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Bo Xilai, the ambitious Chinese official whose rise was upended by his wife's murder of an English businessman, has been kicked out of the Communist Party and will face prosecution on multiple criminal counts, the official Xinhua News Agency said Friday. The government mouthpiece also said the 18th Communist Party Congress, which will begin a once-in-a-decade transition of China's top leadership, is scheduled to begin Nov. 8. The twin announcements, both significant developments in stories that had roiled China for much of the past year, came just as the country was preparing for a long holiday to mark its Oct. 1 National Day, which will likely limit domestic discussion of the events.
Bo, who was removed from his post as party boss of the city of Chongqing in March, stands accused of abusing power in relation to his wife's murder case, accepting massive bribes and "having and maintaining improper relationships" with several women. "Bo Xilai's behavior caused serious consequences, which greatly damaged the reputation of the Party and the country, and had a very bad impact at home and abroad and caused significant damage to the cause of the Party and the people," Xinhua said.
The announcement was issued just days after Bo's former deputy Wang Lijun was convicted of abuse of power, bribe taking, defection and "bending the law for selfish ends" and sentenced to a 15-year prison term. Wang, who had previously served as Chongqing's police chief under Bo, traveled in February to the U.S. consulate in the nearby city of Chengdu, where he spent a day under the protection of U.S. diplomats. While the U.S. hasn't revealed the full details of Wang's stay, it's believed that he revealed details of the killing of businessman Neil Heywood by Bo's wife Gu Kailai. Gu was convicted in August of poisoning Heywood at a Chongqing hotel after a long drinking session last November. Gu told investigators she killed Heywood, who had had a long relationship with the Bo family, over fears that he posed a threat to the couple's adult son Bo Guagua because of a failed real estate development deal.
Bo's downfall has added unexpected and at times macabre twists to this year's political transition, in which President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao will begin relinquishing their leadership roles to their expected successors, Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang. The transition involves extensive behind-the-scenes negotiations as China's Communist Party elites attempt to choose a combination of leaders who will appease all significant political factions. In public the process is carefully scripted, but this year has seen unexpected drama, from Wang's flight to Gu's murder trial to the two-week disappearance in early September of Xi, the presumed presidential successor. His absence from all public events was later explained by Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong's former chief executive, as the result of a back injury.
Bo, 63, has been under investigation by a Communist Party disciplinary body for several months. He is accused of violating party regulations not only during his 4 1/2 years in Chongqing but also during previous stints as Minister of Commerce, governor of Liaoning province and mayor of the port city of Dalian, a period that spans 20 years. While in Chongqing, Bo and his former deputy Wang launched a massive crackdown on organized crime that gained him widespread attention even as investigators tortured defendants and violated basic rights of the accused. Those efforts had help make Bo a potential candidate for selection to the Politburo Standing Committee, China's top ruling body, which will be reconfigured at the upcoming party congress. But he now faces the prospect of a lengthy prison term instead. Xinhua said Bo was expelled from the Communist Party, which means he will face a criminal trial rather than the possibility of lenient party discipline. His conviction is virtually guaranteed, as the verdict in such a high-profile political case will be ordered by party leaders.
Some political analysts had speculated that China would not want to hold Bo's trial too close to the party congress, as it would give the appearance of a politically motivated prosecution and highlight rampant problems with corruption in China's political system. "Bo Xilai failed in his oversight of Wang Lijun, so who failed to oversee Bo?" activist lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan tweeted after the decision to prosecute Bo was announced.
By announcing Bo's impending prosecution in nearly the same breath as the date of the party gathering — both were revealed at 6 p.m. Beijing time on Xinhua's official Twitter feed — the leadership seems determined to use Bo's case to strengthen the ruling party rather than weaken it. "The Communist Party's Central Committee emphasized that the investigation and handling of Bo Xilai's serious disciplinary problems further reflects the fundamental requirement of tightening party discipline and rule of law, a further indication of the clear-cut position and firm determination of our party against corruption," Xinhua said.


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Almost one in five New Zealanders who oppose the partial sale of Mighty River Power intend buying shares in the company anyway, according to a Herald-DigiPoll survey.
But the survey also indicates opposition to the sales plan is softening, with just over half of the 750 respondents saying they are against it compared with almost two thirds a year ago, and as much as three quarters before the 2011 election, which was largely fought on the issue.
According to the poll, conducted between March 11 and March 17 during the Government's initial Mighty River Power advertising blitz, 52.2 per cent of respondents opposed the sale and 41.9 per cent supported it.
Of those opposed almost a fifth intended buying shares while 30 per cent of all those polled said they would buy shares. The survey has a margin of error of 3.6 per cent.
Glen Eden solo father Warren Hurley was among the 420,000 who had pre-registered for shares in Mighty River by yesterday afternoon, but he is also among 393,000 people who signed a petition against the sale.
"As it stands now the dividends from those assets go back to the community and I think it should stay that way," he said.
He planned to donate any dividends he received to services such as Hospice and St John's.
State Owned Enterprises (SOE) Minister Tony Ryall welcomed the "bit of a drop" in opposition.
"What it indicates is there's an increasing awareness amongst the public that this mixed ownership model is part of a wider economic plan that the Government has had to help control debt," Mr Ryall said.
"Many people can see what's happening internationally, in Cyprus and Italy and they can see the sense of controlling debt."
Neither he nor Labour's SOE spokesman Clayton Cosgrove were surprised that people opposed to the sale planned to buy shares.
"I suppose their rationale is this shouldn't happen but if it's going to happen they want a crack and you can understand that," Mr Cosgrove said. Despite the apparent softening towards the sales plan, "I would still argue that there is overwhelming opposition to it," he added.
"There's a referendum coming that I think will prove that point."
Last week Parliament was presented with a petition to force a referendum on the plan to sell up to 51 per cent of Mighty River Power, Meridian Energy and Genesis Energy.
After the signatures have been checked, the Government will have a year to hold a non-binding referendum. At least two of the assets could have been floated by then.
Infographic: Claudia Ruiz

subset: commoncrawl


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Russia-China war games battle extremists, separatists
MOSCOW – Russia and China on Wednesday opened week-long joint war games designed to counter a hypothetical threat from Islamist extremists or ethnic separatists that both countries insist look increasingly realistic.
The coordinated land and air force exercises, dubbed "Peace Mission 2009," is not the first time the two Eurasian giants have flexed their collective military muscles, but experts say both are driven by a growing sense of urgency stemming from what they see as a deteriorating security picture in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, as well as the eruption of ethnic riots in China's Xinjiang Province earlier this month, which killed almost 200 people according to official figures.
"Terrorist groups are using various measures, and they make use of Islamic slogans to carry out terrorist attacks," Nikolai Makarov, chief of the Russian Armed Forces' General Staff told the official RIA-Novosti agency.
"The latest incident [in Xinjiang] shows that more and more separatist, extremist, and terrorist forces are emerging," he added.
The war games will, for the first time, range across both Russian and Chinese territory near the far-eastern region of Khabarovsk, and involve about 3,000 troops, plus 40 fighter planes and helicopter gunships.
Russian and China have been gradually strengthening their cooperation through joint leadership of the six-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which has evolved from a regional trade association into an increasingly assertive political alliance since its formation in 2001. Members include Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan; India, Pakistan, Mongolia, and Iran attend SCO summits as observers.
Some critics warn that the group is taking on an increasingly anti-American complexion, as when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended the SCO's June summit in Yekaterinburg just days after his disputed election victory.
Experts say Moscow and Beijing are concerned about deepening instability in former Soviet Central Asia, where weak local governments face a growing threat from drug smugglers and Islamist extremists emanating from neighboring Afghanistan.
"Unfortunately, our American colleagues and NATO are losing the war in Afghanistan to the Taliban, and there is a danger of spreading extremism into the wider region of Central Asia," says Lt. Gen. Genady Yevstafiyev, senior vice president of the PIR Center, an independent Moscow-based security think tank.
"These [Russia-China] military exercises are a defensive operation, which are especially important for China this year. But they also serve as a warning to extremists, and thus may be helpful to the US and NATO in their efforts" against the Taliban in Afghanistan, he adds.
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said Tuesday that he may approve a new Russian military base in southern Kyrgyzstan to train regional forces to fight the rising tide of narcotics smuggling and terrorism.
In recent weeks, local security forces in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have reported gun battles with Taliban-linked insurgents who they say are infiltrating the countries from Afghanistan.
"The situation in this region is a really serious threat to both Russia and China, as well as countries of central Asia," says Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the official Institute of the Commonwealth of Independent States in Moscow. "It's no coincidence that there's a decision to create an antiterrorist center in Kyrgyzstan. It's motivated by real danger."
Though Russian-Chinese cooperation is on the rise, some experts say neither country is interested in moving toward a full strategic anti-Western alliance.
"China is our potential enemy, and these exercises are mostly playing into China's hands," says Alexander Khramchikhin, an expert with the independent Institute of Political and Military Analysis in Moscow.
"Of course Russia wants to play the China card in its relations with the US, and China is playing the Russian card against America," he says. "But the fact remains that, for both of them, relations with Washington remain far more important than anything going on between themselves."


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Nvidia saca nueva versión de controladores gráficos GeForce 275.33 WHQL
Controladores oficiales con certificación WHQL y soporte para tarjetas gráficas GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, 200, 300, 400 y 500 series e ION. Incluye actualización PhysX System Software v9.10.0514.
- New in Release 275.33
GPU Support
Adds support for the newly released GeForce GTX 560 GPU.Performance
Increases performance for GeForce 400 Series and 500 Series GPUs in several PC games vs. v270.61 WHQL drivers. The following are some examples of improvements measured on Windows 7. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:GeForce GTX 580:
Up to 4% in Crysis 2
Up to 5% in Civilization V with SLI
Up to 9% in Portal 2
Up to 13% in Bulletstorm with Antialiasing enabled
Up to 15% in Batman: Arkham Asylum with PhysX HighGeForce GTX 560:
Up to 6% in Crysis 2
Up to 8% in Portal 2
Up to 14% in Batman: Arkham Asylum with PhysX High
Up to 15% in Bulletstorm with Antialiasing enabled
Increases gaming performance by up to 2x in World of Warcraft in cases of high memory pressure with antialiasing enabled.Other
Installs HD Audio driver version 220.127.116.11
Installs PhysX System Software to version 9.10.0514
Supports the new GPU-accelerated features in Adobe CS5.
Supports GPU-acceleration for smoother online HD videos with Adobe Flash 10.1. Learn more here.
Supports the new version of MotionDSP's video enhancement software, vReveal, which adds support for HD output. NVIDIA customers can download a free version of vReveal that supports up to SD output here.
Supports OpenCL 1.0 (Open Computing Language) for all GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
Supports OpenGL 3.3 for GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
Supports OpenGL 4.1 on GeForce 400 series and later GPUs.
Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology* on DirectX 9 and OpenGL.
Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software.
Para descargar los drivers clic aquí.


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Food Market Gazette
Food Market Gazette
Every day, the Food Market Gazette team delivers to you the most current information from a variety of types.
Learn about the world around you and see the world around you with an ounce of intelligence.
We are here for you to inform, entertain, and amuse - so make sure to keep checking back!
We cover everything, from business to sports; science to politics to crime and culture to food and drinks to many more.
The Food Market Gazette team strives to bring you the most exciting breaking news stories from each of the categories: politics, technology, and everything else.
This site has something to offer all ages, covering a huge variety of subjects!
With just one mouse click it is possible to receive the latest news across the globe because of these committed journalists who check the web 24/7 for the most relevant news.
Food Market Gazette updates information every couple of hours to ensure you're always up to date without needing to check your computer or phone constantly.
You can find more information on any of the stories they write about at the lower left. The links below will lead you to another site with more details.
If you go to Food Market Gazette, you'll discover news articles about breaking stories in entertainment and news.
There are several types to help narrow your search for the right story.
There are numerous options, including Technology Music, Entertainment, Politics, and Sports.
My personal favorite story concerns the death of a scientist because of an unusual medical error.
This article was released on Monday the 14th of November, 2017.
Katherine Grier, a scientist from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston passed away from a "wrongful death" at the age of 57.
There's no way to determine what the cause was, it is clear that she took the wrong drug.
The entire article at Food Market Gazette Health News and More
This would interest me because I'm interested in these kinds of topics and I enjoy reading about these topics. They're also on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
A mobile-friendly design implies that you can access the Food Market Gazette website from your mobile device.
Food Market Gazette provides a wonderful source of entertainment and information for anyone, so visit them today!
Food Market Gazette publishes new stories every hour, which means you'll always be up to date with the most recent news without needing to connect to your phone or computer.
If you go to Food Market Gazette, you will discover breaking news and entertainment news. You can also filter your search by category.
Food Market Gazette, a new website that offers the latest news, is great. Subscribe to their site to receive emails updates.
Register for the Food Market Gazette newsletter to be informed every time new articles are published.
You can also interact with them via social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
foodmarketgazette.com is where to go if you are looking for all the most recent news on any subject or subject matter.
Visit Site: https://www.foodmarketgazette.com/


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The Smoking Gun has dug up some entertaining testimony from the trial of David Kernell, the 22 year-old hacker convicted of breaking in to then vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's email in 2008.
Specifically, it's the testimony of Christopher 'Moot' Poole, founder and administrator of 4Chan, the image board on which Palin's password was posted.
Moot was called in to testify about 4Chan and the data he turned over to investigators. But, for some reason, both the prosecution and defense felt the need to question him about 4Chan slang. Nothing in the rest of the testimony makes it clear why these questions needed to be asked, but they're a lot of fun:
(UPDATE: A number of commenters asked where they could find the full testimony, so we've embedded it here.)
UPDATE: Read the full testimony here.


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Push Pop Press, an e-publishing startup founded by ex-Apple engineers Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris, has announced its acquisition by Facebook.
Push Pop published one multimedia book for the iPad, Al Gore's Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis. At that time, Push Pop, as Wired.com's Brian Chen wrote, sought to create a "publishing platform for authors, publishers and artists to turn their books into interactive iPad or iPhone apps — no programming skills required."
Facebook has no interest in publishing interactive ebooks. According to Push Pop, "there are no plans to continue publishing new titles or building out our publishing platform that was in private beta." Our Choice will still continue to be sold, but further profits will be donated to The Climate Reality Project. No other books will be published. Instead, "the ideas and technology behind Push Pop Press will be integrated with Facebook."
So instead of an independent born-digital press, publishing next-generation multimedia novels (or magazines or textbooks or children's books or cookbooks), Facebook will probably get marginally better iOS apps.
I'm happy for the team at Push Pop; they're a talented and experienced group, and Facebook is lucky to have them. But as a reader, and as a technology writer who's been writing about digital publishing for as long as I can remember, this news frankly bums me out.
We sorely need independent innovation in digital publishing. We need talented people who are willing to try things. Meanwhile, all of the money, attention and technological skill is marching in the opposite direction. Most big media companies with plenty of capital and deep technical talent see few if any reasons to innovate or invest in books.
Surely there are writers with fantastic ideas for new kinds of publications. And many of them could also learn the tools to create these apps on their own. But to paraphrase W.E.B. DuBois, when God makes a writer, He does not always make the pushing sort of person who beats his way through doors thrust in her face.
The ideas are there; the talent is there; the readers are there. But when the three come together, inevitably someone else can figure out a way to use the technology for a different end. The better and more experimental it is, the more likely this is true.
This is not the only reason transforming digital publishing is so difficult today. But it is one of them.


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Starting A New Job? 7 Essential Tips
By Kelly Eggers
The first day at a new job is fraught with questions. Will it look bad if I can't remember everyone's name? When can I ask for my first assignment? Can I bring lunch from home?
While the specific answers vary between workplaces, career coaches and recruiters say that there are a few basic guidelines that apply to most people as they transition into a new role.


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Sand + Hunter Green Napkin Rings
Strong and beautifully handwoven, these napkin rings are crafted by women artisans in Rwanda. With each woven stitch, there is a uniqueness and style that will make these napkin ring holders a charming accent to your dining room setting. Meaningfully and purposefully designed.
- Approximately 1.5" D x 1.3" H
- Made of all natural fibers of sisal and sweet grass
- Made in Rwanda
- Fair trade
- Organic dyes
- Profiled weaver tag is attached to each product
Care instructions: Cleaning the handmade products - Made of natural fibers and grass; do not submerge in water. If necessary, use a damp cloth to wipe or spot clean the basket. After serving bread or other dried foods, turn the product upside down and shake and tap to release crumbs and residue. Avoid using chemicals or detergents.
Sun and fading - Due to being all natural fibers, keep dyed products out of direct sunlight for long periods of time to avoid natural fading. All natural products with little or no coloring do well in direct sunlight.
Avoid moisture or temperate changes when possible - If products are being stored for more than 2 weeks, please keep in a temperature controlled environment, elevated off of a concrete floor to avoid fluctuating cold and warm temperatures that could create mold.


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Two more people in Saudi Arabia have died from a new strain of coronavirus that has emerged in the Middle East, bringing the toll in the kingdom's latest outbreak to seven, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. Six other people are infected, one of them critically ill, in an outbreak centred on a health care facility in Al Ahsa governorate in Eastern Province, WHO spokesman Glenn Thomas said in Geneva. Worldwide, there have been 30 laboratory-confirmed infections with the new virus, including 18 deaths, since it came to scientists' attention last September, he said. Other strains of coronavirus can cause common colds but also the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that emerged in Asia in 2003.
There is no evidence yet of sustained human-to-human spread of the new virus, but there are concerns about clusters of cases reported by the WHO in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Britain.
A retrospective study in Jordan found that there had been an outbreak of the new virus there as long ago as April 2012, with two confirmed cases and 11 probable ones, including 10 health care workers, Thomas told Reuters.
Saudi Arabia has reported 23 confirmed cases in total, Qatar two, Jordan two, Britain two and the United Arab Emirates one, according to the WHO.
"WHO does not advise special screening (of travellers) nor does it recommend that any trade or travel restrictions," Thomas said, adding that all states should look out for "any unusual patterns" of infection.


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Having suffered though some hard times, Giant Drags next album is in the process of finding its way into the hands of us here fans though a distribution company. Until then, Annie has hinted that she will be setting up a home studio and treating us all to some tunes while we wait for the main event!
In the meantime, check out Annie's new youtube channel – www.YouTube.com/AnnieHardy – where she answers some of your questions. There is also a little competition going on where you can create your own music video for one of Giant Drags' songs. Annie will pick her favourite and the winner will receive a mysterious 'treat'.


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Picking goods is one of the most costly and labor-intensive processes for both warehouses and distribution centers. That is why SSI SCHAEFER has developed a range of picking systems that effectively reduce manual activities in the warehouse. This enables you to process your orders faster and more effectively.
Products and solutions for manual, semi- and automated picking.


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Monday, July 2, 2012
As Cousin Tabitha likes to sing around me, I once had a blog, or should I say, it once had me. ⓿
Basically this post is corollary to my previous one, to announce that as part of my accession to not one but TWO new jobs coming my way fast, I'll be shuttering SuperScript soon. Along with its exponents: The Editing Room, the Facebook page, the Twitter account. ⓿
Originally I had hoped to keep the business going for favored fiction clients only, but with August around the corner, it's already becoming clear that I'm going to be a tad preoccupied. ⓿
Hence this is my last post on Blogorrhea, the bloggling you thought had long since wheezed its last breath anyway. The only reason I scribble a final post at all, as opposed to just fading away and radiating, is that I tend toward ending rather than mending. And sometimes an Irish Goodbye just won't do. ⓿
AND ALSO: because I'll be back. Taking a cue from the ingenious Miranda July, Blogorrhea will probably simply evolve into something else in the very near future. And then metamorphose again. ⓿
Meanwhile, for excellent regional arts coverage, you have many resources. Two of my favorites are truly superb: Oregon Arts Watch and Art Scatter. ⓿
For national forums on theater, you can't do better than Parabasis and HowlRound. ⓿
Oh, and you're welcome to visit my secret repository of groovy images, Thanatopsis, the off-site storage facility for (some of) those startling sharings that show up on my Facebook timeline. ⓿
Goodbye hello.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
My Favorite Year(s)
Almost 10 years ago already, I moved my whole life up to Portland Ore. And it amuses me now to recall that some people weren't very happy about it at the time. Seriously. A few even stopped talking to me, gave me up for lost. Because back then, Portlandia was generally regarded as a theater backwater. How was I supposed to do anything for anybody now, that was the general sentiment. ¶
Mymymy. How much has changed a decade later. Today, as Bob Hicks recently noted, there's too much good theater to keep up with it all. The city's definitely on the national theater map — even if our current rep is that we're the best tryout town in the nation. (Translation: the place where you spend a couple of years to beef up your résumé before you head to Chicago.) ¶
When I dearly departed from Portland Center Stage about three years back, I again had to cope with people's expectations. Surely now I would pull up stakes at last and follow my friends to Chicago, right? Or Louisville, or Minneapolis, or … ? Nope. I was through with being a theater vagabond. ¶
It was a no-brainer, actually. I had no intention of uprooting my family yet again. But that decision was tantamount to an immediate identity crisis. ¶
My decision to return to my roots as an editor (which was my original entrée into the theater, actually) and hang out my shingle as such was met with instant dismay. Less because it sounded like adopting struggle and poverty as lifestyles, and more because it seemed to mean acquiescing to a life without clout. ¶
Many friends acted like I'd adopted a tiresome avocation, like philately or model trains or joining an unfashionable religious cult. But I was serious. I worked hard to build my business, SuperScript Editorial Services. It meant living on savings that first year out, but one client led to another and eventually the work began to snowball. I found I loved working from my home office, where I was self-directed enough to turn in my assignments ahead of schedule and to serve as a domestic demiurge as well. Most importantly, I spent every day in the company of my beloved terrier, MacHeath, in the last two years of his life — a boon to us both, which I hoped made amends for the years I went day and night without him while working in the theater. ¶
And yet! Gradually during these years the theater work came ebbing back. (Just before it did, I visited a local psychic of some note, who told me something I didn't really want to hear at the time. "You may be through with theater," she said. "But theater isn't through with you.") There was a lot of script consulting, and there were occasional dramaturgy gigs. And then suddenly, somehow, I joined the ranks of actors and directors who lament that they work more outside their hometowns than in them. ¶
Lots of good counsel came my way about how to negotiate the sometimes lengthy out-of-town gigs. For ex, Kate Eastwood Norris and Cody Nickell advised: "Always buy the smallest bottle of quality olive oil possible; it's expensive and too heavy to take home with you."
So many thrilling away-gigs over the years. A few favorites: Colorado New Play Summit, Humana, UT Austin, Hollins University's new play fest, PlayPenn. And a particular favorite: Iowa Playwrights Workshop, which is a veritable crucible for the theater of the future. (One of its alums, Kirsten Greenidge, just won an Obie for playwriting, by the way…) ¶
I'm kind of sad it's all coming to an end. Sad and glad. Starting in August, I'll be the new theater history prof at University of Portland, joining an outstanding faculty that includes Larry Larson, Mindi Logan, Andrew Golla, Gregory Pulver and Andrea Stolowitz. And I'm chomping at the bit to meet my new students and to spend my days professing about the field I love so much, past and present. ¶
AND I hope I'll still be able to collaborate on projects with the Portland companies who have been so welcoming to me, including Artists Repertory Theatre, Portland Playhouse, Hand2Mouth, Third Rail Rep, Northwest Children's Theater and Oregon Children's Theatre, among others…..it's just those exciting national occasions will now mostly be limited to summertime. ¶
With one major exception: stay tuned!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Spring comes to Planet Earth
In honor of the first day of spring, a poem by Mary Oliver. This is from her collection House of Light.
a black bear
has just risen from sleep
and is staring
down the mountain.
All night
in the brisk and shallow restlessness
of early spring
I think of her,
her four black fists
flicking the gravel,
her tongue
like a red fire
touching the grass,
the cold water.
There is only one question:
how to love this world.
I think of her
like a black and leafy ledge
to sharpen her claws against
the silence
of the trees.
Whatever else
my life is
with its poems
and its music
and its cities,
it is also this dazzling darkness
down the mountain,
breathing and tasting;
all day I think of her –
her white teeth,
her wordlessness,
her perfect love.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Awake and dream
Blame it on Inception, I guess, that silly video game-cum-action movie. In 2010 it made pop hash out of the idea of lucid dreaming. And now, premiering tonight, is a new broadcast show (on NBC) called Awake, that takes up some of these notion and adds its own twist. Suddenly this once obscure phenomenon is everywhere.
What is lucid dreaming? Very simply, it's about cultivating a presence of mind, during the dreaming state, so that you realize you're dreaming while you're still doing it. This is more momentous than it sounds — because once you attain that realization, you have the apparent ability to manipulate the elements of your dream. And that can be fun, or terrifying, or revelatory. Or all of these at once.
There's a ton of stuff on the interwebs about this nowadays. Forums, support groups, numerous how-to guides. For some people, simply becoming aware of the phenomenon induces it the next time they sleep. For many, however (such as in my case), it takes a lot of practice and self-discipline to get underway.
In recent years, there has been so much emphasis placed on the fun-and-games aspect of apparently controlling your dreams (e.g., flying around the cosmos, walking through walls, breathing underwater, etc.) that a new level of engagement is now underway. Sometimes referred to as advanced or conscious dreaming, this new society of oneironauts leaves the dream manipulation to the newbies and instead favors letting the dream take you where it will.
Essentially, this new paradigm asks: who, exactly, is doing the dreaming? You can best explore this gigantic existential question by querying the dream itself. If you encounter a dream figure who looks an awful lot like your deceased Aunt Clara, for example, you can ask her: what do you represent? Why are you here, what do you want? Or, to be more abstract about, if you find yourself in an inexplicable setting like an open field or an unpopulated city, you can just say to the open air: why am I here? Often the responses are out-and-out epiphanies.
So what of the pop versions of lucid dreaming? While most of Inception is sheer fantasy, there are people whose authority I trust who have indeed had group dreams, in which several people seemed to be present together in the same dream location. In theory, this happens to you every night, but doing this consciously and with avowed intent is advanced dreaming indeed.
Awake is an interesting case. In this plot line, a man (played by Liverpudlian actor Jason Isaacs, a perfect James Bond sort if ever there was one) has had a car accident in which either he, his wife or his son were killed. Every time he wakes up, he flips between a reality where his wife is alive and the son is dead, or the other way round. In each reality, he has shrinks (played by Cherry Jones and B.D. Wong!), each of whom insists he gives up the other reality if he's ever to be mentally stable again.
The parallel to lucid dreaming here is that while lucid, the sense of its reality can be absolute. In terms of how vivid and palpable the experience is, everything can seem to be totally real. And almost any lucid dreamer can attest to the unsettling instance of the false awakening, in which you come out of a dream and start your day only to discover at some point that in fact you only started another dream—one that began with you waking up in your own bed.
There are scads of techniques for coping with this. If you're ever out and about and you see someone perform certain actions—such as checking the hands (which tend to morph in dreams), snapping a rubber band against the wrist, or even whispering "Am I dreaming," you may have just witnessed somebody performing what's called a reality check. The hero of Awake has evolved similar methods to track which of his dream realities he's currently visiting. Apparently lucid dreaming has gone mainstream.
Anyway. Media glosses on the experience aside, I recommend two good books on the subject, if you're interested. Robert Waggoner's Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self advocates junking the illusion that you have control over your dreams in favor of allowing them to divulge their meanings. And Robert Moss's Active Dreaming has some excellent approaches to what's known as dream incubation.
As the Aussies say, see you in the dream-time.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
A cabal for all
You've heard of a murder of crows, a gaggle of geese and a pride of lions. I think a cabal of dramaturgs describes us nicely, don't you? Dramaturgs together make for a disparate group, but they tend to have one important thing in common — a talent for bilocation. Because we stand inside the artistic process as well as outside it, frequently we're able to hold on to a detached sense of perspective that the theater really, really needs. If you ax me.
That's why the fabulous Kate Bredeson (theater prof @ Reed College) and I are hosting an informal dramaturgs' town hall this January, during the Portland's Fertile Ground Festival. This city-wide celebration of original work for the stage is a kaleidoscopic array of spanking new performances, a good chunk of them created just for those crazy 10 days and nights. It's been a boon for theater folk and theater audiences both, since at this point (2012's fest is the fourth already), many theaters are launching into new work specifically to leverage the visibility Fertile Ground can offer them.
Playwrights and dramaturgs have been gaining ascendancy in Portlandia for years now. Some of the city's most interesting companies have literary components helping to set their artistic agendas, including Portland Playhouse, Third Rail Rep and Artists Repertory Theatre. Playwriting groups are flourishing, some which have intriguing dramaturg/producer components. Commissioning is quietly blossoming (more about that in weeks to come). And certain smaller companies have been quick to add the dramaturg job description to their development processes — sometimes, avowedly, without much idea of what their dramaturgs were actually supposed to be doing for them!
Perhaps, then, it's a good time for a gathering of the tribes. For us to discuss whether there are ways we can better help drive artistic platforms, rather than those platforms driving us.
If this interests you, Kate and I invite you to attend this meeting when January rolls around. Details are below. Questions? Hail me at mead hunter at juno dot com — if you're not a spambot (and I'm sure you're not), just close up the spaces in my address and we're in touch.
Reed College presents
Hosted by Kate Bredeson and Mead Hunter
Venue: Reed College mainstage theater, 3203 SE Woodstock Boulevard
Festival Date: Jan 22, 2012 @ 2 pm
Tickets: Event is free and open to the public
More information: directions to Reed's theater here.
Why not admit it, dramaturgs are the unsung heroes of new play development; their ideas and their connections often provide the impetus to kick-start original theater projects. Since Portland is fast becoming known as a hotbed of new work, where do we, as dramaturgs, fit into this changing topography? How can we encourage, support and even initiate innovative developments? In this informal meeting, we'll attempt to map the new play territory locally and nationally and then brainstorm ways to pursue a proactive theater agenda.
Whether you're a career dramaturg, an occasional practitioner, a new play stakeholder or just curious about the profession of dramaturgy, you are very welcome at this meeting.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Embraceable Her
Brace Yourself: Louanne's Benefit for Benefits
7 pm Monday, October 3
$20 suggested donation
Artists Repertory Theatre
1515 SW Morrison St.
If you live in Portland, no doubt you've heard that beloved theater icon Louanne Moldovan, founder of Cygnet Productions, suffered a terrible one-two punch of accidents this past August. Following a hospital stint that had her trussed up like a Constructivist installation, Louanne's now at home in a thick C-collar that Elizabeth I might have envied, but which keeps her (Louanne) unable to do much of the work she is so respected for.
On Monday evening, the theater community is coming together to raise funds for her upcoming operation (insurance will not cover this vital procedure — no surprise there, I'm sorry to say) through a retrospective of the company she founded. The evening includes music by Dave Frishberg and two original short plays by Sue Mach and Doug Baldwin. Details below. With a lot of Portland theater royalty turning out to support one its own, this will be a night to remember.
If, like me, extant commitments prevent you attending on Monday, not to worry — just go to any Wells Fargo Bank and make a deposit to the Louanne Moldovan Fund. Or mail a check to the Fund c/o Cygnet Productions, PO Box 15205, Portland OR 97293.
Here's some more information from the Facebook page about the event:
Cost: $20 donation suggested at the door. Cash or check only (sorry, no credit cards) for tickets and raffle items.
This will be a Cygnet-style literary cabaret — a retrospective of 20 years of fabulous theater. Food and drink will be available, and strange and wondrous things will be raffled off.
Don Alder and Duffy Epstein will emcee. Dave Frishberg will kick the evening off at 7 pm with something witty and Frishbergian, in Artist Repertory Theatre's Morrison-side lobby. Then the action moves downstairs to the Alder lobby, and then in to the theater. The Andre St. James trio will play during the evening, and Dorothy Sermol will sing. Actors including (but certainly not limited to) Bobby Bermea, Gregg Bielemeier, Dave Bodin, Kristen Brown, Danny Bruno, David Burnett, Eric Hull and VOX, Michele Mariana, Nyla McCarthy, John Morrison, Vana O'Brien, Ted Roisum, Luisa Sermol, Marilyn Stacey, and Wendy Westerwelle will perform excerpts from Cygnet hits such as Love Letters on Fire, The Wild Party, Withering Looks, Variations on a Bard, The Setup, and more (including the command performance of Chicken Kamasutra).
Two 10-minute plays inspired by Louanne's tumble will be performed, one by Sue Mach and one by actor/playwright Doug Baldwin.
Enjoy a delightful one-of-a-kind evening as some of Portland's finest talent does what they do best, for a cause close to their hearts.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Once more into the screech
A little post-TBA fallout for you.
Remember Taylor Mac's larger-than-life cabaret, subtitled The Ziggy Stardust Meets Tiny Tim Songbook? Taylor gave us a wild sing-a-long version of a Tiny Tim tune that can only be filed under: OB. SCURE. "The Other Side," it was called, and I was thunderstruck when he started in on it, because I kid you not, I had been telling James all about that very song not a week before.
Part of the fun of Tiny Tim back in those halcyon days (talking the 60s here, and I was very young, okay?) was that you were never quite sure whether Mr. Tim was for real or whether you were totally being had. This was before Andy Kaufman, mind you; it was pre-DEVO and all kinds of other, later stunts designed to make sure your laughter was nervous.
Everything on the God Bless Tiny Tim album was downright bizarre, and it ranged from retro chic (a pacifist Irving Berlin song) to novelty songs like the familiar "Tip-toe Through the Tulips"; there was even an old vaudeville gag ("The Viper"). But nothing was odder — or more prescient — than "The Other Side," a song about melting polar icecaps and the world's subsequent drowning "to wash away the sin."
Don't take my word for it. Check out this video tribute to the song, which pairs original footage with the vintage Tiny Tim recording. Pay special attention to the televangelist's voice at the end, urging you to wade into the water and "having a swimming time" as sea swells.
Then congratulate Taylor Mac and me on our fiercely omnivorous tastes.
Andy Kaufman,
Taylor Mac,
Tiny Tim
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Israel edges out Cyprus to win Eurovision final
Netta Barzilai is sassy, she's fun and she can sing – and now the Israeli has won the Eurovision Song Contest with a catchy techno dance tune about women's empowerment.
The 25-year-old pre-competition favorite beat out competition from 42 other countries' performers Saturday to claim the music extravaganza's annual crown at the Grand Final with her song "Toy."
There was a strong field of contestants at this year's event in Lisbon, Portugal, which was watched by an estimated 200 million people. The votes coming in live from the capitals of participating countries delivered a tense finale, with Israel gripped in a tight, five-way race with Cyprus, Austria, Sweden and Germany.
Barzilai eventually racked up 529 points, compared with 436 for runner-up Cyprus with "Fuego" by Eleni Foureira, and 342 for third-place Austria with Cesar Sampson's "Nobody But You."
The contest largely shed its traditional hallmarks of glitz and glitter in favor of a more restrained and tasteful tone in Lisbon, which was hosting the event because it won last year with Salvador Sobral's sober and subdued ballad "Amar pelos Dois."
Sobral last week criticized "Toy" as "horrible music," insisting the focus should be on the music and not the spectacle.
But Barzilai, with her Asian-themed show in red and yellow and her dancers doing funky chicken moves, was unrepentant.
"I'm happy people chose something different. It's refreshing," she said. "I believe authenticity [shows] through."
Her win – Israel's fourth and first since 1998 – means her country hosts next year's Eurovision Song Contest.
"Next time in Jersualem!" Barzilai shouted to the audience as she picked up her award.
The international contest began as a competition between European countries, but its huge popularity has led to the inclusion of Israel and Australia among the performers.
Barzilai, known more usually as Netta, has a witty and endearing personality. Before the Grand Final, her song had already racked up more than 20 million views on Eurovision's YouTube channel.
In "Toy," Netta makes funny noises, including a clucking sound like a chicken and barely decipherable words, and uses a looping machine and synthesizer.
The lyrics say, "I'm not your toy, You stupid boy, I'll take you down."
Portugal came last, with 39 points.
Fans caught their breath when a protester ran onto the stage and snatched away the microphone of the United Kingdom's contestant SuRie.
The man got hold of the microphone but was quickly tackled by security and taken away while SuRie stood by. The British singer kept her composure and picked up her song where she left off.
Previous editions of the annual event have also witnessed protesters getting onto the stage.
The event is organized by the European Broadcasting Union, an alliance of public service broadcasters. In each participating country, a jury and viewers award between one and a maximum 12 points to their favorite songs. Those votes are combined to give each country a single score.
Past winners have rarely become household names, but they include Swedish pop group ABBA and Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias.


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Are U.S. Crude Exports Just Around the Corner?
Many times we think the most important information to glean from quarterly conference calls relates to very specific details about a company's operations. However, in the topsy-turvy world of energy, conference calls are increasingly providing details on business models and macroeconomic trends that make these group chats a can't-miss quarterly tradition.
The most recent call at Plains All American Pipeline is a perfect example, and today we'll look at what CEO Greg Armstrong had to say about disconnect in U.S. oil markets. It's an issue affecting almost every aspect of the American oil and gas game right now, including production, midstream, and refining.
Some background
As domestic oil production has boomed across North America, our pipeline network has been overwhelmed, to say the least. The result of a lack of adequate infrastructure has resulted in the formation of gluts at oil hubs across the U.S. and Canada. The result of that is that there are actually many price disparities within the West Texas Intermediate benchmark, which itself trades at a discount to Brent, the world benchmark.
For example, crude at Cushing, Okla., fetches a lower price than crude sold at St. James, La. Oil in Midland, Texas, goes for even less, and oil coming from Canada trades for even less than that.
This situation explains why producers are so willing to pay a few extra dollars to ship their crude via rail to markets outside traditional hubs such as Cushing. It explains why companies such as PBF Energybuilt out rail terminals in Delaware, why companies such as Enbridge are building rail lines across Pennsylvania, and why companies such as Plains All American are securing rail terminals in Bakersfield, Calif.
Getting the highest price makes good business sense for producers, but more importantly, given the high cost of production, it's also absolutely necessary to keep the rigs drilling and the oil flowing.
More options?
On the Plains fourth-quarter call, an analyst asked CEO Armstrong what effect he thought the burgeoning production in Texas would have on discounting Louisiana Light Sweet Crude. Here's what Armstrong said in reply:
I think, for example, what we see in the next 12 months may differ from what we see 12 months beyond that point, or 24 months into the future. And so I think logistics is going to be a critical part of that. Rail, I think, is going to be the pressure relief valve in the short term. Longer term, there [are] issues with respect to Jones Act relief and potentially either exporting crude or exporting slightly refined crude products.
We know about rail, but Armstrong's mention of the Jones Act and potentially exporting crude deserves a closer look.
Two acts to know
Armstrong makes specific mention of the Jones Act and alludes to the Export Administration Act of 1979. The former stipulates that shipments from one American port to another American port must be made by American ships sporting American crews, while the latter allows the president to prohibit the export of commodities.
The Jones Act has been on the books since 1920 and was originally intended to protect American interests during times of national emergency. However, as editors at Bloomberg noted earlier this year, the Jones Act had to be temporarily suspended during our most recent emergencies, including Hurricane Sandy. It is also economically debilitating to the economies of Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and Alaska. Why? Essentially, the ban on foreign competition inflates American shipping rates. Allowing foreign shippers to move crude from port to port would, at least in theory, lower shipping rates and reduce oil gluts in certain regions by relieving bottlenecks. And in fact, suspending the act during Hurricane Sandy did indeed drive down the price of gasoline.
As far as the Export Administration Act goes, the thinking is that U.S. refiners only have capacity to process so much crude. Once our supply moves past that point, the stored oil becomes a huge liability. Oil drops in value as it sits, and low oil prices will make production in certain regions prohibitively expensive. Exporting crude would keep prices high and allow production to continue.
Consider the source
No one understands how the movement of oil affects prices like the people in charge of moving that oil. The midstream industry's entire livelihood depends on knowing where the oil is and where producers want to move it, even before the producers may know themselves. In short, Armstrong is an expert, and his words carry a certain weight as a result.
In fact, Valero has already received special permission from the Department of Commerce to export crude to one of its facilities in Canada. The company is using the light sweet crude from the Eagle Ford shale to displace imports from West Africa.
Armstrong, again, is on record with the idea that what we think right now may change wildly in 12 months, and again 24 months beyond that. The industry is in such a state of flux that there are no guarantees. Still, it is important to think about the effects that any potential rollback or adjustment to the Jones Act and the Export Administration Act might have on our investments.
Foolish takeaway
It can be hard to catch every conference call -- or any conference call, for that matter -- but the transcripts are almost always available online 24 hours later, and investors should make a point of checking them out. The Q&A at the end is especially valuable for gaining insight on the larger trends that can dramatically affect our investments.
One producer that would certainly benefit from higher oil prices is the Bakken's own Kodiak Oil & Gas. Kodiak is a dynamic growth story, but with great opportunities come great risks. Before you hitch your horse to this carriage, let us help you with your due diligence. To see if Kodiak is currently a buy or sell, check out our new premium report, which comes with a year of timely updates and analysis.
The article Are U.S. Crude Exports Just Around the Corner? originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Aimee Duffy owns shares of Plains All American Pipeline. Click here to see her holdings and a short bio. If you have the energy, check out what she's keeping an eye on by following her on Twitter, where she goes by @TMFDuffy.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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If Instagram is worth an eye-popping one billion dollars, who's to say the fast growing Viddy, which lets users easily record videos, apply filters and share with friends, isn't on the same rocket ship trajectory.
The company, founded in April 2011, has added nearly 10 million users in the last two months and brought on a boatload of celebrities as advisors and investors. Now reports are flying fast and furious that Viddy is raising a series B of $30 million at a valuation between $300-370 million.
Viddy is one of many apps that have recently seen a huge growth surge thanks to smart integration with the Facebook timeline. The company was coasting along at around five million monthly active users through Facebook until they relaunched their app. With the timeline integration, they more than doubled that number in the last two weeks.
It's not clear that Viddy is a direct competitor to Facebook in the way that Instagram was. Photo sharing is Facebook's big feature and mobile was the area it was most concerned about leading into its IPO.
User generated video, on the other hand, is a market that has never really produced a profit. Youtube, despite its enormous size, is increasingly


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When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions
What's the origin of the phrase 'When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions'?
From Shakespeare's Hamlet, 1602:
O, this is the poison of deep grief; it springs
All from her father's death. O Gertrude, Gertrude,
When sorrows come, they come not single spies
But in battalions. First, her father slain:
Next, your son gone; and he most violent author
Of his own just remove: the people muddied,
Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers,
For good Polonius' death; and we have done but greenly,
In hugger-mugger to inter him: poor Ophelia
Divided from herself and her fair judgment,
Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts:
Last, and as much containing as all these,
Her brother is in secret come from France;
Feeds on his wonder, keeps himself in clouds,
And wants not buzzers to infect his ear
With pestilent speeches of his father's death;
Wherein necessity, of matter beggar'd,
Will nothing stick our person to arraign
In ear and ear. O my dear Gertrude, this,
Like to a murdering-piece, in many places
Gives me superfluous death.


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The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
1976 Action/Adventure | Drama | Suspense/Thriller | ComedyNicholas Meyer based his screenplay for the retro Sherlock Holmes adventure The Seven Percent Solution on his own best-selling novel. As any Baker Street Irregular will tell you, the title refers to the dosage of cocaine taken by Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson). The Great Detective's friend and chronicler Doctor Watson (Robert Duvall), concerned that Holmes' drug dependency is getting out of hand, suggests a cure under the auspices of Viennese psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (top-billed Alan Arkin). While undergoing treatment, Holmes comes to the realization that his archival Professor Moriarty (Laurence Olivier) is not the Napoleon of Crime, but instead a somewhat pathetic philanderer. Not yet completely cured, Holmes recharges his deductive batteries by undertaking a tricky conspiracy case involving another ex-addict, beautiful actress Lola Devereaux (Vanessa Redgrave). The traditional Holmesian sleuthing and split-second rescues of the film's second half are not as innovative as the Holmes-Freud scenes at the beginning of The Seven Percent Solution, but they provide this largely cerebral effort with a rousing climax. A success with both critics and filmgoers, The Seven Percent Solution opened the floodgates for subsequent TV and movie reprises of Conan Doyle's immortal literary figure.~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide


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Home >
News & Policies >
January 2003
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 14, 2003
Fact Sheet
President Calls for Action on Welfare Reform
Today's Presidential Action
President Bush called on Congress to enact his welfare reform agenda to strengthen families and help more welfare recipients work toward independence and self-reliance.
President Bush has outlined a welfare reform agenda that builds on the success of the historic 1996 welfare reform law. The Presidents plan will:
Background on the Presidents Welfare Reform Agenda
Last year, Congress began the process of reauthorizing the historic, bipartisan 1996 welfare reform law. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, welfare reform helped to move 4.7 million Americans from welfare dependency to self-sufficiency within three years of enactment, and the number of welfare caseloads has declined by 54% since 1996. The 1996 welfare reform law expired at the end of last year. President Bush is calling on Congress to act now to sustain and expand on the success of welfare reform.
President Bush proposes to make welfare even more focused on the well-being of children and supportive of families. The Presidents plan is designed to strengthen families and help more welfare recipients work toward independence and self-reliance. The Presidents welfare reform plan will:
For more information on the President's initiatives please visit www.whitehouse.gov


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Michael Lohan -- Our Father, Who Art a Deadbeat ... Ordered to Pay Up Or Be Arrested
Michael Lohan Our Father, Who Art a Deadbeat Ordered to Pay Up or Be Arrested
Dina Lohan's prayers have just been answered -- TMZ has learned, a judge just ordered Michael Lohan to fork over back child support to cover his son Cody's Catholic school education ... or a warrant will be issued for his arrest.
We're told Michael has until July to pay up. Dina claims he owes $20,000, legal docs say it's only $3,800 ... and Michael claims he's OVERpaid his ex.
Now let us pray ...
Michael Lohan, who art a deadbeat (allegedly)
Shallow be thy fame
Don't look so glum
And don't try to run
Because if you don't pay your damn bills already, you'll end up in jail again.
Give your kids their monthly bread (money)
And they'll forgive your trespasses,
As you forgive Kate Major, who trespasses against you.
And lead yourself not into temptation,
but deliver yourself from evil.
Seriously, enough already.


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The Power of the Subtle Body and White Tantric Yoga
"The beauty of White Tantric Yoga is that it is subtle, it is exalting, and it works to give you the mastery of life." ~Yogi Bhajan
In 1971 Yogi Bhajan offered the first White Tantric Yoga course in Los Angeles. Until 1986 he traveled throughout the world presenting as many as thirty White Tantric Yoga courses each year to thousands of students. In 1987, using his unique abilities as a Master, together with modern technology, he began to present White Tantric Yoga as a video series.
The authority to be the Mahan Tantric (Master of White Tantric Yoga) was bestowed on Yogi Bhajan in 1971, when the presiding Mahan Tantric, Lama Lilan Po of Tibet, passed from his body. There can be only one Mahan Tantric at any given time. White Tantric Yoga is a tradition passed on from teacher to student in a mystical and selective way. As a pioneer of this Age, Yogi Bhajan opened the experience of White Tantric Yoga to anyone who wanted this powerful experience.
Yogi Bhajan on The Mahan Tantric and the Subtle Body
(Summer Solstice, 1988)
"The Subtle Body of the Mahan Tantric lives as an everlasting factual fact. Why is it so? It is a privilege to tune into it. It is surprising to me that people do not understand the simple formula of how the Subtle Body works. The Subtle Body gives the opportunity to understand and master the subtlety of life. It can help you to understand what is going on around you. Basically, you have to understand that electricity is created by rotation and cross-rotation of the electromagnetic field, and this field works from one place to another. It means there is no distance. That's the principle behind wireless telephones.
"That is why, within my lifetime I am trying to educate you—because there can only be one Mahan Tantric, and God knows on whom this crown shall be bestowed—or whether it will be or not. To protect you, to save you, and make you understand, I am using a very attained power of mine as Mahan Tantric and Master of Kundalini yoga. I am mixing both. Because ordinarily, Kundalini Yoga could not be taught openly and freely to all people all the time. A person had to qualify, initiate himself, come out to perfection—and then come to meet the Master. If the Master qualified him, then he gave him the kriya or sadhana to practice. But I openly taught it and survived, so I feel God is very kind and merciful to me, and He wants the mission to be complete.
"Understanding the nature of the Subtle Body gave us the thought about the nature of the tantric energy. We cannot stop the tantric energy; we want to enrich ourselves; we want to grow; and we want to progress. That's why we started using the wireless telephone method—through the video courses.
"Whenever you will come to these courses, through the television you'll go through the energy, but your Subtle Body will tune in with my Subtle Body. So, death for that purpose will, never, ever mean a thing. But those who will believe that I am dead, I shall be dead for them. And those who shall believe that I live, I shall live a hundred times more powerfully, stronger in them than they have ever experienced.
"With these words I would like to tell you that we have an everlasting, loving, beautiful relationship, here, hereafter, unto Infinity, and even beyond that. Believe me. Even if you can't believe it, it is true."
Your experience is important!
Share your wisdom with others like you. Leave your comment below
Comments (0)
Wahe Guru, this post is enlightning


text: A Message to all CSU Employees As reported in my e-mail to all employees of Oct. 23, the Department of Finance recently directed state agencies and departments receiving General Funds of the need to cut $390 million statewide from the current budget. This $390 million cut was a cost-saving assumption adopted as part of the enacted budget. The Department of Finance acted under direction from the Governor who was within his authority in allocating the $390 million reduction. For the CSU this amount was $31.3 million of the money we receive from state funds. In response, we made it clear that in order to meet our mission-critical functions, this would have to be a one-time reduction, and not affect our base general fund budget going forward. If you would like to read the CSU's response to the Governor's Office, click here. Also, we have posted additional information and background details on the website at Budget Central. As I said last week, we anticipate that we will be able to manage this reduction without disrupting campus operations or impacting instruction, student services or public safety. However, all programs funded by state government, including the CSU, are vulnerable to major additional cuts from the legislature because the state's revenues are in free-fall. Legislative leaders are estimating the state's current deficit to rise as high as $10 billion. Under these circumstances we must focus our attention, energy and efforts toward this larger problem. The Governor has indicated he intends to call a special session of the current legislature on Nov. 5 in order to address this emerging deficit. We do not know what the result of that will mean for our budget. What is clear, is now, more than ever, we need to continue working together to advocate against any further budget cuts. The hard work that all of the faculty, staff and students put into campus budget forums greatly helped our budget position for this year and that kind of hard work will be instrumental in defending the university against further cuts both this year and next. Thousands of students, alumni, faculty, staff, administrators, parents and others are working hard on behalf of the CSU. We know these will be tough budget times ahead as the state's fiscal condition continues to deteriorate. That is why we need to continue to advocate together on the critical role CSU plays in preparing graduates for California's workforce, and the need for investment in higher education. Thank you for your continued support of the California State University. Sincerely, CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed |


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Update 28 Dec 2018: Newspaper reports claim that Salah has threatened to quit Liverpool if they sign an Israeli player. Given Salah's record of appalling
Update 23 June 2017: Salah has returned to the English Premier League, having signed for Liverpool for a club record £34 million.
Update (one year on) 2 Feb 2015: Salah has been quietly moved out of Chelsea having barely played a game for them
The following was posted 24 Jan 2014 with the title "If Mohamed Salah is not an antisemite Abramovic can get him to prove it". Seems like he never did....
Mohamed Salah is an Egyptian footballer who has just signed for Chelsea - a club owned by Roman Abramovic - for £11 million. The English sports media this morning is covering this story with headlines like "Salah: I am not an antisemite". Of course, Salah is not an antisemite. Like most Muslim non-antisemites he does not explicitly hate all 'Jews', only 'Jews who believe they have a right to live in their historical homeland', i.e.'Zionists'.
In August 2013 Salah's team Basel FC were drawn against Maccabi Tel-Aviv in a champions league qualifier**. In the home tie Salah refused to shake the hands of the Israeli team, which is a remarkable achievement given that the EUFA protocol requires the home team to line up while the away team walks along the line shaking each hand. Salah managed to 'avoid this' by going to the touchline, pretending to tie up his shoe laces. He also refused to shake hands with any Maccabi players after the game, which Basel won 1-0. After the match Salah announced he would refuse to play in the return leg in Israel. Only after his club threatened to terminate his contract if he did not travel he announced:
I will fly to Israel , Football is more important than politics and it is my job. In my thoughts I am going to play in Palestine and not Israel and I am also going to score and win there. The Zionist flag won't be shown in the Champions League.Elder of Ziyon covered the events of the return leg in Tel Aviv in which Salah again avoided shaking hands with the Maccabi players (this time by bumping them instead). As usual EUFA, who are so determined to 'drive out racism' from the game refused to take any action when it came down to antisemitism.
In December 2012 when Chelsea's star player (another Muslim) Edin Hazard joined a petition to boycott Israel from hosting the EUFA under-21 championship I wrote to Chelsea asking if Roman Abramovic (who claims to love Israel) was aware of the stance of one of his players. My letter actually produced a positive outcome. In signing Salah, Abramovic could still turn this into something positive by asking his new employee to publicy apologise for his previous comments and to prove his sincerity by getting Chelsea to play a match in Tel Aviv - with Salah shaking hands with the Israelis.
** Incredibly Basel have been drawn against Maccabi Tel Aviv again - this time in the Europa League - another 2-legged tie to be played in February. This is presumably one of the reasons Salah was keen to get a move away from Basel in mid-season.
Update: I have sent the following letter to my contact at Chelsea (note I promised not to reveal the name of this person):
We were in contact about a year ago when I alerted you to the fact that Edin Hazard was named as one of the footballers supporting an antisemitic boycott of Israel hosting the EUFA under-21 championships. You were very helpful on that occasion and were able to confirm that Hazard did not support the boycott.
Today I see that Chelsea have received assurances from Mohamed Salah that he did not make the antisemitic statements and actions that have been previously attributed to him. I am not sure what antisemitic statements and actions this refers to to but what I DO know is that he WAS certainly responsible for a number of actions and statements in August (in relation to Basel's two-legged tie with Maccabi Tel-Aviv) that I (and many others) consider to be pure antisemitism. There is no denying, for example, that he refused in both games to shake the hands of his Israeli opponents and there is no denying that he initially refused to even go to the match in Israel and when he was forced to by Basel FC he made an antisemitic statement about Israel. The details are on a blog posting I have made today.
Fortunately, as I said in the article, there is a simple way that Salah can at least genuinely apologize for his actions and demonstrate that he is indeed not an antisemite. Chelsea can and should arrange for him to go to Israel and publicly shake the hands of the Maccabi players. Ideally this could be done in a friendly match involving Chelsea FC. Anything less than such an action will always leave open the notion that Chelsea have signed a nasty, unsporting antisemite who also demonstrates a total lack of respect for his fellow professionals. I do not believe Chelsea FC would be happy to have such an employee would they?
Edgar DavidsonUpdate 31 Jan 2014: Chelsea have responded to me
Update: I have now compiled a catalogue of players involved in the football Jihad.


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A cowgirl can never have too many collared shirts for competition and daily life. Our Women's Wrangler Retro® All-Occasion Western Snap Shirt is crafted a lightweight cotton and recycled materials blend that will keep you comfortable in everything you do. It comes with pointed yokes, pearl snaps, two chest pockets with the signature "W" stitching, and a contrast print at the cuffs.
Love this product! Smells great and fills a large size room with scent.
I love this sweater, just not on me! It is oversized & was not flattering on me at all, & I hate it bc I love the look of it!
These are the BEST tops, don't have to iron them, they're not hot, & can be worn most of the year here in ALABAMA! I got the chocolate this time, I already have it in white & black, & they are definitely a go-to top! They are oversized so you can definitely size down, but they are just as flattering in your normal size!
Perfect Dress! The color is amazing, looks exactly as shown in the picture, & is so flattering on! Love this dresss & cannot wait to wear it!
This is seriously the cutest, softest, most easily styled sweater I've ever owned. Cannot recommend enough!
It fits true to size (I'm wearing a medium). The fit is comfy and a little loose, but not what I would call oversized. And the fabric is buttery soft.
Seriously, if you're on the fence about this sweater, BUY IT. 💐


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Wednesday evening at 7 p.m., watch live as Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown debuts The Hero Summit: An Exploration of Character and Courage, a two-day gathering presented by Newsweek & The Daily Beast.
The invitation-only event, Wednesday and Thursday in Washington D.C., will be streamed live and in full at The Daily Beast. Visit The Hero Summit 2012 page to see the full schedule and list of speakers—including Adm. William McRaven, Madeleine K. Albright, Garry Kasparov, Bono, and Aaron Sorkin—and for all of our reporting, social media buzz (@herosummit and #hero12) and exclusive interviews from the summit.


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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
For specific hours of each site, please see the Drop Site Map. Drop sites located in parks are open when the parks are open, which is daily, dawn to dusk.
The most up to date drop site locations are listed on www.charleston-sc.gov/compost. Please keep in mind, these are subject to change and will be updated on the website.
Show All Answers
Contamination is a real challenge with any compost program because it is not possible or safe to have staff sort through piles of food scraps removing items that shouldn't be there. (Ew, that's gross too!) Plus, preventing contamination on the front end helps to ensure the final product is free of inorganic materials and safe to use.
That means, if any food scrap carts are contaminated with items that can't be composted, the WHOLE CART WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED FOR COMPOSTING and instead, must be disposed of in the garbage.
The locks on the carts are one level of protection to help ensure that everyone who wishes to participate in the program is trained ahead of time to help prevent contamination so all the food scraps collected can indeed be composted and your efforts are not wasted.
Please register for the program which will also take you through a short training on acceptable items, then the lock code will be provided. Register at https://forms.gle/M7RUJn2imuAwcXZ76.
This is your preference, either are accepted. However, any liner bag used MUST BE certified compostable, from BPI. (BPI=Biodegradable Products Institute)
Note, product labels can be misleading. Those bags labeled "biodegradable" or "environmentally friendly", etc. without the BPI certification ARE NOT ALLOWED.
These will not break down fast enough to compost and will cause an entire cart to be landfilled. Please beware of misleading products.
Yes, they are different! All compostable items are biodegradable, but not all biodegradable items are compostable!
Biodegradable, by definition, has no time requirement, so a product could take 100 years to biodegrade. Whereas compostable products follow strict ASTM Standards and have a short time limit in days, not years.
In addition, biodegradable materials can sometimes leave behind metal residue and other non-natural byproducts, whereas, compostable materials create compost (also called humus) that is 100% natural and safe to have in our environment.
Please make sure all items going into food scrap carts are certified BPI compostable and you will be following the strict ASTM standards properly. Thank you.
Yes, in fall 2022 the program officially opened up to all residents living in the Charleston region thanks to new partners, Charleston County and Folly Beach!
But if they are both being composted, why can't I mix them? There are lots of reasons!
Drop sites are hosted by various partners. Each drop site is separately managed and maintained by their host. Please report any issues or maintenance concerns to the drop site host. Contact information for each host is listed on the Drop Site Map.
For questions, concerns or ideas for improvement on the program in general, please report those to the Charleston Composts Program Manager, Katie at email@example.com or 724-3789.
This is not a permanent program, this is a pilot program that will last at least 6 months and may last up to one year. The pilot is grant funded, and we will be testing options as we go to help ensure we create the most successful program we can.
Should the pilot program be successful, we can then seek more funding for the program to continue and consider additional drop site locations.
You can store food scraps in almost any reusable container, ideally with a tight fitting lid. The key is to make the bin easy to access while you cook, whether it's on your countertop, in a nearby cabinet, or even on your patio. You can also keep the scraps in the freezer or refrigerator to halt decomposition while softening the cell wall structure.
Note, fruit flies can occur if your kitchen bin is left out without a lid. Any issues with pests or odor can often be easily remedied.
We recommend you empty your kitchen bin weekly to help keep decomposition and associated odors out of your kitchen.
You may choose to empty it more or less often- remember you can store food scraps in your freezer without any odors.
Yes. BPI certified compostable liner bags or BPI certified compostable to-go food containers are accepted in this program as we will be using a commercial compost facility.
However, please note, these are generally not able to break down properly in a backyard compost pile.
Food scraps the City collects will be taken to the Bees Ferry Compost Facility in West Ashley by a certified hauler.
There, the scraps will be converted into compost and kept away from our landfills.
The City's food scrap carts will be emptied at least twice per week by our contracted hauler. This may increase in frequency as food scrap collection and participation in the program increase.
It's free! To participate, please fill out the registration form at https://forms.gle/M7RUJn2imuAwcXZ76.
Registration is required to participate for a couple reasons. You will need a lock code to deposit your food scraps in our bins, we will provide this once you register and go through a 5-minute training. We also need a way to mail you program information and notify you of project updates and potential changes as we test options, like if a cart moves locations.
Please keep in mind this is a pilot project so the program is subject to change, especially after the first six months, we appreciate your flexibility on this as it will help ensure we have a successful program moving forward.
For questions about whether specific items are compostable that are not listed above, please reach Charleston County at (843) 720-7111 or email email@example.com.
Industrial composting at Bees Ferry has a few major differences from backyard piles:
Image of Bees Ferry Compost Facility courtesy of Charleston County.
Yes, of course, you may participate in both at the same time. The City's program will take cooked meats, bones and dairy products, which are typically not appropriate for backyard piles, so feel free to bring those and any extra food scraps to the drop off sites.
Composting in your backyard is easy and a great way to keep all the nutritious compost on your property so you can reap the benefits in your own gardens.
If you would like a new backyard bin, please check their website for more information as it becomes available.
Unfortunately, no. This new program is for residents only, not businesses or organizations. We are utilizing grant funding, which is earmarked to support residential composting only and our funding is extremely limited.
The City actually piloted a restaurant composting program back in 2016, with promising results which can be replicated.
The results showed once organizations serviced by private garbage and recycling services understood how they are actually being charged for garbage and recycling services, many were able to reduce those fees and apply the difference to compost hauling fees.
More information on the pilot and how businesses can compost is located here: https://charleston-sc.gov/2645/Business-Composting


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Information about Public Health Issues Related to Polonium-210 Contamination in the United Kingdom
In November 2006, public health officials in the United Kingdom announced that they would be assessing individuals who visited several London locations on October 31, November 1, or November 2, for possible exposure to Polonium-210 (Po-210), a radioactive material. British officials found Po-210 contamination at several sites, including the Millennium Hotel Pine Bar, during an investigation related to the death of an individual from acute radiation poisoning. The Millennium Hotel Pine Bar was closed during the early morning hours of November 24, 2006. Extensive risk analyses based on environmental measurements inside the Pine Bar and urine samples of people who were in the Pine Bar have led British authorities to conclude that no additional persons are at significant risk from exposure to Po-210. However, anyone who visited the Pine Bar between October 31 and November 24, 2006, may have come in contact with Po-210. The U.K. Health Protection Agency (HPA) has information about Po-210 and this event on their website at www.hpa.org.uk/external icon.
The HPA has identified those people who it considers may have been exposed to Po-210 contamination, and since December 2006 has been working closely with public health agencies in 48 other countries, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States, to contact people who may have visited the contaminated sites in London. The CDC, in turn, has been working with state and local health officials in 20 states to contact about 160 people to inform them about the potential for exposure and to assess their need for specific testing for Po-210 exposure. As of January 30, all urine test results for the approximately 17 people who chose to be tested indicate no person had amounts of Po-210 of concern for immediate health effects.
CDC advises that if you have visited the Pine Bar of the Millennium Hotel between the end of October through its closure on November 24, 2006, and have specific concerns about your health, you should see your health care provider, who should be able to advise whether further evaluation or testing is needed. Your health care provider may contact your state health department for additional information on assessing your Po-210 exposure or contamination. CDC is also available to assist you, your health care provider, and your state health department in interpreting results of any tests that you and your health care provider may decide to undertake. (You may call CDC's Radiation Studies at 404/498-1800 or send an e-mail to email@example.com .)
The following questions and responses provide some additional information about this topic.
What is Polonium 210?
Polonium-210 (Po-210) is a radioactive material that occurs in nature at very low levels. Although Po-210 can be made in university or government nuclear reactors, it requires expertise to do so. The exposures to this radioactive material in London are a very rare event. Po-210 emits alpha particles, which carry high amounts of energy that can damage or destroy genetic material in cells inside the body. Po-210 is used in some devices to eliminate static electricity in processes such as rolling paper, manufacturing sheet plastics, and spinning synthetic fibers.
Is Po-210 harmful to humans?
Po-210 is a radiation hazard only if it is taken into the body through breathing or eating or by entering a wound. This "internal contamination" can cause radiation exposure (irradiation) of internal organs, which can result in serious medical symptoms or death. Po-210 is not a hazard to the outside of the body—neither polonium nor its radiation will go through unbroken skin or membranes. Careful washing will remove most external traces of Po-210. For more information about contamination and irradiation, see CDC's fact sheet "Radiological Contamination and Radiation Exposure" (emergency.cdc.gov/radiation/contamination.htm).
Are other people at risk if they come into close contact with a contaminated person?
People will not be exposed to radiation just by being near a person who is internally contaminated with Po-210. Health care workers who are providing care for a contaminated patient will not be exposed to Po-210 unless they inhale or ingest contaminated bodily fluids. Normal hygiene practices in hospitals for microbial contamination will protect workers from radiological contamination. For more information on radiation protection for health care workers, see CDC's "Radiological Terrorism: Tool Kit for Emergency Services Clinicians" (emergency.cdc.gov/radiation/toolkits.htm).
What should US Citizens do if they were visitors to London between October 31 and November 23, 2006, and are concerned about exposure to Po-210?
If you were at any of the affected locations and you have specific concerns about your health (see CDC fact sheet at emergency.cdc.gov/radiation/ars.htm), see your health care provider, who should be able to advise whether further evaluation or testing is needed. Your health care provider may contact your state health department for additional information on assessing your Po-210 exposure or contamination (emergency.cdc.gov/radiation/isotopes/polonium/clinicians.htm).
Should you be concerned about possible polonium exposure if you are planning to travel to London now?
The U.K. authorities have informed CDC that they have undertaken extensive environmental testing in locations which were of concern. Any areas shown to have contamination of significance are either still sealed off or have been decontaminated. There is no evidence to suggest that you are at any risk for radiation exposure or contamination if you are traveling to the United Kingdom.


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Of the various behind-the-scenes stories that have now become apocryphal to the Pixar legend, it's hard to beat the one associated with Finding Nemo. In the final few years of his time at the top of the Walt Disney Company, Michael Eisner was convinced that Pixar's winning streak both at the box office and with critics was about to end with this animated feature, the first led by director Andrew Stanton. Eisner couldn't possibly fathom, he told shareholders, how this movie about a clownfish desperately scouring the ocean for his missing (and only) son with a forgetful blue Tang at his side could ever hit it big with audiences worldwide. When he made these comments in 2001, he did so based on a work-in-progress screening that was, in three respects, vastly different from the final product: Marlin was voiced by William H. Macy, instead of Albert Brooks; the angelfish Gill was, in spite of being the leader of the fish in P. Sherman's aquarium, lying about his sordid past; and Stanton chose to dole out a series of flashbacks explaining what happened to Nemo's mother, Coral, instead of beginning the film this way.
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Yesterday, I went to the Fierce Reads event. IT WAS FRICKIN' AWESOME.
It was a fabulous event. I arrived an hour early, before the staff at the bookstore even set up the chairs. I spent my time browsing the store, and when they finally set up the chairs, I took a seat in front of the four chairs (that the authors would be sitting). I was actually an arm away from the authors. (See, at the bottom picture, literally an arm away. Such a great seat!) I had been initially worried and nervous about talking to people because I feel awkward, but the people there were friendly. A woman, whose name I forgot (sorry!), let me read her Cress ARC before the event and the seven chapters that I read, frickin' amazing. I need that book in my life!
When the event started, each authors introduced themselves and their books. We have –
Leila Sales – author of This Song Will Save Your Life
S.A. Bodeen – author of The Compound and The Fallout
Marissa Meyer – author of Cinder and Scarlet
Alexandra Coutts – author of Tumble & Fall
(In the order of when they introduced their books.)
This was the first Fierce Reads event that the authors did not have a moderator, so they decided to ask questions to each other that they wanted to know and then opened the questions up to audience.
Question: What Hogwarts House would your character be in and why? Or which House would you pick yourself in? (Asked by Leila Sales)
Marissa Meyer (MM): Cinder and Scarlet would be Gryffindor because they're no-nonsense, take no prisoners, willing to get the job done, and brave. Marissa would most likely be a Hufflepuff.
S.A. Bodeen (SAB): Eli, the main character in The Compound and The Fallout, would be mistakenly put into Slytherin because Eli's considered the bad twin. He has done bad things and people would most likely judge Eli for what's on the surface.
Leila Sales (LS): Elise would be put into Slytherin because she thinks she's terrible because she "has been feed negative ideas of herself over the course of her life from her peers and would have a negative self-imagery of herself." And terrible people belong in Slytherin, especially if Gryffindor is for brave people, Ravenclaw for smart people, Hufflepuff for nice people, and Slytherin is for terrible people.
Alexandra Coutts (AC): All three characters would be in Gryffindor because they would have to be brave to go out into the world despite an asteroid coming.
Question: What has been your favorite highlights so far on the Fierce Reads tour? (Asked by Marissa Meyer)
SAB: Being able to hang out with the other authors on the tour.
LS: Getting to meet teenagers. (She's usually surrounded by adults, but interacting with teenagers is the best.)
AC: Getting to read during flights.
MM: A teenage fan gave her a necklace that was made from wire to form the words 'Cinder' with a card that read "Thank you for all the daydreams."
Question: If Square Fish (an imprint that makes the paperbacks at Macmillan) wants to cut 20 pages of your book, what scene would you cut out? Or is there a character you would cut? (Asked by S.A. Bodeen. Very tough question for all the other authors.)
LS: Everybody thinks her book is short, so it'll be hard to cut anything.
MM: Probably minor characters.
AC: She doesn't know who, but knows she wouldn't cut out Gretchen, who is AC's favorite character, even though readers do not like Gretchen and call her 'Wretched Gretchen.'
SA: Her answer is that Square Fish would have enough money to publish her entire book. (Hahahaha. :D)
Question: If you weren't writing and editing for a living, what would you do? (Asked by Alexandra Coutts)
MM: Tell people how to live their lives (like Blake Lively – lifestyle curator).
LS: Event planner.
SAB: Social studies teacher.
AC: A jazz singer.
Question: To S.A. Bodeen, did your job influence the way you created the male POVs?
SAB: She doesn't know if that influenced her. She finds it pretty amazing that boys like her book and are enjoying reading because of it.
Question: What research did you do for your book?
AC: For her first book, Wish, she moved to San Francisco for four months (because it's set there). For Tumble & Fall, she researched about asteroids and watched visual simulations of what would happen if an asteroid hit the Earth.
MM: Spaceships, moon colonies (+ how that would work), mind control + actual scientific theory on how you would control people, and cyborgs. Her favorite research moment was when she and her husband got underneath an old Mustang, and he pointed out what everything was.
SAB: For The Compound, she researched how to build an atomic bomb. For The Fallout, she researched Doomsday preppers. For The Raft, she went online to look at rafts and survival kits.
LS: Went to dance parties to see what people were wearing and how they were dancing. Read things about how to DJ and the technicalities of it.
Question: Is there a scene that you wanted to change if you had more time to work on it?
SAB: People wanted a sequel to The Compound. She got an idea and drafted up an outline, wrote it, and sent it to her editor. Her editor sent back the first 150 pages and told her to scrape the other half, so S.A. had to rewrite half of the book.
AC: The whirlwind romance. People felt it was too fast. Alexandra would make it clearer that Sienna and the boy were responding to what was going on around them (the impending doom).
MM: She wished she made it more obvious that readers are supposed to pick up on the big reveal. (Readers felt she was trying to hide the big reveal, but she didn't intend that. She wanted the suspense to come from knowing the secret and how it'll unfold for the characters.)
LS: Pleased with her book.
Question: What is your writing process? And has that process change from book to book?
MM: She's very chronological writer – never deviates from beginning to end. However, for her third and fourth book, her process changes because she has more characters (+ their subplot) to add, so she finds it easier to jump around more.
LS: Writes chronologically + a perfectionist as she writes. She won't leave blanks. (ie. If she wanted a teacher to be of Indian descent, then she'll sift through lists and won't move on until she figures it out.) (That is totally like me!)
SAB: Really lousy drafter. She gets it out fast. She's a good reviser.
AC: A combo. Outlines a lot. Very linear. Writes in order. She won't skip ahead. She can't move on if something isn't what she wants it to be.
Question: When you sit down to write, do you have any particular rituals you have or items you need?
LS: Will not write without chocolate chips nearby. Doesn't have to be in arms reached. She wants it there because she can potentially eat them if the going gets rough.
SAB: A hot drink with her favorite mug.
MM: Something to sip at, usually water (or glass of wine in the evening). Has to wear socks because cold feet distract her.
AC: Has to wear something comfortable – pajama-esque.
Question: Do you do anything to bribe yourself into writing? (Asked by Marissa Meyer)
SAD: Get an iced-coffee from McDonald's.
LS: Going out for ice cream. (If the store closes at 10pm and if it's 9pm, she has to write or she won't get ice cream.)
MM: Doesn't put off bribing herself. She "seduces" her computer having chocolate and lighting a nice candle. :D
Question: What is your favorite book?
MM: Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
SAB: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
LS: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
AC: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (and also, Just as Long as We're Together by Judy Blume)
- Leila said she doesn't have marketable life skills and created an "I don't have any marketable life skills" Facebook group in college.
- Marissa worked as a typesetter and a proofreader.
- S.A. was a social studies teacher. She also taught a middle school geography class that had 18 boys and two girls.
- Leila loves the song "This Old Heart of Mine" by the Isley Brothers.
- S.A never intended for The Compound to have a sequel.
- S.A. has a favorite mug that says "Live long and prosper."
- The ending of This Song Will Save Your Life took Leila a lot of rewrites.
- Marissa has a tattoo on her upper back – a stack of books. When she got published, she wanted her tattoo to be a stack of books. She got it a month or two after Cinder came out. Four of the stacked books represent The Lunar Chronicles books and the one on top is everything that will come in the future.
After the Q&A section, it was the signing! (I was so glad that I purchased my books beforehand because I would've have to wait in line.) I got an "I Love Iko" pin (and I would've gotten "Big Bad Wolf" if I had known there was one). When I got my books signed by Marissa, I was sooo overwhelmed. We talked about Sailor Moon (which was awesome because she loves Sailor Moon, and Sailor Moon was an integral part of my childhood) while she signed my books. I also took a picture with her. :DDDD
Because I couldn't buy the other author's books (which I really felt bad about), I made them sign my Moleskine and got a picture taken with each of them. I was pretty much all over the place, but I am extremely happy! It was a fabulous event. Meeting all the authors made me love them to pieces!
(From left to right: S.A. Bodeen, Alexandra Coutts, Marissa Meyer, Leila Sales)


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The Derrick Murdoch Award
Past Recipients
2021 Marian Misters (Co-Owner of Sleuth of Baker Street and past Jury Chair)
2019 Vicki Delany (author, Past Chair, co-creator of Women Killing It conference)
2017 Christina Jennings (CEO Shaftsbury Films)
2015 Sylvia McConnell (creator of Rendezvous Crime imprint)
2013 Lyn Hamilton (Author)
2012 Astolfo-Graves: Catherine Astolfo (author and Past President) and Don Graves (reviewer, Hamilton Spectator)
2011 Allin-Grant: Lou Allin (author, CWC director and Membership Chair) and N.A.T. Grant (author, CWC director, Web Maevin)
2010 Peter Robinson (author of the Inspector Banks series; CWC past president)
2009 Gail Bowen (author of the Joanne Kilbourne series; active in CWC)
2008 Edward D. Hoch (author of over 900 crime short stories; CWC supporter)
2006 Mary Jane Maffini (author of three mystery series; CWC past president)
2005 Max Haines ("Crime Flashbacks" columnist for the Toronto Star)
2004 Cheryl Freedman (CWC Executive Director 1999 — 2009)
2003 Margaret Cannon (crime fiction reviewer for The Globe and Mail)
2002 James Dubro (nonfiction crime writer and film producer; CWC past president) and Caro Soles (founder of the Bloody Words mystery conference)
2001 L. R. Wright (author of two series set on the West Coast; CWC past president)
2000 Eddie Barber, Rick Blechta, David Skene-Melvin (secretary-treasurers of CWC) and John North (crime fiction reviewer for the Toronto Star; ed. Best of Cold Blood, Dishes to Die For)
1999Ted Wood (pioneer crime novelist and short story writer; CWC past president)
1998 Howard Engel (author of the Benny Cooperman series; CWC founding member and past president) and Eric Wright (author of Charlie Salter series, 4 Best Novel awards)
1995 Jim and Margaret McBride (West Coast promoters of CWC, ed. In Cold Blood)
1992 William Bankier, James Powell, Peter Sellers (writers and promoters of Canadian crime short stories)
1990 Eric Wilson (pioneer Canadian mystery series for children)
1988 J. D. Singh (co-owner of Sleuth of Baker Street) and Jim Reicker (founder of Prime Crime Books)
1987 CBC Drama Department (adaptations of Canadian crime books as radio plays)
1986 Margaret Millar (Canadian-born author of some 20 crime novels)
1985 Tony Aspler (author of political thrillers; CWC founding member, first president)
1984 Derrick Murdoch (crime literature reviewer for The Globe and Mail; CWC founding member)