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PeopleFinders > People Directory > H
Alice Heininger
United States
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note TomDLux <p>While many people do use regular expressions, I think that's like using an M16 to crack walnuts.</p> <p>R.E. are the appropriate solution when you have variable components, but testing a constant string is precisely what 'eq' is for.</p> <!-- Node text goes above. Div tags should contain sig only --> <div class="pmsig"><div class="pmsig-144696"> <p> As Occam said: <em>Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.</em> </p> </div></div> 968838 968850 | <urn:uuid:5d3512da-b277-4adb-926c-9e818e1dc3fa> | http://www.perlmonks.org/?displaytype=xml;node_id=968961 | en | 0.667576 | 0.685173 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
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word similarity measure
by karey3341 (Initiate)
on Feb 27, 2009 at 16:18 UTC ( #746935=perlquestion: print w/ replies, xml ) Need Help??
karey3341 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:
If my data looks like this:
word 1: 100 101 101 102 102 102 106 106
word 2: 101 104 106 110 113 129 131 148
word 3: 101 153 175 180 381
word 4: 106 110 113 122 131 137 142 148
word 5: 120 165 169
Where word 1,2,3,4,5 represent different words, numbers represent a list of paper those words have been used as keywords.
How can I calculate similarity between these words?
Comment on word similarity measure
Re: word similarity measure
by tilly (Archbishop) on Feb 27, 2009 at 16:32 UTC
Or perhaps Vector Space
Re: word similarity measure
by bruno (Friar) on Feb 27, 2009 at 16:32 UTC
Do you know the words, or are they unknown to you?
Do you assume that, because two words appeared in the same paper, they must be identical or similar in some way?
What do you mean by 'keywords', and 'papers'? Do they have the same meaning as in scientific research, where 'paper' is a scientific article and 'keyword' is a research subject, organism of interest, or method?
Re: word similarity measure
by kennethk (Monsignor) on Feb 27, 2009 at 16:33 UTC
Ignoring subtleties about how you may have developed your keyword->index mapping, the easiest way to measure the similarity would be to generate a hash with your word identifiers as keys and then brute force a similarity array. Something like:
@counts = (); for $i_word (1 .. $#words) { for $j_word (0 .. $i_word-1) { $count[$i_word][$j_word] = 0; foreach (keys %{$paper{$i_word}}) { if (exists $paper{$j_word}{$_} { $count[$i_word][$j_word]++; } } } }
If you aren't familiar with lists of lists, take a gander at perllol.
Re: word similarity measure
by Old_Gray_Bear (Bishop) on Feb 27, 2009 at 16:56 UTC
You need to define what you mean by "similarity".
At first glance words 1, 2. and 4 are 'similar' since they each have the same number of sub-components. A second glance reveals that words 1, 2, and 3 are 'similar' - they each contain '101'. And words 2 and 4 are 'similar', they are the only words that contain 148 and 131.
I suspect that once you have defined your terms, you will be able to write a function that takes two words and returns the degree of 'similarity' between them. Once you have all of the pair-wise ratings computed, sort() will let you rank the papers from most alike to least.
This sounds like the kind of problem a plagiarism detector is designed for.
I Go Back to Sleep, Now.
If, in fact, that is what the OP is after, s/he may benefit from looking at the nodes mentioned here: Re: Finding plagarized content.
Update: I rather think, OTOH, that the OP may be looking for something more like Ted Pedersen's SenseClusters (more)...
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Jordan Sand on Urban Nostalgia
by Maeri Megumi
Posted: April 1, 2008
Sand presented the changing landscape of Tokyo, particularly in relation to the idea of preserving memory, from the 1960s to the end of the 20th century. As he explained, because Tokyo experienced several major destructions in the 20th century such as the Kantô earthquake in 1923, the massive air raid during World War II, as well as the redevelopment in preparation for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic games, actual historical remembrances of the past must have been quite diminished. Despite the loss, however, what is often called the Edo-boom began in the mid-1980s, and there has been growing enthusiasm in the rediscovery and preservation of the history of Tokyo, not only of the time period called Edo but also of the pre-industrial modern period.
Categorizing property rights into five types – public, commons, community, appropriation, and heritage, Sand effectively provided examples of each type with illuminating pictures and explanations. For instance, the adaptation of the concept of "public space" (which was absent in pre World War II Japan) induced the neologism of hiroba (public space) and the creation of public spaces such as Shinjuku Nishiguchi Hiroba in 1965 in Tokyo. Also, several leading architects' attempts to develop Tokyo in different ways with different aims showed the changing landscape of Tokyo from the city of politics to the city of commerce, and of imagination. The period from the bubble economy in the late 1980s to the early 1990s produced numerous high-rise buildings and triggered a marked increase in the use of steel instead of wood in construction. At the same time, however, Sand pointed out that grassroots activities were begun by intellectuals as well as ordinary city-dwellers to preserve the history of futsû no (ordinary) Tokyo, employing various means, such as local magazines, preservation movements, and the development of new kinds of museums.
Sand emphasized that the notion of "nostalgia" should not be treated merely as a subordinate factor when talking about reinvention/rediscovery of history, particularly in recent times. As he showed clearly, the nostalgic longing for the past is a powerful motivation and a driving force in the current (post-modern) movement of historicizing of the past.
In relation to the importance of "nostalgia," Sand also touched upon the issue of the changing function of museums. The didactic role of museums to exhibit hard, unchanging "past," "truth," or "authenticity" is changing to include a more interactive space. The museums today strive to offer new environments where people can re-live, or imagine the past, which is indicative of a paradigm shift in the meaning of what exactly a museum is.
Sand's talk was fascinating and refreshing as he spotlighted a softer side of reinvention and appropriation of history in comparison with the more capitalistic approach to the use of "history" as grand narratives of nationalism, myth-making, or commercialism. While he focused on the particular examples of Tokyo, the changing roles and meanings of "memory" are definitely applicable to much wider contexts outside of Japan as well.
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(Based on an experience of the author’s father and brothers)
Mike and his younger brothers, Eric and Tom, liked to go hiking with their dad. Dad always said he knew the mountains like the back of his own hand. He had grown up walking the same paths with his own dad, who was a sheepherder. Dad was a teacher, but he still enjoyed getting out in the fresh air and sunshine of the mountains.
“When we come around this bend, you’ll see a little waterfall,” Dad might tell the boys. Or, “Be really quiet here, and you’ll be able to hear the wind whistle up in the cliffs.” He always seemed to know just what to watch or listen for. When Mike and his brothers did what Dad told them, they always found something new to love about the mountains.
But sometimes they just wanted to run, and Dad let them do it when it was safe. One summer day they were excited to reach the top of the trail—a high meadow filled with fresh green grass and flowers of just about every color. And so they took off running through the trees at top speed, even though they were tired from their morning’s hike. They wanted to burst onto that meadow like jackrabbits.
“Stop when you get to the meadow,” Dad called after them. “I’ll meet you there.” They ran ahead, each trying to get in front of the others. When they burst from the trees, neck and neck, butterflies flew up to avoid the running brothers.
The boys stopped a moment while their eyes got used to the light. Then they took off again, forgetting Dad’s instruction. They ran in circles through the deep grass, jumping and dodging, whooping and hollering and tagging each other. “You’re it, Tommy!”
“No, you’re it, Mike!”
Then Eric had an idea. “Let’s race all the way across the meadow!” Tom hesitated. They couldn’t see the far side of the clearing because a grassy hill obscured their view. But Mike wasn’t worried. “I think this is the same meadow we came to last summer,” he assured his brothers.
They gathered back at the trees. “Ready!” Eric shouted. “Set! GO!” The wind felt fresh and cool on Mike’s cheeks and in his hair, and the faster he ran, the more wind he got. Soon he was leading the race. He felt like he could run forever.
“STOP!” a voice bellowed like thunder behind them. All three boys stopped immediately. They turned and saw Dad running toward them from the edge of the meadow. “Come back here beside me,” Dad called, more gently this time. The boys obeyed. “Now, everybody hold hands,” he said. Eric and Tom held Dad’s hands, and Mike held Tom’s little hand. They walked together across the meadow. As they topped the little hill, Dad suddenly stopped.
Just a few paces ahead of them, a sheer cliff dropped down at least 20 or 30 feet. If they had been running, there was no way they could have seen it in time to stop.
“Whoa!” Eric gulped. “That’s pretty scary.”
“Yeah.” Tom shook his head. “Thanks, Dad.”
They turned away from the cliff. Eric and Tom ran back across the meadow, but Mike slipped his hand into Dad’s. “We could have died,” Mike said softly.
“Well, maybe. I’m sure glad you stopped running, even though I didn’t have time to explain. Sometimes we have to obey first and ask questions later!”
“Especially when someone else knows what’s coming, and you don’t,” Mike said.
Dad smiled. “You might find the same thing to be true at other times in your life. Maybe your mom or I, or a teacher, or perhaps the Holy Ghost will give you some instructions. You might not know why right away. But if you trust the person the instructions came from, obey anyway. Later you’ll understand why.”
Mike nodded. He couldn’t always know where cliffs were hidden, but he could always listen to those who knew more than he did.
President James E. Faust
“Obedience leads to true freedom.” President James E. Faust, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, “Obedience: The Path to Freedom,” Ensign, May 1999, 45.
[illustrations] Illustrated by Spencer Budd
Ana Nelson Shaw is a member of the Merced First Ward, Merced California Stake. | <urn:uuid:4c32d715-a542-453e-b6cf-29c2ee3ffb2a> | https://www.lds.org/friend/2005/06/stop?lang=eng&media=audio | en | 0.978931 | 0.023116 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The first episode from the much hyped Mortal Kombat web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy is now online.
This Mortal Kombat reimagining first appeared as a viral short in summer 2010. The response was so good that Warner Bros. snapped it up for a web series.
Directed by Kevin Tancharoen, Mortal Kombat: Legacy stars Jeri Ryan as Sonya Blade, 300's Darren Shahlavi as Kano and Michael Jai White as Jax.
Mortal Kombat: Legacy is a series of nine live-action shorts that explore the motivations behind characters participating in the Mortal Kombat tournament.
[Thanks Leo!] | <urn:uuid:b2524802-f953-4558-8551-d9a819cb8a24> | http://kotaku.com/5791150/watch-mortal-kombat-legacy-right-now?autoplay=1 | en | 0.919103 | 0.020129 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Psychology Wiki
Eastern culture
34,114pages on
this wiki
This article is part of the
series on Eastern culture
Culture, Society,
Philosophy, Medicine, Religion, Cinema
Asian art, culture,
Korea, China, Philippines, India, Japan, Vietnam
Taoism, Confucianism,
Buddhism, Hinduism,
Shintoism, Sikhism
West/East distinction
Eastern world, The Orient, Orientalism
</font> The term Eastern world refers very broadly to the various cultures, social structures and philosophical systems of "the East", namely Asia (including China, India, Japan, and surrounding regions).
Concept of "the East"Edit
The division between "East" and "West" is a product of European cultural history, and of the distinction between European Christendom and the alien cultures beyond it to the East. Before the discovery of the Americas and the exploration of Sub-Saharan Africa by the Europeans, only North Africa and other Islamic countries to the East were known in detail, though India and China were vaguely known of. The crusades established what became a border between "Eastern" and "Western" peoples. With the European colonization of the Americas the East/West distinction became global. The concept of an Eastern or "Oriental" sphere was emphasized by ideas of racial as well as religious and cultural differences. Such distinctions were articulated by Westerners in the scholarly tradition known as Orientalism. People from the East are known by certain regions in the West as "Oriental". During the Cold War, the term "Eastern world" often connotated the Soviet Union, China and their communist allies, while the term "Western world" often connotated the United States and its NATO allies such as Great Britain and France.
Problems of the conceptEdit
Currently terms such as Western, Near East (or Middle East) and Far East are commonly used to distinguish different cultural spheres, based on the standard two-dimensional layout of the world-map, which has the Americas at the far left (West), Europe and Africa in the middle, and Asia to the right (East). This arrangement is arbitrary because the Earth is round, rather than flat (however this model does ensure that land regions are concentrated in the centre without Eurasia being split in two); therefore, by going west, one will eventually arrive in the east, and when one goes east, one will eventually arrive in the west, provided one keeps going long enough. This is true no matter where one is on the globe's surface (except the Poles, where all directions are either north or south). Because of this, the concept has been criticized for being Eurocentric, however the notional 'central-point' between East and West would be to the east of Europe. Some countries, in particular Russia, do not fit neatly into this opposition.
While Western Orientalist traditions included both Islamic and further Eastern cultures under the generic heading of "the East", the common Abrahamic traditions of Islam and Christianity mean that a case can be made that both Islam and Christianity together form a different cultural sphere from countries further to the East in which the concept of Dharma plays a far more important role than that of an authoritative God. In recent years the concept of "Eastern culture" has increasingly become restricted to East Asian traditions. However, the existence of Islam as a powerful force in countries such as Indonesia makes this usage problematic.
See alsoEdit
References & BibliographyEdit
Key textsEdit
Additional materialEdit
External linksEdit
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How do I use iptables to reject all traffic to localhost port 80 but allow the one that comes from local machine?
Here is my current solution that doesn't seems to block the traffic. the ip, the the ip of the local machine. If I do not put the 2nd line, all the traffic is block, and with it enabled, all the traffic is accepted ?!
iptables -F
iptables -X
iptables -t nat -F
iptables -t nat -X
iptables -t mangle -F
iptables -t mangle -X
iptables -P INPUT ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j LOG --log-prefix "TCP LOGDROP: "
Just to be sure:
• is the ip of the web server, where I want to be able to access
• I do want to reject any connections on port 80, others then the ones originated from localhost.
share|improve this question
how exactly are you trying to connect? what hostname/ip do you try to connect to? – stew Jul 13 '12 at 15:12
I am trying to connect to using one of the DNS entries mapping to, nginx is listening to ports 80 and 443. 443 is configured to fallback to 80 and keep the hostname requested. I just want an iptables rule that I can run to prevent direct connection to port 80 to this machine. – sorin Jul 13 '12 at 15:14
You do realise that localhost == don't you ? – Iain Jul 13 '12 at 15:18
add comment
2 Answers
iptables -I INPUT ! -i lo -p tcp --dport 80 -j DROP
When you the traffic goes from your machine to your machine, always has the input interface "lo". It doesn't matter the src or dst IP address.
share|improve this answer
I usually see iptables rules -A (appending) to a chain, is there a particular reason you use insert (-I)? – Luc Aug 12 '13 at 14:02
Depends on your rule set. That command inserts the rule in the first place, but if you have the rules in a file, you should know where is the best place for it. And you must use -A there. – diegows Aug 14 '13 at 14:33
add comment
Could you please provide the entire contents of /etc/sysconfig/iptables if possible? (i'll update my answer if applicable once the information is made available)
As I have to work on the assumption that there is no default DROP rule in place, as such you need:
share|improve this answer
The file does not exist at all and as you've seen, I am resetting iptables, just to be sure. From what I see the 4th line, added by you is doing almost the same as the 3rd one, the only difference being that mine is logging the dropped packages, which is good for debugging. – sorin Jul 13 '12 at 17:15
add comment
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:24252d71-3f12-4238-a413-81074cdaec64> | http://serverfault.com/questions/407539/how-do-i-use-iptables-to-reject-all-traffic-to-localhost-port-80-but-allow-the-o | en | 0.854109 | 0.100812 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
You are here:News» Topics» Bronson, Florida
Police: Man urinated on people near Florida campus TOI
Climate change causing mangroves to grow in Florida TOI
Mangroves form a biomass of trees that tolerate salt in tidal areas near freshwater estuaries on tropical coastlines.
‘Fish strike’ forces plane to abort flight in Florida TOI
“Bird strikes” are common for aircrafts, but in a bizarre incident, authorities at a US military base have recorded a “fish strike” due to which a plane had to abort take -off.
Republican Party wins Florida congressional seat in special election TOI
Republican David Jolly squeaked out a narrow victory in a closely watched special election for Florida's 13th Congressional District, defeating Democrat Alex Sink in the contest for the west coast seat, according to official results.
Bieber gets May 5 trial date in Florida case TOI
Cats don’t ignore owners as believed TOI
Cats, who seem to try to hide their feelings, do pay attention to their owners, a study has revealed.
Pollution makes pregnant women more tense TOI
A new study has found that breathing in harmful toxics during pregnancy increases risk of hypertension in women...
Florida man faces 60 years in prison for shooting teens over loud music TOI
There are no Quotes on Bronson, Florida | <urn:uuid:715cae30-77e7-442c-8738-d8900f5fe3f1> | http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Bronson,-Florida | en | 0.947406 | 0.453251 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Your Life your connection to The Boston Globe
Pop go the windows, and she'd like it to stop
Q. We built our home in 2003 and noticed a ``popping" noise from the windows. The windows are metal, and the noise comes mainly from those exposed to the sun. But we do hear the popping in the middle of the night. We have been told this is due to expansion and contraction. Is there anything we can do to remedy the problem? Also, why doesn't this popping noise happen to all windows?
ELLEN MILLER, by e-mail
A. Yes, it is the metal expanding when it heats up and contracting when it cools off. Metal is a poor choice for windows, partly because of this expansion and contraction problem, but mainly because it is poor insulation and a good conductor of cold and heat. Better material s are wood, vinyl-clad wood, and vinyl.
The popping is more likely in windows exposed to the sun because the heating up and cooling off is more intense. Why do the pops sometimes occur at night? The window frames are held rather rigidly in their openings, and the expansion occurs without a sound until the tension is released and the window pops.
The construction of the windows may be critical to the problem and the solution. It also may answer your question about why not all windows are popping. If the windows are too tight ly secured in their openings , they have no place to expand, so the popping occurs. If you can loosen them and apply caulking to the joints for weatherproofing, the popping may be prevented. As the house is three years old, the builder is not responsible; you can try to find the window man or contractor who installed the windows.
Q. My shower stall floor is covered with mineral deposits, mostly iron and manganese. How can I remove those deposits and clean up the floor?
HERB ELLIS, Covington, La.
A. For the mineral deposits, try Iron-Out or Lime-Away, then clean with KRC-7 (sold in plumbing supply shops). Or try this for cleaning : Squeeze lots and lots of ordinary shampoo on the floor and smear it around liberally with your hands so that it covers the entire floor. Wait at least an hour, then scrub and rinse. It seems like a miracle! There is a new soap scum cleaner called Bam! on the market, which might also work.
Q. The vinyl floor in my kitchen is bubbling near the seam. The bubble is about the size of a quarter. It was fixed once but has occurred again. Is there a permanent cure? The vinyl has a slate tile look with borders.
NANCY MacLEOD, Wolfborough, N.H.
A. I imagine someone tried to fix the bubble by inserting glue and pressing the bubble down. Trouble is, such bubbles don't stay put because there is not enough room under the bubble for it to lay flat; one way to fix it is to slice it with a utility knife, then insert glue (Phenoseal, an adhesive caulk, is excellent), then press it in place. There is a secret to pressing it down, too: After inserting glue, cover the bubble with a large piece of waxed paper, then put down plywood and weigh the plywood down; leave overnight. The waxed paper will prevent any oozing adhesive from sticking to the plywood.
If you have some spare vinyl, you can do a better job this way: Cut out the bubbled area along the border and cut a new piece to match. Then put it in place with the adhesive caulk and you are home free.
Today (free)
Yesterday (free)
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Last 12 months
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almost 15
Newer Older
Next week my eldest is turning 15. FIFTEEN! How is that possible????? Amazingly enough, she's absolutely fantastic. You see, I was a miserable teen and feared for her teen years. However, she is happy and she is a brilliant light in my life. When she was born, I knew she was wonderful and would be a wonderful person someday - I just never expected her to be THIS wonderful. My heart overflows with joy sometimes when I think of how rich my life is with her and her sisters. So much love.
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End boss FTW? No! End boss WTF!
#1HuManBingPosted 12/22/2010 7:40:40 AM
^ Topic title.
The end boss of the entire game is completely bizarre and largely drops out of nowhere. Nothing hints at its nature ahead of time. Worse still, the actual battle itself goes on way too long and is very repetitive.
Compared to the battles against the Covenant family, it was a huge let down for me.
"What follows I can only describe as HMB's Manifesto of Awesome."
~ illuminati, 2010.09.15 | <urn:uuid:ec411ea8-3fe3-4784-937b-a3cc7351048b> | http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/914322-clive-barkers-undying/57563842 | en | 0.914909 | 0.071999 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The Leader in Guild Web Hosting
Invalid Guild Specified
It appears that the guild you were trying to access 23292, "Eternal Darkness Guild" was removed either at the request of the owner or as part of an automated maintenance process that removes guilds that have been inactive for a very long time. | <urn:uuid:5753d4f3-bca5-418e-a494-7db108d92013> | http://www.guildportal.com/Pub/Pages/Error/Invalid-Guild.aspx?ID=23292 | en | 0.978693 | 0.022909 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
An Arrow anti-ballistic defense battery.
An Arrow anti-ballistic defense battery. Photo by Alon Ron
Text size
Iran's Shahab-3 missile is launched by the Revolutionary Guard, during a maneuver outside the city of Qom, Iran, Tuesday, June 28, 2011. Photo by AP
Hezbollah's Katyusha rockets in Lebanon also threaten Tel Aviv Stock Exchange indexes Photo by AP
As regional threats against Israel are being highlighted by the country's leaders, the Defense Ministry is working on upgrading its Arrow anti-ballistic defense system, specifically the Arrow-2.
The ministry did not provide details about the improvements its making, but a senior security official told Haaretz the improved Arrow-2 will allow Israel to intercept medium-range rockets and missiles. This can help against potential attacks by Syrian and Hezbollah M600 advance rockets, an accurate weapon with an estimated range of 300 kilometers. The Arrow's maximal range was apparently also improved.
The Arrow project, developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and by the U.S.-based Boeing in the 90s, is a long-range anti-ballistic defense system. Arrow-2 batteries are already deployed and operational, and according to agreements between the two countries, the U.S. is funding the development of an advanced system, Arrow-3, which will be completed within a few years.
Originally, the Arrow missile was intended for intercepting long-range ballistic missiles such as Syria's various Scuds and Iran's Shahab missiles. In recent years, Israel has developed (with U.S. financial aid) the Iron Dome anti-rocket defense system against short-range threats, such as Qassam and Katyusha rockets. Gradually, the system was upgraded to answer medium-range threats, like the Iranian Fajr-5, which has a range of 75 kilometers.
However, Israel's response to the rocket and missile threats was not complete. There was a gap in the defense, between the Iron Dome's maximum range and the Arrow's minimal range. A third system, David's Sling, is meant to bridge that gap; but it is still being developed and will only be operational in 2015. The improved Arrow-2 is intended as a partial and temporary, though important, response to dealing with the gap until then.
The security source says that the improved Arrow interceptor, named Block-4, includes upgrades to its software, hardware, sensor array, command and control systems, and also to its interception missiles.
Earlier this year another improvement was introduced, when the system's radar
Green Pine radar was replaced by a newer model, the Super Green Pine. The new radar was proven successful in a series of tests, most recently in February.
"The radar is more robust and has improved range," the official said, adding that upgrading the Arrow's command and control system will allow it to expand the response to various threats.
Israel's security establishment, under the direction of Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the ministry's director general Udi Shani, have given funding of missile and rocket defense systems top priority. In 2012, the budget allocated for the defense establishment's Homa missile-interception project was increased. Recently, the Obama administration announced an additional $680 million in U.S. financial aid aimed at funding different ballistic-interception projects.
The new Israeli developments, as well as the Defense Ministry's decision to provide Haaretz with exclusive details about those developments, should be viewed as part of a complex campaign currently being conducted between Israel, Iran and Hezbollah. Just as Syria and Iran are flexing their muscles, demonstrating missile- and rocket-launching capabilities in frequent training exercises, Israel has decided to publicly announce the fact that it had significantly upgraded its defense systems.
In spite of Israel's impressive achievements in its development of missile interception systems, the production rate is still slow. Up until now, only four Iron Dome batteries have been manufactured. The United States has promised funding for four additional batteries. Estimations are that a minimum of 12 Iron Dome batteries will be required to cover Israel's north and south from the threats of short and medium-range rockets. | <urn:uuid:7a2ebc21-d1c6-4811-b82d-86218e857b4f> | http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-upgrades-anti-ballistic-defense-system-amid-recent-iran-and-syria-drills-1.456073 | en | 0.969962 | 0.027694 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Hyper Dictionary
English Dictionary Computer Dictionary Video Dictionary Thesaurus Dream Dictionary Medical Dictionary
Search Dictionary:
Meaning of SPENT
Pronunciation: spent
WordNet Dictionary
1. [adj] having all been spent; "the money is all gone"
SPENT is a 5 letter word that starts with S.
Synonyms: dog-tired, exhausted, expended, fagged, fatigued, gone, played out, tired, washed-out, worn out(p), worn-out(a)
Webster's 1913 Dictionary
\Spent\ (sp[e^]nt), a.
Now thou seest me Spent, overpowered, despairing of
success. --Addison.
Heaps of spent arrows fall and strew the ground.
2. (Zo["o]l.) Exhausted of spawn or sperm; -- said especially
of fishes.
{Spent ball}, a ball shot from a firearm, which reaches an
object without having sufficient force to penetrate it. | <urn:uuid:eada649a-6a0d-4035-b27c-76eeddc456ab> | http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/spent | en | 0.821653 | 0.067509 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Szeety's messages
Public messages for Szeety
avatar for reid523BTK
Dec 22, 2008 3:53am
Ah crap, an other game that completely forgot simples physics rules.. The trajectory of the ball should normaly be defined by the Coulomb’s law (F=kq1q2/r), that means that the accelaration of the ball should be proportionnal to 1/distance… WDF! MAN MY HEAD HURTS LOL
avatar for achyut1939
Dec 9, 2008 9:40pm
About my game: Magnetic balls
You forget another physics formula
which applies to a satellite body moving around a planet.
m*g=gravitational force of the planet.
0.5*m*v*v is the centrifugal force.
When these forces are in equilibrium the satellite moves around the planet.
This is how earth rotates around the sun.
Because it is only a…
show more | <urn:uuid:8933d12c-f9e0-4af5-9cba-6ce0a94334d1> | http://www.kongregate.com/accounts/Szeety/messages | en | 0.772407 | 0.253399 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
John Henderson
Age: not listed
Birthplace: Newcastle-on-Tyne, Tyneside, England, UK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
John Henderson is a British film and television director (b. England, 1949)
His first directing job was for Spitting Image on ITV, which won him a BAFTA. Henderson's other television credits include the multi award winning series The Borrowers, the 1999 Comic Relief Doctor Who skit The Curse of Fatal Death (no credit was given to him upon broadcast however he was credited and interviewed when the story was released on VHS later that year); the comedy How Do You Want Me? starring Dylan Moran and two series of the BBC's Sci-fi comedy Hyperdrive. He has also directed several feature films including Loch Ness, Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis, Two Men Went to War, and Mee-Shee: The Water Giant. He also co-wrote the family-based feature film, The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby, released in 2005.
Description above from the Wikipedia article John Henderson (director), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Movie Character Year | <urn:uuid:787368bc-f9cf-4936-b842-ad1367b06aae> | http://www.moviereviews.com/cast/92525/John-Henderson | en | 0.962251 | 0.026082 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Space Station Crew Crash-Lands; Hawking Talks
Unintelligent life exists elsewhere, cosmologist speculates. Did it design the Soyuz capsule?
"Ballistic re-entry" is a pleasant-sounding euphemism for what happened to Russia's Soyuz spacecraft on Saturday, but from press accounts like this one by MSNBC, it sounds as if the capsule basically crash-landed. What sort of questions does this incident raise for the safety of continued space exploration?
In other space exploration news, accomplished astrophysicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking stated last night that life probably exists on other planets but that it may not be intelligent enough to communicate with us. "Primitive life is very common, and intelligent life is fairly rare," he said, according to the Associated Press. "Some would say it has yet to occur on Earth."
Hawking endorsed human exploration of space, saying, "If the human race is to continue for another million years, we will have to boldly go where no one has gone before." | <urn:uuid:f11ddb29-d7fc-4fd7-a72f-cd00410f5367> | http://www.usnews.com/science/blogs/thinking-harder/2008/04/22/space-station-crew-crash-lands-hawking-talks | en | 0.949908 | 0.347957 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
"Mum, these shoes just don't feel right." A 14 year old girl stood in the doorway of a modest house, a pair of shiny shoes covering her stocking clad feet, her face bearing fiery auburn hair and large, childlike emerald eyes.
"Come show them to me, Sophia." Hermione motioned for her daughter to come next to her and the small five year old boy currently by her side on the tartan couch in the living room. Sophia did as she was told and came to her mother, giving her brother a kiss on the forehead as she handed Hermione her shoes. "Hmm. Maybe- I have just the thing." She announced, sitting up and putting the chocolate haired boy next to her eldest daughter "Watch Nathaniel for a moment."
"Mum! What're you doing? Don't wake up Olivia while you're in there!"
"I wouldn't-" The sound of a baby's wail suddenly resounded through the house and Sophia flinched "Bollocks!" A crash and tumble was heard as the volume of the keening increased, leading the young adult to wonder just what was going on inside the nursery. After all of the commotion, her ears were delighted to hear Hermione cooing her youngest child and tromping out of the room. She reappeared with a shoebox.
"Hand me Downs?" Sophia commented with a look of disgust "Old Hand Me Downs?"
"Oh, but Soph. Just wait until you hear the story of these "Old hand Me Downs."
"They have a story?"
"Ohhhhh, yes. It's the story of how me and your father got together, without these shoes, you would not have been here today." She took her seat beside her daughter to reveal the old time worn shoes that had been through so much- the day she and Ron had gotten together, they had had a fight in which she threw them at him in a fit of anger at his bulk headedness. This, of course had lead to remorse and the eventual kiss.
"Really? Oh, tell me!"
"Well, it all started on a very, very rainy day…" | <urn:uuid:57a1b95f-3a6a-4d0f-b47d-cdce18087878> | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3286712/6/Shoes | en | 0.987236 | 0.055588 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
A/N: Thanks for the comments! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!
"Two weeks have gone by since I've first started working here, and this job isn't going any faster," Yugi complained to himself, grabbing his cleaning supplies and trudging to the kitchen area.
Mixing chemicals and making sure that he had everything he needed, Yugi got down to work starting with the cabinets. He polished the masterfully crafted wood, having to stand on the tips of his toes to reach them. Just barely reaching them, Yugi wiped them down as best he could, going around the whole area until the wood shined.
Somewhat thankful that he didn't have to stretch anymore, Yugi wiped down the counters next, making sure that not even the tiniest crumb was left. When he was done with the marble, Yugi quickly wiped down the bottom cupboards and then created a cleaning mix to mop the floor with.
Rinsing the sponge out under the sink before he set the bucket on the floor, Yugi quickly got down to work, feeling quite old fashion with how he was supposed to clean the kitchen's floor.
"It get the tough stains out if you scrub by hand," Miss Osaka had said when Yugi complained to her last week. Huffing to himself, Yugi rolled his eyes at the woman's words, but nevertheless continued his work.
Like he always did, Yugi started from the middle of the kitchen and worked his way out. About halfway through his work, Yugi became so absorbed in his work that he didn't realize that he started to scrub over a shoe.
Flinching when he realized his mistake, Yugi dropped the grimy sponge and sat back on his heels, his face heating up in embarrassment. He didn't look up at whoever it was he had gotten soapy water on, but he mumbled just loud enough, "I'm sorry."
"It's fine, these shoes are pretty old anyway," a familiar voice replied lazily, and Yugi's head shot up like a bullet. He stared at the shiny dress shoes. They looked like they just came out of the factory.
Reminding himself that he wasn't a servant in a castle but a staff member in a mansion and that those two were not the same, Yugi stood up to give Yami a worried look. "But there were some chemicals in that water that may-"
Yami waved hand, dismissing his worry. "Forget about it, it's not much of a problem to worry yourself over."
Sighing in what would seem to be a dejected way, Yugi bit his lip and looked down at the semi-wet floor as he felt Yami stare at him.
Ever since they had really gotten acquainted, Yugi had only seen Yami three times. One was when he was cleaning the other's room like always, the other was when Yami was notifying Miss Osaka on something that Yugi thought the gardener should take care of (not that it was any of his business, anyway), and the third time was a fleeting glance of Yami and who Yugi guessed was his younger sister Naomi. They were both dressed up very elegantly, and Yugi could only guess where they were going out.
Other than their first real meeting, and the one time when they were both in Yami's room, Yugi hadn't really gotten to know the other. However, he was confident to say that Yami had openly flirted with him the last time…
Pushing those thoughts away, Yugi looked at Yami, who was still silent. Rocking on his heels when he found he had nothing to say, Yugi's mind went back to work. "Um…I have to get back to c-cleaning, I guess," he said, his voice getting softer with each word.
He was still looking at him, and Yami suddenly flashed a smile, and Yugi wondered what for. "Alright, but, can I request something?"
Yugi knew he probably looked dumbfounded for Yami chuckled at him for a moment. Blinking amethyst eyes, Yugi nodded, "Sure."
"May I be your company?"
His mind had definitely wandered off to other things that Yami may have requested, and Yugi blushed, noticing the odd look the other shot him because of it. "Uh, if you want…" he said a little uncertainly, yet he knew that his spirits had risen considerably. But he wouldn't let the other know that.
Yami gave him another smile, and Yugi looked down, listening as Yami made his way through the dry spots so that he could hop onto the counter to sit and watch. Yugi awkwardly bent down to his knees, grabbing the discarded sponge.
He felt nervous with those enticing eyes boring a hole into his back while he worked, and the silence only worsened it. After about five minutes, Yugi couldn't take it. "I saw you and your little sister the other night," he said as casually as he could. "You were all dressed up."
He continued his work, waiting for Yami's response, which came quick enough.
"We attended one of my mother's friends' dinner parties," Yami replied, blinking at the memory. "Naomi was looking forward to it, at least."
Yugi lightly rolled his eyes to himself, smiling a little. "So let me guess," he started, never ceasing in his continuous scrubbing. "You're actually one of those rich kids that despite getting everything you want, you turn out to be miserable and want a normal life. That dinner party was agonizing for you, wasn't it?" Yugi guessed, looking over his shoulder, letting Yami see his smile.
His smile of knowing that he was probably guessing right turned into one that was self-conscious. The other had cocked an eyebrow, a questioning look on his face. "Ah…no," Yami said in an awkward kind of way, but nevertheless chuckled when he took in Yugi's expression.
"No, I do enjoy the wealth my family possesses; it provides me and my brother and sister so many possibilities for future success. But anyway, I do usually enjoy dinner parties - or any parties for that matter - but as much fun as I had at this one, it felt like my mother was holding something over my head," Yami explained, laughing full out when Yugi scratched the back of his head in his wrongness.
"So what made you feel, err, strange at this one?" Yugi carefully constructed his words, not wanting to jump to anymore conclusions. He moved over a little so he could still continue his work, but still let his head crane back to Yami so he could know that he was still listening.
Yami swung his legs a little, being careful not to hit the cabinets down below. "My mother's friend has a daughter, Mieko," he put it simply.
"Ah. Something about marriage I'm guessing?" Yugi said a little more confidently, turning his head back to the floor just in case he messed up again with conclusions.
"Not…exactly. I mean, I know that my parents and her parents obviously want to do that, but thankfully we've dropped that whole tradition where parents decide the whole marriage thing," Yami said, feeling an odd relief when he mentioned the whole tradition part.
"So Mieko wants what your and her parents are thinking, too?" Yugi asked quietly, moving around the floor to a different spot.
"I think so," Yami replied, his heel accidentally hitting the wooden cabinet. "But if she offered it, I'd have to say no."
Yugi looked over his shoulder with a questioning gaze. "Why's that? She not pretty enough for you?"
Pulling his shoes off and chucking them out the open door where there was a carpet floor, Yami pulled his legs up and sat with them crossed underneath him. "No," he admitted, "She's just a little too spoiled."
Yugi smiled to himself. "Is she spoiled as in, like, she's mean to everyone or something?"
"Sometimes, but it's really kind of like she gets what she wants, when she wants it, and she can be rude about it," Yami clarified. "But don't get me wrong, she can be nice when she wants to; she's not always acting like some kind of diva."
Amethyst eyes gave the other a pointed look. "You do know that you just defended her, right?"
Yami looked rather surprised, and raised his hands up in his own defense. "Hey, I don't want to say anything totally bad about a person, okay? I don't do that kind of thing."
"Sure," Yugi teased. "I can tell that you like her," he added with the tiniest of smirks.
Yugi beamed when Yami put his chin in his hand, his elbow resting on his knee. He could see that the other was obviously hiding a smile. "You did not just say that, Yugi," he nearly mumbled, and Yugi purposely turned around to re-wet his sponge and start scrubbing again.
"I think I just did," Yugi countered a little smugly, "And there's nothing you can do about it."
He kept working, biting his lip as he listened to Yami's silence, not daring to look back. Okay…maybe he shouldn't have said that, but he didn't think that he'd get fired over that…would he? The smile suddenly disappeared as Yugi wondered if he hurt Yami in some way, and just as he was about to look back to make sure he hadn't done anything wounding to the other, an arm swooped around his waist and hauled him up.
With a cry of surprise, Yugi came face to face with Yami, who had taken his smug look from earlier. Not being as strong as the other, Yugi felt two hands clutch onto his biceps and backed him up until his back hit the fridge that was on the other side of the kitchen.
Even though he was wearing a long sleeved shirt, Yugi could feel his skin burning with Yami holding him in place like that. The other got his face unpredictably close to Yugi's, and the smaller's heart sped up.
A smile played on Yami's lips, and Yugi couldn't figure out why his mind and body were acting in such as strange way. Yes, they had their odd moment a couple weeks back when their first truly met, but Yugi couldn't really believe that there was something seriously attracting him to Yami when he hardly knew the guy.
It was even stranger when he thought back to the last instance they spent time together, and he remembered how flustered he had gotten when Yami flirted with him then. But all at the same time, Yugi couldn't really suppose in love at first sight; it just didn't seem possible.
"You're wrong, Yugi," Yami said in a whispery voice, his tone low, making Yugi involuntarily shiver. "I could never like Mieko that way."
He knew that he wouldn't be able to say much when he was already acting in such an anxious way. Yugi blinked a couple times, trying to not concentrate on Yami's suddenly gorgeous, up-close face. "T-then who do you…like?" he inquired after a moment, trying to appear unaffected by the other teen's close presence.
It was such a black and white question, and to Yugi's surprise, he was concerned when Yami didn't give him an answer right away. He felt his heart sink a little, and he became alarmed at the feeling. Had he really…with only two interactions…?
"Who do I like? That's quite the question there," Yami said, his voice teasing, and Yugi was reassured to his disbelief. It wasn't possible, was it? This wasn't a dream, right?
A finger under his chin jolted Yugi out of his confused thoughts and brought back to what Yami was about to say. His heart started pounding again, and Yugi hoped to anyone that he wasn't physically showing how nervous he was.
Yami stared straight into his eyes, the redness of them tantalizing Yugi easily. That small smile was back, tugging innocently at the corners of the other's lips, and Yugi felt his heart soar when the other simply answered, "I like you."
How it was possible for him to feel such a way was unknown to Yugi, but he knew that he was extremely happy at Yami's claim. He let out a shaky breath he didn't even know he was holding, a small grin spreading on his lips too.
"I…" Yugi started, but his mind was telling him not to be mushy and voice the fact that he didn't have the slightest idea of what to say. He wasn't quite sure if he was just feeling the same for Yami because he was caught in the moment so suddenly, or if he truly did feel this way because he really did like Yami. Why did this have to be so confusing?
There were hands now at his waist again, and it was obvious Yami could care less if he said anything or not. Maybe he realized what Yugi was thinking, and wasn't expecting anything back so soon. Or maybe he was just impatient…Yugi blushed as he continued that thought.
In an instant, Yugi was pressed even more into the fridge, letting out an eep of surprise, and feeling a swirl of lust when he felt Yami's hot breath trickle along his neck, their bodies pressed closely together out of what seemed nowhere.
"Y-Yami-i," Yugi stuttered, his breath hitching when he felt a hand cup the right side of his face. Yami kept the contact close, letting his breath purposely ghost over Yugi's exposed flesh.
"Mmm…Yugi," Yami hummed, smiling into Yugi's neck, letting his fingers stroke the delicate face ever so affectionately. "You smell good."
His mind was becoming utterly muddled…Yugi didn't know what to do or think. Did Yami just say he smelt good? Those fingertips were become rhythmic and soothing; he tried to keep his breath under control.
Then abruptly, Yami pulled back, but not by far, and his other hand was cupping the other side of Yugi's face. Yugi stared into Yami's gentle face, once again being mesmerized by those gorgeous crimson eyes.
His brain must've been on autopilot at this point because Yugi could tell that he wasn't panicking as much anymore. He watched as Yami offered another kind smile before inching closer and closer to what Yugi knew would be a kiss…
"Mr. Motou! Just what in the world do you think you are doing!"
The autopilot abandoned, Yugi flinched almost violently at the shrill and cranky voice he knew all too well, accidentally pushing himself back against the fridge and really unintentionally pushing Yami away so hastily that he backed up in a stupor into the bucket full of cleaner. The soapy and toxic liquid spilled over almost aggressively, soaking the tiles and Yami's right pant leg all the way up to his knee.
And what made things worse was that Yami slipped and fell.
Yugi had covered his face with his hands at the discomfiture he knew was spreading over his face. He knew it looked like he had just sloshed a tomato on his face - he was that mortified. An awful feeling sunk in his stomach, and for a fleeting moment, he just knew that he was going to be fired.
But at least Miss Osaka had other things on her mind at that moment.
A shocked look on her face, the head cleaner quickly made her way over to the fallen teen. She swept through the wet mess of toxins and bent down to Yami, a very worried and almost frightened look on her face. "Are you alright Mr. Nakashima? You're not hurt, are you?"
Yugi watched with some terror as Yami didn't move at first. He was lying on his back flush against the floor, and he had yet to respond to anything. He hadn't even cried out when he slipped and hit the hard tile. He hadn't hit his head, did he? Yugi didn't see that much. The cleaning teen bit his lip hard.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity did Yami start to respond to Miss Osaka's anxious questions and concerns. Both cleaners sighed with relief, and Yami pulled himself up, groaning lowly to himself.
"Are you sure you're alright, dear?" the woman asked for what appeared to be the hundredth time, checking over his now drenched form. "You don't need medical assistance, do you? You didn't hit your head, did you?"
Yami flashed the woman a toothy smile in reassurance. "I'll just have a bump on my head, Miss Osaka, nothing to worry about." He lightly chuckled for the effect, but it appeared that the cleaner would not have any of it.
"At least let me escort you to your room, dear, it's the least I can do to repair my staff's mistake," Miss Osaka offered sweetly, being forward and taking his arm. "I'll have one of the daily maids bring you up some bandages and ice, and I'll take those dirtied clothes if you want."
Having been in a similar situation before, Yami knew not to argue with the head cleaning lady and nodded in surrender. "Thank you, Miss Osaka," he thanked in a tired manner, letting himself be led out of the kitchen. She led him out of the room and to the foot of the staircase before telling him to wait a moment before heading back into the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Yugi stood horrified at everything that had just taken place. He took in the mess that he had caused Yami to make, along with the aftereffects of what he and Yami were just about to do. Oh, and he thought with a worry stricken mind of what Miss Osaka was going to do with him, too.
Speaking of the devil…the elderly woman marched almost angrily in, carrying a mop in hand that she must've picked up before she came back. Her jaw was set like concrete, and Yugi wanted so badly to shrink into his shoes.
"You will clean up the mess and then finish the rest of your duties. After today, you will have the rest of the week off. You will receive a letter before Monday." She thrust the mop at him, and Yugi clutched the wooden handle with all his might, not wanting to drop it and make the woman angrier. "Now get back to work."
Nodding a little more enthusiastically than he probably should have, Yugi stood ramrod straight, watching Miss Osaka march back out before getting back to work like a frenzied bee.
"Yugi, a letter came in for you," Yugi's Grandpa called with a hoarse voice followed with a cough the moment the teen came in through the Game Shop's doorway. Yugi sluggishly closed the door behind him, walking into the store to snatch the envelope his Grandpa was holding out for him.
"Thanks, Grandpa," Yugi thanked kindly, "Do you need anything?"
His Grandpa coughed again and cleared his throat, nevertheless mustering up his strength and giving his grandson a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine, Yugi. I have a glass of water nearby."
Offering a small smile and a nod of understanding, Yugi headed upstairs to the apartment portion of the building. Kicking his shoes off when he got to his room and letting his book bag fall off his shoulders to the floor, Yugi plopped lazily down on his bed before carefully opening his mail.
Sighing through his nose when he read the return address at the top of the actual letter, Yugi read through what it said.
Dear Mr. Motou,
As I am sure you are aware of, you violated what rules were given to you, and slacked off your duties. You disobeyed what you were told and interacted with one of the Nakashimas when you were strictly told not to.
However, after Mr. Yami Nakashima kindly explained his side of the story, it has come to my attention that it was not entirely your fault, and that Mr. Nakashima has taken an innocent liking to you; as I'm guessing, he was in his room while you were cleaning said area..
Innocent? Yugi could've laughed, but he didn't. A smile spread widely across his face though.
So with this letter, I personally apologize if my behavior towards you may have been a little brash, and because of that, you may have the remainder of your week off if you wish. But as of now, you are still hired, and are expected back Monday afternoon.
Miss Osaka
Relief washed through Yugi at an alarming pace; he still had his job. Bless Yami for explaining everything when he obviously couldn't. Yugi let his smile stay put and he flopped onto his back against the soft mattress.
Would this mean that he'd be able to still see Yami? If Yami really had told Miss Osaka the truth - he was a little skeptical because he obviously said 'innocent' - would that mean that Miss Osaka would be okay with them talking to each other? Yami was above the grouchy head cleaner, so that had to give them the advantage, right? Hm…
Well, Yugi knew one good thing that came out of all of this: he could finally catch up on his homework and get some decent sleep now that he had the rest of the week off.
Yugi blushed, trying to hide it by holding his arm purposely in front of his face as he dusted the wardrobe.
"You've got to be kidding me, Yug'," Jounouchi exclaimed with a laugh, looking over his shoulder with some disbelief. "He actually talks to you, and you push him into a bucket? That's funny stuff."
"Well, it wasn't like I did it intentionally, Jou," Yugi defended himself, continuing on with his dusting and hiding his reddened face. "Miss Osaka came in and scared the crap out of me!"
Jounouchi made a peculiar noise, and Yugi cursed himself. Now he'd have to explain everything. Great. Leave it to him to keep opening his big, fat mouth.
In a very obviously sly tone, Jounouchi questioned smoothly, "So what were you two doing that set Osaka off then, hmm?" He frowned a little when Yugi remained quiet, and he prodded, "Oh, c'mon Yug, you have to tell me now. I promise I won't laugh if it's embarrassing and I won't tell anyone."
Yugi drew his arm back, bringing the duster to his side and he pursed his lips to the side in thought. Should he tell Jounouchi? He had been very trustworthy so far…and Yugi didn't suspect that he'd be disgusted or anything. Looking over his shoulder as he sought out Jounouchi, he found the other with a pleading look on his face, and Yugi smiled in amusement.
"Okay, but don't tell anyone, okay?" he insisted, hoping that he wasn't about to make a mistake or lose a cleaning buddy.
Jounouchi gave him a thumb up. Then, anxiously, he sat on the tidy bed, awaiting Yugi's answer. "So what's going on with you two?" he asked excitedly, and Yugi crossed his arms over his chest, a lopsided smile on his lips.
Shifting his feet awkwardly, Yugi replied cautiously, "Well, um…he and I were…err, about to…" he paused for a moment, looking at the eagerness in Jounouchi's honey colored eyes, "…kiss."
Yugi immediately stared down at his feet, not wanting to see Jounouchi's reaction. He didn't know what to anticipate.
However, the other was quick to get over his shock - if actually fell into it - and was swift to respond with, "Aw, Yugi, I had a feeling you liked him."
The smaller cleaner looked up flustered, a new blush spreading on his face as he took in Jou's knowing grin. "But how di-"
Jou cut him off with the answer, "It's kind of obvious. Sometimes you mumble under your breath, and well, it kind of went around that you two were up to something last week." He stood up from the bed and placed an arm around Yugi's shoulders. "But I'm happy for you, Yug. Seems like Yami's a nice guy the way you depict him."
"Yeah," Yugi muttered rather monotonously, but it was only because he didn't really know how to respond. Then he realized something and shot Jounouchi a piercing look. "Wait, you already knew?"
The blonde smiled sheepishly, retracting his arm back and stepping away slightly. "I guess so…but you told me the whole story, I only knew about half of it, minus the kissing part." He chuckled gracelessly, watching with some hilarity as Yugi's face lit up bright red for what seemed the umpteenth time they began their shift together.
"Aw, Yug," Jounouchi said after a time, trying to reassure his friend. "It's not like it was being talked about badly or anything with everyone else. Just the usual interest that the Nakashima kid likes someone is all. It'll be forgotten in a week or two." He patted the other on the shoulder, hoping to relieve some of Yugi's sudden distress.
"Its fine," Yugi managed over a whisper, his worries being alleviated considerably, "Thanks, Jounouchi." He looked up at his friend, and gave him a smile, showing that he was okay, and that he'd like to get back on track now.
Jou gave him an enthusiastic grin in return and gave him a thumbs up. He scurried over to where he previously was cleaning, and got back down to work with polishing the wood Yugi had already dusted.
The two worked in silence for a while, and Yugi became more relaxed in that time over what he had just confessed. He had just finished vacuuming when Jounouchi approached him with fresh questions again.
"So…is my theory right?" the blonde asked, being vague.
"What theory?" Yugi pressed, pulling up the cord and winding it around the contraption with ease.
Jounouchi was beginning to put away his supplies and he clarified over his shoulder from across the bed, "About the whole thing with Yami and the pills, I mean. Is it true?"
Yugi almost gawked at the question, his head snapping up to look intently at the blonde across the room. Then, just as quick as he had been seconds before, he recomposed himself before looking down and shrugging. "How should I know?"
"Mm I don't know," Jou said really fast, shrugging himself. "You see him more."
"You sound like I'm supposed to keep tabs on Yami," Yugi scoffed, however, with a playful tone underneath.
Jou let out a short laugh. "That's because you are, Yug!"
"Oh, and when was I appointed this job?" Yugi smiled right back, making his voice sound accusing. He rolled the vacuum out to the hallway so that Jounouchi could take it back and returned into the room to collect his things.
"Ever since he started hitting on you," Jounouchi teased, watching with a couple laughs as Yugi stopped dead cold in the middle of his trip to gather cleaning items.
Thankfully though, Yugi turned and gave him a hard look before sticking his tongue out at him, and then returned to the task he had set out to do. He came back a minute later, a small box in his hand. "Why, am I spying on him for you, Jou?" he teased back.
The blonde's brows rose up as well as his hands. "Whoa, Yug. Don't be accusing me of doing what you do."
Yugi rolled purple eyes. "Sure…I'll lock it," he dismissed with a wholehearted smile, gesturing for Jounouchi to go out first. He closed and locked the door behind him, lightly kicking Jou's shoe when he spun around. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Heh heh…yeah, I'll see you tomorrow, Yug," Jou answered back, turning to go downstairs while Yugi made his own way up.
As per usual when Yugi reached Yami's door, he knocked a couple times before taking the silence as an invitation that he could go in. With an odd relief, Yugi was glad that Yami was out doing whatever, giving him the time to clean without any distractions for once.
He shined up the wood and made the bed neat and tidy, and made progress with picking up clothes from the floor, or any surface, actually - he had learned from the other that Yami in truth was a messy person, for he had to pick up clothes almost everyday - and he made quick work with sweeping.
As he worked dutifully, Yugi thought clearly this time about last Tuesday's situation. Yami had told him that he liked him, but did that me like, like? Or was it just a simple like? They did almost kiss…Yugi felt his heart flutter, and he knew damn straight what Yami meant, even thought he didn't want to believe it…but then again, did he?
He didn't know Yami well enough…yet at the same time, Yugi felt that he was comfortable enough around the other teen that he did in fact know him really well. It was a weird feeling, but Yugi just knew that somewhere, somewhere deep down that he liked Yami despite his self-confusing thoughts.
"Why can't you just accept it?" Yugi thought audibly to himself, "You like him; you were willing to let him kiss you!" He sighed through his nose at his own self-frustration and noticed that he was nearly done. He glanced at the bathroom door, suddenly wishing that he didn't have to clean it and that he could just go home and sleep.
But not wanting to be scolded at, Yugi pushed his unexpected weariness down to his toes and flicked on the bathroom light and wiped the porcelain and mirror down with a couple quick motions. He swiftly did the sweeping, and just as he was about to call it quits, the mirror caught his eye, along with a subject Jounouchi had previously brought up.
The last couple times he had seen Yami, Yugi hadn't gotten the suspicions that he was under an influence of a drug. Yeah, Yugi kind of freaked out at the other's behavior, but he had seen countless times on reality TV and in school that people who flirted always acted unlike themselves to an extent, and Yami didn't seem that exuberant.
Jounouchi probably just wanted some kind of juicy gossip to mull over with their coworkers or something. Maybe he wanted something to use against Yami because he secretly hated him. Yugi smiled to himself, oh how much more absurd could he get?
But still…the urge just to make sure Yami actually wasn't overdosing on some drug because of some odd reason ached in Yugi's gut. He knew that he shouldn't go through Yami's cabinet, but the chances he'd get caught…
It was only five forty-five. Yami probably wouldn't be back until much later if he predicted right. Biting his lip, Yugi swiftly shut the door until it was open just a crack and hastily pried the mirror/door back, shelves being revealed to him.
Not much was stored in here. Just a package of band-aids, a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, tweezers, hair gel, and other normal things were what were lined up on the neat looking shelves. Yugi blinked momentarily, and then the bottle of pain killers in the corner of a shelf behind the band-aids was known to him.
Well, from here, the bottle looked quite untouched, and it looked like there was even a small coating of dust on it. Feeling out of place, Yugi reached for the plastic bottle and found it to be almost full. Maybe Jounouchi's interests were false…or maybe this was just a new bottle when the last obviously didn't work.
Mentally smacking himself, Yugi put the bottle back behind the small box of bandages, making sure it appeared like he had never touched it. Yami didn't have a drug problem…or any problem that would involve those pain killers! It was just like Yami had told him before; he had been under the influence of anesthesia and had accidentally taken more than he should. It was just a freak accident. Nothing was wrong now.
Hoping that there weren't secret cameras hidden in the small space, Yugi closed the mirror and wiped it down again to clean off his fingerprint smudges. He flicked off the light and closed the door softly behind him, nearly jumping out of his skin when Yami appeared from behind the door to his left.
The other didn't appear angry, but confusion showed in his crimson eyes. "What were you doing in my medicine cabinet?"
His nerves when haywire before he even knew it and Yugi found himself babbling on how he was just checking something before Yami placed a finger over his rapidly moving lips.
"I promise I won't be mad, you can tell me, Yugi," Yami assured him, offering a small smile that allowed Yugi to gather his thoughts coherently.
Part of Yugi didn't really want to get into trouble by snooping around Yami's business if Jou's thoughts were true, and he certainly didn't want to humiliate himself if he got it all wrong. But the small part of Yugi's rational brain told him to just say what was on his mind so that Yami wouldn't misunderstand and cause everything to get out of control.
He set his gaze at his feet and nervously bit his lip. "Um, do you have a-ahum, problem, Yami? Any, uh, depression, or, like something like that?"
To a tiny reprieve in the back of Yugi's mind, Yami looked utterly lost. "Uh, what do you mean?"
Yugi chuckled twice out of uneasiness, but carried on anyway. "Have you been, uh, overdosing on some, ah, pills lately?" he asked quite straight forwardly, shocking even himself.
Yami was quicker to respond this time. "You've got to be kidding me! I finally just got my parents to stop worrying over that ever since that goddamn butler told them that one night after I came home." He didn't seem in the least angry, just a little upset and stressed. "Not you too," he said with the tiniest of smiles at Yugi.
The smaller shook his head in negate, his amethyst eyes shining. "No, I was just curious! Jou had the idea the day after I found you acting all weird and then he-"
"Whoa, wait a minute," Yami interrupted him. "You mean that blonde cleaner, Jounouchi? That obnoxious guy?" Yugi nodded, and Yami sighed, rolling his eyes. "Let me guess, you've been working with him on a room or something?"
Yugi had the feeling that Yami didn't think too highly of Jounouchi, and he felt obliged to defend his funny friend. "Jounouchi isn't that bad though. He may get carried away with something, but he's a real nice guy, honest."
"Are you sure?" Yami asked with a hint of skepticism in his voice, a brow delicately raised just for that question alone. Yugi nodded again, and he continued, "Well, okay then, I believe you. But you can't always believe what he says, trust me."
"Wait, you've met Jounouchi?" Yugi queried hastily, then added for extra measure, "I know that much, it was just a thought he put into my head, but I never truly believed what he said."
"Once, but that's not the point," Yami dismissed, "Look, whatever Jounouchi had started to say that influenced you to do this was stupid, and he's to blame. And for the record, I have no problems, I love my life, and I haven't touched those pills since the day I came home from the hospital. Go tell Jounouchi that."
Yugi let out a breath he had been holding, feeling a little ashamed of himself, feeling like he had just been scolded by Yami when he really hadn't been. 'Look, it's over and done with, you guys are cool now', he assured himself.
"Okay," Yugi said in an almost whispery voice, still feeling a little bad. "I promise I won't look around your things anymore."
Yami smiled brightly then, and Yugi knew it was to reassure them both that everything was settled and that the past was gone. He sneakily wrapped an arm around Yugi's shoulders and pulled him close, effectively taking Yugi's mind off the past couple of minutes' crisis.
"Come here, I have to ask you something important," Yami said in a low voice, causing Yugi to blush all over again and look down at the hardwood floor as he was led over to the large windows that opened up to the balcony.
The taller teen unlatched the simple lock to the large wooden and glass doors that were elegantly made and pushed them open carefully. The large curtains billowed back at them as the cool breeze swept inside the room, and Yami let his arm drop to his side as he took the first step out to the balcony.
Yugi followed tentatively behind, taking in the fresh air like it was a rarity compared to the stuffy air inside the mansion. Yami was leaning against the black iron railing that was intricately designed to match the home on his forearms, and Yugi took up a spot right next to him.
The backyard was larger than Yugi had first thought. He had seen glimpses of it whenever he passed by the windows in the kitchen, but compared to what he was looking at now, he had seen nothing.
There was a large patio made of smooth looking grey stone, simple yet well-dressed designs in each square. It reached out to about twenty feet, large enough to hold at least five full outdoor tables and what Yugi guessed to be a suitable dancing area if parties were hosted. Also scattered around the area were uncomplicated statues and beautiful flowers that would put any gardener's garden to shame. Beyond the stone ground was a large expanse of neatly cut luscious green grass that was split by a simple dirt path that led to even more flowers, a gazebo and some pretty benches. Dotted around that area were many well kept trees that Yugi recognized as weeping willows.
Above the sky was quietly and slowly darkening, going from a bright blue to a shade of brilliant gold where the sun was setting, spreading out like a rainbow of reds, pinks, purples and soft blues. Not a cloud was in the sky this day, and Yugi could hear the last of the birds tenderly twittering their songs.
Yugi was so absorbed taking it all in, he nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt Yami's hand suddenly overlap his in an attempt to gain his attention. He looked at Yami with an alarmed expression, "What?" he questioned calmly, completely forgetting what the other had said before.
Yami cocked his head to the side, a grin breaking out on his face. "You are so adorable when you're confused," he joked, poking Yugi gently on the nose, receiving a small glare from the other.
"No I'm not," Yugi protested, instantly recalling that Yami had wanted to ask him a question. "So what was it that you wanted to ask?" he inquired, changing the subject.
The taller teen put on a thoughtful face, and an arm crossed his body, his hand holding his opposite arm up by the elbow while the opposite hand lightly touched his mouth in contemplation. He tapped his lips purposely, teasing Yugi. "Hm…what did I want to ask you…?"
Yugi rolled his eyes. "You wanted to ask me something essential. If you can't even remember what it is, I don't think I should waste-"
Yami suddenly disrupted his pretend threat with an 'aha!' that caused Yugi to flinch a little. "Oh yes, I remember now." His face turned from mockery to sincere, his red eyes softened significantly.
"Yugi, my parents have scheduled a party for me this Saturday night, and I'd be honored if you'd be my guest," Yami told him with a hopeful look in his eyes. "It's supposed to be a party for me to-"
"But, wait!" Yugi interjected this time his voice full of alarm, "Am I allowed to attend? I mean, as part of the cleaning staff, am I not supposed to come? I've got a bad feeling about this, as much as I am thrilled to have this invitation, I don't think that I'll be able to-"
A finger was placed on his babbling lips abruptly, and Yugi blinked, his mind going in all directions on an uncontrollable speed. Nevertheless, he remained silent and listened to whatever Yami had to say.
"Yugi, don't worry about all that stuff. I've been told I'm allowed to invite whomever I wish," the taller teen assured with confidence. "My parents may not quite approve, but they'll have no right to kick you out." He stopped for a moment, thinking something over. "Have you ever seen my parents?" he asked.
Yugi shook his head, "No."
Hands rose with palms faced up. "See? If they've never seen you, there's no way that they'll suspect you for one of the cleaners here, I promise. And before you even ask, no, they don't go through applications; only Miss Osaka does that since she's the head of cleaning workforce."
The smaller teen wrung his hands uncertainly, hesitant of the whole idea. He'd definitely have to dress up, and come here to mingle with upper class citizens for sure. He didn't know anything that would probably come up in conversations, so he'd be seen as dumb. And if he were to hang around Yami like a lost puppy…he didn't know how that'd go over with Yami's reputation.
But he liked Yami, a lot. And he knew for a fact that Yami liked him, a lot. He mentally sighed, his decision made up in his mind. Looking up at the other who stood patiently, he offered a smile, "I'll be there."
It was unexpected but welcome when Yami embraced him with tremendous enthusiasm. They held each other, neither one wanting to let go. However, both teens knew that it was getting a little awkward and they broke apart, sheepish grins on their faces.
"I knew you'd come, Yugi," Yami beamed, looking very excited about Yugi's choice.
Yugi shifted his weight, feeling a little nervous about his choice. He had made it in about thirty seconds, and that was one thing he never did when it came to deciding something. To ease his worry, he asked, "So will I have to wear a tuxedo?"
Yami nodded, and Yugi wondered just how excited the other was. It appeared that Yami would give himself a neck injury if he kept that up. "Yes, a tuxedo. Do you need one?"
He knew Yami would offer to buy him one if he didn't have one, but thankfully Yugi was able to say no. He did have one from a while back that he wore to one of his Grandpa's archeology parties, and he had only worn it once. It should still fit.
The two of them went back to leaning on the railing again, watching as the sky darkened even more. A couple of lights down on the patio lit up, and another thing came to Yugi's mind. "What time do I need to be here? Do I need to bring anything with me?"
Yami's excited state seemed to have died down reasonably, and he seemed rather peaceful looking out at the beautiful yard ahead. "It starts at seven, but you can be here at six-thirty if you want." He gave Yugi a sideway glance at the implication and continued, "Just bring yourself, don't worry about possessions."
Nodding, Yugi let his eyes droop, his tiredness suddenly coming back to him. They both remained outside on the balcony for a while longer until the sky was mostly darkened, and Yugi stood up straight, wondering what time it was. Giving Yami a saddened look, he said, "I have to go, Yami."
Yami made a pouting face, but nevertheless wrapped an arm around Yugi's waist, taking delight in the blush that was once again produced. He helped Yugi gather his things when they were back inside and showed him the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Yugi," he said lowly, letting a sly smile trace itself on his lips, knowing that it'd be imprinted in the smaller's mind.
Yugi felt his stomach fill with butterflies when Yami said that, and with a shy smile of his own, he bid the other goodnight before heading quickly down the staircase, unable to believe what he'd just gotten himself into.
The remainder of the week couldn't have flown by any faster than it had. Yugi could feel himself floating on daydreams of possible happenings throughout his school days, and the cleaning job had gone much faster than before, even when he only saw a glimpse of Yami once in those four days.
He had also reprimanded Jou the next day, thankful that the blonde took his mild scolding in a positive way. Jounouchi had promised not to jump to conclusions so easily about people he barely knew.
So the cold wind swept through Yugi once again as he made his way home, the sky dimming with each passing minute. When the Game Shop came into view, Yugi smiled weakly, his feet aching in response.
Trudging through the door and locking it behind him, Yugi was greeted by silence as his Grandpa was out with some old archeology friends for the night. Sighing as he moved through the shop to the apartment portion of the building, Yugi quickly deposited his book bag before starting his dinner.
Through his activity of preparing food, Yugi thought of how nervous he was going to be tomorrow night. He wouldn't know anybody, and he truly wished that he wasn't as shy as he was around people he didn't know very well. Either tomorrow would turn out to be okay, or a disaster. He just had a feeling it would could go whichever way.
As the teen finished preparing his meal, Yugi contemplated what the party was for. Or, well, he knew it was Yami, the guy said that himself, but what for? Was it Yami's birthday, or some kind of religious ceremony? Yugi suddenly felt ashamed that he had interrupted when Yami was about to tell him.
"You'll find out when you get there," Yugi told himself, sitting down at the kitchen table to eat his food. He ate some, trying to figure out what the party was for. It seemed the longer he thought, the more ridiculous his ideas became. "Maybe he's joining a secret cult!" Yugi exclaimed aloud to no one in particular, for a second finding the idea rational, then after another, he realized it was absurd. "Besides, I don't think you can invite people to a cult orientation. Those things are supposed to be secret."
Shaking his head with a tiny smile, Yugi collected his dishes and cleaned them properly before heading down to make sure the doors were locked tightly. 'Hm, it's starting to drizzle,' he mused for a moment before returning to his room to finish up homework.
Yugi stood confidently in front of his full-view mirror, twisting this way and that, making sure that his tuxedo didn't present any hidden flaws that someone would no doubt be able to pick out without a blink of an eye.
His dress pants were black like his overcoat, the main shirt a crisp white, and the vest just on top of that a light yellow color. Polished shoes that he had only worn twice since he had gotten them adorned his feet. His hair was at its usual, but he had spent a little more extra time on it to make sure it wouldn't get any wilder than it already was.
Letting out a shaky breath, Yugi let his twitchy fingers adjust his bowtie for the hundredth time, setting it perfectly straight. He stood ramrod still, taking his image in, letting out an awkward smile to himself, as a reassurance of sorts.
Usually he'd give himself some kind of motivational pep talk whenever he knew he was going to encounter something uncomfortable, but this time around, Yugi found nothing that he could tell himself. He was at a blank. With other situations, if he only had a sliver of what would be going on, he'd be able to say something. But with this upcoming party, Yugi found his voice box and ideas frozen.
Swallowing, Yugi finally jostled himself, and started out of his room to tell his Grandpa goodbye and then start off. The elderly man bid him goodbye, telling him to have a good time, and Yugi found the words a little comforting.
On his way to the mansion, Yugi noted that he'd make it there by six forty-five the latest if he kept his pace up. He knew that he wanted to see Yami before guests started to arrive in crowds, and ask questions on what he'd have to expect for the night.
When the mansion came into view, Yugi picked up his pace, eager to get inside the elaborate him and seek out his friend. His heart quickened and all he could process in his mind was the fact that he had to find Yami like he was about to die or something of the odd sort.
However, when the small teen came within at least twenty feet of the gates, a car passed, and Yugi was splashed mercilessly with mud, coating him from his chin down. He stood in a stupor, his mouth ajar as he didn't know what to do. His eyes searched the sidewalk as if the cold, bland pavement held all his answers as to why such a thing had to happen so suddenly.
'It was raining last night…remember?' his mind told him, almost sounding mocking. At his thoughts, Yugi swallowed and felt his breath quicken with anxiety.
He couldn't show up at the mansion. They probably wouldn't let him in, even if he claimed to be invited by Yami.
He couldn't return home. He didn't own a second tuxedo, and he was sure that he wouldn't be able to fit into his Grandpa's.
And he certainly couldn't take the time to go to the cleaners, either.
"What am I going to do?" Yugi whispered to himself miserably, the effects of the shock still over him as he still stood in the middle of the sidewalk, covered with mud. "I can't go to Yami's party like this!"
He suddenly felt a deep, deep disappointment, a sadness spreading from the inside of his gut outwards. Yugi could feel tears prick at his eyes and his throat clench up. He could just not show up, he promised Yami he'd be there. He had to go, he just had to!
Running a hand through his hair to calm himself did little, but Yugi kept the soothing motion up for a while as he finally moved back to lean against the black metal gate. Then, suddenly, something caught the corner of his eye.
Rotating his head to the left, he could make out a figure of a larger person, someone who was bent over just slightly, with a very familiar walk. Yugi inclined his head to get a better view, and his eyes widened considerably as he recognized the person as the one and only Miss Osaka. And she was heading his way.
"Mr. Motou, what on Earth are you doing here?" the woman exclaimed, "You do realize you're coated with mud, right?"
'Of course I know,' Yugi nearly grumbled to himself. "I was just…going to a party," he answered blankly, his words saddening him.
The cleaning lady had a confused expression on her face. "Do you mean the Nakashima's party, dear?" Yugi nodded, and she unexpectedly huffed. "Well, you certainly can't go to that party looking like a miserable mess."
Yugi looked up into the elderly woman's face for the first time in surprise. "Huh…?" Was Miss Osaka offering him help? He could've sworn that she hated his guts.
The woman huffed again, reaching out to take Yugi's wrist in her hand. "Well, come on, then, let's get you cleaned up and ready for that party." She started to pull, and Yugi didn't resist.
The duo walked for a while, and Yugi felt confused. He was surprisingly able to build up his confidence, and quietly asked, "Why are you helping me?" He hoped it didn't sound too accusing or anything, and thankfully, his employer answered back.
"Well, just between you and me, Mr. Motou, I'm not as mean as I may come off as," Miss Osaka told him, surprising Yugi even further with a pleasant smile. "That's just to get you all working efficiently, because if you haven't noticed, the Nakashima's have quite the house, and if I wasn't hard on my employees, not everything would be cleaned in that place.
"Second, I've thought about what may be going on between you and Yami Nakashima," she said, causing Yugi to blush, and she smirked a little. "And if I'm correct, Yami invited you to his party, am I right?"
Yugi nodded, squeaking out a, "Yes."
"And since I'm not some cold hearted person, I know that this party must be something special for Yami if he invited you," Miss Osaka continued, "And I don't want this to be ruined just because you're coated with mud."
So Miss Osaka really did care. Yugi smiled to himself, and then at the elderly woman he was walking with, suddenly thinking of her as a secret fairy godmother, helping him like this when he had no other outlets. "Thank you," he thanked, and they continued on their way.
"Name, please?" a doorman asked uninterestingly, looking a little snooty as he gazed down his long nose at Yugi.
"Motou, Yugi," the teen replied nervously, feeling a thousand holes burning in his back as the other very late guests tried to deduce who he was and what he was doing at such a rich party.
The man in the black and white tuxedo glanced down at his clipboard of listed guests, and Yugi blinked at his shoes, waiting to be let in. "Alright, Mr. Motou, you may pass," the doorman answered after many agonizing seconds, and Yugi let out a breath and passed through the open doors.
He was immediately guided through the elaborate mansion he knew fairly well to the back patio. He passed through at least three doorways and four archways laden with ivy and thin, translucent curtains and tiny lights. He could hear loud voices engaged in conversation almost anywhere and the soft classical music from outside wafted through the whole area.
Sucking in a breath as he was left to himself when he was finally on the back patio, Yugi felt himself get really tense again as he was left standing by himself in a crowd of people he'd considered strangers.
His purple eyes anxiously scanned the large area for Yami, but to Yugi's misfortune, he could not locate the other teen. He could feel his stomach drop as he realized Yami could be anywhere, and that he could go the whole night without finding the other. So, keeping his profile low, Yugi moved over to stand against a stone wall also covered in ivy.
Although no one came up to him, Yugi could see that many people had noticed his presence, and were determined to find out who exactly he was without going through the trouble of actually coming over to him and asking. He constantly twiddled his fingers behind his back, looking up cautiously every now and then just in case Yami passed by.
'Maybe I should check his room,' Yugi thought, but he shot his own idea down when he realized that he probably wouldn't be permitted to go to such a place when he was only a guest. 'But what if he meant to meet me there?'
The mere idea of Yami waiting for him made Yugi jumpy, and he actually wanted to go see for himself. However, a tap on his shoulder brought the tiny cleaner back to reality before he could even take a step.
Before him was girl who looked about his age, though, of course, she was a bit taller. With glossy and straight black hair and dazzling brown eyes, the girl stood straight, dressed in a very expensive looking dress with many glittery jewels and colored a spring green. She wore light makeup and quite a bit of jewelry.
The girl smiled sweetly at Yugi, and Yugi instinctively held out his hand. "Hello," he said quickly, watching at the girl took it and they shook. "I'm Motou, Yugi, and you are…?"
Personally, Yugi could really care less who this girl was; he had much more important things to try to figure out. Like finding Yami so that he didn't go insane.
"Inoue, Mieko," the girl said in a confident voice, beaming Yugi a magnificent white smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
So this was Mieko, Yugi thought, his own smile never faltering even as he took his hand back. She was very pretty like Yami had said, and she seemed to have good manners. He let his hands slip into his pockets. "So was there something you needed me for, or…" he let his sentence trail off, not having even the tiniest idea of what she would want of him.
Mieko blushed cutely, but Yugi wasn't affected by it like some other guys might have been. She blinked a couple of times in a way that had Yugi thinking something was up before inquisitively asking, "Um, who are you exactly? Many of the other guests along with my family are curious as to who you are. The name Motou does not sound very familiar to me."
Yugi felt his mouth open, though no words came out. Looking over to the side and putting a hand to scratch the back of his head apprehensively, Yugi cursed himself for not making up a story beforehand. "Ah…"
Then Mieko laughed. "Oh, I get it; this is just a joke, right? Very funny, Mr. Motou, but I think you should just tell me what you have to say before my family gets upset."
'Oh crap,' Yugi thought frantically, trying to think of something. "Ah, well, I'm actually not from around here, if that's what you're asking."
"Well a lot of people are not from around here, obviously. I just want some details is all," Mieko clarified, her smile disappearing slowly as Yugi was taking his time with some simple questions and wasting her time.
Yugi could feel himself getting flustered all over again as he clasped his hands together and awkwardly shifted his feet. "Well, you see, I-"
"Yugi! There you are!"
Almost too quickly did Yugi shift his gaze to the right, a wave of relief washing over him as he saw Yami walking toward them, dressed very put-together in a black tuxedo, a white dress shirt and a vest that matched his amazing crimson eyes. His hair was the usual, like Yugi had styled his own.
Mieko was quick to react with words though, when Yami reached them. "Oh, Yami, it's a pleasure to see you again. I was thinking that you weren't attending your own party."
Yami sent her a graceful smile. "Of course I would attend my own party, Mieko. How horrible of you to think that." He paused for the effect for the girl to silently huff to herself - which she took without question - before adding, "Besides, I was waiting for my friend, Mr. Yugi Motou."
Again, Mieko was able to recover and react, hugging her sides as she donned on a pointed look. "Who is this, Yami? This Mr. Motou, who is he? I've never heard of him or his family."
Yami flashed her a smile that caused her to visibly swoon, and Yugi had to hold in his laughter. Then suddenly, an arm wrapped around his shoulders, and Yami was off explaining his untold story.
"Yugi was a distant friend of mine, until recently he left his rich life and came to live with his Grandfather, working a Game Shop here in Domino City, along with schooling," Yami started, making sure that he wasn't about to lie about Yugi's life too much. "We used to be good friend when we were much younger, and have play dates and such, but as we both grew up, we grew apart, and since Yugi has come to live in the area, we've decided to get back in touch."
The brown eyed girl looked a little lost. "So, wait," she said aloud, trying to put two and two together. "You don't live with your parents anymore? You're living poorly now?" she asked Yugi directly.
Taking in a breath, Yugi replied, "My parents actually passed away, and that's why I had to live with my Grandpa. I gave the inheritance money to multiple charities." He pushed the death of his parents behind him, and added with a cheery smile, "Besides, I love my Grandpa, whether he's rich or poor."
Mieko had what looked like a disgusted look on her face, as if she couldn't comprehend why anyone would want to survive on minimum wage. "What a fool you were, giving that money to charity. You could be living the good life right now," she commented rudely, causing both boys to frown.
Thankfully for Yugi, Yami responded instead of him. "Mieko, that wasn't a very nice thing to say. I hope you come to your senses and apologize to my good friend by the end of the night," he chided, giving the girl a meaningful look. "Now, if you you'll excuse us, I need to speak to Yugi about something important."
It was like the small threat had gone over her head. "May I come with you, Yami?" she asked hopefully, that sweet smile crossing her lips again.
"I need to talk to Yugi privately, Mieko," Yami repeated, that charming smile still on his lips as he turned himself and Yugi around. He led them both a little ways away before letting his arm drop to instead grasp Yugi's hand in his and whisk him off through the thick throng of guests.
Yugi half expected to be led back into the humongous house, but instead, Yami took a route through the grass, making his way through the multiple hedges and gardens until they ended up in a secluded area camouflaged by those weeping willow trees Yugi had seen the other night.
The area was a small clearing, with a soft flooring of grass and some leftover leaves, the branches of the trees cradling them into a secure haven, the green tendrils lazily swaying in the breeze, creating an ambience of peacefulness.
Yami was running a hand through his hair now, pacing back and forth, confusing Yugi. "Is something wrong, Yami?" the smaller questioned tentatively, causing Yami to shoot his head up to gaze at him.
"No, it's just…Mieko didn't do anything to you, did she?" Yami worried, and Yugi smiled.
Shaking his head, the smaller teen replied, "You were right, she is snooty." However, the other boy continued his pacing, and with the small grin still plastered to his face, Yugi lightly grabbed his shoulder to stop him.
"Something's wrong, I can tell," Yugi pointed out, making sure Yami was looking at him. "And something's telling me that it doesn't have anything to do with Mieko."
Yami's shoulders slumped underneath his hands, and the taller smiled. "What, can you read minds now?" he asked good naturedly, and Yugi could tell that Yami was dying to tell him something worth his attention.
Yugi let go of Yami, noticing how the other seemed to want the touch back. But Yugi kept his hands to his sides, waiting for Yami to speak.
"You look gorgeous, you know that right?" Yami said suddenly, and Yugi knew that that wasn't what he wanted to hear next, but he still enjoyed the compliment. He had gotten pretty lucky when Miss Osaka had helped him. He had been able to don on a new black tuxedo, with a crisper white shirt, and a stunning purple vest that matched his eyes stunningly. He knew that he owed Miss Osaka for her unexpected but gracious help, but before he could say another word, she was ushering him back to the mansion, being told to be mindful of other mud puddles along the way.
"Thanks," Yugi replied, feeling his face heat up just a tad, but he was able to gain control and give Yami a look to just say what he wanted to say. Fortunately, Yami received his silent message.
Knotting his hands, Yami started with in an awkward kind of way, "I'm not quite sure how to say this, but, this party was meant for me to pick out a spouse…or, well, a life partner of sorts. Or as my parents called it, 'betrothing myself', if that's even possible." He let out a shaky laugh at the end, scratching the back of his hand as Yugi took his words in carefully.
Yugi sort of got it, but… "Could you clarify?" he requested sweetly, looking up at Yami in the face.
His hands were taken, clasped in Yami's and Yugi could feel himself being lightly tugged toward the other.
"Yugi…" Yami whispered when they were almost touching body to body, and Yugi shivered faintly. "I'm supposed to pick someone at this party to spend the rest of my life with, and I don't know if it's just a temporary feeling or something, but I can sense it in my gut that…I want to pick…you."
Yugi blinked, looking over Yami's shoulder blankly as he took in Yami's words with some difficulty. Wait…Yami wanted to be with him? Forever? The idea was hard to comprehend, and his gaze flickered back up to Yami's hopeful face and then he glanced back down, a warming feeling overcoming him suddenly. Maybe this was what was destined for him…maybe this was…right.
He looked up again, noticing the fact that they had closed the gap between them completely, and that their hands had let go in exchange for Yami's arms wrapped around his waist, and his around the taller teen's neck. When had that happened?
But that was beside the point. Yugi could tell he knew what his answer was, and suddenly, before either one of them knew it, their lips connected in a simple kiss.
It wasn't like before, when they had met in that hazy memory. Yugi felt like he was on a cloud, that everything about this simple kiss made everything perfect. His arms wrapped much more securely around Yami, and in return, Yami's arms crushed him from the waist in an embrace. Their kiss grew deeper.
The two parted, and merely took each other's flushed features in with contentedness as they dared not to let one another go. Then Yugi let his head rest against Yami's chest, and Yami rocked them both, as if they were dancing to the slowest song ever heard.
"Are you sure?" Yugi asked after a while, softly jostling Yami out of his thoughts. "I am probably just a mere peasant to your family's eyes."
Frowning at the hidden smile in Yugi's voice, Yami held on tighter to his love. "It doesn't matter. I have you, and will never let go. Besides, my parents are usually accepting, even if they may appear not to be."
"What about Mieko?"
"She'll just have to suck it up like everyone else."
Yugi giggled, finding that their slow rhythm was letting every worry seem to fly away. "But we don't have to seriously get married, right?"
"Oh gods, no," Yami replied instantaneously. "This is just like…an informal engagement."
"Dating, you mean," Yugi corrected, and he was swung around so that he could face Yami. He suddenly burst into laughter at the pointed look Yami gave him, and soon enough, the other lightened up and joined him.
Wrapping his arms around Yami's neck again and making sure they made more contact than that, Yugi lightly pecked the other on the lips, who hungrily kissed him back before they both slipped into that contented state again.
"What now? Should we go back before someone freaks out over your whereabouts?" Yugi questioned gently.
An almost but not quite smirk crossed Yami's lips, and a hand wrapped firmly around Yugi's waist, and his right hand was taken in Yami's left. The taller twirled them around in a waltz, taking Yugi by surprise.
"We dance," Yami answered back simply, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He whirled them around some more, leading the way with the most graceful steps that would make anyone jealous.
Evening turned into night, and the pair's waltzing transformed into a slower dance, the small orchestra back near the mansion wafting through the trees. Yugi smiled as he spotted a couple of lightning bugs floating by, his head resting against Yami's shoulder.
"I knew there was something between us, Yugi," Yami whispered to him, "Told you," he added, with a small teasing tone that had Yugi smiling silently.
Yes, something had brought them together, he was sure of it. And as mushy as it sounded to Yugi, he knew that it was true, and he was suddenly glad for filling out an application for cleaning a mansion everyday. Yami had certainly made this experience a full blown fantasy.
Lifting his head from Yami's shoulder, he gained the other's attention easily, and they both appeared to have the same idea.
"Thank you."
"I love you."
Yami had cupped his face softly, and like in any fairy tale, this story ended with a kiss.
A/N: Wow. Totally amped up the mushy lovey-dovey romance there. And ((gasp)) twenty-six pages this time. I think I may pass out. Yeah, so originally, I was going to have them go back to the party and dance, but then decided, hey, they're together, alone in a pretty sanctuary, and since it's a fairy tale, I'd like to think that everything would work out on it's own, right? Anyway, I hope this ending worked, and that everyone enjoyed it in its long entirety. Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment! | <urn:uuid:bca998a2-e7c8-4fda-a4c8-5851f5b6fc9f> | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5904955/2/Fantasy | en | 0.993678 | 0.176222 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Disclaimer: Being the self-centered, avaricious doctor that I am, I would love to make a fortune from this. Frankly, Meditations of a Galactic Castaway is not selling well enough to keep me in the manner to which I have become accustomed. Howsomever, since I am merely a reluctant stowaway and don't own any part of the Jupiter 2 mission, that is unfortunately impossible. I will have to settle for antagonizing Major West in this little tale for the mere pleasure of it.
What's To Become Of Doctor Smith?
Chapter 1: Alone
Slowly the doctor's mind wandered back to vague awareness. It took a few moments before he regained his bearings. He was in his own bed and the last hazy memory he could recall was of Mrs. Robinson placing a cold, damp cloth on his feverish brow. He brought a hand to his forehead and discovered the cloth still there. Removing it, he slowly swung his legs over the side of the bed and glanced toward the half-open door and the darkness beyond.
Hesitantly he called out, "Mrs. Robinson? Your patient is awake. I believe my fever has broken."
No response came. Doctor Smith's brow furrowed as an unsettling feeling came over him. It was uncharacteristically quiet. It was then he noticed that the familiar thrumming of the engines was gone. Must have landed while I was unconscious, he thought to himself. He stood and stumbled to the door, steadying himself against the wall.
"Mrs. Robinson?" He poked his head out the door cautiously and caught something out of the corner of his eye. As he turned his head to see, a small yelp involuntarily escaped his lips. It took a moment for Smith's eyes to recognize the large, dark shadow before him as that of the Robot.
"What are you doing there, ninny! You nearly frightened me to death!"
As soon as Smith said the words, he instinctively knew there wouldn't be a response. He stepped toward the Robot and ran his hand over the dead lights and panels, along the smooth metallic side to where the power pack should be. It was there. The doctor's mind puzzled briefly, until a whiff of acrid smoke teased his nostrils. The familiar smell told him his mechanical friend would most likely not be responding to anything anytime soon.
"Oh, dear," Smith worried aloud. "What happened to you?"
He fumbled around for a few moments until he found the controls for the lights, then inspected the damage to the Robot. Smith's brows raised in alarm as he spotted the tell tale scorch marks of a laser blast.
Smith whirled around. "Will? Penny!" he called as he frantically searched the living quarters for signs of his companions. "Judy?" Finding nobody, he ran to the ladder and climbed to the upper level. "Professor? Major!" As he turned to step onto the deck, he gasped at the scorch marks etched into the floor and walls of the ship. He slowly made his way around the astrogator, his eyes darting left and right, alert for any lingering danger.
He walked toward the open hatch, stopping a few feet from the threshold. Fidgeting with his hands, he stared meekly out into the blackness as his inner coward warred with an urgent sense of concern. A cool night breeze blew in from outside and the conflicted doctor shivered. "I don't like this," he muttered. "I don't like this one bit."
It took a few moments, but concern won out and Doctor Smith took a few reluctant steps outside. Then a few more, until he could see the signs of an unwilling exodus in the dirt around the ship. He followed the tracks as far as his meager courage could take him. Out of sheer desperation, he called out the names of his missing companions several times before both his courage and strength failed him.
Smith hastily retreated to the warmth of the Jupiter 2 and locked the ship up tight. He retired to the familiar safety of the galley and made a cup of tea to calm his nerves. As his trembling hand brought the cup to his lips, he lamented, "I'm all alone."
The Doctor's Comments: As you might imagine, sitting in front of a keyboard for hours on end aggravates my delicate back. With the proper motivation, including a kind review or two, I may be inclined to sacrifice my comfort in order to tell the remainder of this tale. The occasional stroke to my enormous ego wouldn't be remiss either. | <urn:uuid:e769fb36-4f1b-4091-93be-4c61abc81749> | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7866149/1/What-s-To-Become-Of-Dr-Smith | en | 0.987086 | 0.037908 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Artificial intelligence
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence exhibited by machines or software, and the branch of computer science that develops machines and software with human-like intelligence. Major AI researchers and textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents",[1] where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success.[2] John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1955,[3] defines it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines".[4]
The central problems (or goals) of AI research include reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, natural language processing (communication), perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects.[6] General intelligence (or "strong AI") is still among the field's long term goals.[7] Currently popular approaches include statistical methods, computational intelligence and traditional symbolic AI. There are an enormous number of tools used in AI, including versions of search and mathematical optimization, logic, methods based on probability and economics, and many others.
The field was founded on the claim that a central property of humans, intelligence—the sapience of Homo sapiens—can be sufficiently well described to the extent that it can be simulated by a machine.[8] This raises philosophical issues about the nature of the mind and the ethics of creating artificial beings endowed with human-like intelligence, issues which have been addressed by myth, fiction and philosophy since antiquity.[9] Artificial intelligence has been the subject of tremendous optimism[10] but has also suffered stunning setbacks.[11] Today it has become an essential part of the technology industry and defines many challenging problems at the forefront of research in computer science.[12]
Thinking machines and artificial beings appear in Greek myths, such as Talos of Crete, the bronze robot of Hephaestus, and Pygmalion's Galatea.[13] Human likenesses believed to have intelligence were built in every major civilization: animated cult images were worshiped in Egypt and Greece[14] and humanoid automatons were built by Yan Shi, Hero of Alexandria and Al-Jazari.[15] It was also widely believed that artificial beings had been created by Jābir ibn Hayyān, Judah Loew and Paracelsus.[16] By the 19th and 20th centuries, artificial beings had become a common feature in fiction, as in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or Karel Čapek's R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots).[17] Pamela McCorduck argues that all of these are examples of an ancient urge, as she describes it, "to forge the gods".[9] Stories of these creatures and their fates discuss many of the same hopes, fears and ethical concerns that are presented by artificial intelligence.
Mechanical or "formal" reasoning has been developed by philosophers and mathematicians since antiquity. The study of logic led directly to the invention of the programmable digital electronic computer, based on the work of mathematician Alan Turing and others. Turing's theory of computation suggested that a machine, by shuffling symbols as simple as "0" and "1", could simulate any conceivable act of mathematical deduction.[18][19] This, along with concurrent discoveries in neurology, information theory and cybernetics, inspired a small group of researchers to begin to seriously consider the possibility of building an electronic brain.[20]
The field of AI research was founded at a conference on the campus of Dartmouth College in the summer of 1956.[21] The attendees, including John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Allen Newell and Herbert Simon, became the leaders of AI research for many decades.[22] They and their students wrote programs that were, to most people, simply astonishing:[23] Computers were solving word problems in algebra, proving logical theorems and speaking English.[24] By the middle of the 1960s, research in the U.S. was heavily funded by the Department of Defense[25] and laboratories had been established around the world.[26] AI's founders were profoundly optimistic about the future of the new field: Herbert Simon predicted that "machines will be capable, within twenty years, of doing any work a man can do" and Marvin Minsky agreed, writing that "within a generation ... the problem of creating 'artificial intelligence' will substantially be solved".[27]
They had failed to recognize the difficulty of some of the problems they faced.[28] In 1974, in response to the criticism of Sir James Lighthill and ongoing pressure from the US Congress to fund more productive projects, both the U.S. and British governments cut off all undirected exploratory research in AI. The next few years would later be called an "AI winter",[29] a period when funding for AI projects was hard to find.
In the early 1980s, AI research was revived by the commercial success of expert systems,[30] a form of AI program that simulated the knowledge and analytical skills of one or more human experts. By 1985 the market for AI had reached over a billion dollars. At the same time, Japan's fifth generation computer project inspired the U.S and British governments to restore funding for academic research in the field.[31] However, beginning with the collapse of the Lisp Machine market in 1987, AI once again fell into disrepute, and a second, longer lasting AI winter began.[32]
In the 1990s and early 21st century, AI achieved its greatest successes, albeit somewhat behind the scenes. Artificial intelligence is used for logistics, data mining, medical diagnosis and many other areas throughout the technology industry.[12] The success was due to several factors: the increasing computational power of computers (see Moore's law), a greater emphasis on solving specific subproblems, the creation of new ties between AI and other fields working on similar problems, and a new commitment by researchers to solid mathematical methods and rigorous scientific standards.[33]
On 11 May 1997, Deep Blue became the first computer chess-playing system to beat a reigning world chess champion, Garry Kasparov.[34] In 2005, a Stanford robot won the DARPA Grand Challenge by driving autonomously for 131 miles along an unrehearsed desert trail.[35] Two years later, a team from CMU won the DARPA Urban Challenge when their vehicle autonomously navigated 55 miles in an urban environment while adhering to traffic hazards and all traffic laws.[36] In February 2011, in a Jeopardy! quiz show exhibition match, IBM's question answering system, Watson, defeated the two greatest Jeopardy champions, Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings, by a significant margin.[37] The Kinect, which provides a 3D body–motion interface for the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One, uses algorithms that emerged from lengthy AI research[38] as does the iPhone's Siri.
The general problem of simulating (or creating) intelligence has been broken down into a number of specific sub-problems. These consist of particular traits or capabilities that researchers would like an intelligent system to display. The traits described below have received the most attention.[6]
Deduction, reasoning, problem solving[edit]
Early AI researchers developed algorithms that imitated the step-by-step reasoning that humans use when they solve puzzles or make logical deductions.[39] By the late 1980s and 1990s, AI research had also developed highly successful methods for dealing with uncertain or incomplete information, employing concepts from probability and economics.[40]
For difficult problems, most of these algorithms can require enormous computational resources – most experience a "combinatorial explosion": the amount of memory or computer time required becomes astronomical when the problem goes beyond a certain size. The search for more efficient problem-solving algorithms is a high priority for AI research.[41]
Human beings solve most of their problems using fast, intuitive judgements rather than the conscious, step-by-step deduction that early AI research was able to model.[42] AI has made some progress at imitating this kind of "sub-symbolic" problem solving: embodied agent approaches emphasize the importance of sensorimotor skills to higher reasoning; neural net research attempts to simulate the structures inside the brain that give rise to this skill; statistical approaches to AI mimic the probabilistic nature of the human ability to guess.
Knowledge representation[edit]
Knowledge representation[43] and knowledge engineering[44] are central to AI research. Many of the problems machines are expected to solve will require extensive knowledge about the world. Among the things that AI needs to represent are: objects, properties, categories and relations between objects;[45] situations, events, states and time;[46] causes and effects;[47] knowledge about knowledge (what we know about what other people know);[48] and many other, less well researched domains. A representation of "what exists" is an ontology: the set of objects, relations, concepts and so on that the machine knows about. The most general are called upper ontologies, which attempt to provide a foundation for all other knowledge.[49]
Among the most difficult problems in knowledge representation are:
Default reasoning and the qualification problem
The breadth of commonsense knowledge
The number of atomic facts that the average person knows is astronomical. Research projects that attempt to build a complete knowledge base of commonsense knowledge (e.g., Cyc) require enormous amounts of laborious ontological engineering — they must be built, by hand, one complicated concept at a time.[52] A major goal is to have the computer understand enough concepts to be able to learn by reading from sources like the internet, and thus be able to add to its own ontology.[citation needed]
The subsymbolic form of some commonsense knowledge
Much of what people know is not represented as "facts" or "statements" that they could express verbally. For example, a chess master will avoid a particular chess position because it "feels too exposed"[53] or an art critic can take one look at a statue and instantly realize that it is a fake.[54] These are intuitions or tendencies that are represented in the brain non-consciously and sub-symbolically.[55] Knowledge like this informs, supports and provides a context for symbolic, conscious knowledge. As with the related problem of sub-symbolic reasoning, it is hoped that situated AI, computational intelligence, or statistical AI will provide ways to represent this kind of knowledge.[55]
A hierarchical control system is a form of control system in which a set of devices and governing software is arranged in a hierarchy.
Intelligent agents must be able to set goals and achieve them.[56] They need a way to visualize the future (they must have a representation of the state of the world and be able to make predictions about how their actions will change it) and be able to make choices that maximize the utility (or "value") of the available choices.[57]
In classical planning problems, the agent can assume that it is the only thing acting on the world and it can be certain what the consequences of its actions may be.[58] However, if the agent is not the only actor, it must periodically ascertain whether the world matches its predictions and it must change its plan as this becomes necessary, requiring the agent to reason under uncertainty.[59]
Machine learning is the study of computer algorithms that improve automatically through experience[61][62] and has been central to AI research since the field's inception.[63]
Unsupervised learning is the ability to find patterns in a stream of input. Supervised learning includes both classification and numerical regression. Classification is used to determine what category something belongs in, after seeing a number of examples of things from several categories. Regression is the attempt to produce a function that describes the relationship between inputs and outputs and predicts how the outputs should change as the inputs change. In reinforcement learning[64] the agent is rewarded for good responses and punished for bad ones. These can be analyzed in terms of decision theory, using concepts like utility. The mathematical analysis of machine learning algorithms and their performance is a branch of theoretical computer science known as computational learning theory.[65]
Within developmental robotics, developmental learning approaches were elaborated for lifelong cumulative acquisition of repertoires of novel skills by a robot, through autonomous self-exploration and social interaction with human teachers, and using guidance mechanisms such as active learning, maturation, motor synergies, and imitation.[66][67][68][69]
Natural language processing (communication)[edit]
A parse tree represents the syntactic structure of a sentence according to some formal grammar.
A common method of processing and extracting meaning from natural language is through semantic indexing. Increases in processing speeds and the drop in the cost of data storage makes indexing large volumes of abstractions of the users input much more efficient.
Machine perception[72] is the ability to use input from sensors (such as cameras, microphones, tactile sensors, sonar and others more exotic) to deduce aspects of the world. Computer vision[73] is the ability to analyze visual input. A few selected subproblems are speech recognition,[74] facial recognition and object recognition.[75]
Motion and manipulation[edit]
The field of robotics[76] is closely related to AI. Intelligence is required for robots to be able to handle such tasks as object manipulation[77] and navigation, with sub-problems of localization (knowing where you are, or finding out where other things are), mapping (learning what is around you, building a map of the environment), and motion planning (figuring out how to get there) or path planning (going from one point in space to another point, which may involve compliant motion - where the robot moves while maintaining physical contact with an object).[78][79]
Long-term goals[edit]
Among the long-term goals in the research pertaining to artificial intelligence are; (1) Social intelligence, (2) Creativity, and (3) General intelligence.
Social intelligence[edit]
Kismet, a robot with rudimentary social skills[80]
Affective computing is the study and development of systems and devices that can recognize, interpret, process, and simulate human affects.[81][82] It is an interdisciplinary field spanning computer sciences, psychology, and cognitive science.[83] While the origins of the field may be traced as far back as to early philosophical inquiries into emotion,[84] the more modern branch of computer science originated with Rosalind Picard's 1995 paper[85] on affective computing.[86][87] A motivation for the research is the ability to simulate empathy. The machine should interpret the emotional state of humans and adapt its behaviour to them, giving an appropriate response for those emotions.
Emotion and social skills[88] play two roles for an intelligent agent. First, it must be able to predict the actions of others, by understanding their motives and emotional states. (This involves elements of game theory, decision theory, as well as the ability to model human emotions and the perceptual skills to detect emotions.) Also, in an effort to facilitate human-computer interaction, an intelligent machine might want to be able to display emotions—even if it does not actually experience them itself—in order to appear sensitive to the emotional dynamics of human interaction.
A sub-field of AI addresses creativity both theoretically (from a philosophical and psychological perspective) and practically (via specific implementations of systems that generate outputs that can be considered creative, or systems that identify and assess creativity). Related areas of computational research are Artificial intuition and Artificial thinking.
General intelligence[edit]
Many researchers think that their work will eventually be incorporated into a machine with general intelligence (known as strong AI), combining all the skills above and exceeding human abilities at most or all of them.[7] A few believe that anthropomorphic features like artificial consciousness or an artificial brain may be required for such a project.[89][90]
Many of the problems above may require general intelligence to be considered solved. For example, even a straightforward, specific task like machine translation requires that the machine read and write in both languages (NLP), follow the author's argument (reason), know what is being talked about (knowledge), and faithfully reproduce the author's intention (social intelligence). A problem like machine translation is considered "AI-complete". In order to solve this particular problem, you must solve all the problems.[91]
There is no established unifying theory or paradigm that guides AI research. Researchers disagree about many issues.[92] A few of the most long standing questions that have remained unanswered are these: should artificial intelligence simulate natural intelligence by studying psychology or neurology? Or is human biology as irrelevant to AI research as bird biology is to aeronautical engineering?[93] Can intelligent behavior be described using simple, elegant principles (such as logic or optimization)? Or does it necessarily require solving a large number of completely unrelated problems?[94] Can intelligence be reproduced using high-level symbols, similar to words and ideas? Or does it require "sub-symbolic" processing?[95] John Haugeland, who coined the term GOFAI (Good Old-Fashioned Artificial Intelligence), also proposed that AI should more properly be referred to as synthetic intelligence,[96] a term which has since been adopted by some non-GOFAI researchers.[97][98]
Cybernetics and brain simulation[edit]
When access to digital computers became possible in the middle 1950s, AI research began to explore the possibility that human intelligence could be reduced to symbol manipulation. The research was centered in three institutions: Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford and MIT, and each one developed its own style of research. John Haugeland named these approaches to AI "good old fashioned AI" or "GOFAI".[99] During the 1960s, symbolic approaches had achieved great success at simulating high-level thinking in small demonstration programs. Approaches based on cybernetics or neural networks were abandoned or pushed into the background.[100] Researchers in the 1960s and the 1970s were convinced that symbolic approaches would eventually succeed in creating a machine with artificial general intelligence and considered this the goal of their field.
Cognitive simulation
Unlike Newell and Simon, John McCarthy felt that machines did not need to simulate human thought, but should instead try to find the essence of abstract reasoning and problem solving, regardless of whether people used the same algorithms.[93] His laboratory at Stanford (SAIL) focused on using formal logic to solve a wide variety of problems, including knowledge representation, planning and learning.[103] Logic was also the focus of the work at the University of Edinburgh and elsewhere in Europe which led to the development of the programming language Prolog and the science of logic programming.[104]
"Anti-logic" or "scruffy"
Researchers at MIT (such as Marvin Minsky and Seymour Papert)[105] found that solving difficult problems in vision and natural language processing required ad-hoc solutions – they argued that there was no simple and general principle (like logic) that would capture all the aspects of intelligent behavior. Roger Schank described their "anti-logic" approaches as "scruffy" (as opposed to the "neat" paradigms at CMU and Stanford).[94] Commonsense knowledge bases (such as Doug Lenat's Cyc) are an example of "scruffy" AI, since they must be built by hand, one complicated concept at a time.[106]
When computers with large memories became available around 1970, researchers from all three traditions began to build knowledge into AI applications.[107] This "knowledge revolution" led to the development and deployment of expert systems (introduced by Edward Feigenbaum), the first truly successful form of AI software.[30] The knowledge revolution was also driven by the realization that enormous amounts of knowledge would be required by many simple AI applications.
Bottom-up, embodied, situated, behavior-based or nouvelle AI
Computational intelligence
Interest in neural networks and "connectionism" was revived by David Rumelhart and others in the middle 1980s.[109] These and other sub-symbolic approaches, such as fuzzy systems and evolutionary computation, are now studied collectively by the emerging discipline of computational intelligence.[110]
In the 1990s, AI researchers developed sophisticated mathematical tools to solve specific subproblems. These tools are truly scientific, in the sense that their results are both measurable and verifiable, and they have been responsible for many of AI's recent successes. The shared mathematical language has also permitted a high level of collaboration with more established fields (like mathematics, economics or operations research). Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig describe this movement as nothing less than a "revolution" and "the victory of the neats."[33] Critics argue that these techniques are too focused on particular problems and have failed to address the long term goal of general intelligence.[111] There is an ongoing debate about the relevance and validity of statistical approaches in AI, exemplified in part by exchanges between Peter Norvig and Noam Chomsky.[112][113]
Integrating the approaches[edit]
Intelligent agent paradigm
An intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions which maximize its chances of success. The simplest intelligent agents are programs that solve specific problems. More complicated agents include human beings and organizations of human beings (such as firms). The paradigm gives researchers license to study isolated problems and find solutions that are both verifiable and useful, without agreeing on one single approach. An agent that solves a specific problem can use any approach that works – some agents are symbolic and logical, some are sub-symbolic neural networks and others may use new approaches. The paradigm also gives researchers a common language to communicate with other fields—such as decision theory and economics—that also use concepts of abstract agents. The intelligent agent paradigm became widely accepted during the 1990s.[2]
Agent architectures and cognitive architectures
Researchers have designed systems to build intelligent systems out of interacting intelligent agents in a multi-agent system.[114] A system with both symbolic and sub-symbolic components is a hybrid intelligent system, and the study of such systems is artificial intelligence systems integration. A hierarchical control system provides a bridge between sub-symbolic AI at its lowest, reactive levels and traditional symbolic AI at its highest levels, where relaxed time constraints permit planning and world modelling.[115] Rodney Brooks' subsumption architecture was an early proposal for such a hierarchical system.[116]
Search and optimization[edit]
Many problems in AI can be solved in theory by intelligently searching through many possible solutions:[117] Reasoning can be reduced to performing a search. For example, logical proof can be viewed as searching for a path that leads from premises to conclusions, where each step is the application of an inference rule.[118] Planning algorithms search through trees of goals and subgoals, attempting to find a path to a target goal, a process called means-ends analysis.[119] Robotics algorithms for moving limbs and grasping objects use local searches in configuration space.[77] Many learning algorithms use search algorithms based on optimization.this is a very important conceptual technology
Simple exhaustive searches[120] are rarely sufficient for most real world problems: the search space (the number of places to search) quickly grows to astronomical numbers. The result is a search that is too slow or never completes. The solution, for many problems, is to use "heuristics" or "rules of thumb" that eliminate choices that are unlikely to lead to the goal (called "pruning the search tree"). Heuristics supply the program with a "best guess" for the path on which the solution lies.[121] Heuristics limit the search for solutions into a smaller sample size.[78]
Evolutionary computation uses a form of optimization search. For example, they may begin with a population of organisms (the guesses) and then allow them to mutate and recombine, selecting only the fittest to survive each generation (refining the guesses). Forms of evolutionary computation include swarm intelligence algorithms (such as ant colony or particle swarm optimization)[123] and evolutionary algorithms (such as genetic algorithms, gene expression programming, and genetic programming).[124]
Logic[125] is used for knowledge representation and problem solving, but it can be applied to other problems as well. For example, the satplan algorithm uses logic for planning[126] and inductive logic programming is a method for learning.[127]
Several different forms of logic are used in AI research. Propositional or sentential logic[128] is the logic of statements which can be true or false. First-order logic[129] also allows the use of quantifiers and predicates, and can express facts about objects, their properties, and their relations with each other. Fuzzy logic,[130] is a version of first-order logic which allows the truth of a statement to be represented as a value between 0 and 1, rather than simply True (1) or False (0). Fuzzy systems can be used for uncertain reasoning and have been widely used in modern industrial and consumer product control systems. Subjective logic[131] models uncertainty in a different and more explicit manner than fuzzy-logic: a given binomial opinion satisfies belief + disbelief + uncertainty = 1 within a Beta distribution. By this method, ignorance can be distinguished from probabilistic statements that an agent makes with high confidence.
Default logics, non-monotonic logics and circumscription[51] are forms of logic designed to help with default reasoning and the qualification problem. Several extensions of logic have been designed to handle specific domains of knowledge, such as: description logics;[45] situation calculus, event calculus and fluent calculus (for representing events and time);[46] causal calculus;[47] belief calculus; and modal logics.[48]
Probabilistic methods for uncertain reasoning[edit]
Bayesian networks[133] are a very general tool that can be used for a large number of problems: reasoning (using the Bayesian inference algorithm),[134] learning (using the expectation-maximization algorithm),[135] planning (using decision networks)[136] and perception (using dynamic Bayesian networks).[137] Probabilistic algorithms can also be used for filtering, prediction, smoothing and finding explanations for streams of data, helping perception systems to analyze processes that occur over time (e.g., hidden Markov models or Kalman filters).[137]
A key concept from the science of economics is "utility": a measure of how valuable something is to an intelligent agent. Precise mathematical tools have been developed that analyze how an agent can make choices and plan, using decision theory, decision analysis,[138] information value theory.[57] These tools include models such as Markov decision processes,[139] dynamic decision networks,[137] game theory and mechanism design.[140]
Classifiers and statistical learning methods[edit]
A classifier can be trained in various ways; there are many statistical and machine learning approaches. The most widely used classifiers are the neural network,[142] kernel methods such as the support vector machine,[143] k-nearest neighbor algorithm,[144] Gaussian mixture model,[145] naive Bayes classifier,[146] and decision tree.[147] The performance of these classifiers have been compared over a wide range of tasks. Classifier performance depends greatly on the characteristics of the data to be classified. There is no single classifier that works best on all given problems; this is also referred to as the "no free lunch" theorem. Determining a suitable classifier for a given problem is still more an art than science.[148]
Neural networks[edit]
The study of artificial neural networks[142] began in the decade before the field AI research was founded, in the work of Walter Pitts and Warren McCullough. Other important early researchers were Frank Rosenblatt, who invented the perceptron and Paul Werbos who developed the backpropagation algorithm.[149]
The main categories of networks are acyclic or feedforward neural networks (where the signal passes in only one direction) and recurrent neural networks (which allow feedback). Among the most popular feedforward networks are perceptrons, multi-layer perceptrons and radial basis networks.[150] Among recurrent networks, the most famous is the Hopfield net, a form of attractor network, which was first described by John Hopfield in 1982.[151] Neural networks can be applied to the problem of intelligent control (for robotics) or learning, using such techniques as Hebbian learning and competitive learning.[152]
Hierarchical temporal memory is an approach that models some of the structural and algorithmic properties of the neocortex.[153]
Control theory[edit]
Control theory, the grandchild of cybernetics, has many important applications, especially in robotics.[154]
AI researchers have developed several specialized languages for AI research, including Lisp[155] and Prolog.[156]
Evaluating progress[edit]
One classification for outcomes of an AI test is:[159]
1. Optimal: it is not possible to perform better.
2. Strong super-human: performs better than all humans.
3. Super-human: performs better than most humans.
4. Sub-human: performs worse than most humans.
For example, performance at draughts (i.e. checkers) is optimal,[160] performance at chess is super-human and nearing strong super-human (see computer chess: computers versus human) and performance at many everyday tasks (such as recognizing a face or crossing a room without bumping into something) is sub-human.
A quite different approach measures machine intelligence through tests which are developed from mathematical definitions of intelligence. Examples of these kinds of tests start in the late nineties devising intelligence tests using notions from Kolmogorov complexity and data compression.[161] Two major advantages of mathematical definitions are their applicability to nonhuman intelligences and their absence of a requirement for human testers.
An area that artificial intelligence had contributed greatly to is Intrusion detection.[162]
An automated online assistant providing customer service on a web page – one of many very primitive applications of artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence techniques are pervasive and are too numerous to list. Frequently, when a technique reaches mainstream use, it is no longer considered artificial intelligence; this phenomenon is described as the AI effect.[164]
Competitions and prizes[edit]
There are a number of competitions and prizes to promote research in artificial intelligence. The main areas promoted are: general machine intelligence, conversational behavior, data-mining, robotic cars, robot soccer and games.
A platform (or "computing platform") is defined as "some sort of hardware architecture or software framework (including application frameworks), that allows software to run." As Rodney Brooks[165] pointed out many years ago, it is not just the artificial intelligence software that defines the AI features of the platform, but rather the actual platform itself that affects the AI that results, i.e., there needs to be work in AI problems on real-world platforms rather than in isolation.
A wide variety of platforms has allowed different aspects of AI to develop, ranging from expert systems, albeit PC-based but still an entire real-world system, to various robot platforms such as the widely available Roomba with open interface.[166]
Turing's "polite convention"
We need not decide if a machine can "think"; we need only decide if a machine can act as intelligently as a human being. This approach to the philosophical problems associated with artificial intelligence forms the basis of the Turing test.[157]
The Dartmouth proposal
"Every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it." This conjecture was printed in the proposal for the Dartmouth Conference of 1956, and represents the position of most working AI researchers.[168]
Newell and Simon's physical symbol system hypothesis
"A physical symbol system has the necessary and sufficient means of general intelligent action." Newell and Simon argue that intelligences consist of formal operations on symbols.[169] Hubert Dreyfus argued that, on the contrary, human expertise depends on unconscious instinct rather than conscious symbol manipulation and on having a "feel" for the situation rather than explicit symbolic knowledge. (See Dreyfus' critique of AI.)[170][171]
Gödel's incompleteness theorem
A formal system (such as a computer program) cannot prove all true statements.[172] Roger Penrose is among those who claim that Gödel's theorem limits what machines can do. (See The Emperor's New Mind.)[173]
Searle's strong AI hypothesis
"The appropriately programmed computer with the right inputs and outputs would thereby have a mind in exactly the same sense human beings have minds."[174] John Searle counters this assertion with his Chinese room argument, which asks us to look inside the computer and try to find where the "mind" might be.[175]
The artificial brain argument
Predictions and ethics[edit]
Artificial intelligence is a common topic in both science fiction and projections about the future of technology and society. The existence of an artificial intelligence that rivals human intelligence raises difficult ethical issues, and the potential power of the technology inspires both hopes and fears.
In fiction, artificial intelligence has appeared fulfilling many roles.
These include:
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein considers a key issue in the ethics of artificial intelligence: if a machine can be created that has intelligence, could it also feel? If it can feel, does it have the same rights as a human? The idea also appears in modern science fiction, including the films I Robot, Blade Runner and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, in which humanoid machines have the ability to feel human emotions. This issue, now known as "robot rights", is currently being considered by, for example, California's Institute for the Future, although many critics believe that the discussion is premature.[176] The subject is profoundly discussed in the 2010 documentary film Plug & Pray.[177]
Martin Ford, author of The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future,[178] and others argue that specialized artificial intelligence applications, robotics and other forms of automation will ultimately result in significant unemployment as machines begin to match and exceed the capability of workers to perform most routine and repetitive jobs. Ford predicts that many knowledge-based occupations—and in particular entry level jobs—will be increasingly susceptible to automation via expert systems, machine learning[179] and other AI-enhanced applications. AI-based applications may also be used to amplify the capabilities of low-wage offshore workers, making it more feasible to outsource knowledge work.[180]
Joseph Weizenbaum wrote that AI applications can not, by definition, successfully simulate genuine human empathy and that the use of AI technology in fields such as customer service or psychotherapy[181] was deeply misguided. Weizenbaum was also bothered that AI researchers (and some philosophers) were willing to view the human mind as nothing more than a computer program (a position now known as computationalism). To Weizenbaum these points suggest that AI research devalues human life.[182]
Many futurists believe that artificial intelligence will ultimately transcend the limits of progress. Ray Kurzweil has used Moore's law (which describes the relentless exponential improvement in digital technology) to calculate that desktop computers will have the same processing power as human brains by the year 2029. He also predicts that by 2045 artificial intelligence will reach a point where it is able to improve itself at a rate that far exceeds anything conceivable in the past, a scenario that science fiction writer Vernor Vinge named the "singularity".[183]
Robot designer Hans Moravec, cyberneticist Kevin Warwick and inventor Ray Kurzweil have predicted that humans and machines will merge in the future into cyborgs that are more capable and powerful than either.[184] This idea, called transhumanism, which has roots in Aldous Huxley and Robert Ettinger, has been illustrated in fiction as well, for example in the manga Ghost in the Shell and the science-fiction series Dune. In the 1980s artist Hajime Sorayama's Sexy Robots series were painted and published in Japan depicting the actual organic human form with life-like muscular metallic skins and later "the Gynoids" book followed that was used by or influenced movie makers including George Lucas and other creatives. Sorayama never considered these organic robots to be real part of nature but always unnatural product of the human mind, a fantasy existing in the mind even when realized in actual form. Almost 20 years later, the first AI robotic pet, AIBO, came available as a companion to people. AIBO grew out of Sony's Computer Science Laboratory (CSL). Famed engineer Toshitada Doi is credited as AIBO's original progenitor: in 1994 he had started work on robots with artificial intelligence expert Masahiro Fujita, at CSL. Doi's, friend, the artist Hajime Sorayama, was enlisted to create the initial designs for the AIBO's body. Those designs are now part of the permanent collections of Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian Institution, with later versions of AIBO being used in studies in Carnegie Mellon University. In 2006, AIBO was added into Carnegie Mellon University's "Robot Hall of Fame".
Political scientist Charles T. Rubin believes that AI can be neither designed nor guaranteed to be friendly.[185] He argues that "any sufficiently advanced benevolence may be indistinguishable from malevolence." Humans should not assume machines or robots would treat us favorably, because there is no a priori reason to believe that they would be sympathetic to our system of morality, which has evolved along with our particular biology (which AIs would not share).
Edward Fredkin argues that "artificial intelligence is the next stage in evolution", an idea first proposed by Samuel Butler's "Darwin among the Machines" (1863), and expanded upon by George Dyson in his book of the same name in 1998.[186]
See also[edit]
1. ^ Definition of AI as the study of intelligent agents:
2. ^ a b The intelligent agent paradigm: The definition used in this article, in terms of goals, actions, perception and environment, is due to Russell & Norvig (2003). Other definitions also include knowledge and learning as additional criteria.
3. ^ Although there is some controversy on this point (see Crevier (1993, p. 50)), McCarthy states unequivocally "I came up with the term" in a c|net interview. (Skillings 2006) McCarthy first used the term in the proposal for the Dartmouth conference, which appeared in 1955. (McCarthy et al. 1955)
4. ^ McCarthy's definition of AI:
5. ^ Pamela McCorduck (2004, pp. 424) writes of "the rough shattering of AI in subfields—vision, natural language, decision theory, genetic algorithms, robotics ... and these with own sub-subfield—that would hardly have anything to say to each other."
6. ^ a b This list of intelligent traits is based on the topics covered by the major AI textbooks, including:
7. ^ a b General intelligence (strong AI) is discussed in popular introductions to AI:
8. ^ See the Dartmouth proposal, under Philosophy, below.
9. ^ a b This is a central idea of Pamela McCorduck's Machines Who Think. She writes: "I like to think of artificial intelligence as the scientific apotheosis of a venerable cultural tradition." (McCorduck 2004, p. 34) "Artificial intelligence in one form or another is an idea that has pervaded Western intellectual history, a dream in urgent need of being realized." (McCorduck 2004, p. xviii) "Our history is full of attempts—nutty, eerie, comical, earnest, legendary and real—to make artificial intelligences, to reproduce what is the essential us—bypassing the ordinary means. Back and forth between myth and reality, our imaginations supplying what our workshops couldn't, we have engaged for a long time in this odd form of self-reproduction." (McCorduck 2004, p. 3) She traces the desire back to its Hellenistic roots and calls it the urge to "forge the Gods." (McCorduck 2004, pp. 340–400)
10. ^ The optimism referred to includes the predictions of early AI researchers (see optimism in the history of AI) as well as the ideas of modern transhumanists such as Ray Kurzweil.
11. ^ The "setbacks" referred to include the ALPAC report of 1966, the abandonment of perceptrons in 1970, the Lighthill Report of 1973 and the collapse of the Lisp machine market in 1987.
12. ^ a b AI applications widely used behind the scenes:
13. ^ AI in myth:
14. ^ Cult images as artificial intelligence: These were the first machines to be believed to have true intelligence and consciousness. Hermes Trismegistus expressed the common belief that with these statues, craftsman had reproduced "the true nature of the gods", their sensus and spiritus. McCorduck makes the connection between sacred automatons and Mosaic law (developed around the same time), which expressly forbids the worship of robots (McCorduck 2004, pp. 6–9)
15. ^ Humanoid automata:
Yan Shi:
Hero of Alexandria: Al-Jazari: Wolfgang von Kempelen:
16. ^ Artificial beings:
Jābir ibn Hayyān's Takwin:
Judah Loew's Golem: Paracelsus' Homunculus:
17. ^ AI in early science fiction.
18. ^ This insight, that digital computers can simulate any process of formal reasoning, is known as the Church–Turing thesis.
19. ^ Formal reasoning:
20. ^ a b AI's immediate precursors: See also Cybernetics and early neural networks (in History of artificial intelligence). Among the researchers who laid the foundations of AI were Alan Turing, John von Neumann, Norbert Wiener, Claude Shannon, Warren McCullough, Walter Pitts and Donald Hebb.
21. ^ Dartmouth conference:
• McCorduck 2004, pp. 111–136
• Crevier 1993, pp. 47–49, who writes "the conference is generally recognized as the official birthdate of the new science."
• Russell & Norvig 2003, p. 17, who call the conference "the birth of artificial intelligence."
• NRC 1999, pp. 200–201
22. ^ Hegemony of the Dartmouth conference attendees:
23. ^ Russell and Norvig write "it was astonishing whenever a computer did anything kind of smartish." Russell & Norvig 2003, p. 18
24. ^ "Golden years" of AI (successful symbolic reasoning programs 1956–1973): The programs described are Daniel Bobrow's STUDENT, Newell and Simon's Logic Theorist and Terry Winograd's SHRDLU.
25. ^ DARPA pours money into undirected pure research into AI during the 1960s:
26. ^ AI in England:
27. ^ Optimism of early AI:
28. ^ See The problems (in History of artificial intelligence)
29. ^ First AI Winter, Mansfield Amendment, Lighthill report
30. ^ a b Expert systems:
31. ^ Boom of the 1980s: rise of expert systems, Fifth Generation Project, Alvey, MCC, SCI:
32. ^ Second AI winter:
33. ^ a b Formal methods are now preferred ("Victory of the neats"):
34. ^ McCorduck 2004, pp. 480–483
35. ^ DARPA Grand Challenge – home page
36. ^ "Welcome". Retrieved 31 October 2011.
38. ^ Kinect's AI breakthrough explained
39. ^ Problem solving, puzzle solving, game playing and deduction:
40. ^ Uncertain reasoning:
41. ^ Intractability and efficiency and the combinatorial explosion:
42. ^ Psychological evidence of sub-symbolic reasoning:
43. ^ Knowledge representation:
44. ^ Knowledge engineering:
45. ^ a b Representing categories and relations: Semantic networks, description logics, inheritance (including frames and scripts):
46. ^ a b Representing events and time:Situation calculus, event calculus, fluent calculus (including solving the frame problem):
47. ^ a b Causal calculus:
48. ^ a b Representing knowledge about knowledge: Belief calculus, modal logics:
49. ^ Ontology:
50. ^ Qualification problem: While McCarthy was primarily concerned with issues in the logical representation of actions, Russell & Norvig 2003 apply the term to the more general issue of default reasoning in the vast network of assumptions underlying all our commonsense knowledge.
51. ^ a b Default reasoning and default logic, non-monotonic logics, circumscription, closed world assumption, abduction (Poole et al. places abduction under "default reasoning". Luger et al. places this under "uncertain reasoning"):
52. ^ Breadth of commonsense knowledge:
53. ^ Dreyfus & Dreyfus 1986
54. ^ Gladwell 2005
55. ^ a b Expert knowledge as embodied intuition: Note, however, that recent work in cognitive science challenges the view that there is anything like sub-symbolic human information processing, i.e., human cognition is essentially symbolic regardless of the level and of the consciousness status of the processing:
• Augusto, Luis M. (2013). "Unconscious representations 1: Belying the traditional model of human cognition". Axiomathes. doi:10.1007/s10516-012-9206-z.
• Augusto, Luis M. (2013). "Unconscious representations 2: Towards an integrated cognitive architecture". Axiomathes. doi:10.1007/s10516-012-9207-y.
56. ^ Planning:
57. ^ a b Information value theory:
58. ^ Classical planning:
59. ^ Planning and acting in non-deterministic domains: conditional planning, execution monitoring, replanning and continuous planning:
60. ^ Multi-agent planning and emergent behavior:
61. ^ This is a form of Tom Mitchell's widely quoted definition of machine learning: "A computer program is set to learn from an experience E with respect to some task T and some performance measure P if its performance on T as measured by P improves with experience E."
62. ^ Learning:
63. ^ Alan Turing discussed the centrality of learning as early as 1950, in his classic paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence".(Turing 1950) In 1956, at the original Dartmouth AI summer conference, Ray Solomonoff wrote a report on unsupervised probabilistic machine learning: "An Inductive Inference Machine".(pdf scanned copy of the original) (version published in 1957, An Inductive Inference Machine," IRE Convention Record, Section on Information Theory, Part 2, pp. 56–62)
64. ^ Reinforcement learning:
65. ^ Computational learning theory:
66. ^ Weng, J., McClelland, Pentland, A.,Sporns, O., Stockman, I., Sur, M., and E. Thelen (2001) "Autonomous mental development by robots and animals", Science, vol. 291, pp. 599–600.
67. ^ Lungarella, M., Metta, G., Pfeifer, R. and G. Sandini (2003). "Developmental robotics: a survey". Connection Science, 15:151–190.
68. ^ Asada, M., Hosoda, K., Kuniyoshi, Y., Ishiguro, H., Inui, T., Yoshikawa, Y., Ogino, M. and C. Yoshida (2009) "Cognitive developmental robotics: a survey". IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development, Vol.1, No.1, pp.12--34.
69. ^ Oudeyer, P-Y. (2010) "On the impact of robotics in behavioral and cognitive sciences: from insect navigation to human cognitive development", IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development, 2(1), pp. 2--16.
70. ^ Natural language processing:
71. ^ Applications of natural language processing, including information retrieval (i.e. text mining) and machine translation:
72. ^ Machine perception:
73. ^ Computer vision:
74. ^ Speech recognition:
75. ^ Object recognition:
76. ^ Robotics:
77. ^ a b Moving and configuration space:
78. ^ a b Tecuci, G. (2012). "Artificial intelligence". Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Computational Statistics 4 (2): 168–180. doi:10.1002/wics.200. edit
79. ^ Robotic mapping (localization, etc):
80. ^ "Kismet". MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Humanoid Robotics Group.
81. ^ Thro, Ellen (1993). Robotics. New York.
82. ^ Edelson, Edward (1991). The Nervous System. New York: Remmel Nunn.
85. ^ "Affective Computing" MIT Technical Report #321 (Abstract), 1995
86. ^ Kleine-Cosack, Christian (October 2006). "Recognition and Simulation of Emotions" (PDF). Archived from the original on 28 May 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2008. "The introduction of emotion to computer science was done by Pickard (sic) who created the field of affective computing."
87. ^ Diamond, David (December 2003). "The Love Machine; Building computers that care". Wired. Archived from the original on 18 May 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2008. "Rosalind Picard, a genial MIT professor, is the field's godmother; her 1997 book, Affective Computing, triggered an explosion of interest in the emotional side of computers and their users."
88. ^ Emotion and affective computing:
89. ^ Gerald Edelman, Igor Aleksander and others have both argued that artificial consciousness is required for strong AI. (Aleksander 1995; Edelman 2007)
90. ^ a b Artificial brain arguments: AI requires a simulation of the operation of the human brain A few of the people who make some form of the argument: The most extreme form of this argument (the brain replacement scenario) was put forward by Clark Glymour in the mid-1970s and was touched on by Zenon Pylyshyn and John Searle in 1980.
91. ^ AI complete: Shapiro 1992, p. 9
92. ^ Nils Nilsson writes: "Simply put, there is wide disagreement in the field about what AI is all about" (Nilsson 1983, p. 10).
93. ^ a b Biological intelligence vs. intelligence in general:
• Russell & Norvig 2003, pp. 2–3, who make the analogy with aeronautical engineering.
• McCorduck 2004, pp. 100–101, who writes that there are "two major branches of artificial intelligence: one aimed at producing intelligent behavior regardless of how it was accomplioshed, and the other aimed at modeling intelligent processes found in nature, particularly human ones."
• Kolata 1982, a paper in Science, which describes McCathy's indifference to biological models. Kolata quotes McCarthy as writing: "This is AI, so we don't care if it's psychologically real"[1]. McCarthy recently reiterated his position at the AI@50 conference where he said "Artificial intelligence is not, by definition, simulation of human intelligence" (Maker 2006).
94. ^ a b Neats vs. scruffies:
95. ^ a b Symbolic vs. sub-symbolic AI:
96. ^ Haugeland 1985, p. 255.
97. ^
98. ^ Pei Wang (2008). Artificial general intelligence, 2008: proceedings of the First AGI Conference. IOS Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-58603-833-5. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
99. ^ Haugeland 1985, pp. 112–117
100. ^ The most dramatic case of sub-symbolic AI being pushed into the background was the devastating critique of perceptrons by Marvin Minsky and Seymour Papert in 1969. See History of AI, AI winter, or Frank Rosenblatt.
101. ^ Cognitive simulation, Newell and Simon, AI at CMU (then called Carnegie Tech):
102. ^ Soar (history):
103. ^ McCarthy and AI research at SAIL and SRI International:
104. ^ AI research at Edinburgh and in France, birth of Prolog:
105. ^ AI at MIT under Marvin Minsky in the 1960s :
106. ^ Cyc:
107. ^ Knowledge revolution:
108. ^ Embodied approaches to AI:
109. ^ Revival of connectionism:
110. ^ Computational intelligence
111. ^ Langley, P. (2011). "The changing science of machine learning". Machine Learning 82 (3): 275–279. doi:10.1007/s10994-011-5242-y. edit
112. ^ Yarden Katz, "Noam Chomsky on Where Artificial Intelligence Went Wrong", The Atlantic, November 1, 2012
113. ^ Peter Norvig, "On Chomsky and the Two Cultures of Statistical Learning"
114. ^ Agent architectures, hybrid intelligent systems:
115. ^ Hierarchical control system:
116. ^ Subsumption architecture:
117. ^ Search algorithms:
118. ^ Forward chaining, backward chaining, Horn clauses, and logical deduction as search:
119. ^ State space search and planning:
120. ^ Uninformed searches (breadth first search, depth first search and general state space search):
121. ^ Heuristic or informed searches (e.g., greedy best first and A*):
122. ^ Optimization searches:
123. ^ Artificial life and society based learning:
124. ^ Genetic programming and genetic algorithms:
125. ^ Logic:
126. ^ Satplan:
127. ^ Explanation based learning, relevance based learning, inductive logic programming, case based reasoning:
128. ^ Propositional logic:
129. ^ First-order logic and features such as equality:
130. ^ Fuzzy logic:
131. ^ Subjective logic:
132. ^ Stochastic methods for uncertain reasoning:
133. ^ Bayesian networks:
134. ^ Bayesian inference algorithm:
135. ^ Bayesian learning and the expectation-maximization algorithm:
136. ^ Bayesian decision theory and Bayesian decision networks:
137. ^ a b c Stochastic temporal models: Dynamic Bayesian networks: Hidden Markov model: Kalman filters:
138. ^ decision theory and decision analysis:
139. ^ Markov decision processes and dynamic decision networks:
140. ^ Game theory and mechanism design:
141. ^ Statistical learning methods and classifiers:
142. ^ a b Neural networks and connectionism:
143. ^ kernel methods such as the support vector machine, Kernel methods:
144. ^ K-nearest neighbor algorithm:
145. ^ Gaussian mixture model:
146. ^ Naive Bayes classifier:
147. ^ Decision tree:
148. ^ Classifier performance:
149. ^ Backpropagation:
150. ^ Feedforward neural networks, perceptrons and radial basis networks:
151. ^ Recurrent neural networks, Hopfield nets:
152. ^ Competitive learning, Hebbian coincidence learning, Hopfield networks and attractor networks:
153. ^ Hierarchical temporal memory:
154. ^ Control theory:
155. ^ Lisp:
156. ^ Prolog:
157. ^ a b The Turing test:
Turing's original publication:
Historical influence and philosophical implications:
158. ^ Subject matter expert Turing test:
159. ^ Rajani, Sandeep (2011). "Artificial Intelligence - Man or Machine". International Journal of Information Technology and Knowlede Management 4 (1): 173–176. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
160. ^ Game AI:
161. ^ Mathematical definitions of intelligence:
162. ^
163. ^ O'Brien and Marakas, 2011, Management Information Systems 10th ed.
164. ^ "AI set to exceed human brain power" (web article). CNN. 26 July 2006. Archived from the original on 19 February 2008. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
165. ^ Brooks, R.A., "How to build complete creatures rather than isolated cognitive simulators," in K. VanLehn (ed.), Architectures for Intelligence, pp. 225–239, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, 1991.
166. ^ Hacking Roomba » Search Results » atmel
167. ^ Philosophy of AI. All of these positions in this section are mentioned in standard discussions of the subject, such as:
168. ^ Dartmouth proposal:
169. ^ The physical symbol systems hypothesis:
170. ^ Dreyfus criticized the necessary condition of the physical symbol system hypothesis, which he called the "psychological assumption": "The mind can be viewed as a device operating on bits of information according to formal rules". (Dreyfus 1992, p. 156)
171. ^ Dreyfus' critique of artificial intelligence:
172. ^ This is a paraphrase of the relevant implication of Gödel's theorems.
173. ^ The Mathematical Objection: Making the Mathematical Objection: Refuting Mathematical Objection: Background:
• Gödel 1931, Church 1936, Kleene 1935, Turing 1937
175. ^ Searle's Chinese room argument: Discussion:
176. ^ Robot rights: Prematurity of: In fiction:
177. ^ Independent documentary Plug & Pray, featuring Joseph Weizenbaum and Raymond Kurzweil
178. ^ Ford, Martin R. (2009), The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future, Acculant Publishing, ISBN 978-1448659814. (e-book available free online.)
179. ^ "Machine Learning: A Job Killer?"
180. ^ AI could decrease the demand for human labor:
181. ^ In the early 1970s, Kenneth Colby presented a version of Weizenbaum's ELIZA known as DOCTOR which he promoted as a serious therapeutic tool. (Crevier 1993, pp. 132–144)
182. ^ Joseph Weizenbaum's critique of AI: Weizenbaum (the AI researcher who developed the first chatterbot program, ELIZA) argued in 1976 that the misuse of artificial intelligence has the potential to devalue human life.
183. ^ Technological singularity:
184. ^ Transhumanism:
185. ^ Rubin, Charles (Spring 2003). "Artificial Intelligence and Human Nature". The New Atlantis 1: 88–100.
186. ^ AI as evolution:
AI textbooks[edit]
History of AI[edit]
Other sources[edit]
Further reading[edit]
External links[edit] | <urn:uuid:9c32aad2-0e94-411c-899c-d6ba54f8fe11> | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI | en | 0.916237 | 0.297438 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Seeking Alpha
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While Google Inc. (GOOG) is clearly a fast growing business with amazing potential for advertising revenue, I believe Microsoft (MSFT) has far more long-term staying power than Google.
To put things into perspective, let's imagine that Microsoft never existed. The world of PC computing would be drastically different. In fact I would even wager the growth of the Internet would have been drastically different since Microsoft pioneered many developments in supporting TCP/IP, modem drivers and integrating a web browser into Windows.
Now, if we were to hypothetically assume that Google never existed, what would we be missing? An efficient search algorithm that produces better results than competing search engines and a major push into online keyword advertising.
When looking from my perspective, should Google have a market cap ($118 billion) roughly half that of Microsoft's ($248 billion)?
Of course the Google bulls point to the company’s future potential, but I am never one to bank on guesses. History has shown, with Microsoft being no exception, that it is hard to diversify from a company’s core competency. Yet the market continues to overinflate the value of companies with hot new technology. I believe the market never really learned from the .com days and is still primarily driven by greed. Google’s launch of other services, such as the company’s Instant Messaging product and Google finance page have been subpar at best.
My feeling is that Google has far more vulnerabilities than Microsoft. While Google’s search technology is good for today’s version of the web, there is no telling how it will perform with tomorrow's. The Web continues to adapt to increases in bandwidth. What happens if the majority of sites are powered by interactive Ajax applications and replace the markup code found on most websites?
There are a number of 'what ifs' that can immediately replace Google’s dominance as a search engine leader. I can already give you one situation where Google is struggling with its search technology. Google recently launched a blog search feature, but when compared to blog search leader Technorati, Google’s results were found to be updated less frequently and lacking many of the features found in Technorati’s approach to searching blogs.
Here is a quote from an INC. article about the comparison:
The prototype of Google’s Blog Search went live at midnight on September 14, 2005. Most of Technorati’s work force of about 30 was online, waiting. Sifry spent about half an hour checking it out, then posted a welcome note to his new competitor on his blog, including some friendly trash-talking about all the things Technorati could do that Google couldn’t, such as image finding. Then Sifry went home and got some sleep.
When I look at Microsoft, I see a company that has far less vulnerability than Google. Microsoft has banked on its Operating System technology, but if better technology were to exist, Linux, BEOS, Apple’s OSX etc., it wouldn’t make much of a difference at this point. Microsoft has ingrained the process of using application windows and its file system for organizing information into almost every PC user on the planet.
I believe Microsoft is future-proof at the moment, until the process dramatically changes. Any company that attempts to release an OS with a similar style of accessing and organizing information will not succeed even if the technology is better, since Microsoft enjoys such a comfortable lead.
Google needs to create a unique process -- not just unique technology -- that will future proof the company before I would look at it as a long-term investment.
[Full disclosure: Author is long shares of MSFT]
Source: Google is More Vulnerable than Microsoft (MSFT, GOOG) | <urn:uuid:ba02fc8f-5e85-4b9b-ac65-06c3169e08ac> | http://seekingalpha.com/article/9869-google-is-more-vulnerable-than-microsoft-msft-goog | en | 0.954647 | 0.030807 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
So I created a new user, put in the normal details, said yes to create mailbox, then tried to share with someone. After an hour of battling cached mode etc etc, I thought to check the permissions of someone else.
Normally under exchange advanced, mailbox rights, you would have a bunch of items: administrator anon logon domain admins everyone mail ops SELF etc
But this one only had SELF!
So my question is, why did it fail to add these permissions (I eventually fixed the problem by adding them in myself)?
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3 Answers
up vote 1 down vote accepted
The Exchange server only syncs with AD every few hours. The delay is tuneable. It might just be that it hadn't synced with AD yet, so the full permissions weren't there. You can bounce the server to force a sync, but that's a bit drastic.
I had to set the sync interval down to about 2 hours on the server that I looked after, to get around similar problems.
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The mailbox has not actually been created yet, so inherited security privileges that apply to the mailbox don't show up.
To nudge this process along, get the user to log in to the mailbox or send an email message to it. The permissions will quickly fall into line with what you expect.
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That wasn't the case. I sent 2 test messages, I could login and see them in OWA, but the only perms were SELF (and the one I added). – Joshua D'Alton Aug 19 '11 at 3:02
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You (or the user) need to log in once to the mailbox for the permissions to be created. I am not sure if the OWA login works this way (never tried it), so maybe try via Outlook.
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| <urn:uuid:709a045f-9b27-4bbf-8ccd-12a8b5977e08> | http://serverfault.com/questions/302394/exchange-2003-new-user-and-mailbox-missing-permissions/314973 | en | 0.939474 | 0.047302 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
Is representing user permissions better in the user table or better in its own permissions table?
Permissions in User table
Putting permissions in the user table means making a column for each permission in the user table. An advantage is queries should run faster because no joins are necessary when relating users to user permissions. A disadvantage is that having many permissions columns clutters the user table.
Permissions in Permission table joined to User table with many-to-many relationship
Doing it this way cleanly separates out the permissions from the user table, but requires a join across two tables to access user permissions. Database access might be slower, but database design seems cleaner.
Perhaps keeping permissions in a separate table is better when there are many permissions. What are other considerations in making this decision, and which design is better in various situations?
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up vote 2 down vote accepted
Your first approach is feasible when the number of different roles/permissions is relatively small. For example if you only have two types of users: normal and admin, a separate table looks like an overkill. Single is_admin column is sufficient and simple.
However this approach does not scale once the number of roles exceeds a few. It has several drawbacks:
• user table becomes very "wide" having a lot of empty columns (wasting space)
• adding new role to the system requires altering user table. This is cumbersome and might be time-consuming for large user database
• listing user roles requires enumerating over all columns, as opposed to simple database query.
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Enumerating permissions columns to show all rolls and running ALTAR command on the db - two things I didn't think of. The separate table quickly becomes more desirable. – steampowered Oct 27 '12 at 18:46
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The standard pattern for access control is called Role Based Security. As both the number of users and the number of different types of permissions you need grows, the management of your user-to-permissions links can become increasingly difficult.
For example, if you have five administrators and fifty users, how do you keep the permissions of each group in synch? When one of your users is promoted to an administrator, how many edits do you need to make? The answer is to create two intersections: users-to-roles and roles-to-permissions.
This solution is described (including entity relationship diagram) in my answer to this question.
enter image description here
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This is a robust answer for a more complex application. As @Nurkeiwicz notes, a simple application may not even need a rolls table or permissions table. – steampowered Oct 29 '12 at 17:53
nice diagram, what tool did you use? – dangerousdave Dec 13 '13 at 10:38
@dangerousdave - Sorry for delayed response, I've been out of town. I use Visio with custom smart shapes that I built to use the James Martin ERD visual convention and a custom line pattern that gives it a hand-drawn look. – Joel Brown Dec 16 '13 at 17:16
@Joel - it's very good! – dangerousdave Dec 17 '13 at 18:53
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| <urn:uuid:0896ff14-27b3-446f-b049-6ec1ebfaf249> | http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13102872/better-way-to-represent-user-roles-in-database | en | 0.910811 | 0.198481 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The Free World
A Novel
David Bezmozgis
Free World
Alec Krasnansky stood on the platform of Vienna's Southern Terminal while, all around him, the representatives of Soviet Jewry--from Tallinn to Tashkent--roiled, snarled, and elbowed to deposit their belongings onto the waiting train. His own family roiled among them: his parents, his wife, his nephews, his sister-in-law, and particularly his brother, Karl, worked furiously with the suitcases and duffel bags. He should have been helping them but his attention was drawn farther down the platform by two pretty tourists. One was a brunette, Mediterranean and voluptuous; the other petite and blond--in combination they attested, as though by design, to the scope of the world's beauty and plenitude. Both girls were barefoot, their leather sandals arranged in tidy pairs beside them. Alec traced a line of smooth, tanned skin from heel to calf to thigh, interrupted ultimately by the frayed edge of cutoff blue jeans. Above the cutoff jeans the girls wore thin sleeveless shirts. They sat on their backpacks and leaned casually against each other. Their faces were lovely and vacant. They seemed beyond train schedules and obligations. People sped past them, the Russian circus performed its ludicrous act several meters away, but they paid no attention. Alec assumed they were Americans. He guessed they were intheir early twenties. He was twenty-six, but he could pass for younger. In school and university he had run track and had retained a trim runner's build. He also had his father's dark, wavy hair. From the time Alec was a boy he had been aware of his effect on women. In his presence, they often became exaggerated versions of themselves. The maternal ones became more maternal, the crude ones became cruder, the shy ones shyer. They wanted only that he not make them feel foolish and were grateful when he did not. In his experience, much of what was good in life could be traced to a woman's gratitude.
Looking at the two girls, Alec had to resist the urge to approach them. It could be the simplest thing in the world. He had studied English. He needed only to walk over and say, Hello, are you Americans? And they needed only to respond, Yes.
--Where in America do you live?
--Chicago. And where are you from?
--Riga, Latvia. The Soviet Union.
--How interesting. We have never met anyone from the Soviet Union before. Where are you traveling to?
--No. Is this true?
--Yes, it is true. I am traveling to Chicago.
--Will this be your first time in Chicago?
--Yes, it will be my first time in Chicago. Can you tell me about Chicago?
--Yes, we can tell you about it. Please sit down with us. We will tell you everything about Chicago.
--Thank you.
--You are welcome.
Alec felt Karl's hand on his shoulder.
--What's the matter with you?
--We have seven minutes to finish loading everything onto the train.
He followed Karl back to where their parents were arranging thesuitcases so that Karl and Alec could continue forcing them through the window of the compartment. Near them, an elderly couple sat dejectedly on their bags. Others worked around them, avoiding not only helping them but also looking them in the face. Old people sitting piteously on luggage had become a familiar spectacle.
--I see them, Karl said. Move your ass and if there's time we'll help them.
Alec bent into the remaining pile of suitcases and duffel bags on the platform. Each seemed heavier than the last. For six adults they had twenty articles of luggage crammed with goods destined for the bazaars of Rome: linens, toys, samovars, ballet shoes, nesting dolls, leather Latvian handicrafts, nylon stockings, lacquer boxes, pocketknives, camera equipment, picture books, and opera glasses. One particularly heavy suitcase held Alec's big commercial investment, dozens of symphonic records.
First hefting the bags onto his shoulder and then sliding them along the outside of the train, Alec managed to pass them up to the compartment and into the arms of Polina and Rosa, his and Karl's wives.
Karl turned to the old couple.
--All right, citizens, can we offer you a hand?
The old man rose from his suitcase, stood erect, and answered with the formality of a Party official or university lecturer.
--We would be very obliged to you. If you will allow, my wife has with her a box of chocolates.
--It's not necessary.
--Not even a little something for the children?
Karl's two boys had poked their heads out the compartment window.
--Do as you like. But they're like animals at the zoo. I suggest you mind your fingers.
Alec and Karl shouldered the old people's suitcases and passed them into their compartment. Alec noticed the way the old man looked at Polina.
--This is your wife?
--A true Russian beauty.
--I appreciate the compliment. Though she might disagree. Emigration is not exactly cosmetic.
--Absolutely false. The Russian woman blossoms under toil. The Russian man can drink and fight, but our former country was built on the back of the Russian woman.
--What country wasn't?
--That may be so, but I don't know about other countries. I was a Soviet citizen. To my generation this meant something. We sacrificed our youth, our most productive years, our faith. And in the end they robbed us of everything. This is why it does my heart proud to see your wife. Every Jew should have taken with him a Russian bride. If only to deny them to the alcoholics. I'm an old man, but if the law had allowed, I would have taken ten wives myself. Real Russian women. Because that country couldn't survive five minutes without them.
The old man's wife, the incontrovertible product of shtetl breeding, listened to her husband's speech with spousal indifference. There was nothing, her expression declared, that she hadn't heard him say a hundred times.
--To women, Alec said. When we get to Rome we should drink to it.
Alec helped the old couple onto the car and scrambled up as it began to edge forward. He squeezed past people in the narrow passageway and found his family crammed in with their belongings. Perched on a pile of duffel bags, his father frowned in Alec's direction.
--What were you talking about with that old rooster?
--The greatness of the Russian woman.
--Your favorite subject. You almost missed the train.
Samuil Krasnansky turned his head and considered their circumstances.
--The compartments are half the size.
This was true, Alec thought. Say what you want about the Soviet Union, but the sleeping compartments were bigger.
--You want to go back because of the bigger compartments? Karl asked.
--What do you care about what I want? Samuil said.
Samuil Krasnansky said nothing else between Vienna and Rome. He sat in silence beside his wife and eventually fell asleep.
THE FREE WORLD. Copyright © 2011 by Nada Films, Inc. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:ea89848c-5eef-4178-a42e-98f43eca18b0> | http://us.macmillan.com/BookCustomPage_New.aspx?isbn=9781250002518 | en | 0.98081 | 0.058264 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Race Driver: Grid (PC)
Grid Preview
Ryan Geddes
Codies brushes off the DiRT and hits the road.
Mar 3rd, 2008 - Continuing a trend that started with its 2007 release of DiRT, Codemasters'next racing effort shies away from both strict simulation and broad customization, a direction that places the emphasis on what the company feels the genre has been lacking of late: having fun with race cars.We recently sat down with Codies to view a demo of Grid, the latest project in the works by the same team that developed DiRT. Although they don't name names, part of the Codies'marketing pitch for Grid includes a shot across the grill of the developers of Forza Motorsport 2 and Grand Turismo 5. The former, which owned the hardcore racing space in 2007, is a car collection fest with a deep livery creation system. The latter, due in 2008, is being touted as the king of all racing sims, appealing to die-hard digital gearheads.Grid is being positioned on a different band of the racing spectrum. It's hardcore, but it's not an uptight sim. It has personalization, but not so much that it detracts from the core racing elements. There are cars galore, but you're not trying to catch'em all. It's an attempt to both differentiate the brand as authentic and broaden its appeal to multiple markets.
Watch the paint, mate.
Codemasters describes Grid as a racing game in which you build a career in what's supposed to feel like a persistent worldwide racing realm. You start off as a rookie drive for hire in America, Europe or Japan. As you win races, you'll be able to hire a teammate, create your own unique team identity and build up a small but focused stable of cars. Along the way, you'll attract sponsors and get to know the names of some of the more than 600 AI racers in the game, all of whom you'll have the ability to hire, fire and race against.According to the Codemasters team, building your career in Grid is a non-linear experience. You can start in any region you want and build your reputation and bank account as you progress. At the beginning, you'll work out of a dingy garage. But by the time you've hired a teammate (you can only have one) and racked up sponsorships, your digs will improve to match your status in the industry.But you won't be using your garage for much more than storage. If you're the type who loves to constantly spend your winnings on car upgrades a la Forza and Midnight Club, you'll be disappointed with Grid. The cars you buy are meant to be tuned and groomed to be the best-performing race cars at their level the minute they're delivered. You're a driver, not a mechanic. Aside from changing the paint job, what you see is what you get in Grid's stable of 50 cars.
But that doesn't mean you'll be stuck with stock cars. This ain't NASCAR, after all. We're talking the Aston Martin DBR9, Dodge Viper SRT-10, Mazda 787B and Audi R10 TDI -- the first diesel car ever to win the 24-hour Le Mans. You'll have the opportunity to attempt an Audi repeat, as Grid features a Le Mans race in which a minute represents an hour, resulting in a 24-minute-long race. Next >>
1 | 2 ]
Around the Network - Latest Features - Members - Books - Info | <urn:uuid:76b16a31-2898-4264-9e7d-d6342edf6c96> | http://www.askmen.com/entertainment/pc/Race-Driver-Grid-Pc/preview-1-1.html | en | 0.949836 | 0.052192 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Going All Out For Success
Page 2 of 2
The ultimate go-getters
For most people, these are the guys you've only read about. Guys like Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Warren Buffett, Jack Welch, Michael Jordan, and Wayne Gretzky. They are the best of the best. Nothing and no one stands between them and success. They saw the brass ring and steamrolled their way to success.
The ultimate go-getters have many of the same traits as the winners, but with a few extra characteristics. They are the guys that do whatever it takes to get the big deal and motivate others to do the same to get what they want. They usually develop a little something extra, a spark of greatness that allows them to squeeze the best out of themselves, as well as out of those around them.
Thus, you aren't just competing with them but also with their team. Bill Gates hires the best, brightest and most ambitious people at Microsoft. The result is a company some say is over-competitive. One thing is certain: it is one of the most successful companies of all-time. The same goes for Jack Welch's GE.
hello up there
Whatever your field of activity, the guys at the top — the ones with the real power — are the ultimate go-getters. They may not give off that impression, but that is what they are.
A great place to envision what an ultimate go-getter looks like is in sports. Michael Jordan is considered the greatest basketball player of all-time. The reason he was so successful was his willingness to push himself harder than everybody else. He set the example and practiced as if he were playing a game. Even sick, he blocked out the weakness and still dominated the game.
Reminiscing about the early days of Microsoft, Bill Gates remembers the sleepless nights he used to spend tweaking his programs in order to meet production deadlines. Most people would go to sleep and let the chips fall where they may. Not Bill; he knew what he wanted and did what it took to get it.
what it takes to be #1
To be number 1, you need to become the ultimate go-getter. You need to look fear in the eye and make it blink first. Ultimate go-getters are able to focus on projects with the accuracy of a laser beam. They are willing to work harder than everyone to get things done and achieve their goals. They seize opportunities and can change before change is needed, which means they are always two steps ahead of others.
Go-getters don't leave things to chance; they make their own luck. Go-getters don't do things halfway; they give every attempt their blood, sweat and tears. In their mindset, there is no point in doing something unless it is done meticulously.
Go-getters know that they can't achieve their goals alone and they are able to recruit others in their mission. They plan properly and can execute their plans flawlessly. If a problem does occur they don't get rattled; instead they fix the problem and continue to move forward.
Most importantly, go-getters are passionate about their businesses and they instill this passion into everyone they come in contact with. They understand that their business can always improve and they constantly push to get better.
Finally, they've understood that the road to success has no finish line. Each achievement begets a bigger challenge, and challenge is the spice of life.
get to the top
Now that you've read this, think long and hard about what you want out of your career. Just keep in mind that most of us can handle a little more spice if we are willing to put in the extra effort. If the going gets tough, remember that a champion is one who gets up, even when he can't!
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Special Features | <urn:uuid:8ec5ff79-ad37-466a-915b-c996f7541b6c> | http://www.askmen.com/money/successful/58b_success.html | en | 0.978751 | 0.227372 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Remember the day when those 7-inch Origami UMPCs blundered onto the scene with weak Intel processors overpowered by Microsoft's heavyweight OS? This ViewSonic N01 apparently isn't one of them, though we couldn't fault you for being deceived. Sure it's running XP but it's Intel's 1.1GHz Atom Z510 doing the processing chores beneath a display approximating 6 to 7 inches. Ok, ok, it is a UMPC, regardless of its new MID christening proving once again that any distinction Intel tries to sell has been lost forever as vendors try to distance themselves from a tainted UMPC legacy. But we digress. The N01 MID (prototype, by the looks of it) finds itself stuffed with 1GB of memory, just 10GB of on-board storage, 3G data, and integrated TV tuner with fancy telescoping antenna. We can only assume that ViewSonic's product diversification plans have it dumping the majority of its recently unveiled products into China and India because what they've show so far is not going to impress western tastes.
ViewSonic's N01 MID caught wearing a nasty UMPC disguise | <urn:uuid:b70070a1-3c61-40fb-9185-a96205dbbdb7> | http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/27/viewsonics-n01-mid-caught-wearing-a-nasty-umpc-disguise/ | en | 0.939915 | 0.286311 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
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WillWorkForChocolate's avatar
LADIES- How uncomfortable would you feel if someone you barely knew suddenly began blurting out really inappropriate things?
Asked by WillWorkForChocolate (22598 points ) September 24th, 2010
You’re married, he’s married… out of nowhere, he starts telling you that he really has a thing for you, he thinks you’re incredibly sexy and smart and you turn him on more than anyone else ever has. He says his wife would freak out if she knew how much you turned him on and how badly he wanted you. He wants you desperately and he really wants to see what you look like naked. You barely know him, and he’s coming on pretty damn strong, continually repeating how sexy you are and how much he wants you.
Would you just say “I’m flattered” and blow it off, would you feel mildly uncomfortable, or would it creep you out? I’m at the creeped out point…
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GET UPDATES FROM Samah A. Norquist
Stay the Course on Interfaith Dialogue
Posted: 08/29/11 06:39 PM ET
If all goes according to current reports, some time in September, the Palestinian Authority will submit a resolution declaring statehood to the Security Council of the United Nations. While the United States and possibly other Council members are widely expected to veto the resolution, the PA may take its case to the General Assembly, where the US does not have a veto. A vote in support of the resolution there, while not binding, would pave the way for member nations to recognize a Palestinian state.
This is a highly charged and controversial matter in the U.S., no more so than for two groups, American Jews and Arab-Americans. The pending resolution is already splitting the American Jewish community, with many actively engaged in efforts to secure a US veto of the Security Council resolution, and some arguing that recognition of a Palestinian state could actually advance the peace process. Many Arab-Americans, by contrast, identify with the aspirations for self-determination of the residents of the West Bank and Gaza, a sentiment further fueled by the dramatic developments of the Arab Spring.
This is likely to be a divisive time among U.S. religious and political advocacy organizations working on behalf of both sides. It carries the risk of creating a wedge in what has been a major accomplishment in a different area: the ongoing engagement of these organizations on US interfaith cooperation and religious pluralism. Such a rift would be tragic. Whatever disagreements there may be on foreign policy issues, now more than ever, it is essential that all Americans work together to defeat the forces of hate and intolerance that threaten our core value of religious pluralism and religious liberty
Just recently, the world watched in horror as an episode of sectarian violence rocked Norway. We have seen a number of similar incidents in Europe the bombing of a Danish newspaper that published cartoons deliberately insulting to the Prophet Mohammed, synagogue bombings, and now the murder of the sons and daughters of members of a political party perceived to be working for religious tolerance. We can breathe a sigh of relief that this sort of violence has not arrived on US shores, but we can in no way consider ourselves immune. Indeed, the escalating war of words here directed at disfavored religious ethnic and religious minorities carries with it the risk that loan wolves or extremist factions may escalate from agitation to action.
Groups like the Anti-Defamation League, the Arab American Institute, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, and others have a long history of countering this sort of violent extremism. Through educational and community-building projects around the country, they have fostered positive interfaith encounters, educated young people and teachers and built critical personal and organizational bridges. Now, they must be vigilant. They cannot permit themselves to be pulled by the views of members who may try to hold hostage their essential anti-bias mission to the debate on Palestinian statehood. This would be a good time for those on all sides to recognize that there are areas where we must agree to disagree. What unites us, whatever our religious or ethnic heritage, is a common commitment to protect the free exercise of religion by all Americans, and by the need to build bridges among people of many diverse backgrounds to build a strong, inclusive nation. | <urn:uuid:e63fc313-5166-4466-a6ac-dfe03f756ff9> | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/meryl-chertoff/stay-the-course-on-interf_b_941037.html | en | 0.952834 | 0.026554 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
One new popular Inwood playground is being bombarded on a daily basis by foul balls from the ball field next door.
The Indian Playground, inside Inwood Hill Park, is an accident waiting to happen, some parents believe.
They fear their children could get hurt by the constant overhead hazards. "My husband got grazed in his arm by a fastball the other day. Thank goodness he didn't have our two-year-old in his arms," said Ann Colby.
PIX11 News notified Council Member Robert Jackson's office about the problem. "If there are, in fact, several balls going over the fence, that needs to be addressed immediately," said Jackson.
A fence already divides the ball field from the new playground but some parents say it's not high enough. "It should be higher, it's a simple solution," said Greg Fuchs, who was having a picnic in the playground with his three-year-old son, Lucas.
The Parks Department tells PIX11 News it promises to send a staffer to the playground next week to evaluate the situation and estimate how much installing a new higher fence would cost the City.
"It's worth the investment. It's the safety of our kids," said Maria Ortiz, an Inwood mother and teacher. | <urn:uuid:ca543349-0544-4310-a8e0-c0fb9ef31bfe> | http://www.mcall.com/news/wpix-inwood-playground-ball-field,0,1306573.story | en | 0.983318 | 0.021776 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Opportunity for clean up
August 20th, was flying early next morning so couldn't dive in the afternoon and the tide was washing in lots of rubbish. Within an hour I had filled a black bin liner full of plastic rubbish which otherwise would have ended up back out and possibly on the coral reef. Why not offer 'dry' divers a net rubbish bag instead of just lying on the beach? | <urn:uuid:c9125d4e-16e1-431d-9e69-b503723cb8ff> | http://www.projectaware.org/blog/debra-bookbinder/aug-31-13/opportunity-clean | en | 0.979878 | 0.945684 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Soering files: When the DNA test muddies the truth
news-kainesoeringTim "Biscuit Run" Kaine and Jens Soering.
Jens Soering says he's innocent of killing his girlfriend's parents. But he confessed. And his girlfriend confessed to being an accessory. And now the Progress's Tasha Kates has written a story with this shocker: "According to the certificate of analysis dated Sept. 24, 2009, Jens Soering and Elizabeth Haysom were eliminated as contributors to testable DNA samples on the submitted items, which included everything from stains on the floor to a picture on the wall."
Sounds like another pair of innocents railroaded into a false confession, right? Wrong.
This is a case with voluminous evidence that this pair wanted her parents dead and that they had the motive, means, and opportunity. Anyone who read the stories about the case would remember how they bought two tickets to a movie in D.C. and then inexplicably returned their rental car with an extra 500 miles on the odometer. Oh, and then they fled to Europe when investigators began asking questions. And that was before they confessed.
So don't think that there are some other O.J.-esque "real killers" out there. Yes, there's still some tiny doubt over which of the two–- Jens or Elizabeth Haysom–- actually wielded the knife. But any suggestion that the two are innocent of the plot is poppycock.
At the end his term, Virginia governor Tim Kaine tried to send Soering back to Germany, where reports suggested gentle treatment, but incoming governor Bob McDonnell undid the deed.
I followed the trial carefully. It is more than technically possible that Soering is innocent.His defense was incompetent and his lawyer later disbarred. If the Hook wants to do a full feature,it should. Not this glib bit.
Like the dig at Tim Kaine AKA "Biscuit Run".
Anyone in this town thinks Hook management is "Liberal", better hone your tea leaf reading skills.
I'm not gonna try and argue that this pair are innocent, but wow, Hawes! Sermonize much? The lack of objectivity in this piece is astounding. You're not discussing local water here - time to climb down off the soapbox.
Kane is for sale but now he has nothing to sell. Just keep that little weasel in jail for the rest of his life so all his connections overseas won't let him out.
Angel Eyes, you seem to think that if the Hook disagrees with Kaine then the Hook is not liberal?
Kaine bailed out big money developers and tried to send a politically connected murderer back home where they would soon release him.
What's liberal about that?
The Hook is neither liberal nor conservative -we are lucky. They smell a rat no matter what side of the aisle they are on. And for that we should all be grateful. Isn't that what the press is about, to keep the elected official honest, and investigate them when they are not. Unfortunately the other print media in town don't seem to understand this.
With all the noise he makes, you'd think Jens would talk about a polygraph. He won't because he knows he's guilty. | <urn:uuid:063e1e3f-ed6f-4599-970f-84da9f73eee8> | http://www.readthehook.com/65550/soering-files-when-dna-test-muddies-truth | en | 0.97392 | 0.071657 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Oracle Fusion Middleware Evaluation Guide for Oracle Directory Server Enterprise Edition
Overview of the Commands
The DSEE includes the following tools to facilitate command-line management of the server:
On a Solaris package installation, these commands are located in /opt/SUNWdsee7/bin by default.
Some administrative operations, such as starting and stopping a server instance, require a local agent. For the command line, the local agent is the command itself. The dsadm and dpadm commands run locally because they require the server to be offline or they require specific system rights. For example, if you use the dsadm command to change a certificate, the server can be running but the operation needs to be executed by a privileged user.
You can use the DSEE CLI to administer and configure your directory remotely. You can run the dsconf and dpconf commands remotely to create suffixes, server instances, and indexes. These commands use LDAP authentication, so you do not need a local user on your machine, although the server instance itself must be running. | <urn:uuid:170446ce-46ae-490e-9e49-1b5281dfe673> | http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19656-01/821-1508/gdtpk/index.html | en | 0.883926 | 0.210683 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
I am new to elasticsearch and am trying to understand how to setup elastic search in our environment - my requirements are fairly basic:
1. Environment is multi-tenant
2. Simple setup is three datacenters, each datacenter needs to be a redundant copy - so we can fail two datacenters and there will still be one standing.
3. We will scale up each datacenter as needed, users can access elastic search from each of the three data centers.
4. search will be used for files, emails, IMs, calls etc.
My questions are:
1. does this topology / setup lend itself to elasticsearch natively? If so, how?
2. How do I know how many shards I need? Do I just overallocate for fun?
3. I assume I should have one index per tenant? And I should have just one cluster? Why would I want more?
4. I have spent hours trying to find info on this, if you might accuse me of prematurely posting - please let me know where there is a good topological overview
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Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question. | <urn:uuid:c54580cf-d26e-4400-8b38-c34cc1e5d9a3> | http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17928930/elasticsearch-topology | en | 0.914732 | 0.730685 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
If I want to redirect a user in PHP, all I've ever known to do was use the header('Location:' http://www.example.com) but I've been reading that this isn't the best way to redirect a user from page to page internally. What are some other options you can redirect a user?
Example: at the bottom it says:
Something Important to Remember
...I don’t recommend, for example, using header() to bounce your users around to different pages; there are better methods that reduce the number of page loads and give the user a more fluid experience...
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you can also redirect from client side: window.url = 'newUrl'; – ThatGuy Aug 1 '11 at 15:50
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up vote 1 down vote accepted
The snippet you provided is referring to issues where page1.php might execute some code followed by header('Lodation: http://www.example.com/page2.php'); and where page2.php then executes some code followed by header('Location: http://www.example.com/page3.php'); etc. This is very bad for user experience, and not very good for managing code either.
In cases where you genuinely need to redirect a user (301 redirect is probably the most common), using header is perfectly acceptable.
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I don't quite understand the difference in what your saying. Do you mean don't have 2 redirects in a row? – Howdy_McGee Aug 1 '11 at 16:21
@Howdy_McGee, multiple redirects, or redirects when an include would be more appropriate are issues. It is quite common for beginners to create a php page to do a very specific task, and then instead of using include, trying to use header to pass the user on to another page. I typically avoid headers unless I decide that I need to send a browser a particular header. If a page has moved permanently, use the 301 redirect header and the new location, if a resource wasn't found, send out a 404 header, and possibly populate the page with a sitemap. – zzzzBov Aug 1 '11 at 17:28
I see, I try to avoid using 'includes' unless i'm including a header.php or footer.php because from my understanding it loads everything inside the 'includes' even php which would mess with load time. I understand what your saying though with the 301 and 404. I think javascript is my base option when redirecting to a custom error page though like the poster above stated. – Howdy_McGee Aug 1 '11 at 17:33
@Howdy_McGee, includes are the best way to make PHP modular. They're very quick. If you're making an entire library, you should be putting classes and functions into their own scripts, or at least boxing them into groups of similar functions. If you're mixing display logic with business logic, then you should read up on the MVC (Model View Controller) paradigm, because mixing view with controller is a bad idea. – zzzzBov Aug 1 '11 at 18:12
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It isn't bad. However you could add 301 response code to make it more better, it is also better for Google to determine he should not visit that "old" site anymore.
Header( "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently" );
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Well what if it is just a simple "do some code then redirect" instead of a permanent redirect? – Howdy_McGee Aug 1 '11 at 16:23
so use it before this header and after that put there this code (2nd line) – genesis Aug 1 '11 at 16:41
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This is the accepted method for PHP-based redirection. If you can accomplish the redirect prior to PHP script execution, then you should - through .htaccess or server-level aliasing.
Check out the manual on header: http://php.net/manual/en/function.header.php
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It's always sensible to avoid using header() internally because sometimes headers are already called. JavaScript redirects are absolutely fine and are used systematically in a lot of web applications. Browsers and search engines don't discriminate against or dislike JavaScript redirects. A simple example:
<?php echo '<script type="text/javascript">window.location.href="index.php"</script>'; ?>
Or using a variable:
<?php echo '<script type="text/javascript">window.location.href="' . $page . '"</script>'; ?>
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Well if this is true it seems like the best answer unless somebody wants to argue it. – Howdy_McGee Aug 1 '11 at 16:50
JavaScript redirects are the worst way to do redirects. You ought to know whether headers have been called or not based on whether you've used a header call or whether you've sent any output with echo or similar. If you've partially sent output to the user, why would you want to then direct them away from that data? Additionally, any user without JavaScript enabled will not be able to follow the redirect. I would also like to see verification about SEO for JS redirects. – zzzzBov Aug 1 '11 at 18:10
In complicated web apps (especially those with partial views) you don't always know whether the script has previously used a header() function or not. This is why I said it's usually sensible to avoid all potential errors by using JavaScript. The OP said he wanted to redirect a user - he didn't mention anything about maintaining the use of data, variables or existing PHP functions. And the percentage of users with JavaScript enabled is something ridiculous like 2% (or so Verisign argues - bit.ly/nZ75ql). You can always echo out a noscript tag. – hohner Aug 1 '11 at 18:16
@Jamie, "you don't always know whether the script has previously used a header() function or not" WTF are you talking about?! Of course you can tell whether headers have been sent. – zzzzBov Aug 1 '11 at 20:21
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Just use
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It does not explain why or if it's bad – genesis Aug 1 '11 at 15:50
Nothing bad about it. It's just the accepted method for PHP. – Mark Aug 1 '11 at 15:52
This is what i'm trying to avoid... – Howdy_McGee Aug 1 '11 at 15:53
What I think that the writer of the examples tries to say is that what he wrote are just examples just like he said. In most of the cases in the example it isn't necessary to do a redirect. – Mark Aug 1 '11 at 15:57
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| <urn:uuid:4adb0218-e6ef-4bbf-b0a5-0661b9bcdd19> | http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6900951/redirections-in-php | en | 0.900152 | 0.267502 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
We're just started using Pivotal Tracker to manage our todo list for our main application. We recently began a huge new feature, and so the last 50 or so tasks are all to do with that feature.
However, I now have to make a hotfix for our current release, and it just feels wrong to stick it in with all of the tasks for the big new feature. I'd like to find a standard way to organize similar tasks.
So, how are some ways that you organize tasks in Pivotal Tracker (or another system if it's relevant)?
Do you create tags for each feature and each release? If a bug is related to a feature, do you tag it as such? Where do you draw the line between a taggable feature verses a simple client request?
Thanks! I'm very eager to hear your thoughts!
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up vote 1 down vote accepted
Tracker is a very opinionated piece of software, and it works best with its own particular workflow. There's a pretty in-depth explanation video at http://bit.ly/conceptsofpivotaltracker
The short answer to your specific "how do you organize tasks?":
• label Feature Stories to group them into tracks (eg if you were building Amazon, tracks might be things like 'Shopping Cart', 'Payment', 'Manage Inventory' and 'Recommendations'.).
• use Release Markers (its another story type, like Feature or Bug) to denote releases. Release markers are usually things like 'Show to investors', 'Shopping Cart Complete', 'Start Beta test' or 'v2'.
In your case, I'd give those 50 tasks a "huge new feature" label, and make the hotfix a bug.
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Thanks for the answer. I guess I'm hoping for something more from Pivotal, like being able to actually assign a story to a particular category, but I guess tags will do for now. Thanks again, and welcome to SO :-) – Topher Fangio Jan 17 '12 at 14:36
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| <urn:uuid:6e160898-db85-4d64-9e31-1e79597fbe25> | http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8808822/what-are-some-approaches-for-organizing-tasks-in-pivotal-tracker | en | 0.919276 | 0.707979 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
about live blogs add a live blog
Let Us Now Listen To The Discographies Of Various Musicians
Mike K
[table of contents]
Estradasphere: Quadropus and Passion For Life
Quadropus (2003)
There's notably a bit less goofiness than on the first couple albums here, and while they're still using a lot of different influences, songs are just slightly less likely to completely switch directions 20 times. However, while the humor is missed a little, it's made up for with some of their coolest music. As eclectic as Buck Fever and It's Understood were, about the last thing you'd expect from either of them would be a straightforward, moody ballad like "Speck". The song doesn't sound out of place at all though, partially because it still has the middle-eastern influences present in other tracks. The humor isn't entirely gone, mind you - "A Car Ride In Idealistic Ethiopia" is presented as though you were listening to it on a car radio, complete with interference from other stations, "Dubway" is a mostly acapella techno song (which should be ridiculous, but it's actually pretty awesome), and "Crystal Blue" is another fun 50's rock pastiche (which, in typical Estradasphere style, is then followed by a 6 minute death metal song). Oh yeah, and there's also a Rap Metal song about Professional Wrestling.
Key Tracks: King Krab Battle, Dubway, Speck
Passion For Life (2004)
This live album is actually a bonus disc to a DVD of the same name. However, because this is a music blog, we shall shun all visual media, even if it is directly related to the delicious aural auditory musical sounds of music. Also, I do not have the DVD.
The problem I have most often with live albums is when they don't really differ enough from the studio material. This album does a good job of avoiding that: More than half the tracks aren't on any of their studio albums - there's four non-live chiptune compositions, one goofy improvised R & B number, and three previously unheard songs. The tracks that are on the albums either get some kind of notable rearrangement ("Planet Sparkle", originally one of their chiptune style songs, is performed by a full band this time, for instance), or else just benefit from the live energy. The best example of the latter would be "Dr. Hell" (here re-titled "D-Flat Hell") - the studio version was a little stilted, but that is a great live song. The only complaints I have are that the chiptune tracks, while pretty cool, kind of disrupt the flow of the album, and that you can find Estradasphere sets on archive.org where the sound quality is just as good.
Key Tracks: Whoolilicious!, D-Flat Hell, Hora Bucharestu vs. Narodno Kolo (Gypsy Medley)
You stole this blog idea from me. >_>
It's okay tho' You're pretty good at it. :P
SpainSun 12th Mar 11
I'd say I was more "inspired", really :p. But yeah, in all seriousness I'm glad someone's reading and enjoying this, and I like your livebloggin' too, so I definitely appreciate the comment.
MikeK 14th Mar 11
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I was looking at taking my injectors for a vapor test, I'm getting some smoke, anyway the only tool you see advertised is a 27mm socket, but i cant see the base of them or even remove the black rubber seal. The injector also has a 15mm flat is that the way to remove them ?
I was also looking at draining any water from the fuel filter, is there a drain plug at the bottom its all hidden away its a 2.5 TDI V6 quattro B5 facelift 2001. Any advice much appreciated | <urn:uuid:ddc9c3b6-e8a5-42bf-8430-7dffbb8fbdb2> | http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a4-s4-forum-b5-chassis/83761-v6-tdi-injector-removal-tool-drain-filter-help.html | en | 0.979305 | 0.426877 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Belfast Telegraph
Sunday 16 March 2014
Alan Green: Obscene rants have no place in our game
Do you remember the days when supporters, however passionate they were about their own team, generally restricted any taunting of opponents to the good-natured variety?
Or, am I being naïve?
Whatever, that's certainly no longer the case.
Supporters of both clubs will deny it but one of the reasons I dread matches between Liverpool and Manchester United, wherever they're played, are the sickening songs about 'Hillsborough' and 'Munich'.
Football really can push entirely normal people to extremes.
Now Newcastle fans are usually of the most amenable sort. Though they've got to put up with the regular under-performing of a club they expect to win trophies, they're as couched in good humour as they are in those black and white shirts.
So why those appalling racist chants at Middlesbrough's Egyptian striker Mido?
And let's not have any nonsense about it being just harmless fun.
Calling someone a 'paedo' and a 'bomber' isn't funny in anyone's language.
I was watching mute television pictures of the game while I was at Old Trafford waiting for the Spurs' match and assumed Mido was way over the top with his 'shushing' gestures.
I was wrong and the only joke in the circumstances was that the player was booked.
So the FA is holding an enquiry. Why?
Isn't it already obvious what went on?
The only question surely is deciding what punishment they can inflict and that, I accept, is difficult.
How can Newcastle be blamed when it didn't happen at St James Park?
And, if you were to think of banning Newcastle fans from away games, you'd be financially punishing the other clubs involved.
I don't have an answer.
And I worry about what might happen to the Oldham player Lee Hughes in the coming weeks.
I have no sympathy for what he did three years ago, causing death by dangerous driving and then running away from the scene.
I might think, as many do, that his punishment wasn't severe enough, but the law took its course and Hughes served his time.
Though, and he admits as such, he will live with what he's done for the rest of his life, he has every right to try to rebuild his career as a footballer.
What, should we prefer him to have an anonymous job on a building site or as a postman rather than doing what he knows best?
That's not our right, it's his, but I dread what opposing fans have in store for him.
If I go to a game as a 'fan' and I really dislike what or whom I'm seeing, I never yell abuse.
My silence is as much condemnation as I care to muster and I frequently despise some of the things I hear shouted around me.
Wouldn't we live in a far better football world if others followed the example of Goodison Park and Anfield this last week in their wonderful tributes after that shocking murder on Merseyside?
Yes, many Everton and Liverpool fans in recent years have gone far too far in their bitterness towards each other but I know of no other city that can unite so magnificently in common grief.
Crocked Becks still rules roost
SO much for the "peak condition" claims by his spokesman.
David Beckham's latest injury will keep him out of England's critical European Championship qualifiers over the next ten days.
Anyone could see it coming even if he didn't.
All medical advice pointed to an increased risk of injury while undertaking that ludicrous transatlantic schedule in pursuit of a hundred England caps.
What gets me is the response of the people supposedly 'in charge'.
Steve McClaren explained that the reason Beckham played the whole game against Germany was that "Beckham wanted the minutes".
So, he's back running the England team, is he?
And Frank Yallop, the lame duck coach of LA Galaxy, said he picked the player against Chivas barely 30 hours later because "Beckham wanted to play".
It beggars belief, doesn't it?
At least, we should all be relieved that Beckham says he'll be better prepared for the European Championship than anyone playing in the Premier League.
Yes, sure, if you say so and IF England, Beckham or not, qualify.
Crouch is only fourth choice at best for Pool
PETER Crouch reckons his goal against Toulouse the other night is a clear sign to Rafa Benitez that the England striker should be in the Liverpool starting eleven.
Sadly, for Crouch, I think it's to the contrary.
He should have had a bucketful of goals in that Champions League qualifier, certainly a hat-trick before half-time, and Fernando Torres, sitting on the bench, must have regretted that he didn't get the chance to come on.
What with Andrij Voronin and Dirk Kuyt as well, Benitez has four top class strikers to call on.
At least two will be disappointed every single game and Crouch, perhaps sensing he's 'fourth pick' at the moment, is the first to have had a little moan at the coach.
While Liverpool are doing well, Benitez knows he's doing 'his' job properly and the players - arguably the manager has two good choices for every position except goalkeeper - must get on with it.
I don't know if Benitez has a 'first choice' striker pairing yet. Mine would be Torres and Kuyt and I'd pick Benayoun ahead of Pennant . . . but what would I know?
Latest Sport News
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Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles
Rating: 18+ (PEGI)
(131 customer reviews) | Write a review
Customer Reviews
"Average rating (131 reviews)"
Results 21-30 of 131
| | See all KxWing's reviews (7)
Well i got this game coz theres not many shooting or gory games for the wii so i just got it and dident think it wud be good BUT it was varry good fun and a game u can play over agen as ther is optinal routs you can take gess its a good game for a resi fan but if your not a resi fan the i dont think its for you but if you dont own re4 then go buy that its a mutch better game n if u have played re4 on ps2 or gc i wud still buy it as the wii controls make it a superb game
Zombicidal Maniacs, Sign Up Here!
| | See all diosamente's reviews (1)
There's two types of people who will be interested in this game: those who liked Resident Evil 4 and want more, and those who like shooting things. If you're not one of these well adjusted individuals (:P) I recommend MySims. Don't worry, we won't be offended if you leave now. There you go. Now back to the rest of you. First up: this isn't like RE4. But bare with us. Umbrella Chronicles is an on-rails shooter covering the backstory for the Resident Evil series and it does this well. And for that itchy trigger finger, well, there's literally more zombies than you can shake a remote at here. This game ain't no picnic, but with 3 levels of difficulty you can ease yourself in while you learn how to play (i.e. shoot). Combined with the 12 main levels, countless unlockables and ranking system (for you high-scorers out there) there's more than enough to keep anyone busy. And if you do ever finish it, there's still a co-op mode. Top graphics and sounds set the atmosphere for a solid title. 84%
Quite enjoyable.
| | See all Godbe08's reviews (8)
I've never played a game in the Resident Evil series before as I was put off by the 3rd person style shooting, but one of my friends told me this game was in a similar style to House of The Dead and those kind of arcade games, so I decided to give it a try, and I was quite impressed.
The graphics are on the whole fairly good. At some points things can look a bit 'straight-edged', but that didn't bother me personally as it's the gameplay I was more interested in.
In a word, brilliant. I played this game without the use of the Wii Zapper (just using a free Wiimote and Nunchuck) and found it to work very well. It's hard to go wrong with the first person light gun style games, but this game improves upon the arcade format by including hidden files and character profiles which gives a lot of replay value. There's also the level up system which I thought was a nice touch. It allows you (when you have eanred enough stars to do so) to level up weapons making them more powerful, or increasing the clip size etc.
Not playing a Res game previously, I found this to be a good overview of the series (I'm sure a hardcore Res fan would disagree), but in the end I found it to be a little short and lacking depth. There are quite a few weapons to choose from, but some more vareity would have been better, and you can only level up each weapon 4 times (5 if you count the bonus at the end, but I won't spoil that...), which limits the weapon so to speak (I was constantly running out of ammo despite maxing the weapon out). There are bonus missions included, but overall I think some more levels would have been a nice addition.
Generally, for what it is (not for what it isn't - another installment in the Res series) it's hard to fault this game as it stacks up extremely well against games of its genre such as House of The Dead. If you're a fan of light gun style arcade games (The previously mentioned House of The Dead, Time Crisis, Crisis Zone etc etc etc) then you won't be dissapointed with this game at all.
Good solid fun
| | See all Superbeasto's reviews (3)
It's nice to see this on the Wii, which is a console that's been gathering dust lately in my household thanks to a lack of "adult" games that I can sink my teeth into. This does the trick nicely, it's not fantastic, but a good arcade shooter set in the Resi universe, giving it a heap of nostalgia value and making it a must for Resi fans. So if you love Resi, you'll get a kick out of this. Otherwise, it probably won't do too much for you.
People should do there research!!!
| | See all shogun12345's reviews (1)
When people are complaining about this game saying "you don't control your movement" or "its nothing like resident evil 4". When people say "its nothing like re4" they seem to forget theres a reason for that. Namely because its a totally different game :s . Kinda makes sense that its not like RE4. Also the whole movement thing. This game is designed to be a Shoot em up and as such is on-rails. So if you like Shoot em ups like you used to play at the arcade like Time Crisis or House of the Dead you'll love it, especially with the Venom Controller. However if you do not then dont buy it and then write a bad review on here purely complaining about being on rails and not being able to control where you go. This game is totally different to previous RE titles. Anyone who does buy it will find it to be a fun game, especially with coop. But only but it if you enjoy games like House of the Dead or if your a masive fan of the Resident Evil series of games or you'll be disapointed. Maybe people should do they're research before they buy a game and find out what its like. Plus stop complaining about it if you played it at a friends house or borrowed it from a friend and didn't like. It's not like you spent your own money on it. Its really annoys me when people give games bad reviews because of the tyle of play etc. Review the game properly by mentioning graphics, story, gameplay, difficulty etc etc
My review is as follows:
Graphics: Some of the best i've seen on the Wii 5/5
Sound: Not so good especially when the rounds hit enemies. Its loud but the quality just isn't there 3/5
Gameplay: Very good 'Shoot em up', lots of upgradable weapons etc and unlockable stages. 4/5
Story: Usual good RE story taking you through locations from the previous games with characters from them aswell 4/5
Controls: Since your playing on the Wii the controls are superb and make you feel like your back in a arcade playing. One of the best parts of the whole experience. 5/5
Longevity: the game is split into 3 games and then into 3 chapters for each which can take up to an hour to complete. Plus the bonus missions and coop will last quite a while too. However the on rails aspect, if your not a huge fan, can get boring and you may not even get through the whole game 3/5
Overall: An allround enjoyable game with great graphics, a great story and premise, brilliant controls but maybe best played with a friend with coop and should last quite a while as you try to beat your previous best time. 4/5
What's really wrong with this, nothing at all
| | See all GamerTron's reviews (24)
Umbrella Chronicles does what it says, and does it well, it's an arcade style light gun type onrails shooter experience, perfect if you want something different (which is hard to fine nowadays), its a break from the standard 1st person stuff on the market and made well. Would've been 5 stars if they had given the graphics aslight more then they did, but the developers obviously didnt have that much time to give, but still nice graphics (great in cutscenes), i love that way the story keeps moving, and the bosses are a decent challenge. But more then the most, the onrails keeps me guessing constantly and im always on my toes waiting for the next rush movement not knowing who or what is around the corner, for a new or seasoned gamer, it's nice to have a fresh challenge, also adds to the whole idea of horror game, dont compare your games, enjoy them as they are meant to be, in other words, read the box before you buy. It does what it says on the tin very well, another great Wii addition, this wouldn't be as fun on any other console (pc ??).
House of the Resident Evil
| | See all ZombieHorde's reviews (17)
Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles is not a standard Res Evil game, theres no fixed camera angles, no 3D characters against pre-rendered 2D backgrounds and this is no sequel to RE4 either, what RE:UC is, is an old fashioned on rails light gun blaster perfectly suited to the Wii and dripping with the blood and mature content we've been craving on Nintendo's newest console.
This isn't a new avenue for Capcom with the RE franchise as 2 previous light gun style games exsist on PS2, the Dead Aim serious was somewhat light gun at heart but with the ability to move the character around yourself, the games however were mediocre at best, UC however goes the whole hog in a House of the Dead way and takes you through the history of the series starting at RE0 and finishing with the fall of Umbrella somewhere after the Events of Resident Evil 3/2 and the destruction of Raccoon City.
The game can be played 1 or 2 player and follows a basic set route, you can however take different routes at various points of the game by shooting open other doors, as always in RE games you achieve an overall rank at the end of the game which allows you to unlock weapons costumes and extra stages.
Overall it's a very enjoyable experiance with good graphics, great old skool gameplay and a typically brilliant RE storyline, if you're a fan of light gun games or the RE series then this is a must buy.
On a side note the game doesn't work that well with the Wii Blaster, reloading is done by shaking the Nunchuck which is at the back of the blaster and if you use the option of taking the Nunchuck out of the blaster it totally defeats the purpose of have the Blaster in the first place, the best option is to tell the game you're using the Blaster but just use the Remote and Nunchuck as normal.
| | See all Berlintrader's reviews (1)
I am not to pleased with the game play. You have no control over your movemnt because the game moves you through each area and you cannot stop or go back. Ok if you just like shooting things and not too bad in 2 player modus. But overall, disapointing especialy if you like Resident Evil 4.
Fun for a while but gets dull quickly
| | See all BraniganX's reviews (1)
fun for a short time. the game is very easy apart from the bosses which are insanely hard there is no middle ground. very generic. Ghost squad is about 10 times more fun and varied. or wait for house of the dead to come out if it's not allready out. it will probably be better than this too.
Good great syle arcade time
| | See all Frankman's reviews (19)
this game is good but it is not great but i didn't expect it to be anything amazing. I must admit that resident evil 4 is 10 times better and that umbrella chroncles is almost impossible to complete it is just like house of dead. The wii zapper works nicely with it though and it feels like you are really in the game The two player story mode is much better and makes the game easier it is also suprisingly a long game to keep you occupied. Large variety of zombies and creatures and ferouious boss battles in almost every level good game worth the buy for fans. | <urn:uuid:4ba02556-db02-4104-b032-e1d06474e904> | http://www.play.com/Games/Wii/4-/3361251/Resident-Evil-The-Umbrella-Chronicles/ProductReviews.html?cpage=3 | en | 0.964162 | 0.046725 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
A Simple Twist of Fate
Episode Report Card
Heathen: B | Grade It Now!
A Simple Twist of Fate
Mark unloads Gluttony's concerned parents onto Susan, and runs off after Rachel, who babbles that Vulcan Jen will buy the tickets and all Mark has to do is transport her to the airport. Mark tries to calm her down, explaining that no one expects her to leave. "Elizabeth does," she whines petulantly. A clueless Mark insists that his wife just needs time. "No, she asked me to leave!" brats Rachel, tears spilling down her cheeks. "She wants me out of the house....I understand. She's not my mother. She cares about Ella and I hurt her baby. I don't want to cause you any more trouble. I should just go." Mark starts to argue that the decision is far from made, but he suddenly chomps on his tongue and it begins to bleed. Wincing and nursing the wound, he sends Rachel home with the promise that her exile is far from being a reality.
Mark rushes away right past Susan, who is learning that Gluttony put on fifteen pounds in the past couple of months. "I just can't seem to stop her from eating," frets Mrs. Gluttony. Distracted after spying an obviously panicked Mark, Susan promises to send a nutritionist to counsel their daughter, and rapidly scoots after her friend.
Susan finds Mark huddling in a corner holding gauze to his tongue. "Ooh, you did a really good job," she grimaces, noticing the blood and mock-sternly ordering him to stick out his tongue. Mark rolls his eyes, but obliges, twisting his tongue to the right. "You bit it on the right side -- I can't see when you do that!" she laughs. "Come on, stick it out straight!" Mark blinks. "I did," he insists. He puts it out again. A gong strikes. The tongue is askew. Susan's face is awash with fear. "What?" Mark prods. Gong! Sorry, Mark. Thanks for playing. Hey, wouldn't it be a blast to combine ER and The Gong Show? Imagine how different season eight would've been with an interactive internet boot to deposit up people's bums. Mark's ass would rival Imelda Marcos's closet. Gathering her wits, Susan subtly tries to yank Mark's tongue straight to check the cut, pretending everything was fine. "It's not so bad," she sputters. "Just keep applying pressure." But Mark knows something's off.
Cut to the bathroom. Mark's glasses lie on the sink, and we pan up to his reflection in the mirror. Mark rubs his eyes, then lets go and stares at himself, possibly testing how long it takes to focus. He sticks out his tongue and notices the right-side wonk. SinkCam shows him splashing soothing cold water onto his face, with the strange hollow sound one might get if one listened to this through the drainpipe. We're then treated to a glamour shot of Mark's scar, which spans his bald pate; finally, as he dries his hands, frustration overcomes him and he bangs his forehead against the shiny towel dispenser. ["Because that's good for YOUR BRAIN. Yeah, I know the brain is well insulated by the skull. Still, that shit doesn't help any." -- Wing Chun] NostrilCam shoots straight up at Mark's face from the floor, and takes us to commercial with a truly terror-inspiring shot of Mark twisting his face into an expression of pained panic.
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Ritchie\’s tax unpaid numbers
That\’s where a lot of that \”tax unpaid\” that Ritchie goes on about is. In firms (and to a lesser extent, people) who have gone bankrupt.
Not only is it nothing at all to do with tax being dodged it\’s not, even in the slightest, recoverable. It\’s simply part and parcel of having any bankruptcy system at all. And believe me, you really wouldn\’t like a system that did not incorporate that concept.
2 comments on “Ritchie\’s tax unpaid numbers
1. You wouldn’t, I wouldn’t. But the LHTD and the UTDftDoN would love it. Go bankrupt? Owing the government money? Great!
We’ll wait until you’ve nearly picked yourself up off the ground and then grind you back down, ideally into a steaming pile of dog shit. For the crime of being a hideous uncaring neo-liberal capitalist exploiter of the downtrodden serfs of the paid-by-taxation class. Of which, of course, Ritchie is a fully paid-up member.
And, I expect, the egregious Arnald is too.
2. There’s the difference between him and me.
He sounds the sort of bloke who would demand the creation of the PPF if it didn’t exist.
But I wouldn’t rant and rave about a tax gap when it did it’s job.
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| <urn:uuid:d0c98261-28e2-4e91-b5a4-6a5994c89ea3> | http://www.timworstall.com/2013/03/10/ritchies-tax-unpaid-numbers/ | en | 0.944273 | 0.066774 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Paris Jackson, Michael Jackson's daughter, hospitalized
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Paris Jackson, the 15-year-old daughter of Michael Jackson, was rushed to a hospital early Wednesday morning, sources close to the Jackson family told CNN.
"She's going to be OK," one source, who was at the hospital, said. The sources said it was unclear why she was hospitalized. reported it was a suicide attempt.
"i wonder why tears are salty ?"
"yesterday , all my troubles seemed so far away
"now it looks as though they're here to stay"
Paris, along with her grandmother, Katherine Jackson, and her brothers, Prince and Blanket, are suing AEG Live for liability in Michael Jackson's drug overdose death.
| <urn:uuid:158774d3-7e17-43ae-99bf-6397c83febab> | http://www.wptv.com/entertainment/paris-jackson-michael-jacksons-daughter-hospitalized | en | 0.979546 | 0.029834 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Moving average crossover
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Moving average crossover of a 15-day exponential close-price MA (red) crossing over a 50-day exponential close-price MA (yellow).
In the statistics of time series, and in particular the analysis of financial time series for stock trading purposes, a moving-average crossover occurs when, on plotting two moving averages each based on different degrees of smoothing, the traces of these moving averages cross. It does not predict future direction but shows trends. This indicator uses two (or more) moving averages, a slower moving average and a faster moving average. The faster moving average is a short term moving average. For end-of-day stock markets, for example, it may be 5, 10 or 25 day period while the slower moving average is medium or long term moving average (e.g. 50, 100 or 200 day period). A short term moving average is faster because it only considers prices over short period of time and is thus more reactive to daily price changes. On the other hand, a long term moving average is deemed slower as it encapsulates prices over a longer period and is more lethargic. However, it tends to smoothen out price noises which are often reflected in short term moving averages.
A moving average, as a line by itself, is often overlaid in price charts to indicate price trends. A crossover occurs when a faster moving average (i.e., a shorter period moving average) crosses a slower moving average (i.e. a longer period moving average). In other words, this is when the shorter period moving average line crosses a longer period moving average line. In stock investing, this meeting point is used either to enter (buy or sell) or exit (sell or buy) the market.
The particular case where simple equally-weighted moving-averages are used is sometimes called a simple moving-average (SMA) crossover. Such a crossover can be used to signal a change in trend and can be used to trigger a trade in a Black Box trading system. | <urn:uuid:967f7d91-1c6f-43df-9f33-4d10835cb47c> | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving-average_crossover | en | 0.907449 | 0.843045 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Pre-E3 06: Medieval II: Total War impressions
The Total War games have always been high on the list for strategy gamers due to their solid mix of strategic conquest, tactical combat, and staggering vastness. Literally hundreds of units can appear onscreen at once, each determined to run its sword or spear through someone else out there. Although the latest installment returns to an already visited era, the advances in gameplay and technology make it a trip that we're eagerly anticipating.
Visual upgrades shine on the field of battle, with an extreme level of detail in all the units. Rather than settle for a mass of identical warriors, the developers have created a number of small variations on the uniforms to give the illusion of a group of individual people. Environments have also been upgraded, with extremely realistic looking terrain that also demands tactical consideration. For example, heavy mud will slow down an army.
Unit types are also graced with special maneuvers that can be invaluable during battle. During the demo, we saw a group of archers plant large stakes in the ground at an angle to stave off a cavalry charge. Apparently, calvary would prefer not to find themselves thrown over the front of their now-skewered mounts. Each unique move is designed to counter a specific attack, so wily players can change the course of battle via key tactical decisions.
The glory of battle and bloodlust aside, one of the biggest advancements takes place away from the battlefield. In the prior games, diplomacy was rather basic and your adversaries never really drove a hard bargain. Now, they have memories and will remember if you treated them with respect the last time you had dealings, of if you tried to take advantage of them. As a result, trade deals take on a bit more importance.
Cities can now be specialized, with either a military or an economic focus. Cities with a military focus have fortified walls and can train new recruits faster, while economic hubs have the benefit of improving trade and increasing revenues for your empire. Choosing the proper balance will be tricky, as having a bunch of military bases won't do you much good if you're not earning any money.
You can also wield economic power as a weapon through careful use of your merchant units. Lay claim to natural resources to deny them to your opponents or eliminate your enemy's merchants to harm his trading power. Of course, if money won't do it there is always religion. Priests can be used to influence the opposing masses and get them to rebel. But be warned: the holy men can also turn against you if you're not careful, inciting a religious war.
Every game in the Total War series has been a solid improvement on the one before, and the trend shows no sign of stopping with Medieval II. If you've ever watched Braveheart or (you poor bastard) Troy and thought you'd like a piece of that battle, here's your chance.
May 9, 2006
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| <urn:uuid:079f5b98-68d7-423d-aee9-fd6617701faf> | http://gamesradar.com/pre-e3-06-medieval-ii-total-war-impressions/ | en | 0.951961 | 0.077724 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
The mitzvah of tziztit does not apply at night, so when we wear a talis all of davening on Yom Kippur, starting this year on Friday night for Maariv, do we make a bracha when we put the talis on?
Is it better to put it on closer to mincha time to avoid any such issues?
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up vote 4 down vote accepted
Mishna B'rura 619:4 says to put on the talis during the day so as to be able to say the b'racha on it; one does not, he says, say the b'racha on it if putting it on at night. That's the way I read it; CYLOR for practical matters.
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That's about what I figured. Thanks! – geoffc Oct 7 '11 at 13:54
And asking reminded me to go find my kittel, glad I looked, since my wife had moved it somewhere only she knows about. :) – geoffc Oct 7 '11 at 19:24
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| <urn:uuid:fcb59c83-e738-400f-80b6-e7d6b48a9f73> | http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/10558/do-we-make-a-bracha-on-a-talis-the-night-of-yom-kippur/10559 | en | 0.919294 | 0.019645 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
"The sea is the same sea, and the Arabs are the same Arabs," Shamir famously said.
"The sea is the same sea, and the Arabs are the same Arabs," Shamir famously said. Photo by Nimrod Glickman
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Yitzhak Shamir, the seventh prime minister of Israel, passed away this week, at 96. The current premier, Benjamin Netanyahu, eulogized him at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, saying, among other things, that although it is possible that Shamir's "statements about [Israel's] neighbors, about the distinction between the sea and the land ... unleashed a torrent of criticism at the time, even contempt, today there are of course many more people who understand that this man saw and understood basic and genuine things."
The statements Netanyahu was referring to - "the sea is the same sea, and the Arabs are the same Arabs" - are etched in the collective memory. Shamir used this phrase in 1996, following the Oslo accords, quoting himself (according to a book, in Hebrew, called "It's Inconceivable," which contains quotes and expressions coined over the years by Israeli politicians, compiled and put in context by Rafi Mann in 1998 ).
What Shamir originally said, on January 24, 1989, was actually more explicit and nuanced. He was addressing a convention of Israeli hoteliers, and remarked (this is the closest we can come to an accurate English translation ): "Once they were speaking about throwing us into the sea. Nowadays they do not say that. They've become more sophisticated - self-determination for Palestinians - and they get the sympathy. But if we look at reality, it has not changed. The Arabs are Arabs, ruling over 22 states. Israel is a small state with many problems, the sea is the same sea, and the aim is the same aim: extermination of the State of Israel - even if you call it 'self-determination.'"
Shamir was referring here to yet another expression that also dwells in our consciousness in the Middle East - about how one of the sides in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict hopes to throw the other into the sea. The "death by drowning" imagery is not surprising when we remember that both adversaries have historically vied over a narrow strip of land between the river (Jordan ) and the sea.
Anyone who grew up in Israel in the early 1950s did not have any doubt that the Arabs - including the seven states that fought with Israel in 1948, and the local population which either fled or was expelled during that war - wanted to throw "us," the Israelis, into the sea.
Indeed, that is how David Ben-Gurion phrased it when presenting his new government to the Knesset on November 2, 1955: " ... and they plan, as many of them say openly, to throw us all into the sea; in simpler words, to exterminate the Jews of the Land of Israel."
Nowadays there are quite a few critics of Israeli policies past and present - both Palestinians (naturally) but also some Israelis - who claim that attribution of insidious plans or intentions to the Arabs was (and is ) no more than a figment of a frightened Jewish imagination, if not actually part of a strategy intended to throw the Palestinians into the sea.
I doubt whether a statement by a leader that carries a threat of collective drowning constitutes proof of the existence of such an intent on any side of the conflict. However, in view of the fact that Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood was sworn in this week as the new Egyptian president, it is interesting to recall the words of the founder of that Islamic movement, regarding Arabs, Palestinians, Jews and the sea, in an interview printed in The New York Times on August 2, 1948.
Interviewed the previous day by the Times' correspondent Dana Adams Schmidt in Cairo, Sheikh Hassan al-Banna declared: "If the Jewish state becomes a fact, and this is realized by the Arab peoples, they will drive the Jews who live in their midst into the sea."
Schmidt hastens to write that the sheikh, who was referring to the quarter-million Jews living in Arab countries at the time, said that he was merely using a "figure of speech," even though he added, "facetiously, that 'of course, if the United States send ships to pick them up, that would be all right.'"
By the end of the interview al-Banna, then in the penultimate year of his life, offered a solution to the Arab-Israeli dispute over the Land of Palestine. He suggested that the Jews should settle in the empty areas of Australia: "We sympathize with the homeless Jews, but it is not humane that they should be settled in an area where they render homeless other people who have been settled thousands of years."
The Times did not print a response from the Australians.
Anyone who has had a serious relationship with another person knows how presumptuous it is to profess knowledge about what the other side wants, and what disastrous results may arise when acting upon a premise based upon baseless (if not base ) information. This is doubly true when a national leader, or politician, makes an assumption as to what people on either side of a conflict want. Ben-Gurion is usually credited (although an exact quote is nowhere to be found ) with saying, about the people of Israel: "I don't know what the people want. I know what they need (or what they are in need of )."
It seems, according to Yitzhak Shamir's assessment of the situation in the Middle East, and based on what he would have done were he in the Palestinians' shoes, that he believed that what they need, from their point of view, is to throw the Jews into the sea. Hardly a basis for peace (or indeed any other kind of ) negotiations, especially when the other side's reasoning is, sadly, strangely similar.
But the key point in Shamir's remarks - and what Netanyahu thinks constitutes "basic and genuine things" - has less to do with Palestinians and Israelis per se, and more to do with a general situation in which things remain the same (or not ). To grasp that one has only to consider the Mediterranean, which has throughout time been referred to variously as Mare Nostrum ("our sea," in Latin ), yam hatichon (literally, "the middle sea," in Hebrew ) and as adkeniz ("the white sea," in modern Arabic ). All those refer to the same body of water, which actually does change: With its ebbs and flows, the sea can rise between 3 and 100 centimeters, plus in the last 64 years it has become much more polluted and has significantly fewer fish.
Along these same lines, one recalls that, "All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full," according to Ecclesiastes (1:7 ). Heraclitus (535-475 B.C.E. ) supposedly said "everything flows," and Plato referenced him in "Cratylus": "Everything changes and nothing remains still... and... you cannot step twice into the same stream." Thus, supposedly, you cannot be thrown twice into the same sea.
If you insist on holding the view - with which Prime Minister Netanyahu seems to agree, judging by his eulogy of Shamir - that some things do not change, you may yet have to pay a heavy price for your beliefs. And be left with small change, if any.
Or, to phrase it differently, Netanyahu and Shamir notwithstanding, nothing changes but change itself. And the only way to deal with that is to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them. | <urn:uuid:1a833ff7-8cd9-4de7-84fa-faf24c9debbf> | http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/pen-ultimate/word-for-word-who-s-throwing-who-into-the-sea-1.449269 | en | 0.97544 | 0.033944 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Mediabistro’s Jason Boog is covering the Inside Social Apps conference in San Francisco, where he met up with Aunim Hossain, CEO of social gaming company Tista Games. Hossain argued that with the worldwide gaming audience of 500,000,000 people expected to triple in the next decade, the demand for writers who can craft compelling narratives will skyrocket.
“Storytelling is the best way of keeping people engaged and keeping them playing,” he argues.
For now, however, it looks like you need a solid programming background to work at Tista–narrative abilities or no. Still, we’ve already seen plenty of prominent Hollywood actors lend their talents to the gaming industry. How long before the best screenwriters start jumping ship? | <urn:uuid:f67c4a9d-94c8-4eed-84b8-4cbbae370f97> | http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/tag/aunim-hossain | en | 0.923313 | 0.103656 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Permalink for comment 239791
RE[2]: OpenGL support
by parentaladvisory on Sun 13th May 2007 09:30 UTC in reply to "RE: OpenGL support"
Member since:
How is it a pain in the ass to install them? If your distro doenst have them in their reposotory, just download them, and just run the script! make sure you have the kernel-headers installed, and its just fine!
On the other hand, I havent experienced this sucking of nvidia drivers that some says... I think they work really well. They have legacy drivers for linux, witch at least provide hardware 3d for older cards. Configuring dualhead without editing a line in xorg.conf is pretty nice, I was actually surprised it worked that good with 'nvidia-settings'.
Reply Parent Score: 1 | <urn:uuid:0535abbf-8584-47a8-ad96-58f827a7c2f6> | http://www.osnews.com/permalink?239791 | en | 0.942176 | 0.040208 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Steam and GOG take 30% cut of revenue vs. Humble Bundle 5% says Fez creator
Tom Senior at
Deals between distributors and devs tend to be secretive affairs bound by legal tape, unholy rites and signatures of blood and the like, but Edge have spotted a tweet from the creator of Fez, Phil Fish, who encourages players to buy through Humble Bundle because "we get 95% of revenues as opposed to steam/gog's 70%"
A 30% share for these big digital distributors, then, if the figure's accurate. That's a significant amount if you like to know your money's going directly into developers' pockets. Fez landed on PC yesterday after a year-long wait. You can buy it through the Fez websiteSteam and GOG. The choice is yours. | <urn:uuid:09c7299d-3098-4624-a5f2-0fcde94449d8> | http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/05/02/steam-and-gog-take-30-revenue-cut-suggests-fez-creator-phil-fish/ | en | 0.943177 | 0.422516 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
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[–]e2thex_at_reddit 2 points3 points ago
Yes one can commit a felony by steal mail, then get a group of there friends to also commit felonies by voting for someone else.
maybe we should also out law all absentee ballets, I mean you could just send in request for a ballet for 30 of your neighbours intercept the ballet fill it out and send it in! I think there you would get 3 felonies!
The main point is if you are going to increase the barrier to voting, you should demonstrate that there is a problem you are solving. If you can not demonstrate there is a problem, then adding cost to the populace is not justified.
There are lots of illegal ID given out in rural areas (not that I have any data on that) so I think we should move all location for registering to the city, where we trust the people giving out voting cards. Does that sound reasonable? It would if I could demonstrate that 30% of the voters in rural areas should not have been registered, but not if I just say it is true
[–]vpovio 0 points1 point ago
In the same vein of stupid ideas; clearly everyone in rural areas are planning an armed uprising against the government, and the violent lynching of all non-whites, therefore we should remove the Second Amendment but only if you live outside of a city. Heyo! This game is fun. | <urn:uuid:bf2ea0e9-0d00-4cd6-9082-9c6e50f29e58> | http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/12qhef/pa_judge_orders_partisans_to_stop_asking_voters/c6xgoqk | en | 0.964718 | 0.051727 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Senator Johanns Weekly Column - The President's Overdue, Underwhelming Budget
By: Mike Johanns
Date: April 15, 2013
Location: Unknown
Long gone are the days when citizens worked the land to pay their share to the crown before being allowed to keep anything for themselves. I think we can all agree it's a good thing those days are behind us. But even though Tax Day is in the books, we are still paying the government to cover this year's tax burden.
While April 15 is the national tax payment deadline, April 18 marks Tax Freedom Day, the point at which the total earnings of all Americans since the beginning of the year surpasses the total tax bill for the year. In theory, that's the day when you can start keeping the money you've worked hard to earn. This date only accounts for the government's tax revenue, which has been less than its expenditures in recent years. If you calculate the amount it would take to pay off the year's expected deficit, you'd be paying the government until May 9.
In the budget proposal submitted to Congress by President Obama last week--two months after the legal deadline and after both chambers of Congress already passed their respective spending plans--President Obama is asking for another $ 1.1 trillion in new taxes to go along with the $1.7 trillion he has signed into law since taking office. What's more unfathomable: despite these tax increases, the President's spending plan will never balance. It calls for government spending to exceed tax revenue in perpetuity at a time when our country clearly has a spending problem. To illustrate this spending binge, 2008 government spending was $3 trillion and the national debt at the beginning of that year was $8.9 trillion--still unacceptably high. However, under the President's plan, the government is projected to spend $5.66 trillion annually and the national debt will balloon to $25.4 trillion.
Americans deserve greater accountability of their hard-earned tax dollars--especially if the government is asking for an even bigger allowance. Forcing folks to fork over more money to help pay for the government's reckless spending habit is unacceptable if not insulting.
Despite the President's refusal to admit we have a spending problem, I do want to acknowledge his admission that important programs like Social Security and Medicare are in trouble and must be strengthened. To his credit, he has proposed adjusting the formula used to calculate Social Security and Medicare cost of living adjustments to more accurately reflect inflation rates. But this is only part of the equation. If the President really wants to stimulate the economy, he should reverse his record of increased spending and taxes. More money in the pockets of hard-working Americans means more money exchanging hands on Main Street. He should commit to meaningfully reducing the deficit and forging a path to a balanced budget.
My hope is that the President's recognition of the unsustainable path of our entitlements is only the first step--one that will be followed by additional meaningful proposals and real leadership. There are willing partners eager to get our country back on course if the President chooses to step up to the plate. | <urn:uuid:7b0256ff-34d3-44be-b179-849afec2f0b1> | https://votesmart.org/public-statement/777520/senator-johanns-weekly-column-the-presidents-overdue?flavour=mobile | en | 0.965182 | 0.111858 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
"No, no… We need to hit their northern border as soon as possible! … Well then, next time, don't ask for my opinion!"
Harry James Potter blinked numbly, looking about his surroundings. One moment, he'd been on the Hogwarts Express, heading back to London after… After Dumbledore's funeral.
And now, he seemed to be in a rather strange study. Bookshelves surrounded him, filled with hundreds of volumes, arranged, it seemed, in no particular order. Sun-Tzu's Art of War was crammed next to A Hogwarts History. Modern Military Strategies, Reading Ancient Sumerian, and The Illiad were shoved somewhat haphazardly in with countless other books, maps, journals, and other documents.
Hermione would have a fit, he thought in slight amusement, before turning and looking for the source of the voice he'd heard.
There was a single desk at the end of the room, though it was probably more fair to call it a large table. It was, like the bookshelves, covered in books, but there were also computers, pieces of odd technology, and things Harry had never seen before in his life. He frowned, and walked up to the desk. He looked around a large computer monitor, and blinked again.
"No, no, he's right… Aha! Yes, he's here!" A tall boy, in an American accent, who was also wearing glasses, smiled as he turned his large, expensive-looking office chair towards Harry. He was wearing a radio headset, which he quickly took off and shoved into a drawer. He then stood and extended his hand, smiling good-naturedly.
"Pleasure to meet you face to face, Mr. Potter." Harry, feeling very, very confused, took his hand and gingerly shook it. The boy nodded with the same smile.
"Okay, okay… I know, you're probably very confused right now. And I will do my best to alleviate that, but first! How rude of me! My name is Andrew…"
"Andrew…?" Harry prompted.
"Just Andrew. In any event, I'm sure you have many questions. So, please feel free to ask them. Go ahead…"
"… Okay… Why am I here?" The Boy Who Lived began. Andrew nodded.
"Well… First, your parents fell in love, and got married, and on their wedding night-" At Harry's death glare, Andrew coughed.
"Right, sorry… You'll have to forgive me, I'm a bit literal minded sometimes… Quite simply, I locked onto your specific magical signature, using a bit of technology and magic I've combined, and Apparated you here." Harry noted that Andrew seemed rather proud of this fact.
"Okay, that's the how I got here. But… Wait. You're not a wizard, are you?"
"Nope. Not in the slightest. Well, not in the way you mean, anyway." Andrew gestured to Harry to sit in a chair, that had mysteriously appeared behind the Boy Who Lived. Cautiously, Harry sat down. To his amazement, the computers, books, and other assorted things on top of Andrew's desk vanished in a burst of blue light, leaving the American smiling serenely behind the desk. For some reason, Harry was reminded of Dumbledore… Which he violently fought down.
I don't need that… Not now…
"Okay, Harry… Basically, I'll give you the info I know," Andrew stated. "The highest levels of the American and British governments have been aware of the magical world for quite some time. To the best of our knowledge, the magical world makes use of a fifth universal force, which you call 'magic'." Harry blinked.
"Huh? Fifth force?"
"Yes, Harry. Basically, modern physics defines five forces that govern the universe: Electromagnetism, strong nuclear force (that's fission), weak nuclear force (that's fusion), gravity, and magic. The normal, non-magical humans on Earth-What do you call us again?"
"Er… Muggles," Harry answered. Andrew nodded.
"Right, well… Until recently, we Muggles have only been able to utilize the first four forces in the Universe. The fifth, magic, allows the wizarding folk to easily control the other four for a variety of purposes, as you are already aware." Andrew shrugged. "Basically, I'm a scientist, who has managed to find a way to harness the fifth force through technology. And, as you can see, my research department and myself (under government contract, mind you) have made some progress in duplicating and improving the use of magic."
"That… Doesn't explain why I'm here," Harry pointed out, becoming a bit impatient. Andrew coughed.
"Quite right… Okay. Here's the deal: You are, in essence, the only person who can kill Lord Voldemort." Harry blinked. Andrew grinned.
"What? You expected me to say You-Know-Who?"
"Well… I suppose… But then, you're not a wizard."
"Doesn't mean I don't know about the political situation in the wizarding world," Andrew replied calmly. "Voldemort's a threat to everyone, Harry. And certain people in my government, including our President, have decided that it's time that we shove this separation nonsense and start helping out our magical brethren."
"But, the Ministry has anti-" Harry began. Andrew waved his hand.
"The Ministry does. The newly created Department of Magic, in the United States, has no such laws. The wizards here are proud to serve their country-Provided we keep their existence a secret to the rest of the world, which we agreed. Not to mention to only develop magical technology under their supervision. We've improved our tracking systems and satellite communications, but no enhancing nukes or other things like that." Andrew shrugged. "The reason I brought you here, Harry, is simple. You are our best chance to defeat him. And, we've willing to provide you with whatever you need to that end. Fighter jets that respond to your mental control, through a modified Legimency spell. Armor that can repel even an Unforgivable. Intelligence networks from all around the world, both magical and Muggle. And, of course, round-the-clock military support." Andrew smirked slightly.
"I imagine that even Voldemort would have some trouble with a 500 pound smart bomb blasting his HQ into rubble." Harry gaped, before leaning back in his chair thoughtfully.
"… This is… You're serious?"
"Yes. Very. Though we have a few conditions…" Harry hardened his features.
"If, it is at all possible? If there's anything left of Voldemort after you've taken him down, we'd like to study it. Scientific curiosity… Not to mention we'd like to make sure he can't come back ever again. Ever." Harry nodded.
"Allright… What else?"
"We'd like you to work with Hermione Granger. Our reports suggest that the two of you would be quite a formidable force against Voldemort. However, Ron Weasly would not be recommended."
"Why?" Harry asked, glaring a bit. "He's my best mate! He's fought alongside me countless times!"
"Yes, we know," Andrew confirmed. "However, our psych reports indicate that he still needs some growing up to do. And you and Hermione, working together, have certainly come up with a great deal of victories."
Harry chewed his bottom lip, before sighing. Andrew had a point. Ron was a bit of a hot head, and he certainly didn't want his best friend in any more danger than he already was.
But Hermione will also be in danger…
"Will you require anything else from me?" Harry asked bluntly. Andrew shook his head.
"All we require, Harry, is that you destroy Voldemort. And that you don't get yourself killed in the process."
Andrew, the author, sighed and rolled his eyes. "Well what, Miss Tonks?"
The Metamorphagus scowled at Andrew. "Well, are you happy?"
"What? Harry gets the support of the world's most powerful military. And lots of time with Hermione." Andrew smirked. "Ron, meanwhile, is growing closer to Luna Lovegood… While Ginny and Neville grow closer. I do think that things are going to turn out just fine."
"Why is it that you authors enjoy playing God?" Remus Lupin asked heatedly. Talon shook his head.
"I'm not playing God. Merely playing matchmaker. And making sure that everyone is as happy as they can possibly be. Now then… You two. How about a nice, long vacation in the Bahamas?"
"Bribing us?"
"Hardly. I'm just being nice. Enjoy!" And before either Tonks or Lupin could protest, the author had sent them both upon their way. He leaned back in his chair and sighed contentedly.
"Who says power can't make people happy?"
"Ronald… Why did you just kiss me?"
"I'm… I'm not sure… I guess I just, well… I care about you."
"Thank you, Ronald. I care about you too."
"And… It was like someone was giving me a nudge… Do you ever get the feeling that our lives are being controlled from somewhere else?"
Elsewhere, a certain author coughed faux-innocently.
Just had to get it out of my system. | <urn:uuid:29df96a3-2949-42c5-a9b2-7f225d283039> | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2488637/1/Dun-Dun-Dun | en | 0.975204 | 0.30726 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
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I have an old Dell Latitude D600 using USB boot Ubuntu 12.10. When booting, it said that I have the wrong kernal for my CPU. Very odd, Ubuntu 11.10 was working just fine. I tried the 12.10 on another PC (newer Dell), and it works. Not sure what is going on here.
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Please see the first answer here. It explains the problem and offers 3 different solutions!
The error message means that your CPU does not support PAE extensions - that is a technique which allows a 32bit CPU to address more than 4GB of memory address space. By default, 12.04 and later versions of Ubuntu expects a CPU with this capability.
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| <urn:uuid:3520390e-455c-42e1-8fbb-e3818485b4d3> | http://askubuntu.com/questions/240403/ubuntu-12-10-does-not-boot-on-dell-d600?answertab=active | en | 0.906658 | 0.022849 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Because of their operating and clinic schedule, your neurosurgeon may not be present to speak with you immediately when you call with a question or need information. Our office has experienced Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, and medical secretaries who can answer many of your questions or will relay the message to your neurosurgeon for follow-up. If you have an emergency situation, we can always contact one of the physicians in our group.
Emergencies & after hours calls
If you have an emergency situation after hours or on the weekend, we have neurosurgeons on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you call the office number you usually use to reach your physician or call 315-464-4470, you will be forwarded to our answering service. The answering service will contact the physician if they determine your call needs immediate action. Remember that the on-call physician may not be your regular physician and may need to ask some detailed questions about your case history so he can assist you.
Patient Stories | <urn:uuid:1c6221e1-3b22-43e1-ad15-f427723300af> | http://cnyneurosurgery.org/patient-information/if-you-need-to-reach-us-after-hours | en | 0.942704 | 0.067475 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
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Monte Cervino
Matterhorn from Domhütte - 2.jpg
East and north faces
Elevation 4,478 m (14,692 ft)
Prominence 1,040 m (3,412 ft)[1]
Parent peak Weisshorn
Matterhorn is located in Alps
Location in the Alps
Location Aosta Valley, Italy
Valais, Switzerland
Range Pennine Alps
Coordinates 45°58′35″N 7°39′30″E / 45.97639°N 7.65833°E / 45.97639; 7.65833Coordinates: 45°58′35″N 7°39′30″E / 45.97639°N 7.65833°E / 45.97639; 7.65833
Topo map Swisstopo 1347 Matterhorn
First ascent July 14, 1865 by
Edward Whymper
Charles Hudson
Francis Douglas
Douglas Robert Hadow
Michel Croz
Peter Taugwalder (father)
Peter Taugwalder (son)
Easiest route Hörnli ridge (AD, rock/mixed climb)
The Matterhorn was one of the last great Alpine peaks to be climbed and its first ascent marked the end of the golden age of alpinism.[3] It was made in 1865 by a party led by Edward Whymper and ended disastrously when four of its members fell to their deaths on the descent. The north face was not climbed until 1931, and is amongst the six great north faces of the Alps. It is estimated that over 500 alpinists have died on the Matterhorn since the first climb in 1865, making it one of the deadliest peaks in the Alps.[4]
The Matterhorn has become an iconic emblem of the Swiss Alps and the Alps in general. Since the end of the 19th century, when railways were built, it attracted more and more visitors and climbers. Each summer a large number of mountaineers try to climb the Matterhorn via the northeast Hörnli ridge, the most popular route to the summit.
The mountain derives its name from the German words Matte, meaning "meadow", and Horn, which means "peak". The migration of the name "meadow" from the lower part of the countryside to the peak is common in the Alps. The Italian and French names (Cervino and Cervin) come from Mons Silvius (or Mons Sylvius)[5] from the Latin word silva, meaning forest (with again the migration of the name from the lower part to the peak). The changing of the first letter "s" to "c" is attributed to Horace Bénédict de Saussure,[6] who thought that the word was related to a deer (French: cerf and Italian: cervo).[7]
View on the south and east faces and the area of the Theodul Pass between Italy (left) and Switzerland (right)
In Sebastian Münster's Cosmography, published in 1543, the name of Matter is given to the Theodul Pass, and this seems to be the origin of the present German name of the mountain. On Münster's topographical chart this group is marked under the names of Augstalberg ("Aosta mountain") and Mons Silvius. An hypothesis of Josias Simler (De Alpibus Commentarius, 1574) on the etymology of the name of Mons Silvius was readopted by T. G. Farinetti:[8] "Silvius was probably a Roman leader who sojourned with his legions in the land of the Salassi and the Seduni, and perhaps crossed the Theodul Pass between these two places. This Silvius may have been that same Servius Galba whom Caesar charged with the opening up of the Alpine passes, which from that time onward traders have been wanting to cross with great danger and grave difficulty.[9] Servius Galba, in order to carry out Caesar's orders, came with his legions from Allobroges (Savoy) to Octodurum (Martigny) in the Valais, and pitched his camp there. The passes which he had orders to open from there could be no other than the St. Bernard, the Simplon, the Theodul, and the Moro; it therefore seems likely that the name of Servius, whence Silvius and later Servin, or Cervin, was given in his honour to the famous pyramid." It is not exactly known at what period the new name of Servin, or Cervin, replaced the old, from which it seems to be derived.[10]
The Matterhorn is also named Gran Becca by the Valdôtains[11] and Horu by the local Walliser German speaking people.[12]
Banner cloud formation on the Matterhorn
The Matterhorn has two distinct summits, both situated on a 100-metre-long rocky ridge: the Swiss summit with a height of 4,477.5 metres (14,690 ft) on the east and the Italian summit with a height of 4,476.4 metres (14,686 ft) on the west. Their names originated from the first ascents, not for geographic reasons, as both are located on the border. In August 1792, the Genevan geologist and explorer Horace Bénédict de Saussure made the first measurement of the Matterhorn's height, using a 50-foot-long chain spread out on the Theodul glacier and a sextant. He calculated a height of 4,501.7 metres (14,769 ft).[13] In 1868 the Italian engineer Felice Giordano measured a height of 4,505 metres (14,780 ft) by means of a mercurial barometer, which he had taken up to the summit. The Dufour map, which was afterwards followed by the Italian surveyors, gave 4,482 metres (14,705 ft) as the height of the Swiss summit.[14] A recent survey (1999) using Global Positioning System technology has been made, allowing the height of the Matterhorn to be measured to within one centimetre accuracy, and its changes to be tracked. The result was 4,477.54 metres (14,690 ft).[15]
The Matterhorn and Dent d'Hérens seen from Tête Blanche
The Matterhorn has a pyramidal shape with four faces facing the four compass points: the north and east faces overlook, respectively, the Zmutt valley and Gornergrat ridge in Switzerland, the south face (the only one south of the Swiss-Italian border) fronts the resort town of Breuil-Cervinia, and the west face looks towards the mountain of Dent d'Hérens which straddles the border. The north and south faces meet at the summit to form a short east-west ridge.
The north side seen from the Zmutt valley
The Matterhorn's faces are steep, and only small patches of snow and ice cling to them; regular avalanches send the snow down to accumulate on the glaciers at the base of each face, the largest of which is the Zmutt Glacier to the west. The Hörnli ridge of the northeast (the central ridge in the view from Zermatt) is the usual climbing route.
Well-known faces are the east and north, visible from Zermatt. The east face is 1,000 metres high and, because it is "a long, monotonous slope of rotten rocks",[16] presents a high risk of rockfall, making its ascent dangerous. The north face is 1,200 metres high and is one of the most dangerous north faces in the Alps, in particular for its risk of rockfall and storms. The south face is 1,350 metres high and offers many different routes. The west face, the highest at 1,400 metres, has the fewest ascent routes.
The east face
The four main ridges separating the four faces are the main climbing routes. The least difficult technical climb, the Hörnli ridge (Hörnligrat), lies between the east and north faces, facing the town of Zermatt. To its west lies the Zmutt ridge (Zmuttgrat), between the north and west faces; this is, according to Collomb, "the classic route up the mountain, its longest ridge, also the most disjointed."[16] The Lion ridge (Cresta del Leone), lying between the south and west faces is the Italian normal route and goes across Pic Tyndall; Collomb comments, "A superb rock ridge, the shortest on the mountain, now draped with many fixed ropes, but a far superior climb compared with the Hörnli."[16] Finally the south side is separated from the east side by the Furggen ridge (Furggengrat), according to Collomb "the hardest of the ridges [...] the ridge still has an awesome reputation but is not too difficult in good conditions by the indirect finish".[16]
The south face
The border between Italy and Switzerland is the main Alpine watershed, separating the drainage basin on the Rhone on the north (Mediterranean Sea) and the Po River on the south (Adriatic Sea). The Theodul Pass, located between the Matterhorn and Klein Matterhorn, at 3,300 metres, is the lowest passage between the Valtournenche and the Mattertal. The pass was used as a crossover and trade route for the Romans and the Romanised Celts between 100 BC and 400 AC.[17]
While the Matterhorn is the culminating point of the Valtournenche on the south, it is only one of the many 4000 metres summits of the Mattertal valley on the north, such as the Weisshorn (4505 m), Dom (4545 m), Lyskamm (4527 m) and the second highest in the Alps: Monte Rosa (4634 m). The whole range of mountains form a crown of summits around Zermatt. The deeply glaciated region between the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa is listed in the Federal Inventory of Landscapes and Natural Monuments.
The Matterhorn is an isolated mountain. Because of its position on the main Alpine watershed and its great height, the Matterhorn is exposed to rapid weather changes. In addition the steep faces of the mountain and its isolated location make it prone to banner clouds formation with the air flowing around and creating vortices, producing condensation of the air on the lee side.
Apart from the base of the mountain, the Matterhorn is composed of gneiss belonging to the Dent Blanche klippe, an isolated part of the Austroalpine nappes, lying over the Penninic nappes. The Austroalpine nappes are part of the Apulian plate, a small continent which broke up from Africa before the Alpine orogeny. For this reason the Matterhorn has been popularized as an African mountain. The Austroalpine nappes are mostly common in the Eastern Alps.
The Swiss explorer and geologist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, inspired by the view of the Matterhorn, anticipated the modern theories of geology:
What power must have been required to shatter and to sweep away the missing parts of this pyramid; for we do not see it surrounded by heaps of fragments; one only sees other peaks - themselves rooted to the ground - whose sides, equally rent, indicate an immense mass of débris, of which we do not see any trace in the neighbourhood. Doubtless this is that débris which, in the form of pebbles, boulders, and sand, fills our valleys and our plains.[18]
Different layers of rock can be seen: the lower part is sedimentary rocks (yellow); the middle part is greenschists from the oceanic crust. The peak itself (above the seracs) is gneisses from the African continent.
The formation of the Matterhorn (and the whole Alpine range) started with the break-up of the Pangaea continent 200 million years ago into Laurasia (containing Europe) and Gondwana (containing Africa). While the rocks constituting the nearby Monte Rosa remained in Laurasia, the rocks constituting the Matterhorn found themselves in Gondwana, separated by the newly formed Tethys Ocean.
100 million years ago the extension of the Tethys Ocean stopped and the Apulian plate broke from Gondwana and moved toward the European continent. This resulted in the closure of the western Tethys by subduction under the Apulian plate (with the Piemont-Liguria Ocean first and Valais Ocean later). The subduction of the oceanic crust left traces still visible today at the base of the Matterhorn (accretionary prism). The orogeny itself began after the end of the oceanic subduction when the European continental crust collided with the Apulian continent, resulting in the formation of nappes. The Matterhorn acquired its characteristic pyramidal shape in much more recent times as it was caused by natural erosion over the past million years. At the beginning of alpine orogeny, the Matterhorn was only a rounded mountain like a hill. Because its height is above the snowline, its flanks are covered by ice, resulting from the accumulation and compaction of snow. During the warmer period of summer, part of the ice melts and seeps into the bedrock. When it freezes again, it fractures pieces of rock because of its dilatation (freeze-thaw), forming a cirque. Four cirques led to the shape of the mountain. Because of its recognizable shape, many other similar mountains around the world were named or nicknamed the 'Matterhorn' of their respective countries or mountain ranges.[19]
Most of the base of the mountain lies in the Tsaté nappe, a remnant of the Piedmont-Liguria oceanic crust (ophiolites) and its sedimentary rocks.[20] Up to 3,400 metres the mountain is composed of successive layers of ophiolites and sedimentary rocks. From 3,400 metres to the top, the rocks are gneisses from the Dent Blanche nappe (Austroalpine nappes). They are divided into the Arolla series (below 4,200 m) and the Valpelline zone (the summit).[21] Other mountains in the region (Weisshorn, Zinalrothorn, Dent Blanche, Mont Collon) also belong to the Dent Blanche nappe.
Tourism and trekking[edit]
Flight around the Matterhorn
Since the eighteenth century the Alps have attracted more and more people and fascinated generations of explorers and climbers. The Matterhorn remained relatively little known until 1865, but the successful ascent followed by the tragic accident of the expedition led by Edward Whymper caused a rush on the mountains surrounding Zermatt.
The construction of the railway linking the village of Zermatt from the town of Visp started in 1888. The first train reached Zermatt on July 18, 1891 and the entire line was electrified in 1930.[22] Since 1930 the village is directly connected to St. Moritz by the Glacier Express panoramic train. However there is no connection with the village of Breuil-Cervinia on the Italian side. Travellers have to hire mountain guides to cross the 3,300 metres high glaciated Theodul Pass, separating the two resorts. The town of Zermatt remains completely free of internal combustion vehicles and can be reached by train only. (Electric vehicles are used locally).
View from the train to the Gornergrat
Rail and cable-car facilities have been built to make some of the summits in the area more accessible. The Gornergrat railway, reaching a record altitude of 3,100 metres, was inaugurated in 1898. Areas served by cable car are the Unterrothorn and the Klein Matterhorn (Little Matterhorn) (3,883 m, highest transportation system in Europe). The Hörnli Hut (3,260 m), which is the start of the normal route via the Hörnli ridge, is easily accessible from Schwarzsee (2,600 m) and is also frequented by hikers. Both resorts of Zermatt and Cervinia function as ski resort all year round and are connected by skilifts over the Theodul Pass. A cable car running from Testa Grigia to Klein Matterhorn is currently planned for 2014. It will finally provide a link between the Swiss and Italian side of the Matterhorn.[23]
The Matterhorn Museum (Zermatt) relates the general history of the region from alpinism to tourism. In the museum, which is in the form of a reconstituted mountain village, the visitors can relive the first and tragic ascent of the Matterhorn and see the objects having belonged to the protagonists.
The Tour of the Matterhorn can be effected by trekkers in about 10 days. Considered by some as one of the most beautiful treks in the Alps, it follows many ancient trails that have linked the Swiss and Italian valleys for centuries. The circuit includes alpine meadows, balcony trails, larch forests and glacial crossings. It connects six valleys embracing three different cultures: the German-speaking high Valais, the French-speaking central Valais and the Italian-speaking Val d'Aosta. Good conditions are necessary to circumnavigate the peak. After reaching Zinal by the Augstbord and Meiden passes, the trekker crosses the Torrent before arriving at Arolla. Then the Col Collon must be crossed on the road to Prarayer and another one to Breuil-Cervinia and back to Zermatt via the Theodul. In total, seven passes between 2,800 and 3,300 metres must be crossed on a relatively difficult terrain.[24]
Climbing history[edit]
Plaque on the front wall of the Monte Rosa Hotel, commemorating the first ascent by Edward Whymper[25]
The Matterhorn was one of the last of the main Alpine mountains to be ascended, not because of its technical difficulty, but because of the fear it inspired in early mountaineers. The first serious attempts began around 1857, mostly from the Italian side; but despite appearances, the southern routes are harder, and parties repeatedly found themselves having to turn back. However, on July 14, 1865, in what is considered the last ascent of the golden age of alpinism, the English party of Edward Whymper, Charles Hudson, Lord Francis Douglas, Douglas Robert Hadow, Michel Croz and the two Peter Taugwalders (father and son) were able to reach the summit by an ascent of the Hörnli ridge in Switzerland. Upon descent, Hadow, Croz, Hudson and Douglas fell to their deaths on the Matterhorn Glacier, and all but Douglas (whose body was never found) are buried in the Zermatt churchyard.
Only three days after Whymper's ascent, the mountain was ascended from the Italian side via an indirect route by Jean-Antoine Carrel and Jean-Baptiste Bich on July 17, 1865.[16]
Before the first ascent[edit]
In the summer of 1860, Edward Whymper came across the Matterhorn for the first time. He was an English artist and engraver who had been hired by a London publisher to make sketches of the mountains in the region of Zermatt. Although the unclimbed Matterhorn had a mixed reputation among British mountaineers, it fascinated Whymper. Whymper's first attempt was in 1861, from the village of Breuil on the south side. He was at the beginning of the climb, with a Swiss guide, when he met Jean-Antoine Carrel and his uncle. Carrel was an Italian guide from Breuil who had already made several attempts on the mountain. The two parties camped together at the base of the peak. Carrel and his uncle woke up early and decided to continue the ascent without Whymper and his guide. Discovering that they had been left, Whymper and his guide tried to race Carrel up the mountain, but neither party met with success.
The Rifugio Carrel (3,830 m) on the Lion ridge
In 1862 Whymper made further attempts, still from the south side, on the Lion ridge (or Italian ridge), where the route seemed easier than the Hörnli ridge (the normal route today). On his own he reached above 4,000 metres, but was injured on his way down to Breuil. In July John Tyndall with Johann Joseph Bennen and another guide overcame most of the difficulties of the ridge that seemed so formidable from below and successfully reached the main shoulder; but at a point not very far below the summit they were stopped by a deep cleft that defied their utmost efforts. The Matterhorn remained unclimbed.
Whymper returned to Breuil in 1863, persuading Carrel to join forces with him and try the mountain once more via the Italian ridge. On this attempt a storm, however, soon developed and they were stuck halfway to the summit. They remained there for 26 hours in their tent before giving up. Whymper did not make another attempt for two years.
In the decisive year 1865, Whymper returned with new plans, deciding to attack the Matterhorn via its south face instead of the Italian ridge. On June 21, Whymper began his ascent with Swiss guides, but halfway up they experienced severe rockfall; although nobody was injured, they decided to give up the ascent. This was Whymper's seventh attempt.
During the following weeks, Whymper spent his time climbing other mountains in the area with his guides, before going back to Breuil on July 7. Meanwhile the Italian Alpine Club was founded and its leaders, Felice Giordano and Quintino Sella, established plans to conquer the Matterhorn before any non-Italian could succeed. Felice Giordano hired Carrel as guide, he feared the arrival of Whymper, now a rival, and wrote to Quintino Sella:[26]
I have tried to keep everything secret, but that fellow whose life seems to depend on the Matterhorn is here, suspiciously prying into everything. I have taken all the best men away from him; and yet he is so enamored of the mountain that he may go with others...He is here in the hotel and I try to avoid speaking to him.
The Matterhorn seen from the Val Tournenche
Just as he did two years before, Whymper asked Carrel to be his guide, but Carrel declined; he was also unsuccessful in hiring other local guides from Breuil. When Whymper discovered Giordano and Carrel's plan, he left Breuil and crossed the Theodul Pass to Zermatt to hire local guides. He encountered Lord Francis Douglas, a Scottish mountaineer, who also wanted to climb the Matterhorn. They arrived later in Zermatt in the Monte Rosa Hotel, where they met two other British climbers — the Reverend Charles Hudson and his young and inexperienced companion, Douglas Robert Hadow — who had hired the French guide Michel Croz to try to make the first ascent. These two groups decided to join forces and try the ascent of the Hörnli ridge. They hired another two local guides, Peter Taugwalder, father and son.
First ascent[edit]
Whymper and party left Zermatt early in the morning of July 13, heading to the foot of the Hörnli ridge, which they reached 6 hours later (approximately where the Hörnli Hut is situated today). Meanwhile Carrel and six other Italian guides also began their ascent of the Italian ridge.
Despite its appearance, Whymper wrote that the Hörnli ridge was much easier to climb than the Italian ridge:
We were now fairly upon the mountain, and were astonished to find that places which from the Riffel, or even from the Furggen Glacier, looked entirely impracticable, were so easy that we could run about.[27]
The first ascent of the Matterhorn, by Gustave Doré
After camping for the night, Whymper and party started on the ridge. According to Whymper:
The whole of this great slope was now revealed, rising for 3,000 feet like a huge natural staircase. Some parts were more, and others were less, easy; but we were not once brought to a halt by any serious impediment, for when an obstruction was met in front it could always be turned to the right or left. For the greater part of the way there was, indeed, no occasion for the rope, and sometimes Hudson led, sometimes myself. At 6.20 we had attained a height of 12,800 feet and halted for half an hour; we then continued the ascent without a break until 9.55, when we stopped for fifty minutes, at a height of 14,000 feet.[27]
When the party came close to the summit, they had to leave the ridge for the north face because "[the ridge] was usually more rotten and steep, and always more difficult than the face".[27] At this point of the ascent Whymper wrote that the less experienced Hadow "required continual assistance".[27] Having overcome these difficulties the group finally arrived in the summit area, with Croz and Whymper reaching the top first.
The slope eased off, and Croz and I, dashing away, ran a neck-and-neck race, which ended in a dead heat. At 1.40 p.m. the world was at our feet, and the Matterhorn was conquered. Hurrah! Not a footstep could be seen.[27]
Precisely at this moment, Carrel and party were approximatively 400 metres below, still dealing with the most difficult parts of the Italian ridge. When seeing his rival on the summit, Carrel and party gave up on their attempt and went back to Breuil.
The first descent of the Matterhorn, by Gustave Doré
After building a cairn, Whymper and party stayed an hour on the summit. Then they began their descent of the Hörnli ridge. Croz descended first, then Hadow, Hudson and Douglas, Taugwalder father, Whymper with Taugwalder son coming last. They climbed down with great care, only one man moving at a time. Whymper wrote:
As far as I know, at the moment of the accident no one was actually moving. I cannot speak with certainty, neither can the Taugwalders, because the two leading men were partially hidden from our sight by an intervening mass of rock. Poor Croz had laid aside his axe, and in order to give Mr. Hadow greater security was absolutely taking hold of his legs and putting his feet, one by one, into their proper positions. From the movements of their shoulders it is my belief that Croz, having done as I have said, was in the act of turning round to go down a step or two himself; at this moment Mr. Hadow slipped, fell on him, and knocked him over.[28]
The weight of the falling men pulled Hudson and Douglas from their holds and dragged them down the north face. Taugwalder, father and son, and Whymper were left alive when the rope linking Douglas to Taugwalder father broke. They were stunned by the accident and for a time could not move until Taugwalder son descended to enable them to advance. When they were together Whymper asked to see the broken rope and saw that it had been employed by mistake as it was the weakest and oldest of the three ropes they had brought. They frequently looked, but in vain, for traces of their fallen companions. They continued their descent, including an hour in the dark, until 9.30pm when a resting place was found. At daybreak the descent was resumed and the group finally reached Zermatt, where a search of the victims was quickly organized. The bodies of Croz, Hadow and Hudson were found on the Matterhorn Glacier, but the body of Douglas was never found. Although the elder Taugwalder was accused of cutting the rope to save himself and his son, the official inquest found no proof for this.
Second ascent[edit]
The summit
On July 16, two days after the first ascent and the catastrophe, Jean-Antoine Carrel set out to crown Whymper's victory by proving that the Italian side was not unconquerable. He was accompanied by Amé Gorret, a priest who had shared with him the first attempt on the mountain back in 1857. Jean-Baptiste Bich and Jean-Augustin Meynet completed the party. Giordano would have joined them, but Carrel refused absolutely to take him with them; he said he would not have the strength to guide a traveller, and could neither answer for the result nor for any one's life. After hearing Sunday mass at the chapel of Breuil, the party started. Amé Gorret has described this ascent with enthusiasm: "At last we crossed the Col du Lion and set foot upon the pyramid of the Matterhorn!" On the following day, the 17th, they continued the ascent and reached Tyndall's flagstaff. "We were about to enter unknown country," wrote Gorret, "for no man had gone beyond this point." Here opinions were divided; Gorret suggested ascending by the ridge and scaling the last tower straight up. Carrel was inclined to traverse to the west of the peak, and thence go up on the Zmutt side. Naturally the wish of Carrel prevailed, for he was the leader and had not lost the habit of command, notwithstanding his recent defeat.[29]
They made the passage of the enjambée, and traversed the west face to reach the Zmutt ridge. A false step made by one of the party and a fall of icicles from above warned them to return to the direct line of ascent, and the traverse back to the Lion ridge was one of the greatest difficulty. A falling stone wounded Gorret in the arm.[29]
At last they reached the base of the final tower. "We stood," wrote Gorret, "in a place that was almost comfortable. Although it was not more than two yards wide, and the slope was one of 75 percent, we gave it all kinds of pleasant names : the corridor, the gallery, the railroad, &c., &c." They imagined all difficulties were at an end; but a rock couloir, which they had hitherto not observed, lay between them and the final bit of ridge, where progress would be perfectly easy. It would have been unwise for all four to descend into the couloir, because they did not know where to fix the rope that would be needed on their return. Time pressed: it was necessary to reduce the numbers of the party; Gorret sacrificed himself, and Meynet stopped with him. Very soon afterwards Carrel and Bich were finally on the top. Meanwhile Giordano at Breuil was writing in his diary as follows: "Splendid weather; at 9.30 saw Carrel and his men on the Shoulder, after that saw nothing more of them. Then much mist about the summit. Lifted a bit about 3.30, and we saw our flag on the western summit of the Matterhorn."[29]
Other ascents[edit]
On the Hörnli ridge
The first direct ascent of the Italian ridge as it is climbed today was by J. J. and J. P. Maquignaz on September 13, 1867.[16] Julius Elliott made the second ascent via the Hörnli ridge in 1868, and later that year the party of John Tyndall, J. J. and J. P. Maquignaz was the first to traverse the summit by way of the Hörnli and Italian ridges.[16] On August 22, 1871, while wearing a white print dress, Lucy Walker became the first woman to reach the summit of the Matterhorn,[30] followed a few weeks later by her rival Meta Brevoort. The first winter ascent of the Hörnli ridge was by Vittorio Sella with guides J. A. Carrel, J. B. Carrel and L. Carrel on March 17, 1882,[16] and its first solo ascent was made by W. Paulcke in 1898.[16] The first winter solo ascent of the Hörnli ridge was by G. Gervasutti in 1936.[16]
The Zmutt ridge was first climbed by Albert F. Mummery, Alexander Burgener, J. Petrus and A. Gentinetta on September 3, 1879. Its first solo ascent was made by Hans Pfann in 1906,[16] and the first winter ascent was made by H. Masson and E. Petrig on March 25, 1948.[16]
The last of the Matterhorn's four ridges to be ascended was the Furggen ridge. M. Piacenza with guides J. J. Carrel and J. Gaspard on September 9, 1911, climbed most of the ridge but bypassed the overhangs near the top to the south.[16] Not until September 23, 1942, during the Second World War, did Alfredo Perino, along with guides Louis Carrel (nicknamed "The Little Carrel") and Giacomo Chiara, climb the complete ridge and the overhangs directly.[31]
On August 20, 1992 Italian alpinist Hans Kammerlander and Swiss alpine guide Diego Wellig climbed the Matterhorn four times in just 23 hours and 26 minutes. The route they followed was: Zmutt ridge–summit–Hörnli ridge (descent)–Furggen ridge–summit–Lion ridge (descent)–Lion ridge–summit–Hörnli ridge (descent)–Hörnli ridge–summit–Hörnli Hut (descent).[32] Their itinerary has not been repeated.
There is a record of climbing Matterhorn from the village Breuil-Cervinia, of 2 h 10 min by Bruno Brunod (it) in 1995.,[33] and from Breuil-Cervinia to Matterhorn and back, of 3:14:44 by Bruno Brunod in 1995.[34]
On August 21, 2013, the Spanish mountain runner Kilian Jornet broke Brunod's record as it took him 1 hour, 56 min to the top, and 2 hours, 52 minutes from Breuil-Cervinia to the top and back.
William Penhall and guides made the first (partial) ascent of the west face, the Matterhorn's most hidden and unknown, one hour after Mummery and party's first ascent of the Zmutt ridge on September 3, 1879.[35][36] It was not until 1962 that the west face was completely climbed. The ascent was made on August 13 by Renato Daguin and Giovanni Ottin.[5][37] In January 1978 seven Italian alpine guides made a successful winter climb of Daguin and Ottin's highly direct, and previously unrepeated, 1962 route. But a storm came during their ascent, bringing two metres of snow to Breuil-Cervinia and Zermatt, and their accomplishment turned bitter when one of the climbers died during the descent.[31]
The north face
The north face, before it was climbed in 1931, was one of the last great big wall problems in the Alps. To succeed on the north face, good climbing and ice-climbing technique and route-finding ability were required. Unexpectedly it was first climbed by the brothers Franz and Toni Schmid on July 31–August 1, 1931. They reached the summit at the end of the second day, after a night of bivouac. Because they had kept their plans secret, their ascent was a complete surprise. In addition, the two brothers had travelled by bicycle from Munich and after their successful ascent they cycled back home again.[38] The first winter ascent of the north face was made by Hilti von Allmen and Paul Etter on February 3–4, 1962.[16] Its first solo ascent was made in five hours by Dieter Marchart on July 22, 1959.[16] Walter Bonatti climbed the "North Face Direct" solo on February 18–22, 1965.[16] This Bonatti direct route was not repeated solo until 29 years later, in winter 1994 by (first woman) Catherine Destivelle.
Ueli Steck set the record time in climbing the north face (Schmid route) of Matterhorn in 2009 with a time of 1 hour 56 minutes.[39]
After Bonatti's climb, the best alpinists were still preoccupied with one last great problem: the "Zmutt Nose", an overhang lying on the right-hand side of the north face. In July 1969 two Italians, Alessandro Gogna and Leo Cerruti, attempted to solve the problem. It took them four days to figure out the unusual overhangs, avoiding however its steepest part. In July 1981 the Swiss Michel Piola and Pierre-Alain Steiner surmounted the Zmutt Nose by following a direct route, the Piola-Steiner.[31][40]
The first ascent of the south face was made by Enzo Benedetti with guides Louis Carrel and Maurice Bich on October 15, 1931,[16] and the first complete ascent of the east face was made by Enzo Benedetti and G. Mazzotti with guides Louis and Lucien Carrel, Maurice Bich and Antoine Gaspard on September 18–19, 1932.[16]
Climbing routes[edit]
Trail to the Hörnli Hut
Today, all ridges and faces of the Matterhorn have been ascended in all seasons, and mountain guides take a large number of people up the northeast Hörnli route each summer. By modern standards, the climb is fairly difficult (AD Difficulty rating), but not hard for skilled mountaineers according to French climbing grades. There are fixed ropes on parts of the route to help. Still, several climbers die each year due to a number of factors including the scale of the climb and its inherent dangers, inexperience, falling rocks, and overcrowded routes.
The usual pattern of ascent is to take the Schwarzsee cable car up from Zermatt, hike up to the Hörnli Hut elev. 3,260 m (10,700 ft), a large stone building at the base of the main ridge, and spend the night. The next day, climbers rise at 3:30 am so as to reach the summit and descend before the regular afternoon clouds and storms come in. The Solvay Hut located on the ridge at 4,003 m (13,133 ft) can be used only in a case of emergency.
Other routes on the mountain include the Italian (Lion) ridge (AD Difficulty rating), the Zmutt ridge (D Difficulty rating) and the north face route, one of the six great north faces of the Alps (TD+ Difficulty rating).
Routes Start Time of ascent Difficulty
Ridges Hörnli Hörnli Hut 6 hours AD+/III+
Zmutt Hörnli Hut (or Schönbiel Hut) 7 hours (10 hours) D/IV
Lion Carrel Hut 5 hours AD+/III
Furggen Bivacco Bossi 7 hours TD/V+
Faces North Hörnli Hut 14 hours TD/V
West Schönbiel Hut 12 hours TD/V+
South Rifugio Duca degli Abruzzi 15 hours TD+/V+
East Hörnli Hut 14 hours TD
Aegidius Tschudi, one of the earliest Alpine topographers and historians, was the first to mention the region around the Matterhorn in his work, De Prisca ac Vera Alpina Raethi, published in Basel in 1538. He approached the Matterhorn as a student when in his Alpine travels he reached the summit of the Theodul Pass but he does not seem to have paid any particular attention to the mountain itself.[41]
Theodulpass, c. 1800
The Matterhorn remained unstudied for more than two centuries, until a geologist from Geneva, Horace Benedict de Saussure, travelled to the mountain, which filled him with admiration. However de Saussure was not moved to climb the mountain, and had no hope of measuring its altitude by taking a barometer to its summit. "Its precipitous sides," he wrote, "which give no hold to the very snows, are such as to afford no means of access." Yet his scientific interest was kindled by "the proud peak which rises to so vast an altitude, like a triangular obelisk, that seems to be carved by a chisel." His mind intuitively grasped the causes which gave the peak its present precipitous form: the Matterhorn was not like a perfected crystal; the centuries had laboured to destroy a great part of an ancient and much larger mountain. On his first journey de Saussure had come from Ayas to the Col des Cimes Blanches, from where the Matterhorn first comes into view; descending to Breuil, he ascended to the Theodul Pass. On his second journey, in 1792, he came to the Valtournanche, studying and describing it; he ascended to the Theodul Pass, where he spent three days, analysing the structure of the Matterhorn, whose height he was the first to measure, and collecting stones, plants and insects. He made careful observations, from the sparse lichen that clung to the rocks to the tiny but vigorous glacier fly that fluttered over the snows and whose existence at such heights was mysterious. At night he took refuge under the tent erected near the ruins of an old fort at the top of the pass. During these days he climbed the Klein Matterhorn (3,883 metres), which he named the Cime Brune du Breithorn.[41]
The first inquirers began to come to the Matterhorn. There is a record of a party of Englishmen who in the summer of 1800 crossed the Great St. Bernard Pass, a few months after the passage of Bonaparte; they came to Aosta and thence to Valtournanche, slept at the chalets of Breuil, and traversed the Theodul Pass, which they called Monte Rosa. The Matterhorn was to them an object of the most intense and continuous admiration.[41]
The Matterhorn by Edward Theodore Compton, 1879
The Matterhorn is mentioned in a guide-book to Switzerland by Johann Gottfried Ebel, which was published in Zürich towards the end of the eighteenth century, and translated in English in 1818. The mountain appeared in it under the three names of Silvius, Matterhorn, and Mont Cervin, and was briefly described as one of the most splendid and wonderful obelisks in the Alps. On Zermatt there was a note: "A place which may, perhaps, interest the tourist is the valley of Praborgne (Zermatt); it is bounded by huge glaciers which come right down into the valley; the village of Praborgne is fairly high, and stands at a great height above the glaciers; its climate is almost as warm as that of Italy, and plants belonging to hot countries are to be found there at considerable altitudes, above the ice."[41]
William Brockedon, who came to the region in 1825, considered the crossing of the Theodul Pass from Breuil to Zermatt a difficult undertaking. He gave however, expression to his enthusiasm on the summit. When he arrived exhausted on the top of the pass, he gazed "on the beautiful pyramid of the Cervin, more wonderful than aught else in sight, rising from its bed of ice to a height of 5,000 feet, a spectacle of indescribable grandeur." In this "immense natural amphitheatre, enclosed from time immemorial by snow- clad mountains and glaciers ever white, in the presence of these grand walls the mind is overwhelmed, not indeed that it is unable to contemplate the scene, but it staggers under the immensity of those objects which it contemplates." Those who made their way up through the Valtournanche to the foot of the mountain were few in number. W. A. B. Coolidge, a diligent collector of old and new stories of the Alps, mentions that during those years, besides Brockedon, only Hirzel-Escher of Zürich, who crossed the Theodul Pass in 1822, starting from Breuil, accompanied by a local guide. The greater number came from the Valais up the Visp valley to Zermatt. In 1813, a Frenchman, Henri Maynard, climbed to the Theodul Pass and made the first ascent of the Breithorn; he was accompanied by numerous guides, among them J. M. Couttet of Chamonix, the same man who had gone with de Saussure to the top of the Klein Matterhorn in 1792. The writings of these pioneers make much mention of the Matterhorn; the bare and inert rock is gradually quickened into life by men's enthusiasm. "Stronger minds," remarked Edward Whymper, "felt the influence of the wonderful form, and men who ordinarily spoke or wrote like rational beings, when they came under its power seemed to quit their senses, and ranted and rhapsodised, losing for a time all common forms of speech."[41]
Among the poets of the Matterhorn during these years (1834 to 1840) were Elie de Beaumont, a famous French geologist; Pierre Jean Édouard Desor, a naturalist of Neuchatel, who went up there with a party of friends, two of whom were Louis Agassiz and Bernhard Studer. Christian Moritz Engelhardt, who was so filled with admiration for Zermatt and its neighbourhood that he returned there at least ten times (from 1835 to 1855), described these places in two valuable volumes, drew panoramas and maps, and collected the most minute notes on the mineralogy and botany of the region. Zermatt was at that time a quiet little village, and travellers found hospitality at the parish priest's, or at the village doctor's.[41]
The Matterhorn by John Ruskin, 1849
In 1841 James David Forbes, professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, came to see the Matterhorn. A philosopher and geologist, and an observant traveller, he continued the work of De Saussure in his journeys and his writings. He was full of admiration for the Matterhorn, calling it the most wonderful peak in the Alps, unsealed and unscalable. These words, pronounced by a man noted among all his contemporaries for his thorough knowledge of mountains, show what men's feelings then were towards the Matterhorn, and how at a time when the idea of Alpine exploration was gaining ground in their minds, the Matterhorn stood by itself as a mountain apart, of whose conquest it was vain even to dream. And such it remained till long after this; as such it was described by John Ball twenty years later in his celebrated guide-book. Forbes ascended the Theodul Pass in 1842, climbed the Breithorn, and came down to Breuil; as he descended from the savage scenery of the Matterhorn, the Italian landscapes of the Valtournanche seemed to him like paradise. Meanwhile Gottlieb Samuel Studer, the geographer, together with Melchior Ulrich, was describing and mapping the topographical features of the Zermatt peaks.[41][42]
Rodolphe Töpffer, who first accompanied and guided youth to the Alps for purposes of education and amusement, began his journeys in 1832, but it is only in 1840 that he mentions the Matterhorn. Two years later Töpffer and his pupils came to Zermatt. He has described this journey of his in a chapter entitled Voyage autour du Mont Blanc jusqu'à Zermatt, here he sings a hymn of praise to the Matterhorn, comparing its form with a "huge crystal of a hundred facets, flashing varied hues, that softly reflects the light, unshaded, from the uttermost depths of the heavens". Töpffer's book was illustrated by Alexandre Calame, his master and friend, with drawings of the Matterhorn, executed in the romantic style of the period. It is an artificial mountain, a picture corresponding rather with the exaggerated effect it produces on the astonished mind of the artist, than with the real form of the mountain.[41]
About this time there came a man who studied the Matterhorn in its structure and form, and who sketched it and described it in all its parts with the curiosity of the artist and the insight of the scientist. This was John Ruskin, a new and original type of philosopher and geologist, painter and poet, whom England was enabled to create during that period of radical intellectual reforms, which led the way for the highest development of her civilisation. Ruskin was the Matterhorn's poet par excellence. He went to Zermatt in 1844, and it is to be noticed as a curious fact, that the first time he saw the Matterhorn it did not please him. The mountain on its lofty pedestal in the very heart of the Alps was, perhaps, too far removed from the ideal he had formed of the mountains; but he returned, studied and dreamt for long at its feet, and at length he pronounced it "the most noble cliff in Europe." Ruskin was no mountaineer, nor a great friend to mountaineering; he drew sketches of the mountains merely as an illustration of his teaching of the beauty of natural forms, which was the object of his whole life. In his work on Modern Painters he makes continual use of the mountains as an example of beauty and an incentive to morality. The publication of Ruskin's work certainly produced a great impression at the time on educated people in England, and a wide spread desire to see the mountains.[41]
It is a fragment of some size; a group of broken walls, one of them overhanging; crowned with a cornice, nodding some hundred and fifty feet over its massive flank, three thousand above its glacier base, and fourteen thousand above the sea, — a wall truly of some majesty, at once the most precipitous and the strongest mass in the whole chain of the Alps, the Mont Cervin.[41]
Aerial photography by Eduard Spelterini in 1910
Other men of high attainments followed, but in the years 1850 scientists and artists were about to be successed by real climbers and the passes and peaks around Zermatt were explored little by little. In the preface to the first volume of the Alpine Journal, which appeared in 1863, the editor, Mr. H. B. George, after remarking that nearly all the highest peaks in the Alps had by then been conquered, wrote the following words, which sounded an appeal to English climbers : " While even if all other objects of interest in Switzerland should be exhausted, the Matterhorn remains (who shall say for how long?) unconquered and apparently invincible."[41]
The traditional inaccessibility of the Matterhorn was vanquished after an expedition led by Whymper successfully reached the summit in 1865. But it ended dramatically with four men perishing on the descent. The news of the catastrophe gave rise to a universal cry of horror. Of all Alpine disasters, not one, not even of those which had a larger number of victims, ever moved men's minds as this one did. The whole of Europe talked of it; the English papers discussed it with bitter words of blame; Italian papers invented a tale of a rock detaching itself from the summit, and sweeping the helpless victims to destruction, or of a hidden crevasse opening wide its terrible jaws to swallow them. A German newspaper published an article in which Whymper was accused of cutting the rope between Douglas and Taugwalder, at the critical moment, to save his own life.[41]
In 1890 the Federal Government was asked simultaneously by the same contractor for a concession for the Zermatt-Gornergrat railway, and for a Zermatt-Matterhorn one. The Gornergrat railway was constructed, and has been working since 1899, but there has been no more talk of the other. The project essentially consisted of a line which went up to the Hörnli, and continued thence in a rectilinear tunnel about two kilometres long, built under the ridge, and issuing near the summit on the Zmutt side.[41] Sixty years later in 1950, Italian engineer Count Dino Lora Totino planned a cable car on the Italian side from Breuil-Cervinia to the summit. But the Alpine Museum of Zermatt sent a protest letter with 90'000 signatures to the Italian government. The latter declared the Matterhorn a natural wonder worthy of protection and refused the concession to the engineer.[43]
During the 20th century, the Matterhorn and the story of the first ascent in particular, inspired various artists and film producers such as Luis Trenker and Walt Disney.[44][45] Large-scale replicas can be found at Disneyland and Window of the World.
Designed in 1908 by Emil Cardinaux, a leading poster artist of the time, the Matterhorn affiche for the Zermatt tourist office is often considered the first modern poster. It has been described as a striking example of marriage of tourism, patriotism and popular art. It served as decoration in many Swiss military hospices during the war in addition to be found in countless middle class living rooms. Another affiche depicting the Matterhorn was created by Cardinaux for the chocolate brand Toblerone in the 1920s. Since then, the Matterhorn has become a reference that still inspires graphic artists today and has been used extensively for all sort of publicity and advertising.[46][47][48][49][50]
The Matterhorn and the Dent d'Hérens (right), viewed from the Dom
• Charles Gos, Le Cervin (Attinger, 1948)
• Yvan Hostettler, Matterhorn: Alpine Top Model (Olizane Edition, Geneva, 2006). The use of the Matterhorn in advertisement, publicity, movies, painting and arts[51]
• R. L. G. Irving, Ten Great Mountains (London, J. M. Dent & Sons, 1940)[52]
• Beat P. Truffler, The History of the Matterhorn: First Ascents, Projects and Adventures, 4th ed., (Aroleit-Verlag, Zurich, 1998). ISBN 3-905097-14-1. Translation of Die Geschichte des Matterhorns from the German by Mirjam Steinmann
• Edward Whymper, Scrambles Amongst the Alps (1871)
• The book, Banner in the Sky, by James Ramsey Ullman is based on Edward Whympers ascent.
1. ^ Despite its prominence in a local sense, the Matterhorn is not among the top 100 mountains in the Alps measured by topographic prominence. Its close neighbors Monte Rosa, the Dom, Liskamm and the Weisshorn, have higher summits. See a panoramic photograph of the view from Finsteraarhorn, to the north. The key col is Col Durand, at 3,438 metres, between the Matterhorn and the Weisshorn.
2. ^ Considering summits with at least 300 metres prominence, it is the 6th highest in the Alps.
3. ^ Messner, Reinhold (September 2001). The big walls: from the North Face of the Eiger to the South Face of Dhaulagiri. The Mountaineers Books. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-89886-844-9. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
4. ^ Journal de Genève, 10-28-1995, p. 23
5. ^ a b Matterhorn in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
6. ^ 24 heures: Déguisé le Mont-Cervin, 17.10.2008
7. ^ "Swiss Mountains - Names". Retrieved 2007-11-26.
8. ^ Bulletin of the Italian Alpine Club (vol. ii., 1867, p. 107)
9. ^ Caesar, De Bello Gallico, book iii.
10. ^ Rey, Guido, The Matterhorn, p. 289
11. ^ Silvia Tenderini, La montagna per tutti: ospitalità sulle Alpi nel Novecento, 2002, p. 40
12. ^ "Matterhorn". Retrieved 2011-01-23.
13. ^ Key dates in the history of Zermatt, Zermatt tourism. Retrieved on 2009-10-16
14. ^ Guido Rey, The Matterhorn, p. 317
15. ^ No change in the height of Matterhorn, leica-geosystems
16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Robin G. Collomb, Pennine Alps Central, London: Alpine Club, 1975, pp. 241–59
17. ^ Key dates in the history of Zermatt Retrieved on 2009-10-19
18. ^ Edward Whymper, Scrambles amongst the Alps, 6th edition, London: John Murray, 1936, p. 80
19. ^ A list of 109 world 'Matterhorns' CERVIN top model des Alpes Retrieved 15 October 2007 (French).
20. ^ The Matterhorn - Really from Africa?
21. ^ Internides, Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, University of Lausanne
22. ^ Histoire du BVZ Zermatt-Bahn Retrieved on 2009-10-16
23. ^ Zermatt Bergbahnen AG, Projects Retrieved on 2009-10-22
24. ^ Hilary Sharp, Tour of the Matterhorn, Cicerone
25. ^ "On July 14, 1865, he set forth from this hotel with his companions and guides, and completed the first successful ascent of the Matterhorn."
26. ^ Roger W. Patillo, The Canadian Rockies: Pioneers, Legends and True Tales, p. 176
27. ^ a b c d e Edward Whymper, Scrambles amongst the Alps, 6th edition, London: John Murray, 1936, pp. 309–13
28. ^ The Times 08-08-1865, p 9
29. ^ a b c Guido Rey, The Matterhorn (translated J. E. C. Eaton), London, 1908, p. 140
30. ^ Janet Adam Smith, Lucy Walker (1836–1916), Oxford University Press
31. ^ a b c Herve Barmasse and Luca Maspes, July 2006, "The Matterhorn", Alpinist, 16
32. ^ La Stampa 08-21-1992, p. 12
33. ^ Ascent Races and Records - ISF/FSA recognised
34. ^ Races and Records - ISF / FSA recognised
36. ^ William Penhall, 'The Matterhorn from the Zmutt Glacier', Alpine Journal, Vol. IX, reprinted in Peaks, Passes and Glaciers, ed. Walt Unsworth, London: Allen Lane, 1981, pp. 64–72.
38. ^ Reinhold Messner, The big walls: from the North Face of the Eiger to the South Face of Dhaulagiri, p 41
39. ^ Breaking boundaries one perilous face at a time, Swissinfo. Retrieved on 2012-12-09.
40. ^ Le Nez de Zmutt,
41. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Guido, The Matterhorn (translated J. E. C. Eaton), London, 1908. Available on the Internet Archive
42. ^ Sydney Spencer,Mountaineering, p. 27, 1934
43. ^ Tragödien am Matterhorn, Johannes Schweikle,
44. ^ Hans-Michael Bock, Tim Bergfelder, The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema, p. 480
45. ^ Walt Disney and Zermatt
46. ^ The first Swiss Posters: travel posters
47. ^ Publicité Toblerone
48. ^ David Scott, Poetics of the Poster: The Rhetoric of Image-Text, p. 94
49. ^ Hans Ulrich Jost, From Liotard to Le Corbusier: 200 years of Swiss painting, 1730-1930, p. 19
50. ^ Hilary Sharp, Tour of Monte Rosa, p. 54
51. ^ CERVIN top model des Alpes (French)
52. ^ The climbing history up to 1939 of the Matterhorn, Snowdon, Ben Nevis, Ushba, Mount Logan, Everest, Nanga Parbat, Kanchenjunga, Mount Cook and Mont Blanc
External links[edit] | <urn:uuid:0a99d6a9-8730-43ab-9e5d-f9a28d3bbdbe> | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matterhorn | en | 0.956023 | 0.018366 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The Maracot Deep
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The Maracot Deep
Maracot deep.jpg
Cover of the first edition of The Maracot Deep
Author Arthur Conan Doyle
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre Fantasy-Science fiction novel
Publisher John Murray
Publication date
Media type Print (Hardback)
Pages 310 pp
The Maracot Deep is a short 1929 novel by Arthur Conan Doyle about the discovery of a sunken city of Atlantis by a team of explorers led by Professor Maracot. He is accompanied by Cyrus Headley, a young research zoologist and Bill Scanlan, an expert mechanic working with an iron works in Philadelphia who is in charge of the construction of the submersible which the team takes to the bottom of the Atlantic.[1]
The novel first appeared in 1928 as a serial in The Saturday Evening Post.[2] It also appeared as a serial in The Strand Magazine from October 1927 to February 1928. In 1929 it was followed by a sequel, The Lord of the Dark Face,[3] beginning with the April issue of The Strand. The same year the novel was published in The Maracot Deep and Other Stories from John Murray in London, and was released in the U.S. by Doubleday Books of New York.[1]
The novel revolves around the legend of Atlantis, mentioned as an ancient city or continent which was drowned by the sea due to divine intervention. The novel is narrated by Headley who first writes a letter to his friend Sir John Talbot. On his subsequent rescue, he completes his story giving details on his escape and how they fought off possibly the greatest danger to humanity, the Devil himself.
The novel begins with preparations for the dive, off the coast of Africa. Prof. Maracot claims to have located the deepest trench in the Atlantic and is vehement that he shall go down in the specially prepared submersible actually a bathysphere along with Headley and Scanlan. On reaching the edge of the trench, a description of the undersea world is presented. The team comes face to face with a giant crustacean who cuts off their line and hurls them down into the trench. Down in the trench, the team is rescued by the Atlanteans who are the last survivors of the land that was Atlantis.
Although the description of Atlantis may not sound quite futuristic and may seem fantastic, the fact that the novel was written in 1929 should be taken into account. One device in particular is often made use of. This is a thought projector which visualizes the thoughts of a person for others to see. This helps the team and the Atlanteans to communicate.
Descriptions of work habits, culture and various sea creatures are provided. The Atlanteans forage for their food from the sea bed and their slaves, Greeks who are the descendants of the original slaves of the kingdom of Atlantis work in undersea mines. This is made possible thanks to an exceptionally strong and light transparent material which is fashioned into helmets to enable people to work underwater.
The team eventually uses the levity of these spheres to escape to the surface. Headley elopes with the daughter of Manda, leader of the Atlanteans.
In the later part of the novel, Headley describes the encounter with the Lord of the Dark Face, a supernatural being who led the Atlanteans to their doom and was the cause of untold miseries to humanity ever since. This being is likened to the Phoenician god Baal who was demonized by later religions and cultures. The being is defeated by Prof. Maracot who becomes possessed by the spirit of Warda, the man who managed to convince a handful of Atlanteans to prepare for the worst and thus built an Ark which saved them from the cataclysm which destroyed their land.
Features of the Novel[edit]
Although a short novel, it provides interesting glimpses into the belief regarding the sea during the early 20th century and particularly Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's own beliefs and outlooks. The dramatic end mentioned at the end of the novel, the fight between the ultimate Good and Evil reveals the deep spiritual nature which Conan Doyle had developed in his later years. Whereas the adventures of Sherlock Holmes show the keen analytical side of Sir Arthur, novels like The Maracot Deep show that he seriously took to spiritualism in his later years. It is not marked by any particular religion though there are strong Christian and Hellenistic undertones.
1. ^ a b Bleiler, Everett Franklin (1990), Science-fiction, the early years, Kent State University Press, p. 206, ISBN 0-87338-416-4
2. ^ Sprague De Camp, Lyon (1970), Lost continents: the Atlantis theme in history, science, and literature, Courier Dover Publications, p. 262, ISBN 0-486-22668-9
3. ^ Clute, John; Grant, John (1999), The encyclopedia of fantasy (2nd ed.), Macmillan, p. 287, ISBN 0-312-19869-8 | <urn:uuid:b9ea2ddf-2b94-4317-9d5c-86679adac27c> | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maracot_Deep | en | 0.952244 | 0.028796 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Re: CSS WG comments on SVG 1.2
From: Boris Zbarsky <bzbarsky@MIT.EDU>
Date: Wed, 01 Dec 2004 16:33:25 -0600
Message-ID: <41AE46B5.6070005@mit.edu>
To: ronan@roasp.com
CC: www-svg@w3.org
Ronan Oger wrote:
> Yes, but CSS applies to XUL like CSS applies to SVG...
> So CSS impacts all of our markups
Assuming the markups define some attributes as automatically ending up
as CSS properties with identical names (which is what SVG does, for good
reasons). XBL and XUL don't do that, and don't end up with namespace
conflicts between attributes and CSS properties.
> I have just seen an example of this having previously happened during a talk
> at the SVG London Users Group, where I caught an odd-looking attribute, whose
> name came about when it had to be re-assigned due to a name collision with
> CSS. It was in one of XUL or XBL.
Details, please? I see no reason why any attribute naming in XUL or XBL
would be affected by CSS.
Received on Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:36:15 GMT
| <urn:uuid:a817b3fe-26cd-4b2f-8425-b5206c8865f4> | http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-svg/2004Dec/0027.html | en | 0.933072 | 0.04169 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Seeking Alpha
Seeking Alpha Portfolio App for iPad
Profile| Send Message| (1,063)
Think the market's going down? There are plenty of ETFs out there that let you take a bearish position on a wide variety of indexes.
For example, you could buy shares of the S&P 500 Short ETF (SH). This ETF tracks the inverse performance of the S&P 500 on a daily basis. If the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) goes down on a specific day, SH goes up by a similar percentage -- and vice versa.
Yet for more than two years now, an alternative has been available -- the Ranger Equity Bear ETF (HDGE). This is an actively managed ETF, so instead of synthetically tracking the inverse performance of SPY, the HDGE ETF is run by real human beings who manage a portfolio of actual short stock positions.
A recent post on HDGE by Lawrence Fuller did a pretty good job explaining how the fund works, its philosophy, and the approach taken by co-portfolio managers John Del Vecchio and Brad Lamensdorf.
John and Brad are experienced short sellers who look for opportunities to short stocks that may have low earnings quality, deteriorating fundamentals, or upcoming earnings-driven events that could be catalysts for price declines.
In the end, however, performance counts, so let's take a look to see if HDGE can deliver an edge.
The ups and downs of HDGE
During a bull market, a fund like HDGE is likely going to deliver losses, so I don't think this is one of those "set it and forget it" ETFs. Here's a look at three hypothetical $10,000 portfolios since HDGE began trading in early 2011.
The blue line shows HDGE. The red line shows the performance of the S&P 500 Short fund. Obviously both haven't performed very well at all considering that the SPY ETF (indicated by the grey line) has generated about a 29% gain.
But does an investment in HDGE do any better than simply buying the Short S&P 500 ETF? The answer is: it depends. Over certain time periods, such as the late spring and early summer of 2012, HDGE outperformed. Late in 2012 and into 2013, HDGE underperformed. Overall, the SH and HDGE portfolios ended up with about the same levels of losses.
More beta anyone?
It seems to me that there's a fairly significant variance in the performance chart. So here's a scatterplot chart that compares the weekly performance of HDGE vs. the SPY ETF.
As you can see, there's a highly negative correlation. That's obviously something you'd expect from a short-only fund. And while the negative correlation to SPY is strong, it isn't perfect. But again, I think you have to expect that from a fund that's managed by real live human beings, not synthetically generated through merely tracking an index.
But what you might not expect is that the fund's beta (at least the way I'm measuring it using weekly price change data) appears to come in at about -1.2 because that's the slope of the regression line. Therefore it would appear to me that over the time period since inception, the Ranger Equity Bear ETF tended to carry more high beta stocks (held short, of course) than the overall market.
That's neither good nor bad, but it's something to keep in mind if you use a fund like this as a hedging tool. Or to put it another way, if you want a beta that's closer to -1.0 and with a much tighter negative correlation, then SH is likely going to be your better choice as this chart shows.
A more volatile ride
You should also consider that HDGE is probably going to be more volatile than SPY -- at least based on past performance. Here's a look at one-month realized historical volatility for both SPY and HDGE.
In fact, since inception, HDGE has an overall realized historical volatility of 22.7% compared to about 18% for the SPY ETF over the same time frame (which is about the same as the S&P 500 Short SH ETF).
Once again, higher volatility is neither good nor bad in and of itself, but you should keep that in mind when deciding how much, if any, of your portfolio you'd put in a fund like HDGE at any given time.
Source: Does This Hedge ETF Give You An Edge? | <urn:uuid:b071a619-301f-4de9-b4ba-7d0b090faea1> | http://seekingalpha.com/article/1398331-does-this-hedge-etf-give-you-an-edge | en | 0.955192 | 0.120661 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
January 24, 2011 9:01 am 3 comments
seasteading illustration
Illustration from Wired’s article on seasteading
I thought his position on seasteading was interesting as well:
National Review: Back to the Future with Peter Thiel
Interesting times.
• There is no such thing as a future. Any future you consider is imaginary. Most futures turn out to be a repeats of past futures (Hegelian thinking)–like nothing was learned from our losing the Vietnam War–just like nothing will be learned from these chaotic involvements in Afghanistan and Iraq. We are led by fools–including Peter Thiel–there is no middle class in this country–and there is certainly no upper middle class–now only the rich or the poor–and seasteading–anything Milton Friedman came up with is pure economic bullshit–the only future in so thinking is Chaos–I say, welcome to the future–our only hope (and I don’t believe in hope–only faith) is in making order out of Chaos–we as a nation (a fraudulent nation from the beginning) are doomed unless we take care of the NOW…immediate change is necessary (can we have a revolution?)–bubbles are created by hot air (and the banks foisted the housing bubble on us and not vice versa–just like in 1929 and the Florida land bubble that burst)–a lot of excess gas–this country needs to let out a huge fart–hopefully followed by a good long shit–we need to evacuate the bowels of this country. As we stand now we are so full of shit.
• snorky
It’s not that the degrees are per se worthless, but if you can convince people that they are, then they won’t demand higher salaries, and will accept lower wages and poorer working conditions. The bosses want to keep more for themselves. Corporate profits are having record highs. They could hire more people and pay everyone more money, but they would rather squeeze them to make more money for themselves. This is at least part of what the “higher education” is worthless meme is about.
This does not mean that I don’t think higher education is extremely overpriced and technically unnecessary since people can self-educate on their own.
Another thing to consider is that people have a choice in what they study. Where I went to university, it seemed like all of the “hard” math and science classes were predominately filled with Asian students.
• Laura
I think that education isn’t a bubble so much as a matter of diminishing marginal returns. Education is paying off less and less on average, but for the outliers, it is doing better and better. The median is seeing less and less from their degrees, but the smartest people in the world are making a greater and greater impact on society and thus creating tons of value back to the system.
Classical economics would say that the time to quit is when marginal returns reach zero. That is when the value that educated people add to the economy is equal to the cost of educating them. As for identifying talented people rather than educating them, I think that is pretty cynical. Whether they do it efficiently or well is more debatable.
Leave a reply
You must be logged in to post a comment. | <urn:uuid:a70d5876-6525-42b0-b014-f946ba12f587> | http://technoccult.net/archives/2011/01/24/paypal-co-founder-peter-thiel-on-higher-education-as-a-bubble-and-more/ | en | 0.973472 | 0.037316 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Same sex marriage in Skyrim
Fancy that.
You can marry anyone in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Bethesda has confirmed.
"The subject seems like hush hush," someone asked Bethesda marketing guru Pete Hines on Twitter.
"Not hush hush," he replied, "just not making a huge deal out of it. You can marry anyone."
Then, "Sorry, should clarify. Not any NPC, just mean any male or female. Doesn't matter what you're playing."
In Skyrim, out in November, you can have romantic relationships with NPCs. You make friends with people by doing things for them. Friends will treat you differently and will go into dungeons with you. If you own a house, your spouse will move in with you.
There's much more on the game in our Skyrim preview.
Comments (79)
| <urn:uuid:90c5c9d1-45bd-4c61-9cdc-1a1cefeb6300> | http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-25-same-sex-marriage-in-skyrim | en | 0.964919 | 0.517188 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Author's note: - Couldn't help it, the muse bit. Hope you enjoy.
I feel I should also point out that I had only seen the first half of season 1 when I wrote this, although I have subsequently read enough fanfic to get what the season finale was about. The similarities in plot were unintentional, so take this as set mid season 1
Synopsis: What would you give for your brother's life?
Sam coughed and blinked his eyes open, curling into the pain as it drew his breath, and he coughed again.
"Sam, Sammy," the voice was slightly rough, insistent, not matching the gentle touch to his cheek, the supportive hand around his back and shoulder. There was a deeper impatience to it, tinged with fear.
Sam finally blinked the pain induced tears from his eyes, and forced some sort of focus. His brother's eyes were wide and dark, and, whereas the fear had barely sounded in his voice, it was practically incandescent in his features.
"Dean?" Sam forced the name out and it sounded gravelly and weak, but from the way his brother's expression changed it looked like all of his Christmas wishes had arrived at once, the fear melted away for just a second and Dean gave a smile that flashed white teeth in stark contrast to his blackened features, and Sam heard the barely audible, "Thank God."
"Yeah Sam, you're gonna be OK," Dean stated, this time clear enough to be heard, and for a moment Sam thought he was going to pull him into a full embrace and hug him. Right about that moment it wouldn't have felt so bad, except maybe for the pain that still bit across his chest. He looked into his brother's eyes.
"What happened?" he asked, searching the fragments of memory that would not coalesce into a whole, for some idea of why he was lying on a filthy stone floor, in a room lit only by candlelight, of why pain stabbed across his chest and his head pounded and. . .The memories practically collided with his consciousness, drawing air from his lungs. He winced, not sure if it was from the physical pain or the terror that engulfed him. That thing had been literally tearing him apart and there was nothing he could do. He had seen the bodies, knew what was happening, with a sickening clarity, he knew.
"No," he whimpered, pulling back and scooting to the side, afraid of the figure next to him. For a moment unaware that it was his brother, that he was trying to help.
Dean felt the returning tension, saw the terror return as his brother pulled away from him and his heart ached with his own pain. He should have been here sooner, should have stopped it sooner.
Sam frantically scanned the room for any sign of the Demon that had been killing him. Not that he had much chance of seeing it. It only ever half formed, clouds of swirling blackness and flashes of silver and white, were all you ever saw, just before the claws raked down, and pain wiped vision, even as the form twisted again and disappeared in a swirling cloak of nothingness, and then there was the agonising wait, jumping at half shadows, watching and turning, not knowing where it was, where it would come from, where it would strike next. The fear stole his focus, the panic blurred his senses and consumed him for a moment in its intensity. Where was it now? Why couldn't he see it? When would it strike?
"Hey," Dean chased after his brother, "Calm down Sammy he's not here, he's gone." He bit off the for now, Sam did not need to hear that. Dean just had to get him out of here before he had to face that eventually and he swallowed hard, almost baulking at how difficult that task would be, but he had to, had to make him leave before. . .had to save at least one of them. He moved forward, allowing his hand to rest on his brother's cheek again, his other settling on his shoulder, drawing strength from the warmth, as he tried to quell the panicked reaction. "Can you hear me Sam? He's gone."
Sam continued to look around frantically, his head twisting in his brother's cupped hand, the words danced unprocessed at the edge of his consciousness. "Where was it ? How. .? Why. . ? Dean's presence suddenly registered again and he looked at his brother as thoughts finally connected. Dean? . .Dean was there? Dean was in danger too. He looked into his brother's eyes. "No," he stated with conviction. "You have to get out of here, you have to. . ."
Dean was having a hard time controlling his own fears, he couldn't remember seeing his brother this terrified before, small shivers ran through trembling muscles, blood dripped from the open wound that ran across his chest. "Sam," his hand dropped so that he now gripped both shoulders, attempting to stop his brother from twisting away again. He gave a slight shake. "Sam can you hear me? He's gone," he repeated as forcefully as he could.
Sam stopped struggling and stared into his brother's eyes as the words finally registered. "Gone," he repeated numbly.
Dean repeated it back to him "Gone," he stated.
Sam's shoulders, relaxed minutely, and Dean loosened his grip a little, but he was not ready to let go, not yet. He could still feel his brother shaking, could see the raw fear in his eyes.
"Are. . Are you sure?" Sam asked as his breathing became less ragged.
Dean nodded and even managed a half smile. "I'm sure. He won't be coming back after you," he stated with confidence.
Sam pulled a hand across his chest and dropped his head slightly as he attempted once again to breath through the pain. Complete trust in his brother's words sent relief coursing through his body like a warm flow. The adrenaline surge began to dissipate and he suddenly felt incredibly tired. The last of his memories finally connected and he gave another nod. "You found the crystal." It was a statement not a question. Destroying the crystal was the only thing that would stop the Demon and if it wasn't coming back then Dean must have found and destroyed the crystal.
There was only the slightest of shifts in the atmosphere in the room as Dean stood and backed away, but Sam sensed it, sensed that there was something wrong. Even if it wasn't a question Dean should have confirmed it. Should have been gloating about the fact that they had finally finished off this bastard that had been praying on. . He looked up and caught the flash of guilt on his brother's face.
"You didn't find the crystal?" He asked, his tone incredulous, fear and anger rising again in equal measure, as he pushed himself to his feet. "But you said it wasn't coming back. You said. .?" He couldn't stop himself from sweeping his gaze around the room again.
"Not quite what I said," Dean admitted, meeting and holding his brother's gaze. He would dearly have loved to have continued lying, to maintain the relief, to wipe that look of panic completely from his younger sibling's features, but that was not a luxury he could afford, not if he had any chance of getting his brother to leave without him. Sam had to go and he had to go now. He was already hurting, in terrible pain, he didn't need to go through any more. Dean wanted to spare him what was to come. He had just lived it, he didn't want his little brother to go through that. He had to get him to leave.
Sam rewound the conversation in his head and let out a breath. "You said he wouldn't be coming back," there was the briefest of pauses before the critical words, another breath "after me." He looked deep into his brother's eyes as tears formed in his own. "No," he shook his head. The ideas were connecting in his head and he tried to stop them, as though that would somehow alter the truth. "You didn't?" he asked softly.
The guilt and love in his brother's eyes was all the answer he needed, but he still didn't want to believe it. "Tell me that you didn't." His tone was more forceful as he scanned his brother's features, but there was still only guilt and love and. . and was that pain?
Denial burned up from his gut, and, although he knew the truth, he searched for evidence that he was wrong. He couldn't have. . .His eyes swept across the room to the rough stone table that eerily resembled an alter in some bad horror movie. There were the tell tale fragments of burnt parchment. Nausea threatened to overwhelm him as the true horror of his brother's actions hit. He turned back to face him and swallowed hard. Shook his head once more. "Why?" he asked, and he could see tears to match his own forming in his brother's eyes, but like his they didn't fall.
"That thing was killing you," Dean replied. "I couldn't. . ." He blinked and swallowed hard, fighting now to control the emotions that the memory evoked as his gut twisted in an agony of tension. "You were screaming," the words were almost whispered now, his head shaking minutely with each phrase. "I couldn't just stand by and let it. . " He paused as his brother's scream echoed clearly in his head. " I couldn't hear you. ." The image of his brother's face contorted in pain. "C. .couldn't watch you. . ." The words choked off.
Sam stared at him for a moment. "So now I have to watch the same thing happen to you? Is that it?" There was more than a hint of anger mixed with the pain. "Don't pull this big brother crap with me Dean," Sam almost spat the words as the emotions coiled around each other and distorted any perspective he had. He was shouting now. "You really think that's better?"
Dean glanced down the guilt twisting a little deeper. His brother was right, surviving this would be far harder, it was not something he was strong enough to do. Wasn't sure that Sam was either, but he had denied his brother the same choice that he had made. There had been only one parchment, only one shot at this. He shook his head, he couldn't have let him die, not for anything, not even if it meant. . . . Still his brother did not have to be here, did not have to watch. "You don't have to stay," he stated. "Get out of here. He won't. .can't come after you now." He took a step forward. "Just leave." It was as close to begging as Dean had ever come. "Please, just leave. Before. ."
Sam was about to argue, about to tell his brother that he was insane that they had to come up with something else that. . . but he saw the tell tale swirl of black and the words froze in his throat. He was too late.
Dean just had time to register the terror on his brother's face before his back ignited in agony and he screamed. | <urn:uuid:3fed2341-8bf2-4a36-9bb7-bf49ffa6707e> | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3233555/1/Trade | en | 0.996999 | 0.332983 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
"Dozens of alleged members of the Lucchese Crime Family were arrested Tuesday morning in raids in New Jersey and New York that authorities say broke up a major sports betting ring." A little drug trafficking here, a little weapons-smuggling there. Aww, guys, did no one tell you that David Chase brought you to an ambiguously anticlimactic end like, a year ago? It's so hard to be the last to know. [ABC] | <urn:uuid:fd242abb-4baa-4315-a57d-31a89d0e6035> | http://gawker.com/335415/mob-snobs-nabbed-as-sharks?tag=mafia | en | 0.966436 | 0.048022 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Sims, The PC Cheats
Rating 3
Less time needed to pay bills
When you get the bills, your Sim will normally walk inside put it on a table before they can be paid. Cancel the table action and that person will put it on the ground. Click on the bill and pay for it immediately. | <urn:uuid:f2e61ee8-86a4-4465-9ceb-61405d6f5476> | http://www.cheats.us/game/pc/sims-the/cheats/less-time-needed-to-pay-bills/printable | en | 0.918844 | 0.125148 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Comments by LegalRobbery
Written on Tax warrants: Scott Danks owes $91,244:
I'm not surprised.
Written on City Council members express support for Robinson in wake of FOP demand:
It is because they are scared of her.
Written on Powell: Trayvon Martin verdict 'questionable':
Ten people killed overnight in Chicago, one was an eleven year old girl.
in response to sonnycrockett:
I guess once Madison figured out that the officer was wearing a camera and recording the stop, he now wants time to figure out what to do next. George, an apology to the officers for overreacting to this event would be the right thing to do. Your integrity is at stake here.
Madison didn't think they had video, ha ha. You cop haters didn't want to hear that.
in response to Panopticon:
The cops investigate themselves, and, lo and behold, they exonorate themselves! Is anyone surprised?
They just fired officer winters, what about protecting him. I think your just a hater.
in response to iheartpeople:
Not surprised at all. Hand grenades, tasers, SWAT, tanks are exactly what is needed in the rebelous town of Evansville. I saw Chief Belly Bolin chowing down on some fast food while driving the Bennet Motors Jeep (since when does the City advertise for a private company? Donations are fine but should be without advertising the donator) and he was in his own little world then and is in his own little world now. He watches Batsman movies and thinks he needs all the weapons he can get to hold off the evil of Gotham.
Honestly speaking though how did a man this unqualified get his job? I'm not being mean or disrespectful either. Is he really the best that the entire EPD had? Not a single person on the force had a college degree or the maturity level past 9th grade?
You mad bro?
Written on Camm murder case long nightmare for both sides :
There must have been a lot of evidence for two juries to convict him. I bet he was involved.
Written on Potential growth in Warrick sewage has Chandler, Newburgh at odds:
So I complained about the bill. Was told that they use to add a late fee and add previous bill to next month bill. Now, it is due on 20th every month regardless if you get bill or not. Total scam to generate revenue.
Get all that iron and copper out of the water.
Chandler utilities is horrible! Them bandits shut our water off without warning.
Bill was never received, Never received a late notice, and never been late before after 10 years of service. They wanted a $40 reconnect fee before turning back on.
All this for some crappy water that is hard, and full of iron and copper to rust anything it touches.
Written on Evansville Police Merit Commission fires Cpl. Mike Winters:
in response to spartan:
In this instance and from what the kid said, "it wasn't sexual in nature." Any person doing this would be/could be charged with misdemeanor battery.
I believe he got more than what any other person would have got, (21 days w/o pay). I don't agree with losing his job though.
He probably lost $3,000-4,000. He deserved the suspension, I'm just saying no one else gets that type of punishment for a misdemeanor. Probably court costs = $100-$200 bucks or around here community service.
in response to noog:
George Zimmerman criminal genius. Call 911. Tell them to send police. Break your own nose. Shoot innocent black kid. Claim self defense. Cunning plan.
Put the Coo Coo back in the clock.
Written on UPDATE| Defense rests case in George Zimerman trial:
I believe Zimmerman would have followed and tried to keep an eye on whoever was walking through the neighborhood until police arrived. White, black or Hispanic.
Written on UPDATE: Expert says evidence jibes with Zimmerman's story:
El rushbo,
Faded obama's post is no worse than any of yours.
Written on George Zimmerman Trial, Week 2:
Just from what I've seen so far....Not guilty!
Written on Neighbor testifies about Martin-Zimmerman fight :
in response to Up_North:
Anyone can use whatever racial slur they choose to use. As a previous poster said, your freedom so speech is protected. Use whatever slur you like. Understand tough that the constitution does not protect you from being treated as the ignorant person that you are should you choose to use that word.
I'll never understand the need that white people feel to use the n-word just because others do it. For centuries, and still now, it has been used to denigrate and discriminate against blacks. The word has been taken back somewhat by the black community and is used colloquially. When used among black people, the sting is gone. The hatefulness is taken away. Why is that so hard to understand. It's the same way when women will call each other b**ches, but if a man calls them it, it's easy to get offended.
The more pressing question is why do white people feel that they need to be able to use that word? Why is it so important that they be able to use the n-word? I've always wondered about that. And I'm as white as the freshly fallen snow.
Partially correct, but a white guy that is good friends and hangs with the black crowd cannot use the word either. As you say their is no hatefulness in that situation but expect a beatdown.
in response to Westside2:
Wouldn't surprise me if it was Zimmerman crying like a little boy. Like most gun totin' tough guys, he was big and bad when he had his gun and intimidating a teenager. But when it came to a man to man fight and he couldn't get to his gun, he turned into the coward he really is.
Written on Jury recommends Weisheit be executed:
He should have been shot and killed when he threw the knife at the arresting officers.
Written on Police dispute Facebook account of arrest at SculptEVV performance:
30 punches to the face or head area? Head slammed to the ground or pavement? One scratch or very minimal abrasions and he was released from hospital. Sounds to me that the arrested and his friend witness is exaggerating.
Written on Appeals court won't vacate Bradford's conviction for 1993 stabbing death | PDF:
Yeah the fire was started earlier, Bradford didn't do it right the first time he set it. The fire burned out and when he didn't hear fireman dispatched to a "fire" he became paranoid that the murder he committed will be discovered. So, he goes back and resets the fire just to make sure that evidence is destroyed. That is why he argues that point cause he knows the fire was started earlier.
Written on Police: Ky Officer fatal shooting 'premeditated':
Sure is a different world today it seems.
Written on Chief recommends suspension or firing of officer accused of battering student:
AIS or Academy of Innovative Studies is the politically correct name. It basically is an alternative school.
With exception of a few, AIS is horrible. The kids are disrespectful to all the staff and the other kids there. These kids CAN'T function in a normal school and pretty much given a diploma if they can just show up. It's all about money per student if they are in attendance. Who cares what bull the staff has to put up with.
Written on Evansville officer dislocates shoulder while pursuing suspect:
The officer is in good shape and plays ball at least 3 days a week.
Written on Police investigating parent's complaint that off-duty officer battered student:
in response to letsallgetalong:
By all means, let's have armed off-duty officers to protect our kids in schools.
They never make mistakes. Hopefully they are drug tested for all the legal amphetimines because they may get twitchy arm and accidently shoot someone.
We'll never know this cop's name. They never release the names of wrongdoers in the force. If they did, they would have to punish him and they simply won't do that. Protect and serve, their own, is absolutely correct. He'll never miss a paycheck.
That is why Mt. Vernon sucks. Too many nosy people in everyone's business.
Written on Motorists who flout tolls on Wabash bridge face prosecution in Posey County:
We used the bridge in February and it was really confusing. We thought there would be the automatic booth just to drop change in. There Wasn't anything and if there were signs it wasn't in view. If someone used it at night they sure wouldn't see any signs.
Written on Evansville police arrest three after finding meth supplies in truck:
in response to Panopticon:
Neither making nor using meth is a violent act, and so neither should be illegal. The only people who acted violently here were the cops.
Also, if you have anything illegal in your vehicle, always obey all traffic laws to the letter, including making sure that your taillights and headlights work. Don't give the cops any excuse to pull you over.
You must be stupid.
Written on Sheriff's office says man was pistol-whipped at apartment complex:
Prosecute criminals to the fullest. These repeat offenders keep getting off too easy.
Written on Fugitive ex-cop may have hidden near police :
in response to noog:
We can only hope that none of the homeowners in Big Bear have assault rifles in their homes. Someone could be killed.
Agreed, this would be the time to have one.
Written on UPDATE: Sheriff: California teen planned shotgun attack on classmates:
in response to gollygeeandy:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
It doesn't matter the gun. You can take a small handgun and kill 10 kids. My point is you don't have to have a powerful gun and a high capacity magazine. Banning won't stop a determined individual set on killing.
Written on Mayor to pay for his and wife's trip to Evansville's German sister city in May :
He is much better than the last mayor.
Written on Teague disappearance is top card in KSP's deck of unsolved cases:
I believe dill either committed this horrible crime and/or participated. That's probably why there are so many questions. We may never know.
Written on New York newspaper's handgun permit map draws criticism :
Now as a would be burglar, the decision is easy. Burglarize the homes without a gun. The anti-gun folk should be upset with this as well.
in response to kclite2059:
Assuming this poster is not being sarcastic.
This my friends is exactly what is wrong with society today.
Written on Urban advocates say new gun control talk overdue :
in response to jimbo2:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Japanese tend to be more tolerant of the broad search and seizure police powers necessary to enforce the ban. "Japanese, both criminals and ordinary citizens, are much more willing than their American counterparts to consent to searches and to answer questions from the police. I don't think people are truly ready for tougher law enforcement. The criminal is protected here enough as it is. The courts would actually have to hand down stiffer penalties, which we all know that is not happening.
Written on Urban advocates say new gun control talk overdue :
Approximately 3,200 babies die every day from abortions.
Every 23 seconds a baby is killed by abortion in the US.
Written on UPDATE: Newtown holds the first funerals for the victims | POLL:
in response to Up_North:
For all the people who say that you can inflict as much damage with a knife ask yourself this......Would you rather have to fight off someone with a knife or someone with a high capacity gun? At least with a knife, you have a fighting chance, literally. There is at least a chance in a knife fight. And they can't stab 20 people to death in 2 minutes.
You think that cops can be there in two minutes. WRONG!
You think 6-10 year old kids can fight off a knife attack. WRONG! Would they have a better opportunity against a knife compared to a gun, yes. The point is 1 kid is 1 too many to die.
in response to jinx:
This assault rifle was available right in the home of a troubled young man. Where is the responsible gun owner the gun lovers always talk about? And a kitchen knife? Get real.
You don't have a clue. You need to get real if you don't think that an individual is capable of getting into just about any school at any given time and do something similar without a gun.
I was at a high school the other day on business. I wasn't even questioned cause it appeared I was ok.
This is for discussion purposes and not meant to start any argument.
I know people want gun control. I'm just saying that guns will be out there at anytime for the wrong person no matter how much control.
I don't believe it's the gun but the person. This same guy could have taken a kitchen knife and probably did the same damage before police arrived.
Written on Evansville Council approved budget; Ford Center losses projected:
So Della resorts to name calling when I was simply stating a point that there is a lack of quality dine in restaurants within walking distance of a"state if the art" arena.
How can anyone take Della serious when name calling is part of the response.
Written on Evansville Council approved budget; Ford Center losses projected:
I was looking for places to eat on Main Street last week while attending a seminar. The choices were: subway, Angelo's, Lic's and a few raggedy bars. I couldn't believe that there wasn't a descent restaurant within walking distance of this monstrocity called the ford center. Why the heck even go downtown if you can't get some good food before or after an event.
Written on FACT CHECK: Flunking geography, history| POLL :
Wonder what big news Donald Trump is going to announce Wednesday?
in response to guido63:
Okay, tommyb, since you have all the answers then explain what we have gained from going to war with the Afghans and Iraqis???
Who have we taken out with direct military involvement aka troops? Name one leading terrorist who lost their life or was taken captive by direct troop involvement and not by secret covert mission or drone strike? Just one!
What we have won in my opinion is that we have taking the inevitable war to them. A place where terrorists train and plan attacks against America. I believe that if it wasn't there then it would be here on our home soil. Something to think about.
Written on Police: Man who passed stopped school bus had marijuana in car:
in response to irishred21:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Never said booze doesn't.
in response to irishred21:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Apparently you need to go back to the 3rd grade and learn how to read. I never compared marijuana to alcohol. The effects are different but nevertheless still IMPAIRMENT.
They won't test for marijuana unless there is an accident, so you won't know if it is in his system, and even if he was tested you won't be able to narrow down how long.
in response to DontBeBlind:
Alcohol impairs the judgments of others more than marijuana ever could, yet you can get it at gas stations. No one is minimizing the problems with marijuana. And a strong odor does not always mean someone has been smoking recently. There are different types of marijuana that give off a strong odor while being in an air tight container. He is probably a bad driver who happens to smoke marijuana, not a bad driver because he smokes marijuana.
Don't change subject to alcohol, this is a marijuana issue. People should not drive a vehicle under the influence or impaired by marijuana.
I would say that a strong odor would indicate that he is or had been smoking. Stop trying to minimize the problems associated with marijuana. It impairs ones judgement plain and simple. | <urn:uuid:2da94afe-5356-4ed2-a21c-72659522552b> | http://www.courierpress.com/users/LegalRobbery/comments/ | en | 0.967029 | 0.203573 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
"some music was meant to stay underground..."
New LP "Through Our Darkest Days" Announced By Mercenary, Artwork Revealed
Danish melodic death metal act Mercenary announced that work on the band's seventh album is complete. The album will be entitled "Through Our Darkest Days." Mixing was completed on April 23, 2013 at Hansen Studios with long time collaborator/producer Jacob Hansen. The album is set for release through NoiseArt Records on July 27th (EU) and a week later in the US via Prosthetic Records.
The album's cover artwork (shown below) was created by Mircea Eftemie (guitarist of Mnemic), who recently created covers for Soilwork, Illdisposed and others.
"After a few sketches, we quickly locked on to the main motive of the cover below, which we felt was both iconic, mysterious and not least, oddly disturbing. Most importantly perhaps, we also felt that Mircea's artwork had managed in a natural way to combine something fresh with the style of our older album covers and their dark and atmospheric vibes.
"As our new album is very much a combination our latest material with a lot of the more traditional melodic and melancholic elements of previous Mercenary albums, we felt that this was a perfect visual expression of Mercenary's sound and identity in 2013.
The cover symbolizes a darkness that we have gone through as a band, which we feel that we have finally been able to put behind us. The title of the album is meant very positively and thematizes both the journey through existential darkness as a general theme and the ability to break through it. The lyrical universe is very much about making the most of life and not getting caught up in negativity.”
Eftemie added: “I wanted to make something that had a direct visual relation to the album title, but also follow the design patterns of the older Mercenary album covers, to keep their identity and brand intact. After swapping ideas back and forth, we ended with a piece not too abstract, but dark and disturbing enough to portray the concept of the new album. It was absolutely a pleasure working on this piece!”
The artwork can be viewed here:
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Fender: Electric Survival Pack
Fender: Electric Survival Pack
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Hotter than the Outback, Fender's Survival Packs live up to the hype! Guaranteed to make your gigging life easier, with all the tools you need for maintenance and protection of your guitar. Fender Acoustic and Electric Survival Packs include Fender strings, Fender picks, polish, a polish cloth, hex wrenches, wire cutters, a string winder and a handy leatherette pouch for storage.
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How To Get Rid Of:
How to Get Rid of Insulation Itch
Working with different materials can have an effect on our body; these effects vary depending on the type of materials we are working on. Most people experience irritation on the skin since this is the first line of contact whenever we work on something. The tiny particles that can penetrate our skin can cause allergic reactions.
One such material that can cause itchiness in our body is fiberglass insulation. When we work on this particular material, the tiny particles can seep into our skin which can cause rashes and itchiness. The good news is that there are no long term side effects when this happens to use.
Although it doesn’t present any dangerous threat, making sure that proper precautions are taken to avoid getting irritation from insulation. Fortunately when this is acquired though, you will be able to easily take care of this without a hitch. Just follow the steps in ridding yourself of insulation itch.
Wear protective gear
We need to prevent from acquiring this allergic reaction if we keep our bodies from being exposed to the substance. It is important to wear gas masks, goggles and any protective clothing that will cover your skin, avoiding particles from getting to it.
Remove articles of clothing
Once you get home, it will be a good idea to remove your clothing and make sure that they do not mix with other pieces of clothes as they can be contaminated as well. Make sure that you soak the clothes in cold water so that the particles will separate themselves.
Take a cold shower
Immediately take a shower if you suspect that you have acquired irritants in your body. Rinsing your body with water helps the particles to be removed from your body while soaping it will help it slide off the skin further.
Steam bath will make you sweat
Perspiration is a way our body gets rid of water to cleanse itself. Sweat is released through the skin pores where the particles reside. By getting into a steam bath, our body will sweat which then will push out the insulation particles causing the allergic reaction that blocks the pores.
Apply lubricants or creams
After you shower, you may want to apply lotion to your body as this will help insulation particles to slide off of your skin. You can also apply creams such as cortisone cream as the effect will be the same.
Do not scratch
Itchiness can be irritating especially if they are very stubborn and just won’t go away. Whatever you do though, try not to rub your skin as the insulation particles will have a tendency to go deeper into the pores which can make them harder to get rid of.
Visit a professional
If you feel that you can’t stand the itchiness and the allergy might be getting worst, it is highly suggested to visit a dermatologist so that they will be able to provide you a better solution. Since they are experts in these conditions, the medicines that they will provide can prove much more effective rather than attempting self medication.
Also, your dermatologist can confirm what type of medicines you can use to prevent further acquiring allergens that can worsen the scenario. Aside from the usual medicines, the doctor will be able to provide you with helpful tips and suggestions to avoid acquiring insulation itch.
What worked for you?
| <urn:uuid:341f00fe-9103-4a01-a39d-1c932f5aec85> | http://www.mygetridofguide.com/get-rid-of-insulation-itch/ | en | 0.946538 | 0.116438 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Wasted Health Care and What We Can Do
Innovation should produce efficiencies and cut waste.
Prescription arthritis medication Humira
Marc Siegel
America’s health-care system is laden with waste — $750 billion of it each year, according to a shocking new report from the Institute of Medicine. The key reason found was complexity; health-care systems are too complicated these days for providers to fully integrate new technologies and treatments meant to help patients without increasing costs. At the same time, complex chronic diseases are on the rise, putting even more pressure on doctors and nurses to handle many aspects of a patient’s health care at the same time.
These are pressures we can’t possibly handle.
Waste is inevitable because of poor teamwork, inflated pricing, thick-as-a-steak bureaucracy, and excessive duplication. Further, fear of malpractice lawsuits compels doctors to overreact and overtreat when confronted with very sick patients. Many doctors are also not great communicators, and are creatures of habit, so an inordinate amount of time is spent learning to communicate about new tests and treatments with nurses, patients, or each other.
Effectively treating a very sick patient with the latest technology should be a happy success for health-care providers, but the already-overburdened system makes it into an onerous challenge. Take “Harold,” a 70-year-old patient with rheumatoid arthritis who received such state-of-the-art care that it was practically his undoing.
When Harold had a flare-up of his rheumatoid arthritis, causing his joints to swell, he was placed on a newer drug known as a biologic (made from a living organism). He responded well, but the drug he was given, Humira, had to be replaced with a similar drug, Enbrel, when his insurance failed to cover the cost of Humira. The patient responded well to Enbrel too, but he discontinued that as well when he couldn’t afford an increase in the co-payment. Harold’s rheumatologist put him on methotrexate, an older drug (and chemotherapy agent), which is also effective against his disease, but in Harold’s case the drug caused bruising and bleeding. He was forced to go to the hospital, where he was found to have a low platelet count and was admitted for intravenous steroid treatment.
Thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of expensive care later, Harold was restarted on Humira, after his insurer finally responded to multiple physicians’ appeals and agreed to absorb the cost. Dozens of health-care providers were involved along the way, many of whom didn’t know the full case. It took time before the patient’s doctors realized he was having side effects from the methotrexate and more time before they appealed to the insurance company for the original drug that had worked. Luckily, Harold survived, and the only real long-term cost was financial.
This example of waste is not unique. It takes time for insurers to begin covering newer expensive treatments, even life-saving ones, as a matter of routine. It also takes time to understand the treatments’ proper uses and time for doctors and hospitals to learn to work with them efficiently.
The solution to the problem, according to IOM, lies in innovative practices. In my opinion, these innovations should be introduced in the private sector, where the profit motive incentivizes efficiency, better communication, uniform and transparent prices, and a patient-centered approach (all good suggestions found in the IOM report). These benefits hold true whether the business is a hospital or an insurance company or a doctor’s office practice. For example, the price a hospital charges an insurer for performing a CT or MRI scan would vary less from one hospital to the next if the prices were transparent and open to competition. A surgical team which includes a dietician, a pain-management nurse, and a social worker could focus on improving a patient’s diet, reducing his pain, and promoting a timely discharge. Finally, if a patient like Harold were able to appeal his medication needs directly to the insurer, the decisions made might be more tailored to his actual needs.
In contrast, Obamacare’s new regulations will increase inefficiency by adding more hoops for doctors and patients to jump through. Federal committees or boards can’t provide guidance on a case-by-case basis, and thus can’t possibly respond to the nuances of a patient like Harold. More regulations also hold back innovations by stifling creative business solutions.
Major medical centers such as the Cleveland Clinic and the Mayo Clinic have long had patient-centered teams that work efficiently and save the hospital money. At my medical center, nurse practitioners, nurse managers, well-integrated teams, and computerization of records have greatly improved communication and efficiency, to the point where many doctors who leave solo practice to join the faculty (a group practice) are better off, benefiting from working with a well-oiled machine.
Patients benefit from receiving all their health care under one roof, where records are readily accessible to doctors and nurses, where immediate access is available to the latest innovations, and where billing is transparent and fair.
If quality medical care is to survive in America, this is what it must look like.
— Marc Siegel, M.D., is an associate professor of medicine and medical director of Doctor Radio at NYU Langone Medical Center. He is a Fox News medical correspondent and author of The Inner Pulse.
Subscribe to National Review | <urn:uuid:3a003600-c158-4f34-880b-2ce250f4ef9f> | http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/321110/wasted-health-care-and-what-we-can-do-marc-siegel | en | 0.964773 | 0.056887 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
OK I know this is a VB forum but its closer to RB then the other forums.
As an example program to start learning RB I have been working on an editor. Here lies the problem. When I debug I get an error saying this method or property doesnt exist.
dim PreTag as string
dim PostTag as string
Pretag = "" (changed so I can post)
PostTag = ""(changed so I can post)
HtmlField.SelText = PreTag + Htmlfield.SelText + PostTag
When I get the error HtmlField is highlighted. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks.
Your mind is fine. Reality is what needs adjusting. | <urn:uuid:c9cfce35-2b3b-4315-92e1-5a156c8d0b71> | http://www.undergroundnews.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/posts/17591.html | en | 0.879668 | 0.370203 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Band Notes: Sharon van Etten
The Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter talks touring in Europe, Halloween costumes, and opening up through her music.
By: Julyssa Lopez
Several years ago, singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten was urged to check out a cover of her song “Love More.” This wasn’t just any cover—it was released and performed by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and the National’s Bryce and Aaron Dessner. The stunning homage to her emotionally charged, raspy vocals and folk-tinged arrangements led to a friendship with Aaron, who produced her third and latest record, Tramp. The album showcases a grittier Van Etten singing to the backing of a bigger band and louder instrumentation, and features appearances by Beirut’s Zach Condon, Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner, and Doveman’s Thomas Bartlett. Following her Tramp tour in Europe, we caught up with the Brooklyn-based songstress to talk about her Thursday night show at the 9:30 Club, her frequent collaborations, and why she no longer feels like a tramp.
How was your tour in Europe?
It was great—we got to go to a bunch of cities we’d never been. I got to do the Jools Holland show, and I got to meet John Cale, which was a really big deal for me. We all had a good time—I think we’re all ready to be done touring for a little while, but we still have a few more tours to go until then.
One of your first tours ever was in Europe with Meg Baird when your career was just starting. Can you talk a bit about the differences now that you’re doing your own thing? How did this compare with the first time?
It’s a totally different world. When I toured with Meg, I was solo. It was her and me and three other people hanging out, just riding around in one car all over England mostly. And it was fun; it just felt like a road trip as opposed to touring. With a band, there’s a little bit more responsibility that comes along with making sure everyone’s okay, taking care of people, and things like that—and a bit more scheduling. But it’s also less vulnerable because I have a band to work with and rely on, and it’s much more cathartic because we get to rock out. We’re the best we’ve ever been, and they’re really fun people to be around—before, it was more folk music, which was really mellow, whereas now it’s more bars and clubs, and it’s a little more rowdy.
When you get to DC, you’ll be performing with Damien Jurado. Have you met him or played with him before?
We’re doing a whole US tour together, which I’m excited about. But I’ve never met him face-to-face, although he was at a show I was at. We have all these mutual friends and he toured with my friends before, but we constantly miss each other. We’re in the same orbit, but for some reason it’s only aligning now. I’m excited to meet him. I hear he’s really sweet, and I loved his last record; I think it’s beautiful.
You’ve been mostly performing songs from Tramp, and the album’s been out for some time now. What’s the response been now that you’ve been playing it for audiences?
It’s been funny to see how people react in different areas—it is a progression from the last couple records, and we do get louder and there’s more dynamically involved with the songs. People are singing along, I see more people dancing and bobbing around, I see people on date night holding hands. But I think always though, the common thread between all the records is that people still have a personal connection with them and can relate to my experiences, and they still take something away from it emotionally, even though they’re more rock songs than they used to be. I still think they connect with people in that way, which is nice to know.
You’ve described the process of writing Tramp as self-therapy and a way of revealing yourself. Are there any new sides of you feel this album brought out?
The main thing on this record was that I allowed myself to show emotions other than being sad. I let myself be angry—which is a thing I’ve always had a hard time doing. It’s not necessarily blaming anyone, just letting myself be angry—and learning from it, though, not futile anger. I also allowed myself to show that I’m happy and allowed myself to be more vulnerable while showing other sides of myself. I’m finally out of the depression I was in for a really long time, and I have more perspective. Every record, I have a better perspective on things.
Do you ever have any qualms about writing such confessional music?
It’s definitely hard to perform them live sometimes. I try not to write songs that are too personal, because then people can’t relate to them themselves, and it cuts [me] off from really connecting with people. I don’t want anyone to go to a show and just feel bad for me the whole time—that’s not a good experience. I try to only share songs where I feel like I can generalize my own circumstances in a way that it’s a universal idea and people can still connect with it and relate to it. If I didn’t feel that way about a song, I wouldn’t share it with people. So I hope people take something away from it for themselves and not just that I’ve been through s--- [laughs].
I once knew someone who used red lightbulbs to create a serious headspace for writing. Do you have any tricks you use to get yourself inspired?
I can only write when I’m going through something, and when I’m by myself I can totally let go. I write stream-of-consciousness, and when I have a melodic idea in that zone, I hit record and I play and sing for 30 minutes. Then I hit stop and listen back to it and try to listen for a message, and I edit that way. I definitely have to be in that headspace most of the time in order to create, but hopefully it won’t be that way forever.
There are so many collaborations on the record—was there ever a challenge merging ideas?
Going into it every time, I’m always freaked out—even if I’m friends with them, I’m still in awe of them, and I respect them very much. You’re going to be vulnerable when you’re like, “Here’s the skeleton of a song that’s not anything yet, and I would love for you to help turn into something beautiful!” There’s something that makes you feel a little insecure every time. But the good thing about the people I got to collaborate with on this record was that they understood that—they’re all songwriters and they’re all in bands and they know the processes. They also know my writing, and they’re familiar with it, so they were sensitive to that going into it. So even though I was nervous, I trusted them. The only real challenge was me letting things happen and letting them do what they would do naturally, because I trusted them and they believed in my work. I know they wanted the best for me, and I knew they would do their best.
Which collaborations were you most excited about?
I was really excited about everyone. When Thomas Bartlett [Doveman] came in, it was pretty amazing. He literally just fluttered around the studio. It was only in the course of two or three hours and we played him all these songs, and he literally put ten tracks on each song and was like, “Here you go! Here’s a bunch of keys and synthesizers. Keep whatever you want; drop whatever you want.” He was so casual but so pro about it. We had so much to work with after that one session. He came back another time, too, just to add a little fairy dust onto it. It was definitely fun to watch.
Also Bryce Dessner, who did a couple of the string arrangements on the album and some gnarly guitar parts, as well—I had never had any kind of arrangements done before, so that was pretty cool. I would say just being able to work with Aaron throughout the whole record was probably the best.
What was the dynamic like between you two?
It was really like brother-sister, ’cause we could tease each other. He just put his arm around me the whole time and was really nurturing about the whole thing, knowing I was nervous about collaborating, having a band-type record, and doing more instrumentation. That’s really not what I’m naturally good at, but he helped me learn to communicate . . . I was able to tell people what I wanted, and he was able to interpret for me. He pushed me to try a lot of things I wouldn’t normally have tried. Aaron’s just really a comforting person to be around—he’s such a normal, genuine guy.
The title of the record was chosen because it has a double meaning, since “tramp” can also mean a traveling vagrant or a person without a home—which is how you’ve said you felt while writing the album. Do you still feel that way?
I think it was more so at the time, because then the only place I had to go back to was the studio. I was always floating as far as where I was staying. I didn’t have that safety of having a home, really, or that stability. In that way, I don’t think I’ll write that way again. I don’t think I’ll be that scattered, and I don’t think I’ll be that exhausted. Every time I came home, I felt I had to be working because it was only my time off that was spent recording, just because that’s how Aaron and my schedule worked. We were both touring so much we could only record on our time off. I don’t think I’ll do that again [laughs]. It was worth it, but exhausting. Now I have a home and a boyfriend and a life—I think once I have a group of songs together, I’d like to block off one month and work on recording during that month, as opposed to piece-by-piece and only on my time off. You have no way of replenishing yourself and resting and eating well when all your time is spent working.
You revealed in an interview you once dressed as Charlie Chaplin from The Tramp for Halloween. What are you going to be this year?
I don’t know! We’re driving from Florida to New Orleans that day, and we’re not getting there until dinnertime. I don’t know, I might just wear my Chaplin mustache again.
Sharon Van Etten plays the 9:30 Club this Thursday, October 25. Tickets ($18) are available via the 9:30 Club’s website. | <urn:uuid:17f98b01-d800-4da7-920b-da40072aa07a> | http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/afterhours/print/2012/10/24/band-notes-sharon-van-etten.php | en | 0.982702 | 0.022785 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
IN MY last article of 2011, I predicted that the National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) would begin the new year "statutorily impotent, politically riven or both." For a Von Hoffman nominee, one of three ain't bad. Barack Obama seems to have avoided statutory impotence by recess appointing not one, but three members to the NLRB (he also recess-appointed Richard Cordray (pictured) to head the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau). If the appointments go through, the board will have a full five members for the first time since the summer of 2010 (and then just for two months).
But that, as they say, is a Big If. Technically, the Senate was not in recess; Republican senators have been holding pro forma sessions designed to avoid giving the president the chance to recess-appoint anyone. During the previous administration, Democratic senators did exactly the same thing, and like many a parliamentary tactic, it worked until it didn't. Mr Obama called Republicans' bluff. Dan Pfeiffer, writing on the White House blog, called the pro forma sessions "a gimmick", and insisted that "gimmicks do not override the president's constitutional authority to make appointments to keep the government running." Republicans in Congress disagree: John Boehner, the House speaker, called Mr Obama's actions "an entirely unprecedented power grab".
It may in fact be unprecedented, but that does not make it illegal (on the other hand, it may be legal, but that does not make it a good idea: as with many an executive power-grab, the party in power is cheering now but will gnash its teeth when President Romney or, let's say, Haley does the same thing in a year or five). The Congressional Research Service issued a timely if rather Talmudic report on recess appointments in December. There is no question that the constitution grants the Senate power to approve executive appointments to certain federal offices, but there is equally little question that it also grants the president power to "fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate". The question is what constitutes a recess. A Justice Department brief from 1993 argues that the president can certainly make appointments during recesses of three days or longer; shorter than that and "a closer question" is raised. That is because the constitution's adjournments clause mandates that neither chamber of Congress can adjourn without the other for more than three days. Yet that same brief undercuts its own argument by noting that the constitution provides no specific answer, and that "[w]hatever number of days is deemed required, that number would of necessity be completely arbitrary". There have been occasional recess appointments during sessions of less than three days, but none previously during pro forms sessions.
On the other hand, the use of pro forma sessions for the express purpose of blocking the president's power to make appointments during Senate recess is a recent and rather noxious innovation (noxious when the Democrats did it too, of course). The president may not be entirely in the clear, but he at least has some solid ground on which to fight. And he clearly intends to fight; he took up the gauntlet Republicans threw down when they urged him not to exercise his (constitutionally granted) power to make recess appointments by making four controversial appointments, empowering two government entities Republicans do not seem to like very much. The question now is whether the Republicans prefer law or politics. Will they choose to battle him in court and get a settled answer once and for all, which may not be in their favour, or will they weave these appointments into a narrative painting the president as power-hungry and dismissive of the constitution?
(Photo credit: AFP) | <urn:uuid:9adfaf3a-48b7-458f-b22c-b6ade192e9a5> | http://www7.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2012/01/recess-appointments | en | 0.965092 | 0.117015 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
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Customer Reviews
I've always been a huge Maroon 5 fan, but even I have to admit that their unique sound just hasn't been the same ever since "Moves Like Jagger" became a #1 smash hit last summer. Now, it seems as if the catchy guitar riffs and meaningful lyrics of "Songs About Jane" and "It Won't Be Soon Before Long" have been virtually replaced by generic dance-pop beats and uninspired verses. With the exceptions of "Payphone", "One More Night", and "Wipe Your Eyes", nothing on this album feels like something the band would write, let alone record in the studio. They all sound like overly produced, club-friendly techno tracks you'd expect to hear from a group like Cobra Starship. The funk-rock quality of Maroon 5's previous work seems to have disappeared almost completely, and it's really a shame. Let's just hope that Adam and the guys don't stick with this sound for the rest of their music career 'cause this isn't the right direction for them.
Fan forever
I have loved Maroon 5 since day 1. People are complaining they have followed suit of other groups and sold out. I think they continue to grow as a group and their choices show diversity. I will always be a huge fan--keep it up guys!
Comepletely sold out
They've lost their uniqueness and creativity completely. "Overexposed" doesn't sound like Maroon 5 in the slightest. They're just like every other popular band out there now. It's truly depressing. I was a big fan of theirs until this album.
I absolutely loved their "Songs About Jane" and even parts of "Hands All Over" because everything seemed so heartfelt and just...them. There was no band out there like Maroon 5. I can't say that about them now. I've lost all repect for them as musicians.
The only fans they have now are mainstreamers who will take in anything that is fed to them as long as it's popular.
Formed: 1999 in Los Angeles, CA
Genre: Pop
Years Active: '90s, '00s, '10s
Full Bio
| <urn:uuid:49876d47-3f93-4e2d-aa50-1c37c055e1a9> | https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/overexposed-deluxe/id542468867 | en | 0.969733 | 0.019945 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
These errors happen when I launch minecraft, First error happens when I launch the login menu ( It still boots up ). Second when I actually launch the game.
Landswimmer@linux-99vz:~/Documents/Minecraft/Vanilla> java -jar minecraft.jar
java.io.FileNotFoundException: /home/Landswimmer/.minecraft/lastlogin (No such file or directory)
at java.io.FileInputStream.open(Native Method)
at java.io.FileInputStream.<init>(FileInputStream.java:138)
at net.minecraft.LoginForm.readUsername(LoginForm.java:110)
at net.minecraft.LoginForm.<init>(LoginForm.java:55)
at net.minecraft.LauncherFrame.<init>(LauncherFrame.java:23)
at net.minecraft.LauncherFrame.main(LauncherFrame.java:167)
at net.minecraft.MinecraftLauncher.main(MinecraftLauncher.java:13)
Exception in thread "Thread-4" java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: /home/Landswimmer/.minecraft/bin/natives/liblwjgl.so: /home/Landswimmer/.minecraft/bin/natives/liblwjgl.so: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32 (Possible cause: architecture word width mismatch)
at java.lang.ClassLoader$NativeLibrary.load(Native Method)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary1(ClassLoader.java:1939)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary0(ClassLoader.java:1864)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary(ClassLoader.java:1825)
at java.lang.Runtime.load0(Runtime.java:792)
at java.lang.System.load(System.java:1059)
at org.lwjgl.Sys$1.run(Sys.java:69)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at org.lwjgl.Sys.doLoadLibrary(Sys.java:65)
at org.lwjgl.Sys.loadLibrary(Sys.java:81)
at org.lwjgl.Sys.<clinit>(Sys.java:98)
at net.minecraft.client.Minecraft.G(SourceFile:1985)
at awe.<init>(SourceFile:20)
at net.minecraft.client.Minecraft.<init>(SourceFile:76)
at avv.<init>(SourceFile:38)
at net.minecraft.client.MinecraftApplet.init(SourceFile:38)
at net.minecraft.Launcher.replace(Launcher.java:136)
at net.minecraft.Launcher$1.run(Launcher.java:79)
share|improve this question
You don't launch the Minecraft file directly, you launch the Minecraft launcher instead. Also mention the version of Minecraft in your answer as there is a new launcher as well. – Meer Borg May 6 '13 at 0:19
What I'm saying is when I launch the game from the launcher, it downloads the files and then black screens and that error happens. I opened it this way to see an error log. – Landswimmer May 6 '13 at 0:45
Checkout this guide askubuntu.com/questions/225432/… – Meer Borg May 6 '13 at 0:56
add comment
2 Answers
up vote 1 down vote accepted
Java Oracle isn't the best solution for Minecraft. I'd suggest using OpenJDK instead. You can see how you install OpenJDK for Ubuntu, here
Luis Alvarado's explanation (as Meer Bong suggested in the last comment) is very complicated, and you don't need to install Minecraft via Wine, to make it work.
You simply download the Launcher from Minecraft's website (the file called minecraft.jar) and right click it, and open it via OpenJDK. Then, from the launcher menu, click the options button, and press the button "Force Update". Then it should work perfectly. It worked perfect for me, and I've had no trouble with Minecraft whatsoever.
share|improve this answer
Thanks for all the help, but also Why is OpenJDK better for minecraft than oracle? – Landswimmer May 6 '13 at 21:07
I don't really know, I have recently learned that there isn't that big of a difference, but this is based on my experience – Frederik Popp May 7 '13 at 7:53
add comment
I needed to use Oracle's Java for certain things to work with the Sage math program. If you install Java using the instructions here http://www.wikihow.com/Install-Oracle-Java-JDE-on-Ubuntu-Linux or here http://www.wikihow.com/Install-Oracle-Java-JDE-on-Ubuntu-Linux (if you need JDK) then you should be able to type
java -jar Minecraft.jar
You don't have a convenient right click option like with openjdk but it works fine for me like that. I know this is an old thread but this is the first link Google returns as a result and it didn't have the info I needed as I was aware that it works with openjdk but needed/wanted it to work with Oracle Java. Which it does.
share|improve this answer
add comment
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:8fcee664-5fc9-4673-8ed8-171d63286e84> | http://askubuntu.com/questions/291232/java-cant-launch-minecraft-these-errors-happen-using-java-oracle/291331 | en | 0.775475 | 0.024138 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Balokole is an African fundamentalist Christian reform movement that started in the 1930s. The Balokole arose within the East African Revival Movement which sought to renew the Protestant churches in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. Despite its theological roots in the Western revival movement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Balokole evolved as an indigenous African movement. The term Balokole can be translated as "the saved ones" or "the chosen".
The Balokole movement criticized established hierarchies within the Church of Uganda and questioned prevailing amorality or double standards. The Balokole formed egalitarian brotherhoods, followed puritanical rules, publicly confessed their sins and professed their experience of conversion, which they understood as a radical break with their former sinful selves and a receiving of new life from God.[1] They stressed the importance of the Lordship of Christ over all areas of life.[1][2]
1. ^ a b Behrend, Heike (1999). Alice Lakwena and the Holy Spirits. Ohio University Press, Athens. ISBN 0-8214-1311-2.
2. ^ Joe Church, Quest for the Highest, Paternoster 1981 | <urn:uuid:7899b618-140e-4f70-ac6f-8e4c69117d81> | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balokole | en | 0.897243 | 0.09005 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Suscríbete Spanish
buscar cualquier palabra, como bae:
To overturn another in verbal sparring, particularly in front of a group.
Often said upon the occurrence of such an event.
Person 1: "Your penis is of insubstantiate length and/or size."
Person 2: "In accordance with the events transpired last night, your mother would disagree."
Person 1: "Joust."
Por Yossarian8 12 de mayo de 2004
8 14
Using ones erect penis against another person or friend with an erect penis and running at full speed at each other and whoever gets stabbed by the erect penis loses.
"Oh man my stomach has an enormous bruise from when your dick hit me at our last jousting session"
"Fuck dude my black eye isn't getting much better from jousting last friday"
Por Negro Flakes 03 de marzo de 2009
2 10
to take a long "stick" a put it in some one's face
Many people want to joust me
Por chunx 03 de noviembre de 2005
5 13
pain to another organism
i will joust you!
Por drew 02 de mayo de 2003
2 21 | <urn:uuid:41050afe-d3c3-448f-bc6a-20d75f79e8ee> | http://es.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=joust&page=3 | en | 0.735344 | 0.048407 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Google's IRL "Places" tech—a radio-tagged sticker that you can scan with a compatible phone for venue deals and info—is spreading. And that's a great thing! The big push is hitting Austin, Portland, Las Vegas, Madison, and Charlotte, NC.
As more phones get NFC superpowers, we hope (and expect) the tech to really take off. It's cheap, benefits both local businesses and patrons, and saves you some finger-taxing typing when you'd rather be using them for eating wings and taking shots. Or shopping for little baby booties. Whatever your flavor! [NFC World via SlashGear] | <urn:uuid:b488464f-8c7f-4f63-a512-57476c73d268> | http://gizmodo.com/5791690/google-sticking-nfc-decals-across-five-us-cities?tag=RFID | en | 0.925588 | 0.055643 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
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Assassination Classroom 6
Time to Choose
+ posted by lynxian as translation on Aug 7, 2012 02:15 | Go to Assassination Classroom
-> RTS Page for Assassination Classroom 6
Translation reserved for Mangatopia
Sorry for the delay with this one. A combination of real life interfering and some problematic parts caused it to take longer than usual.
???: No matter what I do, I end up with this number left over!
(on blackboard, right of brackets)
Odd number
Even number
(on blackboard, right of chalk drawing) Which one?
(center) 1st period: Mathematics
Korosen: You are plagued by such worries of indivisibility!!
(beneath top panel) [Assassination Classroom]
Korosen: But don't worry, I have prepared an excellent method!!
(on blackboard, top) Basically
Korosen: Once I've written it on the blackboard, let's all try to solve one together.
(left, star) Responses rushing in at mach 20!! The super popular tentacle academy manga!!
Korosen: ......so,
Korosen: with this, everything wraps up nicely.
Korosen: And then... if you do this, surprisingly...
Assassination Classroom
Chapter 6: Time to Choose | Matsui Yuusei
(right, star) Swoosh clench grab...!!
Korosen: ...and it turns into this.
Korosen: Ah, Karma-kun.
Korosen: The span between drawing your gun and firing is much too slow.
Korosen: I had time to spare, so I gave you some nail art.
???: Is your group finished, Fuwa-san?
(center) 4th period: Home Economics
Fuwa: ...Hrmm, I'm not sure.
Fuwa: The taste is kinda sharp.
Korosen: Let me see.
Karma: Huh.
Karma: Then how about remaking it?
Karma: Toss out attempt #1.
???: Uwah!
Korosen: You forgot to wear an apron, Karma-kun.
Korosen: If you're wondering about the soup, don't worry.
Korosen: I used a pipet to suck it all up in midair.
(sfx) Zoop zoop zoop zoop
Korosen: I also took the opportunity to add sugar.
Fuwa: Ah!!
Fuwa: Now it's mild!!
(left of boy) Pfft
(right of girl) Cute~
Box: ...It's hopeless.
(beneath panel) 5th period: Japanese
Box: Korosensei has plenty of excellent weaknesses.
Box: He blunders often,
Box: and when confused, his reaction speed falls to ordinary levels.
Box: ...However,
Box: no matter how good Karma-kun may be at surprise attacks,
Korosen: "...And as I was thinking that..."
(sfx) Freeze
Korosen: "...the red frog failed and fell back once again."
Korosen: "Soon, I began to grow tired of watching him.
Korosen: I picked up a few stones from the road..."
(beneath panel) From Shimaki Kensaku's "The Red Frog"
Box: Without a doubt, this assassination seems impossible...
(sfx) School bell ringing
Box: before sensei's vigilance.
Nagisa: ...Karma-kun,
Nagisa: don't be impatient and we'll all kill him together.
Nagisa: If you target Korosensei by yourself...
Nagisa: no matter what tricks you use, you alone can't kill him.
Nagisa: He's different from normal teachers, after all.
(Karma): Teachers... huh.
Teacher: Akabane!!
Teacher: You are in the right!!
Teacher: You're quarrelsome and plenty of your conduct is problematic, but
Teacher: so long as you are in the right,
Teacher: sensei will always be on your side!!
Karma: ...no way.
Karma: I want to kill him.
Karma: Him surviving by some fluke would piss me off the most.
Korosen: Now then, Karma-kun.
Korosen: Today, sensei certainly provided you with lots of improvements.
Korosen: You can still come to kill me, you know?
Korosen: I will polish you until you shine even brighter.
Karma: I'd just like to confirm it, but
Karma: Korosensei, you're a teacher, right?
Korosen: Yes.
Karma: So would a teacher
Karma: put his life on the line to protect his students?
Korosen: Of course.
Korosen: A teacher's a teacher, after all.
Karma: I see. That's good.
Karma: In that case, I can definitely
Karma: kill you.
(Karma): If you come to save me,
(Karma): then I'll shoot and kill you during the rescue.
(Karma): If you let me die without helping,
(Karma): then your existence as a teacher will be destroyed!!
Box: It's like I can see an incredible kaleidoscope of images in my mind.
(Karma): Are you alright, senpai?
(???): 3-E... you mean that E Class?
(???): This is certainly troublesome, for you to be picking a fight for someone like that.
Karma: Hm?
Karma: I was in the right, though?
Karma: What's wrong with helping a senpai who was being bullied?
Teacher: No, Akabane.
Teacher: No matter how I look at it, you are in the wrong.
Box: Eh?
Teacher: There's something wrong with your head!!
Teacher: To go and give the top 3rd year honor student such serious wounds!!
Box: Eh?
Box: Hold on a second, sensei.
Teacher: You sided with Class E and injured someone who has a future.
(sfx) Crack...
Teacher: If this influences the results of his entrance exam, I'll be held responsible.
Box: You said you'd be on my side...
Box: then you end up saying something like that.
(bottom) ...Crap, he's dying.
(top) In my mind's eye, sensei is dying.
Teacher: The only thing right about you were your grades.
Teacher: That's why I always stood up for you, but
Teacher: it's a different story if you're going to damage my reputation.
Teacher: I requested you be switched to another class.
Teacher: Congratulations, Akabane-kun.
Teacher: Starting your 3rd year, you will also attend Class E.
Box: For him to be dead even though he was still alive... at that moment, I understood.
Box: If I had lost all hope in him...
Box: to me, it was the same as if he were dead.
Box: Korosensei!!
Box: You will die by my hand!!
Box: Now, which "death" will you choose?!
Karma: Eugh....
Korosen: Karma-kun,
Korosen: The deliberation you put into this assassination was magnificent.
Korosen: If I had rescued you at the speed of sound, your body wouldn't have been able to withstand it.
Korosen: On the other hand, if I took my time saving you, I would be shot in the interim.
Korosen: So,
Korosen: sensei tried using a bit of stickiness.
(Karma): ...Dammit.
(Karma): These tentacles can do anything!!
Korosen: Like this, you can't shoot me. Nurufufufufufufu.
Korosen: ...Ah, by the way,
Korosen: For me, the option to abandon you doesn't exist.
Korosen: Believe in me and jump whenever you like.
Karma: ...Ha.
Box: This's no good.
Box: I'm not dead, and I couldn't kill him.
Box: Not even...
Box: his existence as a teacher.
Nagisa: ...Karma-kun,
Nagisa: You acted so recklessly without batting an eye.
Karma: Not really...
Karma: Having thought it over, I figured that just now would be the best way I could kill him, but
Karma: I guess I'll quietly rework my plan for a while.
Korosen: What's this?
Korosen: Have you already run out of ideas?
Korosen: I still have lots of maintenance implements for retaliatory purposes, though?
(on bottle) Extra-beautiful skin lotion
Korosen: You are also an unexpectedly easy opponent.
Box: My killing intent is boiling.
(sfx) Irritated
Box: But
Box: Somehow, it's different from earlier.
Karma: I'm going to kill you.
Karma: Tomorrow, that is.
(Korosen): A healthy and refreshing killing intent.
(sfx) Grin
(Korosen): It seems improvements are no longer necessary.
Karma: Let's head home, Nagisa-kun.
Karma: We'll get something to eat on the way.
Korosen: Wait a-
Korosen: Isn't that my change purse!?
Karma: Like I saaid,
Karma: you leave things defenseless in the faculty room.
Korosen: Return that!!
Karma: Sure~
Korosen: But you're taking out the contents?!
Box: The hitmen who come to assassinate him
Box: end up being polished for the better by their target.
Karma: It was all loose change, so I ended up collecting it as a contribution.
Korosen: NYUUAA! You delinquent philanthropist!!
Box: That is our assassination classroom.
(center, star) "Sparkling" improvements with a swoosh...
Box: I wonder how we'll try to kill him tomorrow.
[page 2]
Time to Choose - the Japanese here (二択の時間, ni taku no jikan) literally means something like "time for two options". I figured my choice of translation sounds more natural in English, without losing the intended meaning.
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Syrup From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Syrup (disambiguation). A pot of syrup used to make stroopwafels
In cooking, a syrup (from Arabic شراب sharab, beverage, via Latin siropus) is a thick, viscous liquid, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars, but showing little tendency to deposit crystals. The viscosity arises from the multiple hydrogen bonds between the dissolved sugar, which has many hydroxyl (OH) groups, and the water. Technically and scientifically, the term syrup is also employed to denote viscous, generally residual, liquids, containing substances other than sugars in solution. Artificial maple syrup is made with water and an extremely large amount of dissolved sugar. The solution is heated so more sugar can be put in than normally possible. The solution becomes super-saturated. Contents
* 1 Pharmaceutical syrup
* 2 Culinary syrup
* 3 Syrups for beverages
o 3.1 Simple syrup
o 3.2 Gomme syrup
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 External links
[edit] Pharmaceutical syrup
The syrup employed as a base for medicinal purposes consists of a concentrated or saturated solution of refined sugar in distilled water. The "simple syrup" of the British Pharmacopoeia is prepared by adding 1 kg of refined sugar to 500 mL of boiling distilled water, heating until it is dissolved and subsequently adding boiling distilled water until the weight of the whole is 1.5 kg. The specific gravity of the syrup should be 1.33. This is a 66° Brix solution.
Flavoured syrups are made by adding flavouring matter to a simple syrup. For instance, syrupus aromaticus is prepared by adding certain quantities of orange flavouring and cinnamon water to simple syrup. Similarly, medicated syrups are prepared by adding medicaments to, or dissolving them in, the simple syrup.
[edit] Culinary syrup
Golden syrup is a by-product of the process of obtaining refined crystallized sugar. Molasses is a syrup obtained at a different stage of refining.
[edit] Syrups for beverages
A variety of beverages call for sweetening to offset the tartness of some juices used in the drink recipes. Granulated sugar does not dissolve easily in cold drinks or ethyl alcohol. Since the following syrups are liquids, they are easily mixed with other liquids in mixed drinks, making them superior alternatives to granulated sugar. Bottles of syrup used for flavoring drinks in a coffee shop.
[edit] Simple syrup
A basic sugar-and-water syrup used to make drinks at bars is referred to by several names, including simple syrup, sugar syrup, simple sugar syrup, and bar syrup.
Simple syrup is made by stirring granulated sugar into hot water in a sauce pan until the sugar is dissolved and then cooling the solution. Generally, the ratio of sugar to water can range anywhere from 1:1 to 2:1.
This type of syrup is also commonly used at coffee shops, especially in the United States, to make flavoured drinks.
[edit] Gomme syrup
Gomme syrup is an ingredient commonly used in mixed drinks. It is also commonly used as a sweetener for iced coffee in Japan. Like bar syrups, it is a sugar and water mixture, but has an added ingredient of gum arabic which acts as an emulsifier. Gomme syrup is made with the highest percentage of sugar to water possible, while the gum arabic prevents the sugar from crystallizing and adds a smooth texture. | <urn:uuid:e7a7e5fb-5787-4dc4-a54c-ab18f0f6c376> | http://mojomojo.org/joopsiroop.jsrpc/diff/987/8 | en | 0.924249 | 0.520356 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
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Logo of jpnSubmit a ManuscriptEmail AlertsAbout JPNJournal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience
J Psychiatry Neurosci. Nov 2007; 32(6): 394–399.
PMCID: PMC2077351
How to increase serotonin in the human brain without drugs
Simon N. Young
Editor-in-chief, Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, and Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montréal, Que.
Medical subject headings: serotonin, exercise, phototherapy, food, depression, happiness
For the last 4 decades, the question of how to manipulate the serotonergic system with drugs has been an important area of research in biological psychiatry, and this research has led to advances in the treatment of depression. Research on the association between various polymorphisms and depression supports the idea that serotonin plays a role, not only in the treatment of depression but also in susceptibility to depression and suicide. The research focus here has been on polymorphisms of the serotonin transporter, but other serotonin-related genes may also be involved.1–5 In the future, genetic research will make it possible to predict with increasing accuracy who is susceptible to depression. Much less attention has been given to how this information will be used for the benefit of individuals with a serotonin-related susceptibility to depression, and little evidence exists concerning strategies to prevent depression in those with such a susceptibility. Various studies have looked at early intervention in those with prodromal symptoms as well as at population strategies for preventing depression.6–11 Obviously, prevention is preferable to early intervention; moreover, although population strategies are important, they are ideally supplemented with preventive interventions that can be used over long periods of time in targeted individuals who do not yet exhibit even nonclinical symptoms. Clearly, pharmacologic approaches are not appropriate, and given the evidence for serotonin's role in the etiology and treatment of depression, nonpharmacologic methods of increasing serotonin are potential candidates to test for their ability to prevent depression.
Another reason for pursuing nonpharmacologic methods of increasing serotonin arises from the increasing recognition that happiness and well-being are important, both as factors protecting against mental and physical disorders and in their own right.12–14 Conversely, negative moods are associated with negative outcomes. For example, the negative mood hostility is a risk factor for many disorders. For the sake of brevity, hostility is discussed here mainly in relation to one of the biggest sources of mortality, coronary heart disease (CHD). A meta-analysis of 45 studies demonstrated that hostility is a risk factor for CHD and for all-cause mortality.15 More recent research confirms this. Hostility is associated not only with the development of CHD but also with poorer survival in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients.16 Hostility may lead to decreased social support and social isolation,17 and low perceived social support is associated with greater mortality in those with CAD.18 Effects are not just limited to CHD. For example, the opposite of hostility, agreeableness, was a significant protective factor against mortality in a sample of older, frail participants.19
The constitution of the WHO states “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”20 This may sound exaggerated but positive mood within the normal range is an important predictor of health and longevity. In a classic study, those in the lowest quartile for positive emotions, rated from autobiographies written at a mean age of 22 years, died on average 10 years earlier than those in the highest quartile.21 Even taking into account possible confounders, other studies “found the same solid link between feeling good and living longer.”12 In a series of recent studies, negative emotions were associated with increased disability due to mental and physical disorders,22 increased incidence of depression,23 increased suicide24 and increased mortality25 up to 2 decades later. Positive emotions protected against these outcomes. A recent review including meta-analyses assessed cross-sectional, longitudinal and experimental studies and concluded that happiness is associated with and precedes numerous successful outcomes.26 Mood may influence social behaviour, and social support is one of the most studied psychosocial factors in relation to health and disease.27 Low social support is associated with higher levels of stress, depression, dysthymia and posttraumatic stress disorder and with increased morbidity and mortality from a host of medical illnesses.27
Research confirms what might be intuitively expected, that positive emotions and agreeableness foster congenial relationships with others.28,29 This in turn will create the conditions for an increase in social support.
Several studies found an association between measures related to serotonin and mood in the normal range. Lower platelet serotonin2 receptor function was associated with lower mood in one study,30 whereas better mood was associated with higher blood serotonin levels in another.31 Two studies found that greater prolactin release in response to fenfluramine was associated with more positive mood.32,33 The idea that these associations indicate a causal association between serotonin function and mood within the normal range is consistent with a study demonstrating that, in healthy people with high trait irritability, tryptophan, relative to placebo, decreased quarrelsome behaviours, increased agreeable behaviours and improved mood.34 Serotonin may be associated with physical health as well as mood. In otherwise healthy individuals, a low prolactin response to the serotonin-releasing drug fenfluramine was associated with the metabolic syndrome, a risk factor for heart disease,35 suggesting that low serotonin may predispose healthy individuals to suboptimal physical as well as mental functioning.
Nonpharmacologic methods of raising brain serotonin may not only improve mood and social functioning of healthy people — a worthwhile objective even without additional considerations — but would also make it possible to test the idea that increases in brain serotonin may help protect against the onset of various mental and physical disorders. Four strategies that are worth further investigation are discussed below.
The article by Perreau-Linck and colleagues36 (page 430 of this issue) provides an initial lead about one possible strategy for raising brain serotonin. Using positron emission tomography, they obtained a measure of serotonin synthesis in the brains of healthy participants who underwent positive, negative and neutral mood inductions. Reported levels of happiness were positively correlated and reported levels of sadness were negatively correlated with serotonin synthesis in the right anterior cingulate cortex. The idea that alterations in thought, either self-induced or due to psychotherapy, can alter brain metabolism is not new. Numerous studies have demonstrated changes in blood flow in such circumstances. However, reports related to specific transmitters are much less common. In one recent study, meditation was reported to increase release of dopamine.37 The study by Perreau-Linck and colleagues36 is the first to report that self-induced changes in mood can influence serotonin synthesis. This raises the possibility that the interaction between serotonin synthesis and mood may be 2-way, with serotonin influencing mood and mood influencing serotonin. Obviously, more work is needed to answer questions in this area. For example, is the improvement in mood associated with psychotherapy accompanied by increases in serotonin synthesis? If more precise information is obtained about the mental states that increase serotonin synthesis, will this help to enhance therapy techniques?
Exposure to bright light is a second possible approach to increasing serotonin without drugs. Bright light is, of course, a standard treatment for seasonal depression, but a few studies also suggest that it is an effective treatment for nonseasonal depression38 and also reduces depressed mood in women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder39 and in pregnant women suffering from depression.40 The evidence relating these effects to serotonin is indirect. In human postmortem brain, serotonin levels are higher in those who died in summer than in those who died in winter.41 A similar conclusion came from a study on healthy volunteers, in which serotonin synthesis was assessed by measurements of the serotonin metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) in the venous outflow from the brain.42 There was also a positive correlation between serotonin synthesis and the hours of sunlight on the day the measurements were made, independent of season. In rats, serotonin is highest during the light part of the light–dark cycle, and this state is driven by the photic cycle rather than the circadian rhythm.43,44 The existence of a retinoraphe tract may help explain why, in experimental animals, neuronal firing rates, c-fos expression and the serotonin content in the raphe nuclei are responsive to retinal light exposure.44–48 In humans, there is certainly an interaction between bright light and the serotonin system. The mood-lowering effect of acute tryptophan depletion in healthy women is completely blocked by carrying out the study in bright light (3000 lux) instead of dim light.49
Relatively few generations ago, most of the world population was involved in agriculture and was outdoors for much of the day. This would have resulted in high levels of bright light exposure even in winter. Even on a cloudy day, the light outside can be greater than 1000 lux, a level never normally achieved indoors. In a recent study carried out at around latitude 45° N, daily exposure to light greater than 1000 lux averaged about 30 minutes in winter and only about 90 minutes in summer50 among people working at least 30 hours weekly; weekends were included. In this group, summer bright light exposure was probably considerably less than the winter exposure of our agricultural ancestors. We may be living in a bright light–deprived society. A large literature that is beyond the scope of this editorial exists on the beneficial effect of bright light exposure in healthy individuals. Lamps designed for the treatment of seasonal affective disorder, which provide more lux than is ever achieved by normal indoor lighting, are readily available, although incorporating their use into a daily routine may be a challenge for some. However, other strategies, both personal and institutional, exist. “Light cafes” pioneered in Scandinavia have come to the United Kingdom,51 and an Austrian village that receives no sunshine in the winter because of its surrounding mountains is building a series of giant mirrors to reflect sunlight into the valley.52 Better use of daylight in buildings is an issue that architects are increasingly aware of. Working indoors does not have to be associated with suboptimal exposure to bright light.
A third strategy that may raise brain serotonin is exercise. A comprehensive review of the relation between exercise and mood concluded that antidepressant and anxiolytic effects have been clearly demonstrated.53 In the United Kingdom the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which works on behalf of the National Health Service and makes recommendations on treatments according to the best available evidence, has published a guide on the treatment of depression.54 The guide recommends treating mild clinical depression with various strategies, including exercise rather than antidepressants, because the risk–benefit ratio is poor for antidepressant use in patients with mild depression. Exercise improves mood in subclinical populations as well as in patients. The most consistent effect is seen when regular exercisers undertake aerobic exercise at a level with which they are familiar.53 However, some skepticism remains about the antidepressant effect of exercise, and the National Institute of Mental Health in the United States is currently funding a clinical trial of the antidepressant effect of exercise that is designed to overcome sources of potential bias and threats to internal and external validity that have limited previous research.55
Several lines of research suggest that exercise increases brain serotonin function in the human brain. Post and colleagues56 measured biogenic amine metabolites in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with depression before and after they increased their physical activity to simulate mania. Physical activity increased 5-HIAA, but it is not clear that this was due to increased serotonin turnover or to mixing of CSF from higher regions, which contain higher levels of 5-HIAA, with lumbar CSF (or to a combination of both mechanisms). Nonetheless, this finding stimulated many animal studies on the effects of exercise. For example, Chaouloff and colleagues57 showed that exercise increased tryptophan and 5-HIAA in rat ventricles. More recent studies using intracerebral dialysis have shown that exercise increases extracellular serotonin and 5-HIAA in various brain areas, including the hippocampus and cortex (for example, see58–60). Two different mechanisms may be involved in this effect. As reviewed by Jacobs and Fornal,61 motor activity increases the firing rates of serotonin neurons, and this results in increased release and synthesis of serotonin.62 In addition, there is an increase in the brain of the serotonin precursor tryptophan that persists after exercise.63
The largest body of work in humans looking at the effect of exercise on tryptophan availability to the brain is concerned with the hypothesis that fatigue during exercise is associated with elevated brain tryptophan and serotonin synthesis. A large body of evidence supports the idea that exercise, including exercise to fatigue, is associated with an increase in plasma tryptophan and a decrease in the plasma level of the branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) leucine, isoleucine and valine (see64,65 for reviews). The BCAAs inhibit tryptophan transport into the brain.66 Because of the increase in plasma tryptophan and decrease in BCAA, there is a substantial increase in tryptophan availability to the brain. Tryptophan is an effective mild hypnotic,67 a fact that stimulated the hypothesis that it may be involved in fatigue. A full discussion of this topic is not within the scope of this editorial; however, it is notable that several clinical trials of BCAA investigated whether it was possible to counter fatigue by lowering brain tryptophan, with results that provided little support for the hypothesis. Further, exercise results in an increase in the plasma ratio of tryptophan to the BCAAs before the onset of fatigue.64,65 The conclusion of these studies is that, in humans, a rise in precursor availability should increase serotonin synthesis during and after exercise and that this is not related to fatigue, although it may be related to improved mood. Whether motor activity increases the firing rate of serotonin neurons in humans, as in animals, is not known. However, it is clear that aerobic exercise can improve mood.
As with exposure to bright light, there has been a large change in the level of vigorous physical exercise experienced since humans were hunter-gatherers or engaged primarily in agriculture.68 Lambert68 argued that the decline in vigorous physical exercise and, in particular, in effort-based rewards may contribute to the high level of depression in today's society. The effect of exercise on serotonin suggests that the exercise itself, not the rewards that stem from exercise, may be important. If trials of exercise to prevent depression are successful, then prevention of depression can be added to the numerous other benefits of exercise.
The fourth factor that could play a role in raising brain serotonin is diet. According to some evidence, tryptophan, which increases brain serotonin in humans as in experimental animals,69 is an effective antidepressant in mild-to-moderate depression.67,70 Further, in healthy people with high trait irritability, it increases agreeableness, decreases quarrelsomeness and improves mood.34 However, whether tryptophan should be considered primarily as a drug or a dietary component is a matter of some dispute. In the United States, it is classified as a dietary component, but Canada and some European countries classify it as a drug. Treating tryptophan as a drug is reasonable because, first, there is normally no situation in which purified tryptophan is needed for dietary reasons, and second, purified tryptophan and foods containing tryptophan have different effects on brain serotonin. Although purified tryptophan increases brain serotonin, foods containing tryptophan do not.71 This is because tryptophan is transported into the brain by a transport system that is active toward all the large neutral amino acids and tryptophan is the least abundant amino acid in protein. There is competition between the various amino acids for the transport system, so after the ingestion of a meal containing protein, the rise in the plasma level of the other large neutral amino acids will prevent the rise in plasma tryptophan from increasing brain tryptophan. The idea, common in popular culture, that a high-protein food such as turkey will raise brain tryptophan and serotonin is, unfortunately, false. Another popular myth that is widespread on the Internet is that bananas improve mood because of their serotonin content. Although it is true that bananas contain serotonin, it does not cross the blood–brain barrier.
α-Lactalbumin, a minor constituent of milk, is one protein that contains relatively more tryptophan than most proteins. Acute ingestion of α-lactalbumin by humans can improve mood and cognition in some circumstances, presumably owing to increased serotonin.72,73 Enhancing the tryptophan content of the diet chronically with α-lactalbumin is probably not practical. However, increasing the tryptophan content of the diet relative to that of the other amino acids is something that possibly occurred in the past and could occur again in the future. Kerem and colleagues74 studied the tryptophan content of both wild chickpeas and the domesticated chickpeas that were bred from them in the Near East in neolithic times. The mean protein content (per mg dry seed) was similar for 73 cultivars and 15 wild varieties. In the cultivated group, however, the tryptophan content was almost twice that of the wild seeds. Interestingly, the greater part of the increase was due to an increase in the free tryptophan content (i.e., not part of the protein). In cultivated chickpeas, almost two-thirds of the tryptophan was in the free form. Kerem and colleagues74 argue that there was probably selection for seeds with a higher tryptophan content. This is plausible, given another example of an early strategy to increase the available tryptophan content of an important food source. Pellagra is a disorder caused by niacin deficiency, usually owing to poverty and a diet relying heavily on corn (maize), which has a low level of niacin and its precursor tryptophan. Cultures in the Americas that relied greatly on corn used alkali during its processing (e.g., boiling the corn in lime when making tortillas). This enhanced the nutritional quality of the corn by increasing the bioavailability of both niacin and tryptophan, a practice that prevented pellagra.75 The Europeans transported corn around the world but did not transport the traditional alkali-processing methods, thereby causing epidemics of pellagra in past centuries. Breeding corn with a higher tryptophan content was shown in the 1980s to prevent pellagra76; presumably, it also raised brain serotonin. In a recent issue of Nature Biotechnology, Morris and Sands77 argue that plant breeders should be focusing more on nutrition than on yield. They ask, “Could consumption of tryptophan-rich foods play a role in reducing the prevalence of depression and aggression in society?” Cross-national studies have reported a positive association between corn consumption and homicide rates78 and a negative association between dietary tryptophan and suicide rates.79 Although the idea behind such studies is interesting, any causal attribution must remain speculative, given the possible confounds. Nonetheless, the possibility that the mental health of a population could be improved by increasing the dietary intake of tryptophan relative to the dietary intake of other amino acids remains an interesting idea that should be explored.
The primary purpose of this editorial is to point out that pharmacologic strategies are not the only ones worthy of study when devising strategies to increase brain serotonin function. The effect of nonpharmacologic interventions on brain serotonin and the implications of increased serotonin for mood and behaviour need to be studied more. The amount of money and effort put into research on drugs that alter serotonin is very much greater than that put into non-pharmacologic methods. The magnitude of the discrepancy is probably neither in tune with the wishes of the public nor optimal for progress in the prevention and treatment of mental disorders.
Competing interests: None declared.
Correspondence to: Dr. Simon N. Young, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, 1033 Pine Ave. W., Montréal QC H3A 1A1; fax 514 398-4370; Simon.Young/at/
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Canadian Medical Association | <urn:uuid:13c6fe06-0c48-4040-b6cb-3e5017ca0690> | http://pubmedcentralcanada.ca/pmcc/articles/PMC2077351/?lang=en-ca | en | 0.883141 | 0.018439 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
• What comes in deployment scripts. Or what are things to keep in mind while writing one.
• Is bash powerful enough or you would recommend perl/python?
• Keeping Network Monitoring in mind, if you have to recruit someone, what skills would you look for in the candidate.
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deployment scripts -
• dont presume the customer wants to install your stuff where your standard is. They may not have the diskspace in /opt or even /usr/local/
• your product may require root access merely to run on a sub 1024 port and they may require your product to run as a user (security reasons).
• your product may require user accounts that are application accounts, but they may require the password be changed regularly.
• remember there are firewalls in many companies... poking holes thru their site is not always an option... what proxies can be used to deploy the product?
• customer platforms (os libraries) may have a wide variety of versions that dont meet your compability requirements... how are you going to safely work out those issues.
powerful scripts -
• you generally can do most stuff with bash, but dont shy away from perl or python... but be careful if you require these tools to be pre-installed. Installing perl and a pile of CPAN modules just to run a third party product makes the deployment much harder (and creates a versioning nightmare for compatibilty).
recruiting candidate skills -
• they need to know network topologies, firewalls, load balancers, routers and switches of course
• they should know scripting (more than just 50-line bash scripts)
• they should be able to figure something out on the fly, not just say 'I dont know'
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Are you developing a new product or are you simply looking to monitor your existing network?
If you're looking to monitor your existing network, look to the open source community. There are many packages that provide some or all functionality you may want in monitoring.
nagios: great at reporting faults in the network
cacti: great for graphing utilization information.
zabbix: great for reporting faults and collecting utilization information.
These tools typically use snmp and other agents to collect the information, a database of some sort to store the historical info, and a web interface for management and displaying the information.
There are likely other monitoring apps out there, especially in the commercial space.
If you're more interested in tools for managing the network device configs themselves, a popular opensource app is rancid.
Lastly, if I were looking for someone who portrays themselves as someone who understands network monitoring, I would ask about these tools, as well as SNMP and snmp tools such as snmpwalk, and I would also expect them to know or at least know of tcl/tk or at least expect.
If, after reading this, you decide you want someone who can just integrate all these tools into a self-contained product, instead you'll need a platform engineer who understands all of the above as well as how to make a management/presentation layer for managing all of the above...
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oh my god, it is not so straight as i thought. thanks – Vivek Sharma Jul 14 '09 at 11:33
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| <urn:uuid:f6ec8c57-87fe-4da7-944a-6241ff87d5f2> | http://serverfault.com/questions/40381/what-are-the-skills-required-for-a-deployment-engineer-for-network-monitoring-pr | en | 0.94034 | 0.031308 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
BEST known as a destination for honeymooners in search of perfect white beaches and swaying palms, the Seychelle islands rarely make any sort of headlines. Few tourists would even have noticed the presidential election on July 30th, in which James Michel, leader of the Seychelles People's Progressive Front, was returned with 54% of the ballot. For Mr Michel, it was the first time he had faced the islands' 62,000-odd voters, having been promoted from vice-president two years ago by his predecessor, Albert René, who had ruled the islands for 27 years since taking power in a coup in 1977.
To the casual eye, Seychelles seems both fortunate and well-governed. The 115 islands, most of them uninhabited, cover a mere 445 square kilometres (175 square miles) of the Indian Ocean, north of Madagascar, and enjoy several advantages over most of the rest of Africa. The weather is never extreme. There is no malaria. The islanders have free education and health care. Their multiracial society is pretty harmonious. With GDP at around $8,000 a head, there is almost no discernible poverty.
But this standard of living has come at a cost: the IMF says its public debt is too high and may be unsustainable. Mr Michel's main opposition, the Seychelles National Party, which scored 46% in the elections, claims that Seychelles, per person, is the world's most indebted country; with some $590m of external debt for just 82,000 people, it is certainly one of them. A black market in foreign currency already exists as speculation persists that the government, unable to meet its obligations, may be forced to devalue. Basic consumer goods sometimes run out. If, as the IMF predicts, GDP falls by over 1% this year, Mr Michel may find his next five years in power more testing than he had hoped.
The country needs more ways of making money. In the cold war, it was easy. The Seychelles played each side off against the other, remaining a member of the Commonwealth as well as the Non-Aligned Movement and taking military aid from the Soviet Union while leasing a satellite tracking station to the Americans. Since those streams of revenue dried up, the main Seychellois streams of revenue have been from tourism—leasing land to foreign hoteliers—and from tuna: the government earns about $200m a year from selling tuna-fishing licences to Spain, France and South Korea.
But conflict in the Middle East has brought Seychelles an unexpected bonus: Western warships stop off in the islands, which offer rest and recreation. The soldiers and sailors scuba-dive, sail and drink Seybrew, the local beer—and pay for it all in hard currency. | <urn:uuid:4d19ba9a-eaf8-4ac6-9e01-dd9e78feea9a> | http://www.economist.com/node/7286369?zid=304&ah=e5690753dc78ce91909083042ad12e30 | en | 0.971716 | 0.129128 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
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The biscuit-tin modernist
A beautiful show reveals the abstract trailblazer as a dear old English Romantic
A Continuous Line: Ben Nicholson in England
Abbot Hall, Kendal, until 20 September
Ben Nicholson, master of the right angle and perfect circle, has had an irregular reputation in his native Britain. Before the war, he was thought outrageous, with his paintings of nothing and his white wood reliefs so avant-garde they were practically foreign. Then we won the war and Nicholson became a national treasure. When Modernism faded, we preferred his Cornish landscapes, clean, bright and picturesque - the very spirit of St Ives. But now that St Ives itself is oversold, we have returned to those circles.
This last, at least, is the view of this show's curator: that Nicholson is nowadays valued more for his abstract art, because it suits our definition of Modernism as austere and intellectual, than for his semi-figurative landscapes and still lifes. And who can argue? Nicholson is largely represented in our museums by the period he himself thought best: the late works, clear-cut, geometric, neutral colours, muted tones. They make the Modernist point that paintings are flat surfaces first and foremost, which the wooden reliefs further emphasise by being crafted objects as well. But who hasn't occasionally thought, struck by such good taste, that they tend towards upscale decor?
A Continuous Line doesn't just present 80 landscapes and still lifes to right the balance, however. It wants to argue that these are as important as Nicholson's abstract work. It is a bold proposition - that we should reconsider Nicholson's pretty views instead of his pioneering white-on-white reliefs, his Cumbrian cottages instead of his early grids - but it strikes at a crucial question about Nicholson: was he ever a truly abstract painter?
Take the most beautiful work in an undeniably beautiful show. This has a classic Modernist title: just the date, 1940. It looks resolutely abstract: a relief of overlapping rectangles, gray on white on sand. But each piece of painted board has been scrubbed, and polished like a pebble on the shore and slipped among this vision of stone and mist is a patch of chalkiest blue that glows softly in these subdued planes, hidden well to the edge. The sense is of coming across some natural treasure in the landscape and, sure enough, the subtitle is Plover's Egg Blue.
Nicholson had settled in St Ives with Barbara Hepworth by 1940. He already had alimony to pay, having divorced the first of his three wives, and abstract art was the least commercial way to scratch a living during the Second World War. But you could argue that this relief played to the popular market just as much as his pleasing Cornish seascapes and that both allude to the landscape. Even the monochrome reliefs he would later produce have the visible world serenely in view.
A Continuous Line contains many paintings that are supposed to be abstract but aren't quite, and how tame they now look, neat and crisp as pressed linen. It is the semi-figurative works that appear bold these days, though not necessarily for the best of reasons. Living in Cumbria in the 1920s, Nicholson develops a faux-naif style of cuddly brushstrokes and fairy-tale ponies prancing past Hansel and Gretel cottages. What was he thinking of? In Cornwall, in the 1930s, he adds cats and dogs and toy boats riding on ice-cream waves, as if Cornwall wasn't sweet enough already. He had been looking at the genuinely naive paintings of Alfred Wallis and admiration had led to misguided emulation. Wallis's raw primitivism, passed through Nicholson's elegantly ordered temperament, produces nothing but cuteness. Even when his landscapes become more contoured, more architectural, the pictures remain pretty. Even when he scrapes back the layers of paint (blunting hundreds of razor blades over the years) to produce those blanched and pared surfaces for which he is famous, the pictures are not more austere.
The worst crowd-pleaser - what could be more sentimental, even kitsch? - is 1943-45 (St Ives)? Tilting boats are viewed through the studio window, curtains framing a classic Nicholson still life of simplified vessels. It is a sonnet in decorous monochrome. But popping out from behind the curtain, like some jaunty puppet, is a triumphant little Union Jack. We won the war!
Nicholson, on the evidence here, didn't fret about these strident shifts of tone. He was capable of running from high abstraction to cuteness in a single canvas. He even produced hybrids of his own styles - abstracted contour lines on the horizon, childish boats in the middle, refined still life in the foreground, all spliced like a collage. Except that this glued-together look comes over better in collage, where the pieces are not meant to add up, than in any of Nicholson's paintings.
Just as he recycled himself, so he reprised others. What to say about such blatant borrowings? It is often said that Nicholson learned more from Mondrian and Picasso than any other English painter, clearly a back-handed compliment, but one sees here how much he took from the English too. For every French note - a guitar, a flattened table-top - there's a hint of a Paul Nash landscape or an Alfred Wallis harbour, the boats and houses seen almost as if from above, primitivism reprised as Modernist taste.
It is good to see an artist famed for pure abstraction presented instead as a painter of place - good and, in Nicholson's case, justified. From Cumbria to Cornwall, he comes across as a dear old English romantic, in thrall to grey waves and sodden sky, the harvest moon and pale cliffs at twilight. But what robs these paintings of their sense of place is his compulsion to keep everything in pristine order.
Nicholson's drawings, with their strong, clean lines, are always trying to simplify the view. But the world insists on irregularities and this gives real tension to the drawings. Back in the studio, he can tidy it all up in a painting and then pin it down again with the pencil top-drawings that are one of his original contributions to English painting. His other, of course, is the abstract relief - a way of painting in three dimensions, of making paintings that are also exquisite objects. And that raises the uneasy revelation of this show, that abstract or figurative, the weakness of his work is the same: beautifully crafted, perfectly ordered but fetching to a fault.
· A Continuous Line is at De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill from 11 Oct-4 Jan and then at Tate St Ives from 24 Jan-4 May
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Today in pictures | <urn:uuid:b8083de4-4502-4aad-abba-4541d97a83c6> | http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/aug/24/art | en | 0.972334 | 0.023462 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Julia Sonmi Heglund is an illustrator from Madison, WI whose work will bring you back to your childhood. The work that Heglund does is abstract but very vivid, giving the feeling that they're in their own free-form world of imagination.
The work that Heglund does is easily classified as fantasy with a slight nod to pop culture. Colors and chic images that Julia Sonmi Heglund chooses for her pieces make for something that wouldn't look out of place on a t-shirt, but would look equally as appropriate framed in an exhibit. | <urn:uuid:4128f616-791f-467c-a579-1ac110a248ac> | http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/julia-sonmi-heglund | en | 0.979076 | 0.159079 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Thursdays 8:00 PM on CBS
But e-excuse me, I have something to say. None of you may realize it, but I was very much looking forward to this weekend. It was gonna be like the old days -- the four of us hanging out, playing video games, before you guys all got girlfriends. Do you have any idea what its like to the be the only one without a girlfriend? Even if I get one someday, I'll still be the guy who got a girl after Sheldon Cooper!
Amy: I'm dating Sheldon Cooper
Penny: Yes, on purpose.
Amy: He's handsome, he's lanky, he's brilliant and his skin has the pale, waxy quality.
Penny: Well, sickly is the new sexy.
Sheldon: Is the whip sound app contextually appropriate here?
Leonard: Uh, it is, but I think you might have waited too long for it to be funny.
[whip cracks]
Leonard: [Everyone laughs] I was wrong; it was still funny.
Hmm, if it's yogurt that helps ladies poop, I think Raj beat you to it.
Leonard: We're always the good guys. In D&D, we're lawful good. In City of Heroes, we're the heroes. In Grand Theft Auto, we pay the prostitutes promptly and never hit them with a bat.
Sheldon: Those women are prostitutes? You said they were raising money for stem cell research.
Sorry, Stallion. You're weird friend, Giraffe, is here.
Howard: Now, I downloaded an app that might be helpful in this situation.
[whip cracks]
Sheldon: You're right. I'm smart as a whip. I should be able to figure this out.
Look, if you don't want to go to the party, just don't go. You're a grown man. Act like one. Tell Amy you want to spend the weekend having a sleepover and playing video games with your friends!
I'd make fun of Sheldon for having girl problems, if I wasn't shocked that Sheldon has girl problems.
Displaying quotes 64 - 72 of 261 in total | <urn:uuid:bb917bd3-19b5-4444-adbe-352bfef050bc> | http://www.tvfanatic.com/quotes/shows/the-big-bang-theory/season-5/page-8.html | en | 0.968014 | 0.018667 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Hello readers! If there are even any of you left out there. Alas, an update! After years (yes, years) I bring you a new chapter to this ongoing saga. Let's hope this rekindles some of your fandom. I know writing this new installment sure has gotten me all worked up again about BHH. The series was such a great part of my growing up, as I'm sure it was for many of you too. So let's keep these stories alive!
And finally, I present to you chapter 28. Enjoy! And as always feedback is welcomed and greatly appreciated.
CH 28 Not a dream
"I'm sure they didn't." Corrine gave her head a decisive shake of disagreement. It was hard to fathom that such an occurrence could even happen; they were talking about Josie and Marshall after all. They had no business kissing. It was understandably established that they were just friends, and "just" friends don't kiss each other.
"Me and Greg saw them with our own eyes, Corrine."
"Greg and I," she corrected. Her voice tainted ever so slightly with annoyance.
"Huh?" He had his legs pulled up to his chest now, and his head dangled above his knees. He looked sad and sullen.
"You said 'me and Greg', it's Greg and I," she explained rather indifferently. Her mind wasn't exactly focused on lecturing about grammatically correct English at the moment.
Lucas stretched out his legs before him, and with a dubious expression studied his sneakers. They were brown-the sort of rich, chocolate pudding shade of brown and looked identical to a pair of Converses, much like the ones Josie wore, but they weren't. "All the same," he simply said.
"I guess." She stared out at the sky.
Lucas scoffed, "Doesn't matter anyway; I'm over her."
Was she over him? She liked to entertain the thought that she was one hundred percent over Marshall Wheeler, but was that really the truth? Was Lucas telling the truth, even? Maybe it was a case of mistaken identity. Marshall would never kiss Josie, and Josie would never let him. Or would they?
After taking Lucas over to see her new apartment, Corrine found herself wanting to be alone; she wanted some time to herself to think. After parting ways, she unconsciously headed towards her University. It was the only place she could find solace.
There, she sat down on a bench overlooking the lake that all the main buildings lined. The sky had turned a dusky rose, and up in the sky Venus finally graced the world with her short lived presence.
Across the lake, in full view was the library. It's modernized large, glass windows was a nice contrast to the building's otherwise classical architecture. Half a semester in and she still had a hard time believing this was her school. How lucky she was to be studying abroad at such a prestigious university!
A couple walked by, hand in hand, and it prompted Corrine back to the problem that initiated all her contemplation.
She didn't know how she truly felt about Marshall and Josie kissing. Strangely it didn't bother her as much as she'd imagined it would; she wasn't hurt nor was she the slightest bit jealous. If anything, she felt a strange mixture of relief and uneasiness. Perhaps, Marshall kissing Josie meant he was finally over her? Or maybe it was Josie who was finally over Vaughn?
Her deep thoughts were interrupted by the quick electronic beat of Foster the People. A glance on her phone indicated an unknown number was calling.
'telemarketer,' she thought and let the ringtone loop.
That night Corrine came home to find Vaughn sprawled out on the sofa. The lights were all off except for the glow of the television set that lit up all four corners of the room. Quietly, she locked the door behind her.
There was no indication that anyone else was home. Josie's Converses usually thrown haphazardly by the dining table was nowhere in sight. Perhaps they all went out for dinner?
She tiptoed easily to the living room and peered over the couch. Vaughn was sound asleep. In his left hand he clutched the remote. Corrine found herself smiling and wondering if she should try to pry them out of his grip, but decided otherwise. How peaceful he looked, and how warm he must feel. Suddenly, as she made this observation a chill ran down her spine; her dress with its low cut back did zero justice against the AC vent right above her.
After switching the TV off and turning on one of the lamps, she found herself walking back to the couch and sitting on the coffee table opposite Vaughn. She sat there and watched. So close she was to him. How easily she could slide right next to him and feel his warmth against her body. How badly she wanted to not feel so alone. How she yearned for some perspective.
Vaughn stirred, and finally looked up to see Corrine watching him ever so tenderly. "Hey," he said.
Surprisingly he didn't wake up alarmed to see her dark figure hovering over him so closely. "Hi," she straightened her back.
"Was wondering when you were gonna get home," he propped himself up on his elbows. "Everyone went out to Dwight's; it's taco Tuesdays."
She tried to return his smile. "Why didn't you go?"
He'd gotten himself to sit up; even half groggy he still had the nicest eyes.
"Lucas said you guys went to check out your new apartment today. Afterwards, he said you took off like rocket. Didn't know where you went," He paused. "I tried calling, but it just went straight to voicemail. Is everything okay?"
"You called?" She sounded perplexed. She hadn't had a missed call from Vaughn all day.
"Yeah. Here, look, I can even prove it you," he pulled out his cellphone and quickly pulled up his call log. He pointed to her name. "See, right there. 7:12."
"That looks like a new phone," she observed.
"It is. Dropped my old one sometime today and didn't realize it until after class was over with. Had to cancel my old number and get a new one, and all that crap."
It then registered to her. "Oh my gosh! You were the one calling from that 647 number. I'd thought it was someone from that stupid raffle I entered. I would've picked up had I known it was you!"
Vaughn chuckled. "It's okay, at least I know it wasn't because you were held against your will or anything like that."
"No, I was just…thinking."
"Is everything okay? You still haven't answered my question."
Corrine sighed. Everything wasn't okay. A few hours ago she didn't care that her best friend kissed Marshall; she was practically okay with it. But now, as she'd sat there in the dark watching Vaughn sleep all the bitterness and real emotion came crashing in. She was heartbroken, she was furious, and above all else she felt terribly alone.
There must have been something in her disposition that indicated something was wrong because a moment later she was in Vaughn's arms, tears running down her smooth cheeks. The musky fragrance of his cologne filled her nostrils and gave her sense of comfort and security. She could stay like this forever, and for a while they did. Vaughn kept her close, and she, never wanting to let go, rested her head on his shoulders.
After a moment, she looked up at her savior. Why did it have to be Vaughn? Why did he have to be so good to her? His fingertips came up brushed the last of her tears away. He smiled tenderly. Suddenly the memory of their kiss came flooding back. It wasn't a dream, and this very moment wasn't a dream either.
Ta-da! And that's the end of ch 28. How was it? Was it as good as your imagined? could it have been better? let me know! | <urn:uuid:92447c0c-5254-4603-944b-a5b0dee28be1> | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3069528/28/Odd-Couples | en | 0.992883 | 0.163239 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Just a quick thing about Kisa.
I made a speech today.
I was being quiet, ignoring the others as they tried to stick me with thrown pencils when the teacher wasn't looking. If you ignore them, they get bored of it within five minutes or so.
The teacher was telling us about World War II, and the Holocaust. I only knew a little bit, whatever I absorbed last year in history and retained until now. Something about a lot of Jewish people being hurt and letting the government, some hitter or something, lock them up in camps and then slowly starve them and experiment on them and take away everything that made them people at all.
A boy in the front row said that the Jewish people were stupid for letting themselves be locked up. Why didn't they fight back? The idiots. The government is controlled by the people.
Hiro told me that I stood up and yelled about the government having more power than an individual has, and that's what the Jewish people were. Individual. If they had all fought, every single one of them, it might have worked, but not everyone thought that it was the way to escape and that sometimes it's best to let the government do what it wants and if you follow orders, then He might not be so mad at you after all and you might be okay. They didn't know that cooperating would take away their lives and selves and they weren't idiots for wanting to please Him so don't call them stupid.
Hiro said that it was rousing and about wanting to live even if the government put a few restrictions in place. It made some people cry. I didn't get teased all the rest of the day.
So I wonder what I said.
It sounds like I'm the person that needs to hear that kind of thing the most.
...Yeah. I don't know what that means, exactly. Out of character for her, maybe. Hooray. Tell me what you thought! | <urn:uuid:c372890f-507a-4d31-9a3d-99c3d295371d> | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3526050/1/ | en | 0.989076 | 0.928416 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
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NBA Veterans: Is It the Years or the Mileage?
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NBA Veterans: Is It the Years or the Mileage?
One of the most memorable lines in movie history comes from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Marion, says to Indiana Jones, "You're not the man I knew ten years ago."
Indy replies, "It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage."
In 1995, Kevin Garnett became the first high school senior in 20 years to bypass college and jump directly to the NBA. It hadn't happened since 1975, when Darryl Dawkins and Bill Willoughby were drafted by the 76ers and Hawks, respectively.
There were a few players, like Shawn Kemp and Lloyd Daniels, who had enrolled in college but never played collegiate basketball before being drafted, but Garnett was the first since '75 to make the immediate jump.
Garnett's currently in his 12th season in the NBA and has shown very little drop-off in how effective he is on the basketball court. Even though his averages in points and rebounds are a little off from last season, that can be attributed more to the talent that now surrounds him in Boston more so than the fact that he's a year older.
A year after Garnett's historical leap, Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal followed him to the NBA. Although O'Neal's career has been sidetracked the last two seasons because of various injuries, it's safe to say that Bryant is still in the prime of his career.
While Garnett won the MVP award for the 2003-2004 season, both he and Bryant are considered leading candidates to win the award this season since both have led their teams to the best record in their respective conferences up to this point in the season.
It will be interesting to see, in the next couple of years, if it's the years or the mileage that determines when those NBA players who made the jump straight from high school start to show a dramatic decrease in production.
Tim Duncan, for example, played four years at Wake Forest before entering the NBA. Even though he's been in the NBA for two fewer years than Garnett and one fewer year than Bryant, he's a month older than Garnett and more than two years older than Bryant.
Has Duncan's production decreased at all? I don't think so, considering he won his fourth championship ring this past season and finished fourth in the MVP voting.
To date, Garnett has played 177 more regular season games in his career than Duncan has but Duncan has played in 91 more playoff games than Garnett.
Since both men are very similar in size and both are in optimum shape, the two will serve as the perfect comparison for which is more telling, the years or the mileage.
Hakeem Olajuwon, although heavier, was similar in size to both Garnett and Duncan. He came into the NBA in 1984 at the age of 22. He left the University of Houston after his junior season but he redshirted his freshman year so he'd been there for four years.
Olajuwon played 18 seasons in the NBA, retiring at the age of 39. If you take a close look at Olajuwon's career numbers, you'll notice the steep drop-off in his numbers that occurred from the 1996-1997 to the 1997-1998 season. He missed 35 games due to injury. Even though he was playing only two fewer minutes per game that season, his averages in rebounding stayed the same but his points per game went from 23 to 16.
The following season (1998-99), at age 36, the Rockets added Scottie Pippen to the team. Olajuwon's points increased to about 19 per game and he had appeared in all 50 games that season. You can make the case that the lockout provided Dream with a longer off-season with which to fully recover as well as a shorter season to keep his averages up. It was also the last good year that he'd played.
During the last three years of this career, Olajuwon never missed fewer than 21 games because of injuries.
So if you were to use his last productive and complete season as a barometer, then we're talking about his 13th season when he was 34.
Duncan turns 32 in April. Garnett turns 32 in May. Keep your eyes on these two over the next three seasons—how they're able to perform and what type of drop-off they experience will determine a lot in trying to settle the years vs. mileage debate.
Will it be the 35-year-old Garnett with 15 years of experience or the 35-year-old Duncan with only 13?
It's a much different story when you talk about guards than it is when you talk about bigs. The closest collegiate contemporary you could compare Kobe to is Vince Carter.
Carter entered the league two seasons after Kobe did. Carter and Bryant are the same height and Carter weighs about 20 more pounds than Bryant. Both players started out as high-flyers and have become much more perimeter-oriented as their careers have matured and injuries have taken their toll
Carter played three years at the University of North Carolina and is 18 months older than Bryant.
It's extremely tempting to try and compare their numbers to those of Michael Jordan, but at the same time, it would be irresponsible considering Air Jordan left the game still peaking at age 34 before resuming his career at 38.
The better comparison would be Clyde Drexler, who entered the NBA after three years of college ball and retired after 15 seasons at age 35.
Drexler experienced the biggest drop-off in his averages between his 9th and 10th seasons at the age of 30. His points per game dropped by about five to 19 per game and his shooting percentage went from 47 to 42. His three-point percentage went from 34 to 23 percent.
His numbers did increase the following season to about 22 points per game on 46 percent shooting, 36 percent from behind the arc.
But the following three seasons, Drexler missed 30, 20 and 12 games due to injury. He retired with very respectable numbers in his final season but injuries had clearly taken their toll and Drexler decided not to return for the lockout-shortened season of 1999.
It was at age 33, in his 13th season that Drexler missed those 30 games and his durability became an issue. It wasn't so much about how productive he could be when playing but how many games he could actually play.
Kobe will be 30 when he begins his thirteenth season next fall. Carter will turn 32 next January in the middle of his eleventh season.
Over the next two seasons, how those two compare to Drexler will give us an idea of how the mileage vs. years debate relates to wing players.
Between 1995 and 2005 a number of players made the jump directly from high school. Some of the more notable names are Tracy McGrady, Amare Stoudemire, LeBron James, Al Harrington, Tyson Chandler, Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum.
Since the NBA decided to no longer allow it, all of the players who would have made the jump have had to attend colleges. Most of them will only go for one year. So whatever the next couple years tells us about the high school kids from 1995 and 1996 will probably apply to the one-and-done college kids as well.
As a die-hard fan of the NBA, I would love it if all of those guys were able to play into their late 30s. We can only hope that Father Time is as big a fan as I am.
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Thanks for signing up. | <urn:uuid:aa1501cd-a24e-4fdf-81f0-143d20e062a2> | http://bleacherreport.com/articles/11376-nba-veterans-is-it-the-years-or-the-mileage | en | 0.985263 | 0.020215 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
I'm trying to find out what exactly all the capabilities are needed for but I am unable to find any detailed overview. For example, MultimediaDD - what do I need it for? The only thing I could find is the useless "to access multimedia device drivers". Access how? Which drivers? When would that be needed? What APIs use it?
I would like to get comprehensive info on all these but the only thing I see is vague marketing documentation. Is there any useful info about this at all? I have no idea what kind of a certificate I need if I can't see what they allow me to do. | <urn:uuid:07bc6cec-5a8d-40e4-8028-74806afc8a89> | http://developer.nokia.com/community/discussion/showthread.php/91295-What-does-capability-X-let-me-do?p=245445&mode=threaded | en | 0.956438 | 0.586528 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
As part of a complete preventive maintenance program, periodic oil analysis will monitor the condition of power transformers and detect problems before they reach serious proportions.
Power transformers are a vital link in the transmission and distribution of electrical power. In fact, almost every business, whether industrial or commercial, relies on transformers for its electric power supply. Since it's extremely important to keep them working, a preventive maintenance plan is essential.
A study by Hartford Steam Boiler over a period of 20 years indicates that 13% of all transformer failures were caused by inadequate maintenance. This number is significant, considering the study found that the average age of a transformer at the time of failure was only slightly more than 11 years; transformers are expected to last 25 to 30 years.
Since transformers have few, if any moving parts, it's easy to acquire an "out of sight, out of mind" mentality. However, as the above study points out, this attitude can prove costly in the long run. Instituting a planned maintenance program can greatly reduce the number of unexpected power interruptions caused by transformer failure. This program should include temperature, oil level, and gas pressure checks; operational checks on accessories such as fans, pumps, and load tap changers; and visual checks for cracked or leaking bushings. More importantly, these tests should be performed on a regularly scheduled basis because periodic testing and inspection provide trend information and permit repairs and other remedial action to be budgeted on a timely basis.
Why test insulating fluid?
One major element of a transformer maintenance program is periodic testing of insulating fluid. It should be performed in conjunction with the other routine maintenance functions mentioned above.
The insulating oil in a power transformer performs two major functions. First, it serves as electrical insulation to withstand the high voltages present inside the transformer. Second, it functions as a heat transfer medium to dissipate heat generated within the transformer windings. Thus, the oil must maintain good electrical properties while resisting thermal degradation and oxidation.
Most power transformers are filled with mineral oil refined to achieve the desired electrical and chemical properties. Some transformers, particularly indoor units, are filled with a synthetic fluid, such as silicon, R-temp, or Askarel (PCB fluid).
There are several benefits to conducting periodic analyses of a transformer's insulating fluid. First, the tests will indicate the interior condition of the transformer. Any sludge that is present within the transformer can be detected and effectively removed before it can proceed into the windings and other interior surfaces of the transformer. Eliminating sludge prolongs transformer life.
Another advantage of oil testing is the prevention of unscheduled outages. If problems are detected early enough, corrective action can be scheduled when disruption of electrical service will be minimal. A manufacturing facility for instance, can schedule servicing during shutdowns, when other maintenance functions are planned. Commercial locations may consider holidays and weekends for planned maintenance.
Finally, because transformer oil breaks down in a predictable fashion, periodic testing will prove helpful in determining any trends. This allows comparisons between normal and abnormal rates of deterioration. Although one set of test data will indicate the presence of contaminants, it will not enable accurate analysis of any trends that are developing.
How is testing done?
To measure the quality of insulating oil and establish a benchmark for the degree of deterioration, several tests are used. Samples of the fluid can be drawn while the transformer is in normal operation through drain valves or sampling ports. The following list describes some of the most common laboratory tests, and references the appropriate ASTM method.
Dielectric breakdown. (ASTM D877, D1816) Dielectric breakdown is the minimum voltage at which electrical flashover occurs in an oil. It's a measure of the ability of an oil to withstand electrical stress at power frequencies without failure. A low value for the dielectric breakdown voltage generally indicates the presence of contaminants, such as water, dirt, or other conducting particles in the oil.
Neutralization number. (ASTM D974) The neutralization number of an oil is a measure of the amount of acidic or alkaline materials present. As an oil ages in service, the acidity and, therefore, the neutralization number increases. A used oil having a high neutralization number indicates the oil is either oxidized or contaminated with materials such as varnish, paint, or other foreign matter. A negative neutralization number results from an alkaline contaminant in the oil.
Interfacial tension. (ASTM D971) The interfacial tension of an oil is the force, in dynes per centimeter, required to rupture the oil film existing at an oil-water interface. When certain contaminants such as soaps, paints, varnishes, and oxidation products are present in the oil, the film strength of the oil is weakened; thus less force is required to rupture the oil film. For oils in service, a decreasing value indicates the accumulation of contaminants, oxidation products, or both. It's a precursor of the presence of objectionable oxidation products that may attack the insulation and interfere with the cooling of the transformer windings.
Specific gravity. (ASTM D1298) The specific gravity (relative density) of an oil is the ratio of the weights of equal volumes of oil and water. A high specific gravity indicates the oil's ability to suspend water. In extremely cold climates, specific gravity can be used to determine whether ice, resulting from freezing of water in oil-filled apparatus, will float on the oil. Such a condition possibly may result in flashover of conductors extending above the oil level.
Water content. (ASTM D1315; D1533) This test measures the concentration of water contained within the oil. A low water content is necessary to obtain and maintain acceptable electrical strength and low dielectric losses in insulation systems.
Color. (ASTM D1500) This test compares the actual color of the oil to an established spectrum of colors. Expressed numerically from 0 to 5, a high color number indicates contamination caused by carbon or the deterioration of either insulation material or the oil.
Visual examination. (ASTM D1524) An oil sample is visually examined by passing a beam of light through it to determine transparency and identify foreign matters. Poor transparency, cloudiness, or the observation of particles indicate contamination, such as moisture, sludge, or other foreign matter.
Power factor. (ASTM D924) Power factor indicates the dielectric loss of an oil. A high power factor is an indication of the presence of contamination or deterioration products such as moisture, carbon, or other conducting matter, metal soaps, and products of oxidation.
Flash point. (ASTM D92) The flash point is the minimum temperature at which heated oil gives off sufficient vapor to form a flammable mixture with air. It is an indicator of the volatility of the oil.
Pour point. (ASTM D97) The pour point is the lowest temperature at which the oil will flow. A low pour point is important, particularly in cold climates, to ensure that the oil will circulate and serve its purpose as an insulating and cooling medium.
Corrosive sulfur. (ASTM D1275) This test detects the presence of objectionable quantities of elemental and thermally unstable sulfur-bearing compounds in an oil. When present, these compounds can cause corrosion of certain transformer metals, such as copper and silver.
Viscosity. (ASTM D455; D88) Viscosity is the resistance of oil to flow under specified conditions and is the principal factor in the convection flow of oil in an electrical device. It influences heat transfer and, consequently, the temperature rise in apparatus.
Dissolved gas analysis. All liquid-filled transformers generate gases during normal operation. When a transformer begins to function abnormally, the rate of gas production increases. Analyzing these gases and their rate of production is another valuable laboratory tool for evaluating the condition of an operating transformer.
The most accurate method of analyzing dissolved gas in a transformer is using gas chromatography. The gases dissolved in the oil are extracted from a sample and analyzed by a gas chromatograph. This method identifies the individual gases present and also the quantitative amounts. Several key gases are attributed to certain fault conditions that generated them. These are shown in the table below.
Listing of fault conditions and the resulting generation of gases.
Interpreting the results from a gas chromatograph depends upon the total quantity of the combustible gases, the quantity of each individual gas, and the rate of increase. However, the interpretation of a dissolved gas test is not an exact science.
Since normal operation causes the formation of certain gases, simply determining the presence of gases within the oil should not cause alarm. What is important is the rate and amount of gases generated. As in other tests, gas analysis should be conducted on a regular basis to indicate trends or changes in results. | <urn:uuid:5bd957bd-90b6-40a6-b82e-1933edd26bce> | http://ecmweb.com/print/content/analyzing-transformer-insulating-fluid | en | 0.914671 | 0.197263 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
some options for merging looks like fusion tables, vizmaps, and these 2
which is easiest?
the shapefiles are probably going to be TIGER census ones unless I find better ones.
share|improve this question
The intended outcome is not clear – Willy Sep 5 '12 at 10:16
@Willy, agreed, but by reviewing the OP's various other posts one can get an idea of the intention, though I would prefer it be consolidated into one question. – blah238 Sep 5 '12 at 11:14
This is hard to answer without knowing your experience, which affects how "easy" a particular solution is for you. – BradHards Sep 9 '12 at 1:44
Not necessarily, Chad. The prompt for an upvote states, "This question shows research effort; it is useful and clear." It's possible to answer some questions that don't have those qualities. – GeoKevin Sep 10 '12 at 12:06
@Kevin, I understand the definition of and the theory behind upvoting, but I still think that if someone takes the time to answer a question, they, the answerer, should therefore see the question as being either useful, clear, or showing research effort; else why would they bother to answer it in the first place? Personally, if I see a question as none of those, I'm not wasting my time on it. – Chad Cooper Sep 10 '12 at 13:49
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6 Answers
Fusion Tables, Google Visualization API and VizMaps with Google Maps API may be what you are looking for:
VizMaps Application: VizMap is the collection of components that allow you to create a data driven application that will merge google visualization and google mapping straight out of Excel. This consists of several components, which are all integrated in the Excel Driving application, and many of which can be seen in other roles throughout this site.
And see this link: http://ramblings.mcpher.com/Home/excelquirks/getmaps/mappingapplications
Electing (or not) Google Maps API should not be dependent on this issue - you can adress do that kind of integration using other platforms like Mapserver, Geoserver ('more GIS powerful') or Bing Maps.
share|improve this answer
soo... it looks like you can use fusion tables, vizmaps, or the 2 links on the question post... and that the platform doesnt matter -- so how about the second question? which is easiest? – kittensatplay Sep 6 '12 at 22:46
My first answer was made thinking about using Google APIs on a webgis platform the way you could mesh different source data and work it with Google visualization tools. About the second question: i can’t give you a precise answer - not enough information about your project – but I can say that between those two links (Quantum GIS and ESRI ArcMap) I am inclined to favor QuantumGIS, because it’s a powerful and easy to work open source GIS, opposed to ArcMap a powerful but proprietary and costly GIS from ESRI. The other answers are very good ones! Again, it all depends on what you want to do. – jcoelho Sep 11 '12 at 14:02
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I do not see how Google Maps can join an Excel file to a Shapefile but I know ogr2ogr can join Excel data, outputing a new Shapefile.
share|improve this answer
is gdal.org/ogr2ogr.html easiest? see comment under the other answer – kittensatplay Sep 6 '12 at 22:47
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You can load the DBF from your shapefile straight into Excel as another sheet - its a spreadsheet file (DBASE Format). Then do whatever magic you want to join your data to that sheet. Make sure the sheet is in the same order as when you loaded it and with the same number of rows and then save it. No need to leave Excel. Also works with OpenOffice and LibreOffice.
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Similar to Spacedman's answer, you could also import the shapefile into a Personal Geodatabase (aka MS Access database), along with whatever Excel worksheets your heart desires.
Then just use the sql capabilities of MS Access to query, join, update...etc
share|improve this answer
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I guess "easiest" depends on what the "merging" process requirement is. If you're doing a straight format conversion, then ogr2ogr (as suggested by klewis) is an easy, scriptable approach.
If you want to do some more manipulation (e.g. exclude some entries, reproject, select some additional data from another table), then "easiest" will probably depend on exactly what manipulation you are doing. However an alternative to user890's answer would be to use SpatiaLite, which can give you a "virtual table" representation of the excel file, and you can then do spatial SQL operations. How "easy" that (or any other SQL based tool) is to use obviously depends on your SQL experience.
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I've done something similar lately using an update cursor and the xlrd-library with python. The script updates some existing records with the data from the excel sheet. Hopefully this will be of some use for someone else.
import xlrd
import sys, os
# Geoprocessor-object (ArcMap 9.1 and older)
import win32com.client
gp = win32com.client.Dispatch('esriGeoprocessing.GpDispatch.1')
# Geoprocessor-object (ArcMap 9.2 and newer)
import arcgisscripting
gp = arcgisscripting.create(9.3)
class ArcSql:
type_book = {'str':("'","'"), 'int':('', ''), 'float':('','')}
format_book = {'shp':('"','"'), 'GDB':('[',']'), 'SDE':('','')}
def __init__(self,colomn_name, values_list, value_type = 'str', arc_format ='shp'):
self.colomn = colomn_name
self.values = values_list
self.valtype = self.constructor(self.type_book, value_type)
self.aformat = self.constructor(self.format_book, arc_format)
self.colomn_formated = "%s%s%s" %(self.aformat[0], self.colomn, self.aformat[1])
def statement(self, connector = "OR", operand = '='):
space = ' '
connector += space
operand = space + operand + space
temp_state = []
count_values = len(self.values)
except TypeError as terr:
return str(terr) + ' values must be passed as a list'
if count_values:
for v in self.values:
x = self.colomn_formated + operand + self.valtype[0] + str(v) + self.valtype[1] + ' ' + connector
return "error, object as no attribute values..."
state = "".join(temp_state)[:-4]
return str(state)
def constructor(self, book, book_key):
return next (v for k,v in book.iteritems() if k==book_key)
def update_fields(shape, sql, fields_to_update, data_to_put, z = ''):
Loops through possible multiple fields of a shape to update their records. Based on the
ArcGIS UpdateCursor method.
Takes a 'shape' (with full path), a 'sql statement' (optional) as a selection of the 'fields to update',
those fields and the data to store as arguments.
fields_to_update has to be a LIST or TUPLE
if it is a single field that is to be updated,
data_to_put can be a flat list otherwise is HAS TO BE! LIST of LIST, or a List of Tuples
if sql:
rows = gp.UpdateCursor(shape, sql)
rows = gp.UpdateCursor(shape)
row = rows.Next()
if row == None:
msg = "no row opbejct!"
print msg
elif row != None:
count = 0
while row:
if fields_to_update and data_to_put:
for n in range (len(fields_to_update)):
if isinstance (data_to_put[n], list) or isinstance (data_to_put[n], tuple):
row.setValue(fields_to_update[n], data_to_put[n][count])
print 'updating...'
row.setValue(fields_to_update[n], data_to_put[count])
print 'updating...'
count += 1
row = rows.next()
msg = gp.getmessages() + " Field update failed!"
print msg
del row, rows
path = r'D:\xxx'
shape = r'%s\shape.shp' % path
xls = gp.getParameterAsText(0)
#xls = r'D:\opdrachten\importKwaliteitInMoeder\Excelsheet kwaliteitgegevens voor import in tool.xls'
if xls[-4:] != '.xls':
gp.addmessage('File is not a XLS.\n')
book = xlrd.open_workbook(xls)
sheet_name = 'Blad2'
## get the index of the sheet named Blad2 as a list
index = [i for i,name in enumerate(book.sheet_names()) if name == sheet_name]
## check if index[0] has a value, otherwise sheet_name couldn't be found
sh = book.sheet_by_index(index[0])
except IndexError, Ierr:
print str(Ierr), 'No sheet named', sheet_name, '!'
db = {}
## get the cellvalues from the second row, these are the (shape-) field names
header = [sh.cell_value(1,i) for i in range(sh.ncols)]
for head in header:
## the values gonna be stored in simple lists
db[head] = []
## loop through all the cells, starting at row three
for c in range(sh.ncols):
for r in range(2,sh.nrows):
## re-arrange the data: data to put is a list of list and col is a list of the fieldnames
data_to_put, col = zip(*[(db[k],k) for k in db.iterkeys()])
## get a sql statement based on the identifier HYDRO_CODE to select only those rows from the shape
## write the data to the shapefile
update_fields(shape, sql, col, data_to_put)
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Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:a213fb75-be3f-4ae9-bca5-6970521f7cf0> | http://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/32809/which-program-that-merges-excel-data-onto-shapefiles-is-easiest-to-use?answertab=oldest | en | 0.794187 | 0.925504 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Gallery: Glowing Musical Akousmaflore Garden Unveiled at London Design ...
Photo © Ana Lisa Alperovich for Inhabitat
The deep black room is only lightened with UV lights.
The deep black room is only lit with UV lights. Visitors can only see a fluorescent forest with glowing plastic flowers and a stone spiral on the floor. Each plant has a sensor that reacts differently when it comes in contact with heat or light. Once a flower is lit with the torch, it will create a sweet tune and engage the public into creating their own musical universe. In another room, one filled with lots of natural light, there are hanging ivy plants that also play tunes activated by the gentle touch of a human.
The French artists of Scenocosme create hybrids of plants and digital technology, and with this installation, they explore the relationship between humans and plants, expressed through sweet, melodic rhythms, that for us humans, is easily understand by all.
+ Scenocosme
+ Watermans Gallery
+ London Design Festival 2011
Photos © Ana Lisa Alperovich for Inhabitat; Lead Image © Scenocosme
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Where are you located? | <urn:uuid:6fea143b-062d-4d88-bb6f-7ab5fe38a20a> | http://inhabitat.com/glowing-musical-akousmaflore-garden-unveiled-at-london-design-festival/london-design-festival-2011-akousmaflore-light-sensitive-installation-2/?extend=1 | en | 0.903608 | 0.021658 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Wii Gets Downloadable TV, MoviesS
Nintendo's "Wii no Ma" service in Japan got a whole lot more interesting over the weekend, with the previously ad-only channel expanding to include user-paid movies, TV shows and anime.
Think of it as the Zune Marketplace, or the PlayStation Video Delivery Service, only for the Wii. In Japan.
Some of the studios signed up for "Theatre no Ma" include Warner, Pokemon, Disney (including Sesame Street stuff), J League soccer, THK and TV Asahi.
Pricing starts out at around 100 Points for a TV show rental. | <urn:uuid:f8d5449c-4068-46d6-b25e-84873e82bc73> | http://kotaku.com/5410669/wii-gets-downloadable-tv-movies?tag=wii-no-ma | en | 0.91197 | 0.102015 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Mark Overmeer > Google-Merchant-0.14 > Google::Merchant
Annotate this POD
View/Report Bugs
Module Version: 0.14 Source Latest Release: Google-Merchant-0.15
Google::Merchant - provide Google shop with product info
Google::Merchant is extended by
my $feed = Google::Merchant::AtomFeed->new
( title => 'My Webshop'
, website => ''
, string_format => 'TEXT'
( # feed fields
title => 'washing machine'
, webpage => "$website/EAN1234.html"
# google base fields
, id => 'EAN1234'
, price => '12.34 EUR'
With the Merchant interface, shop-owners inform Google which products they have for sale. Read the documentation at Google
Google provides two XML syntaxes to denote product information (and a few other formats). This distribution can be used to produce files in the correct syntax. On the moment, only the feed of Atoms are implemented, although RSS should not be too hard to add. An attempt is made to hide the difference between the two in the here provided interface.
This module can not read merchant files. As you will also discover in the examples shown by Google: they do not use the schema themselves, nearly all examples will fail validation! Especially, the strict order of elements in a sequence is ignored by Google's examples. But there are a few other bugs as well. Also, many used elements are not in the schema. This is repared by this module.
-Option --Default
string_format 'HTML'
title <required>
website <required>
string_format => 'TEXT'|'HTML'|'XHTML'
How are your text strings formatted by default? Google itself does not specify the content of the string elements (elements of type stringAttrValueType -which isn't an attribute type!) However, we do need to diffentiate between strings which already have entities encoded or not. HTML encoded strings are included as CDATA if they contain an ampersand '&'.
title => STRING
website => URI
The list of available OPTIONS is huge: all the fields which can be included in the atom. Not only a few which are RSS/Atom specific (see extension) but also dozens of fields specified by Google.
Returns the default text format.
Feed handling
$obj->write(FILENAME, OPTIONS)
-Option --Default
beautify 0
doc <created internally>
gzip <undef>
beautify => 0|1|2
XML::LibXML output format parameter.
doc => XML::LibXML::Document object
gzip => 0..8
Libxml2 (the library which is used by XML::LibXML) can be compiled with gzip support. A higher compression factor may result in a smaller output file.
Item fields
The RSS interface defines an 'Item', and Google uses that term as well to describe product listings. The Atom interface refers to these as 'Entry' elements.
The Atom interface defines 12 fields, of which Google only uses three: the title, link, and summary. To reduce the gap between the Atom and RSS interface, you pass these three values via parameters title, webpage, and description respectively.
Google defined a huge list of parameters for any product. Look in the examples/ directory of this module for the template which lists the fields and explains their limitations. Most of these fields are described on the 'feed specification' on the google support website.
( # feed fields
title => 'washing machine'
, webpage => "$website/EAN1234.html"
, description => "Best you can buy"
# google base fields
, id => 'EAN1234'
string values
String values (elements of type g:stringAttrValueType) can either be represented as HTML/XHTML or (plain) TEXT. This difference minor but crucial: when HTML is passed as TEXT, you may get double encoding of entities. For instance, '"' may become '&quot;'.
Set the best default with new(string_format). Now, per field you may diverge from the default:
( ...
, string_format => 'HTML'
( ...
, brand => '>"<' # default, here HTML
, isbn => { type => 'TEXT' # overrule default
, _ => '<">'
custom fields
When you want custom fields, you have to build elements by hand. These elements must be in the NS_GOOGLE_CUSTOM namespace, and use the same $doc element as the writer.
use Google::Merchant::Util ':ns10';
my $profit = $doc->createElementNS(NS_GOOGLE_CUSTOM10, 'profit', '10.5 EUR');
$profit->setAttribute(elementType => 'floatUnit');
( ...
, 'c:profit' => $profit
$feed->writer($fn, doc => $doc);
When your custom extensions, you can implement it nicer. I will not explain that here until someone needs it ;-)
This module is part of Google-Merchant distribution version 0.14, built on May 28, 2013. Website:
Copyrights 2013 on the perl code and the related documentation by [Mark Overmeer] for StudioSV, The Netherlands. For other contributors see ChangeLog.
syntax highlighting: | <urn:uuid:91e911b9-adb9-46dd-9aaf-8d1e3ac51349> | http://search.cpan.org/~markov/Google-Merchant-0.14/lib/Google/Merchant.pod | en | 0.753158 | 0.041785 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Dead Tree Crossing
A bridge across a ravine, canyon or other gap made out of a fallen tree or log
Already have?
(permanent link) added: 2014-02-10 09:03:36 sponsor: TheAvatar2K (last reply: 2014-02-10 09:18:52)
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The heroes are being chased through the wilderness when all of a sudden they come across a gaping hole or canyon. There's no bridge or obvious way down; the heroes are trapped! Except then one eagle-eyed adventurer (usually the youngest or least experienced) notices a conveniently located log or fallen tree that can be used as a makeshift bridge. It may already be lying across the gap or it may have to be moved into position. Sometimes it takes the form of a tree growing on the edge of the abyss that can be chopped or knocked over. Almost always has the bridge breaking or somebody almost falling off during the crossing. Once the heroes have crossed, they usually push the log into the hole to keep their pursuers from following.
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Parasites Like Us
( 8 )
The debut novel by the author of The Orphan Master's Son, winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Hailed as "remarkable" by the New Yorker, Emporium earned Adam Johnson comparisons to Kurt Vonnegut and T.C. Boyle. In his acclaimed first novel, Parasites Like Us, Johnson takes us on an enthralling journey through memory, time, and the cost of mankind's quest for its own past.
Anthropologist Hank Hannah has just illegally exhumed an ancient...
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Editorial Reviews
From Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers
Johnson's wry first novel is a satire of academia, complete with an apocalyptic twist for unsuspecting readers. Anthropologist Hank Hannah takes special pride in the work of his students. His star pupils include Eggers, living for an entire year as a member of the "Clovis," a prehistoric civilization, and Trudy, whose theories relate to the artistic legacy this primeval society may have left behind. As Eggers and Trudy bicker over scientific theories and financial grants, Hannah addresses some issues of his own: his recently widowed and seemingly sex-starved father, and Hannah's own attempts to apply historical reasoning to modern romance.
When Eggers unearths an ancient Clovis spearhead, he teams up with Hannah and Trudy on a clandestine mission yielding disastrous results for humankind. Hannah reflects on the demise of his own species: "The successful forms of life are the parasites, the ones who bleed their environment to optimal exploitation, who stunt everything by taking a lion's share, who leave their hosts alive but shriveled." With the future of humanity left to just a handful of comrades (academics, no less!), the studious triumvirate apply their understanding of an extinct civilization in an effort to bring about the dawn of a new age. Johnson has penned a darkly visionary novel, with keen insights and just enough pathos to keep readers enthralled. (Fall 2003 Selection)
The Washington Post
… [Johnson's] characters are wonderfully weird and charming, and he is so witty a storyteller that this strange novel manages to captivate. — Carmela Ciuraru
The New York Times
The most daring element in this heterogeneous mix, however, may well be the vein of earnest solemnity that Johnson adds to it. Unlike most satirists, he's not afraid to let the mask of irony fall occasionally, launching into flights of plaintiveness that sometimes border on the maudlin. — Gary Krist
New York Times Book Review
...great ingenuity and bravado...Parasites Like Us is an artifact of real ambition and's got brilliance to burn.
...not quite to deify Adam Johnson... hunt down, gather and devour this splendid novel.
Publishers Weekly
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Adam Johnson ... is gifted with a delightful, vibrant and occasionally all-encompassing vision. His "Parasites Like Us" is a strange, remarkable novel that is hilarious and infused with sparklingly imaginative and vivid detail -- part love story, part midlife crisis, part anthropological treatise and part futuristic science fiction.
Kirkus Reviews
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Product Details
• ISBN-13: 9780142004777
• Publisher: Viking Penguin
• Publication date: 10/27/2004
• Edition description: Reprint
• Pages: 352
• Sales rank: 483,326
• Product dimensions: 5.44 (w) x 8.10 (h) x 0.81 (d)
Meet the Author
Adam Johnson
Adam Johnson, a former Wallace Stegner Fellow, teaches creative writing at Stanford University. His fiction has appeared in Esquire, The Paris Review, Harper's, Missouri Review, and New England Review, as well as Best New American Voices. He is the author of the short story collection Emporium and The Orphan Master's Son, winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.
Good To Know
In our interview, Johnson shared some fun facts about himself:
"After high school, I worked industrial construction for a few years, building things like hotels and freeways. When I did get to college, late, I struggled with grades. A friend suggested taking a poetry class, which he said was an ‘easy A,' and by mistake, I signed up for a fiction class. Immediately I knew writing was for me -- suddenly my penchant for daydreaming, exaggerating, and lying all became useful and constructive, and I never looked back."
"My wife and I were married five times in five months in 2000 -- we went on a kind of wedding road show, taking the ceremonies to families and friends in different states. We had five best men, five maids of honor, and my wife had five fabulous wedding dresses. One wedding was hosted by the writers Robert Olen Butler and Elizabeth Dewberry at their home in Florida. We wrote new vows for each ceremony, and we had people who were important in our lives officiate. Mostly these were writing mentors, like Tobias Wolff, Ron Carlson, and Sheila Ortiz-Taylor. I recommend multiple weddings to everyone. If you love someone enough to marry them once, you'll want to do it over and over."
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1. Hometown:
San Francisco, California
1. Date of Birth:
July 12, 1967
2. Place of Birth:
South Dakota
1. Education:
B.A., Arizona State University, 1992; M.A., M.F.A., McNeese State University, 1996; Ph.D., Florida State, 2001
Read an Excerpt
Chapter One
This story begins some years after the turn of the millennium, back when gangs were persecuted, back before we all joined one. In those days, birds and pigs were still our friends, and we held some pretty crazy notions: People said the planet was warming. Wearing fur was a no-no. Dogs could do no wrong. Back then, we'd pretty much agreed that guns were good, that just about everybody needed one. Firearms, we were all to discover, were feeble, finicky things, prone to laughable inaccuracy.
During this brief moment in human evolution, a professor of anthropology might, for the half-year he worked, fish in the morning, lecture midday, and stroll excavation sites until early evening, after which was personal/leisure time. I was a professor of anthropology, one of the very, very few. I owned a bass boat, a classic Corvette, and a custom van, all of which I lost during the period of this story, the brief sentence I served inside the cushiest prison in the Western Hemisphere, the minimum-security federal prison camp at Parkton, South Dakota.
Camp Parkton, we called it. Club Fed.
As an anthropologist, I had the job of telling stories about the past. My area of study was the Clovis people, the first humans to cross the Bering Land Bridge from Siberia about twelve thousand years ago. As you know, the Clovis colonized a hemisphere that had never seen humans before, and their first order of business was to invent a new kind of spear point, which they used to eradicate thirty-five species of large mammals. The stories I told about the Clovis were not new ones: A people developed a technology that allowed them to exploit all their resources. They then created a vast empire. And once they had consumed everything in sight, they disbanded-in the case of the Clovis, into small groups that would form the roughly six hundred Native American tribes that exist today.
I had a '72 Corvette and a custom van!
Dear colleagues of tomorrow, fellow anthropologists of the future, how can I express my joy in knowing there is only one profession in the years to come, that each and every one of you has become a committed anthropologist? The trials of my life seem petty compared with their inevitable reward: that the turbulent story of our species should end with all its members' becoming experts on humanity.
The fate of the culture we called "America" is certainly no mystery to you. Of that tale, countless artifacts stand testament, and who could fail to hear such a song of conclusion, endlessly whistling through the frozen teeth of time? Yet you must have questions. Dig as you might, there must be gaps in the record. Who is buried in the Tomb of the Unknown Indian? you might ask. Was the hog truly smarter than the dreaded dog? Were owls really birds, or some other manner of animal? So, my dedicated peers, I will share with you how the betterment of humanity began, and let no one claim I slandered the past. I am the past.
I'm not sure I can tell you the exact year this story be- gins, but I'll never forget the day. It was the season in South Dakota in which the Missouri River nearly freezes over-day by day, shelves of white extend their reach from the riverbanks, calciumlike, until they enter the central channel, where the current rips great sheets free and sends them hurtling downstream.
From my office on the campus of the University of Southeastern South Dakota, I could hear the frozen river wail and moan before a lurching crack tore loose a limb of ice. When the day was clear, I could even see from my window in the anthropology building scattered stains of red on the ice, where eagles had landed with freshly snatched fish and stripped them on the frozen ledges. An eagle was a kind of bird, quite large, and it was famous for the boldness it displayed when stealing another's prey. Most birds were about the size of rats, though some came as big as jackrabbits. The eagle, however, weighed in closer to a dog. Picture a greyhound, then add ferocity and wings.
It was a gray, brooding day when Eggers, one of my star doctoral students, stuck his head in my office. He was vigorously chewing something, and the odds were it wasn't gum.
Eggers wore goatskin breeches and a giant poncho of dark, matted fur, which he'd fashioned himself from animal hides begged off the Hormel meatpacking plant at the edge of town. I could smell him long before he made his way to the stacks of cardboard boxes that filled my doorway and spilled into the hall.
"Careful of Junior," I said and waved him in. I had just received an exciting new crate of raw ice-core data from Greenland, and Eggers' booties were covered with God-knows-what.
"Life's good, Dr. Hannah," Eggers said, making his way around the boxes. He displayed that impish grin of his. "Life is good," he repeated.
My office in those days was filled with houseplants of every variety, though I found indoor gardening so pointless and sad I could barely stand to look at them. Eggers ducked under the hanging tendrils of plants whose names escaped me, his feet crunching across the layer of flint chips that littered the floor from the hours I whiled away knapping out primitive tools and weapons.
He took a seat, and I was confronted with my daily update on Eggers' dissertation project, which was to exist using nothing but Paleolithic technology for an entire year. More than eleven months into the experiment, some of the results were already clear: the wafting custard of his breath, the thin mistletoe of his beard, the way the oiled gloss of his face had attained the yellowy hue of earwax.
I should have been working on a grant proposal or grading some of the endlessly simple student papers that flowed across my desk. But I couldn't concentrate, because of Glacier Days, a yearly carnival intended to lighten the gloom of winter by celebrating the recession of the glaciers that had carved the Missouri River Valley. They'd set up the midway in the Parkton Square parking lot, catty-corner to campus, and every so often you'd hear the muffled, rising moan and long wail of young people on the thrill rides.
"Okay, Eggers," I said. "Life's grand. We'll go with that hypothesis."
Eggers shrugged, as if everything was self-evident. "Oh, it's not some theory, Dr. Hannah. Life is tiptop," he said, moving aside a dusty stack of my book, The Depletionists, and settling into a high-backed chair. He slumped enough that his hair left a sheeny streak down the leather upholstery. God, his game bag reeked!
I was about to hear one of Eggers' continuing intrigues with a coed, or how he'd won some prestigious new grant. The anthropology journals were already fighting to publish his story. But I couldn't get that "life is good" phrase out of my head. It's what my stepmother, Janis, kept saying at the end, and it became one of my father's refrains after we lost her. I could see behind Eggers, framed in the window, a piece of ice slowly turning down the Missouri River-it drifted in from the future, caught the sun for a moment, and disappeared out into the past. From the Glacier Days carnival, a slow whoop arose from the next generation of South Dakotans as they mocked their deaths on bloodcurdling rides, and my eyes naturally fell to Junior-nineteen thousand notecards and twenty-seven cardboard boxes of research, all yet to be examined, all those stories waiting to be told.
Eggers shifted what he was chewing and went after it with his molars.
"Is this about Trudy?" I asked.
"Trudy? Why bring her up?" he asked. "Are you feeling guilty, Dr. Hannah?"
"What would I have to feel guilty about?"
"Nothing," Eggers said. "Nothing. Except you did file the paperwork to revoke her Peabody Fellowship and give it to me."
"The school's doing that. That's out of my hands. Congrats, by the way."
"You know me, Dr. Hannah. I yawn at money. Money's obsolete to me."
Eggers pulled something out of his mouth, inspected it, and put it back in.
"Don't gloat," I told him. "Everything will be hunky-dory once I explain things to her."
"Trudy's pretty upset. I mean, I was the one who broke it to her."
"This isn't even official yet."
"She needed to hear it from someone who cared," Eggers said.
"Please," I said. "Anyway, that's only half the story. Losing her Peabody is only the bad news of a good-news/bad-news thing. I'll explain it to her."
Eggers swallowed hard enough to make his eyes water, and then he opened the flap of his game bag. I could see a fuzzy tail sticking out of it, and it hadn't escaped the notice of the school paper that all the squirrels on campus had disappeared during the time that Eggers, an adult omnivore, had taken up residence in the middle of the quad.
"I wouldn't worry about Trudy," Eggers said. "Trudy can take care of herself. She'll bounce back." He removed another sinewy morsel and slid it into his mouth. Though grayish-brown, it crunched like celery. He chewed it contemplatively. "I've got my own good and bad news," he added.
I removed my glasses, folded them, rubbed the bridge of my nose.
"Just the good," I said. "Only tell me the good."
"I found something."
Eggers was always finding things. He was the only person in town who walked everywhere, and over eleven months, his travels on foot had netted him countless arrow points, bison skulls, mastodon teeth, and a brass bell that may or may not have belonged to Meriwether Lewis. Sleeping in the same stretch of sand in South Dakota, you were likely to find a buffalo soldier's pistol, a conquistador's breastplate, the hooves of rhino-pigs from the early Eocene, T-rex teeth, and maybe even a Cambrian trilobite, frozen mid-wriggle at the dawn of time.
"Is it a spear point?" I asked.
"It's a point, all right," Eggers said.
"A Clovis point?"
Eggers shrugged, but in a way that said, You can bet the farm.
I threw a foot up on my desk to lace my snow-packs. "Show me," I said.
We tromped downstairs and cut through the Hall of Man, a natural-history exhibit that my predecessor, Old Man Peabody, fashioned himself back in the 1960s out of an empty classroom. The Hall was about thirty feet long and lined with glassed-in exhibits. On one side was a series of models depicting glacial advance and retreat during the late Pleistocene. Peabody had crafted the balsa glaciers by hand, painted them white, and used little stickpins to represent Clovis movement from Siberia to South Dakota during brief openings in the ice. On the other side of the Hall was an amazing series of very lifelike models that followed the ascent of humanity: in a row were displayed Homo habilis, erectus, and sapiens, followed by Neanderthal, and finally Clovis, all posed in natural settings with several artifacts that Peabody had excavated himself. This hall is where I came to pace and think in times of doubt. Simply to cross the room was to travel a hundred thousand years back in time; it was a place where things always seemed clearer to me.
Out in the quad, Eggers and I walked quietly through the snow. The limbs of the maples had been shorn off, so they were whitened posts against what was for now a clear sky. The sidewalks were sanded and salted, though we veered off through the hackberry trees, walking under their weblike branches and listening to the tap-tap of thawing icicles as they dripped constellations into the snow below.
Eggers' shelter was situated in the middle of Central Green, and ahead I could see its snow-crusted dome, made from six curving mammoth tusks draped with a mass of various animal hides that had been confiscated over the years by the Fish and Game Department. Also ahead in the courtyard was a large granite stone that held the plaque I'd placed in remembrance of my stepmother, Janis, and I was faced with my almost daily decision: should I offer a word to her, or should I close my eyes and simply walk on?
The proof of my cowardice was that my decision to talk to Janis always came down to whether or not I was alone. At least I didn't put a bench here, which I'd considered.
Eggers could see the apprehension on my face. "Maybe I'll just go check my snares," he said, and headed toward the arbor-vitae hedge.
"No, don't," I told him. "I'm okay." And like that, I resolved not to speak to Janis today. As I neared, though, I did look at her face, fixed in the mild relief of bronze. The birds had been crapping again, something I hadn't planned on when I'd commissioned the memorial. But, really, did it matter? How could someone be honored by impressing a face on a plaque or a name to an anthropology fellowship? I couldn't even decide if I should use an image of her from when she was young or when she was older. Eventually, I chose a picture taken on the day she graduated from stenography school, a time before she even met my father. She looks young and expectant in the image, but the ironies didn't escape me: since she left my life, I'd chosen to remember her with an image from before I'd entered hers. So now we looked upon each other as strangers.
My father had Janis cremated, something I'm against, but would it have made a difference if we'd buried her? Ten thousand years from now, when people exhumed her bones, what would they know of her life, her spirit? There would be her rings, traces of gold dentistry, perhaps. Would they know of her love of plants, that she longed to see Egypt, or that when she napped on the couch her fingers would type her dreams on her lap? Would the future know her goal in life was an impossible one: to be my mother after my real mother made a stranger of herself? Should I have put medicine bottles and a bedpan in her grave, so the future would understand her final struggle? Should I have chiseled out her story, start to finish, in granite, and what language will the future speak?
The snow thinned as we crossed Central Green, and it wasn't until you neared Eggers' dwelling, which he called his "lodge," that you realized it was situated, as if by chance, atop the one spot on the whole campus where there was no snow. There were underground steam tunnels that sent heat to the dormitories, and Eggers claimed it was just a coincidence that he had built his lodge over the main heat exchangers. Nearing, we stepped through shards from his flint knapping, and an array of his stone tools was lying around-scrapers, cutters, and percussion strikers. Finally, there was a rather shocking mound of bones that Eggers had accumulated over the year. I nosed through them with my boot-most of the bones were surprisingly small, shining dully from under a gelatinous goo that beaded water away, and though rodent anatomy was technically out of my field, I spotted among the prairie-dog and squirrel skulls more than one feline. Eggers was saving them so he'd be able to calculate his caloric intake, once his year was finished and he could handle lab equipment again. These bones were the cornerstone of his dissertation, and I counted them as a real document, as good a testament to Paleolithic culture as any. To keep scavengers away, Eggers urinated on the heap.
When Eggers pulled back the flap of his lodge, he was greeted by a package, wrapped in red paper and tied with yarn, and there was only the faintest smell of fire smoke. Of the gift, probably left by one of his female students, Eggers seemed to take no notice; instead, after the flap closed behind him, I heard him breathing on the fire, a patient, well-paced stoking that made me look away, as if this was a private moment between man and flame. Low clouds had again passed over the river, and of the Clark Bridge, only the upper trestle was visible.
Eggers emerged with a soft leather cloth that looked exactly like a chamois you'd use when washing a car. "This Clovis point is the cover of the Rolling Stone," Eggers said, handing it to me. "This is a feature article in Archeology Today."
Through the leather cloth, I felt the weight and shape of the stone. You never forget the feel of a Clovis point. A hint of pink was peeking from under the cloth.
"You know, I've never found an exotic one," I told Eggers. "In all my years of hunting. I've found some things, don't get me wrong, but never a colored Clovis point."
"Well, this one's yours," Eggers said.
I unfolded the cloth, and there it was. About five inches long, broad-headed, and cut from the rarest of materials, a semitranslucent rose quartz. Twelve thousand years ago, this artifact was the height of technology on the face of the earth, and no one in the millennia since has been able to reproduce the Clovis' lost craft. The afternoons I spent flaking flint in my office were merely exercises in humility, for the Clovis concerned themselves with nothing but producing the most dangerous weapons on earth. They left behind no art, no monuments, no shelters, few remains.
I ran my fingers down the dimpled spine of Eggers' pink point-the cutting edge was covered with serrated ridges that fanned forward to cause severe micro-hemorrhaging on penetration, while at the same time the plane of the blade was fluted with a ridge leading backward, serving as a channel to runnel the blood from the wound. This blade could snap bison ribs and still slice tomatoes.
Over the course of three centuries-at the end of the Pleistocene epoch, twelve thousand years ago-three amazing things happened: the Ice Age ended completely, and glaciers retreated from North America; humans entered the hemisphere, and these Paleo-Indians we call Clovis quickly spread across all forty-eight contiguous states, founding an empire that included Mexico and Canada before their culture came to an end; and, finally, thirty-five species of large North American mammals became extinct. All in three hundred years.
Mammoth and mastodon skeletons have been found with dozens of Clovis points lodged in their bones. Many paleo- anthropologists agree that the Clovis people eradicated the elephants of North America, though they tend to believe the other large animals were killed off by climate change.
It was my lone hypothesis, however, articulated in The Depletionists, that the Clovis blade was the demise of the North American camel, the giant sloth, the short-faced bear, and thirty-two other large mammals. And here was the very spear point that had done it. I marveled at its color, held it to the light, and saw that the quartz was clear at the surface with a cataract of milky pink veined through the center. Only a few thousand Clovis points had ever been discovered, and they were all logged in the National Clovis Bank. Fewer still of these super-bleeder spear points were cut from the exotic minerals only Clovis had a fondness for: smoky purple obsidian and ferrous chert, from feldspar, perlite, spider flint, or the blue-yellow of anthracite. And here was rose quartz. In the back alleys of anthropology, there was a black market for these points, and what I held was worth more than my Corvette and custom van put together.
"Okay," I asked Eggers, "where'd you really get this?"
"I told you," he said. "I found it."
An anger rose in me. "You found this and then removed it from the site? This point doesn't mean anything without context. Haven't I taught you anything? Unless it's in situ, where we can see its role in the bigger story, it's just a bauble."
"It's more complicated than that," Eggers said. Students were filing out of Gufstason Hall, and his eyes followed their brightly colored jackets as they descended the slushy stairwell, arms out for balance, in baby steps. I looked at my wristwatch. It was just after noon, and my father would be waiting for me.
"I've got to teach my Arc-Intro," Eggers added. "There's more than this spear point. I'll show you, but I need to ask a favor first."
Doing a favor for Eggers was no easy thing. He didn't use money, ride in cars, or borrow music. He didn't need my fishing pole or want a letter of recommendation. He'd been an unexceptional kid as far as I could tell, one who sat at the back of my classes, dressed like a golf caddy, and probably smoked some reefer. Then he embarked on this project, and somehow he'd become a lean, clear-eyed young man who had no need for anything from you but time, muscle, and wisdom.
"All right, what is it?"
"Meet me here tonight, when the moon is high."
"Surely, you're joking," I told him. "What time is that? Midnight?"
"Midnight sounds right, though I'd have to check the moon."
"Midnight's my personal/leisure time."
"And bring Trudy," he said. His big, shaggy figure was already heading off to teach.
I stood there a moment with the pink Clovis point in my hand. It felt wrong simply to stick it in my coat pocket as if it was a pen or a throat lozenge, and it seemed more criminal to wander the campus wielding it in my hand. I probably shouldn't admit this, but my first, brief impulse was to show Janis, to walk up the hill to the plaque that I tried to think of as her, and tell her all about it.
I admit this because these events happened long ago, and it's more than ironic that a man who spent his career trying to bring the past to life would, around the age of thirty-nine, begin to communicate certain things to the dead.
That's when Eggers came walking back to me. I was still standing there, hand extended with a pink spear point, looking toward the river so as not to look toward my stepmother. As Eggers neared, I for some reason felt that when he came close he would keep coming closer and give me a pat on the back or clasp my hand. He might hug me, I thought.
Instead, Eggers said, "Are you okay, Dr. Hannah?"
"What?" I asked.
"I better hold this for now," he said, taking the point from my hand. "I'll give it back later tonight. And get some rest, yeah?"
Then he walked away again.
I set off through the quad, following the snowed-in cardio-track, with its frozen fitness stations, then tromped past the Carney Aquatic Center, standing like a cube of jade with its steamed-up walls of Depression-era glass. I could make out the silhouettes of dive platforms, could almost smell the endless drizzle of mildewy rain that dripped from the glass ceiling inside.
There was no getting around the fact that I would be late for lunch with my father downtown, but still I cut through the dean's courtyard and the president's garden-the ground winterized with rows of burlap-and it struck me as I passed among the stark colonnades surrounding Old Main that the school paper was right: all the squirrels had disappeared.
The campus opened onto Parkton Square, a one-block park surrounded by multi-story brick buildings erected by people who believed towns like Parkton and Sioux Falls would one day be Kansas Cities and St. Louises. Parking was free dur- ing Glacier Days, so I walked past green-hooded meters in front of businesses that were mostly alive, though the Bijou Theater was now an indoor shooting range and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodge had been divided into the small apartments where my father now lived. If I looked up to the hill above downtown, I could see the library and buildings of Parkton College, the long-bankrupt Catholic school that was now home to the minimum-security federal prison camp.
I crossed the street at Bank, passed the statue of Har- old McGeachie, "The Farmers' Farmer," and watched a roller-coaster car swoop above the trees in the park. It climbed its white scaffolding, paused atop the hump to let its passengers fret and moan before the load of colored hats, thick parkas, and trailing scarves plunged screaming from view. Before I pushed into the brass revolving door of the Red Dakotan, I paused to read the movie marquee next door, which was billing a double feature of "His & Hers Pistol Special" and "Super Scope Sale."
The Red Dakotan had been built long before the dam, back in a time when Mississippi steamboats made it this far up the river, when wealthy passengers needed a place to freshen themselves and pass the time in luxury while military prisoners restocked the ships with coal. Inside, the wool carpets had a red fleur-de-lis design, and there was a staircase banister scrolled in the French style. Silver "smoker's companions" stood astride each chair. By the bar, below the Dakotan's wall-length gilt mirror, I spotted my father's houndstooth sportcoat.
When I joined him, he was holding the hand of a woman who was leaving. He bowed slightly to her, extended a business card between two fingers, and said, "Enchanté," before hailing the bartender with an order of two martinis.
He wore a new pair of eyeglasses with amber lenses, tinted like the safety goggles that shootists wear. He sported a mustard-colored vest, and he'd acquired a pinkie ring that was nothing but a huge nugget of gold. Here was my father, a man who in the six months since Janis' death had managed to liquidate everything they owned together, sell his State Farm office, and reappraise all of southern South Dakota with a look in his eye that said, I'm ready. Man, I am ready.
"Enchanté," I said.
He pretended not to hear me.
"Did you bring the Corvette?" he asked. "I may need the 'Vette later."
"Let me see one of those cards," I said, reaching for his breast pocket. "I mean, I take it you didn't just try to sell that young woman insurance."
He brushed away my hand. "You wish," he said. "It happens I will be escorting that new lady friend to the radio theater tomorrow."
I swiped one of the cards anyway. It read, "Frank Hannah," and below, in fine script, "Appraiser of Fine Goods, Objects D'Art, & Rare Beauty."
I said, "I notice you didn't mention the word 'Antiquities.'"
Dad gave me his "wise-sage" look, which consisted of lowering his head enough to eyeball me over the top rim of his glasses. "Son," he said, "every woman has something hidden and valuable she wants to show you."
"Like her underwear?"
He snatched the card back. "This wouldn't work for you," he said. "Look at your limp suit and mail-order spectacles. Who taught you how to shave? I woke up. I stepped out of the fire."
He thumbed the length of his lapels and tugged his cufflinks, as if to say, See?
"The fire? You mean the inferno that is marriage, fatherhood, and a career?"
"Hey," he said, "I'm still your father. Don't forget that. But here's a tidbit I woke up to. There's no such thing as insurance. You don't bet against doom. You can't sell policies your whole life and just hope disaster doesn't come. You got to tip your hat when it comes, because it's coming. So-send in the tornadoes. Let's have the locusts."
"I hope you've been drinking," I said.
At the sound of the martini shaker, Dad closed his eyes. To the music of ice and frothy gin, he said, "Oh, lighten up. These are just musings. This is only Philosophy 101. If I wanted to give you real advice, I'd tell you to find a young girl, ten years younger, and marry her young. That's as close as you'll come to insurance."
Of course he was referring to the death of Janis, but we had, at some point since then, come to a silent understanding: he never spoke my stepmother's name, and I never said my mother's.
Dad's eyes popped open. "Come to think of it," he whispered, "forget the Corvette. I may need the van tonight."
He smiled for the first time, and I saw that his two front teeth, which had always been a tad discolored and out of alignment, now gleamed perfectly white with new crowns.
The martinis came, both dressed to my father's exact specifications-a toothpick skewering an olive, then a folded anchovy, and finally a cocktail onion-so I knew my father had walked the bartender through a couple trial runs before I'd arrived.
Dad put some cash in the bartender's hand. "We'll want that booth over there, by the wall, and we'll need our steaks sent over ahead of time." He turned to me. "Two or three steaks?"
I looked around for Trudy, who was supposed to meet us for lunch, but she was nowhere to be seen. "Two for now," I told Dad.
"Two it is," he told the bartender. "Make them porterhouses, keep 'em rare."
Then my father lifted his glass high, a thin film of fish oil catching the light.
"To floods and hail and the Great Deductible," he said, and drank alone.
In the Parkton landfill was Janis' Art Deco cocktail set, complete with flamingo-pink martini glasses and a tortoiseshell shaker. Gone also were her Bakelite clutch purses, her collection of dime-store brooches, and a little library of vintage etiquette guides, which her mother had taught from in the days of elocution. Dad had lightened his heart by shedding-the house, the furniture, the car-and, as if Janis' spirit was small enough to inhabit anything, nothing they'd shared was spared, not the nail clippers, the alarm clock, the plastic ice-cube trays. He even ditched his own glasses, because they had once brought her into focus. Now my father lived in a tiny apartment, and except for a fair amount of money he needed to give away, there was no evidence that my stepmother had ever existed.
I had two theories on my father.
The first held that he had fallen out of love with Janis at some point in their marriage, and that her death, while not pleasant for him to watch, was an overdue relief. This father before me now, yellow-tinted glasses, raw gold ring, was the man I'd always have known, had he not been hobbled by some marriage vows, a nine-to-five job, and a conscience as old and guilty as two men's.
I sipped my martini-it tasted appropriately oceany, and though I wasn't much of a drinker anymore, it struck a long, clear note in my head. The second hypothesis had to do with my mother, but it would get no sympathy in this room.
My father looked at his watch. "Okay, so where's this Trudy?"
"She should have been here by now. I told her to meet us a half-hour ago."
"She's not like this caveman guy of yours, wearing pelts and crapping in the bushes? Jesus, let's give the money to that poor fool."
A long-ago ocean, that was the quality of my drink, but shot through with sonar pings of alcohol. On my tongue, the ancient brine of salted fish and olive mixed with the bright light of oniony gin.
"That caveman," I told my father, "has a grant from the Carnegie Foundation. He won an outstanding-dissertation- proposal award from the Academy of Arts and Sciences. Then he goes and wins funding from the state Heritage Council and the Bureau of Land Management. Now my department chair has decided to give him our only graduate fellowship, the Peabody, so Eggers will have to acknowledge us in his book. And this kid doesn't even spend money."
"Does he wear drawers under those skins?"
"I don't believe so, Dad."
He cringed. "I suppose toilet paper's out of the question."
"Eggers used leaves for a while, and I'm sure there'll be a chapter in his dissertation about the poison-oak incident. Now I believe he's winging it."
A waiter in a red jacket beckoned us, and I could see that atop a freshly linened table sat a pair of steaming porterhouses. The steaks had come so fast, they must have been cooked for other people, who would now have to wait longer.
"How much did you tip these guys?"
My father shrugged and began to make his way through the tables, drink high. As I followed, it became clear to me that most of the customers were farmers and ranchers from smaller towns, like Doltin and Willis, people who made the trip in for Glacier Days and were now having a late lunch at the one nice place in town.
My steak was closer to medium, but cooked to perfection, from marbled beef that was probably slaughtered that morning at Hormel. The veins of fat had melted away, and I alternated the meat's flaky butteriness with shocks of warming gin. For a while, the two of us simply ate, and every few bites I had to lean back against the red, rolled leather of the booth to remind myself I was alive. In those moments, with my head near the wall, I could make out the faint pop-pop of people firing their pistols in the converted movie house next door. The sounds were no more disconcerting than the faint screaming you'd once hear if you ate during the horror matinee, so my digestion was unaffected. I'd never heard a gun fired in anger, let alone fear, and I had no way of knowing then that before that winter was out, an evening would come when all the people in our great nation would fire their weapons at once.
Finally, I set my fork aside. I hadn't even touched the carrots, let alone the hot rolls, but my father lifted his bone with two hands. "So what do students have to do for this fellowship money?" he asked, and raked his bottom teeth along the underside of the bone.
"Nothing, really. It supports them while they study or research. They just keep doing what they're doing. But this money is going to make a big difference to Trudy. She's studying Paleolithic art. The Clovis is the only known culture in the world that left no art behind. There are just a lot of points and blades. Trudy believes that weapons were their art. It's a whopper of an idea. She's maybe going too far with her feminist angle, but the premise is sound."
"Are you sleeping with her?"
I tossed my napkin on the table.
"Really, Dad. You didn't just say that. This fellowship you're endowing is going to make all the difference for her. She has to travel to the cave dwellings in New Mexico, see the petroglyphs in Arizona. She needs to do comparative blade analysis all over North America, France, and of course Peru."
"Hell, I could use a trip to France."
"Bon voyage," I told him.
Two waiters walked by, carrying a single tray between them. On it was a cut of meat called "The Cattleman." There was no shortage of pomp in its delivery, yet the steak was the real deal-beyond large, it was the size of a saddle. If you could eat it, it was free, and the steak's new owner seemed embarrassed only by the fact that this indulgence was a public event.
"What's she like?" my father asked.
"Trudy? She's pretty dang smart, for starters."
"What's she look like?"
"Yes, physically."
I had no desire to explain Trudy to my father. Her application for the Peabody Fellowship had given me her racial breakdown: a mix of African, French, Korean, and Japanese. With her height, her close-cropped hair, and those shoulders, I occasionally imagined her as a prototypical Clovis woman. It was an inappropriate fantasy, I knew. Scientifically, it was flawed as well-real Clovis were certainly smaller, more compact, and probably poorly nourished. Yet I couldn't help, at times, imagining her body in motion as she hunted down a giant Pleistocene glyptodont.
"She's big, Dad. Five foot nine, probably a hundred eighty pounds."
He worked the last bit off the bone, so all that was left was the white vertebral shank and the descending postilum.
"Big num-nums?"
I shook my head no.
"So this girl," Dad says, "if she's so needy, how come she can't even show up for a free steak?"
"I think she's a little mad at me right now."
"You are sleeping with her."
"No, no, she has a fellowship, the Peabody, but the school's taking it away and giving it to the caveman. It's just miscommunication. She doesn't know about your fellowship yet, the Hannah."
My father pointed the steak shank at his own chest.
"Well, what do I get out of this fellowship-donor thing?"
"Immortality, Dad. Your name gets to live forever."
I expected him to laugh or smart-ass, but he said nothing, just set aside the bone and reclined, hands on chest, against the plush leather. He ran his tongue along his teeth, then asked, "You ever met anyone who really wanted to live forever, one person who just wanted to keep going and going?"
I shrugged. "I suppose not."
Dad leaned forward. "Then no fucking plaques of me when I'm dead, okay?"
When the moon looked high in the sky, I set out from my little apartment by the river, and made my way to Trudy's. She lived alone in a small graduate dorm by the cafeteria, and you could still catch a scent of fried egg rolls in the air from the meal plan earlier that night. It began to snow as I walked, so softly at first that I couldn't tell for sure when the flakes started coming down, but by the time I stood in her courtyard, there were yellow curtains of snow hanging under the campus floodlights.
When I knocked, the flimsy dorm walls shook, rattling the neighbors' windows, and the sound off the hollow-core door was loud enough that three other students stuck their heads out to see if it was for them. But Trudy didn't answer.
"Trudy?" I called.
"Go away, Dr. Hannah."
"Please listen to me, Trudy. I know you're upset that the university took your fellowship away, but we have a better fellowship for you."
Inside, I could hear her pour a glass of water.
I spoke into the peephole: "If you could just listen to what I have to say."
"There's a fellowship in Arizona I could apply for," I heard her say. "And that postdoc at Stanford, unless Eggers already has it spoken for. I was dragged all over the world my entire childhood. No need to put down roots here, I guess."
My voice raised in pitch as I tried to reassure her. I even took out my inhaler, just in case I needed it. "Everything's going to be okay, Trudy. This is a better fellowship. You'll like it much better."
"Don't tell me 'everything's going to be okay,'" Trudy said. "Don't tell me what I'll like and not like. I want my Peabody back. That's the fellowship I earned."
"You'll be the first recipient of this new fellowship. My father has established the Hannah Fellowship, in my stepmother's name, and after careful consideration, you've been chosen as the first recipient."
Trudy opened the door, her hand holding a tumbler of water, half full. She wore her usual paint-speckled jeans, a sweater of chocolate wool a shade darker than her skin, and she'd had her hair cut even shorter since I'd seen her last. My God, those cheekbones. I stole a quick puff off my inhaler.
"I'm the one who should be knocking on your door late at night, telling you how I feel," she said. From behind her came a tide of warm air, smelling faintly of turpentine.
"Okay," I said. "How do you feel?"
Trudy shifted in the doorway. She took a drink of water. I could see she'd been repainting the walls of her dorm room with ancient cave drawings and symbols.
"Well, I'm pissed off," she said, sounding reluctantly justified. "I've got good ideas. My Clovis theory isn't even out there in the literature. Nobody's articulated it. And all I hear about is Eggers. What's his idea? He doesn't even have one. He has a gimmick."
"Trudy, I recruited you, remember? I've always believed in you. I don't know how you'll ever prove it, but your dissertation hypothesis is brilliant. For a culture based on making animals extinct, to fuse weaponry and art only makes sense. The part about women carving all the spear points while the men hunted-well, you'll maybe have to gather more data on that."
"I've smelled Doritos on him," she said and paused to let that sink in. "Dorito breath is unmistakable. Did you know he doesn't read the textbooks he assigns? He doesn't even use chalk, because it's 'technology.' He gives his tests orally, and gets one of those girls of his to bubble in the grades on his grade sheets. Do you know how many bubbles I bubble in? And he's Mr. Primitive? Look at how I live. I steal toilet paper from the faculty bathroom. I'm eating noodles and oil in here. If my car breaks down, I'm the one who has to fix it."
"Doritos, huh?"
"Spicy Taco flavor."
"Look, Trudy, I'm going to need a favor from you."
"I'm not done yet," she said.
I put my hands up, as if to say, No offense, I come in peace.
"That was my fellowship," she said, pointing at me. "Mine."
Trudy looked as if she was gearing up for a speech, but then, as if she'd heard her own words from afar and decided she didn't like their tenor, she stopped. "Okay, I'm done now," she said.
I waited a moment, to be sure she was through, then said, "This favor I need, it involves meeting Eggers, but the favor's for me."
Now she waited a moment, looking at me with her head cocked.
"Is that for real?" she asked. "That this fellowship's named after your mother?"
The fellowship was in honor of Janis, but I didn't correct her. I didn't answer at all. Trudy seemed to see in my eyes that this was a subject about which I would not lie. She shook her head, as if disgusted with herself, then disappeared into her dorm room and returned with a heavy scarf.
"Okay," she said. "Let's go."
We crossed the courtyard together, passing a solitary picnic table frosted with white. Trudy steered me around the blanket of snow that hid the sunken volleyball pit. Black slush lined the edge of the Honor Roll Parking Lot, and as we trudged through it, heading for the quad and Eggers' lodge, I couldn't help noting the natural grace and authority with which Trudy moved.
It would be less than ethical of me if at this point I did not confess that I believed Trudy was the ultimate female specimen. Intelligence and beauty aside, and from a strictly professional anthropological perspective, her body was perfectly evolved-tall frame, thick bones, and long muscles-a decathlete's physique. Her back flared into broad, square shoulders that framed a strong chest marked with small and unobtrusive breasts, and she carried just enough fat to optimize insulation and energy reserves without compromising mobility. I'd seen her body articulated once as she swam butterfly inside the jade cube of the Carney Aquatic Center, the points of her rotator cuffs launching each stroke, causing a wave that ran through pectorals, abdominals, and quadriceps before she cracked into a dolphin kick with the cablelike snap of her Achilles tendons. This was not the body of a gatherer. This was a person who could walk into any society, historic or prehistoric, and demonstrate abilities that were absolutely commanding. Of course I kept such thoughts to myself, lest I appear lecherous, or just plain old-fashioned.
We followed a thin column of woodsmoke toward Eggers' lodge, which lay in the darkness ahead. Janis was a shadow in the trees uphill from us, and the whole campus was quiet except for one soul. Out in the quad, a lone student was running the fitness track in the late cold. He jogged in his parka until he reached the pull-up station, where his breath plumed upward each time his chin crested the bar. After a certain number, he ran on.
Eventually, we reached the muddy, snowless circle that surrounded the lodge, and were met with the charring smell of an odd, sour meat. With a lift of the flap, Eggers emerged in a bizarre set of pantaloons and a huge serape of black fur. He saw we were looking at the strange hat of rabbit hides on his head. "It's not finished," he said. "Come on. I spend half my life gathering wood, and the other half melting snow."
"Here we are, Eggers," I said. "What's this favor?"
"It involves our new Clovis point," he said.
Trudy narrowed her eyes at him.
"There are no new Clovis points," she said. "Unless you think you're the one person in the world who can make them."
"I have a real one," Eggers said, "and we're going to use it." He ducked into his lodge and returned with a heavy spear, about two and a half meters long, the pink Clovis point bound to the end with some kind of thin fiber.
"Are you crazy, Eggers?" I asked. "This is an artifact. It's invaluable."
"No, sir," he said. "This is a tool, made to be used, and the only thing I still need to do for my dissertation is bring down a large herbivore. This is your idea, Dr. Hannah. This is straight out of The Depletionists. I don't care what your critics think. I read that book ten times. Your book is why I'm doing this." He gestured at his lodge, his clothes. "Don't you want to see if it's true, if this point can really do it?"
"There's no need," I told him. "These points have been found lodged in mammoth and mastodon bones. There is no doubt they kill."
"You can shoot an African elephant ten times with a rifle and it will only get angry," Eggers said, gesturing a little wildly with the spear. Trudy and I backed up a step. "Fifty years later, when that elephant dies of old age, it leaves bones with bullets in them. Maybe your mastodons were the ones that got away. You ever think of that? But how can you know, without research and testing?"
Trudy laughed. "And where are you going to find a mastodon?"
Eggers turned to me. "All I need is an animal that weighs at least a thousand pounds. Isn't that right, Dr. Hannah?"
"Well," I said, "I suppose."
My head was starting to spin a little. I kept seeing pink spears flying into the future-where would they land? Most of my colleagues believed climate change at the end of the Ice Age had killed off all the big animals in North America, which caused the Clovis to starve and disband; but I'd staked my whole career on the belief that a Clovis point could take down any animal. Yet Eggers was right-I'd never seen a kill.
"Where are you going to find a thousand-pound animal that no one's using?" Trudy asked. "Those guards at Hormel mean business. They'd grind you up and turn you into an Eggers burger."
"Don't you worry about Eggers burgers," Eggers said. "Eggers has this all planned out."
I put a hand on Eggers' shoulder. "Is this the bad news?" I asked. "You know, the bad part of the good-news/bad-news thing?"
"The bad news comes tomorrow," he said. "This is the celebration part." With that, Eggers began backing into the darkness of the quad.
Trudy and I stood there a moment, looking at each other.
"Did you see that Clovis point?" she asked. "A woman made that. I know it. It took her hours, sitting around a mineral deposit with her friends. She talked and told stories while her hands worked the quartz. She chose the material for its beauty, because this was her art, and the design was taught to her by her mother-the keeper of a thousand years of hunting technology."
While Trudy spoke, I pictured her hands working the quartz, holding the point up to the light to search for imperfections, then testing its edge with her thumb.
We both reached the same silent conclusion, then set out after Eggers, following his tracks in the snow, though the vaporous trail of his body odor left no doubt as to his course. By the time we reached the dean's garden, we were abreast of him.
Trudy stuck her hand out.
"Let's see this so-called spear," she said.
She inspected the spear by pointing it toward the moon and turning the shaft to see if it was straight. Then she examined the blade. "It smells like mint," she said.
"It does not," Eggers said.
"Is this dental floss?" she asked. "You tied this point onto the shaft with dental floss, didn't you?"
I was only half listening. In my head, I was animating Clovis points. They flew and flew, waves of them. What had seemed like abstractions were coming clear. I saw a spear fly from dark hands into a gleam of bright light before passing into the haze of its victim.
Trudy said, "Dental floss, unless I'm mistaken, is made from wax-infused monofilament, which is derived from modern polymers. Did the Clovis use petrochemicals, Dr. Hannah?"
"Listen," Eggers said. "Do you know how long it takes to dry and string catgut? I've done it. I know."
By now, we were in the Old Main's colonnade. Across the street was Parkton Square, and the locked gates of the Glacier Days carnival. Eggers neared the tall fence and appraised it. With one hand, he shook the chain link, and a shower of ice beads rained down on him. He tried to climb it, but in fur booties could get no hold.
Trudy crossed to the gates and went to work on the lock that held the chain. "This is just a combo lock, like the kind for your school locker," she said. "It would be easier if I had my tools with me. I could just pop it open with a prybar."
Trudy knelt on the cold sidewalk and put her ear to the green-faced lock, while I looked through the fence to the dark carnival inside. From somewhere kept coming the keening of ravens, and though I couldn't be sure, I felt I saw a flash of black wings. The raven was a medium-sized bird, with a great curving beak that drove straight into a heavy brow, giving it a look of constant judgment. I can't think of many birds that were physically dangerous to humans, but to those with a guilty conscience, the raven could be a troubling omen.
"Voilà," Trudy said as the lock opened, and it wasn't until we were through the gate that the stillness of the place gave me the shivers. In the dark, all the funhouse faces were more personal, like people from your distant past. Each game seemed to stand waiting for its perfect customer, which wasn't me. The Hammer Blow sat ready for a stronger man, and the Gypsy dared me to purchase its dark fortune. In the moon, all the overdrawn devils and clowns seemed cut from maroon-and-blue plastic, and I wished someone would shut those ravens up.
Eggers led us down a stretch of midway bordered on both sides by shooting galleries. At counter after counter were rifles and pistols mounted on rods, all pointing into dark tents toward rows of bears who stood when shot, ducks who fell back into nothing, and wolves who would grab their asses and howl at the moon when plinked.
We passed darkened trailers that dealt in Indian fry bread and twin funnel-cake carts that folded up like campers, and then we came to a huge pile of the night's leftover popcorn, which had been thrown out in the snow. This is where the ravens were, pacing in the moon, gulleting down cold popcorn.
"God, I love popcorn," Eggers said. "That's one of the things I really miss."
"Maybe Doritos will come out with a popcorn-flavored chip," Trudy told him.
He said nothing, only steered us under the old roller coaster, the kind that packed up onto a couple of flatbed trailers. Its name was no longer visible, but Dragon or Sidewinder would be safe bets. Underneath, a lattice of shadows passed over our faces, and we could see the stains of oil that had dripped down the supports. When the light filtered down just right, you could make out the occasional flash of the nuts and washers that had worked themselves loose and now littered the ground.
Finally, Eggers came to a stop before a temporary corrugated shed the size of an aircraft hangar, hastily assembled on a bare parking lot. "Here we are," he said, and we all looked at the sign above the great sliding door. It read "4-H."
Inside, a single propane heater kept the room just above freezing, though the asphalt floor was certainly colder. The room was lined on both sides with pens of varying sizes, some with straw on the ground, and others with little shelters inside. Maybe half held animals. We walked down the row in the dim fluorescent lighting, stepping over the hoses that were wound everywhere to spray down the waste. A little llama came out of its shed and nuzzled up to the rail. Its pen had a large blue-and-yellow handicapped-parking icon on its floor, and the furry little guy seemed intent on sucking everyone's fingers. At the end of the room, where the heat barely reached, stood a pen larger than the others with what looked like a child's fort constructed in the back. There was a piece of masking tape affixed to the rail in front of us, and on it someone had spelled "Sir Oinks A Lot" in straggling letters.
"Oh, you're kidding me," I said. "This isn't right."
Eggers clapped twice and whistled.
Something rustled in the fort, and its tiny walls shook.
"This isn't happening," I told them. "This is a child's pet, that's a name a child would think up."
A giant brown-and-gray hog emerged from the fort, its head big as a beer keg. It was a pork-belly hog and must have weighed eleven hundred pounds. It snorted twice, and each time it exhaled, its white breath cleared circles of dust and straw from the floor. Its head floated, cranelike, from Trudy to Eggers to me.
Harder to describe than any bird is the pig. There was no animal quite like it. What defined it most were not its enormous dimensions, but the clack of its cloven feet on hard surfaces, the guttural horn of its squeal, the smack of its jowls bouncing as it walked, and the way the tugging weight of its face revealed the yellow undersides of its eyeballs. But what truly comes to mind when I think of the pig are sunsets over the river after the sky was blackened with the kerosened smoke of towering pyres of burning hogs. It's true that I haven't seen a pig in thirty years, but lately I have turned to petroglyph art in an attempt to document those events, and what I have discovered is that, despite its simple oblong shape, the pig is the most difficult figure to convey to a rockface.
Eggers bent over and touched his toes. Then he held the spear over his head with two hands, leaning forward and back, stretching side to side. Finally, he jumped up and down to get the blood going. "All in the name of science," he said.
"Wait a minute," I told him. "We should talk about this, we should realize what we're doing here. At least let's find some consensus."
I turned to Trudy for a dose of sanity, but there was a wild look in her eyes.
"No one's hunted with a Clovis point in twelve thousand years," she said.
Eggers added, "This is the hunt. This is what connects us to the ancient ones, to the lost peoples of the world."
Trudy touched my coat. "Look," she said, "I know your critics think the last chapter in The Depletionists is New Age-y, but when you say that the reason we are drawn to the artifact is to know, without judgment, the heart of another, I believe it. That's the whole reason I look at Paleolithic art. That's why I came here to study with you."
I took my glasses off and folded them. I rubbed my temples a moment.
"Okay," I said. "Okay."
"Wow," Eggers said. "We're joining the elect few."
"Yeah," Trudy added, "we're making history."
"Here you go, then," Eggers said, handing me the spear.
"Me? Wait a minute."
Eggers said, "It's your Clovis point, Dr. Hannah."
"I don't know how to throw a spear," I told him. "You're the one living in the Stone Age."
"That's right," Eggers said. "A pig gets killed with a twelve-thousand-year-old spear. Who do you think they're going to suspect? Yes, perhaps the authorities might consider the Paleolith living in the park."
"He's got a point," Trudy said.
"What was with the calisthenics, then?"
Eggers looked shocked. "We're all going to be running in a couple minutes."
I hefted the spear and watched as Sir Oinks A Lot took a lazy turn around the pen, probably looking for a newer, more comfortable place to sleep.
"This thing's heavy," I said.
"Choke up on your grip," Trudy told me.
Eggers pointed at the pig. "Aim just behind the shoulder blade. That's home to lung, liver, and heart. You'll get at least two out of three."
I took an extra puff off my inhaler, for luck, then backed up a couple of steps, then a couple more. I don't know why, but I scratched the soles of my shoes, one at a time, on the asphalt. I wiped a hand on my pants. The pig started to circle, the way a dog would before lying down, and I started to time my throw.
"Don't miss, Dr. Hannah," Trudy said. "That point's irreplaceable."
I ran at the pen and thrust my arm high, but my arm wouldn't let go.
I stood there with the spear still in my hand.
The truth came to me cold and swift: I was no hunter.
"Oh, give it here," Trudy said, loosening up her shoulders.
"Give the woman the spear," Eggers said. "She holds an all-military-school record in track and field."
"Trudy," I said, "we can't ask you to throw this spear. I'm a white male professor, and you, you know, you're an African American female student."
"Oh, Dr. Hannah," Trudy said, "you're so cute."
She took the spear from my flaccid grip, and Eggers winked at me.
Trudy hefted the weapon, felt its balance point, then raised it high.
"What's the bumper sticker?" she asked. "'You can have my spear when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.'"
The pig cocked its head curiously.
Then it happened. Trudy rotated her body and, drawing back, charged a throw that began in the ball of her foot. The leg followed, the hip lifting, rotating the torso around so the arm whipped like a sling. The spear launched, and the follow-through was complete enough that it left her facing sideways, hopping on one foot.
Almost as quickly as it was thrown, the spear crossed the pen and landed with a great thuk that opened a gaping, pleated wound, from which escaped a gurgly hiss as the lung pushed and pulled air through the puncture. The handle of the spear bobbed with the breath of the hog, and with every little movement, the blade walked itself deeper into the cavity of the chest. The pig let out one faint whine before its front legs crossed, almost daintily, and it went down, rolling to its side so that its final breaths sent up mists of blood that speckled the wall a steaming pink.
Eggers looked stunned. He climbed over the rail and walked cautiously to the pig. He leaned over it. "Holy shit," he said.
"Wait," I called. At any moment, that hog could jump up and slay us all. If one thing was constant in the history of the world, it was the notorious danger of pigs. They were the bane of early Mesopotamia, and in African folklore there is no more dangerous beast. Even the Clovis could not handle them. The Clovis eradicated the American lion, the saber-toothed tiger, and the dire wolf, but the wild boar was one of the few animals to live through that age of eradication.
Trudy joined Eggers. She was still shaking out her arm from the throw as she approached the pig. She crouched above a pool of blood gelling against the cold asphalt. She reached for it.
"Don't," I murmured. "Think of the parasites, the trichinosis, the bloodworms."
Trudy placed her palm in the blood, then, dripping, showed it to me.
"This is the first art," she said. "This is the original ink."
On the wall of the shed, Trudy drew a horizon line in red. Below it, she fashioned a circle, the sun of the underworld. Above the line, she used her fingers to make a set of antlers, pointing down. I recognized the symbol, haunting and primordial. She drove around Parkton with it painted on the black hood of her beater GTO.
Eggers pulled a flake from his game bag and cut the spear point free of the shaft. He brought it to me and placed it bloody in my hands, still warm from the pig.
"Here you go, Dr. Hannah," he said. "One Clovis point, as promised."
Then Trudy came toward me, face flushed from the cold, hands red, that great staticky blue light of death around her, and I thought, Yes. Perhaps my father's rakish thinking had infected me, but my hands were shaking for her.
"Are you ready?" she asked, and when I nodded, we all started running.
In bed that night, I woke to a roar from the Missouri as a shearing expanse of ice broke away. It sent a wake underneath the whole ice sheet, so that, when the wave reached the shore, you could hear fifty-five-gallon drums leap from the frozen grip of the river as, one by one, everyone's docks cracked free. I knew a great ice raft, large as a lecture hall, was spinning its way downstream.
I sat up in bed, and slowly, by starlight, began to make out the dark tendrils of all the silent houseplants that hung in my room. I checked my bedside table, and, sure enough, there was the stained Clovis point from earlier, right where I'd set it- beside a plaster cast of my mother's leg, removed just before she left us for good. Though I hadn't heard from her in thirty years, I felt pretty confident that, with the cast and maybe an X-ray of the break, I'd be able to identify my mother if I ever came across her.
Often when I couldn't sleep, I'd pick up that knee-high cast and trace the shape of my mother's calf, feel the shadows left by the fine bones in her feet, but tonight I reached for the Clovis point. The quartz was smooth and warm in the dark, and instead of its conjuring in my mind the story of a people older than civilization, I thought of Trudy. How natural this point had seemed in her hand, and with what kinship did she speak of its fashioner. Trudy seemed to know its song, and the shameful arousal I felt for her, for one of my students, as I replayed the way she launched that spear was eclipsed only by the horror of where it had landed.
Did the Clovis people know the glaciers were on the move? Did the dinosaurs comprehend the impending comet? Janis didn't know what the universe had in store. I heard the ice again, and imagined white rafts slowly floating down thousands of miles of river, a history of ice, and on these barges in my mind, I saw things and people, floating backward, away from me, into the dark. Our old dog Roamy was on one, and another was piled with the sagging boxes of Junior, index cards and notepads spilling into the current. I looked for Old Man Peabody, for Janis, for the father I used to know. Who floated by instead, alone on a piece of ice big enough for all of us, was my mother, frozen the way I last saw her, the way I would forever imagine her-in a pale-blue housecoat, holding a pale-blue handbag, leaning on aluminum crutches-and the farther she floated from me the less I was sure whether she was facing toward me or away. My imagination took a bird's-eye view as I attempted to follow her into the dark, flat landscape, cut only by the cold river of history. At the edge of sleep, I, too, was on the ice, riding it into darkness. I was not cold on this ice, only seized by the notion that if I floated far enough I'd ride the river back in time, back to the Pleistocene, a place where men and women lined the banks with pink spears. As I floated by, they shouted messages for me to deliver to their ancestors.
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Reading Group Guide
Our Book Club Recommendation
Adam Johnson's unique novel has a little bit of everything. Parasites like Us contains high-flying satire of contemporary society, fascinating historical and ecological speculation, and a frightening scenario of humanity's near future. This potent combination is tied together by the engaging character of Hank Hannah, a South Dakota anthropologist distinctly down on his luck, whose involvement in an earth-shattering discovery has consequences both bizarre and enlightening. This tragicomedy of ideas provides a wide array of topics for reading groups to reflect on, in the midst of its farcically entertaining scenario.
When Hank and his students, who are engaged in the study of prehistoric North American peoples, discover a remarkable, ancient skeleton, questions are raised about our relationship to the past and our responsibility with regard to human history. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that the consequences of this discovery are even larger than first assumed. Johnson offers up for discussion powerful themes about man's relationship to nature and how we choose to represent that relationship in the way we think about our ancestors.
Beyond issues of the environment and human civilization, this is also a novel about loss and family. Hank is tormented by the question of why his mother left when he was a baby, and he has a complicated relationship with his decidedly unconventional father. Hank compensates for this in various ways, in part by seeing his two star students, Eggers and Trudy, almost as surrogate children. Reading groups will discover that beneath the fantastic exterior of the plot, Johnson's novel offers as a powerful theme the fragmented state of the modern family, asking how far we might have to go in order to repair those ruptures.
Parasites like Us has been frequently compared to the work of Kurt Vonnegut. It's easy to see overt parallels to Vonnegut's tongue-in-cheek novels that imagine bizarre future catastrophes, such as Cat's Cradle or Slapstick. But readers are likely to notice an even more important parallel: Beneath the irony and the absurdity of Johnson's imagined South Dakota is the same warm sense of humanity that informs the best of Vonnegut's work. It's an aspect of Parasites like Us that book groups may find -- against all expectation -- truly inspiring. Bill Tipper
Reading Group Resources from the Publisher
Adam Johnson's short stories have been praised as "Salingeresque" (New York Times), "remarkable" (New Yorker), and "creating a searing juxtaposition between scientific progress and its futility in the face of mortality" (San Francisco Chronicle). Now, with Parasites Like Us, Johnson lives up to and surpasses that praise in a novel that looks deeply into both the past and the future of the human species.
Parasites Like Us is narrated by anthropologist Hank Hannah, author of the now largely discredited book The Depletionists, which argued that our Ice Age ancestors, the Clovis people, wiped out thirty-five species of large mammals. As the novel begins, Dr. Hannah is haunted by his own past. He is grieving for the disappearance of his mother, the death of his stepmother, and the loss of his former glory as an academic star and darling of the lecture circuit. He does, however, have two brilliant students, Eggers and Trudy, working with him, and together they begin to make discoveries-of the prodigious powers of the Clovis spearhead and of what are possibly the oldest human remains ever found in North America-that would validate the thesis of The Depletionists and resurrect Dr. Hannah's career. But digging into the past can be a dangerous occupation; it can cast a harsh light on the present. Dr. Hannah sees all too clearly that the selfishness of the Clovis people-their willingness to plunder "the first sunny days of humanity"-is just as strong today, as we continue to exploit the earth and all its creatures for our use. And when a brutally fatal infectious disease sweeps the land, transmitted through the animals we've lived on, humans begin a gruesome extermination, a mass slaughter of pigs and cows and chickens, that makes our ancestors look tame. But it is too late to stop the epidemic. Only Dr. Hannah and his small band survive, thanks to a chance encounter with Clovis culture, and they must face a grim journey-through frozen landscapes with burning corpses and roving packs of dogs-into a future that looks all too much like the distant past.
What makes Parasites Like Us such a remarkably ambitious and satisfying novel is its combination of satire and pathos. It is at once a searing critique of human arrogance and a compassionate regard for human weakness, a provocative analysis of where we have come from and a harrowing vision of where we are headed.
Adam Johnson, a former Wallace Stegner Fellow, teaches at Stanford University. His fiction has appeared in Esquire, Harper's, and the Paris Review, as well as Best New American Voices four years running. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and newborn son, James Geronimo.
What prompted you to write Parasites Like Us? Did you do a great deal of research for the novel?
I've always been fascinated by primitive technologies. Growing up, I heard many tales of outdoor survival from male relatives. These were sophisticated men, yet they had hidden abilities, like building snow caves, setting animal snares, or lashing emergency rafts. I never learned any of these skills, mostly because I lived with my mother after my parents' divorce. In college, however, I met a surgeon whose passion was flint-knapping-the art of making stone knives and points. His dream was to perform heart surgery with stone blades, which, he said, could be made sharper than any scalpel. He was the one who first told me about the Clovis people and the way they had created stone spear points so deadly that even twelve thousand years later, they were nearly impossible to re-create.
In writing this book, I wanted to take the reader back in time-back to a point when human connections to land, food, weather, and so on were intimate ones. I felt that with each chapter, as the book marches forward, the narrator, Dr. Hannah, moves a thousand years back through time. Slowly, he is stripped of modern conveniences-his car, his possessions, his bathroom, and finally things like phones and electricity-until, metaphorically, he has entered the age of the Clovis. The place he arrives at, because of its constant peril, is one where relationships become even more important. Only in a world of primitive technology do friends, family members, and the woman he loves attain the level of interdependence that he's always hoped for.
I didn't learn to dogsled or hurl spears to research this book, but I read survival narratives, geology studies, hunting guides, and lithics journals. I devoured many books about early North American peoples and about paleo-anthropology in general. I think a reader will walk away from this book having learned a great deal about the ancestors of this continent, and for that reason, I tried to focus on the themes of paleolithic life, rather than on scientific theories.
Did you intend the novel to be read as a kind of warning? Do you feel the history of the Clovis people has special relevance to our own situation?
The story of the Clovis people is a cautionary tale for our time. The Clovis were probably the first North Americans, though little is actually known about them. They crossed the Bering Land Bridge when the glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice age, a time when most large mammals-like the mammoth and the mastodon-went extinct. Then in 1929, at a site near Clovis, New Mexico, a mammoth bone was found with a large spear point embedded in it. Many more sites were found, and a new portrait of the Clovis people began to emerge, one in which humans entered a new frontier and founded an empire on hunting. Within these three centuries of the Clovis' arrival, most of the large mammals of North America had been eradicated, including mammoths, camels, horses, and oxen, leaving thousands of future generations without the animals needed for domestication, transportation, and agriculture. After most of the large animals of America disappeared, so did the Clovis, and this is the metaphor at the heart of the book: a people came to a new frontier and built a grand culture based on natural resources, and once those resources were depleted, the culture fell apart, leaving their descendants impoverished.
What similarities do you see between the stories told by anthropologists and those told by novelists?
I don't think there's any scientific method in my work, but I feel an affinity for those who apply it, especially when constructing narratives about the past, the way historians and paleo-anthropologists do. I do feel anthropologists must take some the same imaginative leaps as fiction writers to find truth out of the details. The writer must construct the life of a living character in the same way that an anthropologist must construct the lives of the dead out of fragments.
How would you describe the relationship between Dr. Hannah's family and the larger history of the human family in the novel?
Dr. Hannah's personal creation myth is based on his abandonment by his mother, and of course, he secretly fears he exhausted her love and drove her away. He has no other way to approach the world than by way of this essential story, and it is only fitting that his theory of the Clovis is one in which a people exhausted all that supported them, thus causing their tribe to disband.
Michiko Kakutani has applied the term "Salingeresque" to your work. Do you feel a particular affinity for Salinger? What other writers have been important influences for you?
I think of Salinger as a "voice" writer; he had a pitch-perfect ear for how his characters spoke, especially when telling their own stories. As a writer who loves to work in the first person, I truly admire this quality. Something my characters tend to share with Salinger's is a constant concern with what's false and what's real. His characters tended to be flawed and a little "phony" themselves, but they yearned for the real, pure thing that could redeem them. The comparisons probably end there. Salinger was a really, really good writer, and I see myself as a comparative beginner.
A book that influenced me was early was The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux, which I read after high school. I wasn't a big reader back then, but the characterization of the father figure spoke to me-here was another father who dropped out of society and attempted to go "back to basics" in an effort to reinvent himself. I also shared the narrator's awe for an iconoclastic and self-destructive father. The "well-meaning but deluded believer" is a repeating character of mine, and I first encountered it in The Mosquito Coast.
Do you have a strong personal or autobiographical connection to the novel, or is it a purely imaginative work?
The novel attempts to answer a simple yet eternal question: Where do people go when they leave us? When my mother was a child, she was abandoned by her mom. And when I was a child, my parents were divorced. While my mother rarely mentioned her mother, I constantly wondered where my father was. What was he doing? I wanted to know. Who was he with, and what television show was he watching? I wanted to know what this better life was, this life that didn't include my mother and me. I placed this seed of speculation in my central character, and soon it seemed right that he was a paleo-anthropologist, one who specialized in faraway peoples, and this became a vehicle to explore the tensions between need and inaccessibility.
Do you have any special writing routines or rituals? What are you working on now?
The only writing ritual I have is a sleeping baby. When the little one finally goes to sleep, then I can go to work. Right now I'm in the first stages of a new novel set in Los Angeles.
1. In what ways is the history of the Clovis and their interaction with their environment, as it is presented in Parasites Like Us, relevant to our own situation?
2. Dr. Hannah frequently addresses his story to future anthropologists. How does this narrative device affect the way he tells the story and the way we read it? What does he try to communicate to future generations? What is significant about the artifacts he chooses to provide drawings for?
3. Near the end of the novel, Dr. Hannah observes that "the successful forms of life are the parasites, the ones who bleed their environment to optimal exploitation, who stunt everything by taking a lion's share, who leave their hosts alive but shriveled" (p. 326). Why did Adam Johnson title his novel Parasites Like Us? How does the above passage illuminate human behavior, past and present?
4. Dr. Hannah reflects that "as you pick through the bones of the past, you have to keep in mind that you'll never really know another human's story. The point of anthropology is not discovery, but learning to tolerate the unknown" (p. 57). Why isn't it possible to know another human's story? In what ways is the novelist, like the anthropologist, also attempting to know, and to tell, another human's story?
5. In comparing the Clovis to modern humans, Dr. Hannah observes that "if the history of humanity has been the history of extinguishing other forms of life, it's hard to say whether we have been evolving" (p. 304). Does the novel make the case that humans have not significantly evolved beyond their Ice Age predecessors? In what ways are the people in the novel like the Clovis people?
6. Dr. Hannah tells Eggers that "the past is a trap . . . we should only go there armed with shovels and torches" (p. 58). In what sense is Dr. Hannah's own personal past a trap? How might his personal history affect how he sees human history?
7. Why does Dr. Hannah feel such affection for his students, Eggers and Trudy? How does his relationship with them change and deepen over the course of the novel? What does he teach them?
8. Trudy suggests that Peabody's Hall of Man exhibit is "more about the Northern European male who created it than the culture he thought he was depicting" (p. 56). How have depictions of our evolutionary ancestors affected our sense of "natural" gender roles today? In what ways does Trudy defy these roles?
9. What is important about Dr. Hannah's relationships to the women in the novel-Janis, his mother, Trudy, and Yulia? What do his feelings about these women reveal about him?
10. As the novel ends, Dr. Hannah and his small group embark on a journey, one that would "shuttle us off this continent by the same route that had brought the Clovis, thus concluding humanity's twelve-thousand-year camp-out in North America. The trip wouldn't be so hard. We'd taught a thousand students how it went. It was a story we knew by heart" (p. 339). What ironies are involved in this reversal of the journey of the Clovis? What does he mean by saying that they knew the story by heart? What do you imagine might happen to these characters next?
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating 3.5
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Sort by: Showing all of 8 Customer Reviews
• Posted January 3, 2012
Read this book a few years and while i don't remember every detail i do remember reading it in two sittings.
I found the book fun and compelling and was entertained, which for me was why i wanted to read it in the first place!
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• Anonymous
Posted October 15, 2006
Worth The Bargain Price - But Not Full Price...
This book was a big disappointment. I wholeheartedly agree another reviewer that at least 1/3 of this book could have been edited out and it wouldn't have impacted the book a bit. Although the book moved along at a good pace, the main character's wallowing got tiring after a while. The best part of the book were the last 30-50 pages where it finally had a point.
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• Anonymous
Posted July 6, 2006
33% needs to be edited out
Listen, I think you need to hear me on this one. I feel pretty sure you will find youself skipping whole paragraphs, sometimes whole pages , KNOWING that you made the right decision. The sub plot-less bits about the abandonment by mother and father figures goes nowhere. I kept thinking it would all tidy up and come together near the end. No such luck! I kept getting the feeling that the reason the main charactor was so all alone in life was that the people who met him realized he was a one hit wonder who talked incessantly. Finishing the book, I wonder if Johnson doesn't suffer a similar fate. The lengths to which the professor goes on and on and on ,not only to himself but embarassingly in front of any crowd gathered, tears little bits and pieces of any concern the reader may have for him away. By the end, I sort of wished he would suffer at least some slapstick death or cosmic just desserts. Spending 200 pages droning on about the minutia of a wasted life in preparation for 50 pages on the end of civilization seems oddly off balance.
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• Anonymous
Posted September 24, 2003
Excellent book, with a lot of hilarious moments and some decent insights into life. All around very enjoyable, although it can be a little too heavy in places.
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• Anonymous
Posted August 29, 2003
Johnson Delivers
Johnson solidifies his reputation as one of America's hot young writers with this powerful follow up to last year's collection of short stories. This is a book that's got it all--surreal characters and situations, social commentary, dark humor, stunning poetic language, and profound wisdom about what it means to be human going into the next century.
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• Anonymous
Posted August 19, 2003
Powerful, Funny, MOving!
Wow, this book really blew me away. I thought it was just a silly farce at first -- lighthearted fun. But the ending is phenomenal and so real! I am recommending it to all my friends and I can't wait to ready anything else Johnson writes.
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• Anonymous
Posted October 25, 2008
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• Anonymous
Posted January 18, 2010
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