Book Tour: 'The Other Me' by Suzanne van Rooyen [Giveaway Included]

"Fifteen-year-old Treasa Prescott thinks she’s an alien. She doesn’t fit in with the preppy South African private school crowd and feels claustrophobic in her own skin. Treasa is worried she might spend life as a social pariah when she meets Gabriel du Preez. Gabriel plays the piano better than Beethoven, has a black belt in karate, and would look good wearing a garbage bag. Treasa thinks he’s perfect. It might even be love, as long as Gabriel doesn’t find out she’s a freak..."

In today's Book Tour post. we have not only three excerpts from 'The Other Me', but also an international Giveaway (good luck to all of you)... Enjoy!

The X Factor Final

The end of the year in Britain is now always celebrated with three homages to excess – Christmas, New Year’s Eve and the X Factor final. Whilst the more traditional festivities still seem to be going strong, the X Factor has been suffering from a deficit of viewers this year and I don’t think the final will have done anything to revive its fortunes.

That's For Christmas Dinner? [Infographic]

Aside from the gifts and decorations, one thing that every nation shares during Christmas is a large meal with friends and family members. While the meals are somewhat similar because they feature meat and vegetables, you might be surprised by the main courses and side dishes commonly found in other nations. 

Here are a few traditional Christmas meals in different nations.

Dark Day For Gay Rights

Dear friends,

Two Indian Supreme Court judges just decided that gay sex is illegal. ILLEGAL!! But if we act fast we can help reverse this crazy backwards ruling.

Men and women in India now face police harassment and life imprisonment. This hateful decision is being met with outrage, and if we now show India that outlawing love is making them an international embarrassment we can get the Indian Parliament to fast track passing a law that the judges have to respect.

Click here and sign now to help love conquer fear in India. When we reach 1 million we’ll get all our names written on hundreds of giant hearts ringing the Indian parliament, then place prominent ads showing that the world will no longer accept making love illegal. 

Anti-Apartheid Hero Nelson Mandela Dies Aged 95

Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela dies aged 95 (via AFP)

Nelson Mandela, the revered icon of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and one of the towering political figures of the 20th century, has died aged 95. Mandela, who was elected South Africa's first black president after spending nearly three…

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Obamacare Continues to Reveal Flaws: Republicans Now Blamed

By Marc Miller

The Obamacare catastrophe continues as the Affordable Care Act has hit yet more difficulties in the path to implementation. Only this time, the president isn't apologizing for it, nor is he expressing confident optimism that it will be fixed sufficiently in the near future: he's blaming Republicans.

While speaking on Tuesday at the Wall Street Journal CEO Summit, President Obama opted to place blame on the Republicans for failure to resolve major issues in his signature health care plan, including the roll-out of the health care exchange website.

Obama declared, “One of the problems that we’ve had is that one side of Capitol Hill is invested in failure and that makes the kind of iterative process of fixing glitches as they come up and fine-tuning the law more challenging.”

Yet, while the president and democratic strategists have focused on the website, more issues that have been lurking in the background, and are slowing being revealed: one of them has to do with the IRS and fraud. This concern came up on Tuesday, after the issuance of the inspector general’s report.

Dragons, Unicorns & Other Legendary Creatures

 

Magical and mythological creatures have enticed and fascinated people around the world for centuries. This can be seen in their depiction dating as far back as to the hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptians. As time progressed, these fantastical animals were written about in world texts, described in countless tales and legends, and more recently these creatures have been depicted in various movies and TV shows. With such a wide array of mythical creatures having been depicted throughout history, how does one decide which of these beautiful creatures are the best? Here is a list of what are arguably the five most amazing and beautiful mythical/magical creatures. 

US Courts Asked To Recognise Chimpanzees As People

US courts asked to recognize chimps as people (via AFP)

Walking, talking chimpanzees may be TV comedy gold but now three courts in New York are being asked to recognize four chimps as "legal persons" with fundamental rights. The move would allow the animals to be released into sanctuaries where they could…

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Francois Hollande Goes All Rambo On Us

"The new gung-ho France seems to have well and truly buried the 'cheese-eating surrender monkey' tag invented by The Simpsons later taken up with glee by American hawks during the Iraq War."

I'm so going to shove this syndicated article from GlobalPost down the throat of those silly francophobes on Twitter who think they're clever trying to insult me with the outdated (and so inaccurate, as the French Resistance did play an important role during WW2 anyway) joke about the French always surrendering. 

What Is An Underground Bunker And Why?

With the popularity of underground bunkers growing due to the trend of prepping, it’s important to take a step back and examine the different types of bunkers and find out what’s best for you before you begin to invest in one type or another. Rather you are looking at bunkers for shelter from storms, fear of nuclear attack (which always seems to be looming according to this article from the Guardian) or martial law you need to make sure that whatever choice you make that it fits your needs. Consider factors such as storage space, number rooms, bunks and energy. You also need to consider your price range and rather you want an above ground, partially underground or underground bunker.

 There are pros and cons to each different type of bunkers that you should be aware of before you make any commitments. Here are some of those pros and cons:

UN Refugee Agency Unveils Palestinian Archive

UN refugee agency unveils Palestinian archive (via AFP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has unveiled a trove of pictures and film captured over more than 60 years chronicling the collective memory of those who fled or were forced into exile. Established in 1949 to help Palestinian refugees who lost…

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Which New 'Doctor Who' Companion Am I? [Warning: I Might Have Had A Sex Change While Taking The Quiz!]

The full title should really have been "If I was not 'The Loupster' already (the Loupster is not one of the Doctors' companions and he's got companions himself), etc... etc... etc... which new 'Doctor' Who' companion would I be?", but... err... it would have been a tad too long, wouldn't it?

Anyway, this post is about the results I've got in the BuzzFeed's quiz "Which New 'Doctor Who' Companion Are You?". I'd already taken the "Which 'Doctor Who' Are You?" one, so I thought "why not take a quiz about the Doctor's companions as well?" After all, it was all in good fun and, let's face it, the chances of not being Captain Jack Harkness were rather tiny, weren't they? 

I mean, hey, I did make a point of answering all the questions in a manly manner, so what could go wrong?

Nothing much... except that, according to the quiz, I'm now one of the Doctor's female companions, d'oh!