text:
Even though it's been awhile since I added anything to this group, I want to wish everyone here a Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year.Continue
Started this discussion. Last reply by Leslee Dec 25, 2014.
I recently had several beech trees cut down from my mountain house and I have a couple of fairly straight peices that I just want to cut down and make pen blanks from what do I have to do to make…Continue
Started this discussion. Last reply by michael evans Apr 6, 2014.
I've been readiing up on the different types of dyes and stains that are available to put a finish on different types of wood.Has anyone had any experience with the dyes made by Trans Tint? They seem…Continue
Started this discussion. Last reply by KregRep Apr 3, 2013.
I was at my local Home Depot today and I could not believe the prices for the table saw and the planner the saw was 348.00 I paid 449.00 and the planer was 259.00 and I paid 399.00 2 years ago I…Continue
Started this discussion. Last reply by ray vile Dec 12, 2012.
Hi Ray, Thank you for your kindness and support. I am glad to hear that you are going to open a web site and will be selling your pens, I am sure you will do well with sales and in fact I do believe you would do well selling some of your other woodworking projects. You are a talented guy with many good project ideas that would open up a market for you. It is a good start to maybe a woodworking adventure and would not only give you pocket money for tools and supplies but some profit as well. Who knows it might go like mine, where my hobby turned into a profitable second career. It has been a great journey these last 25 years and brought much enjoyment from meeting friends on this site and has left many memories that I shall not forget.
I am getting even if it is slow and have been in the shop building some custom base board molding for a client and will eventually open up my shop doors and see if the summer months will again become an enjoyment.. I also wish you lived near as I have a long list of client project and it would be an honor to work with you on some of them, Take care and enjoy your work but work safely. A friend on the West Coast. Jay
Ray sell my pens at craft fairs ,seem too sell a few around fathers day here in the uk as well .I knew I would never make a living at it ,my pens sell for the u.s. equilvant of $15 or $20 for the more fancy ones.Only sold twelve this year .Novelty pens sell better for example I made a pen for a customer out of the arm of his granddads old rockin chair that had fallen apart .He wanted a keepsake of his dear old granddad who had passed away ,he loved it .Go steady,mick.
hi Ray, been good just super busy. Just finished that custom crown that I had talked about several months ago for that kitchen that I posted with the tall ceiling.
There are two ways that I would build a skirt for a roung table that is that big. They are:
1. laminating the strips like you talk about above. This would be bending the strips dry with glue, You could increase the 1/8 inch strips by steaming the wood in a steaming box. 1/4 inch thick would bend easily aroung a form and clamped until dry and then glued together again around the form.
2. Cut the 1" thick x 1" wide and to a length that would equal about 1/4 around the table. Steam bend it and allow it to dry around a form and then put these together using a scarf cut joint. If doing it this way I would use a single piece that would go aroung the table keeping the pieces matched end to end.
The easiest is the first but the better look is the second method. To make a steam box use a piece of abs black plastic pipe with capped ends. Make one end cap using a threaded fitting which is also abs. This gives you the method of inserting and removing the wood strips. Use a wall paper steamer to generate the steam and introduce it in the upper side of one of the pipe and drill a small 1/4 drain hole in the bottom of the opposite end. This will allow the water to drain out as the steam turns into water. Cook these for a good 20 minutes and test them for bending properties. When soft enough bend them aroung a form that you can make using 3/4inch plywood and some 3/4 ich pegs that you can insert into holes as it comes around the bend. pegs are easier and faster to install that clamps. Let the piece dry for a couple days or until dry. Don't use a hot heat as this will allow the wood fibers to seperate at the top of the bend.
Hint: I have used Donney brand fabric softner suscessfully to hasten the softening of the fibers an it has not harmed the finish. I do this by placing the wood in a tub of hot water with fabric softener allowing the wood to soak for awhile before placing them into the steam box. Have fun and post photos when you are finished. I would love to see your work on here again.
RAY , saw your post to MICHAEL , Rockler has a letter kit called state park font kit 2 1/4 " letters part # 48356 Cost is $50.00 , not trying to butt in on your post to mick , as we are very good friends , I know he bought his in the UK . , not sure they would have them here in the states , hope this helps , JIM !!!
No problem at all Ray, glad I could help, I still can't believe that HF doesn't have the bags there for it, that drove me nuts. The Big Horn bags are cheap, but do a great job! Merry Christmas to you too!!
Hey Ray, I used to order the bags from Amazon, Big Horn was the name of them. I remember they were a little bigger than the HF bag, but they worked just fine and I'm pretty sure they were around $10 for 4 bags? I don't remember what size bags they were though. Hope this helps! Have a good holiday!
hi ray here is my email firstname.lastname@example.com, thanks
Hello Ray,
No, I have not had a chance to get to Willard's yet. I certainly want to, however it seems I can't get away from the house projects as of yet. Need a 'spare day' to go. I'll give a yell when I do.
For Technical Support, please call 800-447-8638 or send a message. Reps are available Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm CST.
I making a hex ring out of 2x4s ripped to 2 ¾ inches wide with 30 degree miters. What setting on the Jig should I used? 1 ½ is too much. Thanks.Continue
Started by Patrick Halinski in Kreg Jig® Operation Dec 30, 2023.
Hi All.....I have the 35mm Kreg Jig hinge drill guide. The guide is great for 35mm Hinge Cups, but I have a speciality 40MM hinge cup to drill.Has anyone adapted the Kreg guide to work with 40mm Forsner drill bits? Or have a guide that works…Continue
Started by Ed Anderson in Beginners' Zone Oct 3, 2023.
I saw the video Kreg put out for this new jig and had high hopes for it.
I purchased one today and am very disappointed with it.
First the docking station is extremely cheap. The plastic is pathetic. A Lego has more…
ContinuePosted by Duke Leon on February 15, 2021 at 9:00pm
Several months ago, I purchased the Kreg K4MS so that I could build the Lego Table as outlined on the companion "buildsomething" web site which exclusively uses pocket hole construction. I have considerable experience with conventional…
ContinuePosted by Robert Ringel on September 17, 2020 at 1:48pm — 9 Comments
© 2024 Created by KregRep. Powered by
Badges | Report an Issue | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service


text:
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., Dec. 18, 2012 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] has delivered two Space Environmental NanoSat Experiment (SENSE) satellites to the U.S. Air Force that will help assess the value of small satellites in military space operations.
Weighing less than 9 pounds (4 kilograms) each and measuring 30 x 10 x 10 centimeters in size, the nanosats are scheduled to launch on the ORS-3 mission in the summer of 2013 and shortly after will begin collecting and transmitting weather data. Each nanosat contains a sensor and GPS receiver to gather data to support weather prediction and assessments. A miniature S-band transceiver downlinks spacecraft and mission data at one megabit per second.
"We anticipate these nanosatellites will play a significant role as affordable and resilient assets in future Air Force space architectures," said Col. Scott Beidleman, director, Development Planning Directorate, Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. "We look forward to the important data they will collect and provide to the warfighter."
"The SENSE nanosats offer customers an affordable, operationally robust option to conduct military missions using spacecraft no larger than a standard loaf of bread," said Bruce Chesley, Boeing director of Advanced Space & Intelligence Systems, a division of Boeing Phantom Works.
Boeing worked with the Office of Naval Research, SRI International, The Aerospace Corp., and Atmospheric & Space Technology Research Associates to build, test and integrate the nanosats. The satellites are powered by highly efficient ultra triple-junction solar cells produced by Boeing subsidiary Spectrolab.
A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world's largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world's largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $32 billion business with 60,000 employees worldwide. Follow us on Twitter: @BoeingDefense.
# # #
Cheryl Sampson
Phantom Works
Office: +1 714-934-9373
Mobile: +1 714-330-8021

subset: commoncrawl


text:
On solidarity mission, UN Women Executive Director visits girls school in Nigeria
Abaji, Nigeria — In the wake of the horrific abduction of more than 200 school girls, which has ignited global outrage, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka joined a delegation that visited the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC) in the town of Abaji, Nigeria, from 17-18 May. The FGGC Abaji is one of the Federal Government's all-girls colleges similar to the FGGC Chibok, where more than 200 students were kidnapped on 14 April, in Chibok, Nigeria.
The delegation also included the UN Resident Coordinator (a.i) and FAO Representative in Nigeria, Ms. Louise Setshwalelo; Regional Director of UN Women for West and Central Africa, Ms. Josephine Odera; Acting UN Women Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms. Adjaratou Fatou Ndiaye; UN Women Programme Advisor for Africa, Mr. Anthony Ngororano; and members of UN Women country team in Nigeria.
In her statement, the Executive Director reassured the public that the entire UN system is committed to ensuring that girls stay in schools in Nigeria and that they do so in a safe and secure environment.
"We are with you all the way. This mission is a solidarity mission. We are standing with you. We are going to be here and we will work with you to ensure that when the girls return they are consoled, and with their families they get the support they need. The girls of Nigeria deserve the best education and the best care and support. I see Malala in all of you because you are brave and you overcome your fears every day to come to your school because you know it is the right choice."
The delegation was welcomed by Hon. Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Ms. Hajiya Zainab Maina; the Permanent Secretary, representing the Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. MacJohn Nwaobiala; and the School Principal, Ms. Nkem Uzowulu, along with teachers and hundreds of students.
"Our hearts are bleeding. Everyone is deeply hurt by the abduction of our daughters. But with such solidarity I believe we will succeed," said Hon. Maina, in her remarks. She praised UN Women for having shown strong engagement and commitment to the welfare and wellbeing of women and girls across Nigeria, including making education of the girl child a priority through a long-standing partnership with her Ministry. She thanked UN Women's Executive Director for her solidarity mission to Nigeria and for the overwhelming show of support and solidarity from all parts of the world. Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka's visit followed that of UNSG Special Representative for West Africa, Mr. Said Djinnit.
Speaking to the students, Minister Maina said: "Do not be discouraged. Do not be scared. Nothing will happen to you. You must keep on. We are here today to encourage you and say that we will ensure that you stay in school for a path to a bright future. We want to see to it that many of you become the best senators, heads of local councils, businesswomen, ministers and even one-day president of this nation. When a girl is educated a whole nation is educated."
In his welcome statement, Permanent Secretary Nwaobiala said: "These are our girls. They are the future of our nation. We must ensure that they get the best, and that is their education."
UN Women's Executive Director also thanked religious and traditional leaders who have come out to condemn the abduction of the schoolgirls in Chibok.
A special message was delivered by the head of the school girls, who pleaded for the safe return of her sisters in Chibok and for UN Women and all good-willing actors to ensure that girls stay in school so they can be better prepared for "what life has to offer".
Related links:


text:
This Plugin makes it totally easy to implement Cufon into your WordPress Blog.
The only thing you have to do is converting your fontfiles and upload them into the plugins font directory.
You can enable the objects you want to get replaced in the Admin Menu of your WordPress Blog.
– bug fix. sorry again. should sleep a bit more 🙂
– now its back like it was at 1.6.8 – will fix the underscore bug later.
– a font name with an underscore is now recognised (thanks micky!)
– for your security: backup your replacement code before updating!
– fixed save-bug! sorry!
– Bugfixes (thanks Curtis McHale!)
– ie9 now supported
– Bugfix: <? changed to <?php – now it should work on servers that only allow php-scripts with the <?php call.
– some major changes done! the firefox error 9" is fixed – and now you can set the positions where the plugin loads in your template!
– bugfix for wordpress 3.0(b) to get the plugin back to work. (+ some infos added for working with fontnames) (thanks tomas!)
– font names with a dash are now matched (thanks Michael!)
– small changes
– added a new hint in FAQ"
– Sorry. My fault. I did something wrong during uploading to the WordPress Repository. Im new to this. So now comes version 1.6.1
– With great feedback from Michael A. Alderete now we are able to use WP-Cufon in different directories than the standard /wp-content/plugins/ – thats great. The plugin now also looks for your WP_CONTENT_DIR in wp-config.
– now you can set a font with Cufon.set('fontFamily', 'Your Font Name')
– updated to the latest cufon-yui.js (v1.02)
– Changed: Now the plugin only loads the needed fonts that are entered by your replacement scripts (for this you have to enter the exact fontFamily names!) (Thanks John!)
– Added: Font-Directory. To keep your own files wp-cufon now uses an external font-folder! check the installation" page.
– Added: WordPress 2.8.1 compatibility
– Changed: now with compressed cufon-yui.js
– Added: Delay Fix"-Option to hack the delay on some websites. (beta)
– Still ToDo: Fix the PlugIn to work with WordPress installations in own subdirectories. (Help needed!)
– Updated to the latest cufon.js (still uncompressed)
– but the important thing now: i deleted the linotype frutiger fontfile
– PLEASE DELETE THE Frutiger_LT_Std.font.js – We/You dont have any license for that!!!
– now wp-cufon comes with the nice freefont Vegur" (regular & bold)
– i have to say sorry to you and sorry to linotype!
– Updated cufon to the latest changes from sorccu
– e.g. line-heigt fix for ie6/7 and much more
– Fixed a bug: on some server it was impossible to save changes
– Added a checkbox to enable jQuery (it works in non conflict mode, only if necessary!) – now you can use #selector in your cufon scripts.
– updated to newest cufon-yui.js
– New cufon-yui.js – the developer added kerning! yeah. You need to re-render your fontfiles with the generator.
– Added JavaScript function for better InternetExplorer compatibility (important!)
– Fixed first value (stripslashes) (thanks Ryan!)
– Bugfix
– added first (h1) value
Initial Release
- Upload
folder to the/wp-content/plugins/
directory - Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
- Convert or get some compatible .font.js fontfiles
- Create a directory with the name
in /wp-content/plugins/ - Upload your font-files to
- Go to the Settings Page and enter your replacement codes with the font-family" names of your fonts
–> Example: Cufon.replace('h1', { fontFamily: 'Vegur' });
–> you can test the free Vegur fontfile from /wp-cufon/example/ – load the file into your external font directory.
It won't run
Please have a look in your Blogs Sourcecode and look out if there are any WP Cufon" tags.
If yes, then it should do the work. Maybe your fontfiles are corrupt or not recognized.
See if they are in the right directory. If yes, look again in the Sourcecode of your Blog – now there should be a JavaScript that loads your fontfile.
Now check if you entered the right replacement source in the Settings Menu of the Plugin. See the samples or the screenshot! -
I'm getting some foreach() errors on my homepage
You have to create the /wp-content/plugins/font/ directory and upload some fontfiles into it. Then the error message will hopefully disappear!
I added the right fontname to the replacement code, but nothing happens
Try to open the fonts .js file and change the Fontname into one single word or delete the spaces in the name!
Original MyFont.js: Cufon.registerFont({w":200,"face":{font-family":"Arial Black Extended"�
Changed: MyFont.js: Cufon.registerFont({w":200,"face":{font-family":"ArialBlackExtended"� -
No font.js files get loaded in the sourcecode / no error message
Sometimes it happend, that you have to rename your font.js files to the same scheme like the font-family string in your font file!
so if your font-family string in your file is Trade18" try to rename your font file to Trade18.js". Hope it helps!
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
"WP-Cufon" is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
ContributorsTranslate "WP-Cufon" into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.


text:
Pete Conrad
Charles "Pete" Conrad was an American astronaut who was born on June 2, 1930, in Pennsylvania. Before he became an astronaut, Conrad served as a Naval test pilot.
Conrad became an astronaut in 1962. He has spent over 1180 hours in space on 4 spaceflights. He is known for having one of the most incredible careers of any astronaut.
In 1965, Conrad piloted Gemini 5. He and his partner, Gordon Cooper, set an endurance record of 191 hours on this mission. Conrad made his second spaceflight aboard Gemini 11 in 1966. This mission made an altitude record of 850 miles.
Conrad became the third person to walk on the moon in 1969. He commanded the Apollo 12 mission of which he collected moon samples. When Conrad stepped onto the lunar surface, the short man said, "Whoopie! That may have been one small [step] for Neil, but it's a long one for me!"
Conrad made his last spaceflight in 1973 on Skylab 2. This was the first manned visit to the space station. Conrad and his crew set another endurance record of 28 days during this mission.
Conrad left NASA in 1973 to become vice-president of the McDonnel Douglas Aerospace Corporation. He died in 1999 from injuries obtained in a motorcyle accident. The 69 year old former astronaut is survived by his wife, Nancy, three sons and seven grandchildren.


text:
Investigating Emergency Response Sites
An established set of procedures is followed to investigate the site, evaluate the threat, and determine the best course of action. First, EPA designates an On-Scene Coordinator (OSC) to evaluate the incident and determine the appropriate response agency. If the OSC determines that EPA will take the lead in responding to the incident, the OSC will evaluate the urgency of the situation to determine the appropriate response alternative.
Once the type of response alternative is determined, response personnel take special precautions to ensure that they are protected from the threats posed at the site. When entering the site, response personnel wear personal protective gear to shield them from the chemical, physical, and biological hazards. The selection of the type of personal protective equipment is based on:
- the identification of the hazards or suspected hazards,
- potential exposure pathways, and
- the performance of the equipment in providing a barrier to these hazards.
As response personnel enter the site, they further evaluate the site risks and hazards present. Generally, response workers will conduct a visual survey and may perform air monitoring for potential dangers. Direct-reading instruments and testing equipment are used when performing air monitoring. One important goal of monitoring during initial site entry is to establish safety zones at the site. Periodic monitoring is then conducted to ensure that any new hazards are identified promptly, and that appropriate controls are implemented to protect the responders and nearby communities.


text:
Carl Sagan and Contact: Defiance of God and promotion of ET
Dr Carl Edward Sagan (1934–96) was a US astrophysicist and astronomer, renowned for his popular science broadcasts and writings. From the 1950s he was an adviser to NASA and vigorously promoted the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Born in New York to a Russian Jewish family, he rejected religion from an early age and throughout his life. He died of pneumonia brought on by myelodysplasia1 at age 62.
He is probably best known worldwide for three things:
- His epigram "The cosmos is all there is or ever was or ever will be", which encapsulated his atheistic worldview.
- His 13-part TV series Cosmos, said to have been seen by over 500 million people in more than 60 countries.2
His science-fiction novel Contact,3 published in 1985 and then made into a movie with the help of his third wife, Ann Druyan, and released in 1997. It is a story about Ellie Arroway, an atheist scientist (played by Jodie Foster in the film) searching for signs of extraterrestrial life via radio signals from space. Biographer Keah Davidson calls the novel "Sagan's most intense effort to defend SETI", and Ellie "a thinly disguised version of Carl Sagan".4
In the Special Features at the end of the DVD of the film, Ann Druyan says, "Carl's and my dream was to write something that would be a fictional representation of what contact would actually be like. But it would also have the tension inherent between religion and science." However, Sagan goes far beyond a mere "debate between faith and reason" and uses the story (in both book and film) to express his intense personal antagonism to the Bible, God, and Christianity. In fact, these could be termed 'the villain' in Sagan's story!
In this article we shall concentrate on these aspects of Contact and supply some biblical and scientific answers in a form that readers can click on and access immediately. Finally we shall ask whether Sagan was honest in his portrayal of his characters and the issues.
Pi and other 'problems' in the Bible
In chapter 1 of the book, we are introduced to pi (π), the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Ellie's seventh-grade teacher says, " … π was about 22/7, about 3.1416 … it was a decimal that went on and on for ever and ever without repeating the pattern of numbers" (p. 18). Ellie asks, "How could anyone know that the decimals went on for ever and ever?" This gives Sagan his first swipe at the Bible; he comments: "According to the Bible, the ancient Hebrews had apparently thought that π was exactly equal to three" (p. 18). (For our answer see Does the Bible say pi equals 3.0?)
In chapter 2, nine-year-old Ellie attends a Bible class at a church, identified as "one of the respectable Protestant denominations, untainted by disorderly evangelism" (p. 27). The Bible is gratuitously described by her father as being "half barbarian history, half fairy tales". Young Ellie's problems with the Bible include "that there were two mutually contradictory stories of Creation in the first two chapters of Genesis" (see Genesis contradictions?), light and days before the sun (see Light, life and the glory of God and How could the days of Genesis 1 be literal if the Sun wasn't created until the fourth day?), who Cain's wife could have been (see Chapter 8: Who was Cain's wife?), and the fact that the Bible-class leader did not discuss the inappropriate actions of Lot,5 Abraham,6 and Jacob7 and Esau (p. 27).
Then in the New Testament, the two different genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke are described as "a transparent attempt to fit the Isaianic prophesy after the event—cooking the data, it was called in chemistry lab" (p. 28). (See Reliability of the birth narratives.) In one Bible study, Ellie asks how the maidservants of the daughter of Pharaoh knew that the baby Moses was a Hebrew child, but the teacher was too embarrassed to say the word "circumcision" in response (pp. 27–28).8
All these appear in the book but only the question about "Who was Mrs Cain?" is rehashed in the film. The rest is replaced by Ellie asking her father, Ted, if there are people living on other planets, to which he replies, "If it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space."
In the film there is a graphic sequence where Ted has a heart attack and Ellie rushes upstairs to get her father's medicine, but it's too late! A minister of religion then tells Ellie that she just has to accept Ted's death as God's will. She replies, "We should've kept the medicine in the downstairs bathroom, then I could have gotten to it sooner."
Comment: This is not only a put-down of a minister of religion, but is also Sagan's way of suggesting that God's will is all about the nasty things in life, but it can be circumvented by as simple a matter as keeping one's medicine handy!
The Message
Ellie, as an adult, becomes the Director of Project Argus, a search for extraterrestrial intelligence using the multi-linked radio telescopes in New Mexico. In due course she and her team detect a "Message" in the form of a sequence of prime numbers coming from outer space in the vicinity of the star Vega, 26 light years away.9 Manipulation of this Message produces a screen clip of the first ever TV broadcast on Earth, which was the opening of the 1936 Olympic Games by Adolf Hitler. This is accepted as being the Vegans' method of saying "Hello, we heard you" (p. 99), i.e. by their recording the broadcast (which took 26 years to reach them), amplifying it, and playing it back (which has taken a further 26 years to reach Earth).
Further analysis of the Message produces an instruction manual and the plans for a "Machine" for Earth-dwellers to travel into space. All of this occasions considerable dialogue in the story as to whether the Message is from God or Satan. Sagan also compares the mutually contradictory beliefs of Christianity and other religions about the origin of the universe, as an excuse for skepticism (p. 165). (See Christian Apologetics Questions and Answers)
Throughout the story, Sagan has Ellie interacting with a Christian character, Palmer Joss, called (somewhat ambiguously or perhaps inclusively) both "Father" and "Reverend" in the film. On the day Ellie and Joss meet, she expresses her hope of there being intelligent life on at least one of "the 400 billion stars" in our galaxy. Joss replies "If there wasn't, it'd be an awful waste of space." That evening they have a one-night stand, and while they are in bed Joss tells Ellie how he met God!10
Surprisingly, in a later conversation with Joss, Ellie, the atheistic skeptic, says, "I am a Christian in the sense that I find Jesus Christ to be an admirable historical figure … but I think Jesus was only a man. … I don't think he was God or the son of God or the grandnephew of God" (pp. 171–72). (See Is Jesus Christ the Creator God?). Was Sagan trying to "muddy the waters" with this comment?—because Ellie then claims to be an agnostic: "When I say I am an agnostic I mean that the evidence isn't in. There isn't compelling evidence that God exists—at least your kind of god—and there isn't compelling evidence that he doesn't" (p. 173). (See Does God exist? Chapter 1: Does God exist? and Atheism, agnosticism and humanism: godless religions—Questions and Answers.)
The Machine
The Machine is built and a team of five is selected to go on the first trip to look for alien life (in the movie it's just one person—Ellie). In the book the Selection Committee asks Ellie her opinion of "the world population crisis". She replies, "Overpopulation is why I'm in favour of homosexuality and a celibate clergy. A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity towards fanaticism" (p. 245). This may be just a snide remark by Sagan, or a hit at biblical morality (See Homosexuality: What are the biblical and scientific issues?)
In the film the Committee asks Ellie, "If you should meet these Vegans and you had only one question to ask of them, what would it be?" She replies, "How did you do it—how did you evolve? … That more than any other question is the one personally I would like to have answered."
In the book Palmer Joss tells Ellie about his near-death experience (pp. 138–39) as evidence that he had "seen God face to face". Ellie easily demolishes this argument:
"You saw a radiance with a human form that you took to be God. But there was nothing in the experience that told you the radiance made the universe or laid down moral law. The experience is an experience. You were deeply moved by it, no question. But there are other possibilities … like birth. Birth is rising through a long, dark tunnel into a brilliant light. … Maybe, if you almost die, the odometer gets set back to zero for a moment" (p. 252).
(See Near death experiences? What should Christians think?.)
Ellie then brings up the matter of judgment. She says to Joss:
"Your religion assumes that people are children and need a boogeyman so they'll behave. You want people to believe in God so they will obey the law. That's the only means that occurs to you: a strict secular police force, and the threat of punishment by an all-seeing God for whatever the police overlook. You sell human beings short" (p. 253).
(See Why did God impose the death penalty for sin? and The Christian foundations of the rule of law in the West: a legacy of liberty and resistance against tyranny.)
In another of their many discussions about God, Ellie says to Joss, "Either an all-powerful mysterious God created the universe or we created God so we wouldn't have to feel so small and alone." See Is Belief in God a case of Christian wish fulfillment?.)
In the film, the site of the Machine is 'the best show in town' and a crowd of locals take part in a noisy poke-fun carnival with much singing and dancing, car-revving, etc., and people made up to look like Jesus, Elvis or astronauts. A sign says, "Jesus is an alien". An open-air preacher with shoulder-length blond hair glares at Ellie and shouts, "Are these scientists the kind of people that you want talking to your God for you?" as she drives by, and a choir dressed in blue robes sings "Hail to Vega" to the tune of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah.
When the Machine is about to be launched, it is destroyed—by a malfunction in the book, but by the long-haired blond preacher with a bomb in the film. That night the local news channel plays a video which the preacher has left as a suicide note in which he says, "What we do we do for the goodness of all mankind. This won't be understood, not now, but the apocalypse to come will vindicate our faith."
A second Machine is built and those selected go aboard. This one leaves Earth and travels through "a series of wormholes" in space and lands on an idyllic beach with palm trees beside a beautiful calm sea, with an atmosphere similar to Earth's (no space suits are needed), at a place "somewhere in the Milky Way galaxy".
Here Ellie meets her deceased father, Ted, "It was as if her father had these many years ago died and gone to Heaven, and finally—by this unorthodox route—she had managed to rejoin him" (p. 357). The locality is again referred to as Heaven on p. 362. Ted, along with other extraterrestrials (this is a hint that he is an alien in the guise of her father), is engaged in diverting material from a black hole with mass of five million suns to Cygnus A, 600 million light years away, and thus "making Cygnus A" … "to prevent space from getting more and more empty as the aeons pass" (p. 364–65).
Sagan here adds: "If Cygnus A was 600 million light years away, then astronomers on Earth … were seeing it as it had been 600 million years ago" (p. 365). (For our response to this evolutionary assumption, see How can we see distant stars in a young universe?)
Ellie asks her father, "I want to know about your myths, your religions. What fills you with awe?" He replies that in pi, in the ten-to-the-twentieth-power place, the randomly varying digits disappear, and for an unbelievably long time there's nothing but ones and zeros, which constitute a message in eleven dimensions from someone in the universe. Asked about its meaning, by Ellie, Ted replies, "We're still working on it" (pp. 368, 373).
Comment: Sagan has used an intelligent but non-personal mathematical agency to replace the concept of a personal God who (according to the Bible) is not only Creator but also Judge of all mankind. (For a perspective on the heavenly dimensions, see The Gospel in time and space.) Also, "Heaven" is a Christian concept, as in The Lord's Prayer "Our Father who art in Heaven … " (Matthew 6:9), so why would an atheist like Sagan invoke Heaven? Is he perhaps aiming to trivialize it to extinction?11 And if his worldview actually allows for such a place as Heaven to exist, is tertiary mathematics what exercises the inhabitants? (See Did God create man to be an eternal companion for His son Jesus Christ?.)
Ellie now returns to Earth. But wait! What happened to that one most important question that Ellie told the Selection Committee she personally wanted to have answered more than any other by any Vegan she met—about how they evolved? Why didn't Sagan have his character, Ellie, ask it when she had the opportunity? Presumably because then he would have had to have his Ted character answer it. With no evidence as to how life got started on Earth, Sagan obviously had no explanation as to how it could ever get started in space! See Did life come from outer space? and Origin of Life Questions and Answers.)
Back on Earth
Back on Earth, Ellie (along with the four other astronauts in the book) finds that the 24-hour space round-trip had lasted only 20 minutes of Earth time (p. 375). During this time, as far as those involved on Earth had experienced, the Machine had merely malfunctioned without leaving the ground. Ellie now finds that 18 hours of video footage she had taken of the Vegan localities, including the beach, had been erased by the time-changing magnetic fields of the wormholes. There is thus no proof of her story, other than her own word that it happened, and she is accused of making it all up.
In the book at Ellie's debriefing session, her interrogator says,
" … you get visited by your dearly departed father, who tells you that he and his friends have been building the universe … Our Father Who art in Heaven? This is straight religion. Not only do you claim that your father came back from the dead, you actually expect us to believe that he made the universe" (p. 379–80).
The reference to "Our Father who art in Heaven" suggests that Sagan intended this to be a blasphemous parody of the account in Genesis of God's creation of the universe. A further hint is the interrogator's reference to Ellie's claims as "the biggest cock-and-bull story of all time" (p. 380). (See Could recent creation be true, but not Christianity? .)
This conversation and any mention of Heaven were omitted from the film. Instead there is a Senate Enquiry where Ellie's story is said to be either a self-reinforcing delusion, or a hoax. A speaker invokes Occam's Razor to show that a hoax is a better explanation than Ellie's faith in her experience.12 (See Occam's Razor and creation/evolution.)
Asked by the Senate to withdraw her testimony and concede that this journey to the centre of the galaxy never took place, Ellie gives an impassioned speech:
"I can't.13 I had an experience. I can't prove it or explain it, but everything that I know as a human being, everything that I am, tells me that it was real. I did something wonderful, something that changed me forever, a vision of the universe that tells us undeniably how tiny and insignificant and how real and precious we all are, a vision that tells us we belong to something that is greater than ourselves, that none of us are alone. I wish I could get everyone, if even for a moment, to feel that awe and humility and the hope. That continues to be my wish."
Comment: At first glance it seems surprising that Sagan would put such a 'mirror image' of Christian testimony into the mouth of his atheist scientist—until we remember how powerful a contribution Christian testimony is to the preaching of the Gospel. Sagan was a pragmatist and knew that testimony to an experience trumps conjecture about a theory 24/7. He therefore used this powerful spiritual-warfare technique to substantiate, not the blessings of life in Christ, but the omnipotence and omnipresence of alien life. In doing this, he contradicted his own creed that "Science asks us to take nothing on faith, to be wary of our penchant for self-deception, to reject anecdotal evidence."14
In chapter 23, Ellie says to Palmer Joss, "If God wanted us to know that he existed, why didn't he send us an unambiguous message?" (p. 418). Well He did! It's called the Bible. So what is the "unambiguous message of the Bible? There are many parts to it, like "God is love" (1 John 4:16); and "God is light" (1 John 1:5); and "You shall be holy for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16); and "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved" (Acts 16:31). We now see why Sagan set out to undermine credibility in the Bible, through young Ellie's Bible 'problems' in chapter 2.
The End—in the book and the film
The book ends with the revelation of the ultimate Message deep within pi. In base 11 arithmetic, the numbers could be written out entirely as zeros and ones, which when reassembled into a square raster,15 form "a perfect circle, its form traced out by unities in a field of noughts" (p. 429). This is followed by Sagan's dénouement of his story:
"The universe was made on purpose, the circle said. In whatever galaxy you happen to find yourself, you take the circumference of a circle, divide it by its diameter, measure closely enough, and uncover a miracle—another circle, drawn kilometers downstream of the decimal point. … In the fabric of space and in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written small, the artist's signature. … there is an intelligence that antedates the universe.
The circle had closed.
She found what she had been searching for" (p. 429).
Comment: Sagan's alter ego, Ellie, was too easily satisfied. So she had found a circle within the digits of pi (which after all only exists because of the properties of a circle). Is this what life and the universe are all about? Did tertiary mathematics (whether hypothetical or factual) also satisfy Carl Sagan, whose lifelong maxim was "The cosmos is all there is or ever was or ever will be"? He could, instead, have had a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of the universe, Judge of all mankind, and Saviour of all who put their faith and trust in Him.
Not surprisingly, none of the above is included in the film. Perhaps the task of manipulating the digits of pi in base 11 to the 20th power so that they formed a rasterized circle was too demanding for the film makers, without their "cooking the data" as it's called in chemistry lab. Instead, in the film, in case you missed it, or had forgotten it, or had not realized its vital significance, Sagan repeats for the third time (previously uttered by Ted and then by Joss) his only 'evidence' (in 429 book pages and 2½ hours of film) for the existence of extraterrestrial life. He has Ellie say to a group of children as the very last words of the film,
"The universe is a pretty big place, bigger than anyone has ever dreamed of. So if it's just us, it seems like an awful waste of space."
(For a comprehensive rebuttal of this specious supposition, see Did God create life on other planets?.)
How honest was Sagan in his presentation?
A science-fiction story by definition involves the voluntary suspension of some aspect of reality (such as instantaneous space travel, time travel back to the past, superhuman ability, etc.) by the reader/viewer for the sake of being entertained—without this there would be no story. So we are not concerned with the fairy-tale aspects of this yarn, but rather with how Sagan presented his characters and their roles.
Ellie, the atheist evolutionist, is presented as a model of scientific zeal, intelligent and single-minded, dedicated to looking for extraterrestrial intelligence, and even willing to give her life to achieve her goal of finding out why we are here.
On the other hand, Sagan's Christian characters are caricatures:
- In the film a minister of religion (unnamed) spouts heartless and inept counsel about God's will to the orphaned Ellie.
- In the book a preacher called Billy Jo Rankin is said to have operated a scam selling "the actual amniotic fluid that surrounded and protected our Lord", a form of "deviant Christian fundamentalism" (p. 140).
- In the film Rev. Palmer Joss's Christian principles do not preclude him from adultery with Ellie, before telling her how real God is to him. Also (later) he lies to Ellie about why he doesn't want her to go off into space.
- The people objecting to the launch of the Machine are predominantly religious nuts, portrayed with extreme ridicule and deliberate offence to Christian viewers.
- In the film it is a religious preacher who blows up the first Machine, thereby murdering a number of people in the vicinity.
All this leads Sagan's biographer to write, "In these and other ways, the film's representatives of faith are 'trashed for their dishonesty, hypocrisy, bad faith and fanaticism.' Hence the film offers no hint of religion's 'source of truth or of its power'."16
As to honesty of presentation: in the film Rev. Palmer Joss, although the principal Christian, does not fairly represent the Bible in any discussions, and obviously does not believe what the Bible says. He denies a short age to the Earth (p. 175) and so presents no evidence for Genesis creation. (See Age of the earth for 101 evidences for a young age of the earth and the universe,)
One argument Joss was not allowed to present by Sagan is that design in the universe points to a good Designer. In the book, Sagan preempts this by putting into the mouth of a financier, S.R. Hadden, a long diatribe in which he objects to the giving of the Ten Commandments, circumcision, blasphemy, adultery, etc., and ends up, "No, there's one thing the Bible makes clear: The biblical God is a sloppy manufacturer. He's not good at design; he's not good at execution. He'd be out of business if there was any competition" (p. 287). Of course, how God requires people to behave has nothing to do with how well He designed the universe or the biological cell. (For truth about design see Refuting Evolution Chapter 9: Is the design explanation legitimate? and A brief history of design.)
Another argument that creationists were using in the 1980s when Sagan wrote (and are still using today) is the effect of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, namely that all systems of matter/energy tend to run down,17 to proceed from order to disorder, and from information to non-information. This universal scientific law indicates that the organized complexity of life could never arise by itself. (See The evolution train's a-comin' (Sorry, a-goin'—in the wrong direction) and Thermodynamics and Order Questions and Answers.)
Sagan avoids giving this or any further evidence for Creation by dismissing creation science in a single sentence, "In debates on the teaching of 'scientific creationism' in the schools … he [Palmer Joss] attempted in his way to steer a middle course, to reconcile caricatures of science and religion" (p. 141–42).
After the Senate Enquiry, Sagan's Rev. Palmer Joss character tells a now-cheering crowd he believes Ellie. But if this is so, he believes a story that is contrary to the first chapter of Genesis concerning Creation, contrary to the last chapter of Revelation concerning Heaven, and contrary to everything in the Bible in between.
Interwoven through the plot is the theme: What happens after death? and what evidence should we use in arriving at the right answer to this question? There is one person who does have the evidence for what lies beyond the grave. He's been there and returned—the Lord Jesus Christ. He said,
"I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die" (Gospel of John 11:25–26).
He invites people to put their faith and trust in Himself:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (Gospel of John 3:16–18).
- A disease of the bone marrow that reduces immune function. Return to text.
- Carl Sagan, Wikipedia. Return to text.
- Page numbers in this article are from the Orbit paperback, Time Warner Books, London, 1997. Return to text.
- Davidson, K. Carl Sagan: A Life, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1999, p. 349. Return to text.
- The Bible does indeed spell out the results of these actions. For example, Lot's life illustrates many spiritual truths: (1) the degenerating influence of a selfish choice (Genesis 13:11ff.); (2) Lot needs to be rescued from the kings who attacked Sodom (Genesis 14:8–16); (3) the effect of the wicked environment on his family (Genesis 19); (4) the loss of his testimony within his own family (Genesis 19:8); (5) the offspring of Lot's two daughters became the Moabites and the Ammonites, both of which nations became enemies of Israel (Genesis 19: 36–38). Return to text.
- The action of God's prophet, Abraham, in twice pretending that Sarah his wife was his sister, is stated but not commended. He was rebuked the first time by Pharaoh (Genesis 12:10–20), and the second time by King Abimelech (Genesis 20), and the knowledge of this may well have swayed his son Isaac (although born later) to follow his father's example and do the same thing (Genesis 26:1–11). Isaac too was rebuked. Return to text.
- Jacob's action in deceiving his father, Isaac, in order to take the birthright away from Esau returned on his own head when his father-in-law, Laban, deceived him concerning his bride, Rachel, and also when his own sons deceived him by pretending that Joseph was dead (Genesis 29:15–30 & 27:2–36). Return to text.
- According to Sagan's biographer, this latter episode was a retelling of a similar event that Carl himself experienced when he attended a Bible class as a boy (ref. 4, p. 11). Return to text.
- This means that it would take light (or a radio signal) travelling at 300,000 km per second 26 years to reach Earth from Vega, or Vega from Earth. One light year is almost 10 trillion km. Return to text.
- This appears to be his near-death experience, given in much greater detail in the book (pp. 138–39), see later in this article. Return to text.
- Our knowledge of Heaven is from the One who Himself came from Heaven to live on Earth, to die for the sins of mankind, and then to rise from the dead—the Lord Jesus Christ. In His teaching, His many parables, and in the Book of Revelation, we learn that Heaven is not only the dwelling place of God, but it is also the future home of those who love and serve Him in this life—they continue to do this in Heaven. They will see His face and they will reign with Him for ever and ever (Revelation 22:4–5). However, those who in this life reject God's offer of forgiveness for sin have no place in Heaven—for them the future involves Judgment (Revelation 20:11–15). Return to text.
- Occam's Razor is the principle that "Other things being equal, the simplest explanation tends to be the right one." Return to text.
- Was Sagan here reprising part of Martin Luther's response to his interrogators at the Diet of Worms?! Return to text.
- Sagan, C., Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium, Hodder Headline, London, 1997, p. 141. Return to text.
- A TV raster is "a complete set of scanning lines appearing at the receiver as a rectangular patch of light on which the image is reproduced" (Chambers Dictionary). Return to text.
- Ref. 4, p. 423. Note that Davidson is quoting from Daniel Silver's article "God and Carl Sagan in Hollywood", first published in the Jewish journal Commentary. Return to text.
- Even open systems, in the absence of specific programmed mechanisms to the contrary—such as those involved in the growth of a tree from a seed, for example. Return to text.


text:
Everything's the same, everything's different
The world is a place where everything can feel so nebulous and yet our feet are so firmly on the ground, somedays so heavy they feel gripped by roots, dragging us deep into the earth. How can two extremes play out at exactly the same time? How can it feel like everything can disappear in an instant and yet onward we tread, as if there is no choice.
Discovering that there is comes from a dark loneliness deep in the woods of our minds, where there are voices and terrifying sounds and not a glimpse of sunlight to guide the way out. I've been there, too many times as if once was not enough. The pain of that place is excruciating, like there is a vice around your head and nowhere to run. The news about Robin Williams has rocked so many of us. If someone so talented, so successful, so revered can't find his way out of that forest what hope is there for the rest of us battling those demons every day? One of the oldest friends of a friend of mine took her own life two weeks ago. A month ago a plane of innocent people was shot out of the sky. At the moment there are innocent people of a religious minority trapped by religious extremists on a mountainside in Iraq.
It goes on and on. What on earth are we to do? Somehow we get up and live another day. We love our kids, we speak with loud voice when things are not just and fair, we make dinner, we eat all the feelings and despite the most of unlikely of odds we keep going. Sometimes doing that is so very hard. But we make that choice.


text:
Irish Festival
March 13-14, 2010 at the Seattle Center in Downtown Seattle
Happy St. Patrick's Day everybody. Enjoy Irish tunes, step dancing and the Irish jig breathe Irish spirit and life into the Irish Week Festival. Festival-goers can participate in Gaelic games, trace their own Irish history with the help of genealogists or take Irish language lessons. Enjoy movies, cultural exhibits and demonstrations, mingle with Irish celebrities and have a great time. Presented by the Irish Heritage Club of Seattle.


text:
Going green when it comes to food and drink doesn't have to be a pricey proposition involving all-organic produce and the finest fair-trade ingredients. Whether you are a vegan, vegetarian or even a meat-eater here are some essential, cheap and relatively easy meals and recipes to green your eating habits on a regular basis without sacrificing taste.
20 Delicious Vegan Meals and Recipes: From sloppy janes to tofu scramble, soba noodles to grilled salad, vegan food has a sometimes-poor reputation amongst meat-eaters and even some vegetarians – but it is not always deserved. Whether you want food that still tastes like meat or something entirely different there is a yummy vegan delight on this list sure to tickle your taste buds.
20 Delicious Vegan Appetizers and Desserts: With main courses covered a meal can not really be called complete until you add in the befores and afters – appetizers and desserts are also an essential ingredients to balanced (and fun) eating. From salads, bruschettas and fries to cookies, brownies and pies here are some mouth-watering vegan recipes to fix and serve on either side of a main course.
14 Cheap, Easy and Delicious Vegetarian Meals and Recipes: Not sure you are ready to take the plunge and remove milk and eggs from the equation? In some ways that does make things simpler but, some would argue, perhaps not as simple as making a meaty meal. These fourteen recipes are ideal for even the most hopeless of cooks with little experience making veggie food (or even meals in general).
12 Tips and Recipes for Making Sustainable Meat Meals: So some of us may not even be able to make it as far as vegetarian – but don't despair: there are some ways to go greener even if you still are not in a position to give up meat (or perhaps even want to) for whatever reason. From going with grassfed beef to enjoying exotic animal dishes there are many ways to eat healthier and in a more eco-friendly fashion at the same time.
10 Green and Eco-Friendly Mixed Drinks and Cocktail Recipes: Going green when it comes to consumption isn't just about food anymore – you can celebrate sustainably as well with some of these eco-friendly alcoholic beverages and (in some cases) literally green mixed drinks as well.


text:
Inflationary Illusions in Real Estate
Real estate, and the careers that depend upon it, is a boom-bust business in the age of inflation. The illusion of wealth is everywhere..until it is snatched away.
That's why it's a great time for David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize winning "Glengarry Glen Ross" to make its third appearance on the Broadway stage. It's a show about Chicago real estate salesmen selling Florida properties through deception and intimidation.
The show appears just as Iowa dirt ascends to new heights, hope springs eternal that home prices have stopped falling, and Bernanke's tonic is finally putting some sizzle in the home market.
I'm a huge fan of the movie, as those who attended last year's Vancouver Symposium may have detected. When asked during the Whiskey Bar panel what movie depicted the U.S. economy, I offered up "Glenngary Glen Ross."
I was sky high with anticipation taking my seat on 4th row. I was not disappointed. Broadway is indeed magic, especially when you can see the shine on the actor's shoes and spit flies as they say their lines.
Reviewers are carping that the production is nothing but a vehicle for Al Pacino, who plays deluded has-been Shelly Levine. Maybe, but Bobby Cannavale steals the show as Ricky Roma, the role Al Pacino earned an Oscar nomination for in the 1992 movie version.
Cannavale brings more swagger to the Roma role than even Pacino did. He combs his slick Guido-style hairdo using his sun glasses as a vanity mirror. He looks to have stolen his suit, suspenders, white-collared shirts, and argyle socks from Gordon Gecko's closet.
The audience was on the edge of their seats ready to react to any utterance or facial expression Pacino would produce. Still, his portrayal of 'The Machine' did not have the Willie Loman desperation that Jack Lemmon brought to the role on the big screen.
John C. McGinley on the other hand makes for an even angrier Dave Moss than the Ed Harris movie version. If there's a plot to Glenngary, Moss is its protagonist. It is his desperate plan to do something, rather than just being stuck with the deadbeat sales leads, that puts the Premier Properties office in turmoil and sets up the climax.
Real estate investment is an opportunity. We paraphrase that great investment mind Ricky Roma, the alpha male salesman at the top of his game. Investments can teach a man about himself, as Roma waxes philosophical to the lonely James Lingk. It's the power of suggestion plying the vulnerable.
In real life today, there is no shortage of vulnerable, especially not in Sioux County, Iowa.
On October 25th in Iowa, no spell was needed to entice buyers of fertile Iowa farmland. No condos or McMansions will sit on this land, only corn or soybeans. Auctioneers took turns taking bids as prices climbed for 80 acres in this heart of corn country. When bidding hit $20,000 per acre, reported an observer, "you could hear a gasp in the room." Applause broke out when bidding stopped at $21,900.
It's been awful dry in the midwest, but the land market continues on fire, with prices up over 31 percent in the past five years, according Bloomberg Businessweek. Yep, it's a no-brainer; income from crops "and the long-term appreciation of the property," professor Michael Duffy opines.
In a similar way, the Toronto condo market has defied reason and gravity for years, enticing investment from around the world. One reason is that people like Herbert Crockett believe in the old saw, passed on to him by his father: Invest in things you can touch. So Mr. Crockett took the plunge on a Trump Tower Hotel condo for C$904,000.
The "Trump" salesforce told Crockett he would rack up between a 5 and 27 percent annual return from his investment in the big-name project. That sure beats the 2.25% regulated rate banks are paying in Crockett's home in France. "We bought into the Trump name and what we were being told was a hot real estate market in Toronto for this kind of project," Crockett told Bloomberg in an interview. "It turns out that the hotel had nothing to do with him and that it isn't a good investment after all."
The Toronto market, with more condos under construction than any other city in the world, is now beginning to soften and Mr. Crockett and others that bought are only renting their units a quarter of the time projected. Instead of receiving a monthly check from his investment, the retired HR director is now losing C$7,000 a month according to his lawsuit.
Although the Donald was featured prominently in Trump Tower sales literature, he and his staff were not involved in the development other than selling his famous name to the project and attending the grand opening. An attorney for Trump said, he "was not involved in the sales process and Talon, the developer, made no representations to buyers regarding return on investment."
But while the Trump legal staff paints the picture that he didn't have anything to do with Toronto's tallest building, evidently EVP and daughter Ivanka didn't get the memo. "We look forward to continuing to achieve great success at Trump International Hotel & Tower Toronto," she told Bloomberg in an email. "Our team is dedicated to providing world-class service and amenities only found in a Trump Hotel Collection property."
Great success? Well, yeah. "The hotel is an unbelievable success," Trump attorney Alan Garten says. Hey, occupancy might not be great. Investors might be losing money. But, the Canadian Automobile Association has awarded the hotel restaurant's a four diamond rating and TripAdvisor.com rates the Trump Hotel tops in Toronto.
Mr. Crockett has hired lawyers to fix his mistake. In his court filing, Crockett contends he is "the victim of an investment scheme and conspiracy based upon reckless and negligent misrepresentations."
With the Toronto boom turning into a bust, the advice of Mr. Crockett's late father is not so sage. It turns out he's an investing neophyte. "These are not sophisticated investors," said Javad Heydary, who heads the law firm that is suing the developer and Trump for Crockett and 20 other investors. But the developer's head man says this is all just a case of "buyer's remorse" and the plaintiffs just want to get out of their deals.
What were dreams and opportunities in a boom, become in the bust the fraudulent schemes of court filings. The charming and helpful salesmen are suddenly liars and crooks. "There's the illusion of movement in the Toronto housing sector with sales and buyers," Crockett told Bloomberg, "But now it seems more like a Ponzi scheme."
Central bankers can print money and for a while, in some markets of some things, create the illusion of wealth and prosperity. There will always be salesmen around to facilitate the transaction — Glengarry style. But neither the Fed nor the salesmen can stop the busts, the ruined lives, and hard feelings. The money printing and money manipulations — all taking place on a epic scale — only creates more.
Doug French
Original article posted on Laissez-Faire Today


text:
Release Date: 1988 | Tracklist
Album Rating: 4.440, woo... There are so many albums I want to review.
Keep it going then. I'm loving them.
Album Rating: 4.4Thanks for the kind words. :chug:
Album Rating: 4.4Hep! Long time no see. I'll try to review more Helloween. I've been planning on doing Pink Bubbles and Chameleon. We'll see.
ive never really got into any helloween, might try it out some day... good review.
Man you sure churn these reviews out fast. It's incredible how the quality is consistently so high with the amount you do :thumb: nice work.
I just knew that it was you Mike Good review though, I have heard I Want Out, pretty good song.
Album Rating: 4.4Gamma Ray's live version of I Want Out with Kai Hansen on vocals is probably my favourite version of the song. It's somewhere on You Tube. Good stuff. Kick ass avatar btw.
Man you sure churn these reviews out fast. It's incredible how the quality is consistently so high with the amount you do
Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound OffThis record in an absolute classic. Special credits: Eagle Fly Free. Dr. Stein. I Want Out. March Of Time and Keeper Of The Seven Keys.
Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound OffPEOPLE TELL ME A AND B THEY TELL ME HOW I HAVE TO SEE THINGS THAT I HAVE SEEN ALREADY CLEAR
Album Rating: 3.51 is bester
Album Rating: 4.5nah
Album Rating: 3.5tbh theyre p much equal but 1 has halloween so
Album Rating: 4.5equal is fine....1 has halloween, this has keeper
Album Rating: 3.0With the possible exception of "Eagle Fly Free", I was unimpressed with the first 6 songs on this album. It seemed as if the instruments lacked focus, and the band failed to take anything seriously. But then the last 4 tracks were so awesome that I just couldn't give this anything less than a 3.0 Definitely a hard album to rate when it came down to it. My overall feeling is that this has some of the best tracks from the Keepers albums, such as March Of Time and Keeper of the Seven Keys, but Part 1 is a way more consistent experience. Part 1 is a 5 all day for me. Also, if you look at the writing credits, Kai Hanson didn't receive writing credits for any of the first 6 songs, receiving only 3 writing credits near the end of the record. I believe this to be the reason why i didn't dig this album, but I could be reading to far into it.
Album Rating: 5.0If you want some lesson in power metal songwriting listen to this album.
Album Rating: 3.5Keeper of the Seven Keys Eagle Fly Free I Want Out March of Time The rest can skip out.
Album Rating: 4.5@Dragonforce89, nope
Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


text:
Sell My House Fast Miami Inc
Best Real estate consultant in Miami
Are you looking to quickly sell your Miami house? We are the best Miami real estate agents and can help you sell your house quickly and easily. We offer a variety of services to meet your needs and make the entire process as easy as possible. You can be confident that everything will be taken care of so you can concentrate on other things. We have a team of experts who are dedicated to making the sale of your home as easy as possible for you. Contact us today at (786) 434-7931 to learn more about our services! Give us a call to learn more about how we can help you sell your house fast in Miami!


text:
A woman walks near advertisements for Samsung's Galaxy S III smartphone in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012. Samsung said global sales of its Galaxy S III smartphone have surpassed 20 million in a little more than three months. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung says global sales of its Galaxy S III smartphone have surpassed 20 million in a little more than three months.
Samsung Electronics Co. launched the flagship smartphone powered by Google's Android operating system in Europe in late May. The release schedule was about three months ahead of new phone announcement by rivals Apple, Nokia and Motorola.
Samsung says brisk sales of the S III are helping it retain dominance in the smartphone market. Strategy Analytics says Samsung overtook Apple in worldwide smartphone shipments in 2011.
The company is embroiled in legal tussles with Apple around the world over whether Samsung's mobile devices copied Apple products. Apple last week added the S III to the "copycat" list in its complaint filed with a U.S. court.


text:
My room is 3×5 meters, it doesn't have a ventilation pipe connected to it, so the air becomes close very fast, and to freshen up the room I have to open the window, and it makes my room very cold. Leaving just a crack open doesn't give a lot of fresh air, but makes it cold and still hard to breathe.
Air conditioner doesn't really give me fresh air, instead it just heats or chills the air in the room.
What else is there to try to fix my situation?
My room is in an apartment, heated by central heating battery, only kitchens and bathrooms have ventilation connected to them in the building. Rooms are in their original state. The building is about 50 years old now, it's possible to change room from inside, probably impossible to make a hole to the outside.


text:
It was starting to get ridiculous. I had probably called the Cleveland Magazine offices 40 times throughout the course of the week trying to get someone with some common sense on the line. But I just got passed around like a hot potato and eventually dropped. How could they not comprehend what a great opportunity I was offering them? An extensive, tell-all interview with me, Mike Polk Jr., to be published in their wildly popular Rating the Suburbs issue. They seemed somehow unimpressed and, shockingly, many of the people that I spoke with didn't even seem to know who I was.
Initially, I assumed that they were just pretending that I wasn't a big deal in order to give themselves bargaining leverage should I try to overcharge them for the exclusive exposé. This wasn't my first rodeo.
But it soon became abundantly clear that, unfathomable as it may sound, these people honestly did not know who I was. I explained to them (actually, to their voice mail) that I am Cuyahoga County's premier comedic provocateur. That I am responsible for creating countless regional YouTube Web hits, such as the "Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video" and "The Factory Of Sadness" Browns video, that — though extremely unprofitable — nevertheless secured my reputation as a Cleveland folk hero, according to my immediate family and my blog.
No one returned my calls.
Undeterred, I called again, this time leaving an even longer message explaining that I am also the accomplished author of Damn Right I'm From Cleveland: Your Guide to Makin' It in America's 47th Largest City (available on Amazon), a book one critic hailed as being "104 pages long."
I went on to reveal that I am now a Fox 8 personality who regularly appears on New Day Cleveland and The Rizzo Show. I also continue to produce my very own half-hour comedy specials for the station called The Mike Polk Jr. Show, which has yet to attain a permanent time slot but for now typically airs on Sunday nights at about 2:30 a.m. in between a syndicated episode of Veronica's Closet and an infomercial for the Miracle Blade (a remarkable knife that stays sharp even after cutting through a cinder block!).
When I was abruptly and rudely cut off due to unreasonably stingy voice mail length restrictions, I called back and performed a couple of my hilarious hit comedy songs on acoustic guitar.
Well, needless to say, at long last, I managed to get their attention. Someone who referred to herself as a features editor finally called me back. But to my surprise it was not to set up a time that was mutually convenient for both of us so that she could conduct a lengthy interview. She told me that what I was doing was "borderline harassment" and that I really needed to "get a life." I found this to be both unprofessional and inappropriate.
She then told me that she did not believe that Cleveland Magazine readers would have much interest in reading about my life. This is when I admittedly lost my cool and flew off the handle a little bit. I said something along the lines of, and I'm paraphrasing myself here: "Well, we wouldn't want to tear your readers away from the annual bombshell news that the highest-rated suburbs are the ones that collect the most tax revenue and can therefore afford to run efficiently! However will they figure that out without your hard-hitting journalism?!"
She hung up.
I'll be honest, people, at this point I almost gave up. But then I thought to myself, No, Mike, you have an important story to tell. And that story has the potential to inspire tens of Cleveland Magazine readers who could draw hope from your experiences and who knows, possibly find the courage to reach for their dreams as well.
You pulled yourself up from nothing but a comfortable middle-class upbringing surrounded by a loving family in Youngstown, Ohio. As a youth you were no stranger to adversity, never receiving the Power Wheels ridable toy monster truck that you requested each and every Christmas until your were 16 years old (even though your neighbor Ben had one and it was awesome). You slept in a bedroom with no attached bathroom. You attended a private school that lacked a viable theater program.
But despite all this, you managed to pull yourself up from such humble beginnings to graduate from Kent State University with a communications degree in just less than six years, even though no one believed that you could. You then moved to Cleveland and dug in like a tick. And it's been nothing but triumphs and accolades ever since.
It was then that I realized I had been talking out loud to myself about myself for the past four minutes, and it felt great! The epiphany hit! If no one from Cleveland Magazine wanted to interview me, I'd interview myself! After all, who knows more about me than me?
MIKE POLK 1: Can I just start by saying how much I'm looking forward to this and how great I think this is going to be?
MIKE POLK 2: I could not possibly agree more.
MP1: Well, where to start? There are so many things to discuss. You've really done it all. Internet videos, regional pizza chain commercials, stand-up comedy at various plaza bars in the Greater Cleveland area.
MP2: Yes, I've always considered myself a "triple threat" performer in the Sammy Davis Jr. mold. Except I do even more things. I'm probably more of a quintuple-threat — if that means 12 threats, and I think it does.
MP1: Let's begin at the beginning. You got your start at Kent State University, where you graduated with a degree in the challenging major of communications.
MP2: That's true.
MP1: Now, some people look down on a communications degree, even though it's a perfectly legitimate and impressive major and a real thing. Can you enlighten people as to what it qualifies you to do?
MP2: Well, that's the beauty of the major, Mike — it's very open-ended. To be successful in any career, one needs good communication skills. So you can really do anything with it. I could be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company or I could practice law. I could be a famous architect if I so desired. Because in all of those jobs you need to talk, aka "communicate." So it works for all of them.
MP1: That's a really good point. But despite all of those options, you decided to go into the entertainment biz, where you have found enormous success. Why did you go that route?
MP2: Why do birds fly? Because it's what they were born to do.
MP1: Great answer, and if I were someone reading this interview I'd think you were really deep and complicated.
MP2: I know, right?
MP1: From where do you draw the inspiration for your humor?
MP2: I find that the most relatable and the purest humor comes from simply observing people in everyday life. For example, just last week I was watching an old Dave Chappelle stand-up special on Comedy Central and I found a lot of what he was saying to be absolutely hilarious. So I've recently started working some of that material into my act.
MP1: Fascinating. And totally aboveboard. But I understand that there have been some misguided people who have criticized you for telling other comedians' jokes verbatim on stage?
MP2: There are always going to be some critics. It comes with the territory. What they don't understand is that I'm interpreting these jokes in a totally "Mike Polk" way and making them my own.
MP1: That makes sense.
MP2: And besides, no one ever criticizes the Cleveland Orchestra for covering Mozart rather than playing original music of their own. And they're world-renowned!
MP1: Touché. Now I know that this is a little off-topic, but let's talk about love for a second. A lot of people find it impossible to believe that you're still single.
MP2: Oh boy, here we go. You sound like my mother!
(Both laugh at this very good joke.)
MP1: But seriously, you bring a lot to the table. You're intelligent, redheaded, you own your own washer and dryer.
MP2: Sure.
MP1: How has a catch like you managed to dodge the altar for this long? You must have to beat them off with a stick.
MP2: You'd think so, Mike, but that's actually not the case. Women seem to keep their distance from me.
MP1: And why do you think that is?
MP2: Frankly, I think they're intimidated. When I walk into a bar, most women won't even make eye contact with me. And I get it. I have a swagger. I've been in local oil change commercials. It has to be daunting.
MP1: Absolutely.
MP2: That's why now when I walk into a bar or a restaurant or a party that someone was too intimidated to invite me to, the very first thing I do is yell out, "Hey everyone, let's just get this out of the way: Yes, it's me, Mike Polk. But don't be nervous, I don't bite! I'm just here to have fun tonight like one of you normal, boring people!"
MP1: And is that effective?
MP2: Not really. They're still too intimidated to approach me. But that's the price you pay for regional fame.
MP1: Witty and well-stated. Having effectively dominated the Cleveland comedy scene, why do you elect to only perform in the Northeast Ohio area, primarily at strip mall bars nestled between a laundromat and a Dollar Tree? Why have you not yet succumbed to Hollywood's siren song and headed West toward inevitable fame and fortune?
MP2: Look, I want to put this to rest once and for all, Mike, and I thank you for the opportunity to do that. The reason that I don't leave is very simple: I love it here. Is that such a crime? Cleveland is an amazing city, and I'm proud to call it my home.
MP1: That's very noble.
MP2: Additionally, no one has ever asked me to perform anywhere else.
MP1: And if they did?
MP2: I'd be totally open to it. In fact, if anyone is reading this, anywhere else in the world, and you have an opportunity for me, any opportunity, please contact me through my website mikepolkjr.com, and I can be there in 24 hours.
MP1: That's a great and legitimate offer.
MP2: And it doesn't even have to be comedy related. I'll paint your garage if that's what you need. Just hit me up. I already have a bag packed.


text:
Probably inevitable. In a bad electoral landscape, with election day bearing down, Democrats were bound to get jumpy about a move this bold. ("No question where the long-term advantage lies, but right now, in an ugly year, it's raising an uglier head.") Except for Colorado, the states in play this November are unlikely to tilt due to Latino turnout. Amnesty shills will be disappointed, but hey. Obama can endure a few more weeks of Luis Gutierrez calling him the "deporter-in-chief."
One ominous possibility: Maybe O will make it up to Gutierrez et al. by going even bigger with his delayed amnesty than he was initially planning to. If he issues DACA 2.0 now, it'd probably mean legalizing five million people or less. If he issues it later, it could mean legalizing … more.
Fed up with congressional gridlock, the president has said he'll use his executive power to make changes. One proposal under discussion would delay a decision on the more sweeping and controversial changes under consideration until after the November midterm election, according to a White House official familiar with the discussions.
Under that plan, the president would first announce measures aimed at tightening enforcement of current law, then put off until the end of the year a decision on a more sweeping program that could temporarily shield millions of immigrants from deportation…
Aides say the president has not made a decision on precise actions or timing. The official familiar with the talks, who would not be identified discussing internal deliberations, said the two-step proposal was one of several on the table.
So he's going to take a "security first" approach and wait on legalization for awhile? I wonder what the GOP messaging team will do with that precedent vis-a-vis comprehensive reform.
Obama said at yesterday's presser that he's still hoping Congress will act and thinks that they might "after the midterm elections," which, yeah, does imply a delay. There may be more to his strategy than "let's not do anything to further piss off already pissed-off red-state voters" too. Greg Sargent, a reliable pipeline for what Democrats on the Hill are thinking, says a mega-amnesty now to impress Latinos could momentarily alienate another important lefty constituency:
Dem hopes for survival rest heavily on turning out the unmarried women who are increasingly key to the Dem coalition but sit out midterms. The way to move them is with a message relentlessly focused on women's economic issues. Any move that allows Republicans to argue Dems are focused on giving jobs to illegal immigrants — however demagogic — risks muddling that message in the minds of voters who are already suffering from economic insecurity. While some argue acting would rev up core Dem groups, Latinos are not a major factor in these races and it might not have any such impact on these unmarried red state women.
There may not be enough Latinos in swing states this fall to turn the elections but there may be enough single women — if they turn out. Tossing a grenade on immigration could blow up the party's efforts to make that happen. Beyond that, it may also be that O and the Democratic brain trust have reluctantly concluded that Republicans aren't quite stupid enough to be baited into shutting down the government right before the election to protest Obama's amnesty. A spokesman for Marco Rubio, who hinted earlier this week about attaching conditions on immigration to the next spending bill, told Byron York three times in the course of a short interview yesterday that Rubio won't support a shutdown. There may be some House Republicans who make noise about it and Ted Cruz will probably say something not entirely disapproving, but there's just no way the GOP's going to respond to Obama rolling a grenade into his own tent by rolling an even bigger one into its own. Which means O has no reason to go ahead with his executive order before November except to spare himself Luis Gutierrez's frowniest frowny face. Aw.


text:
If you happened to be in the Times Square area recently, then maybe you noticed a billboard advertising Jeffrey Eugenides' highly-anticipated new book, The Marriage Plot — or the fact that it inexplicably features an image of the author doing his best impression of the Marlboro Man. Since novelists, even Pulitzer Prize-winning ones, so rarely feature in the ads for their work, the Wall Street Journal decided to get to the bottom of it.
Eugenides' publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux decided to rent the billboard after an account executive at their advertising agency mentioned that the space had suddenly become available. "I go back to the flinty Roger Straus days, when FSG wouldn't run so much as an ad in the [New York Times] Book Review," Eugenides told them. "So when they said they were putting up a billboard in Times Square, I figured I should keep my mouth shut." It's also worth noting that his wife art directed the photo shoot, so that might explain why he looks so… smoldering? [via Runnin' Scared]


text:
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
A Day in the Life of a Contest Judge
Then when you finally get your entries back, you may find yourself wanting to chuck them in the trash can. Or shoot darts at a picture of the judge's face.
Before you get carried away, though, let me present some perspective. In the last couple years, I've been on the other side as a judge. And things on this side are much tougher than I would have expected.
For someone like me who has been on the receiving end, I'm extremely conscientious of the feedback I provide. But I'm also juggling my own writing (or in some cases during contest season, putting it completely on the back burner so I can judge).
Plus I'm also a stay-at-home mom of young children. Need I say more?
Here's a little snippet of what might happen when I open an entry to judge...
*Reading first sentence* Wow, nice hook!
"Mommy, I want a snack."
"What's that, honey? Oh, a snack?" *going to pantry to get some animal crackers* "Here you go."
Okay, let's read that first sentence again. *typing comment in entry* Great opening!
"Mommy, Mickey Mouse is done. Can I watch Little Einstein's next?"
"I'm sorry, honey. What'd you say? Oh, sure. Take the remote and watch whatever you want." (Don't judge...I'm desperate at this point.)
*finish typing comment in entry and read second sentence*
"Mommy, the TV isn't working."
At this rate, it takes me three hours to read an entry and provide meaningful feedback. At least, I hope it's meaningful because I've had so many interruptions. For all I know, I may have said the entrant needs more description when they had too much of it.
As hard as it is to imagine sometimes, judges are people too.
And while we truly want to help develop other writers' skills, we have interruptions and agents or editors who still expect us to meet our deadlines.
When you get your contest entry back, read through the judges' comments with a clear mind. You may (hopefully!) find some great nuggets to take your writing to the next level.
But if something doesn't jive or comes across as mean, remember who's on the other side of the comments. They may have just gotten a snack for the tenth time during your entry, and they're taking their frustrations out on unsuspecting you.
Perspective is so important, no matter what stage we may find ourselves. We would all benefit from remembering there's a person behind the words--no matter which side we're on--and filtering everything with wisdom and understanding.
So let's talk...What side of contests do you sit currently--entrant or judge? If a judge, how do you balance your other responsibilities with contest entries? If an entrant, how does this perspective change the way you receive contest feedback?
*Feedback photo by Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
**Time photo by Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Sarah Forgrave is a stay-at-home writer-mom who feels blessed to pursue her calling and passion. She writes contemporary romance for the inspirational market and is a contributor to the webzine Ungrind.
To learn more about Sarah, visit her personal blog at:
19 comments:
- Wendy Paine Miller said...
I know how much you pour into giving quality feedback, Sarah. I imagine those who have you as a judge are very blessed!
~ Wendy - April 4, 2012 at 5:46 AM
- Lindsay Harrel said...
I'm a contestant this year, and I've tried to just take things with a grain of salt, realizing that judges aren't perfect, but trying to glean some good advice from the feedback as well.
- April 4, 2012 at 5:49 AM
Love this side of the contest, Sarah. :) I've entered two contests this spring. I'm blessed, becuase my "mentor" has helped me to gain a good perspective about contests. I know judges are people, they may/may not like my writing style, but they want to give good feedback. Good=helpful and constructive, not always glowingly positive.
Thanks for sharing what the other side of contesting looks like. :) - April 4, 2012 at 6:20 AM
- Unknown said...
I have a very unique perspective on this. I've started my own blog competitivewriter.com specifically designed to address writing competitions. I showcase my own contest entries as well as making my observations about the contest and competition process.
I think this is a great blog post, and plan on linking to it from my blog. It's important for contests to remember judges are human. I look forward to hearing from more judges. - April 4, 2012 at 6:22 AM
- Joanne Sher said...
Great perspective, Sarah! Needed to hear it. I've only been on the receiving end - though I'm gonna be on the judging end later this year, apparently. Thanks.
- April 4, 2012 at 6:42 AM
- Unknown said...
Loved this insight, Sarah. I've judged, too, and one of the things I loved in my experience was that I was required to point out what I loved...and it was never hard to find something I could appreciate! And I'd get so incredibly excited when the scene blew me away!
- April 4, 2012 at 6:42 AM
- Angie Dicken said...
Great perspective, Sarah. I keep reminding myself that whatever happens as far as results go, it's not going to change who I am as a writer...just push me to be better or affirm that I am doing something right. Win, win...right? ;)
- April 4, 2012 at 6:43 AM
- Keli Gwyn said...
I'm a huge fan of contests, having received my offer of representation as the result of a request for a full from a final round judge. But before that happened, there were some 46 other entries (no kidding) with lots of feedback. I treasured it. I've often said my contest judges taught me to write, and there's a lot of truth to that. I appreciate each of my contest judges and the time they took to give me helpful feedback. These days I'm paying it forward and enjoy reading the work of some awesome up-and-coming authors.
- April 4, 2012 at 7:12 AM
- Angie Dicken said...
Keli, what you said resonates with me so much!!! If I hadn't listened to the first contest feedback I ever received, I wouldn't be writing today. Through them basically telling me I missed the mark on how to write (ugh), they gave me hope that I could figure it out thru their suggestions. That is when I joined the large crit group and began to read up on the craft. The judges didn't offer me representation, far from it...they challenged me to take this seriously in humility and seek out knowledge to have any hope in a future for this.
- April 4, 2012 at 9:12 AM
- Erica Vetsch said...
You're so right! Judging is harder than it might seem from the contestant side. It's time consuming, sometimes daunting, and scary when you realize the receiver might not take your comments in the manner in which you hoped.
But it's rewarding too. And a good way to give back. I learned so much from my early contest entries. - April 4, 2012 at 10:19 AM
- Sarah Forgrave said...
Wendy - Thank you, dear lady. :)
Lindsay - That sounds like the right approach. Your writing will be so much stronger when you accept feedback carefully and consideringly (is that a word?). :)
Jeanne - How awesome that you have someone helping guide you through this process. What a blessing! - April 4, 2012 at 3:55 PM
- Sarah Forgrave said...
Nate - Thanks so much for sharing the link! Sounds like you're building a great community of writers.
Joanne - Oohhh, the fun of going from entrant to judge. I'll be curious to hear how the switch goes for you. :)
Melissa - I love that too. My favorite is when I forget to judge because the entry is so good. :) - April 4, 2012 at 3:57 PM
- Sarah Forgrave said...
Angie - I love your perspective and how you let that first contest challenge you to grow. That's the mark of a career writer right there. :)
Keli - I can't imagine trying to process feedback from 46 judges...Wow. But look where you are now. :)
Erica - I've read and reread certain comments a dozen times in hopes that I've worded it as constructively as possible. When I'm in a hurry, I tend to write clipped feedback. But going back through and softening the blow, so to speak, will hopefully help the contestants in the long run. - April 4, 2012 at 4:00 PM
- Sherrinda Ketchersid said...
I've been on both sides and I think judging is alot harder than swallowing the tough comments. Like Erica, I worried that my comments would be taken the wrong way. I learned alot while doing it though.
- April 4, 2012 at 7:06 PM
- Sarah Forgrave said...
Sherrinda - I agree. Of course, tough comments are always best swallowed with chocolate. ;)
- April 4, 2012 at 7:42 PM
- Cindy R. Wilson said...
Hey Sarah! It's always nice to see the other side. It's hard to remember sometimes that the people giving writers bad news are people, too. Just like agents, most of them are truly rooting for writers and want to help them as much as possible. Thanks for giving us a peek at the other end.
- April 4, 2012 at 8:18 PM
- Sarah Forgrave said...
Good point, Cindy. I didn't think about the parallel for agents and editors, but I imagine they often feel the same way. :)
- April 5, 2012 at 7:41 AM
- Casey said...
I've sat on both sides, but not with writing contests so much as private judging, but it still takes so much to focus and leave all your other emotions out of the equations. I'm slowly learning that their judging isn't about ME, but about a moment in time that doesn't define where I'm going. But will hopefully help me grow. :)
- April 5, 2012 at 9:53 AM
- Sarah Forgrave said...
So true, Casey. It's good preparation for when agents and editors give us feedback too, isn't it? :)
- April 6, 2012 at 1:44 PM


text:
Dan Webster on Energy & Oil | |
Proponent's Argument for voting Yes:
[Rep. Young, R-AK]: The Americans suffering from $4 a gallon gas today must feel like they're experiencing a sense of deja vu. In 2008, when gasoline prices reached a record high of $4.11 per gallon, the public outcry forced Congress to act. That fall, Congress lifted the offshore drilling ban that had been in place for decades. Three years later, most Americans would likely be shocked to learn that no energy development
has happened in these new areas.
Opponent's Argument for voting No:
[Rep. Markey, D-MA]. In the first 3 months of this year, Exxon-Mobil made $10 billion off of the American consumer; Shell made $8 billion; BP made $7 billion. So what are these companies asking for? These companies are now asking that we open up the beaches of California, Florida & New England to drill for oil. People who live near those beaches don't want oil coming in the way it did in the Gulf of Mexico. Right now, those oil companies are centered down in the Gulf of Mexico. People are concerned because those companies have blocked any new safety reforms that would protect against another catastrophic spill. We have to oppose this bill because, first of all, they already have 60 million acres of American land that they haven't drilled on yet, which has about 11 billion barrels of oil underneath it and an equivalent amount of natural gas. This bill is just a giveaway to Exxon-Mobil and Shell.
Opponent's Argument for voting No:
[Rep. Waxman, D-CA]: This bill is a direct assault on the Clean Air Act. Its premise is that climate change is a hoax and carbon pollution does not endanger health and welfare. But climate change is real. It is caused by pollution, and it is a serious threat to our health and welfare. We need to confront these realities. American families count on the EPA to keep our air and water clean. But this bill has politicians overruling the experts at EPA, and it exempts our biggest polluters from regulation. If this bill is enacted, the EPA's ability to control dangerous carbon pollution will be gutted.
No Climate Tax Pledge: "I pledge to the taxpayers of my state, and to the American people, that I will oppose any legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue."
Sponsoring organizations: Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEU); National Taxpayers Union (NTU); Institute for Liberty Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen-leaders committed to advancing every individual's right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and intrusiveness of government is the best way to promote individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans.


text:
"Aaron," yelled my boss. This was not unusual. Her dark, wood-paneled, windowless office was about 20 feet down the hall from my little nook that looked out onto San Vicente Blvd.
"Yes, Susan?" I called back.
"Come here, please." Also, not unusual. But once I got there, pad in hand: "Get your dad on the phone for me."
"Excuse me?" fumbled out of my mouth.
"I want you to get your dad on the phone for me now," she answered.
"Uhm … why?" Granted, I was only 23 years old, and I had never held a job as someone's assistant before, but I was still pretty sure such a request was at least a little unorthodox.
"I want to tell him something. Just get him for me," she said before taking a sip from the warm Diet Coke that had likely been sitting next to the large bottle of Advil for several hours.
I turned and walked back to my desk, passing Susan's other assistant who asked, "What did she want?"
As I sat and dialed, I uttered in disbelief, "She wants to talk to my dad."
Unfortunately, my father answered the phone, I explained to him that my boss wanted to speak with him for reasons unknown, and then I let Susan know he was on the line.
"Mr. Dobbs?" (Susan was nothing if not mannered with strangers.)
"Yes. Call me Stephen," I heard my father say as I gripped the phone tightly, covering the mouthpiece while I listened.
"Well, Stephen," she said, "I'm Susan Smith, and you know, your son Aaron has worked for me for the past year, and I just want you to know that I think he's extraordinary. He's so smart, and I just know he's going to be very important in this industry one day."
Susan Smith passed away on Saturday. As anyone who worked for her can tell you, she was not always the easiest person to answer to, but as dozens of Tweets and comments on this Deadline story show, lots of people admire and love her.
I had a complicated relationship with her precisely because of such conflicting feelings. I learned a lot from her and other times she drove me nuts. She went through assistants rapidly. During my 26-plus months as her senior assistant, I had nine junior assistants come and go. Their tenures spanned from six months to six hours, figures that are neither hyperbole nor poetic license. (The first person to work in Susan's office with me, was Julie Plec, who left for and continued to go on to much bigger and better things, becoming a very successful television writer and showrunner.)
Susan believed in and supported me probably more than any other person in my career, and certainly more than any other boss. Her faith in me, even when unhappy with something I may have done (key word: "may") always seemed to remain unblemished and unconditional. She knew I never had the desire to be an agent, and she repeatedly wrote glowing recommendations for me as I searched for new jobs in production or development.


text:
Today was a pretty good day. At the end of work I was looking forward to getting a workout in when I got home. I had a huge craving for peanut butter and I knew I didn't have any at home so I stopped at Whole Foods on the way to the train. When I walked through the produce section one of the workers was re-stocking the strawberries. I hesitated, but kept walking to the peanut butter isle where I saw an old man sampling the almond butter right out of the serve yourself nut grinders. Great. I waited patiently for him to move so I could get what I needed. I was thinking of almond butter for a change but it was too expensive so I just grabbed my old faithful peanut butter. I started walking towards the registers but those strawberries called me back. They had local strawberries, but I wasn't paying attention and grabbed the ones from California. Oh well, they were cheaper anyway. I walked over to the T and broke into the berries right away. (I didn't rinse them, I know... but I'm still alive!) They were sooooo good. When I got home I made the snack you see above. My intentions were to eat that quick snack and head over to the gym. But somewhere in there I remembered that I needed to go to CVS for a prescription refill and also to the grocery store and I was also starting to fall asleep on the couch. I could list a million excuses as to why I just couldn't go to the gym tonight, but I won't. I just didn't go. Oh well.
I was craving peanut butter because I've been reading some new blogs and it seems like they eat lots of nut butters all the time! These ladies are so inspirational and they are really helping me to stay focused while I try to get back on track. Kath, Tina, Jenna, Meghann, Heather, and Caitlin are the lovely gals that are blogging all about their healthy ways and it's really awesome. I love each of their blogs, check them out!