Monday, March 4, 2013

Literary Agent ? Creative Writing Tips | Writing and Speaking Tips

This is made difficult by the necessity to write in verse.

First, write a poem in the first person point of view. You must say ?I? did that, this, or the other thing, not ?He?. Show what you felt, said, saw, thought, wished, did, (saying ?I? did it). Make yourself sound entertaining to yourself as your first reader. Surprise yourself. Make yourself sound noble, or else unjustly put upon. And there you sound like a Protagonist. Remember, a poem is always telling a story. Thus, a character is part of the requirements.

You may also create yourself as a cross, petty, treacherous, cruel, corrupt character. To avoid authorial intrusion, you can switch the POV (point of view) to the third person. To flesh out a character fully, it is always proper to be omniscient in telling the story. An antagonist may have plans to thwart and obstruct another character in quest of love, glory, honor, or whatever that character logically desire and deserve. Writing it in other POV?s will make the protagonist appear bias. However, homely protagonists rarely work in poetry.

Do not forget the elements of poetry. Figures of speech are the basic elements. It?s a good idea, let?s say, to have somebody get in bed with someone else. Set your place in a parked car, broom closet, bathtub, something like that, though a bed will do better for romantic touch. To pull off an erotic touch in a poem, make sure you include the senses which make everything erotic and sensual. Bear witness to the scent and sound of the environment wherein the action happened, and do not forget the body language.

Change the point of view to the second person. This is to keep the reader from getting bored with what the omniscient speaker saw in a parked car. Use your imagination. You may say ?I? did that, this, or the other thing and prove it was not in a parked car. But let?s face it: if you?ve really had it in a parked car, you wouldn?t be wasting your time trying to figure out the scent of vehicle emission or the air vent. Or you wouldn?t be wasting your day trying to write a poem. Horace says that one should write the feelings after some moment of tranquility. So don?t write a poem after getting it on in a parked car.

When you have finished showing (not telling) what you did or wished you?d done that night, type ?first draft? neatly in the center of the page and take a glass of water. Now you will want to let someone else read what you?ve written. Most likely, however, your reader will say one of two things: ?I think you need a new printer,? or: ?Who was that you were with in that parked car??

Why don?t you just keep the draft and drink another glass of water, and revise it until you can say you have written a poem. No one will know, but who cares, Emily Dickinson got famous after her publishers discovered hundreds of poems in her room after her death.

Source: http://www.writingspeakingtips.com/literary-agent-creative-writing-tips/

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Paul Rudd reveals his 'Anchorman' mustache

By Kurt Schlosser, TODAY

Bust out the Sex Panther: Paul Rudd and his "Anchorman" mustache were in fine form on TODAY Monday morning.

The actor was on to promote his new film "Admission," in which he stars alongside?Tina Fey for the first time, and talked about a "steamy" shower scene with the actress.

"We shot it at about 2 in the morning in a barn. It was freezing cold," Rudd said. Matt Lauer quipped that the actor is naked for about half the movie and Savannah Guthrie chimed in that Rudd must "feel naked without his mustache."

"I'm really just getting a look at it now," Rudd said of the facial hair he's growing for his role as Brian Fantana in the "Anchorman" sequel.?"I look like Yanni."

"Admission" opens in theaters March 22.

Related video:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/03/04/17180085-paul-rudd-reveals-his-anchorman-mustache?lite

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SpaceX cargo capsule reaches International Space Station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Sun Mar 3, 2013 9:20am EST

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule overcame a potentially mission-ending technical problem to make a belated but welcome arrival at the International Space Station on Sunday.

Astronauts aboard the outpost used the station's robotic arm to pluck the capsule from orbit at 5:31 a.m. EST as the ships sailed 250 miles over northern Ukraine.

Flight controllers at NASA's Mission Control in Houston then stepped in to drive the capsule to its berthing port on the station's Harmony connecting node. Docking occurred at 8:44 a.m. EST.

The Dragon capsule, loaded with more than 2,300 pounds (1,043 kg) of science equipment, spare parts, food and supplies, blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Friday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for the second of 12 planned supply runs for NASA.

SpaceX is the first private company to fly to the station, a $100 billion project of 15 nations.

Dragon was to have arrived at the station on Saturday but a problem with its thruster rocket pods developed soon after reaching orbit. Engineers sent commands for Dragon to flip valves and clear any blockage in a pressurization line in an attempt to salvage the mission.

By Friday evening, Dragon had fired its thruster rockets to raise its altitude and begin steering itself to rendezvous with the station.

The orbital ballet ended when station commander Kevin Ford, working from a robotics station inside the outpost, grabbed the capsule with the station's robot arm.

"As they say, it's not where you start but where you finish that counts. You guys really finished this one on the mark," Ford radioed to Dragon's flight control team in Hawthorne, California, and NASA's Mission Control in Houston.

"What a fantastic day," Ford said.

Once Dragon's hatch is open, the station crew will spend the next several days unpacking the food, clothing, supplies and science experiments from the capsule. The research includes studies on plant seedlings, mouse stem cells and combustion in microgravity.

SpaceX also sent the crew a gift of fresh fruit from an employee's father's orchard, company president Gwynne Shotwell said.

Ground controllers will use the station's robot arm again on Wednesday to unpack equipment for a future spacewalk that is stowed in Dragon's unpressurized trunk.

Once the capsule is unloaded, the crew will begin refilling it with 3,000 pounds (1,361 kg) of unneeded and broken equipment and science samples for analysis on Earth.

Dragon is the only station freighter that makes return trips, a critical service that was lost after the U.S. shuttle program ended in 2011. Cargo ships flown by Russia, Europe and Japan incinerate in the atmosphere after leaving the station

Dragon's departure and parachute splashdown in the Pacific Ocean is scheduled for March 25.

Dragon's flight is the second of 12 missions for privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, known as SpaceX, under a $1.6 billion NASA contract. Following a successful test flight to the space station in May 2012, SpaceX conducted its first supply run to the orbital outpost in October.

A second firm, Orbital Sciences Corp is due to debut its freighter this year.

NASA turned to private companies for delivering supplies to the station following the retirement of its shuttle fleet. The agency hopes to buy rides commercially for its astronauts as well beginning in 2017.

(Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/vorHWtGE0Fk/us-space-nasa-idUSBRE92006C20130303

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Saturday, March 2, 2013

Syrians are receiving US aid - they just don't know it

The widespread perception among Syrians that the US has abandoned them is untrue, but US aid is rarely branded as such and it is still far short of what is needed.?

By Tom A. Peter,?Correspondent / February 28, 2013

Syrian refugees carry a bucket of water as they walk at Atmeh refugee camp, in the northern Syrian province of Idlib, Syria, last week. Despite US efforts to increase humanitarian assistance to Syria, intended recipients say the American presence remains virtually invisible.

Hussein Malla/AP

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At his tiny hospital in Turkey just a stone?s throw from the Syrian border, Qussay Said Essa says he?s all but given up on American assistance. Though he knows the US has pledged money both inside and outside of Syria, he says he doesn?t know of anyone who has seen American aid.

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?What they?ve given is not enough,? says Dr. Essa, a general surgeon at a hospital run by Orient Humanitarian Relief in Reyhanli. ?They?ve given what? $350 million over two years? [The actual American pledge is $385 million.] That?s nothing when you compare it to the size of the tragedy and the destruction.?

Just keeping his tiny clinic afloat in Reyhanli costs $200,000 per month and a sister clinic just across the border with better surgical facilities costs another $600,000 per month. Orient Humanitarian Relief, which Essa says receives funding from wealthy Syrian expatriates, is one of many hundreds of small charitable organizations helping those affected by the Syrian crisis that are in dire need of economic support.

Despite US efforts to increase humanitarian assistance to Syria, intended recipients say the American presence remains virtually invisible. Part of the perceived deficit of support comes from the US policy of not branding or labeling aid parcels to identify them as coming from the US. Many in the aid community say that this has resulted in Syrians feeling abandoned by the US.

In a region where perceptions often matter more than reality, the US has failed to convince many Syrians that it is doing good.

?There?s a sense inside Syria that the US has been stringing the Syrian opposition along,? says Christy Delafield, program director for the Syrian Expatriates Organization. ?Syrian-Americans have been begging the US to brand aid.? The US is doing some great things and the Syrian people aren't seeing it. When they get aid, they credit the Gulf countries, Turkey, or the Europeans, who do brand."

Early this year, President Barack Obama upped the US aid commitment to Syria from $210 million to $365 million. The money has been focused on providing food and healthcare, with more than half of the funds intended for those still inside Syria.

The US announced today that it will give nonlethal aid directly to the rebels that will include medical supplies and food. The US will also provide $60 million for opposition councils working to provide government services in rebel-controlled areas. This is on top of $50 million that the US has already provided for these groups.?Yet the US has intentionally made no effort to communicate to its recipients where the majority of this assistance comes from. Policy makers are concerned that if aid parcels are stamped with American flags or other symbols tying it back to the US, it could endanger the beneficiary or those delivering it inside Syria if they encounter a group hostile to the US.

?We are not putting flags on the aid so that it?s perhaps not as visible as it is in other situations. Our priority is to ensure that it reaches people and that it doesn?t create additional insecurity,? said Nancy Lindborg, USAID?s assistant administrator for democracy, conflict, and humanitarian assistance in recent remarks to the press.

Among those aware of US spending, many allege that a large portion of the money goes to the Syrian government or those inside government controlled areas ? areas less likely to be affected by shortages of food and medical supplies than opposition-controlled areas.

American officials remain insistent that no aid goes directly through the Syrian government, but concede that some may reach those sympathetic to the government when aid is disturbed through groups such as the Red Crescent, whose regional employees may still sympathize with the regime. Other projects benefit large swaths of people that include government supporters, as was the case with funding that provided chlorine for municipal water treatment facilities to produce clean water for 10 million people.

?Much of the aid that?s going in is benefiting a broad array of folks throughout Syria,? said Ms. Lindborg.

For the majority of Syrians, the widely held perception remains that what little US assistance has come their way, much of it has gone to the Assad regime, negating any good done by aid to the opposition that could serve to improve the US image among Syrians.

?I know the US has given money but I?m sure this money has gone to the Red Crescent and this organization has helped the regime so what is the benefit of this assistance?? asks Yasir Alsyed, who manages the Recovery House, which helps wounded Syrians in Reyhanli. ?The US has not supplied any help to the medical or humanitarian sector,? he adds, stating something that is incorrect.

Meanwhile, the scope of the financial commitment to Syria remains disproportionate to the level of need, which Lindborg and other US officials have admitted. Compared to other foreign aid campaigns, the US effort in Syria remains relatively low. During the 2012 fiscal year, the US pledged $2.3 billion to Afghanistan. Even in countries less central to US interests, American spending still exceeds its investment in Syria. During the previous fiscal year the US planned $676 million for aid spending in Jordan and $383 million in Columbia.

As the Syrian conflict approaches its two-year anniversary, the optimism that permeated the early days is gone and the assumption that it is only a matter of time before Assad steps down has faded away amid statements and other indicators that he will not willingly leave power and his troops remain well-armed and capable. Now many Syrians are hunkering down for a prolonged conflict in which they?re not expecting outside help.

?All these are blow after blow. Syrians really thought the West would come to their aid,? says Mouaz Moustafa, political director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/VXeurF9RKIE/Syrians-are-receiving-US-aid-they-just-don-t-know-it

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Friday, March 1, 2013

Can an App Take Down Climate Change Deniers? Al Gore Thinks So.

It's happened to all of us. Sometime in the middle of dinner, or hanging out with friends, someone says they're not sure climate change exists. And you're suddenly at a loss for words.

The solution, according to former Vice President Al gore, is a new social media tool designed to tell users the scientific truth about global warming. The app, called Reality Drop, was unveiled today at a live event in Long Beach, Calif.

In a calculated nod to millennials and the increasing gamification of our culture, the tool curates hundreds of daily online news articles about global warming, and then allows users to earn points if they leave comments that spread truthful science and refute anti-science myths.

?Social networks are the key in helping us move the needle in the right direction?the key is to seed the conversation with reality,? said Gore, from a hotel conference room in Long Beach, California. ?Wherever there is an example of denial in the media, we will give everyone that participates the precise scientific answer to the denial in the story.?

Reality Drop debuts at a vital time in the global bout to cool our ever-warming planet.

The last two years have featured record-setting extreme weather events that?climate scientists said were made more intense because of global warming. Sweltering heatwaves, backbreaking drought, above-average wildfires, and multiple freak storms were the defining events of 2011 and 2012.

In 2012, 3,527 monthly weather records were broken for heat, rain, and snow in the U.S. Shockingly, 34,008 daily high temperature records?were set or tied?throughout 2012, compared to just 6,664 daily record lows?a ratio of five-to-one.

Such extreme weather events proved very costly?both in terms of lives lost and dollars wasted. In addition to 1,107 tragic fatalities, up to $188 billion in damage was caused by the severe weather events of 2011 and 2012.

Halfway through his presentation, Gore queued up perhaps the most sobering clip from his 2005 Oscar-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, in which a computer model simulates the flooding of lower Manhattan. ?Deniers said this would never happen,? said Gore. He then played a montage of news clips from Hurricane Sandy, in which the Hudson River in fact poured into lower Manhattan and Ground Zero.

?This particular moment in time is the exact right moment in time to do this?superstorm Sandy, in particular, represented something of a tipping point, I believe,? said Gore.

In the face of overwhelming evidence, the fossil fuel industry, the most profitable business in human history, has dug in its collective heels in defending the anti-science line.

?Just like the tobacco companies in the ?50s, the fossil fuel industry has engaged in a well-funded and coordinated effort mislead the public about the scientific reality of climate change,? said Gore, in a press release.

As a supplement to the gaming feature, Reality Drop also highlights and debunks more than a hundred of the most-commonly espoused climate myths, including ?Antarctica is gaining ice,? ?spring isn?t arriving sooner,? and ?it?s the urban heat island effect.?

The tool was developed in collaboration with Skeptical Science and Arnold Worldwide, a global communications organization. ?You get points for promoting the truth and for combatting the denial?it?s fun and it works,? said Gore.

Gore ended his roughly 45-minute presentation on a call to action, saying its ?time to win the conversation on personal terms,? making an analogy to the recent groundswell of support in America for gay marriage.

?Two, three, four years ago, nobody would have imagined how gay rights would have transformed this country?it?s so inspiring,? said Gore. ?That same conversation phenomenon has to happen on carbon.??

Related Stories on TakePart:

? You Can Totally Thank Climate Change for Future Mutant Hurricanes

? Al Gore on Summer 2012's Extreme Weather: 'It's Like a Nature Hike Through the Book of Revelations'

? Sandy's Wake Widens: One Million Honeybees Perish in Brooklyn


?An Angelino by way of Wilkes-Barre, PA, Sal holds a Political Science degree from George Washington University. Though he began his career in sports, he's written about all things environment since 2007. @SalCardoni?| Email Sal | TakePart.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/app-down-climate-change-deniers-al-gore-thinks-145100645.html

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Comedian Tina Fey says "no way" she would host Oscars

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comic actress Tina Fey says there is "no way" she would host the Oscars ceremony next year, despite getting a thumbs up from "Star Trek" actor William Shatner in a sketch at Sunday's Academy Awards show.

The creator and star of TV comedy "30 Rock" told the Huffington Post website that she did not see herself as fronting the Oscars telecast.

"I just feel that gig is so hard. Especially for, like, a woman - the amount of months that would be spent trying on dresses alone...no way," she joked, during an interview with the Huffington Post posted on the website on Tuesday.

Asked if there was at least a one in a million chance, Fey replied, "I wish I could tell you there was."

Fey and "Baby Mama" actress Amy Poehler both received rave reviews for hosting the Golden Globes awards for the first time in January.

In a sketch on Sunday with Seth MacFarlane, Shatner appeared from the future as "Star Trek" Captain James T. Kirk in a running joke about the edgy "Family Guy" creator's suitability as host of the most coveted honors in the movie business.

"Why couldn't they get Tina and Amy to host?" Shatner asked, to laughs from the audience packed with Hollywood stars.

TV critics panned the song-and-dance-heavy show and MacFarlane said on Tuesday that he would not consider hosting the Oscars a second time.

The Oscar host - considered both the highest honor and riskiest job in Hollywood - is usually chosen by the producers of the Academy Awards show and is generally announced about five or six months before the February ceremony.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/comedian-tina-fey-says-no-way-she-host-193109656.html

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Dow edges near record, then sputters; stocks down

Specialist Meric Greenbaum works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. The stock market pushed higher Thursday afternoon, sending the Dow tantalizingly close to a record high. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialist Meric Greenbaum works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. The stock market pushed higher Thursday afternoon, sending the Dow tantalizingly close to a record high. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Leon Montana, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. The stock market pushed higher Thursday afternoon, sending the Dow tantalizingly close to a record high. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialist Peter Giacchi, right, calls out prices at the closing bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. The stock market pushed higher Thursday afternoon, sending the Dow tantalizingly close to a record high. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

(AP) ? It came oh so close.

The Dow Jones industrial average came within 15 points of its all-time high Thursday afternoon. But the momentum petered out, and the Dow and other indexes broke a two-day winning streak and closed lower.

Economic data and company reports reflected an economy beating investors' low expectations, rather than one growing like gangbusters. Impending government budget cuts also cast a pall for some investors.

"There was no dramatic, great news," said Leon LaBrecque, CEO of LJPR in Troy, Mich. "There's no remarkable economic information. Earnings are pretty much mixed."

The day started with the stock market plodding along before sending investors on a whipsaw day. After gaining a combined 291 points on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Dow spent Thursday morning darting between small gains and losses.

It took a decisive turn upward in the early afternoon. Around 2:30 p.m. EST, it hit 14,149 ? just 15 points from the Oct. 9, 2007 record of 14,164.53.

Then the rally sputtered and stocks turned lower in the final few minutes of trading.

The Dow ended down 20.88 points, or 0.2 percent, to 14,054.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 1.31, or 0.09 percent, to 1,514.68. The Nasdaq composite index edged down 2.07, or 0.07 percent, to 3,160.19.

Some said the market's fleeting gain Thursday was more about its general tendency to rise over time, and not necessarily a reflection of a surge in strength for the U.S. economy.

"People have to separate the economy from the stock market," said Ed Butowsky, managing partner of ChapwoodFinance.com in Dallas.

Thursday's data didn't provide a clear picture on the economy.

Company earnings were mixed. J.C. Penney and Barnes & Noble posted losses. Wendy's and Domino's had higher profits. The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the last three months of 2012 ? better than the original estimate of a 0.1 percent decline, but hardly robust. The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell, and the government prepared for federal spending cuts to kick in Friday, a result of Democrats and Republicans not compromising on the budget debate.

"We still have work to do, still a lot of headwinds to face," said Steve Sachs, head of capital markets at ProShares in Bethesda, Md. But, he added, "we're in a better position now than we were three years ago."

Thursday's close means the Dow rose 1.4 percent in February ? respectable, but a slowdown from its 5.8 percent gain in January.

The Dow milestone doesn't mean much in practical terms. It's an index of 30 big-name stocks, such as Disney and General Electric that investors follow as a gauge of how the overall stock market is doing. But professional investors don't change their strategy because of it.

Even so, a Dow record would be important for psychological reasons: It can make people feel like the economy is doing better. That can induce them to spend and invest more. And it reminds people of a time before the financial crisis, which peaked in 2008.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at about 1.90 percent.

Among stocks making big moves:

?Groupon, the coupons website, plunged 24 percent after reporting late Wednesday that its quarterly loss had expanded. The stock fell $1.45 to $4.53.

?J.C. Penney fell 17 percent after the department store reported a higher-than-expected quarterly loss late Wednesday. The stock dropped $3.59 to $17.57.

? Wendy's, Domino's, clothing chain Chico's and energy drink maker Monster Beverage all rose after reporting higher profit and revenue.

?Barnes & Noble climbed 3 percent, up 51 cents to $15.74. The bookstore chain posted a loss, though its CEO confirmed that the company was still in talks with its founder about a partial buyout.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-28-Wall%20Street/id-ac410093c4e14c8085d38f365b7a068e

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