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Tag: marvel comics
Showing results 6500-6539 of 6834
X-POSITION: Christopher Yost
Writer Christopher Yost previews exclusive artwork from and answers your questions about all things "X-Force," including strong hints about future storylines and guest stars.
Baltimore: Marvel Your Universe Panel
Dan Slott, Brian Bendis, C.B. Cebulski and Tom Brevoort welcomed fans in Baltimore to discuss anything and everything Marvel, inviting attendees to share their thoughts on crossovers, continuity and much more.
Baltimore: Cup of B Panel
At the Cup of Bendis panel at Baltimore Comic-Con Saturday morning, a number of announcements came down including Slott on "Mighty Avengers," Spider-Woman series finally scheduled and more.
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK: Ralph Macchio
Our series continues with Ralph Macchio, Senior Editor at Marvel behind the Ultimate and Marvel Illustrated lines, "The Dark Tower," as well as legendary runs by Simonson and Miller, and of course The Spider Clone Saga.
PRESS RELEASE: "Hulk" Smashes With Another Sell Out!
PRESS RELEASE: "Deadpool" Infiltrates The Skrulls & Sells Out Again!
EXCLUSIVE: Nova #18 Zombie Variant
Courtesy of Marvel, CBR brings you an exclusive first look at Wellinton Alves & Scott Hanna's zombie variant cover of "Nova" #18. Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, the issue hits stands October 29.
X-POSITION XTRA: C.B. Cebulski
Writer C.B. Cebulski previews artwork from and answers your questions about "X-Men: X-Infernus," the sequel to the classic "Inferno" storyline, and teases new Loners!
PREVIEWS - Marvels: Eye of the Camera, Punisher War Zone
Courtesy of Marvel, CBR brings you new pages from two of the publisher's most anticipated new projects: "Punisher: War Zone" #1 and "Marvels: Eye of the Camera" #1, both on sale in December.
UTTERLY MENTAL: Spurrier talks Punisher War Journal Annual
Frank Castle is in for a strange trip in "Punisher War Journal Annual" #1, which pits him against the sinisterly psychedelic Captain Pepper in a mind-bending nightclub of wannabe heroes and villains. We spoke with Spurrier about the book.
"100 HULKS" Charity Auction Gallery, Part IV
We conclude our showcase of The Hero Initiative's 100 "Hulk" #1 covers for charity with this exclusive gallery of new images by Neal Adams, David Finch, Ed McGuinness, Eric Powell, John Romita, Jr. and more.
X-POSITION: Paul Cornell
In this week's all-new X-POSITION, fan-favorite "Captain Britain" writer Paul Cornell previews exclusive artwork and answers your questions about mutants, magic, and "MI:13," plus a query or two about you-know-(Doctor)- Who.
REVIEW - "Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow" DVD
Marvel/Lionsgate's latest direct-to-DVD animated feature sees Tony Stark raising the children of his deceased teammates. The movie exceeds others in Marvel's DVD line, but still leaves much to be desired.
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK: Tom Brevoort
CBR's series of interviews with comics' top editors continues today with Tom Brevoort, Executive Editor at Marvel and responsible for such books as "Secret Invasion," "Civil War," "Captain America" and much more.
Vanished: Yost Talks X-Force
CBR speaks with "X-Force" co-writer Christopher Yost about the hit series' first arc and discuss the next storyline, "Old Ghosts," which pits the clandestine mutant hit squad against the old X-Men foe known as the Vanisher.
Broken Hand: Brubaker talks Daredevil
Next week's "Daredevil" #111 kicks off a major new chapter in the life of the blind crime fighter, introducing him to the deadly new villain, Lady Bullseye. CBR News spoke with writer Ed Brubaker about the book.
Shaba Talks Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
CBR sits down with Tim O'Neil, Shaba Games' Lead Gameplay Programmer, to talk about the innovative gameplay of October's "Spider-Man: Web of Shadows," and to get a hint as to what playable characters have yet to be revealed.
Hear Evil: Swierczynski talks "Wolverine: Roar"
In next week's one-shot, "Wolverine: Roar," Duane Swierczynski and Mike Deodato deliver an action-packed story that's that's literally ear-splitting. CBR News spoke with Swierczynski about the project.
Skrulls Issue Press Release
Following last night's debut of Skrull-sponsored television ads imploring humanity to "embrace change," the shape-shifting alien invaders have issued further details on their intentions toward our planet.
Marvel's Pasciullo Embraces Change with TV Advertising
CBR News spoke with Marvel's VP of Merchandising & Communications Mike Pasciullo to learn what was behind the "Secret Invasion" TV commercial and if we should expect more.
X-POSITION: Greg Pak
Writer Greg Pak answers your questions about revisiting Magneto's origin while combining historical facts from one of history's grimmest events in the five- issue Marvel Knights mini "X-Men: Magneto Testament."
Embrace Change Tonight on ESPN2
Marvel will promote "Secret Invasion" tonight with television ads airing during the minor league baseball championship on ESPN2, beginning at 8:00PM EST, and will call for viewers to "embrace change."
Marvel Launches Web-Exclusive Movie Tie-Ins
Available exclusively on Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, the weekly "Iron Man: Fast Friends" and "The Incredible Hulk: The Fury Files" tie-in directly to their heroes' respective feature films.
Marvel Solicitations for December, 2008
Marvel has released images and solicitation information for new comics on sale in December, 2008, including new issues of "Amazing Spider-Man," "Uncanny X- Men," "Dark Tower," "The Stand" and much, much more.
Advance X-Men Solicitations for December 2008
Marvel has provided CBR with advance looks at new X-Men comics on sale in December including "X-Men: Kingbreaker" #1, "Uncanny X-Men" #505, "Wolverine" #70 and much more.
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK: Axel Alonso
In this first part of a new feature, CBR talks to Marvel Comics Executive Editor Axel Alonso about the mysterious role of editors in the comics industry, and about his career highlights and what he looks for in new talent.
And Hell Followed: Cornell talks Captain Britain & MI:13
Writer Paul Cornell talks to CBR about his series' most recent revelations (and resurrections), and teases "Hell Comes to Birmingham," the new arc that kicking off in "Captain Britain & MI:13" #6.
PRESS RELEASE: Video interview with Stephen King about "N"
PRESS RELEASE: "X-Men: Return of Magik" #1 sells out
SPOILERS OF WAR: Secret Invasion #6
The stage is set for one of the biggest clashes the Marvel Universe has ever seen in "Secret Invasion" #6, on sale now. Brian Michael Bendis walks us through the issue page-by-page and hints what's to come next.
Millar Kicks Ass with Ultimate Avengers
Mark Millar will in 2009 write "Ultimate Avengers," a new ongoing series featuring not just the heroes of his and Bryan Hitch's "Ultimates," but the entire Ultimate universe. We spoke with Millar about the project.
When Opposites Attack: Slott talks "New Ways To Die"
With the second half of the Spider-Man arc kicking off this week, CBR News spoke with writer Dan Slott about some of the surprises and explosive action yet to come in "New Ways To Die."
EXCLUSIVE: Suydam Covers Marvel Zombies 3
Courtesy of Marvel, CBR brings you an exclusive first look at Arthur Suydam's variant cover of "Marvel Zombies 3" #1. Written by Fred Van Lente with art by Kev Walker, the book is on sale October 1.
PRESS RELEASE: Marvel releases list of retailers hosting "The Stand" store events
Fear And Hatred: Van Lente & Calero on "X Men Noir"
Marvel's mutants are re-imagined this December in a way that's both distinctly different yet somehow familiar in "X Men Noir." We spoke with Fred Van Lente & Dennis Calero about the miniseries.
Ma's Home! Ennis talks "Punisher: War Zone"
The fan-fave team of Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon return to Frank Castle in December's "Punisher: War Zone" miniseries, which sees the return of some much missed psychopaths. Ennis spoke with us about the project.
Pop! - 9/7/2008
George recounts the time he spent at Marvel as an intern. It was the mid '90s, Mark Waid was writing "Captain America," when suddenly Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld jumped into the fray! Plus, "Marvelcution!"
Van Lente talks Marvel Zombies 3
Everyone's favorite undead, super-powered cannibals are back in October, and this time they're looking to feast on the entire Marvel Universe. We spoke with writer Fred Van Lente about "Marvel Zombies 3."
Love, Olympian Style: Pak & Van Lente talk "Incredible Hercules"
Action! Adventure! Heavily armed beautiful woman! "Love and War," the new "Incredible Hercules" arc, kicks off in this month's issue #121. We spoke with writers Fred Van Lente & Greg Pak.
Brian Reed on Ms. Marvel's Universe
CBR speaks with writer Brian Reed about his post-Secret Invasion plans for "Ms. Marvel" as well as the November "Ms. Marvel Special: Storyteller" one-shot and "Ms. Marvel Annual" #1, in stores now.
Archives: All | Comic Books | TV/Film | Video Games | Web Comics


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subset: commoncrawl


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What a shame the downpour in Hamburg failed to wash David Haye out into the Elbe tonight as the obnoxious heavyweight pretender dropped a dreary decision to Wladimir Klitschko over 12 spirit-crushing rounds at the Imtech Arena. Final scores were 118-108, 117-109, and 116-110.
It was an easy–if unimpressive–win for Klitschko, 242 1/2, no harder, in fact, than his monotonous workouts against Eddie Chambers, Ruslan Chagaev, and Sultan Ibragimov. Klitschko appeared tight early, and got his jab untracked after two or three rounds. He also pressed what little action there was in Hamburg, but there was little he could do against an opponent who spent more time on his knees than on offense for 36 minutes of farce.
Haye, 212 1/2, was so pathetic that even referee Gino Rodriguez got sick of his act. Adam Booth has been credited in the past for some sharp strategery—as George W. Bush might put it—but his tactic of having Haye drop deliberately to the canvas every time Klitschko tried to lean on him backfired when Rodriguez caught on. Rodriguez docked a point from Klitschko in the 7th for pulling Haye down by the neck, but in the 11th Haye flopped for the umpteenth time, and Rodriguez decided to rule it a knockdown as a punitive measure.
Losing by 10, 8, and 6 points, Haye managed to make denigrated fighters like Tony Thompson look good by comparison. Haye, 30, landed a few isolated right hands, the occasional jab, and some rabbit punches—the sum total of a non-effort nobody but his cornerman, apparently, could be proud of at the final bell.
Except for a little more posing than usual, Klitschko, now 56-3 (49), fought with the same measured style as always. And, like always, Emanuel Steward unsuccessfully exhorted his fighter from round to round to go for the kill.
Haye, 25-2 (23), entered the ring to years of accumulating mass hysteria based on a spotty heavyweight record. In 2008, Monte Barrett, ready for a rocking chair even then, shook the "Hayemaker" and dropped him before succumbing to superior firepower in the 5th round. Audley Harrison looked like he entered the ring C.O.D. from a taxidermy shop. As for 38-year-old John Ruiz, the last few years of his FUBAR career were the byproduct of contemporary backroom shenanigans that might have made Reggie & Ronald Kray proud. A dull, nip-and-tuck affair with the boxing equivalent of the Cardiff Giant, Nicolay Valuev, earned Haye his WBX whangdoodle, but was an inconclusive eyesore. This curious run procured Haye the kind of reputation boxing specializes in: an unearned one.
Somehow, Haye raised the parochial hopes of the United Kingdom merely by being loud, loutish, and lowbrow. Class and sportsmanship seem to be light years from his reach, and the notion that this insufferable boor would breathe life into boxing was, in itself, offensive.
Joe Louis never had to act up before a fight. Neither did Jack Dempsey, arguably the greatest draw in the history of boxing. Sugar Ray Robinson confronted George Costner for his incessant barking, telling Costner that he, Robinson, sold tickets by praising opponents. Robinson knocked Costner out twice in his career—both times in the first round. Of course, there was Muhammad Ali, but he, as one of the biggest sporting figures of the last 50 years, was sui generis. Costner, by the way, was blind in one eye when he won some of his biggest bouts.
Why British fans go for this kind of vulgar behavior is inexplicable. It is one thing for Naseem Hamed—Patron Saint of U.K. braggarts—to flatten good featherweights with either hand, but it is something else altogether for the likes of James DeGale and Haye to bark beyond the ropes and mewl in between them.
Hellion outside of the ring and hapless inside of it, Haye simply fought to hear the final bell, a trait shared by many of the Klitschko opponents Haye had insulted prior to the fight. Haye might not be fat and out of shape, but he, too, appeared interested in just a payday.
Later, Haye claimed that he broke his toe in training and made sure to remove his shoe in the ring for inspection. Larry Holmes entered his bout with Ken Norton with a torn biceps in 1978, and Buddy McGirt answered the opening bell against Pernell Whitaker in 1993 with a torn rotator cuff. Both men tried their hardest to win against Hall of Fame opposition. More recently, Arthur Abraham fought for several rounds with a broken jaw against murderous puncher Edison Miranda. Hell, amputee Craig Bodzianowski challenged for a cruiserweight title without a foot at all. Bodzianowski wore a prosthesis against Robert Daniels in 1990, and tried his best from start to finish.
Too bad the same cannot be said for Haye.
Flashpoint: On Wladimir Klitschko Versus David Haye
Follow The Cruelest Sport on Twitter & Facebook and leave behind those pale imitations.
Follow The Cruelest Sport on Twitter & Facebook and leave behind those pale imitations.


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The Gran Fondo is a 108 mile ride that starts and finishes at the Ulster County Fairgrounds in New Paltz, NY. The ride will begin at 8am on Saturday September 20.
Total Elevation gain is 6000 ft with 3 timed King of the Mountain stages.(with the new seven sisiter climb added)
© 2014 www.wildcatepicevents.com


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Haven't done a video in a while so here it is!
If you're a dancer/entertainer/performer, you already know how much time you need to put into a show. THERE IS NO FREE TIME!!! -_-
The week after concert Cierra and I came up with this little number. ^_^ Fun and happy, it's pretty much what everyone thinks dance is gonna be when they enter the doors… leave their troubles behind them and just dance.
I hope you enjoy :)
Song: What Makes You Beautiful
Artist: One Direction
Choreography by: Cierra Tagura & Allen Pascual
Dancers: Hypersquad's Tuesday Advance Class
Yes folks, we're taking students!!! If you want to join Hypersquad just message me and I'll give you the 411. :)
On behalf of me and Cierra, THANK YOU for supporting us in what we do!
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This class made me fall in love with this song; I'm singing it nonstop all day all the time now!
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Using a tanning bed, booth, or sunlamp to get tan is called indoor tanning. Indoor tanning can cause skin cancers including melanoma (the deadliest type of skin cancer), basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma. Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation also can cause cataracts and cancers of the eye (ocular melanoma).
Indoor tanning exposes users to two types of UV rays, UVA and UVB, which damage the skin and can lead to cancer. Indoor tanning is particularly dangerous for younger users; people who begin indoor tanning during adolescence or early adulthood have a higher risk of getting melanoma.
Every time you tan you increase your risk of getting skin cancer, including melanoma. Indoor tanning also—
Indoor tanning and tanning outside are both dangerous. Although indoor tanning devices operate on a timer, the exposure to UV rays can vary based on the age and type of light bulbs. Indoor tanning is designed to give you high levels of UV radiation in a short time. You can get a burn from tanning indoors, and even a tan indicates damage to your skin.
A tan is the body's response to injury from UV rays. A base tan does little to protect you from future damage to your skin caused by UV exposure. In fact, people who indoor tan are more likely to report getting sunburned.
The best way to protect your skin from the sun is by using these tips for skin cancer prevention.these tips for skin cancer prevention.
Although it is important to get enough vitamin D, the safest way to do so is through what you eat. Tanning harms your skin, and the amount of UV exposure you need to get enough vitamin D is hard to measure because it is different for every person and also varies with the weather, latitude, altitude, and more.
Studies have consistently shown that indoor tanning increases a person's risk of getting skin cancer, including melanoma.
According to the data from the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, many teens are indoor tanning, including—
According to the 2010 National Health Interview Survey, indoor tanners tended to be young, non-Hispanic white (NHW) women. A closer look at the data showed the following rates of indoor tanning among NHW women—
Healthy People provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. Healthy People 2020 has 20 cancer objectives, including—
Indoor tanning is restricted in some areas, especially for minors.
California, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon,* Texas, Vermont, Washington,* and some cities and counties have banned indoor tanning by minors younger than 18 years. For the latest information, see the National Conference of State Legislatures' Tanning Restrictions for Minors: A State-by-State Comparison and AIM at Melanoma's 2014 Indoor Tanning Legislation.
*The state laws in Oregon and Washington contain an exemption which allows people younger than age 18 to tan with a doctor's prescription.
CDC research shows that states with indoor tanning laws that include age restrictions had lower rates of indoor tanning among minors.
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A selection of stories from today's press and other media that relate to Ekklesia's work, produced daily by James Vincent and covering papers such as The Times, Daily Telegraph, Independent and Guardian.
Religion & Society
Church of England to encourage tree planting to combat climate change
The Church of England is to encourage tree planting and ''eco-twinning'' with the developing world as part of efforts to combat climate change.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/6487029/Churc... [1]
Clergy face up to fall in earthly rewards
Some clergy on the receiving end of the Church of England's pensions consultation document are sanguine about its effect.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6a35a040-c7fa-11de-8ba8-00144feab49a.html?cati... [2]
Pope John Paul II 'to be beatified within months'
The late Pope John Paul II could be beatified within months, setting him on the path to full sainthood, according to reports in Italy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/6... [3]
Row is brewing with Catholic Church over visionary claims at shrine
A stand-off between Catholic Church authorities and a self-proclaimed visionary threatens to escalate into a major showdown next month.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/row-is-brewing-with-catho... [4]
French and Russians in battle over ownership of Russian Orthodox cathedral
Worshippers in the French city of Nice took on the Russian state on Monday in a court battle over the ownership of the biggest Russian Orthodox cathedral outside the mother country.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/6488682/French-a... [5]
Ecology & Environment
Global warming could create 150 million 'climate refugees' by 2050
Global warming will force up to 150 million "climate refugees" to move to other countries in the next 40 years, a new report from the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) warns.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/03/global-warming-climate... [6]
Number of airline passengers 'could fall because of climate fears'
The number of people flying could be cut by nearly half over the next 30 years as air travel becomes socially unacceptable, leading engineers have said.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/6486882/Number-of-airline-p... [7]
Climate change will melt snows of Kilimanjaro 'within 20 years'
The snows of Mount Kilimanjaro – the highest mountain in Africa – may soon be falling on bare ground following a study showing that its ice cap is destined to disappear entirely within 20 years, due largely to climate change.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/climate-change-w... [8]
Animal activists outraged by Nepal's plans for mass animal sacrifice
Plans to sacrifice more than 500,000 animals during a two-day religious festival in Nepal this month have met with the wrath of animal rights activists, who have called for the 300-year-old ritual to be banned.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6900102.ece [9]
Economy & Politics
New expenses system will not be in place before the election
The new MPs' expenses system aimed at cleaning up the House of Commons will be delayed until after the general election.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/6488012/New-expe... [10]
Tory MP apologises for 'gas chambers' expenses email
A Conservative MP was ordered to apologise by David Cameron after he likened the plight of politicians over expenses to the persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-mp-apologises-for-gas... [11]
Comment: MPs' expenses: our democracy depends on this clean-up – and it's not going well
Where is the solid foundation on which a better form of politics might be built, asks Mary Riddell.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/6488561/MPs-expe... [12]
Comment: Restore authority fast and face down the mob
The voters are angry over expenses. Politicians must harness the court of public opinion or we will never move on.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rachel_sylvester/art... [13]
Education & Culture
Why has the popular head of a Catholic school in west London been suspended?
Cardinal Wiseman School in Ealing, west London, is proud of its headteacher. Its website trumpets a "track record of outstanding achievement" beginning in September 1997 when "a new headteacher, Mr Patrick, arrives."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/why-has-the-popular-... [14]
Comment: The place of faith in state education
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/nov/03/faith-school-jewish-admi... [15]
Comment: Schools must be blind to religion
My alma mater, JFS, is a model of exclusive, damaging social homogeneity. Its admissions policy can't be justified.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/nov/02/jfs-faith-sch... [16]
Comment: Not all cultures are equally valid and commendable
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/peter-tatchell-not-all... [17]
Globalisation & Development
Karzai handed second term after Afghan election run-off cancelled
Almost ten weeks of political paralysis in Afghanistan was brought to a close yesterday when a presidential election run-off was cancelled and President Karzai was declared the winner after the withdrawal of his only rival.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6899359.ece [18]
Outcry against 'colonial' takeover by BP of Rumaila oilfield in Iraq
The British oil giant BP will today take control of Iraq's biggest oilfield in the first important energy deal since the 2003 invasion. The move has created uproar among local politicians invoking resentful memories of their nation's colonial past.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6900112.ece [19]
Comment: Billions of dollars in aid but nothing in return from Afghanistan
What price honesty and cooperation from Karzai?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/bronwen_maddox/artic... [20]
Peace & War
Deserters and conscientious objectors 'should be remembered at Remembrance Day services'
Conscientious objectors and those shot for cowardice or desertion should be acknowledged in Remembrance Day services as part of an attempt to 'accurately reflect' the realities of war, a Christian group has said.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1224680/Deserters-remembered-say... [21]
Clinton backtracks on Israeli settlements after Arab anger
Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, was forced into an awkward diplomatic pirouette yesterday, insisting to Arab foreign ministers that Washington had not capitulated to Israel's continuing hunger for new Jewish settlements even if statements she had made 24 hours earlier seemed to imply exactly that.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/clinton-backtracks-o... [22]
Comment: In remembering, we must not forget the realities of war
When Harry Patch, the last British survivor of the First World War trenches, died this summer, he was said to embody the sacrifice made by thousands of troops.
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/features/In-remembering-we-must-not.57884... [23]
Sex & Gender
Christian registrar should not be disciplined over same-sex marriage refusal
A Christian registrar should not have been disciplined for refusing to carry out same-sex "marriages" because modern human rights should not be allowed to "obliterate religious beliefs held for millennia'', the appeal court has heard.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/6487422/Christian-re... [24]
Anti-homophobia vigil for gay cop PC James Parkes after attack in Liverpool
More than 1,500 people last night took part in a candlelit vigil for a gay policeman who was battered by yobs.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/11/02/street-vigil-for-gay... [25]
Girls of today are 'stressed, drunk and discriminated against', report finds
Girls as young as 11 say they are "severely stressed", drinking so much alcohol they lose control and feel discriminated against, a landmark survey by the Girl Guides has found.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/6486230/Girls-of-toda... [26]
Community & Family
Children living in poverty on rise
The number of children in families living on benefits has increased by 170,000 over the past year, with child poverty growing in affluent as well as traditionally hard hit areas, according to a new report.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/137825/Children-living-in-poverty-on... [27]
Revealed: hidden misery of children trafficked to Britain
Hundreds of children trafficked to Britain each year are being failed by social workers, teachers and doctors, it is claimed today in a report which uncovers the hidden misery of the international trade in young labour.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/revealed-hidden-misery-of-chi... [28]
Life & Death
Let my baby die, says mother
A mother has called for her baby boy to be allowed to die to save him from leading a "miserable, sad and pitiful existence". The child's mother supports doctors who went to court yesterday asking a judge for permission to switch off her son's life support.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/let-my-baby-die-says-moth... [29]
£2million bid to prevent suicides
A major campaign to cut suicides was launched yesterday following the spate of Bridgend tragedies.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2710837/Anti-suicide-campaign-... [30]
Race & Identity
Man in court accused of racially abusing BNP leader Nick Griffin
British National Party leader Nick Griffin was racially abused by a man who made threatening "gun gestures" towards him, a court heard today.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/11/02/man-in-court-accused... [31]
Labour finally admits: we got it wrong on immigration
Home Secretary Alan Johnson provoked fury last night by admitting at last that Labour has made massive mistakes over immigration policy.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/137795/Labour-finally-admits-We-got-... [32]
Crime & Justice
Think about criminals' human rights, orders DPP
Crown prosecutors were instructed yesterday to consider the Human Rights Act before they try to bring a criminal to book.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1224859/Think-criminals-human-ri... [33]
People & Power
Radovan Karadzic 'regretted that not all Bosnian Muslims died at Srebrenica'
Radovan Karadzic's one regret was that some Bosnian Muslims "got away" and were not killed in the Srebrenica massacre, Europe's first genocide since the Second World, prosecutors alleged on Monday.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/bosnia/6487851/Radovan-... [34]
[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/6487029/Church-of-England-to-encourage-tree-planting-to-combat-climate-change.html
[2] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6a35a040-c7fa-11de-8ba8-00144feab49a.html?catid=88&SID=google&nclick_check=1
[3] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/6487440/Pope-John-Paul-II-to-be-beatified-within-months.html
[4] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/row-is-brewing-with-catholic-church-over-visionary-claims-at-shrine-1813427.html
[5] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/6488682/French-and-Russians-in-battle-over-ownership-of-Russian-Orthodox-cathedral.html
[6] http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/03/global-warming-climate-refugees
[7] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/6486882/Number-of-airline-passengers-could-fall-because-of-climate-fears.html
[8] http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/climate-change-will-melt-snows-of-kilimanjaro-within-20-years-1813631.html
[9] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6900102.ece
[10] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/6488012/New-expenses-system-will-not-be-in-place-before-the-election.html
[11] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-mp-apologises-for-gas-chambers-expenses-email-1813617.html
[12] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/6488561/MPs-expenses-our-democracy-depends-on-this-clean-up---and-its-not-going-well.html
[13] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rachel_sylvester/article6900028.ece
[14] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/why-has-the-popular-head-of-a-catholic-school-in-west-london-been-suspended-1810838.html
[15] http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/nov/03/faith-school-jewish-admissions-education
[16] http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/nov/02/jfs-faith-schools-admissions-religion
[17] http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/peter-tatchell-not-all-cultures-are-equally-valid-and-commendable-1813655.html
[18] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6899359.ece
[19] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6900112.ece
[20] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/bronwen_maddox/article6900133.ece
[21] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1224680/Deserters-remembered-says-religious-group.html#ixzz0Vmz4doY3
[22] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/clinton-backtracks-on-israeli-settlements-after-arab-anger-1813641.html
[23] http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/features/In-remembering-we-must-not.5788424.jp
[24] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/6487422/Christian-registrar-should-not-be-disciplined-over-same-sex-marriage-refusal.html
[25] http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/11/02/street-vigil-for-gay-cop-115875-21791326/
[26] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/6486230/Girls-of-today-are-stressed-drunk-and-discriminated-against-report-finds.html
[27] http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/137825/Children-living-in-poverty-on-rise
[28] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/revealed-hidden-misery-of-children-trafficked-to-britain-1813634.html
[29] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/let-my-baby-die-says-mother-1813694.html
[30] http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2710837/Anti-suicide-campaign-launched-in-Bridgend-Wales.html#ixzz0VmS1rQPw
[31] http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/11/02/man-in-court-accused-of-racially-abusing-bnp-leader-nick-griffin-115875-21792429/
[32] http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/137795/Labour-finally-admits-We-got-it-wrong-on-immigration
[33] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1224859/Think-criminals-human-rights-orders-DPP.html#ixzz0VmU8pfXH
[34] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/bosnia/6487851/Radovan-Karadzic-regretted-that-not-all-Bosnian-Muslims-died-at-Srebrenica.html
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[39] http://www.newsvine.com/_wine/save?u=http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/10512&h=Press Roundup Tuesday 3 November 2009
[40] http://view.nowpublic.com/?src=http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/10512
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text:
With the report coming this evening the Bills continue to stay active in the signing department. Buffalo is expected to sign kicker Dan Carpenter. It wasn't that long ago Dustin Hopkins won the job over Lindell and he was then released.
Dan has been in the league for a little while now and has just over 50 games under his belt. He is a 72% kicker with a long of 54 yards. Recently a member of the Cardinals and the NYJ for a very short period of time he makes his way to a team gearing up to play the Pats.
Reports coming that Hopkins suffered a groin injury today and led to Carpenter becoming the teams 53rd man to complete the roster.
What does this mean for that last spot the Bills had to use to sign a player? For sure they didn't want to use it on a kicker. Does someone that thought they were safe now worry they could be let go? Unsure of the severity of the injury but this may keep Carpenter on the roster for a while.
Im sure we'll hear more soon but it definitely will be interesting to see what this team does during the week. I don't think there done by any means in the transactions department.


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Chris Kelly out indefinitely with broken left tibia
|03.13.13 at 4:54 pm ET
The Bruins announced Wednesday that center Chris Kelly is out indefinitely with a broken left tibia. Kelly suffered the injury on a collision with Ottawa forward Chris Neil Monday night and missed Tuesday's game.
With Kelly out Tuesday, the Bruins moved Rich Peverley to center with Jay Pandolfo and Jordan Caron on the wings for the third line.
Through 23 games this season, Kelly has two goals and four assists for six points and a minus-6 rating.
For more on the Bruins, visit weei.com/bruins.
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|23 May 2011
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Bluetooth dongle and A2DP
I need some advice. I just built a new computer based on an Asus M2A79XTD mobo, AMD Phenom II X4 955, running Windows 7 X64. I installed a cheap Ultra BT dongle (I was in a hurry and it was all the store had). Long story, short; I've spent two days screwing with Bluesoleil BT software and drivers (that came with the dongle) which crashed my system. I eventually deleted everything and the dongle is now using the generic Windows 7 drivers. My BT Logitech MX5000 keyboard and mouse are working again. However, I still cannot get my Rocketfish stereo headphones to function, which was the whole purpose of replacing the old Dell BT transmitter that I had.
The headphones need A2DP. I've ordered a Targus dongle which is advertised as being compatible with Windows 7 and supports A2DP. The software that comes with it is Broadcomm not the Chinese Bluesoleil. The instructions state that the software should be loaded before the dongle is installed.
Can I just pull the old dongle, install the new software and then plug in the Targus dongle, or do I need to remove the old BT drivers from system manager and reboot before installing the new BT software. I'd like to make this a efficient as possible. I have spent more time trying to get a BT connection with my headphones that it took to build the entire computer from scratch and reload all my programs. Very frustrating. I'm about ready to go back to wires.
Any help would be appreciated.
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As an retired couple, traveling a lot in Mexico and Europe, we saw plenty of really nice places and some bad ones too. The Hacienda del Sol is really outstanding and on top of our travel list. Reading all the reviews here on the tripadvisor side, we can wholeheartedly confirm what other visitors wrote about this place. The location just... More
- Also Known As:
- Hacienda Del Sol Hotel La Paz
- Hacienda Del Sol La Paz


text:
Find records of Gladys Edwards
Find birth, death, marriage, military, and other records of Gladys M Edwards at Ancestry.com.Search for records
Biography & Family History Add details
Gladys M Edwards (1918 - 2000) was born on August 13, 1918. She was born into the Edwards family.
Gladys had no relationships. Gladys died on October 11, 2000 at 82 years of age.
Gladys M Edwards's last known residence is at Gig Harbor, Pierce County, Washington.
The data on this page comes from the official record for Gladys M Edwards in the SSDI (United States Social Security Master Death Index). According to information provided to the SSDI, this death record has been verified by a family member of the deceased. This data can be considered very accurate. What is the SSDI?
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Possible Relatives
- Lois L Edwards
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- Corinne A Edwards
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- Norbert W Edwards
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- A M Edwards
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- Viola Edwards
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text:
Of course, all of us should be honored to be listed on the TIME 100 alongside the two men who will be slugging it out in the fall: President Obama, and the man who would defeat him, David Koch. Give it up everybody for David Koch.
David, nice to see you again, sir.
Little known fact, David's brother Charles Koch is actually even more influential. Charles pledged $40 million to defeat President Obama, David only $20 million. That's kind of cheap, Dave.
Sure, he's all for buying the elections, but when the bill for democracy comes up, Dave's always in the men's room. I'm sorry, I must have left Wisconsin in my other coat.
I was particularly excited to meet David Koch earlier tonight because I have a Super PAC, Colbert Super PAC, and I am — thank you, thank you — and I am happy to announce Mr. Koch has pledged $5 million to my Super PAC. And the great thing is, thanks to federal election law, there's no way for you to ever know whether that's a joke.
By the way, if David Koch likes his waiter tonight, he will be your next congressman.
Stephen Colbert rips on the Koch brothers to their faces at TIME Magazine's gala (via thesoapboxschtick)
gg Stephen
Next time you feel like stirring up something, tell all the mouth-breathing dipshits who worship Stephen Colbert that he's a pedestrian talent who bullies his guests and that his "satire" is really mediocre humor masking white privilege and racism.
They really hate it when you do that.
The "racism" in question is this interview Colbert did with Professor Harris-Perry. Watch it for yourself if you'd like, but I'm certain that what's going on here is just Colbert's usual treatment of guests on his show. If anything, Harris-Perry is annoyed by Colbert's shenanigans and his habit of interrupting with punchlines, but anyone who's seen an episode of The Colbert Report can tell you that that's just how he behaves.
tl;dr Colbert isn't racist, he's just annoying.


text:
Bain picks Longwood
By Jeremy Stafford - email@example.com
QUICKSBURG -- It was the simplest series of motions, and required the basest of motor skills -- just a few quick flicks of the wrist.
But when Patrick Bain finally laid down his pen, the ink from it quickly soaking into his letter of intent from Longwood University, the Stonewall Jackson senior wrought a telling smile.
Twirling his name onto paper is trivial; committing to play soccer at the NCAA Division I level, on scholarship, is not.
"I've been waiting for a long time just to play college soccer in general," Bain said. "But the actual signing, just to get it all over with, it's a big weight off of my shoulders."
And Bain's smile never faded. How could it? Surrounded by the very cast of players that carried him through the last four years, and will surely be there through the next four years, Bain's signing with Longwood marked the pinnacle of a host of efforts.
There were his springtime teammates, Colton Koontz, Hayden Miller, Dallas Foltz, Dylan Dawson and Jose Garcia, sitting on the front row in the stadium-seated classroom, slurping down Juicy Juice and offering their youthful support.
To Bain's immediate left sat Generals coach Nate Hissong, who has watched Bain grow over the last eight years from a tiny talent to a Group A second-team all-state selection, solidifying him as "the face of Stonewall soccer."
Further down to Bain's left sat Stonewall Jackson athletic director Todd Fannin and principal Mike Dorman, both of whom oversaw Bain's spectacular display of talent on the pitch and off it.
"It's very special when a single-A school has a D-I athlete," Fannin said. "And when you have the character this young man has to accompany this skill he has, that makes it all the more special for Stonewall Jackson."
And finally there were Bain's parents -- Will, his father, and Hope, his mother -- to his right, who time and again drove Bain to Roanoke, where he played club soccer for the Roanoke Star, the top-ranked team in the state of Virginia an off-season ago.
"They should be commended, too, I think, for their investment in his future," Hissong said of Bain's parents. "Soccer especially, you have to market yourself. And in this area you gotta play at the higher-level tournaments and you gotta play with the bigger clubs than we have, and he's done that with his commitment to Roanoke and the Roanoke Star.
"So they made a great financial commitment on his behalf, too."
Playing with the Star, Bain found more competition than is readily available at the high school level. In the summer of 2004, Bain and the Star traveled to Finland and Sweden, where they played against top international teams and saw esteemed success. Roanoke lost in the quarterfinals of the Finnish tournament on penalty kicks and was eliminated midway through the Swedish tournament, which Bain said was a much larger, more talent-laden tournament.
But with the days of the Star behind him and his career at Longwood still months ahead of him, Bain said his primary focus is to take the red and black of Stonewall Jackson as far as he can. An off-season removed from an appearance in the Group A state semifinal round at Radford University, Hissong and the Generals return all but one starter.
This spring, though, Stonewall Jackson will boast a midfielder it couldn't boast of last season: Patrick Bain, Division I athlete.
Bain said that he began taking a serious interest in Longwood during his junior year. Though initially he wanted to attend a large D-I school, Bain said Longwood was an alluring choice because it offered him a chance to see early playing time against Virginia's premiere teams. This past fall, Longwood traveled to the University of Virginia, which went on to win the NCAA national championship over then top-ranked Akron.
At Longwood, Bain said he'll likely play as an outside back, a position he filled with the Star. The senior is a center midfielder under Hissong, and last season his 25 assists set the Stonewall Jackson single-season record.
And though the career assists record is well within Bain's sight -- Hissong said the midfielder is set to "shatter the assists record" -- Bain's eyes are honed fully on guiding the Generals back to Radford in his final hurrah as a General.
"I wanted to sign early -- I kinda wanted to get it done and I wanted to be able to focus on my high school career," Bain said. "So, although Longwood's really important for me, I do know what I need to do to progress there and what I need to do before I get there as far as working hard -- Stonewall soccer is what I'm doing now.
"Whatever is right in front of me is the most important."


text:
|National Football League
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Dolphins acquire OT McKinnie from Ravens
Davie, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - The Miami Dolphins have acquired offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie from the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for an undisclosed draft choice.
To make room for McKinnie on the active roster, Miami released linebacker Josh Kaddu.
"We are pleased to have reached an agreement with the Ravens for Bryant," said Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland. "He is a proven and experienced player who will be a great addition to the offensive line."
McKinnie, who was selected seventh overall by the Minnesota Vikings in the 2002 draft, signed with Baltimore as a free agent in 2011 and then resigned with the Ravens on May 2, 2013.
The 34-year-old McKinnie, who played in college for the Miami Hurricanes, has played in 169 career games (152 starts) with the Vikings and Ravens. He made the Pro Bowl in 2009.


text:
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10.5: Quickly enable or disable sharing on any folder
I tried this hint and a drop-down box indicated that I had to enable file sharing first. Makes sense, so I clicked the button "Open Sharing Preferences". Not only can you easily add shared folders from the preference pane but if you click on "Options" you can enable AFP, FTP or SMB sharing (or any combination) from a single pane.
10.5: Quickly enable or disable sharing on any folder
Yeah, in general the sharing is improved, though I do think it will cause more problems for less technical users. Moving the SMB setting to the options sheet makes sense, but unless you know what the heck SMB is (which most home users don't), you wouldn't know to turn it on for your home network. The way it was in Tiger with "Windows File Sharing" explicitly called out was less consistent, but much more discoverable.
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Would you buy a midsize car that can haul a small family and still get 42 miles per gallon of gas on the highway?
That car doesn't exist now, but Volkswagen is working on one.
On Monday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the German automaker plans to unveil the Passat BlueMotion concept, which combines technologies from VWs in other parts of the world to squeeze the high mileage out of a 1.4-liter, four-cylinder gasoline engine.
Automakers usually roll out concept cars at auto shows to get reactions from the press and public before deciding whether to produce the cars. VW won't say if or when it will make the BlueMotion, but spokesman Mark Gillies says the company is looking at all available technology to meet more stringent government fuel economy requirements.
The fleet of cars and trucks will have to average 54.5 mpg by 2025 under U.S. regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency said late last year that cars and trucks sold in the U.S. in 2012 averaged a record 23.6 miles per gallon (10 liters per 100 kilometers) in combined city and highway driving.


text:
Written by:
If time travel were possible,
the period I would want to visit most of all
would be that time long ago,
when Europe was covered with snow.
When we walked Among the Neanderthal.
Two different species of human,
but still very much the same.
Our common ancestor evolved differently
due to climate and terrain.
Homo Heidelbergensis emerged out of Africa
into Europe and Western Asia,
but then the ice age came and the species became segregated
due to vast deserts, seas and glacier.
The ice age gripped Northern Europe.
Polar conditions were most of the continent.
Homo Heidelbergensis then evolved into the cold adapted Neanderthal
and became Europe's only human resident.
The Neanderthals were territorial and they lived in small family clans.
Limestone caves provided most with shelter,
it was a limited resource upon this frozen land.
The caves the Neanderthals lived in were the center of the Neanderthal's universe.
Within the cave walls, the Neanderthals would bury their dead and give birth.
Within the cave walls they would eat, they would sleep.
Within the cave walls they would butcher their meat.
Within the cave walls they would groom, they would mate.
Within the cave walls they would even defecate.
Within the cave walls was the safest place to be.
Outside was the harshest climate known to humanity,
in an unforgiving terrain filled with wild animals stalking them,
as well as Neanderthal males stalking other clan's women.
Neanderthal clans did not interact with each other at all
and this was perhaps their biggest and greatest downfall.
Limited contact meant limited viewpoints and limited exchanges of ideas,
and so the Neanderthal's limited survival techniques
remained the same throughout their years,
But meanwhile,
back in sub tropical Africa, somewhat simultaneously,
Homo Heidelbergensis evolved into a warm adapted human.
Homo sapiens, Us, You and Me,
As the climate grew warmer we too migrated up north
into the Neanderthal's stronghold.
Neanderthal extinction was about to come forth.
Within a few thousand years, the Neanderthal ceased to exist.
The small size of their clans made them vulnerable.
They couldn't confront or protect or resist.
To continue click NEXT for Among The Neanderthal Part 2


text:
Episode 24 is live for your listening pleasure! Click here to check it out.
In typical fashion, Matt and Christina begin the podcast by discussing their love of both rock documentaries and pastries (including the elusive and delicious cronut). Christina uses the phrase "Babraham Lincoln" and Matt shamelessly plugs Goose Island Brewing Co.
It's that kind of podcast.
The two are then joined by Dresses! The Portland duo talk about signing withSideOneDummy Records (where Matt and Christina work), The Conjuring, and how Portland is the meth capital of the world. There's also more talk of pastries…but what do you really expect from Matt and Christina?
Music from Dresses


text:
main index
"We�re goin' hoppin�Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and fifth largest in the United States, as well as the second-largest on the East Coast and the second-densest with a population greater than 1,000,000 (after New York City in both cases — how did you guess?). Literally translated from the Greek its name means "The City of Brotherly Love," which is naturally its nickname. This is known as either irony considering the city's high murder rate, or Truth in Television; brothers fight, they say mean things about each other, but you'll have to search long and hard to find another city that is so beloved by its inhabitants. No matter what we say about it. Oh, and there are lots of gay people. In fact the entire Downtown area around 13th Street is known as the Gayborhood. The city was founded on October 27, 1682 by William Penn. A statue of him sits on top of City Hall, now eclipsed by the Bell Atlantic Towernote , Liberty Place, and Comcast Center in height. Because sports fans are a superstitious bunch, this eclipsing was used to explain why the entire city went into a championship drought of considerable length. It should be noted that another statuette of Penn sits atop the new tallest building in the city, the Comcast Center, and that within a few months of the building's completion with Penn atop it, the Phillies won the World Series. Take that as you will. It was the city where the Continental Congress met, and the Liberty Bell is kept there. Until Washington, DC was built, it was (usually) the US capital. Philadelphia is notable for being the largest city in the country having a healthy black middle-class. From the poshness of Rittenhouse Square, to the melting pot that is South Philly, to the bohemian artists *cough*hipsters*cough* of Northern Liberties, to the hard knocks of North Philly and parts of the Southwest, to the suburban sprawl of the "Great Northeast," to the unparalleled richness of history that is Old City, Philadelphia has everything one could ask for in its many neighborhoods. It has been a very large city for a long, long time. In the years before The American Revolution, it was the second largest English-speaking City in the world, after London. The city is famous for its cheesesteak sandwiches (known outside the city as "Philly cheesesteaks"). It's probably best if you just call them "cheesesteaks" — anything else will get you laughed at by a native.note The city is also famous for its soft pretzels, which are narrow and S-shaped and produced in chains you break your pretzel off from; you eat it with brown mustard, thankyouverymuch. Its culinary delights also extend to its two major markets: the Italian Market on S. 9th St. in South Philly, home to old-fashioned red-gravy Italian-American food, various Italian specialty shops, and cheap meat and produce; and the Reading Terminal Market in Center City, home to all manner of lunch restaurants, the Pennsylvania Dutchnote (making it one of the few places you're likely to see an Amish person or Mennonite in homespun operating a credit-card reader), and more expensive meat and produce. Philly is also famous for being the birthplace of things like the Declaration of Independence, modern democracy, and the computer. Nothing major, though. Philadelphia is also a very culturally rich city, with its world-class orchestra and the oldest still-operating opera house and theater in America all along, or right off of, the Avenue of the Arts (a.k.a. South Broad Street); and many world-class museums dotting the beautiful vista of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The city is also home to a number of theaters; as well as the weirdly wonderful, sequin-and-feather-filled Mummers Parade every New Year's Day note And don't forget it has the first zoo, the first free library system, and the first Catholic school system in the country. The city is also known for its neoclassical architecture and its huge number of public murals, for which even the city's graffiti artists hold a healthy respect and generally will not tag (the few taggers who deface the murals lose the respect of other taggers). The residents, when it comes to sports, are infamous for being extremely vocal about their beloved teams. There have been a couple of incidents involving famous ad campaign figures in the past that have turned into the city's own Never Live It Down moment. It doesn't help that some in the city and particularly the city's media like reliving those particular moments. While criticism about the tendency to react vocally (booing in crowds, sarcasm and snide comments individually) certainly has been well earned, the city itself has not had any more incidents than any other city. This even extends to pseudo-sports, as ECW was and Ring of Honor is based in Philadelphia, and both attract a rowdy, loud, and obnoxious crowd. On a less negative note, there was Harry Kalas. His death hit the entire city hard, showing that even if Philly fans show it in negative ways, they really do love their sports teams and the people who keep them connected. Even a lot of those residents who don't really like sports will admit this much. Special note should be made in regards to Benjamin Franklin, sometimes called Philly's Favorite Son — which is odd, 'cause he was born in Boston. However, Franklin lived here for most of his long life (insanely long, by the standards of the time, toonote ), and he left an indelible mark on Philadelphia's history: considered to have established the first modern newspaper here, America's first library here, the first fire company in Pennsylvania (which was also the most modern at the time), discovered electricity here, and invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, the odometer, and the glass armonica here. According to The Other Wiki, "A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat." Oh, and he was one of the Founding Fathers; in fact, The American Revolution was arguably won because he was on our side. Among the large number of contributions he made to the Colonial effort, it was Franklin's convincing the French to become involved in the war which ensured the Victory at Yorktown, and ultimately proved to England it wasn't worth it to continue fighting the colonies. Finally, he was a well known ladies' man, even after he got rolly-polly. Philadelphia was already a large, rich, port city before him, but Franklin is largely credited -- true or not -- with making Philadelphia the most powerful city in the Colonies, economically, socially, and politically. In summation, our boy Ben was nothing short of the biggest Badass God-Mode Sue in American history (and yet we named a bridge to Camden after him...note ).
We're goin' hoppin� today
Where things are poppin�
The Philadelphia way
We�re gonna drop in
On all the music they play
On the bandstand"
—Barry Manilow, "Bandstand Boogie"note
See also
Philadelphia in Fiction:
Famous Phillies


text:
AT&T: Don't Want a Data Plan for That Smartphone? Too Bad.
Re:Too bad. (798 comments)
My T-Mobile $30 a month pay as you go, with 5gb of HSAP+ 32 data is treating me very nicely. Full HSPA+ coverage for me and my standard travel area.
Welcome to the Slashdot Beta site -- learn more here. Use the link in the footer or click here to return to the Classic version of Slashdot.
Before you choose to head back to the Classic look of the site, we'd appreciate it if you share your thoughts on the Beta; your feedback is what drives our ongoing development.
Beta is different and we value you taking the time to try it out. Please take a look at the changes we've made in Beta and learn more about it. Thanks for reading, and for making the site better!
Re:Too bad. (798 comments)
My T-Mobile $30 a month pay as you go, with 5gb of HSAP+ 32 data is treating me very nicely. Full HSPA+ coverage for me and my standard travel area.
Re:It stands to reason that... (123 comments)
I prefer to keep my LAN parties at a classy level that beer cannot provide.
Re:i think. (187 comments)
Bethesda has treated PC gamers very well with the Fall Out and Elder Scrolls games. Releasing API's to allow fan made mods to their games are one of the reasons I enjoy playing them.
But like just about everyone else these days, if I get the game day 1 i'll be paying $60 to beta test for them.
Re:Carmack's Reverse (187 comments)
Or you get a game like Starcraft II or Diablo 3, or DotA2 or Half Life 3/ep3 (please?).
DNF's issue was George Broussard. He always wanted the latest and greatest and that is something you can never have and release a finished game.
Re:If Everything was "security"? (206 comments)
It has been easy for quite a long time to turn a kindle (.azw) to any other format. All it takes to find free software to do it is a quick google serach. So coming out now and saying security concerns is just dumb.
Re:Version 6 Update 26 the last of Version 6? (204 comments)
And we have applications that REQUIRE specific java versions. I wish i could uninstall all the previous versions.
Right now i have:
Re:Meh (387 comments)
Citrix would like to contradict you
Re:Not only graphics (568 comments)
You also don't have to worry about spending hundreds of dollars on upgrades in order to play the latest games. I don't know if this last point is true or not, but that perception is pretty prevalent in my experience.
This statement is just down right false. My last computer I build myself 3 years ago and spent just a little over $500 on and was able to play any game, except for crysis, at Medium to Medium high settings. At the time a PS3 cost either $400 or $500. Since then I have just made on upgrade to my GPU, which was unnecessary but I got a small bonus and wanted to splurge. Even now, my q6600, 8800GT, and 4gb RAM would be more than enough to play any current game at reasonable quality and resolutions.
There are a few extra costs with a PC, like the OS, but the cost difference is not as large and upgrades are not as expensive as they use to be. The best arguement I can come up with in the Console vs PC war is that the console is much more of a social gaming experience than the PC is.
Re:How about parents just do their job? (112 comments)
Parents? Coach their children? Where have you been the last 10 years, it's the schools job to make kids productive members of society and teach children morals (that the parents don't like) and how to behave (that the parents don't re-enforce)
But.. But... (162 comments)
That means I actually have to spend money on my network!
Re:NASA website (47 comments)
If you scroll up and down the page fast enough it feels like you are really moving!
No more Intel from Dell (325 comments)
I just don't see this happening. While I feel that Dell could handle a 2 tier business and succeed a move like this would more likely hurt their bottom line.
While AMD is currently offered in many of their product lines, they would have to covert their ENTIRE product line over to AMD. Intel would probably pull out and no longer be available through Dell. Why would you continue to support your major competitor?
Because of this Dell risks losing many contracts from businesses that need to keep configurations similar, favor Intel, or a host of other reasons. I don't see the savings of having complete vertical control of the product line overcoming the hit from loss of contracts.
Re:Enforceability of service level agreements (259 comments)
Have you tried reading the user agreement? Then try the privacy policy, the damn thing is longer than the constitution and I'd say 90% of America hasn't even read that! Most of the time these agreements are so full of legalese that the average person can't even understand them if they do read them.
Re:It only sues everything... (397 comments)
The original 60GB with the EE chip? I know several people who would buy it just for that. I've often thought about getting a PS3 but at this point i'd only buy a used one to get the EE chip.
If the price is right I might even take it off your hands.
Re:PR nightmare (292 comments)
You are right. Send your computer directly to Apple and they could care less how long the repair takes. Usually the repairs are completed in a reasonable amount of time.
Take the repair to an authorized apple repair shop and they most certainly care. The shops get reimbursed based on how long the repair takes, how many parts are used in the repair, and customer feedback with several tiers of rates. The difference can mean $40 for a hard drive replacement or $65. Quite a big difference for a ~20 min repair.
Apple also puts almost a draconian levels of expectations on the repairs. Each repair is expected to have ~3 day turn around time and no more than 1 part per repair. If shipping is delayed or the part isn't in stock, not their problem it goes against your record. Have a power supply go bad and take out most of the components? Too bad, your service rating takes a hit for that repair.
Their are SOME cases where the service center can get the service rating fixed, like 3 week back ordered parts, but not many.
I would always take my Apple to a service center and not directly to Apple for warranty repairs. 90% of the time it is faster and better quality work. The only advantage of taking it to Apple is that you can yell at them to get free stuff.


text:
Buffalo, NY (WKBW) -- Gulf White Shrimp are big and full of flavor. That's why Mike Andrzejewski uses them in a new signature dish at SeaBar in downtown Buffalo.
"And they're getting scarier and scarier expensive," Andrzejewski said.
The price of Gulf White Shrimp has gone up about $2 per pound during the past few weeks.
Price increases are common this time of year, but never by that amount, said Andrzejewski.
"The availability is going down and we're going to have to start bringing things in that are imported and farm-raised," he said.
Gulf Oysters are also becoming harder to come by too. As suppliers search for alternatives, demand for oysters from other parts of the world is up, along with prices.
"From oysters to shrimp, we're starting to see prices of fish go up even though they're not from the Gulf," said Andrzejewski.


text:
How to part a fool from his money
Money, the root of all evil, plays a large role in more books than probably anyone can name. It's so ubiquitous, in fact, that I'm hard pressed to think of any book at all which doesn't involve money at all. At the very least, practically every book involves someone buying or selling something. Maybe it's only a pack of gum, but still, money plays a role. Did William Golding's Lord of the Flies involve money anywhere? Maybe that's one example, but it has been so long since I read it I wouldn't swear to that. Somebody refresh my memory.
Why you might take your protagonist's money away
Anyway, money is everywhere in our stories, which is great for writers because of two things. One, as the saying goes, "when in doubt, make things worse." That is, when your book feels like it's starting to sag and you're not sure how to raise the drama back up, you can do no better than to dump some new problems on your protagonist. Ask yourself, "what's the worst thing that could plausibly happen to him right now?" and do that. A great option might just be to part your protagonist from his cash. If he needs the money for something later (and who doesn't?), that becomes a great obstacle.
Two, consider de-funding your protagonist for something I blogged about a long time ago, why you should steal your character's shoes. The idea there is a bit different than merely creating an obstacle. You can read the whole article, but in brief, the strategy isn't so much to create actual problems for your protagonist as it is to create what the character thinks are problems but really aren't. The goal is to strip away everything the character thinks she needs but which are really just conveniences, leaving her with only what she actually needs: a willingness to pursue the goal no matter what. Viewed in that light, stripping your character of all her money might seem like an enormous problem for her at first, but upon later reflection, she can realize that money isn't actually necessary for getting the job done. Useful, maybe, but not necessary. There's lots of great drama in that.
How to take your protagonist's money away
You could be blunt about it: simply rob the character at gunpoint, or burn down the house in which all his money is stashed. That would work, but in my view it's kind of bland. I think the drama and opportunities for character development are ever so much better if you let it be at least partly the character's fault that he loses all his money. Here, then, are three common mistakes in thinking, perception, and judgment which relate to people and their money. Perhaps one of these money-loss reasons would fit well with your plot.
The denomination effect. This relates to poor money management skills. The idea here is that people tend to spend more money in total if presented with many opportunities to spend small amounts of money than they will if presented with just a few opportunities to make larger purchases. This makes intuitive sense; most of us would think long and hard before choosing to spend a thousand dollars on a sweet new digital camera with all the bells and whistles. Yet few people think anything at all about spending two or three dollars a day on their morning latte, which over the course of a year, adds up to about the same. And over the course of the lifetime of the camera (which for a thousand bucks had better be more than a year!), the camera comes out way ahead versus the lattes. So one option is simply to let your character be the sort of person who makes a lot of small, impulse purchases that lead to an unfortunate shortage of cash at some point when they really need it.
The gambler's fallacy. Like the name says, this relates directly to gambling, whether through casino-style games of chance or playing the stock market or even investing in real estate. Any time you have a character putting up money against the hope that a future event will break their way, the gambler's fallacy can come into play. The fallacy itself is when a person gets the feeling or comes to believe that a fundamentally unlikely event is more likely to happen at a particular time simply because it hasn't happened for a while. Note, too, there's usually some selection bias involved as well: we only think this way about unlikely events that would be beneficial to us.
In gambling, what happens is that players will keep putting quarters into that slot machine, losing on every pull, but with every loss becoming more confident that surely the next pull will have to come up triple-cherries because "it's bound to happen eventually." Or in craps, making bet after bet in the face of continual losses because double-sixes "are due" to happen any time now. Well, no. They're not. Unless the dice are loaded, double-sixes aren't "due" at all. Each throw is independent of the last, and no amount of data about past throws tells you a darned thing about what might happen on the next throw.
You can see the pattern. In your novels, to bring the gambler's fallacy into play you must first subject the character to a sequence of losses leading them to believe that they're "due to win one." Maybe they've made a series of bad real estate investments, each of which may have made sense at the time, but which turned out badly for one reason or another. "Just bad luck," your character might think. But knowing that real estate prices do tend to rise over the long run, the character might fall into the trap of thinking that they've been playing the market long enough that "prices have got to start going back up soon," and so might go all-in with their remaining money on one last deal.
Extraordinarity bias: This one relates to people's tendency to over-value anything which is perceived to have something special about it, however intangible that special quality may be. How do you get a kid to trade a cow for a handful of beans? Convince him they're special, extraordinary, magic beans. Of course, being a fairy tale the beans really were magic, but the point remains: Jack would never have made the trade except for his belief in the extraordinarity of the beans.
More prosaically, show a sports memorabilia collector two basically identical baseballs, but tell him "the one on the left once belonged to Joe DiMaggio's cousin. Who knows, Joe may once have held this very ball! The one on the right I bought at Walmart this morning." If you ask the person which baseball is more valuable, it's not hard to guess which one he'll pick.
Similarly, those home shopping channels on cable TV make relentless use of extraordinarity bias in everything they sell: the reason the announcers fill the air time telling you that the diamond chips in these fabulous 12-karat gold plated earrings came all the way from South Africa is to create the perception that there's something special—something extraordinary—about these particular earrings versus ones you might find at any mass market jewelry store. Never mind that South Africa is where an enormous fraction of the world's diamonds come from anyway, and as such aren't any more or less remarkable than any other diamonds in the world.
For fleecing characters of their money, this one has got to be my favorite error in judgment because it is the basis on which a lot of confidence schemes work. The con artist gets someone to believe that a perfectly ordinary, relatively valueless item is in fact somehow very special, and as such, worth a lot of money. Think about your character's background and interests, and figure out what kind of cheap garbage a con artist could use to dupe him. What's the baseball, as it were, to your character's equivalent of collecting sports memorabilia? I love this one because the character ends up broke, with nothing to show for it but a worthless trinket, because he let himself get duped.
How embarassing! The great thing for the novelist, though, is that not only does the con itself create a great moment in your novel, but you can very easily use it as an excellent turning point for the character. If you're still early in the book when it's appropriate for things to be getting worse and worse, maybe the act of getting duped undermines the character's confidence, and leads to a series of poor choices based on not trusting himself anymore and second-guessing himself at every turn. Or, if it's late in the book, the act of getting duped might have the opposite effect of steeling the character's resolve to win through anyway.
Money is everywhere
I suspect most of us have something of a love/hate relationship with money. We love what it can do for us, but we hate how hard we have to work to get it. Your characters may well feel the same way, at least initially, but I guarantee if you cause the character to lose all of his or her money, you'll make that character's feelings about money suddenly much more complex and interesting. In any event, money is everywhere, in real life and in our novels. Rather than trying to fight it or gloss over it in your story, I hope these tips give you some ideas for how to work with it to improve the depth and layered complexity of your novel.
July 02, 2010 05:21 UTC
How to revise your character arcs
This is the final installment, part 6, in my post-NaNoWriMo series on strengthening your characters while revising your novel. This is the big one. Today, we talk about character arcs.
The goal of a character arc is to present believable personal growth for your main characters, and to provide a feeling of emotional closure. Yes, successful books can and have been written without any meaningful growth in the character, or with no emotional closure at the end. Thrillers are the typical example of this type of book.
But to omit the character arc, even in a gripping, page-turning thriller, is a lost opportunity. As I've said before, a character arc is a way to elevate your novel to another level above and beyond run-of-the-mill books in your genre. The emotional closure provided by leaving your characters wiser at the end of the book than the beginning also leaves the reader wiser. It leaves the reader with the feeling that reading the book was a valuable use of their time, above and beyond the simple enjoyment they were expecting when they bought it.
Have you got any character arc already?
If you do, great. If the arc was intentional, even better. Skip ahead to the next section.
But what if you don't? If you haven't considered your protagonist's personal growth before, where do you look for inspiration? You look to the plot, and look to yourself.
In the plot, look for obstacles of a similar nature that the protagonist faces at various points. For example, let's say the protagonist gets in a lot of arguments in the course of the book, which is a problem because she's constantly turning people into minor enemies who no longer want to be helpful to her. Possibilities for character arc include learning some better negotiation and conflict resolution skills, or some introspection. Maybe she could ponder, since arguments always seem to be happening to her, whether she's the problem. Maybe she can figure out what she's saying or thinking that tends to trigger these arguments. Revise the early dialogue scenes to more clearly portray her problematic interaction style. Likewise, revise dialogue scenes that take place later in the book to show her practicing not getting in arguments and having better outcomes with people. If she can learn that she was her own worst enemy, even in that one small aspect of her whole life, then you can leave her a better person at the end of the book.
If your plot doesn't offer any obvious character arc material, then look to yourself. Ask yourself what you know now that you didn't know when you were younger. What would you tell yourself if you could go back in time to give your younger-self one piece of advice? Or, as literary agent Donald Maass put it in his book Writing the Breakout Novel:
I do not believe you have no opinions. It is simply not possible that you have never observed a fact of human nature or uncovered a social irony. You are an aware, observant and discerning person. You are a novelist.
So take your observations of human nature, and find a way to show them through your protagonist's experiences. Take care, though. It's easy to be very clumsy in adding a message of this type to a book, which only leaves the reader feeling like you've hit them over the head with it. You don't want to do that. To be subtle about it, you never want to tell the message. You want to show it so the reader sees it for themselves. Show it so the reader leaves the book feeling like the message is their own observation about life, not yours. Consider what your message is, then find a series of events that create a character arc which conveys that message without you ever having to spell it out explicitly.
Is your character arc well portrayed?
Remember, being believable is an important part of a character arc. You can't just toss one into the mix and expect it to magically integrate with everything else in the novel. You want to look at a couple of things with respect to believability.
One is whether the character's other attributes, the ones the rest of this revision series has talked about, track the character arc. Use the character's visible attributes, everything the rest of this revision series has talked about, to show the otherwise invisible process of personal growth.
So ask yourself, is the arc reflected appropriately in the character's dialogue? In their mannerisms? In their attitudes? Depending on the arc, it may even be reflected in the character's body. For example, if your book starts out with an out-of-shape protagonist having a heart attack, then you can use physical health, strength, and stamina as external reflections of the character's inner growth.
The other is whether the arc is too clean, too neat-and-tidy, to be believable. Real people, much as they strive to better themselves in earnest, have setbacks. People who are trying to quit smoking sometimes sneak a cigarette in a moment of stress, knowing they really shouldn't. Recovering alcoholics sometimes fall off the wagon. Parents who are doing their best to raise their kids with love and compassion sometimes get pushed too far and yell anyway.
To be believable, a character arc needs to show believable progress, which usually means including the occasional setback. Certainly it includes initial stages where the character is trying to change but still isn't doing very well with it. There's nothing worse than a character arc that is really more of a stair-step: when the character goes from realizing they have a problem to immediately being cured of it. People are creatures of habit , and habits are hard to change. Don't forget to show the struggle to change along with the change itself.
Although writers can spend a lifetime refining the techniques of portraying believable characters, in everything from dialogue to character arcs, that's going to do it for this character revision series. If you've read the whole thing, thank you! I hope it has helped trigger some new ideas, give you some new tools to work with, and expose you to some strategies for thinking about character portrayal that will help elevate your novels above the run-of-the-mill.
After all, the only way out of the slushpile is up.
December 09, 2009 19:26 UTC
Why you should steal your character's shoes
Have you ever struggled with a character who just wouldn't come to life? Who seemed great in your head, but who just laid there like a dead fish once you put him on the page?
Maybe you need to steal his shoes.
It may be that the character has too many advantages. You may, as the saying goes, need to make things worse before the book can get better. I learned this lesson from a fantasy novel I critiqued once, although I believe the principle applies in any genre.
The novel in question was a pretty straightforward fantasy arc: hero has to brave a bunch of dangers in order to save the princess. Nothing wrong with that at all. But the hero was, well, too heroic.
He was terribly strong, with the strength of three ordinary men. He wielded an enormous sword that most men couldn't even lift. He was an exceptional swordsman, having been trained by the best swordmaster in all the land.
Thus fully prepared, he set off to battle.
Now, don't get me wrong. There is certainly a place in the world for hack-and-slash fantasy novels, where heroes with rippling muscles lay waste to armies of the enemy, then retire to the local tavern for a tankard of well-earned ale and a wench (not necessarily in that order). Plenty of books like that have sold plenty of copies.
However, the characterization in them is rather thin. And since this blog is all about characterization, let's fix that.
This setup wasn't very dramatic because the hero was too well matched to the task. His backstory eliminated any real challenge from his task. No challenge, no drama. The hero was such a bad-ass, right out of the gate, that of course we expect him to succeed. That's boring. We need to saddle the hero with some misfortunes. We need to take him down a few pegs before we'll have any interesting drama to work with.
We need, in other words, to steal his shoes. You can go two ways here:
Change the backstory: This is a form of shoe-stealing that takes place before the hero ever gets the shoes to begin with. Rather than having the hero be a muscle-bound, swordmaster jock, make him a skinny weakling. A shoeshine boy or barrel-maker's apprentice or something. Give him a background that is totally ill-suited to braving dangers and saving princesses. Then, of course, put him in a position where if he doesn't save the princess, nobody else will.
Oh, let the mighty fall By this I mean go ahead and start with the super-jock, but before he gets to the real adventure, systematically strip him of everything he thinks he needs in order to succeed. Have him break his sword. Give him a case of mono (or, it being fantasy, a curse) that saps his strength and stamina. Let a mugger rob him blind. Steal his actual shoes. Leave him bereft of everything except himself, his own inner drive to succeed, then see whether he still has the heart to brave the dangers and save the princess.
Either way is good. I mean, who do you admire more? A cookie-cutter hero who does something heroic, or a non-hero/fallen-hero facing certain death who plunges in anyway and gets the job done?
I find the latter enormously more interesting: Take away all his advantages—or never give him any to begin with—then we'll see what he's really made of in a crisis.
Both strategies inherently bring your character's inner self to the fore, while heightening the danger and thus the drama. But what both strategies also do for you, as a writer, is that they also steal your crutches.
It's easy to structure a plot in which the ubermensch hero wins. It's seductively easy to rely on the character's great strengths to get out of any jam or solve any problem. Sadly, things that are easy are rarely much good. But when the hero can't win through brute force, you'll have to create a plot in which he uses cleverness and other innate qualities to win the day. I guarantee you, it will be a much more interesting plot to read, with a much more fully developed hero.
October 09, 2009 16:12 UTC
Pop quiz: what's the deadliest urge a writer can succumb to?
The worst thing we can do to the characters in our novels is be kind to them. Especially our main characters. The absolute worst thing we can do is make sure our characters never have to face any difficult problems or overcome any daunting obstacles.
Let me tell you about some unpublished books I've read lately. These are all books that I hope become published, because at their core each one has something really unique to offer. (For obvious reasons, you'll understand that I can't give you the titles or authors' names.)
Book number one is a spy novel, a straight up cold-war era thriller. The main character has problems, sure, but they're in his home life. His difficulties and challenges do not relate to the outer story goal of smuggling the you-know-what out of you-can-guess-where. As far as the potentially thrilling part of the thriller goes, the good guys' plan pretty much went off without a hitch. I wasn't thrilled.
Book number two is a young adult adventure, with a fantastic premise and setting. It's really creative and unique. But this book's main character doesn't really have any problems. He's smart, has a materially-comfortable life with loving parents, supportive friends, and ready access to all the tools, materials, and money needed to get the job done. Nothing significant ever goes wrong, and the insignificant things that do go wrong, never get worse. The result is that nothing is challenging, and his ultimate victory feels foreordained.
Both books fall flat. Both authors seem reluctant to let their main characters have it. I mean, really screw 'em over. They seem unwilling to throw the characters into the frying pan, and when the characters jump out, have them land in a fire that happens to be built inside an even larger frying pan. That would be interesting, but that's not what they did.
I understand this. I've done it myself in earlier novels that I can now see I need to go back and make worse before I send them out to agents.
We authors grow to love our characters. We have created them, thought obsessively about them, nurtured them in our minds. We have taken care of them, and as with anything one cares for we come to love them. It is only human not to want to hurt them or ever let anything bad happen to them.
This nurturing, parental urge, this above all we must resist. We have to let our characters get into trouble—real, serious trouble—so they can get themselves out. We have to let them get hurt, so they can overcome. We can't coddle them as though they were toddlers. We can't put gates across the stairs and padding on all the sharp coffee table corners. We can't hover over them every second, waiting to snatch them out of trouble the instant danger looms.
Rather, we can, but if we do our characters won't be interesting to anyone. What reader can really get behind a character that never struggles with his or her problems? What reader roots for a character who never encounters any problems to begin with? Not me, I'll tell you that much.
So what about that third book? The protagonist in that one is a three year old girl, already someone an author is going to want to protect. But this toddler has not been coddled. No, the author has put her in a desperate and deeply destitute situation. She is so chronically malnourished she can't walk, can't even get out of her bed. Except her bed isn't a regular bed, it's just a wooden box with some filthy rags for padding. And the girl's parents? They're gone. They have abandoned her along with their homesteader's log cabin, somewhere in the middle of the woods in 1865. The poor girl doesn't even know her own name.
Problems? That girl's got problems upon problems upon problems. Every one of them just breaks my heart. Every one of them is something that would make any lesser person give up.
But she doesn't. She views her situation with every bit of naive optimism innate to any three-year-old child. She has a great attitude, an amazingly compelling voice, and she doesn't give up. To see this utterly helpless little girl overcome her problems, that's powerful stuff.
I root for her because it's all I can do. What I want to do is reach into the book to help her. Of course, I can't. I can only read her struggles, helplessly rooting for her to overcome. The very depth of her troubles makes me root for her as much, if not more, than I have for any character I've encountered in a New York Times bestselling book. And bear in mind, this is just in the book's opening scene.
As a writer, isn't that what we all want? Don't we want our readers rooting for our main characters? Don't we want them cheering when our heroes and heroines emerge victorious?
Of course we do. But that isn't going to happen unless we make it hard. If we don't make the obstacles seemingly insurmountable, the problems seemingly unsolvable, then we make our characters' jobs too easy and their victories meaningless. We make the characters themselves boring and lifeless.
Oh, and we also make our novels un-publishable. I'm just saying...
September 17, 2009 22:54 UTC
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