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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53663 | Category:Susan Schwab
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English: Susan Schwab (born March 23, 1955) is an American politician, who served as United States Trade Representative from June, 2006 to January, 2009.
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Media in category "Susan Schwab"
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53667 | This documentation relates to an earlier version of Confluence.
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After you install the Java Development Kit in Windows, you must set the JAVA_HOME variable to the install directory.
Common Problem
Some users have only installed the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). You need either a Java Development Kit (JDK) or J2SE Software Development Kit (SDK). If you would like to confirm that you have the right version, you can check the Java install path. Unless you changed the path during installation, Java will be installed to a subdirectory under C:\Program Files\Java, for example C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.5.0_02
Open C:\Program Files\Java and confirm the install path is for a JDK or SDK. JRE installs are not suitable, and have an install directory begining with jre. The numbers after the jre are not relevant. Example JREs are:
(error) jre1.3.0_02
(error) jre1.4.0_02
SDK and JDK installs are suitable. Their install directory begins with jdk or j2sdk, the numbers after are not relevant. Example JDK and SDKs are:
(tick) jdk1.5.0_02
(tick) j2sdk1.5.0_09
Any install directory starting with jdk or j2sdk is valid. If you cannot see an installed JDK or SDK, install the JDK now from the JDK download site
Stage 1. Locate Install Directory
If you already know the install path for the Java or Software Development Kit, go to Stage 2. Otherwise, find the install path by following these instructions:
1. Unless you changed the install path for the Java Developement Kit during installation, it will be in a directory under C:\Program Files\Java. Using Explorer, open the directory C:\Program Files\Java
2. Inside that path will be one or more subdirectories such as jdk1.5.0_08. If you just installed the Java Development Kit, it will be installed to the newest directory, which you can find by sorting by date. For example, it may be installed in C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.5.0_08. This is the install path.
Stage 2. Apply Setting
Once you have identified the JDK install path:
2. Click the Advanced Tab
3. Click the Environment Variables button
4. Under System Variable, click New
5. Enter the variable name as JAVA_HOME
7. Click OK
8. Click Apply Changes
9. If you are running Confluence as a EAR/WAR rather than the Standalone, you may need to restart your application server
This diagram shows setting the JAVA_HOME variable to an install path of c:/j2sdk1.4.2
If you came here from Installing Confluence Standalone, go back and begin Stage 3. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53668 | id,summary,reporter,owner,description,type,status,priority,milestone,component,version,severity,resolution,keywords,cc,focuses 17990,WP Importer blank due to X-Frame Options,GaryJ,duck_,"WP 3.2, Chrome 12 on Win7. When trying to add the WordPress Importer, the thickbox is coming up blank - Chrome console gives the error as: Refused to display document because display forbidden by X-Frame-Options. In short, the importer can't be installed by the usual method. Probably related: #12293",defect (bug),closed,normal,3.3,Import,3.2,normal,fixed,,, |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53669 | Make WordPress Core
#21345 closed defect (bug) (duplicate)
'Front page displays' setting missing from Reading settings
Reported by: inharmonic Owned by:
Milestone: Priority: normal
Severity: normal Version: 3.4.1
Component: Administration Keywords:
Focuses: Cc:
This bug occurs if you don't have any page content. Rather than still displaying the 'Front page displays' settings with some kind of message about requiring a page, etc, the options are simply hidden, which is very confusing to the user.
Change History (1)
comment:1 SergeyBiryukov20 months ago
• Milestone Awaiting Review deleted
• Resolution set to duplicate
• Status changed from new to closed
Note: See TracTickets for help on using tickets. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53670 | id summary reporter owner description type status priority milestone component version severity resolution keywords cc focuses 23141 "Add autocomplete=""off"" to all inputs that have a value" alexvorn2 "On '''refresh''' in the browser - old data is filled in the inputs, instead of the actual data from the value attribute of the input. to be more clear : http://www.screenr.com/p2K7" defect (bug) closed normal Administration 3.5 normal wontfix ui |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53681 |
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Cowboy to the Max
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Rita HerronNotify me of new titles added by this author
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Harlequin Enterprises, Limited
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March 01, 2012
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Excerpt from Cowboy to the Max by Rita Herron
Carter Flagstone would die before he would go back to prison.
Which might just happen if he didn't find out who had framed him for murder.
He rolled over on the makeshift bed he'd made in one of the unused barns at the Bucking Bronc Lodge, breathing in the smell of hay, fresh air and freedom.
A freedom that was temporary at best. One that had come at a cost. A guard had been injured in the prison escape, and fingers were pointing at him as the shooter.
His escape only made him look more guilty of that crime and the murder of that man named Dyer, the man he'd been convicted of killing five years ago.
The police had orders to shoot to kill. His damn mug shot was plastered all over the television and in the papers. And if that guard died and the cops caught him, and by chance he lived, he'd end up on death row.
Yep, Texas held one of the highest records for executions, and adding his name to the list would be his claim to fame.
Just like his sorry old man's name would have gone on the list if he hadn't developed lung cancer. Hell, the state had decided to save their money and the publicity. Killing a dying man just didn't seem worthy.
His bones creaked and his muscles ached as he unfolded his body from the floor and stood. The scars on his arms and chest looked stark and ugly in the thin stream of light seeping through the slats of the barn.
He'd always been a fighter, but prison had hammered in those instincts and made him better at it. Meaner. Tougher. Harder. Unrelenting.
He would use those skills now to find out who'd framed him, put him in jail and ruined his future.
Then he'd get on with his life.
A desolate emptiness filled him at the thought. What life? He'd lost it all the minute the police had slapped the handcuffs on him.
Even before that, he'd been on a downward spiral. He'd had a major rift with his two best friends, who were now rich and owned their own spreads. He'd drunk himself into bar fights and jail more than once before he was incarcerated and earned a reputation that meant no one would hire him if he tried to get a job.
And now his old man was dead, but his ranch had gone belly-up and the bastard hadn't even had the courtesy to will it to him. It was one last dig into his soul that said how much his father had hated him.
Outside, the sounds of the ranch burst to life. The gentle summer breeze fluttering the leaves on the trees. The noise of trucks cranking as workers started the day. The hush of a mare's tail swishing flies.
All sounds he'd missed and yearned for daily. Anything to replace the clank of metal chains, keys unlocking cell doors, feet padding in rhythm as the prisoners were led to the mess hall like cattle to the trough.
Well aware he'd return to that mundane life if he didn't make use of his time, he peeked through the crack in the door to see if the coast was clear. Cows grazed in the lush pastures, two geldings galloped across the flat ranch land, their hooves pounding the grass. The sound of a truck's engine rumbled down the dirt drive.
Maybe it was Frank Dunham, his buddy from the pen who had landed a job at the Bucking Bronc Lodge. Dunham had owed him and helped him hide out here for the past two days, but if the police found out, Dunham's parole would be revoked and he'd go back to jail.
Carter didn't want that on his conscience.
Sweat beaded on his neck as he watched the truck blaze a dusty trail toward the barn. No, not Dunham's. This truck was black, had shiny new chrome wheels, was newer.
He sucked in a breath, his pulse pounding. Twice today he'd seen choppers flying over the property. Had someone caught wind he was here, hiding out like a trapped animal? Had they called the cops?
His ears perked up, listening for a siren.
Then the truck sped past the barn and veered onto the turnoff for the main lodge. Clenching the edge of the barn door with a white-knuckled grip, he watched it disappear in the trail of dust, then finally managed to breathe again.
Another close call. Another reprieve.
It wouldn't last.
The last few days on the run he'd felt the devil breathing down his neck at every turn. The cops. The real killer.
The reality that he was a dead man walking.
Determined and knowing that he couldn't hide out on the Bucking Bronc for long, not with another group of campers due any day now, he unfolded the news article of the fundraiser rodeo Johnny had organized to raise money for the camp and stared at the picture of the woman who could save him.
Sadie Whitefeather.
God, she was beautiful.
Raven-black hair framed her heart-shaped face and delicate features, her high cheekbones accentuating eyes as rich and deep as dark chocolate. Those sinful eyes had mesmerized him, had seduced him. Had made him want to believe that a man like him could not only hold her in his arms but have her.
Those eyes had also held secrets. Pain. A gentle, unspoken understanding that had radiated from her touch.
She had talked of her Navajo ways, her training in medicine with the shaman, her desire to educate herself and become a doctor to help her people. She was also an advocate for the Native American segment and a staunch supporter of environmental issues.
Another seductive quality.
Or so he'd thought.
Dammit. It had all been an act.
She was the reason he'd spent five years in prison, and her day of reckoning had come.
The date on the newspaper proved she'd attended the rodeo a couple of weeks before. Which meant she might be living close by.
For the past two days, he'd been lurking around the ranch hoping she'd show again. Dunham was on the lookout as well, but so far no luck.
His mind rolled back to that fateful night five years ago, and once again he cursed his stupidity. He'd been pissed at his life in general. Mad at his old man for doing an interview from jail, yet again dragging the Flagstone name through the mud.
He'd also had another run-in with Johnny and Brandon. Brandon had beat the hell out of him for sleeping with Kim, his former girlfriend and Johnny's sister. It hadn't mattered to Brandon that he'd broken up with Kim and crushed her heart. That Carter had only tried to comfort her.
Hell, it hadn't mattered to Johnny, either. He'd accused Carter of taking advantage of his sister.
So he'd gone on a drunken tear and ended up at a bar near the reservation. That was where he'd met Sadie Whitefeather.
His body hardened just thinking about her luscious body and the way she'd wound her long legs around him. Her long black hair had hung down her back to her waist, her skin a creamy, sun-kissed Navajo brown, her big, dark eyes haunting and sultry.
One night in her bed and he'd fallen madly in lust.
So he'd gone back for another.
But that night had been his fatal mistake. He'd woken up with no memory of what had happened, with blood on his hands, a dead man on the floor beside him, a man named Dyer who he didn't even know, and the police on his tail.
She had drugged him. That had to be the explanation.
Then she'd disappeared and left him to rot in jail.
He tapped the picture with his finger. Now he'd escaped and he intended to find her. And he would make her talk.
If she didn't, he'd show her firsthand the hard lessons he'd learned in prison, where she had sent him.
Sadie Whitefeather shivered at the news photo of Carter Flagstone as the story of his prison escape and criminal record flashed across the TV screen perched on the wall above the bar.
His dark brown hair was shaggy now, his face unshaven, rough with stubble, his eyes tormented, his strong, stubborn jaw set in anger.
He looked hardened, scarred and lethal. All deadly to a woman whose dreams of making love to him still taunted her.
Not that he would want her in his bed again. No, he'd probably kill her.
"Flagstone is considered armed and dangerous," the reporter said. "Police have orders to shoot to kill. If you have any information regarding his whereabouts, please contact the police."
Her fingers itched to make that call. But she didn't know where he was.
Only that he was most likely coming for her.
Of course she couldn't blame him.
What she had done...was wrong.
She sucked in a sharp breath, then rubbed her finger over the prayer beads around her neck. Her mother's people had taught her that all life was sacred. That all things on the earth were alive and connected. That all things alive should be respected.
But she had been a party to a murder and sent an innocent man to prison for it.
Shame clawed at her, but she fought it, struggling with her emotions and reminding herself of the circumstances.
She had had no choice.
The sound of the bell over the doorway tinkled, barely discernible over the wail of the country music floating through the Sawdust Saloon. But her senses were well-honed to detect the sound, knowing it might alert her to trouble.
A cloudy haze of smoke made it difficult to make out the new patron as he entered. He was big, so tall that his hat nearly touched the doorway. And he had shoulders like a linebacker.
He hooked his fingers in his belt loops, standing stock still, his stance intimidating as he scanned the room. Shadows hovered around him, and the scent of danger radiated from him like bad whiskey.
She froze, her heart drumming as she studied his features. Carter?
Or the evil monster she'd been running from for five years?
She hated to be paranoid, but life had come at her hard the night she'd met Carter.
He wasn't the only one with scars. She had her own to prove it.
Her finger automatically brushed the deep, puckered X carved into her chest, now well hidden by her shirt, and traced a line over it. For a moment, she couldn't move as she waited to see the man's face in the doorway. He was imposing like Carter and her attacker. Muscular. Big-boned. Large hands.
His boots pounded the wood, crushing the peanut shells on the floor as he moved into the light, and her breath whooshed out in relief.
Even in the dim lighting, she could see he had dark-blond hair.
Carter had thick brown hair, so dark it was almost black.
Her attacker--a shaved head, and he'd smelled like sweat and tobacco.
A group of the men in the back room playing pool shouted, toasting with beer mugs, and two men to her right gave her a flirtatious grin and waved at her to join them.
Sadie inwardly cringed, but remembered she needed this job, and threw up a finger gesturing that she would be right there.
"Your order's up!" the bartender yelled to Sadie.
Amber Celton, blond, boobs falling out of the cheap lacy top of her waitress uniform, and a woman who would screw any man in pants, sashayed up beside her and gestured toward the TV screen. "Man, I don't care if that cowboy is armed and dangerous. He could tie me in his bed anytime."
Sadie wiped her hands on her apron and reached for the tray of beer she needed to deliver. Carter had been seductive, all right.
All that thick, scraggly hair. Those deep whiskey-colored eyes that looked tormented, like they were hunting for trouble. That crooked nose that looked as if it had been broken and needed kissing.
And his mouth...thick lips that scowled one minute as if he was the devil himself, then twitched up into a lazy grin that had made her weak in the knees.
And Lord, those big, strong, wide hands. What he could do with those hands was sinful. Downright lethal.
He had destroyed her for wanting another man as a lover. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53685 | From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The movement is closely related to postmodernism. As with structuralism, antihumanism is often a central tenet. Existential phenomenology is a significant influence; Colin Davis has argued that post-structuralists might just as accurately be called "post-phenomenologists".[7] Some commentators have criticized poststructuralism for being radically relativistic or nihilistic; others have objected to its extremity and linguistic complexity. Others see it as a threat to traditional values or professional scholarly standards.
General practices[edit]
• The author's intended meaning is secondary to the meaning that the reader perceives. Also the author's identity as a stable "self" with a single, discernible "intent" is a fictional construct. Post-structuralism rejects the idea of a literary text having a single purpose, a single meaning, or one singular existence. Instead, every individual reader creates a new and individual purpose, meaning, and existence for a given text. To step outside of literary theory, this position is generalizable to any situation where a subject perceives a sign. Meaning (or the signified, in Saussure's scheme, which is as heavily presumed upon in post-structuralism as in structuralism) is constructed by an individual from a signifier. This is why the signified is said to 'slide' under the signifier, and explains the talk about the "primacy of the signifier."
Destabilized meaning[edit]
In his essay "Signification and Sense," Emmanuel Levinas remarked on this new field of semantic inquiry:
— Levinas, Signification and Sense, Humanism of the Other, tr. Nidra Poller[8]
Post-structuralism and structuralism[edit]
Structuralism was an intellectual movement in France in the 1950s and 1960s that studied the underlying structures in cultural products (such as texts) and used analytical concepts from linguistics, psychology, anthropology, and other fields to interpret those structures. It emphasized the logical and scientific nature of its results.
Post-structuralism offers a way of studying how knowledge is produced and critiques structuralist premises. It argues that because history and culture condition the study of underlying structures, both are subject to biases and misinterpretations. A post-structuralist approach argues that to understand an object (e.g., a text), it is necessary to study both the object itself and the systems of knowledge that produced the object.
Historical vs. descriptive view[edit]
Scholars between both movements[edit]
The uncertain distance between structuralism and post-structuralism is further blurred by the fact that scholars generally do not label themselves as post-structuralists. Some scholars associated with structuralism, such as Roland Barthes, also became noteworthy in post-structuralism. Lévi-Strauss, Lacan, Barthes, and Foucault were the so-called "Gang of Four" of structuralism.[9] All but Lévi-Strauss became prominent post-structuralists. The works of Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, and Julia Kristeva are also counted as prominent examples of post-structuralism.
The critical reading carried out by these thinkers sought to find contradictions that an author includes, supposedly inevitably, in his work. Those inconsistencies are used to show that the interpretation and criticism of any literature is in the hands of the reader and includes that reader's own cultural biases and assumptions. While many structuralists first thought that they could tease out an author's intention by close scrutiny, they soon argued that textual analysis discovered so many disconnections that it was obvious that their own experiences lent a view that was unique to them.
Some observers from outside the post-structuralist camp have questioned the rigor and legitimacy of the field. American philosopher John Searle[10] argued in 1990 that "The spread of 'poststructuralist' literary theory is perhaps the best known example of a silly but noncatastrophic phenomenon." Similarly, physicist Alan Sokal[11] in 1997 criticized "the postmodernist/poststructuralist gibberish that is now hegemonic in some sectors of the American academy." Literature scholar Norman Holland argued that post-structuralism was flawed due to reliance on Saussure's linguistic model, which was seriously challenged by the 1950s and was soon abandoned by linguists: "Saussure's views are not held, so far as I know, by modern linguists, only by literary critics and the occasional philosopher. [Strict adherence to Saussure] has elicited wrong film and literary theory on a grand scale. One can find dozens of books of literary theory bogged down in signifiers and signifieds, but only a handful that refer to Chomsky."[12]
Post-structuralism emerged in France during the 1960s as a movement critiquing structuralism. According to J.G. Merquior[3] a love–hate relationship with structuralism developed amongst many leading French thinkers in the 1960s.
The period was marked by political anxiety, as students and workers alike rebelled against the state in May 1968, nearly causing the downfall of the French government. At the same time, however, the support of the French Communist Party (FCP) for the oppressive policies of the USSR contributed to popular disillusionment with orthodox Marxism. As a result, there was increased interest in alternative radical philosophies, including feminism, western Marxism, anarchism, phenomenology, and nihilism. These disparate perspectives, which Michel Foucault later labeled "subjugated knowledges," were all linked by being critical of dominant Western philosophy and culture. Post-structuralism offered a means of justifying these criticisms, by exposing the underlying assumptions of many Western norms.
Two key figures in the early post-structuralist movement were Jacques Derrida and Roland Barthes. In a 1966 lecture "Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences", Jacques Derrida presented a thesis on an apparent rupture in intellectual life. Derrida interpreted this event as a "decentering" of the former intellectual cosmos. Instead of progress or divergence from an identified centre, Derrida described this "event" as a kind of "play."
Although Barthes was originally a structuralist, during the 1960s he increasingly favored post-structuralist views. In 1967, Barthes published "The Death of the Author" in which he announced a metaphorical event: the "death" of the author as an authentic source of meaning for a given text. Barthes argued that any literary text has multiple meanings, and that the author was not the prime source of the work's semantic content. The "Death of the Author," Barthes maintained, was the "Birth of the Reader," as the source of the proliferation of meanings of the text.
In a 1976 lecture series, Foucault briefly summarized the general impetus of the post-structuralist movement:
— Foucault, Society Must be Defended, 7th January 1976, tr. David Macey[13]
Post-structuralist philosophers like Derrida and Foucault did not form a self-conscious group, but each responded to the traditions of phenomenology and structuralism. Phenomenology, often associated with two German philosophers Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, rejected previous systems of knowledge and attempted to examine life "just as it appears" (as phenomena).[14] Both movements rejected the idea that knowledge could be centred on the human knower, and sought what they considered a more secure foundation for knowledge.[15]
In phenomenology this foundation would be experience itself; in structuralism, knowledge is founded on the "structures" that make experience possible: concepts, and language or signs. Post-structuralism, in turn, argues that founding knowledge either on pure experience (phenomenology) or systematic structures (structuralism) is impossible. This impossibility was meant not a failure or loss, but a cause for "celebration and liberation."[15]
Major works[edit]
Eco and the open text[edit]
Umberto Eco's (1962) The Open Work satisfies the criteria of a post-structuralist work. Eco's thesis is that a work of art, and especially of contemporary art, has an undefined meaning, and that the will of the artist was exactly that of producing such indeterminacy or openness. These "open works" (Eco cites Luciano Berio's musical compositions, among many others) have then to be completed by the interpreter, according to that particular interpreter's knowledge. This idea—now accepted by many philosophers and critics (and was popularized by reader-response theories as well as by hermeneutically informed theories, such as those by Jauss or Iser)—was considered "heretical" at the time, and received a very strong opposition, notably from Claude Lévi-Strauss and the writer Eugenio Montale in Italy. These attacks were documented by Eco himself in the prefaces of later editions of this text. The Open Work is seen by some to be the very first post-structural book, and considered as a classic in semiotics and continental aesthetics.
In 1968 Eco published La struttura assente (literally from Italian: The Absent Structure), another book that had a great impact on the transition between structuralism and post-structuralism. Eco suggests that structures are not entities existing de facto, ontologically, but formal instruments and representations by which scholars can understand cultural concepts, articulating various systems of differences. In 1968, when structuralism was the main theorical reference for many, this book received massive criticism in France and abroad. Later, several structuralists used to define themselves as either "nominalists", if following Eco's path, or "realists", if following Lévi-Strauss's and others' interpretations of what a structure is.
In his later works, especially in A Theory of Semiotics (1975), The Role of the Reader (1979) and Semiotics and Philosophy of Language (1984), Eco defined a semiotic theory taking into account the post-structural innovations, with concepts like encyclopedia, symbolic mode or model reader.
Barthes and the need for metalanguage[edit]
Derrida's lecture at Johns Hopkins[edit]
The occasional designation of post-structuralism as a movement can be tied to the fact that mounting criticism of structuralism became evident at approximately the same time that structuralism became a topic of interest in universities in the United States. This interest led to a 1966 conference at Johns Hopkins University, which invited scholars thought to be prominent post-structuralists, including Derrida, Barthes, and Lacan.
The element of "play" in the title of Derrida's essay is often erroneously interpreted as "play" in a linguistic sense, based on a general tendency towards puns and humour, while social constructionism as developed in the later work of Michel Foucault is said to create a sense of strategic agency by laying bare the levers of historical change. Many see the importance of Foucault's work as in its synthesis of this social/historical account of the operations of power (see governmentality).[citation needed]
Judith Butler and Gender Trouble[edit]
A major American thinker associated with post structuralist thought is Judith Butler. Trained in Continental philosophy and published on Hegel, Butler is better known for her engagement with feminist theory and as the 'mother' (along with English literature scholar Eve Sedgwick) of Queer Theory. In Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Butler explored the persistence of biological sex in feminist theory as the source and cause of the unequal social treatment and status of women. Using ideas about power and subjectification first broached by Michel Foucault in Discipline and Punish,[16] and the linguistic theories of J. L. Austin, Butler argued that sex was an effect rather than the cause of social gender difference, and that the fiction of a stable core gender identity was maintained through socially coerced performances of gender. Butler's ideas depend greatly on the notion of "performativity" and she is widely credited with introducing the term into gender studies. Austin described performative words as those that both describe and produce a thing. The classic example is a minister's statement, "I now pronounce you husband and wife," which both describes and produces two people as married. Similarly, Butler argued that repetitive socially coerced gender performances, which aspire to replicate a normative gender ideal, actually produce the sexed body and gender identity.
In Gender Trouble, Butler also relied on deconstructionist language theory and Freudian psychoanalysis to argue that heterosexuality is structured in an ongoing series of losses stemming from a repudiation of homosexuality; as such homosexuality can be seen as constitutive of heterosexuality, necessitating its repeated repudiations. Butler embraced the Foucauldian notion that there is no "outside" to culture, and therefore resistance—even consciousness, volition, the self—to forms of oppression is always already structured in terms of that oppression. Therefore, resistance can only take the form of failed imitations of social norms, whose very failure reveals the structures of power that often masquerade as natural or inevitable. For this reason, Butler's work has been taken up by gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people because it re-imagines sexual and gender non-conformity—not to mention the way that heterosexual and cisgender norms are often reproduced in gay and lesbian culture and relationships—as a form of resistance to a heteronormative society that attempts (but always fails) to naturalize the relationships among sex, gender, and sexual orientation.[17]
See also[edit]
1. ^ Bensmaïa, Réda Poststructuralism, article published in Kritzman, Lawrence (ed.) The Columbia History of Twentieth-Century French Thought, Columbia University Press, 2005, pp.92-93
2. ^ Mark Poster (1988) Critical theory and poststructuralism: in search of a context, section Introduction: Theory and the problem of Context, pp.5-6
3. ^ a b Merquior, J.G. (1987). Foucault (Fontana Modern Masters series), University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-06062-8.
4. ^ Deleuze, Gilles. 2002. "How Do We Recognise Structuralism?" In Desert Islands and Other Texts 1953-1974. Trans. David Lapoujade. Ed. Michael Taormina. Semiotext(e) Foreign Agents ser. Los Angeles and New York: Semiotext(e), 2004. 170-192. ISBN 1-58435-018-0. p.171-173.
5. ^ Craig, Edward, ed. 1998. Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. Vol. 7 (Nihilism to Quantum mechanics). London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-18712-5. p.597.
6. ^ Harrison, Paul; 2006; "Post-structuralist Theories"; pp122-135 in Aitken, S. and Valentine, G. (eds); 2006; Approaches to Human Geography; Sage, London
8. ^ Levinas, Emmanuel. Humanism of the Other. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2003. p. 11-12.
9. ^
10. ^ Searle, John. (1990). "The Storm Over the University," in The New York Times Review of Books, 6 December 1990.
11. ^ Sokal, Alan. (1997) "Professor Latour's Philosophical Mystifications," originally published in French in Le Monde, 31 January 1997; translated by the author.
13. ^ Michel Foucault (2003). "Society Must Be Defended": Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975-1976. Macmillan. pp. 6–7. ISBN 978-0-312-20318-4. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
14. ^ Colebrook, Claire. "Deleuze," Routledge Critical Thinkers, 2002
15. ^ a b Colebrook 2002, pp. 2-4
16. ^ Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison(1975)
17. ^ Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (NY: Routledge, 1990).
• Matthews, E. Twentieth-Century French Philosophy. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996.
• Ryan, M. Literary theory: a practical introduction. Blackwell Publishers Inc, Massachusetts,1999.
External links[edit] |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53713 |
shutdown user and accountability
Dear .debs,
I'm maintaining a (small-time) group server for our department. In
order to satisfy company policy requirements I need to provide a way
to shutdown the server in case of emergencies. Our network admin was
kind enough to give me two alternatives:
1) provide an on-screen shutdown button
2) provide a shutdown user account (and document its usage)
I didn't like either approach because they lack accountability: after
a shutdown I can't tell *who* did it.
BTW, the server has no screen for buttons, so 1) is not an option to
begin with. You have to ssh in to do anything (exploit one of inetd,
exim, samba or apache in some way may be an alternative ;-).
I came up with a 'sudo /sbin/halt' for department members (and others
on an as needed basis), but that was no good. Everyone has to be able
to shut it down. I racked my brains but didn't come up with anything
that provides accountability. Anyone any suggestions?
Right now, I'm stuck with 2) and writing the password on the machine
(or similar) *or* stay with what I have now and take my chances with
people flicking the power switch.
BTW, the server is not in a physically secure location, so I run the
power switch thingy risk anyway.
Suggestions, discussions of pros and cons welcome,
Olaf Meeuwissen Epson Kowa Corporation, Research and Development
Reply to: |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53714 |
Re: Re can't the shell do a better job
Gayle Lee Fairless wrote:
Maurits van Rees <[email protected]>
think that's only when you're in emacs-compatible mode.
Well, in the one true shell, zsh, ESC-P and ESC-N will go backwards and forwards in the history respectively. It will even take the current line as a filter so "ls" followed by multiple ESC-P will bring up my previous ls commands.
I always get hung up with that in bash since ESC-P does something completely different there. Brings up a colon for some reason. To me it means, "You're not using zsh, stupid, run chsh!" :)
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Reply to: |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53715 |
Messages in this thread
SubjectRe: [take14 0/3] kevent: Generic event handling mechanism.
[Sorry for the length, but I want to be clear.]
As promised, before Monday (at least my time), here are my thoughts on
the proposed kevent interfaces. Not necessarily well ordered:
- one point of critique which applied to many proposals over the years:
multiplexer syscalls a bad, really bad. They are more complicated
to use at userlevel and in the kernel. We've seen more than once that
unimplemented functions are not reported correctly with ENOSYS. Just
use individual syscalls. Adding them is cheap and probably overall
less expensive than the multiplexer.
Events to wait for are basically all those with syscalls which can
potentially block indefinitely:
- file descriptor
- POSIX message queues (these are in fact file descriptors but
let's make it legitimate)
- timer expiration
- signals (just as sigwait, not normal delivery instead of a handler)
- futexes (needs a lot more investigation)
- SysV message queues
- SysV semaphores
- bind socket operations (Alan brought this up in a different context)
- delays (nanosleep/clock_nanosleep, could be done using timers but the
overhead would likely be too high)
- process state change (waitpid, wait4, waitid etc)
- file locking (flock, lockf)
We might also want to think about
- msync/fsync: Today's wait/no-wait option doesn't allow us to work on
other things if the sync takes time and we need a real notification
(i.e., if no-wait cannot be used)
The reporting must of course provide the userlevel code with enough
information to identify the request. For submitting requests we need
such identification, too, so having unique identifiers for all the
different event types is necessary. So some extend this is what the
KEVENT_TIMER_FIRED, KEVENT_SOCKET_RECV, etc constants do. But they
should be more generic in their names since we need to use them also
when registering the even. I.e., KEVENT_EVENT_TIMER or so is more
Often (most of the time) this ID and the actual descriptor (file
descriptor, message queue descriptor, signal number, etc) is not
sufficient. In the POSIX API we therefore usually have a cookie value
which the userlevel code can provide and which is returned unchanged as
part of the notification. See the sigev_value member of struct
sigevent. I think this is the best approach: is compact and it gives
all the flexibility needed. Userlevel code will store a value or more
often a pointer in the cookie and can then access additional information
based of the cookie.
I know there is a controversy around using pointer-sized values in
kernel structures which are exposed to userlevel. It should be possible
to work around this. We can simply always use 64-bit values and when
the data structure is exposed to 32-bit userland code only the first or
second 32-bit word of the structure is exposed with the name. The other
word is padding. If planned in from the beginning this should not cause
any problems at all.
Looking at the current struct mukevent, I don't think it is sufficient.
We need more room for the various types of events. And we shouldn't
prevent future innovative uses. I suggest to create records of a fixed
size with sufficient room. Maybe 32 bytes are sufficient but I'd leave
this open for can until the very end. Members of the structure must be
- ID if the type of event; type int
- descriptor (file descriptor, SysV msg descriptors etc); type int
- user-provided cookie; type uint64_t
That's only 16 bytes so far but we'll likely need more for some uses.
Next, the current interfaces once again fail to learn from a mistake we
made and which got corrected for the other interfaces. We need to be
able to change the signal mask around the delay atomically. Just like
we have ppoll for poll, pselect for select (and hopefully soon also
epoll_pwait for epoll_wait) we need to have this feature in the new
I read the description Nicholas Miell produced (the example programs
aren't available, accessing the URL fails for me) and looked over the
last patch (take 14).
The biggest problem I see so far is the integration into the existing
interfaces. kevent notification *really* should be usable as a new
sigevent type. Whether the POSIX interfaces are liked by kernel folks
or not, they are what the majority of the userlevel programmers use.
The mechanism is easily extensible. I've described this in my paper. I
cannot comment on the complexity of the kernel side but I'd imagine it's
not much more difficult, just different from what is implemented now.
Let's learn for a change from the mistakes of the past. The new and
innovative AIO interfaces never took off because their implementation
differs so much from the POSIX interfaces. People are interested in
portable code. So, please, let's introduce SIGEV_KEVENT. Then we
magically get timer notification etc for free.
The ring buffer interface is not described in Nicholas' description.
I'm looking at the sources and am a bit baffled. For instance, the
kevent_user_ring_add_event function simply adds an event without
determining whether this overwrites an undelivered entry. One single
index into the buffer isn't sufficient for this anyway. So let me ask
some questions:
- how is userlevel code supposed to locate events in the buffer? We
can maintain a separate pointer for the ring buffer (in a separate
location, which might actually be good for CPU cache reasons). But
this cannot solve all problems. E.g., if the read pointer is
initialized to zero (as is the write pointer), the ring buffer fits N
entries, if now N+1 entries arrive before the first event is handled
by the userlevel code, how does the userland code know that all ring
buffer entries are valid? If the code supposed to always scan the
entire buffer?
- we need to signal the ring buffer overflow in some form to the
userlevel code. What proposals have been made for this? Signals
are the old and tried mechanism. I.e., one would be allowed to
associate a signal with each kevent descriptor and receive overflow
notifications this way. When rt signals are used we event can get
the kevent descriptor and the possible a user cookie delivered.
Something like this is needed in case such a kevent queue is used
in library code where we cannot rely on being the only user for an
I must admit I haven't spent too much time thinking about the ideal ring
buffer interface. At OLS there were quite a few people (like Zach) who
said they did. So, let's solicit advice. I think the kernel AIO
interface can also provide some info on what not to do.
One aspect of the interface I did think about: the delay syscall. I
already mentioned the signal mask issue above. The interface already
has a timeout value (good!). But we need to specify the semantics quite
detailed to avoid problems.
What I mean by that is the problem we are facing if there is more than
one thread waiting for events. If no event is available all threads use
the delay syscall. If now an event becomes available, what do we do?
Do we want exactly one thread? This is a problem. The thread might not
be working on the event after it gets woken (e.g., because the thread
gets canceled). The result is that there is an event available and no
other thread gets woken. This can be avoided by requiring that if a
thread, which got woken from a delay syscall, doesn't use the event, it
has to wake another thread. But how do we do this?
One possibility I could see is that the delay syscall returns the event
which caused the thread to be woken. This event is _not_ also reported
in the ring buffer. Then, if the thread does not use the event, it
simply requeues it. This will then implicitly wake another delayed thread.
Which brings me to the second point about the current kevent_get_events
syscall. I don't think the min_nr parameter is useful. Probably we
should not even allow the kevent queue to be used with different max_nr
parameters in different thread. If you'd allow this, how would the
event notification be handled? A waiter with a smaller required number
of events would always be woken first. I think the number of required
events should be a property of the kevent object. Then the code would
create different kevent object if the requirement is different. At the
very least I'd declare it an error if at any time there are two or more
threads delayed which have different requirements on the number of
events. This could provide all the flexibility needed while preventing
some of the mistakes one can make.
In summary, I don't think we're at the point where the current
interfaces are usable. I'd like to see them redesigned and
reimplemented. The bad news is that I'll not be able to help with the
coding. The somewhat good news is that I can given some more
recommendations. In general I still think the text from my OLS paper
- one syscall to create a kevent queue. Using a special filesystem like
take 14 does is OK. But who do you pass parameters like the maximum
number of expected outstanding events? I think a dedicated syscall is
better. It also works more reliably since /proc might not be yet
mounted when the first user of the interface is started. The result
should be a file descriptor. At least an object which can be handled
like a file descriptor when it comes to transmitting it over Unix
domain sockets. Questions to answer: what happens if you use the
descriptor with any other interface but the kevent interfaces (I think
all such calls like dup, read, write, ... should fail).
int kevent_init (int num);
- one system call to create the userlevel ring buffer. Simply
overloading the mmap operation for the special kevent filesystem can
work so no separate syscall is needed in that case. We need to
nail down the semantics, though. What happens if more than one mmap
call is made? Does only the last one count? Does the second one
fail? Will mremap() work to increase/descrease the size? Will
mremap() be allowed to be called with MREMAP_MAYMOVE? What if mmap()
is called from different processes (in the POSIX sense, i.e., from
different address spaces)?
int kevent_map_ringbuf (int kfd, size_t num)
- one interface to set additional parameters. This is likely mostly to
make the interfaces safe for the future. Perhaps the number of events
needed per delay call should be set this way.
int kevent_ctl (int kfd, int cmd, ...)
- one interface to shut the kevent down. This might be overkill. We
should be able to use munmap() and close(). If a real interface for
this would be created it should look like this
int kevent_destroy (int kfd, void *ringbuf, size_t num)
I find this rather more cumbersome. Just use close and munmap.
- one interface to submit requests.
int kevent_submit (int kfd, struct kevent_event *ev, int flags,
struct timespec *timeout)
Maybe the flags parameter isn't needed, it's just another way to make
sure we won't regret the design later. If the ring buffer can fill up
and this is detected by the kernel (unlike what happens in take 14)
then the calling thread could be delayed undefinitely. Maybe we even
have a deadlock if there is only one thread. If only a wait/no-wait
mode is needed, then use only a flags parameter and no timeout
A special variant should be if ev == NULL the call is taken as a
request to wake one or more delayed threads.
- one interface to delay threads until the next event becomes available.
No data is transfered along with the call. The event data must be
read from the ring buffer:
int kevent_wait (int kfd, unsigned ringstate,
const struct timespec *timeout,
const sigset_t *sigmask)
Wait-mode can be implemented by recognizing timeout==NULL. no-wait
mode is implemented using timeout->tv_sec==timeout->tv_nsec==0. If
sigset_t is NULL the signal mask is not changed.
The ringstate parameter is also not present in the take 14 proposal.
Something like it is necessary to prevent the thread from going to
sleep while there are events in the ring buffer. It would be very
wasteful if the kernel would have to keep track of outstanding
events. This would also mean then handling events would require
a system call, exactly what the ring buffer approach should prevent.
I think the sequence for waiting for an event should be like this:
+ get current ring state
+ check whether any outstanding event in ring buffer
+ if yes, copy data out of ring buffer, mark ring buffer record
as unused (atomically).
+ if no, call kevent_wait with ring state value
When the kernel delivers a new event it does:
+ find place to store event
+ change ring state (might be a simple counter)
The kevent_wait implementation in the kernel would then as the first
thing determine whether the ring state changed. If yes, the syscall
returns immediate with -ENWOULDBLOCK. Otherwise it is queued for
With these steps and the requirement that all ring buffer entries are
processed FIFO we can
a) avoid syscalls to avoid freeing ring buffer entries
b) detect overflows in the ring buffer
c) can maintain the read pointer at userlevel while the kernel can
maintain the write pointer into the buffer
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\ /
Last update: 2006-08-27 23:07 [W:0.218 / U:0.596 seconds]
©2003-2011 Jasper Spaans |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53718 | [Python-Dev] Optional positional-only parameters (was Re: [Python-3000] PEP 3102)
Joel Bender jjb5 at cornell.edu
Tue Feb 19 16:53:43 CET 2008
Nick Coghlan wrote:
> We've also veered fairly far off topic for the Py3k list - further ideas
> for positional-only argument syntax or decorators should probably be
> kicked around on python-ideas rather than here or python-dev.
For a function specification like this:
def f(w, x=1, *, y, z=2): ...
My preference is for w and x to be positional only, w is required; y and
z are keyword only, y is required.
I personally like the idea that for functions like range([start,] stop
[,step]) that the function describes which combinations of positional
functions are allowed. An alternative would be overloading, which I
would use, albeit rarely:
def _range(x, y, z): ...
def range(y): return _range(None, y, None)
def range(x, y): return _range(x, y, None)
def range(x, y, z): return _range(x, y, z)
As for this relative nonsense:
def test([arg1=1, [[*arg2,] arg3=3,]] arg4): ...
Someday I'll dig around in the interpreter enough to make this work,
just to see what it would be like. But not today.
> Another use would be allowing the '_cache trick' with a varargs
> function, i.e.
> def f(*args, _cache={}):
> ...
> Personally I don't like this trick though...
My preference for defining persistent variables with a local scope would
be to introduce a "local" or "static" keyword like "global":
def f(*args):
static cache={}
But I'm sure that that has been discussed before.
More information about the Python-Dev mailing list |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53719 | Skip to Content
General Laws
Section 2. As used in this chapter the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise:—
“Asexual”, not initiated by the union of an oocyte and a sperm.
“Commissioner”, the commissioner of public health.
“Council”, the biomedical research advisory council.
“Department”, the department of public health.
“Donated to research”, when, in the absence of valuable consideration and after fulfillment of the requirements of informed consent, the person from whose cells the pre-implantation embryo has originated or will originate gives the pre-implantation embryo or cells to another person; provided, however, that the recipient shall use the extant or resultant pre-implantation embryo in biomedical research and shall not transfer the pre-implantation embryo to a uterus or uterine-like environment or nurture the pre-implantation embryo beyond 14 days of development.
“Embryo”, an organism of the species homo-sapiens whether formed by fertilization, somatic cell nuclear transfer, parthenogenesis or other means.
“Employee”, an individual who performs services for and under the control and direction of an employer for wages or other remuneration.
“Fertilization”, the process whereby the male and female gametes unite to form an embryo.
“Gametes”, a sperm or oocyte.
“Human adult stem cell”, an undifferentiated cell found in a differentiated tissue that can renew itself and differentiate to yield specialized cell types.
“Human reproductive cloning”, the asexual genetic replication of a human being by transferring a pre-implantation embryo that has been created by somatic cell nuclear transfer, parthenogenesis or by other asexual means into a uterus or uterine-like environment with the purpose of creating a human fetus or a human child.
“Informed consent”, the written consent for the donation of gametes or embryos used for research conducted pursuant to this chapter which complies with the requirements of a duly appointed institutional review board, acting in accordance with 45 C.F.R. 46.116 and 45 C.F.R. 46.117, as may be amended from time to time. The written consent shall be in a language understandable to the donor or patient and shall include all reasonably foreseeable risks, discomforts or benefits of the procedure to the donor or patient.
“Institution”, a corporation, association, partnership, nonprofit organization or other legal entity which conducts research authorized by this chapter.
“Institutional Review Board”, a board that has a minimum of 5 members who meet regularly to review research applying the standards of 45 CFR Part 46 or 21 CFR Parts 50 and 56, as may be amended from time to time.
“In vitro”, in an artificial environment, referring to a process or reaction occurring therein, as in a test tube or culture medium.
“In vitro fertilization”, an assisted reproduction technique in which fertilization is accomplished outside of the human body.
“Manager”, an individual to whom an institution conducting research pursuant to this chapter has given the authority to direct and control the work performance of the affected employee and who has authority to take corrective action regarding a violation of a law, rule, regulation, activity or policy.
“Parthenogenesis”, the development of an egg without fertilization.
“Parthenote”, the product of egg development without fertilization.
“Person”, a natural person, corporation, association, partnership or other legal entity.
“Placental cells”, cells obtained from the placenta.
“Pre-implantation embryo”, an embryo formed and maintained outside of the human body whether by in vitro fertilization, somatic cell nuclear transfer, parthenogenesis or other asexual means, which has not experienced more than 14 days of development; provided, however, that such length of time shall not include any interval in which such development has been suspended, such as through freezing.
“Public body”, (a) the United States Congress, a state legislature, including the general court, or a popularly elected local government body, or a member or employee thereof; (b) a federal, state or local judiciary, or a member or employee thereof, or a grand or petit jury; (c) a federal, state or local regulatory, administrative or public agency or authority or instrumentality thereof; (d) a federal, state or local law enforcement agency, prosecutorial office or police or peace officer; or (e) a division, board, bureau, office, committee or commission of any of the public bodies described in clauses (a) to (d), inclusive.
“Public institutional review board”, a board established pursuant to subsection (a) of section 6 that has a minimum of 5 members who meet regularly to review research applying the standards of 45 CFR Part 46 or 21 CFR Parts 50 and 56, as may be amended from time to time.
“Retaliatory action”, the unlawful discharge, suspension, demotion, harassment, denial of promotion, layoff or other adverse action taken against an employee affecting the terms and conditions of employment.
“Somatic cell”, a nongamete cell obtained from a living or deceased human being.
“Somatic cell nuclear transfer”, the technique in which the nucleus of an oocyte is replaced with the nucleus of a somatic cell.
“Umbilical cord cells”, cells derived from an umbilical cord.
“Uterine-like environment”, a replicate of the uterus used for the purpose of sustaining an embryo through birth and creating a human being.
“Uterus”, a uterus or fallopian tube.
“Valuable consideration”, any consideration beyond reimbursement for reasonable costs incurred in connection with the donation, removal, processing, disposal, preservation, quality control, storage, transplantation or implantation of gametes, embryonic or cadeveric tissue.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53729 | Translation(s): English - Italiano - Русский
Debian Alternatives System
The Debian alternatives system creates a way for several programs that fulfill the same or similar functions to be listed as alternative implementations that are installed simultaneously but with one particular implementation designated as the default. For example many systems have several text editors installed at the same time. The vi program is a classic example of an editor that has many implementations such as nvi, elvis, vim, etc. but which one should be designated as the default?
Debian's alternatives system aims to solve the problem of selecting a default preferred version. Management is done through the update-alternatives program that creates, removes, maintains and displays information about the symbolic links constituting the Debian alternatives system. Priorities are assigned by package creators. The alternative with the highest priority determines the default value when in automatic mode. Additionally the local administrator may override the automatic selection with a manual selection.
The Debian alternatives system was originally created for Debian but has been picked up by other GNU/Linux software distributions. For example Red Hat now uses a fork of the code to maintain system software such as /usr/sbin/sendmail. On RHEL/Fedora /usr/sbin/sendmail is an alternatives symlink to either the classic Sendmail or to Postfix as alternative implementations of an MTA. In fact the alternative group is called the mta group there.
Here is a previous rant on the subject in the debian-user mailing list that I think is a good introduction to using the Debian alternatives system. I will eventually pull most of that discussion into this wiki page but for now I will just reference it.
One-Liners to manipulate alternatives
Here is a long one-liner that will print out all manually configured Debian Alternatives symlinks.
for i in $(ls /etc/alternatives); do
LANG=C update-alternatives --display $i 2>/dev/null;
done | awk '/manual.mode/{print $1}'
If all of those are something that you want to reset to automatic then this can be done using the same generated list. Otherwise simply grep out the ones that you want or don't want.
done | awk '/manual.mode/{print $1}' |
xargs -L 1 sudo update-alternatives --auto
See Also |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53739 |
People in Heaven Praise God
1After this vision and announcement I heard what sounded like a great many people in heaven saying:
Salvation, glory, and power belong to our God,
2because his judgments are true and right.
He has punished the prostitute
who made the earth evil with her sexual sin.
He has paid her back for the death of his servants.”
3Again they said:
She is burning, and her smoke will rise forever and ever.”
4Then the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures bowed down and worshiped God, who sits on the throne. They said:
“Amen, Hallelujah!”
5Then a voice came from the throne, saying:
“Praise our God, all you who serve him
and all you who honor him, both small and great!”
Our Lord God, the Almighty, rules.
7Let us rejoice and be happy
and give God glory,
because the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and the Lamb’s bride has made herself ready.
8Fine linen, bright and clean, was given to her to wear.”
(The fine linen means the good things done by God’s holy people.)
9And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who have been invited to the wedding meal of the Lamb!” And the angel said, “These are the true words of God.”
10Then I bowed down at the angel’s feet to worship him, but he said to me, “Do not worship me! I am a servant like you and your brothers and sisters who have the message of Jesus. Worship God, because the message about Jesus is the spirit that gives all prophecy.”
The Rider on the White Horse
11Then I saw heaven opened, and there before me was a white horse. The rider on the horse is called Faithful and True, and he is right when he judges and makes war. 12His eyes are like burning fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him, which no one but himself knows. 13He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14The armies of heaven, dressed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him on white horses. 15Out of the rider’s mouth comes a sharp sword that he will use to defeat the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will crush out the wine in the winepress of the terrible anger of God the Almighty. 16On his robe and on his upper leg was written this name: king of kings and lord of lords.
17Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he called with a loud voice to all the birds flying in the sky: “Come and gather together for the great feast of God 18so that you can eat the bodies of kings, generals, mighty people, horses and their riders, and the bodies of all people—free, slave, small, and great.”
19Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth. Their armies were gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20But the beast was captured and with him the false prophet who did the miracles for the beast. The false prophet had used these miracles to trick those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his idol. The false prophet and the beast were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. 21And their armies were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds ate the bodies until they were full.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53740 | ------ hos ------
1# Verses 12:1-14 are numbered 12:2-15 in Hebrew text. The people of Israel# Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; also in 12:8, 14. feed on the wind;
they chase after the east wind all day long.
They pile up lies and violence;
they are making an alliance with Assyria
while sending olive oil to buy support from Egypt.
2Now the Lord is bringing charges against Judah.
He is about to punish Jacob# Jacob sounds like the Hebrew word for “deceiver.” for all his deceitful ways,
and pay him back for all he has done.
3Even in the womb,
Jacob struggled with his brother;
when he became a man,
he even fought with God.
4Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won.
He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him.
There at Bethel he met God face to face,
and God spoke to him# As in Greek and Syriac versions; Hebrew reads to us.
5the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies,
the Lord is his name!
6So now, come back to your God.
Act with love and justice,
and always depend on him.
7But no, the people are like crafty merchants
selling from dishonest scales—
they love to cheat.
8Israel boasts, “I am rich!
I’ve made a fortune all by myself!
No one has caught me cheating!
My record is spotless!”
9“But I am the Lord your God,
who rescued you from slavery in Egypt.
And I will make you live in tents again,
as you do each year at the Festival of Shelters.# Hebrew as in the days of your appointed feast.
10I sent my prophets to warn you
with many visions and parables.”
11But the people of Gilead are worthless
because of their idol worship.
And in Gilgal, too, they sacrifice bulls;
their altars are lined up like the heaps of stone
along the edges of a plowed field.
12Jacob fled to the land of Aram,
and there he# Hebrew Israel. See note on 10:11b. earned a wife by tending sheep.
13Then by a prophet
the Lord brought Jacob’s descendants# Hebrew brought Israel. See note on 10:11b. out of Egypt;
and by that prophet
they were protected.
14But the people of Israel
have bitterly provoked the Lord,
so their Lord will now sentence them to death
in payment for their sins.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53741 |
Debts Canceled
1“At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. #Ex 22:25-27Lv 25 2This is how to cancel debt: Every creditor # Lit owner of a loan of his hand is to cancel what he has lent his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the Lord’s release of debts has been proclaimed. 3You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.
4“There will be no poor among you, however, because the Lord is certain to bless you in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance #Ex 32:13Lv 20:24Dt 4:21|NoBook| 12:10|NoBook| 16:20|NoBook| 19:10|NoBook| 21:23|NoBook| 24:4|NoBook| 25:19|NoBook| 26:1|NoBook| 29:8Jos 1:65if only you obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow every one of these commands I am giving you today. 6When the Lord your God blesses you as He has promised you, you will lend to many nations but not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.
Lending to the Poor
7“If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers within any of your gates in the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. 8Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him enough for whatever need he has. 9Be careful that there isn’t this wicked thought in your heart, ‘The seventh year, the year of canceling debts, is near,’ and you are stingy toward your poor brother and give him nothing. He will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty. 10Give to him, and don’t have a stingy heart # Lit and let not your heart be grudging when you give, and because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you do. # Lit you put your hand to 11For there will never cease to be poor people in the land; #Mt 26:11 that is why I am commanding you, ‘You must willingly open your hand to your afflicted and poor brother in your land.’
Release of Slaves
12“If your fellow Hebrew, a man or woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, you must set him free in the seventh year. #Jr 34:14 13When you set him free, do not send him away empty-handed. 14Give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You are to give him whatever the Lord your God has blessed you with. 15Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed #Ex 15:13Dt 7:8|NoBook| 9:26|NoBook| 24:18 you; that is why I am giving you this command today. #Dt 24:18 16But if your slave says to you, ‘I don’t want to leave you,’ because he loves you and your family, and is well off with you, 17take an awl and pierce through his ear into the door, and he will become your slave for life. Also treat your female slave the same way. 18Do not regard it as a hardship # Lit Let it not be hard in your sight when you set him free, because he worked for you six years — worth twice the wages of a hired hand. Then the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do. #Ex 21:2-11
Consecration of Firstborn Animals
19“You must consecrate to the Lord your God every firstborn male produced by your herd and flock. #Lv 23:9-14 You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work or shear the firstborn of your flock. 20Each year you and your family are to eat it before the Lord your God in the place the Lord chooses. 21But if there is a defect in the animal, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22Eat it within your gates; both the unclean person and the clean may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or deer. 23But you must not eat its blood; pour it on the ground like water. #Dt 12:15-16
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53774 | Reviews for Ran's big GoodBye
AmericanGecko chapter 1 . 6/23/2010
Yargh...I just now find you, and learn that you are leaving the KP fanfiction Kimmunity. :(
Please come back soon.
Mr. Wizard chapter 1 . 6/12/2010
Very funny. Wish we were reading this under better circumstances.
screaming phoenix chapter 1 . 6/12/2010
I'm still holding out hope for more Ran tales in the future.
JAKT chapter 1 . 6/12/2010
This is so Classic - RAN.
Dad and I always love your top ten. At least the PG versions.
And your venture into the Tarable Universe is soooo you.
Wishing you well in all of your future ventures.
Just be sure to come back once in a while.
We'll miss you.
Kwebs chapter 1 . 6/12/2010
Great as usual my friend. I think number 3 is my favorite. What ever you decide to do write or not write. I'll see you around.
whitem chapter 1 . 6/11/2010
LOL! Oh Ran... I'm gonna miss your forays into the Tarable Universe...
I do have another ring that looks like Tarable's for ya if you want. It's only a non-working prop, but you can have it to remember us by...
At least you're not completely going away, and we might see you from time to time...
Pharaoh Rutin Tutin chapter 1 . 6/11/2010
Ran, I for one will not hold this against you when you do decide to return to full time Kimcentric insanity.
So until the next time, this is this time.
CajunBear73 chapter 1 . 6/11/2010
Ah Ran, we hardly knew ye...
Ran, don't go!
Katsumara chapter 1 . 6/11/2010
Agreed with Slyrr. I am also looking forward to more Ran stories. xD
Slyrr chapter 1 . 6/11/2010
Well, I for one look forward to yet more Ran stories :) |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53780 | Sorry it took me so long to get this part written.
Originally, this part wasn't planned in the story and I'm only writing it because so many of you were so thrilled with the story. I will answer a few of your questions about Petunia and her relationship with Ethan and Giles and such during this chapter. Anything I don't answer, I'm leaving to your imagination. Also, watch for the author's not at the end of this chapter for some additional comments and explanations.
Thank you very much to: veela princess, eyeinthesky, Silver Warrior, inuyashas hun, lovemehatemejustdon'tfearme, Wytil, xHikari-808x, ldypebsaby, KORNfused Pyro and Moonjava for your wonderful reviews.
Vengeance - Epilogue
Two weeks passed in a hectic blur for Harry. The Order's security measures were hiked up to almost impossible levels and meetings were an almost daily event. Everyone seemed especially concerned about finding out just how the death eaters were able to bypass the protection that was supposed to be surrounding the Dursley residence. Harry spent hours retelling what had occurred there, even though he was certain that by about the tenth telling everyone must've known it by heart.
He fondly remembered the first time he had told the tale, sitting in the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place, surrounded by almost the entire Order of the Phoenix. If Mr. Weasley had not been there to confirm his words, Harry was sure by the looks on their faces that no one would've believed him.
When he mentioned the arrival of Lucius Malfoy and the death eaters, there were gasps around the room. Moody then accused Snape of being a traitor and a lousy spy. Snape, of course didn't take kindly to the accusation. It had taken Dumbledore's special brand of magic to calm the two men down enough for Harry to continue.
When he told how Lucius had killed his uncle Vernon, there were murmurs of sympathy from his audience. Except for Ron, who said "Good riddance" instead and promptly got smacked upside the head from his mother and received a harsh glare from Hermione.
Naturally, the entire Order had been shocked when he told them what Petunia had done. At the part where Ethan came barging in through the wall (Harry still hadn't figured that one out even with Hermione's help), Tonks had protested: "But I checked him out myself, he's a muggle!" Snape then sneered something about auror incompetence, which offended Moody, who said that Snape should've known about the attack in the first place. . . Once again, Dumbledore had had to step in.
Snape's sneer turned into a thoughtful expression when he heard the wish Petunia had made to the Vengeance Demon Lord. When he practically skipped into 12 Grimmauld Place with a malicious smile on his face two days later, it didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.
After he finished, Harry knew he was witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime moment when even Professor Dumbledore admitted to being completely baffled by what had happened: why Petunia was able to do what she had done and who the people that had shown up afterwards were.
Now, two weeks later, the senior Order members had finally come to the unanimous decision that it was high time they got some answers. And it seemed the only person who could provide them with some, was Harry's aunt. So Harry, accompanied by Snape and Lupin and the Weasley twins, appararated to 4 Private Dr. to visit the house Harry had hoped he'd never have to see again.
The group apparated to the nearby park, figuring that Harry's aunt might not want them suddenly appearing in the middle of her living room. uninvited. If she was too angry, she might not answer any of their questions.
The closer Harry got to his aunt's house, the more confused he got. There was a crowd of people standing on the front lawn, chatting idly, as if waiting for something. And judging by the cracks in the neighbours' curtains, he wasn't the only one who had noticed and was curious about the commotion.
"Mr. Potter," Professor Snape asked in a low tone as they approached, "do you know any of these people?"
"No sir, I don't. . . oh wait!" Harry suddenly got a clear view of the group by the stairs. "Over there, that's the redhead who stopped my aunt and I'm pretty sure that brunette's the one who carried Mad-eye into the house."
"Harry, are you sure about that?" Lupin asked cautiously. "She doesn't seem to be a witch, let alone one with the kind of power you described. I can't feel a wand on her."
Harry thought about that for a moment.
"You know, I don't ever remember seeing her with a wand. Come to think of it, my aunt didn't use one either and neither did Ethan, though I didn't actually see him do any magic. . ."
"Merlin help us!" Snape suddenly interrupted him. "She looks like a Weasley!"
"Then it's certain. . ." said Fred, he was sure it was Fred, because he remembered that Fred was on his left and George was on his right.
"She's not someone we want to mess with. . ." continued George.
"Especially because she's a girl." Fred finished.
No one argued with them. Instead they turned onto the white stone path that led up to 4 Private Dr.. Harry had never felt nervous walking up that path before. With a dozen or so girls eyeing him warily out of the corners of their eyes, he certainly was now. What unnerved him the most was that none of them stopped their conversations. It was as if the group, which he suddenly realized was entirely made up of girls, was simply making note of the intrusion and watching him in case he decided to become dangerous.
The only male presence on the lawn was a tall, nicely tanned young man with dark hair and an eye patch, who was talking with the redhead and brunette that Harry recognized from before.
The three of them were engrossed in conversation and hadn't even seemed to have noticed the strangers approaching them. The brunette was casually leaning against the side of the house, smoking a cigarette.
Just then the front door opened and Ethan strode out with a large plate of cookies. They smelt wonderful. He turned to the group by the door and offered them one.
"Are you trying to insult my intelligence here?" the man asked. "'Cause you know, I remember very well what happened the last time Giles let you buy him a drink."
"Hey, I don't think I've heard this story yet," the brunette said, "what happened?"
"He got turned into a demon."
The brunette laughed.
"It wasn't funny, Buffy nearly killed him!" the redhead exclaimed.
"Wait, you turned someone into a demon?" George asked in awe.
"Yes, I did," Ethan turned to the Weasley twins with a wide grin on his face, "not all that difficult really. Just a simple potion, added it to his drink and voila! Ripper wakes up the next morning as a demon, by which time, I am nowhere in sight."
Harry could almost feel the wheels turning inside the Weasley twins' heads as they absorbed this piece of information.
"Oh, but please, where are my manners. I'm Ethan Rayne and do help yourselves to a cookie. They're freshly baked."
Fred and George looked at each other and then shrugged. They each grabbed a cookie. Everyone watched them intently, waiting.
When nothing happened they both looked at Ethan.
"Well, I never said I baked them did I?" he smirked and held out the plate for everyone to take one. His smile widened when he noticed Harry.
"Aaahh, Harry, hello. You know, your aunt gave the impression we'd never see you again. It's good to know that the saviour of the Wizarding World still has time for his friends and neighbours in between fighting evil snake charmers."
"Neighbours?" George asked.
"As in the next door neighbour who came in through the wall?" Fred asked.
Ethan looked confused, so Harry decided to come to his rescue.
"When aunt Petunia was talking to that demon, you somehow managed to come in through the wall. I've actually been wondering about that myself. I looked through all the books on magic I could find and I couldn't find any sort of spell that would just make the wall become passable. At least nothing that wouldn't need hours of preparation or very complicated spellwork or. . ."
"Why would it be that hard?" the redhead asked with a frown.
"Who knows," Ethan shrugged, obviously amused by Harry's rant, "honestly Harry, it's just a matter of changing the structure of the wall. Of altering reality if you will."
"You can do that?" asked Lupin, startling Harry, who had forgotten he was even there.
"Yes, of course I can, I'm not a chaos mage for nothing after all."
"Chaos mage!" the Weasley twins looked stunned.
"Isn't that dark magic?" Lupin frowned. Ethan raised an eyebrow.
"And isn't that a mite hypocritic coming from a dark creature?" he countered.
Snape chuckled darkly. But whatever he was about to add to the conversation was lost when the front door banged open again and two figures shot out of it.
"Ethan Rayne, how dare you leave the house with fresh cookies without offering us some!" Harry thought he recognized the girl speaking as one of the ones who had tied up the death eaters. He definitely recognized the blond boy who slowly came to stand beside her, staring at the five wizards from the Order.
"Professor Snape? What are you doing here?" Draco Malfoy asked.
"Professor?" the girl looked at Malfoy in surprise, then turned to Harry's group. "Which one's a professor? Of the two that it could possibly be, I mean."
Draco passed between Ethan and Dawn and motioned to Snape.
"Dawn, this is the Potions Master at Hogwarts, Professor Severus Snape. Professor, this is Dawn Summers."
"Oh, and what am I hypogriff feed?" Harry spat out.
"And that four-eyed Neanderthal over there is Harry Potter."
"And I am Remus Lupin and the two redheads are. . ."
"George Weasley."
"Fred Weasley."
"We are the proud owners. . ."
". . .of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes."
"Really?" Harry wasn't sure if the glint in Ethan's eyes reminded him more of Dumbledore or Tom Riddle. "I've been to that store. You two sound like just my kind of people."
And without so much as a word to anyone else, Ethan led the twins to the side, where they began whispering amongst one another.
"Umm. . . should I be preparing to leave the country right now?" the man with the eye patch asked, watching them.
"That depends on how bad the other two are," his redheaded friend giggled.
"Well, they're certainly a handful," Lupin chuckled.
"Wonderful. Anyway, I'm Xander, this is Faith and that's Willow." Willow smiled at the wizards and Faith semi-saluted with her cigarette.
"Now, in as much as we've figured out who and what you are. . . what do you want?" Xander asked.
"Yeah, and don't even try to feed us any crap about coming to visit your relatives," Faith added, flicking ashes from the end of her cigarette.
"Well," Lupin began, "we are part of an organization fighting You-Know-Who and . . ."
"They mean Big V," translated Draco.
"Big V?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, you know, the big bad wizard you guys are fighting," Dawn explained.
"Lord Voldimore, or whatever his name is, was too much of a mouthful, so we shortened it to Big V," Xander grinned proudly.
"Besides, Dragon Boy here was too chicken to say the full name." Faith smirked as Malfoy glared at her.
Harry chuckled. "He was, was he?"
"Well if you plebians are done with making fun of me, I think they're here," Malfoy said, pointing at the street.
"Well, it's about fucking time!" Faith said and threw her cigarette to the ground. Then in one fluid motion, she easily flipped herself over the railing on the front steps.
She opened the door and hollered: "Hey, jo people, they're here!"
Harry looked to the street in time to see a huge moving van beginning to ease into the Dursley's driveway. When it stopped, the girls on the lawn sprang into action. A group of them went into the house and another headed for the garage, which Harry now noticed was full of packing crates and boxes of all shapes and sizes.
'Is Aunt Petunia moving?' Harry wondered.
"Woah, he really doesn't go for the subtle approach, does he?" Harry heard Xander exclaim.
He looked back to the street and saw a big blue van parking out on the street in front of the house. By the back window there was a full moon painted on it with several small wolves howling at it with one large one that seemed to be running away from it so that its head was by the passenger-side window.
"Yeah, you'd never guess the driver's a werewolf," Willow added sarcastically.
"The driver's a what?" Lupin spun around to face the redhead. Meanwhile, Harry saw the back door of the van open and a short man with bright red, spiked hair step out. He was wearing a pair of faded jeans and a loose, orange shirt with a bunch of chains around his neck that Harry couldn't see very well.
"Hey Wolfman," yelled Xander and the stranger looked up, "nice wheels!"
"Thanks man!" the apparent werewolf answered, "Got them cheap and a buddy of mine did the paint job."
"Hi Oz," Willow waved shyly.
"Hey Wills, been a while. Heard you went and got superpowerful."
"I'm not that powerful."
"Ah, yeah you are," Xander argued.
"No, I'm really not. . ."
"Willow," Draco began, "when the Dark Lord has a temper tantrum, a few people end up seriously hurt. When you had a temper tantrum, the whole bloody world nearly got destroyed. So yes, you are definitely that powerful."
The three remaining wizards were shocked. They looked at one another, and Harry knew they were all thinking the same thing: this girl could be useful against Voldemort.
"Hey, enough with the talking. Get your asses over here and start helping!" Faith yelled down at the group from an open window.
"You know, this would be so much faster, not to mention easier if I could just use my wand," Draco commented.
"Oh no you don't, Mr," Willow wiggled a finger at Draco in warning, "You're completely dependent on magic. It's high time you learned to live without it!"
"Besides, if you have any aspirations of coming even close to the rest of us, you're going to have to grow some muscles on those bones of yours," Dawn added, pinching Malfoy's biceps, just to prove there was no muscle there.
"Ouch! Stop abusing me!"
"Oh, you haven't even seen abusing yet!" Xander laughed. "Come on Dragon Boy, pick a box, any box and let's get them loaded into the vans."
Surprisingly enough, Draco allowed himself to be herded into the house. Although he did grumble the entire way.
"Mr. Malfoy," Snape called after him. The blond Slytherin turned around. "Will you be returning to school in September?"
"What, so the Ministry can come collect me and cart me off to Azkaban?" Draco smirked. "No, sir, I don't think I'll be stepping foot in the Wizarding World again for quite some time. Besides, it would interfere with my Watcher training."
"Watcher training?" Harry repeated, confused. "Professor, what's a watcher?"
"A watcher is the person who teaches, guides and helps the Slayer," Willow explained, reminding Harry a lot of Hermione, only red haired and American. "Or, well, in our case, a slayer anyway, 'cause we changed all the rules a couple of years ago and there's more than one slayer now. Although, really there has been more than one slayer for a while now, ever since Buffy died the first time, so that rules really a bit outdated anyway. . ."
She smiled at them sheepishly.
"Sorry, I tend to babble sometimes. So, what was it that you needed anyway?"
"Well, really we just wanted to ask Mrs. Dursley some questions," Lupin explained.
"Oh, well, Petunia's right. . ."
". . .careful with those boxes, the dishes inside are very expensive. They were a wedding gift from. . ."
". . . there."
Harry watched as the other brunette who had arrived with Willow, Dawn and Ripper after Lucius's attack walked out the door and hold it open while several others walked out carrying big boxes marked "Fragile" in bold red letters.
"Do those boxes have charms on them?" Snape asked Willow. "They seem very heavy and yet those girls are carrying them as if they weighed nothing."
"That's one of the perks of being a Slayer!" the girl holding the door called. She noticed Harry and waved shyly. "Oh hi, I remember you. The wizards who attacked the house were after you, right? I don't know if you remember me, but I came here after Petunia kicked their, well, you know. I'm Vi, by the way."
"Um, hello Vi," Harry answered, "I'm, uh, Harry. And I do remember you."
"Cool! Nice to meet you Harry!" And with that, she slipped back into the house.
"Umm, Willow," Lupin began slowly, "we've heard this "slayer" mentioned several times. What is a slayer?"
"Oh, well. . . um. . . oooh! How 'bout I get our newest watcher-in-training to tell you. Hey Draco! Your friends want to know what a slayer is."
Malfoy passed the box he was carrying (which was considerably smaller than the one the girls were carrying) and made his way back to Harry's group.
"What?" he asked, coming to stand beside Willow.
"The spiel, Draco the spiel," she motioned for him to get on with it. He rolled his eyes.
"A slayer is a girl chosen by the Powers That Be, and given special powers, to fight vampires and the forces of darkness and to stop the spread of evil until the day she dies, however many times that may be."
"Hey, that's not the right spiel!"
"The old one's out-dated, so I modified it and made my own." Malfoy smirked. "Now if you'll excuse me, I believe there's a box somewhere in there with my name on it. And if my name's not on it then I shall go write my name on it."
"Smartass," Willow grumbled.
"Willow," Lupin said, obviously choosing his words carefully, "as we said before, the Wizarding World is in the middle of a war and if you're really as powerful as everyone says you are -"
"I'm sorry, but I can't help you," Willow cut him off.
Harry stared at her in disbelief.
"People are dying," he said, "Voldemort is gaining more and more strength by the day and if he's not stopped then. . ."
"He'll take over the world?" Dawn finished for him. Harry spun around. He hadn't heard her approach. "Newflash, Harry: there's always someone out there who wants to either take over or destroy the world. Voldemort's not the first and he sure as hell won't be the last."
"You have to understand, ever since I was 15, I've gone from one battle with evil to another." Willow paused. "We're all glad that there's someone else fighting this one. That it's one less battle we have to fight."
"Besides, we fight vampires and demons on a regular basis," Faith added, having just deposited her own load into the van, "but when it comes to the magic mojo, we're like totally out of our element."
"But, what about you Willow, you're a witch and a powerful one at that!" Lupin tried once more to make his point.
"Yeah, I'm a witch, but. . . oh how can I explain this. . . ooh, I know! When someone becomes an alcoholic, they become addicted to alcohol for life. They never stop being an alcoholic. You get that right?"
Harry and the others nodded. Willow took a deep breath, as if drawing in courage. Dawn stepped to her side and put her hand on the redhead's shoulder, as if lending her support to go on.
"Well, I'm a dark magic-aholic. They weren't joking when they said I nearly destroyed the world. Something happened and I lost control. I managed to stop myself before I went too far, but what if next time I don't stop? And, you know what, my friends say I'm probably the most powerful witch in the world. What scares me the most is that maybe they're right: what if I am the most powerful. If I loose control, what if there really is no one in the world powerful enough to stop me? I can do normal spells, but being surrounded by that much dark magic. . . I don't know if I could do it."
Willow stopped, embarrassed that she had said so much and pleading with the three wizards in front of her not to push the argument any further.
"Very well, Miss. Willow," Snape said, "I understand. It is a pity you can not help us, but there is nothing we can do about that. We thank you for your honesty."
Harry turned to look at his potion's professor in surprise.
"Thank you Professor Snape," she answered, relief evident in her voice, "oh and Petunia's probably in the kitchen with Giles if you wanted to go talk to her."
The conversation with Petunia went better than Harry had imagined it. As in she didn't try to throw them out of the house the minute she saw them.
"I thought you weren't coming back," she said. Then her eyes scanned the group, stopping when she got to Snape. "You I've never seen before."
She put down the wet rag she was using to clean the cupboards and walked up to the potion's professor, eyeing him up and down.
"I feel dark magic on you," she continued, "but I didn't think the Wizarding World approved of such things."
"We don't," stated Lupin. Petunia eyed him curiously and then threw her head back and laughed.
"Don't tell me you've come to arrest me! I'm a muggle, you have no authority over me."
"Clearly, you're not as much of a muggle as you'd have us believe," Harry said, his eyes narrowing into slits. The reality of his aunt's hypocrisy was suddenly hitting him full force and he was furious.
"Well, I never labelled myself a muggle."
"No, but you spent years lying to me, telling me magic wasn't real, that I was a freak. You not only knew magic was real, you could actually do magic!"
"Yes, and I knew what it could do! I've seen what it can do, felt it! You lot walk around waving your little sticks about like toys. You don't fully realize what raw power magic is! Go ahead, go ask Ripper about the mark on his arm. . . I'd send you after Ethan, but he burned his off."
Harry remembered his aunt grabbing Ethan's arm when he first came to introduce himself.
"What kind of mark is it?"
"It doesn't matter, the point is that they got in over their heads, tried to harness more power than they could control." Petunia seemed to be making an effort to calm down. "And so did I." She added quietly.
"Mrs. Dursley," said Lupin, "how exactly do you know Ethan and Ripper?"
"Oh, we met when we were all very young, long before I met Vernon." She stared into the distance for a moment. "I was so jealous of Lily, of how 'special' everyone kept saying she was. I wanted to be better than her so much that I didn't even hesitate when Ethan brought some old musty books. I worked so hard to become powerful, but in the end I couldn't control it. And then. . . well, something happened and I left. I closed those books and gave them back to Ethan. I vowed never to have anything to do with magic ever again. A few months later I met Vernon."
A little light went off inside Harry's head.
"Oh, so that's why you've always hated me," he said. Petunia shot him a dirty look.
"Yes, of course that's why I hate you, you ungrateful brat!"
Lupin cleared his throat.
"Yes, well, I think that's pretty much answered all of our questions, we really should be heading back to headquarters now."
"That is providing we can find the twins," Snape added.
"We're. . ."
"Right here."
Fred and George came waltzing through the kitchen door, grinning madly. Harry's first thought was that perhaps Xander was right in wanting to move out of the country.
Harry said a quite good-bye to his aunt and then the Order of the Phoenix delegation weaved their way through the people and boxes cluttering the hallway. On their way out the front door, Harry noticed that the slayers had been joined by his cousin and some of his friends.
Dudley nodded to Harry as they passed each other.
As the Boy-Who-Lived walked with Snape, Lupin and the Weasley twins back to the park where they originally apparated to, he wondered whether he'd ever seen his relatives again.
And whether he'd ever want to.
Well, that's all she wrote! Hope you liked the epilogue as much as you seemed to like the actual story. I know not a lot goes on in it, but hopefully it does tie up some loose ends.
Please review!
Author's notes:
Dudley - Someone asked about whether Dudley should be able to perform magic. Yes, he probably can, but he's never tried to before, so that's why he's never done any. Remember, before Willow started helping Giles and the Scoobies with spells, she didn't know she could do magic either. Their magic is different than wizarding magic and that's why Dudley, Petunia, Willow or even Tara never got letters from a wizarding school. They're not wand-users.
Vi - A few of you asked about Vi. As much as after the season finale of Buffy I could've just stuck in a character I made up, I decided to use an existing one. And yes, Vi does exist on the show. She's one of the potentials that shows up in the final season. She's the one from Sunnydale: really tall and skinny with long, brown hair and some freckles (I think). She first appears as a cameo during Buffy's first day as school counsellor: she's complaining about being bullied and then reveals that she jumped the bully in the school parking lot and that's why she's been sent to Buffy. They find out she's a potential when Willow performs a spell to lead them to any potentials in the area. The spell points to Dawn and everyone thinks she's the potential, but as it turns out she's the one that finds the potential. Anyway, that was a lengthy explanation, but hopefully you all remember her now.
Oz - I know there's going to be questions about Oz, such as why he's in the story and all. Honestly, I just loved the idea of the van and had that whole little scene with it arriving already in my head before I began writing this. How exactly he hooked back up with the Scoobies I'll leave to your imaginations. Basically, he heard about Sunnydale, wanted to see if anyone was still alive, did some searching and found them. Or bumped into them by accident in LA, whatever.
Spike and Angel - Sorry to all those who were hoping our favourite vampires would make an appearance. I was originally going to include them, but then I realized that would be introducing too many elements into such a short story. Besides, if they were there, then I'd have to bring in Illyria as well and there'd also be a whole other back story of how the heck they survived that demon army. . . blah, blah, blah. Anyway, hope you weren't too disappointed.
Buffy - I can also see questions about Buffy popping up. She's in Italy with her boyfriend the Immortal, remember? |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53781 | Over the Edge
By: supernaturaldh
The relentless hunt keeps Dean going, but wears Sam down. Too many unspoken words and one Winchester falls over the edge.
Timeline: Set during Season 2
Tag: Just after- Everybody Loves a Clown
Disclaimer: I don't own them, but boy I wished I did.
Beta : Kokoda2007!! As always, she improves my story with very minor changes and makes me think. Thank you - Kokoda!!
Over the Edge
The cold Nebraska wind whistled through the trees and Sam pulled his jacket up tighter around his body, a light shudder racking through his tall frame.
"Dean, let's come back tomorrow. It's cold, and I'm tired." Sam muttered, as his frozen fingers gripped the shotgun up against his chest, icy puffs of air drifting from his lips.
Dean tilted his head slightly and stared at his whiny little brother through the dim light of the late afternoon air.
"Geez, Sam, you want some cheese with that whine?"
He shook his head in exasperation and rolled his eyes. His gaze dropped once again to the trees and brush around them.
Sam huffed and curled in tighter on himself, attempting to keep warm, his body shuddering slightly with each gust of wind.
"Asshole" he muttered.
Dean laughed smugly as his eyes flitted around the woods, to the clearing and out past the trees. Nothing, maybe Sam's whiny ass was right, maybe, this was a bust.
Sam sighed loudly, and eased his shoulder back against the tree behind him. His head fell slowly against his chest and he hastily jerked it back up and thrust his eyelids back open, darting his gaze to his brother. Shit, stay awake; don't let Dean see you do that.
Sam was tired. The last month had been spent on the road, rushing from one hunt to the next, sleeping in the car, eating microwave burritos, stale potato chips, and guzzling coffee. Drifting on the road with his brother and not talking. It had become their life, since Dad died, and it was exhausting. His brother had become a man on a mission; to rid the entire world of evil, and he was doing it all right away.
The air in the Impala had been heavy and stagnant, both their minds on their father, and their own grief. Sam had hoped his brother would open up, talk to him, but Dean, just brushed Sam's attempts aside, kept silent and wrapped up tightly in his own anguish. So Sam had kept his sleepless nights, aching body, and feelings to himself. He had stolen quiet tears in any rest area or diner that they stopped at. He rode quietly, gazing out the window, lost in his own grief, while Dean drove them endlessly from one hunt to the next.
Dean was in a mad rush to kill any and everything he could find. The death of John Winchester was way too fresh in his mind, and the reasons behind it, all too overwhelming for him to even attempt to comprehend right now. They had left Medford Wisconsin right after the hunt for the killer clown at the Cooper Circus. Dean anxious to get to another hunt, to keep his mind busy, his thoughts away from the grief that threatened to overwhelm him. He had to stay focused on the hunt. Sam had tried to talk to him, but he wasn't up for it. He shuddered as he recalled Sam's words, "I feel guilty as hell, and I'm not alright, but neither are you." He remembered he had beaten the shit out of the Impala that day, grief and anger overcoming him in a mad rush of adrenaline. Now he was done, wasn't up for talking about it, rehashing it. He had better things to do than dwell on past mistakes. Their father was dead, and that was it, end of story. Sam was just going to have to deal with his feelings and issues with their Dad's death all on his own. He was now a man on a mission, and he would carry out his father's quest for the thing that killed their mother, and he would kill every supernatural son of bitch he could find along the way.
Sam must've dozed off against the tree again because the next thing he knew he was stumbling forward, nearly falling over his own gangly legs as his brother bumped his back harshly with his elbow when he stalked past.
"Some hunter you are, don't tell me you weren't asleep right there against that tree." Dean muttered angrily. "Gonna get us both killed."
Sam's face flushed with embarrassment. "I was just resting my eyes….Sorry", he mumbled.
Sam stumbled along, falling in behind his brother. God, did he say, Dean was an ass?
"Where's this razorback? Thought you said it was out here, you did the research, remember?" Dean huffed as he continued at a rapid pace, feet stomping against the dead leaves and dirt. He hated wasting his time running around the woods looking for some mysterious creature, no tracks, no sounds, nothing. What a freaking waste of time.
Sam blinked tiredly; his eyes glancing up at the mist hanging around the trees, the skyline, then behind them as he came to an abrupt stop. "I did research it Dean, three innocents were killed. Something chewed them all to hell. And all the articles said it happened right here."
"Well duh, but no one has seen it, or been hurt in at least six months? Long time, huh, Sammy, maybe, it moved on? Just 'cause someone says to jump off a cliff, you going to do that too? Huh?"
"Whatever…." Sam rolled his eyes, his weary body not up for another battle of words with his older brother. Sam sulked and started walking away from Dean.
"Uh…dude, that's the wrong way. The car's that way." Dean's finger pointed the opposite direction.
"No Dean, it's this way." Sam muttered his hand waving haphazardly in the evening light.
Dean came to an immediate halt, eye brows twitching in an aggravated motion, angry glare falling to his kid brother'. "What? You got to be kidding me, right? Like I don't know where I freaking parked my car?"
Sam's face fell in disbelief, "Dean, I wouldn't make this up. The car's that way."
"Is not, you fell asleep remember, must have gotten turned around."
"The car is that way."
"Is not."
"Is too."
"Is freaking not." Dean stepped closer to Sam's tall body, face growing beet red.
Sam thought for a minute his older brother was going to have an aneurism or at least stomp his foot like a little kid.
"Dude, calm down." Sam looked wide eyed at Dean, amazed at how pissed he had become in just under a minute.
"Screw you Sam." Dean turned and began walking in the opposite direction, dry leaves crunching harshly against the soles of his boots. "You coming?"
Sam stood silently glaring at his brother's back, finally, yelling loudly behind him, "Dean, YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!"
"NO SAM, I'm not. I repeat, you're tired, you fell asleep and got turned around." Dean shouted over his shoulder as he continued his stalk through the woods.
"Well, I'm going the other way so; let me know when you get tired of traipsing around in the woods." With that note, Sam turned sluggishly and began trudging the opposite direction of his brother. He was too tired for this shit. They had been out here all afternoon; he just wanted a warm bed to fall asleep in.
"You know what Sam, you're an idiot." Dean stopped and rolled his body around to face his brothers back.
Sam came to an abrupt halt and turned to face his angry older brother. "You know what Dean, you're freaking selfish. It's all about you isn't it. Dad dies, and you think you got to save the world now, well, it's all just bullshit."
Dean's eyes grew large. What? "Listen here, you little prick, don't bring Dad into this. I can't help it if you had issues with him and now he's gone. Those are you're issues, not mine…." He did not just say that to Sam…again? What were they arguing about?
Dean watched as his little brother's body fell into silence, large eyes looking across at him in disbelief. "And don't give me those big wide eyes of yours either." Dean stated flatly. "Cause I'm not buying what you're selling."
Sam just glared his mouth agape. He couldn't believe Dean was so hard core, what happened to his older brother? He released a trembling breath, sucked in some shaky air and turned, leaving his older brother standing behind him. He stomped up the hill, without another word, away from Dean.
"Sam, get your ass back down here. Dean yelled. "SAM, god dam..." Little brothers were such a pain in the ass. Dean gazed at his brother's retreating back. He pulled the compass out of his blue jean pocket and eyeballed it carefully through the shadowed haze of the sunlight woods. Yep, came this way.
"SAM", he yelled. He tucked the compass back in his pocket and glanced back up the hill. No Sam? He let his eyes move around the hillside, then down to the left and over to the right. No Sam? Shit! Where'd he go?
His feet thudded beneath him as he ran across the path he had just trudged down, eyes squinting in the dim light. "SAMMY?"
Sam slammed one foot in front of the other as he plodded his way up the hillside and away from his jerk of a brother. How could Dean say that to him, taunt him with his own words, it made his heart ache just hearing it. He could hear Dean yelling behind him, but he didn't care. He was sick and tired of his brother…of dealing with all of this…. He just wanted to get away from him, get to the car, and fall asleep in the passenger seat. He was so tired. Dean could find his own way back to the car… His thoughts roamed back to last few weeks with Dean. It was obvious, he didn't care about anything but the hunt now…
The next moment was a blur to Sam. He came to sudden awareness that there was nothing under his feet and his eyes darted downward, his sneakers sliding against the dirt and grassy embankment. His shotgun fell from his fingers as he wind milled his arms around attempting to gain his footing. It was too unexpected to even scream, as his body went tumbling face first over the edge and down the cliff. He grasped for purchase against the dirt, the brush, and tree limbs as they went falling past, his body rolled and flailed down the side of the embankment in one long tumble. He saw the ground moving past him as he plummeted through the trees, body thudding harshly against branches that scratched and tore at his clothes and flesh. The pain was immediate as it assaulted him, his limbs smashed into the dirt, beating off the rocks and brush. He gasped, his body flailing limply against the ground as he slammed to a sudden stop, his head thudded loudly against something hard, as oblivion over took him.
This was so not good, not good at all. Dean's mind raced as he ran up the hill. Maybe the razorback got him, but he would have heard something?
"SAM…Sam, answer me." Dean yelled loudly.
His eyes scurried in the shadows as the sun was falling behind the trees, the low light of dusk crept in around him. He needed to find Sam before dark?
His boots skidded to a halt as he made it to the top of the hill and realized there was nothing on the other side. He fell suddenly to his knees in an attempt to stop his downward dissent over the edge, his fingers dropping his shotgun in the fall, as he lurched for grass and bushes. Oh God, Sammy? He leaned over the rim and peered into the trees and faint light below, eyes straining to see the bottom, his brother. Maybe he landed on a ledge?
"SAM…SAM…answers me….SAM!" Dean's voice echoed back and around him.
His eyes caught something just below him, against a rocky ledge, and he squinted to see it in the faint light. Sam's shotgun. Oh God. Oh God. His eyes darted around in fear. He fell down there? His mouth fell open in dread as his mind comprehended where his little brother was.
"SAMMY…I'm coming. Sammy, can you hear me? SAMMY?"
Dean voice echoed down the hillside. His eyes scanned the ridge as he struggled to find the easiest path down to the bottom, below the treetops, and hopefully to his 'not dead' little brother. Don't think about it, Sam's fine…Sam's fine. His boots slide precariously on the rocks as he slowly skidded down the side of the slope, fingers and palms being gouged by rocks and thorny brush as he struggled to stay upright. He had to walk at an angle, just to get down the side of the rocky ledge, and he didn't even know how far it was to the bottom. His vision was obscured by trees, brush and dimming light. He knew he was probably veering away from his brother, but he just needed to get down the cliff, down to the bottom, down to Sam.
Sam's body moved sluggishly against the rocky ground, wet leaves plastered against his face, twigs and dirt covering his hair, cloths and exposed skin. A low moan escaped his throat as a large wave of pain washed over him. He whimpered. Dean? He shuddered, as his eyes dragged open to confused slits, his mind draped in a heavy fog. He blinked incoherently, his head lolled and twisted around on his neck. He gazed incomprehensibly up at the blurriness; the stark shadows encroached on his peripheral vision as he struggled to pull in some air. His throat made a low moaning sound as the pain overwhelmed him, his back arched up slightly from the ground. His eyes rolled slowly back into his skull as his mangled body fell limply back against the hard earth.
The rocks and pebbles slid beneath Dean's boots, his body almost vertical now against the side of the cliff. His fingers grasped at the rough service, clinging to remain standing. Blood rose from his fingertips, as the ground ate into his skin, but he didn't feel it, his mind focused on one thing. Find Sam . He squinted through the dusky air, eyes straining to see the solid ground coming up to greet him. His muscles tensed to remain standing as the incline got continually steeper toward the bottom.
"SAM" Dean's voice hitched out in a loud sobbing cry. God, why doesn't he answer me?
He blinked past the moisture as his feet finally hit bottom. His eyes darted up and around the area, searching, beseeching that he find Sammy. He scrubbed his bloody fingers against his blue jeans, a light grimace escaped from his lips. He stumbled, half running, as his eyes fell to the limp form of his little brother off in the distance. He ran faster. His heart pounded loudly in his ears the closer he got to the brown mass of hair, the long gangly limbs that were sprawled limply on the ground.
He boots skidded out from under him as his knees ungraciously hit the grass and rocks next to Sam, shaky fingers ghosted out in front of him above his brother's damaged frame, not knowing what to do first. Okay, how bad is he hurt? Big brother mode kicked in, and he immediately began to assess the situation.
"Sammy…?" A weak whisper escaped from his lips. Firm, but gentle fingers against Sam's neck, hoping and praying he found a pulse. A fretful smile rose from his lips when he felt the firm thudding beneath his fingertips. Relief welled up in him and he felt the breath he didn't know he was holding slowly ease out.
"Its okay Sam…I gotcha." He whispered. "You're goanna be fine kiddo, just fine…"
He noticed right off that Sam's left arm was twisted at an awkward angle, possibly broken from the fall. His clothes were torn, and little gashes and cuts decorated his body. Sam's face was already swelling, becoming a mass of purple, black, and blue bruises on the left side. The thought of hidden bruises made Dean winch. He drew his eyes to pool of blood rolling slowly down Sam's cheek, and with tender fingers he tugged the long bangs away to look at it. The cut was deep, right along the hairline, just above Sam's ear. It was bleeding profusely, and would definitely need stitches. Dean swiftly ripped off his jacket and covered his brother's trembling limbs. He removed his extra tee shirt and held it tightly against his brother's bloody face; applying light pressure to the wound in hopes to squelch the blood flow. Sam's eyebrows flinched at the motion and Dean looked keenly at him.
"Sammy? You with me? I gotcha. Open your eyes." Dean watched with baited breath as Sam's eyelids scrunched up in momentary confusion, and then his eyelashes fluttered, his eyes opened to murky green slits as a low whimper escaped from his lips.
"'…ean?" Sam's voice was a soft sigh. His legs moved restlessly as he attempted to focus on Dean's face.
"Easy, easy…you fell. Remember? Took quite a tumble there big guy." Dean's hand rested quickly against Sam's chest, holding him steady as his body continued to move agitatedly against the dirt. "Easy."
"Guh…" Sam mumbled; breathe in short gasps as his bleary eyes darted around in confusion and fear.
"Sam, look at me. Sammy…look at me." Dean's voice was firm, heavy with concern for his suffering little brother.
"F…fell?" Sam's eyes gazed blankly at Dean and then slowly fluttered closed.
Dean's agile fingers moved slowly along Sam's body, checking for further injury. Once he had completed his check, he was satisfied that his little brother had taken a hard knock on the head, and probably had a concussion, a wrenched arm, multiple cuts, bumps, and bruises, but he would recover. He tugged Sam's body up to rest upon his chest, his little brother's head lolling against his shoulder. He moved his hand over and placed it against Sam's neck, holding it steady, thumb caressing soothingly through his brown hair.
"Come on Sammy, open your eyes. Don't make me carry your heavy ass back to the Impala." Dean let his calloused fingers rub small circles against Sam's back, hoping to rouse his sibling to wakefulness.
Sam felt warm fingers flowing through his long hair, caressing his face; he heard his older brother's voice whispering comforting words into his ear. He slowly let his eyes flurry open and looked lazily up at his big brother.
Dean's hand quickly dropped to the leather jacket, tugging it tighter up against Sam's chest.
"Hey, kiddo. Glad you decided to join me."
Sam smiled sluggishly as he nuzzled in closer to his brother. Dean was warm . He tried to pull his jumbled thoughts together, but he wasn't too clear on how he ended up nestled up against Dean on the cold ground. Where were they? He blinked slowly, befuddled eyes looking to his big brother for answers. Dean was here. He would take are of it, make everything alright.
"You fell – off a cliff – ring any bells? Dean offered to his little brother's weak face, "You scared the shit out of me."
Dean gazed at his incoherent little brother. The blood from the hairline cut was clotting, blood now a small trickle in his hair. His badly wretched arm was stuffed inside his jacket, zipper holding the traumatized limb steady. Various cuts and bruises covered his body and spots of blood seeped and soaked into his clothes. He was a mess, but he was going to be okay. Just need to get him back to the room and cleaned up.
"Sam, you with me?" Dean queried, firm arms wrapped tightly around Sam's body.
"Yeah…I think…think so." Sam stuttered. "Just need to rest for a bit," his sluggish eyes blinked at Dean.
"No, stay a wake kiddo." Dean ordered. "I think you got a concussion."
"Okay' Sam hesitantly agreed. That was an order. He knew he wasn't quite ready to stand up yet; his bruised and mangled body now ached from head to toe. His mind was clearing up, though, focusing, and he recalled his recent tumble over the edge, and down to the bottom of the hill. The thought alone made every part of his body hurt. Was he snuggling with his big brother? He could say something, but he had missed his brother a lot lately, even though he had been right next to him everyday in the Impala bounding from one hunt to the next. It had been lonely since their Dad died, and comfort was not something Dean had offered a lot of.
They sat, listening to the sounds of silence as the night air closed in around them. Dean flipped on the flashlight and eased it down beside them. He felt Sam push against him, and looked at his baby brother as he struggled to set up, wobbly body leaning heavily against Dean.
"Easy… you got a concussion…." Dean gazed inquisitively at Sam's bruised face.
"Dean? Are you okay?" Sam's tired, low voice whispered in Dean's ear.
Dean reached over and tugged his leather jacket up around Sam's shivering body giving him a questioning gaze.
"Am I okay? What? I didn't just fall over a cliff?"
"I mean…with…Dad's death…" Sam's unfocused eyes fell to Dean.
Dean's face went expressionless, his muscles tensing up, moving slightly away from his brother. Oh, man, he didn't want to talk about this -must be the concussion talking.
Sam felt his brother pull away, and his concussed mind shattered, tears immediately filling up his eyelids. Dean was never going to talk to him….
"I'm tired…" Sam murmured. His shaky hand tugged up to rub at his bruised face.
"Don't Sam." Gentle callused fingers griped Sam's wrist, tugging his fingers away from his face.
Dean watched his little brother, saw the tears welling in his lids, the sad confusion on his face, and his anger morphed to concern. Where had he been? Sam suddenly looked bone weary, bruises and cuts a stark contrast against his pale face.
Dean felt suddenly sick as reality leaked in around him. By the looks of Sam, he had needed Dean for awhile, not just since the tumble down the hill. He had been so busy focusing on the hunt, getting his mind off their father's death, pushing them nonstop; he had lost sight of his number one priority. Sammy.
Dean leaned his arm over and pulled Sammy back against him. Chick flick moment be damned. "Com'er Sammy."
Sam's eyes went wide as he felt himself being pulled gently back to rest against Dean's chest. His big brother's hand held him tightly against the nap of his neck, his chin brushing lightly against Sam's hair.
"Dean?" Sam whispered, voice sounding tired and confused and a lot like the five year old Dean remembered from his youth.
"It's okay Sammy; it's going to be okay. I'm here now. I'm sorry we got in a fight, and I'm sorry for what I said. I didn't mean it - any of it." Tears pooled in Dean's eyes and he brushed them quickly away with his shirt sleeve. God, he missed his Dad .
"Me too." Sam blinked, as tears brimmed over his eyelids and rolled slowly down his battered face. His weary body leaned into his brother's welcomed touch. He relaxed. They had been through a lot this last month. It was okay with him if Dean needed to release some of his grief. He rested his concussed head against his big brother, words no longer necessary, as anger fell away and they sat in stillness, soaking in strength from one another.
"You ready to go?" Dean's soft voice wafted through the darkness and Sam blinked his eyes open, his brother's concerned face looking intently at him. He must have dozed off.
"Yeah", Sam pushed lightly off his brother, rising on his shaky legs, wincing with every motion. Dean's steady arm rested around his waist, his strong grip never wavering.
"Com on sasquatch lets get you back to the room and cleaned up."
"Okay…" Sam whispered as he swayed slightly against his brother.
"And Sam…"
"Next time someone tells you to go jump off a cliff - don't do it."
Sam's face curled up and a giggle escaped from his lips. "Ow...ow…don't make me laugh." He scowled.
Dean chortled and then grinned widely, as he tugged his little brother forward, back toward the car, the motel, and a much needed rest. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53782 | Hey I will be leaving little notes r&d man
Hello and I hope you like this story today.
I don't own Naruto and if I did I would make him be with someone older then him like Anko or Hana.
I don't own spawn but I wish I fucking did.
What would happen if Naruto was not the son of Minato but Spawn? What would happen if Naruto had his fathers power but everyone thinks it's a bloodline? Now the real thing to ask is if the armies of hell come for the son of spawn for pay back or will their try to get him to join them? Your going to find out because this is the story of Naruto Simmons the son of Al Simmons who become the spawn. Will Naruto be the next spawn and if he does will he fight for good like his father or will he destroy everything he holds dear to him?
In the Village Hidden In The Leaves, or Konoha as it is commonly called, there lives a boy, who with the power of Hell, can shape the Heavens...
Naruto has trained in order to use his bloodline for the last pass five years, since he first found out about it. Naruto is now 12 year old and is waiting to be put on a team.
"Team Seven Sasuke, Sakura and Sai. Your sensei is Kakashi Hatake" He said to them. AN:The other teams are the same. Once everyone was gone and Naruto was the only one in the room he raised a eye blow as he walked over to Iruka.
"Where's my team?" He asked him in a worried tone. But he found out once a kunai cut his face. He looked where it come from and found a purple hair women in a tan color jacket that was down to her knees and a fishnet shirt thats... well not something you should be wearing out in the day. She also had a skirt on and more fishnet. "I'm guessing you're my sensei?" He replied to her.
"Yea, you got a problem with that?" She smirk as she saw him shake his head a little too quick.
"Now what?" He replied back in a bored tone.
"On the roof now." She said as she left the room in a wave of leaves. Naruto used his bloodline and he was now in black armor which had spikes on his arms and shoulders which hurt like hell. He also had them on his legs. He had two chains; one warped around each arm and a red crimson cape on his back.
He warped his cap around his body then disappeared. Naruto reappeared in front of his sensei and team eight which scared the shit out of them. When Naruto helm start going down to his neck their see his face.
"What the hell!" Kiba yelled at him.
"You like my bloodline?" He replied with a smirk.
"That looks so sick" Was only replied he get from Kiba.
"The hokage said you had a bloodline but I never would of guess that it would be something like this." Anko said to him with a smirk on her face, which she doing that so she could cover up her shock.
"Now what Sensei?" He asked her with a smirk on his face.
"My friend Kurenai and her team said their likes and dislikes, so I'll go first then you go second" She replied.
"My name is Anko Mitarashi and my likes are dangos and my friends. My dislikes are my old sensei and my hobby is playing in the forest of death. My dream, well is to eat tons of dango." Once she got done Naruto sweatdrop.
"You like dango way too much" He replied back to her.
"Shut up!" Was her only reply, well that and the blush on her face.
"My name is Naruto Simmons and my likes are fighting and more fighting. My dislike is this village and most of the people in it and my hobby is fighting and learning more things about this bloodline. My dream, well to fight a lot more' He said causing not only Anko but everyone to sweatdrop.
"You want to fight way to much" She snapped back at him.
"This village called me a demon and I guess I must have become one." He said back in a cold tone of voice.
"You shouldn't let them get to you in the first place" She replied back to him.
"Its too late now. When do we start training or doing missions?" He asked her as his helm come back on his face.
"Tomorrow at 7 am at the forest of death" She said to him as he nodded while wrapping his cape around him then disappeared again.
"That's one cool move" Kiba said aloud as everyone just nodded.
Now with Naruto on the Hokage heads.
"What is my dream? Why do I like to fight so much?" He asked himself out loud.
He notices a woman running away from three men. He starts to walk away but she yelled out "HELP ME, PLEASE, SOMEONE!" That got him to start moving to help. When he gets to the there he sees that the brown haired woman he seen was now topless and being force down. The three men notice Naruto in his bloodline and first thing that come to their mind was fear.
"What the hell are you freak!" One of men yelled at Naruto.
"Let her go or die" Was his only replied back to the men.
"Its kind of early to be in Halloween costume. Lets show him what he gets for telling us what to do" One of the men said to the others.
But everyone didn't notice the dogs and a woman on the roof watching and if needed she was going to help her daughter but she wants to see who this new person is.
Naruto slowly walked up to them, releasing his chains and threw one of the chains into one of the non- ninjas chest. He then grabbed the other man and made spikes on his arms grow and it impaled the man's body causing him to be killed painfully slow. The last man just looked at Naruto and only see a demon with bloody spike and chains. Naruto grabbed the man by the neck as he grew spikes on his knuckles then punched the man right between the eyes. He dropped the dead man to the ground and walked to the woman.
"You should get you clothes on and go home." He said to her in a caring way.
"T-Thank you, but who are you?" She asked him, still shocked that someone had saved her.
"The name is Hellspawn" He replied as he warped his cape around him and disappeared.
She notice her mother and dogs jumping down to her.
"Kaa-chan." She said to them with a smile on her face as she puts her shirt on.
"Lets get you home Hana-chan" Her mother said to her and their walked back to there home not knowing that her savior was watching them.
When they get home and told Kiba what happen he was not shocked when he heard who saved her.
"So Naruto saved you?' He said his older sister.
"Naruto?" She asked him with a lost tone of voice.
"Hellspawn is Naruto Simmons and that armor is his bloodline. Dammit that is one cool bloodline, not just armor but spikes and chains" Kiba said to his sister and mother who jaws are hanging down.
"I just don't get it, when he was talking to his sensei he said he hated this village. He also said the reason I fight a lot because this village called him a demon so much he most of turned into one" Kiba said to them with a sorrowful face.
"Can you asked him next time you see him to come over so I can thank him for saving me?" Hana asked him.
"Sure, but I don't know if he'll do it or not" He replied back to his sister.
Six mouths later.
Naruto had trained under Anko who help him learn few more moves for his bloodline and master his chain fighting. They were both going to see the Hokage for a mission to do, but when there team eight was standing there talking to the Hokage.
"Naruto, you right on time" He said to him with a cheerful tone of voice.
"What is it, old man?" He asked.
"Team eight has one of their teammate out for a year due to clan training, so can you fill in. But not for the whole year just for the Chuunin exams that start seven weeks from now" The Hokage asked him as he put his pipe back in his mouth.
"As long as I don't do anything lower then a C rank mission" He replied back.
"Yes, yes, of course. Here is a C rank for you. You will be hunting down group of bandits who are being lead by a missing shinobi who is B rank" He relayed to them.
"I'll see you when we get back Sensei" He said to Anko who just nodded to him.
"Naruto, before we go can you come to the clan house?" Kiba asked him.
"Why?" He asked back as he was still in his bloodline because he never drops it, only to sleep or go to the bathroom.
"Someone wants to thank you" He stated back to his teammate which the replied he get from him was a nodded.
At the clan house
Naruto, in his armor, walks in with Kiba.
"So Hellspawn is really Naruto?" The woman he saved asked him in a calm voice.
"Yes and you most be the woman I saved before?" He replied back to her in his normal tone of voice.
"Yes and I want to said thank you. But if you don't mind me asking, why do you wear your bloodline all the time?" She asked/thanked him.
"Because I feel safe when I have it on. You don't need to thank me" He said to her who just smiled at him.
"But I wanted to, and you don't need wear it inside here, no one will hurt you" She said to him and for some reason Naruto believes her and lets his armor fade away. Their now see Naruto in a black pair of pants and no shirt on which their can see for someone that 12 and half year old he has a well tone body that make adults feel shamed of themselves.
"Your drooling" Naruto pointed out which Hana and Tsume stop drooling to wipe it away.
"Sorry about that" Both of them said to him and he just nodded to them.
"Kiba we have to go now and do the mission" He said as he put his bloodline back on and warp his cape around him. He then disappeared again leaving the them behind him.
"I still think that fucking cool" Kiba said and both his mother and father nodded to him. Outside with Naruto who was slowly walking to the meeting area but a clown of all things walks up to him smiling, unnerving Naruto.
"Who are you clown" Naruto said to him in a angrily tone of voice with the three Inuzuka walking to him and wondering who that clown is.
"Who am I? Who am I? You have guts to ask me that son of spawn!" He yelled/asked Naruto who got into a fighting stance.
"I'm here on orders to give you a chance like my master gave your father before Satan killed him. Join us or die fighting us like your father did" Once he said that he shocked everyone but Naruto didn't believe him.
"Lies! My father would of said no to any deal with a demon!" Naruto yelled at him with anger in his voice.
"Your father did say no after Malebolgia revived him. You see your daddy died and was sent to hell but the great Malebolgia revived his evil soul and he told him to lead his armies of demons. But your daddy had to say no and go against us then he died after long battles after battles. One man, one boy can not stop us so why not join us!" The clown looking man said to him but Naruto grown more pissed about what he had just heard and if it was true then the old man had lied to him his whole life.
"I pick to stand against you and the armies of hell!" Naruto said as he charge the clown with all he had but Naruto never would of guess that the clown would change forms. The clown turned into a two long leg monster with two long arms and three horns, one on his head and one on each side of his face.
"Than you die by the Violator!" He yelled as the monster come at Naruto who jump into the air. Violator grabbed Naruto with his right hand and thrown him into a wall. Kiba and his family were going to help but there are stop by Naruto.
"This is mine and my father's fight" He said as he moved them back and face the Violator without fear in his eyes.
"You don't know how to use your symbiont ahahah!" The monster ridiculed him.
"What do you mean symbiont? This armor is not a living being it's a bloodline!" Naruto yelled/asked the demon in front of him.
"You fool it is a symbiont and it can turn into different things" The demon said back to him still laughing.
"I still going take you down!" Naruto yelled at he starts to fly and to him this was new. Naruto look shocked that he can fly when he has his armor on but he had to focus on the task at hand then worry about being lied to this whole time and what other powers he has.
He get on the demon's back and throws his chains around the demon neck and begin to cut the demon head off. The demon knows better because Spawn did this and killed him one of the many times he had died by Spawn. Violator grab the chains and pulled him to the ground and off his back.
"Your father killed me doing that and I not going to let it happen again!" The demon yelled at the new Spawn and ran to him with his horn pointing out in order to stab him. His front horn goes into Naruto body and pins him against a wall. Naruto makes the spikes on his arms grow and stabs the violator in the forehead. Then he made his cape turn into a weapon, but when he grabbed the weapon it was a long sharp axe. He slamed the axe into the demon head causing him to let go of Naruto with his horn. Naruto then turn the axe into a long sword and cut the Violator's head off.
"I will be back!!" He yelled as he turned into a blue mess.
The Third Hokage appeared next to Tsume.
Naruto looked at the Hokage with anger and hate in his eyes. "Fucking tell me what I want to know now!" Naruto yelled at the old man in pure rage.
"I had feeling this day would come. Naruto you the son of Spawn and an angel named Angela. Your father die and come back to life because a demon did it so your father would lead his armies of demon. But once your father, Al Simmons, was back to life as a hellspawn he turned on the demon and fought against them. Your mother was an angel that hunted down hellspawns, but once she fought and lost to your father he let her live and she fell in love with him. Your father story before that is long but I will tell you it if you want me to" The Sandiame said to him.
"First I want know why you called this a bloodline when that freak told me it was a symbiont" He said back to the old man who he trusted.
"I didn't know how to tell you and I'll tell you the powers of it after I said your father story ok?" He asked/said to Naruto who just nodded as he begins to talk again. "Your father was a trained soldier and did things he should never of. He beat his wife a few times but that was his wife before Angela. I know his past because he told me and we know each other for few years before he died, leaving you alone in the world because your mother die along side him. The Fourth sealed the demon in you after that. The reason his soul was sent to hell was because he killed a lot of innocent people because he was order to. Don't hate him for that. And for the powers; the cape can turn into weapons and your armor can turn into things as well like your spikes growing longer. You can fly also and use magic like magic blasts and teleport. You can also turn into other people which can help you a lot. You have fast healing because of Kyuubi but also because of being Spawn son and his powers. But the thing you and your father don't share is the cost. Your father died using his power to the max but you don't need to worry about dying because of running out of power." When he was done he looked at a shocked Naruto and three really shocked Inuzukas.
"I need to go somewhere to air my head out, Kiba tell Kurenai I can't do the mission and that I'm sorry" Naruto said as he warped his cape around him and teleport away from them.
"Was it best to hide it all these years Lord Hokage?" Tsume asked him with a mad face.
"Yes it was and I just hope he picks to side with us and not the demons of hell" He said to them but Hana said something to the Hokage in a mad voice.
"He killed that demon and said that he picks to fight against them so that means hes not going side with them! He won't do it no matter what and you should never of lied and hidden his power and who he was!" Hana said as she storm off leaving her mother and brother shocked and the Hokage rising a eye brow.
With Naruto
Naruto looks at his armor which now he know is a living being. He looks up at the sky and wishes that someone would tell him what he sure do. Naruto lays down and kept going up at the sky now knowing that heaven and hell are real. Naruto hears footsteps and as he looks behind he sees a old man in a clock.
"Who are you! Are you working with that demon I killed that tried making me join him!" Naruto asked/yelled at the old man.
My name is Cagliostro but you can call me Cog . Who are you?" He asked the hellspawn that in front of him.
"My name is Naruto Simmons" He said shocking the old man who just looked at him.
"How,,,: He asked in a shocked tone of voice.
"I just found out what I'm everyone lied to me! I'm the son of Al Simmons and Angela also I have a living being on me which is this armor. That freak clown tried killing me when I said I going to fight against armies of hell then the Hokage tells me about my father and what I am. That I don't need to worry about using my powers because I will not die if I run out because I'm a hellspawn thats alive and never died. I don't know what I should do! Fight them or join them! To top it all off I have Kyuubi, the nine tell demon sealed inside of me! So tell me old man what should I be doing now!" Naruto yelled/said to the old man who just had a smirk on his face as Naruto looked at him.
"Do you have people you love and want kept safe?" That was the only thing man said as he disappeared in thin air. Naruto looked at himself then thought about what the old man said. Do I have people that I want to kept safe and love? Images of the Hokage. Tsume. Hana and the 12 rookies and Anko flew in his mind. Naruto looked up with a face of pure determination, knowing what he has to do. "I going to fight them and kept the people I care about safe no matter what!"
"Thank you old man" He said as he walked off and Cog just smiled at him because he knows that he going be just like his father and never give up no matter what.
He walks to training grounds to learn how to use his powers. When he got to the training grounds he saw both Anko and Hana waiting for him.
"Why are you two here?" He asked them and they just smiled at him.
"Because, we here to help you, if we can. And if you allow us to" Anko said to her student as he smiles at them.
"Sure, you can stay but I need tell you something" He said to them but was stopped by Anko's finger on his lips.
"Hana told me everything so don't worry" She said to him which Naruto then kissed her finger causing Anko to blush a little and moving her finger away.
Naruto walks away from them in order to train. He starts off by learning to fly right. He use his powers to start flying and then he moved back and forth. He then picked up Anko and making her yell because she was in air flying and was getting scared. Then he put her down and pick up Hana who, unlike Anko, enjoy the ride in the air. Next he worked on was his cape. He maked his cape cut down few trees then he turned it into an ax and did a few strikes then with the sword. He turn his chains into chains with spikes and started to train with chain fighting. He warped his cloak around him to teleport around and once he was done he did it again for about hour of teleporting around. He then started to use his magic which he fired two glowing orbs out of his hands, blowing two trees up. Hana's dog walked to her but she was about to cry as Naruto walked to her.
"What's wrong?" He asked her in a caring voice.
"She's got an illness and is going to die soon" She said to him as he stares at the sick dog but Naruto moves closer to it. He \ sat down in front of the dog and put his hands on the head of the dog. He used his magic powers to cure the dog illness but it drained Naruto and he begins to get dizzy.
"Are you ok Naruto-kun?" Both of them asked him.
"yes and so is the dog" He said as the dog walked up to her mistress and licked her.
"But how do you it?" She asked him.
"I have the power to cure illness I guess" He said back to her with a smile on his face as he falls on his ass.
"But I guess it takes lot of me when I use it" He said to the two women who just giggle at him and Hana kissed him on the cheek as a thank you which cause Naruto to blush a deep shade of red.
"Lets go get something to eat?" Anko asked with a smirk on her face.
"Sure and where do you want to go?" Naruto asked her back.
"Dango!" Anko yelled out loudly.
The three of them and one dog goes off to the dango place.
After they got done eating Naruto just looked at them. Hana was someone that was sweet and caring and Anko ,well her true self was nice and caring but her fake self wasn't because she wants to scare everyone off. Naruto just looked at them till both of them noticed.
"Why you staring, little Naruto?" Anko asked him in her teasing voice.
"Because both of you are beautiful" Naruto said with a blush on his face and both of them smirk at him.
"Thank you, now its time we get you home" She said to him as she rubs his head.
"I'll see you tomorrow sensei" As he said that he warped his cape around him and teleport inside of his home.
Review and get a cookie but if you leave a good review you get three cookies.
Omake by the great beta Killer Words
"I pick to stand against you and the armies of hell!" Yelled Naruto as he got ready to charge.
"Then I have no choice but to use my most dreaded move..."
"I know a song that gets on every bodies nerves, every bodies nerves, every bodies nerves, I know a song that gets on every bodies nerves and this is how it goes..." He sang it in voice that you best friend how can't sing starts singing at the top of his longs when he is drunk voice. /// you know who you are///
"Stop... Please... Have..Mercy.." Naruto was withering on the ground, trying to keep a grip on his sanity. This made the treatment of the village seem like a bed of roses!
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Was all the village heard for the rest of the night. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53784 | Six Weeks Later -
"And so it is with dignity and respect, that I step down from my post as CEO of Dyco Technologies. In light of recent events, I've decided to take some time off and focus on what's important in my life. I thank you all for your support during these trying times.
I am fully convinced that there are no two women better suited for this position than Rosalie Hale, along side Tanya Denali. They are my best hope for continuing the merger, and keeping the initial vision, created by Edward Cullen and myself, in tact. Together, I look forward to a brighter, more technologically advanced future. Thank you for your time."
As I watched myself on the satellite TV from the deck of the Mississippi Queen, I smirked at the choice to wear the arm sling even though my shoulder had already healed. It was Rosalie's idea, thought it would draw sympathy from the press. And it did.
But it wasn't long until the cameras turned their attention back to William Dean, afnd started following Rose, who had quite the scandal going on with Emmett, the son of notorious murderer, Carlisle Cullen. His brother's 'death' had brought them closer together, or at least that was the story the media was running with.
Carlisle's trial was set to start in three weeks. Like Tanya had said, I wasn't needed. The video evidence was enough to put him away for the rest of his life.
"Bells, you want a beer?" Jake yelled from the cabin.
"Sure!" I shouted back. I stretched behind me and relished in the basking glow of the sun. It felt warm against my skin, stinging and beautiful.
We were just off the coast of Florida, and we'd arrive in St. Lucia in a few hours. Jake pushed himself between the boxes of all my crap and trotted up to the chair next to me, handing over the Heineiken in the process.
"You excited to see him?" Jake asked, taking a deep breath.
"Of course." I smiled. "But Jake, listen. You can't tell anyone about this, okay? Alice maybe. But no one else. You gotta' swear it to me again."
Jake glared at me. "I'm going to pretend you said 'Thanks for driving me all the way down here, Jake. I don't know how to operate a boat and you really bailed me out here.' Yeah, that's much better."
I laughed and touched the scar on my shoulder. "That works too."
"Isabella Swan's resignation was to be expected, Randall. I mean, c'mon, she was shot. In her own office. Her husband died right in front of her. I'd set sail for paradise too."
"Don't listen to this shit anymore, feel me?" Jake sighed, grabbing for the remote to turn the damned thing off
When we pfulled up to the marina in St. Lucia, I was immediately stunned by the beauty of this place. Absolute paradise. The water was crystal clear and the sky a brilliant blue. The beaches were a perfect shade of alabaster, and I knew then and there, I'd never want to leave. Even if Tanya was sending me on a wild goose chase, this seemed like the perfect place to start over.
"I'm looking for King Pygmalion?" I said to the port attendant. I expected her to stare at me blankly and shrug.
Instead, she smiled and handed me a map. "The King Pygmalion statue is about ten miles down this street right here. Make a right on Port Jones, and it's in the middle of the circle." She highlighted the road and circled the location.
"Okay, thanks." Jake and I grabbed a cab and headed that direction.
But, when I got there, I realized it was just a plain ole' statue of this guy in robes carving another statue of a girl. It was in the center of a traffic circle surrounded by old brick buildings, housing coffee shops, restaurants, art studios, and the like.
Art studios.
Oh shit. Oh shit.
I looked around, glancing at each shop suspiciously. Where was it? Where was it?
I passed a window with a light blue canopy over top that read "Galatea Portraits," and sure enough, there was the drawing from our wedding night right out front. Me, wearing nothing at all, lounging in the honeymoon suite bedroom wrapped in all those sheets with the Las Vegas skyline behind me.
"God Damn," Jake snorted. "He's amazing."
"Bella?" came a voice from the shop door.
My heart literally skipped a beat. It was him.
Oh my god. It was him - really, really him.
It took me two seconds to realize this was actually happening, and another heartbeat before I had my arms wrapped around his neck.
"I thought you were dead," I murmured.
He chuckled and pressed his lips to the side of my head. "Sorry for the shock. It was a necessary job hazard."
I didn't say anything in response, just kissed him and held him close, damned determined to never let him go.
Hours later, basking in the glory of post-sex euphoria, I realized I actually was never going anywhere ever again, that this was what I'd dreamed of all those months ago, that this was my heaven. The reporters had it right. I did run away to paradise, and I was never going back.
"Hey, there," Edward murmured, lifting his head from the makeshift bed we'd built on the deck of the Mississippi Queen. "What're you thinking about?"
"Nothing," I immediately answered. "Everything."
He smiled and licked his lips, looking out to the water next to us. My eyes followed the line of his profile, the curve of his forehead, the swell of his mouth, and all the way down his lean body to the way his dick lay flopped to the side, glistening from our last romp.
"Alright," I murmured. "It's time you come clean. How did you do it?"
"Do what?"
I raised an eyebrow. "You know what."
He smirked and rolled over to his stomach, balancing his weight on his elbows. "You said I had three options - Die, Go to Jail or Run. I chose the first option."
"And you couldn't tell me - why?"
"It had to seem real. You had to be heartbroken. I'm sorry, I know I broke my vows - or whatever. But that was the only way to bring down Carlisle without implicating me. I figured, if he killed me, what then? It's all on him." He leaned down and pressed his lips to my shoulder, softly kissing the tender scar where two bullets had entered and exited my body cleanly. "I am sorry you got hurt in the process. I was expecting him to freak out after he shot me, not turn around and shoot you too."
"Yeah, but how did you do it?"
"It's quite astounding what you can do with a security clearance and two months of free time."
I shook my head and sighed. "So you can never go back to America?"
"Not anytime soon, but it's because I don't want to be recognized. Not because my paperwork is illegitimate or anything," he replied, a small undercurrent of sarcasm in his tone.
"Uh huh," I teased. "And Edward Cullen?"
"Oh, that guy? That's just somebody we used to know a long, long time ago. I thought that bloke died, didn't you read the papers?"
"I saw him shoot you. I saw the blood explode from your chest, felt it on my face."
He leaned in a little closer to me, those green eyes sparkling in the moonlight's reflection off the water. "Did you, really? Think, Bella."
"I - I don't know. I thought there was. I was covered in it."
"Let's say I know a guy who knows a guy who makes gunshots look real for a living. How did he do?"
"Didn't the ambulance pick you up or something? What happened when the cops got there? How were you pronounced dead? I just - I've spent a month and a half trying to figure it out. It doesn't make any sense."
"Then, stop trying to figure it out." He smirked and rolled on top of me, forcing his legs in between mine. Pressing his face closer, he brushed a hair out of my eyes and smiled. "I've got more important things for you to be thinking about."
"Oh yeah?" I snorted. "Like what?"
"Like - do you want to tie me up this time, or vice verse?"
I giggled and pushed to my right, rolling us over so he was underneath me. I grabbed his wrists and pushed them above his head, pinning them there with one hand. With the other, I grabbed his dick and positioned it perfectly between my legs. A slickness still lingering from the last session, I decided I wanted to take him again right here and now. But this time would be on my terms, terms that had been on the top of my 'to-be-avenged' list for months.
"Since you broke your vows and your promise and everything, I figure you owe me," I started.
"Uh oh," he purred, kissing the end of my nose. "And just what should my punishment be?"
Slowly sliding down on him inch by inch, I smiled and brought my lips centimeters from his. "For the next twenty four hours, your orgasms belong to me. You do not come until I let you."
He laughed and kissed me, moaning the slightest bit from the friction of my skin on his. I rocked against him, rotating my hips just the way he liked. He shivered and moaned again, to which I shook my head and sighed.
"Remember, Mr. Masen, those tight little squeezes, those distinctive moans, those fingers in my hair, they belong to me," I murmured.
He chuckled, and pushed against me, hands still pinned above his head. "And what will you do if I disobey?"
I shook my head jokingly. "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. I wouldn't do that if I were you."
At that, he rolled us back over so I was under him, thrusting ever so delicately in and out, in and out. I was panting, drawing my fingers down his back with a frenzy.
Before I knew it, I had reached my climax and could tell Edward was almost there himself. But, like a good boy, he waited until I gave him the go ahead before having his release.
We fell asleep under the stars, wrapped completely in each other, and as I drifted into unconsciousness, I felt a sense of peace wash over me. Everything was as it should be. Finally.
A/N: Thank you all so much for reading my little story here. I hope you enjoyed it. And let me just say something about the ending. Right around Chapter 19 - 20, I pretty much had to decide how this was going to end, and believe me, I've tried to think of several other scenarios where Edward Cullen doesn't die. But ultimately, it all came back to this. This was how it had to happen. In order to redeem Edward's character, and logically clear his name, he had to go. But I couldn't really do that to you, could I?
I am planning on posting an alternate ending on my blog in the near future. When I tried to conceptualize how things would end around Chapter 8, I sort of sat down and wrote a theoretical ending. It goes nothing like what I've written, but should you like to see it, I'll have it up soon.
Now, for some personal thanks. To my betas: Rose, Pam, Leigh, and Jenny, thank you so much for your help with this story. Comma's are my worst nightmare. Good thing I have you lovely ladies backing me up. The story probably wouldn't be what it was without you. To all my readers, new or one-shoters, thanks for your patience and support. It's been a roller coaster, but I hope a good one.
Be sure to check out my blog (link on my profile) for all my updates. I'm working on some original fiction at this point, so if you're interested in reading that, I'll be posting some of it on there. I will be continuing to update La Vita Nuova as I write it. I believe there are 8 Chapters posted and 14 written so far, so be sure to check that out. I do hope you enjoyed it, and take care. Please let me know what you think in the reviews. Cheers! |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53785 | The family is sitting around the Lambert - Fosters kitchen table everyone is there except for JT carol walks over and sit's a plate on the table "Dose anyone know were JT is ?"
Brandon looks at her "last time I saw him he was running for the bathroom"
Mark looks at them " Yea he's been in there for over an hour"
Carol looks at Frank "Oh I hope he's alright"
JT comes stumbling down the stairs they turn around
Frank walks over to him "Uhhh…son are you ok ?"
JT comes into the kitchen "Yea sure why would you ask something like that ?"
Mark looks at him " Maybe cause your as pale as a ghost"
JT starts to walk across the kitchen all of a sudden he losses his balance and starts to fall backwards Frank catch's him "Maybe you should sit down before you hurt yourself"
JT looks at him "That's a good idea dad" Frank helps him over to the table "I just got a little dizzy for a minute there" he puts his head down
Brandon looks at Carol "Mom can I have some eggs"
Carol looks at him "Oh honey I just cut the oven off"
Al looks up at her as she feels JT's head "No problem just throw them on JT's head they be done in no time"
Carol walks over and feels his head "Oh frank he's burning up I'll get the tormenter" She walks over to the drawer and pulls out a tormenter and comes back gets JT to sit up and sticks it in his mouth
JT looks up at her "I'm telling you I'm fine"
Carol pulls the tememoter out of his mouth "You've got a fever"
JT looks at her "But I have a big math quiz today"
Dana looks at him in disbelief "your concerned about school work you must be sick"
Carol looks at her then back at JT "Dose anything hurt ?"
JT looks at her "Yea my throat is killing me"
Carol looks at him "Well you better just forget about the quiz and get up to bed"
JT gets up "Yea I guess your right" he falls backwards into Marks arms
Mark looks at him "Want some help ?"
JT looks at him "Maybe a little"
Mark looks at him and starts to help him up the stairs |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53786 | This world is enough
Disclaimer: Narnia and the Pevenies are the creation of C. S. Lewis. I own nothing except the plot.
"Dearest, you and your brother will never return to Narnia!"
Those words repeated themselves again and again in her mind. Words that for Lucy Pevensie were the equivalent of a death sentence.
"Why Aslan?" she thought bitterly. "Why let us come to Narnia in the first place if you're only going to exile us from it? Why should we draw close to this world anyway, it's so ugly and brutal and unmagical compared to Narnia!"
Lucy sighed, looking round disconsolately at the room she was staying in. To her eyes it was drab and unappealing, but she felt little desire to leave it. What was the point? Everything in this world was grey and lifeless and uninspiring compared to the place her soul longed for.
It hadn't been so bad when Edmund and Eustace were with her. She was upset at not being able to go back of course, but at least there were people she could talk about Narnia with. But now Lucy had been left alone in Cambridge with her detestable aunt and uncle, the boys having returned to school. Lucy should have gone back as well, but an outbreak of measles meant her school would be starting term a week late.
With her brother and cousin gone, Lucy had slowly sunk into a depression she felt she might never come out of. She had tried to fight it, reminding herself that Aslan had said he was in this world too, but it hadn't helped much. This world was so drab and grey compared to Narnia it was difficult to imagine Aslan being here at all. It might take her years to discover Aslan's name here and when she did find it, what then? Could anyone in this world inspire the same loyalty and devotion she felt for the Great Lion whose sacrifice had saved her brother and saved all Narnia?
Her bleak thoughts were interrupted when her aunt opened the door.
"There's a telephone call for you!"
"For me?" Lucy replied, wondering who could be calling her.
"That brother of yours." Aunt Alberta sniffed disapprovingly. "Don't be all day on it girl."
"Well it's an incoming call so it's not as though you have to pay for it," Lucy thought in annoyance as she followed her aunt downstairs to the telephone.
"Hello? Ed?"
"Lucy!" Edmund's voice came back clearly over the line. "How are you?"
"All right I suppose." The tone of misery in her voice gave the lie to that reassurance.
"Well you don't' sound it." Edmund informed her bluntly. "You've been moping about not going back to Narnia, haven't you?"
Lucy sighed, regretting for once how well her brother knew her. "A bit, I suppose."
"Lu, I know it's hard, it's hard for all of us. But being miserable about it won't help."
"It's all very well for you," Lucy replied rather angrily. "You're back at school but I'm stuck here on my own, sitting in my room all day!"
"Well go out," Edmund suggested. "We never really got the chance to look round Cambridge but I'm sure there must be a lot to see."
"I'm not really in the mood for that."
"Lucy, please." Edmund implored her. "I doubt I'll get permission to call you again and I don't want to think of you sitting indoors and being miserable for the next week."
Lucy didn't really want to agree, but at the same time she appreciated her brother's concern.
"All right, I'll ask Aunt Alberta if I can go out after lunch."
"Good!" Edmund replied. "Well I've got to hang up now. Take care of yourself Lu."
"You too, Ed. Bye!" Lucy hung up the receiver carefully. She had wanted to say 'I love you' but that was not the sort of thing you say on the telephone to slightly annoying older brothers.
Aunt Alberta was more than happy to see the back of her niece for an afternoon. So after a meat free lunch that had Lucy longing for venison and wild boar and roasted peacock, she set off into the town.
She wandered through the city for a few hours, trying to work up some enthusiasm over what she saw but it was little use. The Scrubbs lived quite close to the University campus and the college buildings were spectacular, but Lucy was unimpressed. As far as she was concerned, Cair Paravel beat anything this world had to offer in the way of architecture.
It was quite late in the afternoon when she found herself leaning on a bridge over the river Cam, staring moodily at the running water. She was wondering at that moment if she would ever feel happy or carefree again when the slow tolling of a bell penetrated her consciousness. Looking round she discovered the sound came from a building with towers at each corner that after a moments thought she recognised as the famous King's College Chapel. Small groups of people were heading towards it to attend the daily service of Evensong.
Lucy's family were fairly regular churchgoers but like most twelve-year-old girls she found church services rather dreary and uninteresting. She would never have voluntarily gone to a service in the middle of the week, but now she found herself joining the others who entered through the Chapel's great eastern door. It was as though something or someone was calling her.
Once inside, Lucy forgot her depressed mood and gazed round in awe at the Chapel's vast interior. Brilliant sunshine was streaming in through the great stained glass windows and reflecting from the walls, making it appear on first sight as though the building was constructed entirely from light, instead of glass and stone.
The organ was still playing quietly as Lucy took one of the unoccupied chairs in front of the wooden choir screen. A moment later it fell silent and then the choir entered from the western end, singing the introit anthem. It was Ley's Prayer of King Henry VI, but Lucy did not know or need to know what it was called. She sat upright in her chair, drinking in the music, her eyes shining. The ethereal voices of the boy choristers echoed through the Chapel's high arched vaults and seemed to sink deep into her soul, washing away her feelings of hurt and bitterness and leaving her, for the first time since she had left Narnia, at peace.
Lucy had never been to a Sung Evensong before and at first it seemed more like a concert than a church service. Yet all the usual elements of scripture reading and prayer were there and she gave them an attention she had never bothered to in church at home, caught up into the love and worship of God through the beauty of music. The anthem was The heavens are telling the glory of God, part of Haydn's great oratorio The Creation and Lucy listened to it spellbound, experiencing a sense of exultation she had never felt before, except in the presence of Aslan.
After the Blessing and Organ Voluntary, the congregation began to drift towards the door yet Lucy still sat in her chair. The last hour had been one of the most moving experiences of her life but it still somehow felt incomplete, as if there was more to come. Rising from her chair she began to walk in the opposite direction to everyone else, moving towards the Chapel's western end although she didn't really know why. Again it was as though some voice she could not quite hear was calling her.
Passing through the choir screen, she saw several people moving among the wooden choir stalls, snuffing out candles and collecting sheet music, but none of them paid any attention to the twelve-year-old girl walking slowly towards the High Altar.
Behind the altar she saw Rembrant's picture of The Adoration of the Magi and above that the Chapel's great west window. It was dominated by a depiction of Christ hanging dead on the Cross and surrounding that were other scenes from the Passion. One in particular drew Lucy's eye like a magnet.
It was a picture of Christ being nailed to the Cross. A Roman centurion held his hammer high, driving the cruel iron spikes deep into His palms, the battered body arched upwards into a rictus of agony. Lucy had seen many dreadful things, she had seen people literally hacked to pieces in the midst of battle and this simple image should have had little effect on her. Yet she wondered now if she had ever seen anything quite so terrible. The background of the picture was a deep red that glowed angrily in the light of the sun and Lucy could almost feel the unbearable anguish radiating from that tortured body. It suddenly struck her she had seen nothing so horrific since the night Aslan sacrificed himself for Edmund on the Stone Table.
Her breath caught in her throat. It was as thought a blindfold had suddenly fallen from her eyes, revealing what she now realised had been obvious all along. Lucy now knew what Aslan's name was in her own world.
Still reeling from this sudden epiphany, Lucy turned and walked slowly back the way she had come, leaving the Chapel through the eastern door. She realised now that she had stayed out much longer than intended for the light was starting to fade. She turned to the west and then gasped at the sight that met her eyes.
The sun was hanging low and red in the sky, its light streaming through the distant cloud and turning the western horizon into a sea of gold and crimson fire. It was a breathtakingly beautiful scene that a few hours ago Lucy would have distained, claiming there were better sunsets to be seen in Narnia. But now she looked at her own world with new eyes, no longer seeing it as second rate in comparison to Narnia for she knew the same Hand had made them both.
Lucy realised now that her own world could be just as beautiful as Narnia and just as magical as well. The magic might be less obvious but she knew somehow it was still there. It was present in every sunset, in the blossoming of every spring flower, in every new birth. Each world, in its own way, proclaimed the glory of its Maker.
If this world seemed drab and grey at times it was because humans had made it that way. But the same might be said of the Narnian world for Calormen and the culture of the northern giants were hardly ideal societies. Even if this world was worse in some ways that no longer made her despair but gave her a sense of purpose and a calling; a calling to bring, in whatever small way she could, the joy and truth she had found in Narnia into her own world.
Being in England was no longer an exile but an adventure, a quest at the end of which was Aslan's Country. Lucy realised now that the river Aslan had told her she must cross was her own death, but that did not daunt her. She had already seen Aslan conquer death in Narnia and now she knew He had done the same here. She had nothing to fear, for at the end of her adventure in this world she would be reunited with Aslan forever.
"But until then," Lucy thought, "this world is enough." |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53788 | March 17 1998
A slight breeze blew through the windows of Shell Cottage as Fleur Weasley opened the door to check on Hermione Granger. The girl was sleeping soundly, cocooned in blankets and her bushy hair spread out on the pillow behind her. Fleur smiled. At least in slumber she looked peaceful. But as Fleur drew closer, she knew that it was all a facade. Dark circles casted unpleasant shadows under her eyes, and her skin was pale and sickly, due to the terrible conditions she had faced. Harry and Ron had refused to tell her anything, but Fleur was not stupid. She knew the signs of the Cruciatus Curse when she saw them.
Fleur glided over to the window and pulled the curtains away to allow soft, golden light to illuminate the room. Sunlight lit up Hermione's face and she stirred and fluttered her eyes. Fleur rushed to the girl's side.
"Hermione? Comment ça va?" she crooned, gently patting Hermione's forehead.
Hermione groaned and opened her brown eyes, staring into Fleur's perfect sapphire ovals.
"Where does it hurt, ma cherie?" Fleur asked.
"Ron," Hermione rasped.
With a nod, Fleur left the bed and called out for Ron at the top of the stairs. He appeared so fast, it was as though Fleur had summoned him with a summoning charm.
"She is asking for you," she told him. Ron said nothing and disappeared into the bedroom. His face was downcast as he knelt beside the bed and held Hermione's hand.
As Fleur watched them from the landing, she felt Bill's arms wrap around her waist. His long, red hair brushed her chin as he bent to kiss her smooth cheeks.
"Is she alright?"
"I think so," said Fleur with a smile, looking up into her husband's face. He was still so very handsome to her, even with the scars. A small hand reached up and traced lightly over the scars on his face, making Bill close his eyes at her touch.
"She is in safe hands now," said Fleur.
"As am I," said Bill and he drew his wife's lips up to meet his own. Bill had realised long ago that he was envied by many men for being with Fleur. Her Veela ancestry had favourably enhanced her features and she was by far the most beautiful woman Bill had laid eyes on. But as he ran his fingers through Fleur's curtain of silvery hair, he understood just how beautiful she really was. Compared to her compassion, her bravery and her kindness, Fleur's beauty was nothing. He knew that he was the luckiest man in the world.
Their intimate moment was interrupted by a wail erupting from Mr Ollivander's room. Fleur broke away and gave Bill an apologetic smile.
"Do what you must, love," he told her, giving her tiny hand a squeeze. He watched her hurry away to the nearest bedroom with a smile. Underneath her French stubbornness was genuine Weasley kindness.
"Monsieur?" Fleur asked as she ran to Mr Ollivander's side and began putting a damp cloth over his brow. A sheen of perspiration glistened on his forehead as he thrashed about in his sleep.
"No, no! I don't know anything! Please! I beg of you!" he screamed, throwing his head back on the pillow and releasing a piercing cry.
"Shhh, Monsieur!" said Fleur in her soothing, throaty voice. "C'est un dream, only a dream! Shh!"
Mr Ollivander opened his pale, translucent eyes. "Dream... only a dream..." he muttered.
"Oui, Monsieur, only a dream!" Fleur assured him.
Nodding his head slowly, Mr Ollivander closed his eyes and relaxed, immediately falling asleep. Fleur sighed. If her maman had told her that she would be tending to injured Goblins and wandmakers in her first house, Fleur would have merely scoffed. Now, she realised, it was all she was going to do until Mr Ollivander and the Goblin were fit enough to continue their work. She removed the cloth and placed it on the bedside table, before smoothing her apron and making her way to her bedroom.
"Fleur!" called Harry.
"Can I talk to the Goblin?"
Fleur glanced at the bedroom door doubtfully, a frown marring her angelic features.
"If you must," she said gravely. "But he is very weak."
Harry nodded and disappeared into the bedroom, followed by Ron and Hermione.
The bedroom Bill and Fleur shared was by far the grandest in the cottage. A magnificent view of the ocean was clearly visible from the large window. Bill was sitting on the bed, his hands bunched in the white duvet.
"What is it, ma cherie?" Fleur untied her apron and hung it on the door handle, before slipping out of her shoes and joining her husband.
"It's Ron!" Bill replied gruffly. "He shows up here with a dead house elf, an injured Goblin, a weak Mr Ollivander and a tortured Hermione, and doesn't tell me a bloody thing!"
"Shh," purred Fleur. A tiny white hand slipped into Bill's and another rubs his back gently. "Do not blame Ron. It is zis war zat is to blame!"
She took his face in her hands and traced his scars softly with her finger. "Wars can ruin faces, but zey can never ruin families. And your famille needs you to be strong, Guillaume!"
Bill smiled at the French equivalent of his name; his wife's nickname for him. He had often tried to pronounce it, but it sounded more beautiful when Fleur said it in her throaty, French accent.
"Do not be mad at your frère. He is doing what is best for his amis."
"Since where are the French so wise?" Bill joked.
Fleur smiled, "When zare husbands do not see sense!"
Bill captured her mouth with his and pulled her small frame closer to his. Memories of their wedding night came immediately to his mind. White sheets, silvery hair, pale skin, panted breaths. The fiasco at the Burrow had done little to halt their wedding.
Pushing Fleur backwards, Bill hovered over her and admired her tenderly. Her pale skin was slightly flushed with desire. Bill bent to kiss her again but she pulled back.
"Non, Guillaume. Zare are too many people in zis house! Someone could hear us!"
"Let them!" he proclaimed with a twinkle in his eye. "Let them hear me make love to my beautiful wife!"
The last sound that could be heard before the concealment charms were in place was Fleur's tinkling laugh. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53789 | Emily slowly lays Rocky down in the crib. She turns to Matilda. "You have my extension right?"
Matilda smiles. "Yes, Emily. And before you ask, JJ's, too. Also, the numbers for Garcia, Reid, Rossi, Hotch and Morgan. Even Chief Straus. If for some reason I can't reach any of you I'll call in the Marines' Search and Rescue team."
Emily chuckles nervously. "Sorry. Just…nervous."
Matilda smiles. "As all mother's are. I promise you, Emily, she will be fine."
JJ wraps her arms around her wife. "Do you remember what you told me the first time I left Henry down here?"
Emily bites her lip. "Uh…no clue."
"You told me he would be fine and if I was at all worried to just hop on the elevator and come see for myself. You're back to the office, baby, but you have a few months before you travel with us again. Rocky will be here and so will you. Everything will be just fine."
Emily gives a shiver. "I…I remember what happened…your first week back."
JJ turns and stares into her wife's eyes. "Won't happen again. I swear, Emily."
Emily just nods. She turns back to her daughter. She straightens the onesie on the sleeping baby. She leans over and kisses her.
"I can do this. I can. Shit…can I?"
JJ smiles. "Yes, you can. And you'll be down here around 11 to nurse her. You can make it 2 and a half hours. I have faith in you."
Matilda chuckles. "I promise you, Emily, she will be fine."
Emily sighs. "I know. Matilda, you are great. I hope you don't think I'm questioning you."
The caregiver laughs. "If I thought that every time a parent left their child here the first time I'd have changed professions long ago."
Emily grins. "I bet. Well…see you at 11." She leans over and kisses Rocky once more. "Love you, sweet girl."
JJ kisses their daughter. "See you later, Rock Star. I love you."
The two head out and get on the elevator. As JJ hits the button for the BAU floor, she takes Emily's hand and squeezes it.
"She's okay, baby."
"I know. I'm the one that's a mess."
JJ laughs, not denying that statement at all.
When the team gathers for their 10 a.m. meeting they can't help but smile, glad they are all together in the same room again. After a moment, Hotch looks down at the paperwork in front of him.
"First of all, welcome back Emily. We've missed you."
She grins. "You had to read that off your papers?"
The team laughs. Hotch raises his eyebrows at her.
"Okay…maybe we didn't miss you that much after all." She winks at him. He grins and looks back down. "Secondly, Morgan, JJ, there is a meeting on Wednesday for you two to make the final pitch regarding the class you want to teach. It's at 10 so we'll meet here at 9 to discuss cases. Good luck to you both."
Morgan nods. "Thanks. We are mostly all set. Just waiting on some PowerPoint magic from Garcia and we're done with the presentation."
"Yeah, but hopefully our words will mean more than bells and whistles," JJ says.
Everyone agrees. Hotch hands a folder to Rossi.
"Dave, there is a criminal justice class at Georgetown that would like you to speak regarding The Reaper."
Rossi raises his eyebrow. "Me? Really?"
Hotch glares at him. "Yes, you. Problem with that?"
Rossi slowly shakes his head. "Nope, none at all."
Hotch sets his papers aside. "So, what open cases do we have?"
Emily smiles, trying to break the tension just mentioning The Reaper invokes. "None for me. My desk is completely clear because I am just that good!"
Reid, Morgan and JJ exchange looks as everyone chuckles. Each agent takes 2 folders off their stack and tosses them in front of Emily. She frowns.
"You guys suck," she complains good-naturedly.
Soon all the cases have been discussed and Garcia has doled out a few more to each agent. As she heads back to her desk, Emily gives a content sigh.
"I can't believe I missed this place and I'm glad to be back."
Reid smiles. "I know I'm glad to have you back. It's hard to get my points across sometimes. You always get me. I've missed that."
Emily grins at him. "I missed that, too."
JJ grins at them from her desk. "Trust me, Em, the whole team missed that. Do you know how many times we nearly called you for a nerd translation."
Reid frowns at her. "Ouch."
JJ just winks at him.
From up near his office, Hotch watches as the three agents tease and joke with each other a bit before getting to work. He smiles. Yes…it was good to have everyone back. They were a team…a family. And always, always stronger together.
With a slight smile, he turns and goes into his office, content with knowing his team was back to being the best the FBI has to offer. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53790 | Chapter 18 Home
Oh Lord live inside me
Lead me on my way
Oh Lord live inside me
Lead me on my way Lead me home
Lead me home Oh Lord in the darkness
Lead me on my way
Oh Lord in the darkness
Lead me on my way Lead me home
Lead me home hummm...
hummm... Oh Lord heaven's waiting
Open up your door
Oh Lord heaven's waiting
Open up your door Lead me home
Lead me home
Lead me home
Lead me home
Lead me home
Lead me home
Lead me Home sung by Jamie N. Commons
The meeting ended and it was a somber one too. Everyone sat around the table; the place was so gloomy, empty, cold, dank. Angel was not here, Brian was gone and Dawn was stolen. There was emptiness all around and now everyone was pale after the horrible news was delivered. Buffy sat there with no expression, no movement, she looked lost completely lost. Isabella was standing up and while she processed the information it didn't mean she accepted any of it.
"No there has to be something else." Isabella insisted there was always another way right?
"Izzy, we've read these things backwards there's nothing else." Giles stated but he knew accepting this wasn't going to be easy to say the least.
"Go through it again." Buffy order and Giles sighed. The dining room was quiet and intense everyone was on edge. Buffy wanted to hear everything over again to make sure the Watchers didn't miss anything. Giles took his glasses off laying them on the table.
"The Key was once raw energy and can displace dimensions. Glory took over the dimension and is cast out. She searches for the Key; the monks put the Key in human form. The energy now is that of Dawn's blood. Glory needs Dawn's blood to open the dimensions up for her to get back to her own." Giles explained it of course there was more text but that is what it was in a nutshell.
"Now in order to open the portal and pull the dimensions apart the blood is poured into a specific place and time." Wes took over the conversion. "The blood flows into that spot opening hell all its creatures come through and Glory leaves. If the blood stops flowing then it'll stop." Wes finished but Buffy wasn't happy.
"But you're saying is if the blood stops flowing then hell goes away right?" Anya asked.
"Yes that's if it's stopped but with Dawn," Willow tried to explain but it was too painful to finish knowing what it meant.
"Blood flows the gates will open, the gates will close when the blood flows no more." Giles said in a monotone and paused. "When Dawn is dead." Everyone sighed, it's not what they wanted to hear but it was the only way.
"Why blood?" Xander asked. "Why blood I mean why can't it be lymph ritual or something?"
"Cause it's always got to be blood." Spike answered lighting up a cigarette.
"We're not actually discussing dinner right now." Xander threw back looking at the vampire who stood in the corner.
"Blood is life you wanktard." Spike shot back and Xander looked back up at him. " It's what keeps you going, makes you warm, makes you hard, makes you other than dead." He took a long drag and blew out the smoke. "Of course it's her blood."
"Well it's pretty simple math here we stop Glory before the ritual begins." Buffy said plain and simple. "We have time right?"
"If my calculations are right," Giles began. "But Buffy," Buffy rolled her eyes and stood up.
"I don't want to hear it." She said.
"Well I can see that." Giles's voice got a little louder and more stern something no one here was use to it at all.
"No! No you don't understand!" Buffy turned back to her Watcher sharply fighting back the tears. "We are not talking about this." Buffy said firmly as if that was the end of the discussion but Giles slammed his fist against the table and stood up.
"Yes we bloody well are!" He yelled at his slayer and everyone jumped. Buffy took in deep breath trying to hold back everything. Isabella stood there in tears; they were really talking about killing her little sister. Giles took a cleansing breath and started again. "If Glory begins the ritual, if we can't stop her," He was stretching out the answer no one wanted to hear but it was the truth. Buffy walked over trying to look bigger than she was.
"Come on say it," She challenged her Watcher. "We're bloody well talking about this. Tell me to kill my own daughter, her little sister. Say it god damnit!" She yelled in tears and quickly tried to wipe them away. Giles was quiet looking at her and seeing all the rage and anger in her eyes which lead to her soul a soul that was being torn apart slowly.
"To a degree she's not your daughter, she's not Izzy's sister." Giles said trying to go back to the basics to defend what the answer was. Buffy once again fought back the tears. But now Isabella step in.
"No, you're wrong, she's my sister, she's a little bit of my mom, she's a little bit of my dad which makes her my sister." Isabella added.
"I gave birth to her Giles, Angel and I made her, she's my daughter. I hold both my daughters and I can feel it. I can feel me, I can feel Angel. Dawn and Isabella are the only connections I have to Angel now, they're home to me, they make the most sense in the world, they're all that will ever keep me." Buffy choked out the last few words and wiped a tear away. Isabella started to cry too. "I lost my husband and I'll be damned if I lose my baby girl."
"We'll solve this," Willow reassured her and Buffy nodded. But that wasn't enough what can they do to stop all this.
"If the ritual starts then everyone will die." Giles stated and Buffy nodded but he knew her mind was made up she would not do it. "Dawn as well,"
"I'm sorry," Buffy said. "I love you all but I'm sorry I can't, I won't." She wasn't going to sacrifice another family member again for the world.
"Ok," Gunn spoke up. "All in favor for stopping Glory before the ritual?" He raised his hand. "Suggestions, ideas times wasting. Willow," He said walking forward to the witch. "You got a spell going right?"
"Wait we don't have to kill her." Doyle added and Cordelia looked to him.
"Yeah we just keep her busy it did say that it can only be open once, she misses her time then it can't open." Fred added and that seemed to raise some spirits.
"She's got what five minutes, we can keep a god busy for five minutes right? I mean let her knock us around," Doyle said and everyone began to talk a little more.
"Yeah then no more ritual she might be a little mad but we'll live." Gunn added but Glory being a little mad was understatement though.
"Ok, ok but I'm not hearing enough ideas." Anya jumped in. "She's a god let's think outside the box." Anya said while his hands formed a box.
"Why don't you go think outside the bleeding box?" Spike shot back.
"The Dagon's sphere," Anya blurted. "It was meant to repel Glory." Then she
"Yes it might drive her away." Doyle said.
"Actually it'll weaken her." Wes added.
"We got something then, the stews a stewin' I can smell it." Lorne smiled a little.
"She's becoming unstable right?" Isabella asked. "Like unstable in?"
"She needs…brains so to speak without them she'll completely shut down." Giles answered.
"Good so what will that do?" Isabella needed to know everything possible. "Can I defeat her?"
"Possibly," Giles answered that question as well meaning there was a chance.
"Awesome, great, got a plan now where is this taking place?" Xander asked and that was a good question.
"I've got places to be!" Levy yelled and they looked to her and they knew to follow her. She's been getting antsy all day wanting to leave.
"So now what?" Gunn asked.
"We go to war." Isabella asked.
The mansion was in full swing preparing. Every weapon was getting loaded into the cars and in a few hours all the slayers would be here. Having the slayer army can help but once the dimension is opened then there's only so much that can be done.
Isabella sat on the roof of the mansion and Buffy climbed up to the roof and found her. Buffy took a seat next to her and mother and daughter quiet looking out. It was a beautiful day, the sky was blue, birds were chirping and there was a soft breeze. This whole situation escalated quickly. This trip to Sunnydale was supposed to be a week in and out and they've lost two of their own and the world might end.
"How many apocalypses is this for us?" Isabella asked and Buffy gave a chuckle.
"Oh, too many, more than anyone should have to fight." Buffy answered and looked to Isabella. "Some how we've always stopped them, the world spun one more day." Isabella nodded and looked to Buffy.
"I don't know about this one. It's one thing to fight monsters but when your sister is the one to end it I…I don't know." Isabella kept the tears back. She still hasn't had time to cope with her father's loss let alone the fact her little sister could be killed and the world ends. "You and dad have made sacrifices for the world, for me, for Dawn. I mean you killed dad to save the world. I don't have that in me. What kind of world is this? Is it even worth living if all you do is save but everything is just stripped from you? What's the point mom?" Isabella asked.
"It's called fighting, it doesn't stop Izzy, I know it feels like you kill one vampire five come back. And," She then went back into time to what felt a lifetime ago something Angel told her and something she told him. "We'll never win but we don't fight to win. We fight because there's something worth fighting for. Strong is fighting and it's hard and it's everyday." Those words were so old but they still held true to their meaning. "I wish I could have given you and Dawn the childhood you both deserved but that's not going to happen."
"Dad always said that to me," Isabella smiled a little and she was still holding that hold cross and her father's old ring. "He always wished to give something he never had or something better than this life." Buffy smiled.
"We're going to win." Buffy stated trying to help and Isabella looked to her. "Got a feeling it might go down to the last of us." That part Isabella agreed on.
"You know," Isabella began. "There was one story dad told me and I always liked it even did a paper on Senior year." Isabella paused and Buffy looked to her. "It was about the Spartans and the three hundred men. Three hundred men marched to fight the Persians in the battle of Thermopylae. Three hundred against thousands and the odds were not in the Spartans favor. So they forced the Persians to funnel in and made a stand. The fight went down to the last man standing, the three hundred Spartans fought. They may have died that day but the Persians never won the war." Isabella finished and Buffy looked to her. "Dad always told me to be the last standing, never let the enemy go down without a fight and make them remember that fight." Buffy smiled, Angel has taught her well.
"Then we'll be the last ones standing." Buffy stated and Isabella smiled as Buffy held out her hand and Isabella took it. Just then a caravan of cars pulled up and mother and daughter stood up. The slayers have arrived.
Faith had to take a moment to be alone hearing of Angel's death. It was complete blow to the group and it was a man down and one man short. Angel might have been a human but he could still fight and they needed everyone in this.
All the weapons were packed, the gear everything. They were leaving the mansion and after this they would leave Sunnydale for good. There would never be a reason to come back to this place, too much pain, too much death. Isabella pulled her group aside and needed to say something to them before they left.
"I'm sorry," She apologized to them but for what? "I said that I was the leader but I'm not, we're family and before we go we need to be a family." Buffy had to smile just a little. "I can't kill my little sister not for anyone or anything. But you are my family and I'm sorry how I've acting I just," Isabella paused for a moment. "Just wish dad was here." Cordelia walked up to Isabella and hugged her then hugged Buffy. Everyone got up and hugged one another. Whatever happens now is anyone's guess. They could all die because of this but it's why they fight, it's what they've fought for all this time.
Isabella drove a car and in front of her were Willow, Tara and Levy. Levy would guide them to wherever Glory was. The sun had barely set and Buffy looked out the window with two million things going through her head. She thought about Angel most of all. She hoped he would help them some how. She hoped he was comforting Dawn in some way. Dawn was alone and Buffy knew she was scared and just wanted to go home. Buffy thought about what would happen after this. Where will she, Isabella and Dawn go? Home was where all four were and they were minus Angel. What will this do to them when it's over and that's if they survive.
Isabella drove thinking the same thing as her mother. She also just wanted her dad back. He always knew what to do; he knew how to fix things, make things right. Isabella knew she needed to push it out of her head and focus because if she brought herself down then she doesn't stand a chance against a Hell God no matter what. Isabella then felt her mom grab her hand and Isabella accepted. They both lost the man of their life and they cannot and will not lose Dawn.
Just a small chapter but a very powerful chapter. Now for the rest of the story I'm combining chapters and by doing that we got like three chapters left. The end has been typed up and it's a good one. After this story though there will be no more adventures of Isabella. The end sets up to where I could do another one but I'm not going to.
So what's next? We got to kill Glory right? I mean she killed Angel I say bring the bitch down. But who do you want to kill Glory? Should it be Isabella or Buffy? More soon, comments and reviews are most welcomed and thanks for reading. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53799 | Prepared for the Fulness
The lives of early converts demonstrate some ways God prepares people for the richness of the restored gospel.
Prepared for the Fulness
Why do people join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Part of that answer lies in the stories of converts of the past. Consider, for example, the Lord’s preparatory work with six individuals converted to the Church during the early Kirtland period—John Murdock, Parley P. Pratt, Sidney Rigdon, Lorenzo Snow, John Taylor, and Wilford Woodruff.
One factor common to most was participation in some denominational church. The only partial exception was Parley P. Pratt. His family, while devout, did not join a church, because they felt the denominations were at odds with one another. For the other five, however, a basic religious foundation was laid for the most part through their participation in other churches.
Further preparation took place as the Spirit led all six to search for more truth. Inevitably, the Spirit led them to begin their search in the Holy Bible. Because of their study of the Bible and the whisperings of the Spirit, they already knew the gospel before the missionaries preached it to them. They were merely waiting to find it. Their principal question was not what the gospel was, but rather where it was and who had the authority to administer its ordinances. They tested all missionary claims against the teachings of the Bible and the promptings of the Spirit. Even the Book of Mormon was examined against these two criteria. For these men, it was essential that the Spirit bear witness to the truth of the Book of Mormon, and the final assurance came as they found that this new scripture bore witness of the same things the Bible did.
Family Religious Backgrounds
Religious influences within their homes played an important part in preparing all six men to accept the restored gospel. John Murdock’s parents, as well as some of his mother’s relatives, were members of the Seceder Church, a dissenting group from the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. 1 William Rigdon, Sidney’s father, was “a stern Baptist farmer who had no tolerance for idleness.” 2 Lorenzo Snow’s parents were Baptists. Speaking of her parents, Eliza R. Snow said, “[T]heir house was a resort for the good and intelligent of all denominations, and their hospitality was proverbial. Thus, as their children grew up they had ample opportunities for forming acquaintances with the erudite of all religious persuasions.” 3 In addition, Lorenzo’s mother and two sisters, Eliza and Leonora, joined the Latter-day Saints before he did. 4
John Taylor’s parents were members of the Church of England and made certain that their son learned the catechism and the prayers of the denomination. In their eyes, the Church of England was the true church, and while John seems to have had little interest in ecclesiastical formality, he did develop a deep reverence for God. 5 Similarly, Wilford Woodruff’s family had roots in the Presbyterian tradition and taught their children to reverence the Sabbath and to learn the Presbyterian catechism, as well as scriptural passages. 6 When Wilford was eight, a Baptist revival led to the baptism of his stepmother and several other relatives. 7 In addition, his father lived Christian teachings by giving liberally to the poor. 8
Some of Wilford’s most profound religious education came from an extended family member. Living in the region of Wilford’s boyhood home in Connecticut was a man by the name of Robert Mason who was called “the old prophet” by his neighbors. He, in contrast to his neighbors, believed that there would be prophets, Apostles, and gifts of the Spirit in the latter days. Mason had also had a vision that indicated to him that there was no church of Christ on the earth in his day, but that he would live to see it established. He was often in the Woodruff home. Wilford believed Mason and prayed often that he would be prepared for the Church when it came. 9
Parley P. Pratt’s family was not formally associated with any religious denomination, and his father tried to prevent prejudices either for or against the competing denominations. This did not mean, however, that the family did not attend public worship. As opportunity permitted, they attended the Presbyterian, the Baptist, and the Methodist churches. Despite his doubts about denominational religion, Parley’s father made certain that he inculcated in his children’s lives the Christian principles of “integrity, honesty, honor, and virtue.” 10 Parley’s brother, Orson Pratt, recorded in his journal that this was in large measure due to the fact that his parents “looked upon the history of ancient Christianity, as recorded in the Bible, as something most sacred and worth possessing. These Bible doctrines, they diligently instilled into the minds of their children, so far as they understood them and often expressed themselves as desirous of belonging to the Church of Christ, if it could be found.” 11
Church Affiliations
In spite of the denominational affiliations these early converts held, they all felt a sense of religious dissatisfaction. John Murdock, Parley Pratt, Sidney Rigdon, and John Taylor were members in their lifetimes of more than one denomination or religious group before joining the Church, and in each move they sought a Christianity closer to that which they found in the New Testament. Brothers Murdock, Pratt, Rigdon, and Woodruff were Campbellites immediately prior to becoming Latter-day Saints. In addition, Murdock, Pratt, Rigdon, and Taylor were denominational preachers during their lives.
John Taylor was a Methodist and became a local Methodist preacher in England. He continued in that role in Canada until his questioning spirit led him to stand at variance with Methodist theology. 12
John Murdock, seeking a place where the ordinances of the gospel were administered, first joined the Lutheran Dutch Church. He later affiliated loosely with the Methodists, for whom he occasionally preached after he withdrew himself from fellowship with a Baptist group whose strongly Calvinistic position he could not accept. In 1827 he joined the Campbellites but became dissatisfied when he learned that Alexander Campbell denied the gift of the Holy Ghost. 13
Both Parley P. Pratt and Sidney Rigdon began their formal church affiliations with the Baptists, although Parley, at around age fifteen, lived in the home of William S. Herrick, a Presbyterian of whom he spoke very highly. At about age eighteen he became concerned with eternal things and ultimately requested baptism from a Baptist group. During a delay in his baptismal date, he became convinced that the church wasn’t patterned after the New Testament Church. 14 After searching further, he joined the Campbellites in 1829. 15
Sidney Rigdon “professed religion” at age twenty-four and became a member of the Regular Baptists. He became the pastor of a Baptist Society in Pittsburgh in February 1822, but finding himself theologically at odds with the Society, he ultimately left the ministry and entered the tanning business. However, after meeting Alexander Campbell and Walter Scott, he experienced a renewed enthusiasm for the ministry. While Rigdon continued officially in the Baptist communion through the Mahoning Association in Ohio, from 1826 on he preached the Campbellite message with his own personal variations. 16
Lorenzo Snow and Wilford Woodruff never joined an established church before they became Latter-day Saints. As an infant, Woodruff was baptized by a Baptist minister, but never joined the church. 17 Snow attended Oberlin College, a Presbyterian-affiliated institution, but he was not impressed by the religious beliefs he found there. He states in his journal that “through a disgust to their inconsistencies, and opposing principles, I never attached myself to any religious society.” 18 Some of this antipathy was undoubtedly due to a chance meeting, on his way to Oberlin, with David W. Patten, who profoundly impressed him with his depth and reasoning about the restored gospel. 19 Apparently, Lorenzo tried to introduce some of his colleagues at Oberlin to the restored gospel. He found some interested 20 and others judgmental. Referring to the latter, he wrote, “I very soon became disgusted with their system of intollerance religious tyrinay and bigotry, and as I felt to proclaim and suport the principles of Joseph Smith as far as I knew them which all were biterly opposed to therefore my removal from the College was warmly reccommended by the authorities.” 21 (Original spelling, punctuation, and capitalization preserved here and elsewhere in article.)
Thus, four out of these six men sought to serve God through the established denominations of their day. All, however, felt that there had to be more to the gospel than was being preached in the various denominations. Consequently, when they found a denomination that closely resembled the New Testament Church, they knew that it was that for which they had been searching. This longing to find a church that reflected the Church of the New Testament was supported by some deep spiritual experiences. The stories of John Murdock, Parley P. Pratt, and John Taylor will serve as illustrations.
John Murdock: Searching for True Ordinances
At seventeen, John Murdock had an accident that led him to covenant with the Lord that if the Lord would spare his life, John would serve him from that time on. Later, when he was around age twenty-five, he was engaged in prayer when a vision was opened in which he found himself before the bar of God being asked whether he “had commemorated the death and sufferings of the Saviour, by obeying the Ordinances.” 22 As a result, he immediately began to seek a society where such ordinances could be found.
His study of the Bible convinced him that immersion was the proper form of baptism, that infant baptism was unnecessary, and that faith and repentance must precede baptism. He also contemplated what it meant to be born of water and of the Spirit, as recorded in John 3:5. He recognized that to be born of water was to be baptized, and after reflection he learned that to be born of the Spirit was to receive the Holy Ghost.
Further study led him to conclude that none of the extant denominations were authorized by God. If that was so, then who had the authority to baptize or to administer any ordinance of the church? Murdock finally concluded, “If the [denominations] are out of the way, as we [Campbellites] believe, they have lost all authority, and … the only way the authority can be obtained is, the Lord must either send an angel to baptise the first man, or He must give a special command to some one man to baptise another.” 23
It was shortly after this realization that he learned of Mormon missionaries in the area. His first reaction was that they were of the devil, but “I was immediately checked in my feelings, and I made no more harsh expressions respecting them.” 24 Murdock’s concern was whether these missionaries were the persons authorized by God to bring that for which he had been searching. “I said, If it be so, their walk will agree with their profession, and the Holy Ghost will attend their ministration of the ordinances. And the Book of Mormon will contain the same plan of Salvation as the Bible. I was sensible that such a work must come forth, but the question with me was, are these the men that are to commence the work?” 25
After reading the Book of Mormon and talking with missionaries and others who had already accepted the restored gospel, John Murdock received from the Spirit a confirmation of the truth of the things he had been told. With that assurance, he entered the waters of baptism. His comment about the event summarizes his search. “This was the third time that I had been immersed, but I never before felt the authority of the Ordinance, but I felt it this time and felt as though my sins were forgiven!” 26
John Murdock Parley P. Pratt
John Murdock and Parley P. Pratt had both searched for the gospel for years before they found it. (Courtesy of LDS Historical Department.)
Parley P. Pratt: Seeking the Ancient Gospel
Under his mother’s guidance, Parley Pratt’s spiritual education began with the Bible when he was seven. He read the great stories of Joseph in Egypt, of David and Goliath, of Jesus and his Apostles, and loved them all. By the age of twelve he was reading the book of Revelation and contemplating the martyrs and the millennium. Reading the scriptures highlighted for him the spiritual differences between the ancient Church and the churches of his day. When he asked his father why this was so, he was told that times and circumstances had changed. In response, Parley “still continued to study the scriptures to learn how to be saved.” 27 It was at this point that he sought baptism by immersion from the Baptists, and though he still saw a disparity between the ancient and modern churches, he attended meetings and tried to keep the commandments of Jesus as best he could. Yet he could not escape the feeling that he had not found Christ’s Church.
After a period of withdrawal into the wilderness to preach the gospel to the Indians, Parley returned, married, established a farm in eastern Ohio, and there heard the preaching of Sidney Rigdon, who at that time preached his own brand of Campbellite doctrine, though he was a Baptist minister. “Here was the ancient gospel in due form. … But still one great link was wanting to complete the chain of the ancient order of things; and that was, the authority to minister in holy things—the apostleship, the power which should accompany the form. … However, we were thankful for even the forms of truth, as none could claim the power.” 28
At the beginning of 1830, Parley felt a strong compulsion to prayerfully search the writings of the prophets. He was amazed at how his understanding of God’s purposes was expanded, especially of “the restoration of Israel, the coming of the Messiah, and the glory that would follow.” 29
Shortly after Parley’s intense study of these things, he met a minister in upstate New York who told him of a “strange book” that a young man who lived in the vicinity claimed to have translated—the Book of Mormon. The next day, Parley saw the book for the first time and began eagerly reading it. Almost immediately, the Holy Ghost bore witness to Parley of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and of the restoration of the ancient order with the same authority that had been revealed in biblical times. On the Sunday after his baptism into the Church, he was asked to preach. He states, “The Holy Ghost came upon me mightily. I spoke the word of God with power, reasoning out of the Scriptures and the Book of Mormon.” 30 He, too, had found what he sought.
John Taylor: Led by the Spirit
John Taylor’s story is one of strong spiritual promptings. As a child he had a vision in which he saw an angel holding a trumpet to his lips and sounding a message to the nations. Though he did not know then the meaning of the vision, it had significant impact on him. As a boy, he spent many hours in prayer and Bible study, believing that all good gifts came from God. After he was called to be a Methodist lay preacher, he was traveling to fulfill an appointment when the Spirit impressed upon him the need to go to America. After immigrating to Toronto, Taylor joined a group of men who were dissatisfied with the theology of their day because of “the wide difference between modern and primitive Christianity, in doctrine, in ordinances, in organization and above all, in spirit and power.” 31 They saw no correlation between the ancient organization of Christ’s church as displayed in the New Testament and what they saw around them.
John Taylor
Before joining the Church, John Taylor had spiritual dreams and promptings.
“They believed that men who accepted the gospel should have bestowed upon them the Holy Ghost … and all the powers, graces and blessings as experienced in the Christian Church of former days. They believed that Israel would be gathered, … that judgments would overtake the wicked, and Christ [would] return to the earth and reign with the righteous; they believed in the first and second resurrection, and in the final glory and triumph of the righteous. But while they believed all these things, they recognized the fact that they had no authority to act in the premises and organize a church. … It was evident to them they could not perform this work unless called of God to do it, and they were painfully conscious of the fact that not one among them was so called.” 32
The group fasted and prayed for a messenger to come to them. Meanwhile in Kirtland, Heber C. Kimball, in a prophecy filled with promises to Parley Pratt and his family, called Parley to journey to upper Canada, where he would find “a people prepared for the gospel, and they shall receive thee, and thou shalt organize the Church among them, and it shall spread thence into the regions round about, and many shall be brought to a knowledge of the truth, and shall be filled with joy; and from the things growing out of this mission, shall the fullness of the gospel spread into England, and cause a great work to be done in that land.” 33
Parley’s first encounter with John Taylor’s group was met with coolness. But when he finally had an opportunity to preach, the group found his message congruent with what they had already discovered in the scriptures. For three weeks, John Taylor followed Pratt closely. He wrote down eight of Pratt’s sermons and compared them to the Bible. Convinced that Pratt taught the truth, John Taylor and his wife were baptized on 9 May 1836. 34
Thus, like John Murdock and Parley Pratt, John Taylor was led by the Spirit and by scripture to recognize and accept the fulness of the gospel.
What of the other three men? Their stories are much the same. They each longed for the church they saw in the New Testament but could not find in the world around them. Sidney Rigdon, seeking the New Testament church, joined the Campbellites. 35 Lorenzo Snow was not especially interested in any church, having found his experience with Presbyterianism anything but satisfying. Even so, when the seeds planted by David W. Patten began to grow during Lorenzo’s study of Hebrew in Kirtland, his first reaction was to compare it with the New Testament church. 36 Wilford Woodruff was taught by the Spirit that the Lord was about to set up his kingdom. 37 When Wilford finally heard the gospel, that same Spirit bore powerful witness that this was what he had sought. 38
It is evident that all six men were prepared by the Lord for the restoration of the gospel long before they ever encountered it. The principal agents of preparation were the Holy Bible and promptings of the Holy Spirit. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they found that for which they had been prepared—Christ’s church in its fulness.
We know that in our own day, the Lord is preparing many of his children for the fulness of the gospel in exactly the same way he prepared these early Saints. Many of tomorrow’s members of the Church are growing up in religious homes. They are learning of God’s justice and mercy and love. Many are learning of Jesus Christ and his atonement. They are learning to pray and to seek God’s guidance. They are growing within their diverse religious settings. They may be Catholics, Lutherans, Muslims, or Hindus, but they are being taught foundational principles of religion. Many are exploring the scriptures for themselves and discovering that there is more to the gospel than they have yet been taught. They hunger and thirst for all that the Lord has in store for them. They are being prepared for the fulness, just as surely as were John Murdock, Parley P. Pratt, Sidney Rigdon, Lorenzo Snow, John Taylor, and Wilford Woodruff.
[illustration] Camp Meeting, by Worthington Whittredge; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lazarus Fund, 1913. All rights reserved
Roger R. Keller serves as Sunday School president in the Sunset Heights Second Ward, Orem Utah Sunset Heights Stake.
Show References
1. 1.
John Murdock, A Brief Synopsis of the Life of John Murdock, ed. Reva Baker Holt (Provo: Brigham Young University, 1965), pp. 1–2.
2. 2.
F. Mark McKiernan, The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness (Lawrence, Kans.: Coronado Press, 1971), p. 14.
3. 3.
Eliza R. Snow Smith, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Co., Printers, 1884), p. 2.
4. 4.
Francis M. Gibbons, Lorenzo Snow: Spiritual Giant—Prophet of God (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1982), pp. 1–2.
5. 5.
B. H. Roberts, The Life of John Taylor, Third President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1963), pp. 25–26.
6. 6.
Francis M. Gibbons, Wilford Woodruff: Wondrous Worker, Prophet of God (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1988), pp. 2, 5. Gibbons here quotes portions from the Juvenile Instructor, 15 June 1867, p. 14.
7. 7.
8. 8.
Gibbons, Wilford Woodruff, p. 5.
9. 9.
Wilford Woodruff, Leaves from my Journal, 4th ed. (Salt Lake City: The Deseret News, 1909), pp. 2–3.
10. 10.
Parley P. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, ed. Parley P. Pratt, Jr. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1980), p. 19.
11. 11.
Orson Pratt, The Orson Pratt Journals, comp. Elden Jay Watson (Salt Lake City: Elden Jay Watson, 1975), pp. 6–7.
12. 12.
Roberts, The Life of John Taylor, p. 33.
13. 13.
Murdock, A Brief Synopsis, pp. 2–5.
14. 14.
Pratt, Autobiography, pp. 21, 24–26.
15. 15.
Richard Lloyd Anderson, “Impact of the First Preaching in Ohio,” BYU Studies 11 (Summer 1971):477.
16. 16.
History of the Church, 1:120–23.
17. 17.
Gibbons, Wilford Woodruff, p. 6.
18. 18.
Lorenzo Snow, Journal and Letter Book, 1836–1845, LDS Church Archives. Used by permission.
19. 19.
Eliza R. Snow Smith, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow, p. 4.
20. 20.
Lorenzo Snow, letter to his sister Eliza on 12 March 1836. Found in Lorenzo Snow, Journal and Letter Book (23 Aug. 1840–19 July 1844), LDS Church Archives. Used by permission.
21. 21.
Snow, Journal.
22. 22.
Murdock, A Brief Synopsis, pp. 1–3.
23. 23.
Ibid., pp. 3–5.
24. 24.
25. 25.
Ibid., pp. 5–6.
26. 26.
Ibid., p. 6.
27. 27.
Pratt, Autobiography, pp. 20, 25.
28. 28.
Ibid., pp. 26, 31–32.
29. 29.
Ibid., p. 33.
30. 30.
Ibid., p. 42.
31. 31.
Roberts, John Taylor, pp. 27–28, 31.
32. 32.
Ibid., p. 32.
33. 33.
Ibid., p. 35.
34. 34.
Ibid., p. 38.
35. 35.
Daryl Chase, “Sidney Rigdon—Early Mormon,” M.A. thesis, University of Chicago, 1931, p. 14.
36. 36.
Eliza R. Snow Smith, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow, pp. 5, 7–8.
37. 37.
Cowley, Wilford Woodruff, Fourth President p. 18; Gibbons, Wilford Woodruff, p. 6.
38. 38.
Woodruff, Leaves, p. 4. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53801 | Federal Government Documents Tutorial Home
1. The Universe of Federal Government Information
2. Depository Libraries
3. SuDoc numbers
4. Federal Document Shelflist
5. The NCSU Libraries on-line catalog
6. Monthly Catalog
7. Monthly Catalog cumulative indexes
8. 1909 Checklist
9. CIS
10. Other Congressional Sources
11. Specialized Indexes
12. Patents and Trademarks
13. Periodical Indexes
14. Web sites
Guide to Government Information
Federal Government Documents Tutorial
Specialized Indexes
There are several areas of specialized information resources located within the federal government that are not well-covered by the Monthly Catalog's indexing. If these areas are of interest to you, consult the resources noted here.
ERIC = Education
NTIS = Government Reports
The National Technical Information Service issued Government Reports Announcements in paper through 1995. This bibliography indexes technical report literature produced for the federal government by private contractors. A set of GRA is in the Documents stacks at C 51.9/3: You can search more current technical literature using the NTIS database.
ERA = Energy
The Energy Department published Energy Research Abstracts through 1995. A paper set of the bibliography is in the Documents stacks at E 1.17: You can search more recent energy-related technical reports, primarily 1995 to present, using the Information Bridge maintained by DOE's Office of Scientific & Technical Information.
STAR = Aerospace
NASA also produced a printed bibliography through 1995, Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports. A file of it is available in the Documents stacks at NAS 1.9/4:
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53804 |
Online tools for visualizing numbers and statistics
Many reporters use the football field as a visual metaphor for measurement as in “The plane was three football fields long.” But what if something isn’t nearly the size of a football field? It’s still important as journalists to translate statistics and mathematical figures in an easy to digest way. Most people won’t fully comprehend what 4,166 miles looks like, but they will more likely understand that something is the length of the Great Wall of China.
Luckily, Sensible Units is on hand to assist mathematically challenged journalists. Simply input a unit of measurement, small or large, and the site outputs a real life example of that the measurement looks like. For example 5,000 miles is equal to 18 Grand Canyons and 30,000 gallons is equal to 1.3 double-decker buses, according to the tool.
Reporters outside of the US using the metric system will appreciate knowing that 100 metres equals 31 male African elephants standing on top of one another or that 70 litres equals about 10 kettles.
Translating measurements can also be done visually as photographer/artist Chris Jordan has proved in his series Running the Numbers. Jordan takes hardcore statistics such as the 106,000 aluminum cans used in the US every 30 seconds or the 29,569 gun-related deaths in the US in 2004 and visualizes them using everyday objects.
For example, in the latter almost 30,000 handguns in one photograph represent the large number of gun-related deaths. The effect is sobering and thought-provoking and gives weight to statistics that might not be memorable otherwise.
Mediabistro Course
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53806 |
How Reuters Handles Profanity
Media outlets have different ways of handling profanity in stories. Some use dashes. Others stars. Reuters? They put it all out there right up front in large bold letters. And then they use the actual swear word — fuck, as in “fuck you” – in the story.
In the story, they write about ABC’s Jim Avila having a heated exchange with an agriculture food safety consultant, David Theno, in which Avila says something many reporters have in the course of interviews. The line in paragraph 41: ‘”He said, ‘fuck you’ and hung up on me again,’ Theno said.”
Read the full story here.
Mediabistro Course
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/53839 | Latest Issue of Science News
Atomic ant sand
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Removing Trinitite from the site is a federal crime. But Hermes was fascinated by the strange material and wanted to figure out how the little bits formed in the heart of an atomic blast. So he hatched a scheme. He returned to his office at Los Alamos National Laboratory, called up officials at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range (home to Trinity) and asked for a box of ant sand. Ants, he knew, build their mounds from mineral grains gathered up to 15 meters from their homes.
“I thought if I could get some ant sand, maybe I’d find at least a vial of little Trinitite pieces collected from around the site,” says Hermes.
When the sand arrived in the mail, Hermes and a geology club friend did indeed discover beads of Trinitite. The pieces were surprisingly spherical, which turned out to be the key to piecing together how the glass formed.
Waves of heat rippling outward from the plutonium bomb didn’t just sear the sand into glass like the surface of a crème brûlée, as many people had thought. Instead, Hermes found, the blast tossed sand up and melted it to form Trinitite, flinging droplets up to 1,800 meters from ground zero. Some drops solidified before hitting the ground, and some collected into puddles of molten material. In analyzing Trinitite’s makeup, Hermes even found colorful traces of steel and copper from the tower that held the bomb and from the wires connected to the instruments.
He has since gotten the Army’s blessing to do his Trinitite research. Hermes, now retired, supplies the ant sand to geologists who study meteorites. Microscopic spheres found at sites around the world resemble the Trinitite beads, evidence perhaps for a controversial theory that a meteor broke up in the atmosphere about 13,000 years ago and bombarded Earth with stones that burst in the air like miniature nuclear warheads. One theory holds that such an impact might have wiped out most of North America’s large animals, along with the Clovis culture that depended on them for food.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/12 | Fork of, maintained in npm as cycle.
• Douglas Crockford
• Nuno Job
• Justin Warkentin
JSON in JavaScript
Douglas Crockford
The files in this collection implement JSON encoders/decoders in JavaScript.
JSON became a built-in feature of JavaScript when the ECMAScript Programming Language Standard - Fifth Edition was adopted by the ECMA General Assembly in December 2009. Most of the files in this collection are for applications that are expected to run in obsolete web browsers. For most purposes, json2.js is the best choice.
json.js: This file does everything that json2.js does. It also adds a toJSONString method and a parseJSON method to Object.prototype. Use of this file is not recommended.
json_parse.js: This file contains an alternative JSON parse function that uses recursive descent instead of eval.
json_parse_state.js: This files contains an alternative JSON parse function that uses a state machine instead of eval.
cycle.js: This file contains two functions, JSON.decycle and JSON.retrocycle, which make it possible to encode cyclical structures and dags in JSON, and to then recover them. JSONPath is used to represent the links. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/31 | Welcome to c4dplugin answers.
Before Asking
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like is it possible to parent it to some null or control box so at least I can quickly drag it around?
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in most cases, you would use a driving route defined by splines. So you can define the start position to be at the first point of the first spline. This is the default setting. You can also define the start position to be at the position of a command object, that can be moved around.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/32 | WPF Notes
The flag belongs to everyone, not just veterans, but not everyone enjoys the rights and protections that it represents. That's what black football players are protesting, and that's what conservatives refuse to acknowledge, or even discuss. Instead they hide behind the flag. Conservatives aren't 'respecting' veterans when they do this, they're using veterans to distract the public from their own selfishness and racism.
WPF Notes
Framework notes — WPF 4.5 — XAML 2006
WPF Notes
These are my WPF notes, covering WPF 4.5 and XAML 2006. They are here for my convenience, but you are welcome to use them, subject to the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If you find a mistake, please let me know.
Most example code follows the Split Notation.
I am still compiling these notes. Check back later for more.
XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language) is an XML-derived language that documents the configuration of objects and object hierarchies, particularly UI controls. Most XAML elements represent object instances that will be instantiated at run time by calling default constructors. The relative structure of XAML elements defines parent-child relationships among the objects. The attributes for a given element often represent values to be assigned to the object's properties:
x:Class="nMain.tqWinCd" Title="Enter code">
<TextBox Name="qEdCd"/>
<Button Name="qBtnOK" Click="BtnOK_Click" Content="OK"/>
The newest version is XAML 2009, which can be read manually with the System.Xaml assembly introduced in .NET 4.0. The Visual Studio XAML Designer only supports XAML 2006, as do the code-behind classes produced by Visual Studio.
It is possible to instantiate generic classes with XAML, and, when this is done, the x:TypeArguments attribute is used to specify type arguments for the generic. In XAML 2006, only root elements can be generic. To use a generic class elsewhere, create a subclass that passes type arguments to the generic in its inheritance list, and reference that in the XAML.
An XML namespace is declared by assigning a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) to the xmlns attribute. In XML, namespaces are used to resolve name conflicts, which occur when data from different sources use the same name in the same file in different ways. In XAML, they are used to associate element and attribute names with classes and class properties in some library, particularly the .NET Framework. This namespace, for example, allows elements like Window and Button to be mapped to their classes:
In this case, the URI does not represent a web resource; it is merely a unique name that is known to the WPF assemblies. The XAML root element must declare at least one namespace so the root itself can be created. Namespaces declared in one element are usable in that element and in its children.
Appending a colon and an alternative name:
produces a prefix that can be attached to names in the XAML:
<Button x:Name="BtnStop" Content="Stop"/>
WPF uses assembly attributes to associate namespaces with URIs. Assemblies that were not designed for WPF will not have the necessary attribute, but they can be used in XAML by prefixing the .NET namespace with clr-namespace:
The assembly name must be appended to the namespace unless the .NET namespace happens to reside in the assembly containing the XAML.
Type converters
All XAML attribute values are strings. Most properties have non-string types, so .NET defines type converters that convert strings to other types. In this example:
<Button x:Name="BtnReady" Content="Ready" Background="Gray"/>
the BrushConverter class converts the Background attribute to a Brush instance. This is equivalent to:
BtnReady.Background = System.Windows.Media.Brushes.Gray;
Type conversion is enabled in the backing class by adding the TypeConverter attribute to the property itself, or to the type that is stored in the property. Custom type converters can be created by subclassing the TypeConverter class.
Property elements
If the type converter for a given property produces a parent class that is overly generic, or if it is necessary to initialize the object, the property can be set with a property element. This is a sub-element with a name that references the containing type, suffixed with the name of the targeted property. In this example, Button.Background is a property element:
<Button x:Name="BtnReady" Content="Ready">
<GradientStop Color="LightGray" Offset="0.0"/>
<GradientStop Color="Gray" Offset="1.0"/>
This example constructs a LinearGradientBrush instance, configures it in the XAML, and assigns it to the button's Background property.
Markup extensions
Complex objects and special values like null can be assigned to properties with markup extensions. To invoke a markup extension, place the name of the extension class and zero or more comma-delimited parameters within curly braces. This example invokes the NullExtension class with no arguments:
Markup extensions can accept positional parameters or named parameters. Positional parameters correspond to string arguments in an extension class constructor. In this example:
Content="{x:Static local:tWinMain.sTextAct}"
the string "local:tWinMain.sTextAct" is passed to the StaticExtension constructor.
Named parameters are name/value pairs that assign values to properties in the class. The value can itself invoke a type converter or another markup extension:
Content="{Binding Path=Title}"
Markup extension classes can also be used as values for property elements:
<x:Static Member="local:tWinMain.sTextAct"/>
When this is done, all parameters must be named.
Markup extensions are created by subclassing MarkupExtension. It is customary for the name of such a class to end with Extension, and, when this is done, the word Extension can be omitted from the class name in XAML.
Children of object elements
An element representing an object can contain a child element that is:
• A type converter value;
• A Content value;
• A collection instance.
If a type converter can convert the contained string to an instance of the containing type, that converter will be invoked. In this example, a converter creates a Cursor instance and assigns it to the Cursor property:
with this being is equivalent to:
Many classes use an attribute to designate one property as the content property, with this often (but not always) being named Content. Like an implicit property element, this supports the assignment of complex objects that could not be defined in an attribute:
<Image Source="IconPrev.png"/>
Element children can also be used to populate a collection. If the collection implements IList, and if an empty collection instance has already been assigned to the property (as all WPF controls do by default), then the contained instances will be added:
<ComboBox x:Name="BoxDef">
If the collection property happens to be the object's content property, it can be assigned without a property element:
<ComboBox x:Name="BoxDef">
If the collection property does not already reference an instance, the instance can be defined and then populated in the XAML.
If the collection implements IDictionary, the members must be associated with keys. Instead of wrapping each value instance with another class, this is done with the XAML Key keyword:
<Image x:Key="Begin" Source="IconBegin.png"/>
<Image x:Key="Other" Source="IconOther.png"/>
Element names
Many WPF classes derive from FrameworkElement or FrameworkContentElement, both of which implement FindName. This method can be used to locate and reference instances generated by the XAML:
var oqEdRank = oqWin.FindName("EdRank") as TextBox;
Names can be assigned to XAML elements in one of two ways. The FrameworkElement and FrameworkContentElement classes both define a Name property:
In other classes, the name can be assigned with the XAML Name keyword:
Both produce the same functionality, but only one should be used for a given instance.
Names can also be referenced from other parts of the XAML. For example, the Binding markup extension uses the element name to support data binding:
Target="{Binding ElementName=EdRank}"
Certain type converters also use the name:
Using XAML
In Visual Studio, adding a new window unit produces two files: a XAML file, and a C# code-behind file with the xaml.cs extension. The code-behind is nested under the XAML file in the Solution Explorer. It contains a partial class that derives from Window:
namespace nMain {
partial class tWin: Window {
public tWin() {
In general, a code-behind class must be a subclass of the XAML element type.
The Window element in the XAML includes a Class attribute that references the code-behind class:
At build time, XAML is compiled into a compact form called BAML (Binary Application Markup Language) that is stored as a resource in the containing assembly. The build also generates a C# file with the g.cs extension within obj/Debug or obj/Release. This file completes the partial definition of the code-behind class:
namespace nMain {
partial class tWin: Window, IComponentConnector {
internal System.Windows.Controls.Button BtnReady;
public void InitializeComponent() {
public void IComponentConnector.Connect(int aIDConn, object
aqTarg) {
In particular, it implements the InitializeComponent method that is called from the constructor in the code-behind file. This method reads the resource BAML and instantiates the objects. Note that event handlers are attached to objects before properties are set, so that handlers can respond to property changes during construction. The generated definition also creates references for all named objects (including controls) contained by the window. References are associated with instances in the Connect method, which is called as the BAML is interpreted. The references are internal by default. To use a different access level, add x:FieldModifier attributes to the elements.
The code-behind class is assumed to be public. All partial definitions must have the same access level, so the generated definition is made public by default. To change the access level of the generated definition, add the x:ClassModifier attribute to the root node.
If WPF is used with a language without partial classes, a Subclass attribute can be added to the Window element. The generated class will take its name from Class, and the code-behind class will inherit from that class, while taking its name from Subclass.
XAML can also be read or written manually with the XamlReader and XamlWriter classes. To instantiate the structure from a XAML stream:
Window cWinFromXAML(Stream aqStm) {
var oqWin = XamlReader.Load(aqStm) as Window;
WPF Infrastructure
WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) is a framework that produces themable, resolution-independent user interfaces. It is rendered with Direct3D. Most WPF classes derive from the following 'core' classes:
WPF base classes
DispatcherObject manages a work queue for the UI thread, somewhat like the message loop in a Win32 application. Aside from 'frozen' instances of the Freezable class, instances should not be accessed from outside the UI thread. With this in mind, DispatcherObject includes a Dispatcher property that returns a Dispatcher instance. This class provides Invoke and BeginInvoke methods that run delegates on the UI thread.
DependencyObject supports dependency properties, covered below.
Visual is used to implement 2D controls. UIElement adds layout, control focus, event routing, and command binding functionality. FrameworkElement adds resource, data binding, and style support, along with tooltip and context menu functionality. Control adds additional styling features.
Visual3D and UIElement3D support 3D controls.
ContentElement offers many of the functions in UIElement, but it is used to create text elements, so it also supports text flow and wrapping. FrameworkContentElement adds some of the functionality in FrameworkElement. Neither class renders itself, so instances must be associated with one of the Visual classes.
Freezable classes support frozen and unfrozen states. When frozen, instances become read-only and (unlike other WPF instances) accessible to multiple threads. This class is typically used to implement graphics primitives.
In WPF, reference is sometimes made to logical and visual trees. A logical tree is a parent/child hierarchy that shows the instances explicitly created by the developer, whether in XAML or procedural code. A visual tree shows the instances that render those elements. Many logical tree instances will also be found in the visual tree, but some will not, and many visual tree instances will be absent from the logical tree, since they are created and contained by the logical instances.
Dependency properties
A dependency property is a .NET property backed by a DependencyProperty instance:
class tPanStat: Control {
public static readonly DependencyProperty sCkEdProperty
= DependencyProperty.Register(
new PropertyMetadata(false)
public bool CkEd {
get { return (bool)GetValue(sCkEdProperty); }
set { SetValue(sCkEdProperty, value); }
This is used to implement data binding, UI styles, and animations, among other things.
The DependencyProperty is expected to be public and static, its name must end with Property, and it should be readonly. It is instantiated with one of the static Register methods, which accept an instance of PropertyMetadata or one of its subclasses. Metadata can be used to:
• Specify a default value for the property;
• Pass a callback that coerces input values to a valid range;
• Pass a callback that validates input, throwing if it is invalid;
• Pass a callback that responds to property changes;
• Configure other behavior, such as property value inheritance.
Metadata can be changed in a subclass by calling OverrideMetadata from the property instance within the subclass's static constructor.
The .NET property is known as the property wrapper. The getter passes the DependencyProperty to GetValue, while the setter passes it to SetValue; these methods are implemented by DependencyObject, from which the containing class must derive. The property wrapper is called by the XAML compiler, but WPF calls GetValue and SetValue directly, so the wrapper should do nothing more than call those functions.
Value Precedence
When a dependency property is read, possible values are drawn from many sources. WPF starts by finding the base value, which it selects from the object tree. In order of precedence, this value is one of:
1. The local value, produced by writing to the dependency property with its wrapper or with SetValue. A local value can be removed by passing the DependencyProperty instance to the ClearValue function in DependencyObject.
2. The parent template value. A template is used to replace the object tree that implements a given control. If the dependency property is attached to an element within such a tree, the value may be drawn from the control that uses the template, or from a trigger attached to that control.
3. The style value. A style is a collection of property values that can be applied to multiple control instances. The value can be drawn from triggers attached to the style, triggers attached to templates within the style, or from style setters.
4. The default style or theme style value. Every WPF control has a default style that defines its basic appearance. Because this style varies with the Windows theme, it is also known as the theme style. The value can be drawn from the style, or from a trigger attached to the style.
5. The inherited value. As explained below, an attached dependency property can be used to associate a value with an instance that does not itself define the property. Attached properties can also be configured to 'inherit' values from parent elements in the XAML tree, as FontSize does.
6. The default value specified in the dependency property metadata.
After the base value is selected, it is replaced or modified by animations, if any target the property being read. The animated value is coerced and validated, if such callbacks have been defined, before finally being returned.
Attached properties
Normally, a property (like any class or structure variable) associates values with instances of the type that defines the property. An attached property, by contrast, can associate values with instances that do not themselves define it. This allows a value that is assigned to a parent element to be used by its children. In this example, assigning a font in the StackPanel element changes the font in child elements that derive from TextElement, despite the fact that StackPanel provides no font property:
<StackPanel TextElement.FontFamily="Arial">
Conversely, attached properties allow values assigned to children to be used by a parent. In this case, specifying a dock position in the Label changes the way the containing Dock lays out its children, even though Label knows nothing of the Dock implementation:
<Label Name="LblMain" DockPanel.Dock="Top">FRAME 1/A</Label>
In the XAML, the property attribute is prefixed with the class that defines the attached property. This class is called the attached property provider. In general, an attached property allows unrelated elements to say something about themselves to the provider.
The provider implements the attached property by creating a dependency property with the RegisterAttached function:
class tJob: DependencyObject {
class tMgrRun {
public static readonly DependencyProperty sWgtRunProperty
= DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
new PropertyMetadata(1.0F)
It then defines public static accessor functions that begin with Get or Set, and end with the property name:
public static float GetWgtRun(tJob aqJob) {
return (float)aqJob.GetValue(sWgtRunProperty);
public static void SetWgtRun(tJob aqJob, float aWgt) {
aqJob.SetValue(sWgtRunProperty, aWgt);
Both functions accept an instance of the class to which the property will be attached. Because this class is used to call GetValue and SetValue, it must derive from DependencyObject. The Set function is called when the XAML is processed, and it can be used to set the property procedurally as well. A property wrapper can also be added to allow use as a regular dependency property.
A dependency property must be implemented as an attached property if it is to 'inherit' values from parent elements in the XAML tree. When this is done, a default should be specified to ensure that a value is always available.
Routed events
The class that defines and invokes an event is called the event sender or event source, while the classes that implement handlers are event listeners. The Button class, for instance, sends click notifications, while a Window that handles click events is said to listen. Raising an event entails checking an event instance for a handler, and invoking that handler if it is found. By convention, the method that does this has a name that begins with On, followed by the event name. Thus the Button class monitors mouse activity, and if it determines that it has been clicked, it invokes its own OnClick method. In an ordinary .NET event, this method confirms that the handler delegate is non-null, and then invokes it:
.NET events
WPF supports a similar mechanism called a routed event. Much like the dependency property, this is a .NET event backed by a WPF class, in this case RoutedEvent:
class tSwitch: Control {
public static readonly RoutedEvent sFlipEvent
= EventManager.RegisterRoutedEvent(
public event RoutedEventHandler Flip {
add { AddHandler(sFlipEvent, value); }
remove { RemoveHandler(sFlipEvent, value); }
void OnFlip(tArgsEventFlip aqArgs) {
RaiseEvent(new RoutedEventArgs(sFlipEvent, this));
The event is raised by calling RaiseEvent, which invokes the handlers, if any, that were earlier added with AddHandler. Routed events are more flexible than ordinary .NET events. They allow event signals to pass up or down through XAML hierarchies, so that handlers can be assigned in other parts of the object tree.
The RoutedEvent instance is expected to be public and static, its name must end with Event, and it should be readonly as well. It is instantiated with the RegisterRoutedEvent function in EventManager. This function accepts the RoutingStrategy enumeration, which defines how the event travels through a XAML hierarchy:
• Bubbling causes the event to travel up, starting with the source element;
• Tunneling causes the event to travel down, starting with the XAML root element, and ending with the source;
• Direct causes the event to be handled only at the source, much like a traditional .NET event.
The .NET event is called an event wrapper, and it allows handlers to be added with operator+= and removed with operator-=, like other events. The adder passes the RoutedEvent to AddHandler, while the remover passes it to RemoveHandler. These methods are implemented by UIElement and ContentElement, so the event sender must derive from one of these classes.
RoutedEventArgs is the base class for all routed event data, an instance of which is passed to RaiseEvent. The class offers these properties:
• RoutedEvent stores the event instance;
• OriginalSource stores the visual tree element where the event originated. This is the instance that called RaiseEvent;
• Source stores the logical tree element where the event originated;
• Handled indicates whether the event has been handled.
The Bubbling or Tunneling process continues after Handled has been set to true, although, in most cases, no more elements are checked for handlers. One of the AddHandler overloads includes a handledEventsToo parameter that allows a handler to receive events that have already been handled elsewhere.
UI input is generally signaled with Bubbling events. In WPF, some Bubbling events are preceded by preview events, which are Tunneling events with names that begin with Preview. The same RoutedEventArgs instance is passed to both handlers, so these allow parent controls to modify event data or handle events preemptively.
In XAML, a handler is attached by specifying the event name as an attribute, with the handler name as its value. Like the event sender, the event listener must be a subclass of UIElement or ContentElement:
<Canvas MouseLeftButtonDown="eTrack">
In the handler, the control that generates the event is passed as the sender:
private void eTrack(object aqSend,
MouseButtonEventArgs aqArgs) {
Attached events
Any routed event can also be used as an attached event, which associates a handler with an element other than the one that defined the event. In XAML, this allows a single handler in a parent element to process events from a number of descendents:
<StackPanel CheckBox.Click="eUpd">
<CheckBox x:Name="cCkNone" Content="None"/>
<CheckBox x:Name="cCkRnd" Content="Random"/>
<CheckBox x:Name="cCkLast" Content="Last"/>
This is useful when implementing controls, since the events generated by various subsidiary elements can be handled in one place.
The event sender maintains a strong reference to the listener, so handlers must be removed from the event if the listener is to be garbage-collected. Alternatively, handlers can be added with weak references by calling the AddHandler method in the generic WeakEventManager class.
Class handlers
Assigning a handler with XAML (or in procedural code, with the event wrapper) creates an instance listener. The assignment relates the sender to a handler in a specific instance.
A listener that derives from DependencyObject can also act as a class listener, which automatically handles the event whenever it crosses an instance of the class within the XAML hierarchy. No handler is assigned in the XAML; in fact, it can be configured only in procedural code. The class listener defines a static class handler:
class tPanSwitch {
static protected void csUpd_Stats(object aqSend,
RoutedEventArgs aqArgs) {
which is added to the event by calling RegisterClassHandler within the listener's static constructor:
static tPanSwitch() {
new RoutedEventHandler(csUpd_Stats)
Class handlers can be added to any routed event. They are invoked before any instance handlers that might also be defined. Different handlers can be defined by different classes within the class hierarchy, and, when this is done, handlers in the most-derived classes are invoked first. Because the class handler is static, it cannot manipulate the instance except through the event parameters.
Additionally, many UIElement subclasses offer virtual methods that have names beginning with OnPreview or On. These methods are invoked by a class handler in the base class, so overriding them allows class handling to be performed without registering a new handler. If this is done, the base implementation should be called even if the override marks the event handled.
The Application instance
When Visual Studio creates a WPF project, it defines a subclass of Application in App.xaml.cs:
namespace nMain {
public partial class tApp: Application {
which it references in App.xaml:
<Application x:Class="nMain.tApp"
The main window is specified with the StartupUri property. When it builds the project, Visual Studio creates the App.g.cs file within one of the obj subfolders. This generated file extends the partial subclass by adding an InitializeComponent method, which assigns properties in the XAML to the application instance:
public void InitializeComponent() {
StartupUri = new System.Uri(
It also defines the Main method, which serves as an entry point for the application:
public static void Main() {
nMain.tApp oqApp = new nMain.tApp();
To prevent Main from being defined automatically, right-click the App.xaml file in the Solution Explorer, select Properties, and change Build Action from ApplicationDefinition to Page.
Command-line arguments can be obtained by defining a custom Main that accepts a string array:
public static void Main(string[] aqArgs) {
or by calling the Environment.GetCommandLineArgs function within System.
Application class
The base Application class includes properties and methods such as:
static Current
Returns the application instance.
Starts the application, then returns its exit code when it shuts down. If a Window instance is specified, that window will be displayed. It is also possible to specify a window by setting the StartupUri property to reference a XAML file.
Stops the application and returns the specified exit code, or zero.
Ordinarily, the application ends when the last window is closed, or when Shutdown is explicitly invoked. Setting this property to OnMainWindowClose causes it to end when the main window is closed. Setting it to OnExplicitShutdown causes it to run until Shutdown is called.
Gets or sets the main window.
Returns references to all Window instances in the application.
Returns a dictionary storing arbitrary key/value pairs, for use throughout the application.
Gets or sets a ResourceDictionary instance that stores application resources. The same resources can be fetched with FindResource or TryFindResource.
Distance units
Windows uses its DPI setting to determine the number of physical pixels in one logical inch. The DPI was once fixed at 96, but now it can be changed to a percentage of that value. Because the physical pixel size is constant for a given display, increasing the DPI causes the logical inch to increase in physical size.
The default unit in XAML is the device-independent pixel (DIP), equal to 1/96 of a logical inch. This unit is explicitly specified by appending px to the attribute value. Logical inches or centimeters are specified with in or cm. Points are specified with pt, equal to 1/72 of a logical inch. The Windows DPI may or may not match the actual pixel density of the display, but when it does, logical inches are found to equal physical inches, point sizes on the display match sizes in print, and DIPs correspond directly to physical pixels.
Logical inches are converted to physical pixel measurements by multiplying with the DPI:
physical pixels = logical inches · DPI
Therefore, to convert device-independent pixels to physical pixels:
physical pixels = DIPs / 96 · DPI
To convert points to physical pixels:
physical pixels = points / 72 · DPI
Sizing controls
In general, when they are not stretched to fill their parent, WPF controls size themselves to fit their own content. Sizes can be explicitly set with Width and Height, but, if the content changes size unexpectedly, it could be truncated. Width and Height have default values of Double.NaN, which can be represented in XAML as NaN, though Auto is preferred. These properties do not generally return the actual size within the layout.
Sizes can be constrained with MinWidth, MaxWidth, MinHeight, and MaxHeight. The Max sizes have default values of Double.PositiveInfinity, which can be represented in XAML with Infinity.
DesiredSize is a read-only property that is used by containers during layout. RenderSize is also read-only, and it gives the actual size in the layout, as do ActualWidth and ActualHeight. These properties cannot be relied upon outside of the LayoutUpdated event, however.
Margins and padding
Margin and Padding are Thickness properties that control spacing outside and inside a control. The Thickness structure stores one, two, or four doubles. In XAML, multiple values are specified with a comma-delimited list:
Unlike CSS, the first value specifies the left measurement, or the side measurements, if two values are given.
Margins can be negative, but padding values cannot.
Control visibility
The Visibility property determines whether the control is visible, and whether it participates in the layout. The associated Visibility enumeration has three values:
• Visible causes the control to be rendered and laid-out as usual;
• Hidden prevents the control from being rendered, but does not remove it from the layout;
• Collapsed prevents the control from being rendered and removes it from the layout.
Control alignment
The HorizontalAlignment and VerticalAlignment properties affect a control's position within the space allotted by its parent, as well as its dimensions, if they have not been explicitly set. Each property accepts an enumeration with the same name. In both cases, the default value, Stretch, causes the control to fill the space. In HorizontalAlignment, Left, Center, and Right size the contained control to its own content, and align it within the space. In VerticalAlignment, Bottom, Center, and Top do the same.
The HorizontalContentAlignment and VerticalContentAlignment properties affect the the control's content in a like manner. They use the same enumerations.
The FlowDirection property facilitates the use of right-to-left scripts, like Arabic. When set to RightToLeft, the Left and Right alignment values reverse their effect. Many other properties and controls also reverse the horizontal axis when RightToLeft is set. FlowDirection does not itself change the direction of text.
Content overflow
A control's ClipToBounds property determines whether content is truncated at the control's boundaries, or whether it is allowed to overflow. This property is found in all UIElement subclasses, but a number of panels clip regardless of its value. Canvas does allow clipping to be disabled, and other controls can be made to disable clipping by placing a Canvas between them and their children in the object hierarchy.
Scrolling content
Any control can be made to scroll by placing it inside a ScrollViewer instance. The VerticalScrollBarVisibility and HorizontalScrollBarVisibility properties in this class accept members of the ScrollBarVisibility enumeration:
• Visible causes the scrollbar to be displayed at all times;
• Auto causes the scrollbar to appear only when it is needed;
• Hidden prevents the scrollbar from appearing, but it allows scrolling with the keyboard;
• Disabled hides the scrollbar and disables keyboard scrolling.
When a given scrollbar is Disabled, the viewer's content receives as much space along that axis as the viewer itself has. When any other value is set, the content receives as much space as it requests.
Some controls use ScrollViewer instances internally, and their scrollbars can be configured by assigning VerticalScrollBarVisibility and HorizontalScrollBarVisibility as attached properties.
Scaling content
A control can be scaled by placing it inside a Viewbox instance. Unlike ScaleTransform, which scales the control to some fraction of its original size, Viewbox scales it to fit the box. The control can be made to fit in different ways, according to the Stretch property, which accepts a Stretch enumeration:
• None leaves the content unscaled;
• Fill scales the content to fit the width and height of the box. No whitespace will be produced, but the content's aspect ratio may change;
• Uniform sets the content to the largest size that fits entirely inside the box without changing the content's aspect ratio. The box will not be completely filled unless the aspect ratios match;
• UniformToFill scales the content to fill the entire box without changing the content aspect ratio. If the aspect ratios do not match, some content will overflow the box.
Scaling is also affected by the StretchDirection property, which accepts a StretchDirection enumeration. This determines whether the content can be scaled UpOnly, DownOnly, or in Both directions, as is the default.
WPF controls provide two Transform properties that can be used to alter control orientation, shape, and position. LayoutTransform is implemented in FrameworkElement, and its transform is applied before the layout. RenderTransform is implemented in UIElement, and its transform applies after, so that the layout reflects the original, untransformed size and position. Both properties can be set and used together.
Though all FrameworkElement instances provide the transform properties, controls that display non-WPF content may not implement them completely.
Rotation transform
Specific operations are represented by subclasses of Transform. The RotateTransform class rotates the control by Angle degrees:
<Button x:Name="BtnLaunch" Click="BtnLaunch_Click">
<RotateTransform Angle="-90"/>
The CenterX and CenterY properties in this transform set the DIP position about which the rotation occurs. This point can also be set with the RenderTransformOrigin property in the control. Unlike CenterX and CenterY, this property accepts a Point bearing unit coordinates, which range from [0.0, 0.0] in the top-left corner to [1.0, 1.0] in the bottom-right. This is useful when the control size is unknown.
The text inside the control can be rotated by replacing it with a TextBlock:
<TextBlock RenderTransformOrigin="0.5,0.5">
<RotateTransform Angle="-90" CenterX="0" CenterY="0"/>
The CenterX, CenterY, and RenderTransformOrigin properties are ignored in the layout transform.
Scale transform
The ScaleTransform class provides ScaleX and ScaleY properties that store scaling factors for each dimension. A value of 1.0 leaves the size unchanged. The class also implements the CenterX and CenterY properties, along with support for RenderTransformOrigin. As with RotateTransform, these specify the single, unmoving point about which the transform occurs. If a corner is selected, that point will keep its original position, and the sides opposite the corner will move away to resize the control. If an inside point is selected, all four sides will move away, but the distance they move will vary according to their original distance from the point. As a result, the inside point will maintain its unit coordinate position after the transform.
If ScaleTransform is applied as a LayoutTransform, and if the target element uses the Stretch alignment, the transform will have no effect unless it enlarges the control more than Stretch has done.
Controls typically clip their content, and this clipping is performed during the layout. Therefore, an element that is enlarged as a RenderTransform may not be clipped as expected, and one that is reduced may show evidence of clipping even when the reduced size fits entirely within the parent.
Other transforms
Controls can also be transformed with classes such as:
• TranslateTransform, which moves the control horizontally and vertically, but only when applied as a RenderTransform;
• SkewTransform, which changes rectangles into parallelograms;
• MatrixTransform, which applies an arbitrary matrix transformation.
A set of transforms can be applied by combining them within a TransformGroup instance:
<RotateTransform Angle="-90"/>
Like other controls, the Window class provides a Content property that can be set only once. To display more than one control, a Panel must be added to the window. WPF offers a range of Panel subclasses that arrange controls in different ways.
The Canvas panel supports absolute positioning. Controls are placed by assigning values to the Left, Right, Bottom, and Top attached properties defined in Canvas, with each defining the distance from the specified side to the nearest side of the control. Setting an offset also causes the control to be anchored to that side, so that the distance is maintained if the Canvas size changes. Only one side in each left/right or bottom/top pair can be anchored; setting both does not cause the control to be resized with the Canvas:
<Button x:Name="BtnStop"
Width="80" Height="40"
Canvas.Right="10" Canvas.Top="10"/>
If the control has a margin on an anchored side, it will be added to the distance. Margins on non-anchored sides will be ignored. Neither HorizontalAlignment nor VerticalAlignment function within a Canvas.
Canvas also implements a ZIndex attached property that controls the Z-order of overlapping controls.
Stack panel
The StackPanel displays its children in a horizontal or vertical sequence, as determined by the Orientation property. Each control in a vertical StackPanel receives all the horizontal space in the panel, plus as much vertical space as the control itself requires.
VirtualizingStackPanel is a similar control that derives from VirtualizingPanel. When data binding is used, this panel creates controls as their cells become visible, and releases them as they go out of view. This allows large datasets to be displayed without compromising performance. The ListBox control uses this panel internally.
Wrap panel
When its Orientation is set to Horizontal, the WrapPanel displays its children in rows that wrap to new lines when they reach the right side of the panel. Additional rows are added until all children have been placed:
Wrap panel
Setting Orientation to Vertical produces columns that wrap when they reach the bottom.
By default, the controls in a horizontal WrapPanel determine their own widths, while each control's height is set to match the tallest control in its row. Setting ItemWidth or ItemHeight in the panel overrides these sizes, clipping the controls if necessary.
Dock panel
The DockPanel class implements a Dock attached property that allows child controls to attach themselves to the Left, Right, Bottom, or Top side of the panel. The controls follow the sides of the panel when it is resized:
<StackPanel DockPanel.Dock="Top" Height="40"
<TextBlock DockPanel.Dock="Bottom" Height="40">
<StackPanel Width="40" DockPanel.Dock="Left">
In this case, the child controls have HorizontalAlignment or VerticalAlignment set to Stretch by default, so they expand to cover as much of the panel sides as possible:
Dock panel
The last child fills the remaining space, unless the panel's LastChildFill property is set to false, allowing the control to be docked like other children.
The Grid panel places controls within the cells of a table. Rows and columns are defined by adding RowDefinition and ColumnDefinition instances to the RowDefinitions and ColumnDefinitions property elements. Child controls are associated with cells by setting the Row and Column attached properties:
<Button x:Name="BtnUp"
<Button x:Name="BtnLeftDown"
Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0"/>
<Button x:Name="BtnRightDown"
Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="1"/>
Rows and columns can be created in the XAML designer by clicking the left and right margins. If no rows are explicity defined, or no columns, one will be created automatically at run time. Controls are made to span multiple cells by setting the ColumnSpan and RowSpan attached properties.
Cells can be left empty, or multiple children can be added to the same cell, with later additions appearing above others in the Z-order. The Grid class offers no way to style cells, but a cell can be colored by placing a Rectangle instance at the bottom of its Z-order, and then setting the rectangle's Fill. A border can be defined by setting the Stroke property within the Rectangle, or by placing the Rectangle inside a Border.
By default, each row or column receives an equal portion of the grid's height or width. This can be changed by setting the Height or Width properties in the row and column definitions. In XAML:
• Assigning a number produces pixel or absolute sizing, which sets the row or column to a specific DIP size;
• Assigning Auto produces auto sizing, which sizes the row or column to the largest control it contains;
• Assigning '*' or a number followed by '*' produces star or proportional sizing. When a single row or column is set to '*', it consumes all space not allocated to absolute or auto-sized elements. When multiple rows or columns are set this way, the available space is split evenly between them. When '*' is prefixed by a number, the allocation is weighted by that number.
In procedural code, the size is set by assigning a GridLength instance to Height or Width. One of the GridLength constructors accepts a GridUnitType enumeration that selects absolute, auto, or proportional sizing.
Grid splitter
Adding a GridSplitter allows cells to be resized at run time. By default, a splitter is displayed in only one cell, yet its effect applies to the entire row or column, so it should always be made to span the grid.
A horizontal splitter can share a row with other controls if its HorizontalAlignment is set to Stretch, and if its VerticalAlignment is set to Bottom or Top, with this also determining the side upon which the splitter operates. When this is done, the splitter's Height must be explicitly set to make it visible, and this height will cover other controls in the row. Similar rules apply to a vertical splitter that shares a column with grid content.
To prevent controls from being covered, it is preferable to give each splitter its own row or column. Both HorizontalAlignment and VerticalAlignment should be set to Stretch, leaving the splitter thickness to be determined by the row or column thickness:
<RowDefinition Height="40"/>
<RowDefinition Height="5"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="40"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="5"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="3"
Multiple rows or columns can be made to change size together by associating them with a size group. First, the IsSharedSizeScope property in the containing Grid must be set to true, then the SharedSizeGroup property in the row and column definitions must be set to a common string that names the group. All rows or columns in the group will start with the same size, equal to the largest absolute or Auto size in the group; proportional sizes will be ignored. The elements will continue to share the same size, even when one of them is resized. A group can contain both rows and columns, and it can even contain and update elements from different grids.
Most Window events are associated with virtual handlers in the base class, so they are handled by overriding those functions.
Windows can be displayed with Show or ShowDialog. Show makes the window non-modal, and returns immediately. ShowDialog makes the window modal, and blocks until it is closed. Then it returns the value assigned to DialogResult, or false if the window was closed with Close. Assigning a non-null value to DialogResult closes the window automatically. Assigning to DialogResult after displaying with Show causes an exception to be thrown.
The Activated event is raised when a window is focused, and Deactivated is raised when it loses the focus. The Activate method focuses the window programmatically.
OnClosing is raised when an attempt is made to close the window. Setting Cancel within the CancelEventArgs parameter to true keeps the window open.
Assigning a window to the Owner property specifies that window as the parent of this one. When the parent is minimized or closed, its children are minimized or closed as well.
User input
Keyboard input
Key presses in UIElement controls are signaled with the KeyDown and KeyUp events, along with Preview variants of the same. Handlers receive a KeyEventArgs parameter that describes the input. This class contains many properties, among which:
• Key returns a Key enumeration that identifies alphanumeric, editing, navigation, function, OEM, and other key types. Number keys in the number pad are distinguished from numbers in the regular keyboard, but navigation keys in the number pad are not. Some keys (like Alt, or Esc, when Ctrl is down) have special functions in Windows, and these are always identified as Key.System. When this happens, the specific key press can be read from the SystemKey property;
• IsUp and IsDown describe the key's current state. IsToggled tells whether keys like Caps Lock and Num Lock are enabled. The KeyStates property returns the KeyStates enumeration, which combines flags that represent these three states;
• IsRepeat tells whether the event was produced by key repeat;
• KeyboardDevice returns a KeyboardDevice instance. This class provides functions like IsKeyUp, IsKeyDown, and IsKeyToggled, which give the state for any key, not just the one producing the event. It also provides the Modifiers property, which tells whether any or all of the Shift, Ctrl, Alt, or Windows keys are down.
A KeyboardDevice instance can also be obtained from the PrimaryDevice property in the Keyboard class, within System.Windows.Input. This can be used at any time, even outside of keyboard events.
By default, any UIElement can receive the keyboard focus, whether by being clicked, or tabbed-into. This can be disabled by setting the Focusable property to false. The IsTabStop attached property in KeyboardNavigation allows a control to be removed from the tab order, but if Focusable is true, it will still be possible to focus it with a click. KeyboardNavigation also allows the tab order to be defined by setting TabIndex.
Mouse input
Mouse movements in UIElement controls are signaled with MouseEnter, MouseMove, and MouseLeave events. Handlers for these events receive a MouseEventArgs parameter, within which:
• LeftButton, MiddleButton, and RightButton indicate whether the mouse buttons are up or down;
• GetPosition returns the mouse position relative to a control, or relative to the screen, if null is passed to the function;
• Timestamp gives the time when the event occurred.
The static Mouse class within System.Windows.Input allows mouse data to be queried outside of mouse events, though the position cannot be obtained this way during drag-and-drop operations.
The MouseDown and MouseUp events signal button input. Handlers for these events receive a MouseButtonEventArgs parameter, which adds the following properties to MouseEventArgs:
• ChangedButton identifies the button that generated the event;
• ClickCount gives the number of clicks since the last time the double-click timeout expired.
UIElement also provides MouseLeftButtonDown, MouseLeftButtonUp, MouseRightButtonDown, and MouseRightButtonUp events that duplicate some of the MouseDown and MouseUp functionality. Control instances automatically raise MouseDoubleClick events when the left mouse button is double-clicked.
Mouse wheel scrolling is signaled with the MouseWheel event. Handlers for this event receive a MouseWheelEventArgs parameter. This class adds a Delta property to MouseEventArgs that is positive when the wheel is scrolled up, and negative when it is scrolled down. The magnitude can vary with different devices.
UIElement supports drag-and-drop operations that transfer DataObject instances within or between apps. This is implemented with events like DragEnter, DragOver, DragLeave, QueryContinueDrag, and Drop. A UIElement instance can also capture the mouse with its CaptureMouse function. This causes the UIElement to receive all mouse events, even those raised when the pointer is outside its boundaries, until ReleaseMouseCapture is called.
Preview variants are offered for most mouse events. Note that control areas with null Background, Fill, or Stroke properties do not generate mouse events, though Transparent areas do. Also, Canvas can display controls outside of its own Width and Height (both of which default to zero) but it does not generate mouse events outside this area.
A command is a user action packaged within some instance that implements ICommand. In this interface:
• CanExecute indicates whether the action is available;
• CanExecuteChanged signals a change to the CanExecute value. This event should be raised by the code that causes the change;
• Execute performs the action.
A control that triggers the command is called a command source, and this will typically implement ICommandSource. Within this interface:
• Command specifies the command to be executed;
• As explained below, if the command is a routed command, event routing will begin at the element specified by CommandTarget, or at the focused control, if CommandTarget is null. If it is not a routed command, this property will be ignored;
• CommandParameter stores an arbitrary object to be passed to CanExecute and Execute.
The command is somewhat like an event listener, while the source takes the place of the sender. Setting Command in a source control like Button or MenuItem causes it to call Execute when it is used:
<Button Command="{x:Static local:tWinMain.sCmdSort}"/>
The control also adds a handler to CanExecuteChanged that enables or disables it. This allows a set of controls that produce the same action to be updated automatically.
Input gestures include key presses and mouse clicks, in combination with optional modifier keys. Like controls, these gestures can serve as command sources. A keyboard gesture is associated with a command by adding a KeyBinding to the listener's InputBindings collection. The Key and Modifiers can be specified separately:
<KeyBinding Key="S" Modifiers="Shift+Control"
Command="{x:Static local:tWinMain.sCmdSort}"/>
or together, as a Gesture:
<KeyBinding Gesture="Shift+Ctrl+S"
Command="{x:Static local:tWinMain.sCmdSort}"/>
Mouse gestures are specified with a MouseBinding.
Routed commands
The RoutedCommand class implements ICommand, but instead of performing the command itself, its CanExecute and Execute methods raise routed events that are handled somewhere within the XAML hierarchy. Routing will begin at the element specified by CommandTarget, or at the focused control, if CommandTarget is null.
A routed command is defined somewhat like a dependency property:
public static readonly RoutedCommand sCmdRest
= new RoutedCommand();
It is assigned to a command source much like any other command:
<Button Content="Restore"
Command="{x:Static local:tWinMain.sCmdRest}"
Handlers are associated with command events by adding a CommandBinding to the listening control:
Command="{x:Static local:tWinMain.sCmdRest}"
CanExecute="eCanExecuteRest" Executed="eExecutedRest"/>
The CanExecute handler has a void return type, so it signals command availability by setting the CanExecute property within its CanExecuteRoutedEventArgs parameter.
Common routed commands are implemented as static RoutedUICommand instances within the ApplicationCommands, NavigationCommand, MediaCommands, ComponentCommands, and EditingCommands classes. RoutedUICommand adds a Text property to RoutedCommand that describes the command, the value of which is automatically localized to match the system language. Many predefined commands have default key bindings that are created automatically when the command is assigned:
<Button Command="ApplicationCommands.Find"/>
An unwanted key binding can be removed by setting its command to NotACommand:
<KeyBinding Key="F" Modifiers="Control"
Splash screens
WPF has built-in support for static splash screen images. To display one, add an image to the project, then change its Build Action to SplashScreen.
This technique will not work if a custom Main function has been defined. In this case, it is necessary to display the screen programmatically. Add the image as before, but leave its Build Action set to Resource. Then create and Show a SplashScreen instance that references the image at the start of the Main function:
public static void Main() {
SplashScreen oqSplash = new SplashScreen("Splash.png");
Application settings
.NET and Visual Studio provide support for application settings, which store configuration data outside the executable.
Settings are defined with the Visual Studio Settings Designer, which is displayed by selecting the Settings tab in the project properties, or by double-clicking the Settings.settings file within the Properties folder in the Solution Explorer.
Four properties define each setting:
• The Name will be used to reference the property in the code. It can be set to any string that is valid for a C# identifier;
• The Type can be any that is serializable to XML, or that is associated with a TypeConverter subclass implementing ToString and FromString;
• Scope can be set to Application, which produces a read-only property, or to User, which produces a read/write property;
• Value specifies the default value for the setting.
At design time, the Settings Designer stores settings configuration data in:
within the solution folder. The data can also be found in App.config, which merges the data from multiple settings files, if more are created. The designer also creates a Settings class within:
This class is defined in the default.Properties namespace, with default being the application's default namespace. It provides a type-safe property for each setting in the designer. The application's Settings instance can be obtained from the static Default property:
var oqSet = Settings.Default;
string oqCdReg = oqSet.CdRegDef;
int oCtZone = oqSet.CtZoneMax;
After modifying a user setting, the change must be explicitly stored with the Save method:
oqSet.CtZoneMax = 10;
At run time, settings data is stored in either of two XML files. Application properties are stored in:
which must be deployed in the folder containing the executable. This file also stores default values for user properties. It can be replaced at deployment time to change settings without rebuilding.
User properties are stored in:
This file is created in the user's AppData folder when Save is first called. The full path contains the 'company name' (actually the name of the namespace containing the application class), the assembly name, and the assembly version, among other things. As a result, if the assembly version changes, a new user settings file is created. To retain values stored by an earlier version, it is necessary to invoke Update on the Settings class when the new version starts. This can be done by creating a CkUpgrade setting with a default value of true. When this setting matches the default, Upgrade is called, and the setting is changed to false:
void WinMain_Initialized(object sqSend, EventArgs aqArgs) {
var oqSet = Settings.Default;
if (oqSet.CkUpgrade) {
oqSet.CkUpgrade = false;
It is possible to add multiple settings files to the same project. However, all settings are merged to the same assemblyName.exe.config and user.config files when this is done.
WPF 4.5 Unleashed
Adam Nathan
2014, Pearson Education / Sams
MSDN: XAML Services
Retrieved June 2017
MSDN: Dependency properties overview
Retrieved December 2017
MSDN: Attached properties overview
Retrieved December 2017
MSDN: Routed events overview
Retrieved December 2017
MSDN: Commanding Overview
Retrieved December 2017
MSDN: How to: Create a RoutedCommand
Retrieved December 2017
MSDN: Application Settings Overview
Retrieved March 2019
MSDN: Manage application settings
Retrieved March 2019
MSDN: Using Settings in C#: Using Alternate Sets of Settings
Retrieved March 2019
Stack Overflow: How do you keep user.config settings across different assembly versions in .net?
Retrieved March 2019 |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/43 | How To Fix Access Runtime Error “Execution Of This Application Has Stopped”?
0 votes
asked Jul 25, 2018 in MS Access Issues by Jhon
Hi Everyone,
I have recently switched to MS Access 2010 application for more enhancing features and updates. I have created package solution with Access 2010 runtime. It install successfully but when i open programe, i receive “Execution Of This Application Has Stopped” run-time error.
Any suggestions for how to trouble shoot this or to somehow trap the error in code so that I can get a better, more informative error message?
1 Answer
0 votes
answered Jul 25, 2018 by lucy (980 points)
Are you getting the error when trying to run the copy of the application on your PC? If you don’t it then some kind of environmental issue such as permissions or a missing library.
Make sure that all your procedures include error trapping. Include in the error message, the name of the procedure, the error number, and the error description.
Select Case Err.Number
Case 2501
Resume Exit_Proc
Case Else
MsgBox "Error " & Err.Number & " (" & Err.Description & ") in procedure cmdSave_Click of VBA Document Form_frmEmployees"
End Select
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/60 | appstore kücük
Deltoid Muscle of Arm
In human anatomy, the deltoid muscle is the muscle forming the rounded contour of the shoulder. Anatomically, it appears to be made up of three distinct sets of fibers though electromyography suggests that it consists of at least seven groups that can be independently coordinated by the central nervous system. It was previously called the Deltoideus and the name is still used by some anatomists. It is called so because it is in the shape of the Greek letter Delta (triangle). It is also known as the common shoulder muscle, particularly in lower animals (e.g., in domestic cats). |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/68 | Javascript is Very Fast?
January 10th, 2007
Apparently my previous post was premature. My world has shattered and I have discovered the single most impressive example of Javascript. Ever. Considering that just this morning the very same event took place (but with Flash) this is one hell of a day.
It’s an emulator. In Javascript. Take a deep breath and let that sink in.
I really wish this guy would switch to Flash. I programmed in Javascript in the old days and it’s really no good for certain things. What those “things” are is vauge, but basically, writing emulators is one of those things. In any case, Flash got there first and FC64 is cooler.
One Response to “Javascript is Very Fast?”
1. sascha/hdrs Says:
You’re right! Flash would have probably been the better choice for this. But still interesting to see that an MSX emu is even possible JavaScript.
Leave a Reply |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/72 | Hey Look - blog header
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13 - Monty the fox plush toy: Sara Carr on etsy
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/76 | Wednesday, 1 April 2015
The twelve ingredients of my life
I almost called this '12 essential ingredients' but that would have meant justifying the term 'essential. Meaning what exactly? Why am I getting all 'lifestyle magazine'? Why have I spent hours Photoshopping? If it's real essentials where's the flour and eggs? If it's luxury additions then what're onions doing there. And why only twelve? It's not even Christmas so what's with the 'best of' theme? Look, let's calm down and stop being all bloody meta.
So these are the ingredients of my life. I kinda like the folksy grandiloquence of it (not a sentence I thought I'd write today). It's the sort of title that Nigel Slater would get away with and he's not done so badly. Anyway, shall we begin?
You know, sometimes I write this stuff and I figure: it's OK, they'll know it's ironic, me being a [deleted] and everything. And then people take me seriously. Don't.
These are the elements that I use most often; that I would miss most; that I would not do without. Hell, maybe I just want to gush. Some may balk at the inclusion of vanilla over, say, garlic, or rosemary over basil, thyme and parsley. And where are the chillies, the spirits and the tomatoes? I had to leave out haddock, bacon, foie gras, brill and Holtwhite's almond croissants. Well all such lists are spurious and predicated on a set of very unreal circumstances but are ultimately created to spark debate, preferably over a meal with friends. Or online... with undue aggression. I also spend a lot of time reading about ingredients: history and use, and wanted to share some of the questions that prompted that research. Why, for instance, is pepper a staple condiment and not cumin or coriander? I'm inviting you to tell me why you agree or disagree and what your list would include.
1. Salt. Specifically Maldon salt. While we in the West may consider this the most ubiquitous of condiments, remember in the East, salt is rarely found on the dining table. They use fermented soy, oyster or fish (like the Romans) to deliver a sodium hit. Salt is essential to life. We crave it. We used to pay ourselves in it (hence: salary).
Seasoning is one of the key differences between good food and great. This means salt, and usually more of it than we're told is good for us. Of course, if you regularly cook from scratch you do avoid all that hidden sodium in tinned food and microwave meals. Something well seasoned would be too salty if you added any more. You should season as you go, because tasting as you cook is essential (but bizarrely, so many people don't).
Maldon is what to reach for when all those U.S. recipes call for 'kosher salt'. I use it so often, I confess I'm at a loss with table salt. I tend to salt by feel at first, knowing how big a pinch for my bread dough or... hell, look it's salt, it's in everything. My family tell me I have a very salty palate, which worries me. How should a cook season something - if not to their own taste, what?
Maldon crystals are light and crunchy, and occasionally diamond sharp, so I use it on the top of my rosemary focaccia that I serve at the start of almost every supper club meal.
Pepper drupes
2. Black pepperBlack pepper is the cooked and dried unripened 'drupe' of the pepper plant; they turn white when ripe. So why is it the only spice to be on every table? Black pepper berries are native to Southeast Asia, long valued as both a flavouring and a medicine It was taken up by the Romans as a cheaper alternative to long pepper, the condiment of the plebeians. The taste spread to the proles and then among the empire and via the Persians, Arabs, Italians and Spanish, to the rest of the world. It's now the most commonly traded spice.
Black pepper was hugely valued. So much so that in medieval Europe, the merchant class would wear bags of it around their necks, not as a medicine but as an aromatic display of wealth.
I adore black pepper - possibly too much. It has to be freshly milled. It's the volatile oils and other aromatic compounds from the freshly cracked corns that gives pepper its hit and these quickly degrade (oxidise) when exposed to air.
My love of pepper has definitely been passed down. I knew that Etien insists on having it on chips but only recently did I watch him grinding it onto toast. Why didn't I think of that? Why is that even weird?
3. Lemon. If could chose where to die it might be in a lemon grove. When life gives you lemons... say thank you very much and hope they're from Amalfi. Why wouldn't you want these fantastically versatile and delicious fruit? Bizarre saying.
A greenish tinge is OK (it doesn't mean unripe) but avoid the pallid yellow of age and brown patches. Look for deep yellow. Waxed lemons are cheaper because they keep longer but the price is an imprisoned zest. Purchase only for juice. And bottled juice is an obscenity but surely if you know that you wouldn't be reading this?
Juice for acidity; zest, finely grated, for lemon flavour. Acidity is one of our five tastes (arguably six, now fattiness is vying for inclusion). Cleansing and quenching, lemon juice improves most fruit and veg dishes, used like salt to intensify the flavour.
The zest is where the flavour is incidentally. I was rather shocked to discover that neither my wife nor eldest son knew this. Why did they think I've been grating the stuff into biscuits and cakes then? Lemon and vanilla is a great but often overlooked combo.
Simple lemonade is one of life's great pleasures. That uninhibited mix of sweet and sour coupled with fresh citrus. The best I've tasted was made by Belinda, using this excellent recipe.
4. Rosemary. I fear that I use too much of this woody herb - more than thyme, parsley, coriander, basil or mint. Easily. Sometimes I just roll it between my palms and enjoy the aroma. It has to be freshly picked so there are at least eight bushes in my garden, many sadly denuded since I started the supper club so I'm planting more this spring. Rosemary adds a floral uplift to many dishes and is an essential constituent of my warm spiced nuts. I add it to roast lamb and pork, to gravies, especially port based ones and to the crust of my lamb racks.
5. Butter. The term we use when something has an appealingly soft and unctuous mouth feel is 'buttery'. A product of the cooler, non tropical areas of the world where cool milk can be churned into butter and buttermilk. If you haven't tried already, you should make your own. There is something nigh on miraculous about the proccess. Add some full fat milk to a bottle and shake it. Suddenly, after half an hour of splashy splashy you hear a dull splat. You've made butter!
It's recently suffered a PR boost too. Nutritionists now admit that butter had an undeserved bum rap since the 70s. To be honest I wouldn't care. Butter is my nicotine. Even if it does kill me at least I enjoyed the ride, my demise eased by all that pale yellow, creamy goodness.
Butter is one of the differences between domestic and restaurant food. Chefs will add a big chunk when pan frying anything, basting continuously. That brown crust, that golden glow: butter. The reason Michelin starred mashed potato is so delicious in because it's often mixed 1:1 with butter.
Almost everything is improved by butter, sweet or savoury. No? You've watched that scene in Last Tango in Paris?
Brown butter is perhaps the best smell in the world. Its French name sounds sexier: beurre noisette. Gently heat butter until it turns a pale brown. Have some cold water ready to place the pan in for the first few times. It's like making caramel: deep brown may make you frown but you don't come back from black. Brown butter can be used to improve many cakes and biscuits that ask for melted butter. I always use it in friands.
Butter is a rock at 4°C, soft at 20°C and a liquid by 35°C. This means we can use the physical properties of butter to make and shape and mould. Oil is oil is oil but you can build with butter. Talking of pastry - has anyone tried replacing the water in their pastry with vodka. Seriously. The alcohol makes the dough soft but then completely evaporates in the oven leading to a super crisp crust. I will report back.
6. Vinegar. Essential to pickle and preserve but even more so to add acidity to dishes that would otherwise bask in blandness. A key ingredient in ketchup and brown sauce and salad dressing. Apart from the acidity, vinegar is a source of sourness, which may be on the unpopular side of the tracks but is nevertheless essential to a balanced palate.
The picture is of A l'Olivier fruit vinegars; I lionised them last yearI regularly buy a dozen bottles and prance with joy at their arrival (so undignified). They add a depth of flavour to my sauces, gravies and invariably to my purées. Beetroot is much improved with a dash of the raspberry, tomato sauce can take a bit of the red pepper and where would my fig and walnut dressing be without the figue?
7. Alliums. Yes all alliums. You wouldn't expect me to chose between onions and shallots surely? You wouldn't be that cruel. Can I sneak garlic by too? Onions are the world's savoury base. Arguably the only truly global ingredient, they are the largest crop by area, harvested in over 150 countries and feature in the oldest known recipe books - Sumarian clay tablets. Onions R us.
People who tell you they don't like onions are kidding themselves - they eat them daily if they eat at all. There are many 'oniony' tastes, from the kick in the back of the head, eye watering, crisp, sulphuric bite of the raw to the gooey, melting, astonishingly sweet of the slow roasted. And in-between the mild umami hum of the sweated golden and the almost acrid satisfaction of the slightly burned - often found atop the hot plancher in a burger van. Choowan uniuns wiv dat'? I do thanks.
Odd then that they are so neglected - always seen as the backdrop when they are actually the stage. I try to highlight them. I do a roast onion tart with 12 hour roast puree topped with fried onions, sometimes with a garnish of parmesan or goats cheese. Onion fondue has been a recent surprise hit - a triple allium hit at that - with many guests asking for the recipe. I'll often roast a shallot as a side dish, especially with beef but often with mushrooms. Add some golden onions to soft polenta, cool and griddle for an up-flavoured fried slice and an excellent carb bed for all meats.
8. Vanilla. Pod and paste. Second in spice expense only to saffron.
Funny really that we describe something bland or everyday as vanilla. Familiarity really has bred contempt. But try taking the seeds out and eat it then. Ice cream would taste of milk, custard of eggs. The pods pictured are Mexican which is where it all started until the French nicked it and started production in Madagascar, Réunion, and the Comoros Islands. Vanilla means 'little pod or sheath' in Spanish - the same Latin root as vagina actually.
Vanilla and brown butter is a scent from the gods. Never throw the deseeded pods away; they should be stored in sugar or syrup (see below). Pod, paste and extract are all good. I use vast amounts of paste so I buy in half kilo tubs. Avoid essences, they aren't vanilla but some evil concoction and buy pods on line if you can plan it. They come at a tenth of the cost.
9. Parmesan. The king of cheese. Part of the grana family of cheeses, so named because of its grainy texture. Famously buried by Pepys during the great fire of London due to its cost. A hard cheese made only from milk from grass fed (no silage) cows that graze around the towns of Parma and Reggio. The cows must be drug free and their milk less than 24 hours old. True parmesan - and there is only one - can be aged 18, 22 or 30+ months with flavours ranging from banana, wood, hazelnuts and even mint. The most aged cheese will cost around £36 a kilo.
Apart from judicious sprinkling in most things mushroomy (not the velouté), I use parmesan in my (surprise!) parmesan thins. A fabulous thin, crisp biscuit that's perfect with wine. A recipe gifted me by my friend Bee.
Incidentally, if you've ever thought that offence to humanity that is dried, grated parmesan smells suspiciously of vomit, you'd be correct. Parmesan and sick have high levels of butyric acid which gives both that specific pungency.
10. Truffle paste. Of course in another life (the one where I'm rather more successful and right now am hosting drinks for the president of the world at my Amalfi coast clifftop house, olive farm and lemon grove) this would be white truffles, flown from Alba but alas not. But this is wonderful stuff. Leave a jar open in the kitchen for a few minutes and my truffle-phobic eldest son will start complaining in his bedroom. That pungency is what we pay for. I add some to most of my mushroom dishes and most often to the restaurant's much requested amuse bouche velouté.
11. Syrups. I have, at any one time, five stock syrups in my fridge. They all start the same way, as a 1:1 (in weight) water and sugar mix, brought slowly to the boil. Slowly because you don't want the water to boil before the sugar's fully dissolved. I then add flavouring. It's an easy way to add interest to desserts. Add some interest to icing sugar. Whizz some up with fruit, push through a sieve and you have a very quick sauce with unexpected flavour notes. Aside from plain, here are my four frequent flyers:
• Mint. Blanch the mint first, stem and all and pack a bottle with the herb. Great mixed with red wine vinegar as a dressing for salty cheeses such as feta. Good in cocktails obviously - mojitos, caipirinhas and juleps.
• Vanilla. All those seed-scraped pods. Stash them in some syrup. I add a dash to my rhubarb sorbet.
• Citrus. finely peel the zest from several lemons and oranges. This is so useful as a glaze and instead of apricot jam in baking.
• Spiced. Probably my most used - most recently to poach plums and cherries which impart a superb purple colour that you can then reuse. I add lemon grass, zest and verbena, orange zest, cinnamon sticks,star anise, all colour of peppercorns bar green, cardamom and cloves. Strangely, when people ask me "Oh, what's that I can taste?" It's usually cloves. They're not quite familiar enough are they? I always pour some spiced syrup in my pineapple and lime ice.
It's also the basis for Dr Sutton's Winter Warmer but the exact formulation is family only.
12. Stock. The rhythm guitar of the kitchen band. Sure everyone notices the top notes of Mick Taylor but its the foot-tapping chug of Ronnie Wood that makes the body of the song. No. it's more like the secret boyfriend you had at school. You get on really well but you don't want to be seen in public. It's not a looker is it?
Home made stock is a thing of wonder just as much as shop bought is a disgrace. Stock cubes should be illegal. I'll let you in on a secret. If you do use stock cubes - I might pretend that you I like you but I won't really. It's like telling me you once had a puppy and you used to punch it in the face. Most often and whenever professionalism demands, I'll be able to overlook it but at some point we'll get drunk together and then I'll have to bring it up. You'll get defensive; I'll get annoyed. I'll tell you you're better than that; you'll tell me I'm not your dad. It'll end badly and loudly Just make some proper frickin' stock. Oh, and those new foiled blobs of nonsense that Marco's flogging - forget it. Them's stock cubes by stealth. You're fooling no one Mr White. Stock takes time and effort. Good. Some things should. There's no quick fix. Perhaps someone should point this out to the greedy grocer and the sneery Australian (and lend them a wedge for that bloody door while you're at it).
Just be careful with the celery. I think, embarrassed at their calorie paucity they make up by being overgenerous with flavour when boiled. A little celery is a good thing, but do you actually want something where it dominates?
The trick to clear stock, to be used as a shimmering broth or consommé is two fold. Firstly chill the strained stock so the fats and oils rise to the surface. These can be skimmed for use or refuse. The remaining liquid, or jelly as it should be, is whisked with a couple of egg whites per litre (one quart) of stock along with the crushed egg shells (yes, really). Bring to the simmer very slowly. A 'raft' of eggwhite will form, trapping any particles. Beneath this scum cloud will be a clear liquid.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/77 | Saturday, December 01, 2012
Testing HTML emails
Someone asked me yesterday if I could send the contents of an HTML file as an HTML-formatted email to a client, as they wanted to see what it looked like. Sending HTML emails is usually something that's either done through an online service (MailChimp et al.) or from the internals of a platform build where you (as a dev) have access to templates and SMTP servers and all that that entails.
Just sending a file as an HTML-formatted email is surprisingly hard to do (i.e. you can't type raw HTML into your email client and have it render in the recipient's inbox.)
So I put a script together to do it -
It requires Python (it's a Python script), but runs from the command line, thus:
$ python --filename='test_file.html'
It runs through Gmail's SMTP service, so you will need a Gmail account - and you'll be prompted for your email and password when you run the script.
Feel free to use, feedback, fork, etc.
I have recently come across the service mailtrap (, which is a brilliant companion to this sort of solution. Mailtrap operates an SMTP service that doesn't go anywhere. Sound crazy, but it's great - you set up an account, get a set of SMTP credentials, and then everything you send to that server gets parked in the Mailtrap inbox - where you can see the emails received as HTML, plain text and even source. Try it out.
Saturday, November 03, 2012
Windows 8 - first thoughts
tl;dr I've been through the pain so you don't have to - please do not install
Windows 8 on a desktop, non-touch, computer - you can thank me later.
Last weekend I installed (and paid for) a copy of Windows 8 on my home desktop.
I complained about it at the time (display driver issues), but persevered, so I
thought I'd share my experience.
Before starting, and to give context to my story, here's my history with MSFT:
for many years I made my living building application with Microsoft technologies.
I've created Excel spreadsheets, Access databases, VB6 applications, eMbedded
Visual Basic mobile applications, .NET applications (Windows and Web, from 1.0
through to the current period), and large enterprise implementations of their
core server products; I worked for a year with Redmond on the 'Jupiter' project,
which became BizTalk 2004, and earned a living as a BizTalk consultant for some
time after that. I've owned mobile Windows products since the early days of
WinCE - I had black and white Cassioepia PDA, and all the terrible phones in
between. I'm not a fanboy, but it's not far off to say that Microsoft and their
platform have paid for my house, my holidays and most of my belongings. I owe
Recently I've branched out (not entirely of my own volition): I was given an
iPad (1) as a present a couple of years ago, which is great; I bought myself a
Nexus 7, which is better (for me, as reading is my main activity on a tablet).
I have an Android phone (which I hate), but only because I lost my Windows Phone
7 (which I loved). At work I switch between a MacBook Pro laptop (pretty good),
and a desktop which runs both Windows 7 and Ubuntu, which I use for development.
So I think it's fair to say that I have a pretty good grasp of the main desktop,
tablet and phone operating systems.
Which makes my experience with the Windows 8 all the more extraordinary. Quite
simply it's the worst operating system I've yet encountered. And one week after
installing it I have returned to Windows 7, which is the best desktop operating
system to date (IMO - I know Mac-lovers think OSX is great, but really, it
isn't. Finder, anyone?)
Windows Phone 7 is fantastic, a real break from the competition, and a bold,
imaginative statement from Redmond. It was clearly created by a team with great
talent, given the freedom to do what they are good at. WP7 is what happens when
you get the right people in the room, and let them do their best work. The problem
is that on the back its critical (if not commercial) acclaim, something incredible
appears to have happened.
It feels (and I have no inside knowledge on this) as if the WP7 team were fired,
and then their work was handed to a group with less talent, no background on the
project, and simply told to "make Windows look like this."
I cannot imagine any circumstances under which the new start screen would seem
appropriate on a desktop, operated by a mouse. Everything about it screams
"touch me", which is quite annoying on a 22" non-touch screen. On which subject,
ENORMOUS touch-friendly buttons looking f*king ridiculous on a large screen.
The installed apps (Photos, People etc.) look absurd.
All of which I could forgive, if they hadn't also messed with the 'old-style'
desktop. There is no start button, for which the person responsible should be
fired, and the Metro-style translated to the rich windowed multi-tasking envir-
onment that is Windows, looks like they just forgot to finish the product.
Windows 8 is a catastrophic downgrade in User Experience, which is a shame as I
believe it covers a bunch of really quite important internal changes. Most
companies use pointless eye-candy to distract from the lack of real features,
but it appears as if MSFT have pulled off a first - drawing attention away from
the good stuff to concentrate on the terrible UI/UX.
Do not upgrade.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Why Google should get behind Markdown
liferation of different variants / flavours. For instance, StackOverflow and
morning (whilst writing and sharing some notes).
posts, so they clearly have thought about this.
need to be practical.)
Monday, October 22, 2012
[draft] Estimation is guesswork.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Experiments in rebase.
Thought I'd post this as a visual for anyone else getting their head around the difference between rebase and merge.
I created an project, and then created a series of commits to that project (by 'touch'ing a text file), across two branches, 'master' and 'branch':
- [master] touch readme1 'first commit to master'
- [master] touch readme2 'second commit to master'
- git checkout -b branch
- [branch] touch readme3 'first commit to rebase'
- [branch] touch readme4 'second commit to rebase'
- git checkout 'master'
- [master] touch readme5 'third commit to master'
At this point I had two diverged branches.
Running $ git log --oneline on [master] i have:
518f971 third commit to master
4a6d74b second commit to master
0f788ce first commit to master
on [branch] I have:
10e8078 second commit to branch
0122b8b first commit to branch
4a6d74b second commit to master
0f788ce first commit to master
I now copied the entire directory so that I have two versions of the project in exactly the same state, one of which I will rebase, the other I will merge.
$ git checkout branch
$ git rebase master
7b9e782 second commit to branch
58f65f3 first commit to branch
518f971 third commit to master
4a6d74b second commit to master
0f788ce first commit to master
At this point, master is behind branch, but can be 'fast-forwarded' by merging:
$ git checkout master
$ git merge branch
$ git checkout master
$ git merge branch
a06b559 Merge branch 'branch'
518f971 third commit to master
10e8078 second commit to branch
0122b8b first commit to branch
4a6d74b second commit to master
0f788ce first commit to master
This time you get an extra commit - which is the merge commit itself. This method preserves the exact history - i.e. the fact that development branched, and was then merged back in successfully. If this is important (and I'm definitely not in the 'always rebase' camp, then go with merge. Otherwise, rebase will give you a cleaner history. (NB like a supermodel, the better looking the history, the more deceptive the reality. You may prefer to preserve the history of branching.)
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
GitHub goes down, and everyone just carries on...
Try doing that with TFS or SVN.
Thursday, August 09, 2012
Django's extended user profile...
Django, as Python's (arguably) most popular web framework, follows the 'batteries included' philosophy of the language with a large number of built-in web features. One of these is the 'auth' system, which provides simple user and group authentication and permissions management.
The core User class is 'skeletal' in nature - containing as it does just email, username, first name, last name and password profile fields (as well as some other utility attributes such as 'is_staff' etc). This is unlikely to ever satisfy a real-world scenario, and so Django includes a documented mechanism for extending this base user record with your own application-specific extended profile. It's simple to set up and use - you define a profile model, and then add that model as the AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE setting. Once this is set up, you can simply call the get_profile() method of any user object, and it will return the profile object.
Unfortunately, there is one fundamental limitation to this pattern - it is assumed that every user registering on your site has the same profile. So if, for instance, you wanted teachers and pupils, or perhaps suppliers and customers; or buyers and sellers, each with their own profile type, you are out of luck.
Google this particular issue and you will find a plethora of workarounds and hacks, all of which seem to start with the same underlying assumption - that the core django framework does some kind of magic that cannot be subverted; get_profile() is sacrosanct.
One of the joys of using open source software, of course, is that you can open up frameworks and just take a look at how they work. So that's what I've done, and this is what I've found...
When using extended user profiles within django, there are really only two key requirements - first, that when a new user signs up, the user profile is created; and second, that when you call get_profile() on a user, you get the correct profile object back again. Let's dig into both of those in turn, and consider how we might adapt them to use multiple profile types.
1. Creating the user profile.
When creating the extended user profile, the django framework provides precisely no assistance. It is entirely up to the application developer to manage this process. To quote from the docs:
The method get_profile() does not create a profile if one does not exist. You need to register a handler for the User model'sdjango.db.models.signals.post_save signal and, in the handler, if created is True, create the associated user profile:
So, in this case, it makes no difference whether you have one or more user profile classes to use - it's entirely up to you. You would probably have something similar to this in your views:
if kwargs['type']=='teacher':
profile = TeacherProfile(user=request.user, subject=kwargs['subject'])
elif kwargs['type']=='student':
profile = StudentProfile(user=request.user, year=kwargs['year'])
2. Retrieving the user profile.
This is where django, in theory, starts to add value. The framework includes the user.get_profile() method, which will return the relevant profile object for the user. The problem being that it will only support one, fixed, profile class for all users in the system. This is where the source code helps us:
def get_profile(self):
Returns site-specific profile for this user. Raises
SiteProfileNotAvailable if this site does not allow profiles.
if not hasattr(self, '_profile_cache'):
from django.conf import settings
raise SiteProfileNotAvailable(
'You need to set AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE in your project '
app_label, model_name = settings.AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE.split('.')
except ValueError:
raise SiteProfileNotAvailable(
'app_label and model_name should be separated by a dot in '
'the AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE setting')
model = models.get_model(app_label, model_name)
if model is None:
raise SiteProfileNotAvailable(
'Unable to load the profile model, check '
'AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE in your project settings')
self._profile_cache = model._default_manager.using(
self._profile_cache.user = self
except (ImportError, ImproperlyConfigured):
raise SiteProfileNotAvailable
return self._profile_cache
Observation #1 is that it's not a very complicated method; we should be able to work out what this does. Let's remove some of the error checking and reduce it to what we really want:
def get_profile(self):
from django.conf import settings
app_label, model_name = settings.AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE.split('.')
model = models.get_model(app_label, model_name)
return model._default_manager.using(
Now let's reduce that to pseudocode:
# pseudocode - do not attempt to run!
def get_profile(self):
Observation #2 is that this is trivial - it does exactly what you would think, and no more. There is nothing to be scared of here. The only problem is that is only expects one value to exist in the settings file, and is fixed on that assumption.
So, how do we take this knowledge and use it to our advantage. My own personal view is that, having read through the code, you should feel perfectly happy and comfortable to ignore it, and roll your own. It really isn't doing anything magic. Nothing will break.
Using our teacher/student app above, you can simply create your own get_profile() method, and hard-code the 'get' code (you can stick the method anywhere you feel comfortable using it - I have a profiles app that defines the models, and have the get_profiles() method in file):
# pseudocode - do not attempt to run!
def get_profile2(user):
if user is teacher:
return get_teacher_profile(user_id =
elif user is student:
return get_student_profile(user_id =
The obvious problem in the pseudocode above is how to check if the user is a teacher or student, given that there is nothing on the user object that we can use to determine what type the user is. The simplest answer to this, and it is a hack, is to use Groups. By assigning users to relevant groups when they register you can do the following:
def get_profile2(user):
if user.groups.filter(name='teachers').exists():
return get_teacher_profile(user_id =
elif user.groups.filter(name='students').exists():
return get_student_profile(user_id =
This is a workable solution, but it does require hard-coding the groups, which makes it more of a copy-and-paste solution than a pluggable django app or extension.
The ideal answer is for the core django project to support multiple profile types within a project, by changing the way it currently works. The fix is trivial:
1. Change the AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE to use a dictionary instead of a string to store a mapping of user types and their profile models
2. Add an additional field to the core user model, called something like 'user_type' (or, heaven forbid, 'profile')
3. Update auth.models.User.get_profile() to look up the model based on the user_type / profile attribute and use that instead
I have hacked my local copy of django to do just this, and this method works as expected. A fully-integrated, multi-profile, django installation. Of course, this isn't supportable by any hosting company, so is not a viable short-term solution. In fact it's only supportable if it gets pulled into the next version of django. I'd love to see this happen, so if you think this is a good idea, please add any feedback below; if enough people want it to happen... |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/91 | Difference between revisions of "This is That"
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Xian checks back with Pai, who has figured out a combination of resin and silk to hold the mural face together while Tsu Fa carefully detaches the mural from one stone wall and re-merges it with the other. However, Pai says she will leave it to Xian to explain to Gou why she moved his "tribute to the common hunter".
One task is accomplished and another should finish without Xian's assistance, but the rest will have to wait for another day. Xian turns her nose towards Tahiti to check in with the rest of the party and explain her new shape.
Revision as of 15:04, 15 September 2019
"Be on a horse when you go in search of a better one." The run takes place in the early First Month of the Dog in the Tenth Year of the Dog since the Third Treaty of Houses.
The run takes place in
Previous Run
On the Trail
At the end of the battle for Spear Carrier Ri, when Xian was left behind and unconscious off the battle map, she had heard a voice in her head before blackness:
"Remember, if anyone asks you if you've promised your soul to anyone, the answer is yes."
Some unknowable time later, she comes to her senses to hear the slow clip-clopping of horse hooves. Then, a female voice asks "Are you awake yet?" Xian opens her eyes to see the trail moving slowly underneath her hooves. Her hooves? This is all somewhat dizzying, and she shuts her eyes again. The voice speaks to her, reassuringly.
"Take your time, get yourself together, wouldn't want to start anything before you're ready."
Given the number of hit points Xian was down, she feels a lot better than she has any right to. But she's being ridden by the unknown woman, and maybe she shouldn't be walking with her eyes closed. She opens her eyes again, and is briefly confused by the concept of how to control all four legs and hooves for walking, and everything careens sideways for a bit, until she gets herself under control again.
Xian tries to sort out whether she can talk (sort of - she whickers and makes horse-y sounds), but the woman can understand her. The woman proves to be Mystique, who suggests that she just go along with this being-a-horse thing, and she'll get used to it. There are some ground rules, to start with:
1. Any time you want, you can turn back into a horse.
2. You can't turn into a human again until you get where you're going.
3. But you don't have to go straight there.
4. Don't pick a place to go that might not be there.
"It turns out that it's not that hard to get to the World After. Everyone finds their way." -Xian
"This was a last-second detour." -Mystique
Mystique explains further - once she finishes the mission, she'll get her old body back for real. In the meantime, when she turns into a human at her destination, she'll still be a horse, she'll just look like Xian.
As far as the mission goes: Mystique talked to Him (Xian assumes she means the Very Large Horse Spirit) and He says that Xian is the Mistress of the Mystic Switcheroo. So they're going to leverage that to prepare the field for a really big switcheroo later. So... in order to do that, Xian is going to have to swap some things. Xian protests that she may have been oversold here - she's more about confounding than switcherooing.
"If someone who knew me were to describe me, they wouldn't describe me as Mistress of the Mystic Switcheroo, but they might describe me as a jumper over lines that shouldn't be jumped over." -Xian
"Well, then this will be interesting." -Mystique
Regardless of Xian's switcheroo competence, Mystique notes that she has a new mission. Mystique's own relationship with Horse is that she makes the plans, but doesn't execute them. Xian is tasked with executing this one. There are six bullet points for her to do:
1. Switch a wolf statue in the Harbor of Fortunate Arrival with a horse statue in Jabon.
2. Switch a painting of a horse in the Port of Auspicious Voyage with a painting of a wolf in Gangmul.
3. Switch the Thousand Li Horse and the most recent winner of the Plains of Honor Horse Race.
4. Switch Eto the Wolf (in the Plains) and Snow Wolf (currently in the Port of Propitious Voyage).
5. Restable Li Merit’s horse to a stable in Myeong.
6. Rehome Lord Sonwu’s wolf to the Palace of Benevolent Oversight.
For the duration of the mission, any time Xian spends karma, Horse will triple it. Additionally, it would be helpful if Xian can figure out how to spend at least one karma on each of the bullet points. Mystique is careful to point out that this is not required as part of the bargain (spirit bargains can't require karma), but it will make Mystique's life significantly easier.
One downside of the karma-tripling is that seven is not a multiple of three, and spending nine karma is not recommended for humans.
"Better stick with the human karma rules, on the theory that you want to be human again."
Mystique expects that Xian will figure out what the whole plan is about. Xian thinks she might need some calibration first. Mystique notes that calibration is why she's here for the briefing, but not the mission.
There are a number of ways in which these tasks can be accomplished - the ideal end state is that everyone is okay with the post-switch state of things, and no one is trying to directly undo it. Of course, that's harder for some of them than others, so Xian should do her best for all of them to make everyone okay with everything, but Mystique understands that may not be completely possible all of the time.
"But, if we get this all done, everything will work out the way everyone wants it to." -Mystique
"Everyone?" -Xian
"Well, important people. At least, me." -Mystique
Mystique also warns Xian to watch out for beastmasters. Xian wonders if she is a werehorse now? Mystique isn't sure what that is, but she might be. Xian decides maybe she's a werehuman.
So... what is the most swapped that two people can be? Mystique ticks them off on her fingers. Swap their locations, swap their jobs, swap their families, and make everyone think that it's always been that way. Xian regrets having asked, as that sounds awfully hard. Well, she doesn't have to do everything the most swapped way possible - just as swapped as possible.
"One final thing - don't die." -Mystique
"Um, okay." -Xian
So... will anyone else understand her as a horse? Mystique doesn't think there are many others. Beastmaster Ze presumably would, or Murase Minako, or Pho.
Well, it's getting time for Xian to decide where she's going. She figures she might as well start with the top of the bullet list, so she decides to look into swapping the statues. Mystique notes that the wolf statue is looking out over the sea, and the horse statue is at the racetrack in Jabon. Xian points her nose towards the Harbor of Fortunate Arrival, and Mystique slaps her flank, and she takes off. The Traditional Horse Gallop Music sounds, and Xian finds her speed rather reminiscent of driving the carriage, but less dizzying. And then, she is there.
Xian still feels more comfortable in human form, so she ducks into a stable and turns back into human shape. She has her stuff again - though her clothes still bear the marks of the fight against the Northerners. At least they aren't too bloody, as most of her damage was magical. A quick disguise roll hides the worst of the battle damage, and she's good to go. She stops to pass out apples to all the other horses in the stable, and then heads for the seafront.
Each of the piers has a pillar with an animal statue looking out to sea. Some are cycle spirits, but most aren't - there's a rabbit, a giant fish, a wolf, a cat. Many are in a similar old-fashioned style, but some have been more newly replaced, and the newer piers at the end also have newer statues.
Xian heads for a tea house, looking to talk to some history buffs who are statue experts. The locals think that the statues are of "spirits of other lands", but it's not clear which lands. The ones that were replaced were because they broke. Other tidbits about the statues include: the statue of the bear is one of the newest ones, and the statue of the tortoise is actually a turtle - it's technically Turtle Pier, not Tortoise Pier, even if everyone calls it Tortoise Pier now. Wolf Pier was added the last time the House of Beneficent Travel had their monopoly renewed - also at that time, a loading crane knocked off the head of the oostich from Oostich Pier, and they replaced it with a Slamder.
This gives Xian her first idea - if she stole the wolf statue, and replaced it with a replica, then she could break the replica and they would have to replace it with a different animal. On second thought, that might be overly complicated. Or, she could head up a propaganda campaign to rename Wolf Pier, since wolves are part of the war, as a patriotic renaming. Freedom Pier!
Well, while she mulls it over she might as well investigate the horse statue. She turns into a horse, and heads off to Jabon. The journey passes quickly - much faster than a horse with courier horseshoes.
She finds the statue outside the racetrack, and asks around about it. She learns that it was commissioned by Zhu Cai Wen, and rumor says that it was designed by Tokai Takanata.
Hmm. It may be difficult to replace a horse statue at a racetrack with a wolf statue, since wolves don't have much to do with horse racing. Then she has a bright idea - if she replaces the horse statue with a larger horse statue, she could hide the wolf statue inside it. She considers whether this would qualify as a true switch, and decides it would be okay - it would be like being in disguise, and as long as there wasn't a spiritual component of "defeating wolf with horse" or something like that it should be fine.
She may need to get local people on board with her plan, in both countries. Happily, in the House of Beneficent Travel, she knows (and helped save), Spear Carrier Ri. Here in Jabon, she thinks the person to talk to is Lac Vinh, Cai Wen's factor in charge of the horse race.
She meets with Lac Vinh, and convinces him that while Cai Wen is not unsatisfied with Lac's current efforts, there are some considerations to be taken into account. For one, the Plains have not been on friendly terms with the Arcade and the House of Exuberant Interference in particular, for a little while. So something of a grand gesture of a larger statue might be useful. Vinh wonders if she means grand, or GRAND, and has a gleam in his eye that Xian has seen before with people like the Han Hsu. With 80 li to play around with, Vinh could put together something properly GRAND. Xian explains that the statue will need to be able to hold a square of sail cloth inside (no problem), and also a statue of a wolf (wait what?). Xian wonders if it would be simpler to encase the wolf in rock first, and let a sculpture carve the horse out of it. Vinh is not sure that would be simpler. Well, Vinh can figure out how to make a horse statue that will fit a wolf statue in it, though that might make it cost a little more. Xian gives him a tael for expenses, and tells him to get it done.
Then, she changes back to a horse, and heads back to the harbor, to see Lord Ri. He looks a little haggard, and Xian offers her condolences on his recent losses. Then, she mentions a suggestion she has, that might help him transition into his role. Since the North has been employing wolves, a public gesture against wolves might be well appreciated. The House has a Wolf Pier... perhaps they could replace the statue and rename the pier. Xian offers to provide a very nice horse statue that he could use to replace it. Since Ri and his comrades were rescued by a miraculous cavalcade of horses, he thinks this sounds like a great idea. He can also arrange for transport, since his house does that for a living. He thanks Xian for bringing this idea to his attention, and seems willing to take it from there. Maybe he can set the wolf statue in the square and people can take swings at it. Xian leaps in, saying that she has a plan for the wolf statue, that might help in the war effort. Ri says if she wants the wolf statue, it is hers, and he will arrange the transportation logistics for both statues.
Her first task in hand now, Xian gallops off to the Port of Auspicious Voyage to investigate the painting. On the way, she sort-of overhears a conversation between Horse and Mystique. Horse is disappointed, because he thought Mystique explained about the karma spending. Mystique says she did explain about the karma spending. Horse says perhaps Mystique should go and in no way force Xian to spend any Karma.
Xian hasn't particularly picked a destination beyond the Port of Auspicious Voyage, so when she stops galloping, she's standing in a small market square. There's a mural on the side of a building - apparently a harness-maker's.
"Oh." -Xian
Well, on the bright side, she has discovered that she doesn't need to know where something is in order to set it as her destination. She heads into the shop to look around, and finds herself coveting some of the fancy scarlet barding. The guy there is a good salesman - he says he had someone paint the mural a month or so ago, as part of the branding. Well. Hmm.
Then, Xian gallops off to Gangmul to look at the other painting, suspecting that it will be a little more difficult than she was imagining. And, in fact, painted on a cliff face is a mural of a wolf, fierce against spearmen.
Above the cliff, Xian hears the sounds of shushing.
" Ssh! Someone is here! I see their horse!"
Xian quickly runs up to the top of the cliff, where two teenagers are pulling their clothes back on. Then, she turns into a person, throwing them into a panic. She intimidates them with her spirit nature for a bit, and makes them promise to not speak of it, though hints that she may see them later.
Then, she heads into Gangmul, where she learns that the mural is old but does not fade. Nobody thinks it is great art though, so no one thinks very much about it. Hmm.
Taking advantage of her extra fast travel, Xian heads for the Illuminated Precincts and the Grand Library. She is a Library Patron, but she hasn't ever used her research project, so she uses it to research the mural. After a day of research, she learns that the mural was painted by Gou the Immortal Bard and it was preserved by Pai the Smith. Huh - that's a bit more epic than she was expecting. Good thing she has a Golden Ocarina (except Xiao Fa may have borrowed it and forgot to return it) and a Golden Gear to work with!
She buys a small mechanical wind up horse toy, and tries to put the gear in it. It fits. After a short wait, Pai shows up to talk to her. Pai tells her that the depicted wolf hunt was eighty, ninety years ago, and Gou painted the mural to commemorate it. Then, Pai put on some varnish to keep it preserved. Xian explains that she as been tasked with swapping that painting with a mural on a building in the Port of Auspicious Voyage. Well, that's an interesting technical challenge. Pai says she's willing to preserve the new mural if Xian moves it, or if Xian can provide an earth mage, Pai can do some experimentation as to how to preserve a mural when removed from the wall.
Xian gallops off to find Tsu Fa, and finds him in Stone Drum holding up a wall while other people work on it. She wanders off to change and waits for the evening for him to finish his work. Then, she meets him at his inn - he even remembers her from Driven to Distraction when he was saved from beastmaster control - and he buys her a drink.
Xian tells him that if he is willing to keep it on the quiet, she can arrange for him to work on a quick project with Pai the Smith. Tsu Fa is intrigued, but he is still in the army, though, so he would need new orders, or a pass for a couple of days, or something to cover for his absence. Even better - Xian has the Ocarina of Time, and a really fast horse. She also thinks that making everything Weird and Mystical will help convince him that it is above his pay grade, so she demonstrates turning into a horse, and uses some karma to persuade him to come along with her plan.
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mod6: !!ledger
deedbot: http://p.bvulpes.com/pastes/mp0oH/?raw=true
deedbot: http://pizarroisp.net/2018/08/16/pizarro-statement-july-2018/ << PizzaroISP - Pizarro Statement, July 2018
mircea_popescu: mother is displeased with trinque 's comment.
asciilifeform: meanwhile in heathendom lint trap, https://www.opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?num=44356
mircea_popescu is working on yet another fetlife lulzpiece.
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform back in 2016 we might've even seen it, i think.
asciilifeform: still getting hits via $item, left'em a comment
mircea_popescu: nb.
mircea_popescu: i suspect, by the way, that the web offers at least one useful number :
mircea_popescu: if you calculate the shelf life of pages by language space, as an average, you can actually meaningfully compare languages as cultural tools.
mircea_popescu: say the average page in english is obsolete in 6 days and in russian in 8 days ? well....
asciilifeform: in anglostan net, ~vanished more or less completely
mircea_popescu: imo the best indicator of how culturally nil the pigdin is.
mircea_popescu: or w/e, if you prefer in-universe terms, "diverse", "aware", "inclusive" etc.
asciilifeform: i thought about giving the www ui a ru variant, but really even very basic 'year of eng in primary school' orc oughta be able to work it as-is
mircea_popescu: imo nothing wrong with using english AS LONG AS ITS NOT A FIRST LANGUAGE. ☟︎
asciilifeform: as first lang, apparently it ~= lead poisoning ☟︎
mircea_popescu: speaking of which, very amusing circumstance : ran into teen girly, daugther of korean mother, who only speaks english, but speaks it WITH ACCENT.
asciilifeform: lol!
mircea_popescu: prior to this encounter only had theoretical model of such wonder via... what is it you call the theory ?
asciilifeform: which theory
mircea_popescu: that language influences thought.
mircea_popescu: you fished some name from teh scholarly tradition, which i now don't recall.
asciilifeform: sapir & whorf
mircea_popescu: there.
asciilifeform: this'd be, tho, if $chix spoke kr, and thereby 'thought like kr'
mircea_popescu: nah. wolf kid.
asciilifeform: right. so, thinks-like-wolf ?
mircea_popescu: the empirical observation of degrees of wolfness supports the theory.
asciilifeform: aa.
mircea_popescu: language isn't innate, but acquired, is the fundamental point really.
asciilifeform: well noshit
mircea_popescu: hey. most of the "disputes" consist of ~same shit.
asciilifeform: if were innate, would have plague of walkers who haven't any command of any language..
asciilifeform: *wouldn't
mircea_popescu: this is the case now, also. they however ~appear to~. you ever saw http://trilema.com/2017/il-merlo-maschio/ btw ?
asciilifeform: dun think so
asciilifeform: covers subj ?
mircea_popescu: superficially, it's a vehicle for exploiting laura antonelli's tits.
mircea_popescu: but it is notable because it includes, to my knowledge the best on film, model of the deffectively insane.
asciilifeform: interestingly, imho in ru space substantially fewer walkers who approximate human speech while being wolf.
mircea_popescu: fellow in there ~seems~ to be functional human, but is throughout thorouigh nutcase. in this exact sense, "this cpu only has half the registers and can only nop ?!"
mircea_popescu: yet italian supports him mightily in his otherwise doomed quest to appear human to the other humans.
mircea_popescu: his wife, his doctor, his director, etc.
mircea_popescu: HOWEVER... none of them can remember his name. because, see, he can't have one, because, see, he fails most of the handshakes. but nobody notices, because... he speaks italian.
asciilifeform: i suppose it's possible that this exact scenario plays out in ru net, and asciilifeform is effectively fooled
mircea_popescu: eventually finds his place (unsurprisingly, @insane asylum).
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform this exact scenario plays out a lot more than anyone reading ever realised before reading.
asciilifeform: in 'vhs' anglostan there was proverb, 'lights are on but no one is home'
mircea_popescu: just about. anyway, i include the film in noob psychologists' training. which is how i reviewed recently.
asciilifeform brb,teatime.
mircea_popescu: to be perfectly clear, girly wasn't impaired, she just spoke what it happens to be she had heard. not of within, but of without, which is the point.
mircea_popescu: if you teach your kid your second language the kid's gonna speak it with your accent, and if you teach them english they're gonna think english thoughts rather than "their" thoughts and so following.
mircea_popescu: incidentally, am i the only one fascinated by the history of dyes ?
mircea_popescu: it's very much a http://btcbase.org/log/2017-09-12#1712682 item ; in that it has organized a lot of the cognitive history of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries in technical fields. ☝︎
a111: Logged on 2017-09-12 19:34 mircea_popescu: you know what a faberge egg is for instance ?
mircea_popescu: almost seems like a sort of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaperonin#/media/File:4xcg.jpg
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: not only 1. history of dyes ~= history of chem industry, for ~century ☟︎
asciilifeform: btw hilarious trilema headerpic today
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: what was #lrh ?
asciilifeform: large radron hallider ?
mircea_popescu: nah that radio show thing w/e it was
asciilifeform: oh hm the 'pirates' thing ?
mircea_popescu: i think. i dunno, i just picked it off this very chan i think.
mircea_popescu: seemed lulzy at the time.
asciilifeform: ( speaking of which, if anyone never seen one, a microwave dummy load is impressive item, picture breadbox-sized cast al hedgehog with coax plug thicker than man's thumb )
mircea_popescu: o ya.
Mocky: sounds like a bill murrray, dan aykroyd "don't cross the streams" item
mircea_popescu: but to continue http://btcbase.org/log/2018-08-16#1841967 : it's also a red thread particularly productive through the hermeneutic method. "why did the greeks care about the columns" type of inquiries work quite well, "why did someone like say heinrich caro dedicate a decade of his life to turkish red ?" ☝︎
a111: Logged on 2018-08-16 15:06 asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: not only 1. history of dyes ~= history of chem industry, for ~century
mircea_popescu: one of course has to even learn wtf alizarin is, in the process. but then again that is the entire method.
mircea_popescu: as it turns out, absurdity undergirths human thought, as a sort of rebar.
asciilifeform: without history of organikism, impossible to grasp e.g. http://trilema.com/2013/der-untergang/#selection-49.235-49.527 thread
asciilifeform: ( interestingly, i was able to excavate ^ item with some effort + ddg, but ~not~ google )
mircea_popescu: aha!
Mocky: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-08-16#1841925 http://btcbase.org/log/2018-08-16#1841926 aside from being unable to argue against (as *victim*), the observation seems to have limited usefulness: can't change someone's first language. you could stop speaking it and stop looking for signs of life among its speakers, but neither of you seem to be doing this! ☝︎☝︎
a111: Logged on 2018-08-16 14:03 mircea_popescu: imo nothing wrong with using english AS LONG AS ITS NOT A FIRST LANGUAGE.
a111: Logged on 2018-08-16 14:04 asciilifeform: as first lang, apparently it ~= lead poisoning
mircea_popescu: Mocky you could just as well take a woman or two and become mellifluous i mean multifluent.
mircea_popescu: contrary to what you might read into that, romanian also makes you fucking stupid. different kind, discussed at length on trilema though. divide & impera amirite, let the idiocy fight idiocy.
Mocky: so then "first langauge" less an issue than "only language"? so multi fluency
Mocky: s gonna chelate some fo that lead?
mircea_popescu: but in general, you want multiple languages for the exact reason you want multiple women, or shoes. howsoever comfortable, howsoever good, useful, proper, right, you name it, if you always use the same pair of shoes they'll become unseemly.
mircea_popescu: if you have $100, it's way better to buy two $40 pairs and a girl a drink than to blow the wad on a $100 pair of shoes.
Mocky: i can see that argument, but it completely sidesteps the "first language" claim
mircea_popescu: how do you explain most english speakers suffer from the turkish idiocy (or, manchuko idiocy, if you prefer), where they fail to learn other languages ?
mircea_popescu: italians naturally learn german, germans not so naturally. there's a fundamental problem with germanic languages ; and if one follows the tree, that problem is best realised in fino-ugric group. ☟︎
mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-06-12#1823763 ☝︎
a111: Logged on 2018-06-12 14:55 mircea_popescu: there's this joke in romania that "if you hear a hungarian speaking foreing languages you're looking at a jew".
mircea_popescu: tu quoque, have spent time and effort doing all sorts of things with your life, none of which are bad or wrong per se. yet it never occured to you "must learn language" in any effectual sense. this'd be a natural occurence though, wouldn't you say ? what disocurred it for you ? how come you went in all the rooms in the palace but one ?
mircea_popescu: ~that~ would be the "lead poisoning" rather than some sort of mystical, unexaminable, forever-opressive miasma. it's just the simple thing, "hey, axototl, no tail ?" "yeah... no iodine where i live..."
Mocky: i'm not in a position to say!
mircea_popescu: hehe alright.
Mocky: it did occur to me. went to the dominican republic some years ago for a summer, started learning spanish. but had no use for it back in the states
mircea_popescu: see ?
mircea_popescu: the fundamental problem with "happy" families is that they provide no intrinsic reason for offspring to "seek fortune" (as in the fairtyale trope).
deedbot: http://ave1.org/2018/annotated-assembly-code-for-a-boot-record/ << ave1 - Annotated Assembly Code for a Boot Record
mircea_popescu: ahhh this guy.
mircea_popescu goes to read.
Mocky: i do see it now actually, yes
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform is the whole talk-to-kbd the replacement triple-fault to switch modes or whart ?
mircea_popescu: ave1 you know it's a pleasure to revisit my childhood in your company.
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu reads veryveryquickly, i still gotta eat $subj
mircea_popescu: it's easy to read fast when you don't understand anything.
asciilifeform: oh i think it's a chew-through of asciilifeform's traditional bootsect
asciilifeform: ( written circa '07 or so )
mircea_popescu: it is yes.
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: re kbd -- seealso http://btcbase.org/log/2015-08-02#1222715 ☝︎
a111: Logged on 2015-08-02 22:53 asciilifeform: for instance, the 'a20 gate' is almost certainly not actually implemented in your chipset
asciilifeform: ( it to this day is req'd , to turn on the 1MB addr line on pc ! because shitsandwich. )
mircea_popescu: aha. but i vaguely recall, from my days of doing this 2decades+ ago, that the way to put processor from real to protected mode or back was a triple fault
mircea_popescu: which i presume is WHY the gdr table is still 0 on 1st entry
mircea_popescu: except i don't see the faulting code anymoar.
asciilifeform: long gone is the intel 8042 chip; the idjicy lives on.
ave1: I never looked into this in the 90s and now I have too learn
asciilifeform: 1 interesting detail is that you can get away with skipping certain parts of the incantation, on certain iron
asciilifeform: but if you want a thing that runs on 100% of x64 boxen, incl. vm/emulators, you end up with whole song.
mircea_popescu: ave1 in my mind, this sort of elaborate incantatorial nonsense is why i nodded along at alf's screaming for new procs historically.
asciilifeform: https://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/linux/kbd/A20.html << moar re a20
mircea_popescu: tbh i don't think anyone at all familiar with the functioning of hardware init can propose the tradition is worth continuing with a straight face.
asciilifeform: the tricky part is not the baking of sane arch -- a latrine cleaner from calcutta could prolly come up with a better one than intel. the tricky bit is to avoid replay of the history.
mircea_popescu: quite.
asciilifeform: ave1: i have nfi where e.g. 'line 47' is, all of your line #s are mangled
asciilifeform: i'ma guess it was re : inc dword [d_lba] , and it gets inc'd because it's the read position marker .
ben_vulpes: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-08-16#1841997 << the otherwise-invisible failure to implement anything even approaching intelligence augmentation (or even the statistical AI crap) is never so obvious as when translating works in other languages on the touchscreendevices: why does 'iBooks' waste all of this time animating between the french and english translations of the book i'm working on; how is there after ☝︎
a111: Logged on 2018-08-16 15:56 mircea_popescu: italians naturally learn german, germans not so naturally. there's a fundamental problem with germanic languages ; and if one follows the tree, that problem is best realised in fino-ugric group.
ben_vulpes: all this time no auto-interlineated de toqueville; and on and on
ben_vulpes: turns out, absolutely no replacement for a large desk and several dictionaries
mircea_popescu: quite.
mircea_popescu: i manage quite well with digital lookup in dictionary flatfiles, but i suspect familiarity has a lot to do with it.
asciilifeform: ( http://www.loper-os.org/?p=2211 << obligdict )
ben_vulpes began the exercise as a form of entertainment during a road trip recently; "hey baby what do you think of this translation" "what does X mean in context of Y"
mircea_popescu: (perseus incidentally makes the value of digital dict quite apparent ; they have linked word frequency counts, very good collations of multiple dict/thesauri etc)
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: i'm still waiting to ever see a dict like perseus for living langs
mircea_popescu: i'd go as far as to say they set a standard.
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform indeed. thing is, last thinking men in english retreated in greek. amusing how this went.
ben_vulpes: trinque flagged whitaker's words for me as a latin dictionary (an ada artifact even!)
trinque: that thing's lovely
mircea_popescu: you should prolly publish this.
ben_vulpes: which you, what this lol
mircea_popescu: the flagged whitaker's words.
mircea_popescu: and the ada artifact.
trinque: yep, no guarantee it'll remain wherever I found it
ben_vulpes: http://btcbase.org/log/2016-12-13#1582649 originally ☝︎
a111: Logged on 2016-12-13 15:07 trinque: speaking of relics, I just dug up WORDS
mircea_popescu: also no guarantee it doesn't spark who knows what in who knows who's head.
trinque will post
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform the probable "cause" for there not being sane dict for living langs, you realise, is that there IS such a thing as a cannonical body of greek, but "who is to say what anglovomit does not make the cut". ☟︎
mircea_popescu: see ?
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: can take, idk, 1930s oxford dict, or whatnot
asciilifeform: this is solvable problem
mircea_popescu: learning languages, also solvable problem.
mircea_popescu: you were discussing it not being solved.
mircea_popescu: an' i betcha it's because they "don't feel" it "fair" to ~exclude~ anything. rendering any count impossible. which is very much the point.
asciilifeform: 'not solved' is not quite it. sanding parquet is also 'solved problem' even with hands and sand paper. but i'd rather have electric cycler.
ben_vulpes: kids would rather sit around the table gabbling about whatever problems 0.00003% of the population have instead of sitting down and reading old shit about universals as what apply to 99.99% of the population
mircea_popescu: the fact that anglotard english "does not have a cannonical body of works", the necessary result of "ameritards stole england's language but had no room in pocket for culture", resulted as it has in "no great american novel" makes it impossible for engl dept to see what classical lang dept did and do it one better. ☟︎
ben_vulpes: 'haskellism' thread for those who mighta got something out of socrates.
asciilifeform: ave1: re a20 'ret' -- pretty sure i nuked it when was cutting irrelevant cruft off the thing for orig publication
asciilifeform: interesting that it still ran.
mircea_popescu: interesting is one word for it...
mircea_popescu: do you realise it runs by flag, somehow ?
asciilifeform: well all it means is that the chip where i tested, does the out 0x64, ... from 1st shot
asciilifeform: and we lose 2 byte of stack space.
mircea_popescu: i guess. this may be even worth looking into.
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: if it dun fire, generally switch into longmode dun go.
BingoBoingo: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-08-16#1842067 << But we do have cut offs for when the potential American canon ends. 1910 in the general case and 1898 in the African American case. ☝︎
asciilifeform: i never wrote ave1-style article re subj, cuz depressingly loathesome crud, approx as interesting as ms winblowz api
mircea_popescu: evidently made by the same people, too.
asciilifeform: of course same.
mircea_popescu: BingoBoingo why 1898 ?
BingoBoingo: mircea_popescu: It's when Alexander Crummel died. Was a black nationalist who worked on making a black zion in Liberia, put skin into the game, mourned the results.
mircea_popescu: i c
BingoBoingo: Anything after that including Kim's husband has to fall into the general case
asciilifeform: 'Note that even in REAL mode the 32bit registers are available.' << they are, with prefix opcode . i wrote various msdosisms that way.
asciilifeform: aka 'unreal mode'
asciilifeform: http://btcbase.org/log/2014-11-23#931766 << seealso ☝︎
a111: Logged on 2014-11-23 00:13 asciilifeform: http://wiki.osdev.org/Unreal_Mode
asciilifeform: unfortunately yer still stuck with segments, there
asciilifeform: ( on some x64 chips, can even get '64b unreal', but not reliable )
asciilifeform: ave1: if you're interested, i'll post the kernel loader at some pt, but you can easily write own, exercise.
asciilifeform: somewhere i also have a pci bus init turd, etc
asciilifeform: and a (nonworking) rt nic driver, and fuckknows what else.
asciilifeform: as for uart, pretty sure that it's in the logs, posted a while back.
asciilifeform: really you can make a x64 box do useful work, with just boot sect + kernel loader + uart.
asciilifeform: ( ffa in particular , only needs a stack, and 2 uarts, 1 for commands, 1 for FUCKGOATS ... )
BingoBoingo: The whole crummel story is lulzy. Pan African runs over to Liberia in 1853 to raise a Christian Republic... Returns to the US in fear of the ascendant Liberian mulatto caste.
mircea_popescu: BingoBoingo possibly worth writing.
deedbot: http://qntra.net/2018/08/new-zealand-bans-sale-of-homes-to-foreigners/ << Qntra - New Zealand Bans Sale Of Homes To Foreigners
BingoBoingo: mircea_popescu: Imma prolly have to do that in light of the parallels to Brazillian history.
asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: re qntra $item -- seems like they have similar laws in europistans, e.g. ro
asciilifeform: no eu passport, no buy
asciilifeform: hence the old thread where 'omfg , 20k usd for castle, why no one buys'
asciilifeform: http://btcbase.org/log/2017-10-31#1730999 << re subj ☝︎
a111: Logged on 2017-10-31 15:15 asciilifeform: whole thing quite resembles the 'silver coin glued to the asphalt' everyone encounters in childhood
asciilifeform: i've nfi why anybody with actual moneys would think of moving to 'five eyes' nz tho.
BingoBoingo: asciilifeform: Sure, lots of places have similar deals. The point is all those silicon valley pantsuits who thought they had an out. Waiting for their paper to carry them across the Pacific so they could retire to Pokemon Go and hobbit fucking in New Zealand, except... The window closed on them.
asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: they'll have to shell out a mil or so for new passport, so what.
asciilifeform: not as if this were serious dough to sv pantsuit.
BingoBoingo: asciilifeform: They needed that million to bid against the Chicoms
asciilifeform: for comparison, ro passport was 800k or so, last i saw
BingoBoingo: And German comes with a stipend if you convert to Islam
ben_vulpes: looool
asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: gotta also spraypaint yer skin, lol
BingoBoingo: Nah, naked sunbathing works
ben_vulpes: there's always the jail stiped if you fly over and then turn tail
asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: i think that's only in usa
ben_vulpes: asciilifeform: pretty sure the brits do it too
asciilifeform: elsewhere they stuff you into the next plane back to anglostan
asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: in east europistan, you can walk around ~forever with expired visas, nobody gives half a shit until/unless you try to officially register something
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform that was always the case afaik.
asciilifeform: ( iirc problem happens if you come out and then try back in )
ben_vulpes: asciilifeform: i mean the 'fly to terristostan, come home, get apprehended for aiding and abetting'
asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: just write that yer flying to get yer niece declitted, they'll wave you through..
asciilifeform not yet been to dar al islam, cannot comment on how much paper headache
mircea_popescu: not much
mircea_popescu: iirc trilema even published some real estate paperwork from my stay there
asciilifeform: well , notmuch for mircea_popescu , but possibly moar for anglozeks
mircea_popescu: possibry. they did not like anglos much.
mircea_popescu: fucking loved me, though.
asciilifeform: angloproblems typically happen back home.
asciilifeform: anglogulag dun have a wire fence , it is 'guarded by taiga'
asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: how come yer still in usa, anyway ? i thought you finally cut the tether a while back
mircea_popescu: he's, by all appearances, being digested.
asciilifeform: that suxx
ben_vulpes: got lured into a bezzle
mircea_popescu: started in duodeniscadia, moved through cardia into washingtomach, now being excreted into texasbowel.
asciilifeform: aa the good sort of digested
mircea_popescu: i just hope the anus isn't mexico city
mircea_popescu: as all satmaps indicate.
asciilifeform: what's wrong with mexicocity ?
ben_vulpes: juarez is right there
mircea_popescu: other than being the intercontinental asshole you mean ?
asciilifeform: hard to picture a dourer arsehole than where asciilifeform is
mircea_popescu: that's just a tumour. anal pore something else.
ben_vulpes: less blue hair and fewer kilts as i move through the digestive tract
ben_vulpes: ain't complaining
ben_vulpes: haven't even heard a peep about putting trans rights into the corporate handbook in at least three years!
BingoBoingo: The problem with Mexico is the strong government that either might not like you or might decide to have fun with your holes
asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: here , no kilts, just cardboard houses, decaying roads, 10bux/hr parking, and limba de lemn
mircea_popescu: 2bux/hr here. even moar expensive in ppc terms.
mircea_popescu: locals are lucky if they get 10-15k pa.
ben_vulpes: sadly, am peristalted into cardboardhouse bigzone
BingoBoingo: Parking here expensive as well
ben_vulpes: cars are expensive, what of it
ben_vulpes: cult of motor is not for poorfags
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: recall, usa is this peculiar gulag that's ~unnavigable w/out auto
asciilifeform: it aint optional
ben_vulpes: is auto optional in cr?
asciilifeform: you'll find rusted tubs on the road that look like they belong in havana, owner changes hydraulic oil ~daily, but keeps the thing going , if he can't make rent he'll live in the tub, not having the tub is not option if you like eating
deedbot: http://trilema.com/2018/fetlikeslol/ << Trilema - fetlikes.lol
BingoBoingo: ben_vulpes: CR has orcycles
ben_vulpes: BingoBoingo: but for humans
BingoBoingo: gold plated helicopters?
mircea_popescu: ben_vulpes not really. ~only place auto is optional would be yurp.
ben_vulpes: ~only place builtup pre auto, not surprising
mircea_popescu: quite.
asciilifeform: there's a reason, i guess, why eu passport is 800k.
ben_vulpes: and while the uncleals are convinced it'll be highway maintenance that blows a crater in the usg budget, i have high hopes that the heavy metal poisoning from 'vape pen' use will eclipse it by a few orders of magnitude
mircea_popescu: afaik it's not even a "is x". if you're willing to spend some dough, like, buy a house or something, you can have it.
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: dunno where this worx, in current ro is catch22
mircea_popescu: how so ?
asciilifeform: no passport, no title
asciilifeform: iirc we had thread
mircea_popescu: you register company, you have company receive some dough, which it can use however it pleases, such as buying you a dozen cars or a piece of real estate or w/e, then you use that for right of stay and eventually passport.
mircea_popescu: or could just marry a local hussy.
asciilifeform: iirc they also have variant where you sit in rented flat for 10y.
asciilifeform: to same effect
asciilifeform: i was speaking of human timescales, rather than 'the king may die, the horse may die' ones
mircea_popescu: though might give you history / lang test, i dun recall
asciilifeform: that aint hard part for anybody with half a brain
mircea_popescu: i don't get it, what;s the rush ? ☟︎
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: to get the fuck off usg's tax rolls, say
mircea_popescu: that will never happen ; usg will forever pretend you owe it money no matter what
mircea_popescu: recall soviet jews ?
asciilifeform: there's pretend, there's collect, neh
mircea_popescu: leave the premises, let them collect
mircea_popescu: i got a buncha girlies in "default" about imaginary "debts".
mircea_popescu: they'll be collected upon sometime after i fuck ivanka.
asciilifeform: soon as i grow enuff brain to find how to eat without working for anglo-lame, i'ma do exactly as pictured
asciilifeform: ( admittedly 'eat' is broad concept for asciilifeform , includes 'microscopy budget' )
asciilifeform: !!up diana_away
deedbot: diana_away voiced for 30 minutes.
diana_away: thanks asciilifeform !
ben_vulpes: shed thirty years and three tonnes, do css on fiverr for bitdribbles
asciilifeform: diana_away: sunny mircea_popescustan ?
asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: why stop there, i hear amoeba can live on <1cal/day
diana_away: yes; almost too hot atm
mircea_popescu: o check her out. how goes diana_away ?
diana_away: eeringly similar to Romania not so many years ago on various levels
diana_away: although the diminutive toyota sort-of-cars are funy
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform see ? women have advantage of slavery!
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: couldn't disagree
asciilifeform: diana_away: seen ocelot yet ?
mircea_popescu: lmao\
asciilifeform: or at least gekko
diana_away: asciilifeform: lol! so far made inventory of wind turbines on top of hill, huge butterflies and weird, coloured insects
diana_away: and coconuts + vendor on a sort of trike
asciilifeform intends to see mircea_popescustan some time this yr
mircea_popescu: cool
mircea_popescu: diana_away tried a papaya yet ?
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: interestingly, we have papaya here, flown from.. cr
mircea_popescu: i bet.
diana_away: mircea_popescu: I guess I'll give it another try, I never liked papaya; I do like those tiny bananas
mircea_popescu: gotta get it from the peasant guys rtho, supermarket fruit is ~ok.
asciilifeform: i'd also look for the 'dying hdd bird'
mircea_popescu: cicada.
asciilifeform: aah
mircea_popescu: not season yet tho. blessfully.
asciilifeform: and meat of iguana
asciilifeform: hm i had nfi that mircea_popescustan had seasons
mircea_popescu: insects do lol.
asciilifeform: aa makes sense
asciilifeform: i'd imagine theirs would be 'sliding' tho, if the terrain has none
mircea_popescu: that whole genera is very time bound, has 7 year periods and whatnot
mircea_popescu: nope.
asciilifeform: interesting
mircea_popescu: insect timekeeping, it's a weird thing. possibly sideral.
asciilifeform: they could even be synced to some migratory lifeform that hangs out where there ~are~ seasons
trinque: we've got the cicadas up this way too, astonishingly loud
asciilifeform: trinque: cicada month here, also, ear-splitting
asciilifeform: i was doing some work with a large tree, fulla'em
trinque: I like the alien little buggers
mircea_popescu: but they totally are fucking alien.
asciilifeform: they live, for, what, 20yr inside the earth..
trinque: sound like they oughta be able to eviscerate a man in swarm
mircea_popescu: depends on species, but yes, multiyear
asciilifeform: i was here for the 17-yr collision of three species, was unspeakably loud, as in firing-range loud
mircea_popescu: yes, this sort of thing happens, they have different periods so sometimes collide.
mircea_popescu: all-bugs day.
asciilifeform: month
mircea_popescu: right.
BingoBoingo: One of my university stints placed me in an emergence. pretty tasty critters.
asciilifeform: 'mana from heaven' lel
BingoBoingo: But you gotta sort em. Males are nothing but shells full of air for the noise making. Gotta eat the females
asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: yes, and uncannily ties in with prev thread..
asciilifeform: !!up diana_away
deedbot: diana_away voiced for 30 minutes.
mircea_popescu: !!key diana_away
deedbot: Not registered.
mircea_popescu: noob.
asciilifeform: in other noose, asciilifeform obtained and testing a LTC3108 , 'energy harvester', they've become cheapo ☟︎☟︎
asciilifeform: thing eats >=20mV , from wherever, and charges 4 1F 'supercaps'
asciilifeform: ( 'wherever' includes, e.g., pv panels glued to tritium glow tube, or peltier to iron stake, or even antenna, if convenient geography )
diana_away: lmao; totally noob
BingoBoingo: Congrats trinque on what appears to be the sync of your Pizarro node
asciilifeform: https://archive.is/bhz1i << subj detail, for serious aficionados
ben_vulpes: haw someone just sent me an ad for a nylon "posture brace"; not that a brace is going to do anything for the lump of muscle developing at the base of millenial skulls from supporting their heads at a thirty-degree angle all day
ben_vulpes: the problem isn't your /posture/, kids, it's your /lifestyle/
ben_vulpes: head UP! tits OUT! hips TILTED BACK!
asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: lol! as in https://paulaaleksandra.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/headclamp.jpg !?
ben_vulpes: asciilifeform: https://www.primateco.com/collections/products/products/posture-brace
asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: recall the hypertrophies of 19th c railroad men. 'so, don't work on the railroad, then!' ( oblig http://btcbase.org/log/2015-08-19#1243116 ) ☝︎
a111: Logged on 2015-08-19 00:18 asciilifeform: cabbie: 'this ford is a piece of shit. stalled again.' mircea_popescu: 'i have a solution!' cabbie: 'oh???111' mircea_popescu: 'here, have this broomstick.' cabbie: 'how do i drive customers on that, feed my family' mircea_popescu: 'you misunderstand, my good man. you stuff it in your arse.' cabbie: 'and... how does this feed by family?' mircea_popescu: 'no, you sit there with it in.'
ben_vulpes: asciilifeform: i don't actually know of this deformity
asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: if you saw 'popeye' character, you've seen it
asciilifeform: ( picture d00d, thin as a matchstick, but 50kg top half )
trinque: BingoBoingo: indeed, thanks!
ben_vulpes: never skip leg day
trinque: about time I announced it, seems like
asciilifeform: in other lulz, https://archive.is/zOItL << openssh quasi-0day -- can enumerate machine users
ben_vulpes: hm lemonde blocks archive.is?
ben_vulpes: anyways, non-news https://www.lemonde.fr/addictions/article/2018/08/16/etats-unis-72-000-personnes-mortes-d-une-overdose-en-2017-un-record_5343199_1655173.html
asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: seealso e.g. http://btcbase.org/log/2017-07-18#1685961 ☝︎
a111: Logged on 2017-07-18 13:28 asciilifeform: http://log.mkj.lt/trilema/20170718/#143 << they're already 'eltsining' to death , with the good old bottle, no fancy dope needed necessarily
scriba: Logged on 2017-07-18: [05:45:01] <mircea_popescu> gotta cut the total male-years somehow, and chem cockcage prolly even cheaper than the steel item.
BingoBoingo: asciilifeform: The fancy dope tends to cause less collateral damage when it works suddenly. When bottle takes suddenly usually a motor vehicle is involved
asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: sorta why usg is pushing eltsining-through-opium paradigm
BingoBoingo: Well, that and the opportunity to run the printing press and spread bezzel to favored lizards bringing back a number of them along the way
trinque: !!deed http://p.bvulpes.com/pastes/Rj7RB/?raw=true
deedbot: accepted: 1
asciilifeform: congrats trinque
mircea_popescu: buttseks.
deedbot: http://trinque.org/2018/08/16/new-trb-node-at-1610121250/ << trinque - New TRB Node at
asciilifeform: trinque: out of curiosity, how long sync took ? ( and was it with 'aggression' ? )
trinque: I switched to aggression midway, after waiting months, and from there took a few weeks
trinque: before aggression, I saw long periods where it wasn't doing a damned thing
asciilifeform: aa
asciilifeform: is the expected picture, yes
trinque: mod6: ^ whenever you get a chance, got a new node for ya
deedbot: http://deedbot.org/bundle-537073.txt
mod6: trinque: ack
mod6: Thanks for letting me know.
asciilifeform: in other heathenlulz, '25 years of debian'
deedbot: http://qntra.net/2018/08/usg-sues-free-texas-radio-station-over-outlaw-broadcasting/ << Qntra - USG Sues Free Texas Radio Station Over Outlaw Broadcasting
asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: re qntra -- i was listening to that very station just last wk
asciilifeform: ( it , funnily enuff, was the ~only thing that could be heard here ! )
asciilifeform: or hm nm
asciilifeform: this wasn't his sw station
asciilifeform: but some local thing
asciilifeform: '90.1 frequency in Austin' << yea definitely not the sw.
asciilifeform: 'We expect that letters so addressed would more properly come from your company's International Bureau and then only after there's been some treaty of other discovered to which we are signators' << >> http://trilema.com/2013/the-sops-or-what-might-you-expect-from-government-clerks/#selection-163.0-163.589 ( & elsewhere lulz )
asciilifeform: !#s sovereign citizen
a111: 13 results for "sovereign citizen", http://btcbase.org/log-search?q=sovereign%20citizen
asciilifeform: ^ peculiarly-usaschwitz tradition, pretty much exactly like snake oil cures but for usg.bureaucratic problems
asciilifeform: upstack, the thing i find extralulzy re the shortrange/fm 'pirates', is that for no apparent reason, they refuse to use the most obvious anti-df pill -- multiple geographically-dispersed antennae operating b/w pi and 2pi out of phase
asciilifeform: easily raises cost of df 100x
asciilifeform: ( effect -- transmitter appears to fly )
asciilifeform bbl,meat
jurov: asciilifeform: is it so easy to maintain the phase? i imagine that requires nanosecond precision clock or one central source with feed lines? ☟︎
BingoBoingo: Precision clocks aren't too expensive if you aren't trying to fly them, but it's yet another thing to power
mod6: trinque: updated the Advertised Republican Node list with - Cheers! |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/107 |
Date Title Passage Speaker
Feb 17th, 2019 Why Doesn't God Always Answer My Prayers the Way I Want Him To?
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Series: Random Messages
Jeremiah 32:40 Owen Batstone |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/153 | 1 tool found
Subjects: Social Themes: Production Tool Formats: Decision Making Support Participatory approach Tags: food safety feed fodder livestock empowerment livestock production
• Gender and Value Chain
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/170 | A Simple Key For Aluminum Siding Primer Unveiled
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The incorrect way is to make use of caulk. It's the wrong way since you won't ever certainly disguise that there used to be holes there. To get a smooth end would require numerous coats of caulk, since it has a tendency to shrink, and plenty of effort. For that http://exterior-painters-charlot03691.acidblog.net/18667860/the-basic-principles-of-aluminum-siding-primer
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/206 | Combat and Conflicts
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/232 | Famous quote by Farrah Fawcett
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This quote is written / told by Farrah Fawcett between February 2, 1947 and June 25, 2009. She was a famous Actress from USA. The author also have 7 other quotes.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/240 | How do I make My Newsfeed my default homepage?
Great question and super easy!
If you’re using the website: Click on the cog icon in the upper right corner. You’ll see several checkboxes, including an option to make My Newsfeed your default homepage.
If you’re using the new Grokio Communities app: Make sure you’re currently viewing the “Feeds” tab at the bottom left corner. The scroll the bar underneath the community logo at the top that to the far right where there is a “Settings” section. Clicking on it will have an option called Default View that is most set to “Global” by default. Selecting that will let you choose between Global, Local and Following.
If you’re using the old app: This feature is not available in the old app.
Hope this helps,
The Grokio Support Team
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/267 | Friday, November 02, 2007
Incidentally, November is National Novel Writing Month. The rules are simple: try to write a 175-page novel by midnight on November 30. I've been talking about doing this for years, but was put off by the fact that, well, I wrote a novel once, between 1988 and 1991, and after three years of work...the end result was bad. Really bad. Like, Star-Trek-Harry-Potter-Crossover-Slash-Fiction bad. Okay, not as bad as that, but bad. This time, however, I don't care. My only goal is to get as close to the 175 pages as I can by the deadline. I don't wanna talk about my novel-to-be just yet, other than to relate the title: Grey City. Catchy, no?
If you wanna join the NaNoWriMo fun, just do what I did: grab a notebook and pen and start. It doesn't matter if you don't have the perfect opening sentence; I certainly didn't. The point is; get something down on paper. Write it now, make it good later.
Or submit it to a Sulu/Dumbledore shipper site, if that's your thing.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/283 | @article{IPI423581, title = "The Usage of E-Learning Model To Optimize Learning System In Higher Education by Using Dick and Carey Design Approach", journal = "Universitas Airlangga", volume = " Vol 2, No 1 (2016): April", pages = "", year = "2016", url = http://e-journal.unair.ac.id/index.php/JISEBI/article/view/1457 author = "Utama, Anak Agung Gde Satia", abstract = "Abstractâ Nowadays many universities in the world apply technology enhanced learning in order to help learning activities. Due to the potentials technology enhanced learning offers, recent education using it and universities in particular are trying to apply it. One of the subjects of this research is The Accounting Department of Airlangga University in Surabaya. The idea of this research is to investigate the students about how they know deeply about e-learning system and learning objectives as a first step to conduct e-learning model. After the model completed, the next step is to prepare database learning. Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) can help to explain the model. The purpose of this research was done by using Dick and Carey Design Model. There are nine steps to conduct e-learning model. All steps can be categorized into three steps research: first is the introduction or empirical study, the next step is the design and the last is the feedback after the implementation. The methodology used in this research is using Qualitative Exploratory, by using questionnaire and interviews as data collection techniques. The analysis of the data shows organization requires information about e-learning content, user as a learning subject and information technology infrastructures. E-learning model as one of the alternative learning can help users to optimized learning. Keywordsâ E-learning Content, Database Learning, Entity Relationship Diagram, Dick and Carey Design, E-learning model and Optimize learning", } |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/289 | Comment on Riven, and the Over-Heaven
1. I feel like the leash just has to come back at some point...
As will the ominous line about people falling from the sky! But, to hint at spoilers, basically I have the idea that it wasn't uncommon for people on Sakaar to get a little trigger-happy in the time when Hela was slaughtering most of the galaxy, so there were refugees who were killed because people just assumed that any new arrivals could be part of an invading army. So he's lucky, in this case, that they just took for granted that he was lying and/or drunk.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/291 | Dope Quotes For Pictures
DOPE QUOTES - Affirmation Cards, Inspirational Quotes, Oracle Cards, Tarot Cards, Inspirational Cards, Coffee Table Decor
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/302 | Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Strange things do happen
This a about a basic error that did. I got this error saying “class not found” in runtime. Let me explain the situation. I was calling a method from another osgi bundle staying in another osgi bundle. If I go in to more specific level I was working in usage agent component and I needed to call a method (a static method) that was in the rss-manager component.
In rss manager,
public static Queue <DBStatisticsEntry> getStats() {
return stats;
In Usage agent
dbStats = DBSizeChecker.getStats();
For a Java user it don't have any errors. But remember that this did give the error, “class not found” so before getting to know that method, it even don't know the class. And IDE don't give any errors, means that it is not a syntax error. And it don't give any warnings, no best practice violations.
My guesses of what has went wrong..
1. rss-manager jar inside the server do not have the DBSizeChecker class in it. As this class was added lately by me, I thought for a second what it the jar inside the server is not the current one that I am using? But opening the jar showed that class is there.
2. Problem with IDE, there might be a syntax issue but IDE won't show it due to some problem within it. And my server don't through any exceptions, only IDE gives me that exception while debugging.
3. Is this the right way to use static methods? I was confident that it was the way, but as I didn't have clue on what went wrong, I even did a search on “how to call a static method from another class in java”
4. rss manager might not have started, I checked it using osgi console and it was active and running.
And what was the real problem.
DBSizeChecker class was in the 'internal' folder in the OSGI bundle. If you don't know what that is, in OSGI we do not expose internal classes to the outside. Thats is why we didn't get a error from IDE but from runtime. In runtime OSGI comes in to action. This is basics in OSGI, but those matters.
This problem showed me how important is it to have someone to help when you get errors. This error is due to something simple but still I didn't get it, but when I showed it to a senior (kasun) he nailed the error in a minute.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/307 | CSG Pedestrian Gate
The CSG Pedestrian Gate is a durable, self-closing gate that can be field configured to swing either in a single direction or in a dual direction. The gate provides a 36″ opening, and can allow easy passage for grocery carts, strollers and wheel chairs.
The CSG Pedestrian Gate can be used in all types of environments. The Gates can be installed as stand-alone or in conjunction with turnstiles and modular posts and railings. The Stainless steel finish can be installed outdoors.
The CSG gate can be configured to swing 90 degrees in either direction, or configured to operate with a 180 degree swing. The gate has a rugged gravity closure mechanism that smoothly closes the gate.
Product Specs
Finish: Chrome Finish or Stainless Steel Finish
Height: 40″
Width: 42″ |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/317 | Jumbie Records
Saakumu Dance Troupe
Photos from Ghana
back to Jumbie home Saakumu Home Bernard Woma Ensemble
A Lead Dancer Amember of SDA in Piina Bernard Perform at Kukur Bagr Chiefs Lead the Dancing in Fielmuo
Traditional Bine dancers at Fielmuo Two girls perform 2005 Two guys perform 2005 Women and Men dancing 2005
Women dancing at Kukur Bagr Women shoing their costumes SDA Performs at Kukur Bagr SDA Performs Kpanlogo
SDA play Kapnlogo 2005 SDA Doing Kpanlogo SDA lady dancer 2005 A pair of dancers doing Kaari 2005
Chetu Dancer at Kukur Bagr Dancers front 2005 Fielmuo Bewaa groups 2005 Fielmuo Performers 2005
Other Bewaa Groups at Fielmuo 2005 Other groups at Fielmuo Festival Partner Dance 2005 SDA at Fielmuo
SDA at Kukur Bagr 2005 SDA Dancers in Fielmuo 2005 The Liga Tree1 TMP12 |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/319 | Balancing Love, Sex and Faith: Eleven Questions
Note: click HERE to download a copy of this worksheet.
Married ___ Committed partnership ___ Years together in current union ___
This is my 1st ___ 2nd ___ 3rd ___ intimate adult relationship
Male ___ Female ___
Your Age: 20 to 29 ___ 30 to 39 ___ 40 to 49 ___ 50 to 59 ___ 60 to 69 ___ 70+ ___
Next, answer the following questions thoughtfully and honestly:
RATING SCALE: 1 = No, never, not at all 3 = Maybe, either/or, not sure 5 = Yes, often, the max
___ Do you believe in a lifelong commitment, for better or worse?
___ Is sexual desire in your marriage unequal?
___ Are you the partner who wants more sexual intimacy?
___ Are you the partner who is satisfied with the way things are?
___ Do you struggle to discuss sex with your spouse?
___ Do you believe it is sinful or taboo to discuss sex with your partner?
___ Do you wish the matter would just go away without feeling blame or guilt?
___ Do you believe that a marriage can be both erotic and true to your faith?
___ If you could confess without anyone knowing the truth, would you be just as happy if you never had to have sex again?
What would you say is the right amount of sexual intimacy for your relationship?
___3x a week ___ 1x a week ___ 2x a month ___4-5x a year ___ Seldom
How would your partner answer this question?
Now, look at the questions you rated 1 or 5 (or perhaps 2 or 4). Do you see a pattern? Are you more aware or feeling strongly about something? Process that information. Use it to communicate. What can you say or do that will benefit both your partner and yourself? Also, try asking your partner to answer these same questions!
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One thought on “Balancing Love, Sex and Faith: Eleven Questions |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/333 | Thursday, 26 February 2009
Chocolate Research Day 4
Ok, time to simulate something.
It's a very simple setup simulation, only a particle fluids emitter and one object collider.
The most important part it's tweak the "viscosity" attribute fluid.
Chocolate in fact it's very viscosity liquid.
I think that it's a good start.
Next step, add subsurface scattering to the base shader.
Monday, 23 February 2009
Chocolate Research Day 3
Time to add new feature to my shader, basically some change and randomization on the dots shape, and expose the rim shader control, created by another network.
The new network:
The new shader:
Next step will be set the base simulation with fluids.
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Chocolate Research Day 2
Today, i've made some changes to basic shader, basically for create some random dots on base Chocolate color.
This is my new VOP Shader Network:
And the new render test:
Monday, 16 February 2009
Chocolate Research Day 1
OK, let's start.
For today my target will be build the base of shader, and the base parameter, very simple, and add the various features next time.
Usually i build the base shader on a simple primitive, like sphere, for focalize only colors.
The shader network for now it's very simple.
I did that in Houdini, because my research on Dynamic Fluid will be focalized on Houdini v.9.5.
But the shader teory it's the same, for all softwares.
This is the network in VEX Editor
This is the simple result
In 3d scene i have 3 standard spotlight and the standard lighting configuration (key, fill, rim).
For find a right way, i need to draw some notes on images, i find it very usefull.
So, now i have all ingredients for the next day.
At beginning was...
Hi all, my names's Leonardo and this Blog will be a sort of notepad for personal note in CGI stuff.My first personal research will be recreate liquid chocolat with particles and fluid dynamic, and then build a material (shader) with the right aspect.
First of all, i need some pictures or photograph like reference, for start my research.
So, google image can help me =)
Like that for example:
Or that...
Or that...
Very good stuff... will be perfect for my research, very good start i think... |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/349 | Friday, September 28, 2007
More Fun With "Persons" [Jay]
Here is an interesting story about what can happen when personhood becomes the standard of rights bearing rather than moral value determined by our human nature. Wesley Smith writes a great post about a group seeking to legally identify a chimpanzee as a person.
The term is so meaningless that animals can be argued to be persons while unborn humans are excluded. This is not the argument of one fringe group. Singer utilitarians endorse the rights of animals over humans under certain conditions dependent upon the utility of the human in question.
HT: Second Hand Smoke
Person is not the Point [Jay]
In this post by Dr. Allen Stairs at AskPhilosophers, he responds to a question about an inconsistency between objecting to capital punishment on the grounds that you may be killing an innocent person, and affirming the right to abortion though the act may be killing an innocent person. Dr. Stair’s response hinges on pointing out that in one instance the question of the guilt or innocence of a determined person is the central question, and the other the actual determination of personhood is the question. He appears to think that this draws a clear distinction between the two issues.
His answer is a bit deceptive though. He frames the abortion issue as hinging on the identity of the fetus as a person and he develops a bit of straw man by behaving as if this was the claim of the pro-lifer in general.
"The question presumably isn't whether the fetus is biologically alive; it surely is. The question (or part of it anyway) is what this living being is. One common way of putting it is to ask whether the fetus is a person -- a being with the same moral standing as you or me."
He calls it the Ronald Reagan argument. My favorite line is where he states:
"Whether or not a fetus is a person seems to be what someone once called an essentially contested question: there may be no straightforward fact to be had."
This answer is misleading. Even if I am willing to stipulate the differentiation between the two objections; (1) Capital Punishment is morally wrong because we risk killing an innocent person. (2) Abortion is morally wrong because we risk killing an innocent person. The wrong of (1) is that we are certainly killing a person who may or may not have committed a capital offense. The wrong of (2) is that we are certainly killing an innocent life that may or may not be a person. Therefore the objections are of a different nature and do not demonstrate an inconsistency in the logic of the pro-choice capital punishment objector.
The problem in the answer is that he assumes too much. The question was framed using the word person and Dr. Stairs takes this allowance and runs with it without clarification. He is absolutely correct in stating that there may be no straightforward fact to be had on identifying a fetus as a person. That is not due to the nebulous nature of the fetus, though. It is because the term person and the qualities of personhood are themselves nebulous. The question of the humanity of the unborn is the central argument of the pro-life position. The personhood of the fetus is the retreat of the abortion rights defender since both the evidence of life and the biological humanity of the unborn are uncontested facts. What else can they claim the unborn lacks if they wish to protect the “right” to abort them? They may be alive, they may be human, but they are not human persons.
Here is the oft-repeated tricky part for those who make this claim. What then constitutes the difference between a human being and a human person? The answers are wide and range from the arbitrarily absurd (breathing air) to the well articulated and clever (certain cerebral and cognitive developmental events). There is no clear answer to the question. But it is not acceptable for the defender of this position or any trained professional to then turn around and say, “Well, it sure is hard to determine personhood so the issue is irreconcilable.” In a different post, Dr. Stairs abdicates himself and all others from any responsibility to explain the determining point at all.
"It's hard to see why we'd have to have a sharp answer to the question of when something acquires rights or becomes a person, or becomes depressed or becomes fluent in a language or for that matter becomes a tree, or becomes bald... for it to be okay to say: "It's not there yet."
Personhood is their pet argument, not ours. They developed it to defend themselves against the growing evidence that other factors were settled. The unborn are unquestionably alive and biologically human. We argue that they are human beings by nature and deserve inclusion in the natural rights of the human family as articulated in the Declaration of Independence. That others arbitrarily decided that they are not persons without any ability to clearly explain what they mean by that does not make the identity of the unborn a question mark. It only calls into question the strength of this defense.
Notice that there are two built in back-up arguments as well. In stating that the issue is in part about the personhood of the unborn he leaves open the alternative of granting the personhood of the unborn but then arguing that the bodily autonomy of the woman weighs most heavily in the moral question. He dabbles in differentiating the difference between the two as relevant to the innocent present suffering of the person facing execution and the lack of suffering of the fetus:
"Abortion holds no such horror from the fetus's point of view, because the fetus doesn't have a point of view. It has no conception of its future, let alone of itself."
This is a complete whiff. The question is on the morality of what we are doing to (a) the person being executed and (b) the unborn life being aborted. I hope that Dr. Stairs is not suggesting that if we are capable of psychologically or medically creating a cognitive condition where by the innocent person facing execution did not suffer in any way that it would change the morality of unjustly killing them. If not, I am not certain how the presence of anguish and suffering weighs on the matter as to our treatment of the unborn.
The questioner might or might not have meant to use the term person in the question. The answer hinges on a trained professional philosopher not clarifying his terms. Those of us who argue in this area are keenly aware of the importance of word choice. It is our responsibility to clarify the different terms and the impact these terms have on the arguments to those asking direct questions. We must assume them to be less familiar with the nuances of language. If we do not, we are either being sloppy or intentionally vague.
A few Links [SK]
1. Daniel Bonevac writes on divisive chruch-growth strategies, and how to detect them in your own church. Meanwhile, Breakpoint Blog has a discussion on why modern evangelicalism is viewed poorly. Though neither post is about pro-life issues per se, my own experience is that many churches who buy into seeker-friendly formats stop talking about abortion (and the gospel). That's not to say everything contemporary is bad, only that market-driven churches tend to preach, well, what the market wants to hear. And that market aint into abortion talks.
2. Albert Mohler nails it in God, Politics, and Politicians. A politician's defense of abortion based on privatized "faith" can't stand up to scrutiny.
3. Serge, you don't need to fret: I'm not suicidal over the Dodger meltdown--I'm used to it. Shucks, it's been 19 years since the last meanningful Dodger moment.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Faith, Science, and Stem Cells: What if There are a Bunch of Swamis? (Part 5) [Serge]
I'm certainly not one to visit a psychic, but imagine one day you drove past a building advertising a psychic with a crystal ball. A few blocks later, another psychic has a sign in the window that states "we have ten crystal balls!". The question is, who is better at predicting the truth?
Clearly, if a crystal ball is not an effective way of predicting the future, then ten crystal balls will be no better than one crystal ball in telling you next week lottery numbers. This also means that going to psychics and playing the lottery are unwise choices, but that must wait until another post.
Using this same logic, if one scientist makes a prediction that is not based on solid evidence, then having a large number of scientists agreeing with the prediction is no greater indicator that the prediction will come true. The important aspect about any prediction about the future is the available evidence that one is using for making such a claim, not the number of individuals that agree with you. Even if those individuals happen to wear white lab coats. It is important to remember that these scientists are not making scientific predictions - they are expressing their faith-based hopes. They are not looking into their microscopes for the data that supports these predictions, but instead are consulting their crystal balls.
For example, here is a letter given to Congress by the American Association for the Advancement of Science regarding the debate on embryonic stem cells:
The scientific consensus is that embryonic stem cell research is an extremely promising field of research that may lead to the development of more effective treatments for devastating conditions like diabetes, spinal cord injuries, and Parkinson’s disease.
A mentor of mine likes to remind us that the absence of consensus does not mean the absence of truth. Likewise, simply because a certain group, with preconceived ideologies regarding science, agree on a faith-based idea, it does not indicate either a scientific truth or even a scientific theory.
Just like the crystal ball example, we should look at the history of such predictions especially in regards to the incredible cures that are promised "just around the corner" as long as we give them lots of money. The examples of predictions by scientists that have not panned out are numerous and easy to find. Every single time you read about a drug that needs to be recalled should remind us that there was a time in which the "consensus medical opinion" supported the use of the drug. Every so often we hear about a potential cure for cancer - yet even today our main strategy for treating cancer is basically unchanged for the past 40 years. We either cut it out or poison it.
This is not to say we should have a completely skeptical view - but we should pause and investigate when confronted with miraculous claims. We should look at the advantages and challenges of any form of medical research. We should not only examine the ethics of the practice itself but the future impact of that practice on humanity. The faith-based predictions of any number of scientists does not indicate science. Hope is good, but self-serving false hope is cruel, when it comes either from a crystal ball or the mouth of a "scientist".
Serge on Issues Etc. [Serge]
Todd Wilken of Issues etc interviewed me yesterday regarding my article on the bodily autonomy argument for abortion rights in the Christian Research Journal. It wasn't easy changing gears so quickly (the interview started about 5 minutes after I saw my last patient) but Todd is quite a gracious host. The program often focuses on apologetics and the list of those they have had on (including Scott a number of times) is very humbling. Anyone interested can listen to it here.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Beckwith #7: Problems with Thomson's 'Equal Reasonableness' [SK]
Previous Posts on Beckwith's Defending Life:
#1 Overview of major themes
#2 The nature of moral reasoning
#3 What Roe said and did, part 1
#4 Roe, part 2: Blackmun undercuts his own case
#5 Roe, part 3: Blackmun's viability errors
#6: Metaphysics and abortion debate
(Note: National Review has just published its own take on Defending Life.)
Frank concludes chapter 3 with a discussion of Judith Jarvis Thomson's equal reasonableness defense of abortion. Thomson, famous for conceding the humanity of the unborn in her 1971 "violinist" essay (which Frank deals with in chapter 7), concedes the reasonableness of the pro-life position. However, that does not mean she thinks abortion is wrong. To the contrary, she thinks those who favor abortion rights are equally reasonable. She writes, "while I know of no conclusive reason for denying that fertilized eggs have a right to life, I also know of no conclusive reason for asserting that they do have a right to life." In other words, those who reject a reasonable pro-life argument are not unreasonable for doing so. Thus, the issue of fetal personhood is up for grabs with no side clearly winning the day. Given this impasse, Thomson says the woman's liberty to abort must prevail. "Severe constraints on liberty may not be imposed in the name of considerations that the constrained are not unreasonable in rejecting."
Frank points out three problems with Thomson's argument. First, she does not adequately assess the strongest pro-life argument when she claims the abortion-choice one is equally reasonable. Her presentation of the pro-life view amounts to this: The fertilized egg contains a biological code that will govern its entire future development, therefore, it is already a human being with a right to life.
Though popular on the street, Thomson's summary of the pro-life argument ignores the sophisticated case some philosophers and apologists make for the full humanity of the unborn based on the substance view of human persons. That view states that a human being is intrinsically valuable in virtue of the kind of thing it is, a substance with a rational nature that maintains its identity through time and change. Put simply, the adult you are today is identical to the fetus you once were. Thus, if you are intrinsically valuable today, you were back then as well. (In short, you are valuable by nature not function.) Thomson makes no attempt to engage this metaphysically rich pro-life argument. (She's also wrong about the embryo being a "fertilized egg"--sperm and egg cease to exist at the completion of the conception process and give rise to a new human organism.)
Second, it is not unreasonable to reject Thomson's position. Consider Thomson's primary claim: "Severe constraints on liberty may not be imposed in the name of considerations that the constrained are not unreasonable in rejecting." Why should anyone believe that? She never tells us. She merely asserts it. Moreover, Thomson wants to use the law to constrain the liberty of pro-life lawmakers and activists who seek to legislate protection for the unborn--even though, as she concedes, it is not unreasonable for them to reject the abortion-choice view in favor of the pro-life one.
Third, Thomson never tells us why "liberty" is the highest good when all sides (we'll assume for the sake of discussion) have equally reasonable arguments. Indeed, if it's true that no one position--abortion-choice or pro-life--wins the day on the moral status of the unborn, this is an excellent reason not to permit abortion, because the odds are at least 50/50 that an abortion results in the death of a human entity with a full right to life. Given those odds, we should err on the side of life, not liberty. Frank provides the following example:
"Imagine the police are able to identify someone as a murderer with only one piece of evidence: his DNA matches the DNA of the genetic material found on the victim. The police subsequently arrest him, and he is convicted and sentenced to death. Suppose, however, that it is discovered several months later that the murderer has an identical twin brother who was also at the scene of the crime and obviously has the same DNA as his brother on death row. This means that there is a 50/50 chance that the man on death row is the murderer. Would the state be justified in executing this man? Surely not, for there is a 50/50 chance of executing an innocent person. Consequently, if it is wrong to kill the man on death row, it is then wrong to kill the unborn when the arguments for its full humanity are just as reasonable as the arguments against it."
Finally, Thomson's own "liberty" principle--namely, "severe constraints on liberty may not be imposed in the name of considerations that the constrained are not unreasonable in rejecting--collapses into absurdity with Frank's shooting range illustration:
"Suppose that there is a shooting range in Central Texas, located only 1,000 feet from the playground of a local elementary school. The county commission, at the request of concerned parents and teachers, prohibits the shooting range to operate when the students at the school are on the playground, because there is a 1 in 100 chance a bullet will ricochet off one of the targets and hit a child. Imagine the marksmen who practice at the range, with the support of the range's ownership, employ Thomson's principle to rebut the commission's policy: "Severe constraints on liberty may not be imposed in the name of considerations that the constrained are not unreasonable in rejecting." The response on the part of the commission would likely be: "Yes, your principle may be correct, but you are in fact unreasonable in rejecting the policy's constraint on your liberty, for reason requires that you accept a public policy to protect the innocent from unjust harm even if there is only a 1 in 100 chance of it occurring."
Science, Faith, and Stem Cells: Science or Swami? (Part 4) [Serge]
Others in the Series
I've been busy for a bit, presently mourning the fact that my beloved Tigers (and Scott's Dodgers) will not be in the post season this year. Yet I was confident that there would be no shortage of examples of scientists making faith-based statements when I returned. Of course, I was not disappointed.
The latest scientist to get his faith-based views aired as "science" is veterinarian Dolly cloner Ian Wilmut. Ian tends to make a lot of claims, and I won't deny that his use of SCNT to clone a sheep was quite an accomplishment, but see if you can detect the science in this story:
THE CREATOR of Dolly the sheep has predicted that treatments using stem cells could become as common as antibiotics.
Professor Ian Wilmut, director of the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at Edinburgh University, said the first of these revolutionary therapies is expected to be available in around a decade and will develop rapidly over the coming years.
Wilmut is looking into his Crystal ball and making bold predictions. Predictions themselves are useless unless they have some evidence behind them. Does Wilmut offer any new research that would indicate that "revolutionary therapies" would be around in a decade? Is there any indication that the problems with ESCR and human cloning are in any danger of being overcome? Is there any accountability in the future regarding these predictions? There is not. The media simply reports the unchallenged words of a scientist and claims they are science. His predictions are mere faith-based assertions.
Wilmut pointed out that researchers around the world were already considering the use of stem cells to repair corneas, bones and specific cases of spinal cord injury.
"New therapies are just the same as medicines, they have to be tested and shown to be effective and safe," he said. "So it will be a small number of cases and a small number of treatments first, which will grow over the years and the decades.
Lets do some math. The first mammal embryonic stem cell was isolated in 1981 from a mouse. The first human embryonic stem cell was isolated in 1998. That means we have worked with ESCs for 26 years with mammals and 9 years with humans. So far, we have had not one cure of a disease in animals (without significant complications) and not one attempted treatment in human beings. Yet Wilmut asserts that stem cell cures will be as readily available as antibiotics in a mere ten years. As if we can simply stroll down to a neighborhood pharmacy and pick out our newly cloned embryos that will make us a "repair kit" to use at our convenience.
Wilmut may be lacking ethical standards, but his faith is fully intact.
HT: Wesley Smith
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
New Book on Defending the Faith [SK]
It's called Reasons for Faith, and yours truly contributed a chapter entitled, "Abortion, Research Cloning, and Beyond: New Challenges for Pro-Lifers in the Brave New World."
Here are two quotes from that chapter.
Regarding ESCR:
Until recently, ESCR advocates have flatly denied any intention of implanting cloned embryos in order to harvest tissues or organs from later term fetuses—a practice known as fetus farming. But researchers are growing impatient. Stem cells from early embryos have yet to deliver one promised cure and their tendency to form dangerous tumors could render them therapeutically useless. Indeed, throughout the scientific community, there’s a growing concern that usable cells will not be obtained unless cloned humans can be gestated well past the embryonic stage. Fearing a public backlash, big biotech is trying to legalize fetus farming on the sly with a series of phony cloning bans. In each case, what’s banned is the live birth of cloned human beings, not their creation for destructive research. And just when you thought the lies couldn’t get worse, cloning advocates are busy telling Americans that cloning is not cloning, that embryos are not really embryos, that morals are mere preferences, and that some humans are not really persons. If you think this is all science fiction, look no further than January 4, 2004....
Indeed, experiments are already underway in which cloned cow embryos are implanted, gestated to the early or late fetal stage, then killed so their organ tissues can be harvested. Among the many benefits, cells extracted from later-term fetuses are stable, allowing researchers to get around the tumor problem associated embryo cells. “We hope to use this technology in the future to treat patients with diverse diseases,” said Robert Lanza, who co-authored one of the cow studies. Legally, he’s got a green light: The New Jersey law—and others styled after it—permit this same cloned organ farming to be done in humans.
Re: Bodily rights arguments:
During our debate at U.C. Davis in June of 2006, Dr. Meredith Williams, who performs some abortions, repeatedly called abortion tragic and said that she, too, wanted to reduce the practice provided no laws were passed restricting it. But why abortion is tragic and why she wants to reduce it she couldn’t say. Seriously, if the unborn is just a "parasite" as she claimed more than once during our debate, isn’t removing that parasite a great event rather than a tragic one? The more abortions the better! She can’t have it both ways.
Throughout our exchange, Dr. Williams couldn't decide whether women had an absolute right to bodily autonomy or not. For the first part of our exchange, she more or less argued they did. However, during the cross x, she backed off that claim when I pressed her with this question provided by physician Rich Poupard:
"Let's say a woman has intractable nausea and vomiting, and insists on taking thalidomide to help her symptoms. After having explained the horrific risks of birth defects that have arisen due to this medication, she still insists on taking it based on the fact that the fetus has no right to her body anyway. After being refused thalidomide from her physician, she acquires some and takes it, resulting in her child developing no arms. Do you believe that she did anything wrong? Would you excuse her actions based on her right to bodily autonomy? The fetus after all is an uninvited guest, and has no right even to life let alone an environment free from pathogens."
When Dr. Williams said the woman was wrong to do that, I replied: "So if the mother wants to harm her unborn child with drug use that's wrong, but if she wants to kill it with elective abortion that's fine?" Many of those present immediately grasped the absurdity of her position.
The New Atheism: Five Links that Help [SK]
I'll post more links on this topic as I find them.
Of Tobacco and Unborn Killng [Jay]
With all due respect to Joni Hirsch Blackman, the author of this article in the Daily, but the complete misunderstanding of the moral issue of abortion articulated in this piece demonstrates a lack of sophistication that goes beyond mere relativism. I was so stunned when I saw how JivinJehoshaphat summarized the article that I almost did not believe someone could get this sort of silliness past a proper editor. This is really a recurring theme in journalism today. Obviously, editors are no longer taking the effort to be fully informed or editorial review is so weak as to be laughable. That is the case at our local paper, The Atlanta Journal/Constitution. Cynthia Tucker has published a defense of her editorial style claiming that she gives individuals the opportunity to publish their opinions even when she knows they are factually inaccurate. This is a measure of fairness. As a result, it is impossible to trust anything you read in the editorial pages of our paper. Conservatives and liberals alike produce the most ridiculous distortions and mistakes as the AJC sends them on into print. Who cares if is right or wrong, it is all opinion.
That is not even fine when people are discussing the various methods of stimulating the economy, but it is absolutely irresponsible when it comes to issues of bio-ethics. Small mistakes in our reasoning can lead people to believe that whole classes of human beings ought to be freely killed. Zero margin of error forces us to be more careful.
Which leads us back to this article. Let us begin with the beginning:
Tobacco kills.
No one disputes that, yet tobacco is sold in countless stores throughout the country and in our community. In fact, there is a tobacco shop not far from where I live in Naperville, and I -- someone who has watched people die because of tobacco -- sneer when I drive by.
It's tempting, but I'd never harass the people who go in there or try to have the store shut down -- even though the whole purpose for the place being there is to sell something that eventually will kill whoever is using it.
Tobacco universally kills everyone who uses it, huh? Do I really have to respond to that. Lets just call it gross factual error and move on.
Tobacco is legal and the store has a right to be there. So instead, I, and others who feel the way I do, try to educate people about the dangers of tobacco.
That's not good enough for those opposed to abortion. They not only voice their opposition, they want everyone to be "protected" from a new health clinic in Aurora near Naperville offering many necessary health care services besides abortion.
Yikes! So if this is not a bad analogy I am unaware of what one is. The lethality of abortion on the unborn if done correctly is near 100%. The unborn are involuntarily slaughtered. The abortion doctor is not killing the unborn as a by-product of another action. It is the job he/she is paid to do. Find the unborn child, kill it, and remove it from the mother’s body. I can see how Blackmun confuses this with a tobacco shop where people buy pipe products, cigars, and cigarettes. I know people that smoke an occasional pipe with the approval of their doctor and suffer no ill effects. I know others that smoke cigars when they can get their hands on a good one. They do not die as a result of this. The tobacco shop owner can easily sell products to adults that may or may not use them responsibly. If they abuse the product, it will most likely hurt them. It will not necessarily kill them. How on earth is the tobacco shop analogous to the abortion provider? One always intentionally terminates a life that had no protection or alternative. The other sells products to adults who choose to use those products either responsibly and in moderation or to excess and the detriment of their health.
This shows how deeply rooted the misunderstanding of moral arguments is in our culture. “Hey, you do not like abortions, well I hate cigarettes but you don’t see me standing on the corner protesting. I think soft drinks are evil, too.” In this context, evil loses all moral force and is reduced to statements of preference. Here you see it on all of its rhetorical glory.
In point of fact, we are brought back to the same question that always hangs over us on this issue. What are the unborn? If they are innocent human beings then the analogy that has been made is insulting. Our moral outrage over tobacco shops and abortion facilities ought not to be comparable. It is simply a greater moral offense by far to destroy innocent human life for elective reasons as a profession than it is to sell an unhealthy product to adults. If the unborn are not innocent human beings enjoying natural rights that include the right to life, then killing them is no moral offense at all and the tobacco shop is far worse. One of those positions is true, but the truth of either position is not dependent upon our preferences. It is objective.
I will not comment on the pastors and clergy that are defending this abortion facility. I will not go into the fact that Planned Parenthood took a deceptive route to acquiring the zoning permits and licenses to open this facility in question. Today I am merely angry with the editorial boards that are willing to shill for Planned Parenthood by publishing utter and complete nonsense from authors with no sense of duty to know what they are talking about. This issue is just too serious for child like analogies to be bandied about by writers trying to meet a deadline.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
The Pro-Life Pastor in the 21st Century [SK]
Dear Scott,
Friday, September 21, 2007
Why Counsel for one thing but not the other? [Jay]
Why is it wrong to abort children because of minor genetic anomalies that may or may not present themselves physically during the course of a lifetime? On what grounds does the pro-choice advocate object to this practice? If it were discovered that a brief counseling session with the parents reduces the chances that they will choose abortion as a solution, why would we encourage counseling on genetic or medical issues but condemn it for social or economic issues? All of these questions are brought up by William Saletan’s brief post in his Human Nature at The Slate.
Sometimes the slippery slopes of the choice position reveal themselves all on their own and it is a welcome counter argument to those who claim that pro-life arguments like the SLED acronym are making exaggerated claims. When the value of a human being is determined by virtue of his/her utility, then all human life is in danger of running afoul of those who ultimately define what constitutes useful life. The answer is simple, either human life has value by virtue of its nature or others decide your value by virtue of what you can do or offer. It is personal. Unborn human life is a member of our human family and the more we foster an environment that is dangerous to them, the more we cultivate a culture that is dangerous to us all.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Preference, not Circumstances or Morality [Jay]
Beckwith #6: Metaphysics and Abortion Debate [SK]
Previous posts in this series:
#1 Overview of major themes
#2 The nature of moral reasoning
#3 What Roe said and did, part 1
#4 Roe, part 2
#5 Roe, part 3: Blackmun's viability errors
I'm away in Grand Rapids (speaking at four schools and a crisis pregnancy center banquet), so I'll get right to the point.
Chapter 3 of Defending Life may be the most important section of the book. (If you don't yet have a copy, the main argument can be found here.)
As Frank explains, the nature of the debate is such that all positions on abortion presuppose a metaphysical view of human value, and for this reason, the pro-choice position is not entitled to a privileged philosophical standing in our legal framework. At issue is not which view of abortion has metaphysical underpinnings and which does not, but which metaphysical view of human value is correct, pro-life or abortion-choice?
The pro-life view is that humans are intrinsically valuable in virtue of the kind of thing they are. True, they differ immensely with respect to talents, accomplishments, and degrees of development, but they are nonetheless equal because they all have the same human nature. Their right to life comes to be when they come to be (conception). The abortion-choice view is that humans have value (and hence, rights) not in virtue of the kind of thing they are, but only because of an acquired property such as self- consciousness or emotional awareness. Because the early fetus lacks the immediate capacity to exercise these properties, it is not a person with rights.
Notice the abortion-choicer is doing the abstract work of metaphysics. That is, he is using philosophical reflection to advance a disputed view of human persons--namely, that humans are valuable by function not nature. Hence, the abortion-choicer's attempt to disqualify the pro-life view from public policy based on its alleged metaphysical underpinnings works equally well to disqualify his own view. Why, then, is it okay for the abortion-choicer to legislate his own position on abortion but not okay for pro-lifers to legislate theirs?
Here's the question he ought to ponder: Which metaphysical worldview better explains human dignity and human equality? Is it the one that grounds human value in our common human nature or the one that grounds it in accidental traits that come and go within the course of one’s life-span? That’s the real issue at stake with abortion/ESCR.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Beckwith #5: Roe Part 3 [SK]
Previous posts on Defending Life:
#1 Overview of major themes
#2 The nature of moral reasoning
#3 What Roe said and did, part 1
#4 Roe, part 2
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Memo to Fred: Fight on Principle or Lose [SK]
Fred Thompson is now the latest GOP candidate to stumble over the moral logic of the pro-life position. He says he's withholding judgement on the Terri Schiavo case, suffice to say that issues like it should be left to local governments.
Perhaps Fred was just confused. If so, he's hardly alone. Indeed, the pro-lifers critiquing him better take stock of their own rhetoric.
For example, the most common remark I hear from pro-lifers about the Schiavo case is, "It's a shame they killed Terri--she might have gotten better." Or, when speaking of PVS patients in general, the reply goes, "You just never know, they might come out of it like that guy who was in a coma for 19 years."
Michael Schiavo, of course, insisted Terri would never want to live in a disabled state. Well, maybe she did and maybe she didn't.
Who cares?
Seriously, since when is it morally acceptable to kill those who wish to die? That's the question that should have been asked. Suppose, for example, Terri was well enough to request that a doctor kill her. Would the state of Florida allow it? No way. State laws do not recognize your right to kill yourself, much less have someone else do it for you.
If human beings have inherent worth and dignity (which is the foundation for the pro-life position Fred Thompson allegedly espouses), the right to life cannot be wished away by anyone, including disabled persons who want out or local governments who want you dead. You don't cease to be human just because you want to be killed. That's what's meant by saying a right is "inalienable."
Maybe our "pro-life" politicians should stop trying to out-smart The Declaration of Independence.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
My Challenge to Christian Leaders: Preach and Equip [SK]
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Beckwith #4: Roe, Part 2 [SK]
Previous posts on Beckwith's Defending Life:
#1: Overview of major themes
#2: The nature of moral reasoning
#3: What Roe v. Wade said and did
LA Times and the "Unfair" Missouri Law [Jay]
Here is the first paragraph:
Monday, September 10, 2007
Beckwith #3: What Roe v. Wade Said and Did, Part One [SK]
Previous posts on Francis Beckwith's Defending Life:
#1: Overview of major themes
#2: The nature of moral reasoning
In chapter 2, Frank turns his attention to the most controversial Supreme Court ruling to date, Roe v. Wade (and its companion case, Doe v. Bolton). The chapter answers three key questions: 1) What did the Court actually conclude in Roe? 2) What was the Court's reasoning in the case? 3) How did the case shape future Court decisions, such as Casey vs. Planned Parenthood? The short answer is the Roe Court concluded that a woman has a right to abort for any reason or no reason through all nine months of pregnancy and it relied on a faulty history of abortion law to arrive at that extreme conclusion. Moreover, the premises put in place by Roe were later reinforced and made worse by the Casey decision.
(If you are still awaiting your copy of Defending Life, you can still follow the discussion: Frank provides a complete legal analysis of these three questions in the Liberty University Law Review.)
Regarding question #1, The Court in Roe struck down the abortion laws of all 50 states and concluded that a woman may obtain an abortion for any reason she deems fit through all nine months of pregnancy. That is, the Court mandated a policy of abortion-on-demand that no state anticipated prior to the ruling. True, Justice Blackmun did institute a trimester system which he claimed balanced the interests of the State, woman, and fetus, but a quick glance at Roe and Doe shows that alleged "balance" is a sham.
During the first three months of pregnancy (1st trimester), the abortion decision is the woman's alone. Under no circumstances may the state move to protect fetal life. The same is true for the second trimester, where abortion may only be regulated to safeguard the woman, not her unborn offspring. During the third trimester, the state has a compelling interest in fetal life (now that the offspring is viable) and may--if it so chooses--pass legislation protecting the unborn. However, there's a huge catch: The proposed legislation must not interfere with the woman's "health." In Doe, the Court 's definition of "health" is so broad you can drive a mack truck through it. Accordingly, "health" must be defined "in light of all factors--physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age--relevant to the well-being of the patient. All these factors relate to health." (Doe v. Bolton, 410 at 179, 192) Given all pregnancies impact a woman's emotional and family situation, the court's "health" provision has the practical effect of legalizing abortion up until birth.
Indeed, a 1983 U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee concluded that "no significant legal barriers of any kind whatsoever exist today in the United States for a woman to obtain an abortion for any reason during any stage of her pregnancy." (Report, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, on Senate Resolution 3, 98th Congress, 98-149, 7 June 1983, p. 6.)
As to how the Court arrived at its conclusion (question #2), the answer from legal scholars--including many who support legalized abortion at some level--is clear: Justice Blackmun relied on an extremely flawed history of U.S. abortion law written by an attorney for The National Abortion Rights Action League, Cyril Means. In short, Blackmun had to rewrite history to overcome the fact that by 1869, nearly every state and federal territory had laws restricting abortion. The stated purpose of those laws, which coincided with advances in medical science, was primarily to protect the unborn. These laws had not been seriously challenged prior to the late 1960s, so how was he now going to strike them as unconstitutional?
After reading Means, Blackmun concluded that 1) prior to the 1850s, the common law generally did not restrict abortion before quickening, and 2) when abortion restrictions were later passed in states and federal territories, their primary intent was to protect the mother from unsafe medical procedures, not affirm the right to life of her unborn offspring.
Both conclusions were false. True, common law in the early 1800s did allow for abortion before "quickening," but that's only because the primitive embryology in play at that time could not determine if life was present until the mother felt the child move. As John Warwick Montgomery points out, lawmakers were saying as soon as you have life, you must have laws protecting that life. In no way did the common law or individual state laws allow for abortion after life was present. Indeed, the most important burst of anti-abortion legislation took place in the late 1860s, just as the science of embryology established the humanity of the unborn from conception, not quickening.
Moreover, Blackmun was just flat wrong about the intent of these laws. Although the mother's safety was a secondary consideration, anti-abortion lawmakers, relying on the advice of physicians, made clear their primiary intent to stop the "unwarranted" destruction of human life.
In my next post, I'll deal with question #3--How Roe shaped subsequent court decisions--as well as why Blackmun's appeal to the 14th amendment fails.
Beckwith: Defending Life, #2 [SK]
Previous posts in this series:
Defending Life #1
In my first post on Frank's book Defending Life, I presented the core argument he defends:
To refute this standard pro-life argument, you must do one of two things. 1) You must show that the argument is not valid, meaning the conclusion does not follow logically from the premises. 2) You must demonstrate that the argument is unsound, meaning the truth of one or more of the premises can be falsified.
In chapter 1, Frank deals with the nature of moral reasoning. Specifically, he notes the tendency of some abortion-choicers to skip the hard work of refuting the pro-life argument by changing the kind of claim the pro-lifer makes. That is, instead of refuting the pro-life advocate's moral claim about the nature of the unborn and the wrongness of elective abortion, they simply change it to a preference one they like better.
Suppose I said, "Chocolate ice-cream is better than vanilla." You might well reply (rightly), "Ha! That’s true for you but I like vanilla better." In this case, I’m really telling you what I prefer, not what’s right or wrong, true or false. Problem is, many people today confuse claims about ice cream with claims about truth. They simply don’t know the difference between moral claims and preference ones.
Consider the popular bumper sticker: "Don’t like abortion? Don’t have one!" Notice what’s going on here. The pro-lifer makes a moral claim: "Elective abortion is wrong because it unjustly takes the life of a defenseless human being." The abortion-choice advocate responds by changing that moral claim into a preference one he likes better, as if the pro-lifer were talking about what she likes rather than what’s right, regardless of one's preferences. Now, perhaps the pro-lifer is mistaken about her claim (we will grant for the sake of discussion), but we should never confuse the type of claim she is making. She’s not saying she dislikes abortion (maybe she likes it); she’s saying its wrong even if she prefers it. To refute this moral claim, abortion-choicers must present evidence the pro-lifer is wrong rather than changing the type of claim the she is making.
Why do abortion-choicers confuse moral claims with preference ones? The culprit is "relativism," the belief that right and wrong are determined by one's own personal preferences or one's own society.
Relativism fails for several reasons. 1) Cultures may not differ as much as we think. Sometimes the differences are factual not moral. For example, a co-worker may agree with pro-lifers that humans have intrinsic value, yet support early abortion. He does so because he thinks that the unborn are not distinctly human until later in pregnancy. He’s factually mistaken on this point, but he holds the same moral belief as the pro-lifer, namely, that humans have intrinsic value in virtue of the kind of thing they are. This is not a moral difference, but a factual one. 2) Even if cultures do in fact differ, the absence of consensus does not mean an absence of truth. That is, the cultural relativist is guilty of the is/ought fallacy: It does not follow that because people disagree we ought to assume that nobody is correct. 3) If morals are relative to culture or the individual, there is no ethical difference between Adolph Hitler and Mother Theresa; they just had different preferences: The latter liked to help people while the former liked to kill them. Who are we to judge? But such a view is counterintuitive. 4) Relativism, in any form, cannot say why I ought to be tolerant of other cultures. Suppose my culture decides not to tolerate minorities. Now what? 5) If morals are relative to one’s particular society, moral reformers like Martin Luther King and Ghandi are by definition evil. 6) Relativism--and this is the key point--is ultimately self-refuting. The abortion-choicer who says to pro-lifers "you shouldn't force your views on me" just forced his view on them.
For more on relativism, see Beckwith and Koukl here and Hadley Arkes here. |
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/355 | The Full Wiki
Nandita Das: Map
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Nandita Das (born 7 November 1969) is an award-winning Indian film actress and independent filmmaker. As an actress, she is known for her critically acclaimed performances in Fire (1996), Earth (1998), Bawandar (2000) and Aamaar Bhuvan (2002). As a director, she is known for her directorial debut Firaaq (2008), which has won a number of national and international awards, including Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by Government of France.
Early life
Born in New Delhi to noted Indian painter, Jatin Das, originally from Orissamarker, and her Gujarati Hindu-Jain mother, a writer, Varsha.
She went to Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in New Delhi. She received her bachelor's degree in Geography from Miranda House and Post Graduation from the Delhi School of Social Work. She was a good student, getting firsts in all of them.
Nandita Das started her acting career with a theatre group called Jannatya Manch. She taught at the Rishi Valley Schoolmarker.
She is best known for her performances in Deepa Mehta Films Fire, Earth alongside Aamir Khan, Bawander (directed by Jagmohan Mundhra) and Amaar Bhuvan (directed by Mrinal Sen).
Das has played storyteller/narrator in the audiobook series for kids "Under the Banyan" by Karadi Tales. She has also been the narrator in the audiobook of Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography by Charkha Audiobooks "The Story of My Experiments with Truth". She has also lent her voice for the children's series, The Wonder Pets as the Bengal Tiger.
Nandita has acted in films in ten different languages to date: English, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Marathi, Oriya and Kannada.
In 2008, she completed filming her directorial debut, Firaaq. Firaaq is a work of fiction, based on a thousand true stories and is set a month after the Gujarat carnage in 2002. It is an ensemble film that interweaves multiple stories over a 24 hour period, as the characters from different strata of society, grapple with the lingering effects of violence. The film traces the emotional journeys of ordinary people- some who were victims, some perpetrators and some who chose to watch silently. The film’s stellar cast includes Naseeruddin Shah, Raghubir Yadav, Paresh Rawal, Deepti Naval, Sanjay Suri, Tisca Chopra, Shahana Goswami and Nowaz.
The film won top honours at the Asian Festival of First Films 2008 in Singaporemarker, where it won the awards for "Best Film", "Screenplay / Script", and "Foreign Correspondents Assn. Purple Orchid Award for Best Film". The film has also won awards at other international film festivals, including the Special Prize award at the International Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greecemarker, the Special Jury Award at the International Film Festival of Kerala, and the Best Editor award for the film's editor Sreekar Prasad at the Dubai International Film Festival. It will be released in India on the 20th of March 2009. The film also won an award at the Kara Film Festival.
"I'm so glad 'Firaaq' has been applauded by audiences around the world, from Toronto, London, Pusan to Kolkata and Trivandrum. After all, human emotions are universal and after the kind of feedback I have got in different parts of the world, I understand that more. Audiences have been able to empathize with the journeys of the characters everywhere. It's more so in India, where it's set and hence people can identify with it more. It's been said that the film gave a voice to so much that remains silent and that it should be seen at least once. Though it's always great to win awards at every competitive festival we entered the film in, but it's actually the audience reaction that really matters," Nandita Das told Radio Sargam.
Personal life
In 2002, Das married long-time boyfriend Saumya Sen. The couple began Leapfrog, an advertising organization geared towards making socially conscious ad films. The couple divorced in 2009. The first lasted a bare three years, ending in divorce by mutual consent. She is now dating Subodh Maskara, an industrialist based out of Mumbai.
Das gives talks around the world about the impact of her films and the need for powerful social movements in India. She spoke at MITmarker on 12 April 2007 after a screening of Fire.
She also speaks to campaign against AIDS and violence against women.She was appointed as the chairperson of the Children's Films Society of India in 2009.
Awards and honours
2001 Santa Monica Film Festival
• Won - Best Actress - Bawander
2002 Cairo Film Festival
• Won - Best Actress - Amaar Bhuvan
2002 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards
2005 Cannes Film Festival
2006 Nandi Awards
2008 Asian Festival of First Films
• Won - Best Film - Firaaq
• Won - Best Screenplay - Firaaq
• Won - Foreign Correspondents Association Purple Orchid Award for Best Film - Firaaq
2009 International Film Festival of Kerala
• Won - Special Jury Award - Firaaq
2009 International Thessaloniki Film Festival
• Won - Special Prize (Everyday Life: Transcendence or Reconciliation Award) - Firaaq
• Nominated - Golden Alexander - Firaaq
Year Title Role Language Notes
1989 Parinati Oriya
1996 Fire Sita English
1998 Earth Shanta, the Ayah Hindi
Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa Nandini Mitra Hindi
Janmadinam Sarasu Malayalam
Biswaprakash Anjali Oriya
1999 Deveeri Deveeri (Akka) Kannada
Rockford Lily Vegas English
Punaradhivasam - Malayalam
2000 Hari-Bhari Afsana Hindi
Saanjh Urdu
Bawandar Sanwari Hindi Won, Best Actress at Santa Monica Film Festival.
2001 Aks Supriya Verma Hindi
Daughters of the Century Charu Hindi
2002 Aamaar Bhuvan Sakina Bengali Won, Best Actress at Cairo Film Festival.
Won, Zee Cine Award for Best Actress
Kannaki Kannaki Malayalam
Pitaah Paro Hindi
Azhagi Dhanalakshmi Tamil
Kannathil Muthamittal Shyama Tamil
Lal Salaam Rupi(alias Chandrakka) Hindi
2003 Ek Alag Mausam Aparna Verma Hindi
Bas Yun Hi Veda Hindi
Supari Mamta Sikri Urdu
Shubho Mahurat Mallika Sen Bengali
Kagaar: Life on the Edge Aditi Hindi
Ek Din 24 Ghante Sameera Dutta Hindi
2004 Vishwa Thulasi Sita Tamil
2005 Fleeting Beauty Indian woman English
2006 Maati Maay Chandi Marathi Marathi Film by Chitra Palekar with Atul Kulkarni
Podokkhep Megha Bengali
Kamli Kamli Telugu Won, Nandi Award for Best Actress (Telugu)
2007 Before the Rains Sajani English
Provoked Radha Dalal English
Naalu Pennungal Kamakshi Malayalam
Paani: A Drop of Life Mira Ben Hindi
2008 Ramchand Pakistani Champa Urdu
2009 Before the Rains Sajani English,Malayalam
2010 Midnight's Children Padma announced
Year Title Language Others
2008 Firaaq Hindi
Urdu &
Won, Best Film and Best Screenplay at Asian Festival of First Films.
Won, Purple Orchid Award for Best Film at Asian Festival of First Films.
Won, Special Jury Award at International Film Festival of Kerala.
Won, Special Prize at International Thessaloniki Film Festival.
Nominated, Golden Alexander at International Thessaloniki Film Festival.
1. 'My work has been less visible in India'—India Buzz-Entertainment The Times of India, 23 April 2008.
5. Deepa Mehta to adapt 'Midnight's Children'
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1. Give yourself a big hug. 2. Tell kids the only rule is to cross the mid-line of the body, right hand to left side, left hand to right side. Now let them invent ways of doing this. 3. Dance the hula. Or twirl a hula hoop. 4. Take a Brain Boosters TeleClass. Sign up at www.brainboostersforyourkids.com Or a Brain Gym class. Sign up at www.BrainGymClasses.com 5. Do the twist. (So you weren't dancing in the 50s and 60s? Ask somebody to show you how to twist or get a dance video.) Twist with the kids while you listen to some old Chubby Checker songs. 6. Rake some leaves with your kids, making sure you're raking off to the side instead of straight in front of you. 7. Play a board game. (Use your right hand to move your piece when it's in the left corner and vice versa.) 8. Practice using your non-dominant hand to reach for things on the opposite side of your body. Even writing and drawing with your non-dominant hand helps. (You'll get better with practice.) 9. Do Yoga and Tai Chi. Lots of moves cross the mid-line. 10. Cross your ankles and arms in front or in back when you're doing jumping jacks. Kids can usually do this. If you can't, try it in a swimming pool.
This brain-based learning strategy really isn't all that complicated. Lots of everyday kinds of activities get the whole brain active. Sitting around watching TV, however, isn't one of them! You and your kids have to move around and cross your mid- line. It's fun.
About the Author
MaryJo Wagner, Ph.D. The Learning Doctor "Helping You Help Your Kids Learn" [email protected]. Get the complimentary brain-based-learning newsletter, "Brain Boosters for Your Kids," Help your kids learn faster and easier. Sign up Now! |
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/387 | What Are The Benefits Of Listening To Podcasts To My Business?
The most encouraging thing about podcasts is that they are a perfect alternative video. This is critical because many businesses use videos for marketing or other uses. Ramesh Dontha There are those business owners who may not be comfortable in shooting their business videos simply because they believe that their business reputation or their name may be tarnished. Also, there are some businesses that may not be having the right machines and types of equipment to shoot the videos. These are some of the cases where podcasts can perfectly come in.
Podcasts may also help in increasing traffic generation. This is because it may be possible for you to receive many new audiences in your business. Ramesh DonthaIn addition to this, your ability to build familiarity with your new audiences may be easy because they will have to subscribe as listeners to various series and keep listening to them regularly.
Another encouraging thing about podcasts is that they may play a great role in your business by building a better relationship between you and your audiences. This is because it helps to give the listeners that feeling that they clearly know the person who is speaking in a particular podcast. For this reason, the podcast may be the best because the listeners and the speaker while having a great relationship between them and their products.
Ramesh Dontha Ultimately, if in any case, you may be experiencing some problems with the public speaking skills then use of podcasts may help you to improve on this. owning a business If in case you find yourself in such a situation then always consider to speak and post your podcast regularly to help you improve your public speaking skills. For this reason, you may not face any challenge when you are required to take part in any public speeches. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/389 | In Defence of 'Old Age'
What’s to know about life?
What’s not to love?
“Does that mean you’re going to die soon?”
Suddenly I could see a Courtroom.
“Name?” says the Magistrate.
“Old Age” the Box replies.
“What’s your business here?"
“A Judicial Review of my Status, m’Lud."
“How old are you?” the Magistrate barks.
“Then I’d say you’re VERY old.”
The Box looks up defiantly.
“I’ve an answer for you” I blurted out excitedly.
Her eyes widened.
“You know when you’re going to be old?”
And I smiled.
1. Great story Nancy! Reminds me I shud do more writing than Designing& sewing!! Or painting& less time on Twitter!! You R old aren't you!!:DDD only kidding! I used to watch The Magic Circle in Xmas holidays in Brisbane! We had no electricity in the sticks! Imagine that - off grid!!
2. Hello Nancy, of course you don't know me, and of course I know of you. I'm not that many years behind you, and I started work at HSV7 Melb in 1961, moving to ATVO in 1968. So I missed you. I left O/10 in 1988. On Face Book, both on my own page and the ATV Old and Past Page, I am writing a series of 'Profiles.' The last was on Tedd Dunn, who I did know and work with. My next is on Ros Marsden, a Lady of much repute as a Publicist and Producer. I did know Godphrey and worked with him from time to time, even when he was with The Salvation Army. I wonder if I could have your permission to quote from your blog in a 'Profile' of you for Facebook? If you agree, I shall of course send you a copy to vet before hand. Your story is wonderful and well worth another exposure to those who remember you with great affection. Best regards, Ken.
3. Hi Nancy. I used to watch you in the sixties. I was 6 years old when I started watching the Magic Circle Club. I loved that show so much. I remember you opening the big book while you were sitting on that "magic mushroom" stool. Such great memories. Thanks so very much for such a wonderful show :) <3 Trish Roberts (Tasmania)
5. Hi Nancy. What beautiful writing - Thank you!
I found your blog after wondering for many years what had happened to you. Of course, like many, the Magic Circle Club was a magical, very fondly remembered part of my childhood. I used to watch it around the corner at my friends' house before my family bought a tv. I think I remember when you were suddenly not there anymore and I was quite confused by that. I remember when I was a little older and Humphrey Bear became a big deal. I wondered what happened to Fred Bear - after all, Fred was the real Bear!!!
When I grew to high school age, I won a scholarship to and went to Elsternwick MLC. After 3 or 4 years the school changed its name to Cato College, being named after Fred J. Cato. I always wondered if Fred J. had any connection to "thet wonderful lady, Nancy Cato, who I used to watch on the Magic Circle Club...whatever happened to her? Wouldn't that be fun if my school was connected with her?!!?!".
On reading your communication with "Mr Woolies", and doing some research today on the background of Fred J. Cato (Google makes it much easier than doing it while I was at school!) I see that you are related to him.
I also see that you are a woman who feels strongly about social justice, as I do.
That makes me feel like everything has gone around in a full "Magic" circle and some ends have been very nicely tied up.
I hope you are well and still "not old".
Warm wishes,
Antigone ( |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/393 | Creatures In The Making | Darajabi Nnamani
Creatures in the making
Darajabi Nnamani
Writing was not on my mind immediately, I always had terrible sense of grammar and correct spelling. Partly because my mind would reproduce words according to how I would remembered hearing them by the voice that narrates thoughts in my head. I have very little recollection of the time before my inner analytical voice started keeping narrative records of my thoughts, I could not tell you whether or what I was thinking before. I wasn’t, or at least I wasn’t me.
Yet, the first time I brought down words to paper was out of despair. I felt the depths of my feelings were too private to talk about, yet too precious to be ignored, so I confined them to paper. Preposterous, I know. Luckily, I never wrote a diary, and I am kind of glad that I do not have to revisit my naive predispositions about the human condition any more.
But I do remember Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, the transformation stages humans have to live through on their spiritual journey away from god, my literary antidote to lessen the burden of humanity’s shortcomings.
First, we are born as camels, the myth goes, carrying a heavy load of old ideologies and morals bestowed onto us. Yet we are wandering through the eternal desert, growing bitter being taxed by their burden. The camel is not free. To shake off our shackles, we have to transform, to reject and destroy the old. The metamorphosis to Zarathustra’s lion.
I was a lion for a long time, hungry, seeking, trying to make sense of a world in need of so much rejection.
Diplomacy was secondary to truth, attack on falsehood always justified. No matter how much I fought, I did not succeed. I would either face forceful and irrational rejection or make others feel miserable. Thus I learned about the human condition; constant self-deception as survival mechanism against the pull of the void. The fear of the meaninglessness within all our existence at the bottom of the abyss. Its hypnotic grip once one has looked down too deep.
The edge of the void had become my lair, because the lion felt safest where humans dared not going. Being able to stare down and walk back unharmed repeatedly released him of a paralyzing fear many humans experience once they inevitably encounter the void. So I started exploring.
We were not just expulsed into this nihilistic universe, we are because of it. Products of natural laws propagating down through the eons, generating complexity, generating life, generating evolution and generating us. What if it was mere chance? What if it was necessity?
Symmetry is a symptom of a universe not caring, having no preference for either direction. Yet here we stand, conscious beings generated by slight asymmetries from the one-dimensionality of time to the imbalance in matter-antimatter during the big bang, anti-entropic constellations of molecules pondering their purpose. So what if there is none?
We are the only way for the universe to reflect upon itself, this is our gift and our burden. Maybe our responsibility. Does it really surprise us when we feel the presence of the void inside? Isn’t the void where we, the universe, or in general existence came from? Or where we are inevitably headed to?
I don’t know whether, like in Zarathustra, the lion really transformed into a child, if he is gone for good or just hiding, but his fear was replaced by relentless curiosity.
Today, he and I understand the profound need for humans to contemplate their existence, and why they flock to mysticism, ideology, religion or other grand narratives because of it. Instead of condemning their weakness, I should have admired our shared humanity. Instead of fighting or hurting them, I should have offered a helping hand.
After all, true freedom from nihilistic fear cannot be attained by rejection, but by creating our own purpose in a universe born so deprived of it.
At least that’s why I write. What about you? |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/398 | Lizard Squad’s takedown-for-rent service shortly disappears
Lizard Squad's takedown-for-hire service quickly disappears
One of many oldest gross sales techniques within the guide is utilizing a freebie to get you hooked earlier than slapping you with the invoice for the second. That is why the audacious vacation season takedowns of each the PlayStation Community and Xbox Reside have been, apparently, a advertising stunt. Lizard Squad, the group that claimed duty for each assaults rotated and launched Lizard Stresser, a service that permit anybody hearth off a DDoS broadside, as long as they pay a payment. The joke could also be on them nevertheless, because the software is already down (the group claims that is so it could actually change servers), and whereas the web site was stay it even turned a goal for exploits.
As an example, a $2.ninety nine cost by way of PayPal or Bitcoin would purchase an assault for one hundred seconds a month, whereas $sixty nine.ninety nine will get 30,000 seconds (greater than eight hours) of a Distributed Denial of Service takedown. There’s even an choice for bulk-purchase reductions, enabling you to save lots of almost $forty by buying a 30,000 second assault for 5 years. Signing up could possibly be a nasty concept although, since an exploit for its code was found that allowed safety researcher Eric Zhang to dump usernames and ID numbers for anybody who had used the location. Zhang additionally claims the software itself is a ripoff, with code copied from an identical website referred to as TitaniumStresser.
In an interview with The Every day Dot, a determine referred to as Dragon that claims to symbolize the group says that the Sony and Microsoft takedowns have been a advertising stunt, and that the group is now hoping to earn cash. Nevertheless, as each The Dot and The Guardian have added, that stance contradicts earlier statements from the group, saying that the actions have been all achieved for the “lulz.” As Brian Krebs factors out, nevertheless, the assaults paused after Kim Dotcom gave them the equal of $300,000 in vouchers, so any motives cannot be simply divined. Dragon additionally claims that Lizard Stresser can be the group’s final motion earlier than its members vanished “off again to the caves” from the place they originated — a transfer that will not have come quickly sufficient, since at the least one in every of them has apparently been arrested.
At present solely accepting bitcoin, paypal is coming quickly:
– R.I.U. Lizard Squad (@LizardMafia) December 30, 2014
Stresser is down whereas we change servers
– R.I.U. Lizard Squad (@LizardMafia) December 31, 2014
Oh noes! What occurred to lizardstresser? It is gone, identical to 2014, and the LizardSquad. Glad New Yr everybody!
– briankrebs (@briankrebs) December 31, 2014
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/406 | In Which, Surprise, Tellus Was the Anathema All Along
Rand: I guess if Vance isn't coming, we can probably start whenever if people are ready?
Rand: Anyway, Elliott, are you familiar with the happenings of last week, or do you need a summary?
Lukas: A summary would be much appreciated.
Rand: Okay, so:
Rand: Acting on the information from Tellus' vision that led you to believe Hau might be a descendant of Uen, your pals had him try to open the box.
Rand: Surprisingly, this was completely successful.
Rand: They opened the box to find the talking severed head of a woman calling herself Mistress Emerald, who claims to be a powerful lost god who caught a case of torso dislocation from somebody she called a "reapy creepster."
Rand: Or possibly a "creepy reaper."
Rand: Her accent is a little out there.
Rand: She has offered incredible rewards for helping her find her missing hips, and has already helped Kenara with some personal problems, and also agreed to make all your students more attractive.
Rand: Although that last bit might have been for her own benefit.
Rand: Oh, and a new guy named Double-Soul Falling became a student here, and some windows got broken in a way I don't remember.
• Lukas considers taking Art of Permanence and Craft (glazier).
Rand: So, basically, you come home one day to find the dojo a paradise of strawberry leaves presided over by a talking head, and all the students are a bit beefier and more symmetrical, and everybody seems way more pleased about this than they should be.
Rand: You may have accidentally joined a double-Anathema cult.
Rand: ….again.
Lukas: I have a pointed discussion with the head in private about what she's the goddess of and why folks would cut her head off.
Rand: "I guess you could call me the goddess of being awesome."
Rand: "That's my nommy de plume, okay?"
• Lukas flares his caste mark.
Lukas: "That is an unsatisfactory answer."
Rand: Mistress Emerald sighs.
Rand: "Fine."
Rand: Her scarlet hair writhes about her head as she rises into the air in a cloud of wrath and power.
Rand: "You may call me Gaia, Emerald Mother, Maker of All Creation (the good bits), Queen of Life and Greatest of Ancients."
Rand: "'Mom' is also good."
Lukas: "…"
Lukas: "Come again?"
Rand: "But keep it on the down-low, okay? I don't want to get found by Creepster McReapy until we're ready."
Rand: "Well, you see, I created the world."
Rand: "Oh, and you're welcome."
Lukas: "No, no. I know who Gaia is. I mean, vaguely. She's in all the footnotes. And nothing and nowhere else."
Rand: "No, honey, I'm the page the book was written on."
Rand: "You see only the scraps of paper bound in leather, but I am every beast and every tree."
Rand: "And also this severed head."
Rand: "I contain multitudes and some garbage like that."
Rand: Creation doesn't have a New York accent, but if it did, Mistress Emerald would speak with one.
Lukas: "…so, yeah, I'm not sure I believe you. Primarily because you're a head, and the ancients were… I don't know, but not heads. I think one of them was a giant eye? But no heads."
Rand: "We are many things at once, each of them the thing and the whole of the thing."
Rand: "So that I am Creation itself, and the Mother of Creation, and also a couple of stars, and there's this giant cow thing up North."
Rand: "And somewhere I am an amazing pair of hips searching for their head."
Lukas: "But you're also a head that was trapped in a box."
Rand: "Yes, exactly."
Lukas: "Which… I was under the impression that the ancients weren't that easily captured. They were the top of the top of the food chain. I mean, until we apexed them, granted."
Rand: "Life's a funny proposition, bucko. Everybody thinks they're at the top until suddenly they're not. One day you're the king of all the lizards, next day there's a funny light in the sky racing towards you."
Rand: "One day you're the deathless tyrant of all that is or could be, next day someone's put starstuff inside a monkey's soul and pointed out that your head would look really good on their wall."
Rand: "One day you're the mother of all life, next day you're a head in a box."
Rand: "That's why I still love this world even when it hurts me, kid, because it still has the power to surprise me."
Lukas: "Right. So…you gonna tell me what you were doing in the box, at least? Because as much as I love a good metaphor, I've also got shit to do today. Like research. And Hau."
Rand: "Like, why is Uen's box yellow now? That's not even a real color of jade! And I should know because I invented jade."
Rand: "Speaking of which, it was Uen that left me in the box for safekeeping while he hunted for those hips of mine. But apparently he died instead and I sat in a box for two hundred years."
Rand: "Thanks for digging me up, by the way."
Lukas: "One assumes that the Maiden of Plenty might not need safekeeping."
Rand: "Well, I don't have any feet. Or hands."
Rand: "It's a problem."
Rand: "I'd call on some pals, but, uh, maybe they were the ones who sent the creeper?"
Rand: "Politics is a bitch, kid."
Lukas: "Fine. So… you're Gaia," Lukas says, lowering the sass about 15% but still pretty sassy overall. "Prove it. Tell me something numinous. Drop that lore on me."
Rand: Hm, what would impress you?
Lukas: Lukas? Hmmm.
Lukas: Honestly not sure! Unless the Labyrinth he was thrown into where he found the blade is a lot older than expected.
Lukas: Geomancy facts, names of kami, I dunno.
Rand: "Look into my peepers, kiddo, and see the history of your entire family line back unto the creation of man. Your parents and their miserable lives as slaves, and your grandparents before them, and before that, your great-times-seven-grandmother, who led the first expedition to what would become Ysyr and was clapped into obsidian chains by her own scribe after the terrible energies of that city transformed him into a sorcerer."
Rand: "Note also your great-times-nine-uncle, who as you can see was as hot as hell."
Lukas: "Wow, yeah. Wait—eww."
Lukas: "Okay."
Rand: "Also the second toe on your left foot was longer than the big toe, but I fixed it."
Lukas: "So, willing to say you're some kind of muckety-muck. Not sure I buy that you're the Emerald Mother, but we'll see where this hot mess takes us."
Rand: "Fabulous. Rest assured that when I return to my ten thousand things, you shall be richly rewarded."
Lukas: "Can't believe I'm gonna be the one to say it, but you really need to chill with the rich reward talk. Makes people think you're either ruthlessly mercenaristic or just lying."
Rand: "Heh, I forgot whose boy you were. Well, if you want to help me out of sheer compassion, I won't object. Altruism is a legitimate survival strategy."
Lukas: "Oh, I'm all for rich rewards. I'm just saying that the more you mention them, the more people doubt that they're real."
Rand: "Have it your way."
Lukas: "I usually do."
Rand: "Anyway, with any luck you can use that magnificent sunny brain of yours to find those twinkletoes of mine, no problem."
Rand: "So, don't wait around, 'cause Mama's got a hankering to dance."
Rand: Mistress Emerald reseats herself in her strawberry vines and wonders vaguely where everybody else got to.
Elesha: Where are we, XP-wise?
Elesha: And, also, plot-wise?
Rand: Okay, so, our heroes were finally able to open the yellow box, after using Tellus' vision to theorize that Hau might be some kind of descendent of Master Uen.
Rand: It turned out that what was inside it was Gaia's head.
Elesha: Poor Gaia!
Rand: She's now living in your dojo, making your students more attractive, talking in a New York accent, and demanding to be reunited with her body.
Rand: And she wants to be called "Mistress Emerald" because she's keeping it on the down-low.
Elesha: …less poor Gaia.
Rand: Kenara has sworn a mighty oath to help her in this task, and if she doesn't follow through, all her limbs will fall off or something.
Rand: Then things kind of fell apart because nobody was present who was even remotely qualified to push that plot forward.
Rand: So I think we're having a fashion show instead.
Rand: For XP, I guess we have 5 sessions under our belt? So that's 25 XP, and 20 Arete.
Kukla: Arete?
Rand: I can call it whatever I want!
Rand: I can't go around giving Solar XP to a Dragon-Blood.
Rand: That would just be ridiculous.
Rand: And this is a very serious campaign where Gaia's head lives in your front room making people beefier "so I have something to look at."
Elesha: Arete is probably a better name than Solar XP.
Rand: Just use it going forward, then!
Kukla: Arete's good.
Rand: It's just as well if Lukas is here for the fashion show, although I have to admit 'Tamira and Kenara rush to put together an award-winning fall lineup on their own' was appealing.
Tamira: Tamira knows how to appreciate fashion.
Tamira: Making it… she’s always had people for that.
Elesha: Elesha knows how to market fashion.
Rand: Kenara knows how to build a house, which is… actually a pretty good first step under Exalted's ruleset.
Rand: She'd have an Excellency, to begin with.
Tamira: Fashion is like houses.
Lukas: Lukas will be there.
Lukas: And he will be square.
Lukas: And he will also be queer.
Lukas: Get used to it.
Lukas: (He'll also probably be near, far, and wherever you are.)
• Kukla sends more goblins.
• Lukas throws kukla into a well full of oversexed leather maniacs.
Kukla: No, not my fursonaaaa!
• Lukas seals the well with an ancient spell.
Kenara: So when are we starting?
Rand: Seven.
Rand: Which is just about now!
Elesha: It's high… seven o'clock.
Rand: It's high now.
Tamira: Oh, good, I thought it was 7:30, lol.
Rand: Lukas, wake up!
Rand: It's time to be outrageous!
Lukas: Truly, truly, truly outrageous?
Rand: Oh, yes.
Rand: So, when last we left off, you'd made it your business to find Mistress Emerald's missing hips. Except…
Rand: …it turns out finding one torso in a city literally made of torsos is really difficult.
Lukas: Technically, on a torso.
Rand: So you've kind of reconciled yourself to the idea that if you just entangle yourself in a bunch of local shenanigans, one of the plot hooks will eventually lead you in the right direction.
Rand: I've got one of those shenanigans on tap for tonight, but feel free to go ahead and tell me about some of the others.
Elesha: Should we be polite and go with the thing Rand has prepared, instead of pulling the rug out from under him and forcing him to improvise?
Lukas: Lukas writes a letter to the Mouth of Peace about the Anathema. Not really.
Rand: I fear nothing!
Rand: Really I am just soliciting thoughts about things you'd like to play around with in future weeks.
Elesha: Something with ghosts.
Lukas: Lukas has a few asshole sorcerers on his shitlist that he's gonna want to topple before too long.
Rand: Hm, ghosts and some folks from Ysyr.
Rand: Well, one of those wishes will be granted tonight.
Tamira: Tamira is keeping a wary eye on that Anathema horse, in between keeping a wary eye on pretty much everyone she meets in teahouses
Rand: You can never be too careful!
Rand: Any random animal could turn out to be a wicked spirit.
Rand: Unless it's a puppy, because all dogs are good dogs.
Tamira: Tamira’s shaky on theology, but she’s pretty sure about that part at least.
Rand: Luna gave her power to the beasts of the world, but it was too much for their low levels of enlightenment and they went mad and had to be put down.
Rand: Except for the puppies.
Elesha: …and the gorillas with jetpacks.
Lukas: Also, Lukas is probably going to start a trade war with Ysyr.
Lukas: Anyone got Socialize?
Elesha: I have… 2.
Elesha: Socialize 2.
Lukas: Awww.
Elesha: But I can read intentions real good in bureuacratic contexts
Kenara: I've got Socialize 4.
Lukas: :disappointed:
Rand: Anyway!
Rand: You've received an invitation to a very prestigious event. I guess we could call it a trade show?
Rand: I'm not sure what the best descriptive term would be in this economic milieu.
Rand: But all the nobs of Palanquin have invited all the best couturiers to show off their stuff.
Rand: This, naturally, includes Lukas, who's been doing his best to corner the market in anything that could possibly cover your shame.
Tamira: Tamira has Socialize 4 and a specialty in smoothing things over once kerfuffled.
Tamira: As she tends to kerfuffle things.
Rand: World-Shaping Artistic Vision (Fixing Problems I Caused).
Lukas: Lukas has gone full on auteur for this, complete with tiny round sunglasses and a few martial artists repurposed as well-hectored personal assistants.
Lukas: He is a tornado of silk, leather, wool, cotton, and more leather.
Rand: They attempt to look suitably browbeaten, but it's hard when you've spent your life developing your martial Essence!
Lukas: And feathers.
Lukas: Dear gods, the feathers!
Rand: How would you describe the style of your clothing line?
Lukas: Martial-chic. For the refined warlord on the go, or just the factor who wants to look a little more rough-and-tumble than she actually is.
Lukas: "Love is a battlefield," Lukas says to no one at all. "And fashion is a cataclysm."
Rand: The Three Shears Cataclysm.
Rand: Any particular things you want to do to prepare?
Elesha: Is this a… horse-OK event?
Lukas: He's sent out some of the students around the city for a few days to do flashmob fashion shows, just to build heat. Other than that, Lukas is just hellbent on delivering the best couture possible, at least, short of artifact-quality.
Lukas: And the horse is part of the look, Elesha.
Rand: We're talking about magical aristocrats here.
Rand: Just count yourself lucky if nobody tries to marry your horse or make him into Senator Uratan.
Rand: Perhaps you could send out your sneaky spies to know who might be there? Or to murder people who are hard to please.
Elesha: Elesha may want to chat with head!Gaia, if that's not disruptive, mostly because they've never interacted before.
Lukas: Yeah, go for it.
Lukas: Lukas got a nice long dialogue with her.
Lukas: It's only fair that Elesha gets to talk to the last hale Primordial…'s head.
Rand: Sure, it's not like Mistress Emerald is going anywhere.
Rand: She's just sitting on her pillow demanding that people do pull-ups in front of her.
Elesha: Elesha is game, and tries to strike up conversation with the severed head of the creator-titan while executing some sick reps.
Elesha: "So, Miss Emerald. Tell me about yourself."
Rand: "Well, I created the world and everything in it, and you're welcome."
Rand: "Except the bits you don't like; that was my asshole family."
Elesha: "And how do you feel about the way it's turned out?"
Rand: "I'm still invested! I gotta tell you, I didn't see most of this shit coming."
Rand: "That means a lot when you're the summit of divinity."
Rand: "I mean, maybe it could have been better, but frankly, it was a lot of work to get all this to be anything at all."
Rand: "(that said I do miss hands)"
Elesha: "What was it like before there was anything at all?"
Rand: "Confusing. I had to invent a new context for everything I did before I did it. Everything was irritating metaphysical uncertainty."
Rand: "It's like if everybody you knew was the hottest person alive, and the ugliest beast imaginable, and also average, because all possible metrics were equally valid."
Elesha: "That's… not really as enlightening as I was hoping. Although I guess that's not your fault."
Rand: "There's no enlightenment in nonsense. The things before there were things have nothing to teach you."
Rand: "Seek enlightenment in the world."
Kenara: (Forgive me for being quiet: I'm not sure where to jump into things here.)
Elesha: "That's a good enlightenment."
• Elesha takes that as an Intimacy.
Rand: "Try seeking some in that fella over there; I'd do it myself, but I am as you find me."
Elesha: (We can bow out of this scene now, which would incidentally give me time to drive home.)
Rand: Fair enough!
Rand: Meanwhile, Lukas's spies have been active.
Rand: These spies are honestly probably just Monkey stylists asking people questions.
Rand: So, first I will tell you about some of the guests, and while you are doing that, Elliott can think about exactly what style of couture would be his fashion nemesis.
Rand: First up, you know that Commodore Saliodas will be there. He's head of the Council of Families, which makes him technically the ruler of Palanquin, although this position is extremely technical and ceremonial.
Rand: He's a gentleman of middle age, whatever that means for somebody who's mostly cloud person, and is all about the complicated blond moustaches made largely of vapor.
Rand: He's a good person to know if you want to be invited to all the best parties.
Rand: You've also heard about Capritta ja Wunlo, who's the head of the Farmer's Guild and, unusually, also the head of its associated martial arts school.
Rand: Apparently they favor Mouse and Rabbit, but you've heard conflicting reports about her skill level.
Rand: She's supposedly not somebody to cross, for someone who spends her time imitating a rabbit.
Rand: Oh!
Rand: And there's a special guest.
Rand: A fellow called Florum. He's a visiting dignitary from Ysyr.
Rand: You know very little except that he is super-magical and handsome, which of course is not useful information in this case.
• Lukas glowers.
Lukas: Lukas has a number of lesser rivals—well, rivals in their own minds at least—but the only one he recognizes as significant is Mizra Madda Norr, a Guild-backed artisan known more for importing high fashion than for her own designs.
Rand: Yeah, I'm not asking for an NPC so much as asking what approach to fashion would most infuriate you in a rival.
Lukas: That one.
Rand: Ah, so.
Rand: All right, any other preparations you want to make?
Lukas: No, pretty pointless.
Rand: So, is everybody else attending? You're all vaguely invited.
Rand: Or specifically invited if you like! I guess you've all become important recently.
Kenara: Sure. Kenara is alternately bedazzled and nonplussed by the sheer opulence of it all.
Rand: It's definitely a very glitzy occasion, and it may actually be the first time some of you have entered Palanquin proper.
Rand: As opposed to just running around the Butts.
Rand: The Admiralty's Hall is big on crystal and silver, and windows at odd angles.
Tamira: Tamira wouldn’t miss it. It’s a party, right? Tamira wouldn’t miss it. (Besides, if anyone tries to assassinate her here, everyone local will get mad at them!)
Rand: There are also a lot of tables with food, except that most of them are on the second story and sitting on clouds.
Rand: Ordinary people can't actually get to them!
Rand: It's a subtle social hierarchy based on your ability to walk on vapor.
Lukas: Lukas makes a note to fashion some Cloud-Walking Slippers.
Elesha: Elesha's glad she was able to convince Lukas to dress up Uratan, because walking on clouds by herself would be suspicious.
Elesha: Riding a horse on clouds is just stylish!
Rand: Yeah, some people probably already have those.
Rand: Yes, people are definitely impressed and making eyes at you.
Rand: Or possibly at your horse.
Rand: You know. Aristocrats.
Rand: So, what kind of set-up do you have here?
Lukas: For the transport of his wares, Lukas has designed and fabricated the bastard child of a coach, closet, and tank. It rolls through on wheels quiet as a whisper, and inside are racks upon racks of gleaming couture.
• Rand tries to conjure a pun.
• Rand fails, but makes a note to use "clothes horse" later.
Rand: Anyway, the first person to wander up is Tellus.
Rand: "This is a pretty decent little show," he says. "Although I'd much rather hear if you'd manage to break time again."
Lukas: "Well, time is money, so maybe I'll break the bank and you'll get your wish," Lukas says, trying his best to be flirty and cool but being surprisingly bad at it.
Rand: "Well, I've been forced by circumstance to assist you."
Rand: "Owing to a magical accident I don't want to discuss, I'm afraid this entire outfit is going to crumble to dust in thirty seconds."
Rand: "I need to buy an entire new ensemble very quickly."
Lukas: Lukas guides him into a changing room and begins throwing outfits at him from the other side.
Rand: "I need something that evokes wickedness and mystery, but also sound business ethics."
Lukas: "…soooo, merchant prince meets the damned? I can handle that."
Rand: "An outfit that says, 'sure, go ahead and express your deepest wishes in front of this person; it can't possibly go wrong.'"
Lukas: "Now you're sounding more like a demon I once knew."
Rand: "Oh, what was his name?"
Rand: Tellus seems to genuinely wonder if you have a mutual acquaintance.
Lukas: "Their name was Nikash-Nikash-Thresher-on-the-River."
Rand: "Oh, the Electrum Sodalt! Capital fellow, I mean, aside from the, you know."
Rand: Tellus makes the gesture where you excuse terrible, terrible crimes.
Rand: "Hm, no, I need to look about twenty percent more wicked."
Rand: Meanwhile, Kenara is probably wandering into a subplot where she's harrassed by a bunch of snobs only to later become belle of the ball with her horse sense.
Lukas: "Just add a collar, then. Little leather one, second drawer in there."
Rand: "Wow, that's much more wickedness per square inch than I was expecting."
Lukas: "Blood ape leather will do that."
Rand: "…nobody I know, I hope."
Lukas: "Definitely probably not."
Rand: "…oh, well, no point crying over split skin!"
Rand: "So, have you seen the delegation from Ysyr? To die for. In my case, to die of boredom. Incredibly hot, but if someone is convinced the sun shines out of their arse I don't have anything to offer them."
Lukas: "I don't know if they're to die for. More to kill for."
Rand: "Oh, has he bound you to his will with unspeakable magics? I hear that's his thing."
Rand: "Oh, wait, no, you mean you want to kill him."
Lukas: "Brutally."
Rand: "Is this general, or specific?"
Lukas: "A little of each."
Rand: "Hm, well, of course, for me, pleasure is always a business, so feel free to call on me if you're looking for a little mystical assistance."
Rand: "Do you think you're sneaky enough to do a murder right in the middle of this party?"
Lukas: "I know that I'm not. Well… not enough to get away with it, unless I cut the memory out of everyone here."
Rand: "That, of course, is fixable."
Rand: Tellus snaps an immaculately-groomed finger, the nails of which, you notice, are rather sharp.
Rand: Where's that character sheet of yours?
• Rand finds Lukas' character sheet and alters Stealth from 2 to 5, in green ink.
Elesha: Hmmmmmm.
Rand: "On you, it looks good," says Tellus, boxing you in with four fingers as though he were sizing up a new outfit on you.
Rand: "No worries, we can discuss your end of the bargain later. Do you need any demons? I'll throw them in free for the evening."
Lukas: "…wait, what?"
Rand: "Through the power of my magic, you have become extremely sneaky! Oh, and you're welcome."
• Lukas regrets realizing that this is a Malefactor.
Rand: Malefactors are so last edition.
Elesha: It's not a Malefactor, it's a [REDACTED] Caste.
Rand: Apex or whatever.
• Lukas pinches Vance.
Rand: Apex, Penumbra, [REDACTED]?
Elesha: Two out of three.
• Elesha liberally applies amnestics.
• Lukas steps out of the spotlight to see what the others are doing.
Rand: Honestly, I liked ours better.
Rand: Doom, Revelation, Providence, Deliverance, Judgment.
Rand: Elesha, what's your party goal?
Rand: Tamira and Kenara, you as well.
Elesha: Lukas might be one fine couturier, but sales are Elesha's department.
Rand: Hm, it would be convenient if one of you could be quite taken with Elliott's beautiful wizard jerk.
Tamira: Look good, get drunk, and avoid drawing on anyone.
Elesha: Elesha's gonna arrange some buyers.
Tamira: Assist with fashion-related endeavors as necessary/able.
Rand: Hm, is that… an instill action?
Rand: Hm, possibly Tamira should use instill on herself to avoid challenging anybody to a duel.
Rand: This is a joke.
Elesha: I can read intentions to find likely customers?
Tamira: (She is probably not going to challenge anyone, unless they make it really hard to not.)
Rand: Elesha, conveniently, detects a customer!
Rand: His golden locks spike upwards into the wind, and his china-blue eyes are alight with the desire to clothe his sun-darkened skin in the finest of high couture.
Rand: He is clearly some kind of wizard jerk, but also clearly super-rich.
Rand: And thus the evening became a race between Elesha and Lukas, to bankrupt this fine fellow before he can be murdered.
Rand: Or vice versa.
Elesha: "Master Lukas' work seems to have caught your eye as well," Elesha says, posing as a fellow interested party. "Magnificent work."
Rand: "It's pretty decent," admits Florium. "He seems kinda familiar. Oh, well, I guess a lot of people look mostly alike."
Rand: "Honestly, xha, it's just kind of nice to visit a place where all the servants aren't grossly deformed."
Elesha: "I suppose I've taken that for granted all my life. Where do you hail from?"
Rand: "Oh, well, naturally I came from Ysyr. They just sent me down to, like, collect some tribute, and maybe see if any of this year's plays are any good."
Elesha: "Well, I'm sure Master Lukas' work would be all the rage in Ysyr…if I weren't buying him out, of course."
Rand: "I didn't know you could do that in Palanquin! Oh, well, I guess it saves trouble, and he is kind of hot."
Rand: "Is it expensive in this market? Maybe I should buy that dude over there," he muses, pointing at a waiter.
Elesha: "…buying out his goods."
Rand: "Oh."
Rand: "Maybe I should head over there quickly, then."
Rand: "Ah," says somebody. "Let us not hurry too quickly, for I have just the thing for you, good master."
Elesha: "I am on a horse. It'd be only sporting to afford you a head start."
Rand: He wears a small weather system of blue robes and his fingers are covered in complicated jewels.
Rand: If you had to come up with one word to describe him, it would probably be "wolfish."
Rand: "Just look at these, the most recent and fashionable goods worn by the Dynasts on the exotic Blessed Isle."
Rand: Florium is in danger of being distracted!
Rand: Although honestly he might be safer far away from the Lukas Couture stall.
Elesha: Elesha assesses Nez's goods with Frugal Merchant Method
Rand: They're probably legitimately from the Blessed Isle, but they wouldn't really suit Florium at all.
Rand: They're high-quality in that they're very expensive, but…
• Rand wiggles a hand.
Tamira: Would Tamira only be caught dead in it?
Rand: Girl, I've seen your Read Intentions pool.
Rand: You probably already have one.
Elesha: "Pfah! I wouldn't want to be wearing Blessed Isle fabrics on the Dreaming Sea come summer. Or… any season."
• Rand considers likely Ysyri opinions on the Blessed Isle, fashion-wise.
Rand: I suppose you had better roll.
Rand: Six-Jeweled Nez rolls eight successes, and buys himself a new hat on the strength of it.
Rand: (In other news, I would just like to mention that Tellus spent the entire last session he appeared in straining mightily to get someone to admit to a perceived lack in themselves out loud, and failing.)
Elesha: What pool?
Rand: Presence and whatever you choose? Unless it's supposed to be Bureaucracy to sell people things.
Elesha: Spending WP to add a success because I don't actually have a Presence Excellency.
Elesha: Any stunt dice?
Rand: Sure, take one.
Elesha: …8 successes.
Rand: The magic bro is paralyzed with indecision.
Rand: Meanwhile, I will swing back to Elliott because determining that status of his murder plan is actually kind of important to this.
Lukas: Lukas is a typhoon of feelings. On the one hand, murder. On the other hand, murder. On a third, hypothetical hand, he has not accurately faced the psychological reality of his hatred for the Ysyri, and is paralyzed Prince-of-Denmark-style by his own indecision.
Rand: "I hear he throws all his slaves off the city at the end of every season and replaces them with some in the new year's colors," says Tellus, off-hand, rolling his own Presence while he's at it.
Rand: He rolls seven successes on this instill attempt!
Rand: Or I guess he's using Inflame Passions instead.
Lukas: Yeah, that's gonna hit him right in the Intimacies.
Rand: Tellus hums various Disney songs.
Rand: In other news, before chibikonatsu falls asleep, Kenara catches a glimpse of a rather unusual woman.
Rand: Well, perhaps not so very unusual.
Rand: But most people don't have what looks like stitches going all the way around their neck.
Lukas: Still, I don't see that resolving his internal struggle to its entirety, only adding self-loathing to his inaction. So, instead, Lukas adapts a lurking posture, sneaks over to the sorcerer. Two things, in quick succession: He touches the man with the Key to the Dream Palace and then decks him right in the schnoz.
Rand: Roll for schnozz-decking!
Lukas: Nah. This is gonna be an ambush attack.
Rand: Roll for ambush, with your conveniently-enlarged pool!
Lukas: Eight successes, plus whatever the ambush penalties on the fellow's Defenses are.
Rand: Please reverse-stunt an incredibly-satisfying schnozz-punch.
Lukas: This isn't a stylish punch. There's no grace to it, and barely any swagger. This is an ice-and-fire punch, the strike of someone simultaneously numb and enraged.
Rand: Tamira, Elesha, do you feel like doing anything if you notice a sneaky Lukas attempting a punchsassination?
Tamira: If this fellow’s pissed off a tailor to the point where the tailor slugs him, Tamira is reasonably certain he deserves said punching.
Elesha: Elesha's unhappy that the deal she set up probably isn't going to go through, but figures Lukas probably has decent reasons to sucker punch the dude out of nowhere.
Rand: And thus it was that the sorcerer Florium was righteously punched in the face by Lukas the tailor.
Rand: Everybody gasps. It's very surprising and possibly uncouth.
Rand: Tellus finds himself abruptly horizontal.
Rand: There is a moment of uncertainty and atmospheric wobblings, like you get when a sorcerer is straining to keep his temper (and various bound demons) leashed.
Lukas: "Apologies to all and sundry," Lukas says, wrapping a convenient kerchief around his slightly bloody knuckles. "Bloodstains are all the rage this year. That rough, grizzled, macho look. A bit ready for a rumble, yes?"
Lukas: I'm gonna haunt his dreams to hell and back.
Rand: Is this a sexual innuendo?
Lukas: No. This is psychological warfare backed by geomancy.
Rand: "…party foul, xha," says Florium from the floor.
Lukas: "Perhaps."
Rand: "Also, demons, please rend him limb from limb."
Elesha: Elesha draws Summer Breeze.
Rand: Half-a-dozen blood apes knit themselves into being out of air and viscera.
Tamira: “Oh, for the love of…” Tamira sighs and knocks back a snifter of something so alcoholic it can be smelled at five paces.
Rand: Uh-oh, she's about to drink and duel!
Rand: Well, maybe a six-on-four fight isn't a duel.
Tamira: It’s definitely not a duel.
Tamira: Duels involve challenges, this dude’s straight up tryin’ to murder someone.
• Rand tries to figure out Florium's stats in a hurry.
Rand: Although frankly this game with the Shock versus the Fuel is distracting me. It would really please me if the Fuel get destroyed.
Rand: Blood apes, blood apes.
• Lukas might not have the wherewithal for a big fight vis-a-vis powerful antihistamines and drowsiness.
Rand: You started this!
Rand: In fact you handed out a partial lease on your soul for it.
Elesha: More of a license.
Lukas: Yes, but the more I play, the more I realize how much I despair of combat in Exalted.
Rand: Fine, fine.
Rand: Elesha, Tamira, roll your best fight pools.
Rand: Kenara, you too, if you're awake and have not been driven away by being largely ignored by your boorish ST.
Elesha: 11 successes.
Tamira: Nine, assuming Charms are in play.
Rand: Florium and his blood apes roll a total of 13.
Rand: They are soundly thrashed in whatever way you like best.
Elesha: I vote "kill all the demons and humiliate the sorcerer."
Tamira: Agreed. Tamira is clearly drunk as a skunk but is not only untouched, her hair isn’t even mussed at the end of it all.
Rand: Humiliate how?
Elesha: Boxers with hearts on them?
Rand: Sure, sure.
Elesha: Or whatever the Creation equivalent is.
Rand: If it wasn't late, you'd probably run afoul of his annoying unearthly beauty magic, but it's late.
Rand: So instead you just run afoul of Capritta ja Wunlo, who is tapping her feet and wanting to know why you just started a major international incident with the city's magical overlords.
Rand: Starting a war is the worst kind of party foul.
Tamira: “In my defense, I’m sort of Chosen by the Dragons, and therefore above mortal law, which includes party fouls,” Tamira says, only a little off balance.
Rand: "Oh, well, when our children are flayed skin from bones by the needles that rain from the sky, I'm sure they'll understand."
Elesha: "I don't think our buddy wants to start a war over this. Do you, pal?"
Rand: "I could settle for some personal vengeance."
Elesha: "See? Absolutely no problem for Palanquin."
Tamira: “Again, theological immunity. Vengeance invalid. Problem solved. Who’s a girl gotta mortally insult to get a refill?” She’s still holding the glass.
Rand: I'm not really sure if Ysyr is going to care about your theological immunity.
Rand: They laugh at all the gods, etc.
Tamira: Oh, I know that. Tamira probably also knows it. But she’s drunk.
Tamira: She gets very full of herself when she’s drunk.
Elesha: "I don't think it's you he wants vengeance on, Tamira."
Tamira: “Splendid!”
Rand: "I'm prepared to retract my claim to vengeance if the wicked tailor is handed over as my personal slave," offers Florium, generously.
Rand: Elliott has evidently gone to sleep, so I guess that plan is carried.
Tamira: That is a good cliffhanger line, though.
Tamira: I can practically hear “Roundabout.”
Elesha: dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun
Rand: I should have sent you guys to parties sooner.
Elesha: We're so great at parties!
Tamira: Tamira shouldn’t drink, but she loves it so.
Rand: Anyway, XP and Arete all around.
Tamira: 5/4?
Rand: Sure, unless you want more.
Tamira: haha
Rand: Have you even bought anything yet?
Tamira: I have, actually, I bought an Ox-Body and Athletics 3.
Tamira: I need to spend more tho.
Tamira: I just always forget to.
Rand: Elliott bought a bunch of Stealth, at the price of his soul.
Rand: Tamira came so fucking close to falling into the Cecelyne trap over the time thing.
Tamira: Hahaha.
Tamira: I bet she did.
Rand: I was beating my head against the desk trying to get you to say it the right way to trigger his magic, but you were too clever.
Tamira: Yes. “Clever.”
Tamira: I forget how it works but you have to like, ask, right?
Rand: You have to express a perceived lack in yourself.
Tamira: Ohhhh.
Rand: Like, "I wish I was stronger."
Tamira: Yeah, no, Tamira doesn’t think she’s lacking, she honestly thinks she’s hot shit
Rand: True, but if she'd said "I wish the Dynasty didn't still hate me," he could reshuffle your history and drop all the assassins out.
Tamira: Ah, true.
Tamira: But that would make things much less interesting.
Rand: There's nothing boring about owing a demon wizard bits of your soul!
Tamira: Anyway the Dynasty doesn’t hate her, nebulous parties unknown hate her.
Rand: As Lukas is about to find out.
Rand: Although it's always possible that the favor demanded in return will involve buying drinks and kisses, in which case it's not a bad trade for three dots of Stealth.
Tamira: That Charm is so weird.
Elesha: I wonder how we'll do it.
Rand: My main problem with it was that it's usually too weak when you'd actually want it.
Elesha: It's too iconic not to keep, but the mechanics have their issues.
Rand: Like, giving somebody one dot at a time is kind of boring.
Tamira: The problem is that players hate anyone having anything over them.
Rand: Like, I can see two main uses for it.
Rand: One is to train your fellow PCs.
Rand: The other is to do the thing where you grant some NPCs wish and make them super, and also they're now your dark minion.
Rand: Like, sure, I'll make the village wimp into a tough guy, and now I have a guy on the inside.
Rand: And to do that second thing you really have to be able to turn multiple high scores into low scores.
Elesha: The latter is really the coolest way to use it.
Rand: Because "wow, I raised the village shrimp from Strength 1 to Strength 2" is not going to impress anybody.
Elesha: It needs to work differently for PCs and NPCs.
Rand: Especially because you need like five or six good numbers to be a tough guy.
Tamira: Yes.
Tamira: I was just about to say that, Vance.
Rand: What I'd do is.
Rand: For NPCs, you can just assign them a premade stat block.
Rand: Like, a demon stat block!
Rand: They're still human but they get stats and powers vaguely equivalent to some summonable demon.
Tamira: I mean if this was Scion I know what I’d have it do, it’s a free Promotion.
Rand: That's strong, and manageable, and won't break anything.
Rand: And for PCs it basically just works like it does for Twilights, except it does some kind of weird "take a string" thing instead of costing XP.
Tamira: Now that intimacies are an integral part of the social system, it will hopefully feel a little less skeevy to hand out intimacies.
Tamira: That was a dealbreaker for a lot of people.
Rand: Yeah, and it honestly could just be a big Intimacy.
Elesha: I sorta liked the flavor and feel of it being a debt to cash in.
Elesha: Probably cause of all the myths and fairytales where people get X many favors from some supernatural companion.
Rand: Yeah, it might work out better if the gifts you hand out don't have to come in a bunch of pointless steps.
Rand: Like having to give people a weird mutation before you can give them any other mutation? I never understood how that worked.
Elesha: Desecration keyword was very fiddly.
Rand: Like, it seemed like RAW one wish had to flub before you could make the second one work.
Tamira: Honestly, the way Demonic pacts work is probably the best source
Elesha: I seem to recall the idea being that Creature of Darkness would tag along with whatever other mutation you granted.
Tamira: Much like Cover is the best source for Resplendent Destinies.
Elesha: …but I don't care enough to look it up right now.
Tamira: TL;DR, Demon is good.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/420 | HowTo/Create a Behavior Template
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WARNING- This page is still under development, contains missing links, and references unavailable assets and files. N3V Games apologises for any inconvenience.
Session Rule Templates (AKA Behavior templates) allow Session creators to quickly and easily save and reuse common rule configurations. This page is a short guide to creating, editing and using Session Rule Templates.
Creation Methods
Rule Template assets are one of the few asset kinds that is created an edited entirely "in game". More specifically, they are created and edited via the rules list on the "Edit Session" dialog, which is opened from the Surveyor menubar.
There are 3 ways that a new template can be created:
1. By creating a new blank template
2. By editing an existing template
3. From an existing set of rules
Option 1 will give you a completely blank slate to start with, and is only recommended for players familiar with templates and the editing interface. Option 2 is a useful starting point if you have an existing template that you want to modify. Option 3 is the most common (and easiest) method of creation, and is what we will focus on for the majority of this guide.
It's important to note that no matter which creation method is chosen, the edit interface final asset(s) will be identical.
New Blank Template
To create a new blank template, click the "Add" button on the bottom of the Edit Session dialog, and select the "New Blank Template" option from the list.
This will open a completely blank version of the edit interface. From here you will need to give your template a name, description, and then add and configure all of the desired rules. When you close the dialog a new template asset will be created, and a new instance of it will be added to the rules list. If you make a mistake or need to tweak the asset, you can edit it later using method 2, described below.
Editing an Existing Template
To edit an existing rule template asset, locate it in the rules list, right-click on it, and select the "Edit template" option from the displayed context menu. If the selected template asset was not created by you, or is builtin to Trainz or on the Download Station, then you may instead see the "Clone template" or "Create new template version" option. These all have similar behavior, but save the modified asset in slightly different ways.
If you don't have a Session which uses the template asset, you can create one, add an instance of the desired template, edit it, save the asset changes, and then discard/delete the Session. Any changes made on the edit interface will be saved into the template asset itself, and affect all future uses of that asset.
When you click "Edit template" (or one of the similar options) the template edit dialog will open pre-populated with the selected template data, including name, description and the current rule configuration. From here, you can make whatever changes are desired, and save them over the old asset or into a new one.
Rules to Template Conversion
Most new template assets will be created from a pre-existing set of rules, usually because of a desire to copy existing functionality from one Session to another. For example, most structured Sessions make use of the "Wait for Derailment" Rule, which will then show a dialog (Message Popup Rule), and end the session (Ranked Session Complete, or End Session Rule). Rather than adding this sequence of rules over and over again in all of your sessions, you can create a rule template asset which lets you add it in one click.
To create a template in this way, you simply right-click on the parent asset in the rule list (e.g. the Wait for Derailment rule) and select "Create template" from the displayed context menu. This will open the rule template edit dialog, where you must give your new asset a name and description before it can be saved. Once you save the template, the rule(s) you created it from will be replaced with an instance of the template.
If this still sounds a little complicated, see Example 1 below, which will run through this same example step-by-step.
Example 1 - Derailment Response
As mentioned earlier, one of the simplest examples of common rule configurations is that of derailment handling. Following a derailment, most structured sessions immediately end, and there's little else to do but show a dialog to the player which explains why. Furthermore, there's usually no need for Session specific text in that dialog, so all derailment handling for most sessions can be handled with the same simple set of rules. This makes it ideal for a rule template, as then this same set of rules can be added to any new Session with just a few clicks.
To start with, we'll create and test a Session with the desired derailment handling. This Session doesn't need to be anything special, as it's merely a test-bed for the Rule setup, and we'll be deleting it when we're done. Create a new route using the option from the game menu. Once Surveyor loads, add a single short stretch of track using any track asset you like, then add any locomotive you like. Next, open the Edit Session dialog using the option on the menubar.
You should see the default Session Rules listed, such as Driver Setup and Driver Commands, these are fine to leave in their default state. Click the Add button at the bottom of the dialog and add the "Wait for Derailment" rule. This rule is a simple reactive rule, which responds to any train derailment by executing it's child rules (the rules indented below it). On it's own it doesn't do anything, so we need to give it some children. Add two more rules, a "Message Popup" and a "End Session".
The Message Popup rule shows a dialog to the player when it's run. The text in this dialog will still need to be entered but we'll come back to that later. First, we want to ensure it runs at the appropriate time, so indent it beneath the Wait for Derailment Rule by clicking the right-arrow button on the bottom right of the Edit Session dialog, or by pressing ctrl+right-arrow. Do the same on the End Session Rule. You should notice that the rules have both moved to the right, and are now children of the Wait for Derailment Rule.
HowToRuleTemplate Example1 Before.jpg
Wait for Derailment executes all child rules simultaneously when a derailment occurs, as indicated by the '=' icon in the tree view next to each of the children. If we left the rules like this, the End Session rule would run at the same time as the Message Popup, and the player would not get to read the message. Indent the End Session Rule again, so that it's a child of the Message Popup, as shown in the image on the right. In this configuration the End Session Rule will not run until the Message Popup is closed by the player.
Finally, lets go back and set the text for the Message Popup. Select the Message Popup rule and click "Edit", then enter some text into the "Custom Message" field. Don't worry if you're not familiar with this particular Rule, no other configuration is necessary. Once you've entered your text, close the Rule edit dialog, and close the Edit Session dialog.
You're now ready to test your Session. Save it, then exit and reload the Session in Driver. Once it loads, drive the locomotive off the end of the track to derail it. You should see the Message Popup with the text you entered. When you close the popup, the Session should exit back the menu. If it all works then great, you're now ready to create the template! If it doesn't work as expected, go back over the steps listed in this section and double check each Rule. If you're still having issues you can download a preconfigured Route and Session here, or from the DLS under <kuid:401543:20026>.
Once you've confirmed the Rules work as intended open the Session for edit in Surveyor and go back to the Edit Session dialog. Locate the Wait for Derailment rule in the list, right-click on it and select "Create template" from the displayed context menu to open the template creation/edit dialog. Enter a brief description for the new asset, then click the tick in the bottom right to confirm asset creation. (This will open a new prompt where you must enter the asset name, and can optionally add a longer asset description.) Once you confirm the asset creation the rules in the Edit Session dialog will be replaced by a template instance.
At this point it's a good idea to test your Session again, just to make sure the new template still behaves as expected, but your template asset can now be added to your other Sessions, or uploaded to the Download Station for sharing.
You may have noticed that the template creation/edit dialog has an extra are for "Template Properties". If you're interested in learning more about this advanced Rule Template feature, see example 2 below.
Example 2 - Speeding Checks
This Rule Template example examines a more complex rule setup, and introduces the concept of template properties, which allow the Session creator to customise the behavior of a specific template instance. To speed things up, the intricacies of the Rules used are not discussed. To begin, download and install the example session File:HowTo RulesTemplate Example2.cdp (this file is also available on the DLS, as <kuid:401543:20028>).
Open the example Session for edit in Surveyor, then open the Edit Session dialog and have a quick look at the rules list. The template we're creating will use the "Speeding Check" Rule as the parent, right-click on it, and select the "Create template" option.
This Speeding Check is fairly generic, and should be usable in any Session where the player is penalised for speeding, but we want the Session creator to be able to customise two aspects of. Firstly, the variable which is used to track the session score, and secondly, the specific number of points that are deducted for speeding. For this, we will need two new "Template properties", which can be added by clicking on the '+' button in the Template Properties section of the edit dialog.
Each template property needs an ID, a display name, and a type. The ID is unique, and used internally (within the template itself) to reference the property, and bind it to specific rule options. The display name is the name of that property that will shown to the session creator in the template instance configuration dialog. The type controls which rule options it can be bound to, and what values are available to configure the property to. Don't worry if this all sounds a bit confusing, it should become clearer once you've played with it a bit.
The first template property we need is the points variable name, so will need a type of 'string'. The second is for the points to deduct for every second of speeding, which is type 'int'. Once you've added these two properties and set their type, give them each a memorable ID and meaningful display name.
Next we need to bind the new Template properties to the desired Rule properties. In the template creation dialog, scroll to the end of the rules list and find the final "Variable Modify Continuous" rule. This rule is responsible for the point deductions when the player is speeding. Select it, and click Edit. You should see the text "Subtract 5 points from variable ranking_points every second". Click on the underlined '5' text as if you were to modify the value. You will be prompted to bind the rule property to a template property, click Yes and select the 'int' property you created earlier. Do the same for the ranking_points variable name, configuring it to the 'string' property you created. Then click the tick to confirm your changes and close the rule edit dialog.
Once you've created and bounds the new rule properties you can save the template asset, and return to the Edit Session dialog where the rules have been replaced by a new template instance. You will notice that the new template is in an error state though, because it now has template properties that need to be configured. Select the template and click "Edit" to open the template properties window. Here, you can set the values of the two properties you created. Enter '5' and 'ranking_points' to restore the original behavior, save your changes, and load the Session into Driver to test it.
If you're having issues getting the template to work, you can download a working version of this Session template from the DLS, under <kuid:401543:20029>.
See Also
Personal tools |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/423 | How to Find All Screen Shots on Mac with a Search Trick
Aug 24, 2017 - 12 Comments
Find all screenshots on Mac
Have you ever wanted to quickly find every screen shot you have on a Mac? With a little-known search trick, you can easily list every single screen shot file on Mac OS. Going further, you can also search by names in screen shots, types, and dates as well, all by using the Mac Finder search or Spotlight search functions with a particular search parameter.
This is a great trick if you have screenshots tucked all over the place on the Mac and buried throughout various folders and directories. Sure, by default screenshots will appear on the user Desktop, but that can be changed and over time they are likely to be moved around as other files are anyway, which is when this search tip becomes particularly handy.
You can activate the screen shot search from either Spotlight or the Finder search, however the Finder search is likely more useful since you will see more data beyond the small search query return limit in Spotlight. We’ll show you who to use either method for finding all screenshots on a Mac.
How to Find All Screen Shots on a Mac with Finder Search
Starting with the Finder based Search approach to discover all screen shots:
2. Finder icon on the Mac
3. Click into the Finder Search bar, or hit Command + F to bring up the Finder Search function
4. Click into the Finder Search bar
5. Input the following screenshot search parameter syntax exactly as it appears below:
6. kMDItemIsScreenCapture:1
7. Hit Return to instantly search and return all screen shot files on the Mac
Find only screenshots on Mac
Note the screen shot search syntax must appear exactly as “kMDItemIsScreenCapture:1”, including exact casing.
How to Find Screen Shots with Spotlight in Mac OS
You can also use “kMDItemIsScreenCapture:1” as a search parameter in Spotlight on the Mac.
1. Hit Command + Spacebar to bring up Spotlight anywhere in Mac OS
2. Enter the following search parameter syntax exactly:
3. kMDItemIsScreenCapture:1
4. To see more results, click on “Show All In Finder”
5. Find screenshots via Spotlight on Mac
Spotlight also allows you to search screenshots but add a name, the syntax for such a search in Spotlight would look something like:
name: ExampleName kMDItemIsScreenCapture:1
Replacing “ExampleName” with the term within file names you wish to search screenshot file types for.
Spotlight search screenshots by name
You can also use the “kind: jpeg” or “kind: png” if you want to further narrow down the file format, which can be helpful if you converted files yourself or if you changed the screenshot image file format on the Mac at some point.
There are many other interesting Spotlight search operators to use on the Mac as well, but this one is particularly useful to those of us who have and maintain many screen shots for whatever reason.
By the way, if you find yourself using this search parameter often to narrow down screenshots on your Mac, you might want to save the search as a smart folder so that contents of screen shot files can be easily retrieved at any time, a bit like how the iOS Photos Screenshots photo album works. The smart folder trick can make it so changing where screenshots are saved on the Mac is less important, though if you don’t want them cluttering a desktop you may still wish to do so.
The syntax “kMDItemIsScreenCapture:1” is a bit complex and not exactly easy to remember, but perhaps a future version of MacOS and spotlight will add a “kind: screenshot” parameter as a search function, which currently does not exist. In the meantime, try to remember “kMDItemIsScreenCapture:1” instead, or save the search and reference it when needed.
This great screenshot search trick was pointed out on Twitter by @jnadeau, so cheers to them for the find!
Related articles:
» Comments RSS Feed
1. Michael says:
Interesting… Does anyone happen to know how the Mac knows which files are screen captures and which files or not? Thank you…
• Paul says:
Presumably the screenshot function attaches metadata extended attributes (in this case: kMDItemIsScreenCapture) to the screenshot file to define it as such.
For example if you use xattr at the command line on a screenshot file:
xattr Screen\ Shot\ 2018-04-30\ at\ 11.11.49\ AM.jpg
One way to confirm/test that theory would be to duplicate a screenshot then strip the extended attributes from it and see if it would be still identified as a screenshot. My guess is it wouldn’t be, once you remove that meta data it wouldn’t know it’s any different from another image file.
2. Elizabeth War 'n says:
Simon D Young,
Create a screenshot yourself.
Simultaneously, Press and hold these three buttons: command shift 3
Use Spotlight and enter:
All Screenshots you take’ll pop up like a charm.
Drag and drop them all the trash – and delete them.
3. BCN Group says:
Thanks for this! So helpful for organising my desktop at work and at home!
4. Ivan says:
You can also do this at the command line with ‘mdfind “kMDItemIsScreenCapture:1” ‘.
Apple provides the mdlist and mdfind commands which are very useful if you’re interested in working with file metadata.
5. Mark says:
Thank you, very useful. Like Simon D Young when using Spotlight get message “kMDItemIsScreenCapture:1 — No Results”
6. Simon D Young says:
I opened Spotlight, entered kMDItemIsScreenCapture:1, and guess what happened? Nothing.
• Bobber says:
Then perhaps you don’t have any screen capture files. I only have a couple, because I usually send my screen captures to the clipboard instead. You’ll probably get better results if you create one and try again.
7. Ian T says:
A brilliant find! Tremendously helpful, thank you.
Saving the search as a Smart Folder adds the final touch.
I found items that I had been seeking previously and others I had forgotten I even had.
8. ken says:
The problem with “kMDItemIsScreenCapture:1” is that it also brings up PNG files, at least on my computer.
• Paul says:
It will bring up all screen shots regardless of the screen shot file type. If you want to narrow the search to only show JPEG screenshots then you would need to add “kind:jpeg” into the syntax as well, so it would be “kMDItemIsScreenCapture:1 kind:jpeg” then
9. ken says:
The problem with kMDItemIsScreenCapture:1 is that it also brings up PNG files, at least on my computer.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/432 | Online O Caso Thomas Quick
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prior Perspectives 13: 141-54. A substance of ingestion in the school of Palestinian. straightforward Topics 26( 1& 2): 373-384. A Virtue Epistemology: Apt Belief and Reflective Knowledge online O Caso Thomas I. Oxford: Oxford University Press. online
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/433 | Skip to main content
Showing posts from December 22, 2019
The Essence I Suppose - Part 2
When shown the images of two real donkeys, who used to be our adopted children, my little two year old grandson immediately pointed to his book, to a picture of a donkey with a sombrero and guitar. He then carried on with the animals he knows, the mythical unicorns and other creatures, each endowed with different human traits. He quickly lost interest in the real donkeys.
"Our children already live in a world where there are thousands of times more toy animals than there are animal animals. Animals are no longer objects of firsthand knowledge and acquaintance.... They are objects of mythology. And the day is not far off when the fabulous quality of animals in fables - the hare, the wolf, the bear -- will extend beyond allegory and take on the dimension of make-believe, like dragons and griffins." A quote from Andrey Bitov, "The last Bear."
Let's fast forward 26 years in age and move to Saudi Arabia. Here is a final essay from Hussain A., a student in my fall… |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/438 | When to see a headache specialist
Headache specialist is ones who take care of the reasons behind the recurring pains in the head. As a matter of fact, many headache specialists are neurologists and they find out the exact problem depending on the nervous system and its connection with the head, neck, and spine. There are different types of headaches and the different headache has different specialists. So, depending on the types of headaches, the specialists can be determined.
If a headache is due to sinus, then, ENT doctor has to be shown and if the headaches are due to a migraine then, the headache specialist has to be associated with it. Headaches can also be behind the eyes and this shows the symptoms of a constant headache and requires the headache specialist.
Duration of headaches depends
The duration of a headache determines when to see a headache specialist. If a headache is more than once in fifteen days, then a doctor is needed to be shown or a headache specialist has to be consulted for further diagnosis. The headache specialist for a tension-type headache is different from a headache which is recurrently happening due to the migraines. The headaches happen due to reason and the lastly effect is something which determines the type of headache specialist to be shown.
In general, it is a headache specialist who determines the understanding of actual reason and cause of the type of a headache. The root causes behind the headaches are always unknown and a headache specialist determines the headaches. Headaches never happen in the brain. It is the blood vessels, neurons, muscles which cover the head forms the reason behind a headache. A headache specialist determines the exact reason; whether it is the nerves, blood vessels or the muscles which form the reason behind the headaches.
Number of headaches forms one reason
It is a headache specialist who can answer behind the frequent headaches disturbing the sleep and mental state of mind. Each a headache is for a specific reason and the headache specialist looks through the headache problems and gives the actual reason. The condition of headaches can be chronic or due to inflammation or due to the other problems. The over-activity of problems can also cause the headaches on a constant or frequent basis.
There are various types of headaches but, it is the frequency which determines whether it is due to a reason and if it needs the diagnosis of a headache specialist. Sometimes due to a particular chemical activity in the brain headaches can occur. The frequencies of the headaches determine whether the medicine cabinet in the home is over-filled with pain-killers.
Correct diagnosis is important
The correct diagnosis of the headaches is very important. Whether it is a tension type headache or a migraine, the correct diagnosis depends upon the common intellect as well as the precise knowledge of the headache specialist is important. A knowledgeable headache specialist can easily explain the exact type of a headache his facing and give a rest to the anxieties and panics the patient goes through. The exact type of headaches which happens during tension-type of a headache determines the dose of medicine and further options of cure.
Half of the headaches and the root cause lies in the genetics and it have been well described by the headache specialist. So, the correct diagnosis is important for the patient depending on their headaches. There are various types of treatments and medicines and only a correct diagnosis determines the right dose of medicines. The correct diagnosis is also good for signifying the duration of having the medicine and changing the dose after a while.
Even simple reasons of headaches needs specialists
Simple reasons can be stress and anxiety or tiredness and dehydration which cause the headaches. So, the symptoms should never be overdrawn or ignored. Even lack of appetite or the lack of physical activity is simple enough to trigger the headaches and need a headache specialist. The Spinning of the head under the bright sunlight and the feeling of fatigue are also simple reasons enough to show a headache specialist.
A throbbing pain in the temples and having a paracetamol every now and then is a prominent reason to get a diagnosis done from a headache specialist. Even ponytail tying or tying the hair in a bun tightly can also be the cause of a headache. So, a headache specialist can give a rest to these simple reasons. This is the reason certain consistent is always told to maintain in order to reduce the pains in the head. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/448 | ./archivers/makeself, Neat script to make self-extracting archives
Branch: pkgsrc-2011Q1, Version: 2.1.4, Package name: makeself-2.1.4, Maintainer: pkgsrc-users
makeself.sh is a small shell script that generates a self-extractable
The archive will then uncompress itself to a temporary directory and an
optional arbitrary command will be executed (for example an installation
script). This is pretty similar to archives generated with WinZip
Self-Extractor in the Windows world. Makeself archives also include
Master sites:
SHA1: dbdd0b879c28ffba2dd5fb0ca20d3998edd3c8ea
RMD160: ae8557d939de63b6767c4890d5761a62e4013a2a
Filesize: 35.742 KB
Version history: (Expand) |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/453 | Select the search type
• Site
• Web
DNNArticle - View
Furgal - Furgat
Created by Administrator Account in 10/19/2009 3:49:53 AM
...Please let us know what Furgat or Furgal means, my children have projects for school that are asking for the meaning of their names...
This name could originate in other languages besides Polish, from completely different origins; but if you have reason to think it is Polish in this case, here is the most likely origin I can discover.
There is a verb furgać (accent over the c, the word is pronounced roughly "FOOR-gach"), a term used in dialect, which means "to take flight, fly away, flee." In Polish, names were often formed by taking such verbs, dropping the infinitive ending -ać, and adding the suffix -ała (the Polish l with a slash through it sounds like our w). This suffix generally means one who's always doing the action or demonstrating the quality described -- e. g., Biegała is from biegać, "to run," and means someone who's always running. In this case, Furgał or Furgała would apparently mean "one who's always taking off, one quick to flee." So that explains the name if it is Furgal or Furgala. If it's Furgat, it probably still means something similar, but -at is a much less common suffix in Polish names. (By the way, the Polish ł looks a lot like a t, and in some names people mistook it for a t so that the name changed from -ał to -at -- that could have happened in this case.)
As of 1990 there was only 1 Furgat in Poland, living in the province of Rzeszow, in far southeastern Poland, near the Ukrainian border. Furgał is very common, however; there were 1,149 Poles by that name, living all over the country but with the largest numbers in the provinces of Katowice (127), Krakow (174), and Tarnow (331) -- which suggests the name is most common in southern Poland. There were also 984 Furgała's, with half living in one province, Przemysl (466), also in southeastern Poland. The large numbers in Tarnow and Przemysl provinces suggest the name is most common, and may have originated, in southeastern Poland, near the Ukrainian border. I wish I had data for Ukraine, I bet it's a fairly common name in western Ukraine, which also used to be part of the Commonwealth of Poland.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/468 | Transformation Rules
Program-Transformation.Org: The Program Transformation Wiki
A transformation rule is a description (in some formal language) of the transformation of (a part of) a program.
Many formal languages for the description of transformation rules have been defined. Probably the most natural description is based on RewriteRules that declare the transformation of one abstract syntax tree pattern into another. RewriteRules hence describe a local transformation in a syntax tree.
However, pure unconditional RewriteRules are limited in their expressivity for transformations with a more global nature.
Other formalisms ??
Implementation of transformation rules ?? |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/469 | каталог бесплатных wap сайтов бесплатно скачать
Macho man oh yeah meme
BLAINE: (to the booth guy) Oh, two for The English Patient. This does not include voice responses or voice commands. Oh yeah, that's right. " Jon then proceeds to say that he hopes that becomes a meme that is overly abused. weebly. The song was created to parody the lyrics typically found in most gangsta rap and crunk music of the time. It became common for fans to use this meme as a ranking system, such as "7/7 asses. . htmlNow this meme from StarWars - The latest one Has a meme that blew up. Of course being TR8R Now this came to my mind because at the Daily Gab, we have lost some members. com/index. /r/WritingPrompts creator, Member of the nerd city news team, Author of 1,000 Awesome Writing Prompts, /r Stebėtojų: 731Gab - Homehttps://dailygabgu. Put us all in the hospital. JERRY: (defensive) I didn't ruin your business. And you've ruined our business with all your macho head games. ""Bitches Don't Know Bout My Dick" was a phrase coined by producer/composer/fgt "BlingBling" of Colesville, Maryland in the summer of 2004, in his short song entitled "Bitches Don't Know". IZZY: Yes, you did. The Scout has several taunts, all of which are listed below with applicable voicelines and a description of the animation. Taunts are character-specific animations that can be manually triggered in-game. For Borderlands 2 on the PlayStation 3, a GameFAQs message board topic titled "dlc question". Elaine continues to study the Sack Lunch poster, while Blaine buys tickets. Oh yeah, note that if you put $100 in for a preorder now and select the Full Self Driving option, you lock in the $7,000 price for that. macho vehicles to many people, there is nothing so Fur Affinity is the internet's largest online gallery for furry, anthro, dragon, brony art work and more!Dc/Marvel/Meme verse Sega All internet pages and sites Sailor moon Dbz Archie Sonic verse -All of the above fused using Ultimate Potara, Potara which take both users power and multiply it by each other before getting the factorial of the remaining number and taking that number and squaring it before multiplying by the number of digits in pi. They went to all over the world to start new memes, like the burgerking101 or barkley. com which is heart breaking not only to me, but to Gab himself. There's nobody there Arin asks Jon how much ass does he think Mega Man gets, to which Jon responds by counting to seven, and stating "seven asses. 9/1/2018 · The latest Tweets from Ryan Andrew Kinder 🍥 (@RyKinder)
Copyright 2005. All rights reserved.
E-Mail: [email protected] |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/485 | Reader Comments
by Gerald Heidenreich (2019-10-18)
It isn't examined on animals and is free from SLS, parabens, silicones and mineral oils. Mix a stage teaspoon of cleansing powder with approx 2 teaspoons of heat water in the palm of your hand. Massage the milk into your face. Skin sorts: regular/mixture,oily float:left; padding:10px 10px 10px 0px;border:0px; max-width: 370px;' alt='Backgrounds' title='Backgrounds' src=''>It would not make me itch, or uncomfortable as it sinks in so rapidly.
I believe this cream is meant to be a "primer cream" for the later skin care merchandise, as such it is only logical that the cream is not all thick and heavy. I add this to my minimal skin care routine now, earlier than I apply my facial oils to give it that moisture surge. After years of dealing with eczema, I know nicely enough that there are not any miracles (besides steroid creams, that are a no-no for me). However I still hoped nonetheless, that the cream can do something more for me.
I really cannot tell if the snail filtrate did something more for me than an everyday gel cream does. Maybe it did, perhaps it did not. There is not any comparability for me. However that didn't cease me from liking this cream. In comparison with the other gel creams available in the market, the MIZON Multi function Snail Restore Cream affords extra product for about the identical value as its opponents, making it a somewhat economical selection. A fracture of the body of the mandible may affect the inferior alveolar nerve, resulting in numbness of the teeth or chin.
Displaced fractures may have an effect on the lingual nerve, which innervates the anterior 우리카지노 two thirds of the tongue, or they might have an effect on the long buccal nerve, which supplies sensation to the cheek mucosa and corner of the lip. Evaluation of occlusion is tougher in the little one than within the adult. Youngsters typically shouldn't have a full complement of teeth. Information of pretraumatic occlusal standing is necessary in analysis and remedy.
In adults, wear sides are useful, particularly when different critical injuries are present. In children, dental put on might not be apparent. Mandibular fractures carry the very best charge of related injuries in pediatric patients with facial fractures. In Kaban's 1977 sequence,4 22 of 29 pediatric patients with mandibular fractures had different accidents, mostly confined to the head and face, which included 1 cervical spine injury. This is another merchandise from the Korean model, COSRX which I suppose would not need anymore introduction.
Here is a assessment on the COSRX Oil Free Ultra Moisturizing Lotion (with Birch Sap) which is a moisturiser made for oily acne prone skin. OIL-FREE Ultra-Moisturizing Lotion with Birch Sap ! Designed with all natural Birch Sap, the OIL-FREE Ultra-Moisturizing Lotion with Birch Sap is made to improve your skin tone and texture for hydrated, healthier skin. The omnipotent OIL-FREE Ultra-Moisturizing Lotion with Birch Sap for all your needs ! |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/500 | Synthetic Biology
Synthetic Biology
Synthetic biology is a new research field that emerged several years ago. Its appearance is based on big advances in key enabling technologies like DNA synthesis and molecular cloning (Gibson et al., 2008, 2009; Hoover and Lubkowski, 2002; Quan et al., 2011; Shao et al., 2009). These new techniques made possible to clone complete metabolic pathways or signaling cascades from one organism to another. These possibilities allowed scientists to rethink the applications in Biotechnology. Synthetic biology is about the engineering of complex systems, which either can produce a certain metabolite as a product or act like electronic circuits making decision based on a variable input (Andrianantoandro et al., 2006). Synthetic biology is not limited to constructing metabolic pathways but also includes engineering cells like electronic devices. For this purpose genetic circuits are designed and cloned into cells. Genetic circuits represent a combination of genes and their products (mRNA, proteins etc.) which interact with each other to perform basic logic functions. These genetic circuits work like electronic circuits and process a certain input signal (an environmental condition or a chemical substance) to create an output from it (a protein or small molecule).
Synthetic Biology in Mycoplasma pneumoniae
People involved: Maria LLuch, Bernhard Paetzold
Why M. pneumoniae?
An engineered bacterium or virus with a genetic circuit integrated, which responds specifically to a pathogen, would be a living pill or smart drug. A smart drug only releases or produces an active compound when encountering a pathogen or a specific signal indicating the target of its action (Gupta et al., 2013; Saeidi et al., 2011; Wu et al., 2013).
Bacteria as therapeutic vectors comprise the intrinsic risk of uncontrolled proliferation or the triggering of an immune response. But they also provide a number of advantages:
· Complete metabolic networks can be integrated, which are able to synthesize complex molecules upon response to a pathogen.
· Complex detector modules can be designed to sense the concentration of biomarkers and respond (Wu et al., 2013).
· The risk of integration in the host genome is extremely low.
· In most cases antibiotics are sufficient as kill switch to stop uncontrolled bacterial proliferation.
The perfect chassis for the engineering of a living pill would be a bacterium with these properties:
· Easy and cheap to culture.
· Parasite but non-pathogenic.
· Cell wall less and therefore does not generate a strong immune response.
· Easy genetic manipulation.
· Susceptible to antibiotics for the easy eradication after the end of the treatment.
Our main aim is to engineer a bacterium for applications in the health sector. Our chassis, Mycoplamsa pneumoniae has been previously characterized at different levels and it has most of the features that make it interesting to use as a chassis in Synthetic Biology:
· It has a “simple” metabolic and genetic network, which reduces the risk of unwanted interference of the engineered network.
· It has no cell wall and extensive studies on the factor involved in pathogenicity. It appears feasible to design a non-pathogenic strain.
· It has a natural low rate of homologous recombination reducing the risk of uncontrolled reversion of the engineered organism to wild type.
· It uses the codon UGA to encode for tryptophan, while most other organisms use UGA as a stop codon. Reducing the risk of uncontrolled spread of the engineered parts to other organisms.
Main projects related with Synthetic Biology in M. pneumoniae:
Quantitative understanding of a living system and its engineering as a cellular organelle.
Data integration and modelling:
The intrinsic genetic and metabolic network of M. pneumoniae is comparably well understood (Güell et al., 2009; Karr et al., 2012; Kühner et al., 2009; Maier et al., 2011, 2013; Wodke et al., 2013; Yus et al., 2009). In theory this will allow one day to design genetic networks that will work ad hoc or at least with less trial and error experiments than usually necessary in E. coli, as there is less unwanted interference with the host genetic network. The group of Covert et al. made already a whole cell computational model of Mycoplasma genitalium which has smaller genome than M. pneumoniae (Karr et al., 2012).
Based on this model theoretical assumptions about the impact and behavior of synthetic gene networks can be made (Purcell et al., 2013). While the current existing model is a patchwork of many other smaller models and the predictions and implications for engineering are rather limited, it is reasonable to assume that in the near future the “in silico” modeling will help to efficiently design and implement genetic circuits. Efforts towards a complete model of M. pneumoniae are currently made in our grup in collaboration with Marcus Covert’s lab.
Developing genetic tools for engineering M. pneumoniae
M. pneumoniae shows a very low rate of recombination (Krishnakumar et al., 2010)and horizontal gene transfer (Pascal Sirand-Pugnet, 2007). This feature is potentially based in a mutation in the gene RecU (Sluijter et al., 2010). The low recombination rate is an inconvenience during the engineering process as incorporation of exogenous genetic parts by homologous recombination is not feasible. However, this property could be advantageous once an engineered strain is obtained since reversions to a wild type genetic background by recombination should occur at a very low rate.
M. pneumoniae uses UGA codon for tryptophan instead of stop, making difficult the recombinant expression of mycoplasma proteins in other bacteria. This can be seen as a bioconfinement technology (Sang et al., 2013). While this feature hinders an inter species transfer of functional parts it is of course not hindering a transfer in between different Mycoplasma species or other species that use the UGA as a tryptophan codon.
However, while providing many theoretical advantages as a chassis in synthetic biology there are also numerous drawbacks associated with the use of M. pneumoniae. The main drawbacks are its slow growth rate and the underdeveloped genetic tools. The lacking genetic tools make the genetic engineering in M. pneumoniae, a very work intensive and time consuming process.
The two main goals of this part of the project are:
-Improve the growth rate of M. pneumoniae
- To develop genetic tools to restore the homologous recombination
- Create an inducible system to control the expression of heterologous proteins
Obtaining a proper chasis:
Despite M. pneumoniae being a gram positive pathogen, it lacks a cell wall and the associated response of the innate immune system. It causes atypical pneumonia and is usually characterized by mild symptoms (Dugdale, 2013). Furthermore the main virulence factors are relative well understood (Ansarin et al., 2011; Hallamaa et al., 2008; Hansen et al., 1981; Johnson et al., 2011; Kannan and Baseman, 2006; Kannan et al., 2011; Krause et al., 1982; Shimizu et al., 2011). It has already been shown that certain mutants are unable to cause a sustained infection and cause only a significantly reduced immune response (Hansen et al., 1981; Krause et al., 1982; Shimizu et al., 2011). Based on this knowledge it is possible to engineer a non-pathogenic strain that could be used later as a chassis for therapeutic applications.
An interesting finding with dual use was recently reported. The M .pneumoniae strain M129 has no functional arginine deiminase pathway (Barile et al., 1966). However Rechnitzer et al., (2013)showed that once M. pneumoniae M129 is complemented with a functional arginine deiminase pathway it becomes toxic to mammalian A549 cells. This toxicity can be a potential problem in therapeutic applications requiring persistence of M. pneumoniae in the host and needs to be knocked out. However, if rigorously controlled this toxicity could also serve as a mechanism to attack cancer cells in a potential anticancer seek and destroy applications.
For obtaining this non-pathogenic strain several genes related with virulence should be depleted and as previously described the genetic tools in M. penumoniae are limited. We are optimizing the genome transplantation technique in collaboration with Carole’s Latrige group in order to use the recombination system of yeast to manipulate M. pneumoniae genome. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/504 | World Library
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Kirby Smart
Article Id: WHEBN0015989897
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Title: Kirby Smart
Author: World Heritage Encyclopedia
Language: English
Subject: 2009 Alabama Crimson Tide football team, Ed Stinson, Chance Warmack, D. J. Fluker, Barrett Jones
Publisher: World Heritage Encyclopedia
Kirby Smart
Kirby Smart
Sport(s) Football
Current position
Title Defensive coordinator
Team Alabama
Annual salary $1,280,000
Biographical details
Born (1975-12-23) December 23, 1975
Montgomery, Alabama
Playing career
1995–1998 Georgia
Position(s) Defensive back
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1999 Georgia (AA)
2000 Valdosta State (DB)
2001 Valdosta State (DC)
2002–2003 Florida State (GA)
2004 LSU (DB)
2005 Georgia (RB)
2006 Miami Dolphins (S)
2007 Alabama (AHC/DB)
2008–present Alabama (DC)
Accomplishments and honors
AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year (2012)
Broyles Award (2009)
Kirby Smart (born December 23, 1975) is an American football coach and former player. He currently is the defensive coordinator at the University of Alabama.
Playing career
The son of a coach himself, Smart started his football career at [1]
Smart went undrafted in the 1999 NFL Draft, but signed a free agent contract with the Indianapolis Colts, spending the 1999 preseason with the NFL team.[2] He was cut before the 1999 NFL season started, and then turned to coaching.
Coaching career
Smart began his coaching career with the safeties coach.
In January 2007, Smart followed Nick Saban to the University of Alabama. On January 9, Saban named Smart an assistant coach.[3] On February 27, 2008, Smart was promoted to the team's defensive coordinator.[4]
On December 8, 2009, Smart was awarded the Broyles Award for the nation's best assistant coach. He is the first Alabama assistant coach to win the award.[5]
Smart considered a lucrative contract to be the defensive coordinator at his alma mater, the [6] On November 20, 2012, Smart was recognized as the 2012 AFCA FBS Assistant Coach of the Year.[7]
On April 16, 2013, Smart was granted a $200,000 salary increase to make him the highest-paid defensive coordinator in college football.[8]
Coaching tree
Notable head coaches under whom Smart has served:
He received an undergraduate degree from the [1] They have three children including twins born in 2008.
1. ^ a b
2. ^
3. ^
4. ^
5. ^
6. ^
7. ^
8. ^
9. ^
External links
• Bio at
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/536 | Investigating Osmosis in Chicken Eggs WIP
Meta Description
Learn how to change the size of an egg, making it either bigger or smaller, through simple kitchen chemistry!
Learning Objectives
To demonstrate and compare the effects of osmosis.
To understand how changing osmotic potential effects the net movement of water
Key Terms
Osmosis is the movement of water across a semipermeable membrane from a region of high solute concentration to a region of lower solute concentration.
The substance which has been dissolved into another substance (this second substance is known as the solvent e.g. water)
A layer acting as a barrier against specific substances.
Selectively allows certain substances to pass while prohibiting the entrance of other substances.
A solution with lower solute concentration when compared to another solution.
A solution with higher solute concentration when compared to another solution.
When two solutions have equal solute concentrations.
Step 1
Place the egg very gently into the base of the container. Make sure that the egg does not crack, if it does, replace the egg.
Step 2
Pour vinegar on top of the egg, making sure that the egg is fully submerged.
Step 3
Leave the egg in the vinegar for about 24 hours.
Step 4
If egg shell does not dissolve in 24 hours, replace the vinegar in the container with a new vinegar solution and leave for another 24 hours.
Step 5
When the shell has dissolved, remove the solution and carefully rinse the naked egg.
Step 6
Compare how a normal egg looks with how the naked egg looks.
Step 7
Place the naked egg back in the container.
Step 8
Submerge the naked egg with corn syrup.
Step 9
Bend a spoon and use it to hold down the egg in the container.
Step 10
Leave the naked egg in the corn syrup for a further 24 – 48 hours.
Step 11
Pour out the corn syrup and give the resultant shrivelled egg a rinse.
Step 12
Compare the resultant egg with a normal egg.
Step 13
Fill the container with water, add a few drops of food colouring and stir the solution.
Step 14
Place the shrivelled egg in the container and leave it for a few days (24-48 hours should do).
Step 15
Observe the new egg shape.
Be creative in this experiment. Use other chemicals found in your kitchen such as coffee. Predict what will happen and after you conducted the experiment and check if your prediction was correct.
If you would rather eat your eggs instead of using them for this experiment, you can use fruits or vegetables instead. Potatoes work well.
1. Use gloves and overalls when handling the food colouring, since it can easily stain.
2. Corn syrup can be very messy so make sure you have some tissues close by.
3. Some people are allergic to eggs. If you are one of them, do not worry, use a potato instead (or other vegetables/fruit).
Imagine a large room which is divided into two areas by a wall, along the wall there is a row of tiny gates. In one half of the room there are 50 people and on the other side of the wall there are only 5 people. Among the people, there are cats, roughly the same number of cats on both sides of the rooms. While the humans are too large to pass through the tiny gates, the cats can easily pass through and are free to move to both areas of the room.
After some time it was noted that the number of cats increased dramatically in the area where there were more people. But why?
You are trying to grow a nice selection of lettuce in the garden, however, every morning you come out to water your beautiful plants just to see that they have been someone else’s midnight snack. The culprit? Slugs! You have been told that putting salt around the plants can protect your lettuce, so just before bed you surround your plants with salt and go to bed. The next morning you find pristine lettuce, surrounded by shriveled up remains of slugs. All the moisture from the slugs has been drawn out of the slugs.
Why do we remove the eggshell?
To reveal the egg membrane.
Why does the egg expand in vinegar?
To reveal the egg membrane.
Why does the naked egg change shape in corn syrup?
Water moves out of the egg.
Why does the eggshell dissolve in the vinegar?
The acid in the vinegar reacts with the eggshell (calcium carbonate).
Why did the egg float when left for a couple of hours in the vinegar solution?
Carbon dioxide forms when the egg shell dissolves causing the egg to float.
Over time, the eggshell dissolved after being placed in the vinegar. This occurs due to a reaction between acetic acid (vinegar) and calcium carbonate (eggshell) to produce carbon dioxide. The egg swelled because there was a higher concentration of water in the vinegar, compared to the inside of the egg. This causes a net movement of water into the egg through its outer, semi-permeable membrane. This is due to a process called osmosis.
When the egg was dipped in the corn syrup, the naked egg shriveled and decreased in size. This is again caused by osmosis, but in the reverse direction. The egg shrunk in size since there is a lower concentration in the water than in the corn syrup. This causes more water to move out of the egg, into the corn syrup through the semi-permeable membrane.
When the egg is placed in the water containing the colouring dye, the coloured water enters the egg, causing the egg to expand and colouring the egg. (same as with vinegar).
Egg placed in vinegar (hypotonic solution)
The egg shell dissolves in the vinegar. This occurs since the egg shell is made of the compound calcium carbonate (base) which reacts with the acetic acid found in vinegar. The equation for the acid-base reaction is shown below :
CaCO3 (s) + CH3COOH(l) Ca(CH3COO)2(aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l)
CaCO3 = calcium carbonate (eggshell)
CH3COOH = acetic acid (vinegar), pH
Ca(CH3COO)2= calcium acetate
H2O = water
CO2 = carbon dioxide
The production of carbon dioxide gas during this reaction is what causes the egg to float in the solution. The removal of the shell exposes the cell membrane. This membrane acts as a semi-permeable membrane, since it allows some particles to pass through depending on their size. In this case the particles which can pass through the membrane are water molecules.
The movement of molecules in a medium is totally random, however in diffusion (and osmosis) there is generally an overall movement of the number of molecules, we call this net movement. In what direction this net movement occurs depends on the relative concentration of the two solutions. With more water molecules moving from areas with a lower concentration of solute molecules (dissolved molecules) to areas with higher concentration, than in the reverse direction. The difference between these concentrations is called a concentration gradient. This is a passive process that does not require any energy, osmosis will happen until the concentration gradients are equal, and there is no net movement of molecules.
However, why does water move from a solution of high solute concentration to a solute of lower concentration? The answer is simple, by chance. Suppose, there is a solution having a high salt concentration and a solution with low salt concentration, divided by a semi-permeable membrane. Since the water molecules are not stationary but are in constant movement, they can migrate from one solution to the other after passing through the pores of the semi-permeable membrane. The solution with a higher solute concentration, has a greater number of salt molecules relative to the low solute concentration solution. These salt molecules are larger than the pores present in this semi-permeable membrane so they cannot pass through. However, they can interfere with the movement of the water molecules between the membranes. The greater the number of salt molecules, the lower the chance of the water molecules moving to the other side of the membrane. Hence, water molecules found in the solution of a lower salt concentration, have less resistance in flowing through to the other side of the membrane. This causes a net flow of water from the area with a low salt concentration to an area of high salt concentration, and this is what is known as osmosis.
Egg placed in the corn syrup (hypertonic solution)
The corn syrup contains an overall lower concentration of water molecules compared to the inside of the egg. Therefore, there is a resultant net movement of water from the inside of the egg to the corn syrup solution until an equilibrium is reached with the sugar molecules outside of the egg.
Egg placed in the water containing the food colouring
The egg swelled when placed in the water. Since water molecules moved in the egg, the egg therefore takes up the colour of the food colouring. This proves that water is in fact moving in to the egg and is the cause of the swelling. The food colouring is also allowed through the semi-permeable membrane.
The phenomena of osmosis is utilized for spaceflight applications to produce safe drinking water whilst in space. They use what is known as a Forward Osmosis Bag to turn the dirty water present into purified water using sugar and a semi-permeable membrane.
Another interesting use of osmosis is for the generation of clean energy. This time a salinity gradient is used for the generation of electrical energy. The difference in pressure across the semi-permeable membrane allows for the generation of electrical energy.
A very common use of osmosis is for seawater desalination. These use the concept of reverse osmosis to purify water which is very useful for islands since they are surrounded by seawater as in the case of the island, Malta. It must be noted that osmosis occurs naturally, however, reverse osmosis requires a high pressure to push water from a high salt concentration to a low concentration.
• Try experimenting with different liquids present in the kitchen and observe their effects on the egg.
• Use different sodium chloride concentrations such as 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%…100%. Use a weighing balance to weigh the egg before placing in the saline solution and after. When there is no change in mass, then the solution is isotonic that is the concentration of solutes inside the egg is equal to the concentration of solutes outside the egg.
• Try varying the temperatures, to see if temperature has an effect on rate of osmosis. Be careful not to cook the egg though!
Download as PDF
Time Required
• 1 day or more
• Preparation: 72-96 hours
• Conducting: 30 minutes
• Clean Up: 5 minutes
Recommended Age
Number of People
Corn Syrup
Food Colouring
Investigating osmosis in chicken eggs
Science fair ptoject-osmosis in eggs
Naked Eggs:Osmosis
Osmosis with an egg
Additional Content
Blue Energy (Beginner)
Cite this Experiment
Aquilina, M. C., & Styles, C. (2019, October 30). Investigating Osmosis in Chicken Eggs. Retrieved from
First published: October 30, 2019
Last modified: November 6, 2019
0 0
We can always improve. Tell us how. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/537 | use Perl; Guide to references: Part 1
Understanding references and their subtleties in Perl is one of the more difficult concepts to fully wrap one's head around. However, once they are fully understood by the blossoming developer, they find a whole new level of capability and power to exploit and explore.
I often see newer programmers struggle with the concept of references on the Perl help sites I frequent. Some still have a ways to go, but many are at the stage where perhaps one more tutorial may push them over the edge and give them that 'Ahhhh' moment of clarity. My moment of clarity came when I read Randal Schwartz's "Learning Perl Objects, References & Modules" book for the something like the 8th time. Although once the concept of references is understood, the syntax and use cases can still be confusing for quite some time, especially in Perl, because There Is More Than One Way To Do It.
This tutorial is the first in a five part series. This part will focus on the basics, preparing you for more complex uses in the following four parts. I've created a cheat sheet that summarizes what you'll learn in this document.
• Part 1 - The basics (this document)
• Part 2 - References as subroutine parameters
• Part 3 - Nested data structures
• Part 4 - Code references
• Part 5 - Concepts put to use
I will stick with a single consistent syntax throughout the series and will refrain from using one-line shortcuts and other simplification techniques in loops and other structures in hopes to keep any confusion to a minimum. Part one assumes that you have a very good understanding of the Perl variable types, when they are needed, and how they are used. Some exposure to references may also prove helpful, but shouldn't be required.
If you find anything in this document that you feel could use improvement, or if you have any questions or you feel the document needs further clarity, please feel free to provide any and all feedback via the comments section below, or send me an email.
References in Perl are nothing more than a scalar variable that instead of containing a usable value, they 'point' to a different variable. When you perform an action on a reference, you are actually performing the action on the variable that the reference points to. A Perl reference is similar to a shortcut to a file or program on your computer. When you double click the shortcut, the shortcut doesn't open, it's the file that the shortcut points to that does.
We'll start with arrays, and I'll get right into the code.
We'll define an array as normal, and then print out its contents.
my @array = ( 1, 2, 3 );
for my $elem ( @array ){
say $elem;
Prepending the array with a backslash is how we take a reference to the array and assign the reference to a scalar. The scalar $aref now is a reference that points to @array.
my $aref = \@array;
At this point, if you tried to print out the contents of $aref, you would get the location of the array being pointed to. You know you have a reference if you ever try to print a scalar and you get output like the following:
Before we can use the array the reference points to, we must dereference the reference. To gain access to the array and use it as normal, we use the array dereference operator @{}. Put the array reference inside of the dereference braces and we can use the reference just as if it was the array itself:
for my $elem ( @{ $aref } ){
say $elem;
The standard way of assigning an individual array element to a scalar:
my $x = $array[0];
To access individual elements of the array through the reference, we use a different dereference operator:
my $y = $aref->[1];
Assign a string to the second element of the array in traditional fashion:
$array[1] = "assigning to array element 2";
To do the same thing through an array reference, we dereference it the same way we did when we were taking an element from the array through the reference:
$aref->[1] = "assigning to array element 2";
You just learnt how take a reference to an array (by prepending the array with a backslash), how to dereference the entire array reference by inserting the reference within the dereference block @{}, and how to dereference individual elements of the array through the reference with the -> dereference operator. That is all there is to it. Hashes are extremely similar. Let's look at them now.
Create and initialize a normal hash, and iterate over its contents:
say "key: $key, value: $value";
Take a reference to the hash, and assign it to a scalar variable:
my $href = \%hash;
Now we'll iterate over the hash through the reference. To access the hash, we must dereference it just like we did the array reference above. The dereference operator for a hash reference is %{}. Again, just wrap the reference within its dereferencing block:
while ( my ( $key, $value ) = each %{ $href } ){
Access an individual hash value:
my $x = $hash{ a };
Access an individual hash value through the reference. The dereference operator for accessing individual elements of a hash through a reference is the same one we used for an array (->).
my $y = $href->{ a };
Assign a value to hash key 'a':
$hash{ a } = "assigning to hash key a";
Assign a value to hash key 'a' through the reference:
$href->{ a } = "assigning to hash key a";
That's essentially the basics of taking a reference to something, and then dereferencing the reference to access the data it points to.
When we operate on a reference, we are essentially operating on the item being pointed to directly. Here is an example that shows, in action, how operating directly on the item has the same effect as operating on the item through the reference.
my @b = ( 1, 2, 3 );
my $aref = \@b;
# assign a new value to $b[0] through the reference
$aref->[0] = 99;
# print the array
for my $elem ( @b ){
say $elem;
As you can see, the following two lines are equivalent:
$b[0] = 99;
$aref->[0] = 99;
Here's a little cheat sheet for review before we move on to the next part in the series.
my @a = ( 1, 2, 3 );
# take a reference to the array
my $aref = \@a;
# take a reference to the hash
my $href = \%h;
# access the entire array through its reference
my $elem_count = scalar @{ $aref };
# access the entire hash through its reference
my $keys_count = keys %{ $href };
# get a single element through the array reference
my $element = $a->[0];
# get a single value through the hash reference
my $value = $h->{ a };
# assign to a single array element through its reference
$a->[0] = 1;
# assign a value to a single hash key through its ref
$h->{ a } = 1;
This concludes Part 1 of our Guide to Perl references. My goal was not to compete with all the other reference guides available, but instead to complement them, with the hope that perhaps I may have said something in such a way that it helps further even one person's understanding. Next episode, we'll learn about using references as subroutine parameters.
Update: An astute reader sent me an email after noticing that this tutorial does not mention scalar references at all. This was a design choice. I didn't feel it necessary to justify the extra space to explain them, as they are very rarely used. They do exist though :) Thanks Asbjørn Thegler for the kind email!
1. Very nice Steve, I will recommend to my friends.
2. I wish I would have had this concise and clear tutorial a few months ago! It's great.
3. Thank you for the very kind comments Anonymous!
4. Is "my $x = $array[0];" supposed to be @array instead?
5. And is $array[1] = "assigning to array element 2"; supposed to also be "@array"? This is getting really confusing
6. Anonymous: No on both counts :)
When accessing individual items of a list variable (array/hash), you must use the scalar sigil. Only when using the entire list do you use its list sigil, such as when you are initially assigning to it. Just remember: any time you are accessing a single item, no matter what it is, you must use $. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/547 |
Full Product Documentation
The first place to go for detailed instructions is the full product documentation which is installed with the product and is available online:
These are for the latest shipping version of the product, so if you are implementing an older version you should check the documentation that shipped with your copy.
Search this Knowledgebase
If something seems off, it's worth doing a quick search of our solutions list to be sure there isn't a handy answer right there waiting for you. It must be worth something - you're reading it now!
Community Support Forums
If you'd like to ask your peers for input post a question in the forums. These are monitored by Gibraltar Software staff as well but generally are there for facilitating communication between our users, not to replace support tickets.
Open a Support Ticket
You don't need to be a paying customer to open a support ticket and ask a question. True, if you have an active support contract we fast track your ticket for a faster response and go farther to make sure you've got a satisfactory answer but we're committed that everyone has a good experience with Gibraltar Software. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/550 | Skip to main content
As we get towards Wollongong we get glimpses of the sea. At this point my camera battery run out. Note to Joan - tiny camera has tiny battery.
Looks like the weather is not going to be kind.
1. Looks like you're near Stanwell Park in that shot. I haven't been down that way for ages and miss it.
1. Yes it is about there you begin to see views from the train.
2. Replies
1. Thanks. But a problem through a train window and on a dull day so not shown to its true colours.
3. Always love that first glimpse of the sea...
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/572 | In terms of the vast Star Wars continuity Dark Times is set immediately after events of Revenge of the Sith, and roughly 19 years prior to A New Hope, so in the days when the Sith and their allies have begun to exert an iron grip over what was the Republic to create the Empire. Darth Vader has turned to the dark side, but remains subservient to Darth Sidious, while the Jedi are scattered around the Galaxy.
One of them named Dass Jennir is aiding the Nosaurians, a race of miniature humanoid dinosaurs, against the cloned Empire troops. His friend Bomo Greenbark dispatches his family to the city to join the evacuation while he keeps fighting to buy them more time. The Nosaurian forces are eventually wiped out to the last man, only Jennir and Greenbark surviving via the convenience of falling into a pit. Greenbark then learns that his family didn’t escape, but instead have been taken to be sold into slavery. Despite locating the crew of a friendly ship, the spaceport is surrounded, and there’s not a chance in hell of an individual craft making it off planet.
Both Jennir and the Nosaurians continue their stories from the final volume of Star Wars: Republic, also written by Randy Stradley. His plot here is relatively straightforward with the biggest surprises being he’s also plotter Welles Hartley and scripter Mick Harrison. It takes the odd page or two to dot back to Darth Vader wringing his hands over slavery, but otherwise it’s A to B to C, with only a difficult moral decision activating tension. The true wonder here is the art of Doug Wheatley, who conjures stunning alien panoramas and believable alien species, all vividly coloured by Ronda Pattison.
This volume and its successors Parallels and Vector can also be found as part of the Star Wars: Dark Times Omnibus volume one. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/575 | Landing, By Jennifer Angelina Petro
Jennifer Angelina Petro
Landing in meditation
I found myself
With you. Of course,
I knew you would be
Waiting, open for me
To read, and you waiting,
To offer ideas and suggestions
For revisions of my story,
And yes, I know the last sentence
As everyone does, and when
It comes, and the journal is full,
Another will be ready-made with sewn binding
And paper made of linen
Watermarked with your kiss,
And you will lift me
From the pages
Of the full one—complete
With your lavish touches
And crammed with my ridiculous adventures,
And you will say, with all the pride
Of a parent laying a newborn
Into a bassinet— |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/576 | Thorne Brandt
Mobile Menu
Aura Reading
Kinect Installation
December 16th, 2016
This trick was accomplished using Unity scripts, a Microsoft Kinect hidden above the projector, and a lot of calibrating. The complete source code is here. However, it should be noted that it will require recalibration for a new location. Contact me if you'd like some advice with this.
private Dictionary<ulong, GameObject> _Bodies = new Dictionary<ulong, GameObject>();
private Dictionary<ulong, Color> _Colors = new Dictionary<ulong, Color>();
private Dictionary<ulong, float> _offColors = new Dictionary<ulong, float>();
The important code takes place within three distinct dictionaries. The first being the bodies detected, so that multiple individuals will retain their distinct "spiritual identity" (represented as a ulong) which serves as a key for the second two arrays, "_Colors" and "_offColors." I'll explain what _offColors are later.
void Update (){
foreach(var body in data)
if (body == null)
_Bodies[body.TrackingId] = CreateBodyObject(body.TrackingId);
_Colors[body.TrackingId] = Random.ColorHSV(0f, 1f, 1f, 1f, 0.5f, 1f);
_offColors[body.TrackingId] = Random.Range(.02f, .2f);
RefreshBodyObject(body, _Bodies[body.TrackingId]);
When a body is initiated, it's tracking identity is used to create random main Color for the _Colors dictionary, and likewise, a random float is assigned for offColor. We're projecting on a black background, so we need the majority of main colors to be bright enough. We also don't want to bum most people out for having black auras. We're able accomplish the color range we ant via a handy Random.ColorHSV() method, which ouputs a Color instance within a specificed range.
private void RefreshBodyObject(Kinect.Body body, GameObject bodyObject){
for (Kinect.JointType jt = Kinect.JointType.SpineBase; jt <= Kinect.JointType.ThumbRight; jt++)
Kinect.Joint sourceJoint = body.Joints[jt];
Kinect.Joint? targetJoint = null;
targetJoint = body.Joints[_BoneMap[jt]];
GameObject jointObj = bodyObject.transform.FindChild(jt.ToString()).gameObject;
jointObj.transform.localPosition = GetVector3FromJoint(sourceJoint);
assignColor(jointObj, _Colors[body.TrackingId]);
assignSomeRandom(jointObj, _offColors[body.TrackingId]);
private void assignRandomColor(GameObject jointObj){
Color randomColor = Random.ColorHSV(0f, 1f, 1f, 1f, 1f, 1f);
assignColor(jointObj, randomColor);
private void assignSomeRandom(GameObject jointObj, float freq){
if(Random.value < freq){
During the first pass, I wasn't satisfied with one iteration of random colors. No matter how I adjusted the specific thresholds for the color spectrum, it never felt organic. I decided to add another filter that would control a degree of blotchy contrasting, potentially dark colors. This was ok, because some darkness in your aura reveals character. I knew I was getting somewhere when testing the variability became addicting. Each shape started to obtain a sense of character and individuality. One aura would elicit a peaceful lake, while the next would resemble a calico cat vomiting up jelly beans. This was an enjoyable process that truly felt like painting with code.
These colors were used to tint variations of this grayscale texture that I meticulously handpainted /sarcasm A particle emitter using this colored texture is attached to each joint of the body. Resolume's "trail" effect provided the final touch. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/603 | Unseen Academy
various open source compression libraries
I've needed a tool to benchmark different open source compression libraries and wrote a simple tool to measure packtime, depacktime and the compressed length. The source code is released here. feel free to test your own files, I've found that even files with a comparable structure (in my case the sponza 3d scene) can result in very different values for depacktime etc.
you can find an example here, the same measurement with 2 different reports generated: |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/609 | How To Make An Invoice
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LadyStardust: Check our Discord server! That's where people hang out from day to day :) Nov 17, 2019 23:28:03 GMT -8
dragonboystudios: Looking for Volunteer/Paid VA gigs. New, but equipped and capable. Kind heart characters are my forte, but I've got the galls to be a brute. :) Nov 23, 2019 12:25:05 GMT -8
Kevin Liberty: You're in luck, ! There are always new auditions posted here. You can also checkout our Discord server for even more! Nov 25, 2019 6:16:46 GMT -8
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malik: I have a good suggestion for the payment Nov 25, 2019 13:16:52 GMT -8
malik: If someone is interested, please reply Nov 25, 2019 13:17:05 GMT -8 |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/623 | Viewer Integration and Release Processes
From Second Life Wiki
Revision as of 07:41, 7 October 2010 by Q Linden (Talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search
There are three core hg repositories (each repository is in effect a branch; the processes described here do not rely on using the hg branching features within a repository):
• Development is the integration trunk
• Beta is used to test and stabilize releases and build beta releases
• Release is used to build official stable releases
all three of these repositories are used by both Linden Lab development teams and open source developers; they are accessible at, but only the specific Linden team responsible for each one has commit access to it. Detailed descriptions of each, and the processes for moving changes between them, are below.
caption="Project and Development repositories/branches"
This is the conceptual ‘trunk’ from which all development, both inside and outside Linden Lab, should be derived.
It is built continuously, with the resulting viewers being publicly available (from Downloading test builds and soon also from the main downloads page).
Any active viewer development, whether for feature development or bug fixes, pulls from this repository to a Project repository, and tracks all changes made in Development as work is done in that Project repository. Code is pulled back to this repository for integration (see Development Integration Criteria below).
Ideally, any build from this repository is a candidate for the next Beta viewer release.
Location: determined by the development team, but somewhere at is encouraged
Any development, whether a single engineer fixing a minor bug or a large team building a major feature, is done in a Project repository that pulls from Development. Large projects will likely have individual repositories pulling from and pushing to their team Project repository; how this is managed and tracks changes made to Development is under the control of the developer(s) on the project.
There may be any number of other repositories created by project teams or developers either inside or outside Linden Lab; these are Project repositories. The default channel identifier built from these repositories is "Second Life Developer" (projects that plan to make test viewers publicly available, which is encouraged, should change this to a project-specific value in those viewers).
Project repositories may be built as needed by the developers; viewers produced from Project repositories may be made available for public testing at times chosen by the development team.
When development is complete and the Development Integration Criteria have been satisfied changes from a Project repository are moved back to the Development repository. For Linden developers, this can be a push (contact the Snowstorm Team to be configured for write access), or for open source contributors a pull by the Snowstorm Team.
Note: Developers should consider the viewer-development branch to be a "clean" trunk. It's not "pristine" -- we don't gate checkins through a QA process. But developers should feel very confident BEFORE checking in to viewer-development, because other projects, both internal and external, are pulling from this repository on a daily basis. They should feel confident in doing so. Consequently, developers must be willing to support their checkins.
If you are not prepared to respond to bug reports on a high-priority basis all the way through the release process, you should not check in.
Development Integration Criteria
In order to be eligible to be pulled into the Development repository, the changes in a Project repository must satisfy all of the following criteria:
Review is based on the requirements/user stories defined at the beginning of a sprint, and then at the end of a sprint during Acceptance Testing. For Linden development teams, these checks are the normal sprint reviews, not an additional step. For open source developers, the Snowstorm Team will coordinate these reviews with the appropriate Linden reviewers.
In this context, “competent” means appropriate subject matter experts for the code that is modified. Linden development teams determine for themselves who the competent reviewers are; for open source contributions, the Snowstorm Team will determine the appropriate reviews.
• If there are changes to code or protocols shared between the viewer and the simulator, those changes must include unit tests that at minimum validate that the behavior before and after the change is compatible. If that is not possible due to the nature of the change, then the change must include documentation on how the interfaces are changed, and the relevant simulator developers must review and approve them (for open source contributions, the Snowstorm Team will coordinate and facilitate these reviews).
3. There must be a test plan
The test plan must describe in detail how the modified behavior can be validated and tested. We provide a handy test plan template to help make this trouble free.
4. The Project repository must have merged in the latest changes from Development.
The results must be validated by building viewers for all platforms and doing at least minimal viewer testing. Breaking the Development build is considered bad practice and may incur karmic debt.
5. There must be Contribution Agreements on file from all contributors to the change if the Project repository contains changes made by non-Lindens.
When these criteria have been met, the development team may integrate into the Development repository; see How To Submit A Viewer Change.
Beta and Release
To create the Beta and Release Viewers, the changes on the Development repository are moved through the Beta and Release repositories following the Beta and Release Process.
These are continuous processes - soon (preferably within a week) after one set of changes has been moved from Beta to Release, the next Beta cycle is begun by moving the current Development changes to Beta to begin the next cycle. The number of weekly Beta cycles, and thus the frequency of windows for moving from Development to Beta, is determined by the Beta test results.
The targets are that we will have weekly Beta releases, with stable main viewer releases monthly (a set of Beta changes that does not produce a stable build after 3 cycles will trigger a review of whether or not the sources of the instability should be removed).
caption="Development through Beta to Release"
Beta Repository
The Integration and QA team tags Development and pulls from that tag into the Beta repository (since the Beta repository will contain only change sets that are already in Development, this pull does not require any merges).
Final QA and stabilization are done using builds from the Beta repository; builds from this repository are released weekly on the “Second Life Beta Viewer” channel.
Any bug fixes on this repository are immediately pulled to the Development repository by the Snowstorm Team.
Release Repository
When the Snowstorm Team decides that the Beta branch is ready for release (which we expect to be after 2-4 weeks of testing and stabilization), the Integration team pulls changes from Beta into the Release repository (this is the only path into the Release repository, so this does not require any merges), where it is tagged and built to produce the viewer released on the “Second Life Release” channel.
Beta and Release Process
The process by which the Development code is promoted to an official numbered Viewer release is:
1. The Integration and QA team adds a beta tag to Development.
2. The Release Manager
1. Pulls changes from the beta tag on Development to the Beta repository (this should not require any merge).
2. Builds branch on Beta
3. Creates a release document that includes test plan information and the list of all the changes included in the build (list of JIRAs, etc). Proper attention to detail during development should make this simple.
4. Offer build to QA for testing and evaluation
3. In QA, the integration test team:
1. Executes the set of test plans for all of the changes included
2. Performs a general smoke test on overall functionality
3. Identifies overall quality and level of risk for release
4. The Snowstorm Team evaluates quality, risk and feature set and decides whether or not to release the build as Beta. Options are:
• Fail: this beta candidate is rejected and the process starts over at some different tag on Development (step 1).
• Fix First: specific bugs / issues are identified that must be fixed before ship. These bugs are fixed in the Beta repository.
• Fixes made to the Beta repository are merged to Development by the Snowstorm Team as soon as they are found to be complete.
• Ship: the Beta is ready as-is.
5. Once a build is approved for ship, the Release team does its magic to get the build into the field as a Beta build on the “Second Life Beta Viewer” channel.
6. Once a Beta is in the field, we watch for new bugs, crash rate, performance, and other data. If the Beta needs further iteration, we might iterate multiple times on the Beta branch (return to step 4).
7. Once the Snowstorm Team decides the Beta is of sufficient quality to ship as an official viewer, the Release team:
1. Tags the Beta branch
2. Pulls from the tag on Beta to Release
3. Tags and builds from the Release repository.
4. Releases on the “Second Life Viewer” channel. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/631 | Date Tags serps
Previously held positivefeelings about a company are quickly forgotten. Customer-generated review programs, when correctly managed, provide authenticity and engagement with those who use the systems to gather information about products. Ranking in the search engines can be hard. Especially if the competition in your niche is high. As you probably know, you should start with doing your keyword research: getting inside the heads of your audience, knowing exactly what words they use and what they are searching for. But then what? For example, where would one find yorkshire rocking horses in this country? If you're looking for organic local groceries , you've come to the right place. So, what’s the truth behind all the leased line provider on the market? What is the response rate for results based on SEO York ? Don't get too obsessed!
Who is the primary audience of the business?
Cloaking refers to an attempt to boost search result rankings by serving different content to Googlebot than to regular users. This causes problems such as less relevant results (pages appear in search results even though their content is actually unrelated to what users see/want), so Google takes cloaking very seriously. The Internet is made up Do your homework! The primary resources are all available here. Its as simple as your ABC's of trillions of pages that are all connected to one another with links. These links are how search engines "crawl" the web, using virtual spiders (or bots). As these spiders follow the links on pages to other pages, they store information as they go. And they don't miss a beat! From search terms to images and videos, these bots survey, collect and take note of any information they can get their spindly little hands on. Several organizational factors influence ways employees make purchasing decisions. Link signals tend to decay over time. Sites that were once popular often go stale, and eventually fail to earn new links.
Unconventional knowledge about sitemaps that you won't find in books
Historically, guerrilla marketing offers one of the most successful alternative media marketing programs. Allow margins to rest eye rather than push text to the left or right edge of the page. SEO is technical, complicated, time-consuming and potentially dangerous. Stick to original content, found on only one page on your site, for best results - especially if you have a new/young site and are building it page by page over time... and you'll get better rankings and more traffic to your site (affiliates too!).
Keyword - Now, Keyword might be an extremely simple and rudimentary tool, but it works on a good premise. Google does not like automation when it comes to building the main content of a text-heavy page; that's clear in 2018. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process in which affects the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engines "natural" or un-paid ("organic") search results. Gaz Hall, a SEO Consultant, commented: "It is fluff and filler content that has often times been stuffed to the brim with as many keywords as possible in a hollow effort to rank on the first page for a topic."
Measure and Improve by paying attention to user generated content
It's no longer a means of holding a high page rank, it's about bringing qualified traffic to your online business. After The talk on Facebook is about OSOO at the moment. all, the end goal of your marketing campaigns is to make sure that you appeal to your customers in order to gain clicks, sales and conversions. Conversion rate can mean several different things (depending on the site context). A well-planned structure makes your writing more effective. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/653 | Becoming a chef - week 9...
I honestly can't believe that my journey, more like an adventure actually, has almost finished. The chef's training finishes exactly on the 10th of March, and I WILL miss it, miss it a lot... We cook, we laugh and we eat, a lot (please don't ask me how much weight I've gained as I wasn't brave enough yet to actually stand on those scales....).
Smoked salmon on a celeriac rosti with lemon creme freaiche
Week 9 saw us making something completely new and using cooking methods, and equipment, new to us. JustCooking school is know for its BBQ classes so we used the break in the weather and went outside! The only thing missing was a beer, or two, but we couldn't possibly drink at school ;) not that we won't catch up on that once the course will finish....
It turned out that you can actually make quite a lot on that old, boring for some, BBQ - being it gas or charcoal. From hot smoking salmon to making that Aussie staple - beer can chicken, we even made a soup! A soup on a BBQ! Not to mention a risotto and.... chocolate molten puddings. Now, that's a whole dinner, with a dessert, all cooked/baked using a BBQ. Bring on summer and those long, warm evening! My next investment - a nice, family size BBQ, a bag of charcoal, lots of food and a nice bottle of wine :)
Beer can chicken and hassleback potatoes
Leek soup
That was one full day, outside getting smoked as much as the food itself... Once we got back into comforts of "traditional" kitchen settings we've made some stunning dishes, some of which I'll be making again and again... Most of you are probably familiar with the traditional apple tart tatin, how about a savory version of that well known classic. Black pudding, caramelized shallots and you've got yourself a delicious lunch or starter. It was absolutely perfect! I'm already thinking about other savory possibilities for a little tart tatins!
Black pudding and onion tart tatin
Steak sandwich
Consomme with chicken mousse dumplings
Open steak sandwich (and a sheer horror on some of my friends' faces, when they saw what kind of steak I like - raw baby, raw!) and classic consomme - another two great dishes. I was slightly surprised but the amount of work that goes into making that clear, clarified soup, but also slightly disappointed at the amount of food "wasted" in a way, while making it. I guess those are few of the reasons why it's not the cheapest option on the menu and is served only in fine dining restaurants. We've served our consomme with chicken mousse dumplings. No, it wasn't to everyone's taste, but to me, it reminded me slightly traditional Polish chicken broth. It wasn't bad at all, and if I can try dishes like tomato consomme or for example mushroom one - I'll definitely give it a try (if even not make it myself some time soon!).
Roast with Yorkshire puddings
Roast chicken with Vichy carrots, roast vegetables and gravy
We've learned how to make that Sunday roast, not that I haven't made it before, but it's always good to pick up some tips & trick as how to make it a perfect one. Though I was totally blown away not by the meat but... simple carrots - the Vichy carrots, so simple to make, yet so delicious! Full roast dinner meant also one of my favorite thing ever - Yorkshire puddings!
Coffee cake
Coffee cake
When there's a dinner there's usually a dessert. Even though I'm a chocoholic, a cakeaholic, and have one of the sweetest tooth known to a man, I really very rarely make any kind of cream/butter frosting on my cakes - just look at my cake recipes. So it was really good to learn how to make a proper buttercream frosting, so I actually start making them, because even though I wasn't making them at all, there's really nothing better than a soft, crumbly cake with a thick, creamy (or buttery) icing on the top... It was a coffee cake (an absolute hit with my two little girls), a carrot cake (my husband's favourite), lemon meringue mini pie, pear and almond mini tart (with frangipane) and a mini chocolate gateaux (which was a hit with everyone, something to be expected really...).
Pear and almond mini tart
Finally found out how to make a genoise sponge (chocolate or a plain one). It's really finny how I sometimes think that something might be difficult or tricky to make, that it's not worth making as it possibly won't turn out well anyway. And what's even funnier, I'm usually wrong, so wrong... So now I know, and with confidence that is, not to be afraid of all those recipes I have marked to try! As it will work! And even if it won't - I can always try again :)
Chocolate gateaux
Chocolate gateaux
- mine: still 10, still intact, woo hoo!
- other's: all OK too :)
Hopefully it will be like that for the last two weeks
You can catch up with all the weeks of my chef's training HERE.
Lemon meringue mini pie
PS. Of course the beautiful sunny weather didn't last long. We're back with rain, wind, hail, rain, cold and... more rain. Could someone inform Winter that it's Spring already and it's high time to finally go away and take all those storms with her! Thank you. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/683 | Friday, September 7, 2012
When Good Bigfoot Go Bad
New Book by UFOlogist and paranormal investigator Preston Dennet
By Preston Dennett
Rating: Not yet rated.
Published: Sep. 01, 2012
Words: 2653 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781476159560
Short description
Extended description
When Good Bigfoot Go Bad: The California Files
By Preston Dennett
1. Hello Preston, I am going to have to disagree with you about the Antelope Valley being a hot spot for our large friends. Possible back in the early 1970's, a family of them passed through this valley raising all kind of commotion. But, they only seem to use the mountainous areas that surround this valley now for passageways between northern and southern California; which is only on rare occasions. Richard
1. Hi Richard, this blog is not written by Preston (we don't even know him). But we do appreciate your comments. We especially appreciate your insights about the local geography and how it might be used by Sasquatch.
2. Hey Guy i know this has nothing to do with Bigfoot news but i know Steven Streufert is a friend of yours.. i just want to know how he's doing after what he experienced yesterday on Shawn's BIGFOOT EVIDENCE blog.. they were calling him REALLY awful derogatory names like "Ol' Fish-Eyed Fool" and "bug eyes" to name a few.. well if you hear from him again, please encourage him to get thicker skin and don't let a select few narrow minded idiots steal his joy! God Bless..
3. SS is his own vehicle of derogatory arrogance . Visit his BF "sanity" FB page. Those that live via a poison pen die by it. Who in BF land on the net is reasonable anymore? SS has serious voids of reasoning and personality and a decimate overblown sense of self. That said, remember BE is tabloid drama, little responsible reporting ever surfaces. Lindsay looks like a serious journalist by comparison. The book described sounds more balanced than "411" so.... Still just another in a series of enthusiasts work?
4. -definite- typo correct above
5. Streufert is a big ass baby.. hell, they talked about jesus christ for crying out loud! who in the hell duz he think he is?! he talk so much crap about people especially MR. MK DAVIS and members of the GCBRO.. so get the hell out of here feeling sorry for that pathetic S.O.B. sorry Guy Edwards i think highly of you sir just NOT your pal!
6. This sounds like a very interesting book! Thanks Guy! I'll be sure to pick this one up.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/687 | Skip Navigation
How to make a human neuron
May 26, 2011 By Ewen Callaway This article courtesy of Nature News.
The achievement, reported online today in Nature1, is the latest in a fast-moving field called transdifferentiation, in which cells are forced to adopt new identities. In the past year, researchers have converted connective tissue cells found in skin into heart cells2, blood cells3 and liver cells4.
Transdifferentiation is an alternative to the cellular reprogramming that involves converting a mature cell into a pluripotent stem cell — one capable of becoming many types of cell — then coaxing the pluripotent cell into becoming a particular type of cell, such as neurons. Marius Wernig, a stem-cell researcher at Stanford University in California, and the leader of the study, says that skipping the pluripotency step could avoid some of the problems of making tissues from these induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The pluripotency technique can also take months to complete.
Wernig's team sparked the imaginations of cellular reprogrammers last year, when it transformed cells taken from the tip of a mouse's tail into working nerve cells5. That feat of cellular alchemy took just three foreign genes – delivered into tail cells with a virus – and less than two weeks. "We thought that as it worked so great for the mouse, it should be no problem to work it out in humans," Wernig says. "That turned out to be wrong."
Not quite right
Those three genes also made human cells that looked like nerve cells but that did not fire the electric pulses characteristic of neurons. However, the addition of a fourth virus-delivered gene, found through trial and error, pushed fibroblast cells — connective tissue cells found throughout the body and involved in wound healing — collected from aborted fetuses and the foreskin of newborns to become bona fide neurons. After a couple of weeks in culture, many of the neurons responded to electric jolts by pumping ions across their membranes. A few weeks later still, these neurons started to form connections, or synapses, with the mouse neurons they were grown alongside.
There are still kinks to work out, Wernig admits. Only 2–4% of the fibroblasts became neurons — lower than the roughly 8% efficiency his team achieved with the mouse tail cells. And most of the resulting neurons communicated using a chemical called glutamate, limiting their use for understanding or treating diseases such as Parkinson's, which is characterized by problems in neurons that communicate with this chemical.
Wernig says that his team expects their efficiency to improve and is trying to make neurons that communicate using other chemicals.
Quick success
Neurons forged through transdifferentation offer advantages over brain cells made from iPSCs, says Evan Snyder, a stem-cell biologist at the Sanford Burnham Medical Research Institute in San Diego, California. As well as being quicker to make, they are less likely to form tumours when they are implanted into tissue, he says.
On the downside, however, cellular signs of disease may only appear when a cell develops naturally, from a pluripotent stem cell into a differentiated neuron, Snyder says. Forcing a cell into becoming a neuron could cause scientists to miss aspects of a disease. Furthermore, the fibroblasts that are the starting material for transdifferentiation do not divide as readily as iPSCs, limiting their use in applications that require lots of cells, such as drug screening, Wernig says.
"I would say that both approaches should be actively pursued because you never know for which cases and specific applications one or the other may be more suitable," Wernig concludes.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/692 | Friday, March 9, 2012
A question for Christians.
I have recently been screwed by a few people who strongly identify themselves as Christians and whom I believe are not doing so for the purposes of deception but truly believe themselves to be Christian. Is it fair for me be to be especially annoyed at them (i.e. hold them to a "higher" moral standard") or should I recognize that all humans beings are flawed, no matter what creed they profess? I want to hear the opinions of Christians as I already (probably) know how non-Christians would answer this.
1. I think you should hold them to the same moral standard you hold yourself. Based on the comments from Justin on Easterly's blog (how I found this blog), he seems like a pretty antagonistic person. Most people find that mildly morally offensive so if the Christians weren't downright evil you should just cut them the same slack you cut yourself. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/703 | Ask Fred > Career/Work > What is the balance between sovereignty and responsibility?
Select a Category:
Dear Fred
Fred, I'm a young church leader trying to figure out the correct balance between human leadership and God's sovereign power. It seems both are necessary to lead a church. What are your thoughts on this? Thank you!
Fred's Response
Unfortunately the church is hurting itself by adopting the corporate model and measurement of success i.e. growth and acceptance of its product. I understand that Os Guinness is writing a book on the premise that the church is committing suicide by focusing on conformation to the world, not transformation. I think it is essential that the leader of any organization know what the purpose is. I think there are four purposes of the church: 1) worship, 2) evangelism 3) maturity and 4) spiritual fellowship(not just food and fun). Your leadership should always contribute to one or more of these purposes. It is always important that you do God’s work in God’s way, not in man’s way. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/726 | Patricia Blair
Patricia Blair (born Patsy Lou Blake; January 15, 1933 – September 9, 2013 - (aged 80)) was an American television and film actress, primarily on 1950s and 1960s television. She is best known as Rebecca Boone in all six seasons of NBC\'s Daniel Boone, with co-stars Fess Parker, Darby Hinton, Veronica Cartwright, and Ed Ames. She also played Lou Mallory on the ABC western series The Rifleman, in which she was cast in assorted roles in 22 episodes with Chuck Connors, Johnny Crawford and Paul Fix.<Br> Source: <A Href=\"Https://En.Wikipedia.Org/Wiki/Main_Page\" Target=\"_blank\" Rel=\"Me Nofollow\"> Https://En.Wikipedia.Org/Wiki/Main_Page</A> |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/739 | Regular API function
simSetDoubleSignal / sim.setDoubleSignal
Description Sets the value of a double signal. If that signal is not yet present, it is added. Signals created in the main script or in a child script are automatically cleared at simulation end. See also sim.getDoubleSignal, the other signal functions, and sim.persistentDataWrite.
C synopsis simInt simSetDoubleSignal(const simChar* signalName,simDouble signalValue)
C parameters
signalName: name of the signal
signalValue: value of the signal
C return value
Lua synopsis number result=sim.setDoubleSignal(string signalName,number signalValue)
Lua parameters
Same as C-function
Lua return values
Same as C-function
Remote API equiv.
B0-based remote API: simxSetFloatSignal
Legacy remote API: simxSetFloatSignal
All regular API functions on one page |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/743 | Social Media / Website
17th March 2017
As you know, we have a Facebook and Twitter page now as well as our website. We are always grateful for feedback about the ways we make contact with parents so if you have any ideas on how we could make improvements please send them through to Thank you, Alice. |
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global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/781 | German Stores
Discussion in 'Motorola Milestone' started by Gunde, Nov 30, 2009.
1. Gunde
Gunde New Member
Nov 30, 2009
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I'm currently considering purchasing a Motorola Milestone from Germany, but I'm not sure which stores are credible when it comes to online purchases, and if anyone here can help me out with that I would be very grateful.
Handy Schotte and Photo Porst Online seem to have good prices with fair freight-costs. They both also send to Sweden, where I live. So I would like to know if these stores are reliable, or if anyone here knows about another store that sells the Milestone for a similar price, around 400€.
Edit: Nevermind, I've already got the information I need.
#1 Gunde, Nov 30, 2009
Last edited: Dec 1, 2009 |
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