When your opponent has an atomic lockdown and you can’t break the lockdown using the “breaking” method, then you can simply undo it. Slide down low again, which will allow you to quickly throw your ankle over to get your foot out, and then point your knee up and out, so you can slide the foot under to safety (and avoid being locked down again).

Once you have underhook, you can slide your hips down lower, which will then allow you to straighten your leg with force to break the opponent’s lockdown. If they have an atomic lockdown, then try the “Undoing the Lockdown” technique.

Protect your iPhone apps with “lockdown.” Lock some or all apps with a password. No more deleting texts or pictures. Feel free to lock categories as well. Protect those sensitive banking apps or even facebook. Download now from cydia or rock.

Sudan throws a tight security cordon around Khartoum ahead of Egypt and Algeria’s crunch World Cup football play-off…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: statistic football. The blog is also related to: german soccer.

For some reason I can’t get that line out of my head. It’s just so noteworthy due to the conditions under which it was uttered.

Right, for some strange reason I feel compelled to blog at midnight. No specific reason, midnight has no significance to the blog, just the time of day in which I feel like it. Anyway, watched the new episode of Doctor Who this morning, and it was better than the more recent specials I’ve seen with Mr. Tennant. Hats go off to the make-up department on that episode though, the whole water-creature being nothing more than some contact lenses and a cracked mouth made for some eerie scenes. The story will take another watch to see if it was as well written or not, but early signs for me look mixed.

Must admit I found it hard to stay awake in today’s lecture, which is fairly new for me. Could barely keep my eyes open. Probably from doing a 12 hour shift and then only getting 5 hours sleep. Damn the body clock.

So, next on the agenda is Compartment 9 and what Santa thinks of it. Hopefully he has torn it to shreds to give me some idea of what needs doing for the second draft. Must admit I’m looking forward to ripping chunks out of it. I think it’ll feel a bit like chipping away at the stone when you have the blueprint. Chipping away until no more work needs doing. It’ll be a good feeling to finally get something to ‘finished draft’ stage, never done that before.

Might stick a film on before I go to bed. Perhaps Die Hard 3. Nothing like being serenaded to sleep by Jeremy Irons blowing up a train.

…..Too late!

10 points for whoever can name the film thats from.

Anyway. I go to sleep around 2, and for some blasted reason my body has seen fit to wake me now, half 9. I must therefore ingest some form of breakfast to justify this nonsensical time of day.

Not much new to report, aside from the commencement of writing on my new short script, which has the working title ‘Lockdown’. As it grows and the theme becomes more apparent I’ll probably go for something more subtle, but it’ll do for now. This one is going to be a study of how to change sympathies in characters by way of action and subtle dialogue. I’ll get this out of the way now, a woman gets the crap beaten out of her throughout alot of this script, so if you’re squeamish about such things, then don’t see it when we make it. I plan for this to be quite brutal.

‘Ungry edges closer to production. Both female actors are attending the Wednesday read through, and I’m managing to snare extras left, right and centre. All going well, we should be ready to dive straight into full production within two weeks.

Not much else to tell really. Work was mildly entertaining towards the end. Put a supervisor in her place before I went home, that was fairly satisfying. That’s about it.

Have You Seen Smallville: Season 5 Episode 11 – Lockdown?

Episode Synopsis:

A deranged policeman who survived the attack of the Kryptonians and his policewoman fianc�e break into Lex’s mansion asking for the location of the spaceship so they can go public with the news of “aliens on Earth”. But Lex locks himself in the panic room. Clark accidentally finds the association of Lana with Lex in their research of the spacecraft when Lana is kidnapped by the renegade cops to force Luthor to leave the room. Lex’s gets shot, but Lana escapes to the panic room with him. Meanwhile, Jonathan presses Lois to find out who is funding his campaign and Martha tells the truth about Lionel.

So what do you think of this episode?

If you missed it, you can watch it here.

“In high school, we’re all pretty naive to what’s going on in the real world until something like a bomb threat or shooting wakes us up from our sleep,” junior Elaina Revilla said.

The Hillsdale pipe bomb incident where a former student came to school armed with a chain saw, two-foot sword, and ten pipe bombs, two of which he set off, and the Skyline shooting stemmed from an armed confrontation of two groups of gang members in a parking lot happened nine days apart, the former occurring last August 24 and the latter on September 2, 2009.

“I don’t feel as secure as I used to feel,” Campus Security Officer Jane Porcelli says.

In response to the Skyline College shooting, Principal Adele Berg enforced an after-school lockdown. Students on campus grounds after school were instructed to proceed to the Academic Building and remain behind locked doors until their parents arrived to take them home.

Since there were a few students in the courtyard and in different parts of the school, Berg made an announcement over the intercom system for every one one campus to come to the office. When she realized how many kids were on campus, everyone was instructed to go to the bottom floor of the Academic Building where the school staff locked the doors and sheltering the students inside.

“Once we were inside, they didn’t tell us right away what was going on,” Revilla said.According to Revilla, it was not until five minutes later that Berg entered the building and informed them of the events that had occurred.

“We didn’t have to do [the lockdown], but because the incident happened at Skyline and the people involved drove away, we didn’t know anything about who they were or where they might go.” Berg stated.

Students who were far from the Academic Building were instructed to go into a secure place such as the Big Gym and the Mat Room. Coach Oliveira opened the door to the gym and instructed students to go inside.

“The staff did a good job in giving us a sense of security,” Viray says. “I was not scared during the lockdown.”

Although the course of events ran smoothly during the lockdown, both Berg and Porcelli feel there’s always room for improvement in terms of security for students
and the staff.

In response to the recent threats to school safety, there was a Non-Student Day on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 for all schools under the South San Francisco Unified School District. This day was reserved for a “Safe and Secure School Seminar” for all employees, who had worked on school and District safety plans.

As some of you may have read on the chicken update page, the girls have been locked up. Our very patient neighbour came  to the door this week and said something had to be done about the hens, they had eaten all his silvet beet (spinach like), not to mention the droppings left around his property, I’d say they have been going over to his garden for a good ten months or more. 

Tenko for chickens

The chicken run had fallen into a bit of disrepair as it wasn’t really in use other than first thing in the morning at last thing in the evening. So when the hens were put back in with the gate shut, they soon found holes in the bamboo fence big enough to get through, which was helpful to me for patching up the right places, it was a bit of a process, patch up one hole and wait for them to find the next way out. They made quite and effort in one case pulling back the wire fencing in one corner and wriggling under it, once that had been repaired they then searched for the next chink in the fence. After two hours of this, it seemed like I had found all the ways out, only to get up the next morning to find them all out, they had pushed the wire on the gate out at the bottom and crawled underneath it,  honestly they make David Blaine look like an amateur, that’s David Blaine now not David Bain, don’t what to get those two mixed up.

After day two of observing them escape and patching the gaps, they seem to be contained, however they are intent on escape, so I imagine I will ahve futher work to do yet, well it’s hard to see them locked up in a space about one twentieth of what they have gotten used to. As I type this Nancy has escaped, she just wants to get to the old nest which is at the front of the house.

The others seem ok about laying their eggs in the new nest areas I have provided for them, mainly though they look a bit bored in the run, I have been trying to find things to put in the run to keep them occupied, yesterday a put a grapefruit in for them, it was amusing to watch them peck at it, then shake their heads, simularly to a child given something bitter for the first time, but they went back for more, with the same result, which made me wonder about their memory time frame.

Hopefully they will get used to their new situation and so will we, it will benefit us in the long run too, as they would eat our vegetables too and the mess they leave around the house is undesirable, the garden should get a chance to recover from the constant pecking from the hens, maybe we can get some kind of lawn happening at the back now. I sign off  heavy hearted.

By Heather Taylor

Staff Writer

At approximately 2:55 p.m. on Oct. 30, Webster Broadcasting and Digital Media Magnet High School went on lockdown after at least one shot was fired toward the school, Gary Rudick, Tulsa Public Schools Campus Chief of Police, said.

Chief  Rudick also informed that it was unclear as to whether the shots were fired at students or the building itself. 

“The allegation is that it’s a shotgun, but it’s hard to say,” Chief Rudick said when asked about the weapon.

Webster Assistant Principal Mike Crase added that the shooter was not a Webster student.

Mr. Crase continued by saying that the teachers, security and administration acted very quickly to secure the safety of all the students at Webster.

 The lockdown ended at approximately 3:40 p.m. when students were released to go to their seventh period.

“As of Monday, 11-2, the students and faculty should feel as safe as they did prior to the incident,” Mr. Crase said.

Contact the Webster Weekly at websterweekly@gmail.com.

A more recent fanvid of mine this time, if not the last one i made of the PCD for the moment… (i’ll have to check that out later lol)
Song chosen : “Love Lockdown” by Kanye West. i KNOW, i know… Don’t give me the Kanye West is an ass talk and all cause i do think he IS an ass. What he did at the VMA was just plain stupid and believe me, i don’t like Taylor Swift AT ALL. Still, i think this was the stupidest thing someone could have done at that precise moment. ANYWAY, Love Lockdown is a VERY good song and that’s not Kanye West that interests me, but just that song. i loved it from the very beginning and always thought i should do a fanvid with it. So here it is !

(Omg what a wonderful thumbnail XD)

Hello birdies!  It’s been too long. 

In an attempt to get it on (the blog, of course), I’ll avoid the awkward intro, and I’ll get right into the good stuff:

Episode 4:

The Fruit

In week four on the Biggest Loser campus, all but two* of the remaining contestants were launched into full-throttle workouts with trainers Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper. 

*Abby Rike, a personal favorite of mine, was still restricted to water exercising due to a stress fracture from the previous week.  And Tracey Yukich, an eye-twitch personified, was informed by the show’s medical expert (Dr. H) that she had to refrain from participating in any physical activity whatsoever: Tracey suffered from a heat stroke in week one of the competition and has since been put on a restricted workout plan.  Dr. H advised Tracey not to lose anymore weight for fear of an additional enzyme increase. 

This made no sense to me, though I am sure it means something.  For the purposes of staying well informed, I turned to my good friend, Google.  Low and behold, Google didn’t disappoint!  Layman’s terms: ’Serum enzyme’ increases occur primarily in the event of a heat stroke, and they typically continue to elevate for [up to] 48-96 hours.  If the patient does not avoid activities that would cause a moderate rise in body temperature, there is a threat that they may persist in elevation and begin to inflict damage on body tissue.  If you would prefer something a bit more technical, by all means, please follow the instructions below :

• pat yourself on the back
• thank a teacher
• and click on the following link: The diagnostic and prognostic significance of the serum enzyme changes in heat stroke.

As the workout’s ensued, Jillian harped heavily on Julio, the sole survivor of the original black team.  While she pushed him to his physical limits, Jillian also invoked her therapeutic powers, hoping to reach Julio on a personal level.  Through his exhaustion, he admitted that food was his “drug of choice,” saying that eating was the only thing he had ever been good at doing. 

After working out, the contestants are presented with their first challenge for the week:  They returned home to find their entire kitchen on lockdown, and Biggest Loser host Allison Sweeney, (affectionately refered to as Ali), awaiting their arrival.  She informed them that every meal in week four had to be ordered out.  No bueno mis amigos.  No bueno.  This revelation hit the cast hard.  Most were worried about the preparation of their food: Would the restaurant(s) honor their requests?  Would there be an ingredient added that would stray from their strict diets?  Would this ultimately lead to a gain come weigh-in time?

Before they tried their hands at the restaurant game, Ali had a relevant side-challenge for them: 3 dinners, all chicken, prepared differently.  Who could select the one with healthiest nutritional value?  Amanda and Rebecca, reppin’ the pink team, not only selected the correct meal, but they also came closest to guessing the healthiest option’s caloric intake.  Their prize?  A year’s worth of FREE groceries.  HOLY CANNOLI!!  Um, yes please! 

As the week continued, Bob and Jillian were instrumental in helping coach the contestants in making wise food choices when dining out (i.e. order grilled, broiled, or baked options as opposed to fried or sauteed; don’t be afraid to be picky and speak up for what you want/need).  This is one of the aspects that I love about this show: They are very focused on encouraging AND teaching their audience along with the contestants.  I walk away with something valuable every time I tune in.

The next challenge was for immunity.  And it was as riveting as it gets.  If you will, imagine yourself doing this: The contestants were placed on boards in water.  The boards had two handle bars at the top, to which they were told to hang on for as long as they could.  But that was not it- Oh no- That was not even the half of it.  Picture this:  The boards were suspended above the water and gradually got steeper until they were totally vertical.  Whoever held on the longest guaranteed a spot for the next week for themselves and their partner, regardless of the amount of weight they lost.  It came down to Daniel (orange team) and Allen (green team).

The Winner?  Orange (my favorite color)!  Daniel, (who, with this win, had surpassed his previous length of stay in Season 7- a huge personal victory), and Shay, his teammate.

  

Above, Daniel is pictured in a before and after montage, commemorating the weight he lost during season 7- both on the ranch and at home.**

In this second picture, we see a much more toned Daniel Wright, who has made it through week four with his immunity win.

The Juice

The juice this week was hard to extract, but once obtained, it was just so sweet, like coconut water.  Nothing too tangy.

Bob and Jillian- what a team they are!  The Biggest Loser trainers are not only die-hard health guru’s, but they are also capable of reaching the contestants on an emotionally valuable level.  Jillian Michaels, in particular, can come across as totally insensitive when she has her fitness blinders on.  (I wonder if that’s what is happening to Kanye.  He started wearing those silly Mr. Potato Head glasses on his face, and he is slowly but surely transforming into a monster).  But in one-on-one situations, the Drill Sargeant transforms into a sincerity driven life coach, pushing her pupils to make physical changes and breakthrough emotional barriers.

This was evident in quite a few interactions in week four:

1. Jillian’s interaction with Julio, where she felt it appropriate, and possibly necessary to reach out to Julio in the midst of his sweaty session.  What came from this was Julio’s own recognition of his issues, and his own admission of where his skeleton’s hid.
2. While out to dinner with the contestants, both Bob and Jillian exhibited [tough] love as they tried to counsel the cast on making smart choices with their food.  At one point, a jolted Jillian smacked her hand down on the table and became a little flustered.  But through her intensity comes passion, and a clear indication of her unique investment in the people she’s trying to help. 
3. In a moment of true pain, Mo declared that he was “done,” and walks out of the gym.  The normally intolerant Bob walked out after Mo and encourages him to come back in and work through his panic.  

If only I could work out with them for a few weeks straight; shed the extra 15 pounds of “baby weight” that I’m still carrying after my 70 pound pregnancy weight gain.  (Yes, you read that correctly; don’t rush to the eye doctor, just yet).  Throughout my pregnancy, I was eating 3 scoops of ice cream drizzled with creamy caramel, every-single-night.  I packed on the L.B.’s with a certain level of aloofness, and an extra bit of poise.  This is my sob story.  But don’t pity me, please.  I need a swift kick in the patoot.  

The Pit

Week Four was a reality TV reality check for season 8 Biggest Loser contenders.  It was a week that most of them thought would overthrow their willpower and lead to their weight-loss demise.  Yet, for most, they far surpassed their own negative expectations, proving to themselves that YES!  You can do whatever it is you have the desire to do.  This is an extremely valuable lesson, but one that most take for granted. 

So often, friends, do we sell ourselves short.  So often do we settle for what is “safe.”  My question for you:  What would you do if you KNEW you couldn’t fail?  What passions would you unveil if fear was your friend, as opposed to your enemy?  Better yet- What are your passions?

Next time you sense a zeal to do and/or become something, bubbling below the surface, but unable to boil, check to see if it is being stifled by fear.  If so, lift of the lid and allow yourself to explore.

Dread Scott’s 2004 Lockdown pairs portraits with audio statements from the prisoners. The stories intend to represent the two million-plus inmates in American prisons. Dread’s belief is that America is defined by its criminal justice system and its incarcerated masses. This is not a position I would query.

Ostensibly, Lockdown is a less confrontational work than his renowned What is the Proper Way to Display the U.S. Flag? (1988) but the strength of the polemic, from which it stems, is no less.

Dread has drawn strong support as well as well-publicised contempt for his art and politics. Even the most respected progressive voices in politics, theory and photography have paused to question the coherence of his work. Dread, I trust, would expect no less than strong reaction to his work.

Among other identifiers, Dread is an avowed Maoist. He has stated, “This is a world where a tiny handful controls the great wealth and knowledge humanity as a whole has created.” In America more than any other ‘developed’ nation this statement applies. Dread’s political statement must be taken as delivered and used as the departure point for this work.

For our interview, I wanted to focus on Dread’s efforts and successes in accessing prisons, drawing testimony and mounting the piece. And to find out why these efforts were necessary.

Q & A

PP: How many prisons/jails did you visit while making Lockdown?
DS: I visited one prison and I went to another where I was turned away at the last minute.  I also worked with some youth who had been in the system, but were not locked up at the time I photographed and interviewed them.  This is also true of one adult ex-con I worked with.

PP: How many portraits are in the series?
DS: There are eleven that I show.  Obviously I took more, but there are eleven that are good. I also would like to expand the project but I have no plans to do this at the moment.

PP: Did you choose the sitters or did they choose you?
DS: In most cases the prison chose them and told them that a photographer wanted to do a project involving prisoners.  Then once I met with them I discussed more about the project and most of them wanted to be part of it.

PP: Were there prisoners who were simply not eligible for participation in Lockdown? If so, for what reasons?
DS: I wanted to get a somewhat broad sampling of the prison population. In many respects this was achieved, but because I was unable to work on the project as extensively as I would have liked, some types of prisoners aren’t in the project.  For example, I didn’t get to any women’s facilities, any jails and I was not to visit any prisoners on Death Row.

PP: Did you ever photograph a prisoner having had no prior contact or discussion?
DS: Generally this is how the project was done – I would be introduced to them and photograph them in the same day.

PP: Who controlled the length of time you had to introduce your project to, and work with, each of the sitters?
DS: Ultimately, it was the prison that controlled the hours of the visit and how many I would be allowed.  But once that was set, I could spend as much or as little time with any one prisoner.

PP: How did you organize yourself and your subjects during the projects as a whole? What forms did the communication take before, during and after the sitting for the photograph?
DS: With rare exception, I wasn’t able to communicate with the prisoners before the photography/interview session. The sessions were very intensive.  I generally wasn’t able to spend more than an hour with each prisoner.  Often I only had about 40 minutes so the work was done quickly.  I would start by discussing what I was trying to do with the project and let them know that I wasn’t working with the prison and in fact that I was a revolutionary and I felt that the whole system was worthless.  Which is not what the project was about but I wanted them to know where I was coming from.  If after knowing more about me and the project they wanted to participate, we would move forward.

Generally, I would then photograph them and then I would interview them, which in many ways was just a conversation. As a preface to the interview I would say something like “It’s clear that the main requirement to get into jail today is that you be poor and Black or Latino. Who is in jail? I need to learn your story and want to tell it. Many people don’t know. And those that do know, people like you and your family aren’t talking about it enough. I need the truth. What happened? How did you end up here? I want to put faces on the slaves of these prisons, which are like modern day slave ships that don’t float.” Then we did the interview. As for more communication after the session, unfortunately the prison that I was working with made this impossible. I sent photographs of all the prisoners to them and I wrote again thanking them for participating. I never heard back from anyone. What I later learned when I met one of the prisoners when he was on the outside, he said that neither he nor anyone else ever got any photo or letter from me.

PP: How do you deal with impartiality?
DS: I am not impartial. I think that this is an unjust society and has exploitation woven into it’s very fabric – a society where a tiny handful control the wealth and knowledge that humanity as a whole has created. The imprisonment of two million+ people shines a lot of light on the society as a whole. I wanted to bring to light the people that are latterly hidden from society broadly and make a work that presented portraits of these hidden people and brought of out the insights they have about the society that imprisons them. Because these people and there ideas are written out of the popular discourse in society, I think that this project can reveal a lot about the society as a whole. The prisoners express their individual views and don’t necessarily share all of mine, but through the work as a whole, an audience has the opportunity to grapple with a lot about the foundations of this society and see and meet people who have a lot to say about it.

PP: What reasons did each of the inmates have for taking part? Were their reasons opinions that you also held or had previously held?
DS: Many of the prisoners initially met me because it was a break from their daily routine. Some were intrigued by the change and chance to work with some sort of photographer. Most didn’t know much about the project prior to meeting me. But once they met me they mostly decided to participate because they wanted to have both their individual story put out in the world, but also they saw this as a chance to be part of a broader conversation about a country that imprisons over two million people. There was also a small minority who were looking for some angle to shorten their time or hoped I was a vehicle to communicate with people outside.

PP: Did you take many pictures of the same sitter? Did the inmates of each portrait have a say in which print you chose for exhibition?
DS: Yes, I generally took about 20 pictures of each person. Sometimes a few more and occasionally less. Because the prison prevented me from communicating with them, they weren’t able to have any input into the portrait that I used.

PP: James Clifford has said, “Represented voices can be powerful indices of a living people – more so even than photographs, which, however realistic and contemporary, always evoke a certain irreducible past tense.” How important to this piece are the audio tracks; the ‘represented voices’ of the inmates?
The audio is essential. It is as much part of the project as the photographs and I will not exhibit the work without the audio.  One thing that I wanted to do with Lockdown is bring the faces, voices and ideas of those who are hidden behind bars in the gallery and museum setting. People throughout society need to see who is imprisoned and know what insights they have in the world.  So there is an important level of the ideas. But there is also a question of voice. It is very specific and allows the audience to encounter the prisoners in a much more real and complex way.

PP: Did each inmate prepare a statement or do you edit audio in post-production from single unrehearsed dialogues?
DS: The audio is carefully edited from much longer interviews. The interviews typically were about 30-40 minutes. And the audio in the work uses about 3-6 minute excerpts.

PP: How do you describe the relationship between the collected raw data (first-hand spoken testimony; photographic documentation; a unique name/identity) and the cultural frame you set it in (gallery, public space, political statement)?
DS: The portraits and interviews form the basis for the work but the art, once it is exhibited is just that – art. The art would be inconceivable without the photos and interviews, but they have been selected & edited and assembled to be a coherent work of art.

PP: Does your artistic voice compete with the oral testimonies/voices of the men you photograph?
DS: While the testimonies of the individuals are important as an individual expressions, Lockdown is the opinionated view of its author. I am not mischaracterizing any of the individual stories, but I have put them within the overall meditation on a society that imprisons over two million people that is Lockdown. So my voice dominates on a certain level.  The work is really the collective voices and photograph, not the individual stories. It is made up of individuals, but I think that the whole adds up to more than the sum of the parts.  It is because of this, the way the work is structured overall, that it is not a “documentary” where one person’s story is next to their photograph and it is about all of the individuals. It is about what they, through the work as a whole, address as a group.

PP: About your work, you have said, “the continuum of history is a recurring theme in many of my works” and therefore inviting comparisons between past and present events. Do you use artistic devices, photographic or otherwise, to assist the viewers with these comparisons?
DS: Yes, but I don’t see the continuum of history as being so foregrounded in this work. Some of my projects will have a lynching paired with police brutality or an electric chair. This isn’t so much the case with this work. Though I did decide to make the portraits black and white which roots somewhat in the past and situates the theme of the work as being tied to a longer history as well as roots the project in a certain photographic tradition.

PP: Are you following a photographic tradition? If so, which elements of past photographic works inform Lockdown. If not, where then should people find their visual cues for reading the photographs?
DS: In making this work, I really appreciated Danny Lyons’ Conversations with the Dead.  My project is different but it is on this continuum. Also, Avedon’s In the American West. Again, I’m doing something different. I think Avedon is exoticizing his subjects a bit, but they are really great portraits and he does reveal things about the people he shoots that many outside of the culture don’t know about.  Meat packers and guys on oil rigs aren’t often part of Chelsea conversations.  Also, Roy DeCarava’s influenced this work. Particularly how he respected many of the people he photographed.  As the project is not just a photo project, I drew on other artistic traditions. Actually the text and image work from the 80s has informed me on works like this. I just use audio text rather than written. What I am doing is new, but it wouldn’t exist without these influences.

_______________________________________________________________

Dread Scott works in a range of media including installation, photography, screen printing, video and performance. Dread first received national attention as a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1989, President Bush Sr. declared his installation What is the Proper Way to Display a U.S. Flag? “disgraceful,” and the entire US Senate denounced the work when they passed legislation to “protect the flag.” As part of the popular effort opposing compulsory patriotism, he, along with three other protesters, burned flags on the steps of the US Capitol. This resulted in a Supreme Court case and a landmark decision.

In 1992, Dread was a fellow at the Whitney Independent Study Program. In 1995, he was awarded a Mid Atlantic\National Endowment for the Arts Regional Fellowship in Photography. In 2000, he participated in the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue directed by Anna Deavere Smith at Harvard University. He has been awarded a Mid Atlantic/NEA Regional Fellowship in Photography, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Sculpture (2001) and Fellowship in Performance Art/Multi-disciplinary Art (2005), and a Creative Capital Foundation grant. In 2000 he participated in the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue directed by Anna Deavere Smith at Harvard University. That year he also worked on a Special Edition Fellowship at the Lower East Side Printshop.

His work has been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, Robert Miller Gallery in New York, Brooklyn Museum, the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and the DeBeyerd Center for Contemporary Art in the Netherlands. His public sculptures have been installed at Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, New York and Franconia Sculpture Park in Minnesota.

In 2008, the Museum of Contemporary African Disporan Art in Brooklyn, NY hosted Dread Scott: Welcome to America.

This interview provides more extensive coverage of Dread Scott’s oeuvre and politics.

My grades are so ugly, I cant even laugh it off anymore.

I have decided to do an internet lockdown. This time, I dont need my parents to tell me to focus. I know I have to get these grades up. Even if its by one percent, Ill work my ass off. Ill blog again when my grades are higher.

Note: My apostrophes are being stupid. Dont mind it.

Guy Leech, a contributor on this AppSense Blog has developed a utility to pause processes, minimize the process/application window, free up the Memory while paused, and provide the option to resume process at later date.

Here is the article intro along with link to the original post (containing the download):

“Ever have the need to pause a process so that you can come back to it later – maybe something that is resource hungry, difficult to get back to the same point in if you quit it or possibly doesn’t work when away from the corporate network? Then this is the utility for you – via a simple user interface it allows you to pause and resume any of your running applications/processes.”

Read more about this cool utility with option to download it here

*published Sept. 24, 2009

Calcasieu Sheriff’s deputies converged on Sulphur High School Wednesday after a report that a student may have brought a gun to school. BY BRAD K. PUCKETT

BY VANESSA C. DEGGINS
gun scare led to a 2 1/2-hour lockdown at Sulphur High School on Wednesday, authorities said.

At about 11 a.m., Calcasieu Parish school deputies were told that a student may have brought a gun to school, said spokeswoman Kim Myers.

After a search of students and the building, the lockdown was lifted at around 1:15 p.m., she said.

“No one with a gun was found, and no one was arrested,” Myers said. “But the deputies felt this was a necessary precaution.”

School system spokeswoman Charlene Chiasson said the students and staff were cooperative, doing “everything they were asked to, and I’m sure that made everything move along much faster.”

Myers said lockdowns are instituted at deputies’ discretion.

link: http://bit.ly/14qIa7

Done buying September 2009 Releases? Now time for October’s list, with books from the US, Canada, UK and Australia. As always, I don’t include anything – just the ones I’ve heard of and am interested in. Covers and release dates are subject to change, so if I’m wrong, blame my sources

Jennifer Armintrout
Queene of Light (Lightworld/Darkworld, Book 1)
Harlequin MIRA (US: 1st October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
An unimagined destiny…an undeniable passion. In a time not long from now, the veil between fantasy and reality is ripped asunder. Creatures of myth and fairytale spill into the mortal world. Enchanted yet horrified, humans force the magical beings Underground, to colonise the sewers and abandoned subway tunnels beneath their glittering cities. But even magic folk cannot dwell in harmony and soon two Worlds emerge: the Lightworld, home to faeries, dragons and dwarves; and the Darkworld, where vampires, werewolves, angels and demons lurk. Now, in the dank and shadowy place between Lightworld and Darkworld, a transformation is about to begin…Ayla, a half-faery, half-human assassin, is stalked by Malachi, a Death Angel tasked with harvesting mortal souls. They clash. Immortality evaporates, forging a bond neither may survive. And in the face of unbridled ambitions and untested loyalties, an ominous prophecy is revealed that will shake the Worlds.

Kelley Armstrong
Frostbitten (Otherworld, Book 10)
Hachette Orbit (UK: 1st October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
The Alaskan wilderness is a harsh landscape in the best of conditions, but with a pack of rogue werewolves on the loose, it’s downright deadly. Elena Michaels, the American Werewolf Pack’s chief enforcer, knows all too well the havoc “mutts” can wreak. When the Pack learns of a series of gruesome maulings and murders outside of Anchorage, Elena and her partner Clay travel to Alaska in the dead of winter, expecting to hunt down a pack of dangerous werewolves. But, trapped in a savage, frozen realm, it is their own untamed nature – and their werewolf heritage – they have to confront…

Stacia Kane
Personal Demons (Megan Chase, Book 1)
Simon & Schuster Pocket (AU: 1st October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
“Hi! How may I slay your personal demons?” When psychological counsellor Megan Chase promises listeners to her new radio call-in show she’ll slay their personal demons, they believe her. So do the personal demons. Megan doesn’t know she’s the only human alive without a personal demon on her shoulder. This, coupled with her psychic abilities, makes her a valuable weapon for any demon mob-like “family” lucky enough to gain her allegiance. It also makes her a serious threat not just to the personal demons, but to a soul-sucking Legion of Hell known as The Accuser. The Accuser already has an old score to settle with Megan, and sees this as the perfect time to do it. But Megan isn’t without allies as she’s plunged back into a world she forgot existed. A member of a competing demon family sees Megan as his ticket to power, and sets about both protecting and seducing her with devilish intensity. Can Megan, her new demon lover, a witch with poor social skills, and three cockney guard demons named Malleus, Maleficarum, and Spud defeat not only The Accuser, the personal demons, and the ghosts of Megan’s past, but the reporter who threatens to destroy Megan’s career as well?

Stacia Kane
Demon Inside (Megan Chase, Book 2)
Simon & Schuster Pocket (AU: 1st October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Hanging out with demons can be hell…It’s been three months since psychologist Megan Chase made the stunning discovery that the world is filled with demons, and once more the situation is too hot to handle. Ironically, Megan – the only person in the world without a little personal demon sitting on her shoulder – has become the leader of a demon “family,” but now some unknown arcane power is offing her demons in a particularly unpleasant fashion. And while her demon lover Greyson Dante is still driving her wild with desire, he’s also acting strangely evasive. Then there’s the truth about Megan’s past – the truth she’s never known. Caught between personal problems and personal demons, Megan is having one hell of a hard time. Will the help of her Cockney guard demons and her witch friend Tera be enough so that Megan can finally resolve the past, survive the present, and face the future?

Faye Kellerman & Aliza Kellerman
Prism
HarperCollins (AU: 1st October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Three teens fall through a cave at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico while on a field trip. They are plunged into a frightening parallel universe – seven weeks in the past, in which their “normal” worlds of family and high school remain the same…except for the fact that no medicine exists and when people die in the street they are picked up and disposed of.

Cathy Maxwell, Elaine Fox, Jeaniene Frost, Sophia Nash & Tracy Anne Warren
Four Dukes and a Devil (Anthology)
HarperCollins Avon (AU: 1st October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Delicate young ladies must be protected from him. First he steals her clothes, then he steals her heart. Most would be terrified of this powerful vampire – but not him. He’s “the catch of the century”…but she’s the only one he can’t have. A young miss demands a kiss. But he won’t rest once she’s touched her lips to his. With four dukes and one devil, there’s no limit on love.

Richelle Mead
Frostbite (Vampire Academy, Book 2)
Penguin Puffin (UK: 1st October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
It’s winter break at St Vladimir’s, and a massive Strigoi vampire attack has put the school on high alert. This year’s trip away from the academy to the wintery peaks of Idaho has suddenly become mandatory. But Rose’s troubles seem to follow her wherever she goes – dealing with the pain of knowing that her relationship with her tutor Dimitri can never be, things get even more complicated when one her closest friends admits his feelings for her. The glittering winter landscape may create the illusion of safety but Rose – and her heart – are in more danger than she ever could have imagined…

Richelle Mead
Thorn Queen (Dark Swan, Book 2)
Random House Bantam (AU: 1st October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Eugenie Markham is a shaman for hire, paid to bind and banish creatures from the Otherworld. But after her last battle, she’s also become queen of the Thorn Land. It’s hardly an envious life, not with her kingdom in tatters, her love life in chaos, and Eugenie eager to avoid the prophecy about her firstborn destroying mankind. And now young girls are disappearing from the Otherworld, and no one – except Eugenie – seems willing to find out why. Eugenie has spilled plenty of fey blood in her time, but this enemy is shrewd, subtle, and nursing a very personal grudge. And the men in her life aren’t making things any easier. Her boyfriend Kiyo is preoccupied with his pregnant ex, and sexy fey king Dorian always poses a dangerous distraction. With or without their help, Eugenie must venture deep into the Otherworld and trust in an unpredictable power she can barely control. Reluctant queen or not, Eugenie has sworn to do her duty – even if it means facing the darkest – and deadliest – side of her nature…

Alexander Gordon Smith
Death Sentence (Furnace, Book 3)
Faber (UK: 1st October 2009)
Buy (UK) Buy (Worldwide)
Furnace Prison, where death is the least of your worries…To escape, I must become one of them…We had one last shot at freedom and we failed. This time our punishment will be much worse than before. Because in the bloodstained laboratories beneath the prison lies the horrific truth behind the warden’s plans. Down here, monsters are made. I’m changing: something evil is being pumped into my veins. I’m becoming one of them…a creature of Furnace. How can I escape when the darkness is inside me?

Christine Warren, Marjorie M. Liu, Caitlin Kittredge & Jenna Maclaine
Huntress (Anthology)
Pan Macmillan St. Martin’s (AU: 1st October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
It takes a real man to satisfy the powers and passions of the Huntress…Christine Warren’s Devil’s Bargain: Supernatural bounty hunter Lilli Corbin made a pact with the Prince of Hell: she agreed to recover a book of prophecies. When she learns it could trigger the apocalypse, Lilli is forced to make the ultimate choice: save her soul, or the man she loves? Marjorie M. Liu’s The Robber Bride: Welcome to a post-apocalyptic world where women are fed on for their life forces. Now it’s up to Maggie, one of the last female survivors, to hunt down and destroy an army of darkness…Caitlin Kittredge’s Down in the Ground Where the Dead Men Go: Ava is a demon slayer who needs help from mage Jack Winter to reach the demon underworld – a place of dark seduction…And, maybe, one of no return. Jenna Maclaine’s Sin Slayer: London, 1889: Jack the Ripper is killing off the city’s vampire population, and now it’s up to Cin Craven to hunt him down – and save the infected Michael, the love of her undead life.

Maggie Stiefvater
Shiver
Scholastic (UK: 5th October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods. Especially the yellow-eyed beast whose chilling presence she can’t seem to live without. Every winter she watches him, but every summer, he disappears…Sam leads two lives. In winter, he stays in the frozen woods, with the protection of the pack. In summer, he has a few precious months to be human, until the cold makes him shift back again. When Grace and Sam finally meet, they realise they can’t bear to be apart. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human – or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

Tracey O’hara
Night’s Cold Kiss (Dark Brethren, Book 1)
HarperCollins Eos (AU: 5th October 2009)
Review
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
For centuries war raged between the humans and Aeternus vampires – until courageous efforts on both sides forged a fragile peace. But the rogue Necrodreniacs will never be controlled – addicted as they are to the death-high…and bloody chaos. Since witnessing the murder of her mother, Antoinette Petrescu has burned with fiery hatred for the vampire race – even for Christian Laroque, the noble, dangerously handsome Aeternus who rescued her. Now an elite Venator, Antoinette must reluctantly accept Christian’s help to achieve her vengeance – even as he plots to use the beautiful, unsuspecting warrior as bait to draw out the bloodthirsty dreniacs.

Megan Hart
No Greater Pleasure (Order of Solace, Book 2)
Penguin Berkley (US & CA: 6th October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
It was at the request of Lord Gabriel Delessan that a handmaiden of the Order of Solace be delivered to his manor house. For young and ingenuous Tranquilla Caden, it would be her new position of service – devoted as she was to fulfilling every demand of her new master, to stimulating his mind, stirring his soul, and arousing his body. Yet something happens that Quilla never counted on: she was falling hopelessly, dangerously in love with the enigmatic – and very married – man she was required only to service.

Rachel Caine
Carpe Corpus (Morganville Vampires, Book 6)
Allison & Busby (UK: 12th October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Includes a brand new and exclusive Morganville short story only available in this edition. In the small town of Morganville, vampires and humans lived in (relative) peace – until all the rules got rewritten when the evil vampire Bishop arrived, looking for the lost book of vampire secrets. He’s kept a death grip on the town ever since. Now an underground resistance is brewing, and in order to contain it, Bishop must go to even greater lengths. He vows to obliterate the town and all its inhabitants – the living and the undead. Claire Danvers and her friends are the only ones who stand in his way. But even if they defeat Bishop, will the vampires ever be content to go back to the old rules, after having had such a taste of power?

Kresley Cole & Gena Showalter
Deep Kiss of Winter (Anthology)
Simon & Schuster Pocket (US & CA: 13th October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Under the cover of wintry dark shadows, passion’s magic ignites a fire too hot to touch – and too wicked to die…Kresley Cole delivers a breathtaking tale of a brutal vampire soldier about to know love for the first time…and a Valkyrie aching to be touched. Murdoch Wroth will stop at nothing to claim Daniela the Ice Maiden – the delicate Valkyrie who makes his heart beat for the first time in three hundred years. Yet the exquisite Danii is part ice fey, and her freezing skin can’t be touched by anyone but her own kind without inflicting pain beyond measure. Soon desperate for closeness, in an agony of frustration, Murdoch and Danii will do anything to have each other. Together, can they find the key that will finally allow them to slake the overwhelming desire burning between them? Gena Showalter puts a daring spin on a tale of huntress and hunted…and concocts a sensual chemistry that is positively explosive. Aleaha Love can be anyone – literally. With only skin-to-skin contact, she can change her appearance, assume any identity. Her newest identity switch has made her an AIR (Alien Investigation and Removal) agent and sends her on a mission to capture a group of otherworldly warriors. Only she becomes the captured. Breean, a golden-skinned commander known for his iron will who is at once dangerous and soul-shatteringly seductive, threatens her new life. Because for the first time, Aleaha only wants to be herself…

Becca Fitzpatrick
Hush, Hush
Simon & Schuster (US & CA: 13th October 2009; UK: 29th October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Romance was not part of Nora Grey’s plan. She’s never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how hard her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch comes along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Patch draws Nora to him against her better judgement. But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora’s not sure whom to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is and seems to know more about her than her closest friends. She can’t decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel. For she is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those who have fallen – and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost Nora her life.

Erica Hayes
Shadowfae (Shadowfae Chronicles, Book 1)
Macmillan St. Martin’s Griffin (US: 13th October 2009)
Review
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Imagine a secret world veiled in fairy glamour and brimming with unearthly delights. A city swarming with half-mad fairies, where thieving spriggans rob you blind, beautiful banshees mesmerise you with their song, and big green trolls bust heads at nightclubs. And once you’re in, there’s no escape…Enslaved by a demon lord, Jade is forced to spend her nights seducing vampire gangsters and shapeshifting thugs. After two hundred years as a succubus, she burns for freedom and longs to escape her brutal life as a trophy girl for hell’s minions. Then she meets Rajah, an incubus who touches her heart and intoxicates her senses. Rajah shares the same bleak fate as she, and yearns just as desperately for freedom. But the only way for Jade to break her bonds is to betray Rajah – and doom the only man she’s ever loved to a lifetime in hell.

P. C. Cast (ed.)
Immortal (Anthology)
Perseus BenBella Books (US: 15th October 2009)
Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Rachel Caine revisits the setting of her popular series, where the vampires are in charge and love is risky. Cynthia Leitich Smith gives us a love triangle between a vampire, a ghost and a human girl, in which none of them are who or what they seem. Claudia Gray takes us into the world of her Evernight series, in which a pre–Civil War courtesan-to-be is courted by a pale, fair-haired man whose attentions are too dangerous to spurn. Richelle Mead brings us the tale of a young vampire on the run from the rest of her kind, and the human boy who provides the getaway car. Nancy Holder immerses us in a post-apocalyptic New York where two best friends are forced to make a choice that may kill them both. Kristin Cast introduces us to a new kind of vampire: one with roots in Greek mythology, and the power to alter space and time. And Tanith Lee shows us what happens when a bright young woman with some supernatural savvy encounters a misguided (but gorgeous) young vampire.

Lili St. Crow
Betrayals (Strange Angels, Book 2)
Penguin Razorbill (AU: 26th October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
She’s no angel…Poor Dru Anderson. Her parents are long gone, her best friend is a werewolf, and she’s just learned that the blood flowing through her veins isn’t entirely human. (So what else is new?) Now Dru is stuck at a secret New England Schola for other teens like her, and there’s a big problem – she’s the only girl in the place. A school full of cute boys wouldn’t be so bad, but Dru’s killer instinct says that one of them wants her dead. And with all eyes on her, discovering a traitor within the Order could mean a lot more than social suicide…Can Dru survive long enough to find out who has betrayed her trust – and maybe even her heart?

Jennifer Armintrout
Child of Darkness (Lightworld/Darkworld, Book 2)
Harlequin MIRA (US: 27th October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Public alliances secret lovers. Once upon a time yet to come, creatures of myth and fairy tale gained entry to the human realm and were expelled with extreme prejudice. Banished Underground, they carved out two kingdoms: the Lightworld of the Fae and their kin, and the Darkworld of demons, werewolves and their ilk. But the boundaries between these Worlds and the Upworld are about to be redrawn…in blood. At a Lightworld royal gala, Queene Ayla announces the betrothal of her daughter, Cerridwen, to a high-ranking councillor. Though strategically brilliant, the engagement comes as a shock to Cerridwen especially. Infuriated by her mother’s high-handedness, ignorant of her own true origins, she flees the court leaving herself vulnerable to those who would see the Lightworld destroyed. Amid burgeoning unrest, desperate desires become divided loyalties and terrifying mercenaries lurk in the shadowy space between rebellion and anarchy.

Keri Arthur
Bound to Shadows (Riley Jenson, Book
Random House Dell (US & CA: 27th October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
In the darkness, demons come out to play…and someone must bring their sins to light. Part vampire, part werewolf, Riley Jenson knows what can happen when vamps don’t play well with others. But she’s never seen anything like this: a series of brutal murders surrounding the latest hot spot for vampire-human hookups – and the victims aren’t just killed, they’re beheaded. Now Riley is launching into action, toying with a seductive – and highly suspicious – club owner, and finding herself in the middle of another mystery: women being killed one by one, without a trace of violence. For Riley, solving multiple cases – in a world going mad with human and vampire passions – would have been tough enough. Instead she has two jealous lovers on her hands: Kye Murphy, the amber-eyed werewolf who makes Riley’s wolf blood howl – and Quinn, the cool, elegant vamp who has over a thousand years’ experience at fulfilling women’s desires. While she’s busy juggling these two sexy beasts, Riley’s detective work takes a stunningly violent turn. Finding a murderer is now a matter of life and death. Especially since the killer has long since found her…

Laurell K. Hamilton, Yasmine Galenorn, Marjorie M. Liu & Sharon Shinn
Never After (Anthology)
Penguin Jove (US: 27th October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
The bonds of love…The bonds of matrimony…The bonds between husband and wife…Let’s face it – some bonds are made to be broken. Here, for the first time ever, are four stories from today’s most provocative authors that take the classic idea of the “faerie tale wedding” and give it a swift kick in the bustle.

Charlie Higson
The Enemy
Penguin Puffin (CA: 27th October 2009)
Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
They’ll chase you. They’ll rip you open. They’ll feed on you…When the sickness came, every parent, policeman, politician – every adult – fell ill. The lucky ones died. The others are crazed, confused and hungry. Only children under fourteen remain, and they’re fighting to survive. Now there are rumours of a safe place to hide. And so a gang of children begin their quest across London, where all through the city – down alleyways, in deserted houses, underground – the grown-ups lie in wait. But can they make it there – alive?

Alexander Gordon Smith
Lockdown (Escape from Furnace, Book 1)
Macmillan Farrar, Straus and Giroux (US: 27th October 2009)
Review
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Furnace Penitentiary: the world’s most secure prison for young offenders, buried a mile beneath the earth’s surface. Convicted of a murder he didn’t commit, sentenced to life without parole, “new fish” Alex Sawyer knows he has two choices: find a way out, or resign himself to a death behind bars, in the darkness at the bottom of the world. Except in Furnace, death is the least of his worries. Soon Alex discovers that the prison is a place of pure evil, where inhuman creatures in gas masks stalk the corridors at night, where giants in black suits drag screaming inmates into the shadows, where deformed beasts can be heard howling from the blood-drenched tunnels below. And behind everything is the mysterious, all-powerful warden, a man as cruel and dangerous as the devil himself, whose unthinkable acts have consequences that stretch far beyond the walls of the prison. Together with a bunch of inmates – some innocent kids who have been framed, others cold-blooded killers – Alex plans an escape. But as he starts to uncover the truth about Furnace’s deeper, darker purpose, Alex’s actions grow ever more dangerous, and he must risk everything to expose this nightmare that’s hidden from the eyes of the world.

Kit Whitfield
In Great Waters
Random House Del Rey (US & CA: 27th October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
During a time of great upheaval, the citizens of Venice make a pact that will change the world. The landsmen of the city broker a treaty with a water-dwelling tribe of deepsmen, cementing the alliance through marriage. The mingling of the two races produces a fresh, peerless strain of royal blood. To protect their shores, other nations make their own partnerships with this new breed – and then, jealous of their power, ban any further unions between the two peoples. Dalliance with a deepswoman becomes punishable by death. Any “bastard” child must be destroyed. This is an Earth where the legends of the deep are true – where the people of the ocean are as real and as dangerous as the people of the land. This is the world of intrigue and betrayal in an unforgettable alternate history: the tale of Anne, the youngest princess of a faltering England, struggling to survive in a troubled court, and Henry, a bastard abandoned on the shore to face his bewildering destiny, finding himself a pawn in a game he does not understand. Yet even a pawn may checkmate a king.

Jennifer Rardin
Bite Marks (Jaz Parks, Book 6)
Hachette Orbit (US: 29th October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Jaz Parks here. But I’m not alone. I’m hearing voices in my head – and they’re not mine. The problem, or maybe the solution, is work. And the job’s a stinker this time – killing the gnomes that are threatening to topple NASA’s Australian-based space complex. Yeah, I know. Vayl and I should still be able to kick this one in our sleep. Except that Hell has thrown up a demon named Kyphas to knock us off track. And damn is she indestructible!

Trisha Telep
The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (Anthology)
Constable & Robinson (UK: 29th October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Twenty-five stories of timeless true love. Time travel romance is not the same thing as sci-fi romance, though some stories may be set in an imagined future; it is romantic fiction set in various different eras, usually from around the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. A woman may fall asleep in Central Park in the present to wake up in the arms of a Scottish laird in the sixteenth century. Contains 25 stories of adventure and love; settings include medieval Scotland, sixteenth-century England, the nineteenth-century “Wild West”. Some stories are set in the present and a few in the future. Stories include an Elizabethan nobleman whisked into the present day, a troubled young woman who lands in the sixteenth century able to break a curse of lost love. Includes stories from: Nina Bangs, Jude Deveraux, Sandra Hill, Linda Howard, Lynn Kurland, Karen Marie Moning, and many more.

Jenna Black
Speak of the Devil (Morgan Kingsley, Book 4)
Hachette Piatkus (AU: October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Morgan Kingsley is a kick-ass exorcist who frees others of their demonic possessions while struggling – and embracing – her own. Hosting the king of the demons is hard enough without becoming the target of a mysterious enemy with a deadly grudge. To make things worse, Morgan must also defend herself against a lawsuit that won’t die and a private investigator determined to unearth her every secret. With anonymous death threats piling up and her enemy closing in, Morgan stands to lose everything she holds dear: her reputation, her boyfriend, her freedom – and maybe even her life.

Justine Larbalestier
Liar
Bloomsbury (US & AU: Oct 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Would she lie to you? Micah freely admits that she’s a compulsive liar. And that may be the one honest thing she’ll ever tell you. Over the years she’s duped her classmates, her teachers, and even her parents. But when her boyfriend, Zach, dies under brutal circumstances, the shock might be enough to set her straight. Or maybe not. Especially when lying comes as naturally to her as breathing. Was Micah dating Zach? Or was Sarah his real girlfriend? And are the stories Micah tells about inheriting a “family gene” real or are they something that only exists in her mind?

Kat Richardson
Vanished (Greywalker, Book 4)
Hachette Piatkus (AU: October 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
For Seattle investigator Harper Blaine, her own case may prove the most difficult to solve. Why did she – as opposed to others with near-death experiences – become a Greywalker? When Harper begins digging into her own past, she unearths some unpleasant truths about her father’s early death as well as a mysterious puzzle. She sets out to find his ghost but encounters only a void where he should be, leaving her with more unanswered questions. Before she can continue her search, Harper gets an offer she can’t refuse to go to London and pursue an investigation on behalf of some very demanding vampires. But there are unpleasant surprises waiting for her, and Harper soon discovers her present trouble in England is entangled with her dark past back in Seattle – and her ultimate destiny as a Greywalker.

Twelve people plus the attacker were killed and 31 were wounded after a gunman opened fire at Fort Hood in Texas.  Fort Hood is the Army’s largest U.S. post.  One gunman is dead and two and two other soldiers are in custody. One of the dead is a civilian police officer, Fort Hood confirmed via  http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/69305427.html   

The Fort Hood Website currently says service unavailable, http://pao.hood.army.mil/.  LOCKDOWN.    

Fort Hood is a U.S. Army post located outside of Killeen, Texas. The post is named after Confederate General John Bell Hood, It is located halfway between Austin and Waco, about 60 miles (100 km) from each, within the U.S. state of Texas. via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Hood

Fort Hood is the largest active duty armored post in the United States, and is the only post in the United States that is capable of supporting two full armored divisions. In addition to the 1st Cavalry Division and the 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood is also home for the Headquarters Command III Corps, 3d Personnel Group, 3d Signal Brigade, 13th Corps Support Command (COSCOM), 13th Finance Group, 89th Military Police Brigade, 504th Military Intelligence Brigade, the 21st Cavalry Brigade (Air Combat), the Dental Activity (DENTAC), the Medical Support Activity (MEDDAC), Army Operational Test Command (AOTC) formerly TEXCOM, and various other units and tenant organizations. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/fort-hood.htm

“I heard three or four volleys of shots with eight to 12 shots in each volley. Initially, I thought it was a training exercise,” John Fisher, Bell County commissioner for the precinct that includes Killeen, said the shooters were wearing military clothing, but was not sure if they were military. He heard reports that the shooting started in a barracks and spilled over into a PX http://www.forthoodsentinel.com/

Fox News TV is now confirming all three of the shooters were soldiers.

Official music video for Mike Doughty’s new song “Fort Hood” off of his Golden Delicious album. One commentator wrote via You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaB9dow1eR4 , ” Titled Fort Hood because that’s a place where sick soldiers come back from Iraq to heal up from mental trauma.

The real “meat” of the song is:
“I smell blood and there’s no blood around,
blanked out eyes and a blanked out sound,
I see them coming back motionless in an airport lounge”

We feel for the dead and injured but good lord, this is a terrorist act by American soldiers upon American soldiers whatever his religion is. Wtf? Why was it a local police official that brought a soldier down.  Where are all the AK 47’s that my tax dollars are paying for?

 President Obama’s response:  

“It is horrifying that they should come  under fire at an army base on American Soil,” said President Obama….  The extraordinary men and woman in uniform are properly cared for and that their safety and security is when they are at home is provided for.

President Obama, as Commander and Chief gets an F for the day for not providing the means prevent this despicable shooting and securing Fort Hood. Period. Why was a local police officer on an Army base in the first place? 

At the Soldier Readiness Facility, Press Conference| Mass Shooting By U.S. Soldiers At Fort Hood, Texas – 11/05/09 – Shooter Identified As Army Major Malik Nadal Hasan opened fire.  video link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90zhlrQjjTM  The Army major suspected of opening fire on soldiers as they were preparing to deploy overseas at the massive Fort Hood military base in central Texas Thursday may have been an Army psychiatrist who recently completed training in disaster and preventive psychiatry at Walter Reed Medical Center in the nation’s capital says, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/78425.html  Additionally-

In June, Fort Hood’s commander, Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, told CNN that he was trying to ease the kind of stresses soldiers face. He has pushed for soldiers working a day schedule to return home for dinner by 6 p.m., and required his personal authorization for anyone working weekends…According to the records, Hasan completed a residency in psychiatry at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. in 2007 and additional training in disaster and preventive psychiatry at Uniformed Services University Of the Health Sciences F. Edward Herbert School of Medicine, Bethesda, Md.

We’d like to be home for dinner with the family and have weekends off too.  That is not necessarily a reality in today’s economy for anyone.  Again we can’t figure out why it took local police to bring a soldier down.

According to http://abcnews.go.com/WN/soldiers-killed-fort-hood-shooting/story?id=9007938, The gunman used two handguns, Cone said. He wasn’t sure if the shooter reloaded the weapons during the attack.

Handgun use magazines and rifles use clips…Most 9mm handguns that are full size would hold between 15 to 17 rounds. Some manufacturers do make 20 rounders like Beretta and some can use 30 round mags like Rugers and Glocks depending on the model via http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080526172246AAjIR5O

In a gross offense to peace seeking Muslims, one commentator wrote via http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2379466/posts , “

Why is anyone surprised? We already have a DIRTY MOSLEM TRAITOR in the Oval Office.  What’s one more moslem piece of garbage?

If he wore the uniform he was an American.  Look at this piece of shit American-

Accused serial killer Anthony Edward Sowell served at Cherry Point air station and Camp Lejeune in the 1980s while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. Sowell, 50, is charged with five murders in Cleveland, Ohio, after police found the remains of 10 or more people in and around his home over the past week.   http://www.enctoday.com/news/sowell-49263-nbsj-point-marine.html 

Innocent until proven guilty.  Please, God Bless America.  A moment of silence isn’t going to cut the rug for what is necessary to protect us from ourselves.

Updated Malik Nadal Hasan facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/people/Malik-Hassan-Malik/1008970609

7 12 are dead, 12 20 31 injured at the Soldier’s Readiness Processing Center, Ft. Hood, Texas.

News reports of 2 shooters, one now in custody, and one at large.

Developing …

Fox News is now reporting there may be two shooters on the loose, and the possibility of terrorism as the motive.

Update: The murderer has been identified as Psychiatrist, Maj Malik Nidal Hasan. Two other suspects have been questioned and released. MPs are searching for a third suspect as the Post remains on lockdown.

Nidal Hasan, M.D., M.P.H.  Fellow, Disaster and Preventive Psychiatry
Department of Psychiatry, F.Edward Hebert School of Medicine Uniformed Services University of the Health Science  (BI)

This is beginning to sound eerily similar to the case of Sgt Asan Akbar, whose March 2003 fragging incident in Kuwait sent shockwaves through the 101st Airborne.

Update: T.J. Aulds reports this quote:

“They were telling him that one guy was shouting something in Arabic while he was shooting,” Tom Hunt said. “He couldn’t say much more than that.”

I wonder if it sounded anything like aloha snackbar …