'I’m an ex-Republican‚' Kristol tweeted

Modifying their diversity‚ equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives

A video shared on Facebook claims to show a British oil tanker attacked by the Houthis off the coast of Yemen. Verdict: False The video shows a vessel on fire near Oman. It has nothing to do with the recent Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Fact Check: The Houthis said it would not […]

ClassicRockHistory.com presents the top 10 Ronnie Spector Songs in an article examining Ronnie Spector’s solo career. This article does not include the material she recorded when she was in the Ronettes. That legendary group just recorded too much great material to include on this Ronnie Spector solo songs list. We got to those songs in a separate Ronettes article. Ronnie Spector has had a fascinating solo career. Her work with the Ronettes had a profound impact on music. It was so profound and unique that many artists she worked with during her solo career would often hire her to duplicate The post Top 10 Ronnie Spector Songs appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

A 100-year-old Second World War veteran has walked hundreds of miles around his garden to raise money for charity—but no‚ you didn’t stumble upon a four-year-old news story‚ Lance Corporal Harold Jones laps his back garden 30 times every day no matter the weather‚ and has been doing so since 2020‚ as he was inspired […] The post 100-Year-old Walks Around Garden 40‚000 Times to Raise Money for Charity appeared first on Good News Network.

Wondering how many fish you can keep in your new 5-gallon tank? The simple answer: a small aquarium like yours can comfortably house 2-4 petite swimmers. This is based on the rule of thumb that says you can safely keep one inch of fish per gallon of water in your tank. Our guide dives into...

I had hopes that John Keel’s The Mothman Prophecies would focus more on the cryptid than it did. Mostly‚ it turns out‚ the book is about John Keel. Like the film that’s loosely based on it (as one witty commenter on the former noted)‚ it’s too much Man‚ too little Moth. Luckily for my insatiable curiosity‚ paranormal TV fills the gap as ably as mass entertainment can. Any show that investigates the unexplained will tackle Mothman sooner or later‚ and shows about monsters and cryptids can hardly avoid it. Mothman is an icon‚ and nobody knows what he is or if he even exists at all. What everyone agrees on is that in and around Point Pleasant‚ West Virginia‚ between November 1966 and the collapse of the Silver Bridge in December 1967‚ over a hundred people saw something. The day the bridge fell‚ the sightings stopped. The thing they saw was large‚ winged‚ and distinguished by huge glowing red eyes. Bicycle reflector size‚ witnesses said. It mostly seemed to appear around an abandoned TNT plant on the outskirts of town. People who saw it felt overwhelming terror—but they were also seeking it out‚ taking joyrides out to the plant to see if they could catch a sighting. Although Point Pleasant seems to have been the first appearance of the creature‚ there have supposedly been sightings since in other locations‚ including Chicago and La Crosse‚ Wisconsin. MonsterQuest’s Season 4 Episode 5 (2010) focuses on the La Crosse sighting of a huge winged creature with glowing red eyes‚ but also harks back to Point Pleasant. It describes a sighting in Sacramento as well‚ complete with video footage. The creature appears to be a harbinger of doom‚ though the only disaster it seems to have predicted is the Silver bridge. MonsterQuest declares itself on the side of science. The investigators propose that the huge red-eyed monster is actually a large‚ predatory bird‚ though they don’t quite commit to whether it’s a familiar species—a barred owl‚ for example—or one as yet unknown to conventional zoology. One team determines that the countryside around La Crosse might support a large winged creature‚ but they find no evidence of one. Another‚ back in Point Pleasant‚ demonstrates the unreliability of eyewitness reports. They set up wooden Mothman silhouettes of different sizes‚ complete with illuminated reflectors for eyes‚ and have people drive by them and then report on what size they thought the different figures were. The estimates range from a little bit off to way off‚ and often err on the side of too big rather than too small. Another experiment raises more questions than it answers. A police sketch artist works with witnesses to develop images of the various sightings‚ from Sacramento to Point Pleasant. All of them seem to him to be quite similar. He believes they’ve been seeing the same creature. I’m inclined to wonder about cross-contamination. People hear about Mothman‚ see a big flying thing with red eyes‚ their brains process the image as the famous monster. Monsters and Mysteries in America Season 3 (2015) devotes the whole of Episode 10 to John Keel’s theories about the events in Point Pleasant. Keel of course believes Mothman and his attendant phenomena are extradimensional beings—not extraterrestrial but ultraterrestrial. But Keel is a bit of an outlier among Mothman theorists‚ even though his book and the film on which it’s based actually put Mothman on the popular paranormal map. The end of the episode takes off in a weird direction‚ with investigator Andy Colvin exploring the chemical plant in Point Pleasant and encountering a shimmering light show and a shadowy figure. “Andy Colvin saw only one way out—through the veil‚” the narrator intones. Colvin thinks Mothman may be the Native American Thunderbird‚ and he’s not necessarily evil. He just is. Which is more or less what Keel concluded. The Mothman Sightings (2020) is part of a series called In Search of Monsters. We get the whole range of history here‚ from ancient Sumeria—none other than Pazuzu‚ the winged demon of the Exorcist sequels—to Point Pleasant and beyond. This Mothman’s eyes have hypnotic powers‚ which ups the ante on John Keel’s descriptions of witnesses struck with abject terror. The episode asks whether Mothman is “a campfire story that got out of control‚ or… is it real?” Of course‚ the episode notes‚ it’s also possible the cryptid was a terrestrial bird‚ either an owl or a sandhill crane. Owls are the right shape if not the right size‚ as MonsterQuest observed‚ and their eyes glow red in the dark. Cranes are the right color and closer to the right size. But this show is not here to stop at conventional reality. It segues to an eyewitness report that features a carload of teenagers out looking for a sighting and getting one—and the US military showing up and throwing them out of the abandoned chemical plant in Point Pleasant. It’s reminiscent of John Keel’s Men in Black warning people against talking about what they’ve seen. Clearly there’s something going on‚ some sort of secret government experiments. Unconventional weapons? Mutant supersoldiers? Whatever it is‚ the government doesn’t want us to know. Or maybe the government has nothing to do with it. Mothman is a supernatural force‚ a harbinger of doom‚ come to warn of an impending disaster. “There is in fact a death curse that’s been associated with the Mothman in particular‚” declares cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard. People who see the creature have been known to die prematurely and mysteriously (notwithstanding all the witnesses to the Point Pleasant sightings who are still alive and still telling their stories). Case in point: a young couple who believe they’ve been stalked by Mothman for a decade‚ “and it’s been pretty much destroying our lives.” What they describe is a standard paranormal predicament: a haunting that’s attached itself to them‚ with poltergeist activity and disembodied voices uttering threats and warnings. So of course they mount an expedition to the TNT factory‚ because if things are already bad‚ why not escalate? I watch a lot of ghosty shows. In the context of that thought-universe‚ if it’s a negative entity‚ also known as a demon‚ it’s going to feed on their fears. They want it to be Mothman? Then Mothman they’ll get. It doesn’t prove anything except that there’s something preying on these two people‚ and it’s not nice at all. It makes dramatic television. It doesn’t add much to Mothman lore‚ compared to a sighting in 1952 in Braxton County‚ West Virginia‚ not terribly far from Point Pleasant. This featured a UFO and a huge figure with—yes—glowing red eyes. Was that the arrival of the Mothman? Was the Mothman an extraterrestrial? Even John Keel admits that the Mothman sightings in Point Pleasant were accompanied by dozens of UFO sightings. Keel had less than no use for UFOs as spacecraft‚ but whatever they were or are‚ they proliferated in and around Mothman in 1966 and 1967. It’s a short step from alien spaceships to the conjecture that Mothman arrived in one. Whether Mothman is extraterrestrial or interdimensional or straight-up demonic‚ it’s not restricted to Point Pleasant. Witnesses have seen it in Houston‚ in Cornwall in the UK‚ and in 2017‚ in Chicago. These flying humanoids seem to stake out territory in specific areas‚ and there may be far more than one. They’re all over the world. Whatever they are‚ wherever they come from‚ they’re as real as belief makes them. That‚ really‚ is the essence of a cryptid. People want to believe. What they believe varies widely‚ but the belief is a constant. Even the debunkers can’t or won’t declare definitively that the creature does not exist—only that a particular sighting or set of sightings might be a misidentification of a much more mundane bird or animal. It still might exist. Somewhere out there. Maybe. Judith Tarr has written over forty novels‚ many of which have been published as ebooks‚ as well as numerous shorter works of fiction and nonfiction‚ including a primer for writers who want to write about horses: Writing Horses: The Fine Art of Getting It Right. She has a Patreon‚ in which she shares nonfiction‚ fiction‚ and horse and cat stories. She lives near Tucson‚ Arizona‚ with a herd of Lipizzans‚ a clowder of cats‚ and a pair of Very Good Dogs.

I am both proud and slightly horrified to say that my first published novel took over a year to write‚ and three long years to rewrite. And that’s not counting the failed book projects that preceded it over the previous fifteen years. Even after it managed to find a publisher‚ the novel was simply too long‚ with too many characters‚ too many plot twists‚ too much exposition. Oh‚ and the editor who acquired it asked me to cut over 100 pages. In the final stages of revision‚ I had a problem rounding out one of the major POV characters‚ whose motivations and decisions needed to be more compelling to match those of the protagonist and the villain. At that point‚ I found a solution buried in some of the movies that helped to raise me. When asked how I did it‚ I had a simple answer: “I Matrixed it.” “You did what?” came the response. “You know. I Supermanned it.” “What?” I should rewind a bit. When I think of special‚ transformative cinematic experiences that have changed my life‚ two films appear near the top of my list: Superman (1978) and The Matrix (1999). These are not surprising choices for a member of my generation‚ since both films set the standard in their respective subgenres. Superman is the first film I recall watching in its entirety‚ in the early 1980s. I saw it on a projector(!) at my babysitter’s house‚ followed by countless viewings on TV and video over the years. In 2018‚ I attended a special 40th anniversary screening‚ and was so overloaded with nostalgia that I thought I would pass out. While it’s difficult to match the joy and wonder of watching Superman as a child‚ my experience of seeing The Matrix came close. The marketing campaign‚ as I recall it‚ revealed virtually nothing about what the Matrix actually was. So‚ in 1999‚ I went to the movies expecting a middling sci-fi action movie about virtual reality and government espionage. Needless to say‚ my jaw dropped through the floor during the scene when Neo discovers the truth of the Matrix. It took me a while to realize that both movies use a nearly identical plot device to add depth to their protagonists. It took me even longer to notice that I had internalized this device in my own writing‚ and this realization proved to be a major breakthrough in completing my first published work. Of course‚ plenty of film buffs have already analyzed how Superman and The Matrix use the classic plot structure of the hero’s journey‚ in which the protagonist hears a call to adventure‚ leaves their familiar world‚ and returns profoundly changed. Embedded within that structure‚ for both films‚ is a three-step formula: Protagonist receives major piece of advice from an authority figure. Protagonist receives the exact opposite advice from another authority figure—one who may be ideologically opposed‚ or who has a completely different perspective or priorities. Protagonist must choose which piece of advice to follow‚ thereby completing their character arc and triggering the climax of the story. For Superman‚ it looks like this: Pa Kent tells young Clark that he was placed on Earth for a reason‚ implying that he should use his powers to help people. Jor-El—Clark’s real father—tells him that while he can lead by example‚ “It is forbidden for you to interfere with human history. Rather‚ let your leadership stir others to.” In order to save Lois‚ Clark must choose between his human father’s advice and his Kryptonian father’s advice. After wrestling with some conflicted emotions‚ Superman decides to reverse human history to save the woman he loves. For The Matrix‚ it looks like this: Morpheus tells Neo that once he begins to believe in himself‚ and accept his role as The One‚ he’ll be able to fight the agents who control the Matrix. Cypher gives Neo far more cynical advice: “[If] you see an agent‚ you do what we do: run.” Despite all the warnings about how he’s probably not The One‚ and how he might get all of his friends killed‚ Neo chooses to fight. “He’s beginning to believe‚” Morpheus observes. This device came to the rescue when I was trying to round out the above-mentioned side character. Here I should explain that my book—Mort(e)—is about animals becoming sentient and waging war with humanity‚ and that the character in question is a female pit bull. Upon becoming intelligent‚ she adopts the name Wawa (long story)‚ and is forced to become a hardened warrior‚ despite being gentle and protective by nature. By the end of the book‚ she finds her place among a community of exiled humans‚ who become her new “pack”. I realized that Wawa’s decision was‚ essentially‚ step three in the device. I traced it back to step two‚ about 75 pages prior‚ when she meets the leader of the humans. Step one was implied‚ but never depicted. And so‚ the very last thing I wrote for this book was a mini-scene‚ only about a paragraph‚ in which a fellow animal warrior recruits Wawa to fight against the humans‚ and convinces her to channel her rage into the war effort. The device was there all along—maybe by accident‚ but maybe because I had internalized it. There are so many things to love about this particular device. First‚ a good mentor-mentee conflict can reveal things like generational conflict‚ and how the world around them is changing. Second‚ it forces even a potentially passive character to act. In both Superman and The Matrix‚ there are long stretches in which the characters listen to info dumps. This is especially true for Neo‚ who understandably wanders about in a daze after his “rescue” from the Matrix. But the respective stories force a complex choice that goes beyond “go defeat the bad guy‚” changing the protagonist from a mere observer to the hero. Even better‚ this can serve as a worldbuilding device. Most writers would agree that the best worldbuilding relies less on exposition and more on showing how the world works‚ and how it impacts people. Here‚ we learn so much about the four authority figures who counsel the protagonist. Pa Kent is a decent man‚ shaped by his humble life as a farmer‚ so his advice to Clark makes sense. Jor-El is noble‚ with good intentions‚ but does not understand the human heart. Meanwhile‚ Cypher’s advice masks his own nefarious plans‚ while Morpheus’s position suggests that he might be a religious fanatic‚ obsessed with finding his messiah.  The device therefore shows these characters to be products of their worlds‚ and worldviews. Finally‚ though it is useful‚ this device—and damn‚ it needs a name—is no shortcut. Ideally‚ the first two steps should involve some ambiguity‚ in which the hero must determine what the advice actually means‚ and how to apply it. The Riddle of Steel from Conan the Barbarian (1982)‚ for example‚ is just that: a riddle‚ open to varied interpretation. And Conan’s solution is not to choose one interpretation over another‚ but to create his own. Miles Morales does something similar at the end of Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse (2023) when he announces‚ “Imma do my own thing.” And so‚ the device has many permutations. If you can think of other examples in film or fiction‚ let me know in the comments below… Robert Repino (@Repino1) grew up in Drexel Hill‚ Pennsylvania. After serving in the Peace Corps in Grenada‚ he earned an MFA in Creative Writing at Emerson College. He works as an editor for Oxford University Press‚ and occasionally teaches for the Gotham Writers Workshop. Repino is the author of the middle grade novel Spark and the League of Ursus (Quirk Books)‚ as well as the War With No Name series (Soho Press)‚ which includes Mort(e)‚ Culdesac‚ D’Arc‚ and Malefactor.

In Palworld‚ each Pal species has its own set of unique traits. Some can be a utility while others help combat in general. One Pal called the Foxspark has paws in both worlds and has the potential to become a fan favorite. However‚ don’t let the cuteness of Foxspark fool you. There’s more than meets the eye with this one.  Palworld: How to build a Foxspark harness The good thing about Foxsparks in Palworld‚ they can be easy to find and catch. After you’ve caught one‚ you’ll need to buy the Foxpark’s Harness in the Technology tab. It’ll be in the sixth tier row and should cost about two Technololgy Points.  Screenshot: PC Invasion Before going any further‚ it would be a good idea to get the resources you need for the harness at this point. So you’ll need five Flame Organs‚ three Leather‚ and five Paldium Fragments. The Flame Organs and Leather can be found by attacking Foxsparks. You shouldn’t have much of an issue farmin...

Collecting 10 versions of the same Pal will not only give you an XP boost but will also help prepare you for the end-game challenges. Here is how to rank up Pals in Palworld. Palworld: How to rank up Pals While leveling up Pals will increase their overall power and health‚ ranking them up is another thing entirely‚ and will impact their skills and power potential more so than leveling up. However‚ you will have to wave some Pals goodbye. You see‚ to rank up Pals in Palworld‚ you will have to use a structure called Pal Distillation Pod‚ which will require you to sacrifice a specific amount of Pals to rank up a single version of that same Pal. However‚ as you might expect‚ you need to unlock this structure‚ and to do so you will need to be at least level 14 and have an Ancient Technology point. Image: PC Invasion The best source for Ancient Technology points is to battle and defeat Pal bosses across the world. The ones you find across the wild will g...