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The recent flooding in the north of England has prompted calls for better flood defences and river dredging. But these measures are unlikely to work by themselves, especially with the increased likelihood of extreme weather events in the coming years. A new approach is needed that considers whole catchment management – starting with the source of rivers in upland areas.

The post Can re-wilding the uplands help to prevent flooding in the lowlands? appeared first on OUPblog.

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I just wanted to extend a hello to our new readers, many of whom I had the pleasure of meeting at ALA in San Diego earlier this week. As always, if you have suggestions, questions, ideas about/for OUPblog, I more than welcome them. You can email me at blog[at]oup[dot]com. And now, I present the Friday links…

Incredible footage of the flooding in Australia [White Light Bringer] – Related: You can donate to Queensland flood relief here.

LOOK AT THESE CAVE PHOTOS! [National Geographic]

Baby learns to just say ‘no’ [via]

Orchestra fail [YouTube audio only]

This child dances better than we ever will [YouTube]

Falling books bookshelf [via]

Some amazing basketball skillz [Dunking Devils]

An interesting question about the death penalty [GOOD]

And from The Next Web, the answer to the question you’ve all been asking…

So yesterday, whilst doing laundry, or rather, moving laundry from washer to dryer, I walked into a puddle of water.  And not just any puddle of water, but a flooded basement.  A flooded FINISHED basement.  Thankfully all my books are okay, but my stepson's room is not.  It's pretty much ruined.  Hubby was in New Jersey where he is during the week, and I was home panicking about the amount of water coming into the house.  Thankfully my neighbor just happened to be home yesterday and was kind enough to come over and help me out with the disaster.  In the pouring rain, he dug ditches to keep the water away from the foundation, but due to the soaking rains, the drainage system couldn't keep up with it, so the water seeped in through the foundation anyway.

Luckily hubby left NJ and came home yesterday to help with the mess, we need to pull up rugs, and hope that no mold grows anywhere.  I can't disinfect until the water stops coming in and it's still coming in.  Slower than it was yesterday, but we have to keep wet/vacuuming it up about every 10-15 minutes or the water goes right into my stepson's room. (He lost a couple a books that he had lying on the floor, but thankfully he said nothing that can't be replaced.)

For all of you also dealing with this horrible weather, I sympathize with the frustrations of what damage water can do.

I was following the Louisville Free Public Library disaster/flooding yesterday via Greg Schwartz’s tweeting and twitpics but I was travelling home. Today, there’s been time for more recapping and reflection from the online community including this very good and succinct post from Rachel Walden: How You Can Help the Louisville Free Public Library Recover from Disaster. Upshot: don’t send books, consider contributing to the LSW fundraising drive. Send Greg and the other employees your best wishes

Venice, Italy

Coordinates: 45 27 N 12 21 E

Population: 69,361 (2008 est.)

Historically speaking, humanity has been quite successful at shaping the environment to suit our wants and needs. We’ve blasted through mountains, irrigated deserts, and altered the course of rivers. But sometimes sheer willpower and engineering aren’t enough. Venice, Italy is a case in point. Founded by Romans this city has grown to cover more than 100 islands in the Venetian Lagoon. The trouble is these small landmasses are low-lying and susceptible to flooding. Over the centuries, rising sea levels as well as water extraction from the mainland have caused the Queen of the Adriatic to gradually sink; yesterday news sources reported that Venetians were contending with water levels that rival previous records. Years ago however, city officials recognized that their problem would only become more serious, and in 2003 began a costly undertaking to protect their architectural heritage with 78 massive floodgates. Personally, I wonder about the long term consequences mobile barriers will have on the Mediterranean’s largest wetland area.

Author Andrew W. M. Beierle’s 2002 Lambda award winning novel, The Winter of Our Discotheque, had aging star Dallas Eden playing fairy godfather to Tony Alexamenos’s young ingénue. In his new novel, First Person Plural, his characters are a unique set of conjoined twins that have their own set of personalities and problems, one is straight and one is gay, but they share the same torso and legs.

And you thought you had sibling problems…

In the first post of what will be an ongoing series of guest posts by different authors on writing, Andrew discusses what it's like to find commonality between writer and character as well as the difficulties in writing about conjoined twins.

Thanks for joining us today, Andrew.

Freaks ’R’ Us: Inhabiting Alien Characters
By Andrew W. M. Beierle

When I first told a friend about the theme of my new novel, First Person Plural—an exploration of the private lives of conjoined twins, one gay and one straight, who share a single body—he expressed concern for my mental health.

It was not that he thought I was insane for attempting to tackle such bizarre content. Rather, knowing how deeply writers need to immerse themselves in their characters, even to identify with them, he thought the process just might drive me crazy.

“I’m worried about you spending two years in the company of such freaks,” he said.

Despite the fact that two years turned into five, I’ve emerged as sane as when the journey began in 2000 with my short story “La Vie Sexuelle des Monstres” (“The Sex Life of Monsters”), a reference to a 1904 study of the romantic adventures of Italian brothers Giovanni and Giacomo Tocci, upon whom my characters, Owen and Porter Jamison were based, in part.

An extremely rare set of conjoined twins of the type dicephalus (literally “two-headed”), Owen and Porter are separate individuals from their necks up but share a single body. As children, they’re seen as a single entity—Owenandporter, or more often, Porterandowen. As they grow to adulthood, their differences become more pronounced: Porter is outgoing and charismatic while Owen is cerebral and artistic. When Porter becomes a high school jock hero, complete with cheerleader girlfriend, a greater distinction emerges, as Owen gradually comes to realize that he’s gay.

Porter’s unease with his brother’s sexuality leaves Owen feeling increasingly alienated from his twin, especially when Porter falls in love and Owen becomes the unwilling third side of a complicated love triangle. And when Owen finally begins to explore his own desir