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This chapter describes issues associated with Oracle Service Bus. It includes the following topics:
Section 24.1, "What's New in Oracle Service Bus 18.104.22.168.0"
This section describes new features and enhancements in Oracle Service Bus 11g Release 1 Patch Set 2 (184.108.40.206.0).
Oracle Service Bus installation is now similar to other Oracle SOA products. The installer is the Oracle Unified Installer, and Oracle Service Bus installation occurs separately, after you install Oracle WebLogic Server 10.3.3 with a different installer.
After installation in a production environment, you create database schemas using the Repository Creation Utility (RCU).
In this release you can install Oracle Service Bus and Oracle SOA Suite in the same Middleware Home (MW_HOME), and Oracle Service Bus and Oracle SOA Suite can coexist in the same domain.
For more information, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle Service Bus.
Oracle Service Bus now supports service result caching for business services with Coherence. Oracle Coherence is an in-memory data grid solution that lets organizations predictably scale mission-critical applications by providing fast access to frequently used data.
Service result caching allows caching the response from a business service. This can dramatically improve performance if the response from the business service is relatively static. Oracle Service Bus uses a single cache for all business services. Only valid/correct results from business services are cached.
For more information, see "Improving Performance by Caching Business Service Results" in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Service Bus.
For information on configuring this new feature, see "Message Handling Configuration Page" for business services.
With Oracle Service Bus, you can configure a proxy service to start and execute its message flow in the context of a JTA global transaction for non-transactional inbound transports (such as HTTP and JMS with a non-XA connection factory). In prior releases, the proxy service message flow executed in the context of a JTA global transaction only when the inbound transport started/propagated a global transaction (such as JMS/XA or SB with the transaction propagated).
With Oracle Service Bus, it is possible to execute both the request and the response pipelines in the context of the same JTA global transaction for non-synchronous inbound endpoints as well.
For information on configuring this feature, see "Message Handling Page" for proxy services in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Service Bus.
The JEJB (inbound) transport allows exposing a proxy service as a stateless session bean (SLSB), along with receiving POJO method arguments directly in the message flow. The POJO arguments can be manipulated using Java Callouts. POJO arguments can be directly sent as arguments to SLSBs invoked by the JEJB outbound transport.
For more information, see "JEJB Transport" in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Developer's Guide for Oracle Service Bus.
In Oracle Service Bus, the JMS transport is enhanced to receive and send Java Objects to and from JMS queues/topics. The support is enabled by configuring a proxy or business service to have the Service Type Messaging:Java.
Oracle Service Bus provides a framework to wrap utility Java code into custom XPath functions, which can be reused across inline XQuery expressions and XQuery Mapper transformations used in message flows and Split-Joins. The custom XPath functions are available in the design tooling (Console and IDE). For more information, see "Creating and Using Custom XPath Functions" in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Developer's Guide for Oracle Service Bus.
Oracle Service Bus provides support for Oracle SOA Suite 11g Release1 Patch Set 2 (22.214.171.124.0) JCA adapter artifacts. New Oracle Service Bus resource types for JCA Bindings and TopLink/EclipseLink mapping XML files are now available, as is support for normalized message properties in the transport headers. Upgrade for Oracle Service Bus 10g Release 3 JCA artifacts is seamless.
Certification for File and BAM adapters has also been added. Automatic upgrade of Oracle Service Bus 10g Release 3 services using JCA adapter artifacts based on Oracle SOA Suite/JDeveloper 10g Release 3 is provided.
For more information, see "JCA Transport" in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Developer's Guide for Oracle Service Bus and "JCA Bindings" in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Service Bus.
Oracle Service Bus provides the SOA-DIRECT transport for use with Oracle SOA Suite 11g and later. The SOA-DIRECT transport provides transaction and security context propagation from Oracle Service Bus to Oracle SOA Suite.
The SOA-DIRECT transport provides native connectivity between Oracle Service Bus and Oracle SOA Suite service components. Oracle SOA Suite provides a "direct binding" framework that lets you expose Oracle SOA Suite service components in a composite application, and the Oracle Service Bus SOA-DIRECT transport interacts with those exposed services through the SOA direct binding framework, letting those service components interact in the service bus layer and leverage the capabilities and features of Oracle Service Bus.
SOA Suite can invoke Oracle Service Bus proxy services with an SB transport binding, including the transaction and security context using the direct binding reference.
For more information, see "Oracle SOA Suite Transport (SOA-DIRECT)" in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Developer's Guide for Oracle Service Bus. The BPEL Process Manager transport (bpel-10g in the user interface) is for messaging with only Oracle SOA Suite 10g Release 3 only and is still available in Oracle Service Bus.
Oracle Service Bus lets you browse and consume SOAP/XML over HTTP services, along with retaining Oracle Service Registry information for the service, directly from Oracle Enterprise Repository. The Oracle Service Registry information is used to synchronize business services in Oracle Service Bus with Oracle Service Registry. Oracle Service Bus also lets you harvest Oracle Service Bus proxy services to Oracle Enterprise Repository and specify the service key for the service. The service key is used by Oracle Enterprise Repository when publishing the service to different Oracle Service Registries, helping preserve service keys across life cycle stages and providing the capability to uniquely identify services across different life cycle stages.
Oracle Service Bus supports using rich set of Oracle Web Services Manager security policies on SOAP-based proxy/business services in addition to legacy BEA WLS 9.2 proprietary security policies. Oracle Web Services Manager authorization policies are not currently supported. For more information, see "Securing Oracle Service Bus with Oracle Web Services Manager" in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Developer's Guide for Oracle Service Bus.
Other product enhancements include:
In Oracle Service Bus, the newly introduced JEJB transport and the existing (XML) EJB Transport support invoking version 3.0 EJBs. In addition, the JEJB transport supports exposing a proxy service as an EJB 3.0 stateless session bean.
Oracle Service Bus lets you discover WSDL-based proxy services using Web Services Inspection Language (WSIL) 1.1. This enables a WSIL browser, like the one provided in Oracle JDeveloper, to discover Oracle Service Bus proxy services and download the artifacts in a standards-compliant manner.
Oracle Service Bus provides better scalability of alerts by logging alerts in a distributed manner. Alert Logging can now be turned on and off on an Alert Destination. Alert Logging console pages are enhanced to scale well to large numbers of alerts.
Split-Join enhancements include:
Transaction Support – Split-Joins can execute within the context of a JTA global transaction.
Wait – Split-Join supports a Wait action to halt execution of a branch for a specified duration.
Oracle Service Bus lets you rename business services created by import from UDDI. Enhanced support has also been added to import and establish automatic subscription to UDDI services containing multiple binding templates.
Other transport enhancements include:
MQ Dynamic and Alias Queues – Oracle Service Bus provides support for response correlation in MQ request/response business services based on MQ Dynamic (response) Queues, which are created dynamically based on a Model Queue. Support has also been added for receiving messages in the inbound MQ transport from MQ Alias Queues.
JMS Failover for Request/Response Pairs – For both CorrelationID and MessageID patterns, Oracle Service Bus provides enhanced high availability by letting you specify a response URI (and service account) for each request URI in request/response JMS business services.
Email Load Balancing – Oracle Service Bus lets you specify multiple endpoint URLs (mailto addresses) for load balancing.
This section describes general issue and workarounds. It includes the following topic:
Section 24.2.1, "Installer Interface Fails to Open on 64-Bit Windows"
Section 24.2.2, "Installer Fails to Open Using the Sun JDK 1.6.0_03"
Section 24.2.4, "Email Business Service Throws an Exception when the Message Body is Empty"
Section 24.2.5, "Copying a Project to Another Configuration Project Does Not Work as Expected"
Section 24.2.6, "Extended Alert History Chart Shows Alert Numbers in Server Locale Format"
Section 24.2.7, "Summary of Split-Joins Page Shows Extra Space in Internet Explorer 8"
Section 24.2.8, "UDDI Import in IDE Fails When Dependency Resource Has No File Extension"
Section 24.2.10, "Oracle Service Bus Console Online Help Search Shows Only English Results"
Included per bug 9449493.
When installing the 64-bit version of Oracle Service Bus on 64-bit Windows, the installer user interface fails to appear after you reference a 32-bit JDK/JRE.
To work around this issue, run the Oracle Service Bus installer using the following command:
setup.exe -jreLoc <path_to_JDK/JRE>
For example:
setup.exe -jreLoc C:\oracle11g\jrockit_160_17_R28.0.0-679
When installing Oracle Service Bus, the installer user interface does not appear when you reference Sun JVM 1.6.0_03 at the beginning of the installation process. Sun JVM 1.6.0_03 is missing the required JAXP 2.1 API JARs.
To work around this issue, use Sun "jdk 160_18" instead.
After installation, when trying to start the IDE (Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse), the IDE fails to launch with a "Plug-in 'plug-in_name' was unable to instantiate class" error.
To address this issue, you must install Oracle WebLogic Server with the default directory name (wlserver_10.3) in the default location under the Oracle Fusion Middleware home directory.
An Email business service with Service Type='Any XML' throws an IOException when it receives a message from a proxy service containing an empty body, such as <soap-env:Body></soap-env:Body>. A patch for this issue will be provided in the future. Please contact Oracle Support.
In Eclipse Project Explorer view, when you use copy an Oracle Service Bus project and paste it to another Oracle Service Bus configuration project, the pasted project appears at the top of the Project Explorer view as a stand-alone node.
To move the copied project to the desired Oracle Service Bus configuration project, drag the copied project to the desired configuration project.
When viewing the Extended Alert History bar chart for SLA or Pipeline alerts in the Oracle Service Bus Console, the number of alerts shown above each bar is in the format of the server locale, not the browser locale. This issue is a jFreeChart limitation.
When viewing the Summary of Split-Joins page in the Oracle Service Bus Console in Internet Explorer 8, extra empty space appears to the right of the page.
To fix this issue, use the Internet Explorer 8 Compatibility View settings. Click the Compatibility View icon in the Internet Explorer 8 toolbar to open the Compatibility View Settings window. Add the current URL to the list of URLs to be viewed in Compatibility View, or select one of the Display options at the bottom of the window, such as "Display all websites in Compatibility View."
In Eclipse, when importing a service from a UDDI repository that has a dependent resource (such as a schema for a WSDL-based service), and the dependent resource does not have a file extension (such as .xsd), the import fails.
To work around this issue, manually add the extension to the dependent resource and modify the parent resource (such as the WSDL) to ensure the dependent resource name contains the extension.
When starting an Oracle WebLogic Server domain with the startWebLogic.cmd/.sh script, the command window abruptly closes when an error is encountered, not allowing you to view the cause of the error.
The recommended fix for this issue is to edit the domain's setDomainEnv.cmd/.sh script so that
Alternatively, you can use a
noExit parameter when running the startWebLogic script. For example:
startWebLogic.cmd noExit.
When performing a search in the Oracle Service Bus Console online help, only English language results are returned, even if you are viewing non-English help content.
This issue will be addressed in future releases of Oracle Service Bus.
This section describes configuration issues and their workarounds. It includes the following topics:
Section 24.3.1, "Logical Delete Using Inbound Database Adapter Shows Twice the Alerts"
Section 24.3.2, "JNDI Provider Does Not Accept IPv6 IP Addresses for Cluster URLs"
Section 24.3.3, "Server Startup and URL Access Failures when Listen Port is IPv6"
Section 24.3.4, "Extending an Oracle Service Bus Domain in a Cluster Using WLST Results in Configuration Errors"
Section 24.3.5, "JDBC Limitation when Using Oracle Service Bus 11g with Oracle Database Express Edition 10g"
Section 24.3.6, "Message Length Limitation when Using a Report Action with SQL Server"
Section 24.3.7, "Oracle BAM Adapter Uses Different Logging Mechanism than Other JCA Adapters"
Section 24.3.8, "No Database Adapter Debug Logging on Business Service Invocation"
Section 24.3.9, "Unable to Find Namespace for Prefix 'tns' Error on WSDL Services"
When using an Oracle Service Bus JCA proxy service with the Oracle JCA Adapter for Database, logical delete pipeline alerts appear twice.
To prevent this behavior from happening, use the following guidelines for logical delete operations:
Do not perform inbound logical delete operations on the primary key column.
Performing logical delete for inbound operations that use the MarkReservedValue column show additional alerts if the reserved value also appears in rows. You should use the reserved value only for distributed polling.
When entering a cluster endpoint URI for an Oracle Service Bus service using an IPv6 hexadecimal format, you receive a validation error. For example:
To work around this issue, use an IPv6 machine hostname instead of the hexadecimal format.
When using an IPv6 format for a server's listen port or for URL access, omitting %4 from the end of the address (to specify IPv4 compatibility) results in server startup failure or URL access failure in certain situations.
To prevent this issue, use the following patterns:
The Linux listen-address is the only scenario that does not require %4 at the end.
Using the Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) to extend an existing domain where Oracle Service Bus is deployed to a cluster results in improper domain configuration.
To avoid this issue, use the Oracle Fusion Middleware Configuration Wizard to extend a domain where Oracle Service Bus is deployed to a cluster.
You can, however, use WLST to create a new Oracle Service Bus domain that is deployed to a cluster. But you should not extend that domain using WLST.
When using Oracle Service Bus 11g with Oracle Database Express Edition 10g, errors occur when you use the ojdbc5.jar or ojdbc6.jar resources. Use the ojdbc14.jar resource.
Included per bug 9556359.
When using a SQL Server database with the Oracle Service Bus reporting provider, you will be unable to store data from a report action when the message associated with the report action is longer than 445 characters. The reporting provider hits a problem when exceeding the maximum length of an index on the table. If you encounter this issue, please contact Oracle Support.
The Oracle BAM Adapter (Business Activity Monitoring) does not use the JCA framework logging interface that the other JCA adapters use. Oracle BAM Adapter log messages go to server.diagnostics.log file instead of server.log file. Changing alsb-transports-debug or alsb-jca-framework-adapter-debug flags in alsbdebug.xml may have no effect on Oracle BAM Adapter logging.
The Oracle JCA Adapter for Database does not generate debug logs when a corresponding JCA business service is invoked in Oracle Service Bus. Oracle will provide a patch for this issue.
You receive an "Unable to find namespace for prefix 'tns'" error for a WSDL-based service when activating a session, generating an effective WSDL, or performing a similar activation task.
The error likely occurs because the WSDL contains a partnerLink paragraph that contains a namespace that was not automatically renamed to match the run-time representation of the WSDL.
Use one of the following options to work around this issue:
Comment out the partnerLink paragraph in the WSDL.
If you want to retain the partnerLink information, add an empty <wsdl:types xmlns:wsdl="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/"/> element after the </plnk:partnerLinkType> closing element.
This section describes documentation errata. It includes the following topics:
Section 24.4.2, "Business Service Endpoint Property for Database Adapter"
Section 24.4.3, "Incorrect Escape Character Format in Format Builder Help"
Section 24.4.4, "Command Line and Script Updates for Export"
When importing or exporting Oracle Service Bus configurations using WLST, Ant, or the command line:
Be sure to include the following in your classpath:
Be sure the resource JAR names in your scripts contain the correct version numbers.
Oracle Service Bus implicitly sets the value of the cacheConnections endpoint property to "true" for business services that connect to the Oracle JCA Adapter for Database. With this property value set to true, outbound connections to the database adapter are cached. If you change the default and set this property to false, a connection open and close occurs for every outbound invocation.
The Format Builder help shows an incorrect escape character when creating a delimiter match rule, which prevents you from saving the MFL. Instead of a single backslash for an escape character ("\"), the escape character should be two backslash characters ("\\"). The accompanying graphic also shows the escape character incorrectly. The documentation should read:
"Specify an escape character that precedes the delimiter character occurring as part of the field data. The escape character value can be obtained via a reference field and by specifying the value in the Esc Char field. For example, if the Esc Char is \\, then the data appears as A\\;B;."
The graphic should also show two backslash characters.
Options have changed for exporting an Oracle Service Bus configuration from the command line or with a script. Use the following information instead of what appears in "Using the Command Line or a Script to Export an Oracle Service Bus Configuration" in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Developer's Guide for Oracle Service Bus at
Refer to the following prerequisites and guidance before you begin.
Be sure OSB_ORACLE_HOME/lib/sb-kernel-api.jar is in your classpath.
Be sure the resource JAR names in your scripts contain the correct version numbers.
Java 1.6 is required.
Oracle Service Bus 10gR3 MP1 or later and Eclipse must be installed.
You may see exception stack traces in the output or the workspace log file if workspace files are read-only.
An exit value of 0 means the export succeeded.
Oracle Service Bus provides a ConfigExport class that you can configure and launch using the following command line arguments. Command line export is for more advanced users who need more flexibility.
Exporting from the command line generates an Oracle Service Bus configuration JAR from the Eclipse workspace.
java -Xms384m -Xmx768m -Dosgi.bundlefile.limit=500 -Dosgi.nl=en_US -Dosb.home=OSB_ORACLE_HOME -Dweblogic.home=WEBLOGIC_HOME -Dharvester.home=${osb.home}/HARVESTER_HOME -Dsun.lang.ClassLoader.allowArraySyntax=true -jar ECLIPSE_HOME/eclipse/plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_launcher_version.jar -data WORKSPACE_DIR -application com.bea.alsb.core.ConfigExport -configProject PROJECT_NAME -configJar config_filename.jar -configSubProjects projects_to_export -includeDependencies true/false
OSB_ORACLE_HOME is the top-level Oracle Service Bus directory in the Oracle Fusion Middleware home.
WEBLOGIC_HOME is the location of the installed Oracle WebLogic Server.
HARVESTER_HOME is the location of Harvester, an Oracle Enterprise Repository tool that lets you harvest enterprise artifacts into Oracle Enterprise Repository from multiple sources, including Oracle Service Bus. An Oracle Service Bus installation includes Harvester.
ECLIPSE_HOME is the location of the installed Eclipse that is linked to the Oracle Service Bus IDE plug-ins.
launcher_version is the version of the Eclipse launcher JAR.
WORKSPACE_DIR is the location that contains Oracle Service Bus artifacts to be exported. For example, c:/oracle/user_projects/workspaces/default. If this location contains an Eclipse workspace, the workspace is used and the configuration jar is exported from the workspace projects. If this location does not contain a workspace, but instead contains only Eclipse Oracle Service Bus projects, the utility imports the projects into a temporary workspace for the configuration JAR export.
PROJECT_NAME is the name of the Oracle Service Bus Configuration project to be exported. For example, "OSB Configuration." If you do not specify this argument, the first Oracle Service Bus Configuration Project found in the workspace is exported.
config_filename.jar is the name and location of the Oracle Service Bus Configuration JAR to be exported. For example, c:/sbconfig.jar.
configSubProjects projects_to_export is one or more specific projects within a configuration to export. If you do not specify configSubProjects, all projects in the configuration are exported.
includeDependencies true/false determines whether configuration-level dependencies such as JNDI Providers and Proxy Servers are included in the export.
Following is an example of exporting an Oracle Service Bus Configuration from the command line.
Note:Following is a sample command line operation. If you use this sample, be sure to check paths and file names against your current installation for accuracy.
java -Xms384m -Xmx768m -Dosgi.bundlefile.limit=500 -Dosgi.nl=en_US -Dosb.home=D:/oracle/Oracle_OSB1 -Dweblogic.home=D:/oracle/wlserver_10.3 -Dharvester.home=${osb.home}/harvester -Dsun.lang.ClassLoader.allowArraySyntax=true -jar D:/oracle/oepe_11gR1PS1/eclipse/plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.0.201.R35x_v20090715.jar -data D:/oracle/user_projects/myWorkspace -application com.bea.alsb.core.ConfigExport -configProject config -configJar sbconfig.jar -configSubProjects OSB Project 1,OSB Project 2 -includeDependencies true
You can export an Oracle Service Bus configuration using an Apache Ant buildfile. Exporting with Ant generates an Oracle Service Bus configuration JAR from the Eclipse workspace.
Following is a sample Ant buildfile with an accompanying properties file.
Note:Following is a sample script. If you use this sample script, be sure to check paths and file names against your current installation for accuracy.
Ant Buildfile Example
<project name="ConfigExport"> <property file="./build.properties"/> <property name="eclipse.home" value="${oracle.home}/oepe_11gR1PS2"/> <property name="weblogic.home" value= "${oracle.home}/wlserver_10.3"/> <property name="metadata.dir" value="${workspace.dir}/.metadata"/> <target name="export"> <available file="${metadata.dir}" type="dir" property="metadata.dir.exists"/> <java dir="${eclipse.home}" jar="${eclipse.home}/plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.0.201.R35x_v20090715.jar" fork="true" failonerror="true" maxmemory="768m"> <arg line="-data ${workspace.dir}"/> <arg line="-application com.bea.alsb.core.ConfigExport"/> <arg line="-configProject ${config.project}"/> <arg line="-configJar ${config.jar}"/> <arg line="-configSubProjects ${config.subprojects}"/> <arg line="-includeDependencies ${config.includeDependencies}"/> <sysproperty key="weblogic.home" value="${weblogic.home}"/> <sysproperty key="osb.home" value="${osb.home}"/> <sysproperty key="osgi.bundlefile.limit" value="500"/> <sysproperty key="harvester.home" value="${osb.home}/harvester"/> <sysproperty key="osgi.nl" value="en_US"/> <sysproperty key="sun.lang.ClassLoader.allowArraySyntax" value="true"/> </java> <antcall target="deleteMetadata"/> </target> <target name="deleteMetadata" unless="metadata.dir.exists"> <delete failonerror="false" includeemptydirs="true" dir="${metadata.dir}"/> </target> </project>
build.properties Example
oracle.home=c:/oracle workspace.dir=c:/oracle/user_projects/workspaces/default config.project="OSB Configuration" config.jar=c:/sbconfig.jar config.subprojects="OSB Project 1,OSB Project 2" config.includeDependencies=true
Running "ant export" (after you run the setDomainEnv script) results in exporting the project "OSB Configuration" from the default workspace to c:\sbconfig.jar.


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Adrian Peterson: Vikings star no fan of gay marriage
With Chris Kluwe's departure to Oakland, it seems like eons since any of the Minnesota Vikings have weighed in with their views on the hot button issue of gay marriage.
Thankfully, Adrian Peterson has filled the void.
The NFL MVP said "I'm not with that" when the conversation turned to same-sex marriage during a Thursday interview on Sirius/XM NFL satellite radio.
The star running back was asked by hosts Bruce Murray and Amani Toomer whether he thought the Vikings cut their longtime punter because of his vocal support of gay marriage. And as he so often does with tacklers, he took the issue head on.
"To each his own. I'm not with it," Peterson said. "But I have relatives that, you know, are gay. I'm not biased towards them. I still treat them the same. I love them. But again, I'm not with that. That's not something that I believe in. But to each his own."
Peterson said he saw no ulterior motives in the release of Kluwe.
"I'm sure the Vikings' organization did not release him based on that," Peterson said. "They know Kluwe. They've been knowing him for a long time. They know he's outspoken.
The punter occasionally known as Chris Warcraft is now an Oakland Raider, and Peterson will miss him.
"It hurt me to see him leave. He was a good friend of mine and a really cool guy, man," Peterson said. "Probably one of the smartest guys I've ever been around, man. ... Different."
Here are some other highlights from the All Day interview:
-- Peterson apparently has tired of the 2,500-yard talk and is looking for more. "I'm just setting that bar right there for now and then, you know, here in the future I can go ahead and put up thirty-five (hundred). How about that?"
-- Peterson said "I don't know" when asked what Christian Ponder has to do for the Vikings to take the next step this season. "I don't feel right to sit here and point out (Ponder's) flaws when there are things I need to improve on, as well." (Though Peterson's self-improvement list likely is significantly shorter than Ponder's).
-- The former Oklahoma Sooner said "his heart was thumping" when he heard about the devastating tornado that hit suburban Oklahoma City on Monday, and he's planning to make a contribution to Moore victims through his All Day Foundation.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Home gas appliances need to be regularly checked and maintained in accordance with manufacturers specifications. This is important to maintain proper function and safety.
Energy Safe Victoria (ESV) and the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) recommend that all gas water heaters, space heaters and central heaters be serviced at least every two years by a registered or licensed gasfitter to ensure they are working properly and to keep your family safe.
Having your gas appliance inspected and cleaned periodically by an authorised service technician will benefit performance, help ensure safe operation, minimise any potential down time and extend the life of your appliance. It is important that your gas appliances are only service by qualified technicians. In most cases, this means a licensed gas fitter or a factory technician. Never attempt to fix a gas appliance yourself or allow an unqualified person to attempt to fix it for you.
The gasfitter who services your appliance must use a CO analyser to test for carbon monoxide spillage.
Gas appliances need regular servicing as:
Burners in water heaters or space heaters can become blocked with dust or lint and then soot up the heat exchanger and flue passageways
Air filters, air ways and fans can become blocked by lint and dust, leading to overheating and burner problems
Safety controls can wear out and fail
Always remember:


text:
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Soporte y Diseño web para AtocTli: Carlos Xicoténcatl


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Freddie CEO Charles Haldeman, left, FHFA acting director Edward DeMarco, center, and Fannie CEO Michael Williams testified before Congress in December.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Federal regulators have taken a chainsaw to executive compensation at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Going forward, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said Friday, the salaries for CEOs at the troubled housing finance giants will be capped at $500,000.
In addition, the compensation of about 70 other executives could be cut based on rigorous new performance standards.
Big executive paychecks at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have inspired outrage from the public, since the companies lost billions of dollars in the housing collapse and had to be bailed out by U.S. taxpayers. In fact, Fannie and Freddie were the biggest recipients of federal bailouts.
Critics blame the companies for contributing to the housing crisis.
The current CEOs, Charles Haldeman Jr. of Freddie Mac (FMCC, Fortune 500) and Michael Williams of Fannie Mae (FNMA, Fortune 500), are both set to leave their jobs soon, according to FHFA. Each was slated to receive $5.4 million this year. The agency did not say how much they would actually be paid.
The new rules will put a $500,000 cap only on the pay of the companies' CEOs. In fact, their pay will be eclipsed by some of their top execs.
According to FHFA, the chief financial officer at Freddie Mac is scheduled to make $3.15 million this year; several other top executives will each make more than $1.75 million.
And at Fannie, the chief financial officer stands to make $2.88 million, followed by two other executives making more than $2.5 million.
The FHFA said it is trying to ensure that the CEOs are supported by a cabinet of high-quality executives.
All of this pay is subject to possible reductions based on missed performance thresholds, in accordance with the FHFA's new "scorecard" of executive accountability announced Friday. This scorecard measures executives against myriad factors, including the risk of their investments and their ability to maintain foreclosure prevention.
The federal government took Fannie Mac and Freddie Mac under conservatorship in September 2008. Fannie and Freddie were given cash infusions to cover losses on mortgages they owned and guaranteed. By the end of 2011, taxpayer bailouts to the companies reached $183 billion.
In January, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the former CEOs, Daniel Mudd of Fannie Mae and Richard Syron of Freddie Mac, and four other executives with securities fraud for allegedly misrepresenting their holdings of high-risk mortgage loans.
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A SURVIVOR of breast cancer has spoken of how she used yoga to help her recover from a double mastectomy.
Faringdon resident Loueze Miller, 52, turned to yoga to deal with the aftermath of her treatment in 2007.
The mother-of-one has set up a business in South Street, Osney Island, Oxford. and is teaching classes to people who have been through similar health battles.
Mrs Miller, who has practised yoga for years, was living in Oxford in 2007 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
In the same year, she underwent a double mastectomy in the Churchill Hospital's Jane Ashley Women's Centre.
She said: "It was a major operation and there were huge complications, which meant my recovery was particularly difficult."
"A procedure which should have taken four hours instead took 12. I was in intensive care for a short period afterwards.
"But through all that pain I remember being on the ward, surrounded by all these other women who were going through the same things, and I could see the distress and it was so sad. I kept wishing that I could help them, because of the kind of serenity I felt, because of the breathing work I was using, which took a lot of the fear away from the whole experience."
Even while going down to the operating theatre, she added, the meditation techniques had helped.
But it was in recovery that it was most important.
Mrs Miller said: "When I came round I obviously felt completely different, like an elephant was sat on my chest, and I had to learn to pace myself and take a step back.
"I also started doing little movements and techniques to aid my recovery so I wasn't just lying there for six days.
"Physically, when you have your breasts removed as a female that is huge.
"You keep wondering if you will ever feel like a woman again and there are lots of different things going on in your mind.
"I was able to detach myself.
"Yoga helped me realise that it doesn't matter what issue or disability you have, that is not you and you can get through it.
"But it's not easy. You have to keep practising and teach yourself."
She has taught since January last year in her new studio owned by her friend Lisa Park, an osteopath.
Now she is teaching yoga as a way of dealing with difficult experiences in life such as cancer, brain injuries, or age-related illnesses.
The classes are open to all.
She said: "Having gone through difficult things myself, I feel like I can empathise with a lot of people.
"That helps in situations where people may feel insecure about not being able to do certain movements."
- For more information, call 07773 277650 or visit innersenseyoga.co.uk


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GOMA, CONGO — "Seeing them here without parents, seeing them here with tattered clothes, and running barefoot on lava," said Art Lucier. "I hear the stories, and if those were my children I don't know what I would do."
Art Lucier is a man whose troubled past took him on a quest for redemption into Africa's heart of darkness.
Three years ago he arrived in eastern Congo -- a country about a quarter of the size of the United States -- where the 10-year ethnic war for political power and mineral wealth continues today.
Art Lucier: I had never been anywhere before. So when I came here it shocked me actually.
It shocked him into finding himself, by discovering that a 38-year-old man of lowly ambitions could make such a soaring difference in the lives of the most vulnerable.
Art Lucier: This area is known for children to go missing. There are some children that have been used as concubines by the rebel soldiers. Some of the boys are actually taught and trained to kill.
Art would discover some of the most disturbing stories of children and war in the city of Goma, where lava from a recent volcanic eruption razed much of the city.
Art Lucier: There's no water, there's no trees, there's no greenery around, there's no room for goats or to plant anything.
And yet, in the middle of this shanty town, five wooden shacks sprang up as a haven for some 150 orphans of Congo's war.
Art Lucier: If this place wasn't here they would die, simple. It's straight up, they would die.
Art showed us the meager facilities the children call home.
Art Lucier: There's eight kids in this room and but we don't have enough beds so we have people sleeping just on the cement slab.
But even in this place of refuge the children have to hike more than six miles for water and cannot even count on a daily meal.
Art Lucier: So they've been eating once a day, sometimes once every two days. Sometimes, not at all. Some of our kids here have died actually as of late, malnutrition, so it is about survival.
Among the survivors is 12-year-old Sam, who, as a 7-month-old baby, was found in the arms of his murdered mother.
"They killed my mother and my father," he says, "and they slashed me with a machete and cut off my hand."
Chantal was just 6 years old when she was taken by soldiers. She spent nine years as their sex slave and became pregnant.
Art Lucier: When you become pregnant, they will kill your baby as soon as you start to show. She knew she was pregnant, she was starting to show. She decided she would rather die than have her baby die. So she made a run for it. So we have a baby with a baby inside the orphanage.
Most children here carry stories of tragedy that are hard to comprehend.
Art is trying to help all of them before the orphanage settles the lucky ones into families.
But he might never have come to Congo, if not for some bad history of his own.
He grew up in Terrace, a poor logging town in western Canada, in a family troubled with alcohol. At 16, Art dropped out of school for the streets, and two years later was dealing cocaine.
He believes he drew his 17-year-old girlfriend Crystal into drugs, even though they had a daughter. Then their life together was cut short as Crystal got into a drug deal that turned bad.
Art Lucier: She was murdered. Her body dumped outside the local airport in Terrace. They didn't find out who the killer was for five months. I was one of the suspects.
Though Art had nothing to do with the drug deal, he wrapped himself in guilt -- and worse.
He gave up his daughter for adoption, perhaps never to see her again, and thought about ending it all.
Art Lucier: I was about to check out of life if that's all life had to offer.
But then he says he reached out.
Art Lucier: Instead of committing suicide, I decided to throw in a prayer, just to see if there was a God and he answered me, I feel.
Art gave up drugs, got healthy and rebuilt his life, helped by his new Christian faith.
He got married, had twin boys, and began working with troubled teens.
And yet, for years, he felt unfulfilled.
Then a young evangelist asked for volunteers to build a dormitory at a new orphanage in Africa.
Art, a self-taught carpenter, jumped at the chance to help, and that's how he ended up in Congo.
After the dormitory project was completed, Art didn't stop there. Hearing the children's stories -- and seeing conditions at the old orphanage -- he was driven to complete the new one.
Art Lucier: It just spurs me on to do something for them. It's much easier to turn our back on what we -- "Oh I don't know, don't tell me, I don't want to be held accountable." Now I'm held accountable for what I've heard. I know there's need and suffering here. And I am being accountable.
And so he went back to Congo and, with a group of Christian friends backed by a non-religious charity , bought more land, cleared the jungle, and continued building a second dormitory, a protective wall to keep out militants, and the beginnings of a school for children like Chantal and Sam.
Ann Curry (with Sam): You smile when you hear "Art Lucier." Why do you smile when you hear that name? Is he a good man?
Sam (through translator): He's a very good man.
The new orphanage has been a stop-start project for three years now as the cash flows in and then dries up.
Art Lucier: I wasn't really sure what I was getting into, not really sure what I'm doing now, but we're just doing what we can.
And little by little, rock by rock, it's going up.
"Art has made a huge difference here," says the orphanage director, called Mama Jane."God bless Art for what he's done."
Art Lucier: I don't know if I'm making a difference, I'd like to think I am. Maybe one day they'll move on to this property and have a bit better of a life.
If Art doesn't know whether he has changed any lives, he believes his mission in Congo has already changed his own.
Art Lucier: I love to talk about what God has done for me. He's changed my heart. Maybe I've had to come halfway around the world to really find that out, but I'm finding that out.
Finding out that his faith is giving hope to those who have so little.
Art Lucier: We see a desert out there and we're throwing a drop of water at it, hoping that maybe it turns a desert into a place of plenty for the children.
Just a few years ago Art Lucier's daughter suddenly contacted him. She's now an important part of his life.
© 2013 NBCNews.com Reprints


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"Hesse is true to her narrator. Since it would strain belief for Nick to be present at every interesting moment of the tale, he often hears about shore expeditions from older members of the crew, and learns the news retailed in the captain's voice mostly from the captain's teen-age servant, John Charlton. Hesse's Nick has intelligence, curiosity, an observant eye and a great, affectionate passion for animals and birds. He records with tireless interest Banks's collecting of plants and creatures unknown to Europeans; we never lose sight of the 18th-century fervor for cataloging the natural world."Hesse, Karen is the author of 'Stowaway', published 2002 under ISBN 9780689839894 and ISBN 0689839898.[read more]
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Author: Daniel Clowes
Format: Paperback
Pages: 100
Language: English
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release Date: April 17, 2002
The dramatic short stories included in Caricature have drawn comparisons to Nabokov for their complex naturalism and sense of humor. Anchored by the title story, considered the first apotheosis of Clowes' seminal Eightball underground comic book series, Caricature also includes eight other stories, including "Green Eyeliner," a six-page full-color short story originally published in Esquire as the first work of comics to be featured in the magazine's fiction issue (and commissioned by then-editor Dave Eggers). Also included are: a rare fully-painted short, "MCMLXVI," the full-color "Gold Mommy," "Glue Destiny," "Gynecology," "Immortal, Invisible," "Blue Italian Shit," "Like a Weed, Joe," "Black Satin," an all-new cover, and more.


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-- While Mainers are leaning towards Obama, the Pine Tree State is moderate and fiercely independent; not necessarily a sure bet for the candidate.
Maine has voted Democratic in the last four election with John Kerry winning by nine percent over George Bush. But the state- who's motto is- "I lead," has always been more open to voting for independent and third party candidates.
Maine has had two independent governors recently. Angus King, who served from 1995 to 2003 and James B. Longley who served from 1975 to 1972. And in 2002 the Green Party candidate won nine percent of the vote for the gubernatorial election, one of the party's highest turnout for a statewide office.
In the Democratic primary Obama beat Clinton 59 to 40 percent and McCain did not do well against the former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney who's fellow New Englanders turned out for him 52 percent over McCain's 22 percent.
Besides Nebraska, Maine is the only other state that divides their electoral votes, rather than letting the winner take all. However, the votes have never actually been split.


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***1/2 (out of four)
"I [bleeped] up my life because of the way you sing."
Jesse (Ethan Hawke) hurls that back-handed gem at Celine (Julie Delpy) during an epic fight in "Before Midnight," director/co-writer Richard Linklater's follow-up to 1995's "Before Sunrise" and 2004's "Before Sunset." What began as a hopeful-if-bittersweet toast to romantic opportunity and transitioned to adult disappointments and difficult choices with more at stake has become a profoundly authentic depiction of a struggling, textured long-term relationship.
Nearly two decades removed from their joyous night in Vienna, and about a decade into their lives as a couple, Jesse, his beard now specked with gray, and Celine, her patience thinner and her waistline wider, only occasionally resemble the young, passionate lovebirds of "Before Sunrise." How could they? Now in their early 40s and raising twin daughters, they live in Paris, where Jesse has only extremely rare opportunities to see his teenage son, Hank (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick), in Chicago.
"Before Midnight" takes place at the tail end of a Grecian vacation, after Hank departs from a summer with his dad and before Jesse, Celine and their girls return home. Now Jesse longs to spend more time with Hank; Celine refuses to move. In electric, often-sad conversations, the two descend into frustrations and resentments while ping-ponging in and out of calm. These two have history and understanding and deep dissatisfaction. Their discussions have the rhythm of real life, as likely to generate nods of recognition from couples in the audience as start a fight between them on the way home.
I don't know if "Before Midnight" is the end of our time with Jesse and Celine. Linklater, Delpy and Hawke are running out of times to reference in their titles. ("Before Starbucks Opens"?) At times in "Midnight" they touch on territory similar to "This is 40" without expanding on it. Doubts about the validity of modern monogamy don't really receive a counter-point. Yet the film also weeps for technology's impact on the dream of love—it connects lovers spread miles apart but means the old-fashioned connection between Jesse and Celine may never happen again in the Facebook age. The articulate movie is a wonder to behold, through conversations and arguments couples, and people in general, have had before and will have again.
"Before Midnight" confronts fundamental gender gaps and asks how we should live, with whom and why. Whether the film's suggestion—that to accept love in the long run is to destroy the fantasy of the new, as long as that can be revived periodically—represents a glass half-full or half-empty scenario will depend on the viewers, and who's sitting next to them.
Watch Matt on "You & Me This Morning," Friday at 6:55 a.m. on WCIU, the U
Want more? Discuss this article and others on RedEye's Facebook page.


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If you are on a budget or just want to browse deals, our office supplies savings are sure to please your wallet. You'll appreciate that Sam's Club has new items added weekly. No matter the type of office supplies you need, you are sure to find the right items at Sam's Club.


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Armed Security Officer - SUSA
Posted: Oct 18, 2019
- Responds to unusual or emergency situations at client's site using the appropriate escalation of force level up to and including armed response by following established protocol.
- Maintains proficiency in the use of all assigned protective equipment, restraint devices and weapons.
- Controls access to client site or facility through the admittance process; precludes unauthorized access to facilities, and the conversion, theft or intentional destruction of physical assets.
- Observes and reports activities and incidents, providing for the security and safety of client property and personnel.
- Makes periodic tours to check for irregularities and to inspect protection devices and fire control equipment.
- Preserves order and acts to enforce regulations and directives for the site pertaining to personnel, visitors, and premises.
- Monitors entrances and exits; acts to prevent unapproved or unlawful entry; controls entrances, the movement of people and vehicles, and parking.
- Patrols assigned site on foot or in vehicle; checks for unsafe conditions, hazards, unlocked doors, security violations.
- Observes and reports incidents or suspicious activity to client representatives or company management.
- Responds to incidents of fire, medical emergency, bomb threat, flooding, water discharge, elevator emergency, hazardous materials, inclement weather, and other incidents.
- Prepares logs and reports as required.
- With or without reasonable accommodation, the physical and mental requirements of this job may include the following: seeing, hearing, speaking, and writing clearly. Occasional reaching with hands and arms, stooping, kneeling, crouching and crawling. Frequent sitting, standing and walking, which may be required for long periods of time, and may involve climbing stairs and walking up inclines and on uneven terrain. Additional physical requirements may include, frequent lifting and/or moving up to 10 pounds and occasional lifting and/or moving up to 25 pounds.
- Must be able to meet and continue to meet any applicable state, county and municipal licensing and permit requirements for Security Officers and armed security work and specific protective device and weapons qualifications.
- Works in environments and under conditions that require carrying authorized weapons and ammunition, the use of protective gear and devices, and awareness of personal safety and safety of others.
- Required to utilize rapid and effective judgment in responding to unusual or emergency situations using appropriate escalation of force level.
- Experience in physical security, military service, law enforcement or a related field, sufficient to meet the minimum requirements for state and local licensing and/or site standards as established by the company.
Securitas Security Services USA, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer


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NUSOJ Welcomes Somali Prime Minister's Pledge for Justice to the Somali Journalists
MOGADISHU, Somalia, February 18, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) welcomes the Somali Prime Minister's pledge for justice both the slain journalists and the jailed journalist during meeting with the Somali Journalists and the media representatives on Saturday 16 February, 2013 held at the prime Minister's office at Villa Somalia.
Journalists' leaders and media representatives met with the Somali Prime Minister, Abdi farah Shirdoon at his office at Villa Somalia in a roundtable meeting. The minister of Information, Posts and Telecommunication, Abdullahi Elmoge Hersi and his deputy, Abdishakur Mire were also present at the meeting.
The Secretary General of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), Mohamed Ibrahim who spoke on behalf of the Somali Journalists at large raised the concerns of the Somali Journalists including getting justice for the slain colleague, the working conditions of the Somali journalists and getting fair trail for Abdilaziz Abdinur who was sentenced to one year in prison.
Somali prime minister, Abdi Farah Shirdon, responded to the concerns raised by the Union's Secretary General and pledged justice for the slain journalists and the jailed journalist, Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim.
"I respect the important work you do in Somalia in what are often extremely difficult circumstances and I understand your concern," the Prime Minister said. "One journalist killed is one journalist too many. We don't want any to be killed."
The Prime Minister said the government would provide a reward of $50,000 for information leading to the arrest of any person involved in the murders of the slain journalists.
Regarding the case of Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim, the prime minister said that, "after listening to your concerns, I will personally stand for making sure journalist Abdilasis gets a fair trail in the appeals court."
The appeals court set 20 February, 2013 for the trail hearing of the appeal of Abdilasis against the one year prison term.
The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) welcomes the prime minister's pledge for justice to the slain Somali journalists and his personal commitment for justice for the trail of Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim.
"We welcome the prime minister, Abdi Farah Shirdoon's assurances for justice and respect for the freedom of the press and the freedom of expression." Mohamed Ibrahim, Secretary General of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) said, "We urge the trail of the jailed journalist be conducted without political interference."


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1.) What is this thread about?
1a.) This thread contains Achilles Fang's translation of certain chapters of Sima Guang's extensive Zizhi Tongjian. Achilles Fang focused on translating the chapters of Sima Guang's work that dealt with years AD 220-AD 265. This roughly is the period of the Three Kingdoms era beginning with Cao Cao's death and ending with the Fall of Shu-Han and then the Fall of Wei. It does not deal with the civil wars of the Late-Han which led to the establishment of the Three Kingdoms. This can be found in Dr. Rafe de Crespigny's excellent translation To Establish Peace. It does not deal with the final wars between Jin and Wu either.
I do not take credit for anything written in this thread as it is all the intellectual work of Achilles Fang and Sima Guang.
2.) What's the point of having this thread?
2a.) Achilles Fang's Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms is not the rarest book in the world, but it is pretty hard to find outside of university libraries. It's expensive and saw limited publishing.
3.) Credits: First and foremost Achilles Fang. This is his translation and his notes.
English translations of ranks are pulled from various sources such as Dr. Rafe de Crespigny's A Biographical Dictionary of the Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD). They may not be perfect. Achilles Fang gives the Wade-Giles of ranks but doesn't usually translate them unless they are quite common (see common terms section for details).
The following people helped out with typing up chapters=Gabriel/Liang Shuo (originator of this project), silver.nick, plunged, Zhang Liao17 (original contributor for Section 2 of Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms), Jordan.
There were other people who probably helped out in various ways. For example, credit to Kongde: Edited and reformated the text so that notes follow specific points. Helped out with various sources, links and information gathering in several sections.
4.) What's up with some of the names?
4a.) The common method for Romanizing Chinese nowadays is Pinyin. Prior to Pinyin, Chinese was Romanized with Wade-Giles and thus certain names looked a lot differently. For example, Cao Cao is Pinyin, but in Wade-Giles his name is rendered as Ts'ao Ts'ao (which is also closer to how it is pronounced either way).
I don't like Wade-Giles, but I'm not going to have enough time to change the Wade-Giles to Pinyin yet. I'll deal with that when I have more time. Eventually this note will become irrelevant once I get the names changed to Pinyin.
5.) Can I post in this thread?
5a.) No. Please post in the other Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms threads. This thread is purely for the text and notes.
common terms:
zi=style name
SGZ=Sanguozhi written by Chen Shou
ZZTJ: The Zizhi Tongjian, which is the subject of these notes and translation
Chen Shou: Author of the SGZ.
Pei Songzhi: Another great historian and the most famous commentator on the Sanguozhi. His comments added a large amount of content to Chen Shou's work.
Sun Sheng: Another significant commentator
Huayang Guozhi: Records of the States (Land?) South of Mt. Hua. This was written by Chang Qu who was contemporary with the Cheng-Han dynasty of the Ba-Cong and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It describes Sichuan in great detail and will thus come up a lot when the state of
Shu-Han is mentioned.
Jiangbiao zhuan: Written by Yu Pu, this is largely relevant to the South of China.
Wei lue: A common source for events dealing with the Kingdom of Wei.
Jin Shu: Book of Jin. Another important history.
Hou Han Shu: Book of Later Han. Occasionally relevant.
Sima Guang: The person who compiled the Zizhi Tongjian, with help from assistants.
Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms: Part of the Zizhi Tongjian, corresponding to the years 220-265. By 265 the kingdoms of Shu and Wei were gone.
Achilles Fang: The translator of Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms.
chengxiang: Prime Minister or the equivalent. Translated by Achilles Fang as Premier. Premier/Chancellor/Prime Minister are all theoretically reasonable translations.
jiangjun: General or the Equivalent
da jiangjun: Extremely high military rank
mu: Governor
taishou: Either Prefect or Grand Administrator. Achilles Fang prefers Prefect. Dr. Rafe de Crespigny prefers Grand Administrator, and the title "Grand Administrator" has come into vogue of late.
cishi: Typically translated as "Inspector."
Style/Format Notes:
Interpolations will be bolded, italicized and placed in dark blue like this. This will mostly be clarifications on names or titles. Interpolations in Achilles Fang's notes will only be bolded and italicized..
Achilles Fang's notes will eventually be recolored red, like this.
Notes about Notes (haha) by Achilles Fang: "These notes are chiefly concerned with indicating the source or sources from which the compilers of the Zizhi Tongjian copied or assembled each passage, together with the omissions, adaptations, and occasional comments which the editor-in-chief Sima Guang made in further condensing and epitomizing the work of his assistants.
Numbers correspond to the section of the translated text. Additional textual or explanatory notes on specific terms or passages within such a section follow the general note for that section [by a decimal point], and are designated by the section number and a sub-number [the aforementioned decimal point]. Thus Note 17.2 refers to the passage superscribed in Section 17 of the Text, [and note 2 of that particular section].
In some cases a passage from the Sanguozhi or some other source, differing hardly at all from the related passage in the Zizhi Tongjian, appears in the notes in a translation worded somewhat differently from the English of the foregoing pages. The translation of the main text has been revised in the interests of clarity and smoothness; yet additional light may sometimes be shed on the Chinese text by retaining, in the notes, either a more literal or a more amplified version, or one following more closely the Chinese word order. The notes relative to each year immediately follow the text for that year."
Notes about these Notes from Jordan: I am going to reduce a lot of these notes. When Achilles Fang mentions reference materials or specific sections/chapters of the Sanguozhi, I may not mention them. I admit that this is a disservice to the original work, but unfortunately I can only type so much and it would be a lot of work to type up everything. Achilles Fang also copies the Chinese of quoted sections into his notes which I am not going to do either. In some cases I may skip notes depending on how relevant they are. Achilles Fang often quotes passages from different sources (Mainly Sanguozhi) that are similar to what's listed in the Zizhi Tongjian. If they are REALLY similar, to the point where they're redundant, I'm not going to bother listing them. For professional purposes, it makes sense that Achilles Fang would have included them in order to demonstrate exactly where Sima Guang drew his material from. For educational purposes though it won't teach anybody anything about the Three Kingdoms to read a Zizhi Tongjian section that says one thing and a SGZ version that says almost identically the same thing.
When Achilles Fang cites where Sima Guang drew his material from, I'll probably just simplify it by typing something like "From SGZ" or "From Weilue" rather than listing out exactly what parts of those sources Sima Guang got his material. It will save more time for me that way and hopefully I'll be able to get more done. Again, for professional purposes, it is logical that Achilles Fang cited his sources with scrutiny. For educational purposes for those that don't know Chinese (like myself), I think it suffices enough to just know that a certain passage was drawn mainly from Sanguozhi, rather than needing to know the exact section of it. I don't have these books long and I have other commitments so I have to make use of what limited time I have. If these reductions seem excessive, it is because I am only human. I apologize for not being able to include all of Achilles Fang's excellent notes.


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Bail denied: Jailed teen's team blames drug, immaturity
Patrick D. Crider, 18, the Western Albemarle High School student arrested January 14 for threatening to kill four of his classmates one day earlier, will remain in jail.
"I cannot find, Mr. Crider, you are a reasonable risk," said Judge William Barkley at a hearing Monday, January 25, in Albemarle General District Court. The defendant, a slight young man wearing jail stripes, sobbed when the judge announced his decision.
In issuing his ruling to deny bail, the judge cited Crider's present and past psychiatric issues, and the number of people on Facebook that Crider specifically identified and described how he would kill.
Psychiatrist Vanessa Camperlengo testified that while Crider had emotional issues, he was not a threat to himself or others. She suggested that his threat-making may have been the result of an incorrect dosage of Celexa, an antidepressant.
"I see it as a disturbing episode with Patrick at the bottom of an emotional pit," she said.
But apparently it wasn't the first time Crider had made threats. According to Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Darby Lowe, there was a prior fright-inducing incident on December 11. Then, Lowe said in court, Crider sent text messages and made phone calls to one of his fellow student victims, and the student felt threatened enough to call 911.
Legal analyst David Heilberg says Virginia legal code classifies threats according to the means of transmission. For instance, he says, a face-to-face threat may go unpunished while telephoned threats can be misdemeanors, but written threats–- including emails and text messages–- can be treated as felonies.
"That doesn't sound right," says Heilberg, "but that's the law."
Defense attorney David Franzen pointed out that Crider was recently evaluated at UVA Medical Center where experts concluded it was best for him to be released to his mother's custody. Upon his release from the hospital, he was arrested.
Based on evaluations at UVA and in jail, Franzen repeated his contention that Crider, with no history of violence or criminal record, poses no danger to himself or others.
"That's not to say the people in the courtroom who were subject to his threats should not be concerned," Franzen acknowledged. "We're dealing with a young man who was emotionally upset. He exercised immature judgment in that regard."
Crider will be back in court February 18 for a preliminary hearing on the charge of making threats of death or bodily injury, a Class 6 felony.
15 comments
It's very evident that he was angry, all people get angry, sometimes a little too much. In this case, I know what he was going through and even though it seems awful to say things like this, i think that he is very sorry about it and should be able to go to cousiling and come back to real life little by little. I know he has emotional issues, but i also know he is a very nice and sweet kid. And though his age is 18 he really shouldn't be tried as an adult, he is a kid, not out of high school, going though a lot of stress at home and at school and that leads to bad decisions. I hope that he will be helped and will not go to jail. Just give him a chance. Please.
Guess the parents are off the hook, again.............they should be slapped as well.
Thanks to my Dad, teachers and coaches from the 50's and 60's. I still recall the day of the belt for sure........
There was a time in the 60's and 70's when a judge would give you time in jail or time in the military- most took the military and got their heads straightened out and are better for it today.
To correct the above, I a 42, not 2! And I fully blame Celexa for any bizarre behavior exhibited by anyone taking it, out of my own, very non-scientific, but horrifying experience. The so-called studies and scientific information on anti-depressants does not even exist except for manipulated and cherry picked data. At this point, it would be impossible to have an objective view on anti-depressants, so I would choose to err on the side of caution. Anything that alters a person's state of mind should be highly suspect until proven positive beyond the shadow of a doubt, that's what they hold people and juries too, right. Should be the same for the pharma companies.
@Rosiecee: I am a neurological adolescent (20) currently taking an SSRI (escitalopram, which is mere the left-handed isomer of citalopram, which is Celexa) for OCD who has experienced no "mania, psychosis, abnormal thinking, paranoia, hostility, etc." in about five months of use.
I don't mean to deny that psychotropic drugs can have behavioral side-effects. But I think it is unscientific scapegoating to declare that Celexa "is probably the cause of his thoughts of violence and his bizarre actions in writing about them on Facebook", and to imply that
I am not saying that it could not be the cause, or perhaps one of several contributing factors. I don't think we yet have enough evidence on the matter to decide one way or another on this particular case. It is quite possible that other factors could be wholly or partially responsible.
Those taking antidepressants generally do so in an attempt to manage existing psychological distress, and those psychological factors might be more responsible for Crider's behavior than his meds.
The fact that in SSRI users under 25 there's a statistically significant increase over controls in the *rate* of unusual aggressiveness, suicidal thoughts etc. does not imply that such effects are responsible for this incident, nor even that most adolescent users of SSRIs develop such side effects. Indeed, most adolescent users don't develop such effects according to: http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/ac/04/briefing/2004-4065b1-10-TAB08-Ham... (cf. Table 1 on Page 8), which is the study that initially prompted the FDA's ââ?¬Å?black box" warning requirement for SSRIs.
By the way, though increased *suicidal ideation* has been demonstrated in adolescent SSRI users, the rate of *actual suicide* lower than that of the control population (which includes those possibly taking psychotropic drugs other than SSRIs, e.g. tricyclic antidepressants) according to a study using a different methodology: http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/163/11/1898
With respect to the bigger picture, studies permitting psychological factor analysis are hard to do; I don't know of (which doesn't mean there aren't any) studies that have demonstrated increased homicidality in adolescent SSRI users.
@swamp rat, GSOE, and OBSERVANT: Actually, as noted in an overview of the subject by the National Conference of State Legislatures:
"In 2002, a report released by the U.S. Secret Service concluded that bullying played a significant role in many school shootings and that efforts should be made to eliminate bullying behavior"
The article defines bullying as "aggressive behavior or intentional harm by an individual or group repeated over time that involves an imbalance of power. The act of bullying can take various forms, including physical, verbal and psychological acts."
Which I cite in support of my belief that receiving beatings from his peers would not have made him any less likely, and might have made him more likely, to make threats or even commit acts of violence.
I am disgusted that you would rather beat your children than work with them to address the problems they are having, which (if you think back to your time in high school) you hopefully realize are real problems, not merely endogenous flaws of character that can be struck out of a kid like impurities from iron. (lol, what a cheesy simile)
I for one can personally tell you that Lexapro (Celexa) is 100% permanent cure for depression. Once Mr. Crider figures this out and gets off this drug, he will agree. I was incorrectly prescribed Lexapro for 9 mos. during which I received 2 DUI's, 3 drunk in publics, and one involuntary commit for suicide. The PCP who gave me the Lexapro sexually harassed me in his office. I went to 2 rehab's a hypnotherapist, the looney bin, and hundreds of AA meetings. I am 2 years old and have NO PREVIOUS HISTORY of substance abuse or mental health treatment. The only thing that saved me was realizing that this drug was making me nuts or I'd still be in jail. The thought of ever taking this drug again, terrifies me. If I ever get down or sad, I can always think how much worse it would be to be in jail from the effects of this drug than WHATEVER life brings me now. I know I will never be depressed again.
I could probably say a few things here, and usually would... but I trust Judge Barkley's decision. :)
C'mon Gasbag! Let Rosie have it! "...probably the cause of his thoughts...," Geez!, let's not let go unanswered. Please.
quote: "You can thank all of the parents that like to ââ?¬Å?discuss" problems with their kids instead of explaining to them with a belt once in a while."
I'll bet if one of those guys he threatend went up and beat the crap out of him for talking trash the first time it wouldn't have escalated. The school yard has fixed a lot of bullies.
You can thank all of the parents that like to "discuss" problems with their kids instead of explaining to them with a belt once in a while.
It's apparent the 18 year old has mental issue. And he may be a threat to society or himself.
However,I do not think jail is the best place for him. He should probably be locked up in a Mental Health Facility until the trial.
Very Sad.
The Celexa antidepressant, an SSRI antidepressant, is probably the cause of his thoughts of violence and his bizarre actions in writing about them on Facebook.
The Physicians Desk Reference states that SSRI antidepressants and all antidepressants can cause mania, psychosis, abnormal thinking, paranoia, hostility, etc. These side effects can also appear during withdrawal. Also, these adverse reactions are not listed as Rare but are listed as either Frequent or Infrequent.
Go to www.SSRIstories.com where there are over 3,500 cases, with the full media article available, involving bizarre murders, suicides, school shootings/incidents [52 of these] and murder-suicides - all of which involve SSRI antidepressants like Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, etc, . The media article usually tells which SSRI antidepressant the perpetrator was taking or had been using.
Antidepressants can make youth violent. I bet if weaned off the drugs he would settle down. Seems like when you have a side effect from a drug you would remove the drug as part of the sentencing.
They should give him a knee bracelet that shocks him if he leaves the house. There is no benefit to exposing him to some of the lost causes already in jail.


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Monday, June 28, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Blending Bad Boys, Westerns and Supernatural into Steampunk
Today, I'm happy to host guest blogger Theresa Meyers. When I heard about her exciting new series and her love for Supernatural, I knew she'd be a great person to come by and share the love for our favorite show.
You know how they say write what you love? But what if what you love is a whole bunch of different things? So what's a writer to do? Write it anyway!
I love writing paranormals for Harlequin's Nocturne line and admit to being a total squee-girl fan of the television show Supernatural (in fact, Jensen Ackles aka Dean, if you are reading this, can we talk? I'd love for you to play one of the brothers in my books if they ever go to the big screen). I love history, and in particular I'm a bit of a Victorian nut, so I write historicals. I'll admit to being partial to the American West simply because I've been a West Coast girl all my life, living in California, Oregon, Washington and Arizona, all for different periods of my life. Now normally you'd think there was no way to blend all of that together, but guess what—there is.
Case in point is the new series I'm currently writing for Kensington that won't come out until 2011 with the first book, The Hunter. It's a Steampunk trilogy featuring three brothers named after their father's favorite guns in the Weird Wild West who hunt down supernatural beings along with help from their slightly mad British inventor friend Marley to protect mankind. From skinwalkers and demons to vampires and shape-shifters, they hunt them all, as they work to find the missing pieces of The Book of Legend, the compendium of all Hunter knowledge.
I originally had the idea for the brothers decades ago. I knew who they were, but I didn't realize this whole other side of them until I was watching the outtake interviews on one of my seasons disks of Supernatural where one of the writers for the show was talking about how he'd always thought it would be cool if they could have gone back in the series to the Wild West. Seen what it was like for Hunters in history. That got me thinking. Who were the Hunters in history, where did they come from? How do they know what they know and train one another? I mean really, you know there's got to be more to it than what you seen on the screen. Every good character has a history.
That's when it hit me. My Jackson brothers were Hunters. That was the thing that held these three very different men together. From there I created a whole history and world that stretches back to the dark ages where the Book of Legend was torn apart and scattered to protect it so that Hunters might learn portions of what they needed to know but would have to find one another to truly understand it all.
Winchester, Remington and Colt all have different approaches to being part of their Hunter legacy. Colt (my hero in The Hunter) is a bit of a bad boy, gambler/gunslinger who really, really likes women. He's the baby and has the whole "Go hard or go home" mentality to him. Which makes things really interesting when he needs the help of a demon to unlock the hiding place of the piece of the Book of Legend he's searching for. Nothing like a succubus to keep a womanizing bad boy on his toes!
Oldest brother Winchester has sworn off hunting and become a lawman in the Wild West. But that doesn't mean the supernatural baddies out there have forgotten who he is or where he came from. As the Gates of Nyx threaten to open, letting the Darkin out into the world, he knows he's going to have to help his brothers out, even if it means going back into hunting. He's got to accept the help of a vampire countess to track down the second piece of the book.
Middle brother Remington likes to straddle both sides of the law as an attorney. He's my half-and-half brother, able to understand both his brothers' philosophies. Remington can just about talk his way out of (or into) anything. But when it all boils down to finding the last piece of the Book of Legend, a shape-shifter thief is going to take him into situations that'll leave him speechless.
Now, you're probably scratching your head saying, hey wait, these just kind of sound like western-set paranormals. What's that got to do with steampunk? My version of their world is just a little bit different than you'd read in your average western. For example, when the vampire countess comes calling, she has an airship to take them back to Europe on the journey to retrieve the segment of the book. Colt has a faithful mechanical horse, named Tempus, whose clockworks make him very reliable in the unrelenting travel in the western frontier. And remember that inventor friend I mentioned? He gives the boys all kinds of fun experimental weapons (and where, exactly did you think the demon-killing Colt gun came from in the first place?).
The best way to understand steampunk is to know that the steam refers to the steam age, Victorian era. The story can be set anywhere in the world (or in a parallel world for that matter) during that time when combustion engines weren't the norm and steam ruled as a power source. The Punk of steampunk comes when you adapt the world to fit your vision of it. Girls as airship captains, inventions that can bore into the earth, search the bottom of the seas, zap holes through a vampire at twenty paces, mad inventors, intrepid adventurers and explorers. You get the idea.
So there you have it. A way to blend an unnatural obsession with Supernatural into historical, steampunk, paranormal romance. Sweet, huh? I can't wait.
I can't wait either! I think this series sounds amazing, and I'll be there at the bookstore when The Hunter hits the shelves. Thanks for being with us today, Theresa. So, everyone, have questions for Theresa? Do you think this series sounds as awesome as I do? Until the series' release, be sure to check out Theresa's other stories for Nocturne Bites.
Posted by Trish Milburn at 9:44 AM 7 comments
Labels: Dean Winchester, Guest Blogger, jensen ackles, Supernatural, Theresa Meyers
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Stonehenge Apocalypse
Random thoughts and questions inspired by the SyFy movie. If you've seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, well, this is what you missed...
1. Here we are at Stonehenge with a random tour group. The earth is shaking. Quaking, one might say. Does anyone move away from those towering stones that would crush you if they fell, as things are wont to do in an earthquake? No.
2. When said giant stones start sliding around, which is the better action:
a. Run away so you don't get crushed between stones or knocked over by ripped-up sod, or
b. Stand still and scream. I guess it doesn't matter, since we've already overlooked the fact that Stonehenge has been off limits to the general public for a very long time.
3. Why is Misha's character Jacob and his friend Joseph? Why not Jake and Joe?
4. That random hazmat person who just got fried? Kinda deserved it. Duh, you knew the thing burned up seven people. Maybe you should RUN.
5. Misha...I mean, Jacob...just emerged from the woods in the morning. Where was he all night, after being chased by security? Hanging in the woods? Yuck.
6. Um...if a signal is reducing itself every time it cycles, isn't it by definition counting down?
7. Jacob has a bit of the Dean vibe, with his layered shirts and the pendant.
8. How exactly did Jacob "pick up" an electromagnetic surge over a distance of x miles and an ocean, anyway?
9. Okay, the first death was inevitable. The second a justifiable mistake. But once something happens twice, you have no one to blame but yourself for letting it happen a third time.
10. Of COURSE the military thinks demolition is the right move! Do they never watch movies or TV? That never ends well.
11. They keep asking how these stones move, but they haven't tried to dig down a little bit to find the tracks they're obviously moving ON.
12. These people don't read comic books. That's Dr. X's symbol on that Mediterranean artifact that Jacob thinks is a key!
13. Yay, no one died during this new Event! Well, not in England, anyway. That blast in Mexico looks pretty deadly. So...why electricity in England and "volcanoes" in the Yucatan and Indonesia? (I use the quotation marks because it looks more like a Michael Bay event than a volcano.)
14. I can't wait to see how long it takes Jacob and the real scientist to get to New York and back! :) They've only got 30 hours.
15. Well, ridiculous science and plot developments aside, I think the idea of re-terraforming the planet is kind of cool.
16. Oh, what a coincidence, the artifact goes EM just as they arrive at the museum. Trigger? None. How convenient to prove Jacob right!
17. Plot twist! Who are those armed whatever they ares bent on getting the artifact for themselves? Uh...Joseph?
18. Commence exchange of catch phrases between former best friends who are now on extremely opposite sides...catch phrases that would indicate insanity if they weren't so overused.
19. Ow. ETA: I can't remember what happened that made me say that.
20. Stones are moving again. How can they be digging up new sod when they're following the same tracks?
21. I'm so glad Joseph's "Chosen Ones" laugh like Beavis and Butthead. Future of the human race, indeed.
22. Wow, the artifact/key thing got clean and shiny.
23. Hey, the bad guy died with half an hour left to go. Good thing he wasn't superfluous or anything.
24. Nice redemptive moment for the clueless scientist/government guy in charge...
25. I hope someone gave Misha/Jacob a GPS, so he doesn't take a wrong turn during his race against the clock/nuclear bomb.
26. Four minutes left, and poor Jacob gets shot feet from his goal! Oh, the tension! I can't tell where the second bullet hit. He's probably not dead.
27. Say it with me now: "It was a ROBOT HEAD."
28. That was the lamest ending EVER.
Posted by Natalie J. Damschroder at 12:01 AM 5 comments
Labels: guest stars, Misha Collins, Movie Review
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
In the Name of Love
I just finished watching Stonehenge Apocalypse with the intent to review it for this blog, but…I just couldn't do it. While it's nowhere near as bad as Raptor Island or Ice Spiders, it was, well, it was not good.
It did, however, give me an idea—craptacular movies I've watched in the name of love for the boys.
Let's start with Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who, let's face it, is the reason I started watching the show in the first place.
"Dead and Breakfast," a zombie movie with hints of humor that Tanya would never forgive me for mentioning. JDM plays a sheriff who leads the young tourists in their fight against the zombie horde. Nothing redeeming in this movie. Nothing.
"Six: The Mark Unleashed," a religious movie set in a prison, otherwise completely forgettable. One of the Baldwins was in it. Oh, just terrible.
"Taking Woodstock." He was in it about a minute, and the other minutes I was bored. Bored bored bored.
"Kabluey." I actually bought the DVD and he's in it about 10 minutes, as the lecherous boss of the main down-on-his-luck character's sister.
"Live." There is NO WAY I would have watched this movie without JDM. It was a horrible concept, people playing Russian Roulette on live TV, with portraits of each contestant shown to sway your pity. Terrible terrible terrible. But he looked really good.
Now Jensen has had slightly better taste in the roles he's taken. Well, actually, he's been in more good TV than bad movies.
"Devour" was the worst. So bad I've actually blocked it out. All I remember is the last scene, which was very bloody.
"My Bloody Valentine" was as good as Jensen could make it. Not particularly suspenseful, though, even if I hadn't been spoiled.
For Jared, there are three:
"House of Wax," though he's very heroic.
"The Christmas Cottage," which I know others didn't mind, but drove me nuts with its sappiness,
"Friday the 13th," but he looked REALLY good, and it was filmed in Texas. Totally worth my time. Twice.
What movies have you watched out of love for the boys?
Posted by MJFredrick at 12:08 AM 9 comments
Labels: Jared Padalecki, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, jensen ackles, Mi, movies
Monday, June 14, 2010
Supernatural News
Jensen Ackles is the latest actor to move behind the camera. He's set to direct at least one episode of Supernatural next season.
The DVD and Blu-Ray release date for Season 5 is Sept. 7, but it's available for pre-order now.
Supernatural gets the anime treatment.
The argument for Emmy nominations for Supernatural, and Jensen in particular.
Jake Abel (Adam) talks Supernatural and his new movie.
Hey, fans of both Supernatural and Glee, did you realize Cory Monteith (Finn on Glee) was a monster snack in "Wendigo"?
Posted by Trish Milburn at 12:01 AM 2 comments
Labels: Cory Monteith, Glee, Jake Abel, Jared Padalecki, jensen ackles, Supernatural, Supernatural News, Wendigo
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Stonehenge Apocalypse
Don't forget to watch Misha's movie on SyFy tonight!
Posted by MJFredrick at 12:21 PM 0 comments
Friday, June 11, 2010
So, Friday, Huh?
I started watching Supernatural in the second season, when it was still on Tuesday night. I think they switched it to Thursday for season 3, so that "feels" like the right night. Honestly, it doesn't matter. I'll watch it no matter when/where it is, with very little getting in the way, and if I can't watch live, I'll DVR it to watch later.
But now they're moving our beloved show to Friday night, aka The Night Shows Go to Die. I know at least one person that is a problem for: she has a family night on Fridays, and is religious about it. Friday is "party" night, too, so ratings overall tend to be pretty low. Most shows that get moved to Friday don't last very long.
On the other hand, dying or being killed isn't a given, generally speaking. There have always been shows that did well on Friday, such as Providencetown and Numb3rs. Smallville kept its numbers the same after being moved to Friday, and it was always a good pairing with Supernatural (though I'd argue that The Vampire Diaries makes a better combo).
We hear a lot among "fandom" about how the CW doesn't give our show any love—doesn't promote it, doesn't support it, etc.—but after three years in a row of early pickups, and insisting it continue after a natural end point, I'd have to call bs on that complaint. Supernatural is a solid performer for them, and they struggle to develop new shows/enough programming for a full week.
So in my opinion, the move to Friday isn't necessarily a bad omen. In fact, I think we have to be more concerned about Ackles and Padalecki's contracts expiring this year.
What do you think?
Posted by Natalie J. Damschroder at 12:00 AM 12 comments
Labels: Friday, Jared Padalecki, jensen ackles, season 6, Supernatural
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Siblings: Rivalry, Revelry, Bonds & Banes
We see it in every season of Supernatural, even moreso in that powerful finale a few weeks ago, but the heart of the show we all know and love is brotherhood. Sure, I like the humor (when it's there) and the classic rock underscoring the stories (when such songs are in the budget) and obviously, Jensen and Jared are extremely easy on the eyes. But there are lots of shows starring pretty people that I don't watch, much less DVR and obsess over. Not every episode is deeply complex (although many are) and not every episode is horrifically gory (thank God) but each one since the pilot has something to say about the bond between brothers, whether it's love so deep that one would literally sacrifice himself for the other, rivalry and resentment so deep it borders on the knife's edge of hate, or a much lighter middle ground such as the pranks family members pull on each other.
As we all know, Supernatural won't be back for months. So I've put together a list of sibling or family-themed books, shows and movies to take along on vacation or Netflix over the summer. (Disclaimer: These don't necessarily match Supernatural in tone and may not all be as good as the best SPN episode, but if you've worn out your DVD collection, they're a place to start.)
Books with a strong "sibling" connection
1. JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series
2. Philippa Gregory's Other Boleyn Girl
3. Julia Quinn's historical and humorous Bridgerton series
4. Anna DeStefano's Dark Legacy
TV Shows
1. Firefly a--even though it's a futuristic western set in space, watching a brother sacrifice in order to care for his younger sister is relatable and poignant.
2. Brothers & Sisters (family drama)
3. Prison Break (action/drama)
Serial: Godfather trilogy (not for the squeamish)
Drama: Brothers
Comedy: Blues Brothers
Chick Flick: In Her Shoes
Runners up (because the characters aren't technically siblings) in sci-fi:
X-Men (2000) I always felt like Magento and Xavier were brothers who landed on different sides of the same war.
Revenge of the Sith - Although it makes sense to watch these Star Wars prequels in order if you want to see the full scope of Anakin's transformation into Lord Vader, I feel that this one (#3 in the first trilogy) is the strongest and marks the shift in Anakin and Obi-Wan's relationship, from mentor/student to Jedi brothers who share both love and rivalry.
So there's my brief list to kick things off. What movies/shows/books featuring siblings would you recommend for a long, Winchesterless summer?
Posted by Anonymous at 10:13 AM 1 comments
Monday, June 7, 2010
News is super scarce while we're on hellatus. :( This was all I could find.
Casting/Dialogue Director Andrea Romano highly compliments Jensen's voiceover work for Batman: Under the Red Hood.
Posted by Anonymous at 4:46 PM 1 comments
Labels: Batman: Under the Red Hood, jensen ackles, news, Supernatural, Terri Clark
Friday, June 4, 2010
The Unholy Cause
I read half of this book in two days, which is unheard of for me these days. I like this one better than Heart of the Dragon, for one because the boys are featured almost from page one.
Posted by MJFredrick at 12:15 AM 3 comments
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
How will it end?
Having just watched the series finale of LOST recently, it got me to wondering how Supernatural will end when the show takes its final bow. The part of me that loves stories with happy endings wants that for the boys, but that's never really been part of the show. I wonder if it would totally feel out of place if we got a happy ending finale. Still, they've literally been to hell and back, so it would feel right if they got some wonderful reward. Maybe their memories of all the bad could be wiped and the task of protecting mankind handed off to someone else. Hmm, not sure how I feel about that.
Another option is them going out in a blaze of glory. I think I need to buy stock in Kleenex if it feels like the writers are taking us toward this eventuality. Still, it would be in keeping with the Winchesters' personalities and histories, wouldn't it?
A third possibility is a LOST-esque, open-to-interpretation ending. Maybe we don't see what happens or if we do, we're not sure what it means and speculation will rage for years as it no doubt will among LOST fans. While some LOST fans loved this type of ending because it fit with how LOST had been crafted from the beginning, I don't think it would work for Supernatural.
What do you all think? Think we'll go one of these routes, or some other way entirely?
Posted by Trish Milburn at 12:01 AM 2 comments
Labels: Supernatural