Avalon: Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming" Dory in Finding Nemo, (Cold River like movie)

”Never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."  Churchill in a speech to Harrow School, 10/29/41

"Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming"  Dory in Finding Nemo, (movie) 12/11 

As luck would have it, we were eased to find out that Wendy James has a colourful family members at Avalon

Wendy James is an Australian author of crime and literary fiction. James received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney an MA from University of Technology, Sydney and a PhD from the University of New England, Armidale.Wikipedia

Born: 1966, Australia

Education: University of Sydney

Notable award: Ned Kelly Awards

 Watch: Cruise from hell sailed right through “bomb cyclone” despite storm forecast. “According to the video’s YouTube page, the ship consistently rocked for three days, people were sleeping in the hallways because water was leaking into their rooms, and some were walking around the ship wearing life jackets. In the video you see water everywhere – drenched carpets, water dripping from elevators, water splashing into the ship’s windows. A sign rocks back and forth, people walk at angles because of the tilt, upside-down outdoor furniture is chaotically piled, doors swing open on their own, and once the ship is out of the storm, it’s covered in ice.”

People and apes. Their story is one of intimacy, estrangement, betrayal, and attempted reconciliation. It's also about what it means to be a person To be or not to be A being  

Rayya Elias, 57, author of the memoir Harley Loco and partner of author Elizabeth Gilbert, died. Gilbert wrote in an Instagram post, "Thank you for letting me walk with you right to the edge of the river. It has been the greatest honor of my life."

The internet divides us; facts can make us dumber; debunking leads only to more bunk. Those are the tenets of our "post-truth" era. Don't believe them...  Mysteries of Alternative History  

Reading Books You Hate

Every reader has at least one book they hate, despise, loathe, abhor, detest, and scorn without forgiveness. Often there is an author or an entire genre that we avoid. These books, argues Pamela Paul of the New York Times, are the ones that will make us better readers, and the ones which we should read (however painstakingly) cover to cover. Does this fly, or is time spent reading something you dislike is time wasted? Read her piece and, if you're convinced, pick up a book that makes you shudder and challenge yourself to find out why.

Vrbov, Penzión Mária

What are the five dimensions of curiosity?

Top Ten Global Weather/Climate Events of 2017: A Year of Landfalls and Firestorms Weather Underground

Expect 2018 to Be More Sane? Sorry, It’s Not Going to HappenFrahood Manjoo, NYT

"Never give up. Never, ever give up.”   Dave Quiser, 72, after walking and crawling three miles through the woods in sub zero temperatures to be rescued. 12/25/17

Michel Serafinelli and Guido Tabellini have a new paper on that question, here is the abstract:

Creativity is often highly concentrated in time and space, and across different domains. What explains the formation and decay of clusters of creativity? In this paper we match data on thousands of notable individuals born in Europe between the XIth and the XIXth century with historical data on city institutions and population. After documenting several stylized facts, we show that the formation of creative clusters is not preceded by increases in city size. Instead, the emergence of city institutions protecting economic and political freedoms facilitates the attraction and production of creative talent.