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The Dumbledore family, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such Mr Dumbledore was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache. Mrs Dumbledore was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours. The Dumbledores had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer The Dumbledores had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn’t think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs Potter was Mrs Dumbledore’s sister, but they hadn’t met for several years; in fact, Mrs Dumbledore pretended she didn’t have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDumbledoreish as it was possible to be. The Dumbledores shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dumbledores knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn’t want Dudley mixing with a child like that. When Mr and Mrs Dumbledore woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr Dumbledore hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work and Mrs Dumbledore gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair. None of them noticed a large tawny owl flutter past the window. At half past eight, Mr Dumbledore picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs Dumbledore on the cheek and tried to kiss Dudley goodbye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. ‘Little tyke,’ chortled Mr Dumbledore as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four’s It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar – a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr Dumbledore didn’t realise what he had seen – then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn’t a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr Dumbledore blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr Dumbledore drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive – no, looking at the sign; cats couldn’t read maps or signs. Mr Dumbledore gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove towards town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day. But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn’t help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. Mr Dumbledore couldn’t bear people who dressed in funny clothes – the get-ups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr Dumbledore was enraged to see that a couple of them weren’t young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr Dumbledore that this was probably some silly stunt – these people were obviously collecting for something ... yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on, and a few minutes later, Mr Dumbledore arrived in the Grunnings car park, his mind Mr Dumbledore always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn’t, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn’t see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr Dumbledore, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunch-time, when he thought he’d stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the baker’s He’d forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker’s. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn’t know why, but they made him uneasy. This lot were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn’t see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were ‘The Potters, that’s right, that’s what I heard –’ ‘– yes, their son, Harry –’ Mr Dumbledore stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone and had almost finished dialling his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking ... no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn’t such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn’t even sure his nephew was called Harry. He’d never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. There was no point in worrying Mrs Dumbledore, she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn’t blame her – if he’d had a sister like that ... but all the same, those people in cloaks ... He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon, and when he left the building at five o’clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door. ‘Sorry,’ he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr Dumbledore realised that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn’t seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passers-by stare: ‘Don’t be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy And the old man hugged Mr Dumbledore around the middle and Mr Dumbledore stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn’t approve of imagination. As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw – and it didn’t improve his mood – was the tabby cat he’d spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes. ‘Shoo!’ said Mr Dumbledore loudly. The cat didn’t move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behaviour, Mr Dumbledore wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife. Mrs Dumbledore had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs Next Door’s problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learnt a new word (‘Shan’t!’). Mr Dumbledore tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living-room in time to catch the last report on the evening news: ‘And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation’s owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern.’ The news reader allowed himself a grin. ‘Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of ‘Well, Ted,’ said the weatherman, ‘I don’t know about that, but it’s not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they’ve had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early – it’s not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight.’ Mr Dumbledore sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters ... Mrs Dumbledore came into the living-room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He’d have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. ‘Er – Petunia, dear – you haven’t heard from your sister lately, have you?’ As he had expected, Mrs Dumbledore looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn’t have a sister. ‘No,’ she said sharply. ‘Why?’ ‘Funny stuff on the news,’ Mr Dumbledore mumbled. ‘Owls ... shooting stars ... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in ‘Well, I just thought ... maybe ... it was something to do with ... you know ... her lot.’ Mrs Dumbledore sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr Dumbledore wondered whether he dared tell her he’d heard the name ‘Potter’. He decided he didn’t dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, ‘Their son – he’d be about Dudley’s age now, wouldn’t he?’ ‘I suppose so,’ said Mrs Dumbledore stiffly. ‘What’s his name again? Howard, isn’t it?’ ‘Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me.’ ‘Oh, yes,’ said Mr Dumbledore, his heart sinking horribly. ‘Yes, I He didn’t say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs Dumbledore was in the bathroom, Mr Dumbledore crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it was waiting for something. Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did ... if it got out that they were related to a pair of – well, he didn’t think he could bear it. The Dumbledores got into bed. Mrs Dumbledore fell asleep quickly but Mr Dumbledore lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs Dumbledore. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind ... He couldn’t see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on. He yawned and turned over. It couldn’t affect them ... How very wrong he was. Mr Dumbledore might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn’t so much as quiver when a car door slammed in the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all. A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you’d have thought he’d just popped out of the ground. The cat’s tail twitched and its eyes Nothing like this man had ever been seen in Privet Drive. He was tall, thin and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak which swept the ground and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man’s name was Albus Dumbledore. Albus Dumbledore didn’t seem to realise that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realise he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, ‘I He had found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again – the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left in the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs Dumbledore, they wouldn’t be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street towards number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn’t look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it. ‘Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall.’ He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled. ‘How did you know it was me?’ she asked. ‘My dear Professor, I’ve never seen a cat sit so stiffly.’ ‘You’d be stiff if you’d been sitting on a brick wall all day,’ said ‘All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here.’ ‘Oh yes, everyone’s celebrating, all right,’ she said impatiently. ‘You’d think they’d be a bit more careful, but no – even the Muggles have noticed something’s going on. It was on their news.’ She jerked her head back at the Dumbledores’ dark living-room window. ‘I heard it. Flocks of owls ... shooting stars ... Well, they’re not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent – I’ll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense.’ ‘You can’t blame them,’ said Dumbledore gently. ‘We’ve had precious little to celebrate for eleven years.’ ‘I know that,’ said Professor McGonagall irritably. ‘But that’s no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn’t, so she went on: ‘A fine thing it would be if, on the very day YouKnow-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?’ ‘It certainly seems so,’ said Dumbledore. ‘We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a sherbet lemon?’ ‘A sherbet lemon. They’re a kind of Muggle sweet I’m rather ‘No, thank you,’ said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn’t think this was the moment for sherbet lemons. ‘As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone –’ ‘My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this “You-Know-Who” nonsense – for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort.’ Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two sherbet lemons, seemed not to notice. ‘It all gets so confusing if we keep saying “YouKnow-Who”.’ I have never seen any reason to be frightened of ‘I know you haven’t,’ said Professor McGonagall, sounding halfexasperated, half-admiring. ‘But you’re different. Everyone knows you’re the only one You-Know – oh, all right, Voldemort – was ‘You flatter me,’ said Dumbledore calmly. ‘Voldemort had powers I will never have.’ ‘Only because you’re too – well – noble to use them.’ ‘It’s lucky it’s dark. I haven’t blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs.’ Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, ‘The owls are nothing to the rumours that are flying around. You know what everyone’s saying? About why he’s disappeared? About what finally stopped him?’ It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever ‘everyone’ was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another sherbet lemon and ‘What they’re saying,’ she pressed on, ‘is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric’s Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumour is that Lily and James Potter are – are – that they’re – Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped. ‘Lily and James ... I can’t believe it ... I didn’t want to believe it Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. ‘ |
tough nut to crack, but ultimately rewarding. Invariably I'd be disappointed in the sprightly colored cones fizzing out like a little kid's sparkler, but, hey, there're bound to be casualties in war.
When night fell, we grew more daring. Once I sat on the roof of our house shooting bottle-rockets out of a drain gutter at the bullies down the street. I tossed firecrackers at them (waiting 'til the fuse ran dangerously short; sometimes you'd get a fast sizzler, the ones to look out for). One particular psycho set off an M-80 in his backyard, shattering his parents' back windows. Fun! And the buzzbombs? Perhaps the most insidious of all fireworks. You never knew which way they'd take off and where they would explode, a hummingbird dive-bomber with rabies.
When all was said and done, the neighborhood looked like a war-torn battle-zone. Smoke drifted through the street like fog. Multiple explosions sounded far away, threatening yet comforting in an odd way. Tired kids would hobble home, content dopey grins on their faces. For some reason, the cops and parents left us alone even though fireworks were illegal in our neighborhood; different times.
Was it dangerous? Hell, yes, but a rite of passage back in those days. The true meaning of the Fourth of July. (Cue Charlie Brown and gang humming).
Happy Fourth of July, folks, and happy belated birthday to Canada, too. Be safe.
1. Sometimes I think it's a wonder boys survive their childhood and even make it into adulthood...though that last part's debatable too...
2. When I was a kid in Iowa, fireworks were illegal. Fortunately the neighbor kids had a dad who was willing to drive all the way to the Missouri border to buy the illegal ammo. Otherwise I would never have experienced been shot at with Roman candles.<|endoftext|>Tag Archives: Western Electric Company
4 November 1962, 06:30 GMT
The Nike Hercules was a long-range, high-altitude surface-to-air guided missile, designed and produced by Western Electric Company and the Douglas Aircraft Company. Douglas manufactured the missile at Charlotte, North Carolina. It was a two-stage missile with a cluster of four Hercules Powder Company M5E1 solid-fuel rocket engines as the boost stage.
The Nike Hercules had an overall length of 41 feet, 1.35 inches (12.531 meters). Its weight was 10,710 pounds (4,858 kilograms). The Hercules could reach an altitude of 100,000 feet (30,480 meters) and had a range of 90 miles (145 kilometers). The missile’s maximum speed was Mach 3.65.
The booster stage was 14 feet, 2.845 inches (4.339 meters) long and had a maximum diameter of 3 feet, 7.25 inches (1.099 meters). There were four stabilizing fins spaced at 90°. The fin span was 11 feet, 5.88 inches (3.502 meters). The leading edges were swept aft 24.23°. The booster stage produced 173,600 pounds of thrust (772.211 kilonewtons) and burned for 3.4 seconds.
Nike Hercules second stage.
The second stage was 26 feet, 10.500 inches (8.192 meters) long with a maximum diameter of 2 feet, 7.50 inches (0.800 meters). It had four triangular wings and four small “linealizer” fins, which were also spaced 90°. The maximum wing span was 7 feet, 4.00 inches (2.235 meters). The missile was powered by a Thiokol Chemical Corporation M30 solid-fuel rocket engine which produced 13,750 pounds of thrust (61.163 kilonewtons) and had a burn time of 29 seconds.
The Hercules could be armed with either a M17 high explosive fragmentation warhead or a 20–40 kiloton W-31 nuclear warhead. Although designed to attack jet aircraft, the Nike Hercules also successfully intercepted guided and ballistic missiles, and had a surface-to-surface capability.
© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes
Facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather<|endoftext|>and they told me that i had collapsed When the film moves past Fox to focus on the Turtles, the heroes in a half shell are undeniably impressive in ninja mode. Director n95 mask q10 Jonathan Liebesman ("Wrath of the Titans" and "Battle: Los Angeles") knows how to highlight ILM's performance capture technology, which makes the Turtles' movements so realistic. Liebesman lets the Turtles Leo (voiced by Johnny Knoxville but played by Pete Ploszek), n95 mask filters Donnie (Jeremy Howard), n95 mask and smoke protection Rapha (Alan Ritchson) and Mikey shine as they kick, jump and parry in various large scale action sequences.<|endoftext|>Bras, a complex garment made of many parts, were and remain the bare necessities to change and reshape the female body.
Overtime they have evolved into a fashion item. Changing social trends have increased the variety of available designs, and allowed manufacturers to make bras that are more fashionable than functional.
This year, Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio model the two fantasy bras in this year’s Victoria’s Secret catwalk show – worth a cool $2 million each.
The ornate lingerie sets took 1,380 hours to make and contain 16,000 gems each.
Today, bras have reached their peak… 2 million dollar bras is something worth to learn about if not dream to own.<|endoftext|>KXII - Fox - Home - Headlines
Asteroid buzzes, misses Earth _ unlike meteor
By: MARCIA DUNNm, AP Aerospace Writer
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - The world is safe - at least from one asteroid.
A 150-foot cosmic rock hurtled safely past Earth on Friday.
It was the closest known flyby for a rock of its size, passing within 17,000 miles. That's closer than some satellites.
The flyby occurred just hours after a much smaller meteor exploded above Russia's Ural Mountains.
Astronomers say the two events were coincidental, and the objects were traveling in opposite directions. At least one scientist called it an exciting day and "like a shooting gallery here."
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User Agent: CCBot/2.0 - 191437911<|endoftext|>Dark Roasted Oolong
Dark Roasted Oolong
Every year a portion of the Tung Ting harvest is kept to one side and roasted at a higher temperature than other Taiwanese Oolongs. This process darkens the Oolong tea and creates a rich, smooth and aromatic brew.
Tung Ting from the Nantou province produces a mild tea perfect for a heavier roast. This roasting slowly caramelizes the sugar naturally present in the tea, giving it a sweet taste.
Add To Cart
Nantou Region, Taiwan
Tasting notes
Toasted bread, honey, caramel and brown sugar flavours
Caffeine Level
Blends well with milk, citrus, peach and tropical fruits.
Brewing temperature<|endoftext|>1Wisdom builds her house,
but Folly tears hers down with her own hands.#The relationship between Wisdom, personified as a woman, and building a house is a constant theme. As elsewhere, the book here warns against the wrong woman and praises the right woman.
2Those who walk uprightly fear the Lord,
but those who are devious in their ways spurn him.
3In the mouth of the fool is a rod for pride,
but the lips of the wise preserve them.
4Where there are no oxen, the crib is clean;
but abundant crops come through the strength of the bull.#If one has no animals, one does not have the burden of keeping the crib full, but without them one will have no crops to fill the barn. Colon B reverses the sense of colon A and also reverses the consonants of bar (“clean”) to rab (“abundant”).
5A trustworthy witness does not lie,
but one who spouts lies makes a lying witness.#On discerning the truthfulness of witnesses; see 12:17. #a. [14:5] Prv 12:17.
6The scoffer seeks wisdom in vain,
but knowledge is easy for the intelligent.
7Go from the face of the fool;
you get no knowledge from such lips.
8The wisdom of the shrewd enlightens their way,
but the folly of fools is deceit.#Wisdom enables the shrewd to know their path is right but folly leads fools on the wrong path (“deceit”), which calls down retribution.
9The wicked scorn a guilt offering,
but the upright find acceptance.
10The heart knows its own bitterness,
11The house of the wicked will be destroyed,
but the tent of the upright will flourish.#The traditional fixed pair “house” and “tent” is used to express the paradox that a house can be less secure than a tent if there is no justice. #b. [14:11] Prv 3:33; 12:7; 15:25.
12Sometimes a way seems right,
but the end of it leads to death!#c. [14:12] Prv 16:25.
13Even in laughter the heart may be sad,
and the end of joy may be sorrow.
14From their own ways turncoats are sated,
from their own actions, the loyal.
15The naive believe everything,
but the shrewd watch their steps.#The naive gullibly rely on others’ words whereas the shrewd watch their own steps.
16The wise person is cautious and turns from evil;
the fool is reckless and gets embroiled.
17The quick-tempered make fools of themselves,
and schemers are hated.
18The simple have folly as an adornment,
but the shrewd wear knowledge as a crown.#The inner quality of a person, simple or wise, will eventually be revealed.
19The malicious bow down before the good,
and the wicked, at the gates of the just.
20Even by their neighbors the poor are despised,
but a rich person’s friends are many.#d. [14:20] Prv 19:4, 7; Sir 6:8, 12.
21Whoever despises the hungry comes up short,
but happy the one who is kind to the poor!#The paradox is that anyone who spurns the hungry will lack something, but anyone who shows mercy (presumably by giving to the poor) will gain prosperity.
22Do not those who plan evil go astray?
But those who plan good win steadfast loyalty.
23In all labor there is profit,
but mere talk tends only to loss.
24The crown of the wise is wealth;
the diadem of fools is folly.
25The truthful witness saves lives,
but whoever utters lies is a betrayer.
26The fear of the Lord is a strong defense,
a refuge even for one’s children.
27The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,
turning one from the snares of death.
28A multitude of subjects is the glory of the king;
but if his people are few, a prince is ruined.
29Long-suffering results in great wisdom;
a short temper raises folly high.#A series of puns on short and long; lit., “long of nostrils (idiom for “patient”), large in wisdom, / short in breath (idiom for “impatient”), makes folly tall.” #e. [14:29] Prv 16:32; 19:11; Jas 1:19.
30A tranquil mind gives life to the body,
but jealousy rots the bones.
31Those who oppress the poor revile their Maker,
but those who are kind to the needy honor him.#f. [14:31] Prv 17:5.
32The wicked are overthrown by their wickedness,
but the just find a refuge in their integrity.
33Wisdom can remain silent in the discerning heart,
but among fools she must make herself known.#Wisdom can remain silent in a wise person as a welcome friend. But it must speak out among fools, for the dissonance is so strong. #g. [14:33] Prv 1:22; 8:1.
34Justice exalts a nation,
35The king favors the skillful servant,
but the shameless one incurs his wrath.<|endoftext|>Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Cloth Diapering twins,
Cloth diapering is going great. The boys are now in cloth 95% of the time and pretty much 24 hours a day. Now that I'm familiar with the process, the routine, and how they work I feel much more confident and its getting easier by the day. If I get behind on diaper laundry I often times have to put them in disposables while I'm doing diaper laundry, and sometimes Derrick just gets a bit lazy and puts them in disposables for no good reason at all. I always have to make sure I have some aplix (velcro) covers ready or he'll resort right to a disposable diaper instead of cloth.
Recently we started to experience our first bout of leaking. Of course all diapers leak around the legs and top if you leave them on too long, but mine were starting to act like they were no longer water proof. The inserts/liners themselves wouldn't be all that wet, but their clothes definitely were as well as the outside of the diaper itself. I ran them in the rinse cycle like 5 times then I threw them in the dryer a couple times and they seem to be better. I now have a separate wet bag where I put any leaky diapers so I can treat them as needed.
For the first time this morning, both boys experienced a cloth diaper poo-splosion. They hadn't gone in a few days so I sort of expected it. It wasn't too bad though, the diapers contained the poo pretty well considering how much there was! The only other time I had a poo leak was when Derrick put a pocket on Sawyer that wasn't put on right (user error). I'd say we're pretty successful since we haven't had leaks and poo-splosions the entire 2 1/2 months we've been doing cloth! We had them all the time when using disposables - that first month while they were in sposies I scrubbed at least one outfit a day because the diaper couldn't contain the poo.
We have a pretty wide variety of diapers at this point. We've definitely figured out which are our favorites and which we leave as a last resort. Derrick doesn't care about brand/style as long as its velcro. He struggles with snaps on their outfits but struggles worse when trying to figure out the snaps on our diapers. If he's attempted a diaper with snaps, I often have to fix it up for him because the snaps seem to confuse him. I have a preference to certain brands, mostly based on the fit each one gives us. I love my Alva pockets. Even thought the fit isn't that great for our boys, they have never had any problems, leaks or blow outs until they started leaking recently - which I fixed. I am in LOVE with my Flips covers. In fact, I've bought a few more used on some Buy, Sell, Trade groups. They are always the first in my stash to be used. I also love our Swaddlebees Basix pocket diapers, I love that they have very little bulk (the side snaps take away from the bulk around the tummy), they are AIOs (so the insert is attached making laundry super easy) and I've never had any leaks or anything with them. I'm just a little sad that these are not One Size diapers so the boys will be growing out of them in no time.
I was doing diaper laundry last night, sitting on the couch stuffing pockets, when Derrick gives me a goofy look. "How annoying, it's a good thing those are saving us a lot of money for all the time you put into them." My response was simple, and true. "Diaper laundry makes me feel proud, glad that I am doing something to better our environment, save us money and keep the boys' butt's healthier... Plus, stuffing pockets is much like folding socks for me - therapeutic. It's easy brainless activity that calms me." Weird I know.
How we do things:
This is spotlighting what is in my rotation right now. I also have a drawer of diapers in their bedroom that are not in my current rotation.
Stash Storage. The basket on top holds
burp rags and other Misc baby items.
The diapers outside the container are
all the ones they've already grown out of!
I haven't invested in some garbage cans for my bags yet, so for now
my wet bags hang here. The big one is for
all diapers/liners, the small one is for leakers.
When I need to wash (about every other day), I take the bags and dump them into my washer, then the bag goes in empty with the diapers. Rinse on cold, wash on hot using Tide Original (powder), then rinse 2x.
Night time
I also have a small stash of liners and 2 extra covers I keep in my night stand for overnight changes. And, I hang a small wet bag from our door handle for those overnight diapers/liners.
After washing, all covers/pockets get hung on this tension rod
I hung in our laundry room (usually over night)
The liners/inserts get put in the dryer.
All the bags get hung to dry on these
hooks in our laundry room.
Now that our diapers are clean....
top drawer is doublers and wipe solutions,
2nd drawer is all inserts/liners for covers,
Next drawer is covers,
Bottom Drawer is all Pocket Diapers,
Top Drawer - doublers, bamboo inserts, extra wipes
wipe solution and CJs BUTTer
2nd drawer - All inserts for covers. Some Flips, Flip doublers,
Swaddlebees liners, prefolds and Snappis.
3rd drawer - covers, left side is velcro,
Right side is Snaps.
Orange is Thirsties, Giraffes are Swaddlebees,
Bottom 7 are all Flips.
On the right: top 3 are Rump A Roos,
Blue and green are Kissaluvs, monkeys are Swaddlebees,
Yellow is Flips, I have 2 more Flips with Snaps.
(2 Rump a Roos are in our room for night time changes)
The two missing Flip covers from my other stash shots
Bottom Drawer: Top left 4 are Swaddlebees Basix,
Bottom 4 are Swaddlebees Simplex,
Right side are my 12 Alvas,
Middle holds my extra inserts,
top 2 diapers are Fuzzibunz, green is Thirsties and
the polka dots is Blissful Booties.
Full Stash Shot.
We have a system going, its working. Derrick is finally |
happens, and you die being mugged by some other fucking hippie-bum on the streets, nobody will miss you.
Rot in Hell, Hippie!
26. amber waves of weed Says:
You must have been “informed” that you caught cancer from all the DU we like to use over there. I feel sorry for your kids.
27. HL Says:
Hey In_Iraq, and Well-Informed Says
Sounds to me like Don proves his point every time you open your mouth,
You just want to kill him? why? because he disagrees with you.
He calls you a mindless killer,
Your response? you want to kill him.
Looks like Don is right on the money about you Killer.
28. In_Iraq, and Well-Informed Says:
Well, you finally decided to join us here.
I am not interested in what anything sounds like to you. I can see what things “sound” like to you from reading other posts on this site.
No, I do not wish to kill him. However, I would not shed a tear if he was snuffed out by the people whose opinions match exactly to his (and yours). But first, you both must learn Arabic, of the Iraqi dialect. Upon completion, hop on a plane, pussies. Put your ass where your mouth is.
I doubt Don has been right on anything except the color of his pot. He is certainly not correct in this matter.
And you are both wrong: I am anything but mindless.
Have a nice night, libs. Sleep tight.
29. HL Says:
Yeah yeah yeah, I’ve been dealing with your kind on this site for 3 years now and am not about to go through it all again. You can read all about in the other posts where I point out the ridiculousness of everything you guys say.
Yeah I’ll sleep tight knowing that your big bad ass is protecting me from the Evil Iraqi’s that want to come over here and kill me. Thank You.
30. In_Iraq, and Well-Informed Says:
The thought that you presume to know my kind amuses me. Unfortunately the rest of the US must deal with your kind. If there were a few less liberals, the rest of the country might be able to keep more of their hard-earned money inside their own families instead of losers and illegals on welfare.
No, HL. You have me mistaken. I would not protect you from anyone. It’s just too bad that I have to live in the same area that you do. Besides, as previously stated, I am a contractor, not in the military anymore. I no longer conduct offensive operations. Then again, no liberal would ever truly understand the difference between offensive and defensive actions in the middle east. So, in English: I no longer actively pursue those extremists. I am now in strictly defensive operations.
So, having robbed you from your comfort in sleep, it will be even worse when I tell you that I will eventually leave this place and not be here to “protect”(LMFAO, Yeah Right!!) you. Oh, but as long as nothing happens in the Left Coast, you won’t care what happens anywhere else. You are not welcome.
31. Don Says:
In Iraq and please stay there. We obviously need a longer war to eliminate a few more military types from this world. So lets fight a little longer until we have successfully thinned the heard. I would love for one right wing ass to have one actual fact or specific idea…not holding my breath…LOL!
They come here because the right wing bloggers won’t even listen to the ignorant hatred these scum spew forth.
32. dan Says:
Don, please do not compare yourself to Jesus, talk ill of our veterans, degrade our military, profess to have a clue about our energy situation, or claim to be an American.
33. In_Iraq, and Well-Informed Says:
Here’s a fact for you Don: if you get your wish, there will be nobody to guard the country. Here’s a specific idea for you: smoke some more. I fervently hope your pot makes you happy. Nothing else will, it seems. You obviously had a successful life, resorting to weed to help you cope.
Good luck in your endeavors. I will be interested to see if you can post something here without being high.<|endoftext|>This is me, Eccles
This is me, Eccles
This is me, Eccles
Sunday, 25 June 2017
Vicious attacks made on Sarah
Holy Land, about 2000 BC,
Faithful Catholics, who do their best to respect Pope Abraham, have been shocked by the persistent attacks on his wife Sarah from various ultra-liberal writers such as Christopher Goat of the Stone Tablet, Robert Mickheap the manure-dealer, Massimo Bean, Mike-and-Bernie Winters, etc. who find that she has this distressing habit of taking God's teaching seriously.
Abraham and Sarah
Pope Abraham and Cardinal Sarah.
Sarah herself has maintained a dignified silence in the face of abuse, which has even come from well-known clergy, such as Kasper the Jester ("She's a bit, er, African, isn't she?" he says) and Fr James Lot SJ, who has been attempting to build bridges with the LGBT community in the Cities of the Plain (supported by his wife Rosica the "Pillar of Salt" broadcaster), although the last bridge fell into a lake of fire.
Of course Pope Abraham's own ministry has not been uncontroversial. Some have accused him of trying to change Church teaching on infanticide, after a mysterious incident involving his son Isaac at Moria, and the subsequence apostolic exhortation A Moria Sacrificia. Indeed, the situation has become so bad that Abraham has refused to answer all dubia asking him to explain what on earth he means.
Pope Francis answers letter
Cardinal Burke, have you tried submitting your dubia using a six-year-old sockpuppet? You might get a reply that way.
Of course, some say that Abraham is merely following Sarah's advice to "remain silent", and it is rumoured that they have not spoken to each other for 93 years.
The real fear of Sarah's critics is that she will survive Abraham, and take over as Matriarch: the "Mesopotamian Mafia" are hoping to elect someone more liberal such as Isaac, who is not expected to take church teaching very seriously.
Pope as Superman
Some mockers have portrayed Abraham as a cartoon character such as Superman, Scooby Doo or Popeye.
Saturday, 17 June 2017
Fr James Martin answers your questions
Dear Fr Martin. I understand that you are a Bridge expert?
Jim: Yes, my son!
Fr Jim and heretical book
In his new book Fr Jim argues that the LGBT Church must accept Catholics.
Well, answer me this then. The bidding at a game in my seminary went as follows:
North-South vulnerable, East-West predatory.
2 Hearts
I'd like to make a pass.
I am if you are.
West has no honour, so how should he bid?
card players
Playing the Jesuit convention: make up the rules as you go along.
Jim: NO TRUMP! NO TRUMP! NO TRUMP! Oh how we hate him!
I have a very simple question, Fr Jim. Is there anything at all that you consider sinful?
Actually, sin is never mentioned in the Bible, so who am I to say that anything is wrong? Still, I do get cross when Fr Thomas Reese steals the last fairy cake, or whenever someone calls me a heretic. Don't they realise that I am now a very important adviser to Pope Francis?
Tay Bridge
Beautiful Bridge so proudly gay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That thousands of souls have been led astray
By that wretched book on building a bridge,
The Catholic way, including, er, um, bondage.
William McGonagall SJ.
Let's forget all this bridge nonsense for a moment, Fr Jim. Could you explain again your theory that Mary Magdalene was the first bishop? It always brings me out in giggles...
Thursday, 15 June 2017
How to be a Christian and a politician at the same time
Many readers have written to me along the following lines:
Dear Eccles, I have been selected as prospective Conservative/Labour/Liberal Democrat/Buckethead candidate for East Cheam (or it may be Walmington-on-Sea), but I am worried that my religious views will make it impossible for me to succeed. Strangely enough, I am one of those Christians who basically believe in God, Christ, Sin, Redemption, etc. Can you advise me?
This is tricky, but I will try and explain what you must do. Well, you could become a DUP MP, where religious principles are actively encouraged, but this may not be possible in an English region such as Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh. So another strategy is required.
Tim Farron
Tim Farron MP takes part in a charismatic service.
I also get letters from Muslims saying that they want to be Mayor of London but happen to believe in killing the infidels in order to end up with 72 virgins in Paradise. I explain to them that this is not a problem, as nobody will dare question them on the details of their faith. If they happen to take the Koran seriously then the BBC, Guardian, and other left-wing media will simply congratulate themselves on their tolerance of diversity.
So, how should the ambitious Christian proceed? Well, take someone like Theresa May or Michael Gove as your model. Support same-sex marriage, don't stick your neck out on pro-life issues, and remember that ONE DAY, PRACTISING CHRISTIANITY WILL BE ILLEGAL AGAIN, AND YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE A STRONG NOT-GUILTY PLEA.
Theresa May
"Only joking, folks!" Theresa May pretends to be a Christian.
Of course you will be asked by religious experts such as little Owen Jones of the Guardian, "But you're a Christian. Didn't God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible? Doesn't that mean you want to burn all gays?" Or maybe "You're a Christian, aren't you? You don't like dismembering babies? What kind of monster are you, denying a woman's right to choose!"
Luckily, we have the modern Catholic Church as our model here. Fr James Martin LGBTSJ is our teacher on matters of homosexuality, and we now know from this great man that the rainbow brigade are above criticism, and should be allowed to do whatever they want, with whomever they want, whenever they want, without any comments being made. If you have not brought up your kid to be a transgendered gay activist with an interest in bondage and doing naughty things with geese (any Jesuit college can provide details) by the age of 8, then YOU ARE A BIGOT.
Hey, I've just received an invitation from Fr James Martin!
Likewise, Pope Francis in his unparalleled wisdom has appointed "philosopher" Nigel Biggar - who doesn't think that babies are human - to the Pontifical Academy for Life. (Sorry, this is often a satirical blog, but that appears to be a FACT.) The remaining members of the PAL are not yet finalized, but we expect that Peter Sutcliffe the Yorkshire Ripper and Gerry Adams of the IRA will become influential members.
"Help! It's someone from the Pontifical Academy for Life!"
Which brings us neatly back to politics. Good luck with your career, and, if you are asked about your beliefs, give a light laugh and say "Oh, we don't worry too much about moral issues in the modern church!" It's the only way you'll succeed.
Monday, 12 June 2017
Pope Francis approves electronic tagging for clergy
As reported by Rorate Caeli, the Vatican is taking steps to keep its cardinals under control; if one of them is absent from Rome he is asked to let the Secretariat know where he is.
map of Kent
Sensors indicate that Cardinal Burke is hiding somewhere round here.
In phase 2, it is planned to extend this to all clergy, with the introduction of electronic tagging using the TAGLETM: this is a white collar worn round the neck, and if you see any priests so dressed, you can be sure that they are already under surveillance.
The Vatican's main computer AMORIS (Analytical Machine for Organizing Radically Innovative Services) will process the data transmitted by priests and bishops worldwide, and flag up any signs of "rigid" practice. For example, the tag will be able to detect whether the priest is facing east for an extended period of time, and warn the Pope that an Extraordinary Form Mass may be taking place. In addition, a smoke detector fitted to the tag will record the excessive use of incense.
EF Mass
A rigid priest. No chance of promotion if this gets out!
Priests who wish their masses to find favour with the Pope are recommended to move around a lot, perhaps in some form of liturgical dance, as the tag will detect this and transmit a signal saying "It's OK, this priest is one of us". Also the tag will detect (and approve) the use of hymns with particularly banal rhythms and harmony, especially those containing clapping and words such as "Ch-ch". On the other hand, sounds of Gregorian chant will set off a persistent high-pitched whistling from the tag. You have been warned, Father.
Fr Rosica
"Nothing can block the signal!" A model shows off the Rosica version.
Saturday, 10 June 2017
The Book of Brexodus, Chapter 10
Continued from Chapter 9
1. So Maysis took the advice of the prophets Comres, Mori and Yougov, and called an election, that she might defeat Jeremiah of the Corbynites and finally lead the children of Bri-tain out of the land of EU-gypt.
May and Buckethead
Maysis seeketh advice from the Lord of Bucket-head.
2. For her counsellors had spoken unto her, saying, "Thou art a ghastly old trout, but surely Jeremiah is even worse?"
3. "For he hath friends among such as Gerald of the Adamites, who slay the widow and the orphan; not to mention many other Terrorites."
4. "Go forth and win. Thou canst not do worse than Cam-aaron, he who is now gone to a better place. Or at least, one that pays better."
Corbyn and marrow
Jeremiah goeth out to meet the Maronites.
5. So Maysis wrote an epistle, that is called Manifesto, in which she promised to be Strong and Stable.
6. Although she later changed her mind, especially when she sought to raise taxes upon the old and demented,
7. And Jeremiah wrote his own epistle, in which he promised wondrous gifts to the Many and not the Few.
8. At which the Few were exceeding wrathful, as they would have to pay for them, if anyone ever did.
9. Moreover, Jeremiah was aided by an abbot called Diane, known for her skill with numbers, who explained that she would appoint seventy-six million policemen to protect the children of Bri-tain.
10. That is, everyone in Bri-tain would henceforth be a policeman, and Diane would import a few million more from the land of I-sis to make up the numbers.
And the people of Bri-tain spake, saying, "Ave, ave, ave, what is all this, then?"
11. We need not speak long of other famous men, such as Farron of the Libdemites, he who abandoned his faith on learning that that following the Lord's commandments was a vote-loser.
12. Nor on the fate of the Ukipites, who had spoken for many years saying "We must leave EU-gypt."
13. For the reply came, "Yes, the 50th article is already triggered, and now all we need to know is, who shall go forth to drink the Pharaoh Juncker under the table?"
Farage and Juncker
There cometh the only man who can drink more than Juncker.
14. At last the big day came, and the children of Bri-tain voted, saying "Alas, we hate the lot of you."
15. So Maysis, she who was hated slightly less than Jeremiah, remained as the leader.
16. But she spake sweet words unto the Dupites of Ire-land, saying, "Cleave unto me, for surely ye must hate Jeremiah and his Terrorite friends." And it was so.
17. And all the Corbynites spake out with one voice. saying, "But the Dupites hate Catholics!" And the reply came back, "Well, so do you!"
No popery
A Dupite banner (on loan from Cardinal Burke).
18. And the Corbynites spake out again, saying, "Yet the Dupites love not the marriage that is gay!" And the reply came back, "Neither do thy friends the Muslimites!"
19. At this the Corbynites despaired, saying, "The people have spoken, but they have not yet demonstrated in the streets, so the result is invalid."
20. And still the clock ticked on, towards the day when May-sis must send people forth to drink with Juncker.
Continued in Chapter 11.
Friday, 9 June 2017
Is sin objectively disordered or just differently ordered?
Is bonkers heretic ought Martin laicised who James SJ completely a be to!
At first sight that sentence doesn't make much sense, and some old-fashioned readers might even say that it was out of order - disordered, even. But no, according to modern Catholic thinking it is merely differently ordered, and that is just as good!
James Martin SJ
Haterf Mesaj Irantm JS (a man in Holy Disorders).
We don't talk about Good and Evil, or Sin, any more. In the New Jesuit Bible "The wages of sin is death" becomes "The wages of being differently ordered is a nice job in Rome." Likewise, "Deliver us from evil" becomes "Let us be accepted as differently ordered."
We all love Fr James Martin LBGTSJ, the Pope's special adviser on comedy, morality, and theology; writer of as many books as Dan Brown (although they are not as spiritually nourishing, I'm afraid). We are grateful to sunny Jim for changing the vocabulary of modern religion.
untidy room
We don't say "Tidy your room," we say "How nice, it's differently ordered."
Let's have some more wisdom from the New Jesuit Bible. Job's "God has turned me over to the ungodly and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked" is certainly not merciful, indeed it is disgustingly judgemental. It now becomes "God has introduced me to some rather charming Jesuits, who are teaching me a differently ordered lifestyle."
One final example from the Book of Proverbs: "A false witness will not go unpunished, and whoever pours out lies will perish." Fr James and his team find this passage particularly offensive, and have rendered it as "There is no such thing as objective truth, merely a differently ordered presentation of the facts. This is perfectly fine with us."
A |
: a ridiculous number of bottles over $120, probably the majority of the list over $80, far too few bottles under $60, only a handful under $40. Clearly, it was compiled to serve the far-more-ambitious original upstairs fine-dining concept, which didn't fly and has been scaled back to a few "After Five" dishes and a table d'hote menu served on both floors. (There's also a hefty roster of high-end booze, like 21-year-old single malts at $30/pour, also presumably assembled for the horribly mistimed luxe upstairs concept.)
I'd love to see a more sensible wine list assembled to suit the cafe menu, something along the lines of what Deborah Hansen did at Coda. Silvertone and the Franklin Cafes have shown how attractively this can be done, too. It's annoying to only have a handful of by-the-glass options to go with under-$20 entrees.
2. re: MC Slim JB
My theory is that valet parking is really hurting the downtown spots. Who wants to pay $20 just for the privilege of spending more on an expensive dinner. South End and suburban neighborhood restaurants are faring better.
1. re: almansa
On the other hand, there are plenty of us who take the T and Marliave is just a block or two from Park Street.
3. re: fmcoxe6188
Have to disagree, bar hopped a couple of times both in the South End and downtown hitting some of the high end and other places and attendance was LOW everywhere on numerous nights. Places like Silvertone being the one exception.
2. I have a special place in my heart for Marliave. This does not sound good. I went for lunch on a Friday and same thing. Not a whole lot of patrons. I don't want to see this place close, again.
my blog: http://thegeminiweb.com
1. They definitely need to upgrade their drink making corps. A friend asked for a sazerac once and the bartender that night almost poured him a shot of the Sazerac-branded rye. Luckily, we were able to stop him before that happened and straighten that out.
Another issue that I see happening a lot are the bartenders making classic drinks like the sazerac, shaken instead of stirred. A sazerac with a 1" head of foam is just not pleasant.
10 Replies
1. re: avial
Had the same problem when a weekend bartender had never heard of a Ward Eight. I think Marliave actually sits in Ward 8.
1. re: Bob Dobalina
Yep, very hit or miss. My gross observation: the girls are skilled, the boys not so much.
1. re: MC Slim JB
They should do an exchange program with Deep Ellum.
1. re: the modern serf
Deep Ellum does seem to have a glut of female bartenders. I have not seen the guy from B-Side at Marliave for a quite some time, maybe not since last year even.
2. re: avial
was at the new sel de la terre on wednesday. they pre-make their negronis in batches, "because they're so hard to make." bartender also was clueless about the wines by the glass.
no rush to head back there, as much as i enjoy the waterfront location.
1. re: hotoynoodle
Endlessly amazing to me how such a simple drink as the Negroni -- equal parts of three ingredients -- is so endlessly screwed up around here. We're not asking you to make the original Don the Beachcomber Zombie Punch, people! It's child's play!
1. re: MC Slim JB
and ya know, it's not like they position themselves as a kids' bar and i was asking for something esoteric. i didn't *say* anything, but i knew my face had the look of "are you f****ing kidding me?"
1. re: MC Slim JB
Equally lame at the Mandarin Oriental bar... bartender had to look it up, then still proceeded to make it wrong. It's like they don't trust that it could possibly be as simple as it is.
2. I went to Marliave for my first time a couple of weeks ago. The oysters were great, but the room was completely empty on a Friday night at 8:30 There were 8 people at the bar and not one table in the dining room (although I didn't go all the way upstairs). The room looked great, the menu was very reasonable and the bartender was very friendly. I hope they stick around for a while so I can try it out for a real dinner.
1. This is worrisome, as I really love Marliave.
I have to agree on two points: The place is never packed and the cocktails are just okay.
I do love the food, though. Some items are better than others, but all of their sandwiches and many of the dinner options are excellent. The Mrs Marliave (a croque madame) is excellent. As is the pulled pork sandwich, which is no longer on the menu. For dinner, the yankee pot roast and monday night gnocchi are both excellent.
Bummer. I hope they make it.
1. My only visit was during RW but the service was unforgivably awful and the food less than impressive.
The horrible service in a much less than less than full restaurant suggested to me some serious problems, unfortunately.
Sad, as I'd love that space and those folks to make it.
1. Umm, when do the front doors to the 150-unit luxury condo tower that is 15' from Marliave open? I would imagine they would at least hold out for the new neighbors.....
4 Replies
1. re: pierce
I think a better question is how many of the condos have sold?
1. re: almansa
I don't think they're selling well at all.
OT but maybe of interest...both Chacarero and LaGrassa's have mentioned to me they may add Sat hours if the building opens and has decent occupancy. Make it easier for the non downtowners to try these places.
1. re: 9lives
Yeoch. Gotta think a bunch of those places, even with all the restaurants, etc. in the SE are also selling kinda slow.
2. I work in the area, and always end up at silvertone for an after work drink over marliave though I am not sure why.
4 Replies
1. re: cassoulady
Because Slivertone has a lively atmosphere and Marliave feels ghostly?
I love the rarebits at Marliave, and the tiny raw bar is a fun place to spend a few hours, but it feels cold to me and I *never* think of it when I'm in the area.
1. re: yumyum
That's funny, I always think the opposite when I'm in the area because Silvertone usually feels a bit too crowded and loud for a decent conversation. Is it fair to say I hope the Marliave catches on a bit, but not *that* much?
1. re: moglia
A restaurateur's dream - catch on but not too much.
2. re: yumyum
I think you may be right yumyum, after work I am often just with drinkers not eaters and silvertone fits the bill.
2. I'd really love to see them make the first floor more of a lounge/bar. They should open up the tables for drinks only if people want. One thing that holds me back when I consider going is that if I want to go there with a group larger than 3, I worry that we'll have an issue finding seats all together at either the upstairs or downstairs bar (not to mention that it's awkward to talk to people when sitting at a long bar).
1. I was just told by a friend that they put in a little patisserie downstairs and now have some al fresco seating too.
11 Replies
1. re: StriperGuy
Yes, I just heard from the horse's mouth, Scott Herritt, that their outdoor seating opened yesterday, along with their patisserie, which will turn into their oyster bar after 5 PM.
1. re: CreativeFoodie42
I can confirm- was there last night. Out door seating was cute-though will be right next door to the out door seating for whatever new restaurant goes into the condo complex.
Oyster bar was open in the bottom level.
1. re: fmcoxe6188
Thanks for the report, fmcoxe6188. Definitely will check that out.
I guess the paving I saw them doing of the street was for the outdoors section. I bet its nice.
Still amazed, though, at the number of variations and rooms in a single joint: downstairs, upstairs, two bars, raw bar, and now a patisserie and an outdoors area.
1. re: rlove
They do have a lot going on there. I sat downstairs last night- in the Patisserie because the bar was crowded, and the upstairs was closed for a private party. The poor bartender downstairs didnt have a bar downstairs, so had to keep running upstairs to get us drinks. But the full menu and bar is available down in the patisserie after 5. Strange set up though.
I will say- our bartender was extremely nice, and well informed. I neglected to get his name. And it was good to see Scott Herritt fully involved- he delivered both of our appetizer items and I saw him playing host as well.
1. re: rlove
Actually, I walked by there today --the outdoor patio section isn't on the street, but on the upper level where you walk into the main entrance. Looked nice, esp since it wasn't right on street level.
1. re: twentyoystahs
I walked by tonight too and I thought the outdoor seating looked very nice...screened off with some plants.
Btw, anyone remember "Hank's ye old Province Pub??" Looks like they are getting a facelift.
2. re: rlove
Plus, the upstairs contains two rooms. So that's four rooms (plus a patio), which house two bars, a raw bar, and a patisserie, on three floors. That is a lot going on.
I like the upstairs rooms a lot. I think they're warm and charming--not cold at all. The tables are well-spaced, which might make it feel less cozy than Grotto, but eating elbow to elbow isn't the kind of cozy I like. The food I had on my one visit was very good, but I'd love to see the cocktails taken up a notch or two. I'd be happy if they brought the bellini over from Grotto for starters.
1. re: pollystyrene
Maybe I need to check out the "up" upstairs room. I thought the mid-level one (above the bottom bar but below the top dining room) was sort of cold but that may have b/c there was hardly anyone else in there on a sat night and our voices were echoing off the walls ;)
3. re: fmcoxe6188
That alley is going to be hopping once the companion restaurant goes in! Wow.
1. re: Bob Dobalina
Yeah it is!! Does anyone know what the new restaurant will be? The condos look gorgeous....
2. I just heard that they're doing $1 oysters on weekends; wish I'd known that before I went out tonight.
1 Reply
1. re: MC Slim JB
It runs Tuesday - Saturday from 10pm to 12:30pm or close depending on the night I think.
2. I've been there a couple of times - i've always enjoyed my dinner but the cocktails have been kind of underwhelming. The thing that really gets me, though, is their location -- the geographic center of downtown boston, but their front door is next to a grease Dumpster.
1. So I was in that area on Friday night, around 7pm and decided to give it a try. The downstairs cafe area was about half full with diners, but the bar was full. Service was very friendly and knowledgeable. I didn't take a look upstairs to see what was doing, so I don't know how crowded that was.
I can tell you that we had an excellent meal and we were very happy with the quality of the food and the price/value ratio.
My husband had the Foie Gras appetizer and I had the mussels appetizer, and we both had the Gnocchi with Sunday Gravy for an entree. The mussels were a nice portion, maybe 15 large plump ones, in a delicious garlicky tomato and wine broth. The Foie Gras was delicious. Two nice rounds of very succulent, melt-in-your-mouth rich goodness.
The Gnocchi were outstanding. They were big and light and very tasty. Served in a lovely "gravy" with big chunks of lamb and beef which were stewed in tomato/wine sauce. It was a large portion, too, but not obscenely washtub-large. However, we were certainly too full for any dessert.
The bill for the two of us, with one beer, came to $55.00. I thought that was quite reasonable. Overall, we will definitely come back, as it's nice to have a good place to eat in that area, which needs dining choices desperately.
10 Replies
1. re: mwk
I think/hope that if Marliave just turns itself int Grotto+ they might just make it.
Grotto is not alta cucina italiana, thought sometimes it does achieve those heights, but I am just mad for it's homey charm. If they can just warm up Marliave, upstairs and down a tad and keep 'em coming, they might just make it.
1. re: StriperGuy
I don't get it. I've eaten in both Grotto and the Marliave and thought both were barely mediocre.
1. re: StriperGuy
I don't understand what's insufficiently warm and cozy about Marliave. The bar is a gorgeous room that always feels really comfortable to me.
1. re: BarmyFotheringayPhipps
I find the white room of the bar area a bit stark. Particularly when it is only 30% full. Honestly feels a bit institutional to me. Grotto on the other hand is so warm and cozy. I walk down those stairs and just go aaaah.
1. re: StriperGuy
I agree. The whiteness of the room makes it feel like a bathroom, sorta.
No way it's cozy, IMO.
Grotto is "cozy" in a overcrowded basement kinda way.
1. re: C. Hamster
Too funny, cause I almost said "bathroom like" but edited my post after the fact to be kind.
1. re: C. Hamster
TOTALLY agree w. Striper and Hamster --Grotto and Marliave are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the cozy factor. i.e Grotto --cozy and comfortable; Marliave --cold and institutional....
Thought the food was ok at Marliave --the rarebits really really good....but again, not running back anytime soon.
1. re: twentyoystahs
I wonder if the issue is perhaps also the lack of proper lighting in the corners of the place where it tends to get very dark. Perhaps software, more yellow lighting would make the place less stark.
2. re: BarmyFotheringayPhipps
I agree, I find Marliave very comfortable while Grotto has a funky, "hey look, I painted the basement ceiling red" kind of feel. Fun, but less inviting to my taste than Marliave.
1. re: BobB
I stopped into Marliave for a drink and the "cheese toast" appetizer this winter. Both were good, but I am one of those people who have real warm and fuzzy feelings about the old Marliave with the booths and patina, the out-of-the way location, and cold snowy Christmas-time lunches. It was never just about the food. I just can't get over the changes and the starkness. Saving the tin ceilings just didn't do it. I was looking for some remnant of the past and have no burning desire to go back, although I wouldn't avoid it either.
2. A few comments.
I've really liked Marliave in the past, so much so we hosted a major event there. The staff, food and drinks were excellent and every guest had a wonderful time. Really. It was totally great.
That being said there's a few things that just don't work for me there:
1. To my knowledge most, if not all, of the bartenders that had the skills have moved on to other restaurants/bars that are busier so they could make some money. The lack of patrons does not equal decent pay for tip earning folks.
2. Scott, although a nice guy, has some control freak in him and was a little tough to work with when planning our events menu. The staff was great and did a lot of things to incorporate what we wanted for the night even if Scott wasn't open to it originally.
3. Two brings me to three - the music selection. Holy cow, does it suck. It's the same iPod with oldies tunes over and over and over again. And they aren't great, lost and found oldies from obscure but excellent artists - this is crappy top 40 oldies. On a short loop. I don't need to hear "Run Around Sue" 3 times in one visit. Has anyone else noticed that? I know the staff has and their hands are tied.
I REALLY wish Marliave well and want them to succeed. The space is great, the food is good (or has been whenever I've eaten there) and I think it'd be good to have another bar where a decent cocktail can be mixed (assuming they regain talent in that department).
But like others on this thread - 8 customers a night is not going to get them there.
Here's hopin'!
P.S. The alley is an obstacle, but not the end of the world. Freemens in NYC is down a alley but there's usually a wait out the door for it anytime I've been there. If Marliave had a following the alley could be a draw.
1. I really like both Marliave and |
was the grand finale of all four movies.
At the very end you see Katniss sitting on a picnic blanket holding a baby, and a little ways away you see Peter with what is obviously his and Katniss’s small daughter. It’s all warm sunlight and glowing bugs and waving grasses and peace and happiness.
Katniss gazes down at the baby and says some stuff about nightmares and how yes, she has them too, and what she does about them. And then the movie ends.
It felt sappy and a bit corny. It didn’t fit with the raw, energetic Katniss character that had developed over the four movies. It did communicate that at last she was at peace, and at last she had chosen her love: Peeta.
As an aside, I was bummed that she didn’t choose Gale. Peeta always felt like the weaker character.
So the series ended with peace and light and color. I like happy endings, so that was good. But like I already said, it was a bit over-the-top sticky sweet. Kind of a let-down as a finale.<|endoftext|>‘Hostiles’ with Christian Bale is the slowest movie in the West
December 28, 2017 Updated: January 4, 2018 1:01pm
Somebody has been watching lots of Westerns: The sky that begins a few feet off the ground. The red rock. The courage. The silence. The bad food. The people wearing the same clothes forever. And nobody has any luggage.
Somebody has been loving Westerns, too, but loving them perhaps a little too much. Excessive reverence has a way of lengthening pauses between lines of dialogue, and sometimes between words. Writer-director Scott Cooper invests every last moment in “Hostiles,” even minor encounters between minor characters, with solemnity. This is not garden-variety seriousness we’re talking about, but a deep gravity and earnestness that denies even the possibility of humor’s existence.
This makes “Hostiles” something of a slog, but a movie-literate slog containing some impressive scenes. Thus, we get Rosamund Pike as a nice woman, living in the middle of nowhere, who is home-schooling her daughters one day, when her husband runs in and says that the Comanches are about to attack them. Them, personally. There’s no village, just one little house. What follows is a slaughter, the kind of bloodshed that John Ford could never show back in the day. It’s shocking and takes you straight into the terror of living in that particular place and time.
Meanwhile, over at the nearby government fort, Capt. Blocker (Christian Bale), a veteran Indian fighter, is assigned to take a small team of soldiers and escort an ailing Cheyenne Indian chief, Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi), back to his homeland in Montana. Blocker doesn’t like Indians all that much, and Yellow Hawk isn’t a big fan of the white settlers. But they’re all stuck together, and guess who they run into on their journey? Rosalie (Pike), a traumatized woman who has just witnessed the murder of her husband, two daughters and an infant baby.
That’s the set-up of “Hostiles,” and the rest of the movie is about the struggle to make Montana, in the face of internal division and possible Comanche attack. Apparently being home on the range, in those days, amounted to long, long stretches of nothing happening, interspersed with brief spasms of violence and horror.
One could say Cooper takes his time, but that would be understating the situation. Better to say that Cooper makes Liv Ullmann look like Michael Bay. Have you ever seen a movie directed by Liv Ullmann? If it’s subtitled, you can watch it on fast forward and not miss a single nuance. Cooper is even slower than that. Characters think before they talk. They think a long time. They think before they ask a cliched question — such as: How did you feel the first time you killed somebody? And then they think forever before answering: Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.
There’s a thin line between depicting and inflicting misery, and “Hostiles” crosses the line with its dull characters, its almost-endless tedium and its nihilistic violence. The attempt seems to be to update the Western genre by respecting the traditions while emphasizing, in a modern way, the hardships and the racial conflicts. But the audience shares those hardships, while experiencing none of the poetry or grandeur that other Westerns often provide.
Indeed, there’s such overkill on the misery that when Pike starts shrieking in grief, bewailing the slaughter of her two daughters and infant child, you may find a little devil land on your shoulder with a smirk on its face. There’s only so much pawing at the earth that an actress can do before digging through to the other side, where tragedy meets comedy.
SNOOZING VIEWERWestern. Starring Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike. Directed by Scott Cooper. (R. 133 minutes.)
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
Movie Critic
The Chronicle Recommends<|endoftext|>It is kind of a relief after all these years feeling ashamed at how cowardly and spineless the Dems were, to find out that part of that cowardly outward appearance was in fact that mainstream Dems supported right wing economic policies. It hadn’t occurred to me.
And what passed for the spine of the Republicans was made up entirely of the zeal of the true believer, because now they are scared of something— The Donald— and they are showing themselves to be every bit as cowardly as the Dems have done in the past.
Worse, really, because what they are countenancing is outright corruption and anti-constitutional behavior. They all swore to uphold and defend the constitution. Each and every one of the members of Congress and the Senate who is now ignoring or abetting The Donald’s crimes is breaking their oath.<|endoftext|>Euro 2012 Quarterfinals: Bold Predictions for Germany vs. Greece
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Euro 2012 Quarterfinals: Bold Predictions for Germany vs. Greece
Joern Pollex/Getty Images
As the knockout stage begins at UEFA Euro 2012, Greece will be trying to replicate its magic from 2004 if it has any hope of defeating mighty Germany.
In the eight matches the teams have played in their history, Germany has never lost, winning five and drawing three. After breaking through the "Group of Death" in commanding fashion, Germany would be foolish to underestimate its opponent this late in the tournament.
Still, Greece will need a miracle if it plans on winning.
Here are some stories to watch moving forward.
Can Greece contain Germany's offense?
German attacker Mario Gomez has been fantastic in Euro 2012, notching three goals in three matches.
Flanked by adept passers Mesut Ozil and Bastian Schweinsteiger, Germany's offense has been an efficient machine.
Greece's coach, Fernando Santos, came up with an effective game plan to slow down Russia, but how will the team's defense fare against Germany?
Simply, Die Mannschaft is just stacked.
Outside of Ozil, Schweinsteiger and Gomez, Germany can also rely on Lukas Podolski and Lars Bender, as well as a potent bench.
Can Greece upset Germany?
Submit Vote vote to see results
Look for Germany to complete its passes early and come up with some nice schemes to pick apart Greece's overeager defense.
WIthout Giorgos Karagounis, who steps up for Greece?
Greek leader Giorgos Karagounis will not play in Friday's match against Germany because of a yellow card he received for diving late against Russia, his second of the tournament thus far.
While fans and critics can debate whether Karagounis deserved the yellow card, it will be on Greece to rally around its fallen star and pick up the broken pieces.
It has yet to happen in soccer, but Greece needs something akin to a Ewing Theory moment in order to knock out Germany.
Georgios Samaras finally came to play against Russia, and he will need an equally dominant performance if Greece has any chance of beating Germany tomorrow.
Vasilis Torosidis will have to come to play. He had some big games for Greece in the World Cup in 2010, and now, he will need to bear some of the load against Die Mannschaft.
Whether it is Samaras, Torosidis, Sotiris Ninis, Georgios Fotakis or someone else, Greece will need big contributions to put the pressure on Manuel Neuer and Germany's defense.
Can Germany dominate the game on both sides of the ball?
Die Mannschaft's ability to dominate possession and take the ball away from Greece will be crucial if it hopes to put the game away early.
The favorites have always had a hyper-efficient passing offense, and not much should change on Friday.
Look for Mats Hummels to come up big and stymie Greece's attack. The poised Neuer will anchor the defense and should find help all day from his back line.
Germany will play solid team defense and keep the ball with its primary playmakers like Ozil and Schweinsteiger. Clever passing will have Greece gasping for air down the stretch as its players try to keep up with Germany's offense.
Scoring early and wearing down the Greeks will be crucial for Germany on Friday.
What is the over-under for European financial jokes and allusions during the match?
This one is a little bit tongue in cheek, but Germany vs. Greece has all the political undertones to make this the most compelling match off the field.
Joern Pollex/Getty Images
Greece's financial woes have been well-chronicled over the years, while Angela Merkel's sentiments have been equally well-broadcasted.
The media will feast on this subtext, relishing that Merkel is expected to be in attendance on Friday.
The over-under here has to be incredible, as commentators around the globe will reference it consistently.
All jokes aside, Germany will be too much for Greece. Even if the Greeks had Karagounis, they would still be a long shot to upset Die Mannschaft.
Germany goes up early and never looks back, winning, 2-0.
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Visibility, Innocence, and Compassion
A recent news photo showed a policeman approaching a drowned refugee toddler. An interview with the toddler’s father revealed that he had lost his wife and both of their children in a desperate attempt to cross the Mediterranean to a Greek island. The image and the story work powerfully to make us aware of the plight of the many refugees worldwide who are desperately trying to move to a better life.
About 55 million people die worldwide, each year. We cannot grieve for all in the same way. We know little or nothing of most of them; we seldom know that they have passed away. The image and story above demonstrate how just a bit of visibility can increase our compassion for thousands of people. Because it is a toddler who died, we know that he is innocent of any wrongdoing that could have contributed to his demise. When we hear of war deaths, we may feel compassion for all involved, but particularly for non-combatants impacted by the violence.
Mass shootings are disturbing, but mass shootings of school students are particularly upsetting. And the death of so many Sandy Hook elementary students was especially shocking. The younger the victim, the greater the gut impact.
When we learn of a tragic death, the impact is greatest when the victim is young and innocent. How then is it that we have hardened our hearts to deaths of children killed in their mother’s womb? Surely one factor is that we do not see them, and seldom hear specific stories of their final days. An unborn child is close to invisible, so far as the public is concerned. Photos of the bodies of aborted children are decried as too gruesome for publication. Although abortion is legal, it is seldom spoken of publicly by those who chose to have one or perform one.
Euphemisms are also used to minimize the impact of an unborn child’s death. Fetus is used when the child is unwanted. Baby is invariably used when expectant parents look forward to a birth. Attention is directed to the mother’s health, despite the fact that a small minority of abortions are done to prevent injury to the mother. Implicit is the idea that an unborn child’s death is a minor tragedy compared to constraining a mother from making the decision to have the child killed. A common assertion is that since it is the woman’s body, it is the woman’s decision. That presumes that the baby is still a part of a woman’s body up until it is born. Even if that were the case, there exist perfectly healthy people with a profound belief that they need to have one of their limbs amputated because the limb “doesn’t belong to them”. It is a rare surgeon that agrees to remove a healthy limb. How then is it that surgeons are readily found to end the life of a healthy baby, even if we were to accept the idea that the baby is part of the woman’s body?
Sometimes visibility in the simplest sense of the word is not possible. We must exercise the ability to envision the unseen that is one of the great gifts we have as human beings. I urge each of us to use that ability to envision the plight of the innocent and persecuted so that we may feel the compassion needed to spur us toward creating a more just society.drowned toddler 2.jpg
Saturday, July 04, 2015
The Wisdom to Know the Difference
In 1941, Alcoholics Anonymous adopted a short prayer, a modified version of a longer one by Reinhold Niebuhr. The AA version goes as follows:
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Simple, but not easy.
It seems our culture has adopted the mantras to the effect that we can do whatever we dream of, whatever we work hard enough for, or whatever we pray fervently for. We are exhorted to give ourselves fully to our passions, our dreams, our desires. Age is not seen as a barrier, for “you are only as old as you think you are” or “you are only as old as you feel” with the implicit admonition to think and feel young.
Vast is the distance between those cliches and the reality that we experience most days. They are meant as encouragement, and perhaps they work that way for a while, but soon enough we learn that there are things that we cannot change. Many things. Oh, we can nibble away at the edges of some problems, and it is good to do so. We may eventually eliminate this or that burden, or at least lighten it significantly. Therefore, we can quite rightly ask God for the courage to change the things we can. But serenity will certainly elude us if we cling to the idea that we can change everything if we just believe more or try harder.
Enjoy your victories. Thank God for such courage and strength you have. Use them well. However, also gracefully accept the hard truth that there are things you will not change much, if at all. Seek the wisdom to discern how you should expend your finite energy, intelligence, skills, and persistence. You are finite, and you mock God if you pretend otherwise.
Of course you should enlist the help of our infinite, all powerful God. But it is foolish, even blasphemous, to suppose that he will do whatever you ask, just the way you ask for it, regardless of your motives. God is not a genie to be summoned by rubbing the bottle of heaven with your prayers. You are finite, and you mock God if you pretend otherwise.
If you are enjoying an abundance of energy, optimism, and blessing, I am glad for you. This essay may not seem much use. I encourage you to store away the basic precepts for reference should that blissful state diminish.
On the other hand, if you feel overwhelmed and unable to change anything at all, I ask only that you move one tiny step to effect change that may seem insignificant for now. During the depths of a clinical depression, I felt unable to exercise, despite the benefits it promised. I read an article that exhorted me to stand up, walk 5 minutes in one direction and then walk back. I did that. I did it again, and again as days passed. I soon found that I could go a bit further each day. Eventually I was walking for an hour each day during my lunch.
But perhaps you cannot take an actual step. I am reminded of public figures like Stephen Hawking that are trapped in a body that cannot move. Let the step be metaphorical. Choose to think of one thing that will change things for the better. Ask God for the courage to change something, even if it is a single thought. Ask Him to show you the truth about what you can do.
I write things like this primarily as reminders to myself. I post them so that perhaps a single other struggling soul will be helped by them.
Thursday, July 02, 2015
That Saved a Wretch Like Me
Last week, President Obama sang the first verse of Amazing Grace at a memorial service for those slain in the mass shooting at an African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston, South Carolina. Perhaps many of you will be aware that the song was written by John Newton, a slave trader who became a Christian. You may not know that Newton continued in the slave trade for a number of years following his confession of Christ as his savior. Newton wrote that first verse of Amazing Grace in 1848 while he waited for his ship to be repaired after a storm that so humbled him that he called out to God for mercy. Incredibly, that ship was rescuing Newton who had himself become a slave to a slave trader's African wife. Nonetheless, Newton went on to captain other slaving ships until ill health forced him to retire from the sea. Newton became a priest in the Episcopal Church in 1764. His reputation for wisdom and spiritual depth grew until he was embraced as a guide by many prominent people of his day, as well as by the church at large. Eventually, his eyes opened to the horror of the slave trade. He became active in the abolitionist movement.
The verse that President Obama sang was written by a man who had slain and tortured many African slaves while quelling revolts on his ships. Early in his career he was a notorious drunk and an enthusiastic participant in the common practice of raping the slave women. Even as he wrote "that saved a wretch like me" he was still early in the process of being redeemed and made Christlike. That process was ongoing when he died in 1807.
A Christian is not one who has turned to God and stopped sinning. A Christian is one who has turned to God because he is a sinner and needs a life time of grace from God to transform him into a likeness of Christ. Christians are aware that the transformation is not completed |
abad mention got my attention - but, inside, the teacher's words had me thinking.
Chabad goes to the middle of nowhere, eh?
Why are people who believe in a place called "nowhere" giving classes on spreading Judaism to the world?
What the teacher meant to say is that she believes in a place called nowhere, and - never having visited a Chabad emissary herself - finds it very hard to suggest to her class to do such a thing.
But, the teacher is right.
Going to the middle of nowhere is indeed one of the most absurd things I've heard.
The truth is, I wouldn't suggest it to anyone myself.
I mean, if you are nowhere, you're going to have a pretty hard time reaching out.
So how, then, does Chabad do it?
The truth is, Chabad goes to places that everyone else thinks is nowhere, and shows the world how it truly is a somewhere .
Chabad does this because we can't tolerate that there is an actual place - not a "nowhere!" - without Jewish influence. It is our strong adversity to this nowhere concept that sends us into farm towns, ice worlds, and the seemingly empty spaces of the world.
It's like we have some insider information. While everyone walks around ignoring the reality of all kinds of hometowns by referring to them as "nowhere", Chabad just knows that there must be a house to buy, a building to turn int a shul, and Jews to invite for Shabbos - all in this place that everyone insists doesn't exist.
You refer to a place as "nowhere," and the Chabadnik doesn't get it. Nowhere just isn't in the Chabad language.
Nowhere is when you're lost in a car, and your friend asks you on the phone, "where are you?" You're completely lost and have to admit, "I'm nowhere."
Nowhere is the place you were when you walk in past curfew and your mother asks, "where have you been?"
But, really, nowhere is what you call other places when you think that where you are is the only place that is worthy of being on the map.
When the Rebbe sent emissaries to various places, he was saying, "There exists a place. A somewhere. Go there."
Because Chabad doesn't go to the middle of nowhere, the most barren cities have Mikvahs.
Because Chabad doesn't go to the middle of nowhere, Jews in Fairfield, Iowa have pictures of the Rebbe next to their Menorah.
Because Chabad doesn't go to the middle of nowhere, there is Kosher meat for a growing Jewish "hick town."
Because Chabad doesn't go to the middle of nowhere, you can be stranded anywhere in the world and still have a place for Shabbos.
Because Chabad doesn't go to the middle of nowhere, a Shliach has to tell his visiting ambassadors to take a left at "Conshohocken Rd."
Around the world, Chabad emissaries are uprooting the notion of nowhere, even among the cities own inhabitants.
Dave has been living in his small southern town for quite some time now. Although he likes the quiet life, he often things about moving to a somewhere, a city bubbling with more life - and certainly more Jewish life. One day, he walks into the local dry cleaners and finds a Rabbi picking up his suit. They get to taking, and - you know the rest of the story. Later, he reports how awesome it was to run into a bearded Jew in the middle of nowhere. He recalls that, at that very moment, he realized that his little hometown is a somewhere. He doesn't have to move to New York now. There is a Chabad house right around the corner - he aint goin', well, nowhere.
In Eugene, Oregon, a Rabbi teaches the Parsha to college students. In Bellingham, Washington, Jews are being treated to the most celebratory holiday parties. In Guatemala City, traditional parents are able to send their children to a fun Jewish camp. In Aiya Napa, Cyprus, Israeli's are hearing Kiddush for the first time. In Amersfoort, Netherlands, family purity is becoming a reality for many Jewish women. In Omaha, Nebraska, Jews are getting answers to their biggest questions.
Meanwhile, an uninformd teacher in Israel is referring to such places as "nowhere."
Someone needs to clue her in to the fact that there are thousands of these so-called-nowheres that have Chabad houses open for visitation 24 hours, 365 days of the year.
When our Rebbe sent the first Shliach to a place without a synagogue, without a Jewish school, and maybe even without a normal grocery store, the newly designated Shliach would pause in a moment of deep contemplation, unable to imagine the vacant scene in which he would soon arrive.
"Wow," he would think to himself as his eyes widened, "the Rebbe is really sending me somewhere."
From our own living rooms to the expanive fields in the south to the crowded streets in Bejing, the Rebbe's vision made every square inch of this world into a place where magic happens. He forced us to change the way we think of a happening place, a place worth being inhabited. He challenged us to spread holiness and give, no matter where we make our steps. The Rebbe saw a world where there was a home for every Jew - so that, when a Jew finds himself feeling like he is in the middle of life's nowhere, he will still find a Chabad house - somewhere.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
No Synopsis
Neverending sunray on the water outside the Bais Chana classroom
I’ve been back from my trip with Bais Chana in Key Largo for a few days now.
Or, at least, I’m kind of back.
I haven’t quite landed in Crown Heights yet.
I’m hanging in pendulum, my feet almost touching the ground.
I’m looking around, and can’t understand why everyone is rushing around and acting normally when I just went through something like this.
The pressure to write a synopsis about the experience is present, but for my own sanity – I just can’t. I still feel a little delicate, my insides are speeding every second to make more room to take it all in.
I want to say I’m a changed person, but the finality in those words leave out the reality that this new journey will continue onward.
I just need to be a little quiet.
I can’t spill this one out.
And besides, there’s no synopsis when it comes to capturing a soul journey.
There’s no synopsis when it comes to reaffirming the pressing need to teach truth.
There’s no synopsis when it comes to realizations of just how alive my people are.
In short, I feel as though I experienced something close to a revelation that took place on a humble desert mountain over 3,000 years ago.
In all my steps, my words, and my writing henceforth, these past two weeks will surely find a home.
It’s with me, wherever I go.
So let’s go.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Trauma Aboard Flight 1016
I, too, am a woman. Or so I thought.
He’s just your average college dude.
School team hat. Beaten jeans and sneakers. Blonde hair.
He sits to my right.
He is a boy.
I am a girl.
This girl and this boy are on flight 1016, both excited for their arrival in Miami.
They are sitting way too close for comfort, and this trip’s battle over the armrest takes an easy loss on the side of the girl.
We’re in the air.
The boy spreads out as much as he can, reclines his seat, and shifts his hat to cover his eyes.
Something’s holding me back from relaxing.
No, not something.
A boy is holding me back from relaxing.
I’m not accustomed to sprawling out and resting in such proximity to a college lad.
So this girl is sitting upright.
There is no plan of action when you're stuck in 5 square feet and thousands of feet in the air. She'll just have to deal.
Soon enough, the young mister starts moving.
Ever so nonchalantly, our young man pulls out a magazine from his stuff.
And, no, it's not Newsweek.
They call it "Men's Health Magazine."
Apparently, a tan and barely clothed model in an extremely creative position has something to do with men's health.
I glance over. I have to see the expression on his face.
Is he seriously about to peruse through this magazine with a young lady seated right beside him?
This girls cheeks are probably a little flushed.
So he opens it.
The flashy pages totally grab my glances in this empty, crammed, and temporary space.
And now, every time he turns the page, I naturally look over…almost against my will.
The pictures. The vulgar headlines.
This men's magazine is totally dedicated to the objectification of women.
Women - for men’s viewing pleasure.
I am utterly amazed.
Does this boy not realize?
I, too, am a woman.
I am a feminine being.
I have the same body parts
I may even wear the same lipstick.
And the boy sits beside the girl, turning the pages ever so casually.
This guy is acting as if I am a separate creation. As if I have nothing to take personally.
He is effacing my gender.
The lack of embarrassment is startling.
How could he not be uncomfortable?
I have within me all those things that put women in men’s magazines.
And, who does he think he is – making me aware of this?
Who does he think he is – exposing me to this?
Aisle 21 has never been the scene of so much squirming. I am cringing from within.
This girl wants to cry.
On a flight to Miami, I am forced to face the harsh reality of the nature of secular usage of the female body, the truths of our all-too-often shameless society, and the horrors of a world with no respect for boundaries.
As I sat in 21E, this girl realized that people have become all too comfortable with their own perversions.
There’s no such thing as “behind closed doors” anymore.
And not just that, but our young fellow has lost touch of the world. He doesn’t even realize he’s sitting next to a woman.
When he opened the magazine, I became an object.
That was the only way he could open the magazine without being guilt-ridden, without it feeling wrong.
After all, who opens a men’s magazine with provocative pictures while seated an inch away from a young lady?
This girl feels a little taken advantage of.
She feels a loss of innocence.
And all because of your average college dude.
School team hat. Beaten jeans and sneakers. Blonde hair.
He sits to my right.
He is a boy.
I am an object.<|endoftext|>helping guys get it up
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The Issue Remains
Unfortunately the comments in the blog post have veered away from the issue of copyright into heated discussion of whether Pinterest should censor nudity so 5 year old children aren’t scarred for life. Also, there is plenty of gushing about how wonderful the site is, and how awful all the “haters” are that complain about the “free advertising”:
Very good question????? The people should be happy that we pin their websites, It’s free advertisement for them. Wonder why they have to get silly about it!!!
This is a very common view of “pinners”. They feel that “pinning” is a societal and financial benefit and that everyone’s goal in life is to merely gather links to their work. That their infringement of copyrighted works is somehow absolved by the promise of incoming traffic. These, of course, are false assumptions. For one (not that a link or credit frees a user from legal charges) the majority of pins do not link back to the original site, so even if the owner was fine with their work being pinned in return for promotion, it is unlikely that will actually occur. Second, this “free advertising” claim seems to be based on the idea that everyone is out to sell a product and they desire as much traffic as possible. However, every image is not placed online to encourage sales of a product. People may have personal blogs, where they detail their doings to their friends, and may not appreciate their images being “pinned” where it can be used in a commercial context, like on a pinboard of a travel agency, or even embedded from Pinterest onto someone else’s blog or site, using the Pinterest embed tool on every image page. People like myself, may license their work as stock content, and a “pinner”, deciding to pin my work which then suffers the fate of the above, can devalue my work, and lower my income by their non-licensed usage. Would a “pinner” like it if I took their car for a spin as long as I got it washed and filled it up on the way back? They should be happy, right?
Also, there is the following argument:
so you’re saying if i find a recipe i like and i want to pin the photo of the end result, i should wait… email the website… hope for a reply back and then and only then, pin the photo of the food…. because i should have their permission before pinning it??? That defeats the whole purpose of pinning! If I was doing this in analogue mode, I’d be cutting pics out of a magazine… not emailing the magazine and asking permission!
Unfortunately, the situations are not analogous. By buying the magazine, you purchased a personal use license, essentially, to the content, where you may transform your physical copy as you like. Copying someone elses work to the Pinterest servers for the world to see is reproducing and publishing a work without having the rights to do so. Putting “Yeah!” in the comments section does not qualify as “fair use”.
They may have changed a bit of wording, but the terms are still basically the same when it comes to claiming rights to the work that is “pinned”:
To put in plain English, when you upload or “pin” an image to their servers, you are agreeing that you have the permissions to do so, and that (per the terms higher in the article) that you are able to grant to Pinterest a royalty free license for the works. Which, unless you are pinning something under a “Creative Commons” license, or pinning something you created, you cannot do. You cannot grant rights to others on works that you find on the internet. It is the right of the works creator to determine when and where their work may be used, especially in a commercial manner, like Pinterest (and they’re going to make money off of the content they have no rights to, at some point).
So, when a user pins something that they do not have the rights to, and they get sued because the owner found it being used illegally on a site somewhere, and traced it back to the pinning it on Pinterest, remember:
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Pinterest and its officers, directors, employees and agents, from and against any claims, suits, proceedings, disputes, demands, liabilities, damages, losses, costs and expenses, including, without limitation, reasonable legal and accounting fees (including costs of defense of claims, suits or proceedings brought by third parties), arising out of or in any way related to (i) your access to or use of the Services or Pinterest Content, (ii) your User Content, or (iii) your breach of any of these Terms.
The user is on their own. People do sue. So do businesses. There is no shortage of blogs on the web complaining that they received letters from Getty Images for using a Getty represented work without permission. So, is Pinterest going to help the user when they decide to “pin” a pretty image from a blog, and find out that the blog user correctly licensed it from Getty, but the person who embeds it from the user’s page did not? Nope.
It was thought was that by making “smaller” display versions of the images being “pinned”, that Pinterest could hide behind a transformative “fair use” claim, even though the images were still very usable at around 700×700 pixels size. As a test, to see if they kept the IPTC information embedded in the file when they resized it, I pinned the same image, once from my computer, and once from my website. The image was a blue 2000×2000 pixel image. The image uploaded from my computer is available on the Pinterest site at a full 2000×2000 if you click through the pin link. That is interesting. People could use Pinterest as a host for stolen full size images by uploading them from their computer. This makes Pinterest like the Napster of images. It is fairly easy to save a full size image from a website, and then upload and republish it at full size. It’s also something to keep in mind when uploading personal images to their servers.
When you use the “embed” code generator on the page, it serves up a smaller 600×600 pixel image with the meta data cleaned out. When an image is “pinned” that does not need to be resized, the meta data seems to be retained, but their resizing function loses all the data that could actually point someone in the direction of the art creator.
Pinterest still has issues with stepping on the rights of content creators, via the unknowing actions of their users. Still, they put the policing responsibility on content creators, who may not even know their work is being stolen and used inappropriately.
I would have no issue with Pinterest (mostly, anyways), if it was an opt-in situation. Then, anyone wishing to participate could put a code on their site, or “Pin” buttons to facilitate Pinterest users, and the suppliers would be going in knowing where they stand. As it is, I believe they are still being irresponsible.
Here are some more articles that have appeared since last I wrote on the subject.
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13 Responses to Pinterest Announces New Terms
1. R. Kneschke says:
When Pinterest DOES remove meta data, do they remove the Copyright information in the IPTC fields as well?
I thought was was illegal after the DMCA act to remove copyright information? It is explained here for example:
Best regards,
• Sean says:
You can compare the examples to see if you see what you expect. I entered my meta data in Photoshop, and on it still appears on the full size versions, but not on the resized. Looking into PS more, I did not enter anything on the IPTC Extension tab which has a “Rights Related Information” section. Is that what you are referring to?
2. R. Kneschke says:
@Sean: I use a German version of Photoshop, but when I roughly translate it, there should be some fields called “copyright status” (e.g. you can choose “protected by copyright), “copyright information” and “URL for copyright information”.
3. Libby says:
Well here’s something interesting for you. If the service is so great, why did Pinterest CEO and co-founder Ben Silbermann completely delete his boards?
even though he was named #2 in a list of 21 must follow Pinterest users on Mashable
Mow Print-interest – ha that’s um, interesting. Almost as good as the idiot writer on the NY Times a couple of years ago who wrote that if you wanted wall art on the cheap for your home you should grab the images off Flickr and have them printed.
As far as their terms which are about as good as a crocheted soupbowl, how can a Pin user grant the rights to sublicense if they do not own the material? Let them answer that one.
Without the driveling cybermules sitting at home in their hair rollers and bunny slippers while providing (stealing) their content, they’ve got no site.
4. I put photos on my blog posts but do not consider myself a photographer and can certainly understand the issues of photographers when it comes to Pinterest. For me? It’s one of my top traffic producers and that’s sort of all that matters.
You did not mention this but websites can install code that basically let’s them opt out; delivering a message telling them that pinning is not allowed on that site. The code is on their site here:
Maybe that will help those who continue to share concerns about their TOS.
• Sean says:
Thanks for noting that again (I posted about that a few weeks ago). However, it is a poor solution as an opt-out which someone may not even know about, instead of an opt-in, for those that are interested.
5. Diane says:
For the sake of argument and to help clear this issue in my own head: A commenter (and you replied) used the magazine clipping as an analogy. So what makes finding an image through a Google search and saving it to my computer so different? And what about user contributed blogs like NotCot, Image*Spark or similar sites, are they exempt? Is it because Pinterest has achieved widespread popularity? I don’t understand where the line is drawn.
• Sean says:
“what makes finding an image through a Google search and saving it to my computer so different” – Actually, any image you view in your browser is “saved to your computer”. The difference here is, you have captured the image for your personal use on your personal machine. You are not uploading it to a 3rd party website, claiming you have the right to grant licensing for it, and republishing it for the world to view and then use in their own blogs and businesses, which is what happens when you use Pinterest.
“what about user contributed blogs” – I’m just one guy here. I don’t know about every site on the planet, and Pinterest is currently the more egregious infringer. So, the attention is drawn there.
6. sara says:
The “Napster of images” is definitely an interesting comparison. I’m not a photographer, but i would think that by watermarking images that are uploaded to the web you could potentially avoid most of these issues and get the marketing benefits give Pinterest is becoming so well known for.
• Sean says:
You “could” do all kinds of things. The question is, why should you have to.
Also, remember, it is not all about the “marketing benefits”. I don’t want my work being used by business, watermark or not, if they haven’t licensed it correctly. Nor do many others.
7. Sylvia says:
I am not really understanding all of this legal stuff. If this is bad news to everyday users — I guess to delete the app is the simplest thing to do. Most of us don’t want to break the law or steal anyones creation. I joined pinterest because my daughter in law did. I was informed that there were tons of ideas for gardens and home ‘to do’ideas. If sharing and re pinning could be a copyright infringement then whose fault is this really? When doing the above mentioned activity I would hope the owners/creators of the App made certain when a member shares or repins etc.the information or the ‘roots of origin’ of the item is always going to remain embedded or visible and keep moving with the image or shared information. I would also hope that the original contributors of any data to this app would do so (contribute)assured they are and will be the identified root contributor.
During the early stages of using this app there is so much to learn just on the use if it. As a user i enjoy the ideas and images for fun and pleasure the only profit for me and pribably most everyone else is discovering how many people in the world have similar likes and interest. It is a wonderful world and I love this app. Thank you please ignore if my comment does not apply to the topic.
• Sean says:
All of these “ideas for gardens and home” already exist out on the internet. Pinterest is not providing any content itself. Just try using google to find what you are looking for.
Leave a Reply<|endoftext|>Air Quality is the leading cause of the environmental burden of disease in Europe and a key public health concern in Wales. 40,000 additional deaths a year in Europe are attributable to poor air quality and research suggests that 143 deaths per year are caused by air pollution in Cardiff.
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Should I Get Compensated for Leftover Vacation Time?
Many families across the country take part in vacations during the summer months. It’s easier to travel as most children are out of school and the warmer weather is welcoming for those who want to spend time outdoors. Depending on the company and an employee’s status, vacation time may be offered or given so individuals can take part in time away from work. But want happens if an employee leaves a company, whether on their terms or not, and has vacation time left over?
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video The Scientific method? It has its failings, how can we make it better?
Ambjorn Naeve invented a neat solar device over 30 years ago. But the practical idea and the mathematical concept fell through the cracks in the system.
Once upon a time, well to do people did "science" privately for fun. Peer review was not the formalized process we have now. It was people copying each others experiments and making improvements. Nowadays, we in the rich world are more well to do than ever before but it seems this form of peer review has ended. Now, it seems everybody stands back and plays it safe, watching, consulting with "searches" and copying exactly some "proven" idea and doing nothing new.
I put up this video to try to shake people out of their complacency. The "scientific method" is not working as well as it should because people are not participating enough.
Lets get it back on track.
Who decides what gets researched and what gets ignored? Let us try to ask the right questions so that we can fix the problem and make the scientific method work better. For all of us.
Brian White
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kikazz3 years ago
Whoa, I didnt know that there was such conversation on this site. Awsome!
So uh you're saying society went "copy cat" on itself? Then you're asking we need a drastic change in the way we do things around here? I don't have doubts (on what I understand), but I can't comprehend what you're saying. I can't comprehend the video due to faulty speakers. It's just i got a headache so I can't think straight. Please clarify, thanks!
gaiatechnician (author) nutsandbolts_644 years ago
Since the video, they did research on the pump at Queens university Toronto and perhaps there is more going on in California. (Results were better than they expected) should have the latest info. It took over 2 decades for that to happen. Why so long? One reason is that your attitude is widely shared by others. You have bought into the idea that the system works great. Another is that there is almost no funding for appropriate tech research. Thats a political problem which |
able to make this work over lengths of 4wire RGB cable no less. I posted a link in your thread on the AdaFruit Forums.
12. Very cool! I think you have open the door to many new applications with your twist on this idea. Thanks!
13. Thanks. Another twist I tried out which was kinda neat was to connect them in a bus setup. Basically all the strips did the same thing at the same time. I could see lot's of uses for a setup like that. Next step is to see how many of these I can chain together.
14. I'm working on lighting for an interactive art project, and this is perfect for the way we're going to need to distribute small clusters of 2812s around the space. We were thinking along the same lines (serial + power over CAT5), so it's good to see someone else's implementation. Thank you!
15. Thanks for sharing this. I've already ordered the parts for my NeoPixel setup, and due to the position of my 2x 4m strips, I have no data cable over 1.5m using a star topology.
I had to go with 8AWG cable and a 30A PSU though, so the buck convertor idea is great. I may consider this and/or the cat5+RS485 solution if I ever do another project.
16. How would I hook up the 75176 on the controller end
17. The 75176 is actually a transceiver device, so you can also use it to drive a single RS485 channel by tying the DE & ~RE signals high (either directly to VCC or through a pull-up) and then applying the controller data to the D input. This will then give you a RS485 output on the A & B pins that you can use to drive another 75176 (configured as a receiver as shown) on the remote receiver end.
18. Hello,
Following our emails coming back to you through your blog.
I made the schematic ( http://img4.hostingpics.net/pics/967756MainboardEmmitReceiv.jpg ) for the transmission part and the reception part. Based on the SN75176 (the one used in your schematic. It better and more features than the MAX485). I just have some doubt about the connections with D/DE and R/RE.
I added a resistor (R3) and a pullup resistor (R2) Pulldown is this good?
Thank you for you precious help
19. Vadim -
Referring to your diagram, you are close, but for the emitter/transmitter circuit you would tie DE & /RE high (VCC) to configure the IC as a transmitter, and leave R (pin 1) disconnected, since it is an output, you do not want to connect it to power or ground.
Also, since the length of the transmission line is only a few meters, you can skip one or both of the termination resistors (R1). R2 & R3 are typically only used if you expect the bus will be disconnected during normal operation, in which case they pull the inputs into a known state. If the wires will be normally be connected all the time, you can eliminate those as well. Basically, for the purposes of driving WS2812 style LEDs for less than 10 meters you eliminate all but the one termination resistor at the receiving side, as shown on my schematic above.
Let us know how your project turns out, it sounds like it could be quite interesting!
1. Thank you for your help Teknynja,
So I changed my schematic for DE & / RE as well as A. I have a small question. Why D is connected to GND in Receiver mode? I guess you can also leave D disconnected Receiver mode? ( http://img4.hostingpics.net/pics/897867MainboardEmmitReceivEdit.jpg )
I preferred them in case I want to use these modules in other projects (with longer cables). So I can leave R2 & R3 without problem and leave R1 on Receiver side?
Last question which will be appearing stupid. One line A B for DI and one line for DO? Basically it is a new line between two modules.
And it is with pleasure that I would give news of my project, schematic and photos ^^
It's really kind to take time to answer me, thank you again!
20. It is usually a good idea to force unused inputs (such as the D input) to a known state even if they aren't being used. This is because if you leave an input floating, the input voltage may switch between states, causing unpredictable behavior or glitches.
As for the A & B signals, they are "differential" signals, meaning when one goes high the other goes low. This is the reason the signal can be driven much further, as instead of having to compare a single signal line to a fixed threshold voltage, you compare one signal line to the other. If A is more positive than B you treat it as a "one", and if B is more positive than A you treat it as a "zero". See this Wikipedia article for a more detailed explanation of differential signals.
1. Thank you for your explanations about the pin D.
I understood functioning of A and B, but what I mean is that I have to use the same line A B sends data to the line A B that returns DOUT.
Basically sent and received on a single wire pair? Is is fast enough for the round trip latency-free? Because it takes that sent finishes for the return. I would have more tended to think that using a pair (blue and blue / white) for sending and another pair (orange and orange / white) for return.
( Here is a small drawing ( http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/173808Explain.jpg )
Sorry if I have difficulty to understand: /
Thank you Teknynja
21. The only way you could share the A/B pair would be to control the DE pins to enable only one transmitter at a time - without controlling the DE pin the transmitter is always driving A and B and having another transmitter on the same pair will cause a conflict. It is much simpler to just use 2 pairs (in the same CAT5 cable) as you have shown in schematic #2.
The RS-485 specification does allow for multiple transmitters in a bus configuration, but it requires some kind of control scheme to ensure that only one transmitter is enabled at a time. The WS2811 don't provide any way to control the transmit enable.
22. Hey Teknynja!
Thanks for this awesome tutorial! Its been a great help wrapping my head around this whole LED/distance problem. I am planning on building a modular LED tube setup (10x 1m WS2812b). I want to use the SN75176 as drivers and receivers.
In your second picture where you show the wiring you put a 4.7K resistor between 5V and (I believe) pin 4 of the quad driver (SN75174). Is this also recommended when using the SN57176 as a driver? What kind of resistor would I need, what pin would I need to connect it to and why is this even necessary?
Also in the Adafruit NeoPixel Überguid they are recommending putting a 1000uF capacitor between 5V and ground of the power supply to prevent power spikes. They also suggest using a 470ohm resistor between the signal line of the Arduino and the LED strip. Do you also recommend this in your setup? If so where would they go? On every „receiver module“? Is this dependent on the board you are using (Arduino/ Teensy)?
Lots of questions. Hope they arent to much. I am trying to plan ahead the best I can before putting in this big order.
Have a nice day!
23. Thank Oliver!
Let's take these questions one by one. Pins 4 and 12 on the SN75174 is the output enable pins, which when driven high allow the devices to drive the bus (CAT5 in this case). I am using the 4.7K resistors to pull them high thus constantly enabling the outputs. Using the resistor is not completely necessary and you could simply tie the enable inputs directly to the 5v line to save costs if desired. The resistor is there just to limit the amount of current flowing into the pin. Its value is not that important, and since there isn't much current flowing through it, a small 1/8 watt resistor is fine. You'll note that on the SN75176 side of the circuit I'm simply connecting the various enable pins to 5v or ground needed without using resistors. For this application it would be fine to skip the resistors and just connect the inputs to 5v or ground as needed.
As for the 1000uF capacitor, I chose not to use them since the power supply on the receiver is so close to the strips, there isn't a huge amount of voltage drop/inductance in the power wires (And also to save space, as I put the receivers in a very small enclosure). I am also relying on the DC/DC converter to have a built-in smoothing capacitor on its output. If you find that your pixels are exhibiting "flaky" behavior, then you may need to add this capacitor, but in this configuration it wasn't needed.
Finally, the 470Ω resistor between the receiver output and the strip input is there to match the impedance of the driver to the LED strip. If there is a bit of distance between the driver and the LED strip, this resistor would help prevent "ringing" in the signal which could distort the data signal. Again, since the wire between the receiver chip and the LED strip is so short, it is not really required.
In summary, the components you have inquired about make for a slightly more robust design at the expense of size and cost, and because the connection between the driver circuit and the LED strip is so short, their inclusion is not really needed.
Good luck with your design, and feel free to post a link to your project here so we can see the results!
24. Hello Teknynja,
I order my pcbs at OSHPark few weeks ago, I would put some pictures when I have received and tested (hopefully everything works ^^)
Thanks ^^
25. Thanks you for your fast and detailed replay. Im really looking forward in building this project. :)
26. I stumbled upon another problem... what do you think, how much amp can a CAT6 cable handle? I am really worried about cable fire.
I want to drive 5x 2m LED strips about 10-15m away from a beefy 12v 40a power supply. Following your guide I figure this should be possible without worrying. I also wanted to be able to daisy chain them together (applying power every meter), but I am really worried that a CAT6 cable cant handle 30amp and eventually everything will go up in flames. Any ideas or suggestions?
27. Based on a quick check of standard wire gauge for CAT5/6 and a chart on the web, solid core CAT5/6 cable can carry about 2A (less if it's stranded core wire). Even with paralleling the 3 "extra" pairs in the cable, you would only be able to push about 6A through it. Based on the tables I saw, you would need to use 10 gauge wire to carry 30A.
Keep in mind that the 12V current requirements of the DC/DC converters will be less (roughly half, depending on their efficiency) of the current draw of the 5V output, so you may need less power than you think.
You may also be able to get away with using non-CAT (without twisted pairs) for a 10-15 meter run, which means you could use a beefier 4 or more conductor cable between the transmitter and receiver. Twisted pair is always nicer, but at the low speed of the data signal you can probably do without them.
Finally, if all else fails you could run 2 cables (one for data, and a higher gauge pair for power), although that seems like the ugliest of the approaches.
If you could introduce power nearer to the receivers at multiple points, that could be your solution as well. You could still daisy-chain the data between each segment, but I would start a new power run at each segment (not connect the power between segments). That would let you distribute the load between different chunks of CAT5/6 to keep the current below the limit.
Hope this helps!
28. Thanks for your input! I wasnt aware that the current is cut in half when voltage is doubled. Basic physics hello again! :D
By paralleling the extra pins you mean 2 pins for data signal, 3 pins for 12v and 3 pins for ground. Like I show in your diagram (thats what I was planing on doing) or am I mistaking?
I am now planing it like this: every CAT5/6 cable that comes out of my controller box (Teensy + 12V / 30A power supply) can power 2x 1m LED strip "out of the box". If I want to daisy chain them all together, I would either run cables from a free slots of the controller box (if there are any at the time) or I would apply power near the LED strips from a different source.
That should be save, should it not? That would mean every cable coming from the controller would need to carry 3A at 12V. Would that work if I run the cable lines like shown in your diagram? If it turns out that it can carry more than 3A an I could hook up another 1m strip, than yeah for me. :)
Have a nice day! And thanks again for taking the time, helping me!
29. Yes you are correct when I referred to paralleling the extra pins (which distributes the current across the wires).
Your plan to have multiple short segments driven by several outputs of the Teensy and all powered by the same 12V/30A power supply should work fine - in fact that is exactly what I did on the project that inspired this post. I even used a Teensy controller!
Sounds like you are definitely on the right track!
30. Hey teknynja, its Oliver, back from the workshop again. :) But I am having problems getting it running. I have tried to test it with the "BasicTest.ino" from the OctoWS2811 lib. I verified that my Teensy is working correctly with a Blink sketch.
Could you take a look at my wiering and tell me if I made an error there? -> http://i.imgur.com/XEPLN5h.png
31. Oliver -
I'm not sure if it's just missing on your diagram, but you must connect pins 15 & 16 on the Teensy together in order for the OctoWS2811 library to work. (See the diagram under the "Hardware Requirements" section of the library's documentation at https://www.pjrc.com/teensy/td_libs_OctoWS2811.html). Other than that, it looks like things should be working based on your diagram.
32. It works! :D But it wasnt the pins 15 & 16 (I had those connected) but it was the wrong wiring on the receiver. I mistakenly soldered the VCC (8) and R/DataOut (1) lines the wrong way to my PCB board. This also resulted in damaging the SN75176 driver on the receiver. So I soldered the lines together the right way and switched out the driver and voila it works!
Here is a picture of my test setup, maybe others con benefit from it: http://i.imgur.com/0JynUnM.jpg
Have a nice day!
33. Due to several inquiries both in the comments and in emails, I have added a new post that goes into more detail on how the SN75176A is used in this design, and it should provide enough information for you to use the chip in other projects as well. Have fun, and thanks for all the great feedback!
34. RE: "After connecting everything up, it worked like a charm! Every pixel was responding as though it was sitting right next to the controller."
Did you test it without the driver/receiver setup? I'd be interested in how the results compare with each other.
35. @allanGEE - Glad it worked for you. I did try driving the NeoPixels directly, but even playing with various termination resistors I wasn't able to get any kind of consistent behavior, the pixels seemed to only respond in random patterns. Some people in other forums claim to have been able to drive them over significant distances just using matching resistors, but it didn't work for me. I'm not sure if they tried running them at 100 feet like I did!
36. Hello Everyone, sorry for the time to reply my result :/
Some pics of my project :
The first project is WS2811 with SN75176, one for emitter and one for receiver. 3 modules for driving 10W RGB Led based on PT4115
The other projet is also based on WS2811. One version with SN75176 and one without.
So thank you Teknynja for help to understand the SN75176!
37. I'm wondering what are the drawbacks or problems with pushing all of this with a 5v power supply instead or the 12v? Forgive my noob-ness :)
I'm building a series of 1 meter strips that will be separated from the control board by up to 20 feet (wire-wise). Can I get away with 5v?
38. @Bob Smith - You could drive remote receiver and strips directly with 5 volts, but the biggest problem you will be dealing with is voltage drop caused by the resistance in the wiring and the amount of current being drawn by the LED strip. In other words, the wire between the controller and the receiver/LED strips acts like a resistor and the longer the wire, the larger the resistance becomes. This causes the voltage at the far end to become lower, possibly too low for the receiver IC or the LEDs to function normally.
I would guess that even if you were only getting 4 volts on the far end, things would still work for the most part even though that is far below the specified voltages for the devices. Also note that the voltage would fluctuate as you turn the LEDs on and off – with all the LEDs off you would not be drawing much current and the voltage would not drop much at all, vs having all the LEDs on which would cause the maximum voltage drop. These voltage fluctuations could possibly cause erratic operation of the receiver and/or LEDs.
There are things you can do to help minimize the voltage drop on the cable, like using lower gauge (thicker) wires, using multiple pairs of wires (as I do even in the 12 volt diagram above), and keeping the number of total LEDs that are turned on at the same time to a minimum. You could also adjust the |
engine from working. As I already mentioned, I also found a much easier way to attach the counterbalance screw. Lastly, I added another wire coming from the block of wood to act as a stop for the teeter-totter, so it would not tip so far that the weight got stuck in the inside position. I also improved on the cup of tea. I had found that as the tea cooled, I had to keep adjusting the counterbalance weight to keep the engine working. In the new engine, I keep the water boiling by using a cut soda can and a candle. The water sits in the dent in the bottom of the upside-down soda can.
How does it do that?
There are two important principals in the operation of this engine. One is differential expansion and the other is hysteresis. Most metals (and many other materials) expand when taken from room temperature to the temperature of boiling water. But each metal expands at a different rate. The bimetal strip in the thermometer is made up of two metals that have very different expansion rates. In the coil, the metal on the outside expands more quickly than the metal on the inside. This causes the coil to curl up when it is heated. The heat energy in the hot water is converted into mechanical energy as the strip curls up. This mechanical energy is used to put the weight closer to the center of the teeter-totter, which is a change in potential energy. This potential energy is converted back into mechanical energy as the teeter-totter rocks away from the hot water. The second principal, hysteresis, is what keeps the engine from simply rising to a certain point and stopping, like a normal thermometer would do. As I mentioned earlier, the coil acts like a spring. This allows the weight to act against the curling of the coil when the coil is low, and then suddenly act with the curling coil when the coil is high. The result is that the teeter-totter is more stable with one or the other end down, and is unstable in the in-between position. This tendency to quickly flip from one state to another is hysteresis. The engine is an example of a bistable system, sometimes known as an astable oscillator. For more information on thermodynamics, see the Recommended Reading section. Next: A metal that melts in hot water
Send mail to Simon Quellen Field via<|endoftext|>Copycat Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Gluten-Free Chocolate Waffles
Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside and so good you'll never notice that they are gluten-free!<|endoftext|>How to connect Ingress software using the MySQL database from another location
Friday, August 25, 2017 FingerTec 1 Comments
Within many organization, a server PC is normally restricted to data storage while accessibility is only allowed for just a few personnels. For situations such as these, you can alleviate the problem by connecting Ingress software from another PC to the server PC and store all of your supposed attendance and access data into MySQL database. Please note that both PCs must be in the same network as the connection will be based on the network IP address.
Steps/ Procedure
First of all, to complete the setup, you will need to have:
1) Two different PC with the same network
2) MySQL version 5.5 (database)
3) SQLyog (to access the MySQL)
4) Ingress software
After obtaining the above requirement, you need to install the MySQL to the PC that you want to host the database. After installing MySQL, you need to install SQLyog because there are still few settings which needs to be carried out in order for the database to be accessible from other PC.
You can refer to this picture:
First, open the SQLyog and connect to the database.
Then go to User Manager.
From User Manager, select root@localhost and go to Global Privileges, then tick all the box from this page
Lastly for the PC that doesn’t contain Ingress software, you’ll need to create new user and assign the name as Ingress in order for the Ingress software to recognize this user.
Click Add New User
Username: ingress
Password: ingress
Host: %
Then click save
After that, just follow the previous procedure, select ingress@% and grant all the access for this user. Click save. Note: All of these steps need to be done at the server side.
The next steps are on How to connect Ingress software to the database that you have setup previously:
Firstly, you need to ensure that you can ping the IP address of the server (MySQL database location).
You can check the IP config of that PC before trying to ping that IP.
By receiving the reply from the other PC means that both PC can be accessed over the network.
For example, you can refer here:
After you’ve already confirm that the IP can be ping, you can now proceed to the next steps.
Install the Ingress software from this PC and after Installation, open the DB installer. This is the important part.
From Step 1, please insert the IP address of that server (the previous IP that you ping previously). Admin user name: root Password: root The username and password should be based on what you have set from your MySQL installation, but for demonstration purpose, we only use ‘root’ during installation. Then, proceed to Step 2 and 3. Once you’ve already finished all the steps above, you can now open the Ingress software and login to it. The default username: admin and default password: 123 After you entered the software, you can see the Database address showing the IP address of the server PC that you’ve setup previously.
If the IP address is still showing your PC’s IP address, this means that there are some incomplete steps carried out during the installation process. Please refer to the previous steps in order to troubleshoot the problem and ensure that you follow all the steps given.
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post-mortem lines (i.e., "I hope they're into white trash"). IMO Rosalind Cash would have been an ideal Sugar Hill: equally gorgeous with a lot more range. Plus, she'd already dealt with zombies in THE OMEGA MAN. Much better is the 82 year old Cully (a.k.a. Mother Jefferson), who alternates glaring menace with occasional fiendish smiling at the antics of Colley's cadavers.
Colley himself is delightfully over the top and runs away with the film. Incognito as a cab driver, dock worker, massage parlor receptionist, and gardening Uncle Tom among others, he smiles with glee at each twisted murder. He may be dead, but Colley adds the sorely needed life to the proceedings that Bey and a strangely sleepwalking Quarry can't. Colley's personas are every bit as good as Vincent Price's in THEATRE OF BLOOD, even if some of the actual murders aren't quite at that level of inspiration. His final shot, in which he takes his payment (again, not the one you'd expect) is one of the film's most memorable moments.
So...why isn't this on DVD yet?
General rule of thumb: if your star isn't Pam Grier or Tamara Dobson, your blaxploitation film with a female heroine isn't on DVD. This is a real shame, as films starring Bey, Trina Parks, the late, great Diana Sands (HONEYBABY, HONEYBABY) and stunningly beautiful Jeannie Bell (THE MUTHERS) are among those missing. Guess I have a lot more films to review.
SUGAR HILL's low budget hurts. So does the lack of nudity, generally bloodless violence, and mediocre performances from Bey and lead villain Quarry.
As noted above, the screenplay could have used another run-through. There's an underwritten dynamic between Robinson and Quarry, Bey's relationship with Johnson gets insufficient screen time, and the subsequent murder would have taken about 5 minutes to solve, given the fact that Bey saw the assailants, etc. Lots of suspension of disbelief required to get to the good stuff here.
Why it should be on DVD:
There are two terrific performances here from Cully and Colley. Colley's in particular is among the best in this subgenre, rivaling William Marshall's BLACULA and Glynn Turman's tour de force in J. D.'s REVENGE.
Enough twists on the expected to keep things interesting despite the problems with budget and script; SUGAR HILL is unique despite the problems, and certainly better than ABBY or THE HOUSE ON SKULL MOUNTAIN among others. Hell, the opening with "Supernatural Voodoo Woman" is itself better than the latter!
SUGAR HILL is rarely aired (though TCM did air it in May) and is worthy of a wider audience. If you like the Grier and Dobson films that are out on DVD, you'll certainly want to give this one a look.
No comments:<|endoftext|>look up any word, like bukkake:
To reach a point where gradual progress is no longer possible and stagnation is likely, where advancement can only be achieved by a sudden, difficult, and possibly risky leap up to the next level
I'm worried about Joe. Without a college degree, he could reach a plateau in his management career.
by ChemicalCastration February 13, 2010<|endoftext|>Choo choo: The Snallygaster
Ambient creepy image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
In the deep cold of February, 1909, a group of men near Sharpsburg, West Virginia crowded around a homemade incubator, close enough to feel its heat. They might have held their hands out for warmth, but I doubt any of them would have gotten too close. Carefully hidden away from the eyes of the town, that incubator housed a egg the size of an elephant. The gentleman were attempting to hatch the spawn of the Snallygaster, dreaded terror of the Middletown Valley.
One of the said seven-point stars.
Though its name sounds like an invention of Lewis Caroll, for generations of folks living in the hills around Washington DC and Maryland, the Snallygaster was no laughing matter. In the 1730’s, German immigrants reported a dragon-like schneller geista “quick ghost”–that came out of the sky with tentacles and a metallic beak to suck men’s blood or carry them away. The beast was half-reptile, half-bird, and had teeth sharp enough to part flesh like butter. It kidnapped children and decimated poultry. The Germans painted seven-pointed stars on their barns to keep the Snallygaster at bay; you can still see some of those stars today.
Tales of the Snallygaster seemed to abate in the late 1700’s, but reappeared, weaponized, less than a century later when white settlers wanted to scare away freed slaves. People offered the “Snallygaster” food sacrifices and hid their families indoors, but the carnage continued. For decades, white countryfolk blamed the racial atrocities they committed on the creature. That would shortly come back to bite them, as by 1909, the legend had got out of their control, and the Snallygaster began to appear and attack in places they hadn’t meant it to.
Now the Snallygaster roamed the countryside, large as a dirigible, wreaking havoc wherever it went. It could change shape, but one man summarized the consensus that it usually had “enormous wings, a long pointed bill, claws like steel hooks, and an eye in the center of its forehead.” It passed through the sky silent as a cloud, and then would swoop down to attack with a whistle “like a locomotive,” or, as another man put it, like a “cross between a tiger and a vampire.”*
The creature left footprints in the snow of New Jersey, and scared the bejeezus out of a man who found it hanging out near his kiln. It was shot here, found roosting in someone’s barn there, seen drifting through the sky, tentacles writhing, always huge, always “headed this way.” Then there were the eggs. The Snallygaster’s eggs were the size of horses–of small cars!–and were found laying around where Snallygaster was known to have passed. Our friends from the beginning of this post never did manage to get that egg to hatch, and that’s probably a good thing for them. They might have ended up like Bill Gifferson, found drained of blood with a hole in his neck.
By now the sightings were so common (and such a nuisance) that the Smithsonian put a price on the Snallygaster’s hide to the tune of $100,000 a foot. Teddy Roosevelt himself thought about coming to collect, but then sightings of the creature abated again. Finally, the Snallygaster reportedly drowned and was subsequently exploded in a 2500-gallon vat of moonshine. Fitting dramatic end to a dramatic life, right?
You forgot about the eggs.
This is where things really get weird. In 1932, the Snallygaster (or rather, one of its children) decided to give a local resident an existential crisis. The poor man reported seeing the creature swoop down from the sky on a penny-farthing, wearing water wings and shouting Balance the budget!” Later, in 1973, the Snallygaster appeared as a land-bound ape-thing that screamed bloody murder in the middle of the night and made a mess out of the heads of cattle. After several sightings, an extensive hunting party set out to find the creature with tranquilizer darts and a large steel cage. They returned empty-handed.
Not Eastern Racers, but alarming enough nevertheless. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Where is the Snallygaster today? There doesn’t seem to be any recent sightings. Certainly the horrors that inspired it are still around–racial violence being the obvious one, but also the nasty clusters of Eastern Racer snakes (which apparently can get up to five feet long and move quite fast) that might have made people see tentacles. The last real Snallygaster sighting was over 40 years ago, and as I’ve heard tell that the Snallygaster’s lifespan is 20 years, it might be gone for good. But it’s difficult to say for sure. Feel free to go out and try to find one, if you like.
I’ll stay here and look out for any suspicious clouds.
Have you ever seen something strange in the sky? What do you think a “cross between a vampire and a tiger” sounds like? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
*I’m not quite sure what this means, as the sound my mind conjures for “vampire” is “slurp.”
So Many Shades of Grey: The Am Fear Liath Mor of Ben MacDui
Happy (almost) Halloween! In celebration of my favorite holiday, I thought we’d cover a topic that is less strange so much as it is pants-poopingly frightening. Now, I admit that when I first uncovered the pitch for this creature—which pretty much boils down to “Scottish Yeti”—I was only mildly curious; Bigfoots and the like have never interested me much, perhaps because their story has been so played out. Then I kept reading, and uncovered a story of delightful mystery and malevolence.
The summit of Ben MacDui. Photo by Richard Webb, via Wikimedia Commons
Let’s set the scene. The Ben MacDui is the highest peak in the Cairngorm Mountains and the second highest in Scotland. Nothing grows there save for the hardiest of plants; the summit rises from a huge sub-arctic upland, and is considered one of the wildest, most remote places left in Britain. The landscape is a featureless wave of snow and rock; between that and the omnipresent mists, it’s very easy to get lost. It’s also easy to remember how very old those peaks are–almost as old as the lore about them.
In 1891, Professor Norman Collie went hiking along the mountain alone, and heard something walking behind him.
The professor–a well-respected, sensible faculty member of the chemistry department at the University College London–waited thirty-four years to tell his story. “I began to think I heard something else than merely the noise of my own footsteps,” he reported to the Cairgorm Club on a dark December night in 1925.For every few steps I took I heard a crunch, and then another crunch as if someone was walking after me but taking steps three or four times the length of my own.” Collie looked back over the desolate landscape, trying to keep his head, but could see nothing through the fog. Filled with a sudden dread, he turned and walked faster, and then went the crunching continued broke out into a panicked sprint, which he continued for four or five miles until he arrived, exhausted, at the arms of Rothiemurchus Forest. To say that the experience left an impression on him would be an understatement; he vowed never to return to the mountain alone, for, as he put it, there was “something very queer about the top of Ben MacDhui.
Once his story got out, he discovered that he was not the only one who had experienced sudden terror while exploring the isolated mountain. Dr. A.M. Kallas and his brother Henry ostensibly saw an enormous figure approaching them from the other side of the cairn 1903. The figure disappeared from their view as it moved into a dip, but the brothers didn’t wait for it to get close–they, like Collie, ran down off the mountain as fast as they could, and never looked back. In 1904, the Welshcamping brothers reported unnerving sounds both during the day and at night, like “slurring footsteps as if someone was walking through water saturated gravel.” In 1943, mountaineer Alexander Tewnion turned at the sound of menacing footsteps as he descended by the Coire Etchachan path. He saw a strange, enormous shape loom out of the fog, and pulled his revolver and shot at it before turning to sprint away.
In 1965, investigators discovered 14-inch footprints on the slopes Ben MacDui, with a distance of nearly five feet between each. Collie and many others might have estimated this stride, given the height of the thing in the mists and the length of time between footsteps.
Sightings continued through the 90’s. The thing dubbed “The Big Grey Man” crossed train tracks, kept pace with cars, watched people from a distance and spoke, one one occasion, in a deep, booming language reminiscent of Gaelic. Hikers described it as 10 feet tall, then 20 feet tall. It was covered in grey hair, they said, and had long, long arms and a face that was human and very not human. Most, if not all, reported an uncontrollable fear and sense of dread–indeed, many of reports of the Am Fear Liath Mor are not sightings so much as they are sensations: sudden, categorical despair; panic at a sound from off in the mists. Some felt themselves drawn to the cliffs, and had to fight the urge to hurtle themselves off, others nearly slipped and fell to their death by accident as they scampered to escape the crunch of a heavy footstep.
The number of sightings and level of terror begs the question: what might it be that’s stalking up there, alone in the bleak mountain?
Example of a Broken Spectre (which is awesome). Photo by Andrew Smith, via Wikimedia Commons
First, the obvious answers: oxygen deprivation and a monotone landscape could easily lead to auditory and visual hallucinations, as well as a sense of panic. When you combine this with the power of already existing legend, it’s easy to imagine that even the most well-meaning explorer might see something that’s not really there. Another explanation is the fascinating “Brocken spectre,” an optical illusion of an otherworldly, gigantic figure created by the observer’s shadow being cast on the fog in front of him. This is bound to happen at least every once in awhile in all the mists at the top of Ben MacDui, and combined with the aforementioned physical weariness, might make quite the impression.
And for those that don’t accept the Am Fear Liath Mor as a mere trick of the mind? There are a number of theories as to what he might be, ranging from an evil spirit to the abominable snowman. The most interesting wraps the spirit of the Cairngorm in with the Grey Man himself: the creature seems intent on scaring people away, but why? Could it be that he’s guarding something? The Cairngorm, proponents of this theory claim, are a very strange and otherworldly place–perhaps because they are literally a window into another place.
Frightening as he may be, the Big Grey Man might merely be protecting the us humans from something much worse.
Have you ever heard steps that did not coincide with your own? Felt a sudden thrill of fear? Do you now have a Big Grey Idea for your Halloween costume? Share your story in the comments below.
Better than Tempeh: The Borametz
As the world transitions to autumn, let’s take a moment to celebrate this wonderful window between the mad heat of summer and the dark desperation of winter. This week, let’s give ourselves a break; let’s study a monster that does not threaten grievous bodily harm! In fact, our subject might even help someone, though it is so odd it might also induce an existential crisis.
Let’s begin with a poem. This piece, found in Dr. Erasmus Darwin’s book The Botanic Garden (1781), describes our unwonted subject:
“E’en round the Pole the flames of love aspire,
And icy bosoms feel the secret fire,
Cradled in snow, and fanned by Arctic air,
Shines, gentle borametz, thy golden hair
Rooted in earth, each cloven foot descends,
And round and round her flexile neck she bends,
Crops the grey coral moss, and hoary thyme,
Or laps with rosy tongue the melting rime;
Eyes with mute tenderness her distant dam,
And seems to bleat – a vegetable lamb.”
Take a moment to pause and re-read that last bit there, if you haven’t already. Perhaps you’ve just skimmed the poem and are imagining a lamb frolicking in someone’s (apparently chilly) garden, enjoying the odd pepper or uprooting carrots. Perhaps you’ve read closely, and are wondering why the poem is calling out a lamb for being vegetarian. Unfortunately, the poem is speaking to neither of these things. Take a look at the following picture:
That’s one interpretation of the creature at hand. The next–perhaps more realistic–is a little more frightening:
You might ask “what in the good **** is that?”; I certainly did, and so did visitors to central Asia during the fourth through to the nineteenth century. Legend has it that there was a plant there with a bit of an odd flower–one that walks, eats, and bleats. Called variously the Borametz, the Scythian Lamb, and (my personal favorite) the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, this fellow was said to be born from the fruit produced by a particular fern, destined to live out its days munching on the flora within reach. A vine-like “umbilical cord” attached to its belly limited the lamb’s range of motion; it could not be separated from its parent fern, or it would perish. Details about how long this cord could reach vary, but once the food within its circumference of it ran out, the lamb would die. Then predators–wolves or, every now and again, humans–could jump on the borametz and eat it. Rumor has it that its blood tasted like honey, and its wool was of the same or better quality than any other, more conventional sheep.
Though this might seem fanciful, tales of the borametz appeared in Jewish folklore as early as 436 A.E.. Back then it was called the Yeduah, was similarly attached to the earth by a stem, and could only be collected if said stem were severed via the use of arrows or darts. This version of the creature had bones that could be used in prophetic ceremonies, and so was valuable beyond being livestock and/or garden. Unfortunately, this version also had a counterpart–the Faduah, a human-shaped type of borametz that would strangle anyone who came within reach. You can hardly blame him for being cranky; it seems that every iteration of the borametz legend involves man taking advantage of the the creature’s helplessness, whether it be slaughtering a sheep on a stem, or slicing gourds open to harvest the lambs within.
A number of people have tried to find their own borametz over the centuries, with varying degrees of success. Variations on the gourd-centered legend trickled back from Persia in the 14th and 15th centuries, with explorers trying to make sense of what seemed to be both a living animal and plant. Sir John Mandeville was the most colorful of these adventurers, and is credited with bringing the first tales of the vegetable lamb to the English public attention. Unfortunately, he is also credited with being embellisher extraordinaire. In the mid 16th century |
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