text:
Fear the Kindle
Amazon's amazing e-book reader is bad news for the publishing industry.
It's hard not to love Amazon's new e-book reader. For starters, it's gorgeous. Unlike its bulky predecessor, the redesigned $359 Kindle, which came out this week, is light, thin, and disappears in your hands. If you think there's no way you could ever get used to curling up with an electronic reader, you haven't given the Kindle a chance. Load up a good book and you'll soon forget you're reading plastic rather than paper. You'll also wonder how you ever did without it. The Kindle makes buying, storing, and organizing your favorite books and magazines effortless. You can take your entire library with you wherever you go and switch from reading the latest New Yorker to the latest best-seller without rolling out of bed. In my few days using it, I was won over: The Kindle is the future of publishing.
And that's what scares me. Amazon's reader is a brilliant device that shanghais book buyers and the book industry into accepting a radically diminished marketplace for published works. If the Kindle succeeds on its current terms, and all signs suggest it'll be a blockbuster (thanks Oprah!), Amazon will make a bundle. But everyone else with a stake in a vibrant book industry—authors, publishers, libraries, chain bookstores, indie bookstores, and, not least, readers—stands to lose out.
To understand why, consider how simple it is to buy books on your Kindle. You press a button to take you to Amazon's store, type in a title or author, and press Buy. In 10 seconds, the book's yours. Everything is automated: When you buy the Kindle, Amazon pre-syncs your reader with your account info, so there's no need to type in a credit card number or billing address. There's no need to connect the Kindle to your computer, either—it comes with free, built-in cellular Internet access that lets you buy books from just about anywhere. In addition, Kindle books are cheap, the majority selling for $9.99 or less. Consequently, as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told investors last month, Kindle owners are voracious book buyers. According to the company's stats, when people get a Kindle, they keep buying the same number of physical books as they did before—and they buy nearly twice as many e-books as paper books.
In exchange for this convenience, though, the Kindle locks you down with more rules than the Army Field Manual. The Kindle won't let you resell or share your books. Anything you buy through the reader is fixed to your Amazon account, readable only on the Kindle or other devices that Amazon may one day deem appropriate. (The company has hinted that it'll build an iPhone app that can read Kindle books.) Even worse, you can buy books for your Kindle only from Amazon's store. Indeed, the device makes it difficult to read anything that's not somehow routed through Amazon first—you can surf the Web on the Kindle, and you can convert some of your personal Microsoft Word or text files to the device's format, but doing so is slow and not very reliable. In order to read blogs, magazines, newspapers, and books, you've really got to go through Amazon's store first.
You can see where this is going: Kindle owners buy a lot of stuff, and the more stuff they buy, the more likely they are to stick with the Kindle in the future, even when/if someone else invents a better, more open e-book service. This restriction makes Amazon the prime market for book publishers. How can they resist giving over their entire catalog to a store that attracts so many eager, captive shoppers? Publishers' acquiescence in turn increases the Kindle's appeal to new buyers. If you're in the market for an e-book reader, you'll probably choose the one that offers the most books, and that means Kindle. (At the moment, there are about 240,000 titles available for the Kindle; the Sony Reader, its closest rival, has fewer than 100,000.) Taken together, these trends all point in one direction—Amazon will come to rule the market for e-books. And as the master of the e-book universe, Amazon will eventually call the shots on pricing, marketing, and everything else associated with the new medium.
The Kindle isn't the first electronic device to impose unpalatable restrictions on users. Until recently, if you wanted to (legally) download a broad range of major-label music for your iPod, you had to buy it from Apple. * (Ironically, it was Amazon that launched the first big online store that sold music without restrictions.) The same goes for video games. You can't play just any game on your Xbox. You can play only the games that have been approved and licensed by Microsoft. Then there's the iPhone, a veritable electronic Attica. The iPhone lets you buy music wirelessly—as long as you buy it from Apple. The iPhone lets you add new programs to your device—though only the programs that Apple approves of. Other than that, you're free to do what you like!
But the Kindle's restrictions are more worrying than those associated with the iPhone, the iPod, and other gizmos. For one thing, if you objected to the iTunes Store's policies, there was always another way to legally buy music for your iPod—you could buy CDs (from Amazon, perhaps) and rip the tracks to MP3. That's not an option for books; there's no easy way to turn dead trees into electrons. Moreover, books are important. As a culture, we've somehow determined that it's OK for a video-game console maker to demand licensing fees and exercise complete control over the titles that get on to their systems. Sure, this restricts creativity and free expression, but if that's the business model that keeps the game business alive, so be it.
But we've come to a different cultural consensus on books. First, we've decided that books should be sharable—when you buy a book, you can pass it along to others freely. In fact, governments and large institutions actively encourage the practice; we build huge, beautiful buildings devoted to lending books to perfect strangers. We've also decided that there should be an aftermarket for books: When you buy a book, you're also buying the right to sell that book when you're done with it. This not only helps people who can't afford new books, it also encourages those who can afford them to buy more—it's much less risky to buy a $30 hardcover if you know you can sell it for $15 in six months. (Amazon is one of the biggest players in the used-book market.) And we'd certainly balk at a world in which your books were somehow locked to the store where you bought them. Say Barnes & Noble signed a deal to sell the next Twilightbook at a huge discount. But with a catch—the book would be published in invisible ink, and in order to read it you'd need to buy a special Barnes & Noble black light. This is ludicrous, of course, and no bookstore would ever attempt such a deal. But what's the Kindle other than a fancy digital decoder ring?
Some publishers, wary of the Kindle's restrictions, have declined to make their books available for the device. Tim O'Reilly, the tech book publisher and digital evangelist, wrote in Forbes recently that the Kindle's requirement that all books be bought through Amazon was "a non-starter for us." O'Reilly instead chose to publish e-books using the open ePub format, which can be read on devices like the Sony Reader and the iPhone but not the Kindle.
But many publishers are wary of going the open-standards route. The best way to make e-books sharable and to untether them from proprietary devices like the Kindle would be to sell them without copy protection—but the book industry, like every other content business, is paranoid about piracy. Record labels fell into the same trap: They demanded that Apple impose copy restrictions that forced iPod owners to buy music through the iTunes store. But that ended up making Apple the nation's largest music retailer, with the power to single-handedly determine the price of all recorded music.
"Everyone is worried that Amazon will end up becoming to books what Apple is to music," Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, told me. (Aiken's group has criticized the Kindle's text-to-speech feature, which automatically creates a kind of audio book from an e-book; the guild says that Amazon should compensate authors for reading their books aloud. But that's another argument for another time.)
Aiken points out that even if Amazon does create a Kindle app for the iPhone and other devices, the service will still have the same fundamental problems. Your books will still be locked to Amazon—you'll just have two or three places to read them rather than one. At the moment, Aiken notes, Amazon is selling e-books at a loss in order to spur Kindle sales—it sells books for $10, but pays publishers more than $10 per copy. But once Amazon gets control of the market, it will be free to impose price reductions—to force publishers to reduce their e-book rates to less than $9.99. "That would be potentially devastating to the industry," he says.
And even if the publishing industry isn't devastated when a single bookstore takes over the e-book world, the marketplace for books will be diminished. Amazon stands as proof of how innovative retail practices can transform an industry; over the last decade and a half, the company revolutionized the book market with innovations like customer reviews, collaborative filtering, one-click shopping, and unbeatable customer service. It launched all these services to stay ahead of its rivals. But what will happen when it has no rivals?
Correction, Feb. 27, 2009: This article originally stated that Apple's iTunes Store was for many years the only place to legally download music for the iPod. It was the leading online purveyor of music produced by major record labels. (Return to the corrected sentence.)


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As a teenager, Matt Skellenger was a fan of Twin Peaks, David Lynch's short-lived television series. He loved the contrast of darkness and light in the show, as well as the conflict and resolution. From a textural standpoint, both of those elements play a part in Skellenger's new album, The Owls Are Not What They Seem; some of the song titles are nods to the show as well.
Skellenger says the disc's theme rests on the notion that things are not what they seem, and he explores the idea of duality within them. Many of the songs are exercises on the number two, such as two instruments playing the main melody in unison instead of harmonizing. At times, for example, trumpeter Ron Miles or Skellenger himself will double the melody with pedal-steel player Glenn Taylor.
The other number-two component, Skellenger says, is the fact that a lot of the tracks on the ten-song album could be considered two-part tunes, including "1975," "The Magic" and "The Owls Are Not What They Seem." All of those titles, of course, were inspired by Twin Peaks. "I always have a hard time naming instrumental songs," Skellenger reveals. "Those quotes always kind of stuck with me. It just seemed appropriate for the music and the timing of it."
Matt Skellenger Group
Matt Skellenger Group, 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday, April 6, Dazzle, 930 Lincoln Street, $10, 303-839-5100.
But while much of the inspiration for Owls comes from Twin Peaks, the album isn't meant to be a soundtrack. Unlike Angelo Badalamenti's evocative score, Skellenger's music fuses jazz and Indian music. Skellenger hasn't always been a purveyor of jazz, however.
In the early '90s, in fact, he was into bands with prominent bass players, in which the bass was a driving force: Primus, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fishbone, Jane's Addiction and Rage Against the Machine. After graduating from high school, in 1997, Skellenger got more into the jam-band scene. Around the same time, he discovered Béla Fleck and his bassist, Victor Wooten, and started going to Wooten's camps. (Over the past decade, Skellenger says, he's been to six of his bass camps.)
While in college at Metro State, Skellenger studied with Ron Miles, who had a major influence on the bassist. It was during this time that Skellenger started transitioning from rock and funk into jazz.
The inspiration that he took from both Wooten and Miles goes beyond the music; the way the two carry themselves and the type of people they are have also had a substantial effect on Skellenger. "They're just world-class people in addition to being world-class musicians," he says. "I think there's a reason that those two things go together.
"Ron, specifically, has always been very warm, very giving and very humble," says Skellenger. "He, in my opinion, is one of the best improvisers and composers in the world. I'm very blessed and honored to be playing with him and having him play in my group and play my music."
Similarly, Skellenger recalls an anecdote he heard at a recent Wooten clinic in which someone asked Wooten what he looked for in a drummer. Wooten, he says, answered, "'The first thing I look for is a friend — somebody who's going to be a friend to me when I hang out and be able to support me when I need to be supported and listen to me when I need to be listened to. I would do the same for them.'"
"I think that part of playing music with people is really important and influential on me," says Skellenger.
Since he was into the more flashy bass playing of Les Claypool and Flea early on, Skellenger was drawn to Wooten's style of playing. "As I studied Victor's playing more and got to know him," he explains, "the thing [I found] that I really like about him and that I like about his playing is that he's really such a great feel player. Everything he does has such good groove and feel, and doing all the complex stuff — that's why it sounds so good, because he's got that great pocket and great feel.
"It really taught me that the technique stuff and the flashy stuff is great," he goes on, "but if you don't have that foundation underneath it, it doesn't work. For me, that was something that was really big once I started going to his camps and actually studying with him. Focusing more on the fundamentals and the basics in order to make the more complex stuff sound more musical and have better feel and better groove."
On The Owls Are Not What They Seem, Skellenger clearly has a solid handle on the groove, which is helped by his brother, percussionist Andy Skellenger, and Dave Miller, who both play Indian tabla and African unu drums on the album. Both excellent hand percussionists, they get a lot of variation in their sound, says Skellenger, because there's a lot of versatility between the two: "I can kind of mix and match their sound depending on the tune," he points out.
And while there's a certain familiarity that comes with playing with a family member, Skellenger and Miller have also been playing music together for the past two decades, since Skellenger was fourteen years old.
The two percussionists have been instrumental in helping Skellenger carve out his sound. He didn't necessarily start out looking to fuse jazz and Indian music, but thanks to their knowledge of the latter, that's what ended up happening. In addition, Skellenger's older brother, who's not a musician but is a music lover, introduced the three of them to the music of Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain and Indian violinist L. Shankar.
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"So combining all those things was really just a product of living my life and living in the environment that I was living in," Skellenger observes. "I was surrounded by a lot of things — the rock, the jazz, the Indian stuff."
In addition to complex bass playing, Skellenger says, he's always been into music that has complex arrangements. A lot of his songs have mixed meters or odd time signatures. "It's not like a traditional jazz tune, where it's the same form throughout the whole song, where you play the melody and you improvise over the same form," he notes. "I have more of a rock or pop influence, where it's more like a rock arrangement."
Skellenger is able to draw on those influences for the other acts he performs with. In addition to his own music, he plays a supportive role in the jazz-meets-hip-hop act Beats Noir, which calls for more funk- and groove-oriented bass lines; and with Grown Ass Man Band, he plays more in the pocket. Whatever type of music he's working on, for Skellenger, it's all about playing your part.
"A big part of playing music and being in a band is being a team and sacrificing for each other and creating a bigger thing than the individual," he says. "That's always been a huge influence on me and my life."

subset: commoncrawl


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Formalism and Slow Victories in "Saving the Neighborhood"
We're fewer than 24 hours away from seeing Carol Rose and Richard Brooks at a conference at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, titled "Saving the Neighborhood," after their new book. (Spaces still available! Register here.) I posted about the information law aspects of racial covenants here (cross-posted by Jane at […]
Comments Off on Formalism and Slow Victories in "Saving the Neighborhood"
Filed under: Books, Court Decisions, Intermediaries, Law School, Media, Politics, Privacy, Scholarship


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NH fishermen now selling their fresh catches across the stateSeptember 29. 2013 8:03PM
A community-supported fishery has spread its net from Portsmouth to Peterborough since June.
Owners of fishing boats from Seabrook, Hampton, Rye Harbor and Portsmouth Harbor first organized to get fresh, locally caught fish to Seacoast residents, according to Sarah VanHorn, general manager of New Hampshire Community Seafood.
The effort began at Portsmouth's Peirce Island, but it wasn't long before the CSF was making weekly deliveries at the Manchester Farmers Market. Now Peterborough is part of the network, VanHorn said.
"Currently we have 30 members in Peterborough who demanded fresh fish and have established a community drop almost entirely on their own," VanHorn said. "In order for the fish to get to Peterborough, a different member volunteers each week to drive to the Manchester Farmers Market, and they pick-up the coolers with everyone's fish in it."
The CSF's third, eight-week season starts today and runs through Nov. 24.
A share for a half-pound of fish fillets weekly costs $50; one pound a week is $100 and two pounds weekly are $200. Species can include cod, hake, pollock, flounder, butterfish, monkfish, redfish and "dayboat dogfish," VanHorn said. People can also buy whole fish or a combination of whole fish and fillets.
"It's a pretty inspiring model, and we would love to expand on the concept throughout the state," VanHorn said.
"With enough interest from different regions, we are willing to accommodate."
VanHorn said this will be the last season for the CSF until the start of the new fishing year next June. For more information, go to www.nhcommunityseafood.com


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|2013-02-07, 06:08
|Link #11962
After all, what he's describing here doesn't solely describe Medaka, the same could be said about pretty much all shonen heroes. To what extent would the end justify the means?
I think what you fail to understand is that, logically speaking, these "heroic actions" are more greedy than anything else. Thus why the two were having an extensive conversation
about it. Kotobuki and Yuzuriha were actually sympathizing with Iihiko, because although it's being labeled as "heroic", her actions so far have seemed to cause more harm than good.
My guess is that they're just trying to define what being a "hero" means. While you easily classified it as anything "any remotely heroic character would do", maybe what Nisio is trying to
do is make you question what heroism actually is. It seems like they're pitting two differing philosophies here, kinda curious what answer they come up with that's pro-medaka.
Though I will question why Zenkichi matters so much to you folks at this point. If you've been following the
story up until now, his story arc is pretty much been sidelined. To expect anything more seems silly as there's no conceivable reason that Zenkichi would suddenly become more important in this fight, so I would hope people would just give up in bringing it up time after time. This fight isn't about Zenkichi, it doesn't seem to be that much about Shiranui either, but it's becoming more geared toward Iihiko.
I also find it interesting or well, amusing to say that least, that Nisio is trying to characterize Iihiko after all this time. He's certainly being more emotive than usual.
Though it is an interesting viewpoint. To him, Medaka is a monster, when he himself almost literally looks like a monster. Kinda funny in a way.
Last edited by Kurosu; 2013-02-07 at 06:22.
|2013-02-07, 07:58
|Link #11965
Join Date: Aug 2008
Nienami... hmm.. as was mentioned before this was telegraphed the moment her style was mentioned in detail.
Of course people didn't belive it considering the history of the manga, and I am still skeptical about it till the Iihiko situation is resolved.
|2013-02-07, 08:17
|Link #11966
The Shermain
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: NY
Age: 39
I've begun to see a correlation between Nishio Ishin and Christopher Nolan. Their fans are extremely loyal and come down hard on anyone who doesn't worship them and find everything they create to be absolute genius. Meanwhile, their detractors always yell about how overrated they are and that those who like them are just bandwagon fanboys. It's quite an amusing parallel.
I think Nishio has flashes of brilliance. I thought Bakemonogatari was an great series, but only because I liked SHAFT's handling of it.... I probably wouldn't have liked the light novel series. Nishio's work is definitely an acquired taste and I feel that Medaka Box is definitely his weakest work and a mediocre manga in general. It's like Haruhi with a twist... and I couldn't stand that series either.
|2013-02-07, 08:32
|Link #11967
Romance Expert
Join Date: Feb 2012
some OP insistent character accompanied by the normal snarky guy.
anyway, I did thought a bit of nienami doing something more, when fukurou was explaining how her's is the strongest. I sort of thought maybe she'd teach medaka or assist in the battle.
its just that after the professor was killed and medaka learning her own style got rid of that idea quickly. fighting by herself came from left field.
hehe, nisio seems to have deconstructed the "deus ex machina" scenario, by making nienami easily ignorable and making her tag along while just making a passing comment about her powers.
|2013-02-07, 10:05
|Link #11968
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
And yet the "Nisio has no idea of what he's doing anymore" everyday more stupid argument. That's it, just keep spouting the same bullshit all over again to convinces yourselves. You're stubborn like a brick wall
But I don't care anymore. I loved everything in this chapter.
|2013-02-07, 10:42
|Link #11969
The Shermain
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: NY
Age: 39
|2013-02-07, 11:04
|Link #11970
The Mage of Four Hearts
Join Date: Mar 2010
Age: 28
In any case, I quite liked the chapter, especially Nienami at the end there. I look forward to next week.
|2013-02-07, 11:11
|Link #11972
Join Date: Aug 2004
Age: 32
|2013-02-07, 11:36
|Link #11973
Homo Ludens
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Canada
Age: 28
There's no consistency here. It really feels like an excuse to have Iihiko get angry and beat her to death.
Either way, this is going to end happily since Medaka still has to undergo the Kurokami Trials so I really don't see how this is going to end up delivering any sort of real message.
Last edited by Tyabann; 2013-02-07 at 11:57.
|2013-02-07, 12:02
|Link #11974
The Mage of Four Hearts
Join Date: Mar 2010
Age: 28
|2013-02-07, 12:12
|Link #11975
Join Date: Aug 2009
Age: 27
So in the end, it seems Medaka has gone from one extreme to the other. The only thing that hasn't changed in this respect is how she absolutely refuses to compromise her position. So, no. It all makes perfect sense to me. If you want to argue about the execution, then that's a whole different matter...
|2013-02-07, 12:54
|Link #11977
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Somewhere
It is indeed rather interesting how we all view Medaka. Is it really heroic to never give up? There's always that fine line that we straddle. Part of me felt Medaka was selfish("I'll definitely become friends with you"), while another part knew that Shiranui felt similarly so it should be alright...right? Should Medaka just meddle if Shiranui is genuinely fine with accepting her fate? When should we let someone decide their own fate, even if it seems detrimental?
Medaka is admirable because she constantly tries to defy constraints, but she's also a bit irritating in her stubbornness. Maybe I'm resigned, but she is a main character, a way to analyze the various roles that the characters are given.
|2013-02-07, 13:27
|Link #11980
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
|action, comedy, harem, nishio, romance, shounen, student council
|Thread Tools


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|Data Dictionary:
|ACS 2010 (1-Year Estimates)
|Data Source:
|U.S. Census Bureau
|Means of Transportation to Work by Travel Time to Work
|Universe: Universe: Workers 16 years and Over who did not work at home
B08134090 60 or More Minutes
Aggregation method:
|Excerpt from:
|Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey 2010 Summary File: Technical Documentation.
|ACS 2010-1yr Summary File: Technical Documentation -> Appendix A. Supplemental Documentation -> 2010 Subject Definitions -> Population Variables -> Journey to Work


text:
About Illinois Wildflowers
The Illinois Wildflowers site provides descriptions, photographs, and range maps of over 800 species of vascular plants in Illinois, USA. All of the text, maps, line drawings, and nearly all of the images are the work of Dr. John Hilty, who has spent over six years organizing this information into five habitat categories: Prairie, savanna, weedy, wetland, and woodland. A sixth category includes grasses, sedges & non-flowering plants.


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|2012-12-31, 23:15
|Link #1741
Know who you are
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Resides within the depths of Ned infested Glasgow
I'm with Mr T here, I've come to accept delicious trap where ever they are and I'd say Terumi qualifies as a DT
Sure this may not be the best turn of events for the story but I see it as a rather fun thing.
Probably better than trying to scurry around doing other things in order to get the girls attention.
Instead he has to take this rather bold move in order to get the ball rolling and I don't think we'll see it go too far anyway.
|2012-12-31, 23:57
|Link #1743
Emperor of the Expected
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Florida
The aim is just to seduce the teacher away from Tsukasa, which is hinted that she was considering of meeting him when pondering around with her cell phone, so the author more than likely isn't going to go far with this. The aim is to just weaken Tsukasa so I say 2 chapters at least and 4 chapters maximum.
Though it looks like not everyone is not against the cross dressing it seems.
|2013-01-02, 12:15
|Link #1745
Join Date: Nov 2003
there is no double standard here, like the poster below you mentioned, it comes down to sexual preference, dressing up, putting on make up, and going after a guy in a bar, seems pretty homo (I'm not into that). Most of us readers, didn't sign on for this, least I didn't. I'm reading because I want to see the MC evolve from the effeminate/wimpy guy he is to the so called "ladies man" he is billed to become (the ecchi scenes don't hurt).
you can see why many(including me)are disappointed with the chapter.
|2013-01-02, 12:26
|Link #1746
ANEGO Worshiper
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: By the vending machine, drinking tea.
But one thing is being disappointed and another is suddenly throwing out insults (Calling someone or something Gay isn't an insult, but the way people use the term makes it one) and even attacking the manga on some sites. In Batoto the users suddenly changed the manga title to things like "The Tale of Fag Gay-kun" and switching the genre tags for Yaoi and Horror ones. THIS is something I don't think is acceptable.
And it IS having double standards, some of the most famous characters in harems are often traps...but when the MC becomes one people suddenly rage, yet there's not much difference in the two.
|2013-01-02, 12:56
|Link #1747
Join Date: Nov 2003
please enlighten me so I don't offend any one in the future.
I never called it gay because I knew there would be people like you that would get easily offended. (would it have been better if I called it gay?)
the actions going on at batoto are vandalism and should be dealt with at once.
There is no double standard, read what the guy below your original post wrote, it comes down to sexual preference; which seems is what offends you, that people are not more open and receptive, to the idea of a supposedly heterosexual guy (Terumi is supposedly straight)cross dressing and going after men in bars.
that is your problem and you have to deal with it.
|2013-01-02, 13:22
|Link #1748
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
The first pages and chapter set up that he looks like a girl and has been picked on for that. It talked about how even his teacher, which was a male I believe, fell for him.
So this is nothign new.
ALso he is not going to probably even kiss this guy, just hit on him enough so that when the other girl shows up she see's she LOST to him and for whatever reason this makes her want him then.
I'm sure there are plenty of guys that would hit on another guy if that meant getting a girl they want in bed.
|2013-01-02, 13:48
|Link #1749
ANEGO Worshiper
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: By the vending machine, drinking tea.
Anyway, how to describe the chapter? Well there's plenty of better ways than to just go "GAY!". You said it yourself, he's a heterosexual male crossdressing in order to pick-up another guy, though it's the objective that matters really. Terumi's aim isn't to get into the guy's pants nor will be falling in love with him, his methods are not necessarily gay...only insecure people would describe it as this knowing it's just a means to an (very hetero) end.
It's not really about sexual preferences, especially when we're talking about people liking trap harem members vs what Terumi is doing this chapter.
We already established that Terumi's actions aren't really gay since his aim isn't the guy but the woman behind the guy...on the other hand the popular traps in harem manga are guys actually aiming and romantically interested in other guys (the MC) yet I have yet to see people in forums shouting to the heavens about how gay it is.
With all this talk I'm actually hoping we get a Yuri scene some time soon...just to see people's reactions, but that's a discussion or another time.
|2013-01-02, 14:08
|Link #1750
Join Date: Nov 2003
but, back on topic, simonsy, is right now that I look back on it, this is the story about an effeminate guy, who I thought would grow past that phase, but it seems it was just wishful thinking on my part, I got distracted by the boobs and ass to realize it.
|2013-01-02, 14:29
|Link #1751
Marauder Shields
Join Date: Sep 2012
I'm a little confused. Have I understood it right that he turned in to a Trap and wants to seduce the lover of the girl who bullied him years ago because he wants her to fall for him?
I'm curious to see how far he will go with the seducing...
|2013-01-02, 14:46
|Link #1752
Emperor of the Expected
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Florida
The plan is for Terumi to seduce away the object that Tsukasa gets her motivation from. Its to make Tsukasa venerable and more easy to seduce.
Also, one must ask what choice did he have? The first two pages of the chapter assumes that Kaoruko was about to replace Terumi. Terumi was begging for another chance so she made this plan. If Terumi fails this time, its all over so Terumi decided to follow Kaoruko's plan because this is his last chance and Kaoruko is much more knowledgeable than himself.
|2013-01-02, 17:01
|Link #1753
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Frankly I would rather go solo, than follow aunt stupid idea like going trap.
If aunt gave him some *ass* as reward then go do it, but as it is she is just using him like some tool that he is.
This manga never was smart, it was always about tits and ass and wondering if mangaka will cross the border. Crossing the border she did, but this just set new lows for the manga.
No wonder people gave such titles on batoto.
When main character wants to get rid off the fear of women, and next thing he do is dress up as one, which was the reason he got beaten up in the first place, one has to wonder does all of his blood is in his dick, or is he just super retarded.
Frankly even Girls Saurus was less retarded than this.
|2013-01-02, 17:49
|Link #1754
ANEGO Worshiper
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: By the vending machine, drinking tea.
|2013-01-02, 21:16
|Link #1755
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Singapore
From the start, I think we are given hints that Terumi might cross-dress sooner or later.
1) Point 1 - being bully in high school because he was cuter than most girls
2) Point 2 - being misunderstood as girl when he attend college
2) Point 3 - Was threaten to become a make-up test subject
3) Point 4 - Was commented by Aoi that Terumi looks more prettier than her
|2013-01-02, 22:16
|Link #1756
Emperor of the Expected
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Florida
|2013-01-03, 00:22
|Link #1757
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
He should be "so you think I look like a girl? doesn't matter will bang you soon" rather than "oh great aunt please please help me score this dumb chick. Ohh so I need to crossdress and use the worst feature of me that screwed my whole life? And I need to seduce a man? No problem give me high heels and fake boobies, I was always a woman. Btw you know any doc that can cut here and there so I will loose some *sticking out parts*?"
|2013-01-03, 12:35
|Link #1758
Riding the Ange Express
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Sunriseland
|2013-01-03, 13:39
|Link #1759
Marauder Shields
Join Date: Sep 2012
How about with having self-respect, not play along with that nonsense and tell her to fuck of with her ridiculous plan?
At the moment he is just a stupid pawn for his Aunt.
Last edited by Dauerlutscher; 2013-01-03 at 13:52.
|2013-01-03, 15:53
|Link #1760
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Let me ask you guys how the MC has evolved this entire series?
The prologue to the story was that he was a pretty boy who all the girls hated because he was cuter than them and thus they bullied him by various methods including dressing up as a girl.
The story starts by him getting kicked out of the house and forced to move in with his Aunt. The Aunt then sends him after various girls that SHE choses, and he does what she asks and he stops going after said girls when his Aunt tells him to stop. The Aunt rewards him or teaches him inbetween her orders or gets mad at him for failure. And just now his aunt sent him out in girl clothing to hit on a man and he did it.
I see absolutely zero progression this entire series. He is still being bullied by his Aunt. Just like he was when younger. She is basically training him to become her sex slave, or pet. Imagine if the roles were reversed and this was about an Uncle and his Niece. I think everyone would agree that it would look like a typical master/pet relationship going on between the Uncle and Niece. Yet since the pet in this story is a man, all you GUYS think that he is somehow going to evolve and switch the relationship around and become some big pimp and not just his Aunt sex pet.
|harem, seinen, smut
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Talking Point
Electoral visions, on a plasma TV
By Andrei Codrescu
Even as I stood on my tiptoes applauding the Democrats taking over Congress, I kept thinking how ridiculous I looked. Here was an old guy wrapped in a silk brocade robe with a healthy portfolio clapping for a bunch of wealth-confiscators. No, start that again. I am not that guy. I don't own a silk robe, I never stand to applaud any victory, whether it's football or politics. And I'm not old. And the Democrats are not wealth-confiscators, except that a lot of them are very wealthy, having confiscated this and that for themselves at some point.
Still, there are guys like the dude in the robe who believe the old party lines, and it's about them I want to speak. We have such a sports mentality in this country that we are ready at any time to give up our interests just to see a glorious win. We believe, as per their commercials, that Republicans are made of oil, cash and gunpowder, while Demos are redolent of sweat, populism and peace.
In reality, neither party could exist without the other. They are two sides of the same coin. One of them holds power until it gets itself into a mess it can't handle. Then, they call on the other party to fix it. When the Democrats failed to win in Vietnam, a war they waged and couldn't figure out how to get out of, they gave it up to the Republicans, who ended it. (Not before destroying a whole new country, Cambodia, and killing and maiming tens of thousands more people).
Now, it's the Democrats turn to end a war the Republicans started and don't know what to do with. Let's hope they do it without destroying another Cambodia (Syria, maybe?) and sacrificing thousands more people.
As far as the economy goes, the guy won't see much difference. The Republicans gave him enough of a tax break to buy his robe cheap (made in China) and to purchase the plasma TV (made in China) that he's just watched the elections on. That was very Democrat-like of the Republicans, who long ago swapped economic dogma with the Democrats.
Now that the Democrats are in charge, his new robe will be made in Vietnam and when he upgrades his TV, that will be made in Vietnam, too. After some years under the Democrats (not many), Wal-Mart, which owns China, will find an even cheaper China in Vietnam. Vietnam, meanwhile, will be owned by Wal-Mart until Wal-Mart finds another country (Cambodia, maybe?) to take up the torch of cheap. At that point, cheap won't be quite as cheap as it used to be under the Republicans, so there will be clamor for change.
When that happens, the old dude in the Vietnamese robe (he's really old now) will be watching the elections on his wall-sized TV, and will stand up to cheer the winning Republicans. He'll reach out for his cane to stabilize himself, but where his cane used to be stands a Tax Collector with a pit bull called Debt. Behind them is a scorched field of oil derricks hand-pumped by temporary workers from New York. No, it's not global warming, it's an Art Installation.
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Hickenlooper's Colorado blueprint needs solar flare
Colorado economic development officials and General Electric have managed to keep the curtain closed tight on the cha-cha-cha underway to win the coveted PrimeStar Solar manufacturing plant and the 400 or so high-value jobs that would come with it.
Landing the plant would provide an important counterpoint to the sweeping, yet light-on-benchmarks "Blueprint Colorado" ecodevo plan release in July by the state. This is an episode of "So You Think You Can Dance" we need to win.
Gov. John Hickenlooper said in a meeting with Denver Post reporters and editors on July 20 that New York and Florida have aggressive incentive packages in front of a GE site selection committee and Colorado's proposal, while not as rich, could bust a competitive move or two.
No word on when the decision will be made – but it's got to be close.
GE, which owns PrimeStar Solar, certainly is familiar with Colorado's balance sheet. Working with the Golden-based National Renewable Energy Lab, the company made a technological breakthrough at PrimeStar's Arvada test plant that emboldened it enough to announce in April that it wants to build a commercial-scale solar panel manufacturing plant.
Hick said he chatted with GE's top government affairs guy about the plant and their mutual interest in the high-speed game of squash during the recent Western Governors' Association meeting. Let's hope that executive – and the selection committee – also have a hankering for Railyard Ale, one of Hick's signature malts when he ran the Wynkoop Brewing Co., and available only in Colorado.
While the giant hotel and entertainment complex proposed by Gaylord Entertainment Co. in Aurora is getting outsized attention because of its huge incentive package and the concern that it will poach the National Western Stock Show from downtown Denver, this PrimeStar plant may be more important. Just ask yourself this question: What kind of jobs does Blueprint Colorado want us to go all in on? Hospitality industry jobs or manufacturing jobs.


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Reward Up To $20,000 In Whooping Crane Shooting
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Information about the shooting of two endangered whooping cranes in Jefferson Davis Parish could be worth $20,000.
The Advocate reports the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries announced the new reward Monday, pushing it up from the $15,000 offered last month for a tip leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.
Wildlife and Fisheries spokesman Adam Einck says two endangered whooping cranes were found shot on Feb. 7 in Jefferson Davis Parish near Compton and Radio Tower Roads north of Roanoke.
He says one of the birds was dead when discovered.
The other crane initially survived but later died at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, where it had been taken for treatment.


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The Pride of the Sunshine, the University of Florida's marching band, has been spending hour after hour this week at Pony Field on Gale Lemerand Drive preparing for Saturday -- the first performance of its centennial year.
The Pride of the Sunshine, the University of Florida's marching band, has been spending hour after hour this week at Pony Field on Gale Lemerand Drive preparing for Saturday — the first performance of its centennial year.
The band — with students representing more than 100 majors across the UF campus — goes into its 100th year with 365 members, the largest it's ever been. The band practices six hours a week at Pony Field, then rehearses on the turf of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium the Friday before every home game.
"I'm convinced they're some of the hardest-working students on campus," Gator band director Jay Watkins said.
They're also an award-winning band, having won the prestigious Sudler Trophy for 2013.
"It's a huge deal," Watkins said, explaining that the Sudler Trophy celebrates the close historical tie between college marching bands and the American way of life. The trophy will be formally presented on Nov. 9 during the halftime show at UF's homecoming game against Vanderbilt.
The Gator marching band will celebrate the award at a 100th anniversary gala at the Reitz Union on Nov. 23.
Watkins is the seventh director of the Gator marching band in its 100-year history.
"I tell everyone I've got the best job in the world," he said.
Freddy Masterson, the marching band's drum major and a marketing senior at UF, said this is definitely a big year for the band.
"We're coming off an award-winning season," he said. "Expectations are high."
The routines the band will practice and perform on game days are put together in the spring by a volunteer student creative team that is responsible for brainstorming ideas for shows.
"We try to do a different show every week," Watkins said.
In addition to teaching these students how to be an effective part of a marching band, Watkins said he also tries to teach "the things they're gonna need to be successful whatever their career is."
Watkins' direction is held in high regard by band members.
"He's portraying to us the drive to push and we're just feeding off of that," said Adren Hance, a 19-year-old music major who plays trombone.
Brought together by their mutual love of music, the Gator band is a tightly knit group of friends, Hance said.
Masterson echoed this sentiment: "It brings us all together as a family."
"That very first note of pregame, that's when you realize what all the hard work, what it's all about," Masterson said.


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From Grains to Grilling: 10 Food-Related Infographics, Charts, and Flowcharts
I love a good infographic, and we've seen our fair share of good ones here on the site! From a guide to cooking any grain to the best food sources for your essential vitamins, from an apple variety flowchart to a wine and food pairing guide, here are 10 of our favorite food-related infographics, charts, and flowcharts from the archives:
- 1 Best Food Sources for the 13 Essential Vitamins: A Handy Infographic
- 2 Feeling Hungry? Grab an Orange!
- 3 The Healthier Breakfast Flowchart
- 4 Ever Wonder What Wine Goes Best With What Food? This Chart Tells You
- 5 A Helpful Infographic For Summer Grilling: Where Food Goes on the Grill
- 6 Cook Almost Any Grain With This Handy Infographic Chart
- 7 Infographic: The Shelf Life of Food
- 8 An Apple Variety Flowchart
- 9 What Kind Of Pasta Is On Your Plate?
- 10 The Compendious Coffee Chart
Related: Kitchen Conversion Charts from Sweet Fine Day
(Images: as linked)


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PORTLAND — Former University of Maine point guard Raheem Singleton appears to have made the roster of the Maine Red Claws, after four players were cut Sunday.
After Sunday's cuts, the Red Claws have 11 players, plus the two who are down from the Celtics. One more player must be released by Wednesday.
NBA D-League rosters are limited to 10 players, along with as many as three NBA players.
After the cuts, Singleton, 23, is the only backup point guard. First-round pick Shelvin Mack is the starter.
And Singleton is the only rookie remaining, not counting NBA players Kris Joseph and Fab Melo.
Every NBA D-League roster must have at least one rookie.
The four players cut included 6-foot-9 forward Ron Allen and three rookie guards — DeQuan Brooks, Cervante Burrell and Farnold Degand.
The 11 players on the roster are point guards Mack and Singleton, shooting guards Corey Allmond, Xavier Silas and Champ Oguchi, guard/forward Micah Downs, forwards Omar Reed, Chris Wright and Chris Ayer, and centers Brian Cusworth and Scott VanderMeer.
The season begins Friday in Canton, Ohio. The homer opener is Nov. 30.
Oak Hill field hockey edged out by Spruce Mountain
Local roundup: Lawrence field hockey rolls to win over Morse
York County woman charged after child found alone in parking lot
Nation & World
U.S.-China trade war drags on as new tariffs by both sides take effect
Gardiner, Nokomis golf teams advance to KVAC shootout in Class B


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[ The Types Forum (announcements only), http://lists.seas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/types-announce ]
CALL FOR PAPERS ********************************************************************* ATVA 2007 Fifth International Symposium on Automated Technology for Verification and Analysis http://www.yt.cs.titech.ac.jp/atva2007/ Tokyo, Japan, October 22-24, 2007 ********************************************************************* Sponsored by National Institute of Informatics, Japan Kayamori Foundation of Information Science Advancement --------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT DATES Submission of papers (firm): May 14, 2007 Notification of authors : June 25, 2007 Camera-ready papers : July 23, 2007 --------------------------------------------------------------------- INVITED SPEAKERS Martin Abadi (UCSC, Microsoft Research) Ken McMillan (Cadence Berkeley Labs) Moshe Vardi (Rice Univ.) --------------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION ============ ATVA 2007 is the fifth in the series of symposia on Automated Technology for Verification and Analysis. The purpose of ATVA is to promote research on theoretical and practical aspects of automated analysis, verification and synthesis in East Asia by providing a forum for interaction between the regional and the international research communities and industry in the field. The first three ATVA symposia were held in 2003, 2004 and 2005 in Taipei, and ATVA 2006 was held in Beijing. The Proceedings of ATVA 2007 will be published by Springer as a volume in the LNCS series. Submissions reporting original contributions are solicited in all areas of automated verification and analysis. Please visit the ATVA 2007 Web site for details not found in this CFP. SCOPE ===== The scope of interest is intentionally kept broad; it includes : - Theory useful for providing designers with automated support for obtaining correct software or hardware systems, including both functional and non functional aspects, such as: theory on (timed) automata, Petri-nets, concurrency theory, compositionality, model-checking, automated theorem proving, synthesis, performance analysis, correctness-by-construction results, infinite state systems, abstract interpretation, decidability results, parametric analysis or synthesis. - Applications of theory in engineering methods and particular domains and handling of practical problems occurring in tools, such as: analysis and verification tools, synthesis tools, reducing complexity of verification by abstraction, improved representations, handling user level notations, such as UML, practice in industry applications to hardware, software or real-time and embedded systems. Case studies, illustrating the usefulness of tools or a particular approach are also welcome. Theory papers should be motivated by practical problems and applications should be rooted in sound theory. Of particular interest are algorithms on one hand and methods and tools for integrating formal approaches into industrial practice. Special care should be taken as well to present papers in such a way that they are accessible not only to specialists, that is, jargon need to be defined and intuitive interpretation provided for theories. SUBMISSIONS =========== A submitted paper must contain original contributions, clearly written in English, and include comparison with related work. The authors are advised to prepare their manuscripts using the LNCS style. Each paper should be no more than 15 pages long and be submitted electronically via the ATVA 2007 Web site. Simultaneous submissions to other conferences are not allowed. ORGANISATION ================ GENERAL CO-CHAIRS: Teruo Higashino (Osaka Univ., Japan) Yoshio Okamura (STARC, Japan) PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS: Kedar Namjoshi (Bell Labs, USA) Tomohiro Yoneda (National Institute of Informatics, Japan) PROGRAM COMMITTEE ================= Rajeev Alur (University of Pennsylvania) Christel Baier (University of Dresden) Jonathan Billington (University of South Australia) Sung-Deok Cha (Korea Advanced Inst. of Sci. and Techn.) Ching-Tsun Chou (Intel) Jin Song Dong (National University of Singapore) E. Allen Emerson (University of Texas at Austin) Masahiro Fujita (University of Tokyo) Susanne Graf (VERIMAG) Wolfgang Grieskamp (Microsoft research) Teruo Higashino (Osaka University) Kiyoharu Hamaguchi (Osaka University) MoonZoo Kim (KAIST) Orna Kupferman (Hebrew University) Robert P. Kurshan (Cadence) Insup Lee (University of Pennsylvania) Xuandong Li (Nanjing University) Shaoying Liu (Hosei University) Zhiming Liu (IIST/United Nations University) Mila E. Majster-Cederbaum (University of Mannheim) Shin Nakajima (National Institute of Informatics) Akio Nakata (Osaka University) Kedar Namjoshi (Bell Labs) Mizuhito Ogawa (JAIST) Olaf Owe (University of Oslo) Doron A. Peled (University of Warwick) Mike Reed (UNU-IIST, Macao) Hiroyuki Seki (NAIST) Xiaoyu Song (Portland State University) Yih-Kuen Tsay (National Taiwan University) Irek Ulidowski (Leicester University) Bow-Yaw Wang (Academia Sinica) Farn Wang (National Taiwan University) Yi Wang (Uppsala University) Baowen Xu (Southeast University of China) Hsu-Chun Yen (National Taiwan University) Tomohiro Yoneda (National Institiute of Informatics) Shoji Yuen (Nagoya University) Wenhui Zhang (Chinese Academy of Sciences) Lenore Zuck (University of Illinois at Chicago) STEERING COMMITTEE ================== E.A. Emerson (University of Texas at Austin, USA) Oscar H. Ibarra (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA) Insup Lee (University of Pennsylvania, USA) Doron A. Peled (University of Warwick, UK) Farn Wang (National Taiwan University, Taiwan) Hsu-Chun Yen (National Taiwan University, Taiwan)


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DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department has hired JPMorgan Securities and Citigroup Global Markets to sell its remaining stake in General Motors and bring an end to almost four years of partial government ownership of the car maker.
The government, which got its stake in a $49.5 billion bailout of the company in 2009, still holds 300 million shares of GM common stock, giving it 19 percent of the auto giant. Treasury officials revealed hiring JPMorgan and Citigroup on Wednesday in documents posted on the department's website.
The banks will get one cent for every share they sell for a fee of up to $3 million.
The documents gave no timetable for sale of the remaining shares, but the government has said it intends to be out of GM by early next year. Contracts with the two banks run through Jan. 14, 2014, but can be extended in 90-day increments or through mutual agreement. Extensions can't go longer than Jan. 14, 2017.
When the stock is finally sold, it will end a sad chapter in GM's history. The company nearly ran out of cash in 2008 and needed government money to survive a trip through bankruptcy reorganization. Since then, GM has posted 11 straight quarters of profits, piling up $16 billion in net income. Last month, the company bought 200 million of its shares from the government for $5.5 billion.
The bailout has rankled many taxpayers who thought the government shouldn't have interfered with the company's business. Some still call GM "Government Motors."
President Obama, who was responsible for engineering much of the bailout, touted his role in the 2012 presidential election, saying it saved 1 million jobs and prevented the collapse of America's auto industry. GM has said that once the shares are sold, it expects its sales to increase. Some people have refused to buy GM cars and trucks as long as the government owns a stake.
The government is still $21.5 billion in the hole on the GM bailout. Breaking even would require selling the remaining 300 million shares for an average of about $70 each — more than double the current trading price.
The Treasury Department has held the stock for more than two years, awaiting a better price. GM shares sold for $33 each when they began publicly trading again in November, 2010. The shares rose shortly after the sale but fell dramatically early this year as the U.S. economy slowed and Europe headed toward recession. Then, a strengthening U.S. auto sales recovery and the stock buyback pushed the price back above $30 for a time.
GM shares closed down $1.29, or 4 percent, at $29.31 on Wednesday.


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(Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc said it will buy privately held network traffic-management software maker Cariden Technologies Inc for about $141 million in cash.
Cariden will be integrated into Cisco's service provider networking group unit, Cisco said.
California-based Cariden supplies network planning, design and traffic management solutions for telecommunications service providers.
This is Cisco's third acquisition in November. Earlier this month Cisco said it will buy privately held cloud networking company Meraki for $1.2 billion in cash as part of its cloud and networking strategy.
Cisco shares were slightly up at $18.91 in trading before the bell on Thursday after closing at $18.83 on the Nasdaq on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee and Chandni Doulatramani in Bangalore; Editing by Akshay Lodaya)


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There are two kinds of signals in a modular analog synthesizer: audio and control. As audio signals go through a system of synthesizer modules, they are shaped into the sounds that you hear. Control signals, on the other hand, correspond to the variations in the sound that are imparted by the synthesizer modules, like invisible hands that turn the knobs of the modules. The concept of "Control Voltage" is one of the basic principles Bob Moog used to control sound and create his groundbreaking electronic instruments. Moog Controllers modify, mix, and distribute control voltages to produce the incredible variety of sounds and effects that analog synthesizers are famous for.
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Just 5 kilometers north of Varna is the Euxinograd Palace which was built as a royal summer residence in 1882. The palace and its wonderfully kept formal gardens resemble a French chateau. It is set in beautiful wooded parkland which reaches down to the fine sandy beach. On the edge of the estate the famous and deliciou Euxinograd wine, cognac and rakiya are bottled.
The resort of Golden Sands is the largest one on the Northern Black Sea coast. It is situated 18 kilometers north-east of Varna. Its four kilometre beach slopes gently into water which has no dangerous currents. There is a wealth of sporting and other facilities available, all very moderately priced.
more information about Varna North
This residential complex is located in the beautiful locality of
Prices Start from 1100 Euro per sq. m


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Active Brazes
Active braze alloys contain an active element, usually Titanium which allows it to wet ceramics and other materials previously considered very difficult to braze. They have removed the need for metallization of ceramics to allow them to be brazed thus reducing the time and cost of joining these materials. With a wide variety of compositions and melting points there is an active alloy to suit all requirements.
VBC Group can assist you in the selection of the most appropriate alloy for your application. Contact the VBC Technical Team for assistance at email@example.com


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You can't beat a system you can't understand
You can't beat a system you can't understand
If the scientists who tell us we are not alone in the universe are correct, and other intelligent life forms really exist, I am concerned. What if the space guys are watching us? If they're studying Americans, their perception of the human species could be distorted, particularly if they tune in to prime-time television.
During peak hours, viewers watching television commercials without a fundamental knowledge of human behavior could get some skewed ideas.
They could easily conclude that human beings are a race of hypochondriacs with a passion for insurance and fast food. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
We all know that human beings are over-insured foodaholics with a passion for hypochondria. They could also assume that men have chronic virility and baldness problems and most women have serious continence difficulties, while both are obsessed with combating ugliness and fat.
Our crack team of researchers spent minutes searching the Internet to keep you, our faithful readers, informed about these sensitive, yet pertinent, issues.
In 2003, pharmaceutical companies and other health-care product manufacturers spent around $3 billion on TV commercials. That represents a lot of cure for a frightening number of illnesses. Our researchers say that figure increased over the last two years. When asked how much, they responded, "A lot." More money was spent on medicine-related television commercials in one year than the total combined annual advertising budgets of AnheuserBusch, Pepsi, Coca-Cola and McDonald's.
After viewing American television, our alien friends might assume that insurance and fast food companies advertising during the same time slots are somehow related to the medicine manufacturers.
Think like a space guy watching television and knowing nothing about the workings of our economic system. He might logically assume that insurance companies own the fast food and pharmaceutical industries.
Television commercials encourage people to eat fast food that makes them sick. Then they have to buy insurance that covers the cost of medicine to make them well. People who don't buy into this program will suffer severely because they will be stricken with chronic obesity. I don't think this is the way we want to be perceived.
It's fair to assume that the space guys are intelligent. They could be compassionate as well. What if they feel sorry for us and decide to just put us out of our misery? It could happen.
If we don't change our lifestyles, our only hope is that the space guys spend more time watching third-world countries than they spend watching us. Third-world people don't buy insurance, watch television, or eat much.
I also suspect that insurance companies control the beauty industry, and that encompasses total make-over salons, unnatural enhancement clinics, as well as hair restoration and transplant establishments. These companies produce commercials designed to make men and women think they are ugly and need serious adjustments to their appearance. This is a major button to push if the desired effect is to get women crazy and make men neurotic.
Although most of the beauty business appears to be extreme, one product bothers me more than all the others, and that includes breast implants, hair dye, tattoos, nose jobs, and capped teeth. What's with bovine collagen injections?
Bovine collagen injections are used to plump up lips, fill in wrinkles, and obliterate skin imperfections to make women look younger and appear to be flawless.
Unfortunately, the active ingredient in bovine injections is an insoluble fibrous protein that comes from cows. When heated with water, this substance turns into the gelatin used for the injections. Bovine means cattle-related. The makers seem to think bovine sounds better than cow.
So men — if your wife, significant other or any female in your life has a tendency to graze or moo, encourage her to slow down on the cow fixes. Why kiss those pouty lips that you find so attractive? Cut out the middleman and kiss a cow. I suppose in some cases you're kind of doing that anyway.
Despite these concerns, I'm not really that worried about space guys invading any time soon. If they are as intelligent as I think they must be, I doubt they want to have much to do with people who live by a system they can't understand.


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David Giles
Read More
Welcome to the Future Industries Institute.
The University of South Australia's (UniSA) new multi-million dollar Future Industries Institute (FII) focuses on building knowledge and capacity in core future industries. The Institute combines and builds from the established research capability and reputation of the former Ian Wark Research Institute, Mawson Institute and Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, and extends into other complementary research capabilities within the University's Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment and across the university.
Through national and global research partnerships in new technologies, such as our academic partnership with University College London (UCL), the Institute undertakes global research inspired by real-world issues.
Based at the Mawson Lakes Campus, the FII further develops the University's internationally competitive research capacity across four key strands:
We aim to establish a vibrant research environment with a strong external orientation and active international and national links, both academic and industrial.
We're now on Twitter. Connect with us and find out the latest news and events.
"I am especially pleased to be working with a university that is so highly regarded internationally at a time when UniSA is building knowledge and capacity in core future industries through the creation of its new Future Industries Institute."
Professor David Lloyd, Vice Chancellor and President, UniSA
UCL Engineering
The Future Industries Institute combines and builds upon the knowledge and reputations of the Ian Wark Research Institute, Mawson Institute and Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation. Find out more about research the University of South Australia.
Find out more
The Future Industries Institute is located on the University of South Australia's state-of-the-art Mawson Lakes Campus, home to the university's Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment.
Get in touch


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The great thing about the iPhone and iPad? It's just so damn fun to use. You pick it up, swipe and enjoy. The bad thing about the iPhone and iPad? Everyone wants to pick up your iDevice, swipe and enjoy too. AND THERE COULD BE SECRET PICS IN THERE. Protect yourself with My Secret Folder.
iPhones. iPads. Android. Windows Phone 7. We've updated all of our essential apps lists to include a few forgotten favorites, some long awaited arrivals and, as always, even more amazing apps. Check them out!


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Always something to do in Palm Springs!
No plans for tonight - no problem! Check this line-up for Sunday, February 27, 2011:
Norm Crosby, Ronn Lucas & their Comedy Friends Pete Barbutti and Tony Russell
McCallum Theatre, 73000 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert, CA 92260 / City of Rancho Mirage Presents... It's a night of hilarious comedy with the king of the malaprop, Norm Crosby, ventriloquist Ronn Lucas and their guests, comedian and musician Pete Barbutti and the very funny Tony Russell. More Norm Crosby, Ronn Lucas and Their Comedy Friends Pete Barbutti and Tony Russell info and tickets here!
Menopause The Musical
Annenberg Theater, 101 Museum Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262 / Menopause The Musical® returns to Palm Springs for its second season with Americas Got Talent finalist Queen Emily. Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, Menopause The Musical® opens its limited engagement Friday, February 4 and plays through March 13 at the Annenberg Theatre in the Palm Springs Art Museum. The hilarious musical is set in NYCs Bloomingdales store, where four women with seemingly nothing in common but a black lace bra meet by chance at a lingerie sale. The cast laughs at their woeful hot flashes, forgetfulness, mood swings, wrinkles, night sweats and chocolate binges. A sisterhood is created between these diverse women as they realize that menopause is no longer The Silent Passage! It is a stage in every womans life that is perfectly normal! Showtimes: Matinees - Wed 2:00 pm; Thur 2:00 pm; Sat 2:00 pm; Sun 2:00 pm. Evenings - Tue 7:30 pm; Wed 7:30 pm; Fri 7:30 pm; Sat 7:30 pm. There will not be a show held on these dates: Feb 25 & March 4. Please call the box office at 760-325-4490 for tickets or for more information, click here...
Copley's Blue Bar & Lounge Happy Hour
Copley's on Palm Canyon, 621 North Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs, CA / Happy Hour ~ $5 Well Drinks & Selected Martinis from 6pm - 7pm. Available Sunday and Tuesday thru Thursday at Copley's Blue Bar & Lounge Only. Come enjoy Copley's stunning gardens, inviting atmosphere and inventive seasonal menu, and you'll see why diners come back again and again. More Copley's on Palm Canyon info here...
"Halfy" Hour at The Falls
The Falls Prime Steakhouse & Martini Bar, 155 South Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262 / Enjoy our little plate and drink specials every Monday through Saturday from 4:30 - 6:30pm and all night on Sunday. During Happy Hour, we feature $5 specialty drinks, $5 wine, half price beers and all bar menu items at half price. Enjoy some of our creative Small Plates, a Steakhouse Burger or Rib Eye Steak Sandwich, or try our Raw & Cooked seafood selections form our Steakhouse Bar Menu. Come see why our Happy Hour and Little Blue Plate Specials have been voted "Best of the Valley" year after year! More info here...
Jazzoo Concert Series at The Living Desert
The Living Desert, 47-900 Portola, Palm Desert, CA 92260 / During the 2010-2011 season each concert will feature the music of a different jazz legend played by Roger Neumann and Friends. Reserved cabaret style indoor table seating provides the audience with an intimate and vibrant musical experience. Advance paid reservations are required. Many of the Jazz patrons enjoy bringing a picnic basket of scrumptious goodies, along with a bottle of wine. Concerts are scheduled Nov 14, Dec 5, Jan 16, Feb 13, Feb 27 and March 20. Times: 4pm & 6:15 pm. Members/$35, Non-members/$45. For reservations or more information, call 760-346-5694, ext.2160.
Torch Songs
Indian Wells Theater at the Cal State San Bernardino Palm Desert Campus, 37500 Cook Street, Palm Desert, CA 92211 / The Pops! Series - Starring Sherry Williams. Let the romance of Valentines Day continue with the sweet sounds of Sherry Williams as she sings sentimental torch songs. Inspired by great artists Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, Williams will dazzle the audience with a fusion of mainstream jazz and traditional pop. Ticket prices for each series range from $20-$50, depending on specific performances. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Indian Wells Theater Box Office at (760) 341-6909.
Palm Springs Calendar of Events Here!
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12 Years
79 pounds
Overall Dimensions:
30" Square x 36" H
Circular Base:
24" Diameter
Assembly Instructions
Save 35% on
MSRP of $461.00
Create a casual meeting area for student collaboration, or a laid back spot for employee breaks. Cafe tables are ideal in school commons, libraries, classrooms, breakrooms and cafeterias. These square cafe tables have a 1-1/2" thick top, 3/8" bumper T-mold edge and 18 gauge steel column and cast iron circular base.
- 36" high K-8 standing height
- 1-1/4" thick high pressure laminate tops with 3/8" bumper T-mold edge
- Powder coated 18-gauge steel column and circular cast iron bases
- Non-marring, adjustable black levelers
- Single step assembly
- Several colors available
Shipping Details
Normal Ship Time:Approx. 1 week to 2 weeks
- Please add 2-5 business days for transit time
Stock #81931$114.95
Stock #81932$169.95
When will my order deliver?
We ship factory direct and can only estimate the length of time that it will take for your item to ship out. The normal ship-time before each item leaves the factory is indicated in the blue box.
Quick Ship options, such as select color choices, are available on some items and those options and their ship times will be listed in a red box above the normal ship time. If you do not see a red box, then there are no Quick Ship options for that item.
You may have multiple shipments to complete your order as each item has varying lead times and may be shipping from multiple factories.
Summer months (June through September) are especially busy due to the back-to-school season. Please expect that the listed ship times may be extended and plan ahead.
Contact us if you are concerned about your deadline and our team will confirm product availability with the factory and/or suggest a faster solution. We do our best to provide accurate ship times, but we cannot guarantee any delivery date.
See our Quick Ship section for items that we trust to have the fastest ship times, some even as fast as 24 Hours!


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PITTSBURGH – Surviving relatives of four people killed in flash flooding in Pittsburgh in August 2011 are suing several government and private entities claiming the deaths could have been prevented, attorneys for the two affected families announced Friday.
Mary Saflin, 72, of Oakmont, was swept away from her vehicle and down into a sewer conduit where she drowned, and Kimberly Griffith, 45, and her daughters, Brenna, 12, and Mikaela, 8, became trapped in their minivan and also drowned when heavy rains caused a nine-foot wall of water to sweep down a low-lying section of road during afternoon rush hour traffic on Aug. 19, 2011.
Attorneys Alan Perer and Paul Manion have scheduled a Friday morning news conference to announce the lawsuit against the city, its water and sewer authority, Allegheny County and its sewage authority, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, an engineering firm and even Chrysler Group LLC, which made the Griffiths' van.
Those entities didn't immediately return emails and phone messages seeking comment.
"Evidence has emerged that the danger of swift, violent flooding on Washington Boulevard has been known to government officials and their engineering consultants for a very long time and occurred repeatedly," the attorneys said in a news release. "Plans to correct the dangerous situation were drawn up but never implemented."
City, state and county officials have since studied the road an installed an automatic gate system that closes sections of the road in the event of heavy rains. PennDOT has said it spent about $450,000 on the gates.
Sensors will close the gates if a certain amount of water is detected on the road and emergency responders will automatically be alerted. The city has also trained about 1,700 public safety employees in swift-water rescue tactics since the flooding, which witnesses described as chaotic.
The water was so deep that rescuers in a boat intent on rescuing a man from a tree floated over the Griffiths' van without realizing it, city emergency management officials told The Associated Press the day after the flood.
People were clinging to trees, poles and car roofs. One woman tried to scramble to the roof of her car but the water was moving so fast, she was dragged along in it, then grabbed on to a truck.
Attorney Perer said Chrysler is being sued because the electric windows on the Griffiths' Town and County minivan didn't work under water and the water pressure kept the victims from opening the doors to escape.
"When this kind of vehicle is caught in a serious flood, getting out of it can be difficult or impossible," Perer said. "It becomes a trap and it will take lives. Here it killed a mother and her young children."


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Dave Dellinger
David T. Dellinger was born in Wakefield, Massachusetts. He graduated magna cum laude in 1936.
Dellinger was an ambulance driver during the Spanish Civil War.
During World War II Dellinger refused to register for the draft in the United States and served two prison terms. During the Vietnam War Dellinger worked as a community organizer for the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (NMC).[1]
David Dellinger traveled to Cuba in January 1968 with Tom Hayden, Carl Davidson, Todd Gitlin, and Weather Underground operatives Gerry Long, and Susan Sutheim, where planning for disruption of the 1968 Democratic National Convention occurred. At this conference the activists condemned the U.S. for what the communists alleged was U.S. aggression, and support was pledged to North Vietnam. The delegates also pledged to promote violence against the United States whenever it was deemed necessary. The attendees also met with representatives of Maoist China, North Korea and North Vietnam and visited the National Liberation Front (NLF) Mission in Havana.[2]
- ↑ Political Trials, Theodore L. Becker, Bobbs-Merrill, 1971, p. 135.
- ↑ Declassified U.S. Government intelligence information regarding the communist and foreign connections of the Weather Underground. Presented as evidence, on the agreement of the prosecution and defense counsel, in the trial of W. Mark Felt and Edward S. Miller, p.7.[1]


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|[Gentoo Linux Home] [GLEP Index] [GLEP Source]
|2005/12/06 03:34:21
|Marius Mauch <genone at gentoo.org>,
|Standards Track
This GLEP proposes a new value for the RESTRICT metadata variable in ebuilds to indicate that an ebuild requires interaction by the user.
Certain ebuilds in the current tree require certain actions from the user to progress. A popular example are ebuilds that require physical media (cd/dvd-rom) for their distfiles instead of fetching them form the net. However ebuilds are supposed to be non-interactive, so this behavior, while sometimes necessary, violates existing policies. To account for this situation a new RESTRICT value should be added to allow filtering those ebuilds based on metadata and to inform users upfront (when displaying the depgraph) that a certain package will require their attention during the build process.
Portage (and by extension other package managers) will support a new value for the RESTRICT metadata variable called interactive. This value may be used by the package manager and tools using its API to filter packages that require interactive actions (for example to mask them in automated build environments). How the package manager exactly reacts on the presence of this new flag is beyond this specification, but it's recommended to indicate it's presence to the user whenever relevant.
This new setting should be used in ebuilds if it is known that they _typically_ require user attention during the build process. If an ebuild just has a limited risk of becoming interactive (like using the built_with_use function) it shouldn't be restricted.
The new RESTRICT=interactive metadata setting will give us the following benefits:
This proposal does not change the existing policy regarding interactive ebuilds (ebuilds still should be non-interactive whenever possible), it merely states a way to identify them.
Strictly speaking this extension would requires an EAPI bump, however as existing portage ignore unknown RESTRICT values it shouldn't cause any real breakage to introduce it without.
Thanks to the following persons for their input on or related to this GLEP (even though they might not have known it): Alec Warner, Zac Medico, Simon Stelling
This document has been placed in the public domain.


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1) Acme Novelty Library #19 (self-published and distributed by Drawn & Quarterly) - I know it's almost tiresome to continue to heap praise on Chris Ware. Many people have grown weary of what Sean T. Collins recently described as his consistent focus "on how life can defeat you." But yet, when I step back and consider who the single best cartoonist working in the medium today is (a question posed to me by my wife recently), I cannot think of anyone better. It's not just that Ware is a master at every single aspect of cartooning - from his skilled use of coloring to control mood, to his designer's sense of fonts and lettering, to his unprecedented use of innovative page layouts, distilling more story onto a single page than most monthly comics, but it is also, ultimately, that with all of this style comes an incredible amount of substance. For all of his great achievements, Acme #19 is Ware's greatest story, a layered, thoughtful portrait of a writer reflecting on his life and work. It is meditative, controlled, insightful, bleak, and yes, painful, but it is told with such skill and precision that its characters and story linger in your thoughts long after it's finished. Despite accusations of "pretentiousness" or just being too depressing, Ware's latest story was the most enjoyable comics-reading experience I had all year.
2) Abandoned Cars (published by Fantagraphics) - I knew Tim Lane was an artist to watch when I read the first issue of Happy Hour in America (by the way, is this story on hiatus?), but in no way was I prepared for such an impressive debut. Abandoned Cars is a collection of short stories which are all thematically linked. All are centered around the idea that America has permanently lost its identity. Many of Lane's characters are cultural explorers, searching for this missing "American mythology," even as Lane presents its most enduring images in page after beautifully-illustrated page. Lane's stories are most effective when they focus on individual characters, such as the three-part autobiographical memoir, "Spirit." Here, Lane recounts a true adventure in train-hopping he had during the mid-90s, hoping to discover that lost spirit of America described by authors like Hemingway, Kerouac and Wolfe, and his ultimate disappointment in the end. Lane's artwork is reminiscent of Charles Burns (particularly in his figures), but there is an energy and devotion to detail that even Burns does not attain. The book ends with Lane's interpretation of the Stagger Lee myth, which is also impressive in its brevity and research. Overall, this was the best debut of the year.
3) Most Outrageous (published by Fantagraphics) - The title of Bob Levin's new book is a reference to Dwaine Tinsley's reputation as Hustler Magazine's "most outrageous cartoonist." Tinsley was the creator of more than 3,200 cartoons, including his most infamous character, "Chester the Molester." Yet this book (yes, it's a prose novel, not a comic) is not about Tinsley, the cartoonist. Rather, it is a meticulous and fascinating account of Tinsley's trial on charges of rape, incest and molestation -accusations leveled at him by his own daughter. Levin, a lawyer himself, takes us through the minute details of the trial, offering accounts of all testimonies given, the strategies of both prosecution and defense, and, when necessary, provides clear and understandable explanations of legal precedents. Levin is also a great writer; direct, unbiased, not too flashy, but every once in a while, he'll bust out a dazzling bit of prose that'll just bowl you over. For example, discussing the obsession with child abuse in this country, Levin writes: "This climactic shift in attitudes toward child abuse, as with so many sociopolitical issues in America, seemed to have been effectuated less by studied logic, scrupulous research, and patient wisdom than by a combination of crusader spirit, self-righteous zeal, blind-eyed stupidity, steel-knuckled meanness, inquisition-strength intolerance, star-shine idealism, teeth-chattering terror, and bugfuck looniness." I only wish Levin had included more of Tinsley's cartoons in the book (there's a dozen or so), but interested readers can find plenty online.
4) The comics by Dash Shaw in Mome (published by Fantagraphics) - While Nate Neal, whose work I've followed since the early days of the short-lived Hoax anthology, was a welcome addition to the premeir alt-comix anthology this year, and Tom Kaczynski finally found his voice with the impressive "Million Year Boom" in volume 11, it was Dash Shaw whose three stories were the most impressive short works in Mome in 2008. The first story, "Look Forward, First Son of Terra Two," is a fascinating experiment in time manipulation, as Shaw tells the simultaneous story of two characters, one who ages in normal time, the other who "ages into the past." Shaw manipulates colors, borders, lettering and other techniques to denote the differing time horizons for each character, and the result is one the most fascinating and thought-provoking short pieces in recent memory. Shaw then followed this up in the next volume with "The Galactic Funnels." In this story (pictured above), Shaw tells the futuristic tale of an artist inspired by some strange cosmic shapes. What is impressive is Shaw's bold, experimental use of colors, as well as the subtle social commentary on artists copying the works of their predecessors. Finally, in volume 12, Shaw's "Train" stands out as a David Lynchian nightmare about a horrific subway accident. Again, Shaw's innovative use of colors creates a wholly unique aesthetic. While many critics will praise Shaw's two longer works (Bottomless Belly Button and Bodyworld), these shorter pieces were the highlights from Mome's best year to date.
5) Bitterkomix #15 (published by Jacana Media Ltd) - Whenever I am fortunate enough to travel overseas, I always try to come back with at least one local comic. This year I visited South Africa on a work trip and was thrilled to discover Bitterkomix, an independent anthology in the same vein as some of the older Drawn and Quarterly and Top Shelf collections from the late 90s. Where Bitterkomix differs is in its content, which is heavily focused on the current post-apartheid political situation in South Africa. The book, which is 96 oversized pages (32 in color), is largely the work of two artists - Joe Dog and Conrad Botes, both of whom have an incredible range of art styles. Joe Dog's highlight is "Alphabet of Democracy," a museum-style collection (complete with custom frames) of pointed political parodies, each conveyed in a single image structured around different letters of the alphabet. Botes' highlight is "Children's Story," a beautiful re-telling of the classic dystopic children's bedtime tale about the abandonment of the world (by the way, Tom Waits included a great reading of this story on Orphans). Botes style is reminiscent of Nicolas Robel in D&Q Showcase volume 1. Not the easiest book to come by, but well worth seeking out online.
6) Tonoharu vol. 1 (published by Top Shelf Comix) - Lars Martinson's debut graphic novel shows an illustrator already with considerable skill (his self-published mini-comic, Young Men of a Certain Mind, which acts as a sort of prelude to this story, was his first professional work). Martinson's style contains some elements of Rick Geary's, particularly in the obsessively precise hatching, but includes a lot more detail. The story, the first of four chapters, focuses on Martinson's experiences as an ex-patriate in Japan teaching English as a second language. Martinson also brings an exceptional sense of design and Eastern-inspired details to his story (the book's cover jacket and title page are the standouts) and I anxiously look forward to the next chapter of this ambitious project.
7) Capacity (published by Secret Acres) - Theo Ellsworth is the most underrated cartoonist working in the medium. I originally read this book in mini-comics format, and would describe Ellsworth's art as somewhere between visual fantasy and poetry, in a style that is somewhat influenced by David B, but remains wholly individual. The back cover describes his work as a "mind turned inside out" and it's even more impressive when considering that Ellsworth is a self-taught artist.
8) Silverfish (published by DC Comics Vertigo) - While I'm still not sure what to think about Lapham's Young Liars series, and haven't loved (or even read) all of his superhero work, Silverfish encapsulates everything that was great about Stray Bullets. There is the disaffected youth, the suburban noir, the crimes of passion, the rising sense of desperation, the realistic dialogue and the layered mystery, unfolding painfully slow, clue by bloody clue. But here, Lapham has improved his artwork significantly, using a silvery shading texture and more cinematic panels, including full-page spreads, to control the pacing and heartbeat of the story. This is perhaps Lapham's best single story to date.
9) The Walking Dead (published by Image Comics) - The Walking Dead continues to be the best mainstream comic on the stands. Sure, Robert Kirkman's story has become a little convoluted in recent issues, with several new characters who are difficult to keep straight at times, but overall, the book still feels like it's moving somewhere, the premise still holds my interest, and Adlard's artwork (with invaluable assistance from Cliff Rathburn) continues to improve and sharpen with each new issue. While this book can't hold a candle to many of the comics listed above in terms of innovation or advancement of the medium, it is a consistent and satisfying dose of escapist entertainment each month.
10) Why I Killed Peter (Published by NBM) - This acclaimed European graphic novel about a priest sexually abusing a child initially sounded like the kind of thing I would tend to avoid, but Oliver Ka's memoir of abuse, which is told in as straightforward a manner as possible (it's a chronological recounting of his experiences) is emotional without being sentimental or manipulative. It's a sad fact that this story is not all that new or shocking (we have all read similar tales in the news over the years), but what makes it a standout book of the year is Alfred's incredibly sensitive artwork, which matches the tone of its difficult subject matter perfectly. Alfred begins the story using a cartoonish style, employing exaggeration of size and perspective, and caricatures of himself, his parents and the priest. As we move deeper into the story, Alfred switches to broad, expressive brushstrokes with rich pastel colors to represent the maturation of the lead character. By the end of the book, Alfred has completely abandoned his cartoony style in favor of stark, digitally altered photographs, cementing the book in reality even as the past returns to haunt its narrator.
11) Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*! (published by Pantheon Books) - Art Spiegelman's oversized collection of new and old material was a revelation to read. Although much of the experimental "Breakdowns" section, collected from various anthologies from the 70s (including Spiegelman's landmark series, Raw) felt somewhat dated 30 years later, the more recent opening section in which the artist reflects upon his youth is moving and insightful.
12) Nocturnal Conspiracies (published by NBM) - Any new David B. work is cause for celebration and I enjoyed this collection of dream comics, but it's not B.'s strongest work, largely because it lacks the cohesive and insightful narrative of his Mome short stories, or his unforgettable masterpiece, Epileptic.13) All Star Superman (published by DC Comics) - I liked this series a lot, especially Quitely and Grant's imaginative artwork, and generally agree with the praise it's received. Not on par with the books above, but a cut above the standard superhero fare, to be sure.
14) Pocketful of Rain (published by Fantagraphics) - This is one of the more intriguing and memorable books in Jason's oeuvre simply for the fact that it contains his earliest comics work. The title story is the highlight, and is one of the only pieces not drawn in the artist's distinctive anthromorphic style. Definitely worth getting for completists, but probably not the best place to start if you're new to Jason's stories.
15) Fishtown (published by IDW) - Kevin Colden's retelling of the Fishtown murders is chilling, yet the story's stark images and bleak landscapes bring the tale of senseless violence to life. It's a quick, discomfiting read and depressing as hell, but a beautiful book.
16) Omega the Unknown (published by Marvel Comics) - Jonathan Lethem's mini-series was fun and visually striking (thanks to Farel Dalrymple and Paul Hornschemeir), but seemed to unravel a little toward the end. Perhaps if I were more familiar with Steve Gerber's original vision I might have understood this series better, but it was still a bold and mostly successful experiment in superheroics.
17) Criminal (published by Marvel Comics) - I've been reading Brubaker and Philips' book in trades, so the newest story arc, which was the only one published in 2008, I haven't read yet. Otherwise, it would be up there on the list, as the first three issues from volume 2 were the best comics Marvel's published since James Sturm's Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules.
18) Ganges #2 (published by Fantagraphics) - My favorite of Kevin Huizenga's three books released in 2008.
19) Insomnia #3 (published by Fantagraphics) - A huge leap forward for Matt Broersma, both in terms of art and storytelling. Of all the Ignatz books I read this year, this was the best, and may be the single most overlooked comic of the year.
20) How to Love: Graphic Novellas by Actus Comics (published by Actus Independent Comics) - This very nearly made my best of list. By far the best collection of short stories from the always innovative Israeli art collective. All six stories were good, although the highlights were David Polonsky's "L'Elixir D'Amour" and Rutu Modan's "Your Number One Fan."


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In an age where technology has become the center of so many people's lives, it's easy to get out of touch with the towns we live in, the neighbors we share a street with and the community at large. Try these easy ways to stay involved with your community.
Make dinner a family affair
Experts in adolescent development are quick to cite studies showing that, the more often families sit down to break bread together, the less likely the kids in those families are to smoke, drink and do drugs. Bonus: They're more apt to eat their vegetables.
Email this tip to a friend