marine animal, the leech. It was spelled "leach" throughout. WTH. You know what I meant. (That link will take you to the blog of the same name, where you will find fellow mourners of the craft of words.)
(Subcategory of the above: use of the subjunctive. And don't get me started on "may" and "might.")
Paper is gone, too, or at least unnecessary. I think text is made of electrons now, but I really haven't the faintest idea. Vandals burned the monastery libraries of Europe; hackers may yet wipe out War and Peace.
We have lived in the age of the Antonines, and Commodus is upon us. (Don't bother me with questions when I'm being crotchety. Google it.)
Show Your Shelf!
Nowadays, even the Pope takes selfies. If you're a committed writer and/or reader, though, you can get a better likeness than that. Share your shelfies, picture of your books. Give yourself a little leeway, and you can include your desk, your writing space and your reading corner. Why post a picture of your ugly mug? Show us your frontal cortex!
Here's the most public of my shelfies, the bookcase beside my fireplace. It displays the books most worth looking at as objects. Almost all of those on the top two shelves were my mother's or my grandmother's. They're bound in leather, tooled in gold. (The books, not my progenitors, though they were pretty hidebound, too.) The stretch of identical bindings is a set of officially worthy books, some of which are indispensable, like Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights, though I'd already read those in paperback before it occurred to me to look through the family holdings. On the other hand, Lord Charnwood's biography of Abraham Lincoln will probably be up there, unmoved and undusted, when I die.
The tall books on the bottom shelves are mostly art and coffee table books. I have no memory at all of their provenance. I think people break in at night and drop them off to free up their own shelf space.
Below, in extreme contrast, is The Holy of Holies. Books have to be canonized to get here, and for this purpose, I am the Pope. Most are fiction; a few belong on the history or science shelves. Atwood and Byatt are there, as are Pogo, the best of Diana Wynne Jones, and Perfection Salad, a study on the sociology of home cooking around 1900 that transports me to my grandmother's kitchen. The woman in the picture is my best friend. A librarian, naturally.
Next, my Purgatory. These, combined, constitute the To Be Read pile. I'll spare you images of the Lowest Circle (books that have been sitting around so long I can't remember what they're about, let alone why I bought them) and the Middle Circle (books I still firmly intend to get to, only not just now, because the purchasing impulse did not convert quickly enough into the buckling down impulse. There's a lot of nonfiction here.)
Finally, the TBR Upper Circle. These are probably going to make it into my brain within a year or so. I hardly had to rearrange the piles at all to display all my major interests (widdershins from top left): writing, the Israel/Palestine conflict, mysteries and Buddhism. The mix stays the same all the way down. There are also a few specialized books picked up for research, for instance, a detailed description of a classic Yankee-clipper-era mansion and an endless account of everything known about the Abenaki people of New England. But I guess those come in under "writing."
How about you, readers? What do your bookshelves look like? Are your shelfies a better likeness of the real you than what you see in the mirror?
Later addendum: Actually, it's not your frontal cortex (which should have been "frontal lobe" anyway.) You read with your posterior parietal lobe. But somehow, "show us your posterior!" even with "parietal lobe" added, seems to change the tone.
Blame it on Tana French
I read to fall asleep. If you also indulge in that pastime, you may be familiar with the situation when you just can't put down the book so you read late into the night when you should be sleeping and then when you stop reading you cannot go to sleep. Insomnia is not the outcome I want when I read in bed.
A week ago Friday I started reading The Likeness by Tana French. As with any of her books, right from the first enticing chapter her characters looped their arms through mine and transported me into their world. Realizing I had reached my bedtime reading limit the next night when I almost dropped my iPhone several times after I dozed off, I closed the Kindle app ready for a good sleep. The reading potion had worked it's intended magic.
Or so I thought. I tossed. Covers off. I turned. Covers back on. The last time I looked at the clock, it was 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning. I blamed my inability to sleep on the nine boys who were having a sleepover at my daughter's house next door, celebrating my grandson's thirteenth birthday. There wasn't much sleeping accomplished that night by anyone in the house as the nine boys roamed outside in the yard and in the park across the street then retired to the room about three feet from our casita. By the sounds of it, a good time was had by all!
Sunday night we were all in bed early. I was close enough to the end of The Likeness that if I could stay awake long enough I'd be able to finish it. My favorite part of reading a mystery is when I hit my "sweet" spot–about 75% of the way through the book-which means all my questions will be answered by the time I fall asleep.
By midnight I had reached the end of the book. Exhausted from Saturday night's abbreviated sleep, I should have easily snored my way into dreamland at that point.
The last time I looked at the clock was at 2:30 a.m.
I blame it all on Tana French (not on teenage boys or plain old insomnia). Her psychological twists and thriller turns must have made me too worked-up, or anxious, or over-stimulated, to fall asleep. With that in mind, on Monday evening I found an innocuous historical mystery with which to read my way to sleep. Worked like a charm. Guess I don't need Tylenol PM just yet.
Genre smorgasbord
How do I even dare to refer to myself as a writer when I am still figuring out what genre is calling my name? Six years ago I started in my writing group assuming that I'd write contemporary fiction, or chick lit as the worst case scenario, and when I got really good I'd advance to literary fiction. I needed a writing project so I took the easiest route and continued where I had started over twenty years earlier with my novel, "Anne" (genre to be determined). I was able to produce about 140 pages of a draft so rough you could rip the skin off your fingers just turning the pages.
After reading and critiquing the murder mysteries/cozies created by fellow group members, I decided to write murder mysteries, of which I have accumulated a number of first drafts, partial drafts, and rough outlines. I'm beginning to wonder if I haven't just fallen under the influence of those members who love to write murder mysteries/cozies and are pretty darn good at it. They get excited over how much of a drug it will take to kill a character and whether his weight and how much he just ate should be manipulated to make it work within the allotted time frame.
Am I that same writer? It's not looking that way.
What my characters are thinking about is more to my liking. My approach in real life (there is such a thing and it's always getting in the way of my writing time) is to analyze why people around me do what they do. Or don't do. Psychological thrillers, maybe?
This week at the first writing group meeting I attended in weeks I floated the idea of writing historical fiction. It's the genre I currently gravitate to for reading pleasure, particularly World War II and the Revolutionary War novels. (I did mention in an earlier post that I was Betsy Ross in a previous life, right?) I already have a setting for my first attempt at this genre!
Historical fiction requires research and getting the details correct while you're making up some of the characters, dialogue, and events. Epiphany: that's control. And I like being in control. Duh. That's what writing fiction is all about: creating and manipulating characters and action any way your heart desires. And any fiction genre lets you do that. Except with historical fiction you take control of events that have actually taken place. That's power.
Meanwhile, I've committed to submitting an outline of the murder mystery I've started recently, "Patsy's Posse". Why? To prove I can complete an outline. To give a murder mystery one more try before I move on. (To what?) Also, I'm attending the New England Crime Bake 2016 in November so I might as well hang in there with murder mysteries until then. I signed up for the Agent & Editor roundtable and I need to produce a decent first page of a manuscript. Let's hope I can get that far in three months.
Reading and writing as a hospital visitor
My mother has been in the ICU for eleven days now following heart surgery. I've visited her every day; sitting in a hospital room watching a muted television stuck on the HGTV channel has not inspired me to write fiction. Reading–I have done a fair amount of that. Of squiggly lines and numbers, not words, a constant stream of changing numbers that I struggle to interpret.
The writing I've produced has been non-fiction, texts updating my family on my mother's condition and progress, answering questions, explaining things that I don't understand in a reassuring way that won't set off any alarms. I try to wring the emotion out of my electronic updates using simple words and, often, emoji. (A picture is worth a thousand words, and I love my emoji.)
I don't report when my mother moans, talks in her sleep, or the look on her face when she is awake and uncomfortable, tired, depressed, discouraged. A moan from my mother is more revealing than when she verbalizes that she is uncomfortable. A moan is just one sound yet I know immediately that there's a problem. I don't include that in my family updates, other than to report the extent of her pain, but as a fiction writer the opposite is true. I must convey pain through "showing not telling".
I would like to work on that in my fiction writing: increase showing and decrease telling. Instead of saying "I'm tired of the drive to the hospital," I could say "I feel like putting my head down on the steering wheel and going to sleep." (If my daughters read that, I imagine I will generate a flurry of texts among them concerned about my well-being.) My intent is to convey weariness not tiredness. As a writer, my job is to insure that my writing is interpreted correctly—whether by my daughters or my readers.
I aim for clarity and brevity in my writing. Yet fiction writing is improved through the use of metaphors, similes, analogies, and emotion. In the above example, I would use "weary" in my family text, if at all, but in my fiction writing I would incorporate the steering wheel.
Writers glean writing material from every experience, whether through an overheard conversation between two nurses in the ICU or observing a frustrated woman help her elderly mother navigate the security line at an airport. Most of us can't resist recording these tidbits so we can refer to them when needed. Some writers carry tiny notebooks. I prefer to record them in my phone. It's always with me and less conspicuous. Who knows? I could be typing a text response to my daughters: "No, I am not suicidal."
Why don't I write?
Today's post on the Maine Crime Writers blog by Bruce Robert Coffin about why he writes resonated with me, as do many of their posts. Beyond the writing connection, it may be because I spent my "formative" years (ages 4 to 14) living in Bangor.
Funny how my reasons for not writing when I should be writing mirror Coffin's reasons for writing…
He writes to quiet those voices he hears in the middle of the night. When I can't sleep, I think about my characters and what they are up to and–just as when I was hypnotized on a stage in front of hundreds of people–before I know it I'm sound asleep. No need to keep pen and paper on my nightstand. (I do but, as you may recall, I can't read what I've written so I use it for grocery lists.)
Coffin apparently has some demanding, strong-willed characters in his stories who have no qualms about disagreeing with his plans for them. My characters, on the other hand, hang around as they lean against the walls, hands in their pockets, and wait for direction from me. Don't they realize how much work they make for me with their lack of gumption and rebelliousness? Give me a protagonist who has a mind of her own and flaunts (my) authority and I'll step back and let her take charge.
I don't know where he gets some of his characters, either. Apparently his Sergeant Byron takes Coffin for rides in his car on his way to catch the bad guy. Instead of the other way around. As none of my characters have drivers' licenses they expect me to drive them wherever they need to go. I just don't have time for that. Maybe carpooling is the answer?
One thing we do have in common is that he doesn't appear to prepare in-depth outlines. (And why should he? His characters run the show.) I'm a proud pantser and I surmise that Coffin is as well, based upon his comment that the enjoyment he derives from writing is not knowing what is going to happen in his stories.
Unfortunately for me, a newbie cozy/murder mystery writer, demands are being made of me that I may not be able to meet. After submitting my rough plot summary and character description for a new cozy to my writing group last night I've been asked to write the murder scene. Before I write anything else. The audacity! That I should know "who done it" before, well, before I know anything else. Apparently the writer, unlike the reader, should know this prior to investing time and energy into writing the actual book. Sigh. Big sigh. How do I reconcile this with my badge of honor as a pantser? I suppose it could be to ensure that the reader will want to invest time and energy into reading my book…
Giveaway Books. Or Not.
The annual Five Colleges Book Sale is a big deal here in the Upper Valley. Organized to fund scholarships for New Hampshire and Vermont students at Mt. Holyoke, Simmons, Smith, Vassar, and Wellesley colleges, it is the largest second-hand book sale in northern New England. For this book addict, it is a blessed way to reduce my library, at least for the two weeks between when I drop off my contributions and when I attend the sale.
Today, I went down to the basement to pack up the pile of books that I have winnowed over the last year. Here are a few of the items you'll be able to buy at a really good price, while benefitting worthy young scholars:
The German Cookbook, by Mimi Sheraton. I bought this book hoping to please my Germanophile husband with the dishes of his ancestors.
I should have checked the apple strudel recipe before I forked over the cash. It involves rolling out dough, which you have already slapped down on the pastry board 115 times, over a whole kitchen table until it is as thin as tissue paper. Guess I'll have to think of some other way to please my husband.
Two biographies of Samuel Johnson. I tried hard to like Johnson. I read Boswell's Life of Johnson and was sure he had to be right about his idol. So I read these books. Doubtless they are great works of scholarship. But what kind of idiot tries to write a life of Johnson after Boswell?
Six paperback murder mysteries, published between 1993 and 2014. I read them all within the last two or three years. I cannot remember the plot of a single one. This confirms me in my dreary notion that my own mystery manuscript will have to be re-re-re-revised till Judgment Day.
Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown. Brown's The Da Vinci Code was a page turner, I admit. No matter that it read like its own outline. Like everyone else, I couldn't put it down. So I went and paid the hardback price for his earlier book. It was like The Da Vinci Code if The Da Vinci Code had never been outlined at all. It had angels and demons. I guess. Further, deponent remembereth not.
The Strange Ride of Rudyard Kipling. His Life and Works, by Angus Wilson. I haven't read this one. It belonged to my late husband. I'd like to read it…but there just isn't TIME. I flipped through it… it looks fascinating…with photos, yet…a Spy cartoon…but something's got to go. I can't keep retrieving things from the pile.
Which brings me to the more interesting part of this list. Below are several books from the pile that the Five-Colleges sale will not be seeing. How long have they languished in this limbo? And more important, what was I thinking when I put them there?
Something of Myself, by Rudyard Kipling. I compromised. I'll give up the biography and keep the autobiography. I flipped through this, too. I cannot discard a book that includes the sentence, "For the great J.M. [Cook] himself – the man with the iron mouth and domed brow – had been one of my father's guests at Lahore when he was trying to induce the Indian Government to let him take over the annual pilgrimage to Mecca as a business proposition."
The Letters of Madame, Vol. II. Princess Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, known as "Madame," married Louis XIV's brother in 1671. She was a woman
who did not pussyfoot. She slapped her son's face before the whole court when she learned that he had agreed to marry one of his royal uncle's bastards. She never had the slightest desire to participate in court intrigue, love affairs, government or fashion. She liked hunting all day, she liked her meals large and regular, and she loved to write letters. The accounts she sent to her German family and friends about the court at Versailles were so frank that the government used them to blackmail her in later life. Their demand? That she shut up about her opinion of Mme. de Maintenon, the king's mistress. I found this second volume, without its first, in a second-hand bookstore, and I have been looking for Volume I ever since.
Howe & Hummel: Their True and Scandalous History, by Richard H. Rovere. William F. Howe and Abraham H. Hummel were New York lawyers in the second half of the nineteenth century. They got murderers off scot free. They got Lilian Russell divorced – frequently. They bought off witnesses. Hummel eventually went to jail himself. If you liked the movie Chicago, you'd love Howe & Hummel.
A Moveable Feast, by Ernest Hemingway. Good grief! This is a first edition, bought by my mother when it came out in 1964. Just last year, I bought the new edition that includes the parts that Hemingway's publishers cut, and I hunted for this book to compare it with. And there it was, down in the giveaway pile. I must have been mad.
These notes are based on the contents of the first two grocery bags of books that made up the pile. There are two more. I don't dare look into them.
More than one
The royal blue three-ring binder taunts me from its secure spot on the bookshelf. Eighty-one completed pages of "Anne" with additional pages of notes, outlines, and prose tucked here and there. Hidden underneath are two manila folders. One holds "It Takes A Village Store," 50,065 words of my 2014 NaNoWriMo submission. "Full Circle," my 2015 submission, 50,212 words total, is ensconced in the other. The main characters of each novel are strong women from the same family, a mother, daughter, and niece/cousin. The setting is the same town for all three novels.
Originally I intended to have the novels comprise a trilogy but now I am reconsidering that. I feel that it makes more sense to combine them into one novel. How did I reach that conclusion? Good question. One issue is that none of the three are long enough in their current state to be a complete novel. Another problem is that they are extensions of each other, their plots and characters interwoven as only a family can be. I could solve the problems by expanding each of them, differentiating the plots so that they stand alone yet remain connected. Or I could stick with my decision to produce a single novel. Flip a coin?
I have looked for novels with more than one main character, and diverse points of view (obviously), for inspiration. I am surprised that the last three random books I've read meet those criteria. ("The Valley of Amazement" by Amy Tan; "the speed of light" by Elizabeth Rosner; "Life After Life" by Jill McCorkle.) Each one has taken a different approach, probably none of which will work for me.
A long time ago I heard that first-time authors should stick to a straightforward, one main character, one point of view, story. I can see the wisdom in that advice. Yet I'm in a situation where that won't work. Unless I write three separate novels. Can you hear my teeth gnashing?
No wonder the binder and the two folders that took up valuable space in my suitcase—at least two pairs of shorts worth–have sat untouched on the bookshelf for two months. (Of course, they also are on my laptop but a hard copy is easier to edit. You've got to pick it up to do that.)
My only writing goal for this winter in Arizona was to work on this project. Instead, I have devoted my writing time to my short story, "He's All She Has" (originally titled "The Intruder"). The last revision of this story garnered the suggestion from John, our facilitator, that I put it aside and move onto something else. And I thought it was one revision away from being completed…I'll try to put a positive spin on it–guess I'll have time to work on my novel(s)!