q

Brian Custer Teams Up with the Prostate Cancer Foundation to Urge Men to "Man Up and Get Checked" - Man Up and Get Checked

Prostate Cancer Foundation, Evander Holyfield and Brian Custer encourage African-American men to �man up and get checked� for prostate cancer.




q

Cardinal Health Introduces Hospital Quality at Home� Products - Say Hello to Cardinal Health

Cardinal Health, which provides medical products and services to many of America�s most prestigious medical institutions, introduces the Hospital Quality at Home� brand.




q

El famoso chef Giorgio Rapicavoli, y la campana milk life Lo Que Nos Hace Fuertes celebran el Mes de la Herencia Hispana, animando a todos a que brinden con leche - Arroz Con Caf� Con Leche

Arroz Con Caf� Con Leche






q

VolitionRx Demonstrates NuQ® Blood Test Detects 95% of Pancreatic Cancers in Second Preliminary Study - Introduction to VolitionRx Nucleosomics� technology: Revolutionizing cancer diagnosis

VolitionRx�s Nucleosomics� diagnostic platform detects epigenetic changes to fragments of chromosomes, called nucleosomes, that circulate in the blood of cancer patients. Credit: VolitionRx.





q

Share A Photo, Give Back In A Snap - Donate a Photo Event in Times Sq.

Give Back in a Snap! Johnson & Johnson Donate a Photo Event Benefiting Operation Smile, Save the Children, Girl Up and USO, Times Square, New York City. #DonateaPhoto @DonateaPhoto





q

Michael Strahan Teams Up With Meta To Launch "Heart 2 Heart" Campaign During National Heart Month To Promote Living A Heart-Healthy Lifestyle - Meta Heart 2 Heart Featuring Michael and Gene Strahan

Meta Heart 2 Heart Featuring Michael and Gene Strahan





q

International Survey Released for World Meningitis Day Shows Parents Feel They Don't Know Enough About the Disease and its Consequences - Lenine Cunha, Portuguese Paralympian and Win for Meningitis campaign ambassador

Lenine Cunha, Portuguese Paralympian and Win for Meningitis campaign ambassador




q

Documents Required for APEDA Registration in India

In this article, we shall cover the common documents required for APEDA registration, the eligibility standards and additional documents required for the same.




q

Mandatory additional qualifiers in import/export declarations inrespect of Synthetic or Reconstructed Diamonds

Government of IndiaMinistry of FinanceDepartment of Revenue(Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs)North Block, New Delhi. Dated:30th October, 2024To All Principal Chief Commissioners/Chi




q

CA Intermediate Advanced Accounting Question Paper New Course September 2024

Download CA Intermediate Advanced Accounting Question Papers New Course Sep 2024 in PDF. For other question papers of CA IPC May 2024, Nov 2023, May 2023, Nov 2022, May 2022, Dec 2021, Nov 2020, Nov 18, May 18, Nov 2017, May 2017, May 2016, CA IPC Nov 2015, CA IPC may 2015, CA IPC Nov 2014 check similar section. Previous years Advanced Accounting CA Intermediate IPC question papers can also be downloaded using Search. You can also search and download may 2015 Final question papers here. We are providing ca final question papers of may 2016 for Financial Reporting FR, Advanced Financial Management AFM, Advanced Auditing and Professional Ethics, Direct Tax Laws DT, Indirect Tax Laws IDT and Inter/IPC May 2024 question papers for Advanced Accounting, Corporate and Other Laws, Taxation, Advanced Accounting , Auditing & Assurance, Information Technology & Strategic Management ITSM.




q

CA Intermediate Corporate and Other Laws Question Paper New Course September 2024

Download CA Inter Corporate and Other Laws New Course Question Papers Sep 2024 in PDF. For other question papers of CA IPC May 2023, Nov 2023, May 2023, Nov 2022, May 2022, Dec 2021, July 2021, Nov 2020, Nov 2019, May 2019, Nov 18, May 18, Nov 2017, May 17, Nov 2016, may 2016, CA IPC Nov 2015, CA IPC may 2015, CA IPC Nov 2014 check similar section. Previous years business law, Ethics and Communication CA Inter IPC question papers can also be downloaded using Search. You can also search and download may 2015 Final question papers here. We are providing ca final question papers of may 2016 for Financial Reporting FR, Advanced Financial Management AFM, Advanced Auditing and Professional Ethics, Corporate & Allied business laws, Advanced & Management Accounting AMA, Information Systems Control & Audit ISCA, Direct Tax business laws DT, Indirect Tax business laws IDT and Inter/IPC may 2015 question papers for Advanced Accounting, Taxation, Advanced Accounting , Auditing & Assurance, Information Technology & Strategic Management ITSM




q

CA Intermediate Taxation Question Paper New Course September 2024

Download CA Intermediate Taxation Question Papers New Course Sep 2024 in PDF. For other question papers of CA Inter May 2024, Nov 2023, May 2023, Nov 2022, May 2022, Dec 2021, July 2021, Nov 2020, Nov 2019, May 2019, Nov 18, May 2018, Nov 2017, Nov 2016, May 2016, May 17, may 2016, CA IPC Nov 2015, CA IPC may 2015, CA IPC Nov 2014 check similar section. Previous years Taxation CA IPCC IPC question papers can also be downloaded using Search. You can also search and download may 2015 Final question papers here. We are providing ca final question papers of may 2016 for Financial Reporting FR, Advanced Financial Management AFM, Advanced Auditing and Professional Ethics, Taxation, Corporate & Allied Laws,Advanced & Management Accounting AMA, Direct Tax Laws DT, Indirect Tax Laws IDT and IPCC/IPC may 2015 question papers for Advanced Accounting , Business, Law, Ethics & Communications, Taxation, Advanced Accounting , Auditing & Assurance, Information Technology & Strategic Management ITSM.




q

CA Intermediate Cost and Management Accounting Question Paper New Course September 2024

Download CA Intermediate Cost and Management Accounting Question Papers New Course Sep 2024 in PDF. For other question papers of CA Inter May 2024, Nov 2023, May 2023, Nov 2022, May 2022, Dec 2021, July 2021, Nov 2020, Nov 2019, May 2019, Nov 18, May 2018, Nov 2017, Nov 2016, May 2016, May 17, may 2016, CA IPC Nov 2015, CA IPC may 2015, CA IPC Nov 2014 check similar section. Previous years Taxation CA IPCC IPC question papers can also be downloaded using Search. You can also search and download may 2015 Final question papers here. We are providing ca final question papers of may 2016 for Financial Reporting FR, Advanced Financial Management AFM, Advanced Auditing and Professional Ethics, Taxation, Corporate & Allied Laws,Advanced & Management Accounting AMA, Direct Tax Laws DT, Indirect Tax Laws IDT and IPCC/IPC may 2015 question papers for Advanced Accounting , Business, Law, Ethics & Communications, Taxation, Advanced Accounting , Auditing & Assurance, Information Technology & Strategic Management ITSM.




q

CA Intermediate Auditing and Ethics Question Paper New Course September 2024

Download CA Intermediate Auditing and Ethics Question Papers New Course Sep 2024 in PDF. For other question papers of CA IPC May 2024, Nov 2023, May 2023, Nov 2022, May 2022, Dec 2021, Nov 2020, Nov 18, May 18, Nov 2017, May 2017, May 2016, CA IPC Nov 2015, CA IPC may 2015, CA IPC Nov 2014 check similar section. Previous years Auditing and Ethics CA Intermediate IPC question papers can also be downloaded using Search. You can also search and download may 2015 Final question papers here. We are providing ca final question papers of may 2016 for Financial Reporting FR, Advanced Financial Management AFM, Advanced Auditing and Professional Ethics, Direct Tax Laws DT, Indirect Tax Laws IDT and Inter/IPC May 2024 question papers for Advanced Accounting, Corporate and Other Laws, Taxation, Advanced Accounting , Auditing & Assurance, Information Technology & Strategic Management ITSM.




q

CA Intermediate Financial Management and Strategic Management Question Paper New Course September 2024

Download CA Intermediate Financial Management and Strategic Management Question Papers New Course Sep 2024 in PDF. For other question papers of CA Inter May 2024, Nov 2023, May 2023, Nov 2022, May 2022, Dec 2021, July 2021, Nov 2020, Nov 2019, May 2019, Nov 18, May 2018, Nov 2017, Nov 2016, May 2016, May 17, may 2016, CA IPC Nov 2015, CA IPC may 2015, CA IPC Nov 2014 check similar section. Previous years Taxation CA IPCC IPC question papers can also be downloaded using Search. You can also search and download may 2015 Final question papers here. We are providing ca final question papers of may 2016 for Financial Reporting FR, Advanced Financial Management AFM, Advanced Auditing and Professional Ethics, Taxation, Corporate & Allied Laws,Advanced & Management Accounting AMA, Direct Tax Laws DT, Indirect Tax Laws IDT and IPCC/IPC may 2015 question papers for Advanced Accounting , Business, Law, Ethics & Communications, Taxation, Advanced Accounting , Auditing & Assurance, Information Technology & Strategic Management ITSM.




q

CA Final Advanced Auditing, Assurance And Professional Ethics Question Paper New Course Nov 2024

Download CA Final Advanced Auditing, Assurance And Professional Ethics Question Papers Nov 2024 in PDF. For older question papers of CA final May 2024, Nov 2024, May 2023, Nov 2022, May 2022, Dec 2021, July 2021, Jan 2021, Dec 2020, Nov 2020, Nov 19, May 2019, Nov 2018, May 18, Nov 2017, May 2017, May 16, Nov 2015, CA final may 2014, CA final Nov 2014 check similar section. Previous years CA final Advanced Auditing and Professional Ethics question papers can also be downloaded using Search. You can also search and download may 2015 IPCC & IPC question papers here. We are providing ca final question papers of may 2016 for Financial Reporting FR, Advanced Financial Management AFM, Advanced Auditing, Assurance And Professional Ethics, Direct Tax Laws DT, Indirect Tax Laws IDT, Integrated Business Solutions (Multidisciplinary Case Study with Strategic Management) and IPCC/IPC Nov 2023 question papers for Accounting , Business, Law, Ethics & Communications , Cost Accounting & Financial Management CAFM, Taxation, Advanced Accounting , Auditing & Assurance, Information Technology & Strategic Management ITSM.




q

CA Final Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation (DT) Question Paper New Course Nov 2024

Download Direct Tax Laws & International Taxation (DT) Question Papers New Course Nov 2024 in PDF. For older question papers of CA final May 2024, Nov 2023, May 2023, Nov 2022, May 2022, Dec 2021, July 2021, Nov 2020, Nov 2019, May 2019, Nov 2018,CA final May 2018, Nov 2017, May 2017, CA final may 2016, CA final Nov 2016 check similar section. Previous years CA final Financial Reporting FR question papers can also be downloaded using Search. You can also search and download may 2015 IPCC & IPC question papers here. We are providing ca final question papers of may 2016 for Financial Reporting FR, Advanced Financial Management AFM, Advanced Auditing, Assurance And Professional Ethics, Direct Tax Laws DT, Indirect Tax Laws IDT,Integrated Business Solutions (Multidisciplinary Case Study with Strategic Management) and IPCC/IPC Nov 2023 question papers for Accounting, Business, Law, Ethics & Communications , Cost Accounting & Financial Management CAFM, Taxation, Advanced Accounting , Auditing & Assurance, Information Technology & Strategic Management ITSM.




q

"Only" Stand and Wait- A Memorial for Annie Glenn

Think you know who the most accomplished American in history is? I bet you don't. She just passed, and this year for Memorial Day we take a serious moment to remember her.




q

Every Conceivable Way EA Could Screw Up Star Wars: Squadrons

We're getting a new cockpit-focused Star Wars flight game this October! While visions of the classic LucasArts simulators X-Wing and TIE Fighter do barrel rolls in our heads, we should temper our expectations.




q

Covers, Q&A, and WINTERKEEP Excerpt!

Good morning everyone. I'm so pleased to direct you to BookPage, which has my cover revealed today for Winterkeep! Also for the new covers of Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue. Not to mention a Q&A about Winterkeep, and an excerpt. Thank you, BookPage, for helping me share all this. Enjoy, everyone!

Click through for the Winterkeep cover reveal.




q

I got a book idea... and this time I paid attention to how it happened so I could answer the FAQ, "Where do you get your ideas?"

Hi everybody.

The question I get most is: "Where do you get your ideas?"

Generally, when I'm asked this question, it's at a book event where it's difficult to answer, because… Well, the answer is long, and complicated, and hard to pin down, and most of the time, I don't really remember how it happened. When an idea starts to arrive, I get to work. I'm not paying attention to how it's happening, or how it would look to an outsider. 

But — a few weeks ago, a new book idea started knocking on the door of my mind. And this time, I decided to pay attention!

What follows is probably the most detailed explanation I'll ever give of where my ideas come from. More specifically, where this particular idea came from, because it's not always the same. But my experience of the past few weeks has been fairly typical for me, and I'll add that there are a few activities I need to engage in every single time, if I want an idea to take root. Namely: PATIENCE. LISTENING. And, LABOR. Book ideas require a certain honed receptiveness, and they require a LOT OF WORK. 

I'm yelling because I'm trying to push back against the idea that ideas simply come to writers. Yes, some parts of ideas come to writers. But when I first get a book idea, what "comes to me" probably comprises about 0.1% of what could properly be called a book idea. Often, it's little more than an inchoate feeling. With patience, listening, and labor, I transform the idea into something I can grasp, and work with.

I'll add that yes, we do hear sometimes of writers whose ideas "simply came to them," fully formed. I'm going to take a guess that (1) this doesn't happen very often, if ever, with books that have complicated structures or plots, and (2) writers who are blessed by ideas in this way probably have a long-honed practice of receptiveness.

Anyway. Warning upfront that this may be a little unstructured, because the process is a little unstructured. It's challenging to describe, and I'm still in the middle of it. But here's what my last few weeks have been like.

A few weeks ago, while watching a TV show that had a certain mood/aura that'd really sucked me in, I found myself drawn to the idea of a story involving three characters. I'm not going to tell you what TV show I was watching, and I'm not going to tell you anything about my three characters, because story ideas are intensely, intensely private. The first time I say anything publicly about it will probably be years from now, if and when this book is ever scheduled for release. But let me try to explain a bit about that moment when the first glimmering of the idea appeared. 

Like I said, I'd been watching a TV show when it happened. But my three characters weren't characters in that TV show. Nor did anyone in that TV show relate to each other the way my three characters seemed to want to relate. Nor did my three characters seem to live in a world like the world of the TV show. The TV show helped to launch the idea at me because of the show's mood and its feeling, and how much I cared about the people in it. But my idea? As is often the case, my idea came from something I saw missing in the TV show. Not missing because there was a flaw in the TV writers' story; I loved their story! But missing (for me and possibly only me) because their story was not the story I would have told.

I think that a lot of my idea seeds come from my adoration of other people's stories, but also from my noticing what's missing in those stories, for me. What story I would've like to have seen told; what characters the story lacked.

Anyway. So this idea of these three characters came to me. But when I say "idea of these three characters," already that sounds more substantial than it was. I knew they were three humans (or humanoids; I didn't know what genre the story was, so they could've been aliens on another planet, for all I knew. In fact, I actively considered whether they might have different biology than ours). I knew they cared about each other, but I didn't know in what way. I knew they were facing a challenge that would strain all of their relationships. I thought they might be grown-ups, but I wasn't sure. I thought I knew at least two of their genders, but I wasn't sure. I knew they lived in a world with magic, but I didn't know what "magic" meant in the context of their world. I didn't know where they lived, or when they lived (past? future? futuristic past? postindustrial future? any of about a hundred other possibilities). I knew a whole lot of things that the characters weren't, and that the world wasn't — which is another way of saying that my sense of what this story was was actually more defined by all the things I knew it wasn't. (Apologies if this is vague. I'm not being intentionally vague! I'll try for some concrete examples: I knew I didn't want to write a story where partway through, someone suddenly discovers they have an inborn power they didn't know they had. I knew I didn't want to write a love triangle. There's a certain kind of high-handed fantasy tone that I knew wasn't right for this story. But I didn't know what I did want yet at this point.)

Really, all I knew was that I seemed to be having an idea.

So, like a writer, I did what I needed to do: 

  • I made space in my mind for receptiveness. (I scheduled uninterruptable alone time. I stopped listening to podcasts while I was out walking, and instead, just walked, so my mind could wander. I put aside non-urgent tasks for a while so that I didn't have the feeling of a to-do list hanging over my head. I gave myself permission to wool-gather, to become vague and absent-minded. I set three timers any time I cooked anything so I could feel free to forget I was cooking, but also not burn the house down. I remembered to thank my husband frequently for being willing to live with a space cadet.)
  • I thought about what fertilizer might help the idea to grow, especially fertilizer in the form of books, TV, and movies. I put all other books, TV, and movies aside. (I kept watching that same TV show, and I also began reading almost exclusively one writer who had a narrative tone — and also subject matter — that helped me sustain a mood that felt concurrent with the mood of my own idea. Why does this kind of intake help? It keeps my mind in a story space, while also giving me something to bounce my own ideas off of. It's a kind of reading, or watching, that involves a state of constant interactivity and reactivity. Everything I'm consuming becomes about something else that I'm looking for. It's difficult to explain, maybe because it gets back to that inexplicable moment when new ideas form.)
  • I made sure that every single time I had any new thoughts relating to my idea, I wrote them down. (This meant making reminders on my phone; sending strings of emails to myself; choosing a notebook where I began to jot things down; sending texts to myself on my husband's phone, if his phone was closer to hand than mine.)
  • I looked at my schedule to give myself a sense of if and when I might have a few days soon to put my current writing project aside and give some true, devoted time to this new idea. (I was, and still am, in the middle of revisions of the next Graceling Realm book when this happened, and that was, and still is, my absolute first priority. As exciting and intense as a new idea can be, it can't unseat me from my current object of devotion.)

By chance, last week, I did in fact have some time away from my revision while it was briefly with my editor. I was able to devote an entire week to the new book idea. So, next, I'll try to describe what a week of intense idea-gathering looks like for me! (Though I should say that this will differ from book to book. It's been pretty clear to me from the beginning that this new idea is going to be slow to grow — planning this book will take way more than a week. In contrast, last fall, I found myself with a new and sudden book idea that coincided with the end of another project, so I had some free time and was able to sit down and hammer out the entire book plan, which took only a few days. I think this is because that book was shorter and less emotionally complicated than this new book will be, and was set in a less complex world. Also, at the time, I was absolutely thrumming with the adrenaline and momentum of having just finished a writing project, so book-planning became a way to channel that energy. Often these processes are subject to whatever else is going on in my life.)

So. My week of intense idea-gathering looked a lot like what I've already described — reading, watching TV, but now also with long hours of sitting staring at a blank page and/or lying on my back staring at the ceiling — but with a more specific goal. Namely, I was trying to figure out what my main questions were. For me, every book starts (and continues, as I write) with an extremely long list of questions that I'm trying to find the answers to, but it takes work to figure out what the questions are. The questions can be very different from book to book. And it's essential, at the beginning, to identify what the main questions are.

When I'm first idea-gathering, I use very short notebooks in which I scribble down all my random thoughts as they come (I like using these twenty-page notebooks from Laughing Elephant, because they're short enough not to feel intimidatingly important). Then I have one longer, thicker notebook which is for my more coherent thoughts — my more serious book planning. During my week of active idea-gathering, I came up with the following list of major questions, worthy of being written down in my thick, "serious" planning notebook:


MAJOR QUESTIONS.
  • What is magic?
  • How does bad human behavior manifest in this world? (for real *)
  • Where/what culture does each of them come from? What family?
  • How is society governed?
  • Who is each of them — as a person and as a power manifestation?
  • How is the narrative positioned?
  • What is the plot?
  • How do humans relate to the rest of the natural world?
  • What is gender? (for real *)
* and by societal definition
So. I'm not sure how closely you looked at those questions — but they are pretty gigantic questions! It took me a week to identify all of them. It's going to take me much, much longer to answer them. Which goes back to my point that ideas don't just "come to me." The merest seed of an idea might come to me, and after that, I make the space, and do the work.

As I began to hammer out my questions, I continued to read, watch things, and wool-gather, but with more intense focus. Because now I was also trying to answer these questions as they came. It was interesting to observe the order in which I began to find the answers. Not surprisingly, probably since my novels tend to be character-based, it was the character-based questions that drew me in first. “What is gender" in particular, because I have a sense that in this story, my characters' relationships to gender are absolutely integral to who they are, and I can’t get very far with a book plan if I don’t know who my characters are. I also started to gather some clues about their personalities and their strengths. Enough that after a couple of days, I got to the point where I suddenly knew I needed their names. Names ground everything, and they can also change some things; at a certain point, I can't make any further progress without names. I spent one entire day last week mostly just trying to figure out three people's names. Once I had the names, I was able to return to my questions.

Then, not too long after that, a moment arose where I knew, again quite suddenly, that what I needed next was at least the broad strokes of a plot. If I’m a little scornful about the concept of inspiration — because it’s a concept that dismisses how hard I work! — I do believe in intuition, and also in experience. Intuition and experience told me that I'd reached the point in my planning where the needs of my plot would hold the answer to a lot of my other questions. Like, how this place is governed; what constitutes bad behavior; and even some character things, like what culture each of my characters is from. Sometimes, once you know what needs to happen in a story, it becomes easier to picture the structure of your world. Because a plot comes with needs; once a plot exists, it limits some of your other options. For example, let's say your plot involves a particular kind of government-based corruption. Well, thinking about that corruption will probably start to show you some of your options for the structure of the government. Once you know the structure of the government, you might begin to understand who holds governmental power — which can lead to answers about how families are structured. Which can lead to answers about culture, which can lead to answers about the societal definition of bad behavior, etc.

So. I reached the point where I needed at least a sense of my plot. But: plotting is a HUGE job. I knew it wasn't something I could do in just a few days, and at this point I also knew that I was going to need to return to my revision soon. So, intuition told me that it was time to stop. Not stop being receptive; not necessarily stop reading or watching the helpful things; not stop sending myself emails, texts, and reminders; but stop trying to make any real, meaty, major progress on this book idea. I needed to save the job of plotting for when I next had a stretch of uninterrupted worktime. Maybe another free week or two somewhere, between other projects.

So, I did some final organizing of my notebook. I transferred things into it from other notebooks and I designating a huge number of empty pages in it for future plot thoughts and future character thoughts. I did this even though in this book, as in most of my books, I sense that character and plot will ultimately end up being the same thing, so it's not going to matter much which thoughts I file where. (In other words, most of my plot is going to spring from who my characters are, and many of my characters will spring from the needs of the plot.) But at this messy stage in planning, it's important to me to feel organized. The illusion of organization stops me from feeling as overwhelmed as I probably should be feeling. So I label things, and delude myself that I can contain this messy process inside a nice neat notebook ????. 

I organized my notebook, and then I put it aside. Today I'm still open to thoughts about my new book idea, but it's not my entire worklife anymore... it's more of a promise for the future. It'll probably be good to have it simmering on the back burner for a while. I'll be able to approach it with a new freshness when I sit down with it again one day.

So. I'm not sure how satisfyingly I've answered the question "Where do you get your ideas?" After all, this idea is still very much in progress. I figured out a lot of stuff last week, but mostly what I figured out is a long list of all the things I don't know yet. There will be many, many more workweeks to go before I'll be able to claim that I truly have an idea for a book. 

But this is my best shot at an answer to the question of where my ideas come from! I guess the point I want to convey is this: I don’t necessarily believe in inspiration. But I believe that sometimes a writer will start to get the merest sense of a story that's missing from the world, and find herself wanting to write that story. At that point, if circumstance allows her the time and space to enter a state that is extremely internally-focused and possibly involves a lot of intake (reading, watching other stories), or if not that, at least an extreme level of sensitivity and receptiveness, of seeing, of listening... And if she puts in the work… her idea-seed will start to take root, and grow into a real, workable idea that might one day be the beginnings of a book! 

And of course, every writer does this differently. Many writers don't plan or plot ahead of time. They figure out the idea as they write. So there's no right or wrong way to do it. 

But this is my best explanation of how I do it.

Godspeed to all writers.



  • craft of writing

q

Tiny Quick Update

Hi everyone,

I’m deep into revising the next Graceling Realm book (starring Hava), which is why I haven’t been here on the blog. It’s also why over on Twitter, mostly I’ve just been tweeting pictures of candles. I am Very Absorbed. Also, we moved to a new apartment last month. Also life. Also the pandemic and self-care. I hope you’re doing well.

Gareth Hinds’s adaptation of the Graceling graphic novel comes out in November! He's been tweeting some lovely stuff on Twitter, and Graceling: the Graphic Novel is now available for pre-order wherever books are sold. Including at your local indie.

I’ll be back when there’s more news and/or when I have a minute for blogging, whichever comes first.  Until then, leaving you with a few of my recent candles…

 










q

2 ways we’re helping students build more equitable tech

Our new online platform and summit will help students learn more about product inclusion and equity.



  • Learning & Education
  • Diversity and Inclusion

q

Bouquet Of Light

photo taken October 2020






q

Опубликована среда рабочего стола LXQt 2.1.0

После полугода разработки представлен релиз среды рабочего стола LXQt 2.1.0 (Qt Lightweight Desktop Environment), продолжающей развитие проектов LXDE и Razor-qt. Интерфейс LXQt следует идеям классической организации рабочего стола, но привносит современное оформление и приёмы, увеличивающие удобство работы. LXQt позиционируется как легковесное, модульное, быстрое и удобное окружение, вобравшее лучшие черты LXDE и Razor-qt. Код размещён на GitHub и поставляется под лицензиями GPL 2.0+ и LGPL 2.1+. Появление готовых сборок ожидается для Ubuntu (LXQt по умолчанию предлагается в Lubuntu), Arch Linux, Fedora, openSUSE, Mageia, FreeBSD, ROSA и ALT Linux.




q

Операционная система QNX стала бесплатной для некоммерческого использования

Компания BlackBerry QNX предоставила возможность бесплатного использования микроядерной операционной системы реального времени QNX в некоммерческих целях. Также объявлено о начале формирования системных образов QNX 8.0 для плат Raspberry Pi 4 и 5. Комментируя вопрос о возвращении проекта QNX к публикации исходных текстов, менеджер, отвечающий за взаимодействие с разработчиками, отметил, что компания движется в сторону большей открытости и прозрачности, но о сроках подобных изменений он ничего сказать пока не может.




q

"Genocide as Colonial Erasure": U.N. Expert Francesca Albanese on Israel's "Intent to Destroy" Gaza

We are joined by U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, who says Israel is committing genocide on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Facing accusations of antisemitism from Israeli and U.S. officials, Albanese is in New York to present her report, titled “Genocide as colonial erasure,” which finds that Israel’s genocide is founded on “ideological hatred” and “dehumanization” and “enabled through the various organs of the state,” and recommends that Israel be unseated from the United Nations over its conduct. She argues that Israel’s attacks on U.N. employees, including the killings of at least 230 U.N. staff in Gaza, its flagrant violations of U.N. resolutions and international law and the unique status of “the first settler-colonial genocide to be ever litigated before [an international] court” justify this unprecedented measure. Israel’s continued impunity, Albanese warns, “is the nail in the coffin of the U.N. Charter.”




q

"The Racism of MAGA Is as American as Apple Pie": Nina Turner on Trump & 2024 Election

We speak with former Ohio state senator and Bernie Sanders presidential campaign staffer Nina Turner about how the 2024 election has left her and many voters “frustrated” and “exhausted.” While she is not endorsing a candidate, she denounces the white supremacist rhetoric of the Trump campaign, which she notes is “as American as apple pie.” Turner pushes back on comparisons of the Trump movement to the rise of Nazi Germany, which she argues threaten to whitewash the United States’ own anti-democratic history. “The unfulfilled promises of this country, the undealt-with anti-Blackness and other types of racism and bigotry have not been dealt with sufficiently,” she explains. “It is us, and we need to deal with it and not push it off on some other nation.”




q

"Little Secret"? Elie Mystal on Trump's Likely Plan to Steal Election with GOP House Speaker Johnson

With just days to go before the November 5 presidential election, fears are growing that Republicans intend to interfere with the official results in order to install Donald Trump as president. At Sunday’s Madison Square Garden rally, Trump said he had a “little secret” with House Speaker Mike Johnson that would have a “big impact” on the outcome, though neither he nor Johnson elaborated on what that entailed. Elie Mystal, the justice correspondent for The Nation, says the secret is almost certainly a plan to force a contingent election, whereby no candidate wins a majority of the Electoral College and the president is instead chosen by the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a slim majority. Mystal notes that even if Democrats challenge such an outcome, the case would still end up before a Supreme Court with a conservative supermajority that is likely to side with Trump.




q

"You're Being Lied To": Pennsylvania County Elections Chair Debunks Claims of Voter Fraud

As Donald Trump and Kamala Harris campaign in Pennsylvania on the last day before the presidential election, false claims of voter fraud are spreading. “The truth is, none of these lies have been about election integrity. It’s always been about power,” says Neil Makhija, chair of the board of elections in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania — the battleground state that “could decide the election” — in a video essay featured by The New York Times. Makhija joins Democracy Now! to discuss his work expanding access to the vote and debunking the myth of mass voter fraud.




q

"The Misinformation Web": Maria Hinojosa on the Pro-Trump Propaganda Targeting Latinos in 2024

As Latino voters are a key voting bloc in the 2024 presidential election in battleground states like Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania, they have been targeted by a rise in Spanish-language misinformation. Most of the false messaging disparages Kamala Harris and supports Donald Trump, says Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa, host of Latino USA, which investigated the phenomenon in a new episode called “The Misinformation Web.” She interviewed some of the content creators in this “blob” of online vitriol and says there is almost no effective content moderation online, nor many reliable fact-checking sources in Spanish to counter the lies.




q

"The Confederacy Won": Why Donald Trump's Reelection Is a Win for White Supremacy, Xenophobia & Hate

Donald Trump has been reelected president of the United States. Ahead of Kamala Harris’s expected concession speech, we speak to professors Carol Anderson and Michele Goodwin to discuss Harris’s historic campaign — and historic loss. “The Confederacy won,” says Anderson, a professor of African American studies at Emory University. “It paints a picture of what Americans are willing to embrace,” says Goodwin, a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown and an expert on healthcare law, who warns of the public health dangers of a second Trump administration and discusses the election’s implications for reproductive rights.




q

"This Is a Collapse of the Democratic Party": Ralph Nader on Roots of Trump's Win Over Harris

“This is a collapse of the Democratic Party.” Consumer advocate, corporate critic and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader comments on the reelection of Donald Trump and the failures of the Democratic challenge against him. Despite attempts by left-wing segments of the Democratic base to shift the party’s messaging toward populist, anti-corporate and progressive policies, says Nader, Democrats “didn’t listen.” Under Trump, continues Nader, “We’re in for huge turmoil.”




q

"A Devastating Result": John Nichols on GOP Taking White House and the Senate

When Donald Trump reenters the White House, he will be met with a newly Republican-controlled Senate, consolidating power in the hands of a party now dominated by supporters of Trump. We take a look at the results of down-ballot races for the Senate and House, and the possibilities for congressional opposition to Trump’s agenda with John Nichols, The Nation’s national affairs correspondent. Nichols notes that losing Democratic Senate candidates missed opportunities to highlight working-class voters and economic issues, likely to their detriment.




q

"Communities Were Destroyed": Mass Deportations of 1930s & '50s Show Harm of Trump Plan, If Implemented

Donald Trump has made the mass deportation of immigrants a centerpiece of his plans for a second term, vowing to forcibly remove as many as 20 million people from the country. Historian Ana Raquel Minian, who studies the history of immigration, says earlier mass deportation programs in the 1930s and '50s led to widespread abuse, tearing many families apart through violent means that also resulted in the expulsion of many U.S. citizens. “These deportations that Trump is claiming that he will do will have mass implications to our civil rights, to our communities and to our economy, and of course to the people who are being deported themselves,” says Minian. She also says that while Trump's extremist rhetoric encourages hate and violence against vulnerable communities, in terms of policy there is great continuity with the Biden administration, which kept many of the same policies in place.




q

"Open Celebration of the Oligarchy": Both Dems & GOP Sucked Up to Billionaires in 2024 Election

In the wake of the reelection of Donald Trump, some of the richest people in the world saw their net worths soar as stock prices rapidly shot up. “What was different about this election was how central billionaires were in the entire political discourse,” says The Lever's David Sirota, who joins Democracy Now! to discuss the outsized role of the super-rich in U.S politics, pointing out that both Trump and Kamala Harris campaigned heavily with billionaires, including Elon Musk and Mark Cuban. “These people are not giving money simply out of the goodness of their hearts. They want things. They have policy demands,” Sirota says. “The investors, the donors, like billionaires, are looking for a return on their investment.” Sirota, who previously worked as a communications adviser and speechwriter for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, also explains how Elon Musk's influence on Trump’s campaign is a preview of the power he could wield if he ends up appointed to the Trump administration.




q

"Hate Has No Place Here": Black Americans Slam Racist Texts Promoting Slavery After Trump's Election

The FBI is investigating a spate of racist text messages targeting Black Americans in the wake of Donald Trump’s election victory last week. The texts were reported in states including Alabama, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia, addressing recipients as young as 13 by name and telling them they were “selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation” and other messages referencing slavery. For more, we speak with Robert Greene II, a history professor at Claflin University, South Carolina’s first and oldest historically Black university in Orangeburg, where many students were targeted. “Initially when I heard about the texts, I thought it was a bit of a hoax, but … it quickly became clear that this wasn’t just a Claflin problem, it was a national issue, as well,” says Greene. We also speak with Wisdom Cole, senior national director of advocacy for the NAACP, who says “this is only the beginning,” with a second Trump administration expected to attack civil rights and embolden hate groups.




q

"A Campaign of Genocide": Noura Erakat Speaks to Ta-Nehisi Coates About Israel's War on Gaza

Thousands attended a Palestine Festival of Literature event about “America and the War on Palestine” at the historic Riverside Church in New York Sunday, featuring conversations about U.S. complicity in Israeli human rights abuses. The literary festival, known as PalFest, aims to raise awareness of the Palestinian struggle through arts and letters. The acclaimed author Ta-Nehisi Coates moderated the conversations, including one featuring the Palestinian human rights attorney and scholar Noura Erakat. “This is about all of us,” says Erakat. “The fact that Palestinian children have been evaporated, beheaded, killed in NICU, their NICU system, rotted in NICU beds, right? And their parents have had to collect their flesh to weigh it in rice bags in order to bury them, right? At this point, there should have been mercy.”




q

"Complete Charade": Qatar Withdraws from Ceasefire Talks, Middle East Prepares for Trump Presidency

We speak with Dutch Palestinian analyst Mouin Rabbani about the latest developments in the Middle East as Israel continues its deadly assaults on Gaza and Lebanon. Qatar recently announced it will no longer act as mediator for ceasefire talks, saying the two sides were not serious about reaching a deal to stop the fighting. “This entire process from the outset has been a complete charade,” Rabbani says of the U.S.-backed ceasefire negotiations, urging Egypt to follow suit and also stop acting as a mediator. Rabbani also discusses how a second Trump administration could deal with the region, saying Trump’s “erratic” behavior makes predictions difficult, but that signs point to a more aggressive posture toward Iran.




q

"Hatemonger": Stephen Miller to Hold Key Post as Trump Pushes Mass Detention & Deportation

President-elect Donald Trump reportedly plans to appoint his former senior adviser Stephen Miller as his deputy chief of staff for policy. Miller will play a key role along with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who will reportedly be the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Miller is the architect of Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, an avowed white nationalist and a man who is spurred by his “animus to the notion of the United States as a multicultural and multiethnic democracy,” says author Jean Guerrero, author of Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda. Guerrero says the Trump administration’s “obsessive deportation” attempt to “radically reengineer the racial demographics of the United States” will “backfire” on the U.S. economy and destroy “the United States’ global reputation as a safe haven for the persecuted.”




q

"American Coup: Wilmington 1898": PBS Film Examines Massacre When Racists Overthrew Multiracial Gov't

American Coup: Wilmington 1898 premieres tonight on PBS and investigates the only successful insurrection conducted against a U.S. government, when self-described white supremacist residents stoked fears of “Negro Rule” and carried out a deadly massacre in Wilmington, North Carolina. Their aim was to destroy Black political and economic power and overthrow the city’s democratically elected, Reconstruction-era multiracial government, paving the way for the implementation of Jim Crow law just two years later. We feature excerpts from the documentary and speak to co-director Yoruba Richen, who explains how the insurrection was planned and carried out, and how the filmmakers worked to track down the descendants of both perpetrators and victims, whose voices are featured in the film.




q

November 2, 2024: Trivia Question: Omega?

A few months ago, we asked a trivia question about Steve Jackson Games titles. For this installment, we're starting with the easier version of an obvious question because, in my opinion, the other version of it is a bit trickier . . .

Our database has thousands of items running across the past, present, and future of our company. The question for this post is two-fold:

• What is the last item alphabetically that is currently available for sale, and . . .

• What is the last item alphabetically that is a complete game and currently available for sale?

For those who may want a hint, here's a clue in ROT13 format: Gur gjb vgrzf ner pybfryl eryngrq . . .

If you want to chat about your guesses, feel free to do so on the forums. Answers will come sometime in the future!

Steven Marsh

Warehouse 23 News: Do More With Less?

GURPS Power-Ups 8: Limitations lets you add more flavor and power to GURPS abilities by making them less-than-ideal in some circumstances, or giving them a vulnerable point. In addition to an authoritative compilation of limitations, it also includes new options and insight to make limitations come to life . . . and perhaps provides a way to get the few extra points you need to make your ability awesome! It's just a download away from Warehouse 23!