text:
Though the air seemed to be still, swirls of dust could be seen, lifted by a soft breeze which noiselessly blew. The deep blue sky that had no clouds and was only very rarely scratched by jets at extremely high altitudes, was a dome jagged by gray mountains in the horizon.
A road, the State Route 375, which asphalt seemed to come from nowhere and lead nowhere, cut through the desert in a black dusty line. A few meters away from it, there was an apparently abandoned gas station. Two pumps. There was also a convenience store which glass door seemed to be lacking cleaning for a long time.
At one of the pumps, a Chevy 500 with its body screwed and burnt by the sun appeared to wait for someone to fuel it.
But all this scenery wasn't inhabited. Inside the convenience store, two men and a woman looked around in bewilderment and a certain perplexity.
"Where does this voice come from?" Libby asked.
"This crazy watch inserted an omniscient narrator to the story," I answered, hitting the watch, feeling peeved.
Libby Ginway frowned, grabbed a paper box full of cans of beer and other stuff and turned around, leaving the place.
"When I took this interview I knew I would witness strange stuff. But this…"
"Me myself always feel surprised by this machinery. It once altered my personality, can you believe that? I almost killed… yes… I almost killed an interviewee. It was horrible."
Libby put the things in the back of the car but grabbed the beers first. She put them in the floor of the car, sat on the driver's seat and turned the engine on.
"Are you staying outhere?" She asked showing some impatience.
"And where are we going?" I wanted to know.
"Secret mission," she said blinking.
"Won't you need gas?"
"I fueled before you arrived."
When I arrived into this scenery, the omniscient narrator was still speaking of the blue dome and of the gray mountains. I walked straight into the store and found her inside. She was talking to the man that was attending her and I had the clear impression that they were exchanging important information, in such a way, that they were close and seemed to whisper to each other. Libby was wearing jeans, high boots, a checked shirt and a cap. Her hair was loose. Her hands moved rapidly, she seemed to be nervous. Before I came close, the man put the box full of junk, which seemed useless to me, onto the counter.
I left the brief reminiscences behind and took a deep breath, with the clear impression that it would be more prudent to stay in the gas station. But I had to follow her.
I sat by her side, slammed the door with moderate strength and it didn't close. Libby signaled that I had to lift it a little if I wanted to see it locked. It closed correctly in my second trial.
"Inhospitable place," I said, while she turned back with the car and went back into the highway.
"Nevada Desert," she answered.
"Interesting! Near Las Vegas right? Good! This time this interview will be done in glamour!"
Libby laughed to herself, nodding. I had the impression that this wasn't the exact idea.
The desert lingered indefinitely, streaky with scattered rocky formations, small mountainous elevations, saguaros and Joshua trees. The State Route 375, also called the "Extraterrestrial Highway", which had very little traffic, saw a Chevy 500 moving forward in good speed. The city of Rachel was left behind. Following straight would lead them to State Route 318, in Crystal Springs. A destination that would never be reached by the intrepid couple.
"Isn't there a way to turn this crap off?" Libby asked while opening a can of beer and throwing another one to me.
"The omniscient narrator said – and no, I can't turn this crap off – that Crystal Springs won't be reached… where are we going?" I asked curiously.
"Like this, with this "guy" narrating all the events, there is no mission that can be well succeeded, don't you think? Jean-Claude Dunyach is right… made in Brazil."
"The watchmaker seemed to be Asian," I objected, uncertain if it served or not as an argument. I opened the can of beer and took a fast sip.
It was better to change the subject and there was nothing more natural than starting the interview. The sooner I did it, the sooner we would be out of that scorching desert.
"You have recently broadened your contacts with the Latin American SF community. I heard you have just been to Chile. What has attracted you in the SF of other Latin countries and what are the most visible similarities you see between them and the SF practiced in Brazil?"
Libby drank from her beer, licked her lips gathering some drops that had stayed around her mouth and swerved to the left, leaving the main road and taking another, secondary road, which was in dreadful condition.
"This contact evolved gradually, first in congresses and later due to my academic reality. The Latin American center of studies has a budget that includes scholarships for the development of new lessons. I got one in January, 2009 to give an English lesson about Latin American SF, using the Latin Cosmos anthology, organized by Andrea Bell and Yolanda Molina-Gavilán. As it was mainly consisted of Hispanic American short-stories – the only Brazilian representatives were Jerônimo Monteiro, André Carneiro e Braulio Tavares – I decided to supplement it with Brazilian short-stories translated to English, a series of Latin American SF films and the Bolivian Novel Turing's Delirium by Edmundo Paz-Soldán.
She slowed down, making me feel calmer. After all, she was driving at more than sixty miles an hour in a vicinal road that couldn't take more than thirty.
"Alfredo Suppia helped me with the Brazilian films," she continued, "and I invited two more speakers from the Hispanic American SF area, Rachel Haywood Ferreira e J. Andrew Brown. The experience resulted in an article that will be in Teaching Science Fiction, by Peter Wright and Andy Sawyer, published by Palgrave. That was how I started to see common lines between Hispanic American and Brazilian SF. Notwithstanding superficial, I can say that the history, the generations and the divisions are similar. The first moment would correspond to the first wave, with the atomic times seen from the periphery, fantasies of inverted colonization – the colonized or alien beating the colonizer – and a pessimism or mistrust regarding technology. In the 70's and 80's we can see reactions to dictatorship in sexual metaphors, one of the constants in the Brazilian dystopia and in the productions from the 90's on, more cyberpunk and the theme of violence, but with regional or national variations.
She stopped the car after 200 meters, drank all the beer from the can and threw it out of the car. She looked in the distant, studying the way and more thoroughly the mountainous elevations we were approaching.
"In the South Cone, for example, the cyborg is the tortured being", she resumed answering, "dilacerated. In Mexico the implanted cyborg is the worker, victim of the big corporations. From what I saw in Chile, there are assassin and vampire cyborgs using violence as a means of revenge or exorcism of the past, and there is also a New Weird trend combining the grotesque representation of the body with traces of SF and horror, which might have aspects in common with the new generation of Brazilian writers. Here in the USA, where the Spanish language has a bigger projection, my desire of comprising new areas and working more with Spanish and post graduation students is understandable."
She opened one more can, stepped on the gas and went back to the road, keeping a moderate speed.
"This would also help the Spanish program, since there aren't enough teachers and lessons to serve students in an appropriate manner. That's why I ran for a scholarship for "betterment" let's say, in January this year, with the idea of traveling to Chile, improving my Spanish and finally, teaching about Latin American FC in Spanish in the future. Another reason for this scholarship was to do research, or better saying, to edit a series of articles of reviews and theory of the Latin American SF with J. Andrew Brown. We shared the work, with him organizing the Hispanic American texts and I the Brazilian ones. This way, we'll have a review book on the Latin American FC in English. He was also part of the congress in Chile, where the American and Argentinean writer Mike Wilson organized the event at the PUC in Chile.
"Are you through?" I asked ironically after her discourse.
"This question, yes."
"The omniscient voice said the Road we were on was called something like extraterrestrial road, why is that?"
"Have you heard of the Area 51?"
"Who hasn't?"
Libby didn't answer back and that kept pounding in my head, but for a short while. We were in the Nevada Desert, she had said before. Area 51 was there. It sank in.
"This mission you mentioned," I hemmed, "has nothing to do with this super secret base, has it?"
"What's the second question?"
I looked at the saguaros and the dry bushy vegetation. The mountains were close, very close. The dust filled the cabin of the car. Libby's evident change of subject made me nervous, but nevertheless, I asked her the next question.
"Qualitatively speaking, is it possible to compare the good names of the Brazilian SF with authors from the American, English, French, Russian and German SF, which are countries with strong tradition in this niche? In this aspect, I mean, in literary quality, is it possible to affirm that our literature is historically evolving in such a way that it can follow the quality of the productions in these countries?"
She stepped on the breaks and took the car slowly out of the Road. She parked a hundred meters ahead, near a rocky formation.
"As ideas spread and divulge themselves quickly, I don't believe in "cultural delay". There are differences in markets and traditions. Does a country need science to write science fiction? Can an economically peripheral country have direct knowledge of a genre that emerged in more technologically advanced countries? In Latin America of the 19th century, the Latin American elites took advantage of the hegemonic discourse of science as the authoritarian language of knowledge, self-knowledge and legitimization, what Augusto Emilio Zaluar, amongst others, used to justify the idea of progress and civilization; an extension of the colonial project."
She stopped talking for a moment to open the third can of beer. The speed with which she finished one after the other impressed me.
"Look, in 2008, John Rieder published a book Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction by Wesleyan UP, discussing texts from the 19th century which were unknown of the genre, showing that the origins of SF are profoundly connected to the colonial discourse. Many of the texts mentioned by Rieder are not the classics of the genre, conversely, they are unknown texts, but yet show a general tendency of the justification of "conquer" or of "civilization". So, there is a myth about better quality. Maybe it's a matter of percentages, market and tradition.
"From the Latin American side, Rachel Haywood Ferreira's book – The Emergence of Latin American Science Fiction, published by Weleyan, forthcoming 2010 – confirms that the SF wasn't an imported genre for writers of the 19th century, but texts weren't between the national classics, or even recognized as SF. Roberto de Sousa Causo also mines the origins of the genre in Brazil, documenting the production of the the 19th century until the middle of the 20th century in Ficção Cientifica, Fantasia e Horror no Brasil, 1875-1850 (Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror in Brazil, 1875-1950), published by UFMG in 2003. These researches marked the first step in studies of marginal writing, the historical recovery – the feminists did the same to consolidate their field of study. As to quality, I find it subjective. I reckon some short-stories by André Carneiro, Rubens Teixeira Scavone, Dinah Silveira de Queiroz are comparable to Bradbury for example. I find the differences interesting, as in the novel Fuga para parte alguma (Escape to Nowhere) by Jerônimo Monteiro, which shows the victory of the ants against humanity, a very different ending from the American film Them in which the hero James Arness beats the plague. The reality is the same, the atomic war, however the vision is different. Maybe I can speak of Brazilian contemporary SF tendencies. There are many writers that fit into the fantastic and literary line, others associated with fantasy, hard SF or other alternative stories. Most of them write in all sub-genres. There are many original and versatile writers that are being more and more renowned. New names are emerging, with teachers and authors writing and motivating the new generation. The online magazines have been growing. There are sub-genres of pure fantasy, horror, vampire, cyberpunk, SF written by women, texts for all tastes are available. I can't say if there is a way to compare. One must first read and know what is done in European and Anglo American SF to be able to compare to what is written in Brasil."
She got out of the car, quickly stretching her legs. Then, she went to the trunk. I also got off the car in time to see her take the box of junk out and put it on the floor, in front of her. I came closer, curiously, and observed her while she scoured it. She took two oblong metal objects from it and gave me one of them.
"And what is it for?" I asked curiously while analyzing the object.
She pointed what she had in her hands to the open area ahead of us and pushed what seemed to be a soft concavity on the metal surface. A shock wave made stones, bushes and a saguaro fly, ripping everything from the floor as if a tornado had just passed by. I was astonished.
She went back to the box, took a belt from there which she put around her waist and some other apparatus. She put them in specific bags in her belt. Even not knowing their purpose, I was already respecting them with a certain solemnity.
"Where did you get this fascinating stuff? What technology is that?"
"Where I came from there are much more impressive things. These are just children's toys."
"Where did you come from after all?"
Libby didn't answer, she looked at the nearer mountainous elevation and signaled me to follow her. We went on a mild climbing towards the top which we reached in about fifteen minutes. While climbing, I wondered what I was getting myself into and especially whom I was dealing with.
She bent forward and I did the same. I looked at the other side and spotted a military base around two or three kilometers ahead of us. A fence was bounding it, no more than two hundred meters away, right after the foot of the mountain.
"Behold the famous Nellis Base," Libby whispered.
"Are we invading it?" I asked in a nervous gasp. I felt it was exactly what was going to happen.
"We are!" Libby answered enthusiastically.
"We'll be seen. With luck, we'll be arrested and prosecuted. Or worse, strafed."
"Don't be a pessimistic."
"At least tell me what we're doing. I guess I have the right to know before I risk my neck."
Libby smiled, gazed at the clear sky and after a moment she replied.
"Rescue an invaluable alien artifact which has been in this base since its construction."
I limited myself to remain quiet, looking at her in bewilderment.
"Something was discovered by a spelunker in a grotto in one of these mountains. The military rounded the area to avoid curious people to approach and little by little they militarized it until they turned it into this base. They couldn't find out how it works or how to access it so far. They have a mistaken understanding of its utility."
"Alien?" I finally asked.
"We spent a lot of time waiting for the opportunity to be able to invade it and retrieve what belongs to us. In natural conditions, this would be a fated to failure mission, but this watch of yours gave us the answer. This mission has all it takes to be well succeeded in a parallel reality. And here we are."
"It's been some years since your book was released in Brasil. From that time to now, there was a reactivation of the national SF, with brand new authors and editors investing in the genre. How do they fit in the thesis defended by the book?" I asked suddenly, in a trial to change the subject and, perhaps, speed up the end of the interview and leave before further nonsense was said and done.
Libby took a machine from the belt and adjusted some controls. I heard a buzz before she put it back in. Then she stood up and waved in order to make me follow her down the mountain.
"You're out of your mind!" I cried, frightened by that descent. "We'll be seen! We're on anyone's sight. There is surveillance!"
"Calm down," she said stilly. "No one can see us. Not even lizards, nor tarantulas, or coyotes. We're covered by an electromagnetic mantle that grants us invisibility."
I didn't try to understand. I didn't ask how that artifact worked, or who Libby actually was in fact. I was too scared to think straight.
"We're sixty eight thousand on Earth" she said as if she could anticipate my doubts. "One thousand four hundred and twenty only in Brazil. Three hundred and fifteen in Rio de Janeiro, one of them in Pinheiral!"
I choked.
"You're not suggesting that Jorge Luis Calife.. that he… he is? Is he?"
Libby didn't answer, restraining herself to keeping an enigmatic smile on her lips. She stayed like that, as if she was feeling delighted by those revelations until we got to the fence which was, obviously, electrified.
"My book is connected to a historical and cultural matter. As SF portrays attitudes related to the modernization seen in the intersection of the icons or subgenres of the SF and the cultural Brazilian myths," she started answering while she took a small brazing pistol from her belt. At least, that is what it seemed to me under a superficial analysis. "It is clear that with the globalization and the popularity of fantasy and of other subgenres; Steampunk, Vampires, New Weird, in Brazil, there is this idea of surpassing national limits; that the world of SF is transnational, like that old question of cosmopolitanism versus nationalism. I am glad about the new interest on the genre, because when I started my research on the post-dictatorship SF, around 2000, I found a certain dismay after the euphoria of the 90's and the appearance of fandom and the second wave of writers.
"Therefore, I reckon there are traces or vestiges of a Brazilian nature or perspectives that arise from a culture, and that, for me, are of bigger interest, although the author might be writing about other culture or setting the text in another country. For example – and the example is not of the most original, that's why I am not a writer – I can imagine an American SF author writing about the invasion of the region of the Amazon, but Roberto de Sousa Causo's or Gerson Lodi-Ribeiro's idea of dividing Brazil or teaming it up with other countries of the region and change the politics, seems to me like a Latin American perspective, an inside-out vision, or at least a non-hegemonic vision. So, I find the combination of a versatile genre interesting, supposedly imported, inside a perspective of Brazilian authors. I read the Steampunk tale by Jacques Barcia Uma vida possível atrás das barricadas (A life behind the barricades), released in 2009, and I found the idea of a Golem and an automat wanting to have children enthralling.
The short-story Julgamentos (Trials), from 1993, by Cid Fernandez deals with cyborgs that wish for the same. I haven't seen many texts in English dealing with this theme, the cyborg represents the crisis of roles of genre, or the post-genre being. In Chilian and Argentinian FC, as I mentioned before, the cyborg many times represents a manner to understand torture, while in Mexico, the cyborg stands for the economical crisis in the work market.
For me this is fascinating. My article The Post-human in Third Wave Brazilian Science Fiction, translated by Cesar Silva, will be in the Anuário Brasileiro de Literatura Fantástica (Brazilian Yearbook of Fantastic Literature), that approaches exactly this question of historical antecedents, transnational SF and so on. To my mind, there are still traces of Brazilian nature in this new wave, and maybe that is my view, or that is what I see. Of course there are other perspectives, different approaches. My interests reflect my values and my preferences, so as a foreign researcher, I want to see what is different in there."
She then pointed the strange gun to the fence and fired a blue ray of wide reach. What was once metal, turned into a formless steamy substance melting on the ground. We heard a siren in the distance. We moved forward side by side until two military jeeps appeared, coming nearer. Libby held me by the arm, signaling to me in order to make me stay quiet. The jeeps went by us in all haste. I was perplexed. Soldiers got off them and started looking at the damage. They gesticulated and communicated through radios. We left, walking carefully, trying not to make any noise or raise any dust.
We approached new quarters. Big hangars sided our path. Military and regular vehicles were parked. A landing road with two big aircrafts stood on our right, not further than a hundred meters away. It was pure illusion to trust that we would get in there without any trouble. Soldiers soon appeared. We were forced to hide behind gallons, flanking walls, doing everything we could not to be on anyone's or any vehicle's way. They couldn't see us, but still could collide with us, which wasn't a good idea.
"On the other side there is a mountain and inside it, a grotto. It goes down hundreds of meters into the stone. An internal chamber shelters the artifact I told you of. It is placed behind practically unassailable doors, protected by top notch security systems and kept by heavily armed and very well trained soldiers.
"And we are rescuing it?" I asked in evident perplexity.
"Yes, isn't it exciting?"
"And how do you plan to go through the obstacles? Squeezing around walls until you get there?" My greatest concern was with the omniscient narrator. I was frightened with the thought that it could suddenly come, in the middle of the action, giving our positions away.
Libby smiled victoriously and drew the oblong metal object. I choked just to think of the perspectives. She pushed me by the arm, pointed the way we should take and pressed the button. It was a festival of soldiers, stones and jeeps being thrown to the sides in a violent blow. She prompted me to run and that was exactly what I did. I drew my object, and held it in my hand while we ran, pressing the button eventually and having fun with the sight of things and people flying. We soon heard shots, which were given without a proper direction. They didn't know who or where to shoot. We soon escaped from the central area, went into more narrow trails in between warehouses and then we finally descried the so called mountain. It was right in front of us.
There was a ramp protected by a barbed wire fence and a sentry-box where two soldiers were standing. Electronic gate, nothing we couldn't melt or blow aside. The entrance allowed two light vehicles to go through. A big steel floodgate, apparently automatic, was the entrance to the grotto. I wouldn't be surprised to find an entire underground city inside of it. Libby avoided the main entrance. She approached a side one and fired her ray pistol in the fence. As we expected, the two soldiers left their posts, pointed the guns to the area near the hole and fired trying to hit something they couldn't see. We went through the gateway without greater risks and ran ramp up.
It was a silent entrance.
We saw nothing but a kind of antechamber before a large central wall with elevators. There were broad, high side corridors but Libby paid no attention to them.
"Do you intend to press the button and go down calmly?" I asked not avoiding being sarcastic.
"Of course not," she replied. "These elevators are not moved by regular buttons. An alphanumeric code must be typed in the front panel and retina scanning must be allowed. We haven't got time for all that."
She grabbed a gadget in her belt and turned a knob on it while the big steel floodgate, set from outside, closed behind us. A faint yellowish light lit up the door of one of the elevators. The metal seemed to wave. Libby put her hand closer and touched it. It seemed to be liquefied.
"The effect lasts a few minutes," she said. "We'll jump in. There is a pit inside, the fall is approximately eight hundred meters. As the elevators move with electromagnetic power, they unfortunately cause conflict with my equipment. We'll be visible while going down. I believe the same will happen once we hit the floor.
"Are we jumping?" I asked in perplexity. "Into the void? We'll be crushed!"
Libby caught a box from inside her girdle. Turned a small lever – so prosaic, I doubted it could be alien -, pushed a button and put it back in her belt. She grabbed me in a tight hug and threw herself against the door of the elevator, dragging me with her. We crossed it as if we were crossing a water door.
And we fell. Vertiginously. But not as fast as I was imagining we would. It gave me the impression that we were being held by invisible ropes or nets. We went through the extremely dark empty hole, seeing nothing, in such a moderate speed that Libby had time to look for a flashlight which had a very powerful light beam and using it, she could finally light what seemed to be the end of the dive.
"Is there any other question?" She asked. I was too astonished to remember the interview.
"Yes," I said.
"Ask away then. But promise you won't press the button before I have the artifact we came to fetch in my possession."
"I do," I answered, feeling scared about the commitment. "The release of a new book of yours is due to this year in Brazil, by Devir. Tell me about this new non-fiction work."
"Visão Alienígena (Alien view) plays with the idea of my foreign condition and with the strangeness theme, I mean, seeing Brazil through the sight of SF. It offers a picture of my articles since the 80's until nowadays. When I wrote my doctorate thesis, I worked especially with the genres of dystopia and with the fantastic stories as reaction to the policy of dictatorship.
"Later, when developing this one more initial work was possible, I started to research on SF from the 90's on. The new book gathers twelve articles or essays. My first article is longer and summarizes the method used in my book, taking advantage of other examples which I had no time, space or knowledge to include in the book of 2005. There is a little of everything – I organized the essays in categories: icons of the SF, robots, cyborgs and the city, subgenres of SF, alternative stories, hard SF or fantasy, dictatorship and SF, the fantastic stories and dystopia and Brazilian SF female writers. Four articles are unpublished. So, as a whole, I deal with the work of the following authors: Levy Meneses, Guido Wilmar Sassi, Dinah Silveira de Queiroz, Rubens Teixeira Scavone, Jorge Luiz Calife, Braulio Tavares, Gerson Lodi-Ribeiro, Ivanir Calado, Henrique Flory, Cid Fernández, Daniel Fresnot, Marien Calixte, José dos Santos Fernandes, Octávio Aragão, Fábio Fernandes, Adriana Simon, Simone Saueressig, Júlio Emílio Braz, Marcia Kupstas, Martha Argel, Helena Gomes, Luiz Roberto Mee, Orlando Paes Filho, Mariana Albuquerque, Michelle Klautau, Finisia Fideli, Carlos Orsi, Roberto de Sousa Causo, André Carneiro, Murilo Rubião, José J. Veiga, among others.
"The new article about the post-human that will be in the Yearbook includes references to texts of Felipe Tazzo, Cristina Lasaitis, Octavio Aragão and Goulart Gomes. An article that will be released next month by Luso-Brazilian Review is about the transgender beings in SF and Brazilian SF&F since the times of Machado de Assis. I guess my next book will deal more with the texts of the new generation, mainly in my analysis on cyborgs and clones. To see what my fellow Andrew Brown has been researching, check the index of the book he has released. He deals more with Hispanic American slipstream. The address is http://us.macmillan.com/cyborgsinlatinamerica. Andrew told me that in his book, the Latin America does not include Brazil, so he recommended that I continued with the theme. As to the writers of the new generation, the article published in pair with Causo about the story of Brazilian SF was out in the most recent edition of the Extrapolation magazine 51.1, 2010, 13-39. There we talked about the Third Wave, Gaming, Horror, Fantasy, the New Weird and Graphic Novel. Some new tendencies and authors are there. We finished the article in 2008, but it's only just been released."
We then landed calmly on the roof of the elevator that was in the underground. Libby turned the antigravity device off and used the liquefied walls maker again. We fell into the elevator, standing, although I almost hit my bottom in the ground because of a slip. She held the oblong object and warned me that the action would really start now.
"Try to find a place to hide as soon as we're out. Remember you promised not to press the button on your watch. And don't worry about me. What I came for is an interdimensional transportation. With it, I can get rid of this alternate reality and come back to our own. Too bad it can only be used by one person."
As soon as the door of the elevator turned into water, she pressed the button of the object. A violent chock wave burst into the place at the same time we jumped out. We found ourselves in a wide chamber; the roof was so high it would take a helicopter to reach it. We fired while we moved forward. The broad spectre of that small weapon was surprising. Men floated in the air, falling down many meters ahead, feeling dazzled. Bullets were sent back by the shock waves. I ran and hid behind some boxes while Libby went towards a… I was astonished. Two dark gray dishes capsized against each other. It had about 40 meters of diameter. A flying saucer! That is what it was, a flying saucer! She kept on shooting. When she approached the spaceship, a ramp which hadn't been used or discovered in years, came down softly. She got in and disappeared inside of it, but not before waving back at me. I continued feeling astonished, looking at that wonder, unaware of the dangers I was exposing myself to.
The interdimensional airship started to vibrate softly, emanating lights that seemed to come from its surface. All the soldiers around it moved back, unsure of what to do. They only observed, astounded, that ship after so many years become operational. But the ones who imagined nothing could happen due to the fact that it was constrained into an underground chamber, had never asked themselves how it had gotten there in the first place. The spaceship lifted in the air a good couple of meters high, span round its own axis a couple of times and then, in a pop, it vanished. They were so surprised they didn't realize there was another intruder hiding only a few meters away from where they were.
My worst fears came true. I cursed the omniscient narrator that made to dozens of armed and furious soldiers turn back in my direction. They would have continued not knowing of my presence was it not for this unexpected and stupid interference. But I was quicker than the bullets that made the boxes blow. I pressed the button on the watch and went back home.
Delfim, Marcello Branco and Jorge Luis Calife collaborated with this interview.


text:
Staff writer
WATERBURY - The St. Paul boys soccer team hit the road on Friday and came back with a 3-3 tie against Holy Cross.
St. Paul (2-4-2) started the scoring with a penalty kick goal by Luke Hines. Adam VanLinter and Ethan Rembish each added goals for the Falcons, while Matt Goodwin and Rembish each had an assist.
The Crusaders' goals were scored by Brian Silva, Giuseppe Mongelluzzo and Jeremy Hamel, with assists from Mongelluzzo and Kadir Talho.
Matt Raymond of the Falcons had six saves, while Kyle Moser had two saves for Holy Cross (3-4-2).
Conard 4, Bristol Central 2: The Rams gave up three second half goals during a loss in West Hartford.
Diego Naranjo and Josh Cordero scored for Bristol Central (5-3-1), with Adam Jones providing an assist. Mario Santos netted two goals for Conard (5-2-2), with John Scrimgeour and Adam O'Brien adding the others.
Rams goalkeepers Eric Bernier and Danny Gaudoin combined on five saves, while Vincent Corelli made four stops for Conard.
Southington 2, Bristol Eastern 0: The Blue Knights got second half goals from Colin Burdette and Hayden Burbank, assisted by Kieran Tindall and Alexis Frausto, to earn a victory at home.
Goalkeeper John Griffin made six saves to earn the shutout for Southington (3-4-2), while Tom Tefoe also stopped six shots for Bristol Eastern (3-5-1).
Bristol Eastern 3, Newington 0: The Lancers improved to 6-5 for the season with a 25-20, 25-14, 25-21 victory at home.
For Bristol Eastern, Amber Blais had 10 kills, Paige McLaughlin had 10 service points, Becca Bender had eight service points and Aliana Rivoira had 38 assists.
Newington fell to 8-5.
Avon 4, Bristol Eastern 1: Visiting Avon picked up its first victory of the season, jumping to a 4-0 lead before Sara Tyminski scored for the Lancers, assisted by Jenna Soucy and Brooke Dauphinee, in the 69th minute.
Molly Milligan netted two goals for Avon (1-7), while Ingrid Peters and Claire Archer scored one each.
Karly Martin saved 17 shots for Bristol Eastern (4-5), while Lilly Langevin made two stops for Avon.
Simsbury 3, Bristol Central 1: In what was a hard fought game on both ends, Rams coach Ginny Godbout said many Bristol Central players had their best game of the season.
"BC played tremendous defense, but unfortunately Simsbury capitalized on the few mistakes made," she reported.
The Rams tied the game in the second half on a beautiful finish by Mia Hinton off a cross from Adalia Malick, but were unable to hold off Simsbury after that.
Housatonic 3, Terryville 0: The Kangaroos fell to 2-6 for the season with a loss at home.
Genevieve Bushy netted two goals for Housatonic (7-1-1), while Teagan Lynch had a goal and two assists.
Terryville netminder Maria Cesare made 13 saves, while Molly Dowd had six for Housatonic.
Bristol Eastern 92, Suffield 83: The Lancers cruised to a victory at the Malone Center pool, improving to 4-3 for the season.
Noelle Bruce won the 500 freestyle in 6:53.22, with Maura McCormick not far behind in second place at 7:00.49.
Hope Johnsky and Kay-lin Koh tied for first in the 100 freestyle with identical 1:00.23 times.
Bristol Central 96, Plainville 85: The Rams improved to 6-0 with a victory at Plainville High.
First place finishers for Bristol Central were Ailey Driscoll (200 freestyle, 100 butterfly), Camille Attle (200 IM), Mackenzie Pina (50 and 500 freestyles), Meghan Curtis (diving) and Madison Cyr (100 breaststroke).
"Even with eight of our teammates battling injuries, the entire team pulled together and swam well, I couldn't be prouder of them," Rams coach Adrienne Bentley said. "We had 17 season-best times today and one school record! Meghan Curtis broke the school's diving record with a dive score of 189.12."
The Rams face Farmington next Tuesday at Miss Porter's School.
Southington 95, Farmington 81: The Blue Knights had several outstanding performances as they defeated Farmington at Miss Porters School, improving to 5-1 for the season.
The Blue Knights' 200 medley relay team of Maddie Symecko, Julie Duszak, Meghan Hammarlund and Olivia Fournier took first in a time of 1:58.38; while the 200 freestyle relay team of Fournier, Hammarlund, Andie Nadeau and Duszak took first in a time of 1:47.44. The 400 freestyle relay team of Duszak, Hammarlund, Nadeau and Fournier also took first, with a time of 3:55.36.
In individual events, Nadeau took first in the 200 freestyle (2:08.27), Symecko was a double winner in the IM (2:30.22) and 100 backstroke (1:07.97), Duszak took first in the 50 freestyle (25.72), Liz Beaulieu took first in diving with a score of 174.95, Hammarlund took first in the 100 butterfly (1:04.80), Fournier took first in the 100 freestyle (55.36), Kara Zazzaro took first in the 500 freestyle (6:24.67) and Patrycja Zajac took first in the 100 breaststroke (1:14.14).

subset: commoncrawl


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I wanted to make something special for my niece, she was getting married this summer.
Her and I discussed what kind of project would be appropriate and settled on a Holy Water Font. Turns out it had some very interesting turning challenges.
Since the project was a new and complex multi-piece design I decided to model it first with SketchUp. Having a model was also useful because I wanted to get approvals on the design before I set out on such and involved project. The model was invaluable in making templates. I just printed the story stick in full size and then made templates.
See "Woodturning with SketchUp" and my 3D modelling blog on the subject for details on modeling.
The Design
The design required:
- A back with a cross inlay
- Holy water dish and holding ring
- Interwoven silver rings that overlapped a cross inlay.
First I modeled the entire piece to scale. I was glad I did because after the first iteration I realized the piece was to big an overbearing. I reduced its size by 1/3.
I chose to make the water dish from hand spun aluminum which necessitated building a mandrel to precise dimensions, allowing good fit and proportion with the rest of the piece.
I selected Walnut as the main material. The cross was made from figured maple veneer.
The project took nearly 5 calendar months to complete, quite a bit longer than I expected, partly because I needed to finish the mothers day music box first.
The holy water dish
I chose a spun aluminum dish to create a unique and custom touch. I used 6″ AL Circles .040″ thick and spun the disk on my converted lathe. Click here for more on metal spinning. I am not highly skilled at spinning yet so it took two tries.
The mandrel was made from laminated MDF for the face and Oak for the threads. It was drilled and tapped to 1″-8 TPI.
The mandrel profile was turned using a pattern made from the 3D model. The the surface of the mandrel was sanded to 600 grit after a few coats of CA. This surface preparation still imprinted into the surface of the disk and it had to be heavily polished to remove the marks.
I'm still working on perfecting wood finishes for spinning wood mandrels, as bare wood will transfer a pattern to the inner surfaces.
Threading Mandrels
Threading wooden mandrels can be made from laminated blanks using conventional taps. I have taps to match both sizes of lathe spindles as well as my OneWay live center adapter they are 1 1/4″-8 TPI, 1″-8 TPI, 3/4″-10 TPI.
Drill the hole in the blank while on the lathe. Then put the tap in the hole and bring the tailstock forward until the tip of the live center mates with the machined hole in the end of the tap.
This will align the tap. Using a wrench patiently rotate the tap while driving the quill forward pushing the tap into the wood. Wax can be used as a lubricant.
The Ring
The ring holding the dish was made from a square piece of walnut. Unfortunately I don't have many pictures.
Work-holding the ring was accomplished as follows:
- Hot glue the blank to a faceplate. Make sure there is glue in the areas where the ring will remain.
- Turn and finish the perimeter including all features
- With a parting tool cut out and finish the inner diameter. Careful, only the remaining part of ring is held to the faceplate. With a light touch don't cut into the faceplate.
Finish the inner perimeter and then remove the ring from the faceplate with a chisel.
- Remount the ring on a chuck grabbing the inner perimeter and finish the inner and outer surfaces on the opposite side from before.
The back & cross
A square blank the size of the back was hot glued to a face plate and it was turned and finished, then sanded flat while on the lathe.
I decided to inlay the cross into a matching piece of walnut veneer. After orienting the inlaid veneer's grain it was glued to the back. Be careful to get the veneer on the face with the correct rotation so that it doesn't appear crooked. I did mine twice :(.
The figured maple cross was inlaid by hand using a xacto knife and the "window method". This was tedious but worked to my satisfaction, I'll be doing more on "marquetry for woodturning" in some upcoming posts.
Cutting the flat on the ring
So how do you cut a perfect flat on a circle so that it will mate at a perfect right angle to the back?.
Answer: I cut a hole in a piece of squared MDF and glued the ring to it. The hole matched the outer lip on the ring (See design). Then is was a simple matter of putting the substrate on my chop saw and cutting the flat. Before removing the substrate I drilled the dowel holes on the drill press. Using a hand made dowel jig I drilled the matching holes in the back.
The wedding rings & guilding
The rings were made from black acrylic pen blank scraps. Each circle was turned and polished on the mini lathe. One ring was laid over the other and they were merged together by alternately cutting away the interposing area of the other. This gave the appearance of them being intertwined.
I used aluminum guilding so the rings would match the dish. This was my first time doing any serious guilding. Not as easy as I imagined…. it never is, right! This craft takes a lot of patience, many coats and a perfectly smooth surface. Every imperfection is highlighted by the guilding.
Hints:Don't touch the sticky surface before guilding and don't touch the guilded surface until you have it sealed. Wear guilding gloves and the correct brush. I used the kit from woodcraft. I need more practice guilding, but I'm glad I tried it.
The dish ring was doweled and glued to the back. The wedding rings were glued to the back with CA and the disk simply sits in the ring so that it can be removed for cleaning and filling. The wood was finished with Waterlox for durability and waterproofing.
The holy water font was fun project that called upon multiple disciplines to create a one-of-a-kind peice.
This was my second hybrid wood and metal project, the last was the coffee cup. If you have any questions on the details of the project post comments here or email me.
For more on the 3D modeling of this project go to "Woodturning with SketchUp"
To by the book click here


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We're trying to avoid distractions. What is really going on, we wonder? What is really important, we ask?
Donald J. Trump came to Washington, DC promising to 'drain the swamp'.
Instead, the swamp is draining him.
The media entangles him in fake news kudzu. Establishment bugs nip away at him like mosquitoes at a bayou picnic. Special interests and Deep State operatives slither around him threateningly…while Deep State heavies try to drown him in accusations.
Business as usual
We thought 'The Donald' would quickly make peace with the swamp.
He has no fixed convictions…no ideology or principles to get in the way.
We figured he'd go along with the insiders…and become the biggest swamp critter of all.
And when he stuffed his cabinet with generals and Goldman guys, we thought he was on his way.
But the way it looks now, "'he Donald' just can't 'fit in'. Many of the Deep State foxes consider him unreliable. Or embarrassing. They want to get rid of him…or weaken him so he is more or less irrelevant.
The Comey testimony didn't help anyone as near as we could figure. 'The Donald's' fans came away believing their man was set up by a disloyal 'leaker'. And the Establishment insiders are determined to keep beating up on him until he falls down.
They might succeed. Or they might not. It hardly matters.
In the meantime, President Trump is taking so many punches, he's beginning to wobble. Only five months into his administration and he's looking lame. He couldn't make any major changes — even if he wanted to.
And Pence?
He's ready to fall in line with the insiders at any time.
So it's business as usual. No swamp draining…no serious budget cuts…no tears in the Deep State land…no end to the make-believe wars…no Trump reflation trade…no big infrastructure projects…no 'jobs, jobs, jobs'…and no change in course. For now.
The feds control — directly or indirectly — half of GDP. And the insiders control the feds. The last thing either wants is real change.
But that doesn't mean they can stop it.
Change you can believe in
Markets don't stop just because the insiders want them to stop; markets react to the public spectacle…but they follow deeper currents, too.
Debts don't shrink just because you can't pay them. And the future doesn't wait just because you're not ready for it. Change happens whether you want it or not.
Sometime soon — most likely before the end of the year (though, recently, no one has lost money by betting against our timing hunches) — the weight of debt, lies, delusions and claptrap is going to cause the floor to cave in.
When that happens, all of a sudden, people are going to lose interest in the spectacle in Washington.
Gone will be any interest in whether Russia meddled in a US election (which never really mattered anyway). Gone will be any interest in whether Comey lied…or Trump lied…or what The New York Times said…or whether 'The Donald' acts 'presidential'.
Instead, all eyes will turn to the spectacle in New York. Crashing prices are bound to get their attention.
The Dow will be cut in half. The big banks, considered too big to fail, will be failing. People who have bought ETFs to be 'in the market' will want to be 'out of the market'. Volatility, so recently like the EKG of a dead man, will begin to rise from the table like Frankenstein.
And then, the call will go up to the president and the chairman of the Fed.
'Do something! Save us! To the rescue!'
And to the rescue they will come.
But how?
With short-term interest rates already near zero…with the Fed already holding more than $4 trillion of government bonds on its balance sheet…with the budget deficit already set to rise by $10 trillion over the next 10 years…
…what can they do?
That will be the next big story…
…not the Trumped-up battle over Russian election meddling…
…not the nuances of Donald Trump's 'I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go' comment…
…not proposed tax cuts…
…not the withdrawal from the Paris climate accord…
No, none of it will matter very much when real change shows up.
Stay tuned…
Bill Bonner,
For Markets & Money


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Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has urged the Federal Government to declare an emergency on youth unemployment.
The governor spoke yesterday in Osogbo, the state capital, at the graduation of participants in the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme Technology, popularly known as O'YES-Tech.
He said the scheme is the flagship of his administration's policy to rescue unemployed youths from chronic idleness.
Aregbesola noted that by arming the youths with necessary skills in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), his administration has opened their eyes to an area of limitless possibilities with the wherewithal to explore and exploit the possibilities.
He said: "By the same token, we are also preparing our state with the human infrastructure to launch itself into an ICT centre of excellence in Nigeria and with the probability of an ICT reputation that will spread well beyond the shores of this country.
"In the largest public sector employment programme in the history of Nigeria, the O'YES took Osun youths out of the unemployment market in their thousands, and put them firmly on a path to economic and financial liberation. But we refused to relent.
"The O'YES-Tech is a key branch-out from its O'YES mother into another area of gainful possibilities – the Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
"This is an area that holds the promise of consolidating our vision of youth employment and empowerment; with the added advantage that it will give Osun youths the enablement to function in what has become the centre of international commerce."
According to him, the programme was designed with a focus on the empowerment of other members of the Osun public, who may also want to acquire skills in this highly valued area.
Aregbesola said the programme has been packaged to equip participants with an interpreted set of skills that will allow them to develop their professional careers in ICT and help them acquire the latest skills to build future capabilities by using world-class technology.
He said: "Within days from now, 150 of the employed technicians are bound to leave for a three-month on-the-job experience at the company's headquarters in Ghana.
"I am also happy to announce that 750 of the successful trainees have been employed by another company, Chams Plc, for its operations in the State of Osun, while some others have also been taken up on full-time employment by the technical team working on the Opon-Imo."
The spokesperson of the RLG Communication, the company that partners the state in training the youths, Mr. Tosin Ilesanmin, promised that the company will train 20,000 but cannot absorb all of them.
He said the training has equipped the trainees with skills that will make them self-employed and self-subsisting.
One of the trainees, Adeniyi Waheed Adegoke, from Technical College Centre in Osogbo, said the programme exposed him and his colleagues to a lot of computer programmes and mobile phone assembly, maintenance as well as dissemble.
The trainee said he is now self-employed, saying Aregbesola is the first governor he has seen who made promised and fulfilled that promise.
Another trainee, Oyelade Omowunmi Balqis, said the programme means a lot to the participants, adding that it would employ as well as empower them for life.
The best trainee at the end of the programme, Musbau Akinola, besides his certificate, won N100,000 monetary prize form the governor.


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I have been guilty of neglecting my blog.
I have been rather disloyal.
I have defected to......FACEBOOK !! :)
But seriously, lots has happened since we last spoke. One thing that hasn't changed though, is my love of all things furniture and all things paint.
For the last couple of months, I have been creating a FB page and have made lots of wonderful friends because of it. I have been inspired, encouraged and my belief in my abilities is building little by little every day.
So a big hello to you, thank you if you have stopped by the blog occasionally to see me and finally sorry for being a totally RUBBISH blogger for the past months.
I will update as often as possible, please stop by my FB page to say hello.
You will find me at www.Facebook.com/Acupboardlessordinary
Be happy, sweet dreams
ps. where has my favourite font gone??


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Milk Glass Tray which is a Gloved Hand holding a large Fan. There is a red stone in the ring on the hand which I think is the original stone. This piece was made by Atterbury Glass in the late 1880's. It is a spectacular piece which is 9 ½" long. The Fan has a feathered edge and fringed tassels. It is in very good condition on the top, but there are some small chips and one large chip on the underneath which can't be seen from the top. This is a very unusual piece of Atterbury Glass and some damage is to be expected after 110 years. Fortunately it still makes a beautiful display piece as you a see from the photos since the damage is on the underside.
19 other shoppers are interested in this item
Rare Milk Glass Covered Animal Dishes, Slag Glass, EAPG Animal Covered Dishes
1880's Milk Glass & EAPG Covered Animal Dishes, Slag Glass, Powder Jars w/Animal & Human Figures from Depression.


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12:00 pm
Mathematics Illuminated "Primes" The properties and patterns of prime numbers. D
12:30 pm
Mathematics Illuminated "Combinatorics Counts" Counting is an act of organization, a listing of a collection of things in an orderly fashion. Sometimes it's easy; for instance counting people in a room. But listing all the possible seating arrangements of those people around a circular table is more challenging. D
1:00 pm
Western Tradition "Alexander The Great" For a brief moment, his empire rules the world from Greece to India.G
1:30 pm
Western Tradition "The Hellenistic Age" After the break-up of Alexander's empire, a series of Hellenistic kingdoms extends Greek culture throughout the Mediterranean world.G
2:00 pm
Human Condition "Diagnosis: Cancer" The program deals with why patients diagnosed with cancer, any of more than 100 diseases characterized by abnormal growth of aberrant cells, should no longer assume that the diagnosis is a "death sentence".G
2:30 pm
Human Condition "Living with Cancer" The program identifies the recent technological and scientific advances that have enabled ever-greater numbers of cancer patients to "beat" the disease and covers the principal forms of cancer treatment, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.G
3:00 pm
Saddle Club "Across The Board" Stevie tries to use Belle in her lesson but Belle is not ready. Carole is angry with Veronica because Garnet is being neglected; they make a bet that could force one of the girls to leave Pine Hollow.G
3:30 pm
Biz Kid$ "Secrets to Success" The secret to success is actually simple - it's all about staying in school and building the best toolbox for your future. Learn about the many ways to pay for your education and the importance of learning every day of your life. D
4:00 pm
Growing a Greener World "Community Gardens- Growing So Much More Than Plants" Columbus, OH, Seattle, WA and Portland, OR. Having an opportunity to participate in a community garden builds a sense of community like nothing else. It provides opportunities for exercise, education, therapy, relaxation and social interaction, along with preserving green space and conserving resources. D
4:30 pm
Hey Kids, Let's Cook "Personal Pizzas" This recipe is every kid's favorite and a personal favorite of mine, so we call it Personal Pizzas. These are going to be "made to order", or "just the way you like it", with a blend of cheeses, gooey mozzarella cheese and an endless list of creative toppings like olives, grilled vegetables, and pepperoni. And you know pizza restaurants from all over America give a unique name to their own specialty pizzas on the menu. D
5:00 pm
Ciao Italia "Fresh Ricotta/Ricotta Fresca" Good friend an attorney Ciro Poppiti visits Mary Ann nella cucina, with an ample supply of freshly made ricotta from his company, "Arcangelo Cheese" in Wilmington, DE. They proceed to make a stupendous pastry-encased, Ricotta and Mozzarella cheese-stuffed masterpiece; Pizza Carnevale. Then Mary Ann takes up the baton and creates a light-as-a-cloud, orange-flavored Ricotta Cheesecake. D
5:30 pm
Hubert Keller: Secrets of a Chef "Easy Frozen Desserts" Two great frozen desserts are on the menu today including a delicious chocolate sorbet and a fruity, raspberry frozen yogurt. Chocolate Sorbet in White Chocolate Cups; Raspberry Frozen Yogurt.G
6:00 pm
Rick Steves' Europe "Cinque Terre: Italy's Hidden Riviera" Rick samples village life, fishing for anchovies at midnight, savoring pesto, picking grapes, cheering on cliff divers, and visits quarries where Michelangelo selected marble.G
6:30 pm
Travel with Kids "Peru - The Inca World - Machu Picchu & Cuzco" The city of Cuzco, the famous center of the Inca world, is full of colorful history, culture and adventure waiting to be discovered as Nathan & Seamus explore the massive stone walls and a Spanish colonial town square. Take the train from Cuzco into the mountains to discover the majestic Inca city of Machu Picchu where soaring stone structures have stood for centuries and are surrounded by ancient footpaths and trade trails, perfect for hiking including the famous Inca Trail. D
7:00 pm
Financial Fitness After 50! with Paul Merriman Educator, author and money manager Paul Merriman offers a straightforward program to help the nation's 79 million baby boomers ready themselves for retirement despite today's financial uncertainties. Merriman's five life-changing choices to help grow and manage money into retirement include: Trust the academics, listening to experts who don't profit from a person's investments; use smart diversification by making use of historic data; minimize expenses; automate the process; add bonds to prevent making the wrong moves at the wrong time.G
8:30 pm
Around The House with Matt and Shari "Family Rooms" Today it's all about putting the "family" back into the family room. We'll figure out what that means and take the steps to make that room draw the family back in to spend some time together. We begin with decluttering and updating a family room. D
9:00 pm
Sewing with Nancy "Runway Finishes for Cool Edges, Part 1" Learn to sew runway finishes for seams and hems, creating artistic details on fashion fabrics. Nancy and Linda Lee, fashion designer from The Sewing Workshop, share their penchant for sewing to create cool runway finishes such as mitered corners for hems, a trendy method for sewing a detailed Hong Kong Finish, baby hems for sheers, and a crisp shirttail hem on a classic shirt. The finishing steps are all simple, yet effective. D
9:30 pm
Best of Simply Painting: Across Europe "Celtic Cross and Church" Nestling in the foothills, Frank paints this iconic Irish subject in a quiet country graveyard. D
10:00 pm
Simply Ming "Sake & Black Pepper" Guest Chef: Chris Schlesinger. The clean zing of sake works well with the rich heat of black pepper. These East-West ingredients show their versatility in Ming's recipes. D
10:30 pm
Lidia's Italy In America "Eastern Seaboard: A Shell of a Good Time" NULL
11:00 pm
Primary Sources: Workshops In American History "Korea and the Cold War: A Case Study" This workshop looks at the first use of military force under the Truman Doctrine, and the Korean War as the first practical manifestation of America's Cold War "containment" policy. Using works by George Kennan and Walter Lippman, treaties, and the texts of the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine, the onscreen participants take on the roles of major military, political, and strategic players at a mock Senate hearing to decide whether to intervene in Korea in 1950.G


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The civil engineers behind some of London's most iconic infrastructure projects have put on their dancing shoes to show the public how happy they are to be engineers. They want to entice young people to join the diverse careers available to those who study math and science subjects in school.
The video, commissioned by the Institution of Civil Engineers, showcases the engineering teams behind some of London's world class infrastructure projects, including Crossrail, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the Thames Barrier, London Underground, Walton Bridge, Kings Cross Station and the Hammersmith Flyover.
(WATCH the video above – SHARE #engineeringhappiness)


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PANOPTICON "Collapse"
Year: 2009
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Country: USA
Label: Lundr Records / Pagan Flames
Track List:
- The Death of Baldr and the Coming War
- Aptrgangr
- Merkstave
- Idavoll
The second album by Panopticon is even more complex and experimental than the first. The quality of sound is significantly better, though the drums are too loud IMHO. The strong "industrial" feeling is also present due to extensive use of sampling, as well as acoustic/"folk-ish" parts.
The lyrics are perfect as usual, placing the Nordic mythology in the context of political events of modern world. Seem like A.Lundr's lyrics are the most explicitly anarchistic (or at least revolutionary) in the entire black metal scene.
"Collapse" is overall a great release, a perfect gift to any RABM fan, and one more reason to call Panopticon the best anarchist black metal band nowadays. Don't pass it by!


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Pavesio's Audi Fratelli Giacomel Fra Martina Wins Malcesine
23 July 2012
Malcesine, Italy - Event leader since day one, Audi F.lli Giacomel supported by Eberhard & Co – Fra Martina wins the penultimate event of the Audi Melges 32 Sailing Series, held in Malcesine (Lake Garda) and organized by B-Plan Sport&Events in collaboration with Fraglia Vela Malcesine and Melges Europe.
Three heats were sailed in the last day of racing, completing the scheduled program of eight races. The first, in the morning, with a wonderful Peler conquered by Mauro Mocchegiani's Rush Diletta. The final two completed in the early afternoon with Ora, won respectively by Vincenzo Onorato'sMascalzone Latino and Lanfranco Cirillo's Fantastica.
The crew of Edward and Vanni Pavesio was awarded by their consistency and ability to keep a high level of concentration, even in the most delicate moments, as at the final stage, when the umpire made provision for a penalty during the starting procedure. Audi Fra Martina show her substance thanks to the expert afterguard composed by Gabriele Benussi (tactician) and Riccardo Simoneschi (mainsail trimmer) catching up with the rival Filippo Pacinotti on Brontolo HH who finished fourth.
The podium of the fourth event of the Audi Melges 32 Sailing Series 2012 sees Pacinotti in second, a happily greeted result due to the return of tactician Daniele Cassinari. Onorato finishes third and maintains the overall leadership of the Audi Sailing Series with 19 points on Cirillo, that in the home waters of Lake Garda, failed to achieve anything above eighth place.
On Sunday morning two members representing each crew attended to the Audi Day, a challenge of dynamic tests on Audi R8 and RS3 Kontra. Congratulations to Ferdinando Battistella, owner ofQuantum Diva, reached the goal in the Regularity Rally on R8 and Armin Raderbauer, bowman onRobertissima, was the best in the Kontra Special Slalom.
In addition to Audi, the Audi Sailing Series are supported by Eberhard & Co watches, official timekeeper of the season, and Musto, involved as technical sponsor.
TOP TEN RESULTS (after 8 races, 1 discard)
1.) Edoardo and Vanni Pavesio/Gabriele Benussi, Audi F.lli Giacomel Fra Martina; 4-2-1-7-5-(10*)-4-5 =28
2.) Filippo Pacinotti/Daniele Cassinari, Brontolo HH; 7-3*-2-2-(9)-4*-6-4 = 32
3.) Vincenzo Onorato/Nathan Wilmot, Mascalzone Latino; 9-(10*)-6-6-1-3*-1-8 = 36
4.) Jason Carroll/Charlie Ogletree, Argo; 6-4-9-5-6-2*-(11)-2 = 36
5.) Roberto Tomasini Grinover/Flavio Favini, Robertissima; 2-7*-5*-4-3-(8*)-5-7 = 37
6.) Marc De Antonio/Gonzalo Araujo, Bribon Movistar; 1-6*-4-9-10-(11)-3-3 = 38
7.) Mauro Mocchegiani/Matteo Ivaldi, Rush Diletta; 10-(9*)-8-3-2-1-7-9 = 40
8.) Lanfranco Cirillo/Michele Paoletti, Fantastica; 8-1-(10*)-10-4-9*-8-1= 43
9.) Carlo Alberini/Enrico Fonda, Calvi Network; 5-5*-(12)-1-8-6*-2-12= 43
10.) Ferdinando Battistella/Carlo Fracassoli, Quantum Diva; 3-8-(11)-11-7-10-6= 52
View Full Results
View Full Crew/Entry List
View Photo Gallery - Leonardo Bianchi
In addition to Audi, the Audi Sailing Series is supported by the official timekeeper Eberhard & Co watches and Musto, the official technical supplier.
The live recorded video of the fourth event of the Audi Melges 32 Sailing Series 2012 are available athttp://www.livestream.com/liveye
Daily race reports, press release and photos from Malcesine are available at the official website of theInternational Melges 32 Class Association. If you are unable to attend Audi Sailing Series Event No. 4, stay in touch by subscribing to the IM32CA RSS Feed or visiting the Official Melges 32 Blog. The Melges 32 can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.


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[caption id="attachment_5731" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Making Up"][/caption]
What's coming up next week on Life UneXpected? We've got some spoilers that aren't in the episode description.
Next week, we meet all of Lux's little orphan friends. We'll also encounter a gaping plot hole when Cate, bowing to pressure from her station manager, takes to the airwaves to deny that she has a daughter — never once thinking that said daughter probably owns both a radio and a set of ears. It's so annoying when good shows do dumb stuff like that.
I'm assuming 'all of Lux's little orphan friends' refers to Bug, Lux's boyfriend. And I'm assuming that he probably doesn't like to be referred to as little. Also, Cate is really starting to grate on me. Talk about dumb!
Are you a fan? Who's your favorite character as of right now?
Source: Ask Ausiello


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My job is not to make you love me. It's instead.....to control the extent people can publicly express antitrans sentiments -- A Rustin thought.Notice that Mr. Sandeen does not say, "influence" but instead says, "control." He does't say something like "My job is to "refute false antitrans sentiments..." For Mr. Sandeen, it is about "control." One might ask, why is this? The answer is simple, he is a man, and men like to be in total control.
Mr. Sandeen likes to compare the imagined plight of "transgender people" with that of African-Americans. Of course, this is absurd. The movement to end racial discrimination was based on people lacking rights based on a criteria that had no basis in reason, and which was rooted simply in appearance. As hard as it is to believe in retrospect, African-Americans were considered to be "inferior" simply because of the color of the skin. Nothing more. Of course, in order to justify that, people made up false claims, which only the truly ignorant would remotely accept today.
On the other hand, the issues concerning transgender people, particularly the one that is so near and dear to Mr. Sandeen's heart...the right to invade sexually segregated places, are rooted in reality. Women simply don't want their privacy invaded by men. Transsexuals have long used the women's room without incident, but it is the increasing invasion of those who are not transsexual, who are increasingly told they have an absolute right to go into women's spaces, provided they simply "identify" as a woman, that are the problem.
One of the most telling aspects of the whole bathroom issue is the arrogant disregard that these so-called "transwomen," have for the feelings and concerns of women. The basic response is, "get over it." In their mind, it is their right and privilege to enter women's private spaces, even those involving actual nudity.
Sandeen, having falsely obtained a California birth certificate by fraudulently claiming to have completed a sex change (he is a eunuch) once made a rather arrogant remark about how he was considering going to the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, claiming that he was now, "legally" a woman born woman.
Like many transgender extremists, Mr. Sandeen's arrogance knows no bounds. Just over a year ago, he tweeted this bit of arrogant silliness to Aunty Orthodox, another one of us horrible transsexual separatists....
I am a woman. I'm among those who define the space. Trans women are women, and are among those who define the space.Uh, no. Mr. Sandeen is a male, who has a penis (which he wishes to keep) but not his testicles...by definition, a eunuch at best, but in no sense a woman. He fraudulently obtained a California birth certificate by lying to a judge, but that does not make him a female, and certainly not a woman. And he certainly has no business telling women how to define their space.
No, the arrogance of transgender extremists is astounding. Sandeen is just one example, but he is a major one. He is complaining again that I am targeting him, and I admit, I do right about him a lot, because a) he is such a perfect example of transgender stupidity and arrogance, and b) he is a very prolific writer, so he is a rich source of material.


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Keep in contact with the Nature Coast Community using our new Online Directory! Just click the link below, and log in with the privacy key. If you do not already have the privacy key, please contact the church office.
Click Here to View the NCC Online Directory
The online directory allows us to provide instant and up-to-date information to the Nature Coast family. If you would like to add or update your contact information, you can contact the church office at 352-628-6222 or email@example.com, and we will submit the changes for you. You may also purchase a printed copy of the directory for $8.


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I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Dragon Leatherworks gets the all-powerful Squirrel Report Squirrel of Approval.
Four out of four Squirrels agree. Dragon Leatherworks makes good stuff. It's what you wear when you want to feel pretty (love that line, Breda). If there's anything I know, SQRLs rarely agree on anything - but we are in 100% agreement that Dragon stuff is top notch.
And, go check out the link - Squirrel butt!
That is all.
Friday, June 14, 2013
More Linky Love...
Labels: Linky Love
3 comments:
- Old NFO said...
LOL, at least he's not damned with faint praise! Dennis does GOOD work!
- June 15, 2013 at 9:18 AM
- Bradley said...
I love my VC stamped holster from Dennis, he does great work, and will take the time to answer any questions you have. Everything is made to order, so it will take a bit of time to get it out to you once your order, but for the price and quality that you get. Its more then worth the wait.
- June 15, 2013 at 12:39 PM
So you're saying that IYHO, we can order stuff from Dennis without feeling ...
[dramatic pause]
squirrelly about it?
- June 16, 2013 at 7:51 AM
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I'm guessing this will be the last poem I feature from my winter-themed collection of children's poetry; with April (National Poetry Month!) just around the corner, winter is definitely behind us.
I wrote this last year, specifically because I wanted a poem that would serve as an appropriate end to my manuscript. Aside from the fact that the collection is all about winter, I organized the poems chronologically, starting with one about trees losing their leaves, moving on to the holidays, through January and February, and finally concluding with the promise of spring. I thought a crocus would be the perfect image for the two competing seasons, considering it often grows through snow…so I hope you like it!
Mary Lee and Franki at A Year of Reading are today's Poetry Friday hostesses – so pop on over and see what else is happening in the kidlitosphere!
When winter's winds are on the wane
And sunshine warms young April days,
When snow gives way to slushy rain
The crocus springs anew.
While crouching 'neath the frosty crust,
On tender bended stem it prays
To fend off one more crushing gust
And melt the frozen dew.
– © 2013 Matt Forrest Esenwine
By the way, speaking of National Poetry Month, I'll be participating in Irene Latham's 2013 'Progressive Poem' at Live Your Poem. No, it has nothing to do with politics – it's a poem that will start with one blogger on April 1 (Amy Ludwig VanDerwater) and travel from blog to blog each day, with each blogger adding a new line to the poem. By the end of the month, we'll have a completed poem! (I'll be adding the third line to the poem on April 3 – so please check back, and follow along with all the bloggers!)
I'll also be featuring poetry in all of my April blog posts (each Tue. and Fri.), so I hope you'll join me. Remember, if you subscribe to this blog you'll always be notified when a new post has made made!


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If you're a fan of contemporary design and modern style, you will love the timeless appeal of Sirenide, a quaint three-story semi-attached villa set on the hills of Sorrento, only a 15 minute drive to town or a pleasant 20 minute walk on a car-free pathway.
The villa resides adjacent to its owners' and we cannot help but be intrigued by the very cool, functional and comfortable interiors and welcoming efforts: a private courtyard for eating al fresco, a roof terrace offering breathtaking views of the bay of Naples, and its swimming pool set in Sirenide's own citrus grove: a unique and unexpected perk which sets Sirenide apart.
Weekly rates & Availability
|Weekly rate
- Security deposit: €1,000 held by the agency
- Tourist tax: €3 per person/per night for up to 7 nights, to be paid locally, in cash (guests under 18 are except)
- Pets allowed at owner's discretion
- Landline not available
- No smoking villa
- Check-in 4:00pm – 8:00pm – Check-out by 10:00am – Penalty for delayed check-out: €300 per each hour after 10:00am
- For check-in after 10pm, or check-out service before 8:00am: €20 fee per service
- All the extra services must be paid locally, prior to departure, unless otherwise arranged
Inquire about this villa
Included with rent
- Electricity up to 200 Kwh per week, a/c, heating, gas, water and final cleaning
- Unlimited Wi Fi internet connection
- Welcome basket with basic pantry for one day
- Garden and pool maintenance
- Pool towels
Not included with rent
- Housekeeping available on request: €15 per hour/per staff member
- Professional cook €80 per dinner + €15 per hour for grocery shopping (cost of food not included)
- Change of bed linens €20 per bed
- Change of bath linens €20 per set
- Grocery pre-stocking service
- Crib, baby bed and high chair
Previous guests say
Stephen F. • August 2018
Wonderful and very spacious! An older unique home, fully restored. Shared wall but very private. Pool is shared with the one home, however we had it to ourselves. Stunning views! Casual pub and a restaurant within easy walking distance. We hiked into Sorrento a few times. 30 to 40 minutes. We hired a driver for some day tours through the concierge. The local contact Rita was also very helpful. Amazing experience!
Elisabeth • October 2017
The Villa is nothing short of a breathtaking villa along the Sorrento mountainside. Our family enjoyed our stay in this elegant space, which was modern, yet full of old world charm. We hope to return.
Susie • August 2017
Great place, good location to get around to Positano and Amalfi, but still be able to explore Sorrento. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. We love Sonia! Beds comfy and good air con! Amazing lemons too!
What to do in Sorrento area
The strategic location of Sorrento allows you to visit a plethora of interesting sites with short haul and frequent connections. Naples, with its magnificent museums and marvelous churches, the ruins of the great Pompeii and Herculaneum (you will be amazed at how fascinated you may become if you visit the ruins with a good passionate guide – ask our concierge for assistance in booking one of them), Mount Vesuvius and the glitzy Capri, in addition of course to Positano, Amalfi and Ravello, the gems of the Amalfi Coast. All these must-see destinations are a short ride away. And keep in mind: this area has the highest concentration of excellent restaurants in all of Italy. Are you hungry yet?
Where to eat
Il Buco – Michelin awarded restaurant in a beautiful setting, right in the center of town. 2a rampa Marina Piccola 5, Sorrento - +39 081 878 2354
Relais blu Belvedere – Book a table at sunset to enjoy amazing views of Capri while tasting food from heaven! Via Roncato 60, Massa Lubrense - +39 081 878 9552
Antico Franceschiello – Historic restaurant serving typical cuisine in a traditional ambiance. Via Partenope 27, Massa Lubrense - +39 081 878 2212
Lo Scoglio – Order the amazing mixed vegetables, grown in the owners' garden, a fresh octopus salad and the spaghetti with zucchini. If you still have room, finish with the custard cream and classic flambéed fig tart. You would never want to leave this place! Piazza delle Sirene 15, Marina del Cantone - +39 081 808 10 26
La Conca del Sogno – The best way to get here is by boat. Order anything you like from the menu, you cannot go wrong! Grab a glass of chilled Fiano di Avellino, and enjoy the view. Via San Marciano 9, Recommone - +39 338 868 1224
Where to shop
Food specialties: superlative food shop in Vico Equense, La Tradizione, is definitely worth a visit for the foodie travelers. Via R. Bosco 969, Seiano - +39 081 802 9791
Perfumes – D'Esposito – Great selection of original scents. We love the eau de toilette Capri Blu, the fresh air of the Coast in a bottle! Via Cesareo 53, Sorrento - +39 081 807 27 82
Hand-made sandals – Corcione, artisanal shoemaker that manufactures classic coastal shoes using fine materials and high quality leather. Corso Italia 28, Sorrento - +39 081 877 0600
Inlaid wood - Stinga Tarsia, eccellent artisanal inlay, pieces that will be not mere souvenirs but true art for your home. Via Luigi de Maio 16, Sorrento - +39 818781130
Limoncello – purchase the famous liquor and other local specialties directly from the farmer at Il Convento. Via Bagnulo 10, Massa Lubrense - +39 081 878 9380


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A lesson in Gamma
Allen Ayler@PseudoCrusaderAs a general rule, I don't expose people who email me, whether they are readers, critics, or even hatemailers. But sometimes, it is beneficial to do so, in order to provide an object lesson to those who believe that they can behave abusively with impunity, particularly in cases where there is a deeper lesson to be learned. And it's never a bad thing to remind people, from time to time, that picking a fight with someone whose friends and allies call him "Supreme Dark Lord" is probably not a wise thing to do.
@voxday You follow just 32 people. Must be your egotistical self importance.
Vox Day@voxday
Very foolish, Allen. I was going to leave our email exchange private, but I'll go ahead and publish it on Alpha Game now.
It is a powerful lesson in not permitting Gammas in your project.
But before you think I am attempting to rationalize a violation of privacy, please be aware that he has publicly requested that I post it: "Please post my email so people can know how full of shit you are." Also, on Gab: "Post the fucking email you hypocrite self-deluded asshole."
One of the challenges of running any organization, be it professional or volunteer, is dealing with the quirks of the various members, most of which are based on their socio-sexual status. Alphas are going to have inappropriate affairs, Betas are going to get promoted over their heads, Lambdas are going to talk relentlessly, and inappropriately, about their personal predilections and social lives, Gammas are going to preen, posture, pout, and occasionally sabotage projects and people, Sigmas are going to create the occasional intra-organizational upheaval, for good or ill, and Omegas are going to get themselves accused of sexual harassment.
That's all normal. You have to expect it as long as you're going to work with human beings. The key is learning to anticipate the problems and head them off at the pass. Don't let the Alpha hire a hot secretary, or at the very least, be sure she isn't married. Keep the Beta in a well-paid supporting position and give him a young subordinate Alpha to help him make decisions. Put the Lambda near the women where he'll entertain them. Try to steer the Sigma's idiosyncracies in a direction where he'll help the organization rather than harm it. Give the Gammas tasks that flatter their egos and keep them far away from any managerial responsibilities. Stash the Omegas where they can't creep out the women. Keep everybody out of the way of the Deltas who actually do most of the meaningful work.
Anyhow, this exchange took place two days ago. I would have let it go, except the Gamma concerned simply couldn't resist taking it public. Gammas, as Delta Man has repeatedly pointed out, not only sabotage others, they also tend to sabotage themselves. But I have seldom seen a Gamma sabotage himself so thoroughly as Mr. Ayler managed to do when attempting to volunteer to "help" Infogalactic.
I'm not saying there was anything wrong with his desire to know what was going on. Nor am I defending my failure to respond to him in a timely manner. But, as you'll see, my initial impression that there was something off about him proved to be correct. In spades.
Labels: Alpha Game, corpocracy


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I will be using some pictures and a video to illustrate what I will be investigating.
Now on this first picture here one sees a little girl with a bucket on her head, wherein she will carry water in it so in order for the family to get water, and who knows how many miles away she must travel in order to get water. This activity in her life is a MUST. Now there are children in these kind of life situations that when they have been asked what they want to become later on in life, most wanted to do something that have to do with getting them and the rest of the people they are in relationship with out of the situation they find themselves, or at least they will choose something that has to do with helping them out of the situation they were born into. You won't hear them say, they want to be a specific engineer in whatever field, like we educated people would do, because we have seen more and are fed more information about careers and available jobs to choose from and to engage ourselves with. They on the other hand will most of the times want to be a: " teacher, a carpenter, a car mechanic, a doctor, a nurse, and very sporadically depending how deep they are in poverty few of them will want to do something that has to do with computers."
Thus these children are aware that more then anything else, in the situations they find themselves, these are their immediate pains, thus need immediate attention and support, thus will willfully choose something where they can contribute to the betterment of the situation they all find themselves.
Now let me take you into a little journey in my past, when I was just a little boy of 4 to 6 years old. In that period of time where I was born, living on the country-side was "IN" or as we say now: "ON." using a little bit of slang here...lol. So what I remembered from this experience was that almost everyone had a little country-side piece of land/farm where they grew food and attended animals mostly for consumption when was needed, so animals were killed but only because the people needed to eat, they were not killing animals because profit had to be made out of the need to eat. Now what I remember was that my parents let me stay at the farm with my grandmother, who is now diseased to keep her company. When I look back at all this, I found that even as this little boy, I felt very much like I needed to be responsible when I am there with my grandmother, because I am keeping her company, but also helping her with all the farm activities. So as I see now, I have known how to be responsible somewhere along the line within my own live, and imagine that as a "kid." And now it's like I am desperately looking to find that within myself, but this will be a topic in another blog about myself.
So back to the activities that had to take place during that time at the farm keeping my grandmother company. We would always wake up early in the morning and will milk the goats, and later on use this milk to either drink it or cook it, actually we will fry it. This frying of the milk will happen only when it is milk of a goat that has previously had a young. We had to milk them otherwise their udders will fill too much with milk and the young one cannot drink all of it by herself/himself. Thus by milking the mother we were then supporting the mother's udders for her to keep on producing milk for the young-one till the young-one does not need it anymore.
Now in that time, because we were planting a specific kind of wheat(picture below) where from which we will make a kind of pancake, but this pancake will be much heavier than you the reader may know about pancake and also we would make with this like an oatmeal, thus this whole thing goes on in the morning, and with the goats milk sometimes we will use it to mix it in the coffee which tasted from my experience much better then mixing it with cows milk, or cream as we have now, but anyways we will eat this and prepare it on a Kerosene cooking-fire.
Then when all of this is done we will let the goats go out in the wild so to speak to roam, and later on when the sun is going down we will go and call them to come back home. After we have done this we will go on the farm land and start to plow the land with our hands, using the tools specifically design for that. In that period of time they did have the plow-machine, but not everyone could afford it, but as a kid you don't realize in these moments that the plow-machine is not working on our land, because of my grandmother not being able to afford it. Sometimes she could but it won't be the whole land that will be plowed, some area's of it only. Now within each of these activities some handling is required, that one must master in order to have the best result as e.g. milking the goats, or plowing the soil by hand using these tools. There is of course more going into all of that, but then the whole story will be too long and the point I want to emphasize on, which is the point of free time, or leisure time will be lost within the story.
On the farm with all the work that has to take place in order for the farm life to happen is a whole daylight activity, meaning that during the day, one is consumed completely with the farm activities and work, that free time, or leisure time is almost impossible, but within this what I found was that the work itself, thus that which needed to be done was in itself liberating. Free-time out of it, would be when we would break for a moment to eat and rest a little and then to continue after. Why I ask myself that the work done on the land itself is liberating, was that even though one is doing the same thing day in and day out, one can like see the changes in nature afterwards as in how everything grows when the rain comes and how the whole land changes from being plowed and seeing just soil to eventually turning into like an open source where life happens, where everything grows, the whole scenery changes. Of course I had a little time left after the work of the day to play for awhile, and even playing will involve some sort of mastering of something practical within what is available on the land of the land. Thus comparing that child's life on the picture above with mine when I was a kid, the work that has to be done is almost similar, especially from the perspective of learning how to practically balance that bucket on your head for example as this kid is doing. There was a time in my life that I have done some things that will be considered "bad" in this world, but I myself will call it " harmful or abusive or exploitative." Doing that, have placed me in a position where I could meet with poor people or people whom have it difficult in their lives, and when I looked at their lives they all have the same pattern, they all wanted to just get out of the living condition they are in, and will choose whatever way to do so, as long as it makes money.
Within this group they do have leisure time, which will be accompanied by drugs/sex/alcohol. That is what their free-time would be like, because the money they were getting was and is being seen as money to have fun with and also having to do with these people being effected into believing that free time means time for me to have parties and you name it, or buying luxury life as is being promoted in the media and when they do so, all the money will then disappear and their lives don't really improve, because the money is being used for other purposes, even though they do cover their expenses and basic survival needs. But the need to party takes precedent.
Now I am placing a little documentary here in this blog to have a look at people's lives in this world, where poverty is not just a word we use, but is an actual reality of people's lives of intense suffering.
Within this documentary one will see and realize that the poor have NO leisure-time or free-time. All they have are worries about where their next meal will come from. Their lives are just one struggle after another. Sometimes they have rain, but then again too much of rain where they won't be able to grow food on the land, thus all in all they will be stuck for a few months without being able to grow food on the land and thus will not be able to have food as they should. So within this small documentary they take the viewer to different parts and regions of Bangladesh to show the poverty that is a thread there as they have said in the video, a thread for the lives of these people. These people have no hope and dreams, all they want is work in order to get the money and then after getting the money to pay to live or buy their lives. I am deliberately using the words placed in the form I just wrote them, because as we know even within our own experience with money, we are doing the same thing, " paying to live and buying our lives," which of course is unnecessary and completely delusional.
Now the reason I placed this like a story is for you the reader to get the sense of exploration that goes on in the activities we do in our daily lives, wherein within it lies possibly our solution.
Conclusion:Thus when I compare my own experiences with others I see that leisure time is available for some depending where they were born and in what kind of culture and religion, and traditions, all of these will have an impact in how they will define leisure time to be according to what they have accumulated in their lives based on their experiences as how hard their lives were or not. Where people live in country-side area's and yet are still people that do have money, these people will have another take on leisure time, and yet others living also on the country-side but are poor, will also have different perspective on leisure time/ free time. Yet people living in cities for example again will have other ways of looking at leisure time and also of practicing it, again based on, in which country one is living. Thus leisure time is dependent on the living condition of an individual and also on the input the individual have had in his/her life in relation to his/her relationship with the people and the whole environment at large in the country he or she was born into. All of these will influence not only on how they will see and interpret leisure time to be, but also how they will practice it.
Solution:When I take what I experienced when I was a child being with my grandmother on the farm was the ability to explore, to find out new things or how they work and how to work with them. Thus what I am saying is that humans will find leisure time attractive when it involves an activity that somehow gravitate on the premise of exploration, in whatever small or big this exploration may be. If we have a look at toddlers, we will notice that they enjoy finding out how things work in their environment and explore new things and new possibilities. Thus by gathering information within/from each parts of societies world wide, we can integrate and come up with new ideas as in how to give leisure time or free time another meaning, where it will become the time one gives to life yet at the same time enjoying doing it, because it will be expanding oneself and adding to one's whole life experience on earth and wherein out of which new inventions may sprout, contributing to not only one's life alone but also in the lives of all living on the planet. Thus making sure our monetary system support such endeavors as a way of principle. At the moment those whom are living in poor conditions do not have opportunities to have a look at what are playing out in the world at large so they can integrate some aspects of what they will see and learn into their own lives to explore, thus when we put our ideas and share our ideas with each other, they too will start to come up with ideas about how they would like to spent some leisure time/free time. Within this leisure time will be enjoyable, fun, transformational, supportive, practical, and contributing to the betterment of life on earth. Thus looking from the perspective of how we that have money in this world have come to define leisure-time or free-time and bringing it into practice we would see, realize and understand that there are some modifications to be taken into account on some areas depending on the type of activity that is being done during the leisure-time or even complete termination are needed where leisure-time is abusive and harmful to life.
Larry Manuela
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No, not looking for a black cat, and not looking to foster. But I just have to write and say thank you for what you are doing for black cats! I volunteer at a local cat rescue and we currently have 32 cats in the "main" rescue. Eight of those cats are black. We have small and large black cats, long haired and short haired black cats. And 8 cats that will probably be with us for a long long time, if not forever.
So it is wonderful to learn that someone is doing something for these "hard to adopt" cats!
Recent Message We Received


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Chuck Liddell finally announced his retirement at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in front of his fans, friends, media and family. It wasn't an untimely decision; it was something on everybody's mind since UFC 97 when Shogun Rua dominated him in a brutal and swift knockout in the first round.
At 41 years old with legendary fights against Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture, Chuck has been the face of the sport for such a long time. He helped carry the sport to what it is now, building every pillar with his fist and fighting heart. He has given his share of blood and sweat in the octagon-the irreplaceable canvass that holds the common ground of all the warriors who fought in the UFC.
He still wanted to fight. It was never a problem. The constant challenges always get him hooked and hang as much as he can and forego his retirement. But when his granite chin slowly betrayed him, there were a number of people calling for his retirement, including the UFC president and Liddell's close friend Dana White.
"I would liked to have gone out on a winning streak, but I don't think I would have left if I had been winning," Chuck said. "I would have wanted to fight one more time to get a win, and if I won then, I would have just wanted to fight again. It's one of those things."
Real fighters don't quit and if they go down, they go down fighting and Chuck is a fighter in every sense. Even if everybody urged him to quit, it was never the way he imagined his career to end.
Chuck finally tapped out on fighting, but he never tapped out on life. His life is his family now, new challenges and new battles to begin.
The healed scars around Lidell's face is a testament to his legendary career. The battles won and the battles lost in the end he conquered. He won the many hearts of men and women.
A fighter that dedicated his life to the sport is always a winner.
Now Chuck belongs to the history books. A fighter that fought to the end… and the face of the sport who will be forever be remembered.
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I think I have a new name for my current project - Candy Kaleidoscope. Because I really love the simply-pieced, fussily-cut hexagons I've been making lately, and the lovely Gayle said they reminded her of one.
One of my top favourite childhood memories is of my grandmother's kaleidoscope. An honest-to-goodness old-fashioned one (because it was such a long time ago LOL). If I close my eyes and imagine looking through the hole, I can still see the everchanging colours and movement. And hear the soft swish of the tiny glass pieces fall over each other like sand.
I was completely fascinated by it. When it popped into my mind a few months ago, I went online and found the most beautiful kaleidoscopes, glass paperweights and glass bottles I've ever seen, at the Light Opera Gallery. I can only imagine what these gorgeous objects look and feel like.
Anyway, back to reality. Here's a picture of my latest blocks, hot off the press. Notice anything different about the red/brown one on the right? It has an octagon in the centre instead of a hexagon.
I made it specially because I wanted to tell you that I just picked up some new custom-made dies yesterday for making die-cut octagons.
I like the octagons with 1" sides but the 2" ones are huge! They are 4 times the size of the 1" ones. I think I'm going to have to get a die made up for 1 1/2" octagons. So if you love hand-piecing but are a little tired of hexies, you might like to try octies for a change. You can find them here.
P.S. I am calling this post "Kaleidoscopes - Part 1" because I have a feeling there's going to be more parts to come. I have the feeling I'm going to be up very late tonight googling for kaleidy images ... bye for now ...