#this was the first non-reprint IF I was ever paid for!

[hpowellsmith]

Heretic Dreams is on itch!

I've transferred my dark fantasy/horror Twine game Heretic Dreams over to my itch page to play for free/pay what you want!

No one knows you swallowed the power of a god, but it will break you apart as you guide your mining party to icy disaster.

Make hard decisions. Bond with your captain. Sacrifice yourself or others. Reach many endings, none good.

First published in sub-Q Magazine, 2016.

Contains sexual references and animal and human death.

-

Play more short free IF on my itch page!

[theladyactress]

Anna Cora Mowatt and the Rumor Mill

It is more usual to think of historians as searching for verifiable facts about historical figures and events. Because this research project is focused on scandal and reputation, I am in the unusual position of being engaged in a search for verifiable rumors and documented innuendo.

I have seen traces many Ogden, Ritchie, and Mowatt descendants in my travels on the internet.  If you make a stop here, be assured that I am not casting aspersions on your illustrious ancestor.  Anna Cora was ruined financially and devastated emotionally by Walter Watts’ crime. Her effort to rebound from this scandal – further complicated by the timing of James Mowatt’s death -- was nothing short of astounding.  I am merely plumbing the depths of the pit into which she suddenly found herself plunged without friend or comfort.

To anyone joining us for the first time, here’s a brief rundown of the Watts scandal:   After Mowatt’s very successful Broadway debut in 1847 as first a playwright then as an actress, she was encouraged by friends, critics, and colleagues to try her luck on the London stage as many American performers had before her to varying degrees of success. Arriving there, she immediately drew the attention of Walter Watts, the manager of the Olympic and Marylebone theaters.  Despite the fact that she was a mere novice, he signed her to a lucrative long-term contract (Even stars players were usually hired only for one show at a time). Watts publicly presented her with expensive gifts and had a deluxe dressing room outfitted for her where he hosted champagne dinners attended by London’s literary and social elite. This jealousy-inspiring treatment came to an abrupt and shocking end in March of 1850 when Watts was arrested for fraud. Watts’ arrest brought to light the fact that he was a clerk for the Globe Insurance Company who had been financing a millionaire lifestyle for over a decade by systematically embezzling from his company. Four months later, Watts hung himself in Newgate prison.

(If you’d like to read more about the scandal and Mowatt’s entanglement in it, this webpage goes into more depth: Touch of Scandal)

The double difficulty in my research into this scandal is that I’m trying to sort out not only what really happened, but what people thought happened. Because of her personal rhetorical approach and the general standards of the times, Mowatt did not directly address the rumors connecting her to Watts. After a certain point in her autobiography, she even ceases to refer to him by name. Her biographers use phrases like, “everyone in London thought” when talking about the scandal, but it now seems like few of those people documented their beliefs. Therefore more than a century later, I am trying to pick up the echoes of a very damaging whisper campaign.

A tidbit I discovered in one of my recent research “finds” is a perfect illustration of the sort of damaging innuendo that may have been being spread tying Mowatt to Watts at the time of his arrest in a manner that did harm to her reputation in England.

The article, entitled “The Forgeries of Walter Watts” appears at the bottom of page 3 in a New Zealand newspaper on November 5, 1892. Walter Watts and James Mowatt had been dead for forty-two years when the article was published. Anna Cora herself had passed away twenty-two years before. Still, this “true crime” story from half the globe away was deemed by the publishers of the paper entertaining enough to devote two columns to -- wedged in between a chapter from a Robert Lewis Stevenson story and a testimonial for the Society for the Cruelty to Animals.  This account followed along the general lines of the narrative that I first saw recorded by David Morier Evans in Facts, Failures, and Frauds: Revelations, Financial, Mercantile, Criminal in 1859.  The narrative mentions all of what I have come to consider the “major” rumors tying Mowatt to Watts; such as the silver urn, the dressing room, the locket, and the silk scarf.  We will devote much time in future blogs dissecting each of these elements at length as they appear in this and other accounts.  However among the colorful details this story adds that I have not seen in other accounts, I want to focus here on the following:  “(Watts) sent the lady’s husband on a voyage to Trinidad…”

Nothing in my research indicates that Watts funded James Mowatt’s trip to Trinidad or that it was the manager’s idea in any way. According to Mowatt’s autobiography, her husband set sail for the West Indies in October of 1849 on the advice of more than one doctor after a re-occurrence of an unnamed neurological disorder or perhaps a growing tumor that rendered him blind in one eye and would kill him before the end of 1850. She says that the doctors thought the warmer climate and the long sea voyage would be good for him.

I have to enter into the record here that this is the point in Mowatt’s autobiography where she has stopped referring to Watts by name. She wrote her account of the decision for James Mowatt to set sail for the West Indies using a lot of passive voice and vague constructions like “doctors were consulted” and “it was decided.”  In the spring and summer of 1849, Watts was presumably still the Mowatts’ friend and great benefactor.  She was giving speeches in public talking about how wonderful Watts was and writing glowing dedications to him in the published versions of her plays.  Watts was Anna Cora’s employer and had access to much more money than the Mowatts did. If he generously offered help fund a medically-ordered trip to Trinidad for the critically ill James and insisted that Anna Cora stay in London to fulfill her contractual obligations, then how could they refuse?

Also, to look at the scenario from the other side, if I was Walter Watts – embezzler and con man, leading a double life, -- who had convinced James Mowatt,  -- ailing, middle-aged, controlling, ex-lawyer husband of my little American princess star actress -- to invest his wife’s life savings in the Olympic theater that I probably had burned down in the spring so I could rebuild with money I was stealing four and five hundred dollars at a time from the insurance company I was secretly working for... You know, I think I could think of a thousand good reasons why I might want him in Trinidad soaking in the sun and slowly dying instead of at a hospital in Germany or Switzerland that specialized in neurological disorders or cancer treatments while I had champagne dinners with his young beautiful wife in her fancy dressing room in London.

Thus you can see that the “(Watts) sent the lady’s husband on a voyage to Trinidad…” statement starts with the firmest foundation of a good rumor.  It is plausible. All the characters are behaving in the manner that we imagine that they might—even when we imagine them to be behaving very, very badly.  

[In a future blog, I plan to discuss the the aspect of rumor in which the spread of scandal is aided by prior negative perceptions of certain classes of individuals and how being an American actress in London fueled the harm caused to Mowatt by the Watts incident. However, we’ll leave that for now.]

In addition to being plausible, another aspect giving additional power to the Trinidad rumor is the truth of this information is knowable. Unfortunately, I’m not saying that I think that I will ever know the truth of the matter, but it is plausible that there were individuals at that time who knew the truth of about whether or not Walter Watts paid to send James Mowatt to Trinidad. When James left, Anna Cora moved in with her acting partner, E.L. Davenport and his pregnant wife, Fanny. They probably knew.  Their children could have known. Members of the theatrical company may have known. Friends of Watts could have known.  This anonymous account is written from the perspective of a young man of who Watts befriended.

Thus the “Trinidad” tidbit is succinctly is capable of confirming a willing listener’s most negative suspicions about Watts’ predatory behavior in the Mowatt marriage and Anna Cora’s either passive or active participation in that interference – depending on how negative one’s pre-existing view of her is. Although anonymous and even only ambiguously non- fictional, the narrator gives himself just barely enough credibility to serve as a plausible source for this information.

And so, my friends, forty-two years after the principals are dead, a strong rumor takes a deep, nourishing breath of fresh air.

The presentation chosen for this account leaves me with several questions that I’d like to share with you, dear readers. How seriously am I meant to take this “Page 3” story? It shares many characteristics with Sydney Horler’s “true crime” version of Watts’ story in his 1931 book Black Souls (A million thanks to Christi Saindon for helping me track down this hard to find volume!). Unlike Horler, though, the anonymous narrator claims to have first-hand insight to Watts’ actions and does not identify their version of the manager’s thoughts or words as fictionalizations.  Do any of you know anything about New Zealand newspaper publishing conventions circa 1890?  Was this section of the paper reserved for light entertainment? Reprints from English papers? Excerpts from books or magazines?

Also, my knowledge of Victorian medical science is thin. Do any of you have more expertise? How valid was the West Indies as a destination for the dying James Mowatt in 1849? I know that neurology was in its infancy and that “the rest cure” was being proscribed for a wide range of psychological and physical disorders of the brain that would be treated with medicine or surgery only twenty or thirty years later, but wouldn’t there be better places in England or Europe to treat someone with something that was exerting so much pressure it was making them lose sight in one eye?

I look forward to your input! Next week – more scandal!

[thehappyscavenger]

Books Read in April 2019

Days by Moonlight by André Alexis

I love André Alexis books but I found this one slightly disappointing, mostly because it’s supposed to be the end point of his Quincunx cycle. A mythic road trip across a fictionalized version of Southern Ontario it only really comes alive near the end.  

Full Disclosure by Stormy Daniels

Stormy Daniels is an adult film actress, writer and director who burst into mainstream fame when it was revealed that Donald Trump made hush payments to her to get her to shut up about the fact that they had sex while he was married. Full Disclosure is an attempt to cash in on that fame. Honestly ever since she came to mainstream attention I thought Daniels came across as really smart and sincere so I was curious about reading her memoir. The first half of the book (the non-Trump half) was by far the most interesting and deals with her crappy childhood which included neglect and abuse and the way she fell into stripping but used her smarts to become one of the best paid actresses in the business. Once Trump enters the picture the book slows down a bit. All in all an okay memoir and a fairly quick read. 

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

I was very disappointed in this as it was the most recent Giller prize winner and I found it quite mediocre. The novel follows a young boy born into slavery who manages to escape by accident and then later tries to find the white man who saved him. The ambition of the novel is quite great and I can really feel what Edugyan is going for. Unfortunately the book just doesn’t quite live up to it. The first one hundred pages or so are great after that it just falls apart. It struck me at one point later in the book that Edugyan was just writing in really broad generalities that make for a boring read. When she actually slowed down and put in scenes the book got great again. Do not get the hype, would not recommend. 

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

I find that popular books either fall into two categories: works of Literature pushed by the established literati or easy to read pulp. Eleanor Oliphant has traces of potential that show that it could once have been a fine piece of literature and then takes a turn for the worse. Especially as the end comes it’s like Honeyman abandons all sense of character for a feel good ending and a twist. The book is about the titular character who is just about to turn 30 when she develops a delusional crush on a local musician and at the same time is befriended for the first time by a coworker. She’s totally socially inept in a way that goes beyond your average awkward coworker and as the book goes on it slowly is revealed why. 

Also very random but this is the 4th book I’ve read in 2019 that features a character with severe scarring from burns and the second one in a row after Washington Black.  

Stoner by John Williams

Despite the title this is not a book about a drug addict. Rather it’s a superb and sad novel about the life of a mediocre man, a professor of literature who just manages to escape his station in life and then rises no further. It took me a little while to get into this book because the beginning is rather plain but thanks to a huge ringing endorsement (from a Tumblr blog) I stuck with it and I’m glad I did. The copy I read was a reprint by NYRB which specializes in reprinting books that are not classics or have never been translated before. I love their editors, I have literally never read a bad book from among their selections.  

[catching-up-on-comic-books]

Binge Reading Journal - November 13, 2018 - the tenth day of reading Marvel’s Dark Reign (Part 3)

Secret Invasion- Requiem

Now they reprint Court-Martial by Jim Shooter (boy genius writer), Bob Hall (an underrated penciler), Dan Green on inks and Janice Chiang on Letters. This story was first featured in Avengers #213 in 1981 featuring the smack heard ‘round the world.

Hank Pym, now working under the name of Yellowjacket, is standing in front of Iron Man, Thor and Captain America. All in full uniform in their private mansion where no one can see, or get in or out. BUT this is a serious matter. Full uniform must be worn! Iron Man says that Cap has leveled some serious charges against Yellowjacket. Thor lets him know that if the accusations are true he will face formal court-martial! Thor wants the record to show that he and Iron Man are presiding as judges.....wait wait wait. These are just a bunch of dudes wearing really tight clothes in a swanky clubhouse. There’s no military sanction. Tony Stark is footing the bill (through the Maria Stark Foundation) so they can run around and smash things!

According to the Marvel Database, they’re a non-profit organization like the American Red Cross or Habitat for Humanity, recognized by the National Security Council of the US and the UN as a peacekeeping organization, ain’t nobody being court-martialed....pppsshhhh. Just be all like, “Hank you’re a jerk! Here are your things and go away.”

Well, these boys are going to go through this farce anyway. Cap states that the day before, during a mission where he was fighting a mysterious woman attacking Washington D.C. He managed to convince her to stop when Yellowjacket shot her in the back, which caused her to continue fighting. Iron Man asks for an explanation to which he has none. His own personal thoughts, legible in a bubble to the reader shows him thinking that he was a jerk and acted over eagerly to be the star on his first mission since rejoining the team.

Thor (who’s not really pretending at any of this because he actually is a Norse god) says they will convene for three days until the formal court-martial (hahahah) and suspends Hank until then so hand over your Avengers ID Card, Hank!

Hank pleads a little at this but Iron Man reminds him the rules, which he helped write, are firm on this.

I don’t think The Salvation Army has ever court-martialed anyone and they call themselves an army!

Janet is in the hallway outside the court-martial ichamber. Tigra asks why so down? Tigra, by the way is hanging from one of the rafters in the ceiling because it helps her relax. She wonders why Janet is so hung up on that strange guy anyway. Can we remind 2008 Future Tigra, who’s having Skrull-Hank babies, she thought Hank was strange in 1981?

Hank leaves the room and practically shoves Janet aside, telling her to leave him alone when she asks how he is. He immediately regrets it an apologizes before she walks away. She comes in for an embrace and say sweet consoling things to each other. TIgra doesn’t get it.

As the other founding members go their separate ways, each one remembers their own mistakes from the past.

Cap recalls when, during a heated battle against Nazi soldiers, he reacted to a noise behind him and instinctively threw his shield. It was a little girl, an orphan, collecting the brass shells for money. He barely missed hitting her when she bent down to pick up a shell. Cap realizes that he nearly made the same mistake as Hank.

Iron Man is going over Hank’s files and pictures, As a founding member his history is tied in closely with the Avengers’ history. However, Hank never really seemed to settle in, taking on guises such as Giant-Man and Goliath. Tony feels that Hank always felt outclassed by himself and Iron Man, so he’d leave the team to try to come up with some scientific breakthrough to prove himself. One of those wound up being Ultron, the Avengers’ greatest enemy. Then he had an accident in the lab which triggered a mental breakdown. That’s when he started calling himself Yellowjacket. However, the schizophrenia was cured (can’t be cured.)

Schizophrenia, and other mental disorders are a pulp fiction trope, used to explain away erratic behavior. It is usually used by writers with very little understanding of the actual condition. Actually, a rigorous new definition of schizophrenia was fashioned for the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition,'' or ''DSM-III,'' which was published by the American Psychiatric Association in 1980.

Nevertheless, Hank and Janet got married. As Iron Man continues reminiscing, he recalls how Ultron returned and forced him to create Jocasta from Janet’s brain waves. Iron Man wonders if Hank will ever stop looking for redemption. Is it fair to turn away from a friend who needs help, should he be punished for a mistake anyone of them could have made?

Janet and Hank head home, Janet stopping to sign autographs for fans waiting outside the mansion, none recognizing Yellowjacket. They head to their residence in Cresskill, New Jersey. (Did he always live there? Should I redo my ant speed calculations from that earlier issue?) Ah wait, their butler and other staff greet Janet like she’s the Queen of England and Hank is something she stepped in. She’s the rich one, inherited her father’s wealth which he made from science, with all his alien teleportation stuff. Not a lot of scientists manage to get rich. Usually the career path of a scientist is to become tenured at a university, write a lot of books and speaking engagements, they manage to make a decent living. Usually they work for companies and universities collecting meager salaries for the opportunity to science.

If a scientist manages to discover something, and patent it and comes up with a practical use for it, then there is an opportunity to become rich from it. A couple of rich, like Craig Ventner. Dr. Ventner, much like Hank Pym, is a biotechnologist, biochemist and geneticist. He was involved in mapping the human genome. Then he founded, Celera Genomics, institute for Genomic Research and the J. Craig Ventner Institute and Human Longevity, Inc.

At Celera, Ventner and his colleagues completed sequencing the human genome (Ventner’s genome specifically) three years ahead of schedule, beating the government funded Human Genome Project (your taxes at work.) Ventner’s discoveries, patents and stock ownership in the companies he’s founded made him very rich. Forbes estimates that his net worth (as of 2017) based on his stakes on two of his startups is about $300 million.

It seems like taking some real world examples, there’s some untapped story ideas to mine; what did Janet Van Dyne’s father discover and patent that made him rich and how has it impacted the world; how can Pym cash in on his own discoveries (not to mention Reed Richards, Hank McCoy, etc.).

Janet tries to get Hank into the bedroom, but he takes the laboratory over the seductive advances of his wife.

Hank admits he hates going to the lab because it reminds him of his failures, except there is one success he’s had in the lab: Robotics (wait, no that never turns out well.

Cut to three days later, Tigra is asleep in her private quarters, Bob Hall draws her in the nude but all the naughty bits are tastefully covered. She wakes up to the sound of Jarvis approaching her door. Jim Shooter makes it a point to say she slipped on a satiny negligee. It’s like the only reason Tigra was created was to get some weird furry fantasy going for the readers. A startled Jarvis, who’s never owned a cat apparently or else he wouldn’t be surprised by her behavior, is presenting Tigra with her first weekly stipend check.

She is surprised to learn that the Avengers get paid a salary. He clarifies that it is a modest stipend to cover living expenses, which most Avengers traditionally refuse, he adds in a snidely way. Hmmmm. Let’s see....Black Panther is the king of his own country so mega-rich; Thor, Prince of Asgard, so rich he doesn’t even need money; Captain America, probably collecting a lot of military back pay. See, Jarvis, most Avengers refuse the stipend because they’re already rich; not because they are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.

He continues to economically shame her by pointing out that those that do accept the stipend are the ones that live at the mansion and have no outside means of support. Tigra finally gets a chance to read it and notices it is for one thousand dollars. Which in 1983, like $2,534.53 today or $131, 795.56 a year. That is a pretty good haul on top of room and board for Tigra.

Jarvis reminds her that the court-martial is at four o’clock that day. Meanwhile, Tony Stark is making an excuse to leave a board meeting at Stark International Headquarters, because writers think the best way to show a busy CEO is at a board meeting (not true, board meetings occur maybe just once a year unless there is an emergency, trope alert)

Thor finishes up some surgery but leaves the cleaning up for his colleagues, who grouse at Blake leaving (oh, sorry at this time, Thor is still using the Don Blake alter ego) for them to clean up despite being the best surgeon ever.

Captain America, already in the Avengers library and in full uniform, is wondering if he will have the courage to look Hank in the eye even though it is the most difficult thing he’s ever done. More difficult than watching Bucky die on that rocket? More difficult than giving up your Captain America identity to become Nomad? Well, we all chose our own cross to bear.

Speaking of crosses to bear, a few hours earlier, Janet hasn’t seen Hank since they came home three days earlier. She decides to go check on him in the lab. Finding the door locked, she shrinks down and squeezes in to the door crack to discover Hank putting in the final touches of programming of the robot, which will allow it to target each Avenger by their brain waves. Which it does as o soon as it senses Jan in the room. Hank is infuriated, Accusing Jan of spying on him. Hank explains he has built a robot called Salvation 1 and she’s going to help him test it out. It grabs Jan but her sting is useless against it. He explains it is built out of Adamantium. Ok, so according to the Marvel Database:

Creating even a small amount of Adamantium is astronomically expensive, and only a few people know the complete formula. Adamantium is created by mixing certain chemical resins together. The exact composition of these resins is a closely guarded secret of the United States government. When these resins are mixed and kept at a temperature of 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit, the resulting liquid can be cast or worked into a particular shape. After an eight minute 'flux period', the mixture sets and becomes solid regardless of temperature. Its molecular structure is extremely stable, and its shape can only be altered by precise molecular rearrangement.

So I don’t know how Hank had enough Adamantium lying around to build a 15 foot tall battle robot he just conceived three days prior. He designed Sal with a secret weak spot that will shut down the robot with one well-placed stinger shot, thus making him a hero when Sal attacks the Avengers. That’s the plan at least. But Janet won’t let him go through with it.

There it is.

On Jim Shooter’s website, he posted on March 29, 2011:

In that story (issue 213, I think), there is a scene in which Hank is supposed to have accidentally struck Jan while throwing his hands up in despair and frustration—making a sort of “get away from me” gesture while not looking at her.  Bob Hall, who had been taught by John Buscema to always go for the most extreme action, turned that into a right cross!  There was no time to have it redrawn, which, to this day has caused the tragic story of Hank Pym to be known as the “wife-beater” story.

So, henceforth Hank Pym is known as a wife beater.

Let’s cut to the court-martial proceedings. Captain America states his case: Yellowjacket shot a hostile in the back. Hank has never been know to act cowardly so the act was a case of misjudgment. It is tempting to write off as a mistake since any one of them can make the same error.

However, as an Avenger they cannot. An error by any one of them can result in the loss of lives. They have a tremendous responsibility and thus must judge themselves harshly.

I bet one can look back at previous issues of the Avengers, or Iron Man or Cap, or Thor and find situations and scenarios where they’ve all made costly mistakes like Hank Pym. Alas, this can’t turn into a retrospective of the Avengers.

Iron Man asks Hank how he pleads or if he wishes to defend himself. Hank pleads not guilty. His argument is that although his mistake may have seemed treacherous but he wondered if Cap ever considered treachery from the enemy. His actions may have actually saved lives! Perhaps because the enemy was a beautiful woman, perhaps Cap liked her! Like Liked her! That’s why Cap is upset, because Hank hurt her!

Everyone is feeling second-hand embarrassment at this point. Iron Man asks him to stop. Hank asks Janet to back up her story. She lowers her sunglasses and reveals a shiner. Thor is shocked, wondering if Hank actually hit her. Hank goes for the remote control to summon Salvation 1. Janet pleads to him to not do it.

Sal bursts through the wall (kind of hilariously, no disrespect to Bob Hall, but considering the statement Shooter made on his blog post, about Hall being trained by Buscema to always go for the drama, it kind of comes off as comedic. Iron Man being flipped upside down, Tigra kind of in a Bugs Bunny pose, Yellowjacket exclaiming “Ah!” In faux surprise.

When Thor strikes it with his Mjolnir without any effect, Janet let’s them know it’s made out of (very expensive and rare) Adamantium and Hank built it and designed it to destroy them. Hank realizes Sal is way too brutal and may actually defeat everyone. He goes for the super secret shut off switch but Sal throws him against the wall. Sal grabs Hank in his giant pincer claws, crushing him when Janet runs up and shoots the switch with her stinger, deactivating Salvation 1.

Hank, shamefully leaves.

[thedaughterofkings]

ceo of matchmaking

It’s the last day of the @laurahale-appreciation week and today it’s the Dealer’s Choice, and because I can’t resist a chance to remind fandom of Neckz’N’Throats and how there totally should be more Neckz’N’Throats fic, have almost 2k of Neckz’N’Throats fic with matchmaking CEO Laura (and Sterek of course). Happy reading!

Laura loves her job.

She’s one of the youngest CEO’s in the country, possibly even the whole world. She runs one of the most successful werewolf magazine - and yes, some might call Neckz’N’Throats a skin mag, but it really is so much more than that and Laura has worked tirelessly to get it recognised as a respectable piece of journalism. Sure, the name still says it all - they show a lot of necks and throats, tastefully photographed to the maximum enjoyment of their mostly werewolf audience, but Laura takes pains to ensure that the pages of her magazine are not filled with blank faces and dead eyes. Her models are paid adequately, with all the insurances and securities necessary, and if there’s even the slightest hint that someone is not there just because they enjoy being photographed, Laura steps in and tries to figure out an arrangement that’s beneficial to both parties. It has worked well enough so far and has given her a reputation of being a fair and respectful employer that she’s proud of and strives to keep up.

Neckz’N’Throats did start out with just what it says on the tin: vulnerable necks and throats on display, meant to titillate and excite, but Laura has dared to branch out from that. She has introduced models from all kinds of backgrounds, aiming for diversity in all aspects, be it size, colour, or species. Then she started shooting couples - mated ones tend to be more popular, that special connection even shining through the glossy pages of a spread. Her most popular pair so far are Lydia Martin and Jackson Whittemore. Lydia started shooting for Neckz’N’Throats first, her lily white neck ticking every box on most hot blooded werewolves.

Not that Laura would know, being ace has both its advantages and disadvantages when heading a skin mag. On the one hand she still doesn’t quite get what “sexy” is even supposed to mean though she’s fared well enough in that respect by hiring models because of aesthetics and charisma - and employing actual hot blooded werewolves to advise her. On the other hand she is never ever tempted to leer at her employees creepily - and sadly enough that still seems to be a stand alone feature in her profession.

Either way, Laura hires Lydia because she exudes self-confidence and makes it clear right there in her job interview that this is just a way to have fun and earn easy money while she’s working to become the youngest recipient ever of the Field’s Medal. Laura is instantly charmed and her readers are too; Lydia’s editions regularly need to be reprinted because the demand is so high. That only gets worse - or better if you ask Laura and her wallet - when Lydia gets her then boyfriend Jackson to join her. Together they are the two main faces representing Neckz’N’Throats to the public, aside from Laura of course.

Lydia and Jackson are also the two main models in the spread that wins Laura her first Pulitzer Prize - focused on portraying non-traditional mating pairs. The picture of Lydia standing over Jackson, whose neck was clearly on display was perfectly innocent by human standards, but caused an uproar in the were community that Laura didn’t expect to be that strong herself.

It’s not all mated couples and shaking up traditional values (though the pearl clutches don’t read her magazine anyways, so Laura has no qualms about keeping up the shaking up in the future), though, getting to shoot a pair that has only just met and is still figuring out how to interact, still more or less fighting it out for dominance right there on the page can be fun, too, and creates great sales figures, too.

“It’s the thrill of the hunt,” Peter loves to say, smarmy grin firmly in place, and that’s why they don’t let him out of his cave. With his cave being a veritable mansion that pretty young people love to be invited to, Peter sadly doesn’t mind much. And he writes the best articles, Laura has to grudgingly admit. Somehow all that smarm doesn’t translate to the page and the fact that he never leaves his house just adds to the intrigue and helps further the sales of her magazine, so Laura just makes sure he doesn’t act out too much and lets him have his fun otherwise.

She’s more worried about Derek anyways.

Unlike Cora, who is still off finding herself in South America - at least she sends postcards now, Laura would prefer not having to hunt down her wayward sister again, just because she forgot to let any of them know she’s still alive for half a year - Derek works for Neckz’N’Throats, too. Sadly enough not in front of the camera, because Laura knows number of subscriptions would jump up tremendously if he ever appeared on the glossy pages, but behind it. And really, Laura can’t complain, something about Derek’s looks compared with his glower and ‘fuck if I care’ attitude gets the best pictures out of her models. She suspects that it’s a knock to the ego for all of these beautiful, charismatic people that Derek basically comes in, takes his pictures, and leaves again. And so they all try to get a rise out of him by any means possible. But no one has had any success yet, and at the end of each work day Derek disappears into his cave again - a loft in his case, wonderfully light, and airy, and openspaced, but Laura guesses that doesn’t matter if you never have anyone over who can look from the kitchen through the living room straight into your bedroom.

Enter Stiles Stilinski.

Lydia is the one who brings him, more or less forcing Laura to call him in for an interview, despite him having no experience and no portfolio at all. But the moment Stiles comes in through the door, Laura makes a mental note to never doubt Lydia again.

Because Stiles? Is perfect werewolf bait.

He has a long vulnerable neck and he keeps tilting his head back to laugh and it makes even Laura want to bite him - and she hasn’t struggled with her control in years. His doe eyes almost glow beta golden and there’s a twinkle of mischief in them that promises a good time to be had by all. His hair is messy and just the right length to bury your hand in and tug, to tilt his head back further and really put that throat on display. The series of moles that marks his skin is just begging to be licked, and if Laura notices all of that being ace, she doesn’t even want to try imagining what every even slightly male orientated werewolf thinks seeing Stiles.

She’s tempted to hire him on the spot, but as Derek is the one who’ll have to photograph him, he gets the final call. Usually that meeting boils down to a handshake, a hard stare, and either a nod or a shake of the head, and then that’s settled. This time, Derek starts with a wide eyed stare which quickly transforms into a vicious glare that would make anyone sensible duck and run. Stiles just grins though and starts forward towards Derek, all the while saying: “Hi, you must be Derek, Lydia already told me how much of a sourwolf you are!” Laura is already saying goodbye to her dream circulation which she’s sure they could have reached with this guy on the front, but no way is Derek going to agree to shoot him now.

But then Stiles stretches out his hand towards Derek, palm up, so the vulnerable inside of his arm is on display and tilts his head aside in blatant submission. And Laura can see Derek’s nostrils flare and the electric glow of his eyes flashing for just a moment even though he ducks his head to hide it and thinks: “Oh.”

Through it all Stiles remains seemingly oblivious, chattering on about how he admires their stance on werewolf rights and their attempts to clear up old superstitions and preconceptions. He also compliments Derek’s work and how he doesn’t photograph a mere canvas, the outside of a person, but their inner, hidden soul. Derek stares at Stiles with the most obvious hearteyes Laura has ever seen in her life (though given the ratio of eyebrow to rest of face that Derek has, the hearteyes still look rather glowery), and Laura wonders how Stiles doesn’t see the effect he’s having, but he just keeps talking and waving his arms around, spreading his scent and to some extent he has to know what he’s doing, because that greeting was automatic and instinctive, not studied. But on the other hand he seems to be completely oblivious to everything else he’s doing - that is push every single button Derek has in the best way possible.

Eventually Laura can’t bear to watch the awkward flirting - oblivious on the one side, reluctant, but helpless not to, on the other side. So Laura coughs and bites back a smirk when they both startle and blush, obviously having forgotten she’s in the room, too.

“Well?” she asks and Derek clears his throat and finally steps away from Stiles, muttering gruffly: “We’ll be out again in a moment and will let you know our decision then.” Laura can’t help raising her brows in surprise because that is not how they usually do it. But she decides to wait and see what Derek’s plan is and follows him out of the room with a wink and a smile to Stiles, who waves back at her awkwardly and blushes even brighter.

“So what do you say?” Laura asks as soon as the door falls shut behind them, secure in the knowledge that Stiles doesn’t have werewolf hearing. “I think he’d make a great addition to our team - he’s unbonded, so no mate to shoot with him yet, but I think Boyd or Isaac or perhaps even Erica would make a great match for him and produce some great pictures.”

“No!” Derek exclaims and Laura has to bite back a laugh because he has walked right into her trap. “What? You don’t like him?” she asks innocently and Derek shakes his head vehemently: “No, I just meant - no couple shoots for him, unless …” and here he descends into barely audible mumbling, though Laura can guess what he’s saying. Still, a prerogative of being the big sister is teasing her younger brother, so she asks sweetly: “Sorry, I didn’t get that?”

“No couple shoots unless they are with me,” Derek bites out and that’s how Stiles Stilinski ends up with a clause in his contract with Neckz’N’Throats that as good as declares him and Derek Hale mates.

Now Derek only needs to actually ask him out.

Laura totally believes in her brother. And while he’s still gathering his courage, she’ll sit back and enjoy the awkward attempts at flirting. They’ll get there eventually. Laura will make sure of it - by scheduling as many couple shoots for the two of them as is necessary. And because Derek obviously can’t take the pictures if he’s in front of the camera, Laura will be so kind and take the time out of her busy schedule to be their photographer. And if she makes them cuddle and kiss then that will be for purely artistic reasons. Obviously.

Laura loves her job.

[tessatechaitea]

Cerebus #5 (1978)

It seems improbable that this comic book would run for 300 issues.

The United Kingdom has way too much history for such a small island. And being American, I know about 3% of it. I know there were some kings and queens, some named Elizabeth and others named George and then some guy named Oliver who fit in there somehow despite not being a king or queen. I know there are four nationalities that make up the country: Scottish, Irish, Welsh, and the boring one. I know there's a dragon on the Welsh flag and their language has too many consonants, probably because they spent so much time in mines. I know the Scottish only eat deep fried Mars bars. I know the Irish had some troubles because some of the Irish aren't British or something. And I know all the stupid political crap the American Republican party are going to do because they simply follow the Tory playbook a few months to a year after the Tories have pulled some racist bullshit. And it's not just the Tories! Seeing what the centrist Labour party members did to sabotage their own party is simply a window into what our centrist Democrats would love to do to the Leftists (and may have done! But they just haven't been exposed yet like the jerks in the Labour party). Also, and this might not seem like British History so much as a personal experience, I once fist bumped Jimmy Carr after he made a joke about me fucking pigeons. That was only one of the many times he took the piss out of me at the show. But I knew what I was getting into when I purchased front row tickets for Jimmy Carr. All that being said (terribly summed up and horribly accounted), I knew even less when I first read this story at 21. I didn't know the "Pigts" were a pun on "Picts." I just thought it was a stupid name for a loin cloth wearing tribe of people named after breakfast foods. That was good enough for me! But maybe this issue will be even funnier if I read the Wikipedia entry on Picts! Or scan the entry, at least. Or, at the very least and the most probable option, click on the link, read a few sentences, and realize I don't really care that much. I should probably read more non-fiction so that I actually know things about the world rather than reading another Lando Calrissian book until I know all the rules to Sabacc. In "A Note from the Publisher," Deni Loubert explains how this issue of Cerebus caused a lot of stress between the publisher and the artist due to money concerns. But in the end, Deni put in a lot of her money and solved the problem. I guess one of the few things Dave found possible to believe before breakfast was that his spouse would support him both financially and emotionally while he pursued his dreams. Dave's Swords of Cerebus essay went on for more than one page in its original printing and whoever reprinted it here forgot that there were a few extra paragraphs. So it's reprinted incomplete. That's okay because the bulk of it is about all the shortcuts he takes in drawing rain and shadows and how it's evident, as you progress through the story, how much sloppier and lazier his art becomes. But at the end, Dave Sim supplies a Gil Kane quote which made him think long and hard about how he was developing the story of Cerebus. I'd like to scan the quote but it's cut off halfway through because, as I said, somebody forgot the second page of the essay. Luckily I just happen to own the second volume of Swords of Cerebus, so I'll just type it out in a block quote.

"The difference between a comic book and a novel is not labor, not effort, it's the values. In other words, there are no meaningful values in a comic book. The people in comic books are two dimensional people going through the most elementary kind of situations, not enough to sustain anybody's interest beyond an adolescent. A novel has characterization, it has suspense, it has a structured situation full of substantial values that will hold the interest of an intelligent person. That's what I mean. Those values, if they're properly translated — Harvey Kurtzman translated them into comics. His comics were literate, they were intelligent, they were humane, they were interesting, they were funny, they were everything."

There's a second paragraph to the quote but it just brings up more inaccurate things that can be debated ad nauseam. I could argue with a lot of what Gil Kane says but he sort of argues my point at the end anyway with his discussion of Harvey Kurtzman. Basically, it depends on the author and what the author wants to bring to the comic book. Sure, characterization of a character that isn't really supposed to change much because the fans want what the fans have been getting (Batman, for instance) can be tough to pull off. But Gil Kane gets at my main problem with comic book fans who follow characters, buying any story their favorite is a part of: the characterization and story are entirely dependent on the current writer. And some writers just don't fucking care about anything except shitting out another script so they get paid. You'll find a lot of good examples of those kinds of writers in the beginning years of DC's The New 52 as they pretty much hired all of the worst writers from Marvel to launch some of their New 52 titles. Comic books make it easy for writers to write two dimensional characters and be satisfied with the garbage they produce. Fans just want another Batman story. Just stick Harley Quinn in there and it'll sell fifty thousand copies easy. Who cares who writes it as long as they always make their deadline. But that's not a flaw of the medium of comic books! That's a flaw of the writers and/or fans! The main takeaway with the Gil Kane quote is that it was nice that Dave Sim read it and thought about it and applied it to Cerebus. Maybe, at later points, he applies it too much! But if it got Dave to thinking about a larger story and a greater world chock full of characters with different ideologies and beliefs and motivations, I'll allow it to exist without being too hard on it. That's a lot of words. I need to shove a picture in here already.

This is what Page One of a Cerebus comic book looked like before Gerhard. "Pretty fucking awesome," you curse like a sailor. Later, by page four when the horizon has disappeared and the rain is simply ruler-straight vertical lines, you'll be thinking, "When the fuck does Dave hire Gerhard?"

Cerebus has found himself in the Red Marches where he's about to learn a little something about Cerebus from a bunch of long haired shirtless dudes. It's almost like when I was 17 at my first Iron Maiden show surrounded by sweaty shirtless men while I listened to Iron Maiden sing "Sun and Steel" and I thought, "Is this history?" Then later they sang "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and I was all, "I am learning!" I'm so glad I'm writing on the Internet so I don't have to hear anybody say, "What are you talking about? How are those two things alike, you moron?!" Besides, I said it was "almost" like, imaginary jerkos! The nearly naked men convince Cerebus to follow them back to their underground kingdom so he can meet Bran Mak Mufin, the greatest military leader in all of Estarcion. Plus he has an aardvark fetish so he's really going to want to meet Cerebus, no matter how badly Cerebus smells. See, the joke in this issue (which Dave mentions at the beginning of the essay I didn't scan) is that Cerebus' fur smells terrible when it gets wet. It's pretty funny if you think about how bad that could be! Like, really bad! Ha ha!

If he's so fucking great, why is he only the penultimate swordsman? My guess is because of Cerebus!

Look at that rain! That's the rain of an artist who doesn't fucking give a shit! When the fuck does Dave hire Gerhard? Bran Mak Mufin takes one look at Cerebus and has the kind of orgasm you have when you realize the prophecy has finally been fulfilled. Man, those are the best orgasms.

We could use a few good Pigts these days.

I'd forgotten this aspect of the Pigts. One thing I do remember is that Bran Mak Mufin was my favorite member of Cerebus's cabinet as Prime Minister. Wasn't he the only one to ever try to do the right thing? And doesn't he eventually walk away because of how terrible they're all acting? Or does he only finally leave when he believes they're going to be defeated, thus exposing the weakness of his own faith? Bran mentions the Black Tower Empire which, I'm assuming, is an empire which first caused the Black Tower to ascend, something Cerebus will manage later. We learn Cerebus is 26 which probably made me feel good when I first read this in that way you feel youthfully immortal when the protagonist of the story is older than you. Now I'm twenty years older than that and I can tell you the feeling is best described as enervating. Bran Mak Mufin offers to let Cerebus rest so they can talk refreshed in the morning. While trying to sleep, Cerebus hears some strange noises and heads off to investigate.

Notice the Cerebus-shaped heads on the walls. The Chosen One is about to discover he's the protagonist of this story.

I know there's a shot of a huge aadvark statue coming up that I could have scanned instead. I'm working my way up to that revelation! Cerebus spies on a large gathering of Pigts (no more than fifty since that's the size of Bran's army) to learn that he's the reincarnation of some ancient God-King worshiped by the Pigts. The prophecy even says that he will come to them in his 26th year! Holy smokes! You couldn't write this kind of prophecy! For a moment, Cerebus is tempted to assume the role of the Pigts' Redeemer God. I guess this is his "last temptation" moment. But his narcissism wins out over his greed. He would rather be Cerebus the Unique than Cerebus the Guy Who's Just Another Version of that Other Long Dead Guy. He smashes the statue that I forgot to mention and flees the Pigts' nonsense, heading towards Iest. Nothing to say about Aardvark Comment. Just some aardvark lovers getting their aardvark love on. It was embarrassing. Cerebus #5 Rating: B+. This issue is the first to give an inkling of something bigger happening across a longer story. It's still before Dave Sim decided he was going for 300 issues dedicated to the growth of the titular beast. But any time you can make the scope of the protagonist's world bigger, it makes for a more compelling story. I'm definitely more compelled after this issue!

[asuitcaseofmemories]

Bad Luck Happens in... 65s if You’re Me.

I’m going to tell you a little a story. To be frank, it’ll probably definitely be long because it’s a nightmare and nightmares are never short. Only this isn’t just a nightmare, this is a true story; my true story of traveling from NY to Hefei after my home leave.

The date was June 26th... or 27th, because when you’re time traveling, details like that get hazy. My lovely friend dropped me off at the tiny Elmira airport and I had no issues checking in. I did internally begin losing my shit when the couple next to me was asked if they’d be willing to give up their seats due to them overbooking the flight by two. *Cue the anxiety* .... I mean we’ve all seen the dragging video by now. Save me.

We boarded in Elmira on time, I skipped the coffee and went for the complimentary red wine, because HELP, and because wine. The flight was uneventful, which was great. My friend and I spent our layover walking around the terminal, which I was thankful for because I was still losing it a little... and also because of the wine. If you can’t tell my travel anxiety is through the roof bad.

Our flight was boarded (from Detroit to Shanghai) with no issues, and the attendants graciously were loading me up on champagne. We left on time, and more champagne and food arrived. Did I say more champagne? I tried to sleep but the turbulence was pretty bad the last part of the flight... so I only slept 2.5 hours. (Side note: being hangry and a lack of sleep are two states you don’t want to see me in). Apparently attendance make it their duty to get you drunk if you can’t sleep, which is something I agree with on a spiritual level.

Upon landing we were told that the gate we were supposed to use was “not available” so we had to wait a bit. They decided to have us exit the plane on the tarmac and take the shuttle to the building. Which was great except the down pouring rain pelting us in between the two. I looked like a worthless drunk soggy noodle. I should’ve taken that as an omen, but I didn’t.

We arrived at customs and it was a strange scene as there was a huge line for foreigners and virtually no locals (opposite of what I’ve previously experienced). So it took a bit longer than usual, but we had no hiccups going through. The custom worker was actually the nicest custom worker I’d ever met and I think we could actually be friends now.

We then picked up our luggage to recheck it. Our bags were the last off the plane, despite having Sky Priority (meaning ours should come off first)-No biggie. When we went to recheck our bags, all hell broke loose.

I was told by a frantic worker after she weighed my first bag (I had two), that I’m only allowed to take 20kg on the plane.... mind you combined my bags were 48kg. I asked several questions about what people do in that situation, why I’ve never had this happen on previous flights, why there wasn’t a disclaimer sent when booking the flight, etc. The worker was not answering any of my questions, or offering alternate solutions. I think she just doesn’t like drunk soggy noodles.

I think the Holy Spirit inhabited my body at this moment, because my patience was  non-existent at this point. After about 15 mins of “what am I going to do” ... and thinking of alternate solutions like staying in Shanghai and booking a train the next day to get home... throwing out a bag- fuck that... she FINALLY says that I can pay a fee. BITCH YOU START WITH THAT. Why you wasting my time fucking asshole bitch nice lady???

This bitch lady gave me a piece of paper that I was intended to show at another counter to pay my fee. She had no idea how much it was at DID NOT tell me how to get to this next person. She also took my boarding pass and said they’d print a new one. She said “Next” when I asked for clarification, ugh no you didn’t. Thankfully my friend who was having the same issue, but was given better directions on how to get there by the kind lady waiting on her.

We were told we had to go to the 3rd floor, so we followed domestic departure signs for awhile... awhile... until we literally came to a dead end. WTF.... so we backtracked to our original spot, and we saw this other way,, so we followed that, and got to the 2F but still couldn’t get to 3F. I’m not kidding all the escalators were barricaded closed.

Clearly being two blonde idiots, looking lost as shit, this young man who spoke English asked if we are looking for the 3F too... hallelujah, we say yes.... he had just asked too, so we followed him to this elevator (which we would’ve never found because it was hid like the entrance of Narnia). UGH, this airport is stupid.

Oh but that’s not all. We get to the 3rd floor, go to the counter we were directed to go to and they say, oh no, you have to go over thereeeee. So we go there and we pay. Thankfully they took Visa (FYI- they don’t take US credit cards ANYWHERE in China so this is a miracle), and I paid my fine of $67USD. We asked about the reprinted tickets and she told us “oh no, you have to go in THAT line over there....” I’m thinking we should be going in the Sky Priority line as that’s what we always use, but she insisted it was the long line *Cue internal screaming*. So we waited and waited for our turn and they told us oh nooooo you go to the Sky Priority line, they have your tickets. Well I’d had about enough of this nonsense, so I nicely talked to the sympathetic woman who printed our boarding passes there. Thank you sweet angel!

Oh, but the story is just getting started. We went through security and they were double checking our carry ons... okay. Well they took child scissors from my friend’s bag then sent us on our way. We FINALLY head to gate 201. I look at the sign and see something in red. OMG. They changed our Gate to 9.... even though they JUST printed our passes... okay. We hustled over to Gate 9. It said we were in the right place YES. We went for a bathroom break, returned and they’d changed it to Gate 3... no big deal it was close but that’s annoying as hell.

We went to Gate 3 where we waited for an eternity. It got to the departure time and it didn’t say delayed and I was thinking... “did we miss the announcement?“ So I asked and the worker stated we would now depart at 11:30pm (original time was 10:15pm). A few moments later they declared the flight was delayed and that “the boarding time would be announced later.”

Well at this time I began to panic as we were supposed to have a driver pick us up at the airport at 11:30pm and I didn’t have anyway to call him and say we would be late. I don’t have a working phone number (in China or US), so I also do not have service to message Corey and let him know. So I had to buy internet for an hour just to Facetime him to figure out the ride situation. He assured me the driver would wait, and I was glad he knew we would be late.

So I went to get water and literally this airport is shut down almost completely. I saw this guy looking at a vending machine confused and two chicks giggling at him as he walked away. Stupid me tried two times to get a drink out of that thing, and it ate my money. God damn it. We finally found a place open so I got some water dinner (2 chocolate bars if I’m going to be completely honest here) and tried to chill out. We get back to terminal 3 and WHAT they changed our gate AGAIN to 202. At this point I’m externally about to scream, as this nice Chinese man asked if we were also going to Hefei. We said yes. He told us that he asked what was going on and the plane we were taking wouldn’t be there until about 11:30pm... so at this point we knew it would be awhile, but at least we knew something!

We thanked him for the info and ventured our asses back to Gate 202 area, and finally about 12:15am they announced we were boarding. The whole gate let out a cheer. I’m pretty sure I yelled “FUCK YEAH”, but 6 one way a half dozen the other right? We boarded and no sooner do they said that they had no idea when we would be leaving but they’d “update soon.” Well, the are lying liar heads. In an hour they repeated the same announcement. Since they are lying liar heads, and I was exhausted of their lies, I briefly passed out. I awoke at 2am when they finally said we were leaving. YAHOO!

I tried to finally get shut eye... mind you we’ve traveled over a day so far and I’ve only slept 2.5 hours (1.5 according to fit bit). Well the turbulence was so bad they the attendant woke me up and made me put my seat up... So that was a no go.

We finally arrived in Hefei, and and played the baggage game all over again. Our poor driver had been waiting since 11:30pm (it’s now 3:30am)... and helped us pack our bags into the car. He’s the real MVP in this story.

We safely arrived at the hotel at 4:17am.... Where we ended our travel fun with a broken trolley to haul our luggage upstairs. The concierge asked me where I was coming from and I said NY, and he asked “Is that why you’re wearing slippers.” ... they were flip flops haha.

It is tough feeling out of control and having such a language barrier with those who know what’s happening. Looking back, this is all hilarious and truthfully just a string of bad luck and weather. I was thankful to have someone with me to laugh with and keep me sane. We also met a few people along the way who were kind when we needed it most.

I’ll keep these memories to look back on when I think I’m having a “bad day.” I’m thankful I won’t be making that journey for another 6 months. Needless to say I slept 13 hours straight when I got home. I DID NOT MOVE my position at all or wake up once.

[naturecoaster]

Monday Morning Memo

by Alan Weiss, Ph.D., from Alan Weiss's Monday Morning Memo© Reprinted with permission. Featured Image from Bentley Quarterly Magazine used with permission. I was in Newark, New Jersey at Rutgers in the 60s, a decade when the inner cities burned, Martin Luther King, John Kennedy, and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated, the Cuban Missile Crisis was a recent memory, the Beatles began, Woodstock happened, and the Vietnam War raged, with huge protests in the streets. I was editor of the school newspaper and we won eight awards, including first place for editorial writing. It wasn’t that difficult. My son has a habit of telling me that “I live in a different world,” referring to my current success and affluence. Yet I grew up in a world poorer and more alienated than he’s ever experienced in his life. Today I deal with coaching clients globally in a variety of different conditions, and I help them deal with struggles and pain as well as success. I have never forgotten my roots, and I live very much in this world. I believe that mere talk isn’t enough (I never thought much of those “ice bucket” kind of challenges). I believe you give time and you give resources. My son has also complimented me, by pointing out that my wife and I “show up” to support even small theaters and struggling actors, for example. We’ve invested thousands of hours in non-profits serving on boards and volunteering at events.  When I watched those people in the streets of Newark decades ago, not the rioters, but the people screaming for justice, there was no higher moral plain than theirs. I realized at the time that I could never be them, but I could certainly support them. That’s why it wasn't difficult to simply honestly report what was in front of us.  RIP George Floyd. May your death bring justice for all. That's what's in front of all of us. Otherwise, we just may become an Ozymandian empire, barely noticed by some future peoples. 

Growing through Times of Change

Want to receive this type of guidance in your inbox weekly? Check out Alan's resources here. Why has NatureCoaster has Reprinted this Article? I have been subscribing to and reading Alan Weiss's Monday Morning Memo© for more years than I can remember on my entrepreneurial journey. His writing style, humor, and no-nonsense approach to life on life's terms as an entrepreneur have helped me to know that I bring value to most every equation. I highly recommend that you add Alan's tools to your kit to help you start thriving in life. You can learn more about him below. When you are ready, get his books and read them, invest in his paid workshops and watch your dreams come true. --- Diane About Alan Weiss, Ph.D. His consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc., has attracted clients such as Merck, Hewlett-Packard, GE, Mercedes-Benz, State Street Corporation, Times Mirror Group, The Federal Reserve, The New York Times Corporation, Toyota, and over 500 other leading organizations. He has served on the boards of directors of the Trinity Repertory Company, a Tony-Award-winning New England regional theater, Festival Ballet, and chaired the Newport International Film Festival. His speaking typically includes 20 keynotes a year at major conferences, and he has been a visiting faculty member at Case Western Reserve University, Boston College, Tufts, St. John’s, the University of Illinois, the Institute of Management Studies, and the University of Georgia Graduate School of Business. He has held an appointment as adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Rhode Island where he taught courses on advanced management and consulting skills to MBA and PhD candidates. He once held the record for selling out the highest priced workshop (on entrepreneurialism) in the then-21-year history of New York City’s Learning Annex. His Ph.D. is in psychology. He has served on the Board of Governors of Harvard University’s Center for Mental Health and the Media. He is an inductee into the Professional Speaking Hall of Fame® and the concurrent recipient of the National Speakers Association Council of Peers Award of Excellence, representing the top 1% of professional speakers in the world. He has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants, one of only two people in history holding both those designations. His prolific publishing includes over 500 articles and 60 books, including his best-seller, Million Dollar Consulting (from McGraw-Hill) now in its 25th year and fifth edition. His newest is Threescore and More: Applying the Assets of Maturity, Wisdom, and Experience for Personal and Professional Success (Routledge, 2018). His books have been on the curricula at Villanova, Temple University, and the Wharton School of Business, and have been translated into 15 languages. He is interviewed and quoted frequently in the media. His career has taken him to 60 countries and 49 states. (He is afraid to go to North Dakota.) Success Magazine cited him in an editorial devoted to his work as “a worldwide expert in executive education.“ The New York Post called him “one of the most highly regarded independent consultants in America.“ He is the winner of the prestigious Axiem Award for Excellence in Audio Presentation. He is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Press Institute, the first-ever for a non-journalist, and one of only seven awarded in the 65-year history of the association. He holds an annual Thought Leadership Conference which draws world famous experts as speakers. In 2014 his featured speaker was political pundit, best-selling author, and media favorite James Carville, in 2015 Master of Influence Robert Cialdini, and in 2016 Dan Gilbert of Harvard who has over 15 million views of his TED talk on happiness. He has coached former candidates for Miss Rhode Island/Miss America in interviewing skills. He once appeared on the popular American TV game show Jeopardy, where he lost badly in the first round to a dancing waiter from Iowa. Alan is married to the lovely Maria for 47 years, and they have two children and twin granddaughters. They reside in East Greenwich, RI with their dogs, Buddy Beagle and Bentley, a white German Shepherd. Read the full article

[111the--unknown--one111-blog]

This entire week has been a struggle. The work days are long and my anxiety is building up when I get home, stressing about the work day that follows in the morning. Work doesn’t usually stress me out except for this week because I have just started my period on Wednesday night that truly manifested itself on Thursday morning. It’s been (as you can imagine) the greatest. 

           On top of the wonderful benefits for being a woman this time of month, you can’t forget your free mood swings and lack of emotional consciousness. Oh yes. If you’re like my sister in law you just had a baby and you are in for a long painful recovery down in the lower zone. Yes, she had her baby yesterday (Thursday 02/28/2019 @1:30 pm and I were late to the delivery and didn’t get to see our nephew born. At least we made it though. Owen (our new nephew) is such a darling baby.

Flash back to what happened before we went to the hospital to see the baby. I had left work at 11:20 am to meet back at the house to go down to the hospital together. I got home and he wasn’t there. My entire body was aching and I had to take Midol. I sat on the couch and watched Hannah Montana waiting n to come home. Three episodes later I mustered the strength to get up and make Taquitos came home five minutes after I put them into the oven. We waited for them to be done and then ate them. We both received a text from his mom that the baby was born. Disappointed I missed the birth of my first nephew, we got in the car and started our drive down to Santaquin. 

I fell asleep because I was exhausted. We made it to the hospital and we checked in. We were greeted by smiles and an awkward standing routine next to hospital bed since all the sitting was occupied. s younger sister a senior in High School) excitedly stated that she was the first to hold the baby out of the family. “Wonderful.” I thought to myself. “gets to be the favorite aunt yet again to another child of Background history. This is  second baby. The first one is. She was born before and I got married and has been fawned over ever since. has definitely become her favorite aunt. That’s fine it’s just I feel left out. 

Latley I’ve felt like an outsider in his family no matter how hard I try to be apart of it. S went on a date with my cousin to her Sweethearts dance last weekend ( and I have taken them out on a few dates together since last summer). She was so excited to go with him last time I had spoken with her. They met at our house for the dance and we took pictures for  mom. Then they were off for the dance. When I asked how the date went when we were at the hospital, she threw  under the bus hard. She said that he was swearing and that he was on his phone a lot. She said she doesn’t want to go on another date with him or be associated with people like him. I was dumbstruck I didn’t even know how to respond. All I could think about was how much I hated judgmental people and how she thinks she’s better than. I shut down after that and didn’t talk to anyone very much. asked if anyone wanted to hold her baby. I said I wanted to and walked over to the sink to wash my hands. 

After washing my hands I walked towards and subconsciously tucked my hair behind my ear. was right there and I quickly pulled my hair back over my ear hoping she wouldn’t see my cartilage piercing. I’m not sure if she did or not but after the judgment segment she had about, I wasn’t going to let her notify the family about my “transgression”. I think she saw because she looked at me differently since. The only good that came out of the whole situation was holding little Owen. It reminded me of when was born (my littlest brother) 8 years ago. Owen was small and quiet. He didn’t cry. It was such a tender moment for me. 

Now let me go into detail about what else was uncomfortable. was talking to his family about housing. You can imagine where this was going. They don’t want us to move out of state we HAVE to stay in Utah. Blah blah blah BS. His mom doesn’t want us to move further North. How do I know this? Because she was recommending cities south by Santaquin. They are all saying how we don’t want to be far from family when we have a baby. I beg to differ. I don’t want to be far from my family but I don’t mind being a few hundred miles from. My kid is not their property or theirs to manipulate the mind of. I would rather be barren than give birth to a kid who grows up to be like them. Self-righteous and invasive. They are always talking to about how they can make me feel welcome. How about instead of telling me where to live, ask me where I would like to live and be supportive, instead of judging me for what I look like, compliment me on what you think looks good, instead of inviting us over for family dinner every Sunday lay off and wait for us to ask if we can come, instead of shutting down my opinions or speaking over me, listen. Instead of pointing out how great your family is and the talents of each family member, ask me about my family. I have stories I would love to share if given the chance to not have my family in the shadow of theirs. Instead of telling me I’m sweet for offering my help, let me help instead of having someone else in the family do it. 

I still have bitter feelings towards his mom deep down. I try to push it out of my head but it’s really become an obstacle. Before we were married, got in a fight with his family and his mom said to him over the phone, “When walks out that door, I will be the only woman that loves you”. She doesn’t know that I know this but she should. I told he will not keep secrets from me. I won’t do the whole he has a relationship of secrets with his mom behind my back thing.

I’m a very reserved person. I feel like anytime I make progress with his family I hit a Factory Reset button or something. I’m an introvert. And his family is just too different from mine. I try to say something and somehow someway, they make me sound stupid. I don’t know if they do that on purpose or what. It really frustrates me. Around my family I can be myself without question. Nobody makes me feel stupid in a conversation. I hate family dinners parent’s house. They last forever and my Sunday evening is gone. I don’t want to do them every week anymore. Maybe once a month or so. It’s just too much for me to keep putting myself out there only to be shoved back into the ground. I don’t want to move near them. I like where we are right now. Until gets a job that doesn’t require him to be a specific office and I can quit my job, we are staying in Orem/Provo. And when we do have all the requirements met to move, no way in hell will I let us move closer to his parents. I want to be far enough away that a trip down there would be too much to ask for once a week. Maybe once a month. I want to move out of state. 

The funny thing is, I don’t like people talking to me  non-stop especially when I am not responding. It’s so annoying. Like for instance, I’m really bothered right now with the fact that I am here at work and one of my co-workers will not stop talking for the life of her. She’s like 55 years old I mean come one lady! Shut the fuck up! If I wanted to talk to you and engage in conversation, I would be talking to you. The fact that my back is turned and all you can do is yap yap yap really puts my teeth on edge. How do you not realize that you have become such a pest in the workplace. Shut up, do your work, don’t distract me. It’s that simple. Conversation here and there is fine. But please do not talk my ear off for 6 hours. I literally find relief and my headaches go away when you leave. At first I thought I was getting headaches from the soda but really, it’s you! That’s so stupid that I am only getting paid thirteen dollars an hour to sit here and listen to you. If I wanted to get paid to listen to you talk all day, I would have applied at an old folks home for fifteen an hour. Really I should look into applying to a place that pays more if I’m going to continue with this. Today has been absolute non-stop. I really don’t want to pick up Jordan’s slack because she wants to go on a field trip with her mediocre boyfriend for the weekend. She is always taking weekends off and it’s really annoying. “Can I have all the Fridays off?” Damn Jordan did you ever think maybe I want  to kick off my weekend with no work?  Freaking stupid as I’ll get out. I’m also super bitter because I have to find a new job that will work with my new school schedule. It’s frustrating. Tara said I could leave at 4:30 everyday until October but that’s not going to work come October because I can’t just change my school schedule. I’ve already packed my day to the max and no other school schedule works with this stupid MyCanvas job.I refuse to work here this October and forward. I will find a new and better job. I need to get out of here ASAP. I know this may be dumb, but this job gives me serious anxiety. It’s so stupid I know but it’s not worth another December to be here. The money isn't worth shit. I need to prioritize school and my hubby. I also need to help make money for our hopefully new house in a few weeks. 

So I just checked the Red Tags spreadsheet and a customer placed an order two days before I left for my trip to Arizona on Thursday. Apparently this is a special customer and her orders have to be done a certain way. Well Jordan told me to keep up with her order and make sure it gets properly cut and that it’s perfect. She knew I had a trip and couldn’t do that and yet she still told me this. I did what I could and left for my trip. Sure enough, when I got back the job was not done properly and Jordan had to put in a red tag for her order. Then on our Red Tag spreadsheet, Jordan had to explain what happened and why we were putting in a reprint and she said it was because she “forgot to train me”. BULLSHIT! Damn even when I’m gone and not there she still blames me for her mistakes!I’m so annoyed that she can’t even take responsibility for this. She didn’t even check to make sure the QA’s were done even though it was her responsibility. Stupid freaking chick. 

[themoneybuff-blog]

Questions About Crowdlending, Prayer, Christmas Trees, Chess, Beans, and More!

Whats inside? Here are the questions answered in todays reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question. 1. Investing for childs future 2. Crowdlending investments 3. Shorter workweek thoughts? 4. Struggling to improve at work 5. Last minute holiday gifts 6. Praying for financial help? 7. Child care suggestions 8. Christmas tree suggestions 9. Learning chess for cheap 10. Keeping beans fresh 11. 401(k) help 12. I never want to retire I get two or three requests a week from a reader asking to reprint an article Ive written for some purpose. So, heres my policy on that. If you wish to reprint an article of mine for a print publication or an email newsletter, not a website, you have permission to do so provided that you attribute the article to Trent Hamm at The Simple Dollar and include the URL of the site, http://www.thesimpledollar.com/. If you are interested in a reprint on a website, ask me first. Make sure that the article was actually written by Trent first, however, by visiting that article on the website and verifying that Trent was the writer of that specific article. Some portion of articles that appear on the site were written by other writers and youll need to ask them individually for permission. On with the questions. Q1: Investing for childs future I have a young kid (6 years old) and Id like to invest a little bit for him in a set and forget fashion. I realize Im pretty lucky to be living in an expensive place (Seattle, WA) while being able to max out my 401k, my Roth IRA and my wifes IRA. We dont have any loans, pay off out credit card monthly and just have a home mortgage with low interest. I am still able to put a little bit of money regularly on a brokerage account and a 529 for my son (although I dont want to put too much for a few of reasons: I dont know if hell go to college here (expensive) or in France where Im from (cheap), I value community college highly and dont necessarily aim for him to go to ivy league schools and finally I dont believe in taking at my charge all his higher education expense. My only downfall here is that I feel a bit behind on retirement because I moved to the US AT 26 for a temp job that became permanent at 32 and only understood 401k since I was 34. Im been maxing out ever since. I definitely have the saving mentality that we find Europeans! In essence, we live on about 40% off a single about 110k/year (my wife works for a non profit and brings an income that pretty much only pays for her laptop, cell phone, car gas and child care once in a while for us to go on a date). With that in mind, what could be our next smart moves (I feel that is not often addressed for people that are able to to reach all the conventional goals we see out there but dont fit in the high income category where advance money placement and tax schemes can be beneficial). So my questions are two folds: what is the next smart move for us (just keep investing in the Vanguard Total Market Index Fund?) what can I do to invest long term for my son? I was hoping for an IRA but he is not earning income. Is the anything else? Bob First of all, a 529 might still be useful for you even if your child goes to school in France, provided that hes attending a college or university thats eligible for Title IV student aid. There are hundreds of overseas universities and colleges that are, so youll have to research the ones hes considering. If youre not strictly saving for education for your son, however, your best bet is probably what youve already stumbled on gifting your child a certain amount each year below the gift tax exclusion limit ($14,000 a year) and then investing that money in a taxable account in your childs name while again gifting your child enough to pay any taxes on dividend income. This is of course assuming that your child is not earning an income of some kind via modeling or acting or something akin to that. For us, our savings for our childrens future is strictly in the 529 plans. Once they move out and go to school, their 529 plans are our financial support for their education. We hope to have enough in each account to cover in-state tuition for a few years at a state university (like Iowa State U or University of Iowa), though they can make other choices in terms of where to go to school should they wish too. Q2: Crowdlending investments What do you think about crowdlending investments? Carly Crowdlending refers to any program in which individuals can lend money to other individuals or businesses, supplying the capital for the loan and earning a return on that money in the form of the borrowers interest paid on that loan. Typically, many people provide small amounts to make up the capital for that loan for example, someone might want to borrow $10,000 and that loan is made up of 100 people lending $100 each. A number of businesses exist to help facilitate this, such as Lending Club and Prosper. It really comes down to the riskiness of the borrower. Someone with a high rating as a borrower represents pretty little risk and youll almost always get your money back and more. A high risk loan might net you a very nice return, but you have a real risk of losing your balance. In general, I would not invest money I needed going forward in a crowdlending investment. Its a good place to put money that you dont need if youre seeking a nice short term return on it and youre willing to pay a lot of attention and take on some significant risk. Remember, if someone defaults on a crowdlending loan, that means youve probably lost most (if not all) of what youve invested. Q3: Shorter workweek thoughts? What do you think about this article that argues that people 40 and over work better if their workweek is shorter? It matches my own experience. This one? Jenna I frankly agree with it. Speaking from my own experience, I find that the vast majority of my work gets done during three days a week. I tend to have about three days each week when I can really slip into a writing zone, and my work on other days is often just busywork. I think this is honestly true of most information and creative jobs. For every day of really great mental performance, I think people of all ages need at least a day of rest to recharge fully. If you demand mental performance day after day, that performance is going to degrade fairly rapidly and eventually result in burnout. The trick for me is in properly preparing for a three day week and getting it reliably without interruption due to personal or family illness or some other interruption. Part of why I write for a living is the flexibility of it, which means I cant just sit down and lock down three specific days of writing each week. Often, I have to break it up more than that. Q4: Struggling to improve at work I currently work as a bank teller. Went in for a performance review in October and read your advice about asking what I need to do to get a raise or promotion. Boss was great and gave me a list of things to work on. Thing is Im always busy and rarely have the chance to work on a lot of those things. I feel like Im not making progress on any of those things and cant find time for them. Not sure what to do. Bailey The best thing you can do is find opportunities to work on those skills in the course of your regular tasks. Without knowing your regular casts and the things that your boss suggested that you work on, I cant offer specific advice on that. However, there are probably at least some of the elements on that list that you can work on while doing other tasks. If theres new material to learn, do your best to learn it when youre not at work. If there are topics youre supposed to know about, spend time when youre not working learning those things. You should also try to get into a routine of having regular scheduled one-on-ones with your supervisor just to talk over how things are going and build a stronger relationship. If youve not really communicated in any way with your boss in two months, you might want to strengthen that relationship a little. Just ask for a regularly scheduled meeting once every two weeks or once a month and go over the things on that list. This gives you a deadline to push toward a little more effort on those things, and it shows your boss youre consistently trying to work for the brass ring. Q5: Last minute holiday gifts So my mom got sick and asked if I could host family Christmas and I said okay. In the past we did a name drawing for gifts but she also got everyone something small and shes not doing that this year but I want to do it so I am looking for good ideas for last minute small holiday gifts under $5. Amy What kinds of things did she give out? At that price point, Id probably go for consumable items. Get people nice bars of chocolate or a bottle of craft beer or something like that. Youre not going to go fancy at $5, but you can find something the recipient would enjoy. Just make a list of everybody whos attending and try to identify one food or drink item each one of them would like. Theres your shopping list, and thats exactly what I would do in your shoes. Q6: Praying for financial help? I pray and pray for financial help and it never seems to come. We never make ends meet. I try to follow your advice and things always turn out badly. Jaime A simple suggestion: rather than praying for financial help, pray to have the strength and wisdom and focus to make the difficult choices needed to put you and your family on a better financial path. Dont pray for money to be dropped on your lap. Instead, pray that youll have the foresight and wisdom to not spend money on foolish things. Pray that youll feel lower stress and that youll be able to lower the stress of those around you. Pray for the creativity to make your meal budget stretch a little further. Most of us already have the financial answers we need already in our life. We just need someone (or something) to take the scales away from our eyes so that we can see those answers. That change often comes from within, not from money from outside sources. Money drops into our lap more often than we think it does what matters is how we use it. Q7: Child care suggestions Moved to new city and starting school in January. Have a three year old. Thought there would be child care support through school but all slots are full. Program will subsidize child care but everything within subsidy is kind of scary. Suggestions? Danielle I have helped Danielle many times over the last few years. For some background, she was engaged to be married but her soon-to-be husband ghosted her and she cant find him for child support. She moved in with her parents for a brief while, then found an apartment on her own. She applied for a bunch of scholarships to go back to school and then I hadnt heard from her in a while until this question popped up. She has been using many different programs to help give her kid a great life and working her tail off, so I do have some real sympathy for Danielles situation. Danielle, you absolutely need to check and see whether your state has some sort of child care assistance offered through their Department of Human Services. Given your situation, its very likely that youre eligible for some help through such a program, which is available in a lot of states. Another approach you might want to consider is whether or not you have a close friend or relative you trust who could move in with you and provide child care in exchange for free rent. Do you have a sibling or close friend who might be interested in such a situation that youd trust? Those are the two best options I have in mind, other than making sure youre on the waiting list for child care options through your school. This will get somewhat easier when your child reaches school age, as youll both be able to go to school! Q8: Christmas tree suggestions Is a real Christmas tree worth it? We usually only decorate for a few days before Christmas and the twelve days after taking things down on January 6. Used a tiny artificial tree for the last few years and were considering a real one this year. Arne It depends on how you define worth it. Real trees are messier and take more work (because you have to water them) and need to be disposed of after the holidays; artificial trees have none of that. Plus, real trees have to be replaced every year. From a purely financial standpoint, real trees arent worth it. However, real trees have an enormous aesthetic advantage. They smell wonderful. When properly cleaned up, they look better than artificial trees (in my opinion, assuming you dont buy one thats half dead). Is the work and the (eventual) extra cost worth it to you? For some people, it is. For some, it isnt. We had a real tree for a few years when I was growing up and while I appreciated it in my teen years, it wasnt life changing for me. As an adult, I probably would not have a large real tree unless my children were genuinely excited about the concept and brought it up frequently. Q9: Learning chess for cheap My five year old was taught chess by his cousin at Thanksgiving and now he wants to play chess all the time. I can fumble through the moves but he is finding stuff on his tablet about openings and stuff that I have no idea about. I want to get better at chess and also help him find things to help him get better at chess. What tools are cheap/free? Andy It really depends on your goals with this. If youre just wanting to get a bit better and assume that this is a fad thats going to burn out, Id just get an inexpensive chess app for his tablet and for your phone and just play lots of games. Most games have a feature where they suggest good moves and point out bad ones and over a lot of games, you can gradually learn from that. If you really want to start learning openings and stuff, theres almost nothing better you can do than visiting your local library that has a selection of chess books, picking out a few, and then going through them at home. My local library has a couple dozen chess books on the shelves and can reserve hundreds more via interlibrary loan. Take them home and then just try an opening during a game with your kid. Pick one that looks like fun, memorize the first three or four moves of it, and bust it out with your son. Tell him what the opening is and then see whether or not it looks like youre in good shape. I have an eight year old that loves to play chess constantly but really has zero interest in actually learning the game. If your son is into openings, play into that and use it as an opportunity to learn together. Q10: Keeping beans fresh You mentioned cooking beans early in the week and keeping them in the fridge all week to use for meals. How do you keep them fresh and not just turn to mush? Every time I do it they get mushy. Blair First of all, dont cook them quite all the way to completion. I try to aim for beans that are not quite all the way cooked, just done enough so that they wouldnt be annoying in the dish but clearly could use just a bit more cooking. Theyre really firm at this point but definitely edible. I drain them and let them slowly cool down to room temperature. This usually cooks them just a bit more so theyre pretty close to exactly what I want. I drain them and rinse them again so that theyre close to dry, then I put them in a sealed container in the fridge. I aim to use them within four or five days. Most of the time, I add these beans late to something else Im cooking, like a soup. If Im using them in a salad or something, I might cook them just a bit more in some simple fashion, like with a bit of water in the microwave, but Ill usually just toss the beans right into the salad. This works for all kinds of beans. My personal favorite is black beans, which Ill use for pretty much anything I can get away with. Q11: 401(k) help I just signed up for my company 401(k) and there are only a few options available and none of them match up with anything you have ever mentioned. They have names like aggressive growth and moderate and safe. Alex Likely, the options you see are ones that whoever runs your 401(k) have pre-chosen for you and given friendly names that actually make it harder to figure out what they actually include. The first retirement plan I signed up for was very similar in that regard. You can ask the HR representative that deals with the plans whether or not you can pick your own funds, but its likely that you dont have such control, so you probably just have to choose one of these options. The honest truth? In a situation like this, its really hard to pick the best option for you because you dont really know whats going on underneath the options. In your shoes, if I was more than ten years from retirement, Id choose the most aggressive option available. If I was less than ten years, Id choose a moderate option. That is, assuming I couldnt see anything more about the plans than such vague descriptors. Q12: I never want to retire I dont like reading about retirement talk because I never want to retire. I love what I do (nursing) and I want to keep doing it in whatever aspect I can for as long as I can until Im shoved out the door and straight into a retirement home (or a casket). Why should I worry about retirement? Dinah Never retiring is a marvelous idea in theory, but it often doesnt quite pan out that way. Many career paths nudge people out the door when they get to a certain age, regardless of whether those people want to keep working or not, and sometimes health conditions pop up that continue to allow a mostly full life but cut off certain career paths. Another reason to save for retirement is that it opens up the possibility of a second career or a different kind of job later on. You may end up taking on a position that uses your nursing skills in a very positive way but it doesnt pay nearly as much as your current job; a retirement savings plan can help offset that loss in income. You really should save for retirement no matter what career youre in and no matter how much you love it. Its cover all your bases money, because you simply cant predict what the future holds. Got any questions? The best way to ask is to follow me on Facebook and ask questions directly there. Ill attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive many, many questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours. https://www.thesimpledollar.com/questions-about-crowdlending-prayer-christmas-trees-chess-beans-and-more/

[swipestream]

Sensor Sweep: Elfland’s Daughter, Magic the Gathering, Dell Horror, and Last Jedi (again).

Fiction (Pulp Rev): “He is not wrong. This is the Second Coming of the Pulps. The difference is that the hustle is even harder now than it was the first time around, both in competing attracts and in the scope and scale of the playing field (truly global). The role of the pulp magazine in the first age is not what it is now; the hustle requires that we reconsider, reconfigure, and reappraise to actually pay bills doing this.

The good news is that the means to get stories to readers is easier than ever. The bad news is that attracting and retaining that audience is harder than ever. The gatekeeper formerly had the incentive, the means, and the motive to play middleman properly; by curating what he thought sold best, he paid bills while performing a useful function that benefited the most people. That’s not the case now, and it hasn’t been for a decade or more, so the entire business has to change to remain functional.”

  Cinema (Walker’s Retreat): “I will not brook any apologia for The Last Jedi now that the opening for its run in China has come: $125 million. Of that gross, over half of it will stay in China and never reach Disney’s coffers. That fact sounds impressive, until you consider the following:

Warcraft’s China run pulled in 213 million. That movie–even among Warcraft fans like me–is acknowledged as a dumpster fire that deserved its failure, however much we wanted it to succeed. TLJ did worse than that.”

  Books (Might Thor Jr.): “I have been adding many new books to my collection recently. My interest in reading has shifted to older books and authors. So I thought instead of just a simple book haul post I would do more of a spotlight/introduction post as well. So in the post below you will not only find the usual book haul photo’s, but book and author info as well. I hope you will take the time to look it over and maybe take a chance at checking out books and authors that you may have forgot about or discover in these post!”

  Art (DMR Books): “…I thought about the works of the great fantasy writers like Tolkien, Leiber, Howard, Merritt, and Hodgson. I must tell you something though, I have been fortunate to have illustrated the works of those great writers, with the exception of one; J.R.R. Tolkien. But I was offered a chance to do so by a book publisher who was going to reprint ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy.

”Tolkien however, objected, he wanted to illustrate the books himself! Later on I learned that Tolkien had also objected to Frank Frazetta illustrating his books. That is truly a sad thing, Frazetta’s artwork would have added immensely to the books.”

  Books (Too Much Horror): “Not even Dell’s ambitious Abyss line of horror fiction could avoid the dregs of the genre: Ron Dee‘s second title for the imprint, Descent(October 1991) is indescribably awful, incoherent, at once over- and underwrought. You can’t imagine the Sisyphean task it was to trudge through this novel. From the very first sentence—perhaps even before, as you’ll see in a sec—“Suck (ha I shoulda seen it coming) away my death and bring me alive. Lose your self and I arrive.” Good God I was groaning inside instantly (“They threw me off the hay truck at noon” it ain’t). I’d put the book down after struggling through a few pages, then pick it up again, ad nauseam, hoping against hope something could be salvaged…”

  Cinema (Tellers of Weird Tales): Star Wars: The Last Jedi opened on Thursday, December 14, 2017, and so far has made a big bucket of money, as you would expect. It has also earned plenty of controversy. Some people–especially non-hardcore fans–really like it. Some–especially hardcore fans–really hate it. Four of us saw it on opening night in a small town in Indiana. The theater was pretty well full. We had to split up, two by two, because there weren’t four adjoining seats left. There was expectancy, though, and when the main title came up and the opening blast of the fanfare sounded, people whooped and cheered. They laughed and cheered during the movie, too. And at the end, they clapped, as people used to do when they went to the movies. Many stayed all the way through the very long closing credits. If anyone at the theater that night didn’t like The Last Jedi, we didn’t know about it. It seemed that most everyone there was happy to have seen it.

  Culture War: (PJ Media): “Jon Del Arroz won’t be going to the Worldcon science fiction convention, even though he is the leading Hispanic voice in science fiction and he bought a ticket.The multi-award nominated military science fiction author was banned publicly from the upcoming festivities in San Jose, California, without ceremony or explanation by Worldcon’s Incident Response Team. “At this time we are converting your membership to Worldcon76 to a supporting membership as you will not be permitted to attend the convention. On your personal blog you have made it clear that you are both expecting and planning on engendering a hostile environment which we do not allow. If you are found on the premises of the convention center or any of the official convention hotels you will be removed,” the organizers wrote.”

  Cinema (RMWC Reviews): This has been on my mind for a while now, butThe Last Jedi and a lot of people’s visceral reaction against it, helped crystallize this line of thought.

The Last Jedi, in an attempt to be dark and serious, and “different”, hates heroism and actively punishes it. Poe Dameron, hotshot fighter pilot, is the only truly heroic character in the film. He’s the only one who consistently, and without hesitation puts his life on the line for the cause and makes hard, decisive command decisions in stressful times aimed at protecting lives. He is constantly punished for this. By other characters, by plot twists, by supremely horrid writing.

  Gaming (Gaming While Conservative): “Ye Holy Cats and the Great God Almighty, what the hell is going on in MagicLand?

Your old Pal E. Reagan Wright was never much one for CCGs.  Richard Garfield breathed new life into the tabletop hobby with his money pit of a game, but he also moved the dear sainted center of the RPG universe from good old middle-Merican Wisconsin and my hometown of Lake Geneva to the Left Coast where it was destined to be infiltrated by SJWs like my backside in the shower during my recent ninety-day spa treatment at the local County Men’s Club for Wayward Rapscallions.”

  Sensor Sweep: Elfland’s Daughter, Magic the Gathering, Dell Horror, and Last Jedi (again). published first on http://ift.tt/2zdiasi

[hottytoddynews]

This story was reprinted with permission from the Ole Miss Alumni Review.

“What would you do tomorrow if you didn’t get paid for it?” is the question Mike Stewart (BPA 75, MCJ 78) of Oxford-based Wildrose Kennels challenges people to ask themselves when they want to know the secret of his success. They pick his brain because they know he pulled a complete career 180 with optimal results.

Today, Stewart, 60, certainly gets paid for what he pursued [he’s even graced the cover of Forbes magazine as the purveyor of a “recession-proof” business], but it didn’t happen overnight. You could say it’s been generations in the making.

“My father was a horse trainer and a really good one,” says Stewart. “But I’ve always gravitated to dogs.”

In high school, Stewart even wrote a biology paper on dog training, delving into dog behaviors.

“I think the teacher just let me get by with it because I couldn’t do anything else in biology,” he says. “I’ve always been blessed to live an outdoor lifestyle around animals. So many people today were born two and three generations away from the farm, so they’ve lost a lot of aptitude for how animals think and how they work. I grew up around animals, so I always had that in my back pocket.”

The back pocket he refers to was on a pair of rigid police uniform pants. The University of Mississippi grad went into law enforcement full-time in 1974 and spent seven years with the Oxford Police Department, working up from dispatcher to captain, before going to Ole Miss’ police department as chief of police in 1981. He also graduated from the FBI National Academy in 1989 and served in the U.S. Navy Reserve as a commander.

The entire time Stewart was in law enforcement, training dogs remained a hobby for him.

“I had beagles, treeing dogs,” he recalls. “I had obedience classes in town. I lived on Sisk then, and people would bring their dogs, and we’d work ’em. So, I’ve always worked with dogs, all the way back to junior high school. The interest has always been there and always been very keen.”

COPPING A NEW CAREER

In 1998, while chief of UPD, Stewart bought land east of Oxford, primarily, he says, to run beagles on. He soon ran a cattle business there and got into holistic gardening.

“I was always into the natural order of things and how crops grew, and grass-fed beef,” he says.

While dealing in cattle, he kept up his dog-training hobby, and he says these experiences with the natural way came to bear on his interest in dogs, to train them “in a more positive way — not using as much force but trying to take the natural ability of the dog, applying certain controls and then training the people to work their dogs better. It caught on.”

In the mid-’90s, Stewart found a kennel in Tennessee called Wildrose that was going out of business.

“I merged it with my operation here, and it took off fast enough that I had to get out of the cattle and get strictly into dog training,” he says.

But more than the cattle business would have to give.

“After that, I was faced with either cutting down on the dog side of things or retiring from Ole Miss,” says Stewart. “Most departments would open around 8 and be over at 5, whereas we ran around the clock, seven days a week. It was hard to get [the kennel business] going, so I faced leaving Ole Miss a little earlier than I anticipated. I enjoyed the work out there and the relationships, and things were going very well, but I couldn’t work all those shifts and keep up with all the manpower.”

In 2000, he made the break, and he hasn’t looked back.

His wife, Cathy, a former teacher who for 20 years directed the annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference at Ole Miss, is his vice president of Wildrose Kennels. They live in a house within throwing distance of the Wildrose facility, on the same property. Stewart eases home for lunch or when he needs a little peace to work on what he’ll say as keynote speaker at various events for schools and groups.

THE WILDROSE WAY

Stewart has distilled his training methodology as “the Wildrose Way” and shares it with the hunting market on two DVDs and in one book, published last year.

“It’s our unique, balanced training philosophy,” he says. “We use a lot of positive reinforcement to engrain skills in the dog that are going to endure a lifetime.”

A pup, reporting to Stewart at around 8 months old, will stay an average of six months to experience the Wildrose Way — a dynamic curriculum to be sure.

“To be able to hunt upland in one minute and go down and handle duck hunting and hand signals on the water in another, that’s a lot to cover in five months, and most of them will stay about six,” Stewart says.

Wildrose focuses on one breed: British Labradors.

“All our genetics are original and authentic, imported from England and Northern Ireland,” Stewart says. “We breed them here and raise the pups. When I started, there was virtually nobody doing that — maybe one other kennel in the country. I had the only ad in Ducks Unlimited magazine in the 1990s; now there’s 16 to 18 ads. So, we’ve created divergence in the market. You’ve got the American Labrador and the British Labrador. When I started, there was no difference at all.”

Decades into honing his specific angle on Labs, Stewart knows what he wants.

“What we’re looking for in our dogs is their size, their athletic ability and their natural nose,” he says. “They’re a bit smaller and more compact than the average Labrador.”

Customers have options at Wildrose. Some buy “started” pups bred there — in black, yellow, chocolate or fox red — for $1,750 to $2,000. The owners then send them back to train. Others save some money by buying pups elsewhere and enrolling them at Wildrose for their education. Still others, willing to pay $12,000 to $15,000, get the “totally finished turnkey” job — buying a Wildrose-bred pup and leaving it with Stewart’s team until it’s 2 1/2 to 3 years old.

Certainly, to put it lightly, a customer must really enjoy hunting to outlay such an investment, and it’s no surprise Stewart says it’s worth the price. In the grand scheme of the hunting world, though, it does make sense.

“These dogs are not like bird dogs that you just take out and turn loose and kill some birds with them,” Stewart says. “These dogs live in your home and travel with you; they are 365-day dogs. When you look at it that way and you get around 10 years of companionship, and you amortize it out, it’s probably the cheapest thing the hunter owns — when you start looking at duck leases, fuel, corn and everything to produce the duck sites and hunt. It’s a pretty expensive hobby. The dog is probably only about $1 a day when you look at it.”

Oxonian and Ole Miss alum Bradley Rayner (BBA 00, BBA 02) got his “started” fox red Lab Nella as a pup from Wildrose and sent her back at 8 months of age for training for six months.

Rayner notes that the dogs aren’t the only ones getting an education.

“The things that Mike and his crew can accomplish with a dog are amazing,” Rayner says. “I know a number of people that have sporting dogs from Wildrose Kennels, and they are among the best in the field. The trainers work closely with you and play a critical role in your understanding of how to work your dog. The entire staff is friendly and willing to help you better your Wildrose dog, even after [the dog has] left training.”

You could say lifelong duck hunter Jeff Buckner, founder of financial planning firm Plancorp in St. Louis, is a believer in the Wildrose Way.

Buckner’s gotten three Wildrose Labs — one for himself, one for his son [who went to Ole Miss] and one for his grandson, so he’s more than qualified to be a part of a customer base he calls “the Wildrose community.” Buckner says his dog Rebel is the best duck dog at his club and swears the other members will vouch for him on that.

“Most of the non-Wildrose dogs I see in the field are pretty hyper and sometimes not very well-behaved in the blind, and that can be a problem,” says Buckner. “A big part of success in hunting is having total control over the dog.”

Buckner says Rebel has an “off switch” and can hang out at his office “with all the distractions going on without making a noise or disturbing anything, and then he’s capable of getting into the truck and going to the club and turning the switch back on in terms of high-powered performance in the field.”

Like Rayner, Buckner is a believer in the importance of the care Stewart takes to train owners.

Wildrose customers visit the Oxford facility for weekends at a time to learn how to properly handle their dogs. Stewart says being located in Oxford has worked out very well as an attractive community for folks from far away who are drawn to Wildrose.

Architect Heather Cass and her husband, Baltimore Ravens president Dick Cass, are both Yale graduates, so perhaps it’s natural that for a companion dog, they appreciate a Lab educated by the canine-training equivalent of an Ivy League professor.

Their last few dogs have been Labs, and a few years ago when her last Lab grew old, Heather Cass began contemplating how she could ever replace the beloved family member. The idea of starting over with a puppy in the home seemed daunting. That’s when she happened upon the Forbes article about Mike Stewart and Wildrose.

“I read it with interest, especially the part saying that they sell finished dogs,” Cass says. “One of the benefits of the whole investigation would be getting to come to Oxford because I’m a Faulkner fan and heard wonderful things about the town.”

About six months after the passing of her previous Lab in 2010, Cass visited Oxford and Wildrose Kennels.

She was floored by Stewart’s operation and impressed that he actually first asked her what she wanted out of a dog in her life. He invited her to check out one of his handler workshops so Cass could get to know the Stewarts, and they could get to know her, to better begin developing a plan for the right dog for her. She used one of their dogs in a workshop to get a feel.

“A few months later, Jack arrived in our life, and the rest is history,” Cass says. “We could not be happier with him but more importantly with the whole experience.”

BREEDING BUSINESS

In the mid-’90s, Stewart latched onto a succinct term: “Gentleman’s Gundog.” He picked up on it from a customer.

“I was training his dogs, and he mentioned that term one day,” Stewart says. “He was a stately gentleman with a big mustache. I thought, ‘I like that; I think I’ll keep it.’ It’s now the trademarked slogan of Wildrose Kennels, and Stewart says it helped gain his business a little more word-of-mouth.

“What kicked the can way down the road is when, in 2001, Ducks Unlimited gave us the contract for Drake, the first DU mascot,” Stewart says. “That was a huge long ball.”

The result was, Stewart says, that more people knew about Wildrose nationally in hunting circles than they did in Oxford. Drake now shows grey hair on his chin and is joined at Wildrose by Deke, the newer DU mascot.

“People come to Oxford and say, ‘We want to visit Wildrose,’ and people say, ‘What?’ They didn’t know where it was. Most [businesses] start locally and branch out; I did just the opposite.”

When Stewart retired from UPD in 2000, he had only one employee in his dog-training enterprise. He now has 14 to handle the many-pronged operation, including breeding puppies, training, running a full retail outfitter store on-site and an 1,800-square-foot vet-tech health care facility.

“Our vet-tech staff works from 6:30 in the morning to 9:30 at night, seven days a week.”

What’s more, Wildrose raises its own flight birds for training dogs. Five trainers come from different parts of the country. Some are Ole Miss alums, but the team includes staffers recruited from as far as Colorado and Wisconsin.

Originally, Wildrose’s scope was mostly breeding and some training, but training is now at least half of the operation.

“In the training, when we’re completely full, we manage about 100 dogs at one time,” Stewart says.

Training also isn’t limited to the Wildrose headquarters’ property in Lafayette County.

“We have now four facilities across the country. One is in northwest Arkansas on the Buffalo River, and we’re guests on a ranch in Colorado,” says Stewart. “The newest facility we just purchased … one of my partners and I are going to develop a duck-hunting operation in the Mississippi Delta. Each of those sites allows us to get realistic training for the dogs.”

In 2007, Stewart ventured outside the hunting dog paradigm, developing a training model for adventure dogs.

“That’s for people who don’t hunt that much, but the dogs complement a sporting lifestyle — hiking, biking, camping, canoeing.”

About five years ago came a third type of dog that Wildrose would produce: diabetic-alert dogs.

“We do a few of those, and it’s a nonprofit side of the company,” Stewart says of the Wildrose collaboration with the Tupelo-based CREATE Foundation.

THE OTHER SIDE

With all his success from what had been a lifelong hobby, Stewart offers some perspective from the other side for anyone mulling over the idea of turning a favorite hobby into a career.

“If you’re older in life and you want to follow a dream, and you have a passion — whether it’s a bicycle shop or pottery shop or whatever it is — get it going before you quit your day job,” he advises. “Do a good job there and get the other side going, and see if you can actually make a living at it. I was able to do that, and I was very fortunate.”

By Tad Wilkes. Photos by Nathan Latil. 

This story was reprinted with permission from the Ole Miss Alumni Review. The Alumni Review is published quarterly for members of the Ole Miss Alumni Association. Join or renew your membership with the Alumni Association today, and don’t miss a single issue.

For questions, email us at hottytoddynews@gmail.com.

Follow HottyToddy.com on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat @hottytoddynews. Like its Facebook page: If You Love Oxford and Ole Miss…

The post Ole Miss Alumni Review: Lab Partner, How A Former UPD Chief Went To The Dogs appeared first on HottyToddy.com.

[tpanan]

My Thursday Daily Blessings

June 14, 2018

Be still quiet your heart and mind, the LORD is here, loving you talking to you...........

Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time (Roman Rite Calendar)

Lectionary: 362

First Reading: 1 Kings 18: 41-46

Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain." So Ahab went up to eat and drink, while Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, crouched down to the earth,and put his head between his knees. "Climb up and look out to sea," he directed his servant, who went up and looked, but reported, "There is nothing." Seven times he said, "Go, look again!" And the seventh time the youth reported, "There is a cloud as small as a man's hand rising from the sea." Elijah said, "Go and say to Ahab, 'Harness up and leave the mountain before the rain stops you.'"In a trice the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and a heavy rain fell. Ahab mounted his chariot and made for Jezreel. But the hand of the LORD was on Elijah, who girded up his clothing and ran before Ahab as far as the approaches to Jezreel.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 65: 10, 11, 12-13

"It is right to praise you in Zion, O GOD."

Verse before the Gospel: John 13:34

Alleluia, Alleluia

"I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you."

Alleluia, Alleluia

Gospel Reading: Matthew 5:20-26

Jesus said to his disciples: "I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.

"You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, Raqa, will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny."

**Meditation:

Are you ever driven by anger, rage, or revenge? The first person to hate his brother was Cain, the son of Adam and Eve. God warned Cain: Why are you angry? ..Sin is couching at the door; it's desire is for you, but you must master it (Genesis 4:6-7). Sin doesn't just happen to us - it first grows as a tiny seed in our heart. Unless it is uprooted by God's grace, it grows like a weed and chokes the vine and all its fruit.

Forbidden anger must be uprooted from our heart Jesus addressed the issue of keeping the commandments with his disciples. The scribes and Pharisees equated righteousness with satisfying the outward observance of the law. Jesus showed them how short they had come. Jesus points to the heart as the seat of desire and choice. Unless evil and forbidden desires are eradicated, the heart will be corrupted. Jesus points to forbidden anger with one's brother. This is a selfish anger that broods and is long-lived, that nurses a grudge and keeps wrath warm, and that refuses to die. Harboring anger in the heart as well as anger in speech and action are equally forbidden by God.

God's love and truth sets us free from anger and malice What is the antidote to anger and rage? Mercy, kindness, and forbearance spring from a heart full of love and forgiveness. God has forgiven us and he calls us to extend mercy and forgiveness towards those who cause us grief and harm. In the cross of Jesus we see the supreme example of love and forgiveness and the power of goodness for overcoming evil. Only God's love and grace can set our hearts and minds free from the tyranny of wounded pride and spiteful revenge.

Do you harbor any anger towards another person? And are you quick to be reconciled when a rupture has been caused in your relationships? Ask God to set you free and to fill your heart and mind with his love and goodness. Paul the Apostle reminds us that "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). Through the grace and help of the Holy Spirit we can overcome malice with good, hatred with kindness, and injury with pardon.

**Prayer:    

"May I be no man's enemy, and may I be the friend of that which is eternal and abides. May I never quarrel with those nearest me: and if I do, may I be reconciled quickly. May I love, seek, and attain only that which is good. May I wish for all men's happiness and envy none. May I never rejoice in the ill-fortune of one who has wronged me. When I have done or said what is wrong, may I never wait for the rebuke of others, but always rebuke myself until I make amends. May I win no victory that harms either me or my opponent. May I reconcile friends who are angry with one another. May I never fail a friend who is in danger. When visiting those in grief may I be able by gentle and healing words to soften their pain. May I respect myself. May I always keep tame that which rages within me. May I accustom myself to be gentle, and never be angry with people because of circumstances. May I never discuss who is wicked and what wicked things he has done, but know good men and follow in their footsteps."  

(Prayer of Eusebius, 3rd century)

Sources:

Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

**Meditations may be freely reprinted for non-commercial use. Cite copyright & source: www.dailyscripture.net author Don Schwager© 2015 Servants of the Word  

[jokingjustice]

NATIONAL IDENTITY CARD FOR OVERSEAS PAKISTANIS (NICOP) AND SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN

The Honourable Supreme Court has issued Notice that as to why an Overseas Pakistani (OPs) pays Rs. 15,000 (or perhaps Rs. 25,000 as I read in a letter to editor from an Overseas Pakistani) for his National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) while a Pakistani in the country for the same ID Card called CNIC pays Rs. 1500/-.   Nadra submitted that it had to spend in maintaining its offices abroad.

 2.     The issue can’t be understood unless the background of the NICOP is not refreshed.  It was the   قرض اتارو ملک سنوارو era.  Seeing never seen before charged emotional over  enthusiasm of the OPs in contributing towards قرض اتارو ملک سنوارو, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif called an Overseas Pakistanis Convention in I997 in Islamabad. Taking  advantage of the emotional atmosphere, he offered the OPs everything they wished to buy (industry, projects etc) even to the extent of running Embassies abroad. Chairing the Convention, he claimed that the OPs whether holding Pakistani passports or foreign, were all “our” family members and the doors of their home (homeland Pakistan) are always open for them.  However, soon his this love affair showed it was just a money pulling technique.  It is today proved beyond any reasonable doubt that Nawaz Sharif never wished or wishes to give anything to ordinary OP but only desires to snatch from them.

3.     Immediately after declaring in the Convention the OPs the family members, having sensed weight of the pockets of OPs, he immediately imposed the NICOP for these Pakistanis for entering their own homeland.  His newly introduced NICOP was then for 3 years renewable on higher costs. This was the first occasion in the history of Pakistan, the Pakistani Embassies and Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly pleaded not to go further with this project. The argument given by Nawaz Sharif was that the authorities abroad can’t read the present Urdu language CNIC, hence needed an English version.  It was just a fooling argument.  I am since 33 years abroad.  Not even once in any country, any foreign authority, had ever asked me to produce my Pakistani ID Card or even to know if I had one.  Likewise during 33 years no authority in Pakistan has ever demanded from me my foreign country of residence ID Card or if I held one.  This ploy of Nawaz Sharif was only a “money pulling” tactic.

 4.     Realising how big source of huge regular income this NICOP had created, later another Pakistan Origin Card (POC) was introduced for the same earlier declared family members. Under this POC, those “family members” needed to surrender their Pakistani nationality first.  For regular pulling out from Overseas family members, POC was for 7 years renewable.  India, on the other hand, issued its Indian Origin Card for life.  In our case, a POC in government files do had rights equal to one’s local Pakistani family member but a second class citizen.  For example a POC holder can’t open, practically, a bank account in Pakistan.  India, on its Indian Card, has categorically mentioned that the holder had all the rights equal to a local India except that the holder can’t buy agricultural land.

    5.     This NICOP earlier was applied by submitting documents to the Pakistan Embassy concerned.  Today, all this process is direct with NADRA Islamabad On Line eliminating any involvement of Pakistan Embassy.  The ready NICOP, however, comes back to Pakistan Embassy who in turn without going through any paper work simply hands over the packet received from Islamabad to the local courier service for delivery to the card holder.  The local courier charges are paid by the applicant in advance while applying.  Hence in majority of the places there “today” is no involvement of any Pakistan Embassy or any NADRA office abroad.  Hence NADRA’s stand today holds no good.  It should, however, not be forgotten that when NICOP application was used to be submitted to the Pakistan Embassy, in additional to the NADRA prescribed high fees, the applicant also paid 10% additional to the Embassy in the name of so called community welfare fund.  What was, in practical term, this community welfare?  Somewhere in the old papers of this senior citizen might still be as a memento  a clipping of an interview to the local leading newspaper by the then Community Welfare Officer Pakistan Embassy.  He was shy that ready NICOPs were lying uncollected in his office some even since “five years”.  This was the glare of “community service”.  Since four or five years NICOPs remained uncollected and the so called community welfare officer or the Embassy for that purpose had no courtesy and concern for its national to pick up the phone and check if their national was in some disposition or in any trouble, even after having charged in advance 10% for this non visible community service.

 6.     Whether the local CNIC or overseas NICOP, applications for both are received in Islamabad, processed in Islamabad and cards are made ready in Islamabad.  The technology involved in processing from A to Z, time and the material consumption for the both is the same.  Hence no logic for huge difference in fees.  Having the application system gone On Line, there today also is practical no need whatsoever, as such, in keeping a few Nadra Offices abroad unless purpose is to provide foreign jobs or costly outsourcing business to some private company owned underhand by some unknown dear ones.

 7.     Today’s civilized world recognizes the basic fundamental human rights and extremely hates any sort of discrimination on the basis of one’s religion, place of residence, colour.  How wonder, then, that  when our learned senior judges keep taking in their  addresses about protection of basic rights, Nadra has fixed discriminatory Fees on the basis of one’s “pocket” and not on the universal basic principle of administration.  For example, for Smart NICOP Reprint/Lost for OPs residing in some countries the Fee is Rs. 8,700 for living other countries for the same product is Rs. 16,300.  For a new issuance like a Birth Certificate,  an Arms Licence etc  one pays full Fees. In case of issuance of duplicate thereof, the Fees are almost always less than the original.  Here Nadra has kept in view the doctrine of Mian Nawaz Sharif to pull as much as possible from the OP Currency Machines .  For cancellation of an item fees is exorbitant for non logical reason.  If, for example, I, as a local Pakistani, do not want to keep continue my CNIC/Smart Card, why would I pay Rs. 15,000 for its cancellation.  Why not I let it expire and automatically lost its legal value.

 8.     For cancellation double Fee,  I think is as part of, in simple words, black mailing.  I have so far not applied On Line but my next colleague tells me he father got Pakistan Origin Card (POC) when the Government introduced this card. The POC was introduced for those who had got a foreign nationality.  The father got it as per rule and procedure.  Now he needed to cancel it.  For applying a cancellation, Nadra provided him a specimen-text of an Undertaking/Indemnity under which the father stated that he deliberate wrongly applied and got POC.  It is same as many of the Black Coats have got their blank Wakalatnamas pre-printed under which his litigant client signs that in case the case was decided ex-parte due to non attendance of the Advocate despite having charged in advance fully,  he would not hold the advocate responsible for that.    

[thesupervision-blog]

Emigre 51, First Things First (1999)

He threw down a challenge to graphic designers and other visual communicators that refuses to go away. 

It is no exaggeration to say that designers are engaged in nothing less than the manufacture of contemporary reality. Today, we live and breathe design. Few of the experiences we value at home, at leisure, in the city or the mall are free of its alchemical touch. We have absorbed design so deeply into ourselves that we no longer recognize the myriad ways in which it prompts, cajoles, disturbs, and excites us. It's completely natural. It's just the way things are.

We imagine that we engage directly with the "content" of the magazine, the TV commercial, the pasta sauce, or perfume, but the content is always mediated by design and it's design that helps direct how we perceive it and how it makes us feel. The brand-meisters and marketing gurus understand this only too well. The product may be little different in real terms from its rivals. What seduces us is its "image." This image reaches us first as a visual entity - shape, color, picture, type. But if it's to work its effect on us it must become an idea: NIKE! This is the tremendous power of design.

The original First Things First was written at a time when the British economy was booming. People of all classes were better off than ever before and jobs were easily had. In 1962, he set up his own company, Ken Garland & Associates, and the same year began a fruitful association (a "do-it-for-love consultancy," as he once put it) with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. He was a committed campaigner against the bomb, and his "Aldermaston to London Easter 62" poster, with its huge, marching CND symbol, is a classic piece of protest graphics from the period. 

"As I warmed to the task I found I wasn't so much reading it as declaiming it," he recalled later; "it had become, we all realized simultaneously, that totally unfashionable device, a Manifesto." There was prolonged applause and many people volunteered their signatures there and then.

Anthony Wedgwood Benn (now Tony Benn) reprinted the manifesto in its entirety in his weekly Guardian newspaper column. "The responsibility for the waste of talent which they have denounced is one we must all share," he wrote. "The evidence for it is all around us in the ugliness with which we have to live. It could so easily be replaced if only we consciously decided as a community to engage some of the skill which now goes into the frills of an affluent society."

It arrived at a moment when design was taking off as a confident, professionalized activity. The rapid growth of the affluent consumer society meant there were many opportunities for talented visual communicators in advertising, promotion and packaging. The advertising business itself had experienced a so-called "creative revolution" in New York, and several influential American exponents of the new ideas-based graphic design were working for London agencies in the early 1960s. A sense of glamour and excitement surrounded this well-paid line of work. From the late 1950s onwards, a few skeptical designers began to ask publicly what this non-stop tide of froth had to do with the wider needs and problems of society. To some, it seemed that the awards with which their colleagues liked to flatter themselves attracted and celebrated only the shallowest and most ephemeral forms of design. For Garland and the other concerned signatories of First Things First, design was in danger of forgetting its responsibility to struggle for a better life for all.

The critical distinction drawn by the manifesto was between design as communication (giving people necessary information) and design as persuasion (trying to get them to buy things). In the signatories' view, a disproportionate amount of designers' talents and effort was being expended on advertising trivial items, from fizzy water to slimming diets, while more "useful and lasting" tasks took second place: street signs, books and periodicals, catalogues, instruction manuals, educational aids, and so on. The British designer Jock Kinneir (not a signatory) agreed: "Designers oriented in this direction are concerned less with persuasion and more with information, less with income brackets and more with physiology, less with taste and more with efficiency, less with fashion and more with amenity. They are concerned in helping people to find their way, to understand what is required of them, to grasp new processes and to use instruments and machines more easily."

In its wording, the manifesto did not acknowledge the extent to which this might, in reality, be a political issue, and Garland himself made a point of explaining that the underlying political and economic system was not being called into question. "We do not advocate the abolition of high pressure consumer advertising," he wrote, "this is not feasible."

Today, the imbalance identified by First Things First is greater than ever. The vast majority of design projects - and certainly the most lavishly funded and widely disseminated - address corporate needs, a massive over-emphasis on the commercial sector of society, which consumes most of graphic designers' time, skills and creativity. As McCoy points out, this is a decisive vote for economic considerations over other potential concerns, including society's social, educational, cultural, spiritual, and political needs.

Design's love affair with form to the exclusion of almost everything else lies at the heart of the problem. In the 1990s, advertisers were quick to co-opt the supposedly "radical" graphic and typographic footwork of some of design's most celebrated and ludicrously self-regarding stars, and these designers, seeing an opportunity to reach national and global audiences, were only too happy to take advertising's dollar. Design styles lab-tested in youth magazines and obscure music videos became the stuff of sneaker, soft drink and bank ads. Advertising and design are closer today than at any point since the 1960s. For many young designers emerging from design schools in the 1990s, they now appear to be one and the same. Obsessed with how cool an ad looks, rather than with what it is really saying, or the meaning of the context in which it says it, these designers seriously seem to believe that formal innovations alone are somehow able to effect progressive change in the nature and content of the message communicated. Exactly how, no one ever manages to explain.

What's at stake in contemporary design, the artist and critic Johanna Drucker suggests, isn't so much the look or form of design practice as the life and consciousness of the designer (and everybody else, for that matter). She argues that the process of unlocking and exposing the underlying ideological basis of commercial culture boils down to a simple question that we need to ask, and keep on asking: "In whose interest and to what ends? Who gains by this construction of reality, by this representation of this condition as 'natural'?"

This is the concern of the designer or visual communicator in at least two senses. First, like all of us, as a member of society, as a citizen (a word it would be good to revive), as a punchdrunk viewer on the receiving end of the barrage of commercial images. Second, as someone whose sphere of expertise is that of representation, of two-dimensional appearances, and the construction of reality's shifting visual surface, interface and expression. If thinking individuals have a responsibility to withstand the proliferating technologies of persuasion, then the designer, as a skilled professional manipulator of those technologies, carries a double responsibility. Even now, at this late hour, in a culture of rampant commodification, with all its blindspots, distortions, pressures, obsessions, and craziness, it's possible for visual communicators to discover alternative ways of operating in design.

At root, it's about democracy. The escalating commercial take-over of everyday life makes democratic resistance more vital than ever.

[naturecoaster]

Monday Morning Memo

by Alan Weiss, Ph.D., from Alan Weiss's Monday Morning Memo© Reprinted with permission. Featured Image from Bentley Quarterly Magazine used with permission. Well, let's see: This past week we launched two men into space on a commercial rocket with touch-screen controls and retrievable boosters, in a module as sleek as a Corvette. The cosmetics reminded me of a rocket ship made by Steve Jobs. These two guys, like every astronaut, are extremely brave. We are in varying "phases" of emerging from the coronavirus lockdowns, with the opening of most stores, outdoor facilities, personal services, and so forth. We're also in varying phases of "I've had it and I'm not going to take it anymore," with skin-on-skin freedom orgies at resort locations. There's substantial evidence that wearing gloves is more harmful than helpful, that you can't contract the illness from surface contamination (making all that sanitizing seem obsessive), and even that masks may not do all that much.   There's also plenty of data showing death rates, with the exception of truly high-risk groups, being very low. These people rollicking outdoors seemed to want the same "escape velocity" that the astronauts needed to achieve space flight. Then we have riots in major cities because once again a white police officer has killed a black man despite being begged by people nearby to allow him to breathe and with the total passivity of three other officers standing around. (I don't say "alleged" because we've all seen the video.) Countless agitators in the crowds encouraged arson which burned down black-owned businesses, among the others. I was in school in Newark during the riots following the Rodney King beating, which I wrote about recently. While there are instigators and nihilists who flock to make trouble, there are also people, as in Newark in the 60s, who feel they have no recourse. And through all this, the bipartisanship that arose in the Great Depression, and after Pearl Harbor, and during other calamities, is nowhere to be seen in this polarized society and polity.  Well, those astronauts may be brave, but I'm thinking they realized it was their best bet to get out of the country for a while.

Growing through Times of Change

Want to receive this type of guidance in your inbox weekly? Check out Alan's resources here. Why has NatureCoaster has Reprinted this Article? I have been subscribing to and reading Alan Weiss's Monday Morning Memo© for more years than I can remember on my entrepreneurial journey. His writing style, humor, and no-nonsense approach to life on life's terms as an entrepreneur have helped me to know that I bring value to most every equation. I highly recommend that you add Alan's tools to your kit to help you start thriving in life. You can learn more about him below. When you are ready, get his books and read them, invest in his paid workshops and watch your dreams come true. --- Diane About Alan Weiss, Ph.D. His consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc., has attracted clients such as Merck, Hewlett-Packard, GE, Mercedes-Benz, State Street Corporation, Times Mirror Group, The Federal Reserve, The New York Times Corporation, Toyota, and over 500 other leading organizations. He has served on the boards of directors of the Trinity Repertory Company, a Tony-Award-winning New England regional theater, Festival Ballet, and chaired the Newport International Film Festival. His speaking typically includes 20 keynotes a year at major conferences, and he has been a visiting faculty member at Case Western Reserve University, Boston College, Tufts, St. John’s, the University of Illinois, the Institute of Management Studies, and the University of Georgia Graduate School of Business. He has held an appointment as adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Rhode Island where he taught courses on advanced management and consulting skills to MBA and PhD candidates. He once held the record for selling out the highest priced workshop (on entrepreneurialism) in the then-21-year history of New York City’s Learning Annex. His Ph.D. is in psychology. He has served on the Board of Governors of Harvard University’s Center for Mental Health and the Media. He is an inductee into the Professional Speaking Hall of Fame® and the concurrent recipient of the National Speakers Association Council of Peers Award of Excellence, representing the top 1% of professional speakers in the world. He has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants, one of only two people in history holding both those designations. His prolific publishing includes over 500 articles and 60 books, including his best-seller, Million Dollar Consulting (from McGraw-Hill) now in its 25th year and fifth edition. His newest is Threescore and More: Applying the Assets of Maturity, Wisdom, and Experience for Personal and Professional Success (Routledge, 2018). His books have been on the curricula at Villanova, Temple University, and the Wharton School of Business, and have been translated into 15 languages. He is interviewed and quoted frequently in the media. His career has taken him to 60 countries and 49 states. (He is afraid to go to North Dakota.) Success Magazine cited him in an editorial devoted to his work as “a worldwide expert in executive education.“ The New York Post called him “one of the most highly regarded independent consultants in America.“ He is the winner of the prestigious Axiem Award for Excellence in Audio Presentation. He is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Press Institute, the first-ever for a non-journalist, and one of only seven awarded in the 65-year history of the association. He holds an annual Thought Leadership Conference which draws world famous experts as speakers. In 2014 his featured speaker was political pundit, best-selling author, and media favorite James Carville, in 2015 Master of Influence Robert Cialdini, and in 2016 Dan Gilbert of Harvard who has over 15 million views of his TED talk on happiness. He has coached former candidates for Miss Rhode Island/Miss America in interviewing skills. He once appeared on the popular American TV game show Jeopardy, where he lost badly in the first round to a dancing waiter from Iowa. Alan is married to the lovely Maria for 47 years, and they have two children and twin granddaughters. They reside in East Greenwich, RI with their dogs, Buddy Beagle and Bentley, a white German Shepherd. Read the full article